UGT: Unknown; 55 minutes after Naori jumpstarted
Location: Unknown yellow dwarf system; near the third planet
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"Admiral, we have a hull break in section 33 to 36! A railgun projectile went straight through our hypershield and grazed the ship hull! Eight PDC systems of various kinds and one of our railguns are out of commission!"
Hearing thath, Admiral Thorrison gritted his teeth. "I want our missiles and railguns equipped with antimatter flying now. Get this thing down!" One again, the incredible power of Association warships made itself shown. Their sole Battlecruiser was currently barraged by no less than two Battlecruisers and still stood. The remnants of the Federation Cruiser nearby made clear that it was quite effective as well. Suddenly, a huge fireball burst out of the second Federation Battlecruiser.
"The FSF Honour reports that their shields shattered and a antimatter missile went through! They are about to dump a full antimatter salvo towards the enemy before disengaging... now!" At once, 35 missiles, multile railgun projectiles and 60 UV-laserbeams left the FSF Honour, racing across the void. Even the plasma cannons, proton launchers and torpedo launchers were fired, even though they were still out of effective range. The laserbeams hit the Association Battlecruiser near instantly, getting fully absorbed by its hypershiel, but were shortly followed by the antimatter missile swarms. 35 antimatter explosions impacted the hypershield near-simultaneously, making it flicker. This weakness, the railgun projectiles abused, punching through the weakended shield and the hull before delivering their deadly load of antimatter inside the enemy battlecruiser. Instantly multiple explosions went up, nearly tearing the ship apart from the inside. It was a miracle that nothing important on the opposing ship had blown up yet.
"Put our lasers out, followed by our antimatter loaded railguns. This should end it." Admiral Thorrison said. Instantly his command was taken up and his own ships railguns and lasers went out into space. Again, the hypershield of the Associations Battlecruiser strongly flickered, but it managed to barely absorb the lasers. Than, the railguns came crashing through, the full salvo hitting the enemy battlecruiser perfectly. This time the explosions sat precise, the entire warship going up in aviolent explosion, leaving only space debris behind. The slower weapons of the FSF Honour never even had a chance to reach the ship.
"Finally! Tell the fleet to regroup and hunt down the remaining enemy ships with our capital ships fire support! One of our cruisers is to be put on search for survivors. Should the Association ships capitulate, board them. We'll have a need to replenish our fleet if we are to suceed in our mission."A chorus of "As you command, Admiral!" rang back across the bridge.
With the system secured, he was willing to postpone the landing on the third moon for a few hours. There was no reason to rush and risk failiure if he had at least a few days, most likely weeks to months, until new Association units reached the system. It had been pure luck that Admiral Thorrisons fleet had been near the local Association conclave. Their was no way the Associations main body had expected their local conclave to fail, as they should have had no data about his flets position. Therefore, there should be no support for the enemy nearby. He was distracted from his thoughts by his CO.
"I took the ship out of battle emergency. We are to far away to support our remaining ships in a given timeframe. If I had to guess, by the time we reach the third moon, our remaining fleet will have already wiped out all resistance left in space. But I do worry. Our fleet only has two Battlecruisers, three Cruisers, two Destroyers and fice Frigates left. How are we supposed to open a new front into the Grand Duchy of Ferron? Im not sure what leadership thought they could achieve like that. I can guarantee that one of Ferrons three Battleships will crush us if we keep to our current objective."
Admiral Thorrison sighted, knowing his CO to be right. "You are correct. And this is why we will have to look at what command didn`t say. Yes, they ordered us to capture the local Association conclave and open a new warfront for Ferron, but what if we only capture the local Association conclave and than use their shypyards to replenish our fleet first? The front will still exist, allthough we didn't go on the offensive and the Association conclave would be captured. The orders from command would therefore be fullfilled. Im not about to just sacrifice my entire fleet for nothing, don't worry. And the local Association conclave should have no true resistance left after this battle."
"Huh. Thought everything through the moment you first got our modified orders from command, didn't you? I guess you're right once again. We wouldn't be still alive if we followed commands orders to the last. Sometimes space warfare is about individuality to."
Admiral Thorrison snorted. "Is that what they teach you at space academy these days? Back than, they still told us that our superior always knows better than us and we should never question orders. I bet many in command, as well as politicans, got a seizure as they saw this."
"Actually, Sir, it was our last president who pushed this measure through, before she stepped back because of the war. She reformed a bunch of the old systems."
Admiral Thorrison nodded in thought. "Yes, I remember her. Very motivated to shake the status quo and rebuild the entire Federation from the ground. It was unfortunate that she took the money for all this from the navy. No one was willing to hear one word about potential war. Now we see how that played out. Maybe our politicans at least learned the importance of a working military by now, though the support from the population is at an alltime low."
