Vega System Terran Year 2367
GTVA 3rd Fleet Flagship GTD Aquitaine
Admiral Petrarch was a man that had seen in his long military career many things, from his early years as Ensign fighting in the Great War, the Hades Rebellion, the formation of the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance, the Neo-Terran Front Rebellion up to the second Shivan incursion he would have never thought that even the enigmatic Shivan Race where capable to turn a Star into a Supernova.
Slowly the Admiral turned around with his office chair and looked with a grim expression out of his personal quarters window at the Star that once was Capella burning brighter than ever before in its entire lifetime.
Watching the Star System that once was his Fleets Headquarter and home to 250 million Terrans his mind started to wander.
Thank God that we started the evacuations months ago when the Shivans where first spotted in the Gamma Draconis System. Initial reports on the evacuation state that we were able to save 200 million souls. Regrettably that left 50 million of our own people and several thousand Vasudans behind. In the coming months the GTVA will face a refugee crisis the likes of which only the destruction of Vasuda Prime by the SD Lucifer can be compared to.
Shifting his view from the Star Petrarch's eyes focused on a small object far in the distance, this "small" object was the from bow to stern 2030 meters long Orion Class GTD Nereid waiting patiently near the subspace Node leading to what was once the Capella System. Originally the Nereid was supposed to enter the Vega - Capella subspace Node and collapse the subspace corridor via the remote detonation of on board placed Meson Bombs. Against Petrarch's own judgment the GTVA Security Council has decided to cancel the original plan as the Fleet of around 80 Shivan Sathanas Class Juggernauts had disappeared seconds before the Star went Supernova.
The GTSC Hawking, a Faustus class science ship, has sent a special and very costly subspace capable probe one hour ago into the area and was able to scan what was once a Star System teaming with life. Unsurprisingly the probes readings showed extreme high amounts of radiation that will kill any Terran or Vasudan attempting to enter it. The radiation is so high that even a Destroyers thick armor and radiation protection wouldn't be able to keep their Crews of around 10000 people alive for long. The lead scientist on board the GTD Aquitaine, Dr. David Coldwight has assured the Admiral that even the Shivans couldn't survive for very long in these conditions.
For Petrarch that at last was a relief even if he didn't like the Security Councils decision. On the Question of how long the area was going to stay deadly Coldwight calculated that it will take at least several Terran standard years until the radioactive materials in the area had spread out far enough to make travel for Ship Crews viable again.
Upon the Question itself as to why the Shivans blew up Capella the Scientist could only speculate. Either the Shivans had done this to create another Nebula for resources or - and that is something so out of the blue - the Shivans according to Coldwight where attempting to use the explosion of a Star to create a bridge between this universe or even dimension and their own.
Crossing Universes or Dimensions? Ridiculous. At last IF he is right about this outlandish claim we will never have to see this forsaken Fleet ever again.
Letting out a tired sign Petrarch slowly turned the chair he was sitting in back around so that he was facing again is personal Laptop. Petrarch's expression became more stoic while he was watching the still increasing number of confirmed casualties after the end of the second Shivan incursion.
GTVA Colossus class Juggernaut Colossus all hands lost
GTC Leviathan class Cruiser Zollner all hands lost
GTC Aeolus class Cruiser Ertanax all hands lost
GTC Aeolus class Cruiser Sparta all hands lost
GTC Aeolus class Cruiser Templar all hands lost
GTC Aeolus class Cruiser Malta all hands lost
GVC Mentu class Cruiser Ptah-Nu all hands lost
GTCv Deimos class Corvette Lemnos all hands lost
GTD Orion class Destroyer Bastion destroyed by remote Meson Bomb detonation
GTM Hippocrates class Medical ship Herophilus all hands and passengers lost
GTT Argo class Transport ship Notus all hands and passengers lost
Closing his eyes and rubbing them with his fingers the Admiral could only fathom how many more ships the casualty list is going to have in the following hours.
