Chapter 6 Day 3

Hold the Line

“Move it Student Bulrick! Your Allies are counting on you!” The radio blared, ordering Jan to move faster.

He was short of breath, running for what felt like his life, harder than he ever had before. His TacMap system on his hud reported his position on his helmet’s visor.

Behind him, he saw the several red blinking lights of the enemy, electronically painted to show up on the map.

“Shit! Shit!! SHIT! SHIIIIT!” He yelled as he dived into a blown out building, thudding on the ground and rolling into a dark corner. His armor’s Chameleon Psi projectors turning his armor and weapons black so he would blend in better.

Starting to control his breathing, but scrunched up in a ball, Jan saw the trio of red dots come up to the turn. Two kept going while one stopped and briefly flashed a light inside the darkened room.

……

A shuffle of feet.

A quiet curse.

The sounds of war.

Then the light flashed away, moving on down the destroyed street.

Releasing a breath Jan didn’t know he held, he picked himself up. What had felt like eternity was really only a few seconds.

When the dots turned another corner he got up and moved, stretching his sore muscles. Moving to the door at the end of the room he cut through the building to the alleyway.

Bringing up the full screen map he saw that he was simply two streets away from his overlook position at Strategic Position Alpha-15, (or better known as SPA 15). Checking his laser rifle carefully, he cleaned off the exterior plating then checked the mechanism.

Satisfied it was in perfect working condition, Jan began to move again. Following back alleys and checking his minimap and corners often, Jan quickly traversed the maze to his destination.

Meeting the end of the alleyway, he pulled open the reinforced steel door to the prefabricated made home. Pushing it open one handed he held his rifle in the hip fire position to cover himself for any waiting opponents.

Finding none he walked in and closed the door behind him, with as little trouble as he did opening it. As soon as it closed he took a moment to breath. The air contained the muted roar of a platoon support railgun, with the sound of yells and shouts underlying it every time it started to reload.

His squad was still trying to move up on the strategic point.

Moving as quickly as he could through the abandoned building, he took the stairs three steps a time. Reaching the top floor, he was not even out of breath as he moved to the window on the far side of the reinforced fabricated home.

Peeking out, his squad had made it about halfway down the ruined street, a wide boulevard with sparse cover, and identical homes on either side of the road. They had been supporting a tank, callsign White Panther.

The Armored Civil Defence Vehicle (Pulse Laser)MKX, had been disabled with an emplaced anti-tank fusion launcher. Which had suffered retaliatory fire and its circuitry had been disabled. If that had been a real fusion launcher, there would be nothing of the Panther and its young crew, and if they were using real guns, then the cannon would have a hundred perforating holes in its protective casing and likely gone nuclear.

Thankfully, none of his squad had gotten hit, and he was undetected due to the suppressive fire going both ways.

Taking careful aim as he stood on the fourth floor, he acquired his first target.

‘Squeeze like dad said….’

Beeedooow!

His hud flashed, “+100! Enemy Eliminated!” Going back into the shadows of the building he scrambled to another window,

Wait, aim, breath out, squeeze……

Bedooow!

“+100! Enemy eliminated!”

“SNIPER! STAY DOWN!” Even 50 meters away Jan could hear the warning, as he began to move to a different room, just in time for the room he was in and the entire facade of the building to be lit up. ‘Well, it was good while it lasted.’

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Shanxi Orbit

Bridge of the Enterprise

Twilight Sparkle had regained her strength, if only marginally. Magical burnout was a serious problem with any species. The danger of doing so resulted in serious repercussions. While most would have folded long before with a shield that size especially on their own, Twilight, the Princess of Friendship, had been protecting her friends, so she had used everything in her reserves.

It had cost her, but not so much as the loss of her crew or one of the crews at the relay would have been…….

Highest Honor…..

While she hadn’t known the crew or the captain very well, or at all for that matter, it was still a barb in her heart. No matter how much Perry comforted her.

Looking into the void of space, the danger that it possessed was unimaginable, the mind was not the limit to what could come from its inky depths. They were fortuitous, only a very similar enemy had appeared.

Cradling in one hoof, holding it against the added arm by its edge, Twilight held a datapad.

