“Commodore, The Admiral had ordered a shift with the fleet’s positioning, he requests your portion of the fleet to take position within the vanguard.”
Inside a well-decorated office, filled with nothing but exquisitely crafted metals, from the cabinets and the desks. Inside the office were two naval personnel, one was a young man of a lower officer rank, attentively standing as he watched the other personnel, an individual with a senior Flag officer rank, currently reading some documents he had given him.
“No,” The senior officer staunchly replied, reasoning, “My fleet is composed of 9 ships, 1 Galaxy-Class Dreadnought, 3 Imperial-Class Dreadnoughts, and 3 Imperial-Class Battleships, 2 Royal-Class Frigates.”
He added, “I am not a coward, but my fleet isn’t capable of possessing the vanguard, even if it is an order from the admiral, he should’ve at least studied, my fleet isn’t suitable for the vanguard, while my fleet possesses the firepower needed to be the vanguard, due to my fleet's composition, moving it will be a hassle— Best I could do is become the rearguard or maintain my position in the centre.”
“I understand, Commodore,” While the young low-ranking officer gave of a sincere voice, understanding his superior’s reasoning, he continued to add, “—But the Admiral has been insisting, Either you comply with his orders or you’ll be court martialed for insubordination.”
“Haaah—” The commodore turned his head away from the young officer in front of him, giving a long sigh, “Goddamit… fucking old bastard.”
“Pardon, Commodore?”
“Nothing—!” At first, the commodore grumbled due to the admiral’s orders, but he immediately conceded his opposition “…fine! Contact Commodore Marc and tell him we’ll be changing positions, and contact Admiral Greso that I’ll follow his orders.”
“Understood, Commodore!”
The young officer immediately gave a salute before doing a 180-spin and leaving the room with haste. With the young officer’s departure, the only one left inside the office was the commodore. being the only person left, he subsequently threw the documents towards his metal desk— like a worker that was fed up with his superior's shit.
“Goddamnit… That old man is really testing my patience…” The commodore grumbled as he reclined his body towards his chair’s back rest. He then took out a circular object from under his uniform and immediately pressed a button.
After pressing a button within the circular object, immediately, a young woman with an officer’s uniform appeared above the circular object as a hologram. It was a holographic communication device (HCD). The device was a personal communication equipment for the commodore and his ship’s AI, along with other individuals within the fleet he was currently apart of.
“Lisa, I command you to take command of the ship, and send a message to the other ships in preparation for the new positioning.”
“Understood Admiral.” The young woman replied with elegance. It was not an exaggeration that most of the federation’s naval ships possessed a stunning female AI as the commander’s right hand. They were stunning for the fact that they were modeled by professionals and not naturally made.
“Say… Lisa.” The commodore, placed his hand on his mouth with a seemingly watchful gaze towards his personal AI, “Can you perha—”
Lisa immediately interrupted the commodore, “Commodore Kliest, I may be an AI, but I have been programmed with common sense and with basic law— sexual harassment is still a crime. It’s even worse when most would notice this as a superior harassing his junior.”
“—Forgive me, Lisa.”
The name of the commodore was Arthur Kliest, though he may look young, he had already graduated both a military-oriented high school and one of the Federation’s top Military academies. He had also experienced combat in both the marines and Naval branches of the military, making him a remarkable and decorated military officer for the Federation’s military.
“Anyways, if possible, I want you to prepare a call with Com—”
In the middle of Commodore Kliest request, his office suddenly trembled as if the world was about to separate from each other. With vigilance, Kleist immediately hid his body under his desk and took out a plasma gun from under his uniform.
I forgot to change since I woke up from cryosleep, but this should be enough.
“Lisa! Contact the fleet if they receive—”
Suddenly, another powerful trembling sensation happened, accompanied by a loud BOOM! that resonated its powerful roar that echoed and vibrated everything inside the ship he was currently on.
As Kleist hid under his desk armed with a plasma pistol on one hand and another hand supporting the metal desk’s underside. He was immediately greeted by the intoxicating odor of smoke that gradually entered his office.
“Lisa!” Kliest yelled as he hid under the desk, expecting for his personal AI, Lisa, to hear his call, “I need sitrep! Talk! Lisa!”
There was no response from Lisa nor from his personal holographic communication device. Though the entire ship was receiving extensive damage that was noticeable from afar, Kliest, as a commodore and a Military officer, kept his composure.
Lisa’s silent, it’s possible that she’s taking care of another problem in another location, otherwise she should’ve answered by now.
A ship’s AI had two responsibilities, the primary one was to support their superior, in this case, Commodore Kleist. the second one was to maintain the ship’s capabilities to its full extent and to reduce and limit the damage a ship was receiving. A naval warship only possessed one AI that was labeled as the ship’s ‘caretaker’, this was because that the AI had absolute control of the ship, from defenses to Armaments, to piloting and navigation— second only to the ship’s human captain.
