Chapter 2: A Failure to Communicate

X Earth, Earth Sphere Alliance Council Room. 3 Days and 10 Hours After the Attack X

The Earth Sphere Alliance Council Room was usually a beautiful sight to behold. A vast chamber of white and grey marble with rows upon rows of desks meant to seat the figureheads of every large company, planetary government, and influential group. All these desks were arranged in a semicircle facing the raised center desk that sat the Emperor of Humanity and behind him the large depiction of the Sol system in stone.

The Emperor, Arthur Durham was the most celebrated Emperor in Humanities history. The fair-skinned man with blond hair and striking amethyst eyes held a natural regal air of authority that fit his title of Emperor which was only helped by the elaborate white and gold robes he wore. Arthur, however, was a man that had risen to power during the Clone and Corporate Wars, with his fleet and authority ending the Corporate War after twenty-three years of bitter fighting. He had been voted in as Emperor shortly after with everyone agreeing that his decisive leadership, forward-thinking, and political cunning made him the ideal choice as Emperor until he either died or abdicated the throne.

Now, however, Arthur watched on as the 362 other individuals in the room shouted at one another trying to push their opinion onto the majority. The reason for this was the attack on the LCC small asteroid mining station out on the fringes of the frontier. While losing an asteroid mining station wasn't unheard of and wouldn't be a big deal enough to even register the attention of the council the fact that the ships involved were unable to be identified was enough for it to at least be brought up. However, what had earned enough attention to cause the shouting and panic in the room was the Earth Sphere's intelligence divisions report that based on the data retrieved from the message they believed the ships were alien in nature. Thus, the room had descended into panic.

Arthur was also concerned but kept his cool with his head casually leaning against his hand and his eyes casually surveying the occupants of the room. Internally his mind was going over the information they had received. Humanity had just made its first contact with extraterrestrial life and it had been hostile, however, the enemy ships had struggled to breach the station's mediocre shields and the survivors had successfully managed to get to a remote system with a viable planet. However, the intelligence division's long-range surveillance sensors had focused on the system and detected signs of advanced life from the planet in question. The lifeboats should have already made it to the planet two hours ago and since they hadn't received a signal indicating the ships had been destroyed this presented the possibility that either the survivors had been captured or that impossibly they had encountered a second intelligent species.

Arthur was inclined to think the latter since the crews of at least one of the ships should have managed to scuttle it to prevent capture. While the news of a potentially friendly species was welcome Arthur knew that the chances of the enemy forces pursuing were high enough that action must be taken. Which meant he had to end the circus that was happening below him.

"Silence" Arthur said in a normal tone that usually wouldn't have even registered to the people below but the authority behind it quickly commanded all the delegates to become silence and stare at their Emperor. Arthur rarely spoke at the meetings, but he had grown tired of these people squabbling when time was of the essence. "This is not the time for petty arguing but instead action, my subjects are under threat and some have been slain by these barbaric aliens. While I am hopeful that the entities on the planet are benevolent and are helping my subjects, we must act as if our fellows are now captives. While LCC has dragged numerous civilian ships to the area with their call for aid a call I don't remember giving them" at this he shared a look with the head of the intelligence branch communicating to him to tell LCC of his disproval of their actions "However now we must ascertain the truth. Admiral Gilgrim, what is the closest force we have to the planet?" he asked a man wearing an all-white military uniform.

The Admiral stood up and addressed his lord with confidence "My Emperor, the 10th Patrol Fleet is in the Mece Sector and can be in the system within five hours" the admiral stated with confidence.

Arthur nodded slowly "Who is the commanding officer of that force?"

The admiral seemed to think for only a split second before replying "Rear Admiral Charles Steel is commanding the force, my emperor."

Arthur nodded again before sitting up straight and loudly announcing his orders "Admiral inform Rear Admiral Steel that by my order he is to proceed to the unnamed planet and guarantee the safety of my subjects. If the local Xeons are friendly, he is to proceed to open a diplomatic channel and ensure the safe transfer of my people and extend my personal assurance. If any aggressive action is taken toward my subjects however the guilty party is to be repelled by any means necessary and my subjects retrieved."

