"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.” - Mahatma Gandhi
"The Timetable is not negotiable. However, the Centauri Articles of Convention remain in effect irrespective of the progress made in Terra until Alliance Command issues a Total War Directive. While only you and your immediate subordinates are to be made aware of the entirety of this plan, we expect you to make clear that the approach taken by the pacifist government of the Concordiat is totally at odds with the reality faced by the Alliance. We can not permit such an ideology to pervade the Alliance and cripple it from within, nor can we afford the Concordiat the continued use of Terra's vast infrastructure for nonsense projects or the greater indulgence of seemingly tribal mysticism, please refer to your Intelligence packet for further information.
In Conclusion..."
-=Alliance 1st Carrier Battle Group, Delta-Terra Gate, Delta System, "Delta Quadrant".
The Delta-Terra Gate was an impressive sight despite its deceptive simplicity. The exhaustive work of a generation's scientists had unlocked the secrets of the Tiamat portal and converted it into something human engineers had been able to work into a construction of human make. Something that could re-open the collapsed Delta-Terra node and reunite the Interstellar Terran Alliance with their homeworld of Apollo. For the "Lost Generation" that had grown up with Apollo being nothing but an idealised Utopia amongst the stars, the prospect of it joining the Alliance was tantalizing. For those for whom it was a fading memory it was something more, something safe to be cherished when the galaxy had done little but unleash horror and strife upon Mankind in recent times.
For some, it was a purely mathematical problem to be solved. The Alliance, with its many star systems and millions of citizens was, without the centre of its own civilization, weak. For all its progress, the Alliance could only just about reach the levels of economic output that their home system had provided by itself. That this infrastructure was spread out, unconcentrated except in key population centres, and that multiple states conflicted over its use was another weakness. The Alliance, born out of war, was slowly losing the peace.
The Gate was meant to change all that. For several weeks probes had been dispatched into the Home System - it was as many had hoped, intact, prospering. That the scenario of total societal collapse had not come about was welcome, though much change had to of occurred on a political level for the system to survive without access to its colonies. On this, there was a problem the Alliance Security Council would act upon without question. There had been some contact, platitudes, overtures, politics, but it was a smokescreen. Most of it was simply intelligence gathering by another name. There could be no other way. Human to a fault.
Admiral Lei had received his orders and the ships of the 1st Carrier Battle Group had arrayed themselves for the journey homeward. It too, was a sight worth seeing, the newest generation of vessels conceived in a post-Great War era framed not only by the Gate itself, but the planet Hermes as well, would no doubt make for a popular shot for propaganda purposes. One by one, the vessels began to approach the gate - opening their subspace apertures and beginning the transition to Terra, to Apollo.
It was time. There was a schedule to keep. 60 Years had been long enough.
-=Alliance 1st Carrier Battle Group, Terra-Delta Subspace Node, Outer Terra System, "Delta Quadrant".
The Terra System was named after Sol, in a way, though that was now a forgotten memory. It was a relatively standard system - 6 Planetary bodies and one major asteroid belt and all the attendant bodies therein. It had served as the birthplace of the United Apollo Federation after the Eurus Accords were signed many many years ago. There was Poseidon, the outer frozen gas giant with its several satellites, Zeus, the major gas giant and its own minor star system of moons. Then there was of course, the Asteroid Belt, followed by the world of Artemis - sister world to Apollo, for whom Terrans of the Alliance served as a beacon in the dark. Aphrodite was Terra's own somewhat less deadly version of Venus, whilst Hephaestus served as the last planetary body before the fierce energy and pull of the Terra star permitted nothing else of note.
As the Carrier Battle Group began to emerge one by one, they orientated themselves around its flagship, the battleship Mycenae, orders were sent, confirmed, double checked and re-affirmed. It didn't take long for a new aperture to break open reality some distance from them, pushing forth a ship seemingly at odds with the many that had already made their home here. It was not Alliance.
"This is Captain Laryn of the Apollo Concordiat Vessel ACFG Thebes hailing unknown vessels. Please state your intent."
For a moment, there was only silence in space, the Battle Group would come through in stages - for now, the Mycenae and her current attendants were alone. The plan was to proceed to Apollo and slowly but surely disperse the Battle Group around the system. They would rely on their believed superior force of arms to force a bloodless, or as close to it, surrender. If the conflict became protracted, it would allow for the wholesale destruction of aged military assets whilst preserving the overall industrial and manpower base of the largest concentration of mankind in the area. Hardly preferable, but acceptable. Surprise was however, essential.
Silence.
"This the ITB Mycenae of the Interstellar Terran Alliance, we cannot state how glad we are to reconnect with our brothers once again."
