So Close, Yet So Far. (Galactya-Sereniani First Contact)

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“You must not have liquor in your empire if you concider wine strong. Especially this one, it’s a self-flowing sweet wine, around 4% alcohol by volume, but yes, we do have water. It’s in that pitcher over there, the guests can serve themselves.”

He was slightly annoyed, but accepted that the serinari might not have a tradition of drinking. He poured himself a cup anyways.

“To future friendships!”
He toasted and took a drink

“So, i was surprised that such young a crew was sent to negotiate, in Calerost you wouldn’t see usually someone under 30 doing diplomacy for the empire. Is this a usual thing in your nation?”
He said, with genuine curiosity. He was interested heavily in Serinari culture, and found this a good start for a conversation

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The 2 Emeraldians had also walked in with the Serenianians, both the Rear Admiral and the Captain were dressed in their Dress Uniforms. The Rear Admiral had already given his report to HighCom, and Captain Andersen had the 1st Air Wing, primarily made up of ESF-52 Space Fighters, which had yet to combat the Serenianian Fighters, they had faced the lighter ESF-51 “Starrobin”, which were used for Scouting and Recon. When the liquor was presented, Rear Admiral Ludov, a Ludvillian, was forbidden from drinking Alcohol by Ludvillian Law and Customs, Captain Andersen, a Cimbrian, on the other hand, Gladly took a glass.

(RA)“I agree with Tangadon here, I am also wondering why such a Young Crew was sent to do diplomacy or even allowed to be in Command. At the Request of HighCom, I also ask what exactly the Serenianian Government is like.”

Andersen sat quietly, she also had some questions for the Naval Aviators, but she waited for the Pilots response’s first.

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“They called it a Diplomatic Suicide Mission. So they send a suicide squad to deal with the mess. You don’t deal with it, and you have a Casus Belli if they mess up or the other side messes up.”

“We all came here willingly, though. Cheers to that.”

“They aren’t old enough. I am. I do agree such young faces shouldn’t be running the show, but he insisted.”

He turns to Calio

“It was my idea.”

“You nearly got us killed.”

“Which wasn’t my fault.”

“With all due respect sir, you only authorized us to carry that stupid autocannon.”

“Cut him the crap, it was to be diplomatic.”

“So who’s allowed to criticize his command style?”

“Me, I’ve actually seen combat. He executed that engagement perfectly.”

Defender turns back to the Emeraldian Captain

“Which… Part of the government, exactly? There are six sectors. Serniani, manages Sector 1 & 2. Rosepoint, which is a station situated between the crossroads of “Wing Kingdom,” and “Doge Landian Planetary Union” manages Sectors 3 & 4. Compass Corona Manages Sector 5, and 6 is exclusively managed at Anchor Point. You are dealing with Anchor Point, we report from Anchor Point, and Anchor Point is the first line of defense from any invader crossing from the “Venterran Federation.” We all played our part. I for one am scheduled for retirement soon. Approaching that age where you either become a fleet admiral or retire. Been throwing applications out. No responses, hopefully get one soon.”

“Most sectors are run by sector governments, which allocate resources to each planet, or in most cases, Stations. We don’t maintain planets as much, the Nebula we are in creates so many stars it’s akin to useless to have planets. Each planet or station puts a panel of experts, decided by some forsaken test I can’t remember, to represent their needs. Everybody else is free to go along, get something done with their lives, or gets the call to serve. Us six found the courage to serve. I assume your lifespan is 100 years? You look rather human. We are human, but our lifespans have been extended to 300 years. Cheers to science.”

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The Rear Admiral looked confused.

(RA)“Do you not have a Central Government? Emerald is also divided into Regions, but all answer to a Central Government and His Majesty, King Edward XIV. So I ask again, what is you government like exactly, I can tell someone isn’t telling me something, and I would rather you all walk out of here alive, rather than dead.”

