Mel`Nar

High Orbit; Mordic

Kres System

Milky Way Galaxy

Mel`Nar strolled into his command center, relishing the dry, scorching heat enveloping him—a stark contrast to the damp, frigid environments of an Almorian ship. This was the atmosphere of a Mordechai starship, one that resonated with his heritage and identity. As he surveyed his surroundings, MelNar reflected on the significant disunion among the factions of the Galactic Alliance. He, along with the rest of the Mordechai, Minmoran, Viakuthuian, and Khuns, had severed ties and forged the Hegemony of the Vorath Coalition. It baffled him why the remaining governments within the Alliance clung to their allegiance to the Almorian leadership, especially considering that not a single Almorian had ever engaged in direct combat. Each Almorian death represented a permanent void in their already dwindling numbers. "Has the scout reported back yet?" Mel`Nar asked his commander, speaking in his native Mordic tongue, liberated from the burdens of Galactic Basic.

"He just did, my Liege. The planet is heavily defended. Atol, Khuns, and Tacur ships make up the vast majority of the defense fleet," the Viakuntian officer relayed, his tone steady and professional.

Mel`Nar growled, a low rumble that echoed his frustration. "Any Almorian presence?"

"Only two command ships in low orbit above Ogawa," came the reply.

The Liege's growl intensified, reverberating through the command center. "Of course those blue, overly cautious cowards wouldn't fight themselves. Too much to lose. No matter; plot the best exit point. We have the element of surprise. I want the fleet ready to jump in ten minutes."

"Yes, my Liege," the Viakunthian officer replied promptly. Mel`Nar's gaze shifted to the projection hovering above the holo projector. He keenly observed an apparent tactical flaw in the Alliance's formation. Most of their ships were clustered in one area, rather than being spread out throughout the system as they should be, especially given their limited numbers. Without the tactical brilliance of the Mordechai, the Alliance appeared woefully inadequate for this war. This engagement would surely be an easy one. The Ogawan people had pleaded with the Hegemani for assistance, their world languishing under an Alliance blockade.

Though the Ogawan race was not known for their prowess in combat or warfare, they boasted some of the finest culinary talents in the galaxy. The Queen had adored an Ogawan chef so much that she had banned the murder or destruction of any of their kind. Now, with King Muuktel at the helm, there was a thirst for vengeance brewing.

"My Liege, we've received word. The fleet is ready for combat," a Viakunthian officer announced.

"Good. Start the countdown," Mel`Nar commanded, his mind already formulating a plan. As the countdown reached zero, his fleet tore a rift through the fabric of space and time, departing the safe, heavily fortified Kres system and plunging into the hostile Utri system, right amidst enemy vessels. His fleet immediately unleashed a torrent of fire, preprogrammed targets already locked in. The Alliance's lack of a strategic defensive formation made the task of scouting the system deceptively simple. The failure to notice the scout ship had granted Mel`Nar an advantage he was determined not to squander. Before the sensors of a single ship could even register their departure from Kres, the weapons fire from the fearsome warships of the Hegemony's fleet erupted into chaos.

The battle unfolded in high orbit above the planet—an inhospitable arena for a space engagement, where the laws of physics conspired against them at every turn. Engines strained to maintain orbit while combating the pull of the planet, and weapon systems required closer proximity and greater charges to counteract the planet’s natural magnetic field.

Two Leviathan destroyers harrased an Alliance battleship, using their bulk as a weapon against it. Their superior maneuverability within the thin atmosphere rendered them difficult targets, even though the atmospheric conditions posed their own challenges. The first destroyer concentrated its fire on the battleship's bow, aiming to cripple its sensor systems—not the primary target, but a strategic distraction. Meanwhile, the second destroyer honed in on the true objective: the engines.

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Although the battleship's engines dwarfed the Leviathans, making them easier to target, inflicting actual damage proved to be a challenge. Nevertheless, the two destroyers became an irritant long enough for a Mordechai heavy cruiser to stealthily approach the battleship and unleash a barrage of high-powered plasma bolts into the rear engine, shearing it off. The impact was significant but insufficient to bring the colossal ship down. A second strike, targeting one of the remaining nine engines, finally yielded the desired results. The battleship began losing altitude, succumbing to Ogawa's gravitational pull. Unfortunately for the beleaguered vessel, it could not escape the planet's grasp, plummeting into the mountains of the northern hemisphere and triggering an explosion that nearly obliterated half the planet.

