"Well, this is certainly quite the predicament." Hex stated as he looked at the war moon, which was turning to face the I.S.S. Juggernaut.
Roi gritted his teeth as he saw the celestial body turned weapon, making its way toward his flagship. Roi had studied about them in his time in the Fleet Academy, as they were used by the Infinite Empire during the first stages of the Great Infinite War. Still, they were so costly to make that only three were ever made, and when the Terrestrial Empire destroyed them, none were built anymore, as it became more cost-efficient to just build more standard ships, then, why was one here? Did they wander into the territory of the Infinite Empire? Roi shook his head, he now had to get out of this situation and think of the answers to his questions later.
Roi was brought down back to the present by a message of alert from the A.I. assistant of the ship.
"Sir, we are detecting signals of a massive ship on a direct course toward our vessel." The robotic voice stated. Roi and everyone else in the bridge stared blankly at the monitor from where the voice came from.
"Oh, really? How were you able to tell?" Roi asked as he looked up at the War Moon.
"I'm also detecting large amounts of energy being concentrated in the frontal cannon." The assistant continued. Roi widened his eyes at the announcement and looked at the moon. The cannon it had was so giant that he could see the light of the energy being concentrated in a single place.
"Set the shields at maximum capacity!" Roi quickly ordered. Sweat was already dropping from his forehead.
As the officers finished raising the shields to their maximum capacity, the War Moon shot its laser lance at the Juggernaut. The shields managed to resist the attack, but around the ship, its effects were felt as the ship shook violently. In the bridge, Roi fell back against his chair as his feet were unable to keep him standing. Hex didn't have much trouble remaining standing, a little tremor was not going to throw him off his feet. Hex's expression had become stoic. Hex looked up at the War Moon and narrowed his eyes, this was not going to be a quick victory.
In the cafetería, Vlad looked up at the blinking lights, whatever was happening, one thing was for sure, it could not be good. Eleini, Natlee, Ahlex and Zavis looked around, just like everyone else, they were confused as to what was happening.
"An earthquake in space?" Zavis asked as he looked down at his food which had spilt out of its plate.
"No, we got hit by something." Ahlex retorted.
"Could it have been a meteorite?" Natlee asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"That seems unlikely, our point-defence systems would have shot it before it could get anywhere near the ship," Eleini replied.
"Whatever it was, it had to pack a great amount of force to make this ship shake like this," Ahlex replied as he frowned.
Back on the bridge, Roi was now back on his feet as he glared at the War Moon. Roi turned around to look at the officers.
"Any luck contacting that thing?" Roi asked, if he could, he would not engage the War Moon directly in battle.
"Negative sir, they are not responding." An officer who had a set of headphones replied.
"Admiral!" A female officer exclaimed, causing Roi to turn to her. "The scan of the moon has been complete, there are no lifeforms on board."
Roi gave a big sigh before rubbing his forehead. Roi then turned to the War Moon again. "Great, just what I needed," Roi muttered. "A Rogue Defence System?" Roi thought as he placed a hand in his chin. "This is why we restricted A.I. after the X.T. uprising." The X.T. uprising, the largest machine rebellion in the recorded history of the galaxy, and which left deep wounds that are yet to heal in the consciousness of the people.
"Sir! We are detecting incoming missiles and kinetic projectiles!" An officer shouted. "They are coming from the moon!"
"Activate the point-defence system and the flak artillery!" Roi ordered as he looked at the monitor where he saw the signal of thousands of projectiles coming toward his ship.
The flak artillery in the ship shot its own projectile to interfere with the missiles and kinetic rockets, while the other point-defence shot their lasers, still, despite being able to shoot down a lot of the shots, many were able to hit the ship. The shields, although no longer at full capacity as energy had to be diverted for the defence systems, were still able to protect the vessel.
"While its weapon is recharging!" Roi shouted. "Shoot the Tachyon Lance!"
"Yes, sir!" The officers replied.
The shields of the Juggernaut were lowered, as they could interfere with their weapon. At the front of the ship, there was a massive laser cannon, the Tachyon Lance, a still-experimental weapon that shoots a tachyon beam of intense power, which can cause a great deal of damage to armour and hull.
"Tachyon Lance, ready!" Another female officer shouted.
"Fire!"
