Subject: Rear Admiral Fredrick Kennedy

Species: Knuknu

Description: Avian humanoid, non-prehensile tail. 5'10" (1.7 m) avg height. 84 lbs (38 kg) avg weight. 342 year life expectancy.

Ship: USSS Gaping Maw

Location: Unknown

"Exiting warp, sir," Captain Blavro said.

I clacked my beak in acknowledgement. Then I realized that an alumari might not know that expression, so I nodded as well. It's somewhat amusing that human body language is much closer to universal than any other species in the United Systems. This is likely due to the nature and frequency of their social interactions with the aforementioned other species. Most people meet a dozen or so humans before they get a chance to meet a member of any other species. Hell, for me it was hundreds.

"We're out of warp, admiral," Blavro reported.

"And we're being hailed," Commander Stevens added. "It's the USSS Alikonuoro, sir."

"Put them on," I replied with another nod.

"Aye, sir."

Stevens set about the task at hand, and a moment later an alumari in a well-decorated uniform was on my screen.

"I hope you're faring well despite your current circumstances, Rear Admiral Tlokix. How was the hunt?" I asked.

"Frustatingly short, Rear Admiral," he clicked his mandibles, probably to indicate frustration. "Thank you for taking over for us. A bad batch of wires completely disabled our... Mega MAC? Super MAC? What are they calling it again?"

"Ultra-MAC, if I recall correctly," I scrunched my eyes to indicate amusement.

"Oh, yes, that's right. Well, our Ultra-MAC is dead with a hot tube. And within that hot tube is a live A1 warhead."

"Quite the predicament."

"Indeed. Once again, thanks for taking over for us. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get back and get my people off this bomb."

"Understandable. I hope to see you again soon, Tlokix."

"Likewise, Kennedy. Render them asunder for me."

The transmission terminated, and I breathed a small sigh of gratitude that the commander of the Alikonuoro was someone I knew. It saved me from having to explain my human surname. Despite the inappropriateness of the question, people seemingly cannot help but be curious.

My biological parents abandoned me when I was born, and I was lucky enough to be adopted by William and Lacy Kennedy while I was still an infant. They were from an influential Martian family, and not all of the family was happy about my parent's choice to adopt outside of their species. My mom and dad did their best to keep me insulated from the racism, but the snide remarks and passive aggression of the wealthy are difficult things to combat without actual combat. My father ended up having to punch quite a few uncles before I was old enough to do it myself.

Though I grew up around humans, I had always found myself fascinated with knuknu culture. Or rather, my heritage. I was so far removed from it that it felt foreign to me. This gave me something like an identity crisis, so when I was old enough to strike out on my own I bid my mother and father farewell and took up residence on Yons, the knuknu cradle-world. Even though the cost of living there is higher than the galactic average, I lasted a couple of decades before having to move somewhere cheaper.

The knuknus were polite, but they didn't see me as one of their own. No matter how hard I tried to imitate their behaviors and customs to fit in, my name gave me away as an outsider. Regardless of where I went, I was treated as a tourist rather than the long lost son I had fantasized about being.

I moved from colony to colony for a while, somewhat lost with what to do with my life. I returned to Mars to be with my parents during their final years, and a discussion with my father convinced me to become an officer in the United Systems military. After my parent's funeral, I did just that and finally found the place where I fit in. For the most part.

"Form up with the USSS Tip of the Tip," I ordered.

"God, what's up with these names?" Stevens asked.

"What do you mean?" Blavro asked as he began moving the ship.

"It's a genitalia pun," I answered. "Specifically pertaining to human and gont anatomy. This fleet was built very quickly, so the censors obviously weren't able to catch everything. The engineers saw an opportunity and they took it."

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"Oh," Blavro replied.

"Yeah. It's gross," Stevens muttered.

I shrugged at him. The antics of the engineers are not my problem unless they directly interfere with my duties. The ship names don't impact my ability to command, so I don't care about them in the slightest. What concerns me is what happened to Tlokix's dreadnought, the USSS Alikonuoro. The United Systems has a good track record with ship builds, and bad wiring is a very rare occurrence. I only hope that something like that doesn't happen to the Gaping Maw.

"In position, sir," Blavro reported. "The replacement for the USSS Tempest has arrived, as well."

"What's its name?" Stevens asked.

"The USSS Carnage."

"Finally, a good name. I swear, if I ever fi-"

"Enough about the names," I interrupted. "Blavro, prepare for warp and engage when we get the order."

"Aye aye, sir," Blavro said.

I watched the Faster Than Light Drive indicator begin to fill, and was once again stricken by how slowly it charged. Slower than any other ship that I'd been on. Of course, this is also the largest ship I had ever been on. Much larger than the USSS Trigoravor {claw's point}, the battleship that until recently I had commanded. My crew had been almost entirely knuknu, with the exception of some gont in engineering and humans in the mess.

Then I was voluntold to command a dreadnought. At first I was somewhat excited, the USSS Nidhogg is legendary and to command it is considered an honor. Once we got moving, I realized how slow and clunky it is compared to the rest of our ships, and my excitement dulled immensely. Might as well be commanding a heavily armed tug. A good portion of the tactics that I have learned simply cannot apply to a vessel this unwieldy.

