by Z H Brown
~Don’t worry, there are more weapons onboard; you won't have to face the enemy with ‘just some pincers.'~
More chattering from Critter, who seemed mollified.
~Sergeant Tread, the Emperor has assigned you a squadron of robotic attack craft, to be controlled by you via a direct link.~ New images appeared, this time of a half-dozen fighters, streaking silently through space. The ships were shaped like an elongated triangular pyramid, lacking any kind of obvious cockpit. They had a fin on top of the craft, and a pair of two longer, but still short, wings. The display continued as the fighters let loose a barrage of purple-colored beams from their nose weapons, the energy flying out into empty space.
~This is the Sanc Robotics Autonomous Attack Drone, and according to your tech specs, you should be able to control a dozen of these.~
“I should be up to the task, though I admit I’ve never had the opportunity to put my neural remote control skills to the test in such a way.”
~Thankfully, you shall have time to practice before your skills are tested in battle. Now, Sergeant Alvara, the Emperor has a special task for you. We have modified the Throneship’s main weapon, the Throne Lancer, so that it can be targeted and fired with this:~ She projected an image of a device that resembled an enlarged sniper rifle, minus the barrel. ~With this unique interface, you will be able to utilize your impressive sniper skills to turn the entire Throneship into your weapon.~
Alvara opened her mouth to reply, but the words would not come out. She closed it and tried again. “I am honored that you have entrusted this incredible ship’s weapon to me. I shall not let you down, Your Majesty.”
~Last but not least, your task, Captain Dormus. The Emperor has decided to give you command of Attack Group Lightning, which is the fleet assigned to protect and support the Throneship.~
Ansaria was stunned. Truthfully, she had been expecting to be given command of her own ship, as it was unlikely that the Emperor had a massive sword lying around that she could use against the beast, but this? This was too much.
“Your Highness, I am overwhelmed by this appointment, but I fear you may have overestimated me. I was only recently promoted to captain, and I have zero experience leading a fleet, let alone one in battle….are you certain this is what you want me to do?” Xandarius smiled at Ansaria’s objection. “Your uncertainty is of course expected, captain. Indeed, if you had accepted the post with anything less than uncertainty, I would feel that perhaps you were overestimating your abilities. However, given your record, as well as your recent achievements, I am confident that you will be able to command Lightning Force admirably, as well as inspire its crews to fight at their utmost level. And, as with Corporal Krunkle, you shall not be doing this alone; each ship’s captain has at least a decade of experience, and I have personally assigned Admiral Minos to aid and advise you.”
Ansaria, her stomach still a knot of doubt, swallowed what was left of her argument. “If you believe that this is how I can best defend the Empire, sire, then I shall not disappoint you.”
“Excellent. Epsilon, show them where they will be stationed.”
The majordomo projected a 2D map of the solar system, with the star at the bottom and the four worlds in their relative positions above it.
~Sergeant Tread, you and Corporal Critter shall be posted here, with Attack Group Typhoon,~ The larger gas giant began to blink. ~Corporal Krunkle, your ship will be part of Attack Group Inferno, positioned here,~ the rocky world closest to the large gas giant began to blink. ~Captain Dormus, you and Sergeant Alvara shall be stationed here, with the Throneship and AG Lightning.~ The rocky world closest to the star began to blink, which was where the capital ship was currently located. The image faded and Xandarius addressed the troopers.
“I have received word that the Imperium’s forces should be joining us sometime in the next few days. Tomorrow, you shall all begin training for your roles in the coming battle. If there are no questions, you are all dismissed.”
After a night of fitful sleep and a meal that she could hardly taste, Ansaria led her squad, minus Alvara to the teleport chamber to be sent to their designated locations. The Gorgonian was remaining aboard the Throneship to familiarize herself with vessel’s primary weapon interface. One by one, her squad mates were teleported to their posts, until finally only Ansaria remained.
