Chapter One:
Game of Chess
“I don't care what you fucking think, Admiral Peters!” High-Admiral Kazimir Aleksey Miroslav yelled, the background noise managing to make his voice nearly intelligible.
“Eden is just a backwater planet filled with-”
“-Thirty Billion innocent civilians!” Kazimir shouted “Even then, that planet is filled with Iala mines and it's in a key position. That planet has fast-jump gates to Exerna, Varrilgalt and Vostia, and do you know how close they are to Armestia?”
Peters shook his head.
“This fucking close!” Kazimir held two fingers close together “Do you even bother to look at the STELLAR?”
“Our forces are spread thin, you very well know that fact, High-Admiral.”
“We can ask for backup, the Terrelian Republic and the Great Eastern Commonwealth have always stuck by our side.”
“Admiral Adima, we've done that.” Kazimir sighed “And they just turned us away, they're too fucking scared for their lives!”
“What about BCV groups 75 and 62?” Peters' face brightened “They're still patrolling the Fringe.”
“It's a suicide mission,” Adima said, his face grim “The Imperial fleets outnumber them twenty to one. And I don't think the Bucket's going to hold up, she's broken in more than ten places and fucked in more than three!”
“My flagship's heavily damaged,” Kazimir hung his head low “the Reclamation Wars took a toll on all of us.”
“Can't we use the Great Library or something?”
“No, we're still cracking the codes.”
“Let's settle on a vote.” Kazimir's voice rose over the rabble “Everyone! Shut the fuck up!”
The assembly quickly fell silent.
“We were discussing the best course of action to take in this shitstorm.” Kazimir said “We decided to settle on a vote. Plan A is try to reclaim our lost territory Alpha-Sigma-Alpha-Peta. Plan B is to wait until we're at full capacity and then push out. Plan C is just give up.”
“Who votes for A?” Adima asked.
Twenty four hands were raised.
“Plan B?”
Fifty six hands were raised.
“Okay, none for C.” Kazimir said “Now, let's discuss my speech.”
- - -
Richard walked into a wrecked courtyard, he heard animal calls float from an empty window. He whistled a birdcall in response, a muffled curse and the shuffling of feet filled the courtyard.
“That you Rich?” a mop of black hair poked out of the window.
“Yeah.” He whispered as he walked into the building. “Look at what I have.” He dropped the troopers' rifles on a table.
“EIN-44H Anti-Personnel Plasma Rifles.” Richard smiled, his first smile since the occupation “We're one step closer to mounting some raids.”
“Shit! Brother! What the hells did you do?”
“No cursing kid, quiet down and I'll tell.”
“Fine.” The younger brother muttered.
“Rich!” A woman charged down the stairs and jumped onto Richard, wrapping him in a bear hug “How've you been?”
“Shit's hitting the fan, Sara. Saw some Trannies turning a woman into a hooker with their collars. “There's also the fact that they're driving people somewhere.”
“We've got do do something!” The little brother yelled “This is our home!”
Richard grimaced as his voice echoed into the night.
And then the silence in the courtyard was shattered as the incessant clatter of gunfire and the rolling thunder of plasma weapons filled the night as an explosion consumed a building.
Imperial troopers charged into the courtyard, taking cover behind pieces of rubble as raggedly dressed men and women rounded the corner, wielding projectile weapons. An Molotov cocktail sailed into the air and shattered on the ground, immolating several troopers.
“Die bitches!” One yelled as he poured an entire magazine into a trooper, which fell apart under the barrage of explosive rounds.
The troopers fell one-by-one as the mob moved into the courtyard. , knocking on the door.
Richard saw a dying trooper chamber a round into his sidearm and aim it at who appeared to be the leader's head. He grabbed a rifle and fired it into the trooper's face, ending his life in a flash.
The mob jumped in surprise and looked around as a thunderclap tore into the air. One of them saw a trooper's face vaporize as he was about to pull the trigger.
Richard waved a hand at the mob and leaned out of the window.
“The hells are you?”
- - -
Kazimir punched the thick, diamond-laced glass of his control tank in frustration as battle reports flowed into his mind.
“The Sixth Fleet is routing, Norweld march is almost completely in the hands of the enemy. The flag's goi-” the feed abruptly cut off.
Kazimir oriented his ship away from Armestia's orbital Fleetyards and calculated jump co-ordinates.
