Hokum - Chapter 1

The Hokum – Chapter 1

Chapter 1.25

Chapter 1.50

Chapter 1.75

Emperor Valsur was glad that the Imperial Council meeting was over. Though only having been on the job for one year Valsur was the previous Minister of Revenue, thus he knew the intricacies of how the IC worked. Acting on the behalf of mercantile interests as well as to improve relations Valsur spent the better part of his first year to establish trade relations with the Commonwealth of Planetary States. The Ministers of Arms and the Interior were initially opposed to the idea. Arms felt that trade would give the Commonwealth a fair indication on just how wealthy the Imperium was, and from that would get a baseline on how much of a military it could support. Interior was concerned about espionage and ‘corruption of cultural mores’ from exposure to an alien race.
     Valsur, with support from the current Ministers of Revenue and Industry, was able to convince the rest of the IC that trade would be an overall benefit to the Imperium. With the upgrading and new construction for the ISN, spurred by the Short War, there was great debate for the past five years on how much of a budget Arms would get. Arms groused that not enough was being spent on new construction. All it took was to allocate the lion share of the projected government trade revenue to Arms to ensure his support.
     As for Interior, his concerns were allayed after details on how trade was to be conducted. Only refined minerals and industrial-grade diamonds would be accepted from the Commonwealth, and in turn they would get processed foodstuffs and wines. A small transfer space station was to be built in the Coral Bridge system (ceded by the Commonwealth after the Short War), right next to the warp point leading into Commonwealth space. All transfers were to be handled by automation and with minimal ‘face-to-face’ time. That satisfied Interior (who was something of a xenophobe) in that what little contact the Terpla’ns did have with the Hokum could be thoroughly monitored.
     Negotiations with the Commonwealth on the trade treaty were slated to begin as soon as they sent their ambassador to Coral Bridge. Valsur was sure they would agree to the terms as they were presented. From what was known about them Valsur sensed that the Terpla’ns would take the opportunity to broaden their economic horizons. He hoped, eventually, that even with the restrictions agreed upon by the IC a better, more comprehensive relationship could be forged with the Commonwealth. With no more open warp points left in Imperium territory the only options for expansion were to go to war with the Commonwealth, or become allied with them to the extent that they would cede systems for colonization.
     Valsur sensed that he was to be the first Emperor since the inception of the Imperium that would be at the forefront of major change. While the suspicious and hidebound in the IC would do what they can to minimize change the younger segment of Imperium society wanted to have more contact with their first extra-solar neighbor. It was going to take time, but Valsur hoped that when his term as Emperor ended in eleven years the Imperium would be richer in every sense of the world.
     Continuing with the practices that placed him in high office Valsur was austere when it came to spending Imperium money that related to his personal comfort and convenience. He only used the official car twice a week, taking his own private vehicle the rest of the time, and he had just three servants at his residence and paid them from his own salary. A majority of 27 Emperors and Empresses from the last 325 years had more extravagant lifestyles, with the worst have multiple lovers stashed away in hotel suites that were paid with public money. Had he the gumption to have a mistress (which he didn’t) Valsur knew that if his wife found out then even his personal guard couldn’t protect him.
     After the vote Valsur signed some documentation in his office and left for the day. The press conference about the treaty was set for tomorrow, leaving the evening free for Valsur to work on his speech at home. He stopped by a toy shop, picking up a ball for his seven-year-old son Vendex as a reward for improving his grades at school. After dinner, homework and some ball playing Valsur and his wife sent their son to bed and then retired to the study. He was done by midnight, and within ten minutes he was fast asleep.

It was three-thirty a.m. when little Vendex heard voices coming from downstairs. He made out his father’s voice clearly, but the other three were ones he hadn’t heard before. Quietly leaving his room, Vendex came to halt at the top of the staircase. The voices were clearer now, though he didn’t understand some of the words, such as ‘aggressive’, ‘non-responsive’ and ‘belligerent’. Using his back pair of hands to keep a grip on the railing, Vendex took the stairs step by step, cupping his front hands by his ears so that he could hear better. He came down to the next to the last step and sat down, trying to follow the conversation coming from the open door of the study as best he could. For an hour he sat there, wondering what the adults were talking about.
     Feeling sleepy, Vendex made a misstep when he got up, the railing squeaked from his hastily applied grip. Before he could make an exit he saw his father standing at the open door. “You can come on in, Son,” said Valsur in a commanding voice. “I’m going to need your help.”
     “Yes, Father.” Vendex walked in a sheepish manner into the study. He had perched himself on the steps previous times when Valsur had friends over for card games. Once he repeated a word he heard during one of those games and his mother punished him by denying supper one night. Was this going to be something like that? After all, a word like ‘belligerent’ didn’t sound like a swear.
     The three other voices Vendex heard belonged to men wearing naval vests laced heavy with rank, braid and service ribbons. They were looking at the boy like he had stumbled into a raucous private talk at a barbeque. Before he could feel uneasy from the attention Vendex went to his father’s side at the desk, only then to be picked up and placed on his lap. Valsur put both of his front hands on Vendex’s shoulders in a sign of fatherly affection. “Son, before you help me, did you understood anything what you heard on the stairs?”
     For a moment the boy said nothing, instead looking at the active datapads on his father’s desk. He wondered for a moment if they were cards games that his father and his friends were playing earlier. “Something about moving ships, and the loss of ships, plus some big words I don’t know,” he said. “Then there something about contin-gincity plans.”
     “The word is contingency, Vendex. Contingency means doing something if one or more bad things happen. Something bad happened to some of our ships. My friends and I were deciding on what plans to use to punish the people that did the bad things.” With his back pair of hands Valsur picked up a pen and a sheet of printed hardcopy from his desk. “Son, you’re going to help your father by witnessing one of the most important orders an Emperor can give. Most little boys your age never get the chance to be a part of history. In fact, you’ll be the most famous boy of all the Imperium.”
     “Doesn’t being the son of an Emperor make me famous already?” Vendex said innocently, so much so the three naval officers chuckled.
     “True, my Son. But in all of 325 years of Imperium history no boy, much less the son of an Emperor, has ever done this. In a moment I want you to write your signature on this paper. It’ll signify that you were present when I applied my seal and signature to this imperial decree.”
     Vendex looked at the paper, still unable to understand some of the ‘big words’ on it. “What is it that you’re putting your seal on, Father?”
     “It’s one of the powers that resides exclusively in the office of Emperor, my Son. The Imperium is going to war against the bad people that destroyed our ships earlier this week.” Putting the paper back on the desk, Valsur poured some pre-heated wax on it and then applied the Seal of the Imperium, quickly followed by his signature. Without hesitation Vendex took the pen from his father’s hand and wrote in his best handwriting his name in the first line for witnesses. The three officers then signed their names, stored the document in a thick, padded briefcase, and left for the ISN headquarters.
     Valsur didn’t go back to bed that night. Vendex did, and slept well. He didn’t give much thought about what happened, instead he dreamt about playing with his new ball with his friends at school the next day.

Three days earlier in the Whel system….

The fleet exercise was going well, reflected Lord Admiral Janus. All the ships involved came from the Reserve Fleet and were manned by reserve personnel. Five years of new construction, three years of technical development and two years of refits have brought about much strengthened Imperium Space Navy. Another fact was that 70% of the crews have been in the ISN, both regular and reservists, for less than five years. They were university-aged youths who answered the call to service with vigor. Many joined for the prospect of adventure, hoping that by serving they’ll be able to go past Imperium boarders and see the broader universe. This contrasted sharply with the career personnel in the service; they had little to do for over three centuries other than collect pay and keep their ships clean for inspection and reviews.
     Most obvious of the changes wrought after the Short War was the development of the strikefighter. Squadrons of small carriers took priority in the construction slips as well as the training of pilots. Recently a new generation fighter entered the inventory, one that had twice the endurance and an additional hardpoint for external ordnance. By this time next year all the squadrons would’ve been upgraded to the new model. In conjunction with antimatter warheads, the inventory of which was slowly increasing due to the greater costs, the offensive punch of those squadrons would be considerable.
     The exercises were being held in the Whel system, a blue giant/red dwarf binary. Only an asteroid ring and a gas giant with three moons orbited the dwarf for a total of 30 outposts and three colonies. Whel was also known by its nickname, the Frontier, because it was last system explored before it was found that there were no other warp points to exploit. Fleet exercises were held in Whel every five years, with this marking the 65th since the Imperium’s inception. Being the first since the Short War, it was decided to include more than the standard allotment of retired hulls for the live-fire exercise. Automated to move under their own power these hulls were scattered throughout the space of the blue giant component, programmed to active their drives at random as well as take random courses. So far in the past two weeks only a third of the moving targets have been detected and destroyed.
     As if to relieve her sense of boredom a blip appeared on the master plot of Janus’ flagship. It was followed a few minutes later by a message from DD-33, a Type 1 destroyer. Just about to alter course on its exercise patrol route 33 and its two patrol partners detected a drivefield at the edge of detection range. Said contact was on a bearing of 180° on subjective south of the blue giant along its orbital plane with its dwarf companion. 33 informed that the unknown contact was on a general course towards the blue giant. At cruising speed the destroyers would make a definitive ID in one day, assuming the hulls stayed at the same course and speed.
     Janus worked the numbers on the plot. Her task group was 27 LMs from the destroyers. At a speed of 0.083c the task element would be some 45 light-seconds behind the destroyers when positive ID was made. If the hull(s) were programmed to turn about and flee at full speed upon definitive scanner range of the DDs then it was going to be a long-range fighter strike exercise. After giving the orders to intercept Janus took a shuttle to visit one of her carriers and perform an impromptu inspection of the hanger decks. Being the first major exercise in which live fighter weapons were going to be fired she wanted to see if the crews were motivated. A better than expected performance would mean an extra week of R&R in Bellum for the carrier’s crew, so she suspected to find the hanger bays practically sparkling upon her arrival.

Prime Commander Nelset, in charge of the 11th Survey Squadron, looked at the incoming contacts with a greed usually reserved for the last slice of meat on the dinner table. Ever since the war against the Hamthen started sixteen months ago Nelset had hoped her survey ships, working in Nu’Chut territory, would find a warp link leading to the enemy’s Hagelkorn or Pileus systems. In the four surveys to date two habitable worlds had been found and were in the process of being colonized. A respectable effort in any case but Nelset wanted more.
     On a hunch Nelset took her squadron to another portion of the Nu’Chut frontier. One week after entering a new system her sensors picked up an alien drive field. Immediately she had her squadron set on an intercept course. Even more of a fanatical adherent to Axis philosophy than Anjur a blunt plan formed in Nelset’s mind. If the number of alien ships was just right all first-contact protocols would be shelved and combat initiated. The plan was to capture and then tow up to three ships so that their databases and technology could be inspected at leisure.
     She didn’t think her plan through as her action would bring the Axis into another war with aliens. Her subordinates, far from being intimated from suggesting the usual SOP of talk, talk, and stall while a proper force was brought in to deal a crushing initial blow, were enthusiastic. They believed completely that the Axis could only improve by engaging in wars that proved their superiority. Faith in their might was such that they believed the Axis could engage in two wars at the same time. It was an awful assumption to make that the First Leader would take this course of action. If anything, Nelset and her crews were banking that by killing aliens, which were abominations to begin with, would lead to an official acknowledgement that they had acted ‘in the best interest of the Comensal race’. If her plan worked, Nelset could rely on the old axiom that success forgives a multitude of sins.

