Two days passed and the drone's data stream was received. Overseer was referring their mission to Queen Shanti, General Konrad, Admiral Robert, and their headquarters staff. At the meeting were also present two more available AI who displayed their hologram avatars and were sitting on free chairs between the Humans and Fa'enni.
Overseer was dressed in her usual navy uniform with a rapier at her belt. Wrath who rarely used his avatar was more like a lurking presence in the darkness but when he showed it was always impressive. The Grim Reaper-like body was covered with a black long cloak from under which a tactical vest could be seen and his entire silhouette seemed like emerging from the black clouds of swirling fog or smoke. His red glowing piercing eyes were visible under a dark hood covering the rest of his face in the shadow only when he smiled big tooths of the predator shined from it. He truly made his avatar fit his name.
Guardian avatar on the other hand was 2.5m tall black ceremonial armour of unknown pattern most probably "fantasy" with dark red and gold motives and finished. The icy blue glowing eyes deep inside his helmet seem to always scan the area in search of any danger. On his back was a gigantic shield and sword that looked as always ready to use. You can say he was adherent to an ancient rule of cool. Compared to Overseer and Wrath he was a child just 150 years old.
The headquarters staff looked relaxed but they all paid close attention to the briefing. When Overseer explained in detail to everyone why drones were sent she showed them all the data gathered so far.
"Most drones sent for mission used the standard alpha-3 intelligence gathering protocol. They detected traces of sub-light ion engines but nothing that could pinpoint the culprit in the area under the survey that was the classic ten light minutes cube. It was empty, clearly with no sign of the Voyager probe or even the simplest transmitter. However, two Drones used a new search pattern made by the joint Fa'enni and Human team of the V-grade cadets. When the main drone force was investigating the area of interest the Eagle drones ED43 and ED44 split from the course and watched the area from over 1 light hour away. Due to observing from this range and due to the use of only two drones observing resolution was poor and the data gathered is inconclusive."
New data was shown in a 3d display. Thirteen drones were scanning the area of interstellar space full of distant stars with all their passive sensors. The clock was speeding up so in just five minutes they saw 40 hours worth of material.
"Here." Wrath started talking with his smooth deep voice in which you could almost hear some threat of violence. "Near the end of the recording."
He pointed his skeletal hand wearing a tactical fingerless glove toward the 3d table, clock in the bottom corner started reversing and stopped exactly at 38h45m87.231s "You can see a shadow that shouldn't be here."
All people gathered tried to see what he was pointing at without much success. Even Overseer and Guardian looked with surprise at the projection. Wrath sighed. The recording was zoomed in, and the area he meant was highlighted with a big red circle. Then he cut out 3 seconds from the recording and looped it.
"Here." He said once more and now they all saw as 7 stars visible in the background suddenly vanished and one second later all 7 shined again. The longer you watched it looped more details started to show off. When 7 starts were gone all others in the area looked dim. Wrath after giving them a few seconds started talking again.
"Probability of unknown type of stealth ship presence is 99%. All drones were in deep camouflage and all data shows they were not detected. We detected that ship only because it moved so that means anything it was its stealth capability is significant. The Fox and Eagel drones however are not prime anti-stealth systems and their sensors are just acceptable." he added with anger this time. "Threat unknown. Weapon technology unknown. Stealth technology: few generations worse than the Commonwealth. All actions taken so far by unknown contact are classified as hostile."
Everyone shakes their heads in agreement. Shanti looked around and was struck by the sudden realization. Whatever... Whoever that was they just have been classified as hostile by the Commonwealth fleet. Woe to that idiots if they pick a fight with the Navy. Shanti was stunned and confused. So this is how humanity classifies things? She wanted to speak up but admiral MacArthur was faster. 'Good' she thought to herself he will stop this madness... or not?
"I can only agree with Wrath. Naell prepare a draft of the report for Admiralition at the Neptun Command Center. Overseer inform 230th Fleet SIGINT officers and personnel about this and made them pay attention to our surroundings. I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night to the sweet sounds of battle alarm in my room."