Within held a collection of stories from science fiction authors, of all species. From their pages came alive stories of mind breaking scope, to heart warming similarity.

That was their greatest advantage. They understood that in space, nothing is sure, nothing concrete. For all they knew, they were but a tiny peck among many larger universes. So they treated space with respect, they knew the dangers held. And the breath taking wonders.

“Ma’am, we’re detecting an incoming hyperspace wormhole, from the galactic south east.” Her thoughts were interrupted by Pressly, “Its the Peace Corp fleet ma’am. They report that they are carrying medical volunteers, and Militia guardian teams.”

Looking at her own viewscreen Twilight saw the 50 ships moving towards Shanxi. Only a tenth of them were combat craft, all of them frigates to protect their transports.

“Incoming message from the Red Cross.”

On screen came a familiar butter colored pegasi.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight called out joyously, smiling wide as she saw her close friend.

“Twilight, it’s a been a while. Permission to land and come aboard?” The pegasi asked shyly. While Fluttershy had overcome her weakness mostly, she still suffered from her lifelong ingrained nature of speaking shyly in public.

“Of course right away. You have docking and landing priorities now!” Twilight’s hooves played out across an adjacent keyboard and gave the necessary clearance.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Twilight waited anxiously for Fluttershy’s shuttle to board the Enterprise’s hanger bay. After losing all ten of their fighters in their fight with the Turians, the bay had become extremely roomy. Normally the place would be swarming with engineers, pilots, and Cyberdiscs providing maintenance, or preparing for the next fighter launch.

Now it was a mini media circus. Lu’an Public News, Alliance News Network’s Battlespace crew, and Shanxi System Net were all present, trying to confirm what exactly the Peace Corp planned to do.

Twilight just wanted to talk with her friend, but she knew from her nearly 160 years as a Princess that such a thing was necessary for the common people. And she was sure that this was Fluttershy’s intent all along.

Regally, the butter color Pegasi stepped off her shuttle, flanked by an aide and the liaison the Peace Corp ws providing for X-Com and Shanxi Defense Command.

While technically a different branch of X-Com, the Peace Corp had enough autonomy to be considered a separate entity from the Paramilitary force. Much like how the navies and armies of old would have to exchange personnel for smooth communications.

Colonel Perry Stepped forward, a polite smile on his face. The first one Twilight had ever seen on the man, “Welcome to the TSAS Enterprise Chairpony Fluttershy. I’m Colonel Perry, leading X-Com officer”

At that moment Twilight stepped forward, a happy smile glowing on her face. “Fluttershy, its good to see you.”

Looking past the lithe pegasi Twilight added, “Will you introduce your companions?”

The Human on Fluttershy’s left was her aide, a plain looking Swiss administrator by the name of Casterella. 5’8 tall, and dressed in a plain suit and tie, the man was very formal.

On the Pegasi’s right was Peace Corp Militia liaison Lieutenant Keller. Dressed smartly in Militia Khaki fatigues and cap. If he were a pony he would look just like Twilight’s brother.

After a few minutes of diplomatic niceties Fluttershy leaned in and whispered, “I hear the plan is to take a lot of prisoners.”

Twilight nodded with a faux smile, “Yeah, we’ll talk about that privately.”

Perry gave another smile and nodded at the two other Humans. And then the welcome party started to escort their guests to the meeting room to discuss business.

On the way, Fluttershy answered many of the reporters questions politely, offering reassuring words and kind rhetoric, urging that a peaceful solution be found quickly.

Fluttershy’s words would pay off in the long run she knew. Wars were ended on amicable agreements if one respected the rules of war, and kindness was exchanged. Using her ethotical position, she hoped to temper the fear and uncertainty of the people.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Aboard Turian Hierarchy Flagship Palaven’s Wrath. Relay 314

Serius dried his face. Looking up to the mirror he still looked gaunt, and his neck was still engorged with blood, the Turian equivalent of his face being pale, but he had cleared off the sweat and vomit that had resulted from his dream.

It was just as bad as the last one a few hours ago, but for some reason he had vomited when he awoke, doing the same thing in the dream before he awakened.

