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Chapter 12: Aftermath part 1

Hoshun System

Cadaver Crasher Bridge

Captain Morwen stood at the fore of the ship's bridge, hands on the gold mirrorsteel controls as the ship cut a slow but steady path from the system's edge. Morwen opted for a slow and cautious approach since the prophecy she’d observed showed the planet besieged by Sauridius forces. She didn’t want to jump from a portal right into an assault she lacked any way of dealing with. So she took the slow and steady approach. It gave Ominek more time to conduct whatever schemes he’d developed, but there was nothing for it. Not if she wanted to leave the mess better than she’d arrived for. That was just the grim math of war. She just had to hope that whomever she came here in search of survived the assault this long for her modest amount of forces to help.

Morwen took a slow, quiet breath and rolled her shoulders to ease the aching tension that was slowly building. She summoned her mage company to the bridge as the ship passed the distant exo planets and asteroid belt of the system. By the time they all reported to the bridge, the Crasher had just come up in the far orbit of Hoshun. She waited for everyone to finish piling into the bridge before turning to face them after putting the ship in synchronous orbit with their target world, clear of any exit points for portals.

When she turned around, she saw Rayshe standing at the lead of the small formation. Sgt. Sirsir to his immediate left, Corporal Yasiin and Private Salanaat at the end of the formation. All wore their aged federation spell armor as proudly as a unit could. They stood at attention, and she waved them at ease. “Gentleman. Welcome to planet Hoshun. We received word this world was under attack by the Sauridius. Our mission is to land and determine the extent of the damage. Odds are we’re too late, but I want to be thorough just in case. This world is on the opposite side of the sector for them, so it strikes me odd that they would launch an attack here given how off the path it is.”

“Respectfully, sir, this planet ain’t off the path. It’s off the charts. This is as backwater as it gets.” Sgt. Sirsir said.

Morwen allowed him an acknowledging nod. “Precisely. Which means they came here for a specific purpose. I intend to find that out if I can and rescue any survivors.”

“Survivors? You can’t possibly be serious,” Rayshe said in near disbelief.

Morwen debated her response, but bit back a pleased smirk when she saw the look Sgt. Sirsir shot the unruly Lieutenant. Morwen knew full well that Sirsir likely would have throttled Rayshe if it wouldn’t have ended in the sum result of Sirsir being summarily executed. Though Sirsir did his best to contain his ire, but he still looked like he’d popped a blood vessel in his eye from the restraint.

“Call it a hunch, Lt. At any rate, your mission is to get to the surface. Determine the situation and report in once you can.”

“Alright you useless meatsacks, you heard the lady, MOVE,” Sirsir bellowed as his chest heaved with each word.

As the enlisted mages trotted off, Rayshe remained, giving Morwen a questioning glance. “Permission to speak freely?”

“Granted.” Though she suspected he would make her soon regret the latitude.

“With so many other more valuable worlds at stake, tell me, Captain. The truth of it. Why are we really here?”

Morwen turned to look at Hoshun’s surface on the primary screen. “We’re here because we need to be. Because if we weren’t here? Something terrible might happen and ruin us all later. We might be too late or just in time. I can’t say.”

“Is this to do with your meeting with the ArchPriest just before we departed Eryn?” Rayshe asked curiously.

Morwen nodded, “Yes, I believe so. I just haven’t been able to figure if what I did was the right move yet.” She had a sinking feeling that someone had tugged her out there to the middle of nowhere to leave the rest of the sector exposed to some other attack. Baited by some kind of feint. Ominek was a canny dragon and a feint attack to lure them out of the way so he could go to work elsewhere felt like a typical ploy. It was one she might have otherwise ignored, but this prophecy had told her she shouldn’t ignore the cry from the fallen. It would seem this was a long game she was playing. Give up the short term to win the long. She sighed in frustration at not being able to soundly respond as she wanted to.

Rayshe regarded the primary screen a moment longer, and she got the impression he was forming his own opinions. No doubt he was going to lodge a complaint with command later. Just one more thing she’d have to wait to deal with until the nebulous later revealed itself. Morwen rubbed her temples and set the ship to remain in geosynchronous orbit as she stood by to await reports from the ground team. The Crasher’s engines glowed to life with the channeled energy pushing the behemoth vessel closer to Hoshun.

On an adjacent screen, she pulled up images of the enemy fleet exiting the system. The last of the Sauridius transport craft was slipping into the lunar shadow of the nearby moon. The Crasher’s sensors registered a void portal cracking open reality as the transport ship spilled in. Then the crack fell shut. Morwen sighed as the enemy fleet fled, letting the ship’s cannon relax the magic she’d been building in its cannon.

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Intuitively, she knew it wasn’t Ominek’s style to attack like this. He knew be looking to make as quick an escape as possible. Sticking around and getting hung up in the fight she was looking to have was tactically unviable for the enemy. Below her, the blue green jewel of Hoshun lay beneath the Crasher. The verdant world below reminded her of Eryn in a lot of ways.

