The Axon Battlecruiser, struck by the FTL ship, seemed to momentarily hang in the void of space as what was almost a beam of light pierced it from one end to the other. The ugly ball-shaped ship with burrow-like extensions off its surface seemed to not care that the zerg ship had just rammed it with a force greater than that of Tsar Bomba, but then a shifting scene unfolded. Almost like slow motion, Xiixa could see the ship crumple inwards, losing an even fourth of its size before what she could only assume was the largest shockwave imaginable ripped through the ship, carried by its atmosphere to every corner, and ripping the structure to pieces in the process. For the first time that the Hexat could remember in their long history, the Axon Collection squad hesitated, and Xiixa reminded herself to learn that pilot's name and tank their family for their sacrifice.
The fight wasn't over though, they still had the Collector super cruiser and a Vendis-class destroyer, along with the absurd number of fighters to deal with.
"They just...sacrifice themselves....to save us?" One officer said in shock, viewing the damage. Sensors confirmed the human ship had been destroyed by the impact.
"It was a noble sacrifice, but we mustn't let it be in vain. Get a hold of yourselves soldiers! Focus fire on the Destroyer, we can't risk damaging their collector ship until we've isolated it and freed the colonists!"
"Batteries aimed at the target, Admiral. Load yield ready at 82% power. Large cross-section from current position." One officer said as suddenly the bridge became alive again, having frozen in silence at the Human's display of bravery. The Ixaru's plasma and beam batteries all turned in unison to face the destroyer as multiple targeting systems synced with one another for optimal strike points, and a first volley was launched. The majority of it had been blocked by the destroyer's shield, though one of two plasma shots managed to get through the imperfect shielding tech, being absorbed by the Axon destroyer's thermal-resistant armor. The rest of the human fighters had split off into two wings, one which cooperated with the Ixaru's own fighters to defend friendlies, and another going to harass the collector ship's swarm ships. Xiixa had been shocked at the readouts of the maneuvers the human ships had been pulling, as the G forces the pilots must have been experiencing would kill even the hardiest of the S.A.'s species.
"Admiral, the Axon destroyer is posturing to cut us off from the collector ship, I believe it means to allow it to escape!" her tactical officer informed her.
"Damnit, target the collector's engines, make sure it cannot leave the system!"
"Unable, The destroyer is blocking our firing lines."
"Well then move around the damn thing-"
"Ftl spool-up detected in collector ship, it's preparing to jump!"
"Positron mines detected in the area, suspected payload drop from Collector ship, we can't move or the antimatter will rip us apart."
"FUCK!"
Xiixa could only watch as the collector ship made the jump to FTL, along with what they were estimating to be half the 20k+ colonists along with them. The collector swarms, now without their central command, began being picked off by the human pilots, and they lucked out with the destroyer ramming into one of the positron mines, blowing a hole in a third of its hull. They wouldn't survive such a breach of the void.
The rest of the FTL capable ships the Axon had left began jumping away, and in another 30 minutes, the stragglers had been taken care of. The damages....weren't pretty. The Ares settlement was all but gone, the 5th fleet had lost 6 ships, with another 12 heavily damaged and another 14 lightly damaged. And this was from a wing of only 6 Axon ships.
"Get me in touch with the human ship lead, I want to thank him for his soldier's sacrifice. Without it, we'd all be dead right now. Send a message to Hexat Prime as well, inform them the Axon has made an opening strike against a Human colony, against S.A. laws."
'Maybe they can help, but I doubt those fossils will do anything.' She finished in her head. The S.A. was just as likely to look this over due to needing the Axon to fight against the Kaveer Empire, but that didn't mean she agreed with them. The Axon was a scourge and needed to be stopped.
"Lt.Captain Kevin Ryder here. You able to make it to Luna's Armstrong base, Ixaru?" Kevin's voice came through on the comm of the Flagship, breaking Xiixa's thoughts.
"Yes, we will help clean up here, then-"
"Negative. I have orders to direct you to Lunar station immediately." Kevin interjected.
"I see...Would you tell the soldier's family that sacrificed himself to take down that Axon battlecruiser our condolences, and gratefulness, for giving his life to save us?" She said somberly. She didn't need to give the order to prepare to head to Luna, her bridge was already on it.