Admiral Aken Bosch you madman... this is all on you. First you started your NTF Rebellion and then you opened the flood gates for the Shivans. All of this for what? To SAVE Humanity by trying to create an alliance with these monsters?
Bringing his hands back down and placing them on his Office table the Admiral opened his eyes.
"Computer display the casualties of our fighter and bomber squadron complement." ordered Petrarch his personal computer.
The - by Vasudan standards primitive programmed - AI of his old personal Laptop back from Earth switched the Fleet casualty list to a list of all Squadrons that are assigned to the GTD Aquitaine and had been deployed in Capella for several missions. From the collapsing of the Capella-Epsilon Pegasi subspace corridor via Meson Bombs carried by the GTD Bastion - a legendary Orion Class Destroyer from the Great War - to protecting fleeing civilian transport ships from Shivan attacks.
19th Ghosts 100% lost
53rd Hammerheads 60% lost
64th Raptors 100% lost
70th Blue Lions 80% lost
83rd Grey Torps 100% lost
91st Hurricanes 70% lost
107th Ravens 70% lost
116th Anvil Breakers 100% lost
134th Barracudas 70% lost
242nd Suicide Kings 60% lost
309th Avengers 100% lost
Closing his eyes once more the Admiral leaned back further in his chair thinking about all the lives that where lost today. Most of these Pilots and Spaceship Crews had been the best and finest Officers that the Flight Academies had produced all throughout the GTVA and now they are simply gone.
With these Casualty Numbers we will have to reorganize all squadrons. It pains me to say this but several of these squadrons have to be disbanded.
Begrudgingly Petrarch leaned forward and started to record audio logs to inform the survivors of the squadrons that where not completely wiped out.
Moving down the list from squadron to squadron he stopped at the 70th Blue Lions.
GTVA Officer Profile "Alpha One" 70th Blue Lions Squadron Leader
Name: REDACTED under GTVA Deneb Convention Class Gamma Article 21.3.5
Birthplace: REDACTED under GTVA Deneb Convention Class Alpha Article 21.3.5
Species: Terran/Human
Gender: Male
Year of Birth: REDACTED under GTVA Deneb Convention Class Alpha Article 21.3.5
Next of kin: REDACTED under GTVA Deneb Convention Class Gamma Article 21.3.5
First Assignment: REDACTED under GTVA Deneb Convention Class Alpha Article 21.3.5
Rank: REDACTED under GTVA Deneb Convention Class Gamma Article 21.3.5
Current Status: KIA
He could remember Alpha One only in passing but from his recollection the Man had been an excellent fighter pilot. The Man's track record and reports from deceased Vasudan Admiral Khafre and Vasudan Commander Habu from the Vasudan Destroyer Hatshepsut class GVD Psamtik told him as much. Relatively surprising since Vasudans are hard to impress especially when you are a Terran.
Alpha One started his military career as Ensign on the Aquitaine in the 53rd Hammerheads, during the long months of the NTF Rebellion and second Shivan incursion he rose up the ranks to the rank of Lt. Commander and was given the position of Squadron Leader of the 70th Blue Lions an Elite Heavy Attack squadron.
Oddly enough Alpha One's preference when it came to Fighters was that of the Interceptor GTF Perseus compared to the Heavy Assault Fighter GTF Erinyes that the squadron was allowed to use because of their status as Elite Pilots.
The reason why so much information about Alpha One had been redacted in the Profile came from the fact that the Man had underwent multiple sorties for the Special Operations Command of the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Intelligence and this heavy redaction was necessary to protect him and his relatives.
Normally as an Admiral Petrarch should have access to all these informations, but thanks to Admiral Bosch's betrayal the GTVA Security Council has deemed it necessary to keep the identities of people that had worked with the SOC hidden even from high ranking officers like him. He will have to get in touch later with the Security Council to get the necessary clearance so he can be able to contact Alpha One's next of kin, if they are still around that is.
Starting the Recording the Admiral began to speak.