“First Fleet! Form up! Those that are below orange, stay the fuck here.”
A multitude of warships ranging from the smallest Cutters to the largest Vanguards fell into formation around the 120 kilometer long Sovereign that was their flagship.
“Third and Fourth, pull back. Hold the line.”
“First fleet, calculate jump vectors for Norlan Two.”
Massive jumprifts opened into space, wispy tendrils of energy coalescing into whirlpools of blue-white light.
- - -
Norlan II, a small sphere of dust and sand filled the probe's camera. Massive civilian and military orbital complexes circled the planet in an artificial ring. Militia warships prowled space around the planet in groups of six.
As the probe powered down, hundreds of jumprifts tore open. Tendrils of sickly red light warped and twisted as dull gray warships slid smoothly into space in bursts of light.
“Children of Armestia,” the largest ship broadcasted “you are abandoned. Surrender now and your world will be spared.”
The Confederates opened fire in defiance, particle lances and plasma beams lashed out at the Imperials, cutting deep trenches into their armor before their shields flickered on.
“We will not bow!” they replied “We will not break!”
The Confederate Militia fell into formation and charged, their flagship's bow erupted into a massive beam. The antimatter lance streaked towards the Imperial fleet and a Cruiser vanished in a flash of light.
The Imperials opened with a full broadside. Kinetic rounds slammed into the Militia in massive salvos. Frigates crumbled under the barrage while Cruisers and Destroyers did their best to protect themselves.
The MNCE-213 Fenris bucked as two kinetic rounds slammed into her starboard hull, dislodging a small section of armor plate. Her shield generators finally came to life and a bubble of energy rippled outward, protecting her from further damage.
“Main gun's green, we just cleared the wreckage.” A voice filtered through the other comms chatter that filled Peter Elsmir's mind “Give us a minute to pull out.”
Peter rolled the ship around, just barely avoiding a flaming chunk of debris. Particle lances flared and lightning cut into an Imperial frigate, which vanished in a flash of light.
“Okay, we're clear.”
The ship leveled her bow with an Imperial Destroyer and fired. A blue-white beam tore through space, leaving a trail of crackling energy in its wake. Shields flared and held for a second under the concentrated barrage of energy, but ultimately failed in a fantastic display of electrical arcs along the ship's length. The beam tore the bow in half and speared into the CIC before igniting a missile rack.
A massive explosion blossomed out of the ship, tearing a massive chunk of hull away. Particle lances quickly made short work of the destroyer, splitting it into two.
Peter redlined the drives and kicked the missiles from their tubes. The missiles' CPU's came to life and locked onto the Imperial flagship. The Fenris sailed towards the Imperial fleet, let off an alpha-strike and tilted upwards.
The beams slammed into the Flagship's shields, electric arcs played across the energy field as it struggled to deflect the titanic amounts of energy that were sent at it. Missiles streaked towards her and released their sub-munitions. Fusion warheads exploded in fantastic bursts of light and heat, scorching the flagship's hull and killing her shields.
Two Militia Frigates were engulfed in brilliant explosions, flaming debris tumbling into space. A Militia Destroyer was torn open by multiple kinetic impacts that overloaded her shields in a brilliant storm of energy. A Militia Cruiser bucked and bent as fusion warheads slammed into her hull, detonating in actinic flashes of light.
- - -
“ETA is three-six seconds.” Kazimir casually reported “All decks, go to red alert.”
Thirty six seconds passed and the First Fleet's jumpdrives deactivated, dumping the ships into realspace in arcing whirlpools of light. The Triumphant Sun appeared in the middle of the fleet, her shields already up.
Hangar bay doors slid open and streams of strike-craft followed by Corvettes, Frigates and even Destroyers poured out. The Imperials noticed this and directed their attention to the real Confederate Navy.
“Fleet, fire on my mark! Militia, pull into defending formations around the rock.”
“Yes sir!”
The Triumphant Sun aimed her bow at the Imperial fleet.
“Mark!”
Hundreds of beams lashed out at the Imperials, cutting ships in half or engulfing them in blinding flashes of light and drowning them in massive shockwaves.
“Forward to Freedom!” Kazimir let out an old war cry, a hold-over from the Reclamation Wars.
The Confederate Fleet surged to meet the Imperials head on. Jumprifts opened up in the Imperial lines as they called for more reinforcements. Kinetic rounds streamed towards the Confederates as their shields came online.