"Sacrifice his life, what? Oh, the Zerg ships are drones, remotely piloted." Kevin said nonchalantly, though the news shocked Xiixa. Remote ships? this far away from Terra and without any FTL receivers on them?
"But, but how are you.."
"Bounced commands through your FTL communications. Used it as a relay. Shit still had more lag than we would like but it worked and this was an emergency...How...How many colonists." Kevin said, His voice sounded cheerful at the explanation but when he asked the question, Xiixa could recognize the sorrow of a warrior who felt he didn't do enough. She wouldn't do him the disservice of lying to him to spare his feelings, however.
"Estimates are around half the population were captured. Unknown how many made it to the collector ship before it jumped. I'm sorry, Captain Ryder."
"Fucking hell...We'll clean up here, and head to Luna. And Admiral Xiixa, Thanks. Ryder out."
She wasn't sure, but she could almost hear what felt like mourning in the Human's voice as the connection cut off. Taking a moment of respect, Xiixa then issued the command for Ixaru to return to Luna base, feeling more than a little regret at the failure to protect the Ares colony.
-----
"Admiral Furlough, we'll be docking at Armstrong base in fifteen minutes. The diplomatic delegation is already prepped for our arrival, and the Military delegation just landed. Admiral Xiixa of the Hexat fleet is expected to return shortly after we arrive." The soldier piloting the Earth-Luna shuttle stated. He was a corporal, with brown hair blue eyes, and younger than average for his range, but a damn good pilot. Mike sighed, This whole thing was a shitstorm. Half the planet wanted to isolate itself from the Galaxy, and the other half wanted blood. Most people just wanted to know why.
"Good, Have the news crew quarantined until after the first meeting. We need to make sure sensitive information doesn't leak out. Do we know how bad the damage is?"
"Reports just in are stating that half the 5th fleet is heavily damaged, 6 escort-class ships lost. 16 Zerg prototypes were lost, including one intentional scuttle into an Axon ship, destroying both. Estimated Ten thousand colonists were lost, and the rest are being ferried back to Earth. Ares settlement is gone, Sir."
'Gods damnit.' Mike thought. Ares had been the pride of Humanity, an attempt to start colonizing other planets. Its success fueled the desire to colonize Ganymede and Europa as well in the future. Now that it was gone, they likely never would.
They landed at Armstrong base and departed the shuttle quickly. An emergency meeting had been called of the powers that be, and since the Hexat couldn't survive Earth they were having it on Luna. Jacobs met them as they entered the Embassy dome, and unlike usual their playful banter between one another was nowhere to be found.
"It's bad, Mike," Jacobs said to the seasoned military veteran.
"How bad is bad Jacobs, we both know there are different levels of hell," Mike replied. He didn't want half-assed generic responses, he wanted answers. Humanity had been attacked and had suffered a heavy loss.
"Pretty damn bad. Here, Amelia Ryder sent this report to us, we got it just as the attack happened."
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
"What the hell is that girl doing out there anyways, I thought she was supposed to meet with the S.A. and prevent shit like this?!" Mike said, angrily as he took the report. Jacobs didn't respond except to point to the datapad now in Mike's hands and begrudgingly, he started looking through it, his face becoming increasingly difficult to read as he did so, which Jacobs knew meant the Admiral was properly upset.
"They...They did that to children..." Mike said with a tone of disbelief.
"From what Amelia found out, they enslave Krutathan and use them for manual labor and their pheromones. It's like a drug to them, and so are ours. We are thinking that's why the colony was attacked. A test sample."
"What about the S.A.?! I thought they were supposed to prevent this kind of shit!"
"Well, according to reports from both Amelia and the Krultathans..um, the cat people, The S.A. doesn't have the power to prevent the Axon from doing whatever they want. There's a cold war between the S.A. and some group called the Kaveer empire that the Axons are critical to. We don't know much about the Empire but suffice it to say the Axons are the only ones preventing the S.A. from being overrun. There's more, but we should wait until the meeting." Jacobs explained solemnly as they continued walking to the meeting room.
