Good job. I for one agree with everything Namus said.

AAARRRGGGHHHH..... I am totally hooked! If this was a novel, it would be a cover to cover read without sleep, shower or food, and you stopped   

Before continuing, I'd like to thank everyone for your comments. I never thought that my story would be so well-received, and your support is very important for me. (Wow, I can say this at an Oscar speech ) And for PlayJeff45: I haven't stopped. Sometimes uploads will be very, very slow... it takes me quite a long to write, control, correct, and sometimes re-write the "chapters"... But I'll arrive at the end of this story. (I hope...)

“Here TAS Antares, we’re in position.” “Here TAS Defiance, position reached.” “TAS Vengeance here, ready to fire.” Amanda Alighieri was waiting while the Terran fleet moved in battle position in the Epsilon Pegasi sector. Calmly looking at the holo map, she was trying to do her job at the best. Billions of beings are counting on me… “Where are the Drengin?” she asked at one of the controller in the dark room “coords 44-58-875, sir.”. Amanda took a depth breath and closed her eyes. It’s so… difficult. I’ve already done this before. But it’s always like the first time. She thought at her days at the Navy Academy. Simulations, tests, exercises. Her instructors always told her that all that work was to prepare the future officers to the stress of the command. Yes, how not. It’s completely different. In the simulators you aren’t killed if you lose. You aren’t accountable for the life of billions of people that completely rely on you. Each time you say “I can do it”. But it is always more difficult to convince yourself. Sometimes I really would like to be a Yor. This would simplify everything. Only logical decisions. Unfortunately, war is everything apart from logical. But… She thought at the answer that an Arcean examiner gave her twenty-four years before. “You think that’s impossible. But it’s not impossible. Simply, it’s something you never thought as feasible.” Those words had become her motto. Now, I’m supposed to do this. So, it is possible. She smiled. At school I never thought that Iconian philosophy would be useful. The Great Admiral opened her eyes. “Ok. Let’s start this party.” “Aye aye, sir. Here AC4. At all ships, ready to engage. I repeat, all ships ready to engage. Proceed with phase one of tactical plan Gravebringer. AC4 over.”
The battle of Epsilon Pegasi had begun.

And the fight is on  

Let's see how the Drengin will deal with this.

Great story Eidolon1032 of the Emperors Children.

A novel by Tom Clancy, I'll reproduce the relevant portion below.





"It was the simplest of code words. An instant later, he heard the same word repeated over his earpiece as Norm Jeffers shouted it from the command post. The black agent's hand pushed another button, activating a radio link to Washington. "Sandstorm Sandstorm, Sandstorm!"

Price had been five miles out when the emergency call had come over her radio. In less than two seconds, she'd had the pedal to the floor, and the car accelerating through traffic, the flashing light in place and siren screaming.

At St. Mary's the call of "sandstorm" over the radio links had hit the Shadow/Shortstop details with a thunderbolt. Agents standing outside the classrooms of the Ryan kids slammed in, weapons drawn, to drag their protectees outside to the corridor. Questions were asked, but none answered, as the detail fell into the pre-set plan for such an event. Both kids entered teh same Chevy Suburban, which drove not out to the road but off to a service building across the athletic field. One way in, one way out of this place, and an ambush team might be right out there, disguised as Christ knew what. In Washington a Marine helicopter spooled up to fly to the school and extract the Ryan children. The second Suburban took prosition on the field, one hundred fifty yards from where the kids were. The class that had been doing gym outside was chased off, and agents stood behind their kevlar-armoed vehicle, heavy weapons out, looking for targets

"DOC!"
Cathy Ryan looked up from her desk. Roy had never called her that before. He'd never had his pistol out in her presence either, knowing that she was not fond of firearms. Her reaction was probably instinctive. Cathy's face went as white as her lab coat.
"Is it Jack or-"
"It's Katie. That's all I know, Doc. Please come with me right now."
"No! Not again, not again" Altman wrapped his arm around Surgeon to guide her into the corridor. Four more agents were there, weapons out and faces grim. Hospital security poeple kept out of the way, though uniformed Baltimore City Poice made up an outer perimeter...

Ryan stretched out his arm, placed his hand against the wall of his office, looked down, and bit his lip for a second before speaking: "Tell me what you know, Jeff."
"Two subjects are in the building. Don Russsell is dead, so are four other agents, sir, but we have it contained, okay? Let us do the work," Agent Raman said, touching the extended arm to steady the President.




You can understand how the exact same code word and extremely similar reactions/writing style could result in some feelings of similarity.

Yes, I found it very similar, and I can understand how you could have thought that I've copied from that book (If I had correctly understood everything. ). I've used the codeword "sandstorm" only because it was the easiest to translate in English. The other ones that I've thought were too complex or too difficult to translate exactly. And for the reaction of Alan Bradley (confusion), I thought at a real life emergency at the White House. If the President would need to be immediately evacuated, the agents of the Secret Service that would took him wouldn't know exactly why they are "saving" him. They would be told to do so by someone that has simply received from someone else the order to command them to do so,. They would be informed only later of what is going on.
I know that it could seem a strange coincidence, but this is the truth. Maybe I should change that paragraph… As soon as I learn how to modify old posts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Unexpected movement in the Terran lines, sir” “Where?” “ Sector Kal-thi”. Sakrine controlled the information on the Tactical Screen. As his human counterpart, he understood that the entire weight of victory (or defeat, but for a true Drengin warrior defeat is not an option) was on his shoulder. “Incursors have started hitting our vanguards. Sub-battlegroup Kryanne is reporting heavy losses.”
From the bridge of the carrier Kovenar this news were coldly received, analyzed and elaborated to modify the overall strategy, but he knew that only a few thars away young warriors were giving their lives for the glory of the Empire. Sometimes it seems… unfair. I should fight in the first line. Unfortunately for the Drengin traditions, Humans understood this very well. In the first weeks of war, most of the Imperial high officers were dead due to kamikaze attacks. So, now he was forced to remain behind the warfront. This is dishonourable.
“Move the Sub-battlegroup Alenthya to support the Kryanne”
“Shivan warships emerged in sector Kal-dah”
“Move the First Battlegroup in sector Kal-rhi, and start an offensive here” he showed the exact position on the map “Roger, Overlord”.
He turned to the intelligence report that he was reading before being interrupted. Great Admiral Amanda Alighieri. Terran, Italian, for the precision. (But where the heck is Italy?), 42 years (Young, even for a Human…). A brilliant career in the Alliance Navy… She started as a pilot… a “young promise”, according to her CO… Promoted to Captain during the Xendar Wars… He rapidly skimmed the rest of the paragraph. No family… both her parents died in 2223 in a transport collision in the Vega system… She likes pizza, going to the theatre and playing ten… But who has wrote this? Oh! A Jessuin analyst… Stupid race! Where I was arrived… Here. Nothing interesting. She has received three times an Order of the Alliance… Promoted in 2227 to the rank of Great Admiral after the resignation of her predecessor, Great Admiral Ewerdof… He sighed. The dossier was incomplete and totally useless from a military point of view. Uhm… She wrote a book… “Tactical Analysis of the Xendar Wars campaigns”. This could be interesting… I should read it. Apart from this, there isn’t too much… It’s good for a diplomatic meeting, not for what I thought. Intelligence… Sakrine almost laughed. The Drengin were famous for their warrior ability and for their evilness, not for their Intelligence services. If I’d been informed of the Terran Project is only a lucky coincidence. When I told Lord Kona that we really need a better… “Sir, we’ve got new signals on the screen. There’s something big incoming… A battleship fleet, it seems. We’re waiting instructions.” Sakrine nodded. Are you ready, Amanda?