This time the dream was centered on some island, with a city taking up its entirety. Humans were dead everywhere, many wearing yellow and what looked like a makeshift camp and triage center. Ones he knew were police forces for some reason were dressed in black scattered around, as they were defending the ones in yellow, killed like the many others around. When he had entered a tent marked with a red plus sign he saw something that he knew would haunt his dreams forever.

Giant monsters, like krogan, but with breath masks on, much more bulky armor, and no hump. Inside the tent it was marked immediately as a medical center. But no help from medicine was happening now.

He stared at the nearest gurney and had seen mutilated and eviscerated corpse, once Human, the Asari like features made even more apparent of the face. Eyes glazed, staring accusingly, lips moving, “Why did you delay?”

Then he could see what the monsters were doing to the Human on the gurney.

Masks around their necks they tore great gobbets of flesh from bones, and tore organs out from the rib cage. And all the while those dead glazed eyes stared.

“Why did you delay?”

“Why did you delay?”

“Why?......”

He was having a resurgence of dry heaves, leaned over the sink his body desperately tried to pump his stomach for all it had.

Having nothing he collapsed, wailing quietly, one of the Turian equivalents of crying.

He had become certain these were memories or altered visions. His analytical side saw no benefit aside from demoralization of the enemy. But he knew that was not their purpose, they were too personal, emotions flowed that he had never felt. He felt pain, loss, pure blind rage…… Sickness, shame, sadness, fear.

Hope.

‘Hope…..’ Happiness, satisfaction, joy,pride, certainty.

He stood and looked in the mirror, His talons dug into the metal sink, scraping the metal with a ear wrenching screech. He didn’t hear it. To busy revealing the emotional boost. It was like the spirits themselves were girding him, showing him the light.

A silly notion truly but one he felt nonetheless. He looked in the mirror, “Hope, happiness, satisfaction, joy, pride, certainty. They feel so alien, but…..” His father had fought in a separatist war, as a hastatim. He still remembered the screams of anguish he would hear, late at night. Duty didn’t diminish guilt.

Guilt

That was the meaning of the dream. Whoever had it was not fast enough, had delayed. Or at least felt that they were delayed. A fresh internal wail came, his beady avian eyes watering.

‘And there is the crash.’ Guilt was the meaning of the dream. Whoever it was who had these dreams, these night terrors, were strong indeed, and he both pitied and admired the person who was having them. They weren’t insane, gruesome and graphic yes, but not insane. They had maintained their mind, their very will, for a long time against such a mind breaking onslaught.

Wiping his eyes clear, and straightening his various accolades on his BDU armor, he left his quarters.

Guilt….. And Hope

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Serius knew he looked like shit, but he pulled the best salute he could, standing rimrod straight. It was like he had a new spring in his step aside from how he appeared.

Admiral Saberian was mildly surprised by this. The Captain’s health and resolve had been steadily dissolving as he had more and more of those dreams.

He would have to have him monitored now. This was a very quick change.

“Glad you could join us Captain Serius. May I ask what delayed you?” Saberian had asked conversationally.

The reaction he received worried him. The Turian looked down to the tactical table, eyes glazed over almost unnaturally after a few seconds unblinking. And he saw him mouth something he hardly caught.

Closing his eyes and bowing his head Serius breathed out, “I am still slightly sick, I- well, I‘m going to need to eat again. I am truly sorry to have-.... Postponed the meeting unduly. Please accept my apologies.” Everyone was a bit perturbed but they had been expecting the Captain to have been in worse condition so they let it slide.

“Captain Serius I’d like to introduce you to the various commanders. General Desolas Arterius here will be responsible for the taking of the Human Spaceport and capital. General Septimus Oraka will be in charge of policing the rural areas around the capital and the other cities. Colonel’s Ulphas, Ya, and Julii will be incharge of claiming the other major cities. Remember all of you, we want the planet’s infrastructure intact and for the spirits sake don’t make it a blood bath. The last thing we need is utter fanaticism from an enemy we just met, we don’t want our hastatim to be considered moot if we are forced to just murder the entire population.”

