LIBERI FATALIS: The Therianthrope Chronicles

by Eddie-E

A crossover between Ace Combat, Katmandu and another, surprise famous furry comic. A Japanese scientist during the onset of World War II in Europe devises a groundbreaking theory of evolution whose effects will resonate not only on Earth but also throughout the universe for centuries to come. Rated M for language and mature situations.

12. CHISHATA (PART 1)

ACT XII: CHISHATA (PART 1)

---

The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

---

SD 195-11-02, Somewhere in space, 0800 hours

Somewhere in the depths of outer space, one can see what appears to be a very common-looking spacecraft, like many of the ships that navigate through one of that area's busiest trade routes, which would be a fairly common sight for anyone at that time, and would be something that would not attract the attention of anyone under normal conditions.

What no one knew was that this ship was no ordinary ship, and for good reason: That ship was the DH270, a ship belonging to the Extraplanetary Defense Force (EDF), that was on its way to the Chishata solar system. The ship was on a secret mission, which only its crew knew exactly what it was going to be.

And with regard to that ship and its crew, one cannot avoid mentioning the captain of the ship, who was just getting out of bed and headed for the bridge, where he would start his job.

-"Good morning, captain."-

-"Uhmm..."- The captain grumped a bit, while trying to getting his eyes opened as fast as he could. -"good morning, Helmut."-

-"Did you had a good sleep, sir?"-

-"You could say yes, although I had some trouble falling asleep at first."-

-"I think it would be too pointless to ask the reason, wouldn't it?"-

-"That's right."-

-"Well, if it serves as consolation, I also had some problems sleeping as well, although that was partly because I had to get up earlier than you for work, no offense intended for you of course, sir."-

-"Don't worry about it, that makes two of us."-

-"Indeed, sir"-

The captain of the ship was none other than Itzak Arrat, an Equine (horse) and an old friend of Erma Felna from school. And it was not for less, since the parents of both, Joseph Arrat and Kanoc Felna, were veterans of the First Lepine War, who both fought in it together. And, like his childhood friend, he also joined the EDF to continue with the family tradition, just like his father, grandfather and the rest of the Arrat clan from the very beginnings of the Confederation of Planets and the EDF as well.

But ironically, his first mission he had been assigned as spacecraft captain since he was promoted last year was probably going to be an extremely sensitive mission, and possibly one of the most difficult ones of his career.

His and the ship's crew mission was to go to the Chishata solar system, where there was a space mining colony owned by the EDF in several asteroids that were found within the system and investigate what had happened there, as the EDF had not been able to establish communication with the space stations in that area for almost a month. And one could infer that something terrible could have happened there so they couldn't make contact with the rest of the ConFed or at least call for help should it have been necessary.

And that possibility was something that Itzak couldn't even imagine, not even as a jest, so the only thing he could wish for was that the reason those settlers couldn't communicate was because of some technical problem and nothing else.

Putting aside his worries, Itzak arrived at the DH270 command bridge, where his crew was eagerly waiting for him in order to proceed with their trip to Chishata.

-"Good morning, Captain!"- The crew cheered at him. -"Ready to work today?"-

At least it was good to know his the crew was in a very good mood that day. This helped Itzak to have a more positive attitude towards the situation he was going to face in Chishata, because nobody knew what they would find there if something really bad had happened in the mining colony and with its residents.

-"Yes."- Itzak replied with a smile in his face. -"Is the ship ready to jump yet?"

-"The ship is ready to jump as soon as you command, sir."- One of the ship's crew members confirmed the ship's status.

-"Is there anything else I should know?"- The Equine captain asked.

-"No, sir."- Helmut, the Feline second-in-command of the ship, replied at his senior. -"Everything seems to be OK."-

-"Captain, all stations are ready at your command!"-

-"The same goes here, sir!"-

All crew members of the ship confirmed the final status of the ship, after making the necessary checks to avoid any later problem when jumping to Chishata. Seeing that everything seemed in order, the ship seemed ready to jump.

-"All right, everybody. The ship will be ready to jump, get ready everyone and make sure to fasten your belts and put on your astronaut suits. We'll jump in 20 seconds."-

Itzak warned his crew beforehand, while everyone, including him, was preparing to jump by adjusting all safety measures to avoid any other hiccup.

-"The ship will jump in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0... JUMP!"-

And in the blink of an eye, the DH270 accelerates all its thrusters to full power, and suddenly, the ship disappears completely from view, entering into a different dimensional plane that allows it to travel beyond the speed of light and make a journey that would normally take decades and reach from one place in the universe in a matter of short time.

---

SD 195-11-02, DH270, Outskirts of the Chishata solar system, 0830 hours

After half an hour, the DH270 achieves its goal of reaching Chishata without problems.

The ship, for security reasons, decided to jump to the far reaches of the system in order to observe what could be happening both in the mining colony and in the solar system itself, so as to avoid being attacked in case the colony had been attacked by someone, such as, for example, space pirates or terrorists.

-"Well, it looks like we've reached Chishata. I need everyone to be aware of what might be around us. I would not like us to suffer from any unpleasant surprises."-

-"Yes, sir!"-

Once in Chishata, Itzak and his crew started to work to know what was going on in those moments in the system, as well as to know if the mining colony was suffering from any kind of problem. Although the most normal thing would have been to reach the place to know what had happened, there was also the risk that doing so they could fall into a trap or be ambushed by any enemy that was in the vicinity. It was an unfortunate situation, but Itzak and his crew were not going to risk falling into a scenario from which they could not escape later, even if it meant leaving the colony's inhabitants to their own fate.

Three hours after arriving at the system, the DH270 crew had not been able to get any information about the place. There was no sign of movement from either the colony or its surroundings, and there was no indication, either visual or measured by the spacecraft devices, that something was happening there.

There were two possibilities: Either the DH270 had not yet been detected by anyone or something had happened in the colony that prevented communication with anyone. The Equine captain, knowing that he had a bad feeling that something might not be right in the colony, decided to take action.

-"I think it would be best to cautiously reach the colony and find out what's going on."- Itzak later put his sights on his second-in-command. -"How long would it take us to get there, Helmut?"-

-"About seven days, Captain."-

-"Seven days, huh?"-

Itzak replied with some tone of concern, knowing that given the oddity of the current situation, by the time they get there it may have been too late. But there was no other way to get there faster without either risking the ship or blowing their cover, assuming they had not been detected by whoever might be there, if there was any hostile outsider out there, of course.

-"I guess you also want us to prepare for whatever we find ourselves in the colony, right?"-

-"Right."- The captain confirmed what his XO (executive officer) said. -"So we need to prepare a few ACVs just in case."-

-"Understood, sir."- Helmut replied. -"I will order the ACVs to be ready when we arrive at the colony."-

-"Thank you, Helmut."-

---

SD 195-11-02, ILR Unknown Cargo Ship, 1130 hours

The Chishata Mining Colony was a group of several space stations located inside an asteroid belt, which is located in a region of a solar system with the same name and at a very prudent distance from its two twin stars.

A peculiarity of this solar system is that it has no planets, whether livable or not, and the only celestial body of that system is the aforementioned asteroid belt. It is believed that belt was the product of the destruction of a planet that existed many centuries ago when the solar system gained another star, which caused a cataclysm that destroyed it, and the only thing left are asteroids that revolve around those stars.

The space stations were built on each asteroid, where the precious and rare minerals that were inside were extracted through the use of robots, which greatly facilitated the work, because many times they had to work in the vacuum of space, while the inhabitants of the colony were mainly responsible for processing the minerals, which were separated from the asteroids' rocky material by solar furnaces that were inside the space stations. Due to the location of the colony in a solar system with two suns, this allowed to separate the minerals very easily, something that normally would take more time on land.

Most of the inhabitants of the colony were people from other parts of ConFed who had gone to Chishata with the hope of earning money for their families in their places of origin, knowing beforehand that it was not going to be a easy job, with robots and all.

And with respect to the latter, the colony had a situation it had never faced in its history...

The colony had been invaded by what seemed to be Lepines with ILR hardware.

Without warning, a fleet of two spacecraft with ILR livery stormed the colony and in a matter of hours the Lepine soldiers had subdued all the inhabitants of the stations without much resistance. Apparently they had a specific objective, which was to plunder many of the rare and precious minerals that were in the colony, something that they also achieved easily.

The soldiers, through the use of robots or by themselves, took all the minerals they could in special containers and introduced them to one of the ships, where those materials would be carried to their intended destination.

But they also had an even more sinister goal, knowing beforehand that they could not let anyone know they had been there, and now their goal was to take no prisoners.

The leader of the fleet, who was in his capital ship with his respective crew, which was a cargo ship, had given the order to finish the work and to deal with the prisoners of one of the space stations, which had been locked in a warehouse inside the aforementioned place and was large enough to accommodate all its residents.

But even he had his doubts about the need to do that for several reasons: The first was that to do so would not help their cause in any way, and the other and what worried him most was the person who was in charge in raiding the colony was someone who even by the standards of the ILR armed forces was a extremely disgusting person. And worst of all, at least for him, that person was considered a national hero, someone who was admired by both the senior leadership and the civilian population of the ILR.

That person was Colonel Amenenha, a veteran of the First Lepine War, who had fought fiercely against the newly formed EDF, and had saved many of his fellow citizens from certain death when the aforementioned EDF attacked several civilian colonies. Those feats had earned the man many medals throughout his military career, especially during that war.

This wouldn't have been a big deal if it wasn't for a small detail: Amenenha was a very brutal man, who seemed to enjoy making his enemies suffer by methods which in the hands of another person would have been regarded as depraved and vicious, and in ordinary times would have caused him to be executed for his crimes, but for some reason people admired him because he did what had to be done at that time, whatever the reason.

In fact, and because of the bloody nature of his crimes, he was known to both EDF, the ConFed, and even to some members of the ILR armed forces, as the Executioner of Baka, in reference to the city of the same name, where he is said to have executed several EDF soldiers by locking them in an abandoned building and then setting it ablaze with their prisoners, while they screamed in terror as they were incinerated during the fire. It was said that he was doing it to save ammo he could have used for an ordinary execution. In the opinion of that officer, a bullet in the head would have been less cruel than the methods of that man, and he could not help concealing his contempt for such a person.

And as for Amenenha, he seemed to be taking too much time to do his job. But considering that his men were hunting every person at that station, it was normal for him to take too long, although for that captain, the only thing he wanted was to finish his job and finally leaving that lousy place for good.

-"Does anyone know if the colonel has finished combing the entire crew of the station?"-

-"According to a report from him, he has finished looking for each and every one of the station's residents."- One of the ship's crewmembers confirmed that data. -"Now all that's left is to finish the demolition work."-

The captain could not help but feel an ambivalent sense of comfort and disgust, considering the person they were addressing to, and his methods.

But he knew very well that the orders were very clear and they could not leave any witnesses around, but even he would have preferred a less bloody method or even resorted to any other member of the ILR except Amenenha. That Lepine man was not going to settle for simply executing his prisoners in a more conventional way.

-"Good."- The captain retorted with unease. -"Now tell the colonel that as soon as he finishes his work, he and his men must return to the Zehtoh ASAP to get us out of this place."- The captain also gave a final warning addressed to him. -"And also tell him that we don't want any theatricality with his work, we just want him to deal with the prisoners, and that's it. Am I clear?"-

-"Yes, sir"-

-"All right. Now let's just hope the colonel doesn't screw up things this time."-

---

SD 195-11-02, Chishata Mining Colony N0. 1, 1200 hours

-"Are all the prisoners in the warehouse as I have ordered?"-

-"Yes, sir."- One of Amenenha's men replied at his senior. -"We've searched every single corner of the space station and we believe there are no more people to look for, sir."-

-"Good job."-

These were the words of the aforementioned Colonel Amenenha, that man whose name inspired fear and terror even in his own men, and for many reasons. To begin with, he had his own physical appearance: Amenenha was a white-furred Lepine, and besides that, he was also an one-eyed man, whose left eye had lost him, rumor had it, in the famous Battle of Baka during the First Lepine War, from where he had obtained his famous nickname, The Executioner of Baka. There was also the fact that he had lost half of his right ear in the same way and, although he may have reconstructed his eye and ear using cybernetic or biological implants, for some reason he refused to do so, most likely because in that way he could instill fear into his enemies in a very effective way.