“Wow” was everything Dave managed to say. He had already done incursions, sure, and he had already experimented the tension of the fight. But nothing was like this. Dozens, hundreds, thousand of ships were firing at each other, and all in the absolute silence of the cosmic void. He remembered when he saw Star Wars for the first time, when he was a child. Imperial and Rebel warships annihilating each other, between thunderous explosions and waves of lasers hits. This was different. The only sounds he could hear were the ones inside the Hammerhead. Outside, people were dying, and he couldn’t hear anything. That was… scaring.
“Hammerhead, here is Rear Admiral Saber, of the TAS Iphigenia. You’ve got new orders. Your ship will launch a strike on the enemy formation in sub-sector 34.3, with the assistance of the 56th Fighter Squadron and of the TAS Bullhead, TAS Angelshark and TAS Sand Devil. In that zone the Drengin have massed a great number of capital ships, but they have little defence against fighters or incursors. Go there and do as much damage as you can. We’ve got a group of heavy cruisers incoming. Once you’ll have weakened the Drengin defence, they’ll help you to finish the work. Rear Admiral Saber out.”
“Acknowledged, sir. Moving into position”
The Hammerhead turned and followed the 56th and the other three Shark-class incursors. The small flotilla run at maximum speed against the Drengin front lines, passed miraculously unharmed the battlefield, and reached the enemy gathering area. Here, the sixteen ships started firing like hell, using their superior speed to pass through swarms of cruisers and battleships. As Rear Admiral Saber reported, there were only a few Dominators corvettes to counter the Terran strike. They were rapidly vaporized by the Ulysses-class fighters.
The Ulysses were a miracle of the Terran technology. Engineers of Positron Dynamics somehow managed to put in a less than thirty meters long fighter a Warp Drive Mark IV, a Quantum torpedo launcher, a last-generation sensor array, sub-light engines for an acceleration of over 200 meters in three seconds, shield systems strong enough to repel a Disruptor shot and, finally, a pilot. While small, they were also deadly. For the Drengin, but also for their pilots. Survival rates were around 65%. But, as once Admiral Ewerdof said, causalities are the price for human survival.
The small ships hit with the strength of an hurricane the stationed Drengin warships. They were too weak to destroy their targets, but they were strong enough to damage them and destroy important subsystem like engines. Usually the result was a series of deadly collisions between the disabled ships, and this time was no exception. Then he small squadron only had to dodge the drifting hulls.
Then the heavy cruisers exited from subspace and finished the dying Drengin ships. After this, they joyously joined the battle around the SPEC.T.R.E station.
“Mission accomplished, Iphigenia. Other orders?”
“Yes, Hammerhead. Stay alive. We’ll need you again soon.”

“And now what should we do?” Donald Winston, the Chief Engineer, looked scared. Everyone aboard the station was scared. But Sira, that unofficially became the CO of the station after the death of Yamato, was trying to maintain order and calm. Facile dictu, difficile factu, the old latin proverb came spontaneously to her mind. Easy to say, hard to do.
“Ok, what’s are our possibilities?”
“The AC4 told us to remain here, but I really doubt that our fleet will manage to keep the Drengin out here. We should depart now!”. A few scientists were nodding in agreement with Winston.
“And we should leave the result of eight years of hard work only for a Drengin attack?” Thorin, the Drath expert for shielding technologies, was openly in contrast with Winston’s position.
“Only a Drengin attack?!?! There will be at least five thousands warships out there! Don’t you think that they are enough?”
“Even if the entire Imperial Fleet would be there, they wouldn’t be enough to justify a decision of this entity!”
”No? That’s only an unfinished weapon, while here we’re risking our lives! The Behemoth can be rebuilt somewhere else, while unfortunately we can’t!”
“The success of the Coalition is much more important than our lives, don’t you think, Don?”
“What I think is…” a loudly explosion interrupted his hot reply. “What else is going on, now?”
“Enemy ships have bypassed our blockade! They’re bombarding the asteroid! Shields down to 97%!”
“We should leave, NOW!” The discussion restarted. Sira was anxiously trying to find a solution “Well… we’ll leave. But we’ll bring the Behemoth with us.”
“Are you crazy?”
“No, Don. We’ll power up that thing, and we’ll transfer it in another system.”
“That’s impossible! We haven’t finished the test phase! The warp engines aren’t completely functional! And the sensors…”
“This is irrelevant. Are the weapons and the shields on-line?”
“Yes… but they haven’t been already tested!”
“Do you prefer being a sitting duck and do nothing? Are there enough people to bring the Behemoth out of here?”
“Yes, but… We are scientists… not pilots!”
“Can you ride a bike, Don?”
“Yes, of course, but wha…”
“Perfect. This is completely different, but don’t worry. We built that thing. So, we should be the most prepared to use it, or not?”
“Well…”
“Ok, end of the discussion. Everyone, board the Behemoth. We’ll leave in… fifteen minutes.” Another explosion shook the enormous station. Drengin permitting, of course.

Amanda was slowly panicking. Four full fleets weren’t enough to stop the massive Drengin Armada. She had tried almost every trick she knew, but with no apparent effect. Even if for each Terran warship destroyed there were at least six Drengin ships that become space ash, the enemy forces were overwhelming.
“Nothing, sir. Our offensive in sub-sector 34.8 has done nothing. Enemy forces are still advancing in sub-sector 34.7. Their vanguard that entered in the minefield 58 two minutes ago has been decimated. But another Drengin frigate has bombarded installation E-15, although it has just been destroyed from our stationary batteries.”
“The incursion in sector 34.3?”
“The capital ships have been destroyed, but the 8th heavy Battlegroup has taken heavy losses… they lost their flagship.”
“Have we got any ships to replace them?”
“No, sir. The enemy has just broken our front lines in sector 34.0. Every available ship is being redirected there. We’ve problem with their… conteniment.”
Amanda took a depth breath. The situation was going critical. By any means necessary. Alan’s word echoed in her mind. “Give me the president.”

-----------------------------------

“Powering up secondary engines… Main reactors 3 and 4 at 80%... Weapon systems on-line.”
Sira was looking at the scientists and at the few Navy officers while they were bringing to life the enormous battleship. The Behemoth slowly responded to the first commands, and the hope of the Coalition started moving… only to stop a few seconds after.

Alan Bradley looked with desperation at the cold suitcase in front of him. The young lieutenant was impatiently waiting his orders, but Alan’s wrinkled forehead was enough to keep him silent. For the thousandth time, the President took a deep breath. The keys were inserted, the external passwords digit, but he couldn’t even think to fill in the empty space of the activation codes. Damn, when I stood for the presidential elections, no one told me that someday I would had to give the order of a nuclear strike! I hoped that the Third World War has ended the thinking of using these weapons as efficient remedies! The images of a flattened Beijing with a mushroom cloud on his top came to his mind. He wasn’t born at that time, but he remember how his father told him of those dark days. Once he showed at a twelve-years Alan the registered images of all the news reports of those terrible eight months. Babies crying for their died mothers, mothers crying for their lost sons, husbands crying for their destroyed families. And now…
My first presidential speech. “With an united Earth, this will never happen again”. And now… I’m here just to do the same thing. The display was inexorably bleeping, awaiting the insertion of the code. Should I do so? Should I end all these lives only for this? The responsibility of a massacre would be only mine… but if I don’t do so, our hopes for a better future would be destroyed…
“Sir, there's Admiral Alighieri on secure channel two. She says that the crew of the SPEC.T.R.E-15 is trying to bring the Behemoth out from the station, so maybe it isn’t a good idea launching a nuclear attack right now.” Thanks God. “No, it isn’t” he said with strength.
This time I’ve avoided to took a decision. But the next time… And after all, had I done the right thing? Or had I condemned all the Coalition forces to death? Only time will tell me if I am right. I wish there were another way. Unfortunately for him, there weren’t.

Wait, is Beadley launching nukes at his own planet, or something else?

