When the mice bite back [FT, Closed, ATTN Alversia]

[Setulan]

Space Fortress Imri, Setulan System

Rear Admiral (J.G.) Greg Mohr, CO of Alternate Supply Route Liberation, stood at the massive viewcreen that made up the outer wall of his office and looked into the void. The holoscreen, which projected exactly what was on the other side of the wall, made it appear that there was a huge window looking out into space from his office.

There wasn't, of course. That would be madness. But it certainly made for a nice view. The rotating fortress was currently turned in such a as way to show a perfect view of Dock 34...and the convoy that was limping in. The ships were close enough to get a good look at them as they approached.

One...two...three...four...five merchantmen rolled into the dry docks, battle damage visible on a few of them. Five. Five, when there had been nine when the convoy left Alversia.

Thank the gods they didn't hit the convoy on the way there, when the ships were full of men and war supplies. He shuddered involuntarily with the thought. An entire planetary assault corps could have been lost had that happened. Gods forbid.

Next came the escorts. Two storm frigates floated by, one with a massive hole in its heavily armored prow, blackened and scorched by what was probably an anti-matter torpedo. An Alversian light cruiser floated by, grav-towing a badly mangled Viper class destroyer. A corvette cruised by sedately, flashing in the reflected sunlight, dwarfed by the other ships.

And that was it. No sign of the two Q ships. No sign of the second Viper, or the other three corvettes. A soft knock.

"Sir? Flotilla Captain Harrow is here."

"Let him in."

A second later, Harrow entered. He looked worn, haggard. The week long convoy run had taken its toll on the man. He didn't bother with a preamble.

"Zillars. We got jumped navigating through the Herculeon Belt, just like last time. Used the asteroids to mask their presence and fool sensors, first thing we know about 'em was a volley of torpedoes. Two of the corvettes gone, just like that. Everything got exciting after that. We got two of their light ships, but it was a hit-and-run on their part. They were sending missiles at us from all over the place the entire time through the belt. We couldn't leave the convoy to chase after them, so we just powered through it. It's running a guantlet, sir."

Mohr pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, his back still turned to the Flotilla Captain.

"Sir...sir, they've got bases in that gods damned field. I know it, you know it, we all know it. Why don't we just-"

"With what assets, Captain? Please, tell me." Clear anger in the Admiral's voice made Harrow flinch. "I've got twenty ships, mixed between two different nations, to cover more light years than I like to think about. Fucking Liberate goes right through that gods damned asteroid field, which is fucking huge, and I do not-singularly do not-have the ships to spare to go playing cat and fucking mouse in the densest gods damned asteroid field in the fucking galaxy!"

Silence.

"Anything else, Captain?"

"No, sir."

"Then get out. I have things to do." Heels clicked together as Harrow stood at attention, then executed an about face and left the room. Mohr finally turned around and walked to his desk, sitting down heavily. He hadn't been exagerating the situation at all, more was the pity-he really was fighting with one hand behind his back.

"Sir?" Mohr sighed as his aide-de-camp walked back in. Expecting bad news, the Admiral was shocked to see barely contained excitement on his aide's face. That could only mean...

"We were approved?"

"Yes, sir!"

"I'll be damned..." Mohr sat up straighter. His request for more ships and men had been approved. That meant they could go on the offensive, take the fight to the Zillars. That meant...

"Send a messenger to Rear Admiral Voss. Tell her to come to my office immediately, our dearest wishes have just come true."

[Alversia]

Rear Admiral Aisling Voss strode confidently through the Setulan fortress, taking the salutes and stands to attention in her strike as she headed for a meeting with her direct, and indeed, only superior on the station, Rear Admiral Mohr. She was somewhat annoyed by the abruptness of the meeting as she had been in the process of debriefing her own Captains on what they had endured during the latest escort run from Alversia to Setulan. It was always the same and Voss cursed the need to have this route in the first place as it slowly bled the Coalition of ships and resources which could be used elsewhere but instead had been rerouted to this single route. She understood that it was necessary of course, for the main shipping lanes could only hold so much traffic and this route was in a convenient spot. it was only the Zillar pirates who continued the attack which were causing the problems.