The moment the order was given, the beam was shot, and when it reached the moon, a massive explosión happened. Debris from the moon was fired into the void of space at incredible speeds, and the flak artillery prevented them from hitting the ship while its shields were lowered. As the dust from the explosión settled, Roi widened his eyes as he saw that they had only been able to create a relatively giant crater on the moon. However, it didn't seem to have caused any detrimental damage to it, just another stripe for the tiger. Roi clicked his tongue.
"Of course, that wasn't enough…" Roi muttered under his breath.
Hex walked to Roi and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Is it possible for us to get out of here?" Hex asked. "Not even the Tachyon Lance was able to destroy it." The Tachyon Lance, a weapon meant to strike fear on the heart of the enemies of the Empire, yet it was unable to destroy that War Moon, if it was possible, maybe escaping was the best thing to do.
"Impossible," Roi stated. "We need the shields to be at their fullest capacity to resist the moon's beam. If we divert power to the thrusters, we will be vulnerable, and I doubt this ship will be able to move fast enough to reach the hyperlane point before that moon has finished recharging."
"Then, there is only one thing to do." Hex said as he looked toward the moon.
"Indeed," Roi replied as he narrowed his eyes. "For the glory of Terra, we will bring down that moon!"
"Easier said than done, though." Hex replied as he brought a hand to his chin.
"You are right about that since its armour and hull is literally the surface of a moon, it will be difficult to destroy," Roi replied. He closed his eyes, trying to think about what would be the best course of action in this situation.
"Well… If we can't destroy it from the outside, why not try from the inside?" Hex asked thoughtfully.
"I doubt there is a way for us to enter," Roi replied, still with his eyes shut.
"But, the generator is the heart of any ship, right?" Hex asked. "If we can take that out… There has to be a way to access it, right?"
"Hmmm…" Roi opened his eyes. "The cannon…" Roi said, causing Hex to turn to him. "Yes, it may work, though it would be a risky gamble. If we wait for that cannon to charge up, and we cause enough damage to it, it will explode when it tries to fire it. If the explosion is big enough, then it may damage the reactor, no, it will." Roi finished his explanation and then turned to his officers. "Sound the battle alarm!" Roi shouted.
"Yes, sir!" The officers replied. One of them pushed a button, and all over the ship, the sound of an alarm was played. Roi walked to the monitor to talk through the comms.
"This is the Admiral speaking, we are under attack! I repeat we are under attack! This is not a drill! All officers to your position. Thunder Armada, be ready for deployment! All strikecraft get ready too!"
All over the ship, the reaction was immediate, as all soldiers ran to their positions, abandoning everything they were doing before. Eleini stood up from her seat. "Come on, let´s see what we can do, we are training to be elites after all." She stated as she looked at her comrades.
"Hell, yes!" Natlee said as she stood up while raising her fist. "Time to kick some Xenos' ass!"
"We don't even know if they are aliens," Zavis said as he stood and looked at Natlee while sweatdropping.
"Humans are not supposed to fight each other," Ahlex stated.
"Whatever it is, we must fight it, for Terra," Eleini said.
The rest of them smiled and nodded at her.
"That's the spirit." The group of four turned their heads to look at Vlad who was walking toward them. They immediately lined up in front of him while saluting.
"Lieutenant!" They said while raising their hands.
"Looks like your first real mission is going to be a space battle. While dogfighting is not something the elite squadrons usually do, as they are more reserved for ground operations, it is still a skill you must possess. I hope you have not been slacking off on your piloting training simulations." Vlad said as he eyed the four of them.
"Of course not!" Natlee said as she smirked.
"Slacking is not in my vocabulary, sir," Ahlex replied stoically.
"You can count on us, sir," Eleini reassured her commanding officer.
"R-Right." Zavis said after Eleini.
"Very well, time to put those abilities to the test, you will be following me all the time, if you can, that is," Vlad said as a small smirk formed on his face.
"Are you challenging us, sir?" Natlee asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"Who knows," Vlad replied. "Come with me."
"Yes, sir!" The replied before following Vlad.
Back on the bridge, an officer turned to look at Roi.
"Sir, it is firing up its cannon again!"
Roi immediately turned to look at the War Moon, and when he did, he saw the flash of light coming from the cannon and then he felt as the ship shook violently once again.
When the tremor passed, Roi turned to look at Hex. "I need you out there too," Roi asked/ordered his friend.