No. He ordered to keep the Epsilon Pegasi system free from the Drengin at any cost. Great Admiral Alighieri, after seeing that the Terran Navy can't repel the Drengin attack with conventional weapons, asked for a nuclear strike. However, a nuclear strike would have destoryed both the Drengin and the human fleets. Alan was thorn between launching a nuclear strike, killing millions of humans but saving for the moment the SPEC.T.R.E-15, or not doing so, leaving the Drengin conquering the station. After he learned that the scientists were trying to bring the ship outside the station, he decided to not launch the attack.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What the hell means that the gate is blocked?!?!” Sira couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Well, it means blocked, Sira. It can’t open. The Drengin have hit it with a good disruptor shot, and…”
“It was projected to resist at a nuclear explosion, and you tell me that a lucky shot has blocked it?”
“Err… Yes.”
The Altarian sighed. In the Terrans action films this never happen. The hero saves the final weapon with the help of a good-looking rookie, then they defeat the bad guys and save the world, or the universe. Why can’t reality be so simple?
“Well, we need to go out, door blocked or not. The spy has nicely overloaded the fusion reactors of the station, so it will be better for us to bring the Behemoth far far away when the fireworks will start. Do you agree?”
Thorin rose an eyebrow “Sira. It’s a two hundreds meters thick titanium door. How do you think that we can open it?”
“Oh, I don’t know. After all, I’m only the weapon expert. But we have to go. Suggestions?”
“Sira, two hundreds meters. Just think about it. We can’t open it.”
“I don’t bother if we can’t, we MUST open that door! Even if we’ll have to do it with a tin-opener, clear?”
“Yes, but…”
“But nothing! Are the Black Hole Eruptors operative?”
“Wait wait wait, are you going to use them inside the hangar? Are you mad?”
“Alternatives? No? So, if you can’t do your job, I guess that I’ll have to do it personally. Load Torpedo Bay One. Now, technician. I’m not joking.”

Very goo AAR! It got me tottaly hooked!

Atik woke up, with an hard headache. It was night, but the zone was floodlit from the fires of the burning tanks. There was a strange, sweet smell in the air. The smell of the battle. The smell of the death. His Domee jeep was a few meters away, turned upside down. His driver was still under at his seat, with the neck broken. Murmuring a prayer for his spirit, he took the nocturne vision lens from his rucksack, and recuperated a Drengin plasma rifle from the battleground. He hate to admit it, but these weapons were far more superior than their Arceans counterparts. Obliviously, the radio didn’t work. Making a few calculations, he decided to move where he supposed that the Terran troops were. He crossed cautiously the battlefield, ready to face any enemy.
-crack-
A broken twig. Following his instinct, he rolled to a near ditch, and pointed the rifle in the dark. He didn’t see nothing. Nervously, he waited. Nothing. Then a Drengin head slowly rose from behind a trunk. That commando wasn’t following him, but Atik noticed this only later. Without thinking too much about it, he opened fire. The Drengin died immediately, a burning hole where his noce once was. And then the hell begun. What seemed an entire regiment started firing on his position, and the Arcean was forced to bent down. This is when you would prefer not to be three meters tall. He killed other three Drengin, but only when a shot nearly missed him he realized that he hadn’t got so great chances of winning. Oh, well. But suddenly someone started firing on the commando, throwing most of the enemy shots far from his ditch, and a human jumped behind him.
“Greetings. I am Commander Hans Schneider, 55th Tir-Quan Ghost Recon. Are you Centurion Atik?”
“Am I so important to have a commander looking for me?” the Arcean asked while he kept firing.
“Yes. We’ve lost a lot of officers in the past hours thank to diese Wurme. And your superior, praetor Thabit, has actually obliged us to find you. He says that you’re his best centurion for recon missions.”
“I’m honoured from his words, but I don’t think that you are here only for me”
“You’re right, Arcean. Me and my team are here for a beyond-the-ene…” an explosion near their provisory shelter halted him. “Verdammt! Achtung! Panzer!” He grabbed the Arcean and pushed him to the ground.
“A tank against two troops?”
“Not only two! There’s my squad out there!”
“Where is there, exactly?”
A bazooka shot answered him. “Now, centurion, move!” Hans jumped out from the small ditch and started running towards a small bush from where the others marines where firing, quickly followed by Atik. They stopped a few seconds near the fuming debris of the Drengin tank to fire at their pursuers, before finally reaching the squad. How they had managed to dodge the enemy fire was incomprehensible for Atik.
“Here we are, Arcean. Now, let’s go out from this hell.” The Tir-Quan group slowly retreated without stop firing, until they reached a group of jeeps.
“You come with me, Arcean” Hans got in the command jeep, and Atik followed him. The 55th immediately left the battlefield, driving in the dark at an obscene speed.
“I thought that the 23rd retreated in that direction” Atik pointed at the direction from they came.
“We aren’t returning to the 23rd, centurion. General McDonnell has ordered us to buy time for our forces to reorganize, so we’re going to wreak havoc on the Drengin troops gathered in Cela City. Praetor Thabit asked us to find you, if that was possible, but now you’ll come with us. You’ve done more recons near the city than any human had done, so you’ll be useful, even if you aren’t a Tir-Quan. Now, he’s John.” He poined at the gunner of the jeep railgun. “He’s my second-in-command, and you’ll take orders from both of us. I don’t want conflicts concerning the command chain, clear?”
“Clear, terran.”
“Oh, call me Hans. We’re not at the War Academy, so it’s no bother if we don’t speak like recruits. And relax. The Drengin will never catch up us. These jeeps…” he knocked affectionately the bodywork of their one “…are completely stealth. Yes, when you’re at the SpecOps, you got the first-hand technologies. Now, once we’ll be at our camp a doctor will visit you. And this is an order. I don’t want masochistic heroes in my squad.” He anticipated Atik’s protests. “For the moment, it’s better for you to get some rest. At Cela City we’ll have our hard job to do.” Atik nodded resigned in agreement, while the small jeep group kept moving towards the enlightened city in the distance.

Nice story though the English is a little convoluted at times...what is your 1st language Eidolon?