In that last attack, the Alversians had lost two of their corvettes, which both went down with all hands, while one of the massive Philosopher-Class Freighters, the workhorses of merchant fleet, had been overwhelmed by enemy fire and had also been destroyed. It had a crew of two hundred but fortunately, the convoy had been able to rescue the bulk of the crew via escape pods. The butchers bill for the convoy came to nearly two hundred Alversians, both military and civilian. The Captains had told her the same thing as always, that the Zillars ambushed the fleet as it dropped out of FTL and that the military escorts were unable to pursue due to their need to protect the convoy. Heavy Fighter cover was not available because the asteroid field was outside the range of heavy fighters from Alversia and the deep space fighters from Setulan. It was a frustrating time to be in command of the operation but she knew that it had to be done no matter what the cost. The supplies flowing back and forth between the two allies were facilitating a build up in military strength on the Alversian side and resources on the Setulan side. Those supplies needed to keep coming and going and it was her job to see to it that the Zillars did not break that flow with their infuriatingly quick attacks.

The Alversian stepped into Mohr’s office and stood to attention once she had been given approval to enter. If one looked at her initially, one would not believe that Voss was actually at any rank above Lieutenant. Standing at 6’2’’ and 158 pounds, the Alversian was not the tallest or heaviest built of her species. She was also painfully young for someone in her position, at a modest twenty-eight years old. Her uniform was well fitted to her tall, slim form though and her blonde hair stretched as far as her shoulder blades and ended there. Her eyes were of a startlingly deep blue. She was an attractive woman but it was not her looks which had earned her the position of Rear Admiral.

By now, Mohr would be able to testify that Voss had a sharp mind and an even sharper tongue which she did not hesitate to display whenever she felt that there was a point needed putting across. She had a harsh temper which Captain’s often felt the full force of for failure. She could be understanding and sympathetic but if she was in a bad mood then a ‘hair-dryer’ job beckoned to anyone who dared cross her.

For now although annoyed, she seemed in a relatively peaceful frame of mind. She stood at ease,
“You wanted to see me Rear Admiral?” She asked politely. Even though they shared rank, Mohr had been appointed senior commander of the joint fleet. Not only that, but he was vastly more experienced than her and it was difficult to relax her military training when presented with so much authority.

[Setulan]

As Voss walked into his office, Mohr reflected on just how different the two of them were. Whereas the Alversian was 6'2" and 158 lbs and incredibly young, Morh was...not. 6'7" and weighing in at almost four hundred lbs, the Setulan was average build for his race. Moreover, he was a good fifty years older than his counterpart; Mohr had fought in the Great War, as well as commanding a battle group during the Hundred Hunt, the campaign where the Republic tracked down and executed the hundred greatest war criminals of the Great War. Wings of grey at his temples which highlighted his craggy features showed just how different he really was from the Alversian.

For all that, he had come to respect the other Admiral greatly. While she was incredibly inexperienced, particularly compared to most Setulans in the equivalent positions, she was a fast learner and had a firm grasp of fleet strategy. He was glad to have her on board.

"I did indeed." Beckoning her to the seat in front of his desk, he slid the memorandum towards her.

"My request for additional resources has come to fruition after months of tangling with Convoy Command. We're being reinforced with both Setulan and Alversian warships, plus marines and infiniti. We should have enough to finally take the fight to the bastards hiding in the asteroid belt."

[Alversia]

Voss glanced at Mohr for a moment before sitting down, wondering just why the Rear Admiral had brought her across the station to see him rather than merely getting her on the internal communications system and sending her a message that way. She was still thinking of this as she let her eyes drop down to the sheet which he pushed in front of her. What she saw on that sheet suddenly improved her mood ten times over. So they were finally getting reinforcements from command, a combined force of Setulan and Alversian warships to boost the overstretched and overworked ships they already possessed. She looked down the vessels of the Alversian fleet, delighted to see they were being reinforced by two capital ships, a heavy cruiser and a Battle-carrier. The heavy cruiser would be worth its weight in gold, as its mere presence would be enough to make the Zillars think twice. The battle-carrier, a carrier based on the hull of a battlecruiser, would provide fighter protection all the way from Alversia to Setulan and vice-versa. Of course, it would need to be protected by the escorts in the convoy as well as the merchant vessels but the extra protection it would provide would be worth it.

“Excellent Sir.” Voss said, still scanning the sheet in front of her. The additional companies of Marines and Infiniti would be useful for when they launched their attacks on the Zillar bases on the asteroid, although the longer ranged units would remain a problem for the foreseeable future.
“When is the next convoy due to set off?” She asked, trying to remember the schedule in her head.

