A few days later, a fleet of frigates, accompanied by one destroyer, departed from Pluto. Moses stood on the bridge, along with his companions, as the small, dwarf planet grew further away on the viewscreen. The captain of the dreadnaught passed a few orders when they had gotten far enough from Pluto to not be negatively affected by its gravity well, and the fleet transitioned out of realspace, activating their jump drives to jump out of the Solar System.
Moses felt a strange feeling wash over him as the space around the dreadnaught was destabilized. The ships seemed to stretch out for a moment, before abruptly blinking and turning into a flash that faded out of the view of those watching them.
"Hmm." He let out a deep sigh as the nauseous feeling faded. This was his first time leaving the Solar System and experiencing the shift from realspace to hyperspace, but he had handled it well.
"I'm going to train a bit." He told Richard and the others as he turned away. Richard nodded and followed him, leaving the others there. When the two of them left the bridge, Richard turned to his friend.
"You're excited, aren't you?" He smirked.
"What gave it out?" Moses responded with a small smile but remained calm and reserved.
"Nothing, really. I think everyone knows you are excited to head to the frontlines. You have never really opposed the idea." Richard shrugged his shoulders as the two walked through the halls.
The two soon reached the large and expansive training area that had been made available for indoors training during their journey to the frontlines. The fleet would spend most of their time jumping in order to get there as quickly as possible, so the dreadnaught assigned to the fleet was well equipped enough to take their spars within her insides.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sounds of heavy collisions rang out as Moses slammed his dark red axe against Richard's wide, one handed sword. The two of them were wholly consumed by the fight that they pushed all other thoughts to the back of their minds. The only place where they could be more concentrated than this would be on the battlefield, when fighting against the Xenon.
Richard spun around, his mech moving nimbly as he batted aside Moses' axe and stepped up close, not giving Moses the leeway to make another move as quickly as he needed to. His sword pressed against the side of Moses' mech, right where his cockpit ought to have been, and the match ended.
"Haha! My win this time!" The brunette cheered as he moved away.
The two powered down their mechs soon after that and hopped out of the cockpits. There was no point in overdoing any sparring session, as the stress that the machines had to undergo would only cause more unnecessary damage to their frames.
"That was a good fight." Richard stretched as the two began making their way to the living quarters that was a few decks below the current one. When they got to their rooms, they split up.
Moses entered his room with a tired sigh. He had been practicing a lot more lately, and that was on top of his already practice filled day. To others he must resemble a workaholic. Only a few people actually put aside his cold exterior and looked beneath to see the wounded man he was.
He shook his head and quickly stripped before taking a relaxing shower. When he came back out, he laid down on his bed and picked up a random book he had been reading, then let his mind drift off.
Vrooom! Boom!
All of a sudden, the sound of a loud explosion, followed by strong vibrations running through the deck snapped Moses out of his daze. He jumped up from his bed and quickly rushed out of his room. Outside, he bumped into Richard who was only just pulling a shirt over his head.
"What happened?" The brunette asked with wide eyes.
"No idea. An attack in the middle of a jump? That should be impossible." Moses shook his head and they quickly rushed to the hangar bay where their mechs were moved after their spar, under the constant flashing of red lights.
On the bridge, the captain of the dreadnaught, who was also the commander of the fleet quickly barked out orders. Their ship was isolated during the jump, as were the other ships. They could only just communicate with each other, and had no idea how to fight against this unseen threat.
"Deactivate the jump drive!" He ordered, and his orders were quickly carried out. The hull of the ship shook violently as the jump drive was forcefully shut down, and they transitioned back into realspace.
The battered destroyer, and about half a dozen frigates and smaller cargo haulers dropped out of their jump, battered and damaged. The destroyer had actually sustained the most damage, and there were large holes all across its hull.
"Damn. What was that?"
"Did the Xenon attack us?"
"How did we get attacked in the middle of a jump travel?!"
The crew aboard the ships still remaining in the fleet were all alarmed. Whatever had attacked them so suddenly was so powerful that it had wiped out almost half of the fleet in just mere moments, while dealing heavy damage to the rest of their ships.
Mechs deployed in large numbers from the hangar bays of all the remaining ships, quickly securing a perimeter around the rest of the fleet. In the distance was a large, brown planet that was unfamiliar.
Quickly, preliminary scans returned results, and they found out that they were in an unfamiliar star system, and they were unable to reach out to the Solar System!