I'm Italian... unfortunately, it seems that most GOOD games like GC are unknown here in Italy, and that only few italians know them...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Weapon charged, sir. The torpedo is ready.”
“Sira, are you sure that this is the right…”
“Of course! Do you see other solutions?”
“No, but don’t you think that this is too… dangerous?”
“We’ve no choice. Weapon control?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Open fire”
----------------------
“Overlord, the Alenthya battlegroup is reporting an anomalous power spike inside the scientific station”
“Well, we’ve overloaded their fusion reactors, no?”
“Yes sir, but this is something different. I still can’t say what it is, exactly.”
“Move the battleship Raghal to investigate. Keep me informed.”
“Roger, sir.”
----------------------
“Ship Lord Daghareth, here is IDS Kovenar. You are ordered to move your ship to investigate the power spike aboard our main target. Report as soon as possible. You’ll be our eyes.”
“Affirmative, Kovenar. I’m moving.” Daghareth grunted. Another job fitted for a slave that is given to me. He studied carefully the holo map, then started speaking at his crew:
“The Terran lines have been weakened here and here. We’ll pass here. Remember, glorious soldiers of the Empire, that this mission is a sneak one. We don’t want to be individuated before discovering what’s happening, clear? Helm, bring us there.”
---------------------
“Great Admiral, a battleship has just pierced our front lines!”
“Where the hell are the reinforcements?!?”
“They’re spread too thin! They can’t stop every ship!”
“They must do it! Otherwise, our lines will collapse! Regroup two or three ships and destroy that Drengin ship! NOW!”
“Aye, sir.”
--------------------
The Raghal accelerated to combat speed, and found a way in the weakened Terran lines. Being a heavy battleship, it easily destroyed the few corvettes that tried to stop it.
“How have they found us? I thought that our ship was stealth!”
“With all the due respect, sir, it’s difficult to hide a thar-long ship.
“Oh. Well. Science supervisor, what can you tell me?”
“We can’t see clearly inside the asteroid, Ship Lord. The Terrans have a sensor interference device inside… but… wait… there’s a great power source coming out… I can’t identify it properly…”
“What? I need more data, supervisor!”
“Sir! The power exceed 500 thorns! We have to move! We’ve to mo…”
----------------------
The Event Horizon-class torpedo hit the 200-meters thick titanium gate with a thunderous explosion. Most of the damage wasn’t made by the explosive, but by the so-called “black hole phenomenon”. The gate was both pushed toward the outside from the kinetic energy of the impact and of the explosive, and toward its centre from the gravitational attraction. The result was the desegregation of the titanium: the gate was literally annihilated, and the Raghal, nearer than any other ship, was dragged towards the explosion. The Black Hole reaction finished after few seconds, as programmed.
----------------
“Wow. Sira…”
“I told you that a limited, controlled reaction would have worked! Helm, full speed! Bring us out from there!”
---------------
“Helm, damage report!”
“Ship Lord, engines are back on-line! I still can’t understand what happened! We were… dragged toward the gate, before it exploded! It’s a new kind of weapon… I have never seen something like this!”
“We need a full scan of that thing. Do it, now.”
“Roger, sir. Wait… there’s something coming out! It’s too big to be a ship!”
“And what is it?”
“I don’t kn…”
“Collision course! COLLISION COURSE!”
“TAKE EVASIVE MANOUVERS!”
--------------
“Wait… sir, there’s something in front of us! Something big!”
“What! What is it?”
“I don’t know… sensors are off-line… I’m requesting an identification trough the TAS Pythia… Oh, God! It’s a Drengin battleship! Collision course!”
“EVASIVE MANOUVERS! ALL HANDS, BRACE FOR IMPACT!”
-------------
It was too late. The Behemoth passed trough the Raghal like a knife in a slice of butter. The Drengin ship was cut in two pieces, that later exploded. Onboard the Kovenar, Sakrine assisted powerless at the destruction of his battleship. The Behemoth just pierced one of his biggest ships, and apparently took no damage. A sinister feeling wrapped him. Fear.
--------------
“Wow”
“Yes, Qin. Wow.” Harper agreed.
“And now, sir?”
“Now? Now, after seven years, we’ll finally start our counterstike, pilot. Set an attack course for that carrier. Beware, Drengin! The Terrans are coming!”

Sweet. "Too big to be a ship"? sounds like Star Wars.

nice post Eidilon   

“Helm, damage report!”
“Hull breach from deck 96 to deck 117! Forward sensors grid are gone! Section D is running with auxiliary power! We are loosing atmosphere in section E!”
“No damage at the weapons systems.”
“Forward shields down to 34%. Initializing regeneration sequence.”
“Engines?”
“That was an hard blow, madam.” Winston’s voice came from the intercom. “The primary energy grid is literally fried. We can replace it in a few hours -fortunately all its parts are still onboard- but it’s a delicate operation. We need a completely stable engineering room, so a replacement in the middle of a battle is out of question. I can give you par 4 speed. No more. Sorry, Sira.”
“Four parsecs? Nothing more?”
“Nothing more. We need a new energy grid to have a better speed.”
“From here, the situation doesn’t seem so bad.”
“Sira, only the armoured hull resisted. Everything in 30 decks is gone. Energy, sensors, vital support, artificial gravity. Everything. From the bridge it could seem that we took no damage, apart the breach, but this isn’t true. This ship needs repairs. And quickly.”
Sira nodded.
“Helm, set a course for the Mars shipyards. And someone gives me admiral Alighieri. We need some cover.”
-------------
“This is out of question, Behemoth. We need you. The Drengin are blocked in fear. Fear. We need to maximize the psychological effect that this will have on them!We can win a battle that only a few minutes ago was lost! I need you!”
“But we can’t sustain a battle! We are only scientists! And the Behemoth is too damaged to stand…”
“What you have to do is to pretend to lead a full-scale assault against them! Only this!”
“But the Drengin would die rather than withdraw!”
“No, miss Aaryn. They aren’t Arceans. And their Overlord, Sakrine I’Aghol, isn’t so stupid. He knows when he has to retreat. Maybe only to regroup his forces, but he will withdraw.”
“But they will understand that this is only a trick! They’ll follow us!”
“They would follow you also if you flee now, Behemoth. Only that if you do so, they would kill millions of soldiers.”
“But we can’t fight now! And when they will come for us, only a nuclear attack would…”
“Exactly. Only a nuclear attack. When they will follow you, our fleet will has already retired. This time, I doubt that the President will have second thoughts.”
-------------
“Overlord, the Terrans are regrouping around the Behemoth!”
“I know, controller. Considering what happened to the Raghal and to the titanium gate of the base, I doubt we can do anything with this damaged fleet. Our forces are still engaged everywhere. Retreat.”
“What?”
“You have heard, controller. Retreat.”
“But the Emperor…”
“I JUST GAVE AN ORDER! I PRETEND IT TO BE EXECUTED! AND IF KONA HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THIS, HE CAN FIND ANOTHER OVERLORD! GIVE THE RETREAT ORDER AT THE FLEET! NOW!”
“Yes, sir.”
-------------
“Docking sequence completed”
“Received, helm.” Sub-group Lord Dreghal looked at his battle squadron in the airlock of the battle transport Xasis. Twenty-four elite shock troops directly chosen from the Imperial Guard. Despite being some of the most trained soldiers in the known galaxy, now they looked scared. This is not the behaviour of a true warrior. But I can understand them. Here, in the Dak’thar system, we could meet again our nemesis.
“Ready?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let’s go.”
Dreghal opened the airlock. The boarding team moved as years of hard training taught them. They rapidly secured the docking bay of the boarded station. For the moment, everything seemed quiet. Yes. For the moment.
“Sir.” One of his soldiers drew his attention.
“What’s up?”
“Look. It’s exactly what the scientists thought.” He pointed a faded brand on the organic wall. The flaming ruby. The Dread Lords.
“Damn.”
“We’ve our orders. Proceed with the mission.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Remain together.”
“Roger.”
Slowly, cautiously, they passed room after room. All were empty.
“Isn’t it… strange?”
“Don’t lower your guard, Xilan.”
“Of course, sir.”
A noise.
-clang-
Almost imperceptible, but for a Shock Troop it was like an elephant falling from a baobab.
“There’s something over there!”
“Ready, soldiers.”
“Weapons charged.”
“What could it be?”
“It’s large.”
“A Dread Lord?”
“No. Too big.”
“I think that…”
“Cut the chatter!”
“Scanners?”
“It’s a biomechanical thing, Sub-group Lord. The sensors don’t say much else.”
“It’s incoming!”
“Hold on.”
“There!”
What seemed an eight-armed combat drone emerged from the darkness. Its optical terminals scanned the Drengin Sub-group.
-Scansion completed. Intruders found. Suppression activated.- The universal translator was clear.
“OPEN FIRE!”
A second later, air was filled with Drengin plasma shots and grenades explosions. But the cyborg drone seemed taking no damage. Slowly he identified the major threat –a portable grenade-launcher- and vaporized it with a Doom Ray.
“Oh, shit!”
“KEEP FIRING!”
The drone fired again. And again. And again. For each shot, a Shock Troop fell on the floor, dead.
“FALL BACK!”
Another dead.
“How can we stop it, sir?”
Dreghal kneeled, and a shot missed him by the skin of his head.
“Beam weapons are useless. Hand-to-hand, quickly!”
The Drengin left their plasma rifles, and took their swords.
“Charge!”
With their usual battle roar, the nineteen soldiers left run towards their enemy. A human would have called that “suicidal attack”. For a Drengin, it was the simple “duty service of the Empire”. Other troops fell, but finally Xilan manged to cut off the drone head. The Dread Guardian exploded a few seconds later.
“Report.”
“Eight dead, two injured. Sensors don’t pick up anything else.”
Dreghal looked the dark corridor, filled with Drengin corpses. What else is waiting for us deeper in this station?
“Bring the injured aboard the Xasis. The others, follow me. Charge the mass weapons, and be ready. We don’t know what else there's over there.”

