Welcome back to The Will of Revenge! Last time, we've seen the final preparations and pre-operation celebrations being made by our heroes before setting off to take part in the operation. Now, Operation: Uncharted Shores has officially begun and allied forces are moving into the Dominion space, ready to deliver justice to Erecan and SoS leadership.
With that said, let us start.
Chapter 6
February 1, 2169
16:53
EDS Shannar, Erysia Anchorage, Erysia System
Alarm met captain Tashar or-Arash while he was finishing a training session alongside his squad. They were training storming buildings on the simulation deck, when the siren started blaring across the whole ship and voice of the captain came from the PA system.
"General quarters, general quarters! This is not a drill! Battlestations, battlestations!"
Marines looked at each other. Right then, Tashar's radio spoke:
"Captain Arash?"
It was his commander, major te-Urtad. Tashar answered.
"What is it, sir? What is happening?"he asked.
"Get into the briefing room, captain and I'll present the whole situation to you and other commanding officers. Urtad, out."
Major disconnected and Tashar looked at his squad.
"Go to the barracks and wait there. I will find out what happened."
They nodded and left. Meanwhile, Tashar, not caring about going to the armory to deposit his gear, he quickly made his way towards the briefing room. On the way, other officers joined him. Looking at their faces, he could see that many of them were equally as wary of what happened. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.
They reached the briefing room and poured inside, taking the seats, when major te-Urtad came in and took his spot at the podium. As he looked over the officers gathered in the room, he spotted Tashar.
"Captain Arash?"he asked."Why didn't you deposit your gear in the armory?"
Tashar stood up and saluted.
"I decided it would only be a waste of time and would delay the start of the briefing, sir!"he replied.
Major nodded.
"Makes sense. You can sit down."
Tashar did so.
Major looked at everyone again.
"Gentlemen."he started."Twenty minutes ago, our facilities and forces within Da'Varr System went completely silent. After discussing it with the higher ups, we stated, that it's possible, that this is the working of SoS enemies."
People started murmuring among each other. Tashar, in the meantime, tried to comprehend the weight of major's words.
SoS enemies. The Andromeda Branch and their allies. They…
"High Command on Ereca gave us orders. We are to withdraw to previously designated positions and hold the line there. Our goal is currently to reach the Ferrona System and bunker down there, to block enemy movements along the main hyperspace route going through this area of space, while some other fleet groups try buying us time."
Tashar frowned, then lifted his hand.
"Yes, captain Arash?"te-Urtad asked.
"But wouldn't withdrawing to Ferrona leave large swaths of Frontier Space open for enemy to take? There are many young colonies here that are unable to defend themselves alone."Tashar pointed out.
Major blinked a few times.
"These are…good points, captain."he admitted."But we have orders. From High Command nonetheless. Do you disagree with them?"
Tashar hesitated for a moment, before feeling everyone's gazes on him. Orders given by High Command were almost equally as sacred as Lightbringing Words of Erecaism Church.
"No."he finally said.
Major nodded and looked at others.
"Go and relay these news to your soldiers. Tell them to be ready for deployment at any given minute. Dismissed."
Sound of chairs being moved filled the room as everyone started standing up, Tashar included. They poured out of the briefing room and started going to meet their squads. Tashar made his way to the armory and finally deposited his gear, before walking to the ship barracks, where he hoped to find his squadmates. And as he walked, he kept thinking if leaving millions of colonists to the enemy was a great sacrifice…or great cowardice.
February 1
17:04
UNSA Alvar Eriksson, Da'Varr System
Fred sat in his captain's chair, looking out the window. In some distance, he could clearly see the remains of enemy warships that tried to stop them. The battle didn't last super long, although long enough for enemy Freighters to turn and run. At the same time, enemy fought to the very end, not backing out. Even when there was no way for their ships to run, since their engines or hyperspace generators were damaged, these ships simply detonated their cores. And when that wasn't possible, they simply depressurized the insides of the ships and killed themselves that way. At least that's what it seemed from information from allied troops sent to investigate disabled enemy ships. Allies were also sent to investigate the facilities in the low orbit of gas giant. They were depressurized too. It seemed almost like a standard procedure.