[Setulan]

Mohr answered from memory.

"Three days. Eleven merchantmen laden with vehicles, assorted energy fuels, ammunition, medical supplies, other miscelaneous equipment. We'll run them with a stronger than usual escort, including the Harm carrier for this run. If we've got the resources, let's use them. But that's in three days." Pushing a button on his desk, the lights in the room went dim and projectors from all over turned on, turning the center of the room into a huge 3D tactical map of the asteroid belt, which included the convoy route and the locations of all the attacks that had happened so far. Standing up, Mohr beckoned Voss to join him.

"Highlight mines." At his command, a series of purple icons grew in brightness on a large number of the asteroids.

"As you know, the Republic had heavy mining on this belt for some years before the war started, and we had to abandon them for safety's sake. Tomorrow, we'll send out a small battle group incognito to these two rocks." He pointed to them both, and they grew brighter still. "We'll get them back up and running, occupy them, and use them as snooper bases to get a good lock on where the attacks come from. The Asteroids in question are large enough to dock a Storm, so they'll fit anything we need them too. Once we get a lock on the bastard's firing locations, we'll sortie out." Mohr turned to Voss.

"Any thoughts?"

[Alversia]

“Thank you Sir,” Voss nodded in appreciation as she learned the size of the convoy, eleven merchant ships in three days. Now that she had that detail she could recall the composition of the convoy as well. All eleven would be Philosopher-Class freighters although only four would be Alversian owned, the rest in service with the Setulan Merchant fleet. The escort still had yet to be decided though, perhaps a destroyer, a couple of corvettes and a few Q-ships. Nothing significant, it was just another convoy after all, one of dozens which was passing continuously around the Coalition.

The idea of taking offensive action so soon, on the other hand, was a decision that Voss was not quite ready for. They did not even have the troops yet and already the Rear Admiral was planning on where to use them. Voss was more cautious, she preferred to have the units under her direct control before she decided what to do with them, then she could take into account their strength and level of equipment before throwing them into the fire. The plan with the Mines sounded like a good idea, it would provide them with forward bases for eliminating the pirate raids after all, but the speed with which the plan was being suggested, a mere twenty four hours, did not sit well with her.

“Sir, I appreciate the need for fast action but surely a single day is a bit too fast?” She enquired politely, “we need to brief the battle-group, brief the occupying forces, get detailed and up to date scans on the two bases we plan to occupy. We also need to provide reinforcements and detail garrison forces, which ships from our small command you plan to send on this mission and making them unavailable for convoy escort. The idea is a good one Sir, just not on so fast a timetable. After all, most of our reinforcements haven't even arrived yet.” She pointed out.

[Setulan]

Mohr gave Voss an unreadable look.

"The forces we have here are more than sufficient for this phase of the operation. The Republican assets-nineteen ships-have already been released to Liberation, along with the six extra companies of Infiniti. All of them are already prepared for combat operations time..." he looked at his watch. "One hour ago. We do not have time to hesitate. If we want the snooper bases up in time to actually have an effect when the convoy rolls through, they need to be out there ASAP." He walked back to his desk and pushed another button. Against a wall, a list of all the assets assigned to the ASR and their locations were displayed.

"We'll use the new forces as the primary escort runners in three days. That will give us time to meet with the captains and crews and assess their state of readiness. In the meantime, ships that have been part of our ASR for a time now-ships with crews whose capablities we are familair with-can move in to set up our FOBs. Detailing the ships won't be difficult. We know who's good at this kind of thing by now. As for your...other concerns, they are a non-issue. Setting up FOBs on asteroids is SOP in situations like this, and the men are trained on the proper method for doing it. They aren't doig anything particularly taxing. The asteroids were scanned when the convoy last went by, and we have already have the plans for the mine thanks to government requisition of the engineer records. Dallying would be a critical mistake, Admiral. We need to have these bases, and we need them now."

[Alversia]

Voss considered Mohr’s opinion and nodded to show she agreed with them. She agreed with the Admiral on most things but usually there was always a note of caution on her side. It was nothing personal of course, but she preferred to have the full picture before she committed troops into a position where they could die all because she had neglected the wider implications of what she was doing. The forward bases sounded like a good idea though. It would be somewhere to base fighters and ships both as additional convoy protection, which she personally felt there could never be enough of, and for attacks into Zillar territory, trying to choke them off or wear down their numbers without risking the merchant ships. It was a good idea and the sort of offensive actions she had come to expect from the Setulans. She nodded to show her approval.

