EFSF Lunar Base, The Moon, July 9, 1000 Solar Era
The NSF was training in a debris field close to their lunar base. The lunar colony belonged solely to the Earth Feds. A colony supported by manufacturing and military operated independently from the orbital colonies. This served as a guarantee for the Earth Feds, and made them less susceptible to pressures from the powers of the orbital colonies.
The lunar base was not the only settlement that belonged wholly to the Earth Feds. Ceres was another, along with a number of spaceports at certain Lagrange points.
“Move! Watanabe! Attack!” A frustrated Will yelled into his comms. Throughout their nexarm training, he had grown increasingly aggravated by Athena’s cautiousness. He found that Athena always played it too safe, hiding behind debris, too slow to shift her position.
“Go, go, go!”
Finally, Athena listened to his orders and attempted to shift her position as the thrusters on her unit activated. Yet, when she peeked out from behind her hiding spot, she immediately sensed multiple intense laser beams activating the warning signals of potential damage to the nexarm’s plates.
“Fuck! This is why I remained in hiding!” She accelerated behind a piece of large debris from some sort of destroyed space station from a war long past.
“You’re out, Watanabe.” James ordered. They were only training and had no intention of damaging the nexarm units. They already ran many simulations as a team using a gaming simulation created by the EFSF. The more realistic practice in this debris field had set rules, that whoever was targeted and tracked by lasers equated to being neutralized.
Thus, Athena, having been hit, was out. Her side soon lost.
When they returned to the base, She expressed her dissatisfaction.
“I knew the area was under target! Yet you still ordered me to move!”
“I sensed nothing targeting that area! You can’t just rely on instincts! Not even your own sensors picked up any proof that the area was being targeted! If you had moved earlier, you would not have been hit! It’s obvious that you moved late, right at the moment when the opposite side scanned the area!” Will shot back.
The rest of their team wasn’t sure what to say. Or think, for that matter. They, too, felt Athena was being overly cautious. Yet… it was undeniable that she was often the last one standing. Even when her side lost.
Then, the question was always… did her team lose because of her inaction? Or would they have won if they imitated her cautiousness?
Now, that would be obvious if Athena’s side lost more. Yet, she had very much close to a fifty-fifty win-loss rate. Thus, the members of the NSF simply couldn’t come to a conclusion whether her method was better or worse for the team.
It certainly worked less well whenever Athena was placed on Will’s team. Will preferred a much more active strategy.
Although Will had lost his cool temporarily, he quickly regained his calm as he sat and rubbed his brows. He, too, was actually somewhat befuddled by Athena’s influence on the battlefield. The other members of the EFNSF had clear indicators that aligned with their performance. Athena’s data was only confusing.
“Well…” Olivia, who was on the other side, spoke up. “You might not know this but… Lieutenant MacLeod told us to hide, wait and scan until we could find and take out Athena first…”
“Gonzalez,” James interjected. “You weren’t meant to say that. It is important for our unit to be able to work out our strategic approach and internal differences without knowing an opposition’s strategy.”
All members that had been on Athena’s side, led by Will Kyle, simultaneously swung their heads and stared at their superior officer.
“What?” Chuckled James. Over the past six months, the team had grown much closer together. “Watanabe is always difficult to track down, and whenever she stays undetected, she causes a lot of trouble with her linked weapons. So, well…”
“Our Lieutenant is relentless,” added Liu. “That was actually his strategy for the past three matches. Bullying the youngest member of our unit.”
“Asshole.” Athena muttered under her breath.
James only chuckled again in a bid to expel his slight embarrassment. “A battlefield is a battlefield. If you die, you die.” Although he’s the superior officer of the group, he cared little for insults and the like. If anything, he took pride in creating strategies specifically to target and negate the strengths of the unit’s individuals. Athena’s annoyance was his pride.
The team left to fix themselves up after their training session, but James waved Will over.
“Kyle.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“As I’ve mentioned before, our unit will function as a two-headed snake.” James tapped his neuro circlet, and Will received a deluge of information.
“This is… neurologically-enhanced humans?” Will Kyle’s eyes were wide in fear and discomfort.
“Yes.” replied James gravely. “A mistake from a time long past.”
“They are… they are so much stronger. Their whole unit including those operating their ship…”
“Yes.” replied James solemnly again. “Their side has a total of eight nexarms. We have ten. We will be splitting into two. One of us, with seven units, will face the four units of the T3ST colony. Our goal is to simply lock them in place such that they are unable to influence the battle.”
“The other three of our units will play a defensive fight against the four units occupied by the martian forces. Our much larger and resourceful fleet will then eliminate the martian fleet.”
“Well,” James muttered. “At least, that's the gist of it.”