"Yeah, Sir, did you hear that only 69 percent of the population actually went voting in the last election? Sure, many of our rather strongly populated worlds are currently cut of, but it still shows how low the people think about the concept of the Federation at large right now." The CO jumped in.
"It will normalise itself again once the war is over. We just have to win it before our own people start revolting, which seems currently unlikely." The admiral said, sighing. His CO nodded along to his words.
Suddenly, the emergency sirens went back on. "Admiral, we have a problem! We just detected an entire fleet entering the system from a hyperlane, at most a lightminute away from the third moon! A second fleet jumped nearly into combat range with our ships! All fleet units switched on diversion course, trying to link up with us and the FSF Honour!" The Lookout Officer suddenly screamed. Instantly the Admiral was back in military mode.
"Everyone, to your posts! I want the fleet around the FSF Defiance ASAP, as well as a count on the enemy ships! I also want all our ships to disengage any battle currently ongoing without losses! We will try to slowly build up distance to the two enemy fleets!" Admiral Thorrison ordered. It was pretty much over. The Officer had spoken about fleets, and fleets, even if it would only be one of Ferron's, were more than his own fleet could currently safely handle.
"Sensor data is going in! Enemy seems to be Association ships, but only one instead of to fleets. They only split up before leaving the hyperline. The seem to have perfect knowledge about the local gravitational network. Their flee consists of three Battlecruisers, six Cruisers, 14 Destroyers, twelve Frigates and twelve Corvettes. It seems like an entire Association warfleet fell on our head." The officer further commented.
"No, that's not a warfleet. There are no Battleships. The Federation has always colosely monitored the Battleships of other nations. What we have here are scattered units from destroyed fleets, reorganised into a semi-warfleet to secure the First Federation technology in the system without the Second Federation noticing." Admiral Thorrison muttered to himself. He had terribly miscalculated. He'd wanted to play it safe, thereby losing his only hope to secure the First Federation technology. Now there was only one choice left for him...
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"Gather our fleet around us. We'll retreat, hoping the Association will leave us. If I have to harbor a guess, they will. We retreat to Point Nox, hoping they won`t follow us, There we await new orders from command." It hurt Admiral Thorrison nearly physically to let one of the greatest treasures in the galaxy fall into enemy hands, but he knew there was nothing he could do to change the outcome. It would take a miracle to salvage the situation. He was not willing to count on one.
"Admiral, a Battlecruiser, two Cruisers, four Destroyers, four Frigates and four Corvettes placed themselves above the third moon, making no further moves. The rest of their fleet reached just now weapon range with their railguns and lasers for some of our ships, but... they truly aren't shooting at us?"
"Admiral, we are getting a broadcast send our way by one of the Association Battlecruisers. Most likely their local fleet command." The communication officer said, slightly surprised. It was rare for the Association to talk first before shooting if a enemy was in weapon range.
"Let it through, I want to know what these bugs have to say." Admiral Thorrison commanded. A second later, the holoscreen in the middle of the command centre changed, placing the tactical map in a corner. The rest of the screen was used to depict the Association commander in an otherwise small and empty-looking command centre. Definitly a fake, just like the background he himself currently displayed to the Ruidan. There was no way that he would show an enemy commander his internal tactical situation.
image [https://i.imgur.com/YJ7qZ4Y.jpg]
A picture of the ruidan commander of the Association fleet made by AI
"Heeeere speakssss Grääähndt Äääädmirääällll Xii-ieè-Sûthú offf theeeee Ruuiiiidaaan Raiiiderrr Assssssooociaaaatiooooon." The ruidan spoke in something roughly resembling the english language.
"Put me a translator in." Admiral Thorrison subvocalised. He instantly noticed the difference once the translator was activated.
"Aiiiii Ammmm offfferiiiing- ... you to leave the system without further conflict. By taking this system, we got what we wanted. There is no reason for further bloodshed between our previously befriended species. We should not repeat the mistakes of our ancestors. What do you say, human admiral?" the ruidan admiral asked. It was impossible to get a read on ...his?... facial expression.
Internally sighing, Admiral Thorrison prepared to answer in the only correct was possible, allthough he hated it. "I think-"
He was unable to say more, as, suddenly, a mountain range on the third moon exploded, teared apart from the inside, a giant of a spaceship bursting towards the sky. Near-instantly, a gigantic opening salvo of laisers, railgun projectiles, missiles and some strange-looking beams shot towards the Association warships in space, their crews to surprised to react. The two seconds it took for the opening salvo to reach it's destination, it nearly doubled in size somehow. Than the salvo hit.
