And here is chapter 2. Sorry it took so long, I had to deal with school. Good news is that I should be able to write a lot more often now, so chapters should come quicker. And before this chapter starts you all will get some basic information.
First, the UEC. The UEC ( United Earth Coalition) is the largest nation in the galaxy, holding an estimated 20% of all known stars in the milky way. The UEC operates separately from the government on Earth and primarily focuses on space. There is a lot more to them, but I don't want half this chapter to be about the way the UEC government works.
Second, the Pathfinder. The Pathfinder, as said last chapter, is an Eminent class battleship. The Eminent class has a minimum crew size of 1,230 with a max capacity of 1,300. Being the newest class of battleships in UEC service it has some of the most advanced weapons the UEC has, and a whole hell of a lot of smaller guns. The primary weapons are 4 barrel turrets chambered in 900mm, of which the Eminent class has 10. Along side the 900's are 16 turreted accelerator cannons, a weapon system only seen on Supercaptials previously. The Eminent class also has 440 missile bays capable of burst firing 40 missiles per bay, and comes with a single 6500mm Rift-accelerator in the nose. These weapons are complemented by far too many secondary and point-defense weapons to list.
Third, the Red Stars. The Red Stars are the largest pirate group on the UEC's side of the galaxy. Their size has allowed them to be a constant thorn in the UEC's side for 200 years. However the Red Stars only have around 20-30 years left before they collapse due to multiple factors. The battle-station was a desperate attempt to establish a new holding to buy themselves more time.
Finally, the size disparity. While the Red Star forces that came with the Pathfinder have a mobile base roughly equal in firepower to the Pathfinder, and have 400 ships to the single Pathfinder, the Pathfinder is MUCH more advanced and deadly than any single Red Star ship. In a 1 on 1 fight the Pathfinder will always win, but it won't be 1 on 1 fights. The issue that the Pathfinder will face is that the Red Stars have a base to repair and build new ships at (only Destroyer class or smaller), while the Pathfinder can only perform repairs with the equipment they have onboard.
And if anyone is wondering how the Pathfinder will fare against the Grimm and Salem, short answer, the standard battleship class missiles the UEC uses, the MK 460, have a blast yield of 56.2 megatons. These missiles are also non-nuclear. And the Pathfinder carries nukes.
2 months post arrival
While it was still jarring, Summer got used to living on the Pathfinder rather quickly. It certainly helped that the entire crew did everything they could to make her feel at home. Not to mention the fact that Ceren allowed Summer to help defend the ship. How exactly? By becoming a pilot.
It had taken two months, but today was the day that Summer was finally able to fly a E-77 for real, not a simulation. And it went without saying that she was excited to join Thorn squadron as Thorn 8.
But as Summer approached her fighter, she couldn't help but remember everything that had happened the past two months. And there was a lot that happened.
2 weeks post arrival;storage bay 332
Summer was exploring the Pathfinder. She had been for the past few weeks now. And she was still shocked by just how big the ship was.
"I just. I've been on warships before back home, but this ship. I still can't rap my head around how massive it is." Summer said out loud, her thoughts spilling out.
"I can understand. I felt the same way the first time I boarded this ship." Zuhura said to Summer. "I still remember the day I transferred from a little corvette to this ship."
Summer turned to look at Zuhura, her face one of curiosity. "You never said you had been on any other ships."
"It never came up before now. But yes, before I was assigned to the Pathfinder I was a medical officer onboard a Watcher class corvette." Zuhura said, her face and eyes changing to those of someone reliving a fond memory. "I enjoyed my time on that little ship. Only 563 meters long with only 68 people on it. And all of us were only around 50!"
Summer's head turned to stare at Zuhura, what did she mean 'only 50'. "Zuhura, how old are you? Sorry if that's offensive, you don't have to answer." Summer asked sheepishly.
"Ah no offense taken Summer. To answer your question, I'm in the prime of my life at 122 years old." Zuhura answered Summer's question with a smile. While also completely missing Summer's look of absolute shock.