Konrad nodded to himself and added calmly. "Guardian inform Fa'enni Ambasador Ravael and his supporting AI Rightous in the Federation Senat about this. It will not hurt to inform Galaxians about a new threat but they need to pay extra attention to the Senator's reactions maybe someone know something. Tell them we are investigating but we don't have much data to work on. Don't mention however Voyager incident or how we detected the hidden ship. Just inform that someone is using our old probe signals for an unknown purpose."
Naella D'astra was a Fa'enni woman assigned personally by Queen as admiral help nine years ago. She was now a cadet in her 5th grade who was directly learning to be admiral adjutant by Zeus, AI who was helping at the Navy and Army Academy at Ra-Nael. When she received the order she immediately stood up saluted and got out to gather the data and prepare the draft. She was taking her new job seriously. Shanti would be proud if not this confused by the entire situation.
Overseer and Guardian were scrolling through new protocol made by cadets and nodded from time to time with satisfaction their cyber heads. Guardian was first to break the silence: "Admiral we checked the new search protocol. I must admit it's brilliant. They made a brand new approach as a supplement to existing and proven protocols, not as faulty competition as many before them. I personally recommend the adaptation of this pattern. Creators should be officially awarded."
Admiral nodded his head: "They did an excellent job that's true. But regarding that shadow, I really hope we soon will find out more."
Shanti finally was able to speak but she decided against it. Besides marking the unknown ship as hostile, no orders to shoot on sight were given so she guessed it was not a big deal. And if you think about it they both were right back then. Paranoid, but it looked like they were right and She was wrong. There was something over there that wanted to pick a fight with Humans. She will better stay quiet- what exactly she knows about war to talk with Humans about strategy or what to do or not? Perhaps that's why they are so deadly and excellent warriors. They always prepare for the worst-case scenario. She also admitted to herself that this stealth ship looked suspicious. This is not how you made first contact or start a peaceful talk. She sighed. Leave war to warriors, time for more paperwork...
10 years later.
Thuel was three days before his 18th birthday which would be exciting if not for a little tiny detail.
He was drifting in deep space toward a small planetoid in his power armour on minimal power usage and life systems to camouflage his signature. It was not concerning or anything that special. He couldn't see anyone from his team but Thuel knew that somewhere close is Johan, Luna, and Anna as well as 6 Badger drones. His metabolism started slowing down and he started getting drowsy.
They were shot out with full company assisted by 24 drones. His team had the biggest firepower and was tasked with diversion. They will attack the sensor bunker with a small crew on the flank of defending forces. Other teams were tasked with flanking and breaking defences on the main base when the response team will depart to help defend the sensor bunker. The enemy commander who decided to put a sensor bunker on his flank and not behind his lines might have some sort of a plan but once they managed to detect the sensors of the bunker it became their top priority instead the target of opportunity. They will travel at low speed to prevent early detection and land in the same manner as a debree or small meteorite would. Travel with this speed will last for 3 days. It was a good plan, well it was his plan...
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
But why the hell 3 days before his birthday?!
Anna shouldn't remind him about his own forgetfulness before they jumped. He has fallen asleep monitored by his armour systems.
Meanwhile, the surface of a planetoid that was Thuel's team target was looking like total chaos. Cadets were running here and there giggling in coms and hauling various crates and boxes. Anna and Luna were ordering Humans, Fa'enni, and Mashines with precise orders and under the almost watchful gaze of King-General Raven, Admiral MacArthur, and Wrath. Two of them were sitting in a field tent in their sealed power armours on massive field chairs with their feet on a tac-table that was monitoring cadet's preparations. Wrath didn't need any power armour. No power armour could match his own since he was the AI of 3550 km in diameter Defiant class Fleet Carrier. Being the size of a moon, he was one of the few thousand most powerful battleships this Galaxy ever saw. Their laughter and jokes were heard sometimes in coms. Thuel and Johan are going in for a total surprise.