(CAn)“Rear Admiral, please, Don’t scare the other Aviators. I do also have a question for all of you, How did you all exactly join the Air Corp or whatever its called in your Starnation. I personally joined with the dreams of commanding my own air wings, which I now do. The 1st and 2nd Air Wings are one of the best Air Wings you can find in the UEN. Although, you may think that they were pretty weak, but those ESF-51’s you faced are pretty weak, but they are mostly recon/patrol craft, unlike the ESF-52’s which can probably knock your aircraft out the sky, no matter how much missile defense you have, those M250 Plasma Missiles are rather deadly to those without decoy defenses.”

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“…Central Government?”

He looked around, unsure

“The Technocrats Council?”

“That’s probably the closest thing we have. We don’t like unified government. Unified governments take forever to respond to crises. You can have the best army, space navy, it doesn’t matter. You need info, and time to react. Failure to respond to opening blows is a death sentence. What holds us together is our need for each other. So really, no form of centralized government. Don’t start opening gates you don’t want to open. I may be old, but I can still fight, sir.”

“He talking about Gamma-1?”

“I assume so.”

“We are all Gamma-1, Space Superiority Fighter Aviators.”

“Those are top of the line Serniani SSF-232 Codename Valkyrie II. Defensive Countermeasures defeat plasma rather easily. Mixed Gravity usually suffices. Nobody tests countermeasures better than us. We’ve been doing it for thousands of years. You ain’t ever seen your life flash before your eyes 'til you see a 24 meter tungsten rod flying at you at half the speed of light. It shreds fighters, if it hits. It’s a capital ship destroyer. Put enough holes into your ship it’ll look like Swiss Cheese. CSM-329A will shred any small craft you put near it. I could go on.”

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(RA)“I’d like to see a tungsten rod attempting to pierce AAA Tritanium and Mk 4 Shields, please, a Phalanx could easily take out your ships, it first drains the shields and then it will cut through just about anything like butter. Even if you manage to poke holes in an Emerald Class Battlecruiser, we have enough backups to still keep fighting and then some, trust me, I wouldn’t want to be the ship that has to boarded by Marines, Ludvillian Ones in particular, my people are known to be naturally ruthless fighters.”

(CAn)“I seriously doubt that your simple countermeasures can handle the M250’s, they lock on to your engine signature, Unlike the M248’s that you faced, which are pure heat seeking. What is a “CSM-329A” Exactly? I imagine that an ESF-52’s Shield would more than enough to deal with a large threat.”

(RA)“Your lack of a Central Government is rather concerning, yes the points you brought up can be true, but what if those sectors declare war on each other because they hate each other? Or if your country is on the brink of collapse and no one is their to unify the people? If their is one thing I learned from Denvari History, Unity is Strength.”

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Most of Spark Flight Laughs

“Tungsten?”

“Is this some joke I’m too advanced to understand?”

“Simple? You call thousands of years of technological progress simple?”

“Sir with all due respect… That simply isn’t the case. Locking onto an engine is old tech. Like… Super Old. You don’t even need countermeasures. You need the light of the star. Any additional countermeasures is literally a waste.”

“You don’t do missile tech like we Serniani do, clearly. A CSM-329A is a kind of missile we use. Common, Standard, Missile. CSM. Variant 329. A Model.”

“Why… Why would you board a ship? That’s useless. A reactor overload would instantly kill the boarding party. Reactor Flushing would suffice. Why are you making threats to a civilization you barely know? You are making things worse for yourself. They’ve barely seen combat with us. The first engagement we had, we swept the floor. We had no shields, only guns. And we still beat you. Don’t start a fight over diplomacy. I implore you, sir.”

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“I will agree with the Serinari that we shouldn’t start a war over diplomacy, it is ment to stop it, not cause it, so i will request respect from all sides.”

He turns to Laurisa

“I will advise you, young officer, to never underestimate a potential enemy. As little as we’ve seen you in combat you’ve seen of us. Also revealing tactics is never a good idea. A warrior might not think much of their enemy’s gloves untill they use them to pull the sword out of their hands. This applies to both sides there. Your telescopes and cameras can see our guns, but they might never know their capabilities, at least not until they get melted away.”