To suppress citizen militias in Hierarchy space, and insurgents in other areas, the Turian Hierarchy made use of "execution squads". The hastatim. First, "safe camps" were established in cities to incentivize surrender. Next, hastatim soldiers are deployed door-to-door; anyone who refuses to be transported to a safe camp or demonstrates hostile intent will be shot. Hastatim burial units then retrieve and cremate the bodies. Many other species balked at the brutality of it but it was basically the only way to win an insurgent war in any realistic timeframe.

But Hastatim became pointless if everyone displayed hostile intent, safe camps would be filled with the too elderly to fight or flee and the too young to understand, Gorsham was a textbook example of that with indiscriminate slaughter. If they wanted to use the world as a bargaining chip the people had to still be living. If they were all dead…..

Serius suppressed his shudder and dry heaving. He knew those monsters were now at least allies with the Humans. They wouldn’t hesitate, he knew, to retaliate when they inevitably counter attacked.

“Also I’m sure you are familiar with Captains Victus, Ilisk, and Polus.” Serius nodded at each of the officers as they saluted, returning it with military perfection. “Victus will be leading the frigate flotillas, while Ilisk and Polus will handle our flanks in this fight.

“Its a pleasure to see you again Victus. Ilisk, Polus, you as well.” Serius greeted each as he locked arms with his fellow Naval commanders.

Familiarity and a personal touch was allowed between officers in the same service, knowing who would support your fleet more intimately allowed for better coordination. Nothing against regulations of course, but it never hurt to share stories and drinks on the Citadel.

“Forward scouting yesterday has revealed the enemy has a patrol fleet in orbit with around thirty combat craft of varying classes.” Bringing up the holoprojector, everyone bar the Admiral gasped.

“By the spirits! Five kilometers… That’s impossible!” Desolas exclaimed.

“I knew they built big but how can they afford a drive core that large?” Serius gaped, hands tightening on the guard rail.

“Basic readings show the ‘super dreadnought’,” Admiral Saberian used air quotes to emphasize his own disbelief, “Has enough element zero for a standard dreadnought drive core. Not nearly large enough to be the only source of inertial dampeners obviously. It is also speculated that the ship only uses it to move faster on a tactical field, and that it makes use of the same portal device that the Terran scouting party used for FTL travel. Thankfully there is only the one.”

“Next down we have several classes of cruisers. We have dubbed the three classes as such.” Bringing up a lightly armed and armoured cruiser sized ship he continued, “Intelligence has classified this ship a light cruiser. We have no indication to what it’s armed with, or what its max speed is, although we are assuming that it was made for leading wolf pack flotillas. We have found that there are only around 5 of the ships, possibly leading the around 15 frigates.” That brought rumbles of discontent.

Turian doctrine favored overwhelming firepower, and safe secure plans. The lack of intel was a major beating on their moral.

“A bit further up we have an obviously heavily armored cruiser.” Bringing up the squat shaped behemoth, all the Army commanders immediately thought it looked like a tank. “It has a very large cruiser class core, and a variety of maneuvering engines. yes you heard right, not thrusters, but engines. Its postulated that this is either a ship of the line or artillery cruiser meant to get in the thick of it. Once again only five of these ‘destroyers’ are present.”

That brought a few sighs of relief from the Naval commanders, for the Terrans it wasn’t size that mattered, it was the lances, and it appeared that it had several of the weapons. They were happy there wasn’t more of them.

“Finally we have a more standard cruiser. Whoever designed the ship seemed to want to balance the holy trinity; guns, armor, and practicality. Small drive core, moderately armed from what can be told, and well armored. We have seen them escorting the destroyers. Its speculated by intelligence that they are either escort ships, or represent a standard class of ship. Once again only 5 of them make an appearance.”

“Finally the last cruiser is a familiar one. Its the same one that Captain Serius here encountered. It is still supported by its two frigates, the class that has been assumed to be an escort vessel. We assume it to be a more specialized combat or science vessel. We are assuming its in limited production, but we have still decided to call it a heavy cruiser.”

“Now finally we have two classes of frigates, we have the two escorting the heavy cruiser, heavy set build, powerful, but maneuverable. Be careful of these two, they can punch way above their weight. The other type seems to be lightly armored, but they have very high energy levels. So beware of them.”

