It was year 15729 of the Galactic Calendar, and the Shattered Realms War had been continuing for ten years. From the galaxy’s Outer Rim to the Core Sectors, the war raged. The myriad of empires, federations, unions, and other nations threw their military at each other, leaving thousands of systems littered with space debris. Ideologies clashed, as fierce and common as physical combat. Some worlds were bombed so heavily, they turned into uninhabitable tombs. Other planets were left in far better conditions, their inhabitants, however, were not so lucky.
As many nations as there were in the galaxy, the amount of sapient species numbered far more. Out of the countless species, there were five major factions in the SRW (Shattered Realms War). The first and strongest was the cha’karri, who had existed for the longest amongst the known sapients in the galaxy. Second was the tellairans, a hive mind that lived by devouring other species. Many of the planets under their command were previously owned by other species. Most of their technology was stolen from those same species. Third was the ludriauns, a species from outside the Milky Way. Though most of their technology was focused on faster than light travel (FTL), recent political tensions had incentivized their need for war technology. Fourth was the Riifrei, a species that could survive – and in fact, thrived—in the vacuum of space. They were a mostly peaceful species, but the increased conflicts had made them feel threatened, and they revealed an unparalleled strength the galaxy had never expected from them.
The fifth was the humans, a young species in the galaxy. They discovered FTL in year 15693, and by 15710, they were already an extremely powerful nation. Unlike most powers, they were a democratic nation, where every citizen could have a say in the government. Though most had assumed this would just lead to chaos, it seemed to have propelled the humans forward far faster than what was expected. However, despite their extraordinary nature, they were still too young, and could not be counted as a galactic superpower; until the advent of the SRW, where a metaphorical sleeping giant had been awoken, and the humans began to single-handedly crush bordering nations that had turned hostile. From there, they had earned their place as one of the galactic superpowers.
But that was the past, and the general rankings had already been solidified. Unless a nation lost a major battle, there would not be any ranking changes. In the Tau Ceti system, one of those major battles were off in full force. On one side were the humans, who had the advantage of having owned the Tau Ceti system for years, and had established multiple defense platforms in the system. On the other side were the tellairans, who held the advantage with both superior numbers and technology. Currently, the humans were being pushed back by the overwhelming firepower of the tellairans, and only held control of three of Tau Ceti’s seven planets. Tau Ceti VII, VI, and V specifically, their natural satellites included.
Though the lack of habitable planets or orbital habitats made this system rather unattractive, it was a symbol of humanity’s might, and losing it would be destructive for humanity’s morale. Therefore, it was no surprise that a massive skirmish was taking place between Tau Ceti V and IV. Belonging to the tellairans were 3 Keeper-class cruisers, 8 Enforcer-class destroyers, 15 Bruiser-class corvettes, and 31 Pin-class bombers. The humans controlled 2 defense stations, each equal to a Keeper, a single Raven-class cruiser, 4 Enigma-class destroyers, and 12 Scimitar-class corvettes. Purely in terms of numbers, the humans were hardly a match for the tellairan ships. However, the humans did not intend to give up so easily.
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“Ensign Avet, orders to the front! Protect the “Charmer”!” The earpiece in Ensign Taliseen Avet’s ear alerted him of new orders.
Taliseen’s eyes flickered to a display on his right, showing a rapidly flashing blue dot being surrounded on one side by multiple smaller red dots, all flashing at different speeds. He replied in the affirmative, and turned to his navigator, whom he relayed the orders to. With a grim acceptance, the navigator punched in the coordinates, the computer handling the rest. With a slight tremor through the ship, “Duty” went from stopped, to pushing on lightspeed as it maneuvered in front of the destroyer “Charmer.” Almost immediately, a loud rumble echoed through the command room, causing Taliseen to unintentionally give the head engineer a sharp glare.
“Status report.” Taliseen said, his voice icy cold.
“Direct hit on storage room D-5, estimated two casualties.” The head engineer reported back, his voice hoarse.
“Two? What were people doing in...- never mind, focus all energy weapons and nuclear missiles to the ship marked B-001. All mass drivers are to intercept any enemy fire. Mathis, I’m leaving targeting to you.” Taliseen gave orders easily and without hesitation.
A pale-faced Mathis who sat at a slightly different computer desk nodded and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He picked up a device similar to a welding goggles, but equipped with a black box around the actual lenses, making it into a black rectangle. A black and red wire led from the black rectangle through a hole in Mathis’s desk, leading to somewhere unknown. Opening a drawer without looking, Mathis pulled out two objects that looked like gun handles. Upon taking hold of these two objects, the black rectangle on his head made a whirring sound. Outside the ship, the two mass drivers stopped their robotic movements and stopped firing. Obviously, the objects Mathis was using were controllers of some sort.
“This is Ensign Avet of the “Duty” to “Charmer,” what’s your status?” Taliseen pressed two fingers to his earpiece and spoke.
“This is Captain Reacher of the “Charmer” to “Duty,” thank you for the assistance. Hulls are severely damaged, two mass drivers, a turbolaser, and seven tube launchers are out of commission. Torpedo and missile supplies nearly depleted, energy levels critical. We’ll be forced to switch to backup power or initiate emergency FTL jump in thirty minutes. In a nutshell, we’re fucked.” A haggard female voice responded.
““Duty” to “Charmer,” have you received withdraw orders? Any orders at all?”
““Charmer” to “Duty,” negative. We’ve been ordered to stay and fight. And that’s what I plan to do.”
Captain Reacher’s voice sent chills down Taliseen’s spine. Her tone had clearly shown that she would happily send her ship into the heart of the enemy, had she not had a crew to take care of. A smile tugged at the corner of Taliseen’s lips.
“To the last man?”
“To the last man.”
A wicked grin spread across Taliseen’s face.