UGT: 18th Ascent 280 a.G.A. / 07:58 p.m.

Location: Near Nyxia C, Nyxia system (yellow dwarf), Republic of Nox, Secoond Human Federation, Milky Way

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I looked over the book titles listed on the datapad Fen had given me. "So, this is it?", I asked questioningly.

[ Yes, this is it. The ASF Aurora isn't ASO-17309. You cannot expect a warship to be able to acommadade all your wishes perfectly. If you plan to remain a Captain, you need to be able to adjust. ]

"I know. And I know just as well, that I cannot count on my fractured memories to safe me again. But I did expect a literal warship to have more on military tactics and training than a few books. That there is no specific simulation chamber is one thing. We can even do that manually with our holographs. But not even books? Really?", I complained loudly.

[ Oh, we do have more books on it. But military tactics that we cannot use, because we lack the needed technology to, are useless to you. Therefore, I didn't even bother with them for now. These are for future May to read, once you are done with these ones. The same goes with the other advanced tactical books we have in stock. After all, this isn't a space battle academy, but a warship. You cannot expect many tactical books for beginners on the ship. ]

"Yes. That seems true enough.", I muttered sheeplishly.

[ It was a blaring oversight to not take study materials from ASO-17309 with us. But, with some luck, Naori will give them a few looks at least. ]

"Well, I'll have to do with what I have, there's no point in complaining now. Than just let's go to work."

[ Not so fast. You will have more than enough time to study all this during our time in hyperspace. Right now, it is of much more importance for you, to coordinate the start of the mission with Admiral Thorrison. Who you have already left waiting for a few minutes, might I add. ]

"Shit!", I screamed, jumping up and running straight towards the Bridge of the ASF Aurora. It only took me two minutes. "Ping Admiral Thorrison", I commanded the second I let myself fall into the Captains chair. The connection was established almost instantly.

"There you are, Captain Lunaris. I was already worried about your wellbeing, you know? All I had was a cryptic message about an unexpected problem arising and that you would contact me as soon as possible. I hope there were no technical difficulties arising? The FSF Aurora is quite old already, after all. And the last security checkup must be quite a while back as well, I believe.", Admiral Thorrison said dryly.

"No technical difficulties. Just some absolute disregard for hierarchy and order.", I said while sending a stinkeye to the side. I knew Fen could see it. But Admiral Thorrison understood my answer.. differently.

"You had mutinies on your ship!?", he asked, clearly shocked and I sighed. That was not what I had meant or wanted to imply!

"There is no reason to worry, the stability of my command over the FSF Aurora is ensured. Any offenders to that were dealt with accordingly. The battle capabilities of the ship or my position as Captain are not influenced by that. The situation is under control and I had to make an example out of someone anyway. The earlier the better and we did have a few people to many on the ship. As I said, do not concern yourself with that and let's come to the truly important things. The start of this mission.", I said, still anoyed at Fen. Though making it sound like I had some internal problems might help to have them underestimate me. Something that I most likely had to abuse someday.

Luckily, Admiral Thorrison didn't dwell on it and flawlessly followed up on my change of topic. "My fleet is in formation. We saved everyone we could, brought the POWs to the colony on Nyxia B, recruited as many volunteers as possible, brought our ships back into shape as much as possible, secured the fith and sixth moons of Nyxia C completely. The moment the FSF Aurora integrates itself into our formation, as previously agreed with your CO, we can start.", he reported.

I raised an eyebrow in response. Fen agreed to integrate the ASF Aurora into their formation? Well, it would have hapened sooner or later anyway, I suppose. "Very well. We'll take up our position and than we can start. It seems like there is nothing left for us to do here. Is there anything else important?"

Admiral Thorrison hesistated for a fraction af a second before resolving himself. "Well, there is one thing, Captain Lunaris. My people doubt you. They do not see a way to survive this mission and I understand them. The FSF Aurora is still a gigantic questionmark. We don't know your true firepower, we don't kno how advanced your technology is and we don't know if you're truly as capable as you claim or if you truly have the situation under control on your end. Is there anything you can due to assuage those worries?"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Internally, I sighed. I had known this moment would come rather sooner than later. There was no way, I could keep Admiral Thorrison under control with only vague threats and promises of strengh and glory. He would have been very bad at his job, if that had been a workable long-term solution. But Admiral Thorrison was a capable man. He would always look for more information whenever he got the chance. And the only way for me to keep his loyality at least temporarely was to see him appeased.

