Uno Star System

TriStar Systems

TSS Pavone

"Commander, they are bearing down on our starboard side! They are trying to get behind us!"

TriStar System Commander Aminta Caccia of the Pavone looked at her data of the enemy trying to close the distance to her ship. Her ship was a light cruiser, fast and agile, which also meant it was fragile. She had decided to engage the older heavy cruiser that had taken a few terrible hits and looked lamed enough for her ship to finish them off at close range.

She had been wrong, whatever had been hit in those initial first moments of battle had not been enough. Suckered into close range, the heavy cruiser had swiftly launched missiles that had found their way to her ship's engines, only her shielding prevented her outright destruction. Now the enemy was going for the kill, slamming energy weapons hard into her weakened shields, maneuvering their ship to try to get a clean hit in the already damaged engines, which could either completely disable the ship, leaving it drifting with only maneuvering thrusters to work with, or cause an unstable feedback into the reactors which would be the end of her ship.

Either way this fight was heading south fast and she racked her brain trying to think of something she could do.

"Helm, can we outrun them?" Caccia asked.

"No Ma'am, the damage is light but it's enough if we strain it it might cause worse damage." The officer at the helm station replied. Caccia couldn't help notice how young the officer was at this moment, wielding the power of moving an entire ship at his hands and not having the long years to suggest something. She didn’t really have the experience to think of something truly clever.

A thought suddenly struck her as she gazed at the movement of her opponent, it would be dangerous, and timed wrong it would cost her her ship but she input a few commands into her controls, watching them come back green across the board and grinned. She could do this.

She hoped.

"Helm, we are going to flip our ship. End over end." She snapped at the helm officer who just looked shocked. Ships normally didn't do that, preferring to turn, or 'bank' around in larger arcs, or twisting headings, as it eased the load on inertial dampeners. Flipping end over end was something ships avoided because while it could get you facing backwards quick, the second you lit off your engines you were fighting your momentum in the complete opposite direction, it slowed you down considerably, strained the dampeners quite a bit and if you had taken damage, like Pavone had, it could mean turning your crew into paste if even one dampener with unknown damage buckled under the stress.

"Tactical, line up your forward energy weapons on the spot where that cruiser is going to be when we flip over. Helm, we need to flip fast and accurately. We cannot lose a second or we will be in a bad position in terms of weapon engagements. Got it?" She snapped and the helm officer nodded fearfully and turned back to his station, working with the ratings for a moment.

"23 seconds to flip!" He called out and the tactical officer, sweat gleaming on her forehead gave a shaking affirmative reply. The seconds sped downwards as everyone waited, an endless eternity of time as the heavy cruiser crept closer to where it would strike its killing blow against the engines.

" Now!"

The command perhaps unnecessary as the ship went into a controlled tumble, Pavone's thrusters pushing her front up and swinging the engine quickly away and bringing her forward energy mounts and missile batteries to bear. The pressure leaking through was like a solid mass sitting right on her lungs and she was well aware of the tin-y sound more felt than heard as the dampeners strained to keep the force from killing the crew. The engines lit up, slowing them just a touch for the perfect shot. Caccia was very keenly aware of the very high pitched, barely audible whine that climbed out of the first noise of the dampeners as they bore the stress of the maneuver.

Just enough for tactical to lock in the solution to fire and press the firing key flat. Four missiles leapt out the ship, streaking towards the now oncoming enemy cruiser, while the shields on the bow on the cruiser momentarily tried to resist the hits of Pavone's energy mounts. The shields failed and the cruiser began a hard turn to port, in a vain attempt to interpose an undamaged shield between the missiles while counter measures raced out frantically.

They were too close for the countermeasures to be worth much, as even the dumbest missile could find their target in energy range and when pointed straight at their target not to mention there was barely enough time to properly register the missiles were there. The missiles slammed hard into the heavy cruiser, the shields failing as the missiles burst upon their target's bare armor. The explosions of the missiles were drowned out a moment later as the forward magazines in the cruiser exploded, breaking the front half of the ship open like a used tin can.

Commander Caccia felt a little dizzy that her plan had worked, but she could not dwell on her shock, the enemy was still there, broken, but still there.

"Fire all energy weapons! Straight into the wreck!" She snapped and with an enthusiastic 'aye' the tactical officer bent to the task of reducing the heavy cruiser to wreckage. She watched as the ship was attacked under the direction of the tactical officer, her eyes occasionally flicked over the rest of the battle. Thankfully no other enemies were coming to the aid of the now broken cruiser, most tied up in losing battles or fleeing for their lives.

A tone sounded, a pleasant voice announced "Simulation Complete, TriStar Forces Win."

