They Answered The Call

Commonwealth 2nd Fleet

5 parsecs from Xenxin Home System, Earth Year 2173 A.D.

Commodore Therax stared at the results of the last battle drill as his task forces returned to their assigned positions after running a series of simulated combat actions and fleet maneuvers. He noted with approval that the overall reaction times improved by 5% while the combat targeting rating went up by 7%.

Not bad for naval reserve units, but we can do better, he thought to himself as he started tapping orders for another battle drill to be loaded into the simulator for the next shift change.

As he looked at the holo screen in the center of the bridge that showed the fleet returning to their standard formations, he thought back to four solar months ago when a livid Ominian envoy returned from Eleania and started demanding that the fleet launch an attack on the Eleani home world to punish them.

The envoy was apoplectic and demanded the Eleani pay the price for “Defying the orders of an envoy, failure to remit taxes, and allowing a foreign power to establish a military presence.” The envoy used his considerable influence and family connections to goad the government into action, which was almost successful until news of the Xenxin rebellion reached the Core Worlds.

The Eleani issue fell to the background as the Xenxin action raised alarms throughout the government and the admiralty, with calls for a punitive expedition to teach a lesson to the troublesome Xenxin taking priority. The Commonwealth could not afford to lose the nenchite deposits in the Xenxin system as they were a critical component of null space drives, and the Xenxin deposits accounted for over 60% of the refining output of the Commonwealth.

Therax was secretly relieved that the Xenxin rebellion happened, and he got the distinct impression that the admiralty shared in his relief when the scans from the envoy ship and its escorts revealed the full extent of the Republic fortifications in the Eleani system and showed hundreds of Republic warships patrolling their space.

Therax marveled at the scans when they circulated among the Admiralty, and he had to admit to himself that he was in awe when he saw the five massive shipyards and the dozens of forts and planetary defensive networks under construction that would rival those of the Core Worlds.

He had taken an interest in humans when they were first encountered and had studied their history and society as they expanded and rapidly achieved middle-power status.

His species, the Nekuli, were a warrior race with a long history of warfare and martial prowess. The similarities between humans and the Nekuli were the reason they were one of the few races to vote yes to allow them entry into the Commonwealth before the motion was rejected by a majority of the delegates.

The Republic showed its true honor when it offered to help the Commonwealth fight the Insectoids, even after being rejected for membership. Therax and many other Nekuli in the admiralty derided the government's shortsightedness for spurning the human offer of alliance even while the Insectoids were rampaging through Commonwealth space.

Therax also remembered the silence that pervaded the large conference room as the recordings of the spy drone that followed the insectoid fleet to the Eleani system showed the battle that had taken place.

They watched as the same Insectoid fleet that decimated the Commonwealth and destroyed half of the navy met its demise at the hands of a Republic fleet that fought with a skill and tenacity that far outclassed the abilities of the more advanced Commonwealth navy.

When the recording was done, there was an outbreak of recriminations and disbelief as government officials, military advisors, and fleet officers tried to come to terms with what they had just witnessed. All he remembered thinking while this was going on was how much of a mistake the Commonwealth made by not granting entry to the Humans.

As he looked back to the holo screen and saw his task forces finish slipping into formation, he wished once more that his orders had fallen on someone else to execute. He did not wish to fight the Xenxin, and though he relished a chance to do battle with them, he also understood why they rebelled.

Sighing, he turned to his underling and ordered that the fleet flash out to the next waypoint, 1.5 parsecs from the Xenxin home world. Once there, he will run another series of battle drills before entering the Xenxin system and reclaiming it for the Commonwealth.

The next solar day, as he was finishing up his daily exercise regimen, the alert chimes started wailing as the battle computer ordered the crew to battle stations. He ran out of his quarters, still in his exercise robe, and was on the bridge a few seconds later. He stood there for a moment, taking in the information on the holo screen as it populated the display with sensor information.

There were a hundred and twenty Republic warships in fifteen individual task forces, comprising eight ships each. They had flashed out of null space and surrounded his fleet, covering every axis of attack and effectively denying him the ability to maneuver or retreat.

As he sat down in his chair and queried the battle computer for options, the communications officer yelled out. “Commodore, we are receiving a transmission from the Republic ships.” Therax nodded and signaled to open the channel. A few seconds later, an emotionless voice came over the channel.