Thuel was rapidly waking up. His systems started flickering back to life in passive mode. He checked his HUD. Drones were perfectly in position, Johan was exactly where he should be. Where are girls!?
He panicked. Zoomed out his map and exhaled air with relief and irritation. They were safe but their course was off by little margin. A little margin that in this scale cost splitting his team. They will not land perfectly as a team and they will not have visuals on girls but shit happens. That's why they exercise. But when he looked at the map he smirked. We will have perfect positions for taking bunker crew in the crossfire.
Improvise, adapt, overcome- great knowledge of his ancestors on the rescue.
Well, not all of his ancestors but certainly the ones from his father's side of the family. Mom's ancestors would be useless right now. He updated the mission plan and used a communication laser to minimize detection. All team members confirmed.
They landed on an asteroid perfectly- a quick approach like space debris or a small meteorite and exactly the same impact. He quickly moved toward Johan's position while drones started approaching the bunker still under a cloak. Johan waved to move forward asap but the bunker looked empty inside.
'A trap?' He showed signs to Johan who shrugged his hands. He saw girls approaching slowly from the other side but there was no way to contact them without being detected so he moved with Johan to the side of the bunker. No one was shooting at them so they swiftly attempted to break lock codes and get in. Drones were in positions to fire into fire holes.
Perfect.
A silent ping in his comm signalled Johan cracked code and doors opened. Their sensors didn't pick anyone inside the combat part. Strange...
They entered and left doors open for girls. Drones are too big for a sweep in bunkers. He ordered them to patrol the area. 'Maybe defending team went on patrol' crossed his mind when they entered the airlock. He was focused, airlocks are chokepoints and if they get under fire they are toast. Girls almost reached the bunker and should get in any time- good.
They will storm in right after us. Inside is pressure so that means our armour can be heard. He prepared his pulse gun. It was a training issue pulse gun, much heavier than regular and "shooting" with laser markers. As deadly as the light of a flashlight.
The inner airlock gate opened and they entered a dark room. He hesitated to turn on his lights or active sensors...
Suddenly all lights turned on.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!" and "SURPRISE!" echoed in the room and balloons and confetti rained on him. Good thing he was wearing power armour because his face must have looked particularly stupid. The last thing he saw before armour ejected him was Anna and Luna's towing gigant birthday cake with 18 real candles on top. He was so happy.
2000 km above the birthday party in the vast halls of Wrath another party was held. Promotion of first Fa'enni Captains and their official assignments on independent command posts. All Fa'enni officials gathered and proudly observed the most valiant of their race promoted. They will receive commands over new destroyers and the brand new class of ship in the Terran Commonwealth Navy- Drone Carriers. This design was entirely the creation of Fa'enni and AI. No human was involved. They were able to keep that an absolute secret for almost 5 years. The first prototype was built with the authorization of Queen Shanti herself. Admiral and General were impressed by all work Fa'enni put into the design. This ship was a brilliant system patrol vessel so they both blessed prototypes and allowed for production.
Single Dashu'un, in the Fa'enni language, meant Fire Bringer, class Drone Carrier have a few times more firepower than the entire Fa'enni fleet had before the Xhrestla invasion. It was equipped with a jump drive, drone forge, and shields as powerful as a heavy cruiser and was a bit larger than a light cruiser. However, its armament was impressive: 7 tower mounted double barrel heavy disruptors covered all 360° sphere around the ship and were able to engage 7 targets at once. It has 8 tubes for heavy torpedos able to shoot boarding torpedos as well. Light anti-missile missile nests were perfectly hidden in beautiful lines of a ship. Point defence systems were hidden under the hull to minimize detection profile.
But it was Carrier- it could field at once up to 100 drones of various sizes and purposes and pin any known vessel that was not Terran made or outright destroy it. As fast as Terran light cruisers but much better armed and shielded. When Queen Shanti finally introduced her government and her representatives in Commonwealth senat she also brought Dashu'un with her.