The Admiral saluted with his fist over his chest "By your well my emperor!"

X Frontier Space, 3 days and 12 hours after the attack X

Russ grumbled again as he waited in the cockpit of his Dire Wolf-Mk 5. The hanger his fighter was in was small barely enough room for his fighter, but Russ hadn't expected much from a corvette owned by a merchant. The client was a young rich aristocrat from some Inner Sphere world that had dreams of making it big and starting his own company by collecting and transporting Ether. To his credit the young man had dropped some serious finances into the endeavor, buying a medium sized luxury corvette with above average weaponry and an ether collection and storage unit. He had even decided to modify some of the lower level passenger areas to create a small hanger for a single escort fighter and then had contacted Raven's Loft to hire their best available pilot.

Raven's Loft was the go-to choice for anyone that needed mercenaries from a capital ship captain to ground infantry forces Raven's Loft was the place to go. Raven's Loft was a large moving space station, the largest constructed by humanity, that served as the home base for mercenaries across human space. The station itself also had a dedicated executive section that received mission requests and contacted the necessary pilots. It was thanks to this dedicated staff and the skill of its affiliated mercenaries called Ravens that had made the Raven's Loft brand a household name across all human space from the Core Worlds to the edges of the Frontier.

It was this prestige of his company that Russ knew his current client had dropped a pretty hefty sum to hire along someone of his skill level. He wasn't even bragging with his resume including three wars, seventy years of combat experience, a novel worth of notable achievements, and an even longer list of recommendations. It was not an exaggeration that he was one of the most experienced pilots in human space. Hell, if the kid had not been offering him a substantial markdown on Ether for taking the job Russ still might not have excepted his mission request.

Ether, however, was the lifeblood of human space, the small dust like substance was extremely hard to find but had an amazingly high energy yield. It was the discovery of this substance that allowed for humanity to reliably use Slip Space, a means of transport that involved ripping a hole in the fabric of space and accessing a pocket dimension before exiting in a far location. With it, space travel had not only been made much faster but also easily accessible if one could have enough Ether and a Slip Space Drive. Ether had such a high yield however that a single handful of it could power a slip space drive and an entire frigate size ship for three years. Which was why merchants who collected unclaimed Ether clouds in the far reaches of the Frontier would make ridiculously huge profits and the incentive of a heavy discount for Russ was a big draw toward accepting the contract.

The reason for Russ discomfort was that word had come down that LCC, a small start-up company in the Frontier had received a distress signal from one of their remote asteroid mining stations at the edges of the Frontier. The message apparently had stated the station was under attack by unknown ships and that the crew were boarding lifeboats and heading toward a planet in a nearby sector that had registered positive as being able to support life. While the matter of the unidentified ships was a matter for the Earth Sphere Alliance and its military to sort out LCC had asked nearby civilian ships to head to the planet and pick up their people. Completely ignoring or ignorant of the fact that the unidentified ships may very well decide to pursue the lifeboats. Unfortunately for Russ, his employer Edward something the fifth had decided to answer the call because "it would look good for his future companies PR".

"I'm so not getting paid enough for this," Russ muttered angerly as his employer told him they were exiting Slip Space and he was opening the hanger. Russ closed the lid to his canopy and readied himself for any type of scenario that could be just outside the hanger doors. He was confident in his skills and in his aircraft and if nothing else was armed for whatever the situation was outside.

The Dire Wolf was a product of the now destroyed Rayleonard company that had specialized in creating rare but highly advanced aircraft. The Dire Wolf had been one of their final creations before the company was destroyed along with the aircraft's blueprints during the Corporate Wars. The Dire Wolf Mk. 5 was a variant of the aircraft that included highly advanced sensors and targets systems built for a large variety of weapon systems to be equipped to the aircraft. This versatility combined with its air supremacy role and ridiculous performance made the aircraft utterly devastating on the battlefield if you found a pilot skilled enough to fly it. Unfortunately, all these advanced systems made the cost of building one of this craft astronomical thus the company didn't have enough to stop a rival company from destroying their headquarters. Now Russ had one of the few Dire Wolfs left, but it still dominated the battlespace.