“Greetings, this is Command Unit One-Five-Zero Three. Your presence violates the territorial accords of 2173, and you have one solar minute to comply with our orders or offensive action will begin. You will disarm all weapons systems and start core shutdown protocols. Failure to comply will necessitate combat operations. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Therax stared at the holo screen as the countdown started and lost a few precious seconds as the wheels turned in his head. He ordered the channel back open and started speaking. “This is Commodore Therax of the 2nd Commonwealth Fleet. We do not recognize your claims to this area of space, and you will withdraw or face the consequences of violating Commonwealth territory.”

He signaled for the channel to be closed. He then toggled the battle computer to issue the defensive plan he chose from the list of options to all ships and ordered all weapons to be armed.

As the countdown passed thirty seconds, he looked at the scan results in confusion as the Republic ships seemed to shift in and out of space and the targeting scanners repeatedly failed to achieve solid locks. He felt a wave of dread as he suddenly remembered seeing these ships engage the insectoid fleet from the spy drone recordings and the destructive power they employed as they decimated the Hive formations.

As the countdown passed 10 seconds, he started frantically issuing orders for an emergency flash-out, even though he knew that most of the ships didn’t have enough time to fill the capacitors.

The countdown hit zero, and half of the Republic task forces sped up with a sudden burst of speed that broke what few tenuous targeting locks his scanners made while the rest of the Republic ships flashed into null space, only to emerge two seconds later within his formation already firing their weapons.

The ships that flashed into his formation were heading towards the outskirts, while the ships that did not flash out hit the outer edges of his formations, and they joined in the middle as they passed each other, marking their passage with dozens of broken and severely damaged Commonwealth ships.

Therax watched as all the Republic ships flashed out and returned two seconds later. The task forces were now broken down into individual formations of four that went after his battleships, swarming around them as they took down his most powerful warships with ease.

His ship started receiving fire, and he watched as his escorts tried in vain to intercept and break up the attack on his ship as they fell to the defensive fire of the demon ships. His holo screen quickly filled with the wreckage of his escorts as the Republic ships continued to blast through his hull and slice his battleship to pieces.

A core overload warning flashed on the holo screen, and he ordered all hands to abandon ship as he helped to carry the wounded and dead bridge crew to the life pods. While he waited for the last of the surviving crew to eject before stepping into his life pod, he looked at the Holo screen as it flickered.

It was a scene of carnage as over 75% of his three hundred strong fleet had icons marking them as destroyed or combat ineffective, and the battle space flared with explosions as thousands of life pods drifted among their dying ships.

The surviving remnants of his fleet that still had functional flash drives flashed out into null space, while the ones that could not enter null space started broadcasting surrender. One by one, they powered down their weapons and shut down their cores.

He saw that the rest of his surviving crew had ejected and stepped into his life pod, looking one more time at the holo screen and finding the elapsed battle time displayed in the bottom right corner. Sixteen minutes and 31 seconds.

He slammed on the eject button and grimaced, the g forces threatening to make him black out as the life pod blasted him away from his dying ship and continued accelerating to get him out of the blast radius of the imminent core overload. A few minutes later, he used the positional thrusters to turn his life pod to face his battleship and watched as it died in a mini-supernova, tears streaming down his face.

The Republic ships stopped firing as soon as they received broadcasts of surrender from the surviving ships and had retreated to stationary positions 100,000 kilometers from the battle space.

They maintained target locks on the surviving Commonwealth ships as they repeated the same message every thirty seconds. “Thank you for ceasing hostilities. Republic Search and Rescue ships are on their way and will be here momentarily. Please remain calm and activate your transponders to assist in your rescue.”

As Therax continued drifting in his life pod, he bowed his head and whispered a prayer to the spirits of the ancestors. He asked that they lead the souls of the dead who died in honorable battle across the river and into the afterlife. As he activated his transponder, he saw null space exit flashes, and dozens of Republic ships entered the battle space.

Within a minute, hundreds of rescue shuttles started streaming out of their bays, heading towards the Commonwealth life pods. The Republic vessels started locking tractor beams on the surviving Commonwealth ships and towing them out, while the rescue shuttles shot out tethers that grabbed life pods and started reeling them into the shuttle bays.

He felt a jerk as a grappler tethered his life pod and watched as he was pulled towards a brightly lit shuttle bay. He bowed his head again and whispered another prayer, asking the spirits of the ancestors to help him avenge the deaths of those who died under his command.

As he drew closer to the shuttle bay, his thoughts turned to getting vengeance against those that caused the destruction of over half the Commonwealth navy and the lives of 400,000 loyal sailors.

The Commonwealth government.