"To the remaining pilots and crew of the 70th Blue Lions Squadron stationed on the GTD Aquitaine. It is my sad duty to report that your squadron leader never reached the Vega System...
Persean Sector Cycle 208 after Collapse
United Aurora Federation
Situated in the outer reaches of the Persean Sector far away from the core Worlds sat three Star Systems going by the names Aoi, Caeli Constellation and Stjarna. Out of these three systems the Star Aoi is home to the United Aurora Federation or UAF for short.
The UAF are Humans that hail from another dimension who had been displaced in the Persean Sector sometime after the collapse of the Gate System. This called Gate System had originally been established by the Humanity of this dimension, which had managed to become a type II Civilization on the Kardashev scale.
In the early history of the Federation, well before they ended up in this dimension, their home planet Auroria had been attacked by a "allegedly splinter" fleet of AI controlled Ships belonging to the Tri-Tachyon corporation. This "splinter" fleet was able to find a presumably Domain Era megastructure which can establish a wormhole to other dimensions. The UAF call this megastructure the Interdimensional Gate.
Having barely, with large casualties, survived this encounter the Aurorans quickly united under a single world government calling it the - as already beforehand named - United Aurora Federation. The UAF government is by nature a constitutional monarchy ruled over by a member of the royal Family hailing from the Empire of Yuria.
Quickly after it's establishment the Federation set itself to the task of reverse engineering the invasion Fleets ships gaining technologies like Hyperspace FTL Drives, Shields and the ability to create a fully sentient AI. This sentient AI goes by the identity of AER-1A with her purpose and primary directive being the protection of the UAF.
Allegedly it is believed by the inhabitants of the Persean Sector, that while scavenging through the wrecks the Aurorans also found on board of the ships experimental Domain Era technologies that gave them the ability to expand their lifespans to an - even by Persean Sector standards - unnatural length.
Building a large expedition fleet outfitted with the beforehand mentioned technologies and AER-1A on board the Aurorans under the Command of Charlotte III, Permaisuri of the Empire of Yuria and her territories - or by the Permaisuri herself preferably being called simply Queen Aeria Charlotte Yuki - went ahead and tried to establish a foothold beyond the interdimensional wormhole so that such an invasion will never occur in the future.
Long story short, after the Aurorans ended up in the Persean Sector the Gate broke down stranding the expedition Fleet in the Human Domain dimension and after several cycles of drifting through space they settled in the Aoi System on their new terrestrial planet called New Aurora.
After having established their new home they also went ahead and colonized the two nearby systems calling them Caeli Constellation and Stjarna. To make sure to return one day back home the UAF moved the Gate to the Edge of the Aoi System. Here they guard the massive megastructure like a hawk in the hopes of repairing it so that contact can be reestablished.
While the UAF would prefer to establish peaceful contacts in the area of the sector they now call their home, they have to deal with their new neighbors like:
-The Hegemony, a militarized polity formed by the remnants of the XIV Battle Group who consider themselves the successor to the Human Domain after the collapse of the Gate Network in the Persean Sector with their strict AI policies. Relying on AI in the form of AER-1A and their Neuko Androids relations between the Hege and UAF are strained at best and bordering on a Cold War most times.
-The Iron Shell, which itself is aligned with the Hegemony. They are known for their sector wide tax policy and questionable treatment of prisoners.
-The Luddic Church/Path, religious followers/extremists in their faith of Ludd with their fear/hate for AI and body modifications. While the Church tries to keep themselves as far removed from the UAF as possible, the Path on the other hand try to attack the Aurorans from time to time.
-The Tri-Tachyon corporation, which had "allegedly" nothing to do with the devastating invasion of their actual home world. While trading is an option the UAFs already strained relationships with the Hegemony, who dislikes Tri-Tachyon, prevents them from doing that.
-The Sindrian Diktat/Fuel Company, a military dictatorship located entirely within the Askonia Star System which broke off from the Hegemony under former Admiral and Hero, Philip Andrada. The Sindrian are well known to the UAF, as they are a direct competitor in the production and selling of M/AM Fuel and the Vacation industry with Andrada seeing himself as the "Sector wide Gas Station Manager".