A cheer went up around the bridge and Caccia didn't have the heart to calm them. It had been a difficult fight, something very reminiscent of the battle in the Uno System against the pirates, so their joy was understandable. It meant they were doing better against skilled opponents and would thus be able to defend their nation from the scum of the universe.

"Good job Aminta. That was a smart move."

She sat up straighter, turning her head as a man in the dark uniform of the Novu Sol Captain walked up beside her chair. He was one of the many officers sent out here to help train the TriStar Navy up to standards and often seemed to hover about Pavone like a nervous parent over a child.

"Thank you Sir." She replied. "I do not believe I would actually want to try to pull that off in real life though."

"For good reason. It was a smart move against your single opponent." He reached down to her command controls and brought up a still from the battle, right after she had flipped and had fired on the heavy cruiser. "See this here? It was a risk, and one you had to take or else the heavy cruiser would have worn you down to nothing given time, but..." The captain motioned to the still. "What was wrong?"

She looked up at him blankly and then back down at the still. "Wrong? Was it too risky to try? My dampeners were heavily strained so I can understand if it was too risky from that point."

"Yes and no. I saw you redlining your dampeners and yes, they were right on the edge of failing had they taken any sort of damage. They didn't fail so that's not what the danger was. Expand the view on that still." He instructed.

Caccia did as told, expanding the view out farther than her one on one duel to the entire battle. Ships surrounded hers in a wild melee of close in fighting, enemy and friendly alike.

"See here?" He pointed into the still at a Novu battleship.

She stared at it for a long moment, her eyes searched for a problem but she saw nothing. "What?"

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"Alright here, if the simulation hadn't ended when it had..." He overlaid a much more detailed hologram over it, with targeting data from the battleship. "Now do you see?"

Caccia sighed. "The battleship was aiming straight at my engines with an energy battery. We would have been dead in a single shot if it had fired."

"Good. You have to keep an eye on the entire battlefield, not all the time and not alone, but you have to remember there are multiple factors at play and while you were winning the battle, you would have lost the war, one might say, if you hyper focus on a single target." The captain pointed out. "Now make sure your crew gets some rest and reviews their departments’ performance. I think tomorrow's exercise is going to be worse."

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Uno Star System

TriStar Systems

Government Central

Former Ambassador to the Empire of Callisas Jack Perez sat somewhat nervously in the office of Prime Minister Voya as the man stirred cream and sugar into his coffee, his own cup sitting on the desk in front of him but unwilling to touch it.

"So they kicked you out?" Voya finally asked.

"Their Majesty doesn't like the Stellar Democracy." Jack said, "They didn't take too kindly to the fact I recommended Novu Sol over their own navy for help."

"I can imagine. Shame we lost the decreased tariffs." Voya sipped his coffee and Jack could not help noticing they were talking in Novu Solarian, not the TriLingua. In every correspondence home, every meeting, everything he had ever received from Voya or his predecessors, it had been in the TriLingua. Jack may not be a TriSystem-born TriCitizen given his parents had been serving the Callisas Empire when he was born, but he spoke it fluently. The TriSystems had always been proud of its language, using it more frequently than the standard Novu Solarian that most other nations defaulted to. It wasn't uncommon for TriCitizens to be fluent in both with Novu Solarian being neglected for their native tongue. He felt unnerved, as his mind replayed the warning from Their Majesty about Novu Sol separating their culture from them to transplant on their own.

The door behind him opened and Jack turned to see a wispy man in a gray suit walk in and sit down next to him with no formal greetings whatsoever. "Hello Ambassador, I am Novu Sol's Ambassador Richard Weinster. Nice to meet you." He held out a hand and Jack took it, the man's grip was almost too strong, probably a heavy-worlder.

"I'm not an ambassador anymore. Just a person who burned a bridge unexpectedly." Jack responded.

"Do not worry about that, you did your job and Their Majesty overreacted from your initial report." Weinster said dismissively and Jack glanced over at Voya in surprise. When the Callisas passenger liner had arrived back in Uno, he had shot off a small report he'd prepared to the Prime Minister and asked to meet him in person to explain the circumstances of his inglorious arrival home. He had not expected that report to be forwarded to the Novu Sol Ambassador.

Voya handed a cup of coffee to Weinster and the man leaned back with a satisfied smile. "Richard here is right, do not beat yourself up for the actions of a person who is overreacting and riddled with self guilt for their poor choices."

Jack glared at Voya. "I know I said some damning things in my recommendations but I would prefer I'd you didn't insult Their Majesty. I still think they are of relatively sound mind."

"If they were of sound mind," Weinster chimed in, "They wouldn't have kicked you out and they certainly wouldn't have turned to a mass murderer to train their troops. Do not let your friendship to them blind you. They made poor choices that deprived them of their ally, you did nothing wrong."