“I… will I be in the unit against T3ST or the martians?”
“You will be assigned against the martians.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Will further examined the data provided to him.
“Sir. They have… odd psychological markers?”
“Indeed. Although I believe the more recent data has been manipulated by the martian fleet overseeing the colony… past data should be quite accurate. The members of the colony have slightly altered brains. They often display traits and behave… odd under certain situations.”
“These traits… they seem to have odd similarities to high-functioning autism disorder individuals…” Will spouted out surprising knowledge.
“Oh!” James raised his blonde eyebrows. “You know of it? It’s not exactly the same but there are certain similarities, yes.”
“Well…” Will casted his gaze downwards. “My nephew-- my older sister’s son-- he sometimes struggles in social situations…”
James gave his man a clap on the shoulder. “Sorry for asking. But, we protect Earth to ensure good lives for our loved ones. And your nephew will still flourish given the right surroundings.”
Will nodded in self-affirmation.
“And Kyle? Do keep your cool. It’s quite possible that the other side will specifically target a member on your team, among other strategies. Do not recklessly stick to a certain approach. React accordingly based on the members in your team.”
“Yes, Sir.” Will hesitated and broached the subject in his mind. “About Athena… I overreacted, but still…”
“She does play it a little too safe, yes,” James nodded. “But, her win-rate is average. Kyle. In a long war, we need different approaches, whether that be an aggressive blitzkrieg, or perhaps a more cautious and conservative style.”
“If you wish to comfort yourself… Just know this. If you die… Watanabe will be there to bring your corpse back to your parents and family.” James allowed himself a sly grin before patting Will’s shoulders and leaving to clean himself up.
Will remained stationary in the same spot for a few minutes. James’ words made him contemplate quite a number of thoughts, but he eventually exhaled with a tentative smile as well.
Athena found herself being called to meet James MacLeod after the members had hosed themselves down under the showers.
“So. How did that feel?” James MacLeod was obviously asking about how it felt to be specially targeted.
“Bullied, Sir,” replied Athena monotonously. “Piled on and crushed.”
“Piles on by a litter of puppies?”
“...No.” Despite her efforts to appear seething, Athena’s monotonous voice was thoroughly broken by the image of shiba inus in her mind.
“Athena.” He tapped his neuro circlet around his head, and Athena was soon also briefed on their approach and the nature of their enemies.
Unlike Will, Athena said nothing, only grimacing slightly as she went through the information. She felt it unnecessary to discuss their opponent-- the information was very much complete to her mind.
“Sir.” At length, Athena asked the question that resided in her heart for the past few months. “You don’t seem at all bothered by my… choice of actions on the battlefield.”
“Hmm…” James gazed out a wide expansive multi-layer glass panel to his side, into the deep and terrifying space that threatened to swallow them whole. “We may have our backup bodies ready on Earth. But the chances of our brain surviving the destruction of our nexarms--if it ever comes to that-- is in reality, not all that high.”
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
“You know what they say? Even if you lose… if you live to fight another day, that experience will carry forward. Again and again you go. Even if you aren’t naturally the best of the best at something… that experience accumulated over time… one day, unbeknownst to yourself, you might be standing on the peak of Mount Everest.”
“But…” Athena expressed her doubt. “Am I sabotaging the others…?”
“Your win-rate is fifty-fifty throughout our training.” James gave a shake of his head as he dispelled her doubts. After all, you can’t be said to be dragging the team down if you have an average win-rate.
Though Athena wasn’t entirely convinced purely by the numbers, the short conversation with her lieutenant brought a measure of peace to her mind and heart.
James MacLeod proceeded to call up the other members of the Earth Federation Nexarm Special Force one-by-one. By no means did he discuss every single aspect of their combat in detail-- these are trained soldiers that have long understood their roles over the past six months. Instead, James MacLeod focused on their mental approach.
A few hours later, James received an incoming call from Petrov.
“Lieutenant MacLeod. We have received information that the martians will hit Euler Station at Lagrange Point 4. Specific timing unknown, but likely within the next week. Prepare the NSF.”
“The enemy’s composition is unknown. However, we will accelerate the final testing phase of the fleet in preparation at Euler Station. Your reserves have long arrived at the station as we speak. Here is the data of the fleet and the commanding officer of the fleet. Arrange a trap.”
“Yes, sir!” Although Petrov was unable to see him, James still performed a salute.
______________________________________________________________________________
Euler Station, July 13, 1000 Solar Era
Five martian starships entered the vicinity of Euler Station’s area. The fleet consisted of one S-class, one A-class, and three B-class starships. This fleet was Vice-admiral Laurent’s fleet.