But even among his most loyal men, Amenenha was a person whom no one in his right mind would dare to question his methods, however brutal they might be. Many would have been content to simply execute the prisoners in a more traditional manner and thus save a lot of time and effort, but that man was not someone who was simply going to settle for something as simple as that.

And with regard to the aforementioned prisoners, they were already inside the station's warehouse, many of them terrified of what could happen to them at the hands of those Lepines, much less at the hands of someone so legendarily brutal as Amenenha was, a man so hated and reviled in both the EDF and the ConFed that a huge monetary reward for his head was offered to anyone who could give reports on his whereabouts or kill him, whichever happened first.

-"Colonel, would you like us to start disposing of the prisoners now?"- The soldier said with a grim grin in his face. -"Our weapons are ready and we can begin the job at your command, sir."-

-"That wouldn't be necessary".-

This really intrigued that young soldier, who was also eager to open fire on those prisoners, but seeing that the colonel had other plans, he had no choice but to obey.

-"With all due respect, what do you mean by that, sir?"-

-"Just watch this, and you'll soon understand, young man."-

-"Uh?"-

-"For now, close the door to that warehouse and get as far away from it as you can."- Amenenha ordered him. -"This is going to get really good."-

-"Yes, sir!"-

The invading soldiers quickly proceeded to close the warehouse door, leaving the prisoners locked inside.

---

The station's prisoner crew began to scream in fear and horror, seeing that their end was very near. Worst of all, they didn't know exactly how they were going to die. Only Amenenha knew how those settlers would meet their end, and considering him, it would possibly be a very violent and messy death.

-"Mom, what's going to happen to us?"- A small Canine girl said.

-"I don't know, dear, I don't know!"- The latter's mother replied to her daughter in a futile attempt to keep the girl's composure. -"I just hope we're okay."-

-"Okay you said?"- Another man yelled in despair. -"WE ARE GOING TO DIE!"-

-"SILENCE!"- A Feline woman yelled at that man, while trying to calm the cries of his little baby kitten boy. -"Do you want to freak the kids out?"-

---

Meanwhile, Amenenha and his men had moved away from the door as he had ordered. Before starting with what he had planned, he first began to verify that everything was in order so that there would be no further problems.

-"Is the door secured and sealed as ordered?"-

-"Yes, sir"- One of his soldiers replied. -"The door is sealed according to protocol and everything is in order, sir."-

-"Very good."- Amenenha smiled. -"I'm just going to warn you beforehand this station is going to rock a little after this."

-"Uh?"-

The colonel pulled out of his trouser pocket a device with several buttons. The soldiers quickly realized what kind of device it was, and it was a remote explosive detonator, something that some quickly deduced, to their horror, what their senior officer intended to do.

-"Sir, do you intend to...?!"-

Without even thinking twice, Amenenha pressed the button that deactivated the lock, and then the detonator. What followed was a series of strong explosions, not powerful enough to damage the station, but enough to destroy the warehouse, which was located in a region of the station far enough away from the main structure to be damaged by shrapnel, along with all the prisoners inside.

Due to the vaccum of space, the terror and death screams of the unfortunate prisoners, as well as the sound of the explosions, were barely audible to the people who were still in the station, in this case the ILR soldiers under the Amenenha command who had carried out such a crime.

And with regard to the latter, even they could not believe that their boss would be able to carry out such a massacre at the push of a button. Now they understood why Colonel Amenenha had the nickname The Executioner of Baka, only this time, instead of setting fire to a building with everything and its occupants, he blew up a warehouse full of prisoners, so that, if they were not killed victims of the explosions first, the void of space would do it later.

-"And if anyone has the nerve to ask me why I did all this, I wanted first of all to save bullets in case there was a problem later."- The colonel warned his men about what he did, after seeing their faces. -"In fact, I put the bombs on my own inside the warehouse before you guys dumped the prisoners a few hours ago. I might add that we have orders on not to leave anyone alive here, and I didn't want us to spend bullets on having to finish off the prisoners in case we had to execute them the old-fashioned way."-

Faced with that grim warning, no one dared to question the colonel's decision, and the silence among all those present was almost universal.

-"And to make sure that no one is really left alive, we also have orders to destroy the station with a nuclear bomb. We will use a 5 megaton nuke, which will be enough to destroy the colony once and for all. At this time, the bomb is being installed in the station's power center, which will increase the magnitude of the explosion. This will also help to leave no evidence of our presence here. Unfortunately, we don't have any more nukes for the rest of the other stations in the colony, so me and my men had to come up with what we had on hand. This will also help stop anyone who tries to rescue the rest of the settlers."-

Interestingly enough, one of the soldiers ventured to ask the colonel a question regarding the subject.

-"Do you have a question?"-

-"Yes, sir. We all agree that all evidence of our presence must be erased, but do we need to use atomic weapons for this?"-

-"Good question, kid."- The colonel replied, as he already expected that kind of questions. -"In case anyone thinks this is an exaggeration of mine, the orders to use nukes come from the upper echelons, not mine. In fact, I think it would have been more practical to use conventional weapons to demolish the place, but as you know, orders are orders."-

And in that instant, Amenenha received a call from the mother ship to his communication device in his ear, exactly from the captain of the latter, interrupting his talk with his men.

-"Yeah, captain?"-

-"Can you tell me what the blazes you just did, Colonel?"- The captain yelled angrily at Amenenha so loud that even his voice was heard by the rest of Amenenha's men close to him. The colonel had to take the device out of his ear to avoid going deaf to all the yelling. -"We felt that damn explosion up here in the ship, and besides that, we're seeing lots of debris, based what we're scanning from the sensors and also the cameras."

-"Well, I dealt with the prisoners as ordered, Captain. Wasn't that enough for you?"-

-"Yeah, but, was it necessary to use explosives?!"- the captain still yelled at the colonel. -"I warned you beforehand that I didn't want any theatricalities with that, Colonel!"

-"You know we can't afford to spend ammunition on so many prisoners, so I decided to take some measures, and I set some bombs in the warehouse, which is in a separate section from the rest of the space station, so that when they explode, they will only destroy the warehouse, but without damaging the rest of the station. If you guys felt the shock of the explosion, I apologize for that, it was not my intention at any time."-

-"I know that, Colonel, but we have two problems: The first one is that there is a lot of debris floating near our position because of you, and at this moment my XO gave the order to clean the whole mess with robot drones everything that might stand in our way when leaving the station. That will take a few hours, since there are also many corpses and biological material floating there."-

-"And what's the second problem, captain?"-

-"The second problem we have is that we detected an unidentified spaceship approaching the station. We do not know who the ship belongs to, because it is still a week away, but most likely the EDF must have sent some kind of expeditionary fleet to know what had happened here, so we must get out of here as soon as possible. Most likely they should have seen your explosion and now they know that something is not right here."-

-"Understood, captain. We will return to Zehtoh as possible."-

-"And another thing: When we're out of danger, I'll talk to you about the explosion. Don't think that because you are a war hero you think you can disobey orders with impunity, do you understand?"-

-"Understood."-

-"Good. Over and out."-

The colonel was visibly annoyed to see that the captain did not seem to appreciate his work and his explanations for which he had to destroy the warehouse with everything and the prisoners. But even among the most loyal of his men, they could not help but think that the captain was right and that their commanding officer had perhaps enjoyed the fact that he had blown up that place and all those civilians perhaps a little too much.

-"There are people who don't value what one does for their country."-

No one was bold enough to say anything else to back up what the colonel had said.

-"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here before the captain has more reasons to be mad at me."-

-"Yes, sir!"-

And so, all of Amenenha's soldiers rushed to his ship, the Zehtoh, from where they would depart for their home. Many of them were happy to be able to leave that space station and especially the mining colony, once they fulfilled their duty to get everything worthwhile inside the station, mainly precious and rare minerals that could be useful for their country in a near future.

But even the ILR soldiers who had participated in the operation inside that station couldn't help but comment on their boss behind their backs, especially after having blown up that warehouse with everything and prisoners inside, considering that it was already too vile and cowardly even by ILR standards. Not to mention that the men loyal to the colonel had done other things inside the other space stations of the colony, but the other soldiers who didn't work on his watch knew nothing about it.

-"Well, it's good to know we're going home now."- A soldier said quietly to his other partner at his side. -"This was already starting to stress me out."-

-"Indeed."- The other Lepine soldier replied with a smile in his face. -"I wouldn't have liked to see what other things the colonel would have done if we'd had enough time to be here."-

-"You mean the whole warehouse thing?"-

-"Yes, that's what I meant."- The other soldier commented on the execution of prisoners inside the station, something that even for him was too much to stomach. -"To be honest, I wouldn't have wished that kind of death on my worst enemy even in the worst possible circumstances."-

-"SHHH! BE QUIET, YOU MORON!"- The soldier who began the discussion shut up his interlocutor, afraid that the colonel would listen to them. -"You want the colonel to hear you saying that?"-

-"Of course not!"-

-"You know very well that this man is called The Executioner of Baka for a damn reason, after having done a similar feat in that city during the war."- The soldier explained his reasons why he feared Amenenha, considering his reputation in the First Lepine War. -"And the truth is that I would not like to be in the place of those prisoners if that man were in a bad mood and wanted to punish me in the same way."-

-"Agree."-

But to the misfortune of those two soldiers, the whisperings of those two men reached Amenenha's ears, angering the colonel to see that they seemed to be talking behind his back.

-"WHAT THE BLAZES YOU TWO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"-

-"No-nothing, sir!"- The two men replied, visibly afraid at that man. -"We were just saying it was good to return home, sir!" -

-"Well, it seemed to me like you two idiots were talking about me."-

Both soldiers gulped at the sight that the colonel may have heard the criticisms made by those young officers directed at him.

-"Nope! We weren't talking about you, sir!"- The first soldier tried to deny what he said about the colonel. -"We were just saying that it was good that you should give us a chance to rest once we got home, that's what we were talking about, right?"-

-"Yeah, right!"-

The colonel grunted when he saw that these two men seemed to be hiding something. But at the same time, Amenenha was not in the mood to know what else they had said about him, since the most important thing was to leave the station as quickly as possible. Any other matter about his men talking behind his back would have to wait for another day.

-"All right, I don't have time for this nonsense, so I'll leave this for another time."- Amenenha said with an annoyed expression in his face. - "You better not have talked badly about me behind my back or else you'll know why they call me The Executioner of Baka. Did I make myself clear, you idiots?"-

-"YES, SIR!"-

-"OK, that's good. Now let's get out of this big pile of space junk!"-

After ending the discussion, the colonel and the rest of the ILR soldiers quickly left the space station, thus leaving for their country before the Itzak Arrat's spacecraft could reach the colony.

---

SD 195-11-02, ILR Zehtoh's Bridge, 1245 hours

The Zehtoh, the spacecraft from which Amenenha and his men came, was a more or less decent sized spacecraft, large enough to carry all the ILR troops needed to take control of all the colony's mining space stations without much difficulty. It is worth mentioning that in addition to being the leader of the assault squadron that took control of those stations, Amenenha was also the captain of the Zehtoh, a privilege he won after the First Lepine War due to his actions in that conflict. And with regard to the latter, the aforementioned colonel had already sat in his command chair, from where he would give the appropriate orders.

