"The locals don't have a name that can be pronounced by a human; so I'll designate this as Klendathu on the charts for now, as well as the Republic target world designation number."

The bridge was... quite different now. There were two Ascension drones, pretending to operate consoles; as well as three of the spiny Yogg, currently working through tutorials, learning how to operate their stations; and making suggestions for changes. One of the three shifts was entirely Yogg, the second was all Shoork, and the third was a blend of other races; but all of them would have Ascension drones watching over them. These were seasoned crew, either former military or pirate; and Eyeball was hoping that, in the unlikely event Ascension was taken down by an EMP, they could hold things together.

In the center of the bridge, before Eyeball's chair, was both a flat screen that could project an image from a variety of optical lines running from the hull, allowing him to see outside the ship without any power at all in an emergency; and a massive holo-image showing a greenish brown orb with two moons orbiting around it. Mostly for the benefit of the three Yogg, one of the drones was pointing out information, primarily provided by the Queendom.

"Based on both Royal and Republic Intel, Klendathu was a desert world, hundreds of thousands of years ago, with very little native life and only a single ocean at it's northernmost pole. The Founders deposited massive amounts of water, established a modest colony of descendants, genetically engineered some of the native insectoids to serve as herd animals and beasts of burden, and then, of course, left."

An image suddenly appeared; of an enormous spider-like creature, brown and yellow, with ten legs, the front four of which ended in curving tendrils. "Then 'Klendath' as we will call them, or the 'Bugs' if you prefer, are a mistake; a crossbreed of native life with genetically altered cattle creatures, they combined the intelligence and ferocity of the natives with the size and rapid breeding potential of the cattle. They wiped out the local Founder colonists, established their own civilization, and eventually began to learn to use Founder technology. When the Marrick arrived, over twelve billion of them lived on this world at a technology level that in some ways was extremely primitive, but others close to pre-Jotun humanity. There are ongoing news streams in Republic space of the ancient ruins where a Tier Zero species once lived, and the Republic efforts to reclaim the world."

An image snapped up; showing aircraft flying over a field filled with swarms of the massive spider-like creatures, with blossoms of fire and death scattering among them; before the aircraft was suddenly struck by an unseen projectile, and began to fall; slamming into the ground and burning through yet more of them.

"They adapt to biological weapons fairly well; the Republic has deployed four so far, and the Klendath survived each, though with less than ten percent of their original numbers. at the end of the fourth one.The Republic is only concerned with salvaging the ruins of the Founder settlement on Klendathu; they have an armed, fortified presence there, and are both using it to deliver bio-weapons and conducting an archaeological dig on the site. As such, having secured the surroundings of that settlement, they have begun a campaign of orbital bombardment; as well as the deployment of a fifth biological weapon. There are over one thousand cities of over one million Klendath as of the last news report; but they are constantly being obliterated."

The image shifts; going back to the globe. A single blue circle was highlighted; with massive blossoms of red in every direction, and a handful of green dots scattered among them. "They are using relatively small projectiles, to do less damage to the atmosphere, but have a specific plan to sweep the world, eradicating every settlement over the course of the next few months. There are two specialized planetary bombardment ships, equipped with railguns designed to deliver anti-ground munitions at precisely calibrated masses and speeds to maximize effect, often designed to splinter in midair to increase impact radius while reducing overall force. These are protected by a single Battleship-class Republic vessel, and as the Klendath had launched primitive probes and even manned craft into space before the Marrick arrived, there are also fourteen lighter vessels; both six Escort-class ships, and eight individual scout-ships which are inspecting every rock and object in the system to ensure no 'Swarm' members escape the purge."

The three Yogg looked up at the display, staring at the massed firepower; the three massive capital ships floating in orbit over the world looking insurmountable to something of the Gaze's size.

"Interesting. So. We want to clean house, getting rid of all enemy ships in the system. How are our main guns looking?"

