UGT: 12th Ascent 280 a.G.A. / 01:40 p.m. ; a few seconds after May cutted the connection
Location: Near Nyxia C, Nyxia system (yellow dwarf), Republic of Nox, Secoond Human Federation, Milky Way
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Admiral Thorrison looked once again at a black screen. That seems to be becoming a trend, whenever he talked to Captain Lunaris.Truly, he shouldn't have expected anything else. Still, that gave him precious time to bring his thoughts in order. Because now, he was thoroughly worried. "She is ancient. She may look quite young but the values imprinted on her are completely different from ours. I cannot forget that ever again.", he muttered to himself.
"It was defintly something.", his CO added from behind him, making Admiral Thorrison flinch slightly. He had been to deep in thought to notice his CO approaching him.
"Yes. I did not expect her to causally talk about snuffing out the lives of millions of civilians. I seemingly had forgotten who I was talking to at some point. Based on everything we know about the First Human Federation during the Galactic War Against Imperialism, her idea could coem directly out of one of their textbooks on military tactics, however gruesome this may sound. The galaxy truly was a barbaric place back than.", Admiral Thorrison mused.
"The crew is nervous, Admiral. Our fleet is comletely at the mercy of Captain Lunaris and the FSF Aurora. We need to adress their worries. But before that, why did you accept her plan? To me, it honestly sounds more like a suicide command.", his CO confessed and Admiral Thorriso sighed.
"Im not surprised. It's not like Im convonced, either. But while Captain Lunaris might be a bit arrogant, she's not dumb. If she honestly believes she stands a chance, I trust her judgement for now. You can bet she still has some aces up her sleeve. Skill, training and social status were far from enough to make someone a Captain at such a young age. For that, she must be truly exceptional in a way she did not show yet. Keep in mind, I will take my agreement back if this meeting she plans goes poorly. And I will only inform the crew of my decision once this meeting is over.", he said.
"Talking about the meeting, her CO said they'll send something over to us. What do you thin it will be?", his CO asked. The Admiral only shrugged.
"I have no clue whatsoever.", he confessed. "We'll have to wait and see. But let's hope it's working First Federation tech. It would be nice to at least get her scraps, if nothing else."
"At least we now know that this woman has some positive emotions.", the CO muttered darkly. "You did see her smile at the beginning of the conversation, right?"
Admiral Thorrison nodded in confirmation. "I did. She clearly talked with someone of her crew and slipped up. If I had to guess, she was amused about an off-hand comment on us. I really don't know how to react to that. And I don't think we truly want to know what they said abut us, either. It most likely wasn't very charming."
"Admiral, a small drone seems to close in on our location fast and requests permission to land in one of our hangars!", the Lookout Officer cried out.
"Permission granted, clear out a hangar and let the drone in. Do not dare open fire on it.", the Admiral simply said, before looking at his CO. "Can you take over for a moment? I want to personally look into what Captain Lunaris has send us."
The CO simply nodded and Admiral Thorrison left the Bridge. By the time he reached the hangar, the engineers had already swarmed over a piece of technology, looking like a block disc of metal, talking excitedly with each others. A clap from Admiral Thorrison brought down silence on the hangar. "Please gentleman, do not break this disc. By the way, can anyone tell me what this thign is and what happended to the drone carrying it to us?", he asked expectantly.
The Chief Engineer stepped forward. "The drone left again after leaving this marvelous piece of technology behind. What you causally called a 'disk' is a highly capable holographic projector, decades if not centuries, more advanced than our own basic versions, that we try to implement on our ships. If we can reverse engineer it, we would instantly have the most advanced holographic technology in the galaxy! Furthermore, the energy source is truly-"
"That is enough, thank you. I will be taking this with me, as it is of utmost importance to our mission.", the Admiral interrupted the Chief Engineer, before swooping in and taking the disc with him, before anyone had a chance to react. Yes, reverse engineering this technology could be highly beneficial, but he had no interest in angering Captain Lunaris by doing so right now. Instead, he sued his voice com to open up a private connection to his CO. "I want the entire Executive Comitee meet up in the conference room ASAP."
"Understood.", was the only reaction from his CO before the connection was cut of again. Admiral Thorrison, being the furthest away from the conference room he could possibly be, quickly jogged over. Still, he was the last to arrive. The other members of the Executive Comitee were already there and the Admiral quickly took a seat as well. But not before putting the disc in the middle of the big conference table in the room. And not a second to late, as this was the moment the disc flickered and a hologram opened up above it. In it, a clearly distracted miniature Captain Lunaris could be seen.
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"Gentlemen, please give us a second. We need to recalibrate the holopad, that's the official name, to your room.", she said and a second later, blue light burst forth from the holopad, before seemingly vanishing. But another few seconds later, two life-sized humans, sitting in holographic chairs, appeared on the other side of the table. If he didn't know better, Admiral Thorrison would have thought they teleported into the room, that's how realistic they appeared.
One of the three persons was obviously Captain Lunaris, wearing the same aloof expression as always. To her right, a boy maybe a few years older than Captain Lunaris sat, a mischievous grin plastered on his face. Captain Lunaris looked around and nodded once. "Dear Executive Comitee of the FSF Defience, you all know of me by now. But I think it is time to introduce you to my CO most trusted friend, Fen. Expect to have much business to discuss with him in the future."
