Memory transcription subject: Serz Kersho, Aurigan Ambassador
Date [standardized aurigan time]: Fall 16, 1 AA
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The Coalition of the krakotl and their allies were almost here. Our improved probes detected them long before they reached the system, so we thankfully had time to prepare. Around a billion Venlil made the choice to evacuate to ally systems or off-world colonies, while the remainder hunkered down in their raid bunkers.
The Argosy was finally up and running, and we began preparations to fold it to a different system. We filled as many ships as we could with warriors, venlil support staff assisting them in ship operations, and put everyone else back into stasis.
Between data brought back from Auriga, the Argosy's own databases, and the Venlil's assistance in acquiring materials, we were able to improve our ship designs with phage plate hulls, improved shields, and plasma pinch weapons. The deuterium from their system's gas giant was especially helpful in the production of the new plasma weapons.
We also built our knarrs with ultradense, high impact slug throwers instead of plasma weapons, aiming for a form of mixed unit tactics. The knarrs would use blanket fire to confuse the Federation's course correcting computers, while the karves fired their ion torpedos. Then our allies would fire into the exposed Federation ships using their plasma guns. Due to their heavier armor and shields, our knarrs were flying in front of our karves.
The gojids' own force was flying along the flanks of our formation, arrayed above, below, and to the sides of our ships, with the venlil and zurulians' ships guarding our rear. Together, our allies had a little over a thousand ships, while we had a meager hundred. Thankfully, our technology was so different to what the Federation used that our ships could get away with inferior numbers.
With the Argosy safely moved to a nameless system some 16 light years away, our goal was to ensure that the Coalition fleet wouldn't 'cleanse' Venlil Prime. Our probes intercepted their communications days before they got here, and it was clear that they condemned the entire population as being 'predator diseased'.
Jerulim's declaration that any species that stood with predators was dead to him seemed to be more than just a boast, and I had no doubt that if we failed here, the Coalition were going to continue their crusade until all of the species friendly to us were 'exterminated'.
Kata, Raudd, and I were in charge of the Aurigan fleet, which was divided into three separate wings. Each of us were using our Dust abilities to best benefit our wings, commanding the dust in the ships, using it to boost certain systems.
As the Coalition fleet were pulled out of subspace by the venlil FTL disruptors, we kept back near the planet, and they kept to their position. Their fleets outnumbered us ten to one, which wouldn't have been as bad of a trade off if our entire fleet was made out of aurigan ships, but our allies were using the same ion shields and plasma railguns as the Coalition's fleets were.
The two fleets faced each other in silence across the void of space, each waiting for the other to make a move. We held our defensive line, while they held their attack pattern, like playing a great game of chicken.
After a silence that felt like it lasted far longer than it actually did, the Coalition fleet sent a system wide message to all ships in our fleet. "Those of you who still have your senses about you, this is your last chance to leave the predators to their fate. Go home, and let us cleanse this infestation before it spreads to your planets as well."
"It is you that should go back to your homes, before it is too late." Zolya's voice came through the comms in reply. " We took the liberty of informing the Arxur of your departure. If you return now, you might arrive in time to save your planets. This is your only warning." I wasn't sure if the First of the Bloodline was transmitting from Venlil Prime or from the Argosy via pocket portal, but she was clearly overseeing the battle wherever she was.
The Coalition fleet didn't reply, staying fixed on the edge of the system for a good while longer, until about a fifth of their ships turned around and jumped into subspace. Around three thousand ships diverted without firing a shot. That was a good start, but we still had thirteen thousand to worry about.
Then the Coalition fleet's leader sent one last message, before their ships began to advance. "You bluff, predator. The Arxur do not talk or negotiate. You may have fooled the more weak amongst us, but we will still cleanse the universe of your filth." Whoever was leading the birds, I doubt we could persuade him to leave well enough alone.
"Everyone, keep pace with our allies, and wait for General Rill's signal. Then we pounce." I sent a task force wide communication. Our ships cruised close to the enemy, as they were charging their plasma projectiles, and our allies were doing the same. It was just a matter of time until the signal came, and we charged our fold drives in anticipation.
"Now!" Kata's voice then came over the comms, giving us the order to attack. In the blink of an eye our entire Aurigan fleet vanished from one point in space and reappeared in another, the seeker forces flanking the enemy fleet, while Kata's guardian force bore down on them from above.
With the Federation's railguns now aimed at where we used to be, firing at nothing, we opened fire on their exposed angles, where their guns weren't pointing.
The Federation computers were predictably confused by the hail of slugs coming from three different directions, and many of them flew right into the ion torpedos unleashed by our attack ships. With our karves breaking the shields of dozens of ships on each flank, our allies unleashed their plasma bolts, hitting as many exposed ships as possible.
Many enemy pilots panicked and started veering into each other, while our gojid allies' spread up as we had planned. Like the petals of a flower, their formation opened up and they flew around the enemy, which was now busy turning to face our aurigan ships instead.
The venlil and zurulian forces stayed back near the planet, their goal was to shoot down any bombers that made it through our assault, but the gojids were going to act as our force multiplier.