A brief flicker. The long, thin shape of the Gaze of Wrath appeared instead on the hologram. "Our primary particle cannon battery has been altered heavily. There are now six individual guns, firing at a higher speed but lower mass than standard, in a pattern that will allow them to take out the shields and then tear through any mobile asset the Republic possesses in a single volley. Precision is only required in that you must hit the target; the fifth and sixth shot of each volley are designed in such a way as to 'bounce' inside a heavily armored target, creating an effect similar to a hollow-point round in organic flesh through the use of dozens of much lower-mass projectiles forming a spread."

"Nice. So. One shot, one kill. Exactly what the doctor ordered. Excellent work, Ascension. What's our best way to nail them all?"

"None that I am aware of. It is highly likely the lighter enemy vessels will scatter and flee either immediately or the moment we destroy the first target; the Republic officers are not cowards, but appearances indicate they are competent. The heavier vessels, unable to escape, will likely form up and attempt to meet us before falling."

The Yogg all looked shocked at the assessment. One of them looked between the drone and Eyeball. "Ahh... Sir? Those are bombarders. And a battleship. They've got ten times our armor and a dozen times our firepower. We could outrun them, but... How could we hope to kill even one?"

Eyeball gave a low chuckle. "No worries on that score. The trick about space combat is who can hit the other guy first. And while we actually carry more missiles than all three of those ships put together... more importantly, we have a unique advantage; a targeting computer from my home galaxy that will let us predict their 'random' walking and nail them with a perfect shot, every time, from far beyond what should be effective range. At ranges where they fire a thousand rounds and hope, maybe, to hit with one or two... we fire six rounds and nail them with every one. We aren't unbeatable... but they'd need far more than they have here to take us on. Now. Ascension will be handling the controls for this run, making sure the engines are primed and weapons ready. I'll do the flying and aiming. But I want the three of you to run those controls in simulation, on repeat, until we arrive."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

He nods at the drone. "My friends here are all cyborgs; and while they'll survive an EMP and we can recover them... it'll fuck em up, bad. So I need you to be ready to support me. Just in case."

The Yogg nodded. "Of course. Lets send some of those Republic bastards to the Founder assholes they worship."

"I... don't think it works that way, but I can agree in principle." He nodded; and the crewman turned back to his console; these would be the men on-duty when he arrived; barring the unforeseen, they would be helping him train the Forstagers on this as well in the future.

There was, of course, one other crewman who would be on duty; but the barely trained Jernal pilot Dorset was a backup for Eyeball himself. The ability to react with a vast, insane speed might not match up to precognition when it came to space combat; but it would hopefully let them dodge enemy fire long enough to get out alive if Eyeball were knocked out and needed time to recover.

***

Operations Commander Chitruk stared down at the board in his command center; he could hear the faint shaking of artillery fire being launched a few meters away... as well as the sound of drilling beneath his feet. This hellscape was disorganized chaos; and even worse, he had reporters to deal with. His command center was a massive structure, with dozens of Marrick and lesser soldiers manning positions, gathering intel from the overwatching eyes and passing orders to the guns.

He glanced up. One of his artillerymen was stretching out and smiling in his uniform at an attractive reporter as he talked about, probably, how many bugs he'd killed. Chitruk sighed, looking back at the board.

Cairn was the only Republic facility on this place; a series of six pre-fabricated fortifications forming a solid hexagonal wall around what was probably called Landing, thousands of years ago; where a group of Founder colonists had voluntarily had themselves adapted to live on this lump of dirt for some unknown reason. Since his arrival, he'd overseen the deployment of bio-weapons, directed orbital fire... and sent soldiers on dozens of missions whose sole purpose was to capture video of heavily armed and armored soldiers slaughtering masses of Bugs.

The worst were the bombing runs; the Bugs had anti-air weapons that could take out a low-flying gunships. So, of course, he used massed artillery fire to disrupt any attack waves, and called down orbital strikes on wherever the enemy seemed most concentrated at the time. But aircraft flying over swarms dropping bombs looked good for the camera. So... he'd lost six gunships like that this year.

The reporter was walking in his direction; Chitruk steeling himself for another insipid interview; when a sudden alert sounded. He looked down at his board; unknown ship. Presumed hostile; its trajectory matched Swarm territory.