Since she made sure no one except the few involved knew about the project she didn't have any free AI to ask for help. But Guardian- AI of her personal Dreadnought promised to help and personally asked Meakena Council for candidates preparing for their Navy Duty. To quite the surprise of humans and even AI all 3 candidates started arguing about who will take this ship.
Their avatars even started brawling. They decided after almost an hour of fights and argues to play rock paper scissors. When the winner finally was decided they asked the remaining AI to keep the secret of Dashu'un existence when they return to Makeana. Their avatars just looked at them with surprise and told: "We are not going anywhere without our Dashu'un class ships".
There it was now in front of every Terran Commonwealth senator. Displayed in a gigantic 3d display of Senat it was breathtaking. Majestic soft lines as anything Fa'enni project and build with deadly shapes of human-made main weapons, perfectly composed in hull hangar bays, field emitters, and sensor arrays. It was breathtaking. But Navy representatives were not impressed, it was beautiful true but that's not a point of a battleship. Since no technical data was provided (yet) they listened to the presentation made by the main engineer.
From what they saw its main weapons were very well placed but this ship had no visible defence abilities without a few active defence lasers. Some adjutants pointed at perfectly hidden in shapes of hull missile point defence systems, admiral looked with curiosity.
All this presentation had a few purposes: it was a show of for Senators to gain their interest in Fa'enni's skills and capabilities. But Shanti knew the only real recipients was admiralition. She smiled when she saw curiosity in the admiral's eyes. She nodded to Hazmair- the head engineer leading presentation. He was preparing for this presentation under the watchful eye of Richard Raven. That was pure terror and pain but he endured. Hazmair will not fail his Queen. He inhaled and addressed everyone showing sensor data from life feed that were looking at a real Dashu'un that was standing idle in orbit. "As you can see Dashu'un in stealth configuration have a low detection profile."
Admiral gasped. Stealth configuration?! Build not into emulation systems but hull itself? He blinked when He saw the most spectacular sight.
Before his eyes, Dashu'uns soft lines were broken and the entire ship almost transformed as point defence systems and secondary weapon systems emerged from previously perfectly hidden ports. Then its hangar bays opened and swarms of drones took their positions around the ship ready for any mission. 100 drones moved in harmony and beauty of the greatest ballet masters. He recognized most drones but at least one was of the new Fa'enni pattern. This ship was not only majestic but deadly. He heard in the background Hazmair but he didn't cared. His hud implant highlighted newer and newer weapons and systems. He wants this ship, he wants them to replace every single light cruiser in the Navy and he is going personally to any meeting necessary to get this done. Grand Admiral must see this project and real ship asap.
Shanti smiled. It is only the beginning my dear Humanity. You were thankful to my race for simple gifts. In turn, you saved my kin from seemingly inevitable doom and extinction. So far you respected my folk and we started to live alongside you. But sooner or later we may become a burden to you. Never again Fa'enni will be cast aside and discarded. She promised this before the living light of stars. In moments like this, she pondered about herself. From a simple girl living almost in a forest to Queen of the confederate Nation of Terran Commonwealth- the most powerful Empire to ever exist. She feared wasting her race's only chance for prosperity.
In a hall so big it could contain a small city but in truth was one of Wrath's recreation decks for his two hundred of thousands crew graduation ceremony was held. 50 Fa'enni captains stood proudly in line with 150 humans and AI. Her species changed so much in the last 20 years.
From a race of ignorant, oblivious and let's face the truth- galactic pushovers to look at them now, proud captains of the Finest and Greatest Navy that ever span the stars. Fa'enni captains were proud. After years spent in the academy, horrors of training, and serving tours as officers and first officers on various ships of the Terran Commonwealth Navy all of them already saw combat. Space was not as calm a place as they always thought it was. Pirates, rouge drones, dangerous xeno AI, derelict ships, and installations with active defence systems. But according to Humans, they were ready.
And if Humans told them they are ready it probably mean anyone promoted today was worth more than any galaxian admiral.