“Nine ships,” Janus said to Cirro, captain of task element’s flagship the BC Overforce. Both of them were in the CIC watching as the exercise ships and the Type 1s converged. “That’ll make it two squadrons for each one.”
     “That’s half of all the ships used in the last three exercises put together,” Cirro commented. “The Naval Department of Resource Management must be complimented in getting all those ships ready and then moving them here in secrecy.”
     Janus nodded while fixing an itch to the back of her head with her left back hand. “Same goes for their drive frequency selection. They must’ve been towed for the most part. If our engines operated at those frequencies for a significant amount of time it would’ve wrecked the harmonics.”
     “At any rate, Admiral, with those many ships I’d say the referees have programmed them to be aggressors. I wonder what simulated weapons they’ll peg the Type 1s with in this engagement?”
     “If they feeling particularly devious, Cirro, they might simulate pure missile ships. That’ll wipe out the DDs before they could close to weapons range, then we’ll show them what a fighter strike can do.”
     The range continued to drop until the trio of Type 1s came within 10 light-seconds of the nine contacts. Only then were they able to truly discern that the ships were not Hokum in origin but alien. Scanners showed them to be six BCs and three CAs. To a ship the aliens increased speed to 0.1c and continued to close. Maintaining cruising speed the Type 1s kept to their course, all the while transmitting first contact protocol messages. When the aliens failed to respond the DDs increased speed to full and turned about, presenting their portside flanks at a range of four light seconds.
     Carrying pure capital missile loads on their external racks the Axis ships opened up on the DDs. Two of the small ships were obliterated while the third was reduced to 1/3 speed. Nelset chalked it up to the fact that as destroyers went these were particularly undersized. Before the survivor could be tractored one of the freighter CAs captains fired his capital force beam, destroying the ship in the process. Nelset was irate and wanted to berate the freighter captain on the spot. Then she changed her mind. There were still twelve alien ships some 48 light seconds away. Again, if they were small enough then her force would attempt to cripple three of the ships and destroy the rest. If not, then the squadron would turn about and flee to the outer reaches of system, sending courier drones back to the warp point to call for reinforcements. With enough supplies to last a full year Nelset was confident that her squadron will be rescued by the AFC.
     The twelve alien ships had turned about and moved away but at a speed of 0.05c. For another 10.5 minutes this went on, but when Nelset’s ships closed to within 31 light seconds a new signal appeared, and it was consistent with that of a fighter. Reading the worst into this contact Nelset deduced it was a fighter strike and had her ships alter course 180°. That put the range at 28 LS. Assuming they were fighters like those used by the Axis then they’ll catch up in 28 minutes. To extract as much range as possible Nelset had her ships detune their engines. Detuning for 51 minutes would place the fighters within range of the BCs’ capital point defense. If enough were shot down then her ships might survive for their impending one-year solitude.

Aboard the Overforce Janus glowered at the icons representing the retreating alien ships. She knew the captains aboard the Type 1s for they served as junior officers while she was in command of a cruiser. The range was initially too great to launch a fighter strike, so she settled on reversing course and allowed the enemy to close. She timed the launch so that even if the enemy detuned their engines the fighters would still be able to catch them. To ensure the safe recovery of the strike the carriers had to follow the fighters and detune their engines for 48 minutes. In all likelihood one or more carriers were going to lose an engine room in the process. Janus didn’t care so long as the enemy was crippled to such an extent that they couldn’t run away. That’ll allow the three BCs and three DDs in her task element to close in and disarm them, permitting boarding actions. During this chase repeated hails were made towards the aliens in the first contact protocol. Janus didn’t expect a response but it was done so that it was on the record. Had the aliens been peaceful they wouldn’t have attacked to begin with.
     The aliens didn’t lose any engine rooms by the time they stopped detuning 51 minutes into the chase, but two of Janus’ carriers had in the interim. They would still be able to recover fighters moving at their new speed; this was only possible because the aliens stopped detuning their engines so that they could open fire on the fighters. At 1 LS range 5 were shot down, then 8 more at 0.5 LS. Finally at point-blank range Janus’s fighters unloaded their antimatter-armed close attack missiles. This came as a shock to Nelset, who had figured on just conventional nukes. Even so with 18 squadrons there was no doubt to the outcome even when Nelset’s ships brought down 9 more fighters.
     Having achieved their goal the ISN fighters wheeled around and headed for home. Due to the low number of antimatter close attack missiles in inventory those fighters that didn’t fire them kept them on their rails for future use. Behind them they left 8 badly crippled ships with the ninth having been destroyed by a perfect salvo of 12 missile hits. Sitting in the wreckage that was once her command deck Nelset didn’t regret have made the decision to attack, only the fact that the aliens had so many fighters armed with a destructive new weapon. She ordered all ships to self-destruct so as prevent them from being boarded, forbidding the use of the life pods. Not one living Comensal was to fall into the hands of an Abomination race. A final message was sent to the scout keeping station over the warp point of entry, some 200 light-minutes away. Only then did Nelset give the order for the barely-operational engine room on her ship to be set to overload.

“A fine performance I must say,” said Cirro as the last of the fighters landed on their carriers with just a minute to spare. “Just what were those aliens thinking, attacking right off the bat like that?”
     “Your guess is as good as mine, Captain,” Janus replied as she went through the visual recordings made by squadrons. “We know those drive frequencies don’t belong to the Terpla’ns or to their Tuphon and Valhallan allies. Plus the hull configuration is totally dissimilar to what we have on the databases. From their observed reactions we do know a few things about them. First and foremost they’re belligerent, most likely acutely xenophobic, considering they didn’t transmit a single message all the while our ships were approaching them.”
     “Very likely, Admiral,” Cirro conceded. “I was about to assume they didn’t have long range scanners, and at the very least had tactical scanners, considering how they sped up upon detecting the Type 1s as destroyers. When they reacted to our fighter launch at 31 LS range that indicated that they did indeed have long range scanners. They had to have had noticed us from the very start.”
     “Having turned when we launched fighters tells us another thing,” said Janus as she turned off the screen she was watching. “These aliens have encountered fighters before and most likely have fighters of their own. They spread their fire across the squadrons, seeking to lessen the salvo strength of each one, instead of destroying them in their entirety. In a larger battle that situation would lead to having two partially intact squadrons taking down a ship instead of one.
     “Captain Cirro, all ships at to proceed to the area where the alien ships scuttled. SAR operations will be conducted to rescue those pilots that survived the destruction of their fighters, as well as pick up any alien lifepods. Additionally the alien debris fields will be scoured for materials that will aid us in figuring out these belligerent fools.”
     “As you command, Lord Admiral.”

The announcement of the trade treaty agreement reached by the IC, which was to have been made by the Emperor himself, was instead delivered by the Minister of Revenue. Five minutes later, before the pundits and self-proclaimed ‘seers of imperial intent’ could arrange their notes, much less their opinions on the significance of this presentation, a special broadcast was made from the Office of the Emperor.
     Valsur, wearing the fully bedecked vest and holding the ornamental stave of office, spoke for only three minutes. His announcement of war was a surprise to the politicians, for when the Short War was declared the previous Emperor did so only after consulting with the IC. Valsur, in declaring war on his own, was within his rights as Emperor to do so but that didn’t prevent strong debate among the talking heads in the weeks afterwards. They believed that he should’ve taken the Short War as a precedent and included the IC in the decision making. Most attacked the quickness in which the Emperor decided on the war declaration, having only read the Admiralty’s report in the middle of the night just hours after it was compiled. Such a weighty matter required more time to consider, they argued, and to have the Emperor’s son sign the declaration document as a witness smacked as hubris.
     Only a few questioned the decision to go to war in the first place. They saw the alien attack as a misunderstanding of the first order. If they came back, these few said, they should be allowed another attempt to make peaceful contact. Besides, the initiative was with them since they arrived in the Whel system via a closed warp point. Responding to that assertion the ISN blanketed the outer reaches of the Whel-A component with scanner and comm buoys. The bulk of the Home and Reserve Fleets were sent to Whel, and an anchorage was established over the third colony of Whel-B’s gas giant. As the construction ships went about putting bases together from prefabricated stocks betting pools were arranged on how long before the aliens came back.
     Had the First Leader of the Asteroid Axis been not so eager to engage in another war while the current one with the CPS was still undecided then it would’ve been years before the Imperium was attacked. A years-long wait for an enemy that may never appear again would’ve been a drain on Imperium resources, not to mention level an assertion of over-reaction against Valsur by his critics. That the Axis came back so soon afterwards only went to validate Valsur’s judgment. For when the Axis did come back they found an enemy that was every bit as implacable as the one they fought in Hamthen space.

Whel system, Hokum Imperium
System Primary - Blue Giant
WP 1 - Type: 13 - Range: 204 LM - Radian: 5 - CLOSED(300)
WP 2 - Type: 5 - Range: 306 LM - Radian: 4 - OPEN(500)
WP 3 - Type: 15 - Range: 256 LM - Radian: 8 - CLOSED(500) to Axis

System Secondary - Red Dwarf (Range: 51 LM - Radian: 12)
Type: AF -- Range: 2 LM
Type: Gas -- Range: 10 LM -- Radian: 6 -- 3 moon(s)