-The Persean League for their inhuman practices and being a constant annoyance in threatening them to become either a member and pay membership fees or else face aggression.
-The Remnants, the "allegedly" not by Tri-Tachyon controlled but originally build AI Ships that had tried to invade their actual home world. Remnants are openly hostile to anyone.
-The Pirates, because why should the unwashed and scurvy inflicted masses not leave them alone.
With these Human and AI Factions being around that they know of, it of course isn't a surprise that the UAF prefers to follow a policy called "Iron Fist diplomacy" so they speak kindly with an iron fist at the ready if things do go south.
One of these so called "Iron Fists" is the Solvernia Class Artillery Dreadnought YRNFS Solvernia VII, Flagship of the Royal November Fleet which was holding position over New Aurora. This from bow to stern around 3471 meters long, sleek and two pronged warship colored in the blue-gray and white dazzle camouflage of the UAF was the pinnacle of Auroran naval engineering. It's four triple barreled 818 mm Rail-cannons and multiple other kinetic and nuclear weapons have been the demise of many that choose violence against the UAF.
Sitting on the bridges captain chair was no one other than the Woman herself who this warship was named after.
Admiral Solvernia Auroria, considered by her peers a tactical genius and capable Officer, loyal to her Queen and CO of the Royal November Fleet.
Being around the typical height for an Auroran Solvernia's most notable feature where her two different colored cybernetic eyes with her left being red and her her right being blue. Wearing her blue Admirals Uniform and Barrett the long white with brown strands haired woman was inspecting her Bridge Crews work.
Observing her crew and taking a sip from an imported Favonian coffee Solvernia was pleased to note that her Crew was working at peak efficiency. Turning towards the massive Bridge window the Admiral couldn't stop herself from admiring the view of New Aurora. For her and the rest of the UAF New Auroria had become their little piece of heaven in the chaotic, deranged and dangerous sector they ended up in after being cut off in this dimension.
But sadly all this peace and quite came to an end when her bridges Sensor Operator stopped working the controls, stared at them in disbelief and before he could say a single word the Communications Officer interrupted him.
"Admiral, we got a situation at the Gate! The Fleet guarding it are picking up strange readings! They are sending visuals."
Almost choking on the expensive coffee Solvernia was barely able to spit it back into the mug she was holding. Cursing under her breath she turned around towards the Officer.
"On the screen with it imeadatly."
After a short affirmative from the Operator the outwards view of the bridge window abruptly changed to, from what Solvernia can see, a direct camera view coming from one of their Destroyers patrolling near the gate.
Seeing absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, except for the interdimensional gate the Admiral was now starting to get annoyed.
"Are they over there so bored out of their minds that they start doing prank calls or something!" wondered Solvernia aloud with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
"Ma'am, my Sensors are picking up strange readings originating, if I'm reading this correctly, from subspace. I don't believe that they are playing a prank on us, Admiral." confirmed the Sensor Officer after finally finding out what his Sensors are picking up.
Subspace pondered Solvernia, if she remembers correctly subspace entirely is used for long range communications and nothing else.
"Subspace? So... someone is trying to communicate with us?" asked the Admiral slowly after several seconds.
New Aurora
Royal Palace
Among the many cities that the Aurorans built after making their first steps planet side New November City is considered by the many citizens of the Federation a place of progress, prosperity and harmony. Being the Capital of the Federation it's city landscape was dominated by metallic towering skyscrapers reaching far into the heavens, but none of them can be compared to the beauty of the Royal Palace of Charlotte III, Permaisuri of the Empire of Yuria and her territories, the visionary dreamer to the stars and beyond.
A long very important title for a very important person.
Beloved by her subjects the Permaisuri or by her preference simply called Queen Aeria was standing on her palace balcony staring upwards. After watching nightfall decent on the City Aeria's blue cybernetic eyes stared upwards in wonder at the thousands of watchable stars that make up only a tiny smidgen of the entire milkyway galaxy of this dimension.