"W-what? How? You look 30!" Summer almost shouted in confusion.
"Oh. It appears that I forgot to tell you how long we live, sorry. Due to advances in technology the maximum age most people will live to, if nothing bad happens, is 220-230. Xenovians have shorter lives at 190-200." Zuhura told Summer, and this time she noticed Summer's look of shock.
"I just. How did you even do something like that?" Summer asked, her voice quiet.
"I can tell you, but I will say that the process is difficult even for me to fully understand, and I was trained on how to perform it."
As Summer and Zuhura continued to walk around the storage bay and talk, they eventually found themselves in the back of the storage bay, where Summer found something interesting.
"Hey Zuhura?"
"Yes Summer."
"What's a NC-2?"
Zuhura froze. Her face changing to one of sheer horror. Her head snapped to where Summer was faster than should have been possible.
"Summer. Listen to me very carefully. Step away from that device NOW. DO NOT touch anything. DO NOT touch it." Zuhura's voice came out in a panic, her usually calm demeanor changed instantly to one of absolute terror and fear.
Once Summer had backed away, she heard Zuhura activate her radio, seeming to contact the captain.
Then Summer heard Zuhura's voice over the announcement system.
"This is medical officer Zuhura to all hands. Code Starlight. A Nova class weapon has been found in storage bay 332. This is NOT a drill. All bomb disposal units to storage bay 332 immediately. This is a priority one alert. Repeat this is a PRIORITY ONE ALERT."
Summer's entire body froze. She had been standing right next to a bomb.
2 weeks post arrival; Bridge
Captain Meena's day just got a whole hell of a lot fucking worse. And terrifying.
"Alright. Can someone please explain to me, how in the EVERLOVING FUCK A NOVA CLASS WEAPON GOT ABOARD MY SHIP!" She screamed out to her senior crew. Ceren was normally calm and collected, but not this time. Right now, she wanted to scream, and she was going to.
"We ran every check before we departed the station sir, it wasn't onboard when we left port." her XO, Ladislas, told her.
"Sir, security footage from the storage bay shows that it appeared via portal right after we exited the Rift-Hole." the chief security officer reported, his voice shaking.
"Alright. Fuck. So a Carl-damned NC-2 somehow appears on my ship after getting dragged through a Rift-Hole. Pavle, figure out how this thing got onboard, focus on finding out how that portal formed first."
"Yes Sir." the resident Rift user, Pavle, replied. It was damn good to have him in this type of situation.
"Good, standard containment for the NC-2. If it even LOOKS like its going to detonate you dump it out the airlock and jump us." Ceren told her staff, her tone stating that she would take no arguments about this situation.
"Yes sir!"
2 months post arrival; present day
Summer finally sat down inside the cockpit of a E-77 for the first time, first real time anyways, and could barely contain her excitement.
"Alright, Thorn squadron finish your pre-flight checks. We are deploying in 10 minutes." Summer heard Thorn 1 say over the radio.
4 minutes later Summer had finished the pre-flight checks and was ready to fly. Her eyes were full of excitement at finally being able to fly in space for real.
"Summer, calm down. I know your excited but still, you need to calm yourself. Getting excited won't make us launch any faster." Thorn 4 said over the radio, followed by some muffled laughs from Thorn 6.
It took another few minutes but the rest of Thorn squadron had finished their checks and were ready to launch.
"Thorn 1 to Pathfinder, checks complete, all birds green. Ready to launch on your command."
"Roger Thorn 1, launch authorized, good luck and happy hunting."
"Copy Pathfinder, Thorn squadron launching."
With those few words said, the hangar suddenly blurred. And a second later, there was nothing but the void of space. Summer finally saw it, and now she could fly freely in it.
Some say that once you see space for the first time, the first TRUE time, you can never find anything more beautiful.
Some say that you can never find something more terrifying.
Some say, that space is the one place that one can come to experiencing TRUE freedom.
And to all, is the one place that everyone wishes to see.