Serius digested this information. It was strange that they would have such even numbers of ships. In typical doctrine, you had specialist ships of course but you also had a larger majority of general combat vessels. Unless…..

“Sir. I don’t think these ships have seen much if any combat.” Serius commented.

“What makes you think that Serius?” Victus asked with a raised hand, the Turian sign for him to continue.

“Well, the equal numbers, they have 15 frigates, 3 for each light cruiser, of which they have 5. They also have 5 destroyers and cruisers. It’s like they are subdivided into all purpose battles groups for patrols, which is just as easily handled by a frigate pack, well that or they are the system defense ships. It doesn’t seem right. Normally our patrol fleets are much more heavily biased on what they hold. I think that they are testing their designs in this fight.” Serius explained reasonably, having divided the ships into combat groups.

“It is an interesting notion, however we cannot act on this information beyond speculation. As we all know, underestimation WILL result in deaths.” The Admiral pointed out with nods from everyone else.

“Now lets go over the plan.” Bringing up a holographic map of the system, he began the briefing. “We will come into the system via FTL, after getting a standard sensor reading from the scout flotilla,”

As he said this, the mentioned ships zoomed into system, “Once they signal that the entry is still a go, we will move in by the books. Illisk, I want you on our far left with your ships. Polus the far right. Victus, direct the frigates in the center, keep them moving, and I know this will be hard on your personnel, but keep the enemies focused on your ships. I’d rather lose a few dozen, than a few hundred sailors.”

Everyone knew what that meant, “Your frigates are worth less than the rest”. Like a good Turian however Ilisk nodded, saluting, “As you order sir.”

“Once we are in position we will advance aggressively, shell formation. Dreadnoughts behind a cruiser and frigate screen. We will then enter FTL as soon as possible again to close the range gap.” Outlining the next phase the ships moved forward, warping to within 50,000 kilometers.

“That will be hard on our drive cores sir. So soon after exiting FTL, it could damage the cores. Not to mention the navigation hazard we are presented with. There will be collisions if we aren’t allowed enough time to sync up our navigation data.” Polus pointed out this time.

“I’d rather have a few engine overhauls than risk the casualties with those lances. Hopefully that is their main armament, and they will contain more mundane weaponry at a closer range.” Saberian countered as he prepared the holograms next stage.

“Once we form encirclement we will fire everything we got. Dreadnoughts are to focus fire on the enemy super dreadnought. Cruisers aim for the enemy frigates, we have to destroy our way up their ships. Since their Frigates are capable of critically damaging our cruisers in one shot.” Saberian showed the enemy fleet slowly getting destroyed.

“R&D has come up with a partial solution thankfully.” With that he introduced another Turian in the armor shell of a scientist.

“Good day Commanders. I’m Dr. Vaga. Let’s get straight to business. Now, we all know why our Kinetic Barriers exist; to stop incoming accelerated projectiles from damaging the protected object. We also know that they have a minimum size discrepancy, and speed as well. After all, it would be impractical for a shield to destroy its battery by constantly repelling all the gas from the object, or all the radiation that we get bombarded with over time.”

Everyone present nodded, with Desolas looking a bit more irritated, “Yes so what?” He demanded, wanting to get this over with.

“Well for ships, we have to make sure that gases, radiation, and tiny matter can pass through, since we have to move through so much dark matter, gases, and liquids in space, especially during FTL. Dark Matter being the primary substance in space, which as we all know is-”

Rudely interrupted Desolas growled, “We all know what Dark Matter is doctor. Please move onto the solution.”

Vaga, looking suitably annoyed growled in reply, “Alright; I suggest after leaving FTL we override our Kinetic Barriers safeties and repel all matter. We can’t be sure how taxing this will be to power systems, and how damaging it can be for the ship’s internal equipment, especially if we enter FTL with it activated as such, but my team hypothesizes that each ship’s KBs, could potentially take one, maybe if they are lucky two hits before their internal circuitry is destroyed and they have no KBs permanently. We will also have to end the battle quickly, because this close to a sun we will build up heat incredibly faster than normally fighting this close to a star.”

“Ship losses are going to be high Admiral. No getting around that. This is a major system it appears, they are going to have orbital and planetary defenses.” Victus pointed out, highlighting the planet.