“Their last ship has warped out from Epsilon Pegasi, sir. They’re regrouping three parsecs away from the system.”
Amanda nodded.
“Are the orbital weapon platforms ready?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let’s start.”
------
“Overlord, the fleet has regrouped. Group Lord Dharr is requesting authorization to pursue the Terran scum.”
“Authorization refused.”
“W-what?”
Sakrine’s eyes flamed. “What in ‘authorization refused’ isn’t clear, controller?”
“Sir, Emperor Kona Himself has ordered to…”
“And I have ordered not to do this.”
“But…”
“But? Unless I missed something important, I am still the highest authority in this fleet.”
The supervisor sighed.
“Yes, but this is a direct order from Dren…”
“I REFUSE TO FOLLOW IT! IF I ORDER AN ATTACK, OUR FLEET WOULD BE DECIMATED! IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND?”
“You can explain it to me, Overlord.” Kona’s voice placidly came from an holo projector, that slowly activated, revealing his figure.
“Emperor.” Sakrine bowed.
“Not only you are losing this battle, but you also oppose to orders from your Emperor! Why this fleet can’t pursue the Terrans?”
“Because it’s obliviously a trap. They were winning, and now they are retiring. It’s the oldest war trick. It’s oblivious that once we’ll follow them, they will turn and attack us with their new superdestroyer. And the Behemoth is something that at the moment we can’t fight.”
“Interesting theory, Overlord. But these are only suppositions, right?”
Sakrine lowered his head, admitting the defeat.
“Yes.”
“And you have nothing to prove this, except for your ‘psychological reports’, right?”
“Yes.”
“And we still have more than the 90% of our ships, right?”
“Yes.”
“And this is a 10:1 rate against the Alliance, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. This is a direct order. Attack the Terrans. Now.”
“As you wish, Emperor.”
------
“They’re turning.”
Amanda looked the screen. “That’s what happens when politicians don’t let the Admirals doing their job.”
“What?”
“Nothing, Ensign. Is the President ready?”
------
“Here weapon platform N-202. I Just received a launch order. AC4, do you confirm the order?”
“Yes. Order confirmed.”
“Mr. President, do you confirm the order?”
Alan sighed, looking coldly the intercom.
“If you think that’s really necessary…”
“Please, sir. Don’t let wrong interpretations possible. Do you confirm the launch order?”
Alan remained silent for a moment.
“Mr. President?”
“Yes. Order confirmed.”
“Attention please. Launch order confirmed. Correct authorization sequences had been inserted. We’re in countdown. Launch in five minutes from now, Terran Standard Time 16:09.”
Alan looked impassive as an huge clock appeared on the screen, slowly counting the time remaining to the launch. 05.00, 04.59, 04.58, 04.57…
------
“Are they really doing this?”
“It seems so, Varyag”
Avatar looked again the screen. The Terran crypted messages were being automatically traduced.
“We’ve underestimated them, sir.”
“Yes. We have.”
------
“Time to contact, Overlord?”
Never, Sakrine was tempted to answer. But even if he had already broken the limit for insubordination, he was still unconsciously subdued to his Emperor. It was something like being under the effect of a Mind Control Centre…
“Seven timeunits and an half.”
“Good.”
No. That’s not good. You’ll be responsible for one of the worst defeats in the glorious history of the Empire. All because of you. You and your hunger of fame. You and your irrationality. You and your… ineptitude.
------
00.29
Behind his impassibility, Alan was upset. And now? Now I can still stop it. If I don’t, I’ll be forever remembered for this. My name in history books will be written with blood. But peace has a price. Is it worth it? The killing of thousand of… innocents? No. They aren’t innocents. They are guilty for everything that happened us in eight years. Maybe, this could effectively be the right price. Yes. This is the right price.
00.06
It is their fault.
00.04
Maybe I can even sleep without remorse, tonight.
00.01
Maybe.
-----
“Is the screen malfunctioning again?”
The voice of a technician broke the silence that had fallen on the Kovenar bridge.
“Impossible. I put it trough the test two days ago.”
“Yes, but two thousand ships simply don’t disappear in nothing.”
“Well, can you see them?”
“We’re picking up an anomalous level of radiations from where our fleet was.”
“What does this mean, Overlord?” Kona roared. “OVERLORD?”
Sakrine didn’t respond. That was enough. He simply went out the room. Kona’s voice slowly disappeared behind him, as he left the command section.
-----
“Detonation successful. Enemy losses quantified around 96% and counting. They’re retreating.”
Amanda left her breath that she had held for the past minutes, and collapsed in the command chair. We did it. Oh, God, we did it, she thought, as her eyes filled with liberation tears.
-----
The Imperial battleship Hand of Destiny slowly completed the docking procedures with the Varden embassy station Antea. Dharna I’Aghol, leader of the Kriath clan and Relations Lord of the Drengin Empire, boarded the station. Imaldin, his Varden counterpart, greeted him.
“Welcome back, Relations Lord. Glad to see you again.”
“Me too, Imaldin.”
The two walked to the meeting room of the diplomatic outpost. The large, circular room was a testimony of the cruel fate of the Varden Council. Once a prosperous civilization, they were now near to complete defeat at the hands of the Drengin Empire. The room was decorated with trophies of a long gone glorious past, now covered by dust. The two diplomats sat around the large, round table in the middle of the room.
“So, Vardaenian, what’s your proposal?”
“It’s the same of the last time, Dharna. We’ll retreat from the alliance against the Empire, and we’ll give you the Dama and Renea star systems, plus the 10% of all our incomes, and full control over all our space stations between your border and Iphaia.”
The Drengin looked amused.
“Considering that we can obtain all these things simply proceeding with the war, and considering that you are near collapse, why would we accept your offer?”
“Because this is our last offer. Otherwise, you’ll have to fight house by house on Iphaia. Considering what happened to the Iconians and to the Korx, Dharna, we won’t give you full control over everything that is rightly our!” Imaldin jumped up, visibly annoyed.
He plays well. Oh, why can’t we finish this war here and now? Dharna asked to himself. He was a Kriath. Like everyone in his clan, he preferred diplomacy over brute force. For this, the Kriath Clan had always been watched with suspicion from the rest of the Empire, sometimes even with hate. They had never been considered an integrant part of the Empire. They had always been… an optional. Even if they were the backbone of the Empire’s diplomacy, they had always been sub-Drengin. And despite this… they continued their service. For what? Once we were happier. With Kona’s reign, my people are being slowly pushed away. It’s for this that I am doing this? For revenge?
Dharna acted like if he was offended by the Varden statement. He jumped up as his counterpart, and slammed his fist on the table, replying with an angered tone. While doing this, he left a minuscule holodisk falling on the floor. When, back on Drengi, the Intelligence Officers would have analyzed the recording of the meeting that was being made by an hidden micro camera in Dharna’s eyebrow, they would have seen nothing. At the end of the short, animated discussion, Dharna left the room, as planned. If there would had been a door, he probably have slammed it. Instead, he had to do a much less scenographic exit. What a pity.
When he had gone, Imaldin picked up the holodisk. In less than two hours, its data were decrypted, transferred to Iphaia, then to Altaria, Arcea and, finally, to Earth.

ooooh, a traitor, perhaps?  