Thorn squadron began turning past the second moon in the system. Their patrol had taken them fairly far from the Pathfinder due to being on a long range CAP.
And Summer was enjoying every second of it.
"Thorn 8 stay with the rest of the squadron. I know your excited but don't break formation."
"Sorry sir, it won't happen again." Summer sheepishly replied. That was the third time in the past 5 hours. It had been 5 hours already? To Summer it felt like 30 minutes.
Continuing on their patrol, Thorn squadron found themselves on the opposite side of the moon. Once again, they found nothing there.
"Thorn 1 to Pathfinder, moon bravo is clear, no signs of any Red Star forces."
"Copy Thorn 1, proceed to moon charlie, Kaltis squadron detected something on long range scans around moon charlie."
"Roger Pathfinder, moving to investigate moon charlie."
Turning with the rest of her squadron, Summer activated the accelerator drive on her E-77. It still shocked her that she didn't feel the force of gravity at all, even when pulling hard turns. The wonders of G-canceler technology.
"Thorn, complete stop."
"Copy stopping."
Summer activated the reverse thrusters on her E-77 to slow to a complete stop, wondering what was going on. Then her eyes saw the sensor screen on her fighter.
"Thorn 1 to Pathfinder, hostile forces spotted. 3 ships, destroyer class. Can not identify if they know of our location."
"Copy Thorn, bringing weapons online. RTB now, do not engage."
"Copy that retu-
Thorn 1 never got to finish his sentence. In less than a second a missile came flying out of nowhere and slammed into his fighter, vaporizing him.
"Thorn 1 KIA, Thorn 6 assuming command. 4th enemy vessel, stealth corvette. Pathfinder begin missile defense! Enemy missile launch! Repeat enem-
And then Thorn 6 was stuck by a missile.
Summer froze. Her first flight, and the two best pilots in the squadron were dead. Command now fell to her, and she was scared. She had experience leading people, but this? This was different, terrifying.
"Thorn 8! Orders!" Summer heard her squadmates yell over the radio, breaking her from her shock. They still needed her, she needed to get them home safely.
"Thorn, RTB NOW. Engage any missiles you can, but your primary objective is to get into range of the Pathfinder's PD defenses."
"Hostile vessels detected sir! We have positive locks on all of them!" the weapons systems operation (WSO) reported.
"Good, standard anti-destroyer fire. I want 10 bays on each ship, 2 round burst, MK 400s." Ceren told her weapons crew.
"Roger sir, prepping missile bays 1-50."
"Status on our missile defenses."
"Pd's online sir, interceptor missiles are already launched, fighter squadrons Bulwark, Defender, Dagger, and Spear are active." the WSO reported.
Having finished giving commands, Ceren leaned back in her chair. She had a lot to contemplate. She knew this day was coming, they had gone 2 months without a Red Star attack, but of all days it had to be the day that Summer took her first flight. And Thorn was already down its flight lead and second flight lead.
"All hostile targets are entering 230,000km sir." the sensor operation reported.
"Good, weapons, fire at those targets."
"Copy sir, missiles away." weapons reported as Ceren saw numerous friendly missile contacts appear on radar.
"Alright you Red Star bastards, lets see how you like this." Ceren heard one of the bridge crew mutter under their breath, but she couldn't determine who.
Not that she though any different.
Summer banked hard to the left and upwards to avoid yet another missile. The missiles just kept coming. The only good news in this situation was that no one else from Thorn had died. Bad news was that the corvette was getting closer. And quickly.
"Thorn, break left and get around the moon. We should be able to lose them if we do." Summer said into the radio, and quickly heard the rest of Thorn agreeing.
They made it around the moon, only to have the corvette follow them. And it was even closer.
All Summer could do was stare out the canopy at the 629 meter long monster that had killed 2 of her friends. And it looked like she would be next.
2 months. She had only survived for 2 months. She wouldn't see her babies again, she was going to di-
Then, the corvette exploded.
Summer's eyes widened in surprise and shock. The corvette suddenly had a massive hole in the side of it. The armor torn apart violently.