He pauses for a second, letting his words settle in, before saying:

“i think we should get back to the main topic. I joined the navy as it was a family tradition. My father was a admiral before me, and his father before him. We can trace the line all the way to the Miraline war, multiple centuries ago. It just felt like duty to continue the line, and i am not sorry i did it. It brought me much of glory and honor, and got me here, sitting in a massive ship, making first contact with a alien race over a glass of wine and… SERVENT! WHERE IS THE FOOD BY NOW?”

“Comming right up my lord!”

A moment after the food is brought. A large roast of one of Ilanor’s most prestigious meats, with a ritch and umami sauce, and multiple different side dishes. Tangadon wanted to let this meal be remembered

When the food got placed Tangadon took a small bottle that was on the plate, opened it, and said a few sentences in Cordalam, the language of Edhel religion, and sprinkled the food with the liquid.

" A religious ceremony, blessings the meal and occasion and asking the Gods to let you be able to do so again, it’s a tradition. Now let’s eat before it gets cold

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“Trickery is also a key aspect in warfare. You have no way of knowing if I’m lying to you. You are taking my word and current goodwill. The best way of learning about your enemy is fighting them. We’ve shown in capacity to be able to destroy UEN fighters, whether these are actually top of the line or not, is another question entirely. But you wouldn’t know that either.”

“I guess we should eat then.”

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(RA)“You have a point, There is a reason I haven’t talked about any of the armaments on any of my vessels, and I never said what the phalanx is exactly did I? Yes, you destroyed 3 Fighters out a 10 Fighter Squadron, which were ordered to pull back by my XO after we damaged one of your vessels, we were testing your fighter tech, and Honestly, I’m not impressed.”

(CAn)“I think you are confusing Radiation Signature with your unique Power Signature, which is extremely hard to counter unless you use Decoys. Yes, I call it simple because those countermeasures you used on the M248’s are damn near identical to those used by the Ancient Air Forces of Pacifica, hell, the ESF-25’s and the JSI-23’s used very similar countermeasures against heat seekers, and those are ancient aircraft. Speaking of that minor dog fight, whatever happened to those 2 pilots who managed to eject? We have yet to recieve them, and I swear is you killed them, It would violating the Grovne Conventions and it’s do not execute Prisoners Of War, I would answer that quickly before Fleet Admiral Nelson gets here and things get very messy. Tread Carefully, unlike the Rear Admiral, I would rather have this end peacefully rather than continue this conflict, but it was also you made the Galactyans abandon their homes near the wormhole and occupied that side of the wormhole, and started to clear out the disc of debris, despite the fact that disc is what supplies the heat to those colonies. What the Galactyans offered is very generous, but it is up to you and your various governments to decide what to do.”

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“Unique Power Signature? So advanced… You are talking about the ships power source. Locking a ship’s power source does nothing. Masking a Power signature is so very easy. Shame they haven’t made those devices smaller yet.”

“They’re working on it. Folks at Docks got a sample of them. 'Sposedly ‘The Best Anti Missile Suite Since CIPDS.’ With Integration coming soon.”

“Shoot. They work quick. CIPDS has been around since… I know it’s a little older than me.”

Defender stands up, clearly frustrated with both Emeraldians

“Sir, you damaged a light fighter with an autocannon. You fired from a standoff distance and were surprised when we dodged your missile tech. You then moved into Autocannon range, while we pincered half your squadron and would have deleted the rest of them from their sorry existence if we weren’t on a diplomatic mission. They didn’t leave because you told them to leave. They ran because they were allowed to. We have gunsight footage. You are lucky you still have those pilots. And you are still lucky they DAMAGED the craft. We had NO SHIELDS at the time. Believe me when I saw my shots deflect off I was surprised too but I persisted and put that sorry **** out of their misery.”

Laurisa motions for Defender to sit

“We can’t tell you where the ejectors are. For all we know they could be at ABH-003 being processed for prison time or sent through and are being held for long term questioning. You sent your pilots to a dangerous situation. They paid the price for your information. You gave your soldiers a suicide mission and they followed orders. What’s the part of that creed… “I will follow all orders given to me without question or reservation for my well being.” It’s what soldiers do, right? Though I can have sympathy, I can’t be sorry. After all, we are all pawns to someone, right? Nobody ever is really at the top, Rear Admiral, not even you. It’s beyond our control now. That’s what the term “Missing In Action” is for. Do you seriously fight ‘Clean?’ Don’t answer, I know the answer you’ll give.”