MelNar observed the unfolding battle, his attention drifting to the two Alliance command cruisers that began to break orbit, clearly intent on fleeing. "Jam the system! No ship is to jump out!" he hissed, his voice laced with urgency. "Move the ship to intercept that cruiser; send the Uril`Jar to engage the other." The Mordechai leader was resolute in his desire to capture one, if not both, of those Alliance ships.

As he tore through several Alliance vessels attempting to halt his approach to the cruiser, Mel`Nar commenced firing, weakening its shields with each shot. "Do not disable the engines until the pull of the planet no longer affects that ship." Not long after he issued this command, the second Almorian command cruiser detonated into a brilliant starburst, a momentary flash that sent Mel`Nar into a rage. He growled and hurled everything within reach toward the viewport. "Do not destroy that ship!" His fury was palpable. "Second Liege, you have command. Disable its weapons and send me a battalion of troops. We are boarding that ship!"

Mel`Nar boarded the assault craft and activated his display, closely monitoring the battle as his ship advanced on the Almorian cruiser. He remained silent, his mind racing, but he sent commands through his terminal, requesting support from a Colossus—a battleship-class Leviathan. He needed the cruiser’s shields to drop and additional support from Minmoran troops.

The Colossus relentlessly battered the cruiser with blast after blast, each shot precise and measured, deliberately avoiding the engines. Yet something caught Mel`Nar's attention. The cruiser was descending into the atmosphere, seemingly intent on it, despite showing no signs of engine damage. "Launch, now!" he commanded, urgency lacing his tone. They needed to board that ship before they lost situational control of the fight. The Colossus and the Mordechai launched their assault pods, targeting shield relays all over the vessel. Unfortunately, the deeper they ventured into the atmosphere, the weaker each plasma blast became. In a shocking turn of events, as soon as the Almorian cruiser breached the lower troposphere, it detonated in a cataclysmic explosion, creating a fusion reaction that lit up the upper reaches of the planet's atmosphere. Mel`Nar roared in fury, every fiber of his being consumed by rage.

"Get us back into orbit, and reunite us with the Kri`Lor!" He sank onto the inner bulkhead, lost in thought, replaying the assault in his mind. He understood the risks; on one hand, he had liberated a planet that had sought aid, but on the other, it had proven to be of little strategic value in the grand scheme of the war. However, the real loss weighed heavily on him—the two Almorian ships. Each Almorian command ship housed a unique fusion core that could be easily extracted and repurposed. Almorian engineering was often superior to that of the Sumerian or Arcturian empires in several aspects.

"Gaahhhhhh!!" he growled at his Lieutenant as he entered his command room. "I told you not to destroy that ship!"

"My Liege, a self-destruct signal was sent to the ship from an unknown source just before we lost them," Second Liege Vic`Ler reported, his expression stoic.

"How? That’s not possible."

"That’s what we thought as well, but it happened. A youngling Leviathan intercepted a signal by pure accident and relayed it to us for analysis. After three rounds of decoding using Almorian encryption protocols, we confirmed it was a self-destruct signal." The Viakunthian science officer, Kapila Gurnani, interjected, a hint of urgency in his voice.

"Do we know the origin?"

"Well, we can roughly determine the direction it came from, but mapping that vector reveals nothing we can detect—nothing for thousands of light-years."

"Inform the council. I have command of the system with light casualties. The secondary objective has failed, but we will find more targets."

"You're not going to tell them why it failed?" Vic`Ler inquired, a quizzical look on his face.

"Not until we understand how." Mel`Nar stared out the viewport, looking toward the vector from which the signal had originated, only to see emptiness. Every sensor he directed in that direction registered a vacuum, with nothing but a few stray helium and hydrogen particles scattered about. There had to be an explanation; the Almorians could not reproduce, at least not under common knowledge. Lithanul had somehow managed to bear a child, yet how remained a mystery to this day. Further investigation into both matters was imperative. The Almorians were oblivious to Lithanul's miraculous offspring, and the rest of the galaxy remained unaware. No Almorian would deliberately choose death if they were the last of their kind. He would need to locate Lithanul, his former Queen; they had shared trust, and he needed her guidance. How had she managed to conceive?

"Send the fleet to Mordic for repairs, but set our course for Strehalia. We need to retrieve our Frigate. We need to reach Canus."