The only tactic that seems applicable is to sit there and trade blows, blasting one's thrusters now and again to try to take the enemy fire in a less damaging area. Even the Ultra-MAC is ridiculously slow. They've managed to get the charge time down to fifty seconds, but that's a long time during a fight. Might as well be an eternity.

"Entering warp, sir," Blavro said.

"Good, once we exit warp begin charging the Ultra-MAC. Gain a firing solution after, I say again, after you start charging the cannon. No need to add additional time to the charging cycle."

"Aye, sir," Commander Horvu said.

Horvu is the first gont that I'd ever seen serving on a bridge. Thus far, I find him quite agreeable, but a little standoffish. He's good at his job and doesn't engage in idle chatter, which I can respect. Many of the crew seem to believe he doesn't like socializing, but it's possible that he's just shy. I haven't heard of him insulting anyone or starting fights.

Commander Horvu also appears to be unaffected by pre-battle jitters. The rest of the crew, however, were fidgeting, obviously nervous about what's to come. Blavro was rubbing his carapace, Stevens was softly tapping his foot, and I even caught myself absentmindedly straightening the feathers on my arms. With the exception of the damaged dreadnoughts, the assault had gone well so far. Too well, in fact. A superstitious mind would claim that our fortunes were bound to change at any moment.

"Leaving warp," Blavro reported.

Our shield indicator began dropping the moment we exited warp. This was expected, but I still had to fight a flinch. Omega had warned us that the OU had managed to upgrade their sensors, either from their invasion of Sol or from an as yet undiscovered species somewhere in the Milky Way.

"Well, Captain Blavro, it's your time to shine," I said. "Begin evasive maneuvers, but keep the Ultra-MAC on target."

"Aye aye, sir."

"Stevens, keep an eye on nearby enemy ships. I'd like to avoid the fate of the Tempest, if possible."

"Aye, sir."

"Horvu, fire when ready."

"Aye, sir."

Orders given, I sat back and watched the casualty count begin to rise. The Republic had lost the most ships so far, but the Dtiln Collective had lost the highest percentage of their forces. Neither the US nor the Pwanti had lost any ships yet, which caused some confusion for me. It made some semblance of sense for the Pwanti to have avoided destruction, their ships are light and nimble. Conversely, our ships are bulky and usually need to warp to dodge incoming fire.

I opened some sensor logs to investigate further, and what I found made me chuckle. The Omni-Union were targeting ships based on tonnage. Their battleships were targeting our battleships, their cruisers were targeting our carriers, and so on. Absolutely awful matchups, but they make sense in a way. I would have ignored the battleships and carriers and entirely focused on the destroyers and frigates, but I'm not about to tell them that. One shouldn't correct an enemy when they're making a mistake.

The only weapons on the battlefield that could easily destroy our battleships and carriers were currently occupied with trying to kill our dreadnoughts. Our target was currently focusing its fire on the USSS Carnage, which had replaced the Tempest. At first it had spread its fire among the three of us, but I guess it's smart enough to have realized that's not going to work. The MPP's tactic seemed to be working, because the Carnage was losing shields at an alarming rate.

"Command requests that we aid the USSS Carnage," Stevens informed me.

"Blavro, get us in shield formation with the Carnage while maintaining our firing solution," I ordered.

"Aye aye, sir."

It was a good call by command. Our shields aren't nearly as damaged as the Carnage's, and judging by the rate of deterioration we'll be able to survive the onslaught long enough to kill the Mobile Prime Platform. Probably. It's a tad risky for us, but the longer our dreadnoughts last the more damage we can do to the Omni-Union.

Our shield indicator immediately began to drop as we took position in front of the Carnage. Commander Horvu was already using our standard MACs to target the MPP's cannons, and the other two dreadnoughts were doing the same. Not quickly enough to make much difference, though. I was watching our shields so closely that I almost missed the Ultra-MAC's charge cycle finishing.

"Firing," Horvu said.

The ship shook ever so slightly, and the tac-map tracked the shell as it left our cannon and made its way toward the MPP. I held my breath as our shield indicator dropped down to less than a quarter of its capacity. Come on... Almost there...

The shell hit, but we weren't clear yet. The MPP continued firing, and I gripped the arms of my chair as our shield indicator dropped even lower. Just before our shield popped, the A1 package within the shell exploded and the MPP finally ceased activity.

"YES!" I shouted.

Various cheers rang throughout the bridge. We had killed our first Mobile Prime Platform, without taking any hull damage in return. Commander Horvu, ever the stoic, gave a small smile and nod at our accomplishment and went right back to his tasks.

"Okay, okay," I said, holding up my hands to calm my crew. "We got our first taste of victory. Let's not let it get to our heads. It's time for clean-up. Horvu, start targeting the enemy battleships. Blavro, start charging the FT-"

"Belay that," a gravelly voice said through our intercom. "Recharge your Ultra-MAC."

"Do it," I nodded at Horvu. "Omega? What's going on?"

"Enemy reinforcements inbound."