The Thebes began to level out.
"ITB Mycenae, we wish we could say the same, once again, please state your intent."
A moment of silence, confusion. Lei was nowhere to be found. The ITCr Viscount and several other ships began an in-system jump. Treachery?
A flurry of messages between Lei's second and Alliance Command. There is very little doubt, and the element of surprise is lost. It is as it is, The operation must continue.
"This is Rear Admiral Morgan of the Interstellar Terran Alliance, while it seems some among us are not ready to act according to the oaths they have taken, I am more than willing to carry out our orders without hesitation. Thebes, you are hereby ordered to surrender and prepare for immediate boarding under authority of the Interstellar Terran Alliance. Surrender demands have already been transmitted to your Government on Apollo and we are more than willing to commence military operations should they refuse."
Anger.
"What? You have no authority here. I shall do no such thing! All Hands, arm all batteries, Combat spee-"
The Thebes begins moving, but has severely underestimated the combat strength of its opponents. While the Concordiat has continued along the old lines of military development, the Alliance has been exposed to the horrors of the galaxy a second time - and emerged with the ghosts of those same beasts ready to tear kin asunder.
While the Thebes begins firing its railguns, loading missiles and powering up its Mass Driver Array, that is all it will ever do, a moment later. a piercing light as brilliant as Terra itself emerges from the Mycenae as she opens fire with her main forward beam array. A few moments later, the Thebes has been cleaved apart, her reactor shortly providing its own light to the blackness of space. It has begun.
War in Heaven.
--------
-=6 Months Later, Telestra Station, Poseidon Orbit, Terra System.
The plan had, of course, not survived contact with the "enemy". The defection of Admiral Lei and several other ships, including a vital Anemoi - as well as outright mutiny that crippled even the Mycenae itself - had left the 1st Battle Group all but paralysed before ever engaging beyond the Thebes. It is perhaps, ironic, that if the Concordiat had itself not been rendered inert by the orders of its Council, it could of ended the war before it began - or at least effectively blockaded the Terra-Delta node. The failure of the first operation to capture Poseidon's orbital infrastructure also rendered the 1st Battle Group, with only 1 Support Vessel, effectively impotent.
As it was, it had settled into a war of inaction and minor skirmish for months. The 1st Battle Group had been re-organised and positioned to exert control over the subspace node only. Rear Admiral Lance Morgan had been given operational control and new crews were re-organised, defected ships replaced and command structures re-implemented. In the Alliance, the Security Council went into overdrive to convince the Alliance populace that this campaign was necessary. It had tentative support, many in the Alliance now had a goal to focus on that wasn't a nebulous, distant return, and an enemy to focus their anger upon. The Concordiat was dangerous, insidious. Worse yet it was weak, unable to defend its people against the horrors that lurked beyond the stars and were all too happy to unleash that terror upon mankind. That of course, did not mean the Concordiat would not defend itself, but that was not enough.
For every failed plan however, the Alliance has its contingencies.
Telestra station was the hub of Poseidon's Orbital infrastructure. Poseidon, the gas giant that it was, had little in value for settlement, but much in the way of scientific knowledge and resourcing concerns. Telestra managed the handful of science vessels and outposts in orbit, while simultaneously extending its patrols around all manner of state and civilian concerns dealing with Poseidon's oceans of valuable gas. It too, administrated the mining of Poseidon's barren moon Aiolos, and the minor colonies on the similarly barren - but altogether much more promising to terra-forming prospects - Minyas. Telestra could, in theory, support an additional battleship in the field if the 1st Battle Group could take it intact. The First operation had led to the destruction of the ACD Maxima and her two attendant frigates, but had failed to secure the area due to the arrival of the ACCr Hierarch and her own escorts, the Alliance had received damage to its own major ships, but lost only strike craft and so it was, tactically, a victory, but strategically a failure. It had forced a rethink of the entire operation in the Terra theatre and the consequent reshuffling of assets.
Today, however, the new plans that had come were put into action.
Subspace tore open reality once again.
The Alliance had committed the ITCr Anakeion, a Deimos Class Cruiser, to the capture of Telestra station. Since the failure of the earlier capture attempt some months ago, the ACCr Hierarch and her task force had expanded to include a lone attendant destroyer, alongside her original two frigates and added another corvette to make three total. All had remained in Poseidon's Local Space. They were supported by at least 6 or so fighter wings of varying role flying from Telestra, as well as a gunship wing and two bomber wings. The Anakeion was, of course not alone, she would be joined by 2 Chimera Class Frigates and a Hyperion Class Destroyer. It was a small task force, but it was intended to not appear to be as large a threat as it was in reality posing. That, and the impending diversionary assault on the Zeus System's Republic - the governing body for Zeus and its numerous satellites and a member of the Concordiat, would take much of the 1st Battle Group into enemy territory against the Concordiat Rim Fleet to ensure the capture of Telestra.