-"XO, are all the soldiers inside the ship yet?"-

-"Yes, captain."- The executive officer replied at his senior. -"All our men are already on their corresponding ships. If you also want to know, sir, the loot is already in the other ships in the same way. Due to space constraints, we could not introduce any more cargo, so any extra had to be introduced in other ships. Let's just hope this doesn't cause any problems when it comes to jumping into friendly territory."-

-"I don't think we should worry so much about the booty. We should leave that to the rest of the fleet, while we should care about our own well-being."- The colonel tried to shrug off the fact they are not going to carry any valuable cargo in his ship, as he thought his men are more valuable than any amount of money they could get from that place. After all, money can be recovered, but not those men's lives. -"As for that, tell the fleet captain that we are ready to leave as soon as he issues the order."-

-"As you wish, sir."-

And without further ado, the ILR fleet quickly abandoned that mining space station, leaving it completely uninhabited as the ILR annihilated all its occupants...

---

SD 195-11-02, Chishata Mining Colony N0. 1, 1310 hours

...or at least that's what they thought.

It turned out that within that station, two children had hidden inside one of the station ventilation ducts when the ILR had stormed their station. The two children were a female Equine named Carla and a male Feline named Gio, who were able to emerge unharmed from the entire incident once the soldiers left the station.

What those cubs didn't seem to be aware of until then was that their parents might already be dead at the hands of Amenenha by blowing up the warehouse where they could have been at that time. But the most important thing then was to get out of their hiding place and decide what to do now.

-"Hey, Gio, looks like the soldiers are gone."-

-"Really, Carla?"-

-"That's right, since I haven't heard anything for several minutes."-

-"Then let's get out of this place. I was already getting claustrophobic from being in this junk for so long."-

The children came out of the ventilation duct, both relieved to know that the Lepines had left the place. After walking several minutes through the station without finding a single soul inside, and without knowing what had happened to their families, since the station had no windows that would allow them to see into outer space and thus know what had gone on in the warehouse, both cubs assumed something completely different.

-"Hey, Carla, did you find anyone around here?"-

-"Nope."- The Equine girl replied, visibly frustrated after being unable to find either her family or anyone else. -"I haven't found anyone so far."-

-"Do you think those Lepines would have taken everyone as prisoners?"-

-"Quite likely. We have not been able to find anyone so far."-

-"Don't you think we should ask the Net about what might have happened?"-

-"Let's try it out."-

When Gio asked about the whereabouts of the rest of the station crew, he received no response from the computer. After the Feline boy saw what was around him, the reason was pretty obvious: The invaders had destroyed both the security cameras and the sound receivers inside the station to prevent anyone from knowing who exactly was responsible for the assault, leaving the Net unable to provide an answer to the children about what happened a few hours ago.

-"Damn, those rabbits must have destroyed everything that could have identified them when they came in here."-

Carla, despite being equally upset by what happened and for very good reasons, considering that she had not been able to find her family in the same way, did not like to hear her friend refer to the Lepines as rabbits. When this might have sounded relatively innocent to anyone, in the society where they both lived, there was a big difference between calling someone by their racial group name (Feline, Lepine, Ursine, etc.) and calling someone by their more generic name (cat, rabbit, bear, etc.) since for them this is like using a racial slur.

-"Be careful what you say, will you?!"- Carla replied in disgust. -"I also have Lepine friends and they're not all like those guys who stormed the station. It is very likely that they are space pirates or terrorists."-

-"And who the blazes would tell me those bunnies aren't from the ILR?"- The Feline angrily retorted at his friend. -"My mom once told me that those cotton-asses caused a war years ago and killed many people. If I were you, I wouldn't trust them much, and after what happened today, I wouldn't hesitate to see them all dead!."-

Carla already had enough of listening to her friend's racist insults, especially after Gio used the slur Cotton-asses to refer to the Lepines as a whole. It was one thing to complain about what had happened for understandable reasons, and another was to want the destruction of an entire race by the actions of a few.

-"I HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR SLURS, GIO!"- The Equine girl yelled at Gio, while she stood in front of her friend in order to intimidate him a bit. Considering that Carla was quite tall due in part to the fact that she was an Equine, that caused the expected effect on him, who was a little shorter in size. -"If we get out of this alive, we can discuss what you want when we are rescued from here, but now the most important thing is to ask for help, instead of uttering nonsense about X species. Do you understand, Gio?"-

-"Yes, ma'am."-

The boy replied to his friend with a certain disdain, even though he knew she was right.

-"In that case, let's go to the control center and ask for help from there."- The girl made her way to the place she referred to in those very moments. -"It is very likely that we will be able to communicate with the Net from there in case nothing has been sabotaged there."-

-"Agreed."- Gio replied and he followed her without further discussion. -"Let's go."-

---

SD 195-11-02, Space Station Control Center, 1330 hours

After walking several minutes through the space station, both children managed to find the control center, which, for their luck, did not have its doors closed, considering that this kind of places usually require some kind of clearance to enter, and that's because the doors had been forcibly opened with explosives by the invading ILR soldiers.

For obvious reasons, the place was completely abandoned and there was a lot of mess everywhere, as the invading soldiers had taken all the crew as prisoners. Something remarkable was that, although the invaders had sabotaged the cameras and sound receivers inside the station, for some strange reason they had not done the same thing inside the control center, which was something to be thankful for, so they could ask someone for help.

Gio and Carla, in spite of being young cubs, had basic knowledge about how to use the station's communication systems in case of an emergency like the one they were suffering in those moments, since it was a requirement imposed on all the colony's residents. It also helped a little bit that they both knew how to operate some more advanced systems, such as radars and sensors, something they both learned in school in their spare time.

-"Hey, Gio, could you use the console instead of me?"- Carla asked for help from her Feline friend. -"Since you know, I can't... press any buttons easily without my virtual fingers right at hand."-

-"No problem. Leave it to me!"-

What Carla was referring to was her device called Virtual Finger Device (VFD). This was because Carla was an Equine, and her hands were actually hooves, which made many simple tasks, such as handling objects, more difficult than normal, and in order for her to do her daily tasks without many problems, such as writing on a computer, handling objects, among other things, she used an electromechanical device that was installed near her wrists of both arms, which was like a kind of glove with metal fingers controlled by a small computer that reacted to the movement of her arms or wrists. Although those fingers did not have the same mobility as a normal cybernetic implant, at least they allowed her a certain kind of help when it came to doing her daily tasks without problems. She was not the only person who used that device: Other people with hooves, such as Equines, Avians and other species with similar characteristics used the same device to help them in their normal lives without having to ask for help from someone else who has more fingers in their hands, such as Gio, who had four fingers to operate the control center console.

-"Well, according to the sensors, it looks like the enemy ship just left the station several minutes ago."-

-"That's good."- Replied Carla with some sense of relief, after seeing their enemies were out of their sight. -"Is there anyone we can ask for help?"-

-"Let me see."- Gio pressed some buttons, while activating the searching sensors in an attempt of finding someone, at no easy feat considering the Chishata system doesn't had any other planets besides the space mining colony near the asteroids, and the closest inhabitated place was light years away from them. -"It seems that there is something very close to us, although it seems that it is still very far from the colony. It doesn't look like an ILR ship, that's for sure."-

-"Can you check the IFF (Identify Friend or Foe) code on that ship?"-

-"Just give me some seconds, Carla."-

And after a few seconds of tense waiting, the computer finally gave an answer: That ship was Itzak Arrat's DH270, who was also heading towards the colony by orders of the EDF itself, after having lost contact with them.

-"Look, Carla, it's an EDF ship!"-

-"All right, we're saved!"- The Equine girl was relieved to know that ship was bound for the station in order to help them. Now the only thing to do was to let them know what had happened in the colony, so that they would be aware in advance. -"Gio, send them a distress signal and let them know what happened here right away."

-"Yes, ma'am!"-

---

SD 195-11-02, ILR Zehtoh's Bridge, 1420 hours

The Zehtoh seemed to cross the depths of outer space without any apparent problem, while its captain, Colonel Amenenha, was resting in his commanding chair, completely at ease knowing that the mission of raiding the Chishata mining colony went perfectly and without setbacks.

And everything would have been smooth for him if he had not received an important call from the captain of the other ship accompanying the Zehtoh on his way home.

-"Colonel Amenenha, don't you think you forgot to do one thing after you left that space station?"-

The soldier was somewhat intrigued by that question, for he was sure that he had already accomplished all the important goals of their mission, and he did not believe that he had missed anything else.

-"What kinda thing?"- The Lepine replied in a somewhat annoyed voice, as he disliked being questioned about his ability on his job. -"I thought I'd done everything I was instructed to, as far as I'm concerned."-

-"Well, you know, like wiping out the station, right?"-

Upon being reminded of that last order, the colonel took out of his pocket the detonator that he had previously stored while he was inside the space station, and that he had forgotten to use after traveling a safe distance for both ships before activating it.

-"Khai, I forgot it!"- Amenenha face-palmed after seeing the unused device in his hand. -"Thanks for reminding me, I'll use it right away."

-"OK."- The other captain replied. -"We're already a long way from the colony, so I don't think there's any problem in blowing the place up."-

-"Indeed."- The soldier replied with a devious smile in his face. -"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to use the device. Over and out."-

Once he was remembered to use the device, Amenenha, without even thinking twice, deactivated the detonator locks, and once the locks were already disengaged, the colonel pressed the buttons that activated the atomic bomb that had been set to destroy the space station he had stormed.

---

SD 195-11-02, Chishata Mining Colony N0. 1, 1440 hours

By activating the bomb, the explosive, by reacting with the space station fusion reactor, caused a nuclear chain reaction, which is powerful enough to consume everything around the reactor, including all inhabitable sectors of the station, the solar furnace that was used to process the minerals extracted from the asteroids, which caused another chain reaction on its part and finally and in a matter of only seconds, the ensuing explosion struck the control center, where Gio and Carla were at that time.

Gio and Carla, for their part, most probably they could not hear anything, or in the remote case they heard something, it was very likely that they could not do anything about it, since the nuclear explosion consumed the control center in question of only seconds. The speed of the explosion was such that Gio and Carla probably felt nothing before dying in the atomic hell unleashed by Amenenha...

---

SD 195-11-02, ILR Fleet, 1510 hours

...and with regards to the aforementioned Lepine, he only saw all of the above from afar, through the video cameras installed outside the Zehtoh, as a gigantic ball of atomic fire, while that man didn't seem to care a thing what he had done. After all, Gio, Carla and all the inhabitants of that station were killed for the simple sin of not being Lepines like he and his fellow ILR countrymen.

-"I hope you are already happy about the performance of my job after all."- Amenenha commented with the other captain of the fleet about the destruction of the station as if it was nothing, while he smiled in a somewhat sadistic smirk when he saw from the monitors the massive ball of fire created by the explosion that he unleashed through the atomic bomb that he placed inside that place. -"The space station is now completely gone as instructed."-

There was a brief pause in the communications between both ships. It was obvious that the other captain apparently did not know how to react to the complete indifference to the destruction of that space station caused by that seasoned colonel, even if their orders required the space station to be destroyed in one way or another. As that captain had already stated before leaving the colony, the destruction of that place served no other purpose than to cause terror among the population of the Confederation of Planets and the EDF, and in his very honest personal opinion, he did not believe that it helped the ILR cause in a singlest way. The fact that the destruction of the station was done by the infamous Colonel Amenenha, the Executioner of Baka, will not help things in changing that perception.

-"I can only say it was a good job, colonel."-

-"Is there anything else you want to share with me?"-

Another brief, awkward pause...

-"No, that's all for the moment. If there is anything else I need to talk to you about, I will let you know."- The captain replied with haste, for he only wanted to end the conversation so he would not continue talking with such a brutal man as the colonel was. -"Over and out."-

Once the conversation with Amenenha was over and he could no longer hear him, the captain of the fleet could no longer contain his anger and displeasure about the colonel, and he did it in a way that all the crew of his ship knew what he felt about that so-called national hero...

-"That psychotic, damned son of a BITCH!"- The captain yelled as he banged his fist against his chair. -"National hero MY ASS!"-

One of the crew members was frightened of what his captain had said about Amenenha, considering that the Net might be recording everything he was saying about the colonel, a fact he immediately noted.