Hex nodded at Roi's request. "Very well, you can count on me." Hex saluted quickly and then turned out to walk towards the elevator. On the hangar, the strikecraft pilots ran toward their assigned vessel, while the many different officers of the various ships inside the Juggernaut were getting ready for deployment. Three destroyers, eight frigates and ten corvettes were all deployed out of the hangar and positioned themselves around the ship. The horde of thousands of strikecraft was deployed too, getting into position at the front of the ships' formation.
"I want the four battle frigates at the front of the ship formation, I.S.S. Achilles and I.S.S. Heracles on the left while the I.S.S. Aslaug and I.S.S. Robin is on the right. The destroyers will be positioned at the back of them, I.S.S. Alexander to the right and I.S.S. Leonidas to the left, and I want the I.S.S. Eisenhower at the top. The transport frigates position yourselves behind the formation!" Roi shouted through his communicator to all the units of his fleet. "Corvettes, you will aid the strikecraft in the assault too, our objective the enemy cannon! Strikecraft, 10 heights, maximize the amount of strikecraft on the field!"
"Yes, sir!" All officers and pilots replied.
Roi looked at the hologram monitor in front of him where he could see how his forces were moving in to attack formation.
"Fighters and corvettes you will open up the way for the multiroles and bombers, destroy any A.A. facility near the cannon."
"Understood sir, leader red, reporting!" One of the fighter pilots reported.
"Leader yellow, reporting!"
"Leader blue, reporting!"
"Leader purple, reporting!"
The strikecraft pilots all quickly reported to Roi, and soon everyone had reported, the battle was about to begin.
"Captain Hex, reporting." Hex stated as he moved into the formation with the other multiroles. As Hex checked that everything was alright for one last time he received a communication.
"So, how are you feeling?" Vlad's voice spoke from the speaker.
"I've certainly been in much better situations." Hex remarked.
"We all have pal, I hope you still know how to fly." Vlad retorted.
"I am fairly certain I can still do it better than you." Hex stated as he continued to check around the controls.
Vlad rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Times have changed, I can fly much better than before."
"If you can even call that flying." Hex replied. "I think a more accurate description would be you 'avoided crashing'"
"Very funny." As Vlad said that, he passed right next to Hex with his fighter while four other fighters flew behind him.
"So you brought them too?" Hex asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"They will never progress if they don't start getting some real experience," Vlad stated.
"But to send them into this battlefield." Hex said while muttering.
"Come on, Captain! Have a little faith in our abilities." Natlee said through the communicator, causing Hex to raise an eyebrow again.
"You should know to be more respectful when addressing your seniors, corporal," Vlad said through the communicator.
"Oh, s-sorry, lieutenant, captain," Natlee replied as she looked down for a moment.
"Don't worry about that, right now you should worry more about surviving, then Vlad can punish you." Hex said, causing Natlee to look dejected.
"Anyway, I can't pamper them, this is the military, but still, I wouldn't have sent them here if I didn't believe they could do it," Vlad explained to his friend.
"I guess I am about to see if that is true then." Hex replied.
"Although…" Zavis started speaking. "What even are we fighting?" Zavis had his eyes widened as he looked at the moon with the enormous cannon in front of him.
"A War Moon, a superweapon the Infinite Empire used during the Great Infinite War." Hex replied.
"So, we are fighting the Infinites?" Ahlex asked.
"It's still unknown, as the moon is unmanned, and it is not like the Infinites to use A.I. to do the work for them." Hex stated.
"A.I. pilots? And here I thought the galaxy would be wary of them after the X.T. uprising." Ahlex stated.
"Well, we don't even know if we are in our own galaxy anymore." Hex thought. It was just a theory, so there was no need to alarm the others, yet.
"We may not be like you or the lieutenant, captain, or the other veterans in here," Eleini said, bring Hex back to the real world. "But that is because we mostly lack experience, isn't it? And well, there is no other way to gather experience but on the battlefield."
"That is true then, but you will only be able to use the experience if you survive the battle." Hex retorted.
"Of course," Eleini said as she smiled. "We will survive, isn't that right?"
"We will!" Natlee exclaimed as she got out of her sad state.
"Yes, sir," Ahlex stated.
"Right!" Zavis agreed too.