Chapter 1.25
Six weeks had pass since what came to be known as the First Battle of the Frontier. The Whel system was now host to the largest concentration of ISN ships outside of a fleet review. Eighteen Imperial Wave small carriers, representing two-thirds of the inventory, were on hand as well as six Deflectors, fifteen Imperiums, nine Foreguards, fifteen Interiors and thirty Type 2s. A well-laced network of scanner and comm buoys were positioned in the space around the Whel-A component. When the aliens came back the ISN would know where the warp point of entry was located.
      Lord Admiral Janus was one of those that firmly believed the aliens would be back, and soon. After losing nine ships, six of them battlecruisers, it would be a stretch on the aliens’ part not to investigate. Her report to the Imperator of the Navy stated her conviction so well that she was chosen to command the task force in Whel. It wasn’t a hard choice to make, since Janus was a veteran of the Short War and only one of four admirals to have seen combat in that action. Also being ‘Johnny on the Spot’ didn’t hurt as well as the decisive action she took to defeat the aliens after they had destroyed the three Type-1s.
      Janus’ task force was divided into three task groups, called segments in ISN terminology. The first segment had the carriers and three of the Deflectors, and the second had all the battlecruisers and the other three Deflectors. For the third it had the heavy cruisers and destroyers. All three segments were together, engines down 48 light-minutes from the blue giant on a bearing of 0°. Being a binary system, and with the warp points associated with the blue giant ‘A’ component the surveillance net had a significantly reduced area to watch. From its position the task force could intercept any alien force that happens to come from the as-yet undiscovered third warp point if said point was on a bearing between 60° and 300°.
      In this period of waiting the fighter squadrons were drilled relentlessly, not only in anti-shipping maneuvers but dogfighting as well. Based on the way the aliens turned simply on the detection of a fighter launch Janus was certain they had fighter technology or had encountered them before; otherwise they would’ve continued to close until it was too late to make a retreat. Only six of the fifty-four squadrons embarked on the carriers were first generation, thus it was decided they would carry two gun packs and single close attack missile each and act as interceptors.
      On the start of the seventh week the waiting came to an end. The aliens had returned, and thanks to the surveillance net the warp point was pinned down by two scanner buoys and a scout. A last attempt at first contact was made by the nearest scout; what it got back only served to confirm their intent. Aboard the Overforce, the task force flagship, Janus looked at the video message with her staff, including Cirro, recently in command of the Overforce but now Janus’ flag captain, and Alba, a civilian university professor that participated in talks with the Terpla’ns five years ago.
      At this stage there was no way to decipher the alien’s message, but the delivery given by the entity, clad in what had to be uniform, was clear enough. “What an ugly bit of work,” Alba said as she rubbed the top of her graying furred head in a sign of bewilderment. “His head looks like someone had glued bone chips and colored eggs for eyes together. I’m glad that we can’t see the rest of his body; I might get sick otherwise.”
      Cirro hummed agreement. “Here I thought Terpla’ns looked like something from a special effects workshop. Just look at him. He hasn’t stopped talking for three minutes. Those must be some lungs he has to keep gassing on like that without stopping.”
      “He’s certainly passionate about whatever he’s saying,” Janus added. “Gesturing like he had too much coffee, raising his already loud voice on what appears to be key points of his diatribe, and that last bit,” she raised her four hands in dismissive manner, “squeezing a fruit until it was crushed.”
      “An all too clear example of what they want to do to us, Admiral,” commented Bantel, the Operations Officer of Janus’ staff. “They have 84 ships, and fairly soon we’ll be getting word from our closest scout on their engine strength and tonnage. What we do know is that six of them appear to be scouts, moving ahead of the main body in an arc. The main body is moving towards the red dwarf component at a cruising speed of 0.033c.”
      “Let’s not let them get any farther than we have too, gentlemen.” Janus terminated the video on the holoimager and replaced it with a system schematic. Whel’s now confirmed third warp point glowed green while the alien force pulsed orange. “Assuming they don’t speed up and we move at cruising speed then we’ll intercept the enemy force in little over five days from now. I’m going to order the minelayer group to leave orbit over the gas giant and join the formation. Any enemy scout that approaches us will be intercepted by our first generation fighters. I want to keep them ignorant of our true strength as long as possible.”
      “The rest of our scouts will converge on the alien force,” Bantel added. “If they have a similar capability we’ll find out with time to spare.”

Senior Picador Maro, Imperium Marine Corps and strike force commander of the Frontier Task Force, knew he had only a few more minutes of waiting. One of the navy scouts had closed in to what in all likelihood was its alien opposite. Stationed 10 light seconds off the alien’s port side the scout kept the same speed and copied the same moves. It was an escort-sized vessel, nearly twice the tonnage of the explorer-hulled Fast Walker. Having shown that it had the same maximum speed the alien resolved itself in having a tail during its run-in to the task force. It was Maro’s job to make sure it failed.
      In the back seat of his command fighter Maro ruminated on how he became the senior pilot of not only the task force but the whole of the Imperium armed forces. After the Short War the development of the strikefighter was given the highest priority. Naturally, the call went out for officer volunteers to be test pilots and to form the first squadrons. To a one all the pilots were Marines since they were the ones that flew shuttles and cutters aboard naval ships and bases. Following the successful test program the call went out again for more volunteers, this time including Marine enlisted personnel. The pilots of the first squadrons then became the commanding officers of the resulting newly-promoted ‘flying sergeants’ since regulations required fighter pilot-rated enlisted personnel to be of that rank.
      Maro trained his squadron so well that it consistently won competitions against other squadrons in the fleet. He was promoted from junior to senior picador and became the strike wing commander of the carrier Imperial Wave, lead ship of the class of the same name. He had hoped to prove his wing’s proficiency with the new first generation fighters in the latter half of the fleet exercises in the Whel system. That was no longer possible due to this alien business, and now Maro was going to get the chance to fire live weapons at an enemy that would fire back with real ordnance instead of targeting ladars. Due to his success as a leader and the results his squadrons earned in unscheduled alert scrambles and mock engagements Maro was chosen by Janus to be the strike force commander of the task force.
      Being the most junior officer of Lord Admiral Janus’ staff made Maro feel a little intimidated, not that a Marine would admit to any such thing. It was rewarding in that he got the straight poop right from the source instead of second or third hand. He saw for himself the footage of the alien message and felt an instant dislike for them. It wasn’t xenophobia, for as ‘fakey’ as a Terpla’n looked they didn’t invoked nausea like the new aliens did. Maro was sure that had a child seen the message, even in its current untranslated state, he would have a new boogeyman to join the one under the bed.
     A chime altered Maro that one of his pilots was signaling. It was Meatbag, aka Sergeant (pilot rated) Gail, designated second in command of the squadron. “Hey, Master,” she said, using Maro’s callsign, “can you tell us what those aliens look like? Scuttlebutt has it that they responded with a video message.”
     “Our good Lord Admiral has declined to make that general knowledge yet, Meatbag,” said Maro. “After we hand out some Marine-approved ass paddling to those hit-and-run lowlifes you’ll get to see the face of the enemy along with everyone else.”
     “Okay, Master, so long as they have a face afterwards for us to see, especially after the pounding we’ll give them.”
     Maro smirked, recalling the day he got his callsign upon completing the test program and receiving his wings. He was the best pilot, and his fellows gave him a name that best described his skill. Three years later when he became the Imperial Wave’s strike wing commander all the pilots in the three embarked squadrons, save him, were female. It smacked as someone’s idea in Personnel to play off of Maro’s moniker and it worked. Within a week it was common knowledge in the fleet that his strike wing was being referred to as the Master’s Harem. Maro took the joke in strike and neither emphasized or downplay his squadrons’ composition. Privately, in less guarded moments, he admitted that had he not already been married he was tempted to have one of his squadronmates instead. To ensure that his subordinates didn’t get any ideas of their own Maro cultivated the image of the Gruff Uncle, best to be on his good side but harsh if you screwed up bad enough.
     Another message came, this time from the shadowing scout. In three minutes the alien ship would be in range of the fighter’s onboard scanners. Maro passed the word to the two squadrons he commanded for the attack, telling them to arm their weapons. If all went well the enemy would be deprived of one scout and no fighters would’ve been lost in the process.

The alien scout ship picked up an enemy fighter contact while it was six light-minutes away. Converging at a combined speed of 0.2c it took just under an hour before the scout could determine the exact number of fighters involved. Twelve in all, the fighters attempted to intercept the scout but it had went to full speed, maneuvering and angling in such a way that the fighters ended up behind it. Then the fighters speed up to 0.15c, which meant they would be in point blank range in twenty minutes.
     For the scout captain it was clear that the fighters were unloaded and intended to ram his ship. He doubted very much that any would succeed in the attempt, so he didn’t detune his engines to keep the range open. Besides, in a little over twenty minutes at his current speed his ship would be in definitive scanner range of the enemy fleet. So for seventeen minutes the captain paid more attention to the forward scanner readouts than the rear ones. Once the fighters were 1.25 LS distant the scout would turn to port so that its capital point defense mount could fire upon them.
     Fact was the fighters weren’t going to close to point blank range. At 1.5 LS Maro gave the order, and both squadrons opened fire with a salvo of twelve fighter missiles each. Being fired in the blind spot of the ship there was no way that it could engage the volleys with point defense. The scout was dispatched so quickly that it hardly had time to send out a warning. A second scout was destroyed in the same way, leaving the aliens with just four. Of those one was sent towards the red dwarf to investigate the asteroid ring and gas giant. The remaining three consolidated and move on the task force. On the way in they were met by six squadrons of fighters, all of them F1s armed with two stand-off missiles each and lead by Maro. With the scouts turning to keep the fighters out of their blind spots Maro decided to close the range to improve accuracy. Two of his pilots were shot down but the squadrons crippled the scout trio. Three squadrons of F0 fighters, following ten minutes behind, finished them off with more stand-off missiles. Maro knew the destruction of five scouts was well worth the loss of two pilots. He hoped as few of his pilots as possible would be loss in the upcoming battle with the alien fleet.