Mike nodded and started reading more of the report, his stomach lurching at the details, and a pain in his chest rising.
'Monsters, that's what these slimy fucks are.' He thought to himself.
It took another 30 minutes for everyone else to arrive. Generals and leaders from every Earth territory part of the Terran Confederation, Jacobs and Michael, as well as 5th Fleet Admiral Xiixa and her wife, chief scientist Axcizz. Everyone was anxious about this meeting, no one knew what to make of the attack and no one had seen the reports yet. Mike noticed some MPs having to deal with a rowdy reporter or two trying to make it inside as well, and wanted to berate Jacobs for inviting them before they had a chance to discuss things. Now it was too late, they would have to give the reporters something after this meeting, Mike just hoped this wouldn't lead where he already knew it would.
"Thank you all for attending on such short notice." Jacobs began as he stood up. The meeting room was circular, and large by most standards yet still felt oppressively small for so many people, each with their territory flag and the Terran confederation flag behind them.
" As you are all aware, just under 3 hours ago, Ares's settlement went dark. Due to the unusual circumstances as well as our heightened defense, Admiral Xiixa, who was already on her way there to plan a defensive line for the settlement and set up a settlement defense, investigated. This is what she found." He paused as an image was displayed in the middle of the room of 6 ships, all varying in design somewhat but having uniform architecture, looking like balls of anthills turned inside out.
"A wing of Axon ships dubbed a "Collector squad". Its purpose was the abduction of Ares colonists, and it was partially successful. As valiantly as Admiral Xiixa and our experimental spacecraft fought, the main command ship here, (points to collector ship) managed to escape. With ten thousand colonists."
"Why the hell Didn't the 5th fleet do anything then?! They had numerical superiority! Did they just prioritize their own lives? Leaving us to rot?!" One leader shouted out, with murmurs of assent from several others. Jacobs motioned for Xiixa to take the floor, allowing her to explain.
Xiixa was nervous. A room full of predators would do that to a prey species. But Xiixa was first and foremost a soldier, and her decisions had been called into question, so she stood to defend them. Swallowing a bit of spittle that had been lumped in her throat and calming her nerves, she spoke with as much authority as she could muster.
"The Axons are far more advanced than our fleet. To the point that our weapons are not effective against them for the most part. Here, here, and here, during the replay, you can see the ships shrugging off our most powerful plasma shots and even laser fire. Conversely, their particle cannons and own plasma cannons can overwhelm even the Ixaru's defenses given time. This meant all we could do was buy time for the colonists, which we did, going so far as to put ourselves directly in the line of fire. We couldn't focus on the small collector swarms while also protecting the colony from their larger capital ships, so we went after the most dangerous threats first, the capital ships. I lost over 3,000 good soldiers today, Sirs, I'd appreciate you not disrespecting their memory by calling them cowards."
"No one said they were co-"
"Enough. Thank you Xiixa." Jacobs said, gesturing for the Admiral to return to her seat.
"The fifth fleet did everything they could against an enemy with overwhelming firepower. It would be like expecting a third-world country to defend against an onslaught of nuclear missiles. At this point, I'll request everyone read the report from Amelia Ryder on their pads. We will have 10 minutes of silence to do so. Please hold any questions until after then." Jacobs said, cutting off the arguments before they could start and directing the people in the room toward the actual issue.
He could see it in their eyes when they reached certain parts of the report. The situation with the S.A., the attempted kidnapping, and the successful kidnapping. The discovery of the research station, the motives of the Axon as best they knew. He could see every one of the people in the room react to shock, disgust, sadness, and then rage when they saw the pictures taken. He could see their anger rise when they read about how the S.A. treated the Krultathans, arguably the closest thing to Humanity the S.A. had. One by one he saw the holopads placed down, and a cold, steely look in each of their eyes. When everyone was done reading the report and looking at him to continue, only then did Jacobs stand by up and address them.
"I'm sure you all have questions, but more than that I'm sure you are all aware of what this means. Why the colonists were abducted, what the Axon plan for Humanity, and how the S.A. will not be the helpful saviors they made themselves out to be." Jacobs started but already one of the territory diplomats raised to speak.