What forces are you thinking of committing?” She asked, glancing down at the datapad again and wondering what was on it and just how much of his new reinforcements Mohr was prepared to use right away.

[Setulan]

Mohr answered Voss indirectly.

"Show ORBAT." On a blank wall, a list of the forces available to the ASR appeared in varying shades.

Key-
Red=Unavailable for Duty (Damage)
Blue=Available for Duty
Orange=Unavailable for Duty (Misc. Reasons)

Alversian Warships:
[Class: Name]

Heavy Cruiser: APS Tonnant
Battle Carrier: APS Maya
AA Cruiser: APS Iron Banner
Light Cruiser: APS Suskin
Light Cruiser: APS Zhirkov
Destroyer: APS Johl
Destroyer: APS Aintham
Destroyer: APS Vicila
Corvette: CAN-4331
Corvette: CAN-5301
Corvette: CAN-351
Corvette: CAN-3422
Corvette: CSC-2009
Corvette: CSC-1008
Corvette: CSC-1010
Corvette: CAE-4421
Corvette: CAE-513
Corvette: CAE-912
Corvette: CAE-1022
Corvette: CAE-2021


Setulan Warships:
[Class: Name]

Fear Cruiser: SRV Masectam
Harm Carrier: SRV Pyle
Setulan Frigate: SRV Haraung
Setulan Frigate: SRV Invincible
Setulan Frigate: SRV Hammerhead
Storm Frigate: SRV Ocean's Tide
Storm Frigate: SRV Steveson
Storm Frigate: SRV Moratarium
Storm Frigate: SRV Wishful Thinking
Storm Frigate: SRV Hawk
Storm Frigate: SRV Peturabo
Viper Destroyer: SRV Heinlin
Viper Destroyer: SRV Hurricane
Viper Destroyer: SRV Jameson
Viper Destroyer: SRV DeWitte
Viper Destroyer: SRV Rammer
Viper Destroyer: SRV Mosaic
Viper Destroyer: SRV Legacy
Viper Destroyer: SRV Macklok's Revenge

Mohr looked at the wall pensively.

"For now...for now, we'll send Mosiac, Legacy, Steveson and Suskin to this one," he pointed at one of the asteroids, "And Haraung, Wishful Thinking, Macklok's Revenge and Zhirkov to the other. Each one will have a battalion of Infiniti with them to set up the FOB, and we'll link up with the majority of the APN elements of the convoy on the route back."

[Alversia]

Voss looked at the two OrBats assembled by the Setulan Rear Admiral and sighed. The majority of the Alversian force was still not available for combat, out of action due to either the distance between the two nations meaning they had yet to arrive, protecting the new convoy which was being assembled for the return leg to Alversia or because they had been damaged in action, in the case of the Iron Banner and thus could not be deployed. The plan to strike the two asteroids seemed fair enough to her and she realised that the bulk of the fighting on the ground would need to be carried out by the Setulan Infiniti because their Alversian counterparts had yet to arrive. The two strike forces consisted of a light cruiser each then a series of frigates and destroyers from the Setulans, followed by Setulan ground forces. It was a plan that worked for her and she nodded to show her approval.
“Alright Sir. When do the forces move out?” It was clear that Mohr had all this planned already so she would do well just to go with his flow.

[Setulan]

Mohr looked at a display to his left.

"We'll send them out in...nineteen hours. That will give them plenty of time for a good brief, get any questions answered, and get the ships ready to roll. Kill projection, lights up." He walked back around to his desk as the lights came back on and sat down.

"We have the material to go on the offensive, Admiral, and I won't lose this opportunity. We'll clean out that damned asteroid belt, kill the Zillar bastards in it, and secure our supply route. I don't have anything else for you. If you have no questions, dismissed."

***

Just under nineteen hours later, the warships designated by Mohr rallied and powered towards the edge of the Setulan system and outside of the massive FTLi net employed by the Republic to stop a surprise attack of Ternion from vaporizing the home planet. Once outside of FTLi, they turned towards the asteroid belt and entered FTL, bound for their objectives