Admiral sighed. Just looking at the fact their enemies were willing to kill themselves only so they wouldn't fall into their hands told him, that this war won't be as easy as many thought. It will only be harder.
"Sir."Fred's FO said, standing next to him and saluting.
Fred looked at the young man.
"What is it, Xander?"admiral asked.
"Reports from SOF-Sharkline forces sent to investigate enemy wrecks and orbital facilities."Xander handed Fred a datapad."They managed to get into enemy databases."
"What did they find?"
"That's the problem, sir. They found nothing. All data was expunged from the systems. Very recently."
Fred looked from the report to the FO.
"On both facilities and ships?"he asked.
"Yes, sir."Xander replied.
"Hm. Add the fact that they depressurized the ships and you will have something that looks like a standard procedure for them."
"It looks like that to me as well."Xander agreed.
Admiral sighed. They hoped to get any form of data from the ships and facilities. Maps, comms logs. Especially maps, since that would make traversing the uncharted parts of Andromeda much easier. But it seems that not this time.
"Tell them to see if they can make the facilities work again. From this report it seems like these are some kind of gas refineries. We might use those, since this operation is sure to take a long time."Fred ordered.
"I will make sure of that, sir."Xander said.
Fred handed him the datapad and the FO walked away, while Fred returned to looking at the remains of enemy fleet. He then saw an incoming call light blinking on the holo-table in front of him, so he accepted. Holographic window with Tyuule's face appeared in the air in front of the Human.
"Tyuule."Fred said.
"Fred."Tyuule said.
"What do you need from me?"
"I want your opinion on the matter."
"I'm listening."
A map of the system then appeared in the air next to Tyuule.
"As you probably know, hyperspace lanes, similar to the ones existing in Milky Way, also exist here in Andromeda. We don't know who or what made them, but their existence was certainly a nice surprise, which allowed us to create the colonies in other systems."
Fred nodded. Hyperspace lane system of Milky Way was something left behind by Eneans. Without it, travel between different systems would be basically impossible. Usually, ship could jump from any place in the system, but ultimately was forced into hyperspace lanes. He remembered stories of ships who tried to travel between systems without usage of hyperspace lanes. Result? Usually, upon exiting hyperspace, these ships were all…flesh covered inside. It was still not completely understood, but the leading theory was, that hyperspace lanes are some kind of bubbles. Long, straight bubbles of energy, used as tunnels to connect the various systems with each other, that made sure various cosmic forces do not interfere with ships traversing through hyperspace. The way in which Eneans, or whoever was there before them, created these hyperspace lanes was still not rediscovered, so creating new hyperspace lanes was basically impossible, at least for now.
Some people, Fred included, lamented over the fact that the ancient Terouna hyperspace gate technology was lost. With a technology like this, hyperspace travel would be easier and hyperspace lanes would not be needed anymore.
Tyuule continued.
"During the battle, we quickly made a scan of the system, trying to find energy signatures similar to the known hyperspace lane signatures."
"Did you find any?"Fred asked.
"Indeed."
Right then, three lines leading away from the system appeared on the map.
"We detected three hyperspace lanes leading in three directions."Tyuule said."As planned, we will send three scout ships there to see what awaits us in these systems."
"What are we hoping to find?"
Tyuule shrugged.
"Information, maps, people willing to cooperate with us. We'd certainly like to find resources. After all, throughout most of the operation, we will have to operate on resources we find along the way."
"I know. This is why I gave orders to try and get the gas refineries up and running again."
Warrior Bunny nodded.
"Leave it to you to think ahead."she said.
"Always."Fred said proudly.
"I will send orders to Mobile Factories to get ready for deliveries then."