The strike-craft came in droves, firing missiles and beam projectors at the Imperials. Two Frigates went down to the massive amount of firepower. A Destroyer split open like a ripe watermelon as explosions cascaded down her flank. A Cruiser was engulfed in flames as fusion warheads buried themselves into her armor and detonated.
Three flights of craft were cut down by plasma flak cannons, spinning out and exploding like fireworks.
The Frigates came in pairs, circling their targets like sharks moving in for the kill. Destroyers and Cruisers held at the edges, offering fire-support against larger ships.
The massive Battleships and Vanguards dueled with Imperial Battlecruisers and Dreadnoughts, explosions and shockwaves rippling into space. Massive debris fields were created even as
The Triumphant Sun leveled her bow and allowed massive amounts of energy to flow into her main cannon, which was located in the middle of her two-pronged bow.
A purple-blue glow coalesced inside the split and built up until it was impossible to directly look at. A tense second passed as the Imperials realized that the Confederate's most powerful weapon was being brought to bear. The lines scattered, but it was in vain as a phased antimatter beam tore into space, so powerful that even the fabric of the void itself seemed to bend to its will.
Entire pickets and groups were reduced to flaming, irradiated debris in actinic bursts of light. A quarter of the Imperial fleet was destroyed within seconds.
Kazimir picked up two jump signatures and gave weapons authorization to his Weapons officer, who turned inside her tank and gave him a thumbs-up.
Two Imperial Dominators materialized, the jumprifts collapsing behind them. They wasted no time and fired broadsides at the Triumphant Sun. Kazimir redlined the drives and the ship rushed forward with the speed of a Corvette.
Ynah leveled half of the particle lances at the first Dominator and fired. Missile pods received commands to launch and antimatter-tipped missiles shot from their tubes. Kinetic rounds streamed from the Imperials, disintegrating on the ship's shields.
Lightning shot towards the massive warship, splashing across its shields. Missiles were pricked from the skies in massive shockwaves or impacted into its shields. Radiation warnings flared all over the ship as its captain desperately returned fire with his heaviest guns only to watch in horror as the kinetic shells were pricked from the void by the Triumphant Sun's defensive grid.
The other Sovereign rained plasma and missiles on the Confederate Flagship, which continued to hold under the relentless barrage.
Ynah received reports on the antimatter beam turrets and handed control of them to her CO, Kazimir grinned in satisfaction and aimed the turrets.
Purple-blue beams slashed at the Dominator, shields collapsed and hull simply ceased to exist in massive quantities of energy. Radiation alarms blared all over the ship and were quickly silenced by the EMP that coursed through the hull. Men and women died to the radiation or escaped that only to find death in the void as stress cracked the hull open. The Dominator simply fell apart as the beams died, their image temporarily burnt into the retinas of those that dared to look.
The second Dominator quickly emptied all of its missile tubes, thousands of white trails slammed into the Triumphant Sun's shields, threatening to bring them down as world-ending amounts of energy rippled into space. Gravitonic warheads shook the Sovereign as she maneuvered, bringing fresh armor into play. Hundreds of missiles were annihilated by concentrated lightning, but that was simply not enough.
Her shield generators gave up and defaulted to a recharge cycle. Fusion warheads detonated on her hull, sparking fires and scorching her hull.
“Incoming Gravitonic!” Kazimir's voice blared all over the ship. “Brace!”
The warhead detonated, sending a cone of gravitons at the massive Sovereign. The shockwave crashed into her hull, peeling armor plating from her frame. Structural members buckled and snapped. Cabins decompressed, sending crew into space where they were ripped apart by the gravity waves.
Kazimir was thrown into the air as his tank shattered, support liquid cascading out of the ruined sphere of glass. Everything went black as he slammed headfirst into the floor, glass shards spearing into his arms and legs.
Ynah slammed into her tank and promptly lost an arm, blood staining the support liquid blood-red. She lapsed into unconsciousness.
- - -
“Tell me first.” Richard answered as he jumped from the window “Who the hells are you?”
The leader looked around for support.
“Okay,” he leaned in “we're part of a resistance group. Since you killed some troopers and you don't have a fucking collar, you'd like to join right?”
Richard looked at the window and saw his brother and Sara waving their hands at him. He motioned for them to come down and join him.
“Hells yeah,” the brother beamed “where do we sign.”
Richard slapped his face with his palm “Shit, Gab.” He muttered.