While the Federation ships were busy turning to face us, three of the four gojid task forces moved behind our ships, with our knarrs forming a front line, ready to intercept enemy missiles with their stronger shields and hulls, while also pestering the enemy computers with their incessant gunfire.
The final gojid task force moved under the Coalition's exposed bellies, ready to fire another volley of plasma bolts at any ships whose shields we dropped.
As the enemy unleashed another volley of plasma projectiles, our knarrs did their best to intercept them and keep the rest of our fleet safe, while the karves fired off another volley of shield breaking torpedos.
With another row of enemy ships left shield-less, our gojid allies unleashed another volley of their own, hitting as many exposed ships as possible.
The Coalition fleet started slinging kinetics at our shields, seeming to finally realize that our weaponry acted on the complete opposite principles to theirs.
"The birds are figuring out how our shields work. Move to stage two." Kata's voice cut through the comms.
"You heard herd the lady, everyone. Get ready for EVA." I reiterated to my task force.
As the call for stage two commenced, the gojids moved in tight formation behind our ranks, ready to harass the Coalition fleet on Kata's command, while we spooled up our fold drives once more.
Right after the all clear was given to initiate stage two, another volley of torpedos was exchanged with the Federation vessels, aimed at the largest cruisers that we could hit. In the next instance our knarrs fold jumped right inside of our target cruisers' shield bubbles. With the shields down there was nothing to stop them from attempting such a risky maneuver.
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Dozens of marines and officers jumped out of individual vessels, sealed in armored vacsuits, carrying plasma cutters and axes. With their boots magnetizing to the hull, they began to cut through the airlocks, ready to breach our enemy's mightiest ships.
The targeted vessels had to choose between keeping their shields down and allowing their allies to shoot at our boarding parties, or charge them back up and prevent us from slicing into their ships with our plasma beams. Either way it was a lose-lose situation for those ships.
The knarrs within their shield bubbles could also shoot down any incoming missiles with their slugthrowers, forcing any attempt to dislodge them or attack our boarding parties to use plasma, which would also cut into the hulls of the cruisers.
The maneuver seemed to throw the fleet into chaos, as the cruisers swerved to move away from the fighting lines, trying to escape back towards the edges of the system.
While our knarrs moved in to pull this off, our karves reorganized themselves into new front lines, keeping the gojid vessels safe, and continuing to destabilize enemy shields with their ion torpedos, giving the gojid the openings they needed to sling plasma straight into the neemy hulls.
The unexpected boarding action was slowly sending the enemy fleet into a frenzy, and many of the ships that weren't boarded were starting to flee, either fearful of the same fate, or ordered to do so by panicked commanders. Some of them stopped dead in the water, no doubt the crews panicking so hard they couldn't continue normal operations.
The majortity of the fleet kept slinging kinetics at our shields though, which soon broke, leaving our hulls exposed to enemy plasma. Evasive maneuvers helped quite a lot, as did intercepts from gojid ships.
The fighting soon turned into a dance, as our ships and the gojid ships kept intercepting plasma meant for each other, every ship with fully charged shields blocking attacks aimed at disabled ones.
Hopefully our boarding parties could capture the cruisers, and turn them against the enemy. Or at least force them to surrender.
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Memory transcription subject: Captain Kalsim, Krakotl Alliance Command
Date [standardized aurigan time]: Fall 16, 1 AA
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"Sir, one of the enemy ships just appeared inside our shield bubble!" Thyon informed me, and I glowered in frustration at the viewport.
"We'll deal with it later, for now raise the shields as normal, we can't afford to be exposed for long!" I squawked, crossing my wings behind my back.
"Sir, I'm also getting a hull breach report in sector 7." The tubby farsul then informed me.
"What do you mean a hull breach? Are they firing weapons at us point blank?" I asked.
"No, it's not weapons fire, one of the airlocks just depressurized." Thyon explained, and my beak dropped one.
"You fool, they're boarding us! Send a squad to deal with them! We can't let them take us out of the fight! And relay to the other cruisers that the predators are trying to board our ships!"
"Yes sir, right away sir!" Thyon barked, and relayed my orders further.
I then glanced at Jala, knowing her kind wouldn't resist the chance to fight a predator. I was right, of course, I'm always right, I could see the glint in her eye, the predatory hunger for carnage. Before she could even open her beak I sighed and waved her off.
She bounded off of the command deck like a hatchling being told to get whatever she wants from the store. Hopefully she didn't make a mess.
The ship was still getting rocked by the odd plasma beam as we tried to get the shields back online, and Thyon was having a hard time keeping his footing.
We kept our heading though, even as other ships were getting felled around us, and others turned to flee. Other still were panicking and falling dead in their tracks, their crews inconsolable and hysterical when we tried to contact them.
Between crews panicking and fleeing, and the completely alien tactics we were facing, we had to now constantly move to avoid collisions with our own allies.
"Damnit, why are other species so terrible at defending themselves?" I mused out loud. Half my fleet was beakless cowards.
The battle was taking longer than expected, and it seemed that the predators weren't running out of tricks to pull out from their tailfeathers any time soon. We had to deal with this now, before it was too late.