As the hanger sirens rang out and the warning lights flashed yellow indicating the opening of the hanger door Russ powered his ship on and listened to the satisfying whine of its engines cycling on. Donning his helmet Russ pressed a switch on the side connecting the helmet's visor to the ship's sensors allowing the visor to light up displaying the crafts readouts before settling on an image of his radar on the bottom left of his vision along with his ammo and shield status on his bottom right and bottom center respectively.

"Fenrir here, systems are online, engines are green, ammo armed, ready to launch," Russ reported over the comm mike in his helmet as he retracted the landing struts and engaged his micro thrusters allowing his ship to hover off the ground about a foot. In front of him, the hanger doors began to open allowing him to see the stars glittering outside.

"Fenrir hanger doors are opening, your good to launch when the lights go green" Edward reported from the bridge before closing the connection likely having to deal with the situation outside. Ahead of him, the flashing yellow lights turned green signaling the hanger doors were completely opened. Russ pushed the throttle into sixty percent and rocketed out into the void.

X Cerinia Palace, War room X

King Dolis sighed in exasperation and stress at the situation he had found himself and his people in. The shuttles containing the panicking aliens had arrived a little more than a day ago and docked with the COS station. His wife Meridia had personally calmed the occupants down and had questioned them about their situation after the techs had figured out their language and rigged a rudimentary translation device.

Apparently, the aliens called themselves humans and belonged to some type of large empire. They had been asteroid miners before suddenly coming under attack by a trio of alien ships. The group had managed to flee before their station was destroyed and fled to Cerinia as they had detected a livable planet with their long-range sensors. When Meridia had told them about the larger contact trailing them they group had grown nervous and relayed that it was likely an enemy ship before asking if she and her people would protect them. King Dolis had been hesitant at first but Meridia had seemed insistent that they aid these humans and Dolis had agreed when one of the survivors told him that they had sent a distress call to their people and that support was likely on the way. So far, his people had been alarmed but understanding when Dolis had told them the situation and had rallied behind the decision to help the stranded humans. Dolis had never been so proud of his people as he was then.

Now Dolis had his forces ready and was waiting to see which side showed up first. It was only about an hour ago that he had received his answer as one after another a series of different types of ships arrive. Six of the vessels were just a little smaller than the COS station and identified themselves as armed merchant corvettes, the seventh one, however, was five times the size of the station and identified itself as a civilian cruise ship that had come to render assistance. Using their communications gear, they had just worked out that the seven ships were human civilian vessels that heard about the crew's plight and had come to help in their rescue.

Dolis had been hopeful that they would be able to transfer the humans softly but shortly after this one of the human vessels had reported detecting a large concentration of ships approaching the system and had asked if they belonged to them. Dolis knew they were not and quickly relayed the situation the human ships asking for their aid. The ship captains had seemed hesitant but had agreed after the captain of the cruise ship reported that his vessel wouldn't be ready in time to leave before the enemy ships arrived and asked King Dolis for permission to evacuate his passengers to Cerinia in case of a battle. Faced with the prospect of a large number of civilians in the crossfire the other ship captains had agreed to help defend the area until reinforcements arrived.

As of now, the six corvettes had arrayed themselves in a screen in front of the COS station and the cruise ship called the Solace. What few fighters the ships had were scrambled ahead to intercept enemy fighters and bombers. In total the defense of his planet was down to 16 human fighters, six human merchant vessels, 12 Cerinia Guardian fighters, a large civilian cruise ship with only defensive armament, and an unarmed research station. If these fell than the only defenders, they had left were the Cerinia ground forces which hadn't seen a war in a couple hundred years. Dolis could only hope help came soon.