Except of military ships, the fleet consisted of numerous utility ships, like Tugs, Repair Ships or the enormous Shakayan, Tertan and Nakatan Mobile Factories. These beasts were basically producing everything you could think of. Ammo, parts, food, clothes and anything else needed in the fleet. Before GGW, only Shakayans were known to use ships like these, but after that, Mobile Factories started to appear in other fleets and nations. Tertans and Nakatans had the biggest success in that field, while other nations usually had none or at least one Mobile Factory. UNSA itself had two, one on a mission, while second was finishing construction.
There were currently thirteen Mobile Factories in the fleet: seven Shakayan, three Tertan and three Nakatan.
"Alright."Fred nodded."Now, back to the scout teams."
"Of course, our main scout force. Sharkline and SOF."Tyuule said."I already contacted Ester and Dora and they will deal with it. I will also send my Fighter Infantry with them."
"Alright, sounds like a plan."Fred admitted."When are we sending them?"
"Tomorrow. For now, let's secure the system."
"Yes, ma'am."Fred saluted.
"Tyuule out."Tyuule saluted and disconnected.
February 1
17:23
Refinery No.1, gas giant orbit
"How does it look?"Emmy asked.
"Still trying to figure it out."Ves replied.
Delilah looked around the command room of the gas refinery. They were one of the teams sent to investigate them. They quickly boarded the facility and after seeing that there was basically no resistance, they continued inside, trying to ignore numerous bodies that floated in the depressurized space. Once they reached the command room of the refinery, with the help of former Son of Sadera, sent with them due to his knowledge of Erecan language, they got the artificial gravity working again. Now, according to new orders, they were trying to make the facility work. Which was a bit harder.
"What do you say about that?"Emmy asked the Son.
The man looked at her.
"Erecans always make sure activating their abandoned stuff again is as tough as possible."he explained."There are numerous safety measures placed to make sure enemy won't use their equipment against them."
"Paranoid as fuck, huh?"
"Basically."
He returned to helping Ves.
Right then, Delilah heard an incoming call. She accepted it.
"This is Delilah, what is it?"she asked.
"Ma'am."one of their FI members, who was in the other part of facility, said in the radio."We're done disposing of the bodies."
Delilah nodded. She ordered to quickly take care of all the bodies that littered the facility after they turned on the gravity.
"Good. Now, spread out and secure the whole refinery. We can't risk any surprises left for us by the enemy."she ordered.
"Yes, ma'am."The call ended.
Delilah then looked at Ves and the former Son, sitting at the command console.
"How long until you get it back to operating?"she asked.
"As I said."the Son said."It will…"
"Done."Ves said.
She pressed a button and all lights in the command room turned on, bathing the area in light. Helley looked into the corridor and saw, that lights started turning there as well.
"All systems operational. Now they just await orders to begin working on refining the gas again."Ves declared proudly.
Former Son looked at her, surprised.
"That's Ves for you."Emmy said, grinning."One of the greatest hacker minds of our time."
"I'm impressed."Son said, nodding."I only told you what means what and you figured it out so quick."
"What can I say?"Ves smirked."I am incredible."
"True, true."everyone said, nodded and laughed.
"What, aren't I?"the hacker Warrior Bunny asked.
"You are, you are."Delilah said.
Right then, she had an incoming call notification on her HUD. When she saw it was from Tyuule, she accepted immediately.
"Yes, ma'am?"Commander asked.
"Commander Delilah, I have a job for you."Tyuule said."It's gonna be relatively simple. I want your units to join the three scout teams we're sending tomorrow to see what lays beyond this system. We want you to look for resources, information and people who will be willing to cooperate with us. Be sure to take some SoS translators, as according to what they told us, most intelligent beings in Andromeda are fluent in Erecan language, due to the dominance of the Dominion. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am."Delilah replied."We will just finish setting up the operations of this refinery and we're going."
"Good. You will be working with Sharkline-SOF. So it's gonna be like during the Second Galactic War for you, won't it?"
Warrior Bunny smirked.
"Indeed it will be. Only shame Norrine isn't here."She sighed.