Hex didn't reply at that, after all, just how many times had he heard those words only for… Hex shook his head, right now it was not the time, he had to centre in the future, that is what he thought as he centres his eyes on the massive battleship in front of him.
"All forces are in their position." One of the officers in the bridge of the Juggernaut stated.
"Very well, all attack forces move to the flying wedge formation and initiate the assault!" Roi ordered.
"Yes, sir!"
The strikecraft and corvettes moved to a V-shaped formation, with the fast fighters at the front so they could break through the enemy fire while protecting the multiroles who in turn protected the bombers.
The War Moon initiated its defence protocols, from its surface, several cannons and missile launchers emerged and unleashed a barrage of shells against the incoming strikecraft. The fighters tried to manoeuvre around the projectiles, but the firepower that the War Moon possessed was so much it was almost like if they were trying to dodge water droplets on a rainy day.
"At this pace, they will be obliterated," Roi said as he looked at the monitor where more and more signals of the strikecraft were lost each second. "Strikecraft! Open a window between you! Destroyers and frigates open fire at the War Moon, we must divert some of its firepower toward us, we can take more hits than the strikecraft!" Roi ordered.
"Yes, sir!"
The strikecraft and corvettes divided themselves into several different groups while still maintaining the V-shaped formation, this allowed for the ships behind them to open fire at the moon. While the attacks caused little to no damage to the moon's surface, it did serve in causing the moon to divert some of its firepowers to attack the ships. The shields of the ships managed to resist the barrage of attacks, but it was only a matter of time before one of them was critically wounded.
"Sir! The I.S.S. Aslaug was critically damaged, its reactor has been compromised!" One of the officers in the bridge of the Juggernaut shouted. Roi looked through the windows to see the many explosions that were happening all over the Aslaug.
"Come on!" The captain of the Aslaug said as he stood up. "We have to get out of he-" He was cut as the reactor finally exploded, causing the ship to explode as well. The remains of the vessel were shot around in many different directions, some even hitting the Juggernaut.
Roi closed his eyes for a second and then opened them back again, and he looked at the battlefield. The fight must go on. The fighters were finally able to close most of the distance between themselves and the cannons of the War Moon, now the real battle was about to begin.
Natlee on her fighter aimed at one of the kinetic cannons and shot her projectiles at it. The shells impacted, but it caused no damage to the battery. "What the?!" Natlee, immediately realizing the danger spun out of harm's way while avoiding the projectiles being shot her way.
"Lieutenant! Our weapons do Nothing to those things!" Natlee shouted through her communicator.
"Yes, I realize that," Vlad said as he shot one of the missile launchers only for it to remain intact. Vlad continued to fly, avoiding the shells being fired at him while Eleini, Ahlex, and Zavis followed his lead. "That is why you must get back into formation right now!" As he said that he saw how an entire starfighter team was shredded into pieces by various cannons. No, that was not going to be their fate too.
"Yes, sir," Natlee said as she moved to rejoin their formation.
Meanwhile, from the inside of the War Moon, many drones were released. They joined the battle and started engaging the Terrestrial strike crafts in action.
"Sir, multiple enemy units have appeared from inside the War Moon." One of the officers informed Roi, who clicked his tongue as he looked at the holo map of the battle, which was now displaying thousands of hostile forces.
"Sir! We are detecting a significant concentration of energy in the moon's cannon!" Another officer shouted.
Roi turned to the War moon, his eyes widening in panic. He saw the light once again, and then the Juggernaut was shaking violently once more. When Roi opened up his eyes once more, he saw in front of him the remains of the I.S.S. Eisenhower which was cut up in between them and the laser cannon of War Moon.
"Sir, we may be able to only take one more hit before the shield systems go down." An officer informed Roi.
Roi's hands curled into fists. "This is not a battle we can win head-on…" Roi said, mostly to himself. "Fighters, engage the enemy units while trying to draw as much of the firepower of the moon to yourselves. Multiroles and corvettes, take advantage of the distraction to destroy the cannons, your weapons should be able to pierce them! Bombers, make your way toward the main cannon and damage it while it is on the verge of firing up!"
"Yes, sir!"