-"Excuse me, sir, but I think you should be more careful, as anything you might say about the colonel could be used against you at any time."-

-"And who the blazes cares about that?"- The captain retorts back, not caring about what his higher ups could do with him back home. -"That guy is completely NUTS, as far as I'm concerned! Who was the imbecile who thought it was a good idea to send that freak on this mission?"-

-"I don't know, sir. I thought that was classified, even for us."-

-"Yeah, I know that!"- The man replied with considerable frustration to know that he did not know who was the person who ordered Amenenha to go with them on that mission, since that information was kept classified to maintain a certain degree of deniability in case they were captured by the enemy and tried to know who was the person responsible for all that. -"And that's one of the things that bothers me the most! And once we get home, I will personally make sure to report what I think of all this, so they won't send madmen like him again, at least not at my command!"-

-"I just hope you don't get into any trouble doing that, sir."-

-"Well, if that one-eyed old freak has a problem with me, he can spew it in my face!"- The Lepine captain said in a very apparent bravado on regards of the colonel. -"I'm not afraid of that stupid geezer, you know!"-

---

SD 195-11-03, DH270, Outskirts of the Chishata solar system, 1030 hours

A day has passed since the events of the colony and the destruction of one of its space stations. The DH270 was still five days away from the colony and its crew was trying by all means to make contact with the site, without success. Suddenly, an urgent voice message, which was encrypted, was received by the ship's crew.

-"Captain, we have received what appears to be an distress call from the mining colony."-

-"Really?"- Itzak replied in a surprised way after hearing that they had been able to get some information regarding the colony and its current situation. -"What does the message say?"-

-"Wait a few minutes please, sir."- The communications officer replied, while typing furiously in his keyboard. -"I'm trying to decrypt the message. For them to do this means that something very bad must have happened in the colony."-

After several minutes of tense calm, the officer managed to decipher the content of the urgent message, which had a lot of static, making it very difficult to hear its content. Leaving this aside, they could hear the voice of a little girl, who was speaking in a very pressing voice, but apparently without losing her composure.

-"This is a... BZZ... distress call for anyone... BZZ... who can hear this message. This is refinery space...BZZT... station number 4 located in the... BZZT... Chishata solar system. We have been... CRASH BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..."-

The last sound that could be heard before the transmission was cut off was like a pile of metal starting to crack violently, something that seemed that the person sending the message seemed not to have noticed during the recording of the message. For Itzak Arrat and the rest of his crew, all that had a very bleak meaning: The place where that little girl was sending the message could have been destroyed by an explosion, and most likely that person could not have survived the blast. The Equine captain couldn't help but feel bad knowing that someone might have died while sending that message, especially when it came to children.

-"This is horrible..."-

For several minutes, a grim silence was felt inside the ship. Even though many of the ship's crew were accustomed to seeing or hearing this sort of thing because of the nature of their work, to know that a child died without them being able to do anything about it was something that considerably lowered their morale. Obviously, the feeling that they had arrived too late was also very visible on the faces of all those men and women who were members of the crew of that spacecraft.

But Itzak did not intend to give up so easily, even in the face of such a tragedy, since he still hoped that it was still possible to do something about it.

-"I want you to keep trying to communicate with the other stations in the colony, to see if we can get a response from them."- The captain gave some orders to the communications officer, this time with a furious look in his face. -"And I also want you guys to look into any signs of armed attack by any invading fleet that could raided that colony, and if so, let me know ASAP."-

-"Yes, sir!"-

-"I guess we're not going to let this go unpunished, are we, captain?"-

Helmut, the XO, commented on what in his eyes was the widespread belief among the ship's crew about those terrible events. And it was evident, judging by the expression of fury in the face of Itzak Arrat, that he was not going to allow that girl's death to go without some kind of punishment.

But judging from the previous, Itzak did not want to talk more about the subject, so Helmut only decided to conclude the conversation with the following:

-"I don't blame you if you don't want to say anything else, so I can interpret your silence as a no."-

But that brief period of silence was interrupted by an intermittent sound from the ship's computers, precisely those of the communications officer. It seemed that there was something that caught the man's attention, a fact that he immediately brought to the knowledge of his captain as soon as he could.

-"Sir, sorry to interrupt your silence, but I detected what appear to be two unidentified ships."-

-"Two unidentified ships, you say?"-

-"Yes, sir."-

-"You know what kind of ships they could be?"-

-"Let's see: One appears to be a heavy transport ship and the other appears to be somewhat smaller, but I cannot deduce exactly what type of vessel it might be. It could be a troop transport ship or whatever, but we need to get closer to them to find out."-

-"How long would it take us to catch up with them?"-

-"Judging by the distance of both ships from the colony, it could be about seven days, although the heavy transport ship seems to be a little further away, which means that it would take about twelve more days to reach it."-

Itzak knew that trying to reach the enemy ships could take several days, but it was evident that they would not go anywhere either, considering that they needed several days to leave the solar system and jump to a safe place, so Itzak and his crew could accelerate their pace and at least try to attack them remotely without having to get too close to the enemy fleet.

---

SD 195-11-08, ILR Zehtoh, Within the Chishata solar system, 1230 hours

A week has passed since the previous events, where Itzak Arrat's DH270 had to make a long journey to try to reach the ILR fleet, which was trying to escape from the solar system while trying to jump once out of Chishata. The DH270 was still several million kilometers away from its target, but still more than enough distance to be able to attack the enemy without many fears.

The ILR fleet, on the other hand, was composed of a heavy cargo ship carrying all the precious minerals they had stolen from the mining colony a week ago and the Zehtoh, a somewhat smaller, but faster ship designed to transport personnel, as well as having defense armament to repel any enemy attack that might be directed at the fleet.

And with respect to this last ship, which was commanded by Colonel Amenenha, the presence of the EDF ship did not go unnoticed to him, to which he was already prepared beforehand for that contingency.

-"How far is that EDF ship from us, gentlemen?"-

-"Approximately several hours away, but I think it's enough distance to attack us if they want to, sir."-

-"Do you know if they've started doing anything?"-

-"So far, no, sir."-

-"Then this is the perfect opportunity for us to strike first before they do, especially if we consider that we cannot risk them attacking the cargo ship first."-

-"Yes, sir."-

Suddenly, the Net interrupted the Colonel's conversation to give a message to that man, since it was apparently urgent.

-"Sorry to interrupt your conversation, Colonel, but you have a very urgent call from the fleet leader."-

-"Really?"- The colonel replied somewhat annoyed that he had been interrupted in that way. -"Patch him through, please."-

-"Roger."-

The fleet leader, who was also the captain of that cargo ship of unknown name, wished to speak to the colonel, knowing that the EDF's DH270 was approaching them, and he wished to express his worries about it.

-"Colonel, I'm just going to be brief on this, but I don't need to remind you that my ship is a freighter and we don't have many defenses, so we'll leave that part to you. For our part, we will proceed to jump as quickly as we can and we will contact you once we are safe. I wish you luck, Colonel."-

-"Don't worry, it looks like it's only one ship."- Amenenha reassured the fleet leader of his commitment to defend him. -"Maybe the EDF thought that they would only have to face terrorists or space pirates, so our job will be simple. We will distract them, while you escape, and once out of danger, we will meet you when we are in friendly territory. Over and out."-

Once the communication was cut, the colonel proceeded to give some orders to his crew to try to deal with the EDF's DH270.

-"Okay, you heard that right."- Amenenha said. -"Now, deploy some ACVs, so we can blow those bastards out of the space."-

-"Yes sir!"-

The Zehtoh, in a matter of minutes, deployed their attack drones, named as ACVs (Autonomous Combat Vehicles) against the DH270. The ACVs are unmanned space combat drones, specially designed to attack targets in outer space and capable of performing maneuvers or actions that would be dangerous or impractical for a live pilot. These drones can be armed with different types of weapons as needed, or also, depending on the situation, can be used to attack the enemy directly as if it were a missile, as many ACVs also contain an explosive warhead for that contingency.

For that specific mission, the Zehtoh launched approximately twenty drones against the DH270, all armed with conventional weapons, in order to intercept the EDF ship and destroy it, or at least distract it long enough for both ILR ships to escape.

---

SD 195-11-08, DH270, Within the Chishata solar system, 1300 hours

For obvious reasons, the presence of the ILR's ACVs did not go unnoticed by the DH270 and its crew, which alerted Itzak Arrat so he could give the proper orders to deal with the drones.

-"Captain, we have detected the presence of twenty ACVs with hostile intentions heading our way!"-

-"ACVs, you say?"-

-"Yes, sir."- One of the officers in charge with the radars confirmed the info. -"We confirmed they are indeed ACVs and they are heading against us. I can't confirm their IFF, but they're definitely hostiles."-

That piece of news really unsettled Itzak, not only because they were being attacked, but also because those enemies were not merely terrorists or pirates, but very likely members of some unknown military force. The ACVs were weapons that were only within the reach of both the EDF and the ILR, and they were not the kind of weaponry that a pirate or a terrorist could get even on the black market under the best of odds.

For his luck and that of his crew, Itzak Arrat also had methods to repel the attack, and he would not hesitate to use them in those extremely sensitive conditions in which he and the DH270's crew found themselves.

-"Whoever is attacking us seems to have ACVs at hand, which means that it is very likely that the ILR could have something to do with this."- Itzak commented loudly at his crew about what he was thinking about the likely aggressors of his ship.

-"Are you sure of that, sir?"- Helmut, his XO, questioned him in a worried tone.

-"Who else could it be? I don't think that terrorists or pirates could suddenly possess ACVs and use them in such an organized manner as we are seeing on the radar."- The captain gave his reasons why he came to the conclusion that it was the ILR that was behind the launch of those drones. -"This is the work of an organized military force and only the ILR would use ACVs that way."-

-"In that case, we'd have to be careful to confront them directly, captain."- Helmut replied about the consequences on facing the ILR in direct combat. -"A mistake, and we could unleash an international incident, or even worse."-

-"The moment those damn rabbits started killing innocent civilians by destroying that civilian space station, the last thing I would care about is causing an international incident."- The Equine captain was completely decided on dealing with the ILR, regardless the consequences it could bring such rash action. -"Deploy some ACVs and send them on intercept course against the enemy ones. And keep some of them on-ship, so we can use them against the aggressors after dealing with their drones."-

-"Yes, sir!"-

Quickly and without further hesitation, the DH270 launched several ACVs (about twenty as well) into space in order to intercept the enemy ILR drones which had the EDF ship as their main target. The drones would travel an average distance of several thousand kilometers to intecept their targets, while the DH270, on the other hand, could continue to chase the ILR fleet as it prepared to escape from the Chishata solar system.

---

SD 195-11-08, Within the Chishata solar system (unnamed sector), 1400 hours

While Itzak Arrat's DH270 continues its pursuit against the ILR fleet, the ACVs of that ship headed for an unknown sector of the Chishata solar system to face their ILR counterparts, something they quickly managed after an hour of travelling through space.

Once the drones had their counterparts in their sights, the battle quickly began, as each drone fired a barrage of missiles and projectiles at each other, turning into a fierce battle in the middle of outer space.

Thanks to the artificial intelligence included in each of the ACVs, the drones only required a reduced level of orders to fulfill their mission, without the need for the crew of the mother ship to monitor every second the actions of the vehicles, allowing them to devote their time to other more important duties, which in this case would be to pursue the enemy fleet in the case of the EDF, or flee their pursuers, as in the case of the ILR otherwise.

As mentioned earlier, the ACVs are autonomous unmanned vehicles, which allows them to perform maneuvers or orders that would be dangerous or even suicidal for a real pilot, and this was evidently shown during that ferocious combat, where the drones of both sides did not hesitate to dive into their enemies as if they were suicidal pilots, without worrying about the lives of the pilots beforehand, of course.

What both sides did not count was that the first ten drones launched by each side on the offensive served only as a distraction, while the other ten ACVs remaining in the rear were heading for their targets without those in combat being able to do anything to stop them, since the drones were not yet intelligent enough to deduce their counterparts' plans. And the few drones that saw their rear-end opponents' drones escape were neutralized or destroyed when they tried to do something about it.