The four martian nexarms units had followed along for this mission-- it was agreed upon that since the T3ST unit would not be cooperating with Laurent anymore, the primary usage of the the four martian nexarm units would be given to Laurent.
This agreement certainly cooled Laurent’s simmering dissatisfaction with Sullivan’s rejection of punishing the T3ST unit. As for the nexarm pilot Jacobs? Laurent had long trained replacement pilots. Ironically, he ended up liking the new nexarm pilot more.
The new nexarm pilot, Hernandez, was much better at following orders, but less of a people person compared to Jacobs.
“Are we ready?” Laurent asked his attending officer, a man named Pasu strapped and connected to the whole system controlling the S-class starship.
“Yes, Sir. All weapon systems ready. The mega-particle beam is primed.”
“Attention, crew. This mission is straightforward. Our Starship Numitor will fire our mega-particle beam weapon once we are close enough to accurately strike the target with a ninety-five confidence rate.”
“Starship Silvia will also fire a second shot to confirm the destruction of Euler Station’s port. The terran fleet inside should not be ready for battle yet. In-and-out, quick and easy.”
“Vice-admiral. We will be in position in thirty seconds, and our e-cube energy levels will drop by ten percent. However, we will still have enough energy to jump back to Mars.” Pasu indicated. Laurent acknowledged the additional information.
“Ship stabilizers at the ready.” These helped maintain the ship’s aim at the firing of the mega-particle beam cannon.
Twenty, nineteen, eighteen…
The warning alarm suddenly began blaring.
“Incoming! Identify enemy weapon positions and return fire!” Commander Pasu ordered. He did his best to coordinate the many soldiers occupying the hundreds of weapon systems on board the S-class starship. This role was originally given to a few T3ST colony members that had since long left.
Vice-admiral Laurent’s frustration was obvious in his hardened expression. The mega-particle beam cannon would not be accurate with their ship under fire. Their original plan had essentially been thwarted.
“Captain Nguyen. Report!”
“Sir. Our A-class starship is under-fire as well. Unable to fire mega-particle beam cannon with any degree of accuracy as well.”
How? Vice-ddmiral Laurent had even spread the positions of his fleet. If his S-class starship was unable to fire the mega-particle beam cannon, the A-class starship from another direction, should have had the opportunity.
“Sir. We are receiving fire from all angles.”
“Return fire. Their ships are not fully ready. Our number of weapons should be much higher. We will outlast them.” That was Laurent’s current judgment of the situation.
The ones who had engaged Vice-admiral Laurent was James MacLeod’s EFNSF.
“Special Lieutenant. We have a higher material loss,” reported Olivia Gonzalez. James MacLeod had ordered his team to spread their weapon systems into hiding around the Euler Station.
Due to this being a Lagrange point, quite a lot of space debris and matter had collected in this zone of space. The Euler Station itself had to constantly clear out its immediate surroundings. This setting allowed the EFNSF to lay a trap, with many weapons only being detected when the ambush began.
“No matter. Gonzalez. We terrans have superior access to financial power and materiel. Continue.”
James’ approach was quite straightforward. Contending against the hundreds of weapon systems on each of the enemy’s five starships was strenuous even for their nexarm unit. And, although many of their weapon devices had set a surprise for their enemy, even so, the multiple layers of x-alloy plating on the starships made it difficult to cause any significant damage to the martians.
Not to mention, the laser weapons on these ships had an incredibly high accuracy rate at intercepting any kinetic rounds the NSF fired.
Thus, James chose an attritional battle. It did not matter if his teams’ weapon devices were shot down at a higher rate. In fact, one of his very own had just been destroyed. He simply connected another weapon device and guided that newly attached device onto the battlefield.
This is another strength of the nexarm. As long as the core central unit remains functional, and there are unused weapon devices close by, that central control unit could easily replace weapon devices if some of the originally attached ones were to get taken down.
Thus, the ten EFNSF nexarms ensured they remained in hiding as far off as possible, sacrificing then reattaching replacement neuro devices to slowly wear down their opponent.
“Special Lieutenant. Our mega-particle beam cannon is ready. Should we fire?” A female voice sounded through to James’ comms. This was Vargas, a reserve that had been placed into the position of the coordinator on the A-class starship given to the EFNSF.
“Rejected. We will wait for the S-class starship in the Euler Station to be ready.”
“Yes, Sir. The commanding officer on that S-class starship has informed me that they will be ready in thirty minutes.”
“Good. Ensure that the Comanche remains in the dark. Do not be detected.”
“Yes, Sir.”
On Starship Numitor.
Vice-admiral Laurent furrowed his brows, attempting to understand the situation he was currently in. For the past twenty-five minutes, they had been trading blows with a number of weapon devices.