While the aliens was deprived knowing the composition of the ISN task force just before combat the same couldn’t be said for Janus. She noted that the aliens had six vessels that were twice the tonnage of a Foreguard, twelve battlecruisers, twenty-one heavy cruisers, nine light cruisers, eighteen destroyers and twelve frigates. The number of carriers, if they had carriers, and squadrons remained a complete imponderable.
     Another group of alien ships had come out of the warp point and was proceeding to the outer reaches of the Whel system. This group had two of the battlecruiser class encountered earlier, four destroyers, and two heavy cruiser-hulled freighters. A Fast Walker was following them at a range of two light minutes. With enough supplies for 35 months it was most likely the scout would outlast the aliens.
     Three light-minutes shy of combat range Janus had the minelayer group increase speed to 0.10c and change course 90° to port. In the possibility that the task force was defeated they could speed on to the warp point leading to Sundance and set their 540 patterns of mines and 324 laser buoys in that system. The warp point to Bassen was closed, and with traffic coming through Sundance for the time being the aliens won’t find the Bassen warp point unless they get captured astrogation data.
     Antimatter ordnance was being produced at an increased rate back at the home system. Even so each capital missile armed unit in the task force only had enough antimatter-armed missiles for eight volleys. Each carrier had a supply of fRAMs for only five complete strikes. For maximum effect Janus only permitted the use of antimatter ordnance when firing solutions were at least 60%. As for the new strategic bombardment missiles, each unit having enough for six volleys, she permitted their use as soon as the alien ships were in range.
     So it was at 10 light-seconds the aliens experienced its first SBM volley. One frigate was destroyed while another lost four out of five engine rooms. Responding with the only option available to him the alien commander ordered his ships to increase speed to 0.083c and had the carriers launch their fighters and turn about. Their escorts now trailed the warships at a range of 0.5 LS. Janus kept her ships at 0.05c, but had her carriers go to full speed and turned around as well after launching their strike wings. At 8 LS range the ISN ships didn’t fire most of their SBMs at the frigates (though the previous cripple was destroyed) but instead displayed the missiles’ loiter mode ability. This increased the volley size, and Janus needed larger volleys for the missile targets now were the big alien ships.
     With capital fire control working for the Imperium datagroups a 70% solution was achieved with the rest getting the required 60%, so at 6 LS range antimatter capital missiles sped toward their target along with the loitering SBMs. The six big ships proved to be capital missile platforms, making Janus shutter to think what they’ll be like in prime range for externally mounted capital missiles. One Imperium lost its shields from the internally launched volleys while a mix of antimatter and nukes broke the passive defensive of one of the big ones, rewarding Janus with the sight of atmosphere streaming from a nice jagged opening in the hull.
     The alien ships slowed to 0.05c so that some engine modulation could augment their ECM suites. ISN squadrons, save the six tasked to engage the oncoming strike, slowed to 0.083c so that their approach vector would take them right over the aliens at the next weapons cycle. Janus’ ships turned to starboard just before firing, part of a 240° turn designed to keep the task force’s weapons in arc to engage the fighters thirty seconds from now at 0.75 LS range. The Type 2s fired their needle beams at the alien squadrons at their maximum anti-fighter range of 1.75 LS, bringing down four. Maro’s F1s, trailing the alien strike, brought down 19.
     One trio of big alien missile ships fired on the shield’s down Imperium, its huge volley of external and internally launched capital missiles breaking past point defense and EDMs alike. The ship lost two engine rooms and two launchers. Janus’ own Overforce was the target of the next trio, but having a damaged member in its group reduced its one-time heavy punch. Just one missile got past the defenses and EDMs. With both sides firing their external racks and capital force beams it was inevitable the damaged Imperium was destroyed and the Overforce, having become the focus of fire afterwards, lost two engine rooms and 40% of its offensive armament. The aliens had one big missile ship so heavily damaged that Janus doubted that it could fight anymore and another that took a pounding to its armor.
     Knowing what was going to happen to her ship mere moments away Janus didn’t flinch. She merely checked the seal of her pressure suit’s helmet while passing command of the task force to Naulus aboard the Lever. She then directed Cirro to move the Overforce towards the aliens instead of attempting to keep up with the task force. The ship’s magazine crash-release safety feature was employed, leaving just one standard nuke missile for the remaining launcher to fire. Applying tractor beams to the Overforce would only slow down the task force and it needed all the speed available to keep ahead of the fighters. The aliens increased speed as well, but the range only dropped by 0.25 LS when the weapons recycled. It was the Overforce that fired first, hitting the big alien missile ship with a capital force beam. On their part the aliens just fire force beams back until the ship disintegrated into a mass of exploding metal.
     With the fighters right on top of them the aliens fired at those squadrons in their neighbors blind spots, whittling down them down so that some wouldn’t be able to fire a full salvo of close attack missiles. They used their point defense systems as well, taking the risk that the enemy would take advantage of the opportunity. So it was the Interiors fired their missiles at one alien CL. With only one EDM for protection it was taken down with ease.
     39 ISN F0 fighters were shot down, and even with 249 remaining the aliens knew that standard nukes couldn’t inflict a crippling blow to the task group. As surprising as the antimatter warheads were on capital missiles the alien commanders were shocked that they were used on something as small as fighter close attack missiles as well. Only two DN(R)s, two BC(W), three CA, five CL, eight DD, six DDEs and six FG remained untouched with the rest destroyed, weaponless or heavily damaged.
     58 enemy fighters were shot down by the time the rest finally were in range with their close attack missiles. Every one of the 158 pilots was in turn shocked to find his datalink connection jammed, forced to fire as singletons instead of coordinated salvos. Despite that six more ISN BCs were destroyed by the fighters and remaining alien ships. Only two alien CLs were destroyed, but that was about to change.
     The 30 Type 2s, having attacked the fighters up to now, focused on the remaining alien ships. External missiles and force beams knocked down shields while needle beams took out HET lasers and engines. Meanwhile the retreating alien fighter squadrons found that the 34 F1s had a speed advantage to go along with the two gun packs they each carried. Help came from the six escort destroyers firing their capital point defense, but they failed to knock anything down. In the exchange of fire only two DNs, two BCs, one CL, four DDs and two FGs were left with weapons. It was this force that continued to fight, despite the odds that faced it, only ending to have shields knocked down and weapons, magazines, and engines lanced with directed beams of energy.
     Meanwhile Maro continued with his pursuit of the retreating alien fighters. The escort destroyers were moving at best speed to keep their point defense systems in play. Even the distant carriers were coming about to collect their diminishing broods quicker. Maro grunted when three of his pilots were shot down, but howled triumph when the board showed only 27, 27, out of the original alien strike force of 216 remaining. He knew the bulk of those losses were due to the guns and the pilots behind them. Then help came in the form of missile salvos from the task force. Now that the alien ships were clawless and being de-engined by the destroyers, long-range fire would now punish any escort destroyer that went after the gun fighters. Nuke-armed missiles were used so as to conserve the ones armed with antimatter. In a space of a minute three of the sniping little ships, thanks to some previous long-range missile hits, were swatted like mosquitoes.
     Maro lost a total of nine F1s in the engagement when the last of the alien fighters was brought down. He knew that of the three remaining destroyer escorts none would escape, for they were still well within the missile envelope of the task force. Even before he landed the trio was destroyed and even the two DNs and BCs had been deprived of their engines and point defense. Mixed in the SAR shuttles were one filled with marines, starting the first round of boarding actions to secure the alien hulks.
     The alien carriers had turned away again, moving at full speed back to the warp point. It delayed their death just long enough for the Hokum fighters that dealt the hurt to the battleline to be rearmed with standard close attack missiles. Afterwards in the debrief rooms the pilots were given a number to their losses. 73 F0 and 11 F1 fighters, a loss of 25%, were downed but 8 pilots were recovered. 6 Imperiums and 4 Foreguards were lost with another Imperium sustaining heavy damage. Over 7,000 spacers were recovered, including Lord Admiral Janus and most of her staff. After the battle it was determined that had the combatants not devoted so much attention in shooting down fighters and kept closing the range the losses would’ve be higher, especially for the Hokum ships. The tonnage lost ratio was over 5 to 1 in favor the four-handed race, and the crews knew it was due to their antimatter ordnance and their superior number of fighters that ensured their victory. Recovery operations as well as celebrations aboard ship were short as practical for the task force moved on the third warp point to guard it. Having won a major battle the ISN was set on not letting the aliens in for a third time.

A trail of shuttles and pinnaces to and from the Whel space station and the two Troubadours of the task force took the better part of a week to complete the transfer of rescued personnel. A good number of living aliens were captured from recovering their lifepods or on the engineless collection of ships boarded after the battle: 2 DNs, 2 BCs, 5 CA, 3 CL, 9 DD and 3 FG. The two tugs of the support group were busy ferrying the hulls back to Whel-B-1C. In the moon’s orbit the mobile shipyards went about inspecting the first batch of ships and repairing the one damaged Imperium. An auxiliary was prepping fighters from storage to bring the carrier strike groups back up to strength.
     Aboard one mobile shipyard, gazing from an observation gallery at the work being done on a captured alien warship, was Janus and Alba. The admiral and professor were fortunate in that when the Overforce exploded it was into several large pieces. Their section retained power long enough for its inertial dampeners to protect the portion of crew within from the sudden change in velocity. Even so Janus had both of her front arms broken while Alba had all four of hers in casts. Still they counted themselves lucky and thanked the Gods for their survival.
     Janus regarded the red, white, and black colored hull of the alien ship like one would a caged, but sedate, tiger. The application of the three colors made the ship look sinister in a subconscious way, totally unlike the yellow and blue coloring used on ISN ships. For having been in battle the ship was mostly intact, save for the lancing of its magazines, engines, and point defense by needle beams. Had it been armed with antimatter warheads for its missiles then it would’ve inflicted far more damage at sprint-mode range. “Alba, what progress has been made with the aliens?”
     The professor smiled despite the dull ache she felt in her arms. “My team has made considerable progress, Admiral, thanks to the one intact database our Marines found on that one heavy cruiser. Plus our involuntary guests have been talking… no, make that yelling, most of the time at our monitoring pick-ups. Our linguistic banks should have the beginnings of a translation matrix within a week, sooner if we find more relevant data in that portion of their records still under encryption.
     “For in what of a better name than The Aliens we’re going to refer to them as the Boneheads until we know their real racial name. Autopsies have shown that their bodies are covered in thin, but tough, bony plates.” Alba gave Janus a wry schoolgirl look. “I’ll leave it up to your imagination for now on how the plumbing on the males work. Their metabolism isn’t all that removed from ours, so feeding them won’t be a problem. Discipline among them is strong, with each holding cell having a leader and one always awake at any one time. They refuse to speak to our interrogators, only talking among themselves. That is, when they’re not yelling monologues at our cameras.”
     “If they’re an inherently militant race looking for a fight then they found one,” said Janus. “Thanks to your team we’ve cracked the astrogation portion of their database. We now have information on the last two systems that Bonehead cruiser traveled through before coming to Whel. Assuming we got a reliable handle on their units of time and measurement then the system immediately next to Whel appears to be part of the Bonehead frontier. Just two contacts, either ships or bases, are sitting next to the warp point leading to Whel. As for the number of buoys and mine patterns were figuring on at least 200 and 600 respectively. It’s educated guesswork on our part, but I believe that’s the case.
     “I’ll be heading back to the task force presently and resume command. Our pinnaces will have probed the warp point by the time I arrive. With our own minefields and buoy parks in place to guard Whel we’re going to take the fight to the enemy.”

1.25 Postscript
The eventual disposition of the alien survey squadron and scout in the Whel System:

After spending four months monitoring the traffic between the second and third warp points the alien scout attempted a closer view of the space station over Whel-B-1C. By this time in the station’s continuous upgrade two complete squadrons of fighters were assigned to its defense. The scout was engaged with stand-off missiles and was damaged to such an extent that it couldn’t put enough distance between itself and the station before the fighters rearmed. It self-destructed and its sole courier drone was shot down by warp point defenses. There were no life-pods as the crew elected to stay aboard the ship.
     For ten months the survey squadron kept moving, perpetually being shadowed by a single Fast Walker scout. Its survey long since complete, the squadron slowly made its way back to the entry warp point. Having received no evidence of success of its forces the squadron commander decided to take his ships in a desperate bid to reach friendly space. By this time the Hokum had in place their warp point defenses, including two fighter bases. Long range strikes first grinded away the destroyers, then the heavy cruiser supply ships. Last to go were the two battlecruisers, swamped with antimatter close attack missiles. All drones launched by the destroyed ships were intercepted, not that it mattered that any had gotten away. ISN advancement into alien space was such that the drones, even set to normal speed, couldn’t make it past ISN controlled warp points.
      There were life pods but the Hokum didn’t pick them up. They had by this time learned a fair amount about their enemy and decided the only prisoners they were going to take from now on would be from boarding actions to capture ships.

