0500 Hours: January 20, 2975
CFS S’vas Armestya
Flagship of the First Fleet, First Sovereign Group
The High-Admiral stood behind a dozen officers, a variety of displays hovering around him. The holographic avatars of the AIs stood on small pedestals, lines of code scrolling across their otherwise lifelike bodies.
“High-Admiral Valentin,” Vendetta, the SAI said. “I suggest you send some of your forces to assist in area B-6. The line there is beginning to falter.”
“The primary cannon is ready to fire.” Another AI reported, an evil smile on her holographic face.
“Bring us to bear on the largest threat then.”
The S’vas Armestya turned to face the attackers beginning to break through the line. Energy pulsed to the magnetic field generators, isolating the reaction chamber from the rest of the ship. A gram of antimatter was injected into the field, guided into the center by the massive electromagnets. Stream of molten iron touched the antimatter, annihilating on contact.
The explosion pressed against the powerful electromagnetic fields, and then was focused into a point no larger than a man’s head by the energies that kept it in check. The blast of energy rushed out of the reaction chamber, guided by the fields that were projected around the Flagship’s split bow. This weapon was a variant of the bomb-pumped laser, more commonly known as the Sword of Armestia. The beam of energy lanced straight through a Federation dreadnought, spearing through its volatile reactor. It continued into the heart of another warship, gutting it completely.
Three stars shone briefly, joining the dozens that winked in-and-out of existence.
“This…” an AI sputtered, a rare occurrence, “can’t be. Boarders! We have boarding teams!”
“Mobilize the Marines! And get me a Deep Strike Group.”
---
“Kat.” Kazimir said, “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine!” She snapped.
“Alright then.” Kazimir turned around, “Get well, Kat.”
“I will.” The girl bit back a sob as the door slid shut.
“She’ll live, Love.” Sarah reassured him, “C’mon. We still have a war to fight.”
“Another damn casualty.” Kazimir sighed, “C’mon. Let’s do what we can for her father.”
The two of them walked back to the STC, where another officer had temporarily taken Kat’s place.
“Report.”
“Repairs are almost complete. They are fitting another set of modules. An… ECM/ECCM suite and a pair of assault modules.”
“My Grandma, what big teeth you have.” Kazimir said dryly, “Have us jump as soon as we clear the shipyard.”
“Aye, sir.”
The massive blast doors in front of the Hyperion slid open to reveal the inky, star-studded blackness of space. The drives whined as they powered up, coughing small plumes of ionized lithium to push the destroyer into the Black.
The hummed with power and Kazimir's world went black.
---
Kazimir saw himself floating above Armestia, protected from the vacuum by several layers of hardened glass. He took in the whites, greens and browns of his home, the fleetyards and orbital installations that ringed the planet’s equator. He saw the burning white exhaust plumes of civilian ships, and the blood-red of military vessels. The sight took his breath away. He remembered his first command, the CFS Reynardine. He’d worked briefly in the Black Ops, but he was deemed too aggressive for reconnaissance and espionage so he was transferred to a Deep Strike Group.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Sarah said, her green eyes sparkling in the light.
“Yes it is.” Kazimir said, “And I must say, the stars match your freckles.”
“Cheesy.” She threw a playful punch at Kazimir’s shoulder.
“Want some?” Kazimir held up a block of cheese on a skewer.
“Smart-ass!”
“My brain isn’t in my buttock; therefore I am not a cockroach."
Sarah faked a frustrated growl and turned away. Kazimir laughed and poked her just below the ribs. She yelped in surprise. And then Kat’s voice broke into their moment.
“You two are so perfect!” She laughed, holding her fingers in the shape of a heart, trying to frame them.
An image file appeared in Kazimir’s inbox, and judging by the silver rings in Sarah’s eyes, hers too. It was a picture of them just a moment ago.
“Shoo! G’way!” Sarah pushed Kat out of the otherwise-empty command deck.
“Hey. It’s my shift!”
“You’re relieved, Petty Officer.” Kazimir laughed.
“Maybe you mean Pretty Officer?”
Kazimir doubled over in laughter.
