UGT: 30th Ascent 280 a.G.A. / 1:21 p.m.
Location: Hyperspace, lightseconds away from the outer borders of Clinton's Beak (red dwarf), Republic of Nox, Second Human Federation, Milky Way
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Nearly twelve days. That's how long it took for our fleet to reach Clintons' Beak. Why? Because the hyperdrives of the Federation warships barely managed 48,000c. In other words, they would need a month to traverse 4,000 lightyears. Meanwhile the ASF Aurora, whose hyperdrive easily managed 60,000c, could traverse 5,000 lightyears in the same timespan. Meaning the ASF Aurora could theoretically move 25% faster through hyperspace than the Federation ships. Meaning the ASF Aurora could have reached Clinton's Beak in only nine days. And that was only if we ignored that the ASF Aurora had a jumpdrive and a wormholedrive as well. The jumpdrive would take less than a day for the same distance and the wormholedrive would have literally allowed the ASF Aurora to reach the Andromeda galaxy in only 2.5 years. In short, I really had to pace myself to not leave the Federation fleet behind.
I did think about just straight up jumping into the homesystem of the Kingdom of Ferron, but for all my bravado, I was unsure how sucessfull that would be. The jumpdrive and the wormholedrive were both still influenced by gravity. The Ferron homesystem, named Ferron as well, was a simple star system with a normal yellow dwarf. But the gravitational field was way to weakened for me to jump further than up to the third planet into the system. But the Ferron homeworld, Ferronica, was the second planet and their homefleet was stationed on Ferronica's two moons. Plus, if I jumped that deep into the system, I'd already risk a massive deviation from where I actually planned to reenter normal space. Another effect of flying to deep into a solar system faster than light. Therefore, to play it safe, I would have to return into normal space around the fourth planet. That would give the Ferron homefleet time to prepare and the surprise effect would be massively compromised.
Furthermore would that tell to much about the technological capabilities of the ASF Aurora. Yes, the First Federation had jumpdrives back than. Captain Thorrison most likely even suspected that I have one as well. Hells, even the Second Human Federation started experimenting with them! I was pretty sure that I even saw the Second Human Federation ships use a very early stage of jumpdrives in the battle! They didn't get far, but even a fracture of a lightsecond was a sucess and in most cases enough to disengage in an active fight. In conclusion, no, I did not worry about showing off, that I posessed a working jumpdrive. That was only expected. But even the best jumpdrives the First Human Federation ever had only allowed to barely reach the edge of a starsystem. If I just causally jumped a third of the way towards the star in the center of the Ferron system, I would make it very obvious that I'm not using First Federation technology, but Aetherian Empire technology. Something I was definitly not willing to do.
And even if I were willing to take the risk and the consequences upon me, the Ferron homefleet was strong. Two Battleships, A Carrier, 14 Battlecruisers, 28 Cruisers, 56 Destroyers and over 80 Frigates. In addition to an absolute shitload of defensive platforms, spacemines and smaller ship classes. In the end, quantity was a quality of its own and even the mightiest of animals could be felled by a thausand cuts. There simply wouldn't be enough of a support network for the ASF Aurora and in the end, my defenses would get overwhelmed, forcing me to retreat, potentially with a damaged ship that I had no way to repair. No, wasting a few months to instead start a proper attack was much more reasonable.
Why I had time to even think about all that currently? Because even though we were at the edge of the Clinton's Beak system, they still had to check the gravitational data for discrepancies. Thanks to the gravitational data we got from Admiral Thorrison and the strong sensors of the ASF Aurora, we were done in minutes. I would have offered them to the rest of the fleet too, but apperently ship-sized hypercom wasn't a thing yet. Therefore we had no communications in hyperspace. At all. Well, at least all these inconveniences allowed me to read up on quite a few things.
[ The shadow that we suspect to be the FSF Defience is moving forward again. The rest of the fleet started moving again as well. It seems like they are finally done with the analysis. ]
"So after nearly an hour they finally managed, huh? Let's just keep the formation up than and leave when they do. As they won't risk the formation breaking apart due to deviation, we should exit hyperspace somewhere, were our deviation should be as close to zero as possible. Seriously, how can the Federation be counted as one of the more advanced nations in the galaxy while having such shit technology?"
[ Technically, the SHF is the third most advanced starnation in the galaxy, having a micnusculine technological advantage over the ISA. But you have to remember that they skimped on their military massively, making it way less technologically advanced than their overall technological prowess. Additionally, you have to remember that Admiral THorrison's fleet isn't one of their fancy warfleets who have all the best and most modern technology. The Rapid Response Fleets, just like this one, after so many years of war mostly consist of mothballed ships that got reactivated. I wouldn't be surprised if there were some ships used in this war, that are as old as the SHF itself. ]
Stolen novel; please report.