Chapter 1.50
It was indeed a spectacular day for Emperor Valsur. Not only had CPS representatives signed the trade treaty in the Coral Bridge system but word came of the first victory in alien space. In the system given the name of Doorstop, from which the aliens had entered Whel, ISN fighters and missiles caused an alien relief force to turn and run with 50% casualties.
     Following the dual announcements the first facts of the aliens were made public. The name of the race was the Comensal and their nation the Asteroid Axis. Described as a militaristic empire bent on expansion by war, the official news release had little else to mention, citing that the sole database recovered so far had mostly military records and that prisoner interrogations have only confirmed the Axis’ hostile intent.
     What was not made public, and classified as a closely guarded state secret, was that the Axis database did in fact held a fair amount of information. First and foremost was the revelation that the Axis was at war with the Commonwealth and its allies, chief among them a nation called the Democracy of Hamthen. A whole index of reports, combat analysis and army operation updates was decrypted, and it was enough to make the intelligence assessment team uneasy. What made them downright flabbergasted were the Axis historical texts. A race beholden to a twisted philosophy of genocide was something found in fiction as nothing even came close in Hokum history.
     Valsur, after receiving a briefing given personally by the Imperator of the Navy (IN), decided to have a concise treatise on the Axis released to the public. It detailed the genocidal nature of their foe and of the races exterminated by them. He wanted to see how the public, and especial the Imperial Council, would react to the news. If calls to form a military alliance with the CPS were strong enough Valsur would consider it. The IC, however, still brooding over the fact that Valsur acted on his own in declaring war in the first place, would be far harder to convince.
     After a week of discussion a consensus was reached. The Ministers of Arms and the Interior were firmly against having a military alliance with the CPS. They argued, and Valsur conceded, that at the present time the only way Commonwealth could directly assist the war effort was to go through the bulk of Imperium systems to reach the front. Arms was dead-set against having such a power neighbor (as mention in the decrypted Axis records) moving equally powerful task forces that could seize Imperium systems in a treacherous move. Likewise Interior was concerned with the introduction of Commonwealth espionage efforts and destabilizing influences of an alien culture on Hokum youth.
     He acknowledged those arguments just as he made the IC understand that had the Axis appeared in any system other than Whel then that system’s population would’ve been wiped out. If such a thing had happened then Valsur would’ve asked for help from the CPS in a heartbeat. He then stated that the ISN will continue with its offensive into Axis space. If and when CPS forces were encountered in Axis space they would be granted co-belligerency status. Then, and only then, if the CPS proves benign would a further improvement to the current trade intercourse treaty be considered.
     Valsur also stressed that the ISN had to keep on the offensive to gain as much Axis territory as possible. A successful campaign on such a despicable foe will only help in relations with the CPS and gain a measure of respect. Senior ISN admirals approved of this plan, eager to prove that their fleet, despite being small, was as capable as any in space. The last thing they wanted was to be perceived as an ‘also-ran’ that took advantage of a distracted Axis that was taking a much powerful foe in the form of the Commonwealth.
     The IC understood the undercurrent of what Valsur was saying. By gaining and keeping those systems taken from the Axis meant that many more worlds for Hokum populations to colonize. As it was every bit of planetary, lunar and asteroidal real estate that could be colonized in Imperium space had been in the past 325 years. Even the Coral Bridge system, with its collection of asteroid belts and moons, was being invested at a steady clip with eager, optimistic young couples wanting to experience the life of a pioneer. This war against the Axis was going to provide the Imperium the much sought-after expansion of wealth and power that had been denied by warp-point isolation for so long.
     Privately, Valsur and the IC (including Arms and Interior), hoped that the CPS would keep the Axis preoccupied if not send it along the road of defeat. Had it not found them first then the Axis would’ve focused its mammoth strength on the Imperium. That thought along gave the senior ISN admirals and Valsur some restless nights. Again it boiled down to resources. It wouldn’t be long before the increase in government revenue from trade was felt. The population was there to man whatever the shipyards could pump out but only such much in the way of ships, fighters, and automated weapons could be built and maintained at any one time. More revenue would be needed to feed the war engine, and there was only one way to do that under the current circumstances.
     As unpromising as it looked in the captured Axis historical texts Valsur ordered the mobilization of the Imperium Space Army. The first inhabited Axis world found would be occupied by the ISA and made to provide materials to the Imperium. It was hoped that with a strong central authority in command that the Comensal civilians would acknowledge the new power structure and co-operate. The texts stressed the need of a strong leader for the populace to obey and respect. Perhaps, if by defeating them so decisively in space and on the ground, even the self-stated xenophobic race would sober up and accept reality instead of offering futile resistance.
     On the beginning of the fourth month the first 200,000 troops of the ISA Expeditionary Corps had been mobilized on Hokum Prime. A further 200,000 were being drawn up from the remaining Imperium systems. Practically all the Troubadour class passenger liners were pressed into service as troop transports. It would take two months before the Expeditionary Corps was fully assembled in the Whel system. In the interim the ISN continued its drive into Axis space.

System Admiral Mallak, commander of Star Force 3, Second Advanced Fleet, hated the circumstances that lead to his current predicament. SF 3 was the defense task force for this particular section of former Nu’Chut territory. Stationed at Crimson Expanse, the furthest and largest colonized world in the Axis, SF 3 had too much to cover with too little force. Until more significant reinforcement arrived Mallak had to be cautious in his deployments.
     Whenever an update on enemy movements reached his desk Mallak knew who to thank for his problems. The survey commander that discovered the new aliens three months ago just had to make a name for herself by attempting to capture some ships. Starting a new war while the current one was still being decided was against AFC doctrine. Due to the circumstances, thanks to the closed warp point in the alien system, the war could’ve been postponed until such time the CPS was defeated.
     That thought lead Mallak to consider the First Leader having exceeded his grasp. The Axis has won its past wars by only having to fight one foe at a time. Now with divided forces it was going to depend more than ever to arrange battles that suited the Axis, and plenty of luck. While it was unwise to speak openly of the First Leader’s mistakes Mallak knew that a good number of his fellow admirals also believed that starting this second war was unwise.
     Finally there was Larnan, commander of the task group charged to secure a victory over the aliens. Mallak saw the recording of the histrionic rant Larnan made when responding to the alien’s first contact message. It was indeed fortunate that several drones made it back to Axis space, not only for the information they had on the aliens but also how Larnan made an ass out of himself. Mallak had to conclude that Larnan, obviously inspired by Anjur, conqueror of the Hamthen, wanted to have a memorable speech. Perhaps he had aspirations to become the conqueror of this alien race. Instead Larnan gave a speech that could be viewed as overwrought dreck or a brilliant parody.
     Still, some things were learned from Larnan’s defeat. The aliens employed some new warhead on their missiles that doubled their destructive power as well as a missile that had 33% greater range than the capital variety. Worse, there was a fighter that had 50% more carrying capacity and twice the endurance than the current Axis model. This was proven when reinforcements for Larnan were intercepted in the NC-27 system. Of the six destroyers and six frigates involved only four and two respectively escaped. The attacking fighter squadrons demonstrated a stand-off missile that allowed them to engage without coming in range of point defense, though two were shot down by long-range laser fire.
     Being a product of the AFC Mallak couldn’t conceive that the aliens’ run of luck would last forever. So he decided to tempt them to keep coming towards him. With judicious use of his minelayers Mallak planned to cover certain systems with mines and buoys while leaving some others uncovered. He was betting that the aliens (which appeared as fur-covered four-armed abominations from their first contact message) would figure that with the defenses there had be something important in the system or the one beyond it worth defending.
     To further entice the aliens Mallak sent orders for scattered patrol and survey squadrons near the incursion to return to Crimson Expanse on routes that would place them on or near the aliens expected advance. Hopefully, by watching the returning squadrons and seeing the warp points they use the aliens would be lured to one of several systems Mallak had under consideration for mining. He smirked, thinking that since the First Leader was so eager to have a second war then he better be damn well able send some reinforcements to Crimson Expanse. Hopefully some will arrive in time for the decisive battle Mallak wanted.

“Looks like they’re learning,” said the pilot going by the call-sign Meatbag on the strike frequency. “They don’t know the maximum range of our missiles, Master, which explains why they started to zig-zag as soon as we closed to 3 light-second range.”
     “Let them slip and slide all they want,” said Senior Picador Maro, call-sign Master. “It doesn’t matter if we hit them on the port or starboard buttcheeks.” Maro punched in some command on his tactical plot in the backseat of his command fighter. “Okay, squadron leaders, we’re going after the heavy cruiser hull. She matches the freighter class that was observed back in Whel. Take her down and the Boneheads will have one less bagboy to carry their supplies. We’ll open fire at range of 1 LS. Acknowledge.”
     After hearing the replies Maro closed the channel. The Expeditionary Fleet, as the temporary task force in Whel was now called, had now moved three transits into Axis space. Following the mauling of a force of twelve small ships there had been no sign of the enemy until now. Based on previous scanner readings the four ships in this current system were three survey vessels and their supply ship. All of them were in the inner system, apparently doing a planetary survey when the Fleet appeared. With full speed applied the Fleet approached the fleeing quartet with the hope of catching them before they disappeared through some as-yet unknown warp point.
     Maro was hoping that he had more F1s but so far only three squadrons were sent forward along with replacements for those lost in the Second Battle of the Frontier. He wasn’t surprised that Personnel insured that replacements for the squadrons aboard his carrier were all female. Someone wanted to ensure that the ‘Master’s Harem’ would keep its integrity for the time being. The Fleet now had 45 squadrons of F0 and 9 of F1s. Any losses in this strike, composed of just F1s, would have to be made good with crated F0s carried by the supplies ships. Fighter production back home was only now going into full swing, so eventually all the squadrons would be updated. Maro elected to use just F1s (designated as Type 2 Spears in ISN nomenclature) in the strike as they could fire 50% more stand-off missiles than a similar squadron of F0s.
     The Axis ships kept to their turns right up to where Maro’s fighters reached prime range for their missiles. With three deployed EDMs the CA-hulled freighter took nine volleys of missiles for the permanent loss of its armor and a cargo hold. Maro grunted when he saw one of his fighters exploded from a proximity blast of a point defense missile fired from the survey battlecruiser. He told himself that his losses would’ve been higher had a more straightforward attack been conducted, but a loss was a loss no matter how one counts it.
     The squadrons turned away and made a bee-line for the trailing carriers. Due to the initial intercept angle and the current range there was no way that the F0 squadrons could participate in a strike. So it was the F1s were rearmed and sent out again, but this time their quarry had no EDMs left on its racks. With six squadrons giving their full attention the fast freighter was reduced to 1/3 speed and lost seven additional holds. Three squadrons focused on a survey destroyer, forcing it to deploy its two EDMs in defense. For its effort only 1/3 of its armor was destroyed. Another fighter was loss, but in view in crippling the freighter Maro considered it acceptable.
      Acting with much bravado the freighter captain turned his ship around and made for the trailing fleet. He announced his intent on getting within scanner range so as to determine the number and type of ships the fleet was composed of and then transmitting that information back to the survey battlecruiser. In the end it would’ve been better had he simply accepted the offer to evacuate his crew via shuttles and blow up the ship. Three Type 2 destroyers detuned their engines for several minutes so by the time they were in weapons range of the freighter there was no way it could report on the fleet’s makeup. After force beams knocked down the shields it was just a matter for the needle beams to take out the capital force mount, point defense, and the remaining engines. Motionless and unable to self-destruct the freighter was boarded by Marines. Only a few prisoners were taken and no data was recovered, but the ship was towed and delivered to a mobile shipyard in the fleet train. It set upon refitting and repairing the ship to the extent that a Hokum prize crew could take it back to the Whel space station where it could be fully repaired and placed in ISN service
     As for the three survey ships they came under one final attack from the F1 Spears. The previously targeted survey DD was hit and destroyed, for its EDMs were already spent and even datalinked to its twin and the BC couldn’t compensate for its low levels of shielding and armor. Maro lost no fighters this time around and wanted to have a fourth go, but Lord Admiral Janus decided to let the two go and revel their exit point. Once found an armed pinnace entered and scanned the immediate area. With no ships or buoys evident the pinnace left and was replaced by a destroyer. Long range scanners confirmed a modest 300 pattern minefield surrounding the warp point. It didn’t take long for mine clearance charges to blast a lane open. Janus left behind her minesweepers and a trio of Interiors to destroy the rest of the mines while the Fleet continued to track the two fleeing survey ships.
     Five days in the new system Janus held a strategy session with her staff. Reports had come back from scout squadrons investigating bypassed systems. There were various scanner contacts that turned out to be either survey ships or trios of destroyers and frigates. This suggested that this network of systems was recently acquired by the Axis and hadn’t been fully integrated into their empire. Additionally, the scouts reported their contacts had been fleeing, despite the fact that the Fast Walkers had no weapons at all. Some have reported finding light minefields like the one the Fleet encountered recently, thus preventing them from moving on.
     With true survey assets in short supply Janus proposed to follow the retreating Axis forces. It was obvious they were concentrating their ships in some central point, she stated, so it was reasonable to believe these light minefields were meant to deter aggressive scouting and to siphon off ships from the Fleet to clear them. As if to illustrate her point a small convoy of five freighters and a scout was detected emerging from a warp point and trekking across the system at 0.067c. A Fast Walker following them confirmed it was the same freighters that were observed mining a warp point in an adjacent system. A trio of Type 2s, a scout and five Marine-filled shuttles were sent to intercept. Using just needle beams the destroyers took out the freighters’ shields and point defense, permitting the shuttles to attach on the freighter hulls and conduct boarding actions. The enemy scout, powerless to interfere, left at full speed with a Fast Walker in tow. Of the freighters, three type-4 and two type-3s, they were captured in quick ordered thanks to the number of Marines involved. This was also a factor as two of the ships had their databases secured before they could be purged. Like the captured freighter from before the quintet was sent back to Whel to be refitted for service in the ISN.
     While no worthwhile astrogation data was recovered copies of the freighters’ orders were found. The ships were on a mining mission and were ordered to go back to a system called Crimson Expanse to pick up a fresh load of mines. Janus’ staff recommended a halt until the assault element and further reinforcement reached the Expeditionary Fleet. Janus agreed, and also ordered more scouts be brought forward for more comprehensive patrols. A network of scanner and comm buoys was being built in systems currently under surveillance. Soon, though, the Fleet would move again, ready to take on whatever the Axis had waiting for them.