Defender sits down, sufficiently happy with the word storm he didn’t have to say to the Emeraldians, along with thinking about the choice words he would’ve included in Laurisa’s oration

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"I will ask everyone to CALM DOWN BEFORE I FORCE YOU TO"

Tangadon says slamming his hand on the table with incredible strength, and shattering a glass unfortunate enough to be in the way. He cut himself and was bleeding, but basically ignored it untill a servant brought a tissue welder. He had far above average strength for a Edhel, and was respected for it. The room goes quiet.

“Thank you. If you want to argue you can do it away from my table. We’re here in the name of peace and comradeship. How do you like the food? What does a average Serinari diet look like? I aproximated based on the tastes of humans elsewhere in the sector, so i hope i got everything right.”

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“It isn’t an MRE…”

“Hey, did you know in space, nobody can hear you?”

“Shut it. It tastes odd. I’m not sure what to make of it.”

“It’s not a standard-issued soup from the AE, which is a change.”

“Probably isn’t as healthy as that soup though. The chicken noodle version was always yummy though…”

“It doesn’t add calorically. Faith is gonna ground y’all later.”

“Hey. She’ll ground you too.”

“Nah, Ms. Faith won’t ground me 'cause I got my own MREs for my diet. Crap, I’m low in sugar.”

“You were saying she wouldn’t? You sure?”

“That’s Karma, yeah.”

“You? Low Sugar? Impossible.”

“Yeah, surprisingly. Usually it’s over, not under. Oh well.”

“So, uh, planetary diets vary, they have a lot of climates. Station food, depends on size. ABHS-1A got some decent food. Admiral Eliza and other capital ships, depends on which kitchen you go to, and what hour you go. Us Gammas usually got “Situational Awareness Soup.” Some guy did the numbers to see what we needed to stay awake and alive for long periods of time under 0% Oxygen. Came back with that goofy soup. It works though.”

“It works nicely. Genetically Engineered Soup for us. Super yummy, got us through many tough times.”

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Meanwhile…

High General Qerins turned on his holowatch and opened a private communication line with the Emperors on Galactya. He had basically become their friend, and they often spent time together, with other important figures of the Empire as well. In a couple of seconds, the message was accepted. Empress Karheismas responded.

”Hi Xeralon!”

”Hello Karheismas. Am I interrupting something?”

”No, no, me and Nix just finished having dinner. What begs the call? Are the diplomatic talks with the Sereniani kids going well?”

”Yeah, about that… I kinda need to ask you guys permission to do something. At least permission on behalf of Governor Ayukenaq.”

”Oh. Yeah, of course. What is it?”

”I’ll start by saying that we are 90% still going to start military operations with them. Their government won’t budge about the joint occupation, and while right now the diplomats are having dinner with Tangadon, nothing’s gonna change.”

”Well, I’m sad to hear that! What are we gonna do with the Sereniani kids there on Eastavilp?”

”That’s exactly what this is about. Me and Ayukenaq came up with the idea of doing something like what the Empire did with the U’Lnuib 4000+ years ago. We wanted to “force” them to stay on Eastavilp, while still continuing the war. They could be the only innocents we will ever manage to save from the conflict after all, given the situation. So, can we trap them here? We’ll confine them to the planet, but we’ll still treat them just as guests.”

”Sure you can! You don’t even have to ask. Tell, you what, if you ever find other Sereniani that you think are innocent, feel free to save them right away. I trust you. You don’t even have to ask.”

”Oh, wow. Thanks a lot then Karheismas. That’s quite flattering.”

”I am known for being ever so pleasant to be around after all…”

”Let’s not make it too large now-”

”Ahaha, yeah. Anyways, do you need anything else?”