She heard that Norrine left the EUJM Marine Corp and now traveled the Milky Way galaxy with Conny and Ursula, Ester and Dora's daughters, helping people in need and teaching the twins how to use their powers.
"Alright, that's all I had to relay to you. Tyuule out."Fleet Admiral disconnected.
Delilah then turned towards the rest of her team and the former Son.
"Ladies and gentlemen."she said."We're going on an adventure."
February 2
10:43
UNSA San Antonio, hangar
Ester stood in the hangar of the Stealth Frigate, observing a formation of twelve Falmartian Fighter Infantry Corp Eurofighter Cyclone fighters coming to landing. They extended their landing gear and activated VTOL mode, slowly touching down. Once they did, ground crews immediately reached them and started refueling them. Meanwhile, the pilots of these machines started coming out. Six of them Ester didn't recognize. But the remaining six were easily recognizable.
"Delilah!"Ester exclaimed.
"Ester!"Delilah replied.
The two quickly ran up to each other and shook hands.
"Good to see you again…commander."Ester smirked, saying Delilah's rank.
"Yeah. I moved up in the world."Delilah smirked."But now that we're here, let's get to the business."
"I guess you know the reason you were sent to us?"
"To help you during your scouting missions in the systems beyond the one we're currently in."
Ester nodded.
"Follow me then."she said.
Delilah turned back to the rest of the Warrior Bunnies and other FI soldiers.
"Ladies, show the newbies where things are on this ship. I will go with Ester and discuss the details."she ordered.
"Yes, ma'am!"they all replied, saluting.
"Let's go."Ester said.
She then led the commander out of the hangar and down the corridor. Truth be told, Delilah was happier to be here, aboard San Antonio than aboard Queen's Light. Even though the reason she served aboard this ship last time was because of Second Galactic War, she still had a lot of warm memories with this ship. And it was nice to see that not much have changed since last time she was here. Now, if only to make it perfect, they needed the rest of their former SOF squad. Which she knew was pretty tough to do, close to impossible.
"Got any news from Norrine lately?"Delilah asked.
Ester looked at her.
"Not the first question I expected, to be honest."she admitted."But yeah, I do. Not long before we departed, I got a message from her, saying that they are helping with some bandits on some planet in Shakayan Space."
"Are you really okay with the twins traveling the galaxy like that?"
"Honestly…Yes, I'm worried about them, which is normal, since I'm their mother. But at the same time, I trust Norrine to keep them safe. If I didn't, I would immediately order her to get them back to Earth."
"Can you order her if she's not a part of military anymore?"
"I mean…I'm still higher ranked than her."
"True."
As they talked, they reached the elevator. They stepped in and Ester pressed the button to get them to the bridge. They were at place in several seconds. The door opened again and they stepped out into the bridge, passing by saluting officers.
Dora looked up from the holo-table and smiled.
"Delilah."she said."Long time no see."
"True that, Dora."Delilah said.
The two then proceeded to shake hands. Delilah looked at the map of the system projected in the air before them. There were three lines leading out of the system in three directions.
"So. Where are we going?"Delilah asked.
"We will be sending one ship per hyperspace lane."Ester said."San Antonio will be going through the one leading North."
"Meanwhile, Sharkbite and Sharkfin will be going North-West and East."Dora said.
On the hologram, the three ships moved towards their respective hyperspace lanes. Delilah nodded. She knew which ships will be going, since she was told to assign her FI soldiers to these three.
"What are the procedures?"Delilah asked.
"As follows."Dora said."Upon entering the system, we perform a system-wide scan. If we detect any signs of civilization in the system, we try to approach it peacefully and make contact with the locals. If peaceful option is impossible, we simply retreat and await orders. If there are no people living in the system, we focus on locating resource deposits. And if there are none, we simply move on."
"Sounds simple enough."Delilah stated.
"Worked like that since first Human ship left the Solar System."Ester said.
"If something's good, you don't change it."Dora nodded.
"So, when are we leaving?"