Shortly after Valsur authorized the mobilization of the ISA he went on a tour of military instillations in the Imperium. The first stop on his tour was the Whel system. After giving a pep talk to the Army troops already assembled there Valsur inspected the space station. He wanted to see the captured Axis ships as they were converted for Imperium use. Already painted in yellow and blue the ships had scores of teams working on them day and night. They were going to make a significant contribution to the Expeditionary Fleet once they’re done, even if for only one battle. Valsur had the feeling that the Axis would make those ships priority targets, unable to bear seeing their own vessels turned against it.
     Meeting with Valsur on Whel Station was Professor Alba. The setting was a private dining room that commanded a view of the work being done in the shipyard modules. Bedecked in her university vest and scarf Alba bowed in the presence of her Emperor. He acknowledged the paid respect and had her take her seat first. Only then did he notice something amiss. “Excuse me, Professor, but I was informed that your injuries had healed.”
     Alba placed her two cast-clad front arms on the table. “They had, your Lord. This happened two days ago when I had a face-to-face talk with the senior Axis prisoner, a commander of a cruiser. He had not exhibited violent behavior during his confinement, so he was not restrained for the meeting. My guards were overzealous in subduing the officer and have caused him to expire.”
     “Unfortunate, though I’m glad that you haven’t been seriously injured. I’ve been told that our prisoners, aside from delivering monologues to video pick-ups and refusing to answer questions, have been relatively well-behaved,” Valsur said. “Why would the senior prisoner attack you?”
     “My Lord, I believe it was an act to commemorate the instillation of their current ‘First Leader’. Their calendar had that date coinciding with my meeting with the officer. I gather it was to show that they consider themselves active participants in the war. We’ve taken great pains to insure that they don’t acquire materials that could be used as shivs. For example, all their food service implements are made of materials that degrade within an hour of manufacture. Having learned that, our prisoners eat their meals very quickly.” Alba grinned. “They’ve also taken it into their heads that we resemble some sort of animal indigenous on their homeworld, calling us ‘crap flingers’ and imitated said behavior. Now that they’ve shown us that they have a sense of humor perhaps we can now form the basis of a substantial dialogue.”
     “You may have that chance, Professor,” Valsur said optimistically. “We found references to a system called Crimson Expanse in the databases of two ships we’ve captured recently. Lord Admiral Janus and her staff believe that some colonies, if not a habitable world, are in that system. If an Axis colony if found I want you there to study the civil population firsthand and assist the military government.”
     “I’m honored, my Lord,” replied Alba appreciatively. “My team and I have made very little progress with these spacers. Their civilians may prove more tractable. Though I must confess that if they’re just as disciplined as their own records make them out to be then it’ll be a very tough go.”
     Valsur went to the viewing port, both sets of hand locked together behind his back. “Professor, it’s important that we find a way to pacify Axis populations without resorting to drastic measures. In all of your team’s transcripts the spacers, to a one, kept stating that they’ll burn our worlds to the ground to rid themselves of ‘abominations’. If their civilians are as hard-core then it puts me in a very difficult spot. We could be facing decades of work that may not pay off in the end. The sooner we find out what really makes them tick the better for everyone involved.”
     “I share the same sentiment, My Lord,” Alba said with conviction.
     For a moment Valsur kept looking out at the work being done in the shipyards. In hindsight all the decisions he made so far have proven to be the correct ones. He wondered if the decision to occupy a world of inveterate genocidal supremacists would be proven correct as well. “Professor, as long as I am here I want to see an interrogation session. I want to be able to say that I’ve seen our enemies in the flesh instead of just on video.”
     “That can be arranged, My Lord.”

Chapter 1.75
Crimson Expanse, population 1.8 million, was the first world settled in the former Nu’Chut territory. In fact the first colonists arrived just two months after the Nu’Chut AIs were exterminated on the planet. On average 40,000 Comensal arrived each month since then, committed to making the mineral-rich world a significant contributor to the economy of the Axis. It was also the most forward fleet base in the Axis, yet its space station was still small and fixed defenses were light.
     Admiral Mallak was pleased that the aliens continued to advance along the systems he had mined. Now they were two systems away via the warp lines. However, with the defeat of AFC forces in the Hamthen Altocumulus chain the promised reinforcement for SF 3 had all but evaporated. What he also didn’t like was the prodding by the First Leader to attack immediately, added with a subtle hint of being replaced if action didn’t come fast enough. So it was Mallak devised a plan to engage the aliens in the Cain system. It was binary white dwarf system that only had four warp points to its name but suited Mallak’s purpose. The mining effort has lead to this system, and with a few more small convoys to tempt the aliens to follow the deciding battle would be set.
      So far Lord Admiral Janus was obliging Mallak’s plan. If it wasn’t a mining convoy it was a scout that showed the way. Six transits inside Axis territory the Expeditionary Fleet was in the Stonewash system. On the fifth day, while a trio of Fast Walkers pursued the Axis scout that lead the fleet to Stonewash, a fresh sensor contact appeared just outside the inner asteroid ring of the system. After a scout determined that the contact consisted of one huge military-hulled freighter, a CA-hulled freighter and two destroyers Janus ordered 24 squadrons of F0s, 8 squadrons of F1s, six destroyers and six shuttles to intercept.
      Armed with a pair of stand-off missiles each the fighters engaged the destroyers at a range of one light-second. With two F0s shot down in the process both destroyers were crippled. What came as a mild surprise for the Hokum was that the freighters fired upon the destroyers just as the fighters pulled away. No lifepods were observed leaving the destroyers, leading Janus to reason later that word of previous captures was now common knowledge among Axis crews. Death, even when handed out by their fellow beings, seemed preferable than to be taken prisoner by the enemy.
      As soon as the fighters fired the six Type 2s, waiting just beyond capital force beam range, de-tuned their engines and began their run. For three minutes the tin cans closed the range until they were 2.5 LS away, but one Type 2 lost two engine rooms from enemy fire and fell behind. The freighters launched their shuttles in a bid to crash them into their pursuers, but the 48 F1 fighters from the missile strike had stayed, each armed with a gun pack. All the shuttles were shot down and two marine pilots became aces that day thanks to previous kills back in Whal. Once the DDs opened fire the inevitable dismemberment began. After the shields were battered down the freighters’ capital force and tractor beams were singled out and lanced by needle beams. Then came the engines and point defense, and once that was done the shuttles came forward. A few more hits by needle beams knocked down those shields the freighter crews had restored in the interim. Three shuttles each docked with the freighters and following hour-long fights in smoke and blood-smeared corridors they were secured.
      Aboard the command BC Standard Bearer the battle was followed with interest. “No data again this time,” Janus said to Bantel, her operations officer. “We’re going to have to disable ships in job lots to get one with an intact database.”
      “We’ll only be able to repeat what we did in Whel if the enemy obliges,” replied Bantel. “I suspect those ships were on a minelaying mission. So far our scouts have encountered six systems guarded by mines. Having cleared three of them we’ve found no evidence of population, not even an outpost.”
      Janus was looking intently at a flat panel display of systems so far encountered by her scouts. “Those freighters we caught might very well have been the ones that mined the system we were previously in. See here, there was just one warp point in each of the past three systems our fleet was in that was mined. Our scouts have found six other systems that were mined, but some of those were one or two transits removed from our chosen route. Most of those warp point minefields just had 300 patterns, Bantel. Every scout or convoy we’ve followed has led us to another warp point that was mined. In systems with multiple warp points only one on the far side was mined.”
      “It seems your reasoning has been born out, Admiral,” said a thoughtful Bantel. “If we simply skirted the mined systems that would’ve extended our route, adding weeks to transit times. That would only serve the enemy by giving him time to assemble his forces. However, by arbitrarily taking our current route we’re also advertising our location to the Axis.”
      “By taking the path of resistance,” Janus pointed out, “we’re forcing the issue of a fleet engagement. Having read their historical text the presence of our fleet in their territory is an embarrassment for the Axis. Instead of waiting for word on the light minesweeping groups we’re going on to the next system. I want to engage them, Bantel, and by moving in a deliberate manner they’ll come to us. Had they any sort of mobile force they could’ve harassed us with fighter strikes and bled us at selected warp points. No, I’m making them commit to a battle on my terms, not theirs.”
      “The Axis may be thinking the same thing, Admiral. We’ll have to see who has the bigger hammer.”