"Something to ask Admiral Thorrison about once we can actually contact him again, I guess.", I mused to myself. While it sounded like the Federation went all out in this war, I didn't really believe that. No starnation holds the title of glactic superpower for centuries without having some aces up their sleeve. And based on everything I currently knew about the galaxy, demonstrating them wasn't exactly wise. No way the Federation didn't follow the same line of thought.
[ I'm detecting hyperspace fluctuations from the shadow that we think is the FSF Defience. It seems like we are leaving hyperspace now, a little bit behind the third planet. ]
"Fine then. Get the weapons ready and our shields up the second we leave hyperspace. We could always run directly into an ambush, as being in hyperspace isn't even close to unnoticeable, as you know.", I commanded. "Allthough with us exiting behind the third planet, nearly outside the system, that is extremely unlikely.", I muttered to myself. Clinton's Beak was a rather unusual star system. It had unlike most colonised systems no habitable planets. As claiming and building up systems cost both time and money, such systems were normally ignored. Clintons' Beak just didn't have anything valuable that a starnation couldn't get somewhere else cheaper. But altough it looked completely normal at first glance, Clintons' Beak did have something valuable enough for the SHF to lay claim to it.
The First Human Federation once upon a time had leased the system to the Aetherian Empire, which build a gigantic megastructure, a so-called 'ringworld' around the star. And while the three planets, all gas giants, that orbited Clinton's Maw, the star of the Clinton's Beak system, were entirely worthless, this ringworld was decidedly not. After the fall of the Aetherian Empire, the Federation took back the system, including the still-functioning ringworld, utilizing it as a fleet base and supply hub against the Ruidan Empire Milkyway Expedition during the Galactic War Against Imperialism. Later in that war, as the Federation was pushed back more and more, the system was build into a fortress system and stopping point against any ruidan advances. The system was the staging point for one of the biggest spacebattles of the enitre war, ultimately destroying the ringworld. While the system could be held, it's value drastically fell with the destruction of the ringworld and the Federation largely left it alone after that, even giving up the system completely after the end of the war for economic reasons.
Many decades later the Second Human Federation retook the system, hoping to find old aetherian technology, or maybe even just First Federation technology. During the decades-long search for anything of value, the biggest and most still functional remnants of the destroyed ringworld were patched up and recolonised, creating small islands of life orbiting the sun. While most of the ringworlds debris was indeed consumed by the sun, some did manage to find a stable orbit around it, even today. And the still colonised remnants of the ringworld were what Admiral Thorrison wanted to check up on, as he worried about their potential destruction. How I knew of all that? Fen told me during our trip through hyperspace, explaining that he got everything we could ever need about the system from the CN of the FSF Defience. And obviously, I, being bored out of my mind, devoured the knowledge.
[ -ay? Hello? Can you hear me? ]
"Shit, sorry Fen! I spaced out for a bit. What is it?", I asked, slightly embarrassed. Twelve days with nearly nothing to do had led to me more often spacing out like that. I really had to get out of that habit again now.
[ We have to leave hyperspace now. Over two thirds of the fleet is already gone. ]
"Go ahead and follow them. I suppose Admiral Thorrison will want to speak with us as well.", I said, leaving the Captain's Quarters of the ASF Aurora and entering the Bridge, where I sat down on the Captain's Chair. In the same moment, I could see on the external cameras how the ASF Aurora smoothly left the hyperspace, falling perfectly back into the now slighty less orderly formation. Half a minute later, even the last ships had left the hyperspace and the fleet was whole again.
[ We got a ping incoming from the FSF Defience. ]
"Sure, send him through. Some talking to another bological being will be nice. No offense meant, Fen."
[ None taken. He will be able to see you... now! ]
Admiral Thorrison appeared on a holographic screen in front of me. "Captain Lunaris, long time no see. I hope you had a peaceful journey?", he asked. I nodded slightly.
"The journey through the stars was filled with wonders. It was relaxing enough. How can I help you?", I asked politely, after opening with the traditional First Human Federation greeting.
"We will temporarely stop at Beak Prime, the largest ringworld fragment in the system. I just wanted to ask you, if you will join us. After all, we need to check on the ringworld fragments anyway before we can continue.", he said.
I mulled over his offer for a moment before nodding to myself. "I will go down to the ringworld fragments as well. It pains me to see what happened to them, but I need to know more. We will most likely meet on the fragment, but don't expect me to stay with you the entire time. ANd if you try anything funny, you know the consequences.", I answered.
"I completely understand. I wish you good luck in you exploration of the remnants of the ringworld.", Admiral Thorrison said before cutting the connection.
[ May, do you truly think that is a good idea? ]
"I don't think he will do something. And maybe, just maybe... I'm an aetherian. I might just find some of that aetherian technology there that nobody else has found yet.", I said. Was that daydreaming? Most likely. But I needed every advantage I could possibly get and not trying would be dumb.
[ As you wish. Just, please... let's not take any unnecessary risks. ]
"I won't."; I promised. We would see how long this promise would hold.