He frowned; examining the incoming course. The ship... looked completely unfamiliar. He'd never seen such a thing. Probably a pirate, from some race stupid enough to send a single destroyer into a place where battleships and escorts sailed.

"Tactical. Analysis of the intruder."

One of his officers; a competent young woman named Charsi; was looking at a schematic and sensor readings of the vessel on her own screen. "Looks... like a pirate. Made for hit and run attacks. Big, powerful main guns, but not enough of them, excellent point defense, and at least eight missile tubes; it could probably empty its missile bays in two or three volleys. Destroyer-class; probably an even match for one of our Escorts, or even slightly better, during a missile duel, but its guns aren't made for open battle; its an ambush predator. Those power readings, that gun configuration... if it could somehow get in behind you, unaware, it could take out almost anything with the first volley, then run. The question is... why is it coming out in the open like that. Intel has seen pirate ships pretend to be civvies before, but never out in the open into a clearly unwinnable fight."

He nodded slowly. "So. Either he's an idiot, or he's got friends. Get everyone on full alert, tell the bombarders to switch their guns to anti-starship mode, and order the scouts to sweep the system. I want eyes on every possible approach vector within the hour. Oh... and send three of the escorts after him. I want the other three to just stay close, ready to intercept if we see another ship pop up."

A comms officer was relaying his orders, even as he spoke. Chitruk glanced at the reporter. "Whatever you have to ask, it can wait. I've got a hostile starship in the system. We can talk once this is dealt with."

***

"We've got three Escorts on an intercept course; everybody else is either ignoring us or looking for our backup." The young Yogg pirate glanced up; the bright blue light armor he was wearing was very different from the dull white, skull-adorned outfit he'd worn as a pirate; and he wasn't even sure why he was wearing it, if the Captain was going to be wearing black.

Then again, while he was letting the Ascension cyborg fly the ship, the captain had his hands on the gunnery controls himself; a fairly uncommon thing. Most pirates had a dedicated gunnery officer; usually whoever had the best aim. The whole three shifts thing was another strange one; usually there was one main group, and then a sort-of 'sleeper' crew; people who just kept it running while the captain was asleep.

But... the man had supposedly killed tons of Marrick.

Eyeball watched the range counter dwindle, keeping an eye on the displays; and suddenly, there was a flicker. One moment, the ship was cruising along; fast, but not too fast, on an intercept course with three Escorts; the worst ship for a pirate to deal with, fast, tough, deadly. The next... he'd flickered the Warp drive on for a fraction of a second; an incredibly risky manuever this far in-system; and yanked the trigger moments later.

The Escorts went from a full light-minute away... to three light-seconds. And the closest one already falling apart, as he spun to track the others. Swarms of missiles emerged from the two intact vessels; even as a second one died. By the time the third one was gone; nine seconds after the brief warp jump; forty missiles had dropped free, and were accelerating towards them.

The captain glanced at Ascension. "Any problems?"

"Negative. Point defense can handle them without an issue, no need for counter-missiles. If you see a good opportunity to advance up above the ecliptic, however..."

***

Chitruk stared at the board for a few seconds, then looked at the analyst. "...This is either the same rogue we've been warned about, or he's given someone else his targeting computer. Three perfect shots in a row, less than three seconds in between. Order the scouts and the Escorts to scatter and head to the staging area... and the Bombarders to start laying flak over his most likely approach vectors."

The reporter suddenly leaned in closer. "Can you tell our viewers what rogue you're talking about? What just happened? Why would you order your people to flee from just one ship?"

He glared down at her. "...Get her out of here. And... down. Into the excavation site. Stop the drilling, and evacuate everyone but the gunners and the command staff into the underground chambers." He glanced back at Charsi. "You might as well yourself. He had nothing but a scoutship and killed multiple escorts with it when he first fled. With whatever computer he's got and those guns, that thing is clearly purpose-built to kill things like our battleship. This is the only Republic facility on the planet. I'd lay good odds we're going to be seeing him, and likely after he drops something on our heads."