As an elf native to Eryn, she hoped the damage below wouldn’t be as catastrophic as the captain half of her expected. She’d seen enough battlefields by now to expect thoroughness to Sauridius destruction. Especially where Ominek was concerned. She fingered the golden bracelet on her wrist absent mindedly. The prophecy weighed heavily on her. Even with advanced notice, she’d not been able to come fast enough.

Her losses at Torun and Kofex were still heavy on her conscious and soul. Many good soldiers and innocent civilians didn’t live beyond those conflicts. Some still walked among the Sauridius’ forces as undead troops. Morwen took a deep breath, fighting the urge to fidget or pace her own bridge.

She preferred to be on the ground, conducting the battles, not stuck waiting on her ship for a report. She hated being detached from things sometimes, even though she knew sometimes the best vantage point one could have was far enough back to view everything. She rallied the local Federation troops at Torun to hold off the Sauridius long enough for the few ships they could get airborne to leave. If the Sauridius were leaving already, it meant their dark work here was already done.

“There will be no evac for the dead today.” She mused darkly.

Morwen frowned as a nagging feeling about ambush gripped her. She grumbled as she spent the pool to push the Crasher into motion. It broke orbit and lumbered into a slow-moving patrol through the system. She allowed her mind to subsume into the ship’s senses. Her skin became the hull plating. Her eyes became dozens of magical sensory crystals. Her teeth became the massive spinal cannon around which they built the ship around.

The Crasher was an old vessel. One of the very first generation spell ships, the Federation, rolled out of production. Its spell drive ran on Aureoliam, liquid magic most commonly found in magic wells. Some cultures referred to it as God’s Blood. Realizing the value of Aureoliam, the Federation moved to quickly restrict access to the wells of magic it could control and patrol those in the sector it couldn’t. She checked the fuel gauge, satisfied with their current levels and usage. She didn’t have enough for joy rides, but could confidently conduct her quick patrol free of worries.

The lumbering magitech craft rumbled back into Hoshun’s orbit after conducting a thorough scan of the system and detecting nothing. She maneuvered the craft back into a holding pattern from where her troops had departed from. It wasn’t perfect, but close enough to prevent major issues. Once the ship was stationary, she leaned back and heaved a relieved sigh. She wasn’t sure what she’d have done had she actually found trouble.

“Perhaps father was right. Maybe I should stop looking for trouble I can’t afford.”

But then, if she started doing that, who would run off on these fool’s errand missions to save lives where no one else saw value? How long before people needing help were a valuable ally, and her people showed the same reluctance to help with them they had with all the fallen colonies? She wasn’t stupid. She knew the Federation was failing itself. Formed on lofty ideas by her father, but corrupted from the inside out by a bureaucratic bloat.

“Sometimes I wonder if the only way to save it is to let it die and pick up the pieces. But what happens to the sector if that comes to pass?”

“Ma’am?” Lt. Fennex’s voice inquired from the mouth of the bridge’s entrance. His blond high and tight a bold proclamation of New Eden descent. They would catch few mages dead with hair that boring. It just wasn’t beautiful at all.

“Nothing, just musing to myself.”

“I caught that. ‘Bout what? If ya don’t mind my asking?” His Terran drawl pulled on certain words in a way she’d yet to grow used to. It clearly showed he’d come from a certain tribe of humans. His blue eyes studied her curiously, but with a measured discipline she appreciated from the Brotherhood of Man and their contribution to the Federation. With them onboard, the Federation had quickly become more of a functional military power and less of an ideal.

Morwen thought to herself for a moment. Debating the merits of explaining. She accounted for the way Lt. Rayshe often looked down his nose at the Brotherhood soldiers. Fennex had proven himself at Torun and was one of the few who’d survived. He was a fighter and had earned the right to make the request. She gave an assenting nod. “You may,” she said finally. She shifted in the command chair to face him more fully. His uniform was patched in places to repair battle damage since they lacked replacement uniforms.

“I was just wondering about the future of the Federation and what impact its death might have on the Sector at large.”

Fennex nodded thoughtfully. “Well, ma’am, considerin’ we’re the only ones out here fightin’ and dyin? I dread to think what’ll happen the day we stop.”

Morwen smiled ruefully. “Over my dead body.”

“Amen to that Captain. You’ll always have my tank if’n you’ll need it.”

“Thank you Lieutenant. I know most of your peers have less ambivalent feelings about mine.”

Fennex shrugged and ran a hand through his short hair. “Most of the blow hards did not impress us playing at command in the Federation. Sittin’ around and gettin into pissin’ contents when there’s a war to win seems like a tactical waste.”

“How right you are, Lieutenant.”

Fennex’s comm link chirped, and he drew it out, a magical hologram projected of Lt. Rayshe, her XO. “Fennex. Inform the Captain we’re coming back. There were a few unfortunates who survived that may yet be of use.”

“Of course, Sir.”

Fennex gave Morwen a look over his comm that conveyed just how warmly he felt about Lt. Rayshe. She sighed inwardly and gave the Brotherhood LT. a nod. Now that the bridge was all hers, she slipped into the command chair wearily. Her XO was going to be the death of her. She just knew it.

“Let’s see what the Sauridius left behind.”