X Just outside Cerinia Space, CMS Bold X

Acting Admiral Santize smugly gazed out of the viewport of the battleship CMS Victory that now served as his flagship. Once he had reported the escaping pirates had fled to a planet with a small orbital station Corneria command had quickly assembled the bulk of the 3rd Fleet and put him in charge of the force with the orders to sweep the planet of enemy forces. The forces at his disposal where fitting someone of his station with 4 Battleships, 6 cruisers, 15 frigates, and around 200 strike craft not to mention the twelve companies of Corneria Marines that were coming to engage the pirates ground forces.

While this may have seemed overkill Corneria Command knew that its combat forces hadn't seen action in a long while and so decided to use the opportunity to give their troops some experience. The news of the pending battle and the fate of CMS Harpy had both angered and emboldened the Corneria citizenry who had come to cheer off the departing ships and kept up to date on their progress. The support he had been given didn't end there as the genius inventor Andross himself had decided to lend Santize the experimental ship CXS Xerta that Andross had been outfitting with a new weapon he had wanted to test out. Hell, even the Star Fox team had come along to lend their expertise!

Santize himself had been undergoing interviews almost nonstop from a rampant media that hadn't seen this much excitement since a councilman was found passed out in a park naked after taking a staggering number of drugs. He had been lauded as the rising hero the boar who was going to take out the dastardly pirates. His favorite interview had been with Cornerian Tonight, a talk show with three very attractive female anchors. The show was very popular with young people especially females since the topics usually focused around fashion, gossip, movies, and celebrities. As a new celebrity himself, the show had interviewed him and asked him what his plans were regarding the pirate planet. He had stated with a joking tone that he couldn't tell them his military strategy but that after the battle he was thinking of getting the council to approve the planet for colonization. That little tidbit generated a lot of excitement in the civilian population and had now turned a simple pirate mop up into a potential colonization effort.

Now Santize looked outward at the planet they were approaching in the distance with slight surprise. Apparently, the pirates had called in a lot of their forces around the planet and now in addition to the space station they now had six unknown frigates and a large ship he was guessing was a troop carrier. His sensors officer also reported that the same transports that had fled the CMS Praetor appeared to be shuttling between the vessel and a location on the planet. "Hmph, no doubt trying to evacuate the equipment and personnel. Attention all vessels we will approach the position before holding and sending the fighter in first to seep away their fighter screen. After their forces have been sufficiently hammered, I want frigate groups one and two to step forward and finish their frigates while the cruiser CMS Feros takes out that enemy troop carrier and station. Afterward, all remaining vessels will cover the landing ships while they begin ground operations" Santize announced before remembering a feisty cheetah captain in the third frigate group. "Comms connect me with the Despot." The communications officer nodded before he started typing on his station and signaled, he was connected. Soon the image of an annoyed Rachel Lynn appeared the knowledge that his new rank angered her caused a feeling of immense satisfaction to wash over him. "Rachel be a dear and sit in the rear with your third frigate group and protect the rear, please. Thank you." He asked/ordered before hanging up, so he didn't have to listen to her attempt to lecture him on the protocol of addressing her without her rank.

Santize allowed a small chuckle to himself before the communications officer signaled, they were receiving a transmission from the planet. Telling the tiger to put it on screen he was told it was audio only before the message was passed through "Attention unidentified fleet, you are entering Cerinia space. State your identity and intentions" a deep male voice asked with a tone of authority.

Santize scoffed before replying "This is Admiral Santize of the Corneria Military we are here chasing your people for acts of piracy after destroying you staging base. Surrender now or face the might of the Cornerian Navy!"

The voice paused for a second before replying "This is King Dolis of Cerinia, the ships you are pursuing are miners and"

"I do not care for your excuses or false claims filthy pirate! We will destroy your forces and claim this world for the people who rightfully deserve it! Fighters move forward!" Santize cut the man off before ordering the attack and cutting the connection.

X Great Fox, Bridge X

"Thanks again for letting us use the bridge ROB." Jessica Greymane stated as she and her cameraman connected their recording equipment to the ship's exterior cameras, sensors, and communications equipment. Jessica was a news reporter for Corneria News Affiliates or CNA, the company had wanted to report on the battle live to audiences around Lylat and so had paid a large sum to hire Star Fox to transport their crew to the battle. The Great Fox was stationed well behind the rest of the fleet and thus far enough away for James McCloud to agree with the request.