When the blinding light of the instantaneous transport died down, she found herself standing on the bridge of an Imperial warship, surrounded by crew members and face-to-face with Admiral Minos himself. Ansaria had read up on the decorated officer; a Cretean veteran that had fought against the Imperium his entire career, now taking orders from a one-shot wonder. The admiral was a thickly built bipedal bovine with scruffy fur that was a rich brown; he and Ansaria were nearly the same height, but his long, ebony horns protruded a foot and a half above his head.
Upon seeing the new arrival, the admiral shook his mane and snorted. Ansaria raised her hand to salute, and braced herself for the forthcoming tirade about ‘special appointments’ and ‘Emperor’s pet’. Instead, the admiral returned the salute, before breaking out in a wide grin.
“Captain Dormus,” Minos’ voice was deep and rumbling. “Welcome aboard the Stormfront. I would just like to say what an honor it is to have a hero of the Empire, and one so heavily favored by His Excellency on board.”
Ansaria was so taken aback by the warm welcome that she didn’t realize she was still saluting after the admiral had dropped his own hand. She quickly lowered her arm and composed herself.
“Thank you, admiral. I would just like to say that, despite this being my first time commanding a battle group, or indeed a real warship, I shall do so to the best of my abilities.”
Minos smiled, appearing to sense her discomfort. “Just remember, captain, you only need to worry about coordinating the attack force if the creature gets through the rest of our defenses, and even if it does, I’ll be here to advise you the whole way.”
Ansaria felt some of the tension she had been carrying melt away, and she returned the smile. “I’ll keep that in mind, admiral. So, where do we start?”
Admiral Minos gestured and the two walked over to the command console. The bridge was arrayed with the commander located above the rest of the crew, with the command staff working in a half circle array below them. A viewscreen displayed the star-filled void, and as Ansaria looked, another ship mutely glided by.
“As I said, this is the Stormfront, a Conqueror-class warship. It is equipped with one hundred and twenty plasma cannons, sixty short-range and point defense laser emitters, and thirty missile ports, with four different types of ordinance, for a total of twelve-hundred explosives. The ship has a standard defensive shield projector, and a complement of sixteen Dragon Fangs and eight Dragon Claw fighters, though those have all been reassigned to AG Typhoon.”
Ansaria nodded, impressed with the warship and its weapons. She examined the command console, finding it to be relatively simple.
“This console will show you the readout on the ship’s damage, shield strength, weapons, speed and bearing. Each of these is also handled by one of the crew members stationed on the bridge. In battle, you will be able to see everything they see, and relay orders as necessary.”
After a little in-depth look at each readout, Ansaria asked Minos to tell her about the rest of Attack Group Lightning.
“There are four other Conqueror-class ships, which along with the Stormfront makes five total. We also have four Annihilator-class destroyers, three Monolith destroyers and two Blood Wolfs; most of those are part of Shield Fleet back home. Cruiser-wise, we have a dozen Indigo-class vessels, six Sphere-class, and four ships of the Firestorm-class. Rounding it all out, we have eight Lightning-class, five Firewall-class and three Facet-class frigates, with a total of fifty-two ships in Attack Group Lightning.”
Over fifty ships under her command; Ansaria could hardly believe it. She spared a glance out the viewscreen and saw one of the Monolith ships Minos ha
d mentioned: a long, dark craft, all straight lines and edges. Even from this distance, Ansaria could see the weapons bristling along the ship, the only thing breaking up its uniformity.
Minos seemed to read her mind. “Don’t let the number daunt you; in my first command I had to coordinate twenty-five ships in a heated battle with the Imperium. Since then, I’ve commanded fleets more than twice this size. With the two of us working together, the Empire is sure to be victorious.”
Ansaria smiled, despite the tension she was still carrying. “With confidence like that, admiral, how can we lose?”
Ansaria returned to the Throneship hours later. The admiral had gone over the technical details of her fleet’s capabilities to the minutest detail. After that, he had quizzed Ansaria on everything she had learned, and while she was still getting everything straight, she had gotten most of the answers right. Minos had been impressed by her recall, and had told her that she would be ready to coordinate a mock maneuver within a couple days.
Ansaria traced the corridors back to her quarters. The day had been exhausting, but satisfying. She was starting to feel like she would be able to contribute to the coming battle, provided she didn’t freeze up or fall to pieces when it counted.
