UGT: Unknown, minutes before the Association reinforcements arrive

Location: Unknown yellow dwarf system

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I practically sprinted through ASO-17309, hastening to reach the ASF Aurora in time. Naori did last-minute preperations for her eminent takeover of the space outpost, while Fen completed the last changes needed for the Destroyer ASF Aurora to take up the mantle of the Super Battleship FSF Aurora. Soon, I would have to present myself to the Federation as Captain Lunaris of the First Human Federation. Why Captain Lunaris? Because Fen strongly recommended for me to NOT introduce myself with a aetherian name. Which did made sense, I guess. So for now, I would only be May Lunaris instead of May Lunaris ad Aether de Phoenix-Archeron.

The ASF Aurora was located on top of ASO-17309, taking up most of the outpost's carrier capacities because of it:s massive size. I was very lucky that there was a still functioning maintenance tunnel connecting the spaceship and the outpost. Otherwise it would have been impossible for me to even reach the ship. Once I reached the command centre of the ASF Aurora, another problem made itself apparent.

"...Fen, how am I supposed to get this ship into space without blowing cover for the entire outpost? I mean, at least some kind of reconnaissance should be directed towards our current location, right?"

[ I would recommend waiting until the Association forces arrive and than use the resulting chaos as cover. After leaving the moon, I would further recommend to draw as much attention to ourselves as possible. This should be enough for ASO-17309 to remain unnoticed with it's currently working camouflage systems. ]

"Understood. So I just have to make a ruckus as big as possible, followed by a touch of roleplay and dramatics. Should be doable." I muttered to myself. With some luck, this entire battle should be winnable, without creating any irreparable damage on the ship.

"Fen get the ship running. I want to be as ready as possible for when the Association reinforcements arrive!" I commanded while sitting down on the Captain's chair. Fen reacted instantly and the entire spaceship around me truly flickered to live. The only directly helpful addition though, was the holoscreen getting projected right in front of me and depicting the general state of the spaceship and it's surroundings.

And than, the ships engagement alarms began to blare, making me flinch.

[ The Association reinforcements have entered the system. In an impossibly risky move, multiple Association warships left the hyperlane directly above us. The ships placed above us are: ]

[ 1x Battlecruiser ]

[ 2x Cruiser ]

[ 4x Destroyer ]

[ 4x Frigate ]

[ 4x Corvette ]

[ Total ship count: 15 ]

I felt my heartbeat quicken. That's not how it was planned! There shouldn't have been ships directly above me, this destroyed my entire plan!

[ What are your orders, Captain Lunaris? ]

Fen's question only made the situation worse and I started hyperventilating. I didn't know! How did I ever thin I would be able to battle an entire fleet?! Why did I think I had the right to decide the future of thausends of intelligent beings?!

[ The longer we wait, the lower the chances of success will be. ]

I felt my determination crumbling and faith in myself fading. What was I even doing? Honestly I should just sit it out and capitulate to the victor... right? I was unable to form a coherent thought, my minds pathways were a mess. Than the room began spinning around me and I was sure I would black out any moment as... something just snapped into place. And my mind cleared out in an instant, the panic replaced by an eerily calm attitude. By knowledge how I had to conduct myself and what I had to do. And I sat up a little straighter.

"Fen, get us up in the air, full acceleration. Put out a single whirlwind, I want the mountain to explode above us. Put the shields up at full strength and get all of our weapons at the ready." I commanded.

[ Operation commencing... ]

[ Acceleration starts in 3... 2... 1... ]

[ Ship acceleration started ]

Inside the ASF Aurora, I didn't feel the acceleration at all. Only thanks to the sensors on the outer hull of the ship, I knew what happened at all. Therefore I saw the destruction the whirlwind missile caused, rippig the entire mountain apart. In an eyeblink, the mountain range was behind me, with large pieces of debris in the air, which were just making their way back towards the ground. Some stray rocks hit the ships shields, but naturally didn't mage to damage anything.

"Fen, get the ship to rotate around itself as quickly as possible without tearing the hull or overloading our artificial gravity! Give me the enmy locations and pin our weapon systems on them!"

[ Enemy location locked in. Weapon systems ready. Rotation reached 35rpm. Distance to enemy ships is medium at 6.540 kilometres. ]

"Fire with everything we have."

The moment I said that, the ship slightly shook from the sheer power released by firing every single available weapon at the enemy. Hundreds of attacks went ahead, targeting the different enemy ships in space directly above. It only took seconds. Than the wave of attacks hit the enemy ships.

Shields broke down, flickering, under laser assults. thers shattered under the relentless whirlwind swarm missiles. The gauss cannons bypassed the shields entirely, punching small holes straight through and delivering their deadly load directly into the ships themselves. Antimatter eplosions ripped through space, tearing everything apart that still had a chance of somehow functioning. And than, the desintegrators ended things, leaving truly nothing behind. All traces of the ships above the third moon were erased. The surprised and completely unprepared crews of the ships had never even stood a chance. There hadn't even be time to fire back a single shot.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Idiots. They had fucking hypershields in place. Why did they decide to not even power them properly?" Hypershields had two requirements to truly work. They needed energy as most things did, but specific antimatter elements as well. With the antimatter component missing, even plasma shields had a higher strength at much lower energy cost. If the Association had fully powered shields, that first salvo would have never been enough to completely obliterate their Battlecruiser. Hell, maybe even the cruisers would have survived, if somewhat damaged!