The Captain of the Anakeion had been replaced after the debacle that had gripped the task force shortly after hostilities commenced. Theodore Galanis was no fool, he indulged alliance propaganda - a man had to believe he was doing what was right, but that didn't mean he felt no guilt leading men and women into battle against other men and women who believed they were as just and pure of motive as he. The bridge of a Deimos could be a lonely place, the position of command could be even more so for a young man without family like he, but he knew at least, most of his crew were on the same page for this one. He knew, and understood, the moral quandary that must of engulfed his predecessor, but he could not dwell on that. For now, he had orders and a task force to take home in once piece. Something worth fighting for, at the very least.
As the Anakeion fully emerged into real space with its task force, he returned to his seat, allowing his piercing blue gaze to look past Telestra, to the similarly piercing blue of Poseidon. He was of the "Lost Generation", as they called it, and to finally see something of home, such as it was, was something to remember. It was, but a fleeting moment however. He mentally prepared himself, there was protocol to follow after all, and ensured that he was as presentable as possible.
"Open wide band communication with Telestra and the Hierarch's Task Force, lets do this by the book." He stated, nodding at the Comms Officer, who for all intents and purposes usually served as the face of the ship to anyone outside of it. He had the same brown hair, blue eyed fair complexion as Theodore, one of the younger officers on the bridge alongside Theodore himself. He wondered if anyone would look as young as they did now when this was all over.
"Aye sir, Communications are open and we have registered receipt of our transmission." Came the response. Theodore inhaled and began.
"As per my orders and the Articles of the Centauri Convention, I, Captain Theodore Galanis of the ITCr Anakeion extend this one and only opportunity to the crews of the Concordiat Vessels and that of Telestra station to immediately and without condition, power down and surrender. The Alliance will be taking control of this station today, and we would prefer it to be with as little blood shed as possible." Bravado, some truth, but most likely ultimately pointless.
"Captain Galanis, this is Captain Alexei Ravnir of the ACCr Hierarch. We have no intention of submitting this station and this planet to the will of the Alliance whom possesses no governing authority over this system, nor are we willing to allow the use of Poseidon's infrastructure to support your continued aggression against the sovereign will of Apollo and her people. As per orders, we will defend this station or we will ensure it is destroyed before it falls into Alliance hands." Galanis winced. He had been briefed on the scorched earth principles that the Concordiat had enacted - no infrastructure must fall intact into Alliance hands, but he didn't believe that anyone would be willing to destroy a station that held nearly 10,000 people. No doubt they would buy time to effect an evacuation, no matter how limited.
In the end, it didn't really matter. No side was going to emerge from this morally intact. The die was cast.
"Anakeion to Task Force, initiate Plan Alpha, should OpFor initiate scorched earth protocols call in the capture transport ahead of time. All Fighters, keep cover on the Anakeion and the capture group when it appears, our escorts have more than enough anti fighter weaponry to cover themselves. Concentrate on incoming heavy fighters and bombers, we will of course handle the Hierarch and anything else they throw at us. All hands, prepare for combat." Galanis looked at his own view of the battlefield. It seemed that the attack on Zeus had triggered some form of response ahead of time - Telestra itself was already being evacuated, and most civilian traffic was gone or heading for the intra-system gates. The Concordiat had found with only system, the obsolete technology of intra-system gates was more economical than equipping every civilian ship with a subspace drive. It was valuable infrastructure - if gates in the outer system could be captured and linked up to captured gates in the inner system, it would allow near unlimited and untracked movement for the Alliance, whom had encountered difficulty eliminating the Concordiat's subspace tracking network.
His Task Force was out of range, for now, for a fleet that relied on its new beam weaponry and bomber craft for capital elimination, the former needed to close some distance, and the latter was something he had not been provided, only the basic fighter cover his own task force required. On the other side of the line, the Hierarch and her attendants were armed with long range missiles, railguns and - in the case of the Hierarch alone, an effective long range torpedo launch system - while her attendant ships were either equipped with mass driver arrays or picket defenses. All of which were likely to shred his own cruiser to pieces, if he didnt have the attendant ships forming an effective screen that even now, was preparing to destroy the first incoming wave of ordnance. The accelerated kinetic weaponry was something for his shields and top of the line armour to deal with however. There was a certain mastery in the Concordiat, who had fallen back on tried and tested technology that had lost favour in the Alliance, he was sure the Alliance would learn lessons from them in time, given that any protracted engagement from range with the Concordiat would most likely result in losses before ever reaching preferred Alliance combat range.