“The capital city, that we’ve identified is called Lou’agn or something of that. As you can see here, we have detected some faint heat signatures leading to the mountain range to its East, these are large granite mountains, we need boots on the ground to scan the place by hand, but if they have a 5 kilometer Dreadnought, then I wouldn’t be surprised if they have some sort of super gun that can shoot into atmosphere built into the mountains.” Desolas highlighted the mountain range, making the peaks glow bright fuchsia, an irritating color similar to Humans with the color Red.

Saberian contemplated this, already having been informed by his intelligence staff.

Serius leaned forward, looking over the tactical map of the solar system, “No cover; this system lacks a suitably dense oort cloud which we can exploit to lure in any of their forces. Forget Kinetic Barriers we need some solid matter to take the brunt of their lance’s damage.”

“But what if the beam justs burns straight through the matter?” Oraka asked looking curious at this.

“My Dreadnought managed to take a hit nose on, burned through over 250 meters of reinforced bulkhead and equipment rated to stop the Destiny Ascension’s main gun. I believe a few hundred meters of solid rock will act great as a shield. Especially since it takes a long time for their guns to recharge.” Serius countered confidently.

Saberian, done contemplating the suggestion and Victus’ earlier comment regained everyone’s attention. “Anyways, once we remove their space fleet, supply convoys will begin moving in to salvage their tech, Salarian’s are going to want their hands on it, and we can always trade it back for anything we might require. Rather get something out of it instead of having a few research base's ‘self destructing’.”

It was a public secret that STG would destroy opposing research facilities that get their hands on dangerous things that can't be bargained for. A hundred years previous, the Batarians tried to build four dreadnoughts in secret, thinking they were so clever buying off the Shadow Broker and keeping it in dark space.

But the STG being STG already knew of their existence as soon as the idea was blurted out by an ambitious admiral. Long story short, as soon as the crew got on the ships they had a sudden and very catastrophic drive core overload, destroying all four dreadnoughts in a massive singularity, along with the deep space drydocks. Resulting in hundreds of billions of credits worth of material and personnel lost.

To add insult to injury, the Salarians then released all their information on the Batarian’s secret attempt to break the Treaty of Farixen, and had to pay Legal damages on top of the dreadnoughts costs. It was said the Batarian’s were so embarrassed, and their people so angry, they never even blustered once the entire session.

It is why the Turians have the saying, ‘The sweetest victory is not on the battlefield.’

So it was far better from a diplomatic standpoint to just hand back most of the tech and play dumb on the rest. Don’t want to risk their top scientists being killed over some tech that they could probably trade for after all. And who knew how far these new species would go to protect their secrets?

Saberian nodded to the ground commanders, “We’re on the clock, we have no idea how long it will take for enemy to gather their forces, but if their tech level is any indication they easily have the power to overwhelm the Hierarchy in numbers and industry. So if we are to get a decent peace deal we MUST capture that colony as fast as possible.”

The ground commanders nodded in affirmative.

“If that is all then you're all dismissed get to your assigned positions we’re moving immediately.”

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Aboard Turian Hierarchy Troop Transport

B-197

“Brother I thought you were in charge of finding that missing research vessel.” Saren said as he sat down in his small private quarters.

Thanks to being on Blackwatch, Saren and his team members got their own small private quarters. Barely a 3 by 3 meter box, but their own private box none the less.

Saren invited Desolas to sit on his only chair while Saren sat upon his bed.

“Indeed I was, but this matter is too important. Besides we have no leads to go off of the Research vessel, it’s like someone just disappeared with it.” Desolas replied conversationally as he got comfortable as much as he could on a cheaply made metal chair.

“Sorry I have nothing to drink but Blackwatch keeps us on a tight leash….. I have a feeling you came for more than a little catch up.”

Desolas nodded and activating his omni-tool he sent over an encoded data packet. “My force is hitting the largest city, but the nearby mountains have heat readings coming from them. We know they have been on the planet for a while at least, so its best to assume that they have some form of planetary defence set up.”