The presence of 120 laser buoys along with 300 patterns of mines at the Cain/Stonewash warp point served as the final tripwire alert. It was the commitment of battlecruiser-sized minesweepers by the enemy that convinced System Admiral Mallak that his decisive battle was on hand. Aboard the command missile dreadnought Resolute the admiral took in the composition of the enemy fleet, the scout being allowed to observe it for a full three minutes before it was crippled by two fighter squadrons and then captured. 27 battlecruisers, 12 undersized battlecruisers, 38 undersized heavy cruisers, 21 light cruisers (most likely small carriers), and 50 destroyers had almost the same tonnage as SF 3. The new warheads (determined to be antimatter after analysis of sensor readings) employed by the aliens gave them a notable edge.
     On his ledger Mallak had 15 dreadnoughts, 12 battleships, 15 battlecruisers, 12 heavy cruisers, 12 light cruisers, 18 destroyers, 18 frigates, 8 fleet carriers, 8 light carriers, 4 escort cruisers and 4 escort destroyers. As for the 384 fighters on his carriers the admiral decided to employ them defensively, having each armed with a gun pack and a short-range attack missile for anti-shipping attacks. If the enemy light cruisers did turn out to be carriers then there would be parity in fighters. The last thing he wanted was to have the same kind of destruction visited upon his ships as what happened to Larnan nearly three months ago.
      On Lord Admiral Janus’ part she now faced an Axis force that was over 70% larger, tonnage wise, than the one in the Second Battle of the Frontier. Also like before the bulk of the ISN was involved, including most of the reactivated reserve. She did get six more carriers; bring her fighter total to 376 (108 of which were F1s). Scouts puzzled out the Axis fleet, but unable to distinguish between heavy cruisers and light carriers Janus sided with caution and opted to have her fighters serve in a defensive posture. All Type 1 Spear fighters were each armed with two of the newly developed laser packs while the Type 2 Spears carried a single FRAM in addition to the pair of lasers. While this denied her fighters the devastating punch of pure FRAM armament Janus saw that the lasers would allow the fighters to stay in combat longer, ravaging the armor of designated Axis ships.
      On a more positive note antimatter CMs and SBMs arrived in quantity, allowing for more destructive loiter-mode volleys for the latter. While the Axis may know of the full range of a SBM and its potential to carry antimatter warheads they were in for a new surprise. In Standard Bearer’s CIC Janus watched her main plot as the distance between the fleets ticked down. Both fleets launched fighters just beyond 10 LS range and had their respective carrier groups turn about to keep the range open. Just as the Spears got clear of the fleet the first volley of SBMs armed with an entirely new warhead were fired.
      In the Resolute CIC Mallak saw the volley of missiles spat out by the enemy BCs and CAs. He had expected the warheads on those missiles to be of the new, more destructive type. A first he was puzzled why those missiles that got through exploded prematurely, only to feel his ship shutter slightly an instant later. Then the reports came in. Fifteen ships, including his flagship, were hit by laser fire that originated from where the missiles immolated themselves. On first look it appeared the aliens had adapted the bomb-pumped laser technology as used on weapon buoys and miniaturized it to where it worked on a large missile. Armor damage in this initial volley was very light but loss of external racks and their missiles still occurred. If allowed to continue the aliens would scrub off all the armor on his ships and remove the decisive punch of externally launched capital missiles.
      Mallak ordered the fleet to max DN speed but Janus was on top of this. She kept her ships ahead of SF 3 and only allowed the range to close by 1 LS when the missiles went out again. Targeted on capital units that weren’t previously engaged Janus smiled as more hits were obtained, scouring armor and breaking external missiles on their racks. So far the Axis didn’t fire back, proving that if they had SBMs they would’ve used them. Janus wanted to target the capital missile dreadnoughts, but until the range dropped to 7.5 LS there was no way to distinguish them from the beam-armed class. So for the next three salvos, using up the remaining SBM-Lts on the BCs, the Axis capital units were bitten by high-tech mosquitoes.
      While the one-sided missile engagement raged on the respective fighter strikes tangled in a massive furball. Like the bomb-pumped missiles the Axis pilots were given a surprise of their own when at a range of three-quarters of a light second all the alien fighters opened up with compact lasers. Fifty six Axis pilots and their mounts exploded into high-speed fireballs. The two groups then went in a circle, but Strike Leader Maro had his planes slow slightly so that when the lasers recycled the Axis fighters were now only a quarter of a light second ahead. Although already reduced in numbers and armed with just one gun pack each the Axis pilots bagged 98 of Maro’s pilots while the more numerous but less accurate lasers took out 94 of their Axis opposites.
      For the last salvo of SBM-Lts Janus decided to use them in loiter mode and allowed the Axis to close to 7.5 LS range. This permitted the National Reach missile dreadnoughts to reveal themselves, and along with the Prestige DNs they fixated on one BC, taking down it shields and 27% of its armor despite point defense and EDMs. Then at a clean 7 LS distance the INS BCs and CAs let loose with their augmented missile volleys. With CM-Lts combined with the loitering SBM-Lts the targeted Axis missile dreadnoughts elected to use their EDMs (believing the CMs and loitering SBMs were armed with antimatter) before losing them only to find that they wouldn’t work against these new laser warheads. To his credit Mallak didn’t lose his composure and simply ordered that the previously targeted BC to be hit again. Shattered armor and streaming atmosphere showed that the Axis scored first blood in the engagement but the ship still retained its engines. For the fighters, now at point-blank range, 117 Axis and 64 Hokum fell to their respective guns.
      Returning the favor Janus now had her ships concentrate their fire on one National Reach. The big ship, already having lost half its armor from laser hits, was lacerated and breached, losing four of its launchers and reduced to 40% speed. For this work the previously hit Imperium was destroyed, its antimatter ordnance in its magazine exploding like miniatures suns. A further 66 Axis fighters were downed for a loss of 42 Hokum, leaving just 42 and 160 respectively.
      Still at 7 LS range the Hokum punished another missile DN harshly while only the shields of another Imperium was brought down. The dogfights were now over with all Axis fighters downed, leaving just 146 of their Hokum counterparts. Maro kept his strikegroups out of range of the Axis fleet for now, waiting word from Janus when to commit them to close action. Down to the last volley of CM-Lts the Hokum BCs ships fired on their third missile DN at a range of 6 LS. It was crippled, and the second Imperium lost its armor and one launcher.
      Janus maneuvered to 5.25 LS range and ordered the deployment of loiter-mode SBMs. For the Foreguards and Interiors, each having a free launcher, they targeted another National Reach, taking down 55% of its shields. It took the missile fire from the remaining National Reaches and the Prestige DNs to destroy the second Imperium. Still trailing behind the Axis fleet Maro had his fighters destroy the third crippled missile DN though at the cost of two fighters.
      With augmented salvos the Hokum ships fired on the National Reaches. With enemy ECM neutralized by ECCM and augmented by capital fire control Janus’ salvos were more effective. Again thanks to the previous laser warhead hits three of the big ships staggered and fell behind to be further crippled by Maro’s fighters. Sensing his ultimate fate Mallak transferred command to his subordinate Hastis on the Prestige DN Claymore while making for the shuttle bay. A third Imperium had lost its passive defenses in the past minute, but now the Axis was just down to three missile DNs. A further volley aided by loitering SBMs soon crippled two of those ships. However, return fire from the three ships as well as the six Prestige DNs crippled the third Imperium, but with its two datalink partners using their tractors it was pulled along without slowing down the rest of the fleet.
      Hastis, acting on his initiative, ordered the DDs and FGs to go to full speed and close on the INS warships. While the Hokum BCs and CAs couldn’t engage them with capital force beams due to their fire control circuits being tied up with loitering SBMs the 50 Type 2 destroyers were under no such restriction. One DD and FG were reduced to half-speed from the pounding they received. Mallak had left the Resolute barely in time, for even the few missiles Janus could throw the ship became just like the previous eight DNs. As for the third Imperium, which was the back-up flagship for Janus, it was destroyed by the missiles of the Prestige DNs.
      The distance between the two fleets remained at 5.25 light seconds while the Axis DDs and FGs were now barely outside hetlaser range. However, they were in prime range for their externally mounted capital missiles. The fourth Imperium lost its passive defenses from all this attention and the Axis had another DD and FG slowed from force beam damage and a Prestige from antimatter missiles.
      Janus had the BCs launch loiter-mode SBMs while directing the CAs to engage the Axis DDs with force beams and BBs with antimatter CMs. Along with the Type 2s the Hokum broke the shields of one BB and two more DDs and FGs were made into crawling, weaponless wrecks. As for the fourth Imperium it was flailed by Axis hetlasers and limped on two engines. This time no tractor beams were used as they would slow the fleet down. Maro’s fighters had meanwhile made the last National Reach DN weaponless as well as the first DD and FG crippled by the Type 2s.
      Distance between the Axis and Hokum fleets was now 6 LS while he Axis DDs and FGs were 3.50 LS away – a range where capital force beams doubled in effectiveness. Four more of those small ships were rendered weaponless while their lasers took on a fifth Imperium with the fourth succumbing to force beam fire from the Axis DNs. One Prestige and a National Power broke from antimatter bombardment and were slowed to 60% speed while three more BBs and a BC lost 50% of their shields or more, expending their EDMs to forestall the inevitable.
      Having had enough of being nitpicked by lasers, Janus slowed and maneuvered her ships so that while the Axis fleet was now 5.25 LS distant the destroyers and frigates were at 2.5 LS – precision needle beam range. No loiter-mode SBMs were fired as Janus had her BC and CAs’ force beams fire on the Sprinters and Punches. Firing individually, the Type2s took out the HET lasers plus some engines, effectively nullifying the threat. It came at the cost of the fourth and fifth Imperium. All three targeted BBs and the BC lost their shielding and some armor with one BB losing an engine.
      Switching back to loitering launches Janus stayed ahead of the Axis fleet while the crippled DDs and FGs turned about. This didn’t prevent them from being fired upon again by the Type 2s, further slowing them down due to engine damage. In the battle’s tenth minute the aforementioned BBs and BC were reduced to a crawl while Maro only lost one fighter from the previously slowed BB.
      Between the missile bombardment and the sniping fighters (which left a trail of unarmed and engineless ships behind them as they pounced on them as they fell out of line) Mallak, having relocated on a heavy cruiser and resuming command, ordered the firing of all external missiles at the sixth Imperium. This was Naulus’ ship, second in command to Janus. Reduced to one-third speed this Imperium quickly fell out of line and was finished off by long-range force beam fire. Maro’s fighters immobilized two of the three trailing BBs and the BC, but overzealousness on the part of one squadron took out the third National Power.
     The Interiors, having the same load-out as the Foreguards and Imperiums, still had CMs and SBMs armed with laser warheads. Focusing on the Axis BCs, the Interiors pecked away, stripping off EDMs along with armor with the hits they managed to score. With this help three more Axis BCs fell out of formation. Like the previous ones this trio turned to port so that their weapons could be brought to bear on Maro’s fighters. Four were shot down, and in an understandable reaction the remaining pilots destroyed the trio rather than severely damaging them with their lasers.
      One Hero had the distinction of shooting down all the missiles directed at it in the twelfth minute of combat. With the reduction of two-thirds of her Imperium datagroups Janus only netted one Hailfire and the slowing of one Prestige. Only the Interiors fired again, just three CM-Lts from each datagroup at the Prestige. Enough got through to take out another engine room, and soon enough it was hulked by fighter lasers.
      At the end of the thirteenth minute only two Heroes were made to fall behind. The Imperiums, save those with the capital fire control or a dedicated CIC, were down two volleys of nuclear capital missiles. Janus had the Foreguards and Interiors fire at three suspected Hailfires. Only one Axis BC fell out of line, the volleys being insufficient to break the defenses of the other two.
      Two minutes later the Axis fleet was down to 3 DN, 8 BB, 6 BC, 12 CA and 12 CL. A literal trail of powerless ships showed where the fleet had been, and the DDs and FGs continued to crawl away. Janus’ losses (aside from fighters) were just 6 BCs. The Foreguards were down to just two salvos of standard CMs, but the Interiors still had ammunition for their launchers. As reduced as they were Janus suspected the Axis commander was waiting until no-more antimatter missiles were in the offering, betting that she would turn about and finish the job with beam weapons. They could at this point simply turn and run, leaving the DNs and BBs to their fates and take whatever the fighters had to dish out. Indeed, had they done that earlier then Janus’ fighter losses would’ve been far greater. By staying to their course the Axis was proving their fanaticism for all to see. Janus wasn’t quite ready to reward them for their slavish devotion with the decisive deaths they wanted; her Interiors still had six salvos of antimatter missiles to fire.
      After five more staggered salvos one Axis DN, three BCs and three CAs were destroyed or immobile. During those five minutes the two remaining Prestige DNs kept firing their twin capital missile launchers at the seventh Imperium. When the armor was breached Janus decided to turn her ships around so that the seventh Imperium would be able to fire with her datagroup before being damaged further. Maro was given the go-ahead for his strikegroups to close to point-blank range.
      Onboard the CA Trumpet System Admiral Mallak was a prime example of dignity in the face of disaster. The officers and ratings around him in the ship’s auxiliary control gained strength from Mallak’s composure, as much as he wanted to curse out his enemy. The aliens exploited their new technologies to the utmost. Missiles with 33% more range than a capital missile, armed with a laser-spewing warhead and able to loiter to permit substantial volleys were unknown to Axis science. Then there were laser-armed fighters with a reach of at least one light second. He consoled himself that in previous wars enemies of the Axis employed initially unknown weapons and tactics. That the Axis always won in the end proved that Providence was looking after its most perfect creation.
      At a range of 4 LS the depleted Axis force destroyed the seventh Imperium and a Type 2 and damaging another Type 2. Long-range fire from the fighters all but killed one BB. As for the others Janus focused on taking down the shields on as many ships as possible so that the needle beams on the Type 2s would strip them of their weapons. Maro’s fighters closed to point-blank range as the respective battlelines came to 1.25 LS. It was here that the Deflectors finally were in their element and employed their datalink jammers. Disjointed yet still deadly the Axis destroyed two Type 2s, an Imperium, and crippled another Imperium and a Foreguard. All save the two Prestige DNs had their shields knocked down from force beam and capital missile fire for the Axis ships used their point defense against the fighters. Needle beams denuded the National Wills of weapons and conventional damage was such that most of the ships couldn’t keep the fighters in range of point defense after Maro’s fighters put the hurt with the handful of FRAMs carried by his surviving F1s.
      With shields and magazines knocked out but with complete engines the two surviving Hailfires went after the fleeing fighters. Just one was nailed before both ships lost their point defense to needle beams. Datalinks still jammed, the Axis ships managed to take down a Foreguard and seriously damage another before most of them lost their weapons. The last Prestige fired off a pair of lasers, finishing off a Foreguard, before it lost them to the Type 2’s precision weapons.
      In the wreck of Standard Bearer’s CIC Janus was still giving orders. The Type 2s were unleashed, taking out engines and point defense of Axis ships to prevent them from self-destructing and to facilitate boarding actions. Janus had the carrier group turn around so that their marine contingents could be utilized. Even those marines that survived on Standard Bearer participated. Initially just the shuttles from the escort cruisers were used for the SAR operation to pick up Hokum lifepods. Once the capture operations were complete more shuttles and cutters were made available. Fewer than 5,000 INS personnel were recovered. Only 200 Axis prisoners were taken for there simply wasn’t enough room for more aboard the transports in the fleet’s support group. Thus combats aboard the broken hulls that once composed Star Force 3 were taken to their logical ends. Knowing how Axis ships were wired it was a simple manner for Imperium Marines to open all compartments to space, flushing out and killing all holdouts. The number of ships to board was such that the Type 2s ‘babysat’ the Axis force, knocking down shields and lancing any repairs the crews happened to make to their engines. Life support was knocked out as a matter of course. By the time the marines came to the DDs and FGs all the surviving crews were dead from asphyxiation.
     For the loss of 288 out of 376 fighters, 10 BCs and 3 DDs the Expeditionary Fleet won control of the Cain system. It had captured 12 DNs, 11 BBs, 11 BCs, 10 CAs, 12 CLs, 12 DDs and 12 FGs. With only 88 fighters Janus decided to let the Axis carrier group escape, as much as Maro and his pilots wanted to destroy it now so that they wouldn’t have to face it latter. She did order the prefabricated BB-sized space station carried by the support group to be assembled by the warp point used by the fleet. The full-sized shipyard module that constituted the bulk of the station would be used to refit the captured ships for Hokum use and repair them just enough so that they could make the trip to Whel to be fully converted.