"Yes, Councilmember Gustav?"
"These Krultathans the report mentions are suffering from genetic degradation. My field is biology, as my fellow council members know. Specifically in radiation study and treatment. Their degradation couldn't be caused by radiation alone. It's not how radiation works."
Murmurs from the group, this time Xiixa was the one to speak up.
"What are you suggesting, councilmember?"
"That their genetics were modified. Artificially. The specificity of their mutations is precise. Radiation would have done a lot more damage. Precision genetic modification, however, can have that accuracy." Gustav continued. "The...the pictures of the lab, I don't read Axon, but some of them show readouts of DNA chains, and retroviral agents similar to what we use for genetic diseases. I believe the Axons were...Were performing experiments on the ones they captured to test the rate of modification."
The room was silent as everyone absorbed this piece of information. If it were true, that would mean the Axon had been genetically manipulating the Krultathans before their first contact, making them into their experiments.
"Could it be reversed?" Jacobs asked.
"Theoretically, yes. We would need the data from the Axons on what they changed, however, or else we would have to manually find the changes without a previous untampered genetic sample. It could take years without the data." Gustav responded.
"Thank you, Councilmember. Besides this, there are two other things we need to vote on. The first is the Alliance brokered by Amelia Ryder. While she is not officially a diplomat capable of entering treaties on our behalf, I as a diplomat find the treaty put for the by the Krultathans and her to be extremely beneficial for all parties. However, this means potentially making the S.A. an enemy, or at the very least a rival."
"They became our enemies the moment they let the Axon attack us!" One council member shouted.
"They allowed the torture and murder of children, and now intend to allow the Axon to do the same to us, to hell with the S.A." Another shouted.
"The S.A. would denounce us as soon as we retaliated against the Axon. They chose their bed, let them lie in it!" A third yelled to a resounding shout of affirmatives. Jacob had to wait several minutes for things to quieten down before he could call order to the meeting. Everyone was so caught up in the issues with the S.A. they forgot that there was one other thing they needed to discuss.
"Members of the council, please. The second matter we must discuss is this. I propose we grant Amelia Ryder diplomatic power for the Terran confederation, and task her with finding more allies. There are at least 30 species that are not a part of the Kaveer of S.A. according to the information packet they first sent us, and having more allies in the oncoming fight is never a bad thing. Furthermore, I propose we release the information found about the Axon and S.A. to the public. They have a right to know that they are being targeted, and what these bastards are doing. Let us vote on these issues."
"All in favor of ratifying the alliance between Hexat Prime, Krultatha, and Earth, now known as Terra, say aye." A resounding show of affirmations chorused in the room as nearly everyone agreed.
"All in favor of granting diplomatic powers to Amelia Ryder, say aye." This one was more mixed, with a few dissenting votes, but overall was approved.
"And finally, all in favor of disseminating this information to the public, say aye." This one caused an argument that raged on for over an hour on both sides.
--
"You heard correct, folks. First contact turned out to be little more than an introduction to more fighting and politics, things Humanity thought were a thing of the past, as the Axon attacked Ares settlement earlier today. Information provided by ex-military-now-Ambassador Amelia Ryder shows a horrid scene of what the Axon have done to a fellow deathworld predator race called the Krultathan, a feline-like species. I will warn you, viewers, what you are about to see is graphic, please turn any young children away now-"
The report on the news team 6 went on to discuss the past few days with frightening detail. Every man, woman, and child who saw what was going on was in a turmoil of conflicting emotions, but on that day, all of Humanity cried out in pain, sympathizing with the Krultathan's plight, and fearing they would be the next to follow.
More than anything, though, burned a rage against the monsters from the stars who performed such acts, and the demons who allowed them to do so. Over the next few weeks, countless construction companies turned into ship manufacturing facilities. The Krultathan envoy arrived, staying on their ship due to being in their season at the moment, but shared many of their own ship designs with Humanity. The Hexat began to call in huge birthing ships, essentially large ship docks capable of building and repairing their ships, further increasing the speed at which Humanity could defend itself.
The Axon had poked a sleeping Giant, and it was now waking up.