When she reached her room, looking forward to collapsing in her cot, she found the rest of her squad already inside, all looking just as tired as her, but equally excited as well.
Alvara told her about getting to handle the actual device she would be using. “Tantius (you know, the cyborg Mandorian from the bridge?) filled me in on the Throneship’s weapon specs and I got to do some virtual training; the power of this ship, Sari…just wait till you see it. The whole time he seemed put out about something, though.”
Next, Tread told her about his assignment to Attack Group Typhoon. He informed her about the huge number of ships stationed there, with fighters and single attack craft of a wide variety. He regaled her with descriptions of attack runs consisting of hundreds of ships attacking targets with dummy and live rounds before finally getting around to his own task.
“Currently, I can optimally control five craft at once. However, the technicians assure me that once I get the hang of controlling more ships over time, the learning will be accumulative; meaning I’ll improve faster as I learn to handle more drones at once.”
Slog told her all about his personal ship. “While I’m in the gunner’s seat, the ship’s pilot is instructed to give me the best possible targeting solution, which means that I’m effectively in control of the entire ship. And unlike Sergeant Slithers, here, I actually got to fire my main weapon. Honestly, they might as well send everyone else home; I don’t see how anything can survive a direct hit from my ship! Oh, and the best part? The captain of the ship is a fellow Crag!”
Finally, Critter excitedly told her about his new mech suit. The suit was still undergoing diagnostics and weapon fittings, so Critter hadn’t been able to join Tread in Typhoon fleet. Instead, he had been given a firsthand look at the machine before starting virtual training, which he was apparently a natural at.
“Who knows, Critter?” said Ansaria. “The Empire always needs mech pilots; maybe once we’re done you can transfer and become the star of the mobile armor division.”
Critter responded jovially, which got a laugh out of everyone.
“I suppose you’re right: it is bad luck to split up a winning team.”
The next few days passed quickly despite the apprehension hanging over the Imperial soldiers. While Ansaria and her squad were all excelling at their training, everyone, no matter their position, rank, or posting, was showing signs of nervousness as the days counted down to the arrival. While Tread worked to increase the number of drones he could control, Alvara continued to train with the virtual systems. Critter, meanwhile, was finally cleared to pilot his new mech, and enjoyed the actual experience even more than the simulated training.
It was on a day when Ansaria was leading a fleet movement exercise that the forces of the Golden Imperium of Infinite Starlight arrived. The pill-shaped flagship of the Golden Emperor suddenly appeared in a burst of golden light. As soon as it appeared in real-space, a hundred more explosions of gold, yellow and orange erupted around the mighty vessel. Ansaria had seen Imperium ships before; as part of basic training, she had received a thorough course on the Imperium and its soldiers, ships and weapons. She had seen models, blue-prints, 3D cross sections, and footage from battles with the Empire.
It was one thing to see an armada of enemy ships in a classroom; it was quite another to see them suddenly arrive off the bow of your ship.
Some of the larger vessels had a trio of horns, stacked one above the other, protruding from the front of the ship. Ansaria had seen footage of the ships firing streams of energy from each tip. Others had a pair of tusks on the front of their ships, which were capable of firing concentrated beams of energy. Squat, rounded ships with a pair of large, claw-like features could fire gouts of burning plasma.
Her bridge crew informed Ansaria that many more vessels had appeared in the system, and all of them moving to take up positions near the Imperial forces. The crew looked to Ansaria and Minos with uncertainty plain on their faces.
After a moment, Ansaria asked: “Have we received any word from His Majesty?”
“No, ma’am; no word,” replied an arthropod crew member with a red and black carapace and a large, wicked looking stinger.
“In that case, we continue the exercise as planned,” said Ansaria coolly and confidently. The arthropod, reassured by her superior's demeanor, moved double time to get the operation back underway.
The next morning, Ansaria and the others received notification that they were to meet in one of the war rooms with Xandarius and a few others to go over the battle strategy. They had a quick meal in the mess before grabbing a lift to the designated location.