With this in mind, due to Kliest’s flagship, his Galaxy-Class dreadnought receiving an undetermined amount damage, Lisa who was the ship’s only AI was needed to be everywhere at all times, which depending on the situation—might be impossible.
“Forget it!” Kliest immediately returned his plasma gun inside his uniform. Exchanging it with another communication device that possessed another circular frame, yet it wasn’t a holographic communication device, “— Contact Commodore Marc and ask him of the situation.”
After receiving his order, a circular screen atop of the communication device immediately radiated a blinding reddish color, replying, “Unable to contact— It is possible that the receiver has lost his connection.”
“Lost his connection!?” Kleist reiterated with a confused tone, “Dammit!”
With Kleist unable to contact one of his allies, returned his communication devices back under his uniform. Soon after, he then crawled away from under the desk and stood up. There he saw the carnage that happened in his room— most of the books that he mostly stored in his cabinets, lifelessly fell on the ground.
“Oh, goddamit! My books!” Kleist yelled as he lowered his body, intending to find one of his many lifeless books on his office’s floor. forgetting that a life-ending crisis was currently enveloping his body.
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With Kliest in the middle of finding one of his books in the pile, a savior finally appeared, “—Commodore! Are you alive, please respond!”
“Lisa!” Kliest yelled, immediately taking out his holographic communication device from under his uniform and was immediately greeted by Lisa’s stunning appearance, “Lisa inform me of the current situation! I need everything!”
“Commodore, Currently, the ship’s crew and inhabitants have all died—”
After hearing this sudden information, Kliest immediately yelled, “What?! All of them died!? The ship has a total 50,590 personnel! This is a dreadnought with top-tier defenses and armaments, and your telling me they all died without a fight!”
“Forgive me for my lack of response, but about 49,800 personnel where currently in cryosleep, they all died when an explosion occurred in the lower and rear decks. The remaining naval personnel also died when one of the main oxygen tanks subsequently exploded with the rear engines— causing a severe depletion of oxygen.”
“Oxygen tanks? Then how am I alive?!”
“Currently, important locations such as the commodore’s office is connected with the emergency oxygen tanks located at the front and middle of the ship, you’re currently surviving by the small, meager oxygen those tanks are currently sending over your location.”
A naval ship that possessed a crew of 35,000 personnel and above, whether they were frigates or smaller ships, as long as they reached the specified amount of assigned personnel within their ship. The naval ship would be built with several emergency oxygen tanks that would be automatically activated in times of emergencies.
Though as safe as this may be described, in actuality, these oxygen tanks weren’t connected within the massive and lengthy hallways of the ships. In actuality, the emergency oxygen tanks were only connected to many specified locations that were of importance such as: The captain’s quarters, the hangars, the bridge, the navigation room, and etc.
“So, you’re saying that most of the naval personnel that weren't in cryosleep died of asphyxiation and not a quick death?!”
Lisa lowered her head with a depressing look on her face, though she was an AI that mostly lacked emotion. A ship’s AI was programmed to care for their respective ship’s crew as if it was their family, for the death of not 1 nor 5, but 50,000+ individuals, it was a depressing sight— even for an AI.
“Forgive my failure, Commodore.”
“… As… expected of the federation’s most deadly branch.”
It wasn’t an overstatement, out of the branches within the Grand Military of the Federation, the Grand navy of the Federation was selected by most of the majority as one of the most dangerous branches. An example of this was the current condition of Commodore Kliest’s Flagship, A Galaxy-Class Dreadnought. Just one explosion created a chain reaction that saw casualties spike in just under a minute.
“Goddamn…” Kliest massaged his forehead as stress slowly ate him, “50,000 in the span of minutes… wow… Atleast… this isn’t a Universe-Class Dreadnought with 100,000+ personnel... that’s a good thing.”
Bang! Bang! Boom!
In the midst of mourning his fallen subordinates, he was immediately greeted by another round of explosions across the ship. From the explosions and the vibrations that Kliest felt, he could determine that most of the explosions occurred at the rear end of his flagship.
“Lisa! The explosions, where are they coming from?”
“Currently, the main source of the explosions is currently occurring on the rear section and rear engine sections of the ships. If we were to calculate the damages, we’ve lost about 97% of all propulsion capabilities and the rear reactor has sustained extensive damages, causing it to shut down.”
“Then, How about the hanger and weapons bay? The Droid and drone hangers also?”
“Most of the equipment within the hangar and armory bay's contents were able to be preserved as a result of my emergency orders of closing every single doors and gates connected to the rear sections, the same for the Drone and droid hangars.”
“Then, how can I reach the hangar bay or the escape pod bay? Obviously, I need time and to obviously escape, Lisa.”
Commodore Kliest naturally majored in Military Sciences, but he also took courses in Nautical and Civil engineering during his military academy days. Due to this, Kliest had an extensive knowledge on most of the federation’s ship designs along with combat and defensive capabilities. Since he was mainly in command of a Galaxy-Class Dreadnought, he knew every single section and location within it.