ROB the Star Fox's robotic unit turned to them "THANKS ARE UNNESSICARY, CLIENT SATISFACTION IS A STAR FOX GUARANTEE" the robot drones before turning back to the sensors.

"Umm right, we ready Jack?" Jessica asked her cameraman who was pointing a camera at her, so she could address the people back home. Jack gave a thumbs up and reported they were live in ten seconds.

Jessica waited ten seconds as Jack gave a signal began speaking into the microphone. "Hello Lylat, this is Jessica Greyman and I'm here aboard the bridge of the Great Fox the mother ship of the Star Fox mercenary team. If you look out the bridge window you can see acting Admiral Santize's fleet approaching the planet with a few presumably pirate ships guarding a small space station and a troop transport." Jessica relayed as Jack zoomed the camera out the bridge window to view the distant fleet. "Behind the fleet, we can see the beautiful planet that the pirates have based out of and I for one can understand why Santize wanted to colonize it so much. Just look at those beaches! This could be the next vacation hotspot of Lylat!"

Rob turned to them "ADVISEMENT: ACTING ADMIRAL SANTIZE HAS ORDERED THE FIGHTERS TO ENGAGE."

Jessica turned back to the camera "Well looks like the action is about to kick off. Let's watch our troops show these pirates that Lylat won't tolerate their behavior in our system. ROB can you patch us into the pirate's communications?"

ROB seemed to consider the request before replying "WILL ATTEMPT TO INTERCEPT AND DECYPHER ENEMY COMMS"

X Orbit of Cerinia X

Russ had been flying escort for Edward's corvette while the merchant filled him in on the situation. Russ was understandably somewhat angry that his simple escort mission had turned into a front-line combat op but was ensured he would receive ample combat pay. When the enemy fleet was detected Russ immediately grouped up with the fighters already knowing that they would be used as a screen against their enemy counterparts.

Looking around the assembled fighters he noted that the majority where the Cerinian's silver fighters which were a teardrop shape and from what he could tell were only armed with forward facing lasers or some other type of energy weapon. The rest of the fighters were a smattering of human mercenaries the majority of which were from small freelance outfits popular in the Frontier. Like Russ himself, however, there were a four other Raven's that Russ wasted no time in joining.

"Fenrir here checking in" he reported on the established frequency that Edward had supplied him.

"Confirmed Fenrir this is the Solace, we see you've joined up with your fellow Raven's. From now on we are referring to you as Raven flight. Confirm?" a male voice that Russ suspected was from the Solace's communications officer stated.

"Fenrir copies all" Russ reported before returning to his radar and watching the approaching fleet. He could see a smattering of cruiserweights, frigates, and corvette sized ships but what really attracted his attention was the enemy fighters in the area. Over a hundred and fifty dotes were swarming around the enemy fleet in small groups. From what he could see of their speed they were slightly faster than the average human fighter but based on their wide loops and turns had minimal to no maneuverability.

"All aircraft be advised" the Solace communicated "the Cerinian's orbital station may relay combat information to you. Her designation is Cera and their fighters are Guardian's one through twelve. Updating your IFF's now." Russ watched as the friendly alien vessels switched to green icon on his radar indicating them as friendlies. "Cerinian craft human fighter groups are designated as Denim flight, Frisk flight, Cobalt flight, and Raven flight."

Suddenly a regal feminine voice came over the comm "This is Cera to all friendly craft negotiations have failed with the approaching fleet and they are moving to attack. Your mission is to protect the Solace and the station until evacuation off all civilian and personnel is complete. Stay safe out there and thank you again for assisting us in our time of need."

Russ thought the personal touch was rather nice but quickly decided to focus in on the approaching fleet and saw a group of the enemy fighters approaching. "This is Fenrir, the enemy is sending in a fighter wave to loosen us up. Raven flight is requesting permission to intercept."

