They arrived at an empty system that was a stop on the patrol route of the Council fleet three days ago and so far there was no patrol in sight,which was strange considering that the patrols were no more than two days apart from one another.
Everyone started to have a bad feeling about it as there were not many things that would stop tube fleet from patrol duty.
-All ships,we are jumping straight to Sol,something is not right here and they might need our help.
Jump in outside of the system and we will first gather intel before we take action.
Simon ordered and as soon as he finished the sensors indicated that the fleet was powering up their FTL drives.
The jump was a short one as they were much faster than the terran fleet.
They jumped out as planned and started scanning the system right away.
The scans showed them a terrifying sight,the one they all have been praying to not become the reality.
The Sol system was full of wreckage and the sensors indicated that there were at least forty five thousand shipwrecks floating around,most of them not of terran design.
-All ships micro jump in and get your weapons ready,if you spot any enemy ship,fire at will.
Simon ordered in an ice cold voice.
He had a hunch that what they would find deeper into the system wouldn't be a pleasant sight.
When they jumped near earth they all were in shock at the sight.
Their home world was burning and the fires were visible from space.
Luna was completely destroyed as it cracked into several large pieces by something with an unimaginable power.
The colony on Mars was turned into a giant crater as someone dropped an asteroid on it.
The space station and all the docks along with the shipyard were destroyed.
-Drop the droids to the surface and look for survivors,humans start scanning the wrecks and see if there are any life signs remaining.
We need to find someone who can tell us what the hell happened here?
Simon ordered already on his way to the shuttle bay so he could join the search.
-Send the scouting drones to the colonies and see if there is anything left of them,additionally send one to the Elani,A.I and lizardmen planets as well.
His subordinates moved faster than ever before as they wanted to find any signs of the survivors and they needed to see if they had any allies left.
They were all worried about their friends and families but for now they had to save anyone they could as the survivors if there were any were running out of time.
The scan data was coming in all the time identifying the Terran ships that were destroyed and they soon found out that the Anubis and the Kali were among the casualties.
Both of the terran dreadnoughts were now burnt out husks with hundreds of holes littering their hulls.
Right now they had found around three thousand terran ships that were destroyed and unfortunately the Ark ships were among them as well as the Phoenix,the Dragon and the Basilisk.
Seeing the wrecks of the first three confirmed the worst case scenario as the three cruisers were supposed to only be used as the last line of the defense when humanity was on the brink of destruction.
They managed to find some survivors in the disabled ships and took them onboard.
Every human or lizard man that was found got immediate medical help if it was needed as for the survivors from the enemy ships.
-No prisoners other than the officers and they will be executed after interrogation is completed.
Simon ordered.
He had no problem with slaughtering them as they most likely just destroyed his species.
In other circumstances he might have some mercy on them but after seeing his home world destroyed he was all out of mercy.
The normal soldiers and sailors were just killed by the humans and droids alike.
Actually the droids just shot them and moved on,the humans ripped them apart if they had the time, if not then they just shot them as well and moved on.
Simon sent one of the droids to his home town to see if his family was alright and ordered the A.I's to check the status of the families of the other humans.
Unfortunately,Simon's home town was wiped off the map by an orbital bombardment.
Only five of the crew were lucky enough to be reunited with their families; the rest got confirmation of their worst fears as their loved ones were confirmed dead.
Simon also got confirmation that he was the last survivor of his family.
Most of the survivors were seriously injured so they were sent to the regeneration tanks immediately.
This was unfortunate because there was no one to tell him what the hell happened here and the interrogation of the prisoners would have to wait as for now the top priority was to save all the humans that they could find.
Soon the scout ships operators reported that the lizardmen planet was glassed and the same was reported about the A.I planet.
However the Elani world was intact but empty.
There were no lifesigns on the surface and the Elani fleet vanished without a trace and without any signs of combat.
That was strange as the rest of the Terran council allies were destroyed.
Simon was worried about Alesia but for now he had to focus on saving his own species from going extinct.
After a week of non-stop search and rescue they were able to find a little over forty thousand humans on the surface and in the ships.
This was a drop in an ocean compared to over nine billion humans that were alive when he left through the wormhole.
The reports from the scouts were still incoming and what they described was an utter annihilation of the Terran forces and the colonists.
The only good news was that the enemy pulled out from Terran space so Simon ordered some ships to S&R in the colonized systems.
The other good news was that some of the ships from the Terran fleet were not found among the debris so there was a chance that more of his people survived the onslaught.
-This battle took place a little more than a week ago.
Athena informed Simon about her findings.
-Also the defense system didn't read the enemy fleet as the enemies but as friendlies.
In other words someone had to hack the system to add the enemy fleet to the list of allies and before it was discovered and repaired,the damage was already done as the enemy fleet targeted the defense satellites and gun emplacements,even the ones that were hidden.
It is evident that someone betrayed the council and provided the enemy with the positions of the defenses and provided them an opportunity to wipe most of them out before they were able to open fire.
After the defenses were taken down the fleet did its best to defend the planets and the civilians but they were no match for a fleet that jumped in and even as they decimated the enemy they were overwhelmed by the numerical advantage of the enemies.
The last data I was able to pull from the sensor net estimated the enemy fleet was at least sixty five thousand strong.
The Ark fleet was launched but unfortunately the enemy knew that they existed and where they were hidden so they got destroyed despite the best efforts of the escort fleet and the first three that were launched as a last resort.
Athena reported her findings.
Simon was now certain that they were betrayed and all the evidence pointed to one place and he didn't want to believe that they did it.
This was not the homecoming that he envisioned when they started their way back from the other side of the galaxy.