National Archives
Minutes taken by Archive Secretary Lianne Drewer
Meeting: Security Council
Attending:
Empress Nerys Harlow
Sec of State Ria Solomon
Sec of Defence Sarah Carter
Sec of State Security Louis Vanderbilt
Sec of the Nation Augusta DuVal
Sec of Technology Liam Bletchley
Sec of Ecology Yoshiro Matsuyama
Grand Admiral D'kanni
Admiral Raina Rousseau
...
Empress: Are we sure about these reports?
Mats: Very. There are laconium deposits in the region.
Carter: They have fortified the systems since the last war.
Solo: Is diplomacy on the table? We don't have a formal embassy but I'm sure we can —
D'kanni: They won't even give us the time of day, Solomon.
Empress: D'kanni is correct. They are vicious in war, and see us as a threat, and always have.
Carter: They've mobilised quite a bit on their frontier. It gives us an excuse, one that can't be challenged too easily.
Rous: I can position my fleet in this system and we can quickly overrun them at Narthis.
Empress: And there's still Nalari in these systems?
Carter: Liberation sells well.
DuVal: It would be popular among the public.
Empress: Our FSD is too slow, they'd detect us before we got into position. What about Project 81?
Bletch: It's operational, we could put it in a freighter or install on a stealth frigate and send it in.
Empress: Alright, we need to hit fast and hard. Narthis has a gate, if we can disable that, we have the region locked down. We'll plaster it as a liberation and pre-emptive strike to save the Domain.
D'kanni: Understood.
Narthis Periphery, Nicean Federation Frontier
An object drifted through the periphery, its sleek and angled body reflected no light, nor could its well enshrouded engines be seen. It was a small vessel, no larger than 150 meters, but menacingly looking even for its small size. It was a prototype of a new Martian frigate known as Type 121.
It used specialised light-absorbing panels on its hull with regulators to mimic the background temperature of the universe, with cavities of water behind this skin to prevent certain scans. No lights or markings could be seen along its exterior. It was a phantom in space.
The vessel had only so much time to get into position. Internal heat sinks and radiators helped regulate heat, but it'd need to open up its armour and eject spent sinks to avoid too much heat. Doing so would open it to detection. It needed to act quickly.
As it cleared the Oort, a panel opened and a device was slowly extended on a hardpoint that used to mount a railgun. The device itself was physically unremarkable, looking just as angular and mysterious as the ship. But it carried a profound purpose.
There was a bright flash behind the ship. Security had been alerted to an intrusion in the system, and quickly the Niceans at Narthis' anchorage, Dess Utaa, had come to life. The ring-like station lit up as large doors opened along its side, revealing clamped in place warships that fired their engines. Batteries along the top of the ring had turned and dumped a series of nuclear missiles into the void that sped across the system.
Behind the stealth frigate, a large bubble of light had formed, and as it did, out came dozens of Martian frigates followed by destroyers, cruisers, battlecruisers, a carrier, and a battleship. The Nicean security forces were already outnumbered, but a call had already been made.
The Imperial Martian Navy destroyers dumped missiles of their own that sped towards the Niceans. A variety of flechette and nuclear warheads designed for long-range combat. Behind them, IMN cruisers deployed their point-defence autocannons and joined ranks with the frigates who had done the same. The drone carrier dispatched its cargo, with wide doors swinging open and hundreds of autonomous craft entering the gaps of the formation.
The Nicean and Martian missiles passed eachother, and as the Nicean warheads neared, the point-defence of the IMN began to lay down an envelope of fire. Explosions dotted the space in front of the advancing Martian fleet as enemy missiles were taken down, yet some got through and so the drones from the IMN carrier sprung into action, chasing down and intercepting missiles with their own fire.
One warhead struck the IMN cruiser Victory. A ball of plasma splashed over the vessels hull, burning away the abalator and disrupting the ship's polarity shields, creating brilliant aurora along the hull. Its signature white panels were notably scorched, with entire sections having melted under the heat. The cruiser fell back as frigates joined into the space and returned fire with more missiles of their own.
Nicean defences had also opened up on the incoming IMN warheads. Many were taken down, but several got through. A flechette warhead detonated meters off the hull of a Nicean frigate, sending high velocity shrapnel through the hull. Crewmembers inside ducked for cover behind anything they could find as the fragmentation perforated the ship. The vessel lagged behind as its drive began to malfunction.
A second salvo of missiles were traded as the fleets neared. No IMN warship was struck, but a Nicean corvette found itself vapourised in the ensuing detonation of a Martian fusion warhead. As the fleets entered medium engagement range, the Martian frigates broke off and headed for the flanks with the cruisers moving forward. Their powerful railguns began to track Nicean warships, and finally opened up with volleys of fire.
The shells sped across the void, entering the Nicean formation. The damaged Nicean warship lagging behind was struck by a round, it slagged through the bow and into the vessel's CIC before exiting out the aft. An explosion ripped through the ship as its drive detonated, spraying shrapnel into nearby warships. The Niceans loosened their formation and responded with direct energy weapons.
Lasers entered the IMN's fleet, and as they struck Martian warships, they were mitigated by the shields. Vibrant colours of reds and greens from the high energy particle wash could be seen waving over their hulls. One frigate was finally overwhelmed as its magnetic field was disrupted enough to expose the hull, the bow panels melted and though it deployed its radiators, the vessel exploded.
Martian railguns continued to fire, slinging shells at Nicean forces, and taking advantage of their exposed drives. At last, the battleship had begun to charge its spinal MAC as the teams inside loaded a massive tungsten slug. The Niceans had detected the energy spike and began to fire their railguns at the warship.
Frigates and cruisers moved into formation around the battleship. As shells came in, they were caught by the cruisers' kinetic generator. The shells slowed as kinetic energy was pulled from their momentum and dumped into the vessel's EM shielding. They grew closer to the battleship and quickly dispersed this energy into the vessel's own shielding, the charging of its capacitors sped up as the warship aimed at the station.
The Martian battleship's shields disappeared as all energy was dumped from the capacitors. This moment of vulnerability allowed a number of Nicean slugs an opportunity to strike the ship, and they did so, creating craters along the vessel's armour. There was a bright flash as the mass accelerator cannon of the battleship launched its projectile.
The Niceans attempted to get in the way, but the slug ploughed through them like butter. The projectile slammed into the station, perforating its ring and exiting out the other side as a tumbling, fast-moving piece of slag. The station went dark as power was cut, to the Nicean's horror, the central reactor had been cut clean through. The station had been disabled and was quickly enveloped in an explosion.
The Nicean security forces broke and began to flee. The Martian fleet turned their attention to the Nicean FTL Gate. Battlecruisers fired their railguns, dumping their capacitors in three-burst shots. The fleet watched as the gate was torn to shreds under the ensuing fire. The Battle of Narthis was over.