As the fighters began to engage in combat against the drones and the turrets, the multiroles moved on to help them alleviate the pressure. Hex moved through the debris of one of the corvettes and narrowed his eyes as he looked at the kinetic cannons. The cannon began to shoot at Hex who was able to spin to dodge the wave of projectiles and then he started to move in several directions, from up to down then right to down and from down to the left and then down again. The cannon was unable to hit Hex, and when he was sure he wouldn't miss, Hex fired his projectiles, which were more potent than the ones used by the fighters, and this time, the cannon exploded.
Hex continued in his crusade, destroying several cannons and missile launchers. With the distraction of the fighters, the other multirole were also able to eliminate many of the defences around the cannon, creating a window of attack for the bombers. As the bulk of the bombers moved in, the War Moon released its final defence protocol. A swarm of torpedoes was shot, and as the bombers and multiroles tried to dodge, to their horror, the missiles followed them. Not expecting that, many of the strikecraft were shot down and forced to retreat, as they were now dealing with the fire of the remaining cannons and the guided torpedoes.
Hex looked through the monitor, which was now displaying the torpedoes that were following. Hex accelerated as fast as he could manoeuvring around the shots being fired at him as well. Hex made his way toward a mountain, the missiles still right behind him, as he approached it, he saw a kinetic cannon which started firing rounds at him. Hex manoeuvred around the shots, and then he fired his own projectiles at it, destroying the battery. Hex continued toward the mountain, and at the last second, right before he crashed, he turned his strikecraft so it would go upwards. The torpedoes didn't manoeuvre as quickly, though, and they ended up hitting the mountain, completely destroying it.
When he reached the top of the mountain, Hex realized he had wandered into the zone where the fighters were still battling against the drones, although most cannons were now gone, as the multiroles had done their job. Hex saw as various shells were fired at him from some drones that had positioned themselves behind his strikecraft. Hex was able to dodge the shots, but he was unable to place himself in a way to shoot back at the drones. Hex then saw as the drones were shot down from above.
"Don't worry, Captain, I have your back!" Natlee said through the communicator.
"We all do," Vlad said as well.
Hex wasn't able to prevent the small smirk that formed on his face as he saw the fighters at his back through the display on his monitor. "I guess if that is the case…" Hex suddenly stopped accelerating, and the fighters passed him, much to the surprise of them. When Hex was behind them, he shot at some incoming drones who were closing in on them from above.
"I must repay you the favour." Hex said through the communicator.
"You were never content with owing other people, right?" Vlad asked as he rolled his eyes.
"What gives you that impression?" Hex asked. Vlad was able to hear Hex smirking on the other side.
On the bridge of the Juggernaut, Roi continued to monitor the progress. "Sir! We lost contact with the I.S.S. Germania!��� One of the officers informed Roi.
Roi gritted his teeth as he saw the vessel disappearing from the monitor. "That is the sixth corvette now… And we have already lost half of the strikecraft corps."
"Sir! We are detecting a large concentration of energy!" Another officer shouted.
Roi immediately turned to his communicator. "Hex, do you copy me? Now it's our chance! Direct the assault on the cannon!" Roi shouted. His body was starting to tremble.
"Roger that." Hex said. Hex pressed a button on his communicator to change the channel. "Attention to all remaining strikecraft, this is Captain Hex Colley, we must attack the main cannon now! Multiroles and bombers follow me, fighters you must guard our flanks!"
"Yes, sir!"
The remaining strikecraft formed up in one large group with the bombers and the multiroles on the centre while the fighters were positioned all around them. They quickly approached the cannon and when they were close enough.
"Fire!" Hex ordered.
The bombers and the multiroles shot their projectiles at the cannon, causing explosions to happen all around. To avoid being caught in the blast they started moving upward, but as they did, much to their shock and horror, they saw as a beam was shot from the cannon and how it pierced one of the defending frigates like if it was paper before hitting the I.S.S. Juggernaut, but its shields once again managed to resist.
Once the shaking on the Juggernaut was over, an officer turned to Roi, a horrified expression on his face. "Sir, the shield system is down, the next shot…"
"I know…" Roi said as he looked toward the battlefield, squinting his eyes. "We can't even fire the Tachyon Lance with our energy reactor being overheated right now." Roi thought. "We are counting on you…"
On the battlefield, the strikecraft were now dodging the barrage of fire from the remaining defences on the Section of the moon they were above.