The light blue haired woman, wearing a headdress resembling the wings of a dove above both her ears and her royal garments, kept wondering what else lies out in the dark beyond. From her knowledge the Human Domain never found any other species or civilizations in the thousands of cycles they had been colonizing the known galaxy. How would they look like? Would they look like Humans? Would they even be bipedal? What would their language and culture be like? What would they believe in? All of these questions and more were running through her head. Staring for several more seconds Aeria finally remembered that she still had some paperwork to do.
Hello, Paperwork my dear old friend.
Letting out a short sigh, the Queen turned around and walked back into her royal chamber and towards her personal terminal. Just as she sat down her terminal started beeping, signaling that she was receiving a communication request.
Who could this be this late at night, wondered the Queen as last time she checked there where no more audiences scheduled for the next three days.
Opening the comm link she was surprised to see the Android Body of AER-1A looking back at her. Especially by this sudden call from the Administrator of Lunamun, the main naval yard and staging point of the Federation.
Aeria raised an eyebrow knowing full well that the AI normally prefers to keep doing things from behind the scenes.
"Good evening to you my Queen, while I know it is a little late I have been picking up over the last hour concerning readings that had been increasing until now coming from the interdimensional gate. At first the readings were low but they had been increasing by the hour. It appears to be coming from subspace." spoke the AI with clear urgency in her almost human like voice.
"The gate? Subspace? What? Is someone calling us? Wait, isn't the gate supposed to be still under repair!" asked the Queen fully aware of the importance that the gate had for the future of her people.
The AIs wedge shaped visor simply stared back at her as if her entire concentration was being used up by something, that's odd mused Aeria knowing full well about the capabilities of the AI.
After several seconds of processing the AI finally responded.
"My Queen, I believe that we are not getting a call but that something is coming through subspace, my calculations are pointing out that whatever is coming through is going to be big. I already ordered the UAFX Novaeria II, Empress and the Royal Automata Battle Group back to the Aoi System."
Queen Aeria couldn't believe what she just heard.
"Are you implying that someone or something is using subspace as a means of FTL or even dimensional travel?"
"It appears so, my Queen."
Subspace Corridor standard Terran Year 2367
Capella Nebula - unknown subspace node
If someone would ever need to describe a Shivan Juggernaut of the Sathanas Class to an outsider the word monstrous will most likely be mentioned multiple times. Having a length from bow to stern of 5978 meters the - in the typical red and black color used by the Shivans for all their ships - Sathanas Class with its four gigantic movable claw like looking ultra-heavy beam cannons concentrated at the bow can, without much difficulty, take on most GTVA Battle Groups all by itself.
Terran and Vasudan Scientists have estimated that each of its massive beam canons have an staggering damage output of 125 GT (Gigatons of TNT) per pulse.
Therefore facing a SJ Sathanas from the front should be seen simply as a death wish. While the ship is maybe prone to flanking attacks thanks to it's single comparatively diminutive anti-warship beam cannon at the stern and it's flanks only being covered by point-defense weapons one should not underestimate the many hundreds of fighters and bombers it carries in its cavernous hangar.
The only ship that ever was capable of surviving, wounding and killing such a monstrosity in the GTVA arsenal was the GTVA Colossus, a 6166 meters long Juggernaut that had been in production as a combined effort by both the Terran and Vasudan people for two decades. The Colossus was the most powerful space-faring warship the Allies ever made bristling not just with over 80 weapon turrets but also it was home to around 240 fighters and bombers giving the ship an unprecedented way of force projection. To operate such a behemoth it required a Crew of 30.000 Terrans and Vasudans.
Being deployed for it's first engagement against the NTF Rebellion the Colossus turned the tide in favor for the Alliance and showed not just its firepower but also it's robustness by taking a head-on collision from an Orion Class Destroyer the NTD Repulse commanded by NTF fanatic Rear Admiral Koth.