”No, I don’t think so. At least not for now. But I will keep you updated. Thanks again, and tell Nixhoeils I said hi.”

”I sure will. Thanks to you too by the way.”

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The Rear Admiral snapped at the Young Pilots with fury

“DON’T YOU DARE TELL ME THINGS I ALREADY KNOW! ALSO, HIGHCOM HAD GIVEN ME A MILITARY MANDATE OVER ALL UNION PROPERTY AND CITIZENS, WHICH INCLUDED THOSE PILOTS YOU ARE NOW HOLDING HOSTAGE, SO DON’T GIVE ME THE FIGHTING CLEAN CRAP YOU GRASNYACK’s(Ludvillian for Asshole), AND AS PART OF THE OATH I SWORE TO THE HIS MAJESTY AND THE NAVY, I WILL NEVER FIGHT DIRTY UNLESS DIRECTLY ORDERED TO BY THE KING AND NAVAL HIGH COMMAND, YOU ALSO ADMITTED TO VIOLATING THE GROVNE CONVENTIONS, WHICH BY EMERALDIAN NAVAL CODE IS LIABLE TO HAVE THE OFFENDER EXECUTED BY FIRING SQUAD. I WILL NOT HAVE THE DENVARI CIVILISATION WHICH HAS EXISTED FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, BOTH ON PACIFICA AND IN THIS SECTOR, BE RIDICULED BY YOUNGLINGS WHO THINK THAT THEY ARE SUPERIOR BECAUSE OF THEIR TECHNOLGY AND THE YEARS OF TECHNOLIGCAL DEVELOPMENT, LET ME TELL YOU THAT IT IS NOT YOU UNGRATEFUL BASTARDS, IT IS THE REASON THAT THE DENVARI EMPIRE FELL, AS DID THE FRANKISTS, KARNETVORIANS, IZAAKIA, AND ESPECIALLY THE RYCCIAN MILITARY JUNTA, WHEN IT COMES DOWN TO THE NITTY GRITTY FIGHTING AND WARFARE AND TACTICS, YOUR TECHNOLOGY WON’T DO JACKSPYAS AGAINST INGUNEITY AND GOOD TACTICS. I HOPE YOU’VE LEARNED YOUR LESSON YOU YOUNG GRASNYACKS!”

The Rear Admiral stormed out of the room shortly after Tangadon slammed his hand on the table, leaving only Captain Andersen left.

(CAn)“I am so sorry, Ludvillians are known to have short tempers, and I think you struck a nerve that you shouldn’t have struck.”

After a little bit…

(CAn)“You only eat soup? How weird, Honestly I think the food tastes great. So, for the UEN, Ships are provided with a very well supplied stock of food provisions and thus every day you can something different to eat, it just depends on the Cooking Staff.”

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“He couldn’t take the heat, sir. Striking nerves is part of the job, y’know. Sometimes you gotta tell them stuff they don’t want to hear. And yeah, soup for days. It’s yummy though. You can live on it. It’s got everything.”

“He just smack talked our tech. And our tactics. Rude.”

“Also, hostages? I think the correct term is PoW.”

“And they said I was impulsive. Jeez.”

“Convention?”

“Firing squad?”

“I gotta take a call from Razor. Be back in a pinch.”

Defender leaves the room

“YGBSM.”

“Be ready for exfil at any time. That’s all.”

“I understand the gravity of the situat-”

Obey orders. Turn your receiving tracker on.

“…Yes sir.”

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The High General had stationed himself with a squadron of soldiers right in front of the start of the expandable metal tunnel that connected the main entrance of the INS Glory Of Sunlight with the rest of the Spaceport. Normally, the ship would be gravitationally suspended in one of the large main hangars of the Spaceport, but considering the precarious situation unfolding inside, it was best for the ship to be connected to a private side entrance.

IMG_7637
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Eastavilp’s SpacePort.

Which was very fortunate for Xeralon’s plan. To access the tunnel one had to cross various hallways, and cross many doors that only opened with a Genetic Code, or a FGC Card. And the Sereniani didn’t have any of those. Tackling them was going to be easy and also painless, he hoped. The entry room was also small, and with just two small very resistant windows that looked over the rest of Eastavilp, at a very inescapable and very deadly without a parachute 55 kilometers of height. That way, the soldiers could immediately trap the Sereniani without struggling, since they were already blocking the corridor.

