Departure and Arrival: Gelmark
Sol System 04.08.4033
Two months after Battle of Uranus
No launching of a fleet is complete without a speech to commemorate the departure; to state clearly the reasons for going so far with so many. Done well, it would rouse the men to greater heights and ensure victory was that much closer. Done poorly… well, we might as well leave them at home. The Grand Marshal had been tasked with the rather herculean effort of attempting to reach the hearts every man and woman on each ship of the 400,000-strong Galactic Core Invasion Force. He was not a stellar speaker – certainly he could not spin words and weave them in a manner I suspect that old bastard Shulgi would have excelled at – but he spoke earnestly, with conviction, and above all, honesty.
“You aren’t paying much attention to the speech, are you?” Qin drops herself on the couch besides me, watching the visage of Ean superimposed over the rows of ships floating proudly before the blue orb of Earth.
“I skipped out on the rehearsals too. Anyway, it’s not that I’m not glad to see you, but why are you here?”
“I have permission from the Admiral.”
“To bid us goodbye? You better hurry, we’re going to commence the jump at any moment now.”
“No, to come along.”
I almost bite my tongue. “Why would you want to come along?”
She winks. “For fleet morale. You might not know it, but 4 out of 5 of the Imperial Legion commanders have asked for my autograph, and I’m not bragging when I say that every single one of your Federation soldiers is probably a fan of mine.”
“That can’t be true.” I say, bemused.
“Really? Why don’t you look at this?” She takes out her phone and displays a picture for me – it’s that of Vic Camna uncharacteristically smiling and shaking hands with her.
“Alright, now I’m convinced.”
“From what I’ve heard, you might have admiral troubles later down the line. You might need my help to keep the peace.”
I narrow my eyes. “Who have you heard it from?”
“I have my sources,” she grins mischieviously. “I always do. Oh, I had one more thing I needed to say. I think I really like you.” I do bite my tongue this time. Before I can respond, she’s run off, only stopping to peek over her shoulder with a smile.
“Someone’s popular,” says Kyrie. “How nice, you have an idol princess waiting for you after everything’s over.”
“A real princess is better,” I give a small chuckle as she takes her seat where Qin had been. “There’s no need to worry. After everything is over I’ll likely be dead.”
“W-who said I was worried about you?” She tries her usual comeback, but it’s clear that her heart isn’t in it. Her small shoulders shift as she sighs. We sit in silence for a while, watching the Federation fleets moving into position. They would create the wormholes that would carry the more numerous Imperial vessels through to their destinations. I feel the artificial gravity change ever so slightly, indicating that the asteroid shipis beginning to move. “It is time, isn’t it?” asks Kyrie. I nod silently. She gives me a smile that tells me I am a total idiot, and leans over to give me a light peck on the lips before she disappears.
***
The bridge is a hive of activity when I reach it. I had managed to rope in Tomas and Kaito to help me manage the Sword of Ean, as Admiral Grimrock preferred to command from his flagship, the Ankidu. There would be no problems with the chain of command. The remaining crew of the asteroid ship are familiar with the asteroid from its days as a Gate instead of a Sword: veterans of the former Autonomous Fleet. The astronavigators on the bridge and the engineers that maintain it are Earth-born, sworn members of the Order of Pithos. Rei and Erika are here, of course, while Erec and the rest of the Dunamis are stationed with Sekhenun at his own request.
I had already said my goodbyes to my family; they would remain here, helping Iannes with the military aspect of things while the bulk of the fleet was gone. My father was placed in the perfect position to do so – not high ranking enough to be needed on the assault, and not so low ranking that no one would listen to him. They would be safe… for a while, at least.
Qin seems to have made herself comfortable on one of the bridge’s seats and gives me a wave as Grimrock’s craggy face pops up on the vidscreen.
“So, are we ready to do this, kid?”
“You’re the Admiral here, you tell me.” I grin.
“Oh, cut that bullshit. You’re the one familiar with all this new technological magic you made us all adopt. It’s your show.”
“I don’t have the beard for it, Admiral. I’ll be advising, but the orders will look better coming from you.” Grimrock scratches his great big bushy beard. I have Yua take a look at the data coming in from the fleets; all of them are prepped and ready to go. A secondary screen pops up at my prompting, showing the technician in charge of the black hole engine clusters powering the Sword of Ean. “Engineer Islington here. We’re right on schedule and can open the wormhole on your say so.”
“Michael? From the Academy?” I ask, surprised by his presence. He has lost his baby fat since our teenage years and grown into a rather lanky engineer.
“The one and the same, Senya-dono.” He gives me a brief salute. I return the salute, and shift my attention back to Admiral Grimrock.
“As it turns out, we are ready to go, Admiral. Just say the word.”
“Very well. Broadcast to all ships.” He gestures to someone offscreen. “This is Admiral Grimrock of the Federation Third Fleet. We will be commencing our jump to Gelmark in five minutes. I am sure all of you have attended the briefings, or at least pretended to. We expect heavy resistance soon after our arrival, so I want all combat personnel to be on standby for an immediate sortie. This is just the first step of our long journey, and I’m sure all of you are relishing the challenge. Admiral Grimrock, over and out.”
“Alright,” I call out. “You heard the Admiral. The timer is set – make sure to coordinate the jump with each ship on either side of you. You have done the simulations, so I don’t want to find us in the heart of a star in five minutes’ time.” The activity on the bridge intensifies as everyone rushes to get ready for the jump. Erika comes up to me, dressed in full combat attire. “Senya.”
“Erika. Is everything ready?”
She nods curtly. “Rei is already inside Anhur-Shu, making some final adjustments with Tabitha and the Chief.”
“Are you ready?”
This time, the nod is accompanied with a slight smile. “Always.”
The hum permeating the ship increases in volume as the wormholes begin to form, in preparation for the jump.
***
Gelmark System. 04.08.4033
The moment we exit the wormhole, I realize that something is wrong. Gelmark is a binary star system with three gas giants and many space fortresses. The stars and the gas giants were still there, but the space fortresses weren’t. Sector Armada Delta itself was on the move, travelling towards the jump point that led further into the core. The space fortresses were mobile, and were usually fitted with a slipspace drive to move them between systems. It looks like the League had decided to abandon Gelmark for some reason.
“Master, Delta has spotted us.” Yua makes her report. The armada appears to speed up on screen, attempting to reach the jump point faster. They do not make any attempt to fire on us. Were they fleeing our fleet? Due to the preponderance of heavy ships, Delta would be a bit more sluggish. However, because of the distances involved, we would only be able to intercept by sending out fast cruisers and a light force of CFs. The rest of our forces would not be able to get in range in time.
***
A. Intercept Armada Delta by any means necessary, even if it means possibly over-extending our forces. Our main point in coming to Gelmark was to destroy them; we can't allow the armada to flee unharmed. If they get away, they can set an ambush for us at the next system.
B. Proceed as a cohesive unit, even though it means we will not intercept Delta before it reaches the jump point. We can jump after it once the entire fleet reaches there - splitting ourselves again might be stretching us too thin - I'm not sure if their act of retreat isn't a trap.
C. Ignore Armada Delta and take the jump to Bainur. If they have moved the space fortresses, there is a good chance they moved at least some of them to Bainur, which is only a single, one week jump away. The other taskforce should take a bit quicker to arrive from Tejat A; perhaps in about five days.
D. I test out my new Annihilation Cannon on the retreating fleet. At this distance I'm not confident of hitting all of them, and the trail of high energy cosmic radiation left behind will prevent us from following them quickly, if at all, but I should be able to do serious damage to the enemy fleet if I don't miss them entirely.