"So not even the bombers' projectiles can penetrate its armour, huh?" Hex said on his mind. "Of course, it can never be that easy, but still, there has to be a way, right?" As he said that, Hex looked from the corner of his eyes as one of the bombers was shot down by various guided torpedoes. Hex eyes widened at the realization. "Of course, that's it!" A flashback to what he previously did pass through his head. "If our projectiles are not powerful enough, then maybe theirs are."
As he thought this, Hex broke formation and started flying all over the area, picking up as many torpedoes as he could. Vlad gaped when he saw Hex being chased by several dozen, probably hundreds of projectiles.
"Uhhh… Hex?" Vlad asked through his communicator as he raised his eyebrow. "Are you aware of what is following you?"
"Very." Hex said in a monotone voice.
"And what exactly are you planning?" Vlad asked.
"Oh just wait and be impressed." Hex replied, once again, Vlad could hear his smirk over the communicator.
"How humble." Was all Vlad could reply.
"Very." Hex replied once again. "Do me a favour and get everyone as far away as you can, this is not going to be your typical fireworks show."
"Right," Vlad replied as he opened, he switched the channel.
Hex continued gathering torpedoes while he waited for the cannon to reach a point of no return for firing as if he did it too early, the A.I. operating the ship would just not shot, and even with a damaged cannon, the War Moon was still a genuine threat. Finally, after a few minutes of just aimlessly flying around, Hex received the message.
"The cannon is almost ready! Now it´s your chance!" Roi shouted through the communicator.
"Roger that." Hex said as he changed course and flew toward the main cannon, the torpedoes still following behind. Hex diverted all the power of the strikecraft to its engines, he would need all the speed he could get right now. Hex manoeuvred around the remaining defences around the cannon, and now he was right in front.
Hex moved in a direct route of collision against the cannon and once again, in the last second, he did a sharp turn, and the torpedoes hit the cannon. Hex passed do close to the cannon that the bottom part of his strikecraft bumped against. Just as Hex had thought, those torpedoes were much more potent than the ones they used, and thus they were able to penetrate the armour surrounding the cannon. It wasn't enough to destroy it, but it did have the intended effect, and once the War Moon tried to fire, the cannon exploded. The chain of explosions continued all the way up to the main reactor, and when that blew up, the moon went with it.
The moon exploded, sending debris flying in all directions. The other strikecraft had been able to position themselves on a much safer distance along with the rest of the fleet, but that didn't prevent some significant debris from reaching them.
"Open fire on the debris!" Roi ordered, he wouldn't allow the debris to cause more casualties.
In the middle of the debris field, Hex manoeuvred his way around them, dodging the stray shots from the fleet. Hex was eventually able to reach the remaining strikecraft corps, and shortly after, the last debris had been destroyed. The fleet remained on formation for a few minutes, waiting to see if anything else would happen, and when it didn't it was clear…
"The battle is over!" Roi exclaimed through his communicator, causing everyone to start cheering. "All hail Terra!"
"Terra! Terra! Terra! Terra! Terra! Terra! Terra! Terra!" The chant of the soldiers could be heard on all channels.
Hex did not celebrate though, while it was true the War Moon had been destroyed, he knew… this was just the beginning…
Hex's P.O.V.
A week passed since the battle with the War Moon, and things have been quiet around here. Well, quiet if you don't consider the massive celebration that was thrown for having destroyed such a powerful foe. Even though I was the one who technically blew it up, I didn't attend the celebration, sometimes social interaction can be quiet the burden for me, I'm no longer twenty after all. Roi and Vlad came to visit me in my room, and we spent a few hours talking. Although we should have been celebrating, our minds always went back to the War Moon, who exactly built that thing? And for what purpose? Were the builders trying to protect something, if so, what? Whatever it is, it must have been valuable to them, after all that thing was not easy to deal with. Six corvettes, two frigates and one destroyer, along with 70% of the strikecraft corps, now I understand why they gave us a lot of trouble in the early stages of the war when we didn't even know what we were dealing with. I can imagine the face of those commanders just suddenly seeing a moon with thrusters coming toward them.
As I thought about that, I was walking toward the bridge once more. Roi had called for me to be there for some reason. When the doors of the elevator opened, and I walked into the bridge, I saw Roi and another man. He seemed to be in his early fifties and was also wearing an army officer's uniform as they analyzed a holo map of what appeared to be the solar system we were in. When I recognized his face, I stood straight and saluted.