"This is the Solace that's a negative Raven Flight. Denim and Cobalt flights will intercept the enemy fighters. We have detected a second larger group of strike craft approaching from a different vector. Chances are that the enemy is a squadron of bombers with fighter escort. Raven Flight, you are to engage this group does not let them near our formation." The Solace reported before sending him and the other four Ravens the location of the second group. Russ analyzed the signals and quickly deduced the enemies battle plan. The first group of forty fighters where likely meant to tie up their fighter screen while the sixty fighter/bomber unit bypassed the action and attacked their fleet directly.

Russ and the other Raven's banked right onto an intercept course while the radar showed the icon's for Cobalt and Denim flights engage the approaching enemies with missiles. Afterward, a significant number of enemy contacts disappeared. "This is Denim lead to all friendly craft, the enemy appears not to possess countermeasures" Russ gave a wicked smirk that was mirrored by all the other human pilots.

The playing field just became a lot more even.

X CMS Victory, command bridge X

Santize watched as half of his strike craft closed with the enemy, satisfied that his superior tactics would win the day over the pirates. However, his smile quickly faltered as instead of sending all their fighters to engage his distraction force of forty fighters the enemy only sent eight of their own. His smile was completely wiped off his face as the enemy craft launched some type of homing rockets that shot down eight of their craft from long range. Even the enemy seemed to hesitate in surprise before they began to fire more of the same weapon, getting two more salvo's off before the two groups merged.

Santize growled as his initial fighter force was taken from forty craft down to sixteen before having a chance to engage the enemy. "Send in reinforcements to the first group" Santize ordered "Send the 3rd and 4th fighter squadrons in now and deploy the first frigate group to the center. We'll go right up the middle if we have to!"

Santize watched as thirty more aircraft joined the center melee while four of his frigates pushed forward. The enemies use of advanced weapons was starting to grate on his nerves. Perhaps the pirates had discovered some advanced lost race on the planet and utilized their technology? If so then he may get promoted straight to the president of Corneria if he could acquire the tech for the Cornerian Army. Hell, he would be lauded as the man who revolutionized the Cornerian military! Emboldened by this thought Santize ordered the second part of his plan "Tell the bomber groups to engage! Circle around the left and take out those frigates!"

X Great Fox X

"The fighting has begun as both Cornerian and Pirate fighters duck it out. As you can see despite the numerical advantage the pirates are fighting hard but even now the Cornerian Navy is putting on the pressure and sending in addition fighters and a frigate pack." Jessica relayed to the camera as distant explosions and flashes of laser fire crisscrossed a distance away. While Jessica put on a brave and confident front for the audience, she had been slightly caught off guard by the loss of twenty-four Cornerian pilots in the opening seconds of the battle.

ROB suddenly spoke up from where he stood in the bridge. "ACTING ADMIRAL SANTIZE HAS ORDERED THE FLANKING ASSAULT ON THE ENEMY FLEET."

Jessica turned to the bridge window again as the camera showed a large group of fighters and bombers break off and begin moving around the left along with three frigates and a cruiser. "Well, viewer it looks like Admiral Santize is beginning his push. Has there been any response from the pirates ROB and where is Star Fox at this time?"

ROB turned to the female grey fox before replying "THE ENEMY FORCES HAVE SENT FIVE FIGHTERS TO INTERCEPT. PILOTS JAMES MCCLOUD, PIGMA DENGAR, AND PEPPY HARE ARE MOVING TOWARD THE CENTER BATTLE TO AID THE ALLIES THERE."

Jessica raised a brow as ROB whipped back to the command station at the same time explosions and laser fire started up on the left side of the battlefield. "Only five fighters? Well, folks looks like the pirates are trying to keep their frigates and cruiser out of harm's way but are pretty desperate. I mean any military strategist or pilot will tell you that five fighters against sixty with a frigate and cruiser support are suicidal odds th"

Jessica was cut off by a frantic call from ROB "ALL STAR FOX PILOTS DIVERT TO THE LEFT FLANK IMMEDIATELY! ALLIED FORCES SUFFERING EXTENSIVE CASUALTIES! BOMBER LOSSES ARE AT SEVENTY FI- EIGHTY-THREE PERCENT-… ALL BOMBERS LOST. ALLIED FIGHTERS ARE DOWN TO THIRTY-FIVE PERCENT STRENGTH. FRIGATE CMS DONLNT REPORTS SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE- FRIGATE CMS DONLNT LOST."