Amanda was in her room. The remnants of what once was a massive Drengin armada retreated far away from the Terran border. The Behemoth was en-route for Mars. The Allied fleet sustained only moderate causalities, while the initial predictions for the battle said that it would had been a desperate one. For the first time in years, the situation was relatively stable.
“Tramontate stelle… All’alba viiiinceroooo…. Vin-ceroooooo…. VIN-CEEEEEEEEE-ROOOO…”
“Puccini?” Brian O’Malley, director of the Allied Intelligence Department, asked as he entered in her room.
Amanda opened her eyes and stopped the music. “Yes. The Turandot.”
“It’s appropriate. I’ll win.”
She smiled. “What we’ve just done.”
Brian’s face suddenly become serious.
“Unfortunately I’m not sure that it has been a definitive victory. I’ve just received alarming reports.” He gave her a datapad. “As you can see, our Altarians friends are worried about a Drengin operation in the Regulus system, or, as they call it, the Dak’thar system.”
“What’s it?”
“If their source is right, the Drengin are trying to recover data about Precursor weaponry by boarding a recently-discovered abandoned Dread Lord space station. It seems to be a research centre. The operation, codenamed Terror Star, is in-progress, and they’ll inform us as soon as they will know something else.”
“Is this report reliable?”
“Yes. It comes from MOLE.”
“MOLE?”
“What do you know about it?”
“MOLE… MOLE… I don’t think that I have already heard this codename.”
“That’s a good start.”
“Not so good, if I have to address the Security Council in two hours…”
“Believe me, the less you know, it’s better.”
Amanda nodded absently, as she started reading.
------
“Relations Lord?”
“Yes, Dergha?”
“Someone would like to talk with you. Crypted holo channel 4.”
“Thanks, Dergha”
Dharna activated the holo projector. The figure of Semarnya, War Lady responsible for the Drengin supply lines, appeared.
“I’Aghol…” she formally greeted.
“War Lady…” he answered. If she call me with my former charge in the Kriath Clan, it’s something really important about our... small project.
“I just received word from my sources that the combined fleet which had engaged the Terran forces in the Epsilon Pegasi system had been almost entirely destroyed with a nuclear strike. It’s something that you probably won’t read on your next reports. According to my sources, again, Kona Himself had ordered to shelve everything.”
“It’s the biggest…”
“…shelving of our history, and probably one of the biggest in the galaxy’s history. But we can use it at our advantage. If we spread these… news at the right time…”
Dharna knew instinctively where her thoughts were going.
“…and maybe if we start operation Earthquake at the same moment…”
“…we can finally reach our objective.” she concluded.
“I’ll inform immediately the Altarian Resistance. We are near the end of this war, Semanrya. Nearer than we had ever been.”
-----------
“Are you sure that the area is secured, Sub-group Lord?”
“Yes. No Dreads, technician.”
“Maybe, but I’m not sure. Here everything looks so… menacing.”
“The first you finish your job, the first you will get out here, however.”
“Right. It won’t take too long.”
Dreghal looked fascinated as the technician started working on the neural connections of the stations, downloading tons and tons of data from the live station. As he said, it didn’t take long. In less than half an hour, the strange machines that he had used stopped buzzing.
“It’s all here?”
“Yes, soldier. It’s all here.” He knocked affectionately the bioneural connector. “More than twenty feyars of Dread data in a single computer. Now, I have to bring the memory disk directly on Drengi, and you and your team are ordered to escort me.”
“Only us five?” Dreghal asked. The command bridge was filled with Drengin corpses and cyborg remnants, that the team survivors were suspiciously incinerating with a flamethrower.
“Kona asked specifically for you, Sub-group Commander. It seems that he trusts you more than any other.”
“Then, let’s do this. Are these data so valuable?”
“More than you can imagine. Probably the final weapon. But I’m not authorized to say more, sorry.”
Draghal nodded. “I understand. Now, let’s move.”
-----------
Amanda entered in the meeting room with what she thought was a determined walk. Then she saluted the fourteen members of the Security Council, and sat down in her armchair. She was the fifteenth member of the Council.
“Mr. President, Ministers, Admirals, and Generals; good evening. As you probably have already heard, we’ve quite a situation in development as we speak. The Drengin all-out assault on Epsilon Pegasi had been stopped with the use of nuclear warheads. Enemy causalities are estimated around 95%, while our fleet still has 86% of the ships operational. The destroyed Drengin fleet was composed by an enormous number of ships, hurriedly gathered and launched from six different star systems.” She activated the holo projector, and an huge image of the front lines appeared, towering over the oval table. “As you can see, now the systems of Rigel, Antares, Zeta Aquilae, Tycho Brahe, Delta Serpentis and Gamma Draconis are almost undefended. Plus, the AID has estimated that this defeat has decreased by the 25% the overall strength of the Drengin Armada: other destroyed warships came from their inner territories. Frankly, this is our greatest victory since the Battle of Io. We should launch an immediate counterstrike to do as much damage as we can do.”
“But…” the Home Minister interrupted her. “This isn’t of my direct competence, but why have we used the nuclear weapons platforms only now, if they can do such damage to the enemy ships?”
“Because only for this attack we used the 65% of all the available missiles. They aren’t peanuts: we can’t launch them at any moment; we’ve used them only today because it was our best chance. And it worked.”
“I understand. What’s your plan to use this defeat at our best advantage, Great Admiral?”
“Well, I think that it’s time to start operation Earthquake. The Altarians prepared it years ago, and I think that now it has the best chances of success. Operation Earthquake…” she pushed some buttons on the holo projector, and blue and red arrows appeared from nothing, converging on star systems and inserting deeply in the Drengin territory “… is basically a gambit of enormous proportions. We’ll launch an all-out attack from every inch of the border, and all our fleets will converge on the Drengi home system. With ‘we’, I mean the entire Coalition. Altarians, Arceans, Krynn, Shivans, Iconians, and if everything works properly, we can even convince the Thalans to declare war. Additionally, there will be a synchronized mass revolt on Toria, Dratha, Lentz and Akia. Our agents had already delivered weapons and other things to made it work. And the Arceans have all the intentions to start a fake assault on Spica IV, to divert the Drengin attention. We can still use the nuclear warheads, but I recommend to not do so. It’s better to have an ace in the hole.”
“And the Behemoth?”
“Oh. Well. It needs other two or three months of repairs to be fully operational: that head-on collision with that Drengin battleship had been hard. I think that, for now, it’s out of service.”
“Isn’t better to wait for it?”
“No. We’d lose our best occasion. It’s something that had to be made now, sir. And, most important, it’s something that we can do. It’s the turning point of this war.”
“Yes. I also propose to use the fleet that we had built here, on Earth, to support this operation.” The Minister of Defence intervened in the discussion. “We can end this war. Just think about it.”
These words left the Council members to speak quietly each other.
Amanda coughed. “And we can solve the problem of the operation Terror Star. With the Empire in chaos, it will be quite difficult that they can progress with this superweapon project. We could even stole their data. But we have to act now. My sources say that there is an apparent mutiny in what is left of their assault fleet. We can use this at our advantage.”
Some members started gesticulating excited, trying to convince their more reluctant colleagues.
After a small discussion, the Council voted, and the results of the vote were transmitted to the other capitals of the Coalition, where similar meeting were taking place. The decision was unanimous. Operation Earthquake had to start in two days.

This should be intresting...