"In an hour."captain Phil, who was talking to one of his officers next to them, replied.
"What the man said."Ester said.
Delilah nodded.
"Alright."
For that hour, Delilah, Ester and Dora discussed the various details of the upcoming task, especially regarding contact with new civilizations. Do they send someone without weapons, or do they send a diplomat with armed escort? Things like that could easily influence the result of any first contact.
And hour later, the three ships set off on their journey.
February 2
11:55
Unknown system
UNSA San Antonio completed it's jump into the unknown system. Immediately, everyone went to their battle positions, in case they were going to meet any form of enemy resistance immediately after exiting the jump. Fortunately, there were no enemies, at least in their nearest vicinity, so immediately, the ship started performing a system-wide scan. It lasted for five minutes before it was finished.
"Sir."radar officer said, turning to Phil.
Years-long captain of the Stealth Frigate turned to the radar officer.
"We have finished the full system scan."
"Good."Phil replied."Put it on the holo."
Radar officer nodded, while the captain approached the table, where previously called Ester, Dora and Delilah were standing. As he stood beside them, the hologram appeared above their heads, showing the map of the system quickly created, based on the scans performed. It was a small system, there were only three planets in it, with one being Earth-like, while others were gas giants.
"Can we get a detailed report?"Ester asked.
"Of course, colonel."radar officer replied."According to the scan, the gas giants are mostly made of hydrogen-oxygen-methane mix. The one Earth-like planet is in the distance from the star that allows for living. Star itself is a blue giant, twice the size of Sun."
"What about any signs of civilization?"Dora asked.
"We're detecting signs of civilization on the surface. Not much, but still. We also detect no orbital installations around the gas giants, same for their moons, that seem to be rich in metal ores of different kinds."
"Enemy presence?"Phil asked.
"Detecting one enemy ship around the inhabited planet."
Everyone nodded.
"Sounds like a good start, doesn't it?"Delilah asked.
"Yes it does."Phil said."Considering that we found civilization here is a good start"
"So, next step, we go there and try making contact?"Dora asked.
"Yes. But we have to be careful. We have no idea what we can encounter there. That ship might as well be a full-fledged Battleship as much as something civilian. So we need to keep a low profile as long as the situation becomes clear."Phil stated.
"Completely understandable."Ester said.
Phil nodded and turned to the main navigator.
"Navigator, bring us in as close to the planet as possible. Just make sure for us to remain undetected."
"Yes, sir."navigator replied.
The ship's hyperspace drive activated again as hyperspace generators were opened. Not long after, the ship, surrounded by blue lightning, jumped towards the inhabited planet of the system, exiting hyperspace in it's high orbit a minute later. Immediately, everyone went on high alert as well.
"Scan, quick!"Phil ordered.
"Already ahead of you, sir."radar officer said."We get positive readings on the enemy ship. It appears to be a huge type of transport vessel."
"Is it armed?"Dora asked.
"Yes. We detect numerous batteries along it's hull. But none of them seem to detect us."
"That's good at least."Delilah said.
Radar officer nodded and looked at the radar. Next, he turned back to everyone again.
"It actually appears, that enemy vessel is preparing for departure."he said.
He was right. Not long after, purple lightnings surrounded the transport, before it jumped into hyperspace and left. Everyone let out a big sigh of relief.
"Well, that was lucky."Ester stated.
"A bit too lucky even."Phil stated."They seemed to be…in a hurry."
Everyone looked at the captain.
"In hurry? Have any ideas why?"Delilah asked.
"No. But we will know sooner or later. For now, we have to figure out what's this planet about. I want photos, scans, any type of information. I even want you to capture any communications and radio chatter. Anything!"
"Yessir!"the crew replied.
The crew then immediately went to work, telescopes making photos of the surface, scans were being performed and comms officers worked on searching for enemy surface frequencies. For the next half an hour, everyone was almost completely silent, the silence interrupted only by sounds of devices at work. After that time passed, all officers looked back at Phil. Captain looked back at them with a raised eyebrow.
