Emotions were swirling in Lieutenant Commander Alice Black's mind like a maelstrom. Time to choose her loyalty beckoned nearer and nearer. Marshal Tang had finally completed her preparations. 95,000 warships, drawn from Battlefleets Chiyou, Isolde, Tristan, Agni, and Sakura had been assembled. In a matter of weeks, open war would erupt in the Republic.
The lights were dim. Clothes scattered around the floor. The time was 11.45.
"I should go," Abbas whispered, caressing his lover's cheek.
"No," Yue whispered back, "nobody knows. Stay with me this night."
"If that's what you want."
Footsteps in the dark. Somewhat loud. But the lovebirds were asleep, and even when the assailant opened the door with a lockpick, they didn't wake up.
It was only when Yue got thirsty and woke up to fetch a glass of water that she saw a silhouette. She immediately punched the light switch. Abbas, who couldn't sleep a wink with lights on, was awakened from his slumber.
Panicked, Lieutenant Commander Black drew her laser pistol. Ten seconds pass amidst heavy breathing. Nobody was sure what the hell was going on.
It was Yue who snapped back to reality first. "What are you doing?" she asked, baring her fangs. Her eyes snapped sharp.
"I ... I cannot let you do this," Alice replied, shaking. "I can't let the frontier fleets leave."
Realization dawned on Yue and Abbas. "Traitor!" Yue spat out. "You're working for your father, aren't you?"
"I won't let him be killed!"
Yue's anger was rising, but Abbas holding her hand from under the bedsheets seemed to cool it down. A shot from Alice's pistol flared it up again. The shot nearly hit their hands. "D-don't do anything funny!" Alice said. "I'll shoot you."
"If you shoot one of us, the other will immediately jump on you," Abbas said sharply.
"And even if you kill us both, it'll change nothing," Yue added. "If anything, it'll only motivate the fleet even more. Seriously, what are you thinking?"
"Y-you are my hostages," Alice said.
"And then what?" Abbas insisted. "In a few hours it'll be morning, and the others will know."
"I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW, OKAY? WHY ARE YOU ASKING SO MUCH?" Alice shot a few times between the duo. Laser beams nearly graze their ears.
Abbas and Yue exchanged a knowing look. Just when the two were starting to coordinate their moves, Alice cried. "I didn't want to do this!" she sobbed. “Can you imagine–having the choose between your father and your superior? I-I respect you, Sir. But I have to do this.”
Alice calmed. The murderous muzzle of her pistol was set upon Abbas' head. “I’ll make this quick, Sir,” Alice said, lips trembling. “I’m sorry.”
Abbas breathed in as much air as he could. He didn’t want to die. Not like this. Not this early. “It’s alright, Alice,” Abbas said. “I forgive you. I can understand your position. But please think this all over again. You have no escape plan. And even if you do, can you say honestly whether the Aten government will win?”
Alice’s calm hand went unsteady once more, but her finger inched ever closer to the trigger.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
Yue was about to pounce on Alice, but a second later, the latter started crying, and her pistol dropped. Both Abbas and Yue immediately seized her.
Broken into a sobbing mess, Alice didn't resist when Yue and Abbas, after wearing their clothes, dragged her to prison. "Poor girl," both of them remarked simultaneously.
The news quickly spread in the morning. When it reached the desk of Marshal Tang, she merely nodded and sent word to ship commanders to watch out for infiltrators. Secretly, she assigned additional bodyguards for all personnel ranked rear admiral and above. The veteran commanders of the so-called 'Legitimate Fleet of the RNS Armada' weren't afraid of death; but if they were felled, the command system would be severely disrupted.
On the twenty-second day of February, 2603, the RNS Armada declared its intentions to be loyal to the democratically elected government, with Flare coalition leader Abodemi as its head. It further decried the Aten government as illegitimate and demanded its surrender.
In response, the Aten government condemned it as a rebel military unit, and quickly mobilized forces to put it down. On 27th February, a host of high-ranking officials, including Chairman Abodemi, arrived in the Armada's headquarters, and immediately began making speeches. They were lucky to be off the Capital when the uprising started, but without knowledge of which military units had stayed loyal and which had turned traitor, they couldn’t figure out where to go—until Marshal Tang’s declaration.
“Ha. Those politicians could only talk,” Marshal Tang commented to Abbas and Yue. “But when shit hits the fan, they think they’re in a hotel called democracy and we the cleaning staff have to jump in.”
“In their defense, would you want him in the fleet?” Yue silently gestured towards the chubby—to put it politely—Chairman Abodemi.
“I can always use more gunners,” Marshal Tang said with a scorning expression.
On the second of March, 2602, the RNS Armada, spearheaded by veteran admirals Koo and Anand, launched an assault against the occupied coreworlds, defeating a motley fleet of a thousand ships in the Welstra Starzone, a starzone between the frontier and the coreworlds. Marshal Tang had intended for a direct attack against the capital, but interesting news broke on the sixth of March.
The imprisoned crew of Battlefleet Aegis managed to enact a daring breakout, taking with them nearly twenty thousand warships. Hotly pursued, they sent a call for help. The RNS Armada dispatched Yue and Abbas to assist them.
Diligently combing through black space, they finally found Battlefleet Aegis’ forces in the Welstra Starzone. “There they are,” Yue said in satisfaction. She instructed her communications officers. “To the commander: this is Vice Admiral Yue, commanding officer of Battlefleet Isolde. Please respond.”
After half a minute of silence, broken communications went through. “This is Rear Admiral Isakov of Battlefleet Aegis … requesting help ….”
Yue was about to ask further, but no questions were necessary when she saw ships chasing the allied fleet. “Retreat to the coordinates I’m sending. We’ll take on the enemy.”
The gargantuan warship Vistula-Oder, commanded by Admiral Black, led a thirty thousand strong Battlefleet Ouroboros on a chase. “Admiral, the ships are stopping,” his aide informed him.
“Hm! Are they trying to fight?”
“Please wait a second—it seems those aren’t ships we were chasing! Those are warships from Battlefleet Isolde and Chiyou!”
Admiral Black grinned. Wordlessly, he signaled to prepare for battle.
Against him, Yue positioned the bulk of her forces on her left flank, with Abbas’ aggressive forces at the head of it. She herself commanded the thinned center and right. Warships of Battlefleet Ouroboros arranged against the Armada, their hulls bearing a stripe of white sandwiched between two stripes of black; the Aten government’s colors.
At a distance of five light-seconds, the two fleets fired upon one another, gales of energy bursting from murderous cannons. After an hour’s worth of fighting, Yue started to retreat. It was this battle where the ancient oblique order became known as the ‘couple’s dance’. Abbas hurled the entire weight of his wing against the Aten fleet, poised to crush Yue’s center.
Battlefleet Ouroboros’ left wing disintegrated. The seemingly triumphant Battlefleet Ouroboros soon found themselves assailed by an overwhelming force as Abbas’ offensive coordinated with Yue turning back and launching a pursuit. Just before it turned into a wholesale slaughter, Admiral Black managed to disengage. Thirteen thousand ships of Battlefleet Ouroboros were lost to the carnage, and it would take weeks for the scattered ships to reunite.
Thus concluded the Second Battle of Welstra Starzone, just a few days after the first one. It was a blow against the Aten government, which not only lost 13,000 warships, but also had to content itself as Battlefleet Aegis joined the Armada.
Yet the civil war was only beginning. Everywhere in the Republic and the Empire, wherever humanity drew breath, all waited anxiously to see who would emerge triumphant.
The date was 18 March 2603. War would color the affairs of the Republic for the foreseeable future.