“That's the spirit kid!” the leader said.
“We'll join.” Sara moved forward.
“Fine.” Richard groaned “As long as the idiot doesn't get killed.”
“Good.” the leader stuck his hand out “Name's Victor by the way.”
Richard grabbed the rifles and handed his sidearm to his brother, who-thankfully-knew how to use it. Sara shouldered a bag full of rations and medical equipment and trudged out of the house. A battered landtrack held cover outside, holes cut into its sides for firing ports.
Richard piled in along with the rest of the Resistance and waited. Two men hauled a functioning EPG into the track and shut the hatch. Sara opened the pack and took three chocolate bars, tossing two of them to Richard and Gabriel.
Richard caught his and tore the wrapper open with his teeth as the track's engine came to life.
- - -
“This just in!” A news reporter announced “The First Fleet just repelled an invasion of Norlan II, this is the first major victory in the war.”
Admiral Peters threw his datapad into the far wall of his quarters.
“The idiot! He just left us wide open for another backwater planet!”
“Norlan is a Fleetyard mind you.” Adima cut in “If he was not there, we'd all be praying to the Hierarch.”
“So what?”
Adima just turned on his heel and walked out “You'll see.”
Massive robotic arms grasped ships of various sizes, turning even the bulkiest Battleship around like child's toys as swarms of drones cut and welded. Swarms of strike-craft patrolled the Fleetyard's interior for intruders. The BCV-75 Galaxia rested inside her massive berth, undergoing repair and refit.
Old plasma lance turrets were replaced with modern particle lances, her bow mounted kinetic guns were swapped out for a fresh phased cannon array. She was cut open along her ventral surface, allowing access to her inner compartments. Her frame was disassembled and replaced in a matter of hours while worker drones replaced Titanium armor for plates of Iala composite.
Just beside her rested her sister ship, the BCE-62 Pleiades, she was being modernized with a DEW/Missile loadout and gravitic shields. Her ailing integrity field was carefully replaced emitter-by-emitter. Warped launch tubes were removed and slagged in atomic disassembly arrays while her CAG was replaced completely.
Tundra and Taiga class Cruisers were being built nearby. Many of them were slated to be finished hours later by massive constructor arms.
Ancient Battleships and Vanguards-dating back to the First Galactic Cold War-were being readied for service. Far more powerful than any 'modern' warship and only few remain, the Triumphant Sun a prime example.
- - -
Kazimir came to consciousness inside the ship's Medbay, his arms and legs were numb and there was a stinging pain in his neck. Lances of pain shot through him as he tried to sit up.
“MOTHERFUCK!” He yelled “IMPERIAL SONS OF BITCHES OUGHTA DIE ONCE I GET THE HELLS OUT OF HERE!”
A panicked nurse rushed into his cubicle, musical laughter floating from the one beside him.
“I highly suggest you try not to exhaust yourself sir.” the nurse said as she realized that almost nothing was wrong. “Your arms and legs are still healing.”
“What the fuck did ChiefMed do?”
“Nothing sir.” The nurse looked at the floor “He was waiting for your orders, so he only took the glass out.”
“THE FUCKING IDIOT! GET HIM THE HELLS OVER HERE!”
The nurse scampered away with the look of a dog with its tail between its legs. Hushed whispering and moments later and ChiefMed appeared inside the cubicle, beads of sweat running down his forehead.
“S-si-sir.” He stammered as Kazimir pinned him with a glare that could set a planet ablaze “M-most of the n-ne-nerve tissues were de-destroyed in y-your fall.” He gulped and wiped the sweat away “The only option is to re-replace your l-limbs with artificial ones.”
“THAN WHAT THE HELLS ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!” Kazimir yelled.
“T-th-the proced-procedure is highly experimental sir.”
“THEN MOTHERFUCKING DO IT THEN!”
ChiefMed decided to save his ass and ran out of the cubicle.
“You know Kaz,” Ynah said through the curtain, laughter floating from her lips “I think he pissed himself.”
“Ah, fuck it.”
“This bionic arm's awesome!” Ynah commented, laughing harder “It even has phasing!”
“What the fuck? Why the hells do you get the cool gadgets first.”
“You scare them, that's why. Holy, this thing can punch through Iala!”
Kazimir frowned, he mumbled something to himself about cheap medical officers.
Author
Topic: Reclaiming Eden (Read 1268 times)