"Commander Renard, sir!" I said firmly, causing Roi and Renard to turn to me.
I heard as Renard chuckled and then he spoke up. "At ease, my friend."
As he said that I relaxed my body and walked toward them. Renard extended his hand toward me, and I shook it. "It has been a while." Renard started. We stopped shaking hands and then he spoke up again. "So, how are things in Strategic Center? Anything exciting?"
"As exciting as sitting in your butt all day can be," I replied. It really had been a while since the last time I participated in any sort of battle like this one.
"Though it seems you have not lost your touch, to destroy the War Moon like that, seriously," Renard said as he shook his head, but I saw he was smiling.
"Well, somebody has to do risky jobs, right?" I replied, also smiling.
"And it always has to be you?" Roi asked as he joined the conversation.
"Of course," I replied as I smirked at him.
I heard two voices laughing coming from behind me. I turned around and saw the elevator opening. From out of it came to men, one in a lab coat, and the other one was wearing the uniform of the crew officers.
"But wait, it gets better!" The lab coat man said in between his laughter. "When the patient woke up, his skeleton was missing, and the doctor was never heard from again!" The man exclaimed before him, and the officer started laughing even more.
I saw as the laughter died down and how the lab coat guy placed his hand on the officer's shoulder. "Anyway… that is how I lost my medical license…" This caused the officer to stop laughing entirely and for him to gape at the doctor. "Just kidding!" The doctor said before he started laughing and walking toward us, causing me to raise an eyebrow.
"Well, hello, my military buddies!" The man exclaimed as he waved at us. "How is the whole, pew pew and boom things going?" As he said, he looked behind us at the debris field of where the moon used to be. "Well, I guess you can say that is one way to go out with a bang!" He said before he started laughing again.
"This is Dr Ayden Heikel, he is a biologist and the one who was to be in charge of the science expedition in our original mission," Roi explained to Renard and I as we eyed the still laughing Ayden.
Ayden seemed to regain his composure. He fixed his glasses and then bowed. "A pleasure to meet you."
"So, why did you call us?" I asked as I turned to look at Roi.
"In the last week, Dr Ayden and his team were sent along with the survey drones to map the solar system, and now it is safe to say that this system doesn't appear on any of our maps," Roi said as he looked at the map of the solar system.
"The structure of the solar system seems to be similar to that of our own," Ayden explained as he walked to the holo map. "A G class star with 4 solid planets and 4 gas giants around it." He said as he pointed to the different celestial bodies in the map. "Nothing out of the ordinary, most solar systems are comprised that way, but there seem to be a few… anomalies around the entire system."
"Anomalies?" Renard asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Indeed, there are many signs that an advanced precursor state, once controlled this system, well, aside from the obvious that is of course," Ayden said as he pointed toward the debris field. "We believe in having found the remains of a colony in the planet that is after the Gas Giants and some abandoned terraforming equipment, a team is currently on its way to check it in person," Ayden stated. "Then we have also found that the hyperlane out of this system has been suppressed."
"Suppressed? Like what was done to prevent civilian ships from accessing Alpha Vortex?" I asked as I turned to look at the doctor.
"Indeed, our ships have tried, but it is impossible to leave the system," Ayden said, but then he smirked. "Well, unless you want to travel through deep space."
"No, thanks, I think I'm good," I replied.
"Everybody says that, but then, they try Zro!" The doctor said before starting to laugh again.
"Lastly, we have detected a space station orbiting around the third planet of the solar system, the one in the habitable zone," Roi said as he pressed a button, causing the hologram to zoom in to the planet, and also showing the structure of an orbital station.
I raised an eyebrow as I saw the planet. "Why is there no information about this planet? Haven't you mapped it?" Renard beat me to asking the same question.
"Well… the thing is… we can't…" Ayden said as he laughed sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head.
"What do you mean?" I asked the crazy doctor.
"Well, the planet seems to be entirely covered by an energy barrier. It is so thick and has some exciting properties that our experimental tachyon sensors can't map through it." The doctor explained. "The closest thing I have seen to something like that is…"
"Psionic barriers," I said before the doctor could finish.
"Yes! Yes! That's it!" The doctor exclaimed.