Commander Pasu had done calculations and determined that these were likely weapon devices controlled by around ten terran nexarms.
What perplexed Laurent was the fact that the terrans appeared content to keep them here while sacrificing materiel. Whenever they took down one weapon device, another would be attached and sent forth to continue the trading of blows.
To his mind, the EFNSF must have been assigned a starship that was being prepped in the Euler Station, and was viciously protecting said starship. That must be why the nexarm unit was already at the Euler Station by the time his fleet had arrived here.
“Sir. Should we send our nexarms out?”
“No…” Laurent doubted that sending their nexarms out would change much regarding their current situation. The enemy nexarms remained thoroughly hidden, happy to lose materiel to keep them in place.
As he mulled over their situation, his expression suddenly cleared in epiphany.
“All ships! This is Vice-admiral Laurent! Prepare your warp drives. Jump into unidentified space and reconvene at Phobos! Immediately! No questions!”
At the same time, on the terran side.
“Special Lieutenant. The S-class starship within Euler Station is ready to fire its mega-particle beam cannon. Orders?”
“Communicate to the commanding officer that all he needs to do is peek his ship out of the docking station and we will simultaneously strike our targets. Our nexarms already have their position data.”
“Sir… the docking station might be damaged with the starship firing from the inside.”
“Communicate the order that I will bear the consequences, Vargas.” James found his fingers fidgeting as his mind continued to control the neuro devices harassing the martian starships. The enemy would realize sooner or later. Time was of the essence.
Thirty seconds later.
“The commanding officer has stated that they are ready,” Vargas informed MacLeod.
“We will simultaneously fire in thirty seconds at 13:01.”
“Yes, sir.”
On Starship Numitor.
“Warp drive is ready. The jump route will open in a minute.”
Vice-admiral Laurent had been standing, pacing back and forth in front of his commanding seat in anxiety. He had no choice but to secure himself with the impending jump.
Twenty-six, twenty-five--
Warning! Intense heat de--
The jump countdown was interrupted as Laurent found his senses blinded by a bright white light as the starship shuddered and shook as the alarm system rang in his ears.
The quaking seemed to last a life-time before the ship stabilized again.
“Sir! Meter-diameter hole breach detected on left-frontal side hull!”
“How long will the nanobots take to repair the breach for a jump?!”
“One minute, sir!”
“Navigation unit. Prepare for jump in one minute!”
“Sir! The route only has a eighty percent safety rate at that time!”
“Do it!”
Warning! Mega-particle beam cannon charge-up detected.
“Sir, we have their position! Should we fire?”
“No! Perform the jump!” Vice-admiral Laurent understood the difference between the two side’s situation. It was quite apparent by now.
The martian fleet was fully surrounded by weapon devices of the enemy’s nexarms. On the other hand, the terran starship was free to move around unfettered. Even now, the crew on board operated the ship’s weapons to counter the enemy’s weapon devices that surrounded the ship.
The vice-admiral knew that this meant that in a particle beam shootout between the two, his own side would be unable to take accurate aim, while the enemy could!
Laurent realized that the EFNSF wasn’t here to collect their starship after all. They must have found out that the martians planned to target Euler Station somehow, and traveled here to set an ambush! They already had an A-class starship that remained in the dark, thoroughly undetected until the mega-particle beam was fired!
This was an elaborate trap!
“Sir! Starship Silvia was hit by a mega-particle beam as well! From a S-class ship currently setting sail from Euler Station’s docking bay!”
That statement confirmed Vice-admiral Laurent’s fear. He had no confidence in their fleet’s chances of victory, with their S-class and A-class starships damaged. B-class ships do not have a particle cannon.
“Perform the jump!”
Nine, eight, seven…
Starship Numitor warped space around its body and Laurent saw the stars become lines of bright light. It was just a short twenty second jump-- eighty percent safety rate was enough for the jump route, right?
A drop of sweat rolled down Laurent’s forehead as they exited warp, and Laurent found himself still very much alive.
“Evasive Maneuver!” Commander Pasu yelled right after they exited the jump.
Starship Numitor banked as Vice-admiral Laurent found the ship shuddering once again, as a loud scraping noise sounded throughout the starship.
“Report!”
“Sir! When we exited the jump, a large asteroid was close to our front, and we performed an evasive maneuver. The surface plate of our right side hull was damaged, but no breach was detected.”
Another drop of sweat rolled down Laurent’s right temple.
“Rendezvous at Phobos!”
“Sir. It is best if we fully repair the breach from the enemy’s particle beam before the next jump.”
“Go ahead.” Vice-admiral Laurent could only breathe a sigh of relief at their survival.