"Sir, we are approaching the Earth-Luna system's gravitational sphere of influence." Karl reported.
"We have matched our acceleration with the rest of the fleet, decelerating as we approach Luna." This was Eliott's robotic voice.
"Any sign of Federation military?" I asked.
"No sir." Karl answered. "Not yet, anyway."
I was watching the sensors console with all my attention. In case we encountered a problem, we would have to change the whole plan, or perhaps abort the mission.
"Sir, four eyes won't see something two eyes can't." Karl said. "Please relax a little, it is my duty to watch this screen, not yours."
"Right..." I said and walked away from Karl's console. Yet, I was feeling very nervous.
"Sir, cruiser Ural is reporting." Ensign Aziz said. "They say that the Joint Command has given the final GO for operation. Colonel Sergey has the command of the fleet during the mission."
"Acknowledged." I said. Ensign Aziz sent a message to Ural that we confirmed the orders.
Everything was going smoothly, except my blood pressure. My heart was going to rip my chest apart. I have been trained for this, and I have been in an actual space battle before. If that was true... why was I so nervous?
Maybe having a near-death experience during my previous battle had not have a good impact on me. And maybe, just maybe, being nervous WAS the correct response to the situation.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. Mei was there.
"Are you okay?" she whispered.
"Yes... No... I don't know." I said.
"Commander, you faced an enemy three times our size and won, this one can't be that bad either." she said.
"Yeah, but we almost died." I said. "What if Dave couldn't rotate the ship around in time, before the missile exploded next to our ship? We would all be floating in the deadly vacuum of space."
"Fearing death won't help." she said. "Silence your emotions. Let your experience and training talk."
Mei walked away to the back side of the bridge, to a library computer. She was reading about the technical details of the known navy vessels of the Federation. I walked over there to read with her. Perhaps reading could help me relax a bit, and furthermore, I could learn more about our enemy.
- - - - -
"Sir, we are now dangerously close to the Earth-Luna system." Eliott said. "No matter what electronic warfare technique we use, they can now identify us easily using optical telescopes."
"Anything on the scanners?" Mei asked.
"No, sir. Seems like the Alliance was right after all... We are in the clear." Karl said.
"Sir, Ural wants us to form a defensive screen around the transports as the fleet moves to enter Luna's orbit." Aziz said.
"Tell that we have acknowledged the order." I said.
"We came this far with no trouble, but we won't be able to stay hidden for long as we approach Luna. The Federation has observation posts around." Katyusha stated her worries.
"So stay on alert." Mei said.
We travelled in silence for about two hours.
- - - - -
I started walking around the bridge nervously.
"Any threats, Lieutenant?" I asked.
"No, sir. Just like when you asked me two minutes ago." Karl said. "It is silent."
"Yeah." I said. "And this is the problem. I am sure the Federation would have detected our approach by now."
"Maybe the Alliance is keeping them busy somewhere else." Dave said.
"Did the Alliance declare the war yet?" I asked.
"They should have declared like a few hours ago." Mei said. "But I am not sure if there is any conflict going on at the moment. We aren't getting updated on the news."
"Sir, we are entering final deceleration phase to enter Luna's equatorial orbit. The Republic ships are entering a shield formation around transport ships." Eliott said.
The 'shield formation' was inspired by the 20th century aircraft carrier fleets. The ship(s) under protection would stay in the middle of a fleet of warships travelling along. Except, in our case, the formation was three dimensional instead of two.
Suddenly, alarms started wailing.
"Sir, missile incom- Pardon me, a missile salvo is incoming!" Karl said.
"ALCON 1!" I ordered. The lights in the bridge dimmed, the console screens got brighter.
Interestingly enough, this time, seatbelts were automatically activated for the sitting crew members. I did not remember seeing this feature during the previous engagement.
The commanding officers, on the other hand, didn't have seats in the first place. The reason was that they did not need to touch any controls that required physical presicion, and roaming around freely allowed them to check on any duty station console, which was an advantage for situational awareness.
"Remain in formation, stand-by to launch a flak missile barrage." I ordered.
"Aye, sir!" Katyusha said.
"Lieutenant, can you detect the enemy launch site?" I asked.
"I'm on it, sir!" he said.
"How much time do we have?" I asked.
"It will be a few minutes before the enemy missile salvo reaches us." Katyusha said.
"Sir, cruiser Ural asks us to increase our deceleration rate." Ensign Aziz said.
"Acknowledged!" I said. "Mr. Eliott, increase main engine throttle to decelerate faster. Make sure the transports can keep up with our deceleration rate."
"Roger." the robotic voice replied.
Another set of alarms suddenly went off.
"Sir, four Federation ships in close formation! Distance, 28 kilometers!" Karl shouted.
"How did they come so close without being detected!?" Mei was in panic.
"They were apparently hiding in a very low Lunar orbit almost skimming the Lunar surface." Karl said.
"Sir, we are getting laser fire from Lunar surface." Katyusha said. "They are not doing much from this distance, but we can't get any closer!"
"We flew into a trap!" I said. "What do we know about the Federation vessels?"
"Sir, one of the ships is the Federal flagship, the White Eagle!" Karl said.
"**** me." said Sungho.
"Contact Ural." I said to Ensign Aziz.
"On line, sir!" Aziz said.
"Colonel, we can't stand against the enemy fleet. We have to break off and abort the mission." I said. I didn't get a reply for a while.
"Alright, you may be right." said Colonel Sergey. "But if we fail this mission, we will jeopardise the whole war plan. We need those regiments on the ground!"
"Right..." I said. "We will look for an alternative landing plan." He was right... If we failed, that could be the last battle of the Republic.
"Missile salvo coming in!" Karl said.
"Firing flak missiles!" Katyusha said.
Lodos and the other Republic warships started firing to hunt down the missile salvo before it came closer to the fleet.
"Two missiles destroyed, five still on the way!" Katyusha said.
"One more down!" Sungho reported.
"BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Karl yelled.
Four missiles managed to make it past our defensive screen. There was no way the fleet could avoid it anymore.
I could barely hear anything because of all the alarms activating randomly.
Everyone suddenly stopped reporting. Some crew members were trying to cover their heads, some were tightly holding on to their seatbelts. Mei had thrown herself to an empty corner of the bridge. Everyone was expecting an explosion, and most probably their immediate death. That tense moment lasted only for a few seconds.
"We are not hit!" Katyusha reported.
Lieutenant Karl opened his eyes to check the sensors.
"Sir, cruiser Ural is hit... and destroyed. Transport Bronze is also hit and severly damaged. One enemy missile ran out of delta-v, did not hit anything and flew past the fleet." he reported.
"Sir, the White Eagle and the accompanying fleet started shooting projectiles towards us!" Katyusha said.
"Break off from the shield formation." I ordered. "Mr. Sungho, deploy our drone fleet!"