"FUCK YEAH! EAT MISSILE YOU PIRATE FUCK!" Summer heard shouted over the radio. Did the Pathfinder kill the corvette? But they were still 190,000km away.
"Lead, the Pathfinder just cleared our path home, lets get moving."
Broken from her shocked stupor, Summer quickly responded. "Right, Thorn hit accelerator drives and get back to the Pathfinder."
As space began to blur because of the accelerator drive, Summer sorted her thoughts.
The range that combat between warships took place at finally sank in for her. She was told that most combat is from hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, but what she saw happen to that corvette, she finally believed them.
"Enemy Corvette class and 2 Destroyer class vessels DIS sir, remaining enemy ships are fleeing." the sensor station reported.
"Do BDA on the enemy ships, how damaged are they?"
"The Corvette is dead, no chance of recovery. The nose tore off from the rest of the ship. Destroyer 1 has suffered total power loss, missiles hit the reactors. Destroyer 2 is mobility killed, and is caught in the gas giant's gravity well. All enemy vessels are 100% destroyed." Ceren heard from a radar operator.
Good. That was 3 enemy vessels confirmed dead.
"Once our fighters get back jump us. We are not staying here any longer, I want us to be 2 systems over by the time the Red Stars can react."
"Roger sir, prepping FTL drives now." Ceren heard her navigation officer say.
Once again sitting back in her seat, Ceren had some time to think. The Red Star's weren't in an ambush position, so it was most likely that they just stumbled upon the Pathfinder while on a patrol or scouting mission. But with that destroyer escaping, the Red Stars would swarm this system the moment they got word of what happened. The Pathfinder needed to leave.
"Sir, all fighters have landed." flight control reported, breaking Ceren from her thoughts.
"Good, all hands; prepare for FTL jump. Nav, jump us when you are ready."
"Copy that sir, we are jumping in 3. Jump time is 5 days." navigation said while activating the FTL drives.
Summer was sitting in her bunk, her mind wandering through what had happened.
"Summer? You there?" she heard someone say, one of her squadmates.
"O-oh. Sorry I was lost in thought."
"Its fine, everyone does it. I just wanted to say, you did great out there today. I wish your first time leading the squad wasn't after Thorn 1 and 6 went down." Nona, Thorn 3, said to her.
"I- thank you Nona. I'm, still trying to get used to being the flight lead. I don't know if I can live up to Davie." Summer spoke in a quiet, hushed voice.
"Summer." Nona said in a motherly voice. "You don't have to. You were made third in line for flight lead because we saw how you did in training. We, the squadron as a whole, chose to make you third in line. We did that because we trust your leadership abilities. You don't have to be like Davie, or Kallis, or me. You have to be yourself, we will follow you because we choose to."
For a moment, Summer couldn't think of a response. Her eyes had begun to tear up at some point, but she didn't cry.
"Thank you Nona. I needed to hear that."
"Your welcome Summer, now come on, the rest of the squad is waiting for you in the mess hall. I heard they were serving pizza today." Nona said in a cheery voice.
All Summer could do was laugh. "Nona, they always serve pizza. They have Rift fabricators and can literally create any type of food you could want."
"Yeah, but this time they ACTUALLY cooked it. They made actual wood-fired pizza this time. Not fabricated pizza!"
Summer once again laughed at her friend's antics. "Alright, I'll be down in a minute. I just need to do something real quick."
"Well get there quick, or I'll take it all!"
"No you won't Nona!"
"Ceren, I have some good news."
"What is it, Pavle?"
"I managed to refine the portal's origin point a little."
"How much is a little?"
"I have managed to shrink the size of our search cone, not by much, but it appears that the closer we get, the more I can pin-point the origin point."
"Good, keep at it. And what about the NC-2?"
"Nothing sir, it just appeared. But I did detect faint traces of Rift energy on it."
"How strong?"
"At least mid level tier 4, possibly stronger."
"I see. Thank you Pavle, and good work."