Bantel’s assertion of capturing ships in job lots was proven correct when seven databases were recovered intact. Janus was pleased to find to Crimson Expanse was just one transit away. While the defenses were formidable compared to what she still possessed Janus believed they could be taken without prohibitive loses. Thus three days passed before the Fleet made for another of Cain’s warp points. By the time the first elements of the planetary invasion force arrived the Fleet’s break-in attempt would’ve either been successful or thrown back on its heels.

Mallak’s carriers had gathered over Crimson Expanse (CE), waiting as the orbiting space station went about prepping crated fighters to fill the now-empty hanger bays. Civil defense drills on the planet were run almost daily and all 15,000 ground troops set up defensive positions around Blood Valor, the planet’s capital. At the CE/Cain warp point the defenders were as ready as they would ever be. Two beam bases, one fighter base and three missile bases watched the warp point as well as the six hundred patterns of mines and 300 laser buoys. A mere four squadrons were on the CAP, flying in a circle around the warp point, waiting for an attack that was going to happen sooner or later.
      The attack came sooner. Thanks to the military data the Hokum captured just days earlier the six minesweepers of the first wave directly faced the bases on the other side of the minefields. Accompanying the sixth sweeper as it made transit were 52 armed pinnaces. Eight of the armed small craft interpenetrated and exploded, giving proof by the violence of their deaths that they carried antimatter ordnance. With CAMs on their external racks the minesweepers fired on a beam base sitting 1.25 LS out, taking down its shields and half its armor thanks to the sole sweeper armed with antimatter CAMs. Two of BS5 missile bases, sitting 4 LS out, became active and fired at one sweeper, crushing 87% of its shields.
      When the first ship entered all four squadrons of the CAP changed course and ended up on top of the assault wave. Working on the damage already done by the two missile bases the four squadrons released their fire controls and destroyed the ship in a volley of short attack missiles. As the squadrons raced back to the fighter base one of the active missile bases, equipped with a buoy controller, directed 100 laser buoys to open fire on the five remaining ships. Damage was extensive. The fighter base was quick off the mark and crash-launched its’ remaining eleven squadrons. As for the 44 Apins they managed to shoot down seven buoys with their transit-addled point defense and guns.
      Three Imperiums and three Foreguards made up the second wave. All 44 Apins went through part of the minefield, losing seven of their number but ending up atop the two beam bases. Offensive weapons still off-line, those bases fell to the CAMs and force beams of the Hokum ships as well as the antimatter close attack missiles and lasers of the Apins. Only two of the pinnaces fell to point-defense fire, and of the twenty that still had their missiles elected to fire their lasers and point defense at the oncoming fighter squadrons, now 0.75 LS away and an even 2 LS from the warp point. 10 of the 66 fighters were shot down. 100 more laser buoys were fired, but spread across eleven ships only two of previously damaged sweepers were destroyed.
      Wave three was composed of three more Imperiums and Foreguards. Janus commanded from the third Imperium in this wave. Seeing the eleven squadrons about to pounce she hoped that history wasn’t about to repeat itself for a third time. However, when the fighters arrived at the warp point they found that the three remaining sweepers had activated their jammers. The two active missile bases had no choice but to destroy them, freeing their squadrons from the jammers’ disruptive effects. As for the third it, too, became active and had to use its external missiles as well to destroy the last sweeper. The three Imperiums from the second wave were destroyed by the fighters, and the last 89 buoys fired on the remaining nine ships, taking out two Foreguards from the second wave as well.
      As the fourth wave arrived the three missile bases destroyed an Imperium from the third wave. Five more pinnaces were shot down before one base was destroyed and a second rendered useless. The pinnaces pulled out of point defense range and headed back to the warp point, unable to engage the returning strike as it landed on the fighter base. The fifth wave, three Deflectors and three Interiors, kept station with the rest of the assault force. Force beam fire took care of the second missile base while the third, with half its shields already collapsed from five FRAM hits, became the focus of the remaining ships. Antimatter warheads took care of the remaining shields as well as most of the armor.
      In the battle’s third minute the remaining missile base finished the last ship from the second wave. Avenging this loss the Hokum all but destroyed this base, and each new wave of Interiors adding their fire to the last target, the fighter base. To save on antimatter warheads conventional nuke missiles were used. It would’ve been better had the former been used because four-and-a-half minutes into the battle the four squadrons that composed the original CAP were rearmed and launched.
      Preferring to preserve her surviving armed pinnaces Janus had the Deflectors activate their jammers and allowed them the first go at the fighters. At point-blank range the improved point defense mounts were 67% more effective than standard ones. 16 of the 24 fighters were shot down by the dedicated anti-fighter escorts and only three managed to fire before they and the remainder were cut down by force beam fire. The targeted ship, which happened to be Janus’, lost the last of its shields and nothing else. Missile fire finally brought down the last base, and the two Axis scouts that where hanging at the periphery of battle had to be reminded of the range of the SBM. Moving a further light-second out the two scouts watched as the Hokum ships fired mine-clearance charges, but once they saw the carriers enter they knew they were doomed. Both scouts had three squadrons of F1 Spears armed with twelve stand-off missiles each and a marine-filled shuttle chasing them. Only one fighter was shot down and 14 marines killed, but both scouts were captured.
      The Axis carrier group fled the system with SF 3’s auxiliaries, a pair of Fast Walker scouts trailing them. Crimson Expanse’s space station, almost four times the tonnage of a dreadnought, was bombarded at long range and thus denied the use of its 12 capital missile launchers. The two squadrons of fighters assigned to the station were dispatched before they could get anywhere near the Fleet. Repeated calls to the planetary governor to surrender were met with a recorded message of defiance. Janus instructed Field General Ronon of the ISA to commence landing operations that would ultimately result in the deployment of 400,000 troops. It was still unknown if Comensal civilians would be as fanatical as their writings made them out to be. With a nearly 5-to-1 ratio of civilians to troops it was unthinkable that any concerted, organized effort would be offered by the populace.
      Then again, reasoning and thinking were two disparate concepts when it came to the Axis.

12/19/07
updated 01/20/08

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