"Maybe if Novu Sol hadn't rejected them for training then I wouldn't have to be sitting here!" Jack snapped, he'd grown to hate his own choice in burning the bridge with Their Majesty. He hated losing the friendship, the connections, the world which was as much his home as Uno-3 was, uprooting the entire embassy to bring them back when they had friends, lovers, even family there.

"We do not train the troops of dictators." He said calmly with a shrug of his shoulders. "Their people will eventually rise up against them and join us in the real world where all leaders are elected, not inherited like some heirloom dinnerware set. But debating Callisas legality and its eventual overthrow is not why we wanted you here."

Jack didn't know how to respond, his eyes flicking between Voya and Weinster. He wanted to be mad at the baseless accusations the Novu Solarian made, however he was curious as to what the ambassador was on about. What did they have planned for him?

Voya motioned to Weinster to continue and the ambassador placed his cup down and smiled.

"Well Mr. Perez, with the upgraded relationship between our nations, we," he motioned to Voya, then himself, "need a new ambassador for Novu Sol."

"But Surya..." Jack began.

"She needs to come home." Voya cut him off. "She has family matters to attend to in Duo, and while it isn't urgent, she has requested a replacement so she may come back."

"And since I'm out of a job, unmarried, and used to long stays away from the TriStars, you want me for that?" Jack questioned, his voice flat. "The man who just lost our nation an ally?"

"The only thing you have lost is a connection to a nation with questionable morals." Weinster said, placing a hand on Jack's shoulder. "It is not your fault that they are blinded by the poison they drink, Mr. Perez. The end of that relationship was all but guaranteed as no empire in the history of humanity has ever stayed satisfied with just having allies, and would have tried to move on your nation to absorb it eventually."

Jack recoiled from the ambassador. "What? No! Callisas doesn't work that way and anyways, I'm not a military genius but the astrography for that wouldn't work... right?"

"Ambition can be blinding." Weinster said sadly. "As can friendship. I know it's hard to think of a lifelong friend like that but you must realize I wouldn't be saying these things if we didn't have proof." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a data chip, placing it in Jack's hand. "This is classified at the highest levels, what we have on Callisas Expansion plans, not a lot, but you can read it on your trip to Novu Sol Ambassador Perez."

Jack looked at the chip, then to Voya, who nodded approvingly. He swallowed the lump in his throat. He knew them better than anyone. There was no way any of what was on here was actual proof. "I serve the TriStar Systems and will be glad to be our ambassador to Novu Sol."

"Very good!" Voya clapped his hands together and grinned. "I knew you would accept! How much time would you like here before going off to Novu Sol?"

"A month." Jack said, closing his hand around the data chip. "Get some affairs sorted, enjoy a vacation, then go back to work."

"Only a month?" Voya chuckled. "You always struck me as a man married to the job so I doubt I could convince you to take more. Fine, you have a month. Go enjoy it."

"Thank you." Jack stood and shook hands with Voya and Weinster. "It's a pleasure to be of service to my people."

"You made the best choices you could, Ambassador." Weinster said. "I understand it must be hard to process what they did to you and how they duped you, but this is much better for everyone involved."

"Of course." Jack said, his tone carefully neutral. "If there is nothing else I will take my leave."

He turned and walked out through the halls of Government Central, suddenly much more aware of how many Novu Solarians were around, how many TriCitizens were not speaking the TriLingua, and how many signs had changed from his native language to the more universal Novu Solarian language.

Jack stepped out onto the front steps of the building, the warm sunlight on his face feeling wrong somehow as he looked around at the people sightseeing at their government's central building. They all looked so calm, how could they all look so calm? His eyes tracked up to the city beyond the grounds. Maybe a walk would calm his nerves.

As he walked down the stairs a child came barreling up and ran almost full force into him. Thankfully she only fell back onto soft grass, looking none the worse for wear.

"¿Estás bien kleines Kind?" He asked as the small girl got up and looked up at him with an uncomprehending gaze.

"She doesn't speak TriLingua." An older woman with a thick accent from the Trios System trotted up and picked up her child, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Say sorry to the gentleman."

"Sorry." The girl said shyly, burying her face in her parent's shoulder.

"Guess the Lingua classes aren't sticking very well?" He joked.

The woman laughed. "They removed mandatory TriLingua classes from the curriculum, Novu Solarian is the best language for interstellar and local use anyways. Hope you have a good day Sir!"

Jack watched the woman and her child go, suddenly the data chip in his hand felt heavy and dangerous as he glanced back at Government Central. Overhead a Novu Solarian shuttle came into land on the roof stirring up a breeze that popped out the two flags flying in front, one for his own TriStar Systems, and the other being that of the Stellar Democracy.

As he turned around and continued his walk, maybe it was just his imagination, maybe he was overthinking things, but it almost looked like his nation's flag was lower than Novu Sol's.