"Psionic barriers? Are we really fighting the Infinite Empire then?" Roi asked as he turned to look at me.
"If we were, we wouldn't be alive right now, they would have sent a massive fleet against us already," Renard said as he brought his hand to his chin.
"Whoever it is we are going against, I believe it's long gone, we have not detected any lifeforms nor in the colony, nor in the space station," Ayden said. "But we may be able to find some answers if we enter that space station," Ayden said as he pointed at it on the map.
"He is right about that. We don't know where we are, and we don't know when Dr Rusl will come to rescue us, but I know that we can't just sit idle." I said as I looked at the three of them.
"I guess you are right," Renard said. "In that case, I will put you in charge of the expedition team that will break into that station, is that okay?" Renard asked as he raised an eyebrow. I sighed. I really should have seen this coming.
"Yes, sir," I said as I saluted.
"Take Vlad's squadron with you, it will be a great learning opportunity." Renard continued as he smiled at me.
"Right, right, sir," I said as I turned around and walked to the elevator. As the elevator was going down, I heard Roi talking through the speakers asking for Vlad and his team to present themselves in front of the bridge elevator in the hangar bay. It didn't take long for me to reach the hangar bay, so I waited there for a few minutes until I saw Vlad and his team run toward the elevator. I saluted, and they stopped in front of me, Vlad was at the front while the 4 rookies were behind.
"So, we are going on a mission with you?" Vlad asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Seems like it," I said as I shrugged. "Any objections?" I raised an eyebrow at him.
"None at all," Vlad replied as he smiled. I looked behind him, and I saw as the 4 soldiers looked at each other while smirking. Newbies, always so full of energy. Vlad seemed to realize I was looking at them, and so he stepped to the side, allowing me to walk forward. The 4 immediately stood straight when I was in front.
"So, congratulations, you survived your first real battle." I started saying. "After all that piloting you must still be pretty tired, well…"
"Not at all, Sir! If there is anything you want us to destroy, we will do it!" Natlee said as she threw her fist in the air. Then, probably the realization that she had just interrupted a higher up downed on her as I saw her face turn red and then she returned to her position, now as rigid as a rock. "S-Sorry for the interruption, sir!"
"Don't worry, just be wary when you do it, not all officer will be as forgiving as I am," I replied, just waving off the issue. Loud and brash, I wonder to who she reminds me. "Anyway, sadly, for some," I said as I turned to Natlee. "And thankfully for others," I said as I turned to look at Zavis. "There is no fighting involved in this operation." As I looked at the four of them. "There is what we suppose is to be an abandoned space station orbiting a shielded world in the habitable zone. We hope that we may be able to find some answers as to who this system belongs to there."
"So looks like we will be doing some puzzle something then," Eleini said as she chuckled.
"I guess you can see it that way," I replied.
"Shouldn't we let the science team do that?" Natlee muttered.
"While I say we wouldn't fight, that is not a total certainty, to be honest," I said as I turned to look at her. "While the station appears devoid of life, there could still be a defence system in place, so we can't send untrained scientists to deal with that," I stated to her.
"Right, we must defend those who can't protect themselves," Natlee said as she looked down.
"May I ask when we will be departing?" Ahlex spoke up after being quiet during the whole exchange.
"Captain Hex." I heard Roi's voice coming from the speaker, causing all of us to look up. "Your transport is in Section C."
"Well, looks like right now," I said as I smirked and then started walking toward the Section C. I was in the lead while Vlad was behind us and his group followed us. When I walked into the Section, I saw a transport shuttle with the pilot standing in front of the open door. When the pilot saw us, he saluted.
"Senior Airmen, Nix Draex, at your service, captain!" Nix said with a smile on his face.
"Thanks for your service," I replied and also saluted.
"All the materials you may need have already been taken to the shuttle," Nix said as he pointed at the vessel behind him with his thumb.
"If that is the case, then what are we waiting for?" I asked as I smirked.
We walked into the transport where we saw containers lying around, those were probably the ones Nix was referring to. We all sat down in the seat there, and we waited for Nix to take off. It only took a few minutes before I heard the roar of the engines and then I felt as the ship started to move. Nic had left the door to the cockpit open, and so I managed to look to it, and I saw through the window. There, floating above the mysterious planet, was the space station. Maybe now we would be able to discover the mysteries of what lied beyond the event horizon…