"What?"Phil asked.
"Sir."comms officer said."It seems like we just came to a warzone."
Everyone raised their eyebrows.
"Aren't we already in a warzone, considering we started the operation?"Delilah asked.
"Yes. But the planet…It's a warzone itself."
"Give it on the screen."
Officers started pressing buttons on their consoles and immediately, pictures appeared above the holo-table. Due to low cloud cover and bright day on this side of the planet, everything was perfectly visible. And because of that, everyone could see it. Fields covered in explosion craters. Abandoned towns. Columns of abandoned, what looked like, military equipment and other vehicles. On some photos, everyone could also see fire coming from a walled-off town towards some hills, covered with a mass of…something.
"What is going on down there…?"Dora asked.
"We don't know and it doesn't look good."Phil said.
Ester squinted her eyes.
"Can you enhance this part?"Ester asked, pointing at the picture with a mass of something covering a hill.
Telescopes officer nodded and started enhancing the part of the picture while also zooming in at the same time. As he did, the picture soon became much more crisp and clear, making them able to finally see what the mass was.
These were…creatures. Thousands, upon thousands of feline-like creatures. All charging on a single, relatively small settlement.
"What the hell is going on down there?"Delilah asked.
"Whatever it is, I don't think the people down there are doing good against it."Phil stated and looked at the comms officer."Radio chatter? Enemy comms?"
"We have some things, but we don't know what is being said, sir."comms officer replied.
"Of course."Phil sighed."Get the translator here."
Marines guarding the bridge nodded and quickly left. They returned a few minutes later, tugging with them a man, who's face clearly showed that he doesn't want to be here at all but was forced to anyway.
"What do you want?"he asked in Saderan.
"Isn't it clear?"Phil asked, also in Saderan."You know the enemy language, right?"
"Yeah, I was chosen as your translator, right?"
"Then can you translate enemy chatter we managed to intercept?"
"I can try."
One of the Marines proceeded to nudge the man with his elbow. The man looked at the Marine and growled like an angry animal.
"Then go for it."Phil ordered.
He nodded to the comms officer who started pressing some buttons and soon, sound of radio chatter and comms in Erecan filled the bridge. The man stood there, listening. Marines still flanked him and made sure he didn't try anything. After the sound stopped, he looked up at Phil.
"And?"captain asked."What did you get from all that?"
"I'm not some master when it comes to Erecan…"the man said."…but from what I managed to understand, they are in a lot of shit."
"By that you mean?"
"That they are fighting something."
"We know that. Anything else?"
"That they are losing and need some kind of support, wondering where are the promised reinforcements from the government that they were promised."
Everyone looked at each other.
"That sounds pretty desperate."Ester stated.
"I mean, judging from what we saw on the photos, desperation may be all they have left as of now."Phil stated.
Dora stood to the side, rubbing her chin. Suddenly, she perked up.
"I have an idea."she said.
Everyone looked at her.
"What idea?"Delilah asked.
"What if…we helped them?"
"Elaborate."Ester asked.
"Think about it. If what this guy translated its true, then that means that their government simply left them with this problem…and we are fighting against that government…maybe we can work together with the ones on the surface?"
Everyone looked at each other, thinking about her words.
"That's…"Phil said."…not a bad idea at all."
"Yeah…"Ester agreed."Besides, it's better if we have some kind of allies. We want to also show enemy people, that we're not some super crazy killers that only want to kill and plunder. So helping them with their problem might be a good step in a good direction."
"Definitely."Delilah said.
Phil nodded and looked at them.
"I approve of this plan."he said."Commanders Dora and Delilah, colonel Ester. Get your troops ready. I want you to get on the surface and attempt to make contact with the populace. Be careful and help them if you can. Good luck and dismissed!"
The three saluted, turned around and left to prepare for the mission.
XXX
And this is where we end for today. As always, feel free to leave a review, follow and favorite. It will be highly appreciated!
See ya!