Jessica and her stunned cameraman watched as the distant form of a Corneria frigate exploded as its power crystal ruptured. Around Lylat a sudden feeling of unease began to settle in.

X Orbit of Cerinia X

Russ smirked as another fighter was ripped apart by his craft's heavy cannons. The engagement with these aliens was almost unfairly in his favor. His aircraft was leagues more maneuverable, and still a fair bit faster than the ships of the enemies. This combined with his ships dominating sensors, threat identification, and terrifying payload meant he was shooting down hostiles left to right with pretty much impunity. Even the enemy corvette that tried to assault him was overwhelmed by a concentrated burst of his cannons.

However, it was this same frigate that gave him pause, he had noticed that all the enemy capital ships had this strange glowing crystal in the center of the ship. When he had seen it, the thing had screamed structural weakness and after shooting he was amazed that it had destroyed the whole ship. Deciding to find out what this painfully glaring weakness was Russ focused his sensors on the frigate nearby and nearly dropped his mouth in shock before keying his comms. "This is Fenrir be advised, the enemy ships are powered by a large crystal in the center of them that's a severe structural weakness. My sensors read it as crystalized Ether, I repeat enemy ships have large crystal Ether as their power source."

As Russ left his allies to ponder this new information, he reevaluated the enemy he was fighting. While the use of such a large power source was worrying about the fact that the enemy forces didn't have significantly more powerful engines and weapons were strange. Russ could only conclude that the alien's means of harvesting the crystals energy was wholly inadequate.

Deciding that if the enemy was going to present such an obvious target to him Russ lined up a run on the enemy frigate. He fired three micro missiles to tear open the shields before releasing a ten-second burst from his heavy cannons before the crystal cracked and exploded breaking the ship in half and causing a chain reaction of explosions on both of its severed halves.

X CMS Victory, Command Bridge X

Santize was panicking, his left flanking attempt had been stopped dead by only five fighters which had wiped out his bombers and destroyed one of his frigates. As he watched one of the said fighters attacked the cruiser CMS Hadenford's power crystal which took a devastating hit and ruptured destroying the vessel. Around him, his sensors officer and communications officer were shouting reports of losses and mayday calls.

With a growing sense of dread, Santize realized the enemy forces had technology he couldn't compete with unless he brought overwhelming firepower. "Order all remaining fighters into the center! All ships accelerate to max speed and close range with the enemy frigates! We have to overwhelm them!" Santize panicked before a voice spoke up from his personal comm.

"Admiral Santize, it appears you could use a hand." The deep voice of Lylat's most brilliant scientist Andross announced.

"Do you have anything to assist me Andross?" Santize nearly pleaded.

He heard Andross chuckle darkly "Why of course my fine Admiral. I've taken remote control of CXS Xerta and can provide you the opportunity to crush the enemy force. You need simply to cover the ship with your forces while it moves into range. I also recommend you have your ground transports follow close as their way to the planet is about to open."

Santize immediately ordered his ships as instructed while the Xerta accelerated forward toward the enemy forces.

X Cerinia Orbital Station X

Queen Meridia sat resolutely relaying information to the Guardian pilots from were she sat in the station's sensor suite. She had resolutely refused to evacuate until all the Cerinian's and humans did from both the station and the cruise ship. The station now only held herself and her daughter Krystal who stood by her in support while the human ship had evacuated half its occupants.

The battle outside had been going remarkably in their favor with the human fighters taking up most of the enemy force while the Guardians and frigates engaged what few enemy craft made it through the initial screen. There were limits to what the humans could do however and soon the human fighters were pushed back and now fought the enemy near and around their own corvettes. Now to make matters worse the entire enemy force was pushing toward them including their larger ships.