“I’m going to have your squad reconnoiter the area. You’ll be dropping in by atmospheric entry pods, so you’ll only have the equipment inside. Hopefully you're just going to find some mining camps. But should you find any major military installations, mark them and call in orbital strike. You should be getting a full briefing by Oraka in an hour.”

Saren nodded, and his mandibles formed a tight V, the equivalent for a smile. “I won’t let you down brother.”

“I never doubted you.” Desolas got a ping on his omni-tool. Bringing it up he sighed heavily, “Our scouts should be entering the system now.”

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Outer orbit of China 23 (Shaanxi province) solar system

“Exiting FTL in 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Now!” Commander Orinia sighed as she felt the slight force of FTL release her frame. While many didn’t feel the acceleration, for a lifer like her it was easy to detect.

“Ma’am we are detecting 50 plus more craft in system than before. Scanning now.”

Bringing up the tactical map on the upraised dias on her frigate’s bridge she frowned. “Enhance image. Don’t bother scanning they’ll just rebuff it.”

As she said that she immediately spotted the purpose of most of the new enemy craft, “Looks like 5 escort craft protecting 45 bulk freighters. Damn large ones too.” Her XO, Lieutenant Abrudas, remarked.

“Yeah. Look how they are moving away from the main battle group, they’re protecting their charges. Sensors, get any abnormal energy readings?”

“Ma’am, with all due respect, it’s all weird. All of them have abnormal radiation readings, and have massive energy spikes, but those 5 in the back are not targeting us actively if that’s what you’re asking.” Her sensors officer reported as he rapidly sifted through all the data.

“Well lets hope we surprised them enough, Comms, report to fleet, we aren’t dead yet.”

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Terran Alliance Fleet Ship designs

The Terran Species Alliance has used a variety of ship designs for both civilian and military use. Currently the Species Alliance uses several classes of each ship.

Corvettes

Ethereal Battleship MKXI

The eleventh version of the vaunted Ethereal Battleship, this vessel is used as both a dropship and light combat vessel. While unable to put up a fight against anything larger than itself, it works marvelously as a screening ship against enemy fighters and projectiles, and can take on

larger ships in sufficient numbers.

Dimensions:

Length: 100 Meters

Height: 50 Meters

Width: 50 Meters

Weaponry:

One center mounted Fusion Lance

20 Point defence lasers and autocannons

6 Broadside Plasma Cannons

Crew: Typically outfitted with a crew of 20 soldiers for Boarding actions and 15 crewmen for running the ship.

Armored in nearly a meter of Vahlenite armor plating, with a robust mass repelling field, the ship is more reliant on speed and stealth then armor

Vespid Infiltration Corvette

Frigates

Defender class Frigate
The Defender Class frigate is a multipurpose combat patrol ship and escort, equipped to counter any threat at any time. The ship’s main role, as its name suggests, is to be defense craft, both for convoys and planetary systems.

Often called Cutters, the ship is mostly used for system defense, boarding ships that need assistance or elimination. The ship is highly modifiable to be used for an assortment of tasks.

The ship is equipped with four StarRanger class dropships and a single boarding torpedo. For armament the ship is relatively well equipped to protect against the myriad of possible extraterrestrial, and more mundane threats.

Dimensions:
Length 350 Meters
Height 25 Meters
Width 50 Meters
Weaponry:
1 center fixated Fusion Lance
1 Underslung mass acceleration cannon
6 Broadside plasma cannons on each flank
Point defence lasers and Blaster Launcher defenses.

Crew: Served by a crew of 60 naval personnel and with a platoon of marines, coming out at 110 serving members.

The ship is protected by the cheap but reliable Mass effect shield to protect the hull from micrometeorites and mass cannons, with combination point defense lasers and BLs to counter enemy missiles, rockets, or boarding parties. And finally it is armored by nearly a meter of Vahlenite alien alloy in most places.

Peacekeeper class Frigate

The Peacekeeper class frigate is a well rounded combat vessel primarily used by Human and Ethereal crews. Typical tactics and missions are ground side fire support, reconnaissance, hit and run, and wolf pack flotilla engagements.

It has been given the nickname, “Spearpoint” due to its tendency to be the first craft on a scene, and its spear like look, with its pointed tip on its bow.