This obviously began to stir problems for the crew of both sides' ships, who now had to do something to evade their opponents' enemy drones.

---

SD 195-11-08, DH270, Within the Chishata solar system, 1500 hours

The presence of the enemy ACVs did not go unnoticed by the crew of the EDF's DH270, which did not hesitate to let their captain know about the danger that was looming over them.

-"CAPTAIN!" - One of crewmembers yelled at Itzak as soon as he got a signal about the enemy drones. - "We have ten ACVs approaching 12 o'clock! It seems that they managed to evade ours in some way!"

Itzak Arrat was shocked at that sudden turn of events, as he did not expect those ACVs from sliding from the cracks during the attack designed to destroy them in the first place, and now they had to find a way to either evade them, or finish them in some way.

But considering that the enemy drones were at a very close distance from the DH270, there was not much they could do, except undertake some kind of evasive maneuvers to avoid being blasted away by enemy fire from the drones.

-"All hands, brace yourselves for some evasive maneuvers!"- Itzak Arrat warned his crew to take appropriate action concerning the enemy ACVs should any of them attempt to attack the ship. -"And hold on to whatever at hand, gentlemen, because in the next few minutes the things will get very ugly for us."-

As the DH270's crew prepared for what awaited them, the enemy drones approached the ship at high speed, while each of these vehicles headed in different directions to prevent the ship from attempting a runaway by cutting its way through the rear and both flanks.

What the ACVs did not count was that the DH270 would try to evade them by heading in a vertical direction, in this case going up, a maneuver that would normally be extremely difficult to execute in normal conditions, to say nothing that would be very dangerous for both the ship and its crew, since it would expose its occupants to intense levels of G forces, even with the proper safety measures.

Seeing that the ship was trying to escape in a vertical direction, the ACVs quickly proceeded to correct their course and tried to catch up with the ship, while some of the drones began to open fire on the DH270 to see if they could even hit their target.

The DH270, through the ship's computer, which was responsible for performing many of the most dangerous maneuvers to evade their pursuers with a minimum intervention of its crew, tried to do everything possible to both evade enemy drones, and try to counter them by any means possible.

But despite the ship's AI's valiant efforts to try to evade enemy fire, the DH270 unfortunately received several shots and direct grazes in its frame, although fortunately they did not cause enough damage to endanger the spaceship. As for the crew, on the other hand, they received a considerable amount of violent jolts due to the shrapnel impacts from the shells fired through the drones, but due to the sudden nature of the attack, they barely had time to fully react, apart from doing everything possible to protect their lives.

While this was happening, the DH270's computer quickly tried to neutralize enemy drones by firing several shots directly at the attackers from a very close distance. Obviously, under normal conditions, this would be an extremely reckless tactic, with the risk of endangering the ship and its crew, but considering that the ship was being surrounded by all flanks, including the horizontal and vertical positions, there was no other better option available to get rid of the ILR's ACVs, which were in an effort to destroy the DH270.

And, in a matter of seconds, the EDF ship quickly headed straight for the drones with the intention of destroying them one by one. The enemy ACVs, on the other hand, took a long time to react properly, since in their programming it was intuited that their target would not be interested in attacking them head-on and that they would either try to attack them from afar or escape as soon as possible without serious intentions to fight them conscientiously. Due to this serious flaw in their logic, the drones could not do anything other than be destroyed one after the other, and only after a few seconds the ACVs AI could infer some kind of tactic in order to fight back.

But by the time the ACVs found a way to counterattack, the DH270 had already destroyed five of the remaining enemy drones in that sector of the Chishata system. The other remaining five withdrew from the area as soon as they could, due to an urgent order from their mother ship. It was obvious that something had happened to the enemy fleet and they were going to need any working ACV at hand. This was obviously a relief for the crew of Itzak Arrat's ship, who, through the spacecraft's sensors, they only saw how the other remaining drones escaped, suggesting that the ACVs launched against the ILR fleet had been more successful in intercepting their counterparts than the ILR against them.

---

SD 195-11-08, DH270, Within the Chishata solar system, 1530 hours

-"Are everyone all right?"-

After that fierce battle and having had to endure more than half an hour of evasive maneuvers in trying to evade enemy ACVs and their attacks, the DH270 crew tried to assess the status of all ship members, as well as any damage the spacecraft might have suffered during combat.

And, with regard to the latter, there was not much good news to share with the captain...

-"We're fine, sir, but I don't think the same can be said of the ship."- One of the crew members in charge of the ship's systems gave Itzak Arrat a quick status report about the status of the vessel. -"We have received several impacts that have caused damage inside the ship, and according to the preliminary report, we have several wounded and some casualties."-

-"What kind of damage did we sustain?"-

-"Let me see..."- The crew member started reading the report. -"We have received impacts on some of the fuel cells, and several pressure leaks in the T-2 to T-5 compartments. Some sensors are inoperative, but we can use others to compensate them as they are repaired."-

-"What about casualties?"- The Equine captain replied in a very somber and worried tone. -"That worries me more than the damage to the ship."-

-"Well..."- The officer hesitated a bit in this part. -"We have a preliminary report of approximately ten wounded crewmembers on various levels of severity and all of them are already in the medical section of the spacecraft for treatment. It was not easy to reach the place, considering that many of them were injured during the ship's evasive maneuvers, along with those who were injured by shrapnel wounds from the projectiles fired by the ACVs, but those who were not injured took those affected to the medical center as best they could. With respect to the dead, we have a report of three individuals, although it is not yet a definitive account and could increase later."-

The captain, hearing the gravity of the situation in which there are several casualties inside the ship, decided that the best way to know the magnitude of the problem was to personally see it.

-"I'm going to the medical section to see the wounded."- Then, Itzak ordered his XO to take his place in his temporal abscence. -"Helmut, you are now in charge of the ship while I see how much damage we got."-

-"Sure, sir."- Helmut replied. -"The ship is in good hands at my command."-

---

SD 195-11-08, DH270, Medical Section, 1550 hours

With no more time to lose, Itzak Arrat made himself present inside the medical section of the DH270 to know the damage that the crew of his ship had suffered due to the attack from the ILR drones.

While there weren't as many wounded as he expected, most of them had suffered injuries of varying degrees. Some seemed to have received fractures, others had wounds that were consistent with those produced by enemy shrapnel and others that did not appear to be able to survive at any time or that might need more appropriate treatment when they returned home.

-"Hello, Captain."- One of the doctors, an Avian (Penguin), greeted him at the entrance. -"Good to see you here in the medical section, because that helps to raise a lot the morale of your men and ours as well. We have several wounded here and, to be quite honest, this is a very tenuous situation, even though it could have been worse."-

-"Yeah, I know that."- Itzak worringly replied at the doctor. -"How many wounded do we have so far?"-

-"So far, only ten people."-

-"Just ten?"-

-"That's right."- The doctor replied with certain unease. -"And we should be grateful that, as I mentioned earlier, it could have been worse, considering that many of the wounded suffered very serious injuries and some of them are in intensive care."-

Itzak Arrat saw the wounded being cared for in that place; some of them were bedridden, especially those who suffered minor injuries, and those who needed intensive care were locked in life support capsules. These capsules are transparent tubes that allow the wounded to be treated either by doctors or by robots, while their bodies were bathed in a liquid substance that served to quickly regenerate any damaged tissue, either external or internal, through the use of special biological fluids specially designed at the time depending on the patient, their blood type and especially their species to which they belonged.

The liquid itself had several limitations, since it could not repair or rebuild lost limbs or organs, since for that was needed another type of genetic treatment that was only available on land, because it was not possible to be deployed inside a small spacecraft.

All that gut-wrenching scenario caused him great discomfort, since Itzak was not a fan of seeing his crew suffer unnecessarily, even if all the crew members of that ship knew exactly what they were facing in a mission like that. The fact that many of those crew members would suffer life-long injuries was something that made him even more upset, especially considering that he and his crew were completely alone and they couldn't expect any help until they returned to Arras Chanka.

In the same way, he knew he could do nothing except watch that horrific sight he had before his eyes. He felt that he should have done more to prevent his crew from being injured, and at that time Itzak had the feeling that what he had done to protect the ship was not enough, taking into account that this was his first mission as captain of a spaceship and that he now had several men and women under his command, and that their lives depended on the decisions he had to make. And although, as the doctor had said, the situation could have been worse, the fact that many of the crew had suffered serious injuries and some probably would not survive was something that was no consolation at all for him.

-"Damn it!"- Cursed the Equine man at himself. -"This is all my fault. If I had been more prudent, none of this would have happened."

But before he continued cursing himself, the captain heard a call from the ship's sound system, which seemed to sound very important and needed Itzak's attention. It was from one of the crew members from the engineering section.

-"I'm very sorry to trouble you, Captain, but I need to speak to you right away."- The man addressed Itzak in a very urgent tone. -"We have a very serious problem in the engineering section, and I think we need your presence to know how we should proceed."-

-"How serious is it to warrant my presence?"-

-"Really, REALLY bad, sir."- The crew member replied with some sense of worry and distress in the tone of his voice. -"And by the way, it would be a good idea to bring some cleaning robots that can handle any biological material that might be floating, sir."-

When he heard this last part, Itzak Arrat already knew what he was about to see in that place. It was evident that not only did the shrapnel that hit the ship seriously injured several members of the crew, but it could also have done even worse things with someone who was unlucky enough to receive the direct impact of any piece of shrapnel on their bodies.

-"I'll be there in a minute."-

---

SD 195-11-08, DH270, Engineering Section, 1600 hours

-"All right, I'd like to know exactly what happened here. From what I see, it looks like the damage was more serious than expected."-

And indeed, Itzak was right: The engineering section of the ship suffered quite considerable damage, including walls and floors perforated by shrapnel, shattered doors, and above all, there were blood stains everywhere, the product of the crew who tried to escape from the place to seek medical help. Seeing all that, Itzak knew that the region of the ship was the one that suffered more than any other part, as well as the people who worked there, something that really brought him down.

-"Oh, khai, this is terrible in so many levels..."-

-"I must presume this is your first time you' ve seen something like this, isn't it, Captain?"-

-"To be honest, I had already seen some images and videos of possible damage that a ship could suffer during combat, in addition to the injuries that a crew could suffer when I was studying at the academy, but this is much worse than expected."-

-"So do I, sir."- The crew member, a Rodent (squirrel), grimly replied at his senior. -"And I suppose you are already aware that we have a preliminary report of three crew members killed so far, although to be frank, I think they could be more, if you are already aware of it, sir."-

-"Indeed. That's something that doesn't need to be said."-

But before both characters could continue to lament what had happened, a kind of liquid-looking object began to float, due to the effect of the lack of gravity in that place, in front of Itzak Arrat's and his interlocutor's eyes.

And that liquid was more than glaring, considering what had happened up to that moment, that it was only one thing: Blood.

-"Captain, I think we have a very serious problem before our eyes."-

-"You don't have to tell me that."- The Equine captain replied at the sight of that floating blood drop. -"Where will that blood come from?"-

Seeing both looking to the right, both Itzak and his companion realized that was not just a drop of solitary blood floating in that place: There were several of those bloody spheres floating in the air coming from one of the rooms of the engineering section of the ship, which seemed to have received some kind of damage. Everything seemed to indicate that there was someone who might still be injured or dead in that room.

-"I think that drop comes from there, sir."-

-"Let's see what happened there and what we can do about it."-

Quickly, the captain and his companion went to the room, with the intention of seeing what had happened there and whether it was possible to help whoever was inside that place, or at least recover his or her body, if necessary.

But both characters ran into a considerable problem. The door was badly damaged, and the blood came out of the holes created by the shrapnel that entered the ship and impacted the room. The only way to open it was to force the door with a special crowbar that was on the side of the room, along with some special equipment, such as fire extinguishers and first aid kits, that were there precisely for such an eventuality.