[ Based on everything I learned up to now, the amount of antimatter both the Association and the Federation can precure, is strongly limited. Therefore it would make sense for them to save antimatter if there currently is no risk of the own ships getting terminated. In this case, their risk assessment was wrong and lead to the destruction of a third of their fleet. ]

"Still, why would one be anything else than completely on guard and prepared for anything with an ememy fleet and unknown potentially dangerous technology in the system? If this is standard Association doctrine, I'll really have to question how they managed to become one of the galactics superpowers. Well, no matter currently. Fen, put us on interception curse towards the remaining Association fleet. Can't have them shooting down our potential allies, now can we? Inform me once we reach a viable shooting distance. Ah, and please put me in contact with the Admiral of the Federation fleet. They have a Admiral leading the current fleet, right? It's time to talk to them, I think."

[ Refining holoscreen into recording feed... ]

[ Faking additional crew members in the backround through holograms... ]

Suddenly all around her, holograms of humans sprang up, mving throughout the command centre and operating the different stations. From afar, they may look realistic, but from up close through a recording? They didn't impress.

[ Pixelating background... ]

[ The preparations are completed. They should now get the feeling that the ASF Aurora is operated by humans. ]

[ Request to access the holoscreen... ]

[ Request accepted by Federation flagship command. ]

[ Please prepare yourself. The connection will be established in 3... 2... 1... ]

[ Contact established. ]

[ Insignia transfered. ]

My clue to begin speaking. "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."

[ The insignia faded away. You are now seeable on the Federation holoscreen. ]

I just continued talking without letting on anything. "You are speaking to First Human Federation Captain May Lunaris, currently in command of the First Human Federation Battlecruiser FSF Aurora. 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 skirmish 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."

Nailed it! I perfectly played into my role as a First Federation Captain. I depictured the Association, or more specifically the Ruidan people, as my nemesis and played into the fact that the Second Federation was the reason for the fall of the First Federation. I even made sure they would catch onto Fen acessing their history data to have a base I could use for all that. Even the patriotic fanatic and youn Captain role I played well. To be fair, I was all of these things. Just that my loyality didn't lay with the First Federation but with the Aetherian Empire. Despite me talking about anihilating his entire fleet, the Admiral showed no emotion whatsoever. Additionally, he used a obviously fake background in the transmission. He was the careful type, like I had already seen in the battle before. I could respect that.

"Here speaks Second Human Federation Admiral Leif Thorrison, Admiral of the 2nd Federation Rapid Deployment Fleet and Captain of the Battlecruiser FSF Defiance. But it seems like that is already known to you. Honestly, I'm surprised. I did not expect to find First Human Federation personal over 250 years after it's collapse. Your involvement was highly unexpected." He said. A mostly neutral answer.

I snorted with derision. "If you try to steal technological secrets, you have to expect to be burned. Same applies to the Association. I'd rather detonate my ship with everyone inside than giving the Federation's technology to a bunch of rebels and traitors. Is this all you have to say to your defence?"

The Admiral still remained calm. "As a First Federation Captain, Im sure you know GCL the for fleet scenarios article 198 paragraph 4, first implemented by the Aetherian Empire?"

Fen please tell me you know what he's talking about, I have literally no idea.

[ Admiral Thorrison refers to the Galactic Council Law or GCL for short. It was first implemented by the Aetherian Empire after the foundation of the Galactic Council. Should the Galactic Council still exist, as a citizen of the Aetherian Empire and in accordance to Aetherian Empire law, you have to follow the laws of the GCL. Article 198 paragraph 4 of the GCL for fleet scenarios guarantees that in the event of a succession war in a star nation where the ongoing conflict has already ended, the correct procedures for a peace treaty have already been carried out and a viable constitution and legitimisation base are already in place, further space battles are prohibited, if the reasoning is the aforementioned conflict. ]

Slowly I started to answer Admiral Thorrison. "You expect that a piece of law that even during my time was already largely ignored is enough for me to back off?"

The Admiral still didn't show any emotional reaction to my words. "The Galactic Council still exists. The mentioned law is still completely viable and the First Human Federation is a signatory of said laws. Directly next to the Second Human Federation, I might add. Therefore, as the patriot I think you are, you will honor the laws of your own nation."

At that point I just sighed. I was okay with that. It was a good enough defense for the role I currently played. It wasn't like I truly wanted to destroy them. Though some stupid laws wouldn't stop me if I really tried...

"...Verry well. I think I don't have to tell you my current situation. It seems like we will unfortunately be allies of convenience for some time. But let us speak about that once more on a later time. For now, we have some Association ships to shoot down."

[ Weapon distance dsignated as "very long" reached. Weapon systems are ready. ]

I felt myself grinning slightly. Everything went according to plan.