Sakrine looked absently the glass of Her’k wine that he was holding in his hand. His thoughts were running far away from the dark room that was his home aboard the Kovenar. Regrets, missed chances, possibly different turning points of his life were passing slowly in front of him, analyzed and reanalyzed. So many sacrifices, so many difficult choices, and for what? I lived for my work, and now… I’ve lost everything. I’ve rebelled against my Emperor. I’m a traitor of the worst kind… What I have to do? Ask forgiveness to Him, and leave the Empire to be destroyed? Or should I remain faithful to the Empire, and betray my Emperor? He doesn’t realize that we are near collapse… what should I do?
He looked again the black liquid, where his face was perfectly reflected. The face of an old warrior… After all, deep in his warrior heart he knew what was the right thing to do. And he would have done it.
----------
Admiral Finneard almost suffocated himself with his orange juice when he heard his Commodore reporting the orders. “Wait – have I heard right? What we have to do?” he asked coughing.
“Perfectly, sir. The Security Council order us to prepare all our forces for an all-out attack in two days’ time.”
Finneard started laughing hysterically. “Really? And how do they think that we will be able to do it?” he asked.
“Those are the orders.”
“My dear, innocent Commodore, with only four frigates fully operative, I really can’t understand how we would manage to retake the entire Spica sector.”
“The Devil’s Hand battlegroup has proved excellently in the last engagements.”
“The TAS Angel, the Seraphim, the Cherubim and the Archangel are some of the most experienced ships of our entire fleet, I agree, but, again, I doubt that with four frigates we can defeat the Drengin in this sector.”
“The Great Admiral says that this is a … wait… oh, yes: ‘psychological attack’. Textual words.”
“Yes… how not…”
“But she has also informed us of this” he passed to his superior a datapad.
“Uhm. This can change the things. Alert the crew. Ready to action.”
----------
Schneider put proudly a small black cylinder on the table. Atik looked puzzled the thing, then his superior.
“Well?”
“Well what?” the Arcean asked. “A cylinder. Should I be impressed?”
“Yes. It’s the latest Altarian finding in the explosive field. Small, silent, and deadly. One of these, and you can make a hole in a frigate armoured titanium hull. It uses a new combination of Ionantium crystals as a power source, with something related to Dark Matter. With love, directly from Archiater Azamar.”
Atik took the bomb in his hand.
“It’s simple to use” Schneider continued “You push the red button, set up the timer, and it explodes. As the Archiater has said, it’s idiot-resistant.”
“Where it has to be placed?”
“You get quickly to the point. In the Drengin Phase Waves Radar Centre in Concordia. Have you already been there?”
“Yes. Seven years ago, before the Drengin sneak attack…”
“Good. If you know the area, you’ll be able to accomplish this mission faster.”
“…but I’ve never heard of this Phase Wave thing.”
“It was a spin-off Terran project based upon the ‘Eyes of the Universe’ radar array. The AID thought that they could use a modified version of it to track better the Drengin warships, and that with a modified polaron emitter they could obtain data about them even at distances like twenty parsecs away. When the Drengin invaded Spica IV, they took Concordia in the first month. And with the capital, there was the PWaRC. Your objective is to destroy the station. Don’t worry, you won’t have to assault the military base. Our informers say that if we destroy the Energy Transformer that gives power to the station, the radar will overload and, so, it will self-destruct.”
“Ah. And when should I put the bomb?”
“As soon as you can. You’ll be assisted by three of my men. Once you’ve done it, the Coalition will start operation Earthquake. We all rely on you, Centurion.
“I won’t delude you, sir.”
---------
Ah, Concordia. The capital city of the Terran world of Spica IV -that the Humans refer as Aphroidon- one of the most populous cities of the known galaxy, and the command centre of the Drengin Occupation force for the Spica system. Atik passed an old poster that publicized the sightseeing of the city. It had a burnt hole in the middle, and the wall behind it was bloodstained. Yes, the city wasn’t the same of seven years ago. He looked the perfect copy of the Statue of Liberty, that here towered over the Founder’s Plaza. Good-looking as always, except for the head, cut off cleanly from the rest of the body, and turned upside down in the middle of Laya Park.
“What happened to Lady Liberty?” he asked to the explosive expert, a Tir-Quan named Anderson, if he remembered correctly.
“A Drengin Phasor shot. When they were invading the city, someone had the brilliant idea to put a SAM on it. A national monument became a military base. The funny thing is that it worked. But when the green monkeys lost their patience, they blown it up with an artillery shot.”
“Only the head?”
“Yes. Their commander thought that it was a beautiful piece of art. In my opinion, now it’s better. It symbolizes perfectly our condition. The arm still rise toward the sky, while…”
“Interesting” the Arcean interrupted him “But I think it’s a problem. They surely have a patrol in the statue, or near it.”
“Oblivious. But we predicted it. We only have to…” he took a map that Atik recognized as the subway plant. “…take the Green Line as far as Finner Square, than use the Red Line to arrive under the Spaceport. We’ll use the old maintenance tunnels, where there should be less resistance.”
“Less resistance? Only a battalion?”
“Yes, Drengin plus, Drengin less.”
“Good…”
“Hey, I was only joking!”
“We Arceans don’t joke in mission, Human. A joke, and people can die.”
“You’re too serious, in my opinion.”
“No. It’s you Tir-Quan that are too risk-taking.”
“Stop it, you both!”
“What’s the matter, Georgij?”
“That this is a military operation under the SOC authority, and the last thing that we need is a discussion about the…”
“Another one who can’t joke…”
“How can you joke with death?”
“C’mon, if we are always serious, when should we live our lives?”
“You’re nekulturnij, Anderson.”
“Oh, stop it. Frey is coming back.”
The third human appeared from nothing just in front of them.
“These new dissimulator suits are incredible. You can become invisible…”
“Incorrect. They simply vibrate at so high frequencies that the human –or Drengin- eye can’t catch it. However, in a camera photogram you are completely visible.”
“Only if they stop the image.”
“And only if it’s an high-resolution camera.”
“Fascinating.” Atik interrupted them for the second time. “Now, what have you seen?”
“The way is free, at least until we enter in the subway. Most members of the resistance have put their base in the tube, so it’s an highly controlled area. But it’s also where they won’t suspect that an attack against the Transformer will start.”
“Why?”
“For the resistance, it would be a suicide. The most effective weapon they have are the laser rifles. And the central is reinforced with titanium walls.”
“Really? I’ve heard of a tank wandering for the roads, while I was talking with their leader.”
“I haven’t noticed it.”
“It isn’t something you can hide easily. Are you…”
“Again, stop it.”
“I’ve convinced the rebels to launch a diversionary assault. This should give us some time for…”
“…die alone?”
“Funny as always. Only wait…”
“Ok. Let’s move. We have our orders.”
Anderson and Frey followed Atik, mumbling something about freedom of speech and a suggestion of where the Arcean soldiers should put their orders.
---------
“I feel a little stupid.”
“If you don’t move, you’ll also feel a little dead, Frey.”
“Oh, Mother Arcea! Is it possible that you two can’t shut up for a few minutes? We are in mission, for Lord Vega’s sake!”
“Shut up, team! We’re arrived.”
“Where?” Anderson asked. They have been running on their knees for all the way, in the maintenance tunnels, to minimize the possibility of an interception, and now they were in front of a wall.
“Wow. A wall. I’ve always desired to see one.”
“THAT’S ENOUGH, TERRAN! ANOTHER WORD AND…”
Three “Ssst!” stopped sharply the Atik’s speech.
“We are in mission, do you remember?” Anderson teased the alien.
“I can promise you, soldier, that if we wouldn’t be here, you would have already died…”
“Oh, c’mon! It was…”
“…only a joke.” Georgij concluded. “Now, if you gentlemen have finished, we can continue our mission.”
“I think you’re authorized to proceed, comrade.” Anderson said, wittily. Atik didn’t say anything, but he looked like if he was going to strangle the Tir-Quan.