“Providence help me, Kat. I will strangle you someday.”
---
Kazimir snapped abruptly from the dream as the Hyperion completed its jump. He watched the TAC display light up with contacts, mostly the angry red of hostiles or the gray of debris. He swept his hand over a formation of red polygons, selecting them as targets.
“Torpedoes armed.” Sarah said, “Launching on your mark.”
Kazimir waited a second.
“Mark.”
The guided munitions leapt from the launch tubes, tracing lines of superheated plasma against the black of space.
“Fire the main batteries on impact; give them all we’ve got.”
“Incoming battleship. Bearing one-five-zero by four-zero horizon.”
“Bring us to bear. Charge the main cannon. Fire on my mark.”
---
The more agile Hyperion dodged a salvo from the enemy battleship and fired her particle lances in a burning retort. Armor flashed into plasma, and then evaporated away from the barrage of charged particles. Atmosphere ignited, water exploded, ammunition detonated. A series of explosions rippled through the battleship’s hull as important components failed in a cascading reaction. The much larger warship slew to the side, its bow turning to face the Hyperion. The battleship’s front battery fired just as the reactor detonated.
The shells screamed towards the destroyer and slammed into her shields with the equivalent force of a fifty megaton nuclear explosion.
“Report!” Kazimir ordered.
“Breaches on multiple decks, shields are down. Multiple reports of casualties.”
“Launch a full salvo, have the engineers replace the shield capacitors ASAP.”
“Aye.”
“We’re out of the fight again?” Sarah hissed, "Love, you're slipping."
“Not yet.”
---
Lieutenant Commander Milena Reid felt the Hammer of Dawn tilt backwards as the fire-support frigate entered the stratosphere. The hover thrusters activated, negating the Hammer’s downward velocity in seconds. The warship seemed to balance on pillars of fire as it hovered above the engagement area. Fighter drones swarmed from the launch bays and point laser fire filled the skies as the frigate made short work of the Fed’s air cover.
Particle weapons were directed towards the advancing Federation army, searing entire formations out of existence. The dust-filled sky crackled with lightning even as fighters dueled for supremacy, twisting and turning in tight loops and turns. Drop pods thudded into the sand and then blossomed like flowers to reveal their cargo.
Legions of Wolf and Dire Wolf tanks rolled into the conflict, their railguns flashing with the thunder of Thor’s hammer. Marines gawked in their APCs as the Dire Wolf superheavy tanks passed, twin R-80 railguns spitting fire downrange. Reid made a predatory grin as the deck vibrated with the firing of ten Mjolnir 110 rotary accelerators, sending streams of red-hot tungsten carbide into the enemy.
She looked at the visual display screens with a morbid fascination as fireballs blossomed into the sky, sometimes accompanied by the actinic white flash of a fuel-cell detonation. Dire Wolves rolled over smaller vehicles with impunity, shrugging off what would have been fatal hits with their thick armor. It was a textbook ground battle.
---
Clarke found the residential complex that was rumored to be his sister’s new living place. It was a posh, 5-star condominium on the higher levels of the New York Block’s tallest tower. He tapped an icon beside the door and waited. The door slid open a moment later, revealing a scantily-clad woman. He felt the knot in his stomach tighten, the rumors he had heard were now starting to become more truth and less fiction.
“I have heard that Maria Clarke lives here. Is this true?” He asked.
“Of course.” The girl said in a flirtatious tone, her gaze settling on his crotch.
Clarke gulped.
“Please, go inside.”
The girl grabbed his arm and pulled him into the condominium and pushed him into a couch. She sat down beside him and called, “Maria. There’s someone here!”
Another girl, similarly dressed, walked into the room. Their eyes met and hers lit up with recognition. Clarke stood up just as his sister wrapped her arms around him.
“Arty! It’s amazing here!”
She broke the embrace and planted a kiss on the other girl’s lips, “Thank you, Ruby.”
“So what exactly happened? Why are you wearing that? Why did you stop sending messages back to us?" The questions rushed out of Arthur’s mouth, though the answers seemed to be there already.
“Well.” Maria licked her lips, “The Master found me.”
Poll