Everyone nooded once, to indicate they understood. Than, Admiral Thorrison started talking. "A truly exciting piece of technology you have there. But that is unimportant now. This is a tactical council to firmly cement our next steps going forward. Captain Lunaris, would you be willing to tell us your plans in greater detail?"
Captain Lunaris nodded one and stood up, indicating towards her CO. "A map please. Visualisation always helps." Her CO nodded one, amde some fast motions with his fingers and suddenly, a map appeared before them.
image [https://i.imgur.com/oEYBrdE.jpeg]
Captain Lunaris ignored the surprised exclamations and proceeded flawlessly. "As you all know, we are currently in the Nyxia star system, just a single hyper- or starlane to the east of the capital system of the Republic of Nox, Point Nox. Our plan will be to push further east and than into the local conclave of the Association. Our primary objective is the capture of the enemy Corvette that managed to flee. With their local Grand Admiral dead, the ruidans won't be able to get a priority message out via their local hypercom. But we cannot let them flee into the space of the Kingdom of Ferron, otherwise the news will definitly spill. But before we cand do that, we have to take over the two black holes and primary producers of antimatter in the local conflict. Otherwise, we cannot hope to sustain us for this entire mission. Any questions so far?"
"Why don't we send a few fast escort ships to hunt down the enemy corvette? It would reduce the risk of them running of into the Kingdom of Ferron and give us time to fully secure and utilise the Association Conclave and it's ressources.", the CSO offered up. A flat look from Captain Lunaris made it clear that she a) thought him a comlete idiot, b) didn't value his opinion at all and c) thought he just asked the most obvious and stupid question she ever heard. She answered anyway.
"The Association had a Grand Admiral stationed here. That means there must be a warfleet around. And I can guarantee you, we did not yet destroy an entire warfleet. Additionally, they have gigantic shipyards in this enclave. Therefore, there must still be a decently sized fleet and maybe even a somewhat competent leader around. If we send small units ahead, they would only get destroyed and alarm our enemies to our presence and plans. In the same vein, it is much more likely for the Association Corvette to meet up with their own local fleet, instead of joing up with the Kingdom of Ferron. After all, no one was supposed to know their true goal until the very end and their allies could feel... betrayed, should they find out. Any other questions?"
This time, no one was dumb enough to ask.
"Very good. Than, I may continue. Afte teaking over the Association enclave, pillaging it for everything it's worth and destroying the local Association fleet, we build up on the border to the Kingdom of Ferron. We should have up to a week to prepare us for a push towards their home system, before they notive that something is amiss in the Association conclave. In that time span, I want to strengthen our small fleet as much as possible. There will be no rests, no stops or any other form of peace until we defeated the Ferron homefleet. We will be on the move constantly, only taking with us that doesn't need us to stop for more than a few hours. Once the news of our attack spread, I expect a massive force concentration in the Ferron home system. This will be our hardest battle by far. But as long as you support the FSF Aurora, there is no reason to worry. We are more than able to deal with a handful of battleships at once, if needed. Just trust me in this. Any questions?"
"Yes. If you are occupied with the capital ships of the enemy, how do you plan to deal with the escortships, that will undoubtedly appear in great numbers?", Admiral Thorrisons' CO asked.
"I don't.", Captain Lunaris answered causally, letting the room explode into chatter. But a few seconds later, Captain Lunaris' voice rose above the clamour. "The remaining fleet is to protect the flanks of the ASF Aurora until we dealt with their warships. The Ferron military is even more outdated than yours, together with the ships we will be stealing from the Association, you should be capable of weathering the onslought for at least some time. And if the situation truly turns out to be worse than expected, we can always just turn around. Nothing forces us to truly attack their home system, one we reach it. So, any more questions?"
Captain Lunaris let her gaze wander around the room, scrutinising everyone present. No one had any general question left. Admiral Thorrison rose and cleared his throat, thereby getting the attention of everyone present. "I already agreed to at least try. We won't be winning this war by sitting around, to scared to act and to far away from Terra to properly communicate with Fleet Command. We have a golden opportunity to break the current stalemate and help the Federation to victory. I won't let this chance slip through my hands.", he said. Next to him, his CO nodded approvingly.
Once more, Admiral Thorrison looked to Captain Lunaris and her CO. "Remember it well, we will not bomb a planet full of civilians into an apocalyptic wasteland. We only threaten to do it."
Captain Lunaris only waved him away. "I know, I know. You don't have to repeat yourself anymore. I will not transform the planet into an uninhabitable wasteland. Furthermore, it seems like we are done here. We start to advance towards the Association enclave tomorrow evening. Be prepared."
Than, the connection cut of and the holographic Captain Lunaris and her CO vanished. A few seconds later, the holopad started to melt.
"NO!", the Chief Engineer screamed, trying to save the invaluable piece of technology, but all help came to late.
"It would have been way to nice and way to out of character for her to leave us something like that. I knew it.", Admiral Thorrison mused.
"Maybe atleast the alloy is something useful to us, who knows.", his CO chipped in.
Admiral Thorrison only sighed tiredly.