Now, they just had to wait for Tangadon to finish his little dinner party, and they could do what they were here for. The war was going to happen regardless, so there was no reason to interrupt.

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“Laurisa wasn’t your job here to negotiate peace, and not make enemies? I understand the mindset where you’re coming from with this, but your lack of skill as a negotiator is showing. You’re leading your nation into war when you do things like this, and this is one you can’t win. Don’t take this as a insult, but as advice.”

He was still annoyed, but talked calm, with a friendly sounding voice. If one more thing like that happened he’d kick the Serinari off the ship, and possibly even retract his guarantee of security. He was sympathetic with the idea of young pilots forced into a suicide mission of negotiations, two of then being lovers, but he wasn’t sympathetic with arrogant prics who angered who they ware supposed to negotiate with on purpose

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Meanwhile, On the UES Denvari BB-1066…

(FAN)“I’ve heard enough, Comms, begin transmission to all CO’s and XO’s.”

(COM)“Yes, Sir. Broadcasting now”

(FAN)“This is Fleet Admiral Nelson Of The 3rd Fleet, Gamma Protocol is in effect, I repeat Gamma Protocol is in Effect, All UEN Ships in Region 11 will be ordered immediately to cease any and all negotiations with the Serenianians. This Protocol is being enacted due to Sereniani having yet disclose the location of Lt. William Nielson and Squadron Commander Joshua Tolsov, it is currently believed that they are being held against their will in a currently undeclared war, Gamma Protocol is being put into effect. I will thus speak to our Galactyan and Calerostian Allies as soon as possible. End Transmission”

Meanwhile,

Captain Andersen suddenly felt her communicator beginning to buzz, she pulled it out and hid it from view. She read the transmission. Gamma Protocol had been initiated, which meant that she had to cease all talks with these Airmen immediately. God Damn it, it seems that these negotiations were a sham(of course, she already had a feeling they were). The 3rd Fleet was incoming, and there is little the Sereniani can do about a fleet that large.

(CAn)“Excuse Me, Can I please leave, I need to check in with the Rear Admiral.”

It was a lie, sort of, she did need to speak with her current superior about this news.

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Plane Silence

There wasn’t an answer.

The Serniani that had left the room reentered. There was a grim look on his face. Most of the other Serniani saw this sign and recognized it. Not many people knew morse code nowadays, but a faint beep could be heard to the Serniani. Negotiations, were off. Rescue was coming soon, and if they weren’t ready, everybody would be dead.

PAG/SFG-102 “Doormen’s Express”

“Approaching contact area!”

“Clear! Are we clear?”

“Stealth drive disengaging on the count of 3.”

“3.”

Ranger Flight, TFSS Razor

1st Reserve Fighter Squadron, SSF-103 “Valkyrie”

“Why would command give us fake missiles?”

“Unrestricted use of WMD missiles would cause massive issues.”

“Armed.”

“Fire at will.”

“Magnum! Magnum!”

“Magnum! Magnum!”

“2.”

“1.”

“Disengaged. Open the door.”

The Gunship opened it’s rear door, and Task Force Maroon “Polite Doormen” exited. The INS Glory of Sunlight’s private entrance heard a large crackling noise as it began to depressurize from a plasma laser cutter. 10 long seconds passed as the air inside began to leave…

TFSS Razor, CiC

“Load EMPT. Target the Space Port.”

“Fire at will.”

Little noise emanated from the Razor. It all rested on the diversionary missiles to get the larger, lethal EMPs out. Disrupting any chance at communication from the outside world for the time being would suffice.

Ranger Flight

“Reporting mission success, all crafts RTB ASAP.”

“Oh shit. It’s happening.”

“It was nice knowing you, sir.”

Spark had already put on their 02 masks. Though there was a lockdown on the ship already, there was little chance a distress call could be made. EMPTs were coming.

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