Before the Human-Myrophix war, most of the federation’s ships were small and nimble, valuing speed. Because of the federation’s value for small, nimble, and speedy ships, those ships only possessed about 2 sections, the Bridge section and the Engine section.
But when the war began, the federation requested larger, more robust and heavily armed ships, most of them comprised an average of 4 sections, The Bridge section, the Center Section, the Hangar Section, and the Rear section.
Currently, Kliest’s flagship, a galaxy-Class Dreadnought named “Blue Nebulae of the corner” which was shortened as “Blue Nebulae”. Possessed several sections due to its rigid and extraordinary design as a dreadnought and was due to its classifications as a Galaxy-class.
But the most important section that Kliest currently needed to find was the lower or the upper hangar bay section of the dreadnought, placed in their respective locations. Both hangars possessed their own escape pod bays for their mothership's personnel to use in times of life-threating emergencies.
“Lisa, can you determine which hangar bay is safer? Can I enter the upper or the lower hanger bays?”
“Commodore, before I determine the safer option, I forgot to inform you, that the fleet has been immobilized to an extent.”
“...What?”
Kliest was left in utter disbelief upon hearing such revelation from his AI, it was impossible. The naval fleet Kliest had been assigned to was the 319th fleet, led by Admiral Fore Greso, an individual that was aging and had an alcoholic problem, but he was still competent to some extent. It was composed of 40 naval warships each split by the Admiral, a Commodore (Of the Upper Stars), and 3 Commodore of the Lower stars.
Normally, a fleet needed an admiral and vice-admiral as their executive command, but the 319th fleet was a special fleet that was ordered by the high command to search and destroy a Myrophix-controlled planet that the intelligence divisions had recently discovered.
The Admiral possessed 10 ships directly under his command, Commodore (Of the Upper stars) Kliest was directly commanding 9 ships, then 3 commodores of the lower stars evenly commanding 7 ships under their direct command.
“Are you saying 40 ships were significantly damage that most of them were immobilized in the middle of hyperspace navigation? And is now drifting whilst in hyperspace?!”
Lisa was at first refusing to answer, but given their situation, she answered Kleist with a stern face “…Forgive me, Commodore, but the fleet has indeed been decimated and is currently drifting away from the trajectory, the casualties are in the hundreds of thousands and Admiral Greso and 2 commodores of the lower stars are now verified as official casualties.”
“Goddamn it…” Kliest cursed as he looked down, before immediately returning his sight towards Lisa, “… You said 2 commodores? Who’s the one that survived?” Hearing that one of his subordinates of a high-rank survived, Kliest immediately inquired Lisa for their condition.
“Commodore Uler, yet I have been informed that he’s currently unconscious due to lack of oxygen for 2 minutes.”
With Lisa’s answer, Kliest’s face immediately shifted from joy to dismay, he’s already dead… forget it…
With a stern gaze, Kliest continued his previous inquiry towards Lisa, “Forget him— I need to know, what hangar bay is the safest!”
Due to the commodore’s sudden change in mental state, Lisa was surprised, “Erm, Commodore it is the lower hangar bay.”
“Then, Let’s go! I can’t waste any more time here!”
Kliest then walked on the floor that was completely covered by the books he read as a hobby. He then continued towards one of the cabinets in his room whilst the entire office quivered due to the several explosions endlessly occurring in the rear sections of the dreadnought.
Opening the cabinet, he was greeted by a portable oxygen mask that was hanging on the cabinet’s wall. Under it were a plasma pistol and a small shoulder bag that stored rations. But before taking them all, he placed his Holographic Communication device onto his desk.
With haste, Kliest took everything inside the cabinet and equipped them all almost immediately, covering his face with the mask and wearing the shoulder bag filled with rations.
“How many minutes can the mask hold?”
“Best it could do is 15 minutes, but with support of the nanomachines, it can be extended to 20 minutes.”
Nanomachines were compulsory and standard issue gadgets that were given to all military personnel of the federation’s several military branches. But High-ranking military officers attaining the rank of commodore to Admiral and their equivalence, were given exclusive nanomachines that were more advanced than the standard ones.
It would be first given once an individual was to enter a military academy or their respective military branch’s training facilities, starting from there, the personnel must hone, train and cultivate their standard issue nanomachines.
They were extremely tiny machines that could enter a human’s blood vessel, organs, and even tissues, sometimes they were even smaller than cells within the body. They weren’t visible to the naked eye and required an electron microscope to view. The standard unit of a nanomachine unit was estimated to have been 100 billion individual units.
It possessed multiple features to support its owner, these included a personal AI within the user’s body, vital sign monitoring, medical and repair functions, sense enhancement, etc.
Five minutes? That’s enough, I can use that.
“Alright, Open the doors.” Kleist ordered Lisa, who was the only individual that controlled the entirety of the ship’s internal and external systems without any restrictions, “20 minutes, lower hangar bay.”