"Very well. I suppose I truly wasn't very forthcoming with information. So, lets give you some information. I know that all your warships are equipped with hypershields. Therefore, you know what that technology is. The FSF Aurora is equipped with a 16-folded staggered hypershield and two reserve hypershields. A trio of shield capacitors and shield hardeners support said defense. I think the names make it obvious enough what Im talking about without a need to explain them. Furthermore, the FSF Aurora is equipped with PDC-K, PDC-L and PDC-E, 140 of each. Offensively, the FSF Aurora is equipped with over 300 different offensive weapons and a disarmement beam that can completely kill a ships electronics. Don't even get me started on the materials the ship is made of. You wouldn't even have heard of them, but they are strong. Together with three different infused protection layers, there is virtually nothing that can stp the FSF Aurora in direct combat. As I said, all I need is your support and I can deliver on what I promised. You only hanve to tust me to deliver the victory directly into your hands."

Admiral Thorrison, to shocked to say anything, only nodded. It was obvious that he was already figuring out the implications of what I had said and how powerful the FSF Aurora truly way. Maybe he would even buy further into the story of me being a very naive Captain, telling him such secrets. The more he thought he could manipulate me into doing what he wants the more my position and influence over him was secured as well.

"Very well, if that is all, please excuse me. As I said, I still have to make an example of someone and some messes to clean up. We will speak again once we reach Clinton's Beak. I wish you a flawless traversel of the infinite depths.", I ended with the traditional sentence of the First Federation. A small smile tugged at the Admirals' lips. "May the cosmic tides bring glory to bove of us.", he spoke, citing the second part of the traditional farewell right back to me. Before I cut react to that he cut the connection. Our roles were reversed for once.

[ He seems to have used his time wisely and read up on historic customs of the First Federation. No doubt to butter up to you. ]

"Well, than we're lucky that during our stay we gained acess to the official databanks of the colony on Nyxia B. It would have been very bad if he noticed that he knows the historic customs better than the Captain supposedly from that time.", I stated.

[ In that, you are right. Should he see through our showmansship, he would no doubt see us as pretenders. That, we cannot allow. It would drastically weaken our position long before all the pieces are in place. ]

"At least he shouldn't directly suspect me as an aetherian. To the galaxy, we are extinct and for the moment that is perfect.", I muttered.

[ May, I have to ask you that. What is your highest priority? If things don't go according to plan, it is likely that we will be forced to choose. I don't want us frozen in indecision when the time comes. ]

I took a few seconds to truly think about it. What were my highest priorities? I already knew my mission. I would bring the Aetherian Empire back to glory. But that didn't necessarily needed me. The most important thing was ASO-17309. Circumstances forced me to abonden the last hope of the Aetherian Empire for now, but with Naori, it was in capable, if young, hands. As long as Naori and ASO-17309 were kept safe and got as much time in relative safety as I could buy them, everything else was secondary. Even my own survival. After all, on ASO-17309 were many more aetherians in cryostasis. Naori would find a way to wake them up even without me.

"Our primary goal is buying time, as much as possible, while also calling as much attention on us as we can. Every hour we can buy ASO-17309 and Naori is vital. They are the true hope for a rekindling of the Aetherian Empire. We are only the bait that protects them during their most vulnerable state. Our secondary goal is to stay alive. As the only currently truly living aetherian, there is much I can do, but that needs your help. As long as we are alive, we can still affect things. Our tertiary goal is for the ASF Aurora to survive. A strong combat-ready warship could be of utmost importance to all of our plans. And our last, but also least, goal is trying to play it diplomatic and thereby secure our position in the galaxy. But it is unlikely that this will suceed. Nonetheless, we will at least try.", I said.

[ I hope you know that by following our primary objective, it is unlikely that we achieve any of the other objectives. Including our survival. The larger the ripples we start and the more we entangle us in galactic diplomacy, the more likely it will become for us to drown in them. ]

"I know but I and that was not what I wanted. But it's not like there is any other option. We can only push forward ad do the best with the things we have. To back down now would be a betrayal of everything I stand for. I won't accept this. I will give it my all and even if that's not enough, I can at least tell myself that I did everything I could. That's final."

[ ...I understand. Than you better go back to leraning, don't you agree? After all, a bit more experience with military tactics is definitly needed if we want to maximise our chances, dont you agree? ]

A slight smile crept onto my lips. "You are, of yourse, right. Let's get to work.", I said and took up my datapad again. It was time to study a bit more.