-"Well, I think we're going to resort to more drastic measures."- Itzak said with the crowbar in hand. -"I'm going to need you to help me with this."-

-"Sure, sir."-

With the help of his other crew member, both men used the bar to force the damaged door, so they could enter the place. After several attempts and much physical effort, both men were able to open the door, and without wasting any more time, they entered the room.

But what they saw inside that room was something that left both men shocked and especially sickened by what they had just witnessed in that place...

-"Oh, no, no, no, no..."-

-"This is just... horrible..."-

That room had a console with several computers around it, and there was a chair where the person working there was sitting at the time of the attack on the ship. But there was absolutely nothing left of that chair, except a gigantic red stain on the floor...

...Which paled with what was inside that room: The console and its computers were burned and with traces of blood everywhere, including pieces from the person's fur that was impacted by shrapnel on his body.

And with respect to that person, that was perhaps the worst thing they saw of that place. The only thing left of that poor person were pieces of his body floating in the air due to lack of gravity, as well as his blood and entrails, which floated in that place in a macabre spectacle of which Itzak Arrat and that other man had the misfortune to witness before their very eyes.

And with regard to this last person, he began to vomit at such gory scene. He had never seen anything like it before in his career, and to see a completely shredded man before his eyes was too much for him.

-"Oh, khai... that must have been a very horrible way to die..."- Arrat said while still in a very visible shocked visage in his face. -"If I remember perfectly, the person who was here in this place... unless I was wrong... was... no... it can't be..."-

-"Commander Kaina Hiak, sir."- The Net, without warning, completed Itzak's words, knowing beforehand he was struggling on figuring out what just happened there. -"He was in the console room when the ship was attacked, along with the console operator. The operator was seriously injured, and unfortunately the commander was not so lucky."

-"And where's the operator?"-

-"Unfortunately the cameras inside the room were damaged due to shrapnel impacts causing considerable damage to the internal visual systems of this section. But as far as I could see in the medical section, the operator managed to get there to ask for medical help, although due to the loss of blood, he lost consciousness almost immediately when he entered the site. He lost his left arm, plus several broken ribs."- The Net keep explained what happened there so far. -"As for the commander..."-

-"I don't think I need to know anything else."- The captain interrupted the AI when it planned to give more detailed descriptions about Commander Hiak's minced body. -"With what I'm seeing here is more than enough."-

-"As you wish, captain."-

Itzak then cursed himself knowing the implications that the man's death might have for both the mission he was carrying out and his life in general. That man was a very dear person to both Erma and Itzak, and his very violent death would be something that would leave a mark on him for the rest of his life,

-"Khai, how the blazes I'm going to explain to Erma that our mentor died here?"- Then he looked up at the roof trying to stop looking at that grotesque sight. -"As if she no longer has enough crap with being sent to Ekosiak after what happened in Derzon."-

---

SD 195-11-08, DH270, Command Bridge, 1630 hours

-"Hello, Captain."-

Helmut greeted Itzak, his captain, even after carefully observing that he was not in the mood for greetings.

-"..."

-"I'm afraid what happened back there was more serious than you thought, wasn't it?"-

-"Indeed."-

Helmut lowered his head in sadness at the knowledge of what had happened.

-"I can only say I'm very sorry, captain, regardless of what you just saw back there."-

-"Many were seriously injured. Some will suffer injuries that will leave them invalid for life, even with adequate prostheses, and I doubt that many will be able to receive organic prostheses to replace their lost limbs."- The Equine captain explained what he just saw. -"We also lost Commander Kaina Hiak, who would be in charge of leading the mission into the colony as soon as we got there."-

-"Co-commander Hiak?!"- Helmut replied in shock. -"Oh, no... no... no..."-

-"Yes."- Then Itzak explained how he died. -"A piece of shrapnel impacted the engineering room, where the consoles were, and he received the impact along with the operator. The operator lost an arm, but he is alive, although he is in intensive care. The commander, on the other hand, lost much more than that..."

-"You mean that..."-

-"Yeah."- The captain went on to explain, this time in a bleaker tone. "The shrapnel sliced him in half, and other following pieces of shrapnel also destroyed his body as well."-

-"..."-

Helmut could not believe that Commander Hiak had died in such a violent manner, knowing beforehand how important he was to his captain, being his mentor who taught him much of what he knew when Itzak was in the military academy. In addition to that, Hiak was a legend within the EDF, being a veteran of the First Lepine War who fought many battles and had survived worse situations than they are today. To have died him in such an absurd and sudden way was something that both men could not believe and that could seriously affect the morale inside the ship.

-"Now what are we going to do? How are we going to explain this to the high-command?"-

Itzak didn't now how to answer that question, as he was as shocked, if not even more for obvious reasons, as Helmut. The situation was so chaotic at the time that even Itzak Arrat did not know the right answer to give at those times when strong leadership was needed. But right now, he didn't feel like doing anything else.

-"And what about the enemy ACVs as well as the ships they were launched from?"-

-"According to the data provided by our ACVs, they were able to destroy those of our enemies, while at the same time they were able to disable both enemy ships, though without destroying them. I do not believe they can escape now, considering, according to what we have received thus far, that the damage they have received appears to be significant and they are now attempting to repair both ships in the meantime."-

-"And how long will it take for us to be able to function again without considerable risk?"-

-"Let me see."- Helmut checked the data provided by the Net in his data pad. -"According with the Net, the repairs will take about two days. Luckily, the engines aren't damaged at all, so we can repair the ship's frame through the use of repair robots while we can get close of those both ships and without further risk for the crew."-

-"Then let's get close to both ships and see what we can do about it."- Meanwhile, the Equine captain went straight the the exit of the bridge. -"Therefore, you will take care of the ship for the time being, while I try to rest in my room. I think you will understand my reasons, I suppose."-

-"Yes, I understand that perfectly. The ship is in good hands with me, sir."- Helmut replied. -"You try to rest, I fully understand that what you saw there must have traumatized you quite a bit and you need a rest. Any other matter I will let you know through the Net, sir."-

-"I really appreciate it, Helmut."- Itzak thanked his Feline XO. -"I'll see you later, then."-

---

SD 195-11-10, DH270, Itzak Arrat's Room, 0930 hours

Two days have passed since the incident in the mining colony of Chishata and the fight against the fleet of the ILR that invaded that place, where the DH270, the ship that Itzak Arrat commands, suffered considerable damage in which several members of his crew died, some of them in quite a graphic way.

Because it was very traumatizing for him to see how many of his men had lost their lives or been maimed for life, Itzak decided to delegate command functions to his XO, Helmut, while he locked himself in his room, avoiding leaving there except to eat or to perform mandatory administrative functions.

In his room, Itzak could not do anything but lie in his bed, trying to reflect on what he had done wrong and what he could have done so that his crew would not pay for his mistakes with their lives. But as much as he tried to keep analyzing the matter, the grotesque images he saw that day could not leave his head no matter how hard he tried to get them out of his head by any possible method. The fact that among the dead was the person who had taught all that he and his friend Erma knew was something he could not afford to forgive himself, and he knew that no pretext worth justifying a failure of that scale.

But in spite of how painful it was for him to face that crisis, Itzak knew that he could not remain locked up in his room forever and that he had to do something about it, considering that his crew was going to need him more than ever in those moments when everyone would have to keep a very cold head in the face of such a tragedy.

And for that, he was going to need the advice of someone well known to him and everyone else in his society.

-"Net, I need to talk with you."-

-"About what?"- The Net replied in a plain, inquisitory tone to its Equine peer. -"There has been absolutely nothing important to report in the last two days you've been locked up in your..."-

-"You know exactly what I'm talking about,"- Itzak rudely interrupted his computerized counterpart. -"and that's what I want to speak to."-

-"You mean what happened to Commander Hiak and the other crew members who were killed and wounded?"-

-"Yes."-

-"Look, Itzak, I understand how distressing it must be for you to have had to witness such a gory scene. No one likes to see blood, especially when involving a very violent death such as the one suffered by the commander."- The AI gave its opinion on the subject, some of which was programmed beforehand for situations like the ones Itzak was facing, but it also knew that it could not make him continue distracting himself from his duties as captain. -"But we could be talking about it for days or even months, and the truth is that the only thing you can't waste right now is time, time you need to talk with your crew and lead them as the captain you are, rather than handing that task over to Helmut for days."-

At these words, Itzak did not know what else to say about the issue, although he began to grumble when he saw that the Net did not seem to fall into his game.

-"I must assume that all those deaths and injuries sustained by your crew must be tormenting you, right?"-

A brief pause was done at that moment, while Itzak could only emit a whimper of frustration, making evident what the Net had just said about the topic.

-"I'd be lying if I said no."-

And in talking about it, the captain couldn't help but shed a few tears as he had to remember that it was his mistakes that had caused the whole situation in the first place, or at least that was what he felt. Itzak felt that now he couldn't face both the families of the dead and Erma if she found out that their mentor had died because of him.

-"Please calm down, Itzak. I understand how you feel, but crying isn't going to help you in any way to solve the dilemma you're in."- The Net tried to reassure its interlocutor when it saw that he felt that everything was his fault and that his crew was possibly blaming him for everything behind his back, something that was not happening in the first place. -"In addition, the crew understands perfectly that you did the right thing by counterattacking those enemy ACVs. Otherwise, the death toll could have been higher, or we wouldn't even be here talking about this to begin with."

But before the discussion could move on, a male voice was suddenly heard through the ship's communication system. That voice was that of Helmut, the XO and substitute captain of the ship in the last two days in which Itzak was almost locked in his room. It was evident that there was something very important that he had to say to his captain.

-"I am sorry to have to bother you, sir, but I just want to remind you that we are three hours away from our objective, and I thought you would want to see this and deal with the situation in person. Otherwise I could go on..."-

-"That won't be necessary, Helmut. I will go to the command bridge right away, and first of all, I thank you for everything you have done for this ship in these two days."- Itzak interrupted Helmut when he tried to insinuate that his captain would still be locked in his room. The words of the Net had given him the necessary encouragement to continue working in spite of adversity and he was no longer going to flee from his responsibilities. -"I also apologize if I have worried you and the crew about being distant from all of you for a while."-

Helmut was very surprised that his captain not only thanked him for what he had done in those two days, but he also decided to take back control of the ship despite everything, something he was very happy to see that the man was not going to allow a setback like that to render him useless.

-"We-well, sir, thank you for your words, I just did what I had to do after all."-

-"No problem. I'll be right there when I get dressed."-

---

SD 195-11-10, DH270, Command Bridge, 1020 hours

-"How far are we from our targets?"-

Itzak Arrat, who had spent the last two days grieving for what had happened to his ship and crew, was now back on the bridge giving orders as if nothing had happened. This did not mean that he had not forgotten the tragedy of that time, but he was not going to let something like that hold him back, for the sake of himself and the men and women who worked at his command.

Similarly, the ship's crew was more than happy to see him back in action and they were willing to work again on their orders, knowing beforehand that it would not be the first time something like this could happen again, considering who they were up against, nor did they blame the captain for what had happened. The ILR was known for its ferocity and its willingness to cause as many casualties as possible to begin with, both civilian and military ones, and that they would stop at nothing in order to accomplish their objectives. And that was something they were willing to avoid at all costs.

-"About 50,000 kilometers, sir."- Helmut confirmed the remaining distance from the ILR fleet. -"Fortunately we have several drones surrounding the enemy fleet and so far they have not tried to neutralize them in any way. It is very likely that all their means of defense were already exhausted."-

-"Good."- Itzak replied with a smile in his face. -"That will make things a lot easier for us. Have you tried to contact them?"-

-"No, sir."- Helmut explained. -"There's no sign of them by any known frequency."-

-"Could it be that they're all already dead and that's why they don't answer our calls?"- Another crewmember gave his opinion about what could happened to those both ships.