The damage that was inflicted on the Juggernaut was reported to be "minimal and easily repairable". The NTD Repulse on the other hand...
When - the only known to that time - SJ Sathanas and the GTVA Colossus met in the former Capella Star System the battle that commenced will forever be written in the history books of both the Allied races.
-The Sathanas, the massive monstrous threat to the very existence of both the Terran and Vasudan people.
-The Colossus, the stalwart defender built as a symbol for the shared covenant of peaceful co-existence and mutual defense of an Alliance forged in the fires of the Great War.
Like two angry gods the SJ Sathanas and GTVA Colossus both exchanged volley after volley of high powered beam fire any known lesser vessel would succumb to in seconds. At first during the battle the SJ Sathanas had the advantage as both vessels where engaging head-on but once the Colossus got past that and both ships switched to a broadside confrontation, the Colossus started turning the tables against the Shivan Juggernaut thanks to its massive broadside capabilities.
For the very reason to boost moral it will never be mentioned in these history books, that before this legendary battle commenced a Terran Fighter Pilot operating a Vasudan build GVB Bakha during his stay in the GTVA Officer Exchange Program was dispatched to take out two or more of the deadly ultra-heavy beam cannons. Using the GTM-13 Helios Torpedo, a weapon system so expensive and dangerous, that its issue is limited only to those who have been given special authorization by the GTVA Security Council the pilot went to work and destroyed two of the beam cannons with the M/AM torpedoes while the SJ Sathanas was in transit through the Gamma Draconis System towards Capella.
This small cog in the machine that is the Allied Military made up of thousands if not millions of individuals was now sitting in his GTF Perseus Interceptor hanging "upside-down" with its landing gear extended and magnetized from the underside of one of the many SJ Sathanas who are all heading through the subspace corridor to a place unknown.
All seventy of them that made the jump to subspace.
If questioned as to why he had to hitch a ride with the most deadliest type of warship known to the GTVA the pilot would have a rather simple answer.
He didn't had enough time.
When the order came from GTVA Command to imeadatly leave the system, Capella going Supernova was only seconds away from happening. With only seconds at hand and with the Vega subspace node being too far away to reach in time the pilot came to the conclusion, that even if he would do an instantaneous intrasystem jump near the node with his ships - prohibitively expensive - integrated subspace drive it would have taken way too long to recharge said drive ultimately killing him in the blast of the Stars explosion.
Therefore he made the decision to jump directly under one of the gargantuan Shivan vessels while using his Fighters Energy Transfer System (ETS) to divert all power from his four pulse cannons and partly his engines to his shields, keeping him alive this close to the Sun.
Staring with blood shot and tired eyes out of his Interceptors Cockpit the unnamed Pilot could only wonder where this trip was leading to. Of all the things he did in the last couple of months since he finished the Flight Academy and earned his place in the Fighter Corps this has to be the most absurd thing he had ever done. Then again he almost ended up becoming the figurehead of one of the very ships he is now traveling with.
During an operation for the SOC behind enemy lines in an captured and by GTVI engineers retrofitted SF Mara, the Pilot almost crashed head first into an SJ Sathanas that was entering the subspace node he had just came through.
"DIVE! DIVE! DIVE! Hit the burners Pilot!" he could still hear Christopher Snipes shouting.
Laughing dryly for a whole minute which sounded more like a coughing fit the Terran shifted his view and checked his Fighters systems. Viewing it the Pilot could see that he had spent all his GTM-55 Trebuchet missiles and his GTM-19 Harpoon missiles had only 12 missiles remaining. On top off that his fuel reserves of Deuterium needed by his Fighters Vasudan designed fusion reactor were half empty.
At last he can count on the four GTW UD-8 Kayser pulse cannons. As much as one can count on a Shivan reverse engineered weapon system that barely came out of OpEval and is normally supposed to be mounted only on bombers, but whenever has something like that stopped your typical Terran field technician from innovating.
Guess my luck has finally run dry.