It wasn't even a contest. The Associations warships hypershields shattered, their hulls were teared apart, followed by gigantic explosions from within, ripping the ships in small pieces, the remaining debris getting broken down into nothingness by these strange green beams. Just like that, a third of the Association forces were anihilated.
"A trap." Was all the ruidan Admiral said before cutting the connection, unwilling to talk further.
"Admiral, just what ist this thing?" Admiral Thorrison's CO asked in a mix of awe and fear. It was the same for most of the crew. Not many had ever seen a true weapon of the First Federation in Action.
"That..." Admiral Thorrison said slowly. "Is something able to rival the Federation flagship. Unlike the Battleships, not a weapon to decide battles, but designed to end entire wars. This is a true Super Battleship, with only eight others known to the Federation. This is a piece of technology from the First Federation, however it still works."
"The Association ships started firing at our units. The Captains of the indicidual ships commanded to overcharge their thrusters to escape. Every minute shortens their thrusters life expactancy by a few years, but it at least allows them to stay in front of the Association fleet and to evade incoming attacks." The chief navigator said.
"The decision is approved. The orders from before still stand. Get our remaining ships around us and out of the system. i don't know what type of algorythm controls this Super Battleship, but we are hopelessly outmatched. We may be the Federation but we don't have any of the authorisation codes the First Federation used. Therefore we are just as likely to be targeted by the ship as the Association is."
Silence reigned in the command centre for a few seconds. Than, a shout, it's content surprising everyone on the ship. "Admiral, the Super Battleship is requesting a connection to our holoscreen!"
"They are what?! Be more precise, officer! How are they "requesting" a connection instead of just sending a broadcast via non-encoded radiowaves our way?" The admiral admonished the communication officer.
"...It seems like they had direct acess to some of our sub-systems for a few hours already. I have no idea how they pulled it off, sir. It definitly is beyond the capabilities of our technology. Hell, Im not even sure if I could push them out if I tried!" The COS suddenly said over the ships open communication network. "Our main systems are safe and they should have barely any acess, that's why they request us to use the holoscreen, but most of our history data, mainly about the First Federation, was compromised. The Lead IT Officer and the Cyber Security Supervisor are informed of the situation and are currently taking a look at it, but it's most likely already to late to affect the outcome of the situation in any significant way."
Admiral Thorrison was silent for a fe seconds. "Well, shit. Are you telling me whoever controls this Super Battleship has limited acess to our ship and knows how the First Federation ended? Assuming there really is some kind op AI controling the ship, we now have big problems." After thinking for a few seconds about the situation, Admiral Thorrison sighed. "Grant them acess. I need to know who we are dealing with."
The second he said that, the holoscreen changed away from the tactical map again, showing a insignia everyone in the Federation new. After all, who wouldn't know the insignia of the First Human Federation?
First Federation Insignia [https://i.imgur.com/cJZIpLG.jpeg]
Made by AI
"May the eagle always soar and may the Federation do the same. May they reach new heights together and spread the name of the Federation and humanity across the galaxy forever. May our enemies tremble before our might and our friends benefit from our favour. Long live the First Human Federation. May it never fall." A voice said. Afterwards the insignia of the First Human Federation faded, giving place to the person talking.
A girl, looking like a young adult, sat in the captain's chair, coldly looking at him. She wore a dark blue hoodie with letters "ASST" on them, whatever that meant. It definitly didn't look like an official uniform. Furthermore she had blue hair and he was unable to determine if that was her natural haircolor or not. The backround of the command centre was strongly pixelated, barely outlining people running around in the background. It seemed like the holoscreen truly showed a part of the comand centre of the super battleship. The girl didn't give Admiral Thorrison any more time to analyse this new situation.
image [https://i.imgur.com/JCI6a3J.jpeg]
May once more, drawn by myself
"You are speaking to First Human Federation Captain May Lunaris, currently in command of the First Human Federation Battlecruiser FSF Aurora." The girl said.
Instantly, Admiral Thorrison heard whispers in his own ship command centre. "Captain at such a young age? Impossible!" "That thing is supposed to be just a Battlecruiser?!" "Is this living First Federation fleet personal?!" "We are so fucked..."
Unaware of the whispers, the girl - No. Captain Lunaris - just continued speaking. "Given the name of your affiliation and because of the fact that you are fighting our old nemesis, I decided to intervene. Furthermore, I owe you a bit of support considering that your small skrimish was what awoke my crew and myself from our slumber. But more about that later, I would say. First we should speak about the elephant in the room, don't you think, Admiral? Therefore I will ask you directly: What reason can you give me, to not wipe you out for high treason against the First Federation? Because right now, I would like to do nothing more than ordering total anihilation of your little group of pretenders. So, I assure you, if you don't have a damn good explanation, your little war will be the least of your "Federations" problem."
...He was slightly fucked, wasn't he?