"Everyone, prepare to make a run for the planet. All ships that are carrying antimatter bombs, get into close formation. Everyone else, act as a shield around us. We need to cleanse the planet if we don't want the infestation to spread." I gave a fleet wide order, waiting for confirmation.
"No, Kalsim! We're getting out of here. Maybe we can still save Silis if we're fast enough." Came the answer from the Tilfish. "This whole plan was a mistake. Now there's predators trying to take over my ship because of you. I'm declaring a formal surrender and asking for passage out of the system."
"The Harchen fleet is doing the same. You can attempt to bomb the venlil yourself. We're done here." Came the response from the small reptilians.
"Cowards, all of you! Fine, we'll continue without you. Go join the others that have already fled. When the aurigans come for you in your homes, don't say I didn't warn you!" I squawked back, before termianting those comm channels.
"Everyone else that's still with me, move into formation. The galaxy will remember us as heroes."
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Memory transcription subject: Jyde Parcha, Justicere Sister
Date [standardized aurigan time]: Fall 16, 1 AA
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Deal death with one hand, and healing with the other. That was the justicar motto. We were warriors as much as we were medics. Today was a day where the needs of the many had to be protected, by taking the lives of the few. Though hopefully we could get them to surrender instead.
The aliens were slow to intercept our boarding party with real warriors, most of the crew fleeing in terror at the sight of us. When we did encounter any resistance, the dawn officers formed shield walls to block any incoming fire, just a few men being enough to seal off the tight corridors. The marines could fire upon the enemy from behind the safety of the officers, and I didn't need to fire a single shot.
The few times one of our men did get injured, it was an easy wound to fix, a little dust alchemy usually doing the trick. The enemy was so scared even their warriors were rendered incompetent at their jobs. I pitied them.
I healed any enemy combatants I could, taking way their weapons first. Thankfully, my faceless hazmat suit made me appear less frightening to them than our warriors were, and while they weren't calm, they didn't hurt themselves in their panic either.
The way to the bridge was easy to clear, shield walls, concentrated fire, and a few grenades worked wonders at clearing any resistance. I still saved everyone I could, our job was to take the bridge, not slaughter the crew.
As I tried to heal the wounds of one of the birds though, she slashed at my exo armor with her claws, cursing up a storm. The claws couldn't get through the titanium shell, but the bird tried anyways. I almost felt pity for her. No matter though, I still healed its wounds, despite its struggling, and moved on after my squad.
The more I saw how these wretches fought and cowered, the more I pitied them. These were a broken, irrational people, nobody acted like this back on auriga, not even when a drakken smiled did it induce this much fear in someone. We had to show them that we were merciful, kind beings.
"Die, demon!" A shout suddenly came from behind me, and a large biped with grey hide came barreling into me. It looked almost like a water horse but on two feet, and its hide was nearly as thick. "I won't let you eat them!" It shouted against my helmet, and the display inside identified it as a takkan.
"I'm a healer, you fool, I'm not eating anyone! How would I even do that through this helmet!?" I retorted, kicking the alien in its genitals. It doubled over in pain, and I left it there to wallow as I tended to more of its fallen brethren.
It gasped in horror as I approached a fallen creature that looked similar to a dog. It was bleeding from its shoulder, very heavily so too. I jabbed an injection into its neck, before applying a medical patch to the bleeding shoulder. The dog alien, farsul they were called, seemed to slowly realize what was happening, so I motioned for it to look at me.
"Take care of the takkan idiot. He's too violent for his own good." I said softly, before getting up and continuing down the corridor.
"That's... our doctor..." The farsul managed to respond, which made me turn to look back at him.
"Then he should spend less time trying to kill enemy medics, and more time tending to his own people." I replied.
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Memory transcription subject: Captain Kalsim, Krakotl Alliance Command
Date [standardized aurigan time]: Fall 16, 1 AA
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As we made our way towards the planet, we were taking increasingly more losses. Ships were being sacrificed for the good of the mission, for the good of the galaxy. I felt the pain of each one, but my mission had a grander purpose, Inatala would forgive me for this.
The gojid and predators followed us as we approached the planet, and despite reports of the predators drawing closer to the bridge, I was determined to get within bombing distance of the infested planet.
We drew nearer by the second, and we were met by the venlil space corps. The weak, predator diseased fools were doing their best to aid their allies, firing at our bombers with meager patrol ship munitions, it was nearly laugh-
A loud bang, followed by my ears ringing, filled the air. Before I could even react, something slammed into me at great speed, and I found myself under a predator's knee, its axe to my throat.
"Surrender, or you die, and we take the ship anyways." It croaked, barely audible through the ringing. I tried to stand, but it was heavier, stronger. No, no! We were so close! It couldn't end like this!
The plasma blade cut into and singed my feathers, the sickening smell filling my nose. My head was swimming with rage, I wanted to claw and bite, to fight back, but I couldn't reach.
Regardless of what I did, the Federation was doomed! My failure would be remembered through the ages.
Defeated, I laid my wings flat on the ground, and gave myself over to the predators.