“Good. Behind this twelve-meters-thick titanium wall there’s the Quantum sub-power plant that gives energy to the entire city. We enter here, we fight until we reach the control room, and once there our computer genius” he pointed Anderson “will do what he has to do.”
He looked the other three. “Oh, hell, I know it seems a stupid plan. But it’s an high-risk operation.”
“Survival isn’t an option, huh?”
“You know better than me that we Tir-Quan are expendable for these mission. For the Security Council it is important only that we accomplish the mission.”
“I thought that your politician were more careful with the lives of their soldiers.” Atik said.
“Yes, but not in important missions where it is of the maximum importance that an objective is destroyed. And this also mean less money lost for salary. Now, if no one has objections…”
He putted the bomb on the wall.
---------
Who knows why, but in the films operations like these looked horribly complicated and all the team members were condemned to die, except for the hero and the heroine. This was far easier. As the Archiater has said, the bomb was idiot-resistant. The team managed to open a hole in the wall with ease and then they entered in what seemed a desert warehouse.
“No one? Wow. Maybe this time we are lucky.”
Frey held out his head in the hole. “The diversionary tactic is working.”
“The resistance’s assault?”
“Yes. Considering that it’s guerrilla warfare, I doubt that the green monkeys will stop the revolt so easily. In the meantime, we’ve got all the time, pardon me the repetitions, to destroy the radar array in time for the planned operation Earthquake.”
“Maybe if we do it quickly… If you hadn’t noticed it, there’s an alarm ringing.”
“Let’s move.”
They passed a door after another, a corridor after another, and all were empty.
“Are you sure that this is the right place?”
“Why?”
“Well, with no Drengin around, it doesn’t seem the most-important-objective-of-the-campaign, don’t you think?”
“I’ve already told you that the resistance is doing the worst part of the job for us.”
“Yes, but…”
“Shut up. This is the control room.” Atik pointed the door in front of them. Ready?”
The three nodded, suddenly serious.
“Three… two…”
Before the ‘one’, half a dozen of Drengin Shock Troops opened suddenly the door, firing like hell. Even for a Tir-Quan, this was too much to manage to do something. Anderson fell, with a burst hole in his chest, and Georgij quickly followed, after having killed half of the defenders. Jumping like a hopper and dodging projectiles, Frey knocked to the ground the other three guards with a karate move that seemed exited directly from an action movie, all in a few seconds. Atik looked admired him.
“You fight well, Terran.”
“The compliments after, comrade.” he said, trying to not look at his two dead friend, and started shooting at the other Drengin that were coming out, roaring.
“They’re too many! We can’t do it! They’ve given us a good hiding, damn!”
Atik didn’t respond. He was as well firing at the shock troops, and for the first time he realized that the fact to be an Arcean didn’t made him invincible. The Drengin trick was successful. They were losing.
He looked coldly at Frey, hit by a plasma shot in the middle of a somersault, failing on the blooded floor.
Everything is lost.
Then, coldly, he took the idiot-resistant bomb, disabling the timer, while three Drengin fired at the same time at him.
Time to die.
He pushed the button, ignoring the pain, and for the second time everything went black. Only that this time he wouldn’t have woken up.
-------
“ADMIRAL!”
“What’s up, Commodore?” Finneard said, without even raising his eyes from his copy of The New York Times that he was reading in his bed.
“Sir they… they did it! The radar is gone! The long-range Drengin surveillance is gone!”
Finneard arrived in the command bridge of the Archangel five seconds later, still wearing his pyjama, where a blue hippo was embracing a yellow bird under the words who finds a friend finds a treasure. Ignoring his not exactly martial appearance, he started shouting orders.
“Battle stations! Divert auxiliary power to weapon systems! Par 5 speed! Commodore, inform the AC4 that we are starting operation Earthquake!”
At these words, an ovation travelled across the entire warship, while the Devil’s Hand battlegroup pointed against the Drengin command ship in the sector, ready for their revenge.
------
“Overlord! We’ve lost the long-range sensors!”
“Trace a course for Drengia, Controller.”
“Wh-what?”
“It’s an order.”
“But… but… what are we doing, sir?”
“What are we doing? We’re saving our race from annihilation, that’s what!”
“But… wait… annihilation? But Lord Kona…”
“Consider Lord Kona deposed, Controller. I take command of the Armada from now. Transmit the order. We need to reinforce the defence lines around our capital.”
“This… this is treason!”
“No. This is the right thing to do.”
------
Amanda literally jumped in her command chair, as the TAS Mercury took off from Earth, followed by an hundred of other warships.
“To the crew of the First Fleet, here is Admiral Alighieri speaking from the Mercury. As you have heard, we’re shutting down the Shield to leave the planet. The Ninth Fleet in the Spica system, with the cooperation of the Arcean Fifth Legion, has broke the front lines. We’re ordered to launch an all-out attack against the Drengin. In this moment, ships from the entire Coalition are moving toward Drengia. The hole opened in the Spica system is being used to force their battle lines, and our sources say that the Drengin forces are collapsing. Surprise is our best advantage now. So, remember: move, live and let die!”
With a thundering ovation, the ships of the Terran fleet joyously joined the final act of the fight against the Empire that was proceeding in the entire galaxy.
---------
“My Emperor!” The commander of the Imperial Guards hurriedly entered in the Emperor’s room and bowed in front of Kona.
“What’s up, Sa’hal?”
“My Emperor, we have just received voice that Sakrine I’Aghol, the Supreme Overlord, has rebelled! He and the remnants of the assault fleet! They…”
“WHAT?!?”
“He says…” Sa’hal gulped. “He says that you aren’t worthy enough to sit on the Blood Throne…”
“HE! HE SAYS THAT…”
“And the Kriath Clan has revolted! Draghal I’Aghol has incited his people to separate from the Empire!”
“THEY… THEY DARE…”
“Plus, I’ve just been informed that the Coalition is pushing forward on all fronts!”
“AND WHAT ARE OUR OVERLORDS DOING?!?”
“Most… most have rebelled. Other have been killed by their crew. The few that remained loyal are fighting, but they say that we’ve lost more than half of our whole fleet for sabotages, rebellions, or Coalition attacks! I fear that there’s no hope to resist! A transport is ready to take you to a secure place and…”
“NO! I WON’T FLEE LIKE A COWARD!”
“But sir…”
“SHUT UP! I’LL REMAIN AND FIGHT! EVEN IF I’LL HAVE TO DEFEND THE PALACE ON MY OWN, I WON’T GIVE UP! THEY’LL SEE HOW A TRUE DRENGIN DIES!”
“But you can’t…”
Kona killed him instantly. “Coward… The last thing I need. I’ve a war to fight. I won’t give up so easily. They’ll learn to respect the Drengin Emperor!”
He took a rifle from his trophy collection and ran out of the room, ready to his last fight.
-------
“It seems that they have retreated to the Delta defence line, milady.”
“Yes, Azamar. Initially I had doubt about the full success of our plan. But it seems to work excellently.”
“Right now, more than half of their empire is in chaos. Unfortunately, their Overlord has rebelled…” he checked his watch “… twenty-three hours in advance. The revolt on Toria and Dratha should begin approximately in six hours.”
“Nothing is perfect, Archiater.”
“I know. Evidently the part of the plan that said ‘Kona will panic’ is wrong, huh?”
“Only thinking that is completely irrational. Kona is a true Drengin. He will fight to the last, even if he will have to jump in a fighter and attack a Terran capital ship on his own. For him, surrender isn’t an option.”
“And so other billion of beings will die. Only for his warrior nature.”
“It’s his culture. A Drengin can’t be considered a member of his Clan if he refuse to fight. And the Emperor has to fight to the last, as payment for the I’Aghols loyalty.”
“Even if everyone betray him?”
“Yes. But the Overlords that have revolted are only the newly-arrived, put in that charge only for political reasons. The old hard-to-die veterans will fight to the end to protect their Emperor. Even if it seems that everything is lost.”
“I didn’t think that you were so well-informed about the Drengin traditions.”
“Know your enemy. It’s an old human saying.”
“But is this real, ma’am? Are we really at the end of this war?”
Eleys turned and looked him with her deep blue eyes.
“I hope so, Archiater.”