Solar Opposites

I guess you could call Sol and Alpha Centauri "solar opposites."

Is that a pun? Yes. Is it bad? Almost certainly. Do I care? Well, considering the current situation, it's beside the point.

I didn't want to come here. I don't want to be here. I'm just the captain of a dinky little destroyer that was in orbit of Mars, reminding its colonists to not get too uppity lest the UCN put them in their place. If you're asking whether UCN stands for "United Colonial Nations" or "United Colonial Navy," the answer is yes. Because in their infinite wisdom, our leaders have two separate, albeit related organizations that share the same acronym.

Yes, I know we're also technically designated the UCA Navy, but meh, semantics.

Names aside, here I am, minding my business, and I get told that the helghast have invaded Vekta. Or, as my XO informed me, space Nazis. My first question was what the heck a Nazi was, and then she gave me a lecture in 20th century history, and I realized that the Nazis were nasty people. She then told me that Epsilon Eridani is home to space commies, and that one day, they might be a problem, but for now, we had to deal with space Nazis. Or, rather, the helghast, which is the term that I'll use for now on.

Basically, helghast are invading Vekta, which they consider theirs, but the UCN considers ours. Looking at the history of the First Extrasolar War, you could make a case for either. It's basically a war that started with space taxes. And if you think that sounds silly, as someone who's had plenty of time to study Earth history, trust me, it's not as silly as you might think.

Did you know there was a war in China fought over drugs? It's true. Look it up.

So, anyway, the helghast are invading Vekta, which is in orbit of Alpha Centauri B, while Helghan is in orbit of Alpha Centauri A. Fun fact, Helghan is closer to Earth than Vekta is, and a number of captains have asked why we don't just show up there and take the higs out. Good question. I don't know the answer. I'd ask my XO, but FTL travel is like sea sickness - when it hits you, it hits hard, and she's spent a good deal of the trip puking her guts out.

You might be asking at this point why, if you're vulnerable to space sickness, you'd enlist in the UCN. Well, to that, ask yourself this - if you request a posting above Mars, which is one of the most boring places in the Sol system, how often do you think you're going to travel at super-luminal speeds, eh?

I guess I shouldn't worry too much about puking guts, when the people of Vekta have probably been losing their guts. Or showing guts, if they're still holding out. Really, we don't know what's going on down there - comms. went down early in the invasion, so for all we know, the battle could be won when we arrive.

"Exiting FTL in one minute."

I'm standing on the bridge. My XO is no longer puking, and everyone else is likewise trying not to. Anyone who doesn't go into potential combat at least a little afraid is an idiot, plain and simple. That's not even dealing with guaranteed combat. But yeah. I'm afraid, people are afraid, and I really, really wish I was back in orbit of Mars. Heck, even Neptune would be better. I hear it's nice at this time of year.

"Thirty seconds and counting."

Funny thing about FTL - you really can't see what's ahead of you until you enter real-space. Gravity-manipulation technology means that we don't need to worry about inertia, and buffering technology means that we don't get splattered when we accelerate or de-accelerate. But really, we're dropping into a potential war-zone blind. And since the First Extrasolar War, there hasn't really been any operation like this. Least not by the UCN. Usually, any rowdiness in the colonies is left to the ISA - a smaller, more mobile military branch that gets an acronym that doesn't overlap with anything.

Lucky bastards.

"Exiting in ten. Nine. Eight."

Well, here it is. Being on a dinky little destroyer, all I have to do is follow orders, which will likely involve shooting something. If I don't have to shoot anything, then-

"Three. Two. One. Exiting."

...fuck me, there's shooting.

The shooting coming at the fleet is from the SD platforms - the ISA's brain child for defending Vekta against any invading space Nazis (did I say I wasn't going to use that term again? I lied.). Only now, it's firing at us. Hundreds of satellites spread across Vekta's orbit, who are tearing into the ships come to help them.

Two options run through my head.

One, the helghast have taken control of the satellites, and therefore, the planet.

Two, the ISA has betrayed us, and has taken control of the planet.

Like, bad-control, not Earth-approved control.

Really, I don't know which option is less appealing. A ship goes boom, then another, then one after that. So, being caught with our pants down (not literally, thought that did once happen to be in the bathroom when the a-grav gave out), the admiral orders us to start shooting back.

I oblige, and so does the gunnery officer. Missiles shoot through the darkness, as do projectiles moving at 50% lightspeed. Right now, I reason that either:

a) I'm safe - the SD platforms will go after the cruisers and carriers first, as they can do more damage.

b) I'm not safe - I'm just a dinky little destroyer which can easily be destroyed and-

"Breach in hull, sector two, aft!"

"Engines going critical!"

Well, fuck. It's option b. And we're all about to die.

A coin was flipped, I used my head, but instead, I've been shot in the tail. Not that coins are a thing these days.

Now, you might wonder what I'm going to do in my last moments. Make a pretty speech? Order the ship to evacuate (fat lot of good that'll do). Go out in a blaze of glory?

You're wrong. Because there's a view of the star before us. Alpha Centauri B. Really unremarkable, not much different from Sol, or any other main sequence star. But I've got this weird sense that this isn't going to end.

Oh, the battle will end, whoever wins. But now the war. Somehow, I think it's going to be going on for awhile. That between Earth and Alpha Centauri, it always will.

So in my last seconds in this universe, I utter the first words that come to mind.

"Solar opposites."

And then we blow up.

Boom.