-"I doubt so."- Helmut denied that possibility for many obvious reasons he was going to explain further. -"As far as we can tell from our sensors and those of our ACVs, both ships suffered damage similar to that of this ship two days ago, so, apart from the fact that its crew may have suffered casualties, I don't think both ships have suffered a total loss of their respective crews. Also, it seems that both ships still seem to be operating normally, according to our sensors."-

-"Then why aren't there robots repairing them?"-

-"It is very likely that they anticipated that we could disable their means of repair in order to board their ships and prevent them from escaping. Another possibility is that they want to avoid showing any sign of activity so that they can act surprisingly at any time and will not have enough time to react."-

-"In that case,"- Itzak filled the rest of Helmut's explanation about the ILR fleet. -"all we can do is approach them wisely and wait for anything they could do at any time. We must not let our guard down at any time, is that clear?"-

-"Yes, sir!"-

---

SD 195-11-10, ILR Zehtoh, Command Bridge, 1030 hours

Indeed, as both Itzak and Helmut had deduced, the ILR fleet was remaining immobile, in the middle of outer space, trying somehow to find a way to escape from the Chishata solar system. Both ships tried to repel the EDF DH270 attack, but did not expect rival drones to be so persistent in their efforts to attack them.

Although they had requested that the drones they used to attack DH270 return to their mother ship so that it could defend itself along with the cargo ship, they were not enough to do anything and all were destroyed within minutes.

In a desperate attempt to both escape and repel the enemy attack, both ships were damaged by several hits from various projectiles fired by the EDF ACVs, with the freighter receiving the most hits.

Because the crews of both ships, along with their respective captains, knew that if they deployed their repair robots they would be immediately destroyed by the enemy ACVs that were surrounding them at that moment and they also observed any movement they could make, they preferred to make the repairs inside their respective ships, leaving the repair of the damage caused to the external frame of their ships for later once they were out of danger.

For reasons that are more than obvious, the situation in which both ships were found was not to the liking of the captains of both ships, especially for Colonel Amenenha, who was on the bridge of the Zehtoh directing from there the repairs of his ship, and as expected, the situation in which he and his crew were in began to make him lose his patience.

-"Does anyone have any damn idea how long the repairs are going to slow us down?"-

One of the crew members, feeling a little nervous, a justified feeling considering the person who he was talking to, gave a preliminary report on the time it would take to repair the ship.

-"According to the Net, about another twelve hours, at least for internal repairs, Colonel. If we could also repair the ship from the outside, the repair time would be less."-

-"Of course, if those damn ACVs out there would let us do something in the first place."- Another crew member, with a more snarkier predisposition, pointed out the dilemma they're in.

-"And what about the freighter? Are they luckier than we are with their own repairs?"-

Upon hearing that question, Amenenha also decided to find out about the status of the freighter and clear any doubt about it.

-"I'm going to find that out. Hope they have more progress than we have on repairs."-

Without wasting any more time, the colonel decides to make contact with the cargo ship and its respective captain to know its current situation.

-"Greetings, captain. I hope you and your crew are doing well and I am just communicating with you to find out the status of your ship and its repairs."-

When making contact with him, it was evident that the officer was not very pleased to hear Amenenha's voice, and on that occasion and without considering the implications of name-calling someone like that colonel, the captain of the freighter made his disgust very evident on him.

-"Doing well? DOING WELL?!"- The captain of the freighter yelled at the colonel. -"And do you still have the nerve to ask me that kind of shit?"-

It was more than obvious the captain was in a very unhinged state, and hearing Amenenha, a man he already hated for what he did in the Chishata colony and before, was putting him on his edge.

-"I beg your pardon, sir?"- Amenenha reacted, while trying to pretend ignorance about the fact that he had been insulted by that man openly and in front of everyone else. -"Is something wrong, captain?"-

-"Don't try to faking ignorance with me, Colonel!"- The captain keep yelling at him. -"Because of you, we're in this miserable predicament, and we cannot outrun them now! According to the preliminary status of our current situation, we lost twenty of our men due to shrapnel fragments as a result of projectiles fired against our ship; we also have considerable damage to our hull and in addition to that, our engines received various types of damage. Due to the damage to the external sensors located in that region, we can't know how severe the damage is, and without being able to deploy our repair robots, we can't do much other than try to repair from the inside, something that doesn't help us much."-

-"I understand that perfectly. We also have some problems with the Zehtoh, although according to preliminary reports, there are no injuries inside my ship's crew, and according to our..."-

-"I DON'T EVEN CARE WHAT'S GOING ON INSIDE YOUR DAMN SHIP! If you had only tried to escape instead of repel the enemy attack, we would not be in this mess, but you, by playing hero, decided to do it without considering the consequences!"- The captain of the freighter criticized Amenenha no matter what might happen to him for verbally attacking a man like the colonel. -"And if we don't have enough problems to deal with, the EDF ship that attacked us and put us in this mess is approaching to our position very dangerously, so you better do something about it!"-

Seeing on the radar screen and verifying on his own ship's sensors, Amenenha verified that the DH270 was indeed approaching them. This was a big problem for them, because all the drones they had at hand had already been destroyed, and the internal armament of their ship was inoperative enough to use it because the EDF's ship ACVs had also managed to damage the systems that controlled them.

-"I will find a way out of this, captain. Just allow me a few hours to discuss it with my crew and I will tell you what conclusion we came to."

-"You'd better do something about this right now, colonel, otherwise you, me and our crews will be dead men, especially you, for whom a very large amount is offered for your head, in case you're not aware of your own reputation among the EDF and the ConFed."-

-"I am aware of that, captain."-

-"OK, over and out."-

Amenenha, who very rarely in his life had been insulted in that way could not avoid ranting against the captain of the freighter once he was offline and could not hear him, something that scared the rest of the crew of the Zehtoh.

-"That ungrateful bastard!"- The old Lepine colonel yelled while slamming his fist at his chair. -"I do what I can to protect his ass and his crew's. And that's how that idiot pays for my sacrifices?"-

An absolute silence was felt inside the bridge of the Zehtoh, being only heard the sound of the computers and machines of the ship, and the nervous breathing of all the crew, except Amenenha, who had not said another word either.

With regard to the latter, and after recovering his calm, he decided to ask some questions to his crew before proceeding to anything else.

-"Navigator, how long before we can get out of this solar system?"-

-"Eh... approximately 1 million kilometers approximately, sir."-

-"Is there any object in front of us that we should be worried about?"-

-"Let me see."- The navigator checked on his computers once again. -"As far as the sensors can detect, there's nothing in front of our path, Colonel. The only thing close to us are the ACVs, which are on both flanks, plus the ship that launched them, which is approaching from starboard at 2000 km/h."-

-"I have an idea to get out of this dilemma. We will make an emergency jump, so that we can escape from here. The only problem is that we will be far away from home, but at least we will be able to shake our enemies off, and once we make the necessary repairs, we will be able to return to the base without any more worries."-

The crew of the Zehtoh were shocked at such an idea, since the idea Amenenha was coming up with was too dangerous to put into practice, something which the navigator immediately made known to his superior.

-"Colonel, with all due respect, although I think your idea is a good one, we have a big problem with it:"- The navigator explained the drawbacks of the colonel's plan. -"We're half the minimum distance to make a safe jump to another place within friendly territory. If we jump in the conditions in which we are in, our ships could end up in a completely unknown place, at best, or being destroyed along the way, at worst."-

That answer was not the kind of response Amenenha wanted to hear at that moment. He knew very well that, apart from his plan, the only two options they had at hand were either surrendering or self-destructing both ships to prevent both from falling into enemy hands.

And he had no intention of contemplating either option, not even as a last resort.

-"Then,"- Replied Amenenha with a very angry disposition. -"Do you have any better ideas, young man?"-

The navigator began to swallow saliva before those words and the implication that the colonel, who at that point already assured himself as a man who no one in his sane mind desired to mess with, wanted to give with those words and its respective, sinister tone. That young officer desperately tried to think in whatever better option to escape from the enemy fleet, but as much as his brain tried to think of some other solution, it was noticeable that he couldn't think of anything better, at least any other plan that would please the colonel.

-"N-no, sir."-

-"Then shut that big mouth of yours and let the grown-ups do their jobs! Do I make myself clear?"-

-"Y-es, sir!"-

-"Then it's settled."- Amenenha ordered the crew to make the proper preparations to jump. -"I'll talk to the freighter about my idea and convince them. And I strongly doubt that, in the situation we are facing right now, they will refuse to consider it."-

Without further ado, the colonel communicates with the freighter and its respective captain to communicate his idea regarding making an emergency jump into friendly territory in order to evade the DH270 and its ACVs.

For more than obvious reasons, especially the fact that his ship received quite of damage in which the freighter lost several crew members during the attack, the captain of that ship was more than angry at that idea which, in his own opinion, was not only a very absurd idea, considering that the ship was not yet in full sailing condition, much less to perform a jump, but also to the fact that they had to perform the jump at half the recommended distance to perform it safely without both ships being destroyed by the gravitational forces of the solar system in which they stood and other cosmic energies that could stand in their way. In short, what the colonel was planning was basically paramount to plain-out suicide for all of them, and he maked Amemenenha to know that in plain terms.

-"I don't care if this gets me into trouble, but your plan to escape from Chishata is a complete and absolute NONSENSE!"- the captain of the freighter lambasted Amenenha and his outrageous plan to escape from that system. -"I refuse to risk the lives of my crew members just to save my skin and yours in an idea that is basically assisted suicide in simple terms. And I don't care a bloody damn if that idea comes from your mouth, a so-called war hero of your stature, I don't intend to play with my men's lives in such an absurd way! If I had to choose, I would prefer that we be captured and have luck if we are used for a prisoner exchange later by the EDF and the ConFed!"-

-"In that case, let me tell you something, Captain:"- The old coronel calmly explained with an unease expression in his face. -"In the case in which we currently find ourselves, it would be very doubtful whether we have the privilege of being exchanged or at least having an amnesty, considering what we did in the colony. The EDF and the ConFed will execute us first before we open our mouths, and considering what I found during the assault on the colony, that place seems to be involved in several shady businesses that I still can't fully elucidate, and I doubt very much that after what happened there they will let us go home alive so easily. There is another thing to consider: My head is worth millions of credits within the EDF and the ConFed and I doubt even more that any sane officer is going to let go such a bounty if they know who the person on board of this fleet is."-

-"I'm fully aware of your reputation, Colonel. But with regard to what you mentioned about those shady deals within that station, I would like to know if what you say is true."-

-"If you don't believe what I'm saying, captain, I'll send you a copy of the files I found in the colony right now."-

-"All right, then transmit those files to my computer."-

-"Understood."-

Amenenha sent to the freighter a copy of the information he found inside the Chishata mining colony, which contained much of the financial information that was used inside that place, including several secret files that, after being decrypted, revealed several shady secrets that could be useful for the ILR in any subsequent negotiations that his country might have with the ConFed.

-"With this information, we could blackmail the ConFed with extreme ease. And I doubt very much that they will let us out of here alive if they find out that we got that information inside the colony. They are indeed stupid enough to write this information along with the regular database used for the colony's monetary operations instead of separating them into a separate place."

The captain of the freighter was now fully aware of the value of the information they have in their hands. With that data about the dubious legality of the business inside the colony, the ILR could be one step ahead of the ConFed, and use that information in any subsequent dealings they might have with their enemies in exchange for that information not being made public. Such discoveries, if released in the wild, had the possibility that several heads, both inside the ConFed and the EDF, would roll at any accusation of unlawful enrichment. Now it was only a matter of bringing that information home at any cost.

-"Well, I think I fully understand all of this, but still, if you want us to follow your plan, at least let us try to repair the ship enough to get it going without problems. After that, I'll consider whether we execute your plan or not."-

-"Thank you, captain."-

-"OK, over and out."-

Once the captain of the freighter was offline, now everything depended on Amenenha that his plans to escape from Chishata worked, and he could not now afford to fail under any circumstances, or else he and all the men of both ships would pay the consequences with their lives. That Lepine colonel knew that everything rested on his shoulders, so he was obviously angry at that fact, and his men already noted how his senior officer was trying to find a good way to solve the delicate situation they all involved right now.