"Denim 3 and 4 lost, Denim 2 join Cobalt 1 and 3. Guardian six through nine, move to cover their sector. Guardian 3 pull out you've taken to much damage. Guardian 10 lost. Hold on every one civilian evacuation is fifty percent complete" the queen urged on as the enemy drew closer. So far, their losses had been four guardians, five human fighters and a single corvette. Painful losses to be sure but they had also destroyed four enemy corvettes, and a frigate as well as ninety enemy strike craft.

Queen Meridia heard a voice over the commlink "Cera this is Fenrir, I'm registering a power spike on an approaching frigate weight."

Meridia brought up her sensors and sure enough, at the head of the charging enemy forces, a unique looking ship was having a massive power spike. Switching to her outer cameras Meridia paled as she saw the ship's front split open and reveal a massive gun which glowed an ominous orange pointed right at the station "It's powering up an energy weapon!" she shouted just as the ship fired.

X Great Fox X

Jessica had quit speaking for the most part as more and more Cornerian losses mounted however at the sight of Santize's fleet all charging in she broke in again "Looks like the Admiral is moving in for the kill! ROB have you cracked the pirate's comms yet?"

ROB paused for a little bit before replying "AFFIRMATIVE ACCESSING ENEMY COMMUNICATIONS AND APPLYING TRANSLATIONS PROTOCOLS."

"Translation protocols?" Jessica asked confused.

"AFFIRMATIVE ENEMY FORCES USES TWO NON-LYLATIAN LANGUAGES. IT TOOK THIS UNIT FIVE MINUTES TO TRANSLATE." Rob reported which alarmed Jessica both at the two non-Lylatian languages and the long translation time. "ACCESSING THE COMMS NOW."

Jessica waited before a regal sounding female voice came over the comm "Denim 3 and 4 lost, Denim 2 join Cobalt 1 and 3. Guardian six through nine, move to cover their sector. Guardian 3 pull out you've taken to much damage. Guardian 10 lost. Hold on every one civilian evacuation is fifty percent complete!"

Jessica, already alarmed at the two-language comment immediately began questioning ROB "Wait civilians, why would civilians be part of a pirate base?"

ROB turned to her "AFTER ANALYSIS I HAVE DETERMINED THAT THE LIKELIHOOD OF THE ENEMY FORCE BEING PIRATES IS EXACTLY 2.34 PERCENT. THE PRESENCE OF HIGH-END TECHNOLOGY AND MIXED FIGHTER MODELS SUGGEST TWO UNKNOWN SPECIES. ADDENDUM LARGE VESSEL APPEARS TO ONLY BE ARRAYED WITH DEFENSIVE WEAPONRY. FACTORING THIS IN AND AFTER ANALYZING HOSTILE SHUTTLE PATTERNS THIS PLATFORM BELIEVES THE LARGE SHIP TO BE A CIVILIAN TRANSPORT OF UNKNOWN MAKE."

Jessica was in now near hysterics "Wait these people are aliens?! Why haven't you told Admiral Santize or James McCloud?"

ROB tilted his head "JAMES MCCOULD HAS BEEN NOTIFIED BUT IS STILL CONTRACTED BY THE CORNERIAN MILITARY TO ASSIST THEM AND SO CANNOT ABANDON THE CONTRACT UNTIL ORDERED. THIS PLATFORMS ATTEMPTS TO CONTACT ADMIRAL SANTIZE AND INFORM HIM OF NEW INTEL HAVE BEEN IGNORED."

Jessica was going to demand the robot try again when they noticed an ominous glow from the bridge's windows. Turning they were just in time to see the CXS Xerta's front open to reveal a massive cannon which fired an intense beam of energy.

Jessica, her cameraman, and the rest of Lylat looked on in horror as the beam swallowed an enemy corvette punched a hole through the large civilian ship, and finally detonated into the space station. They saw the ship that ROB had just finished explaining was a civilian transport seem to spark for a couple of seconds before a series of explosions consumed the ship. Nearby the space station fell out of its orbit and began slowly plummeting into the planet's atmosphere.

Jessica slowly sank to her knees "What have we done?"