Dimensions:
Length 300 Meters
Height 25 Meters
Width 61 Meters
Weaponry:
1 center fixated Fusion Lance
1 Underslung mass acceleration cannon
8 Broadside plasma cannons on each flank
Point defence lasers and Blaster Launcher defenses.

Crew: Served by a crew of 40 naval personnel with two ten man teams of marines, maxing out at 60 serving members.

The ship is protected by a reliable kinetic shield to protect the hull from micrometeorites and mass cannons, with combination point defense lasers and BLs to counter enemy missiles, rockets, or boarding parties. And finally it is armored by a meter of Vahlenite alien alloy in most places.

Thunderer class Frigate

The premier Equestrian designed craft, the Thunderer class is made to be the fastest ship in the Alliance’s arsenal, capable of outrunning any other craft barring hyperspace and FTL. But it suffers in armament.

Often called the thunderbolt, it is characterized by its smooth appearance with a battering ram at the front and cylindrical hull design. This is because it is used to ram and either breach or destroy larger craft.

Made in oceans and worlds with a great amount of water like Earth and Equestria, it is often times crewed by Sectoids as well.

Dimensions:
Length 400 Meters
Height 30 Meters
Width 30 Meters
Weaponry:
1 center fixated Fusion Lance
2 Broadside plasma cannons on 90 degree intervals along it’s hull (Total of 8 cannons)
Point defence lasers and Blaster Launcher defenses.

Crew: 40 sailors with 30 Marines or combat trained personnel for boarding and landing.

The ship is protected by a rudimentary Mass effect shield to protect the hull from micrometeorites and mass cannons, but relies more on its agility to avoid enemy fire. A combination point defense lasers and BLs to counter enemy missiles, rockets, or boarding parties. And finally it is armored by a meter of Vahlenite alien alloy in most places with reinforced hull and internal structure. .

X-Com Simo Hayha class support artillery Destroyer

Thanks to the success of various wet navy military ideas, things like beyond line of sight support ships, and missile frigates. Along with new advanced fusion weaponry and target locking, the support artillery destroyer was designed.

Made to destroy kilometer plus sized craft in a single devastating hit, the ships are often lauded as “Great Killers” in reference to the fact Great Enemy capital vessels are a kilometer or two long.

Named the Simo Hayha for its “sniping” doctrine, it’s one and only goal is to kill opposing flagships. The ship has awe inspiring firepower, but that is unfortunately made up for the fact that it needs it own towing vessel for any meaningful movement, and has to dedicate all processing power and energy to firing its main cannon.

Dimensions:
Length 400 Meters
Height 30 Meters
Width 50 Meters
Weaponry:
1 center fixated super Fusion Lance

Crew: 60 Naval personnel with a 10 person squad of GUMI black ops.

The ship is entirely reliant on escort vessels to act as a screen and defence for the frigate, like any other form of artillery.

Enterprise class Cruiser
The Species Alliance’s premier space exploration and science vessel, the Enterprise embodies the Alliances desire to have the best of all worlds for its science ships. Balancing the need for science, protection, and offensive capabilities, the 800 meter cruiser is made in limited quantities.

Planning for any conceivable issues that may be presented to the ship, from peaceful first contact, to attack from hostile alien microbes, it was carefully tailored by the best shipwrights and designers in the Terran and Equis Alliances.

With room for over a thousand, it is most optimally staffed by 500 naval and science crew, while protected by a platoon of marines and a squad of X-Com operatives with 6 SpaceRangers for transportation and ferrying crew to the surface of a planet.

1 center fixated Fusion Lance
1 Underslung mass accelerator cannon
15 Broadside plasma cannons on each flank
Point defence lasers and Blaster Launcher defenses.
An advanced AI manned cyber warfare suite.
And a wing of ten VoidStorm space superiority fighters.

Crew:

The ship is protected by a strong and expensive mass effect shield, as well as Psi Operators who are employed to plague opposing ships and project a “Shield”. The vessel is further protected by over 2 meters of Vahlenite plating, and extensive point defense for missiles, rockets, or boarding parties.

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long. A lot of stuff and an emotional rut with a erratic sleeping schedule.But hey here's the next chapter.