-"Has there been any news in the last few hours that we need to take into account?"-

-"Well..."- One of the operators replied at the colonel. -"A few minutes ago we received several messages from the enemy ship demanding that we surrender. The computer has automatically rejected these messages by ignoring them completely. Would you like to send them a specific message, sir?"-

-"No, have the Net continue ignoring the warnings and messages sent. Once the engines are repaired, I will see what we can do to escape from this damn place."-

-"Understood, sir!"-

---

SD 195-11-10, DH270, Command Bridge, 2145 hours

It was more than 12 hours since the DH270 had managed to locate the ILR fleet, which was stranded in the middle of space due to damage received from the attack two days ago. Despite all attempts to communicate with the enemy fleet, none of the attempts had been successful, making many crew members, including Itzak Arrat, wonder what was going on. It was self-evident that the crew of those ships were not dead, but none of the ships showed any signs of activity, in order to avoid giving any clue that might be useful to Itzak and his men.

And regarding this last point, the captain wanted to know if there was anything to communicate, because the situation was beginning to exhaust his patience on many levels.

-"Has there been any change in the status of the enemy fleet worth reporting?"-

-"Unfortunately, there's nothing worth mentioning right now, sir."- One of the crew members in charge of checking the status of the ILR fleet gave the bad news at Itzak. -"We've tried to send several messages over and over again to them, but we haven't received any kind of response; not even a threat or anything like that."-

-"Are they really still alive so they can answer us?"- Another member of the crew wondered about the refusal of the enemy fleet to respond to their messages.

-"I don't think so."- Itzak replied at that question. -"Sensors indicate that there appears to be some activity inside both ships, most likely in an attempt to secretly repair them. They know very well that if they try to deploy their repair robots, we can destroy them through the ACVs around them. Also, it is likely that they are not trying to communicate with us to avoid giving us a clue about what they might be thinking right now."-

-"Most likely so, captain."- Helmut confirmed and agreed with those words. -"If they have some plan at hand, they wouldn't be stupid enough to make it known openly, and they could try anything from sneaking up on us, to running away."-

-"Come on, Helmut!"- Itzak questioned that last possibility that his XO had brought to light. -"Judging by the damage done to both ships, I doubt many that those foolish rabbits would make the mistake of attempting to escape in the conditions in which they find themselves. Apart from the fact that they need an adequate distance in order to jump, considering that they are surrounded by drones on all flanks, it would be so suicidal that no one in their right mind would dare to..."-

But before he could finish speaking, a very loud alarm was suddenly heard inside the bridge, while the voice of the Net was quickly made aware of what was happening at the time.

-"DANGER, DANGER! A SIGNATURE CHANGE IN THE ENEMY FLEET WAS DETECTED! CAPTAIN ARRAT, PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION!"-

-"WHAT THE BLAZES?"-

Needless to say, that sudden change of events shocked Itzak considerably, bearing in mind that he was precisely talking about the foreseeable inability of the ILR fleet to make any kind of movement.

-"Sir, we can confirm what the Net just reported:"- One of the crew members gave a quick confirm of that data. -"The enemy fleet is firing their ships' thrusters, and I'm afraid to say this, even if it sounds absurd, but they seem to be trying to make an emergency jump."-

-"WHAT?"

-"Can you confirm that again?"- Helmut, the Feline XO, requested confirmation of that event to that young man.

-"Yes, I will send the information to your screen right away, sir."-

When the information sent by the operator appeared on the screen in front of the Itzak Arrat control chair, it showed the obvious: The ILR fleet was going to try to escape at any cost from Chishata, even if it meant a great risk to their own lives, not to mention the integrity of their ships and the spoils they had taken from the mining colony.

-"What the blazes are those rabbits thinking about trying to break out in those conditions?"- Itzak yelled after seeing how the ILR fleet was trying to execute an emergency jump, even if their ships were not fully repaired.

-"If you ask me for my opinion, captain, I think they must be either really desperate to escape from here, or be so incredibly stupid to try such a suicide stunt."- Helmut shared Itzak's opinion about the dangerous manouver the ILR fleet was trying to do.

-"In that case, we must do something to prevent them from being able to do something about it!"- Then Itzak stared at both Helmut and the rest of his crew. -"I want everyone to instruct the drones to prepare them to accelerate in order to intercept the enemy fleet, as well as to prepare their weapons if necessary."-

-"Anything else, sir?"-

-"I also want you to keep looking to get in touch with those ships, and warn them that they won't be able to make a safe escape from here if they try to jump!"-

-"Yes, sir."-

---

SD 195-11-10, ILR Zehtoh, Command Bridge, 2150 hours

Meanwhile, Amenenha, the captain of the Zehtoh, was preparing, along with the freighter, for his almost suicidal attempt to escape from Chishata at any cost, even though he knew that, under the conditions in which both ships were found, the chances for both ships to reach a safe place without incidents were only 30%.

Without adequate repairs, there was a risk that cosmic radiation from space would seep into both ships, and if that radiation does not destroy the ships first, it would do so with the crew of both ships in many nasty ways.

And that is what troubled the anonymous captain of the cargo ship the most, who, despite being the leader of the fleet, decided to follow the plans of the colonel in the absence of any better plan to evade both the DH270 and its ACVs. And that was also something he let Amenenha know before they started jumping.

-"I hope you know what the blazes you're doing, Colonel. I have to inform you, for your own consideration, that my ship is still not in an adequate condition for moving from here, much less for jumps, and in my personal opinion, this is no different than putting a bullet in a revolver and that bullet wouldn't be the one that blows your brains out."-

-"I will repeat this again, captain, in case you have forgotten."- The Lepine colonel replied in a very annoyed tone. -"Do you have a better idea than mine to escape from here?"-

-"Ugghh."- The captain growled. -"Unfortunately, we don't have any more ideas to get us out of this one."-

-"In that case, I'm going to ask you to shut your mouth up and follow my instructions that I sent to your computers."-

-"Stop playing brave with me!"- The captain of the freighter yelled at Amenenha after he defied his authority. -"Once we get out of this mess, if we make it, I will personally see to it that you face a court-martial for insulting a superior officer once we return home and make sure you are demoted to private if necessary, so it is best that you stop acting as if you were the one calling the damn shots here!"-

A brief silence was present at the Zehtoh command bridge in the face of this threat, but Amenenha did not seem to be so easily intimidated, and he just decided to respond to the captain's threats in his own particular way.

-"We'll see about that when we're safe. Then you can say whatever you want about me."- The colonel replied with a defying tone at the fleet captain, not caring what could happen at him later. -"Is there anything else you want to say to me, captain?"-

The captain of the fleet could only snarl when he saw that Amenenha did not seem to care about his threats at all, since there were other things to worry about, so he decided to end the conversation.

-"I don't have anything else to say."- The captain answered. -"Over and out."-

Faced with the attitude of their captain, Colonel Amenenha, towards the captain of the fleet, who was the superior officer to whom the colonel should have a respect, the Zehtoh crew could not help but be surprised that their captain had basically insulted that man without weighing the consequences his words might have on his career.

But Amenenha, in all his life, has never cared a single word that nobody, not even his superiors, have told him about him, as long as he offered concrete results. And never in his entire career had he had any problems about not doing his duty or not delivering results, which made the ILR simply ignore many of his shortcomings in morality in exchange for him doing his job with absolute ease.

-"Once we get home alive, we'll see if that idiot dares to back up his words."- Amenenha then turned his gaze at the communication officer. -"Are we still getting any messages from the enemy ship?"-

-"Yes, sir."- The officer transmitted what the DH470 has sent to them. -"They are warning us not to try to jump or else they will shoot at us. Would you like us to respond with something, sir?"-

-"That wouldn't be necessary."- The colonel replied and then he ordered his crew. -"All hands, prepare to jump in a minute. This could be dangerous, so hold on to whatever you can if necessary." -

-"EH? ONE MINUTE?"-

The entire crew responded with astonishment at the fact that the ship would jump in less than a minute, when normal would be that the process to perform an emergency jump would be something longer, like a half hour maximum. But considering the circumstances, Amenenha could not afford to wait any longer, especially considering that the enemy ACVs were ready to fire at any time they might move.

-"Yes!"- After that, Amenenha started to put his astronaut suit in the case something could go wrong, just like the rest of his crew did as well. -"Brace yourselves for an emergency jump, and ignore any message that does not come from the freighter or anyone else! Do I make myself clear?"-

-"YES, SIR!"-

---

SD 195-11-10, DH270, Command Bridge, 2200 hours

-"Captain, it seems that the enemy fleet does not want to heed our warnings, and neither do they seem to be intimidated by our drones."- The communications officer informed Itzak of the current status of the current situation with the ILR fleet, which appeared to be attempting to jump at any moment. -"Do you have any ideas on how to deal with them?"-

-"I want you to position the ACVs so that we can cut off any potential escape routes they had in mind."- The Equine captain ordered his crew. -"I also want you to start preparing them also in attack mode in case they decide to open fire. If we are lucky, they would have approximately 15 minutes to perform an emergency jump in their current condition, which would give us enough time to perform any maneuver to..."-

Before he could continuie speaking, Itzak Arrat is bluntly interrumpted by one of the crew members in charge of the radar sensors, due to a sudden turn of events...

-"Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt, but we have reports that both ships have just turned on their thrusters at full power!"- The officer warned Itzak, while the computers were bleeping like crazy as the enemy ILR fleet was trying to escape -"It looks like they're going to jump right away!"-

-"WHAT?"- The captain was astonished at such an eventuality, which he considered impossible and could only observe through computers how both ships were starting their engines to undertake an emergency jump in order to escape from both Chishata and the DH270. -"Have those stupid rabbits gone mad?"-

-"Looks like it, captain."- Helmut tried to find some kind of explanation at that event, since there's no other reasonable explanation for that. -"It looks like they're going to try to escape from here at any cost, regardless of the consequences for them."-

-"In that case, we must prevent them from trying to escape!"- Then, Itzak yelled some orders at the officers in charge with the ACVs -"Order the damn ACVs to open fire on the fleet, no matter what! AND DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE!"-

-"YES, SIR!"-

---

SD 195-11-10, Within the Chishata solar system (unnamed sector), 2210 hours

The drones deployed by the DH270 commanded by Itzak Arrat were prepared to move in the direction of the location of the ILR fleet, in order to cut their escape routes and prevent them from jumping, in addition to trying to attack them to achieve that goal.

But before the ACV could do anything else, both ships, both the cargo ship and the Zehtoh, which was commanded by Colonel Amenenha, generated enough power to create an energy field that would allow it to make an emergency jump, and without further warning, both ships proceeded to jump from Chishata, achieving their goal of evading both the drones and the EDF's DH270.

Under normal conditions, the energy field generated by both ships, which is generated after enough energy is stored, and once the thrusters are turned off, the generated energy creates a kind of wormhole that allows any space vehicle to enter it and travel from one point to another in the universe in a matter of seconds, instead of weeks or even years that would take by ordinary propulsion.

But, in a combination of several unfortunate factors, among them were the presence of the gravitational well generated by the Chishata solar system, the interference of several cosmic energies of different types that roamed in space, and above all, the damage that both ships had suffered due to the combat held days ago, which was only repaired by internal patches that would not normally allow any ship in those conditions to jump, much less in an expeditious manner, not to mention that the loot obtained from the space mining colony may have had some influence on the following events, caused an unexpected chain reaction.

That chain reaction caused the nuclear fusion engines to react with the conflictive energies that were around them, and added to the damage suffered both in the engines and the ships themselves, causing an incredibly violent and explosive nuclear reaction that involved both ships, causing a catastrophic result where a huge nuclear explosion enveloped the region where both ships should jump, very likely destroying both ships along with their respective crews.

And assuming the crews of the ILR fleet had noticed something, they probably didn't have time to feel anything before they were burned to death in that space nuclear hell...

END OF ACT XII

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