Admiral Fernando “Fearless” Villa
“All units fire at will and prepare for boarding actions. Protect the Strength Through Diplomacy at all costs.”
I sank into my chair and breathed a sigh of relief. With the fleet finally here, there was no reason for Broken Ties to be enacted. We weren’t going to die today. I switched off the countdown timer and sent a general message to the occupants of the ship. Fortunately, only about ten percent of the lifeboats were launched, some already being picked up by various cruisers in the fleet. As I felt the familiar push of momentum before artificial gravity took over again, I scanned the battlefield, looking for a place that we could park the ship until the enemy surrendered or fled the system. After only a moment of looking around, I found a moon that would be the perfect cover from most of the battle. I sent the course suggestion to the navigation officer and closed my eyes. Our part to play in all of this is over.
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High Commander Thagath
I watched in horror as the fresh Terran ships started engaging with the fleet, their single fighters swarming the battlefield proving to be almost impossible for our autocannons to track and destroy, along with the battleships that rivaled our own in size and strength. They fought with a ferocity that I couldn’t help but admire. All the while, I saw our target, the Strength Through Diplomacy limp it’s way behind one of the moons in the battlefield.
“If our people fought half as hard as these Terrans are, we would have taken this galaxy centuries ago,” I muttered out loud as I saw with fascination the patterns that the Terran fighters flew in, reminding me of the blood locusts of what was left of the wild places Talsk, our homeworld. I informed high command of the developments of the battle and tried to direct my fleet to the places where they could do the most damage.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a ping come back from high command, the message reading “This venture is no longer tactically sound, retreat to Talsk for potential counterattack.”
If I was capable of blinking, I would have. Was high command worried about the Terrans attacking our home system? There was no way that the Terrans had any more military power left to attack with! I’ve been wrong before. The thought sent a shiver down my spine as I realized the implications of what I was thinking. We had our entire fleet here, Ancestors above, we only left enough to defend Talsk from a fleet like the one that we were initially facing. Who’s to say that these Terrans didn’t have another fleet tucked away somewhere else in uncharted space?
With that revelation I sent the retreat order. My officers seemed shocked by that announcement but complied with my orders regardless. The only ones that didn’t follow with the retreat order were the ships that were fighting off boarders, and even then, they were spooling up their engines to make a hasty retreat. It was only thirty seconds later that my navigations officer finally gave me the nod that we were ready for the jump. I gave her the signal for us to go, and with a flash of light, we exited the battle with home in our sights.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
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Admiral Elin Chaplain
“That’s right fuckin’ bastards, run while you still can. We’ll see you real soon,” I muttered under my breath as I saw the number of ships fleeing the battlefield. The only ones that seemed to stay were the ones being actively boarded, perhaps as a way for their hijacked ships to not be used as a Trojan horse into their territory. I would have approved, if it weren’t for the orders and directions that I had been given years before we had officially contacted the aliens of the galaxy.
Satisfied that the battle was over, I gave Admiral Villa another hail. He picked up the call almost immediately, his haggard appearance causing me to wince slightly. “Admiral Villa, the battle is as good as won. Prepare for boarding and repairs to be made.”
He nodded, clearly exhausted by the ordeal of the last forty-five minutes. “Thanks again for the help, and we could really use the repairs.”
“Then it’s a damn good thing that we brought what we did.” I pointed to the sensor officer. “Get me a scan of this sector of space, see if there are any asteroids that would be good for mining.”
The officer gave a brief nod and typed a few things into his console. After a few moments his features went from alert to concerned. “Sir, we have an asteroid belt that is suitable for mining, but we also have what looks to be a GC commercial vessel making its way to us.” His eyes squinted as he studied the screen more carefully. “There seems to be some damage to her engines.”
I narrowed my eyes. What the hell is a GC vessel doing all the way out here? “Hail that vessel, find out what the hell is going on here.”
It only took a moment before the channel was open and I was looking at an Orsier. I had always wondered why all of the aliens looked like some fauna from Earth, but I left that kind of thinking to the scientists. “This is Admiral Elin Chaplain of the Fuck Around and Find out. Identify yourself or prepare to be fired upon.” There were a few moments of silence, until the Orsier made motions to begin speaking, when they were cut off by a voice that required no translation.
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Alex
“This is Admiral Elin Chaplain of the Fuck Around and Find Out. Identify yourself or prepare to be fired on.” His grim visage was on view for the entire bridge to see. Under normal circumstances I would have been relieved to see another Terran, but this face just filled me with dread.
The words rang loud and clear through the speakers on the bridge. The fact that United Terra had sent the First Sol Defense fleet out here was enough to get me into stunned silence. The captain looked stunned that they would even bother trying to reach out to us just to threaten us, not knowing that this was just the Terran way of doing things. I didn’t know if she was going to respond, the seconds ticking away until I finally blurted out.
“This is the Galactic Community commercial vessel The Shooting Star, we have severe damage to our engines and cannot jump.”
The entire bridge looked over to me, shocked that I would even dare answer the question for the captain. I gave a small shrug as the admiral’s face turned from stern to shocked, only for it to go back a second later.
“Whoever was just speaking English just now, identify yourself and tell us what the hell you’re doing on that ship.”
I looked over to Aeva and gave her a look. She gave a heavy sigh and held out her hand. I quickly climbed into her hand, and she strode into the view of the camera. Confusion once again reigned on the admiral’s face.
“And who the fuck are you supposed to be?”