On his display, the green of a swarm of fighters merged with the red of their opposite number. Lights blinked out, a mechanical response to the reality of a life being snuffed out in the darkness of space. It was easy to sit on the bridge of a cruiser and feel safe, to feel disconnected from the destruction of an enemy ship, even when thousands of lives were snuffed out in an instant. For a fighter pilot, he knew, it was all too real, all too close to home.
"Entering optimal weapons range in 15 seconds, We are now in optimal engagement range for the Hierarch and her Task Force. Registering an subspace exit vector for the Hierarch's Destroyer escort, destination unknown." Came the information. Strange, though perhaps reasonable - in this engagement, the close range weaponry of a Concordiat Destroyer was likely to prove useless, perhaps better saved for another day or used in the battles around Zeus. Or.. no. Theodore froze.
"Tighten up our formation now, get the frigates to swing to our rear, I expect that destroyer is trying to rear-end us. The Rim Fleet has been pulling this kind of subspace chess for a while now in our skirmishes, lets not get caught ou-.." Galanis was nearly thown unceremoniously from his seat as one of the Hierarch's torpedoes hit home. Luckily, his shields had held, but were now beginning to be worn away by the withering fire of Concordiat kinetic weaponry.
"The Thames apologizes for that one sir, she began to turn just as her PD picked up an errant torpedo, little she could do.. incoming subspace signature, its the ACD Viper!" Reported one of his officers. This was not good, both of his Chimera's - their beam weaponry forward firing, were halfway through a turn. His own Cruiser and Hyperion escort were now beginning to engage the Hierarch and her frigates. He could only watch as the Viper unleashed a full barrage into the Thame's Sister ship, Rhone, who promptly began to list aimlessly.
"Direct hit to the Rhone, reactor core took the full brunt, those Concordiat guys sure know how to aim. Thames is beginning her firing sequence momentarily." Galanis frowned. The Rhone would have to be evacuated once the battle was over, provided her reactor didnt decide to give the Concordiat a fireworks display. For a moment, he watched, as the Thames own beam cannons lit up the void of space, promptly shredding through the Viper at close range and adding its own wreck to that of the Rhone. He couldn't dwell on how many people had survived for rescue operations on either ship.
It was then his own Task Force began to return fire. At closer ranges, the Alliance could do nothing but meaninglessly slaughter the Concordiat, he had relatively close jump co-ordinates to thank for it this time, but this war would see many die on both sides. He just hoped to be one of the guys who pulled through to the other side. With their own opening salvo two of the Hierarch's corvettes were gone and a beam had gone on to puncture the command bridge of a frigate, going on to cut a slash through the main superstructure, they were all but reduced to twisted wrecks and memorials to the fallen.
The Hierarch's last frigate had taken the brunt of one of her sister's dying reactor's final breaths - and promptly began to bug out, but it seemed the Hierarch still had fight left in her. And she aimed it all at the Laramis, the Anakeion's Hyperion escort. With the main picket reduced to just the Thames, the Laramis could do little but weather the storm - and it was not weathering it well. The Thames responded by eliminating the final corvette standing.
"Fire all forward beams on the Hierarch now and add our main turret banks to the mix, get the Laramis out of here already, the last thing we need is to lose another ship on this operation, damn it, just move us between the Hierarch and the Laramis." Galanis said, mostly with a level voice, it was best to leave the anger and the ensuing grief for when one could work them out.
"Spooling up main batteries now sir, you know how they are. Firing sequence starting." Responded his weapons officer.
For a moment, the withering fire of a bank of capital grade guns bared down on the Hierarch - a few months ago, this would of been damaging enough, before the defections had given shielding technology for larger vessels to the Concordiat. Now, all it did was serve to expose her to the coup de grace. A moment later, the Deimos Class's own brilliant beams lanced forward, puncturing the Hierarch and outright destroying her rotating section and its sensor capabilities. A moment later, the secondary beam array fired, slashing across the main hull and cutting through the bridge of the Hierarch. Alexei Ranvir. He needed to remember that name, just in case no-one else could.
As the last evacuation transport on the scene pulled away, Galanis received a small but welcome message from Telestra. With 6,000 people still on board, the Station Commander was not willing to sacrifice them. The station would be surrendered. Galanis called for the capture transport and S&R craft. Taking stock, he had pulled through with only one real loss, the Rhone, and a handful of lost strike craft, though how many pilots among those were now drifting, ejected, he would not know for some time. The Laramis would no doubt have to pull back to Delta for repairs, but it would be back in action eventually.
It was, he knew, certainly not going to get any easier than this.