When the squad arrived, they found the emperor, sitting and studying a projection of the system, with Imperial and Imperium forces showing up as white and yellow dots, respectively. To his left stood Epsilon and Colonel Fornost, while to his right stood a line of high-ranking officials. Amongst them was Admiral Minos, who nodded slightly at Ansaria as they approached.
“Thank you for joining us, Oasis Squad,” said Xandarius. Ansaria hadn’t spoken to the Emperor directly since he had given them all their assignments. He looked and sounded more tired than Ansaria had ever seen him be before. “Now that the Imperium forces are here, I feel it is prudent to inform you about our current battle plan. First, introductions: some of you have met, some of you haven’t, but before we begin, this is Admiral Lanta, commander of Attack Group Meteor.” Lanta was a towering, flora creature, with a large, blood-red bloom where another biped’s head would be, and with smaller, similarly colored flowers dotting her body. Her rank badge and medals were displayed on a sash of Imperial gray that crossed her body.
Xandarius continued. “This is Admiral Proteus, head of Typhoon group.” Ansaria would have bet a year's pay that Proteus was part of the same Replanoid line as Tread. His main difference was a slightly more ornate armor as befitting his rank, and a black visor in place of Tread’s blue-lit eyes. Ansaria could also see that the admiral only had one hand, the other replaced with a weapon that looked exceedingly similar to Tread’s plasma cannon.
Ansaria saw Proteus and Tread exchange a small nod before Xandarius introduced the next officer. “Admiral Venrius is in charge of Inferno fleet.” Venrius was a Xenlongian, older looking than Fornost’s son had been, with a sneer to his lip that Ansaria did not like. His eyes swept over the squad with a look of less respect than Ansaria and the others had received lately, and his gaze lingered on Ansaria before returning to Xandarius.
“I’m sure your captain has told you all about Admiral Minos of Attack Group Lightning,” Minos looked over Ansaria’s comrades with a far more approving eye than Venrius had.
“And last but not least, we have Supreme Admiral Eve’Rest, leader of Sword Fleet, and the officer w
ho will be coordinating the attack groups.” The second-highest ranking individual in the room towered over everyone else, save Xandarius. He would have been eye-to-eye with the sitting Emperor…that is, if he had had eyes. Eve’Rest was a Moleg, a large, hulking creature of rock, bound together by an energy field of conscious thought. The Supreme Admiral had a flat, misshapen head, with huge fists of stone.
With the introductions out of the way, Ansaria and her squad saluted smartly. The admirals returned the gesture, before everyone turned their attention back to Xandarius.
“After conferring with my….counterpart, we have come up with a battle plan that we believe will allow us to destroy the creature with overwhelming firepower.” As Xandarius spoke, the projection that showed the combined forces throughout the system was replaced by a different one. It still showed all of the allied forces, only now they were arrayed in different patterns and groupings around the planets. “As you all know, we have divided our forces into four Attack Groups, based around each planetary body. The Imperium has split its forces, only they have insisted on establishing another defensive line here,” at Xandarius’ words, a thick line of yellow dots appeared between the outer two and inner two planets. “The Golden One will be leading his forces from this position, which he believes will be enough to finish off creature, if it does get that far.
“The command structure for the battle will be thusly: each admiral will be responsible for getting their battlefleets into position. Once all forces confirm they are in place, the admiral will inform Supreme Admiral Eve’Rest. The Imperium leaders will do likewise with their ships, and also inform the Supreme Admiral when they are ready. Once both groups report in, Admiral Eve’Rest will signal the attack.
“Our battle plan is simple: the Star Eater is projected to arrive at the far edge of the system, just outside of the reach of the local sun’s gravity. Once it arrives, it will immediately make for the star to feed. Attack Group Meteor will be the first line of defense; once the target is in range, Meteor will unleash a concentrated barrage of all weapons. Between our forces and the Imperium, which has designated their group ‘Scimitar,’ nearly two hundred ships of varying classes will be firing on a single target. If the beast survives that assault, its state will give us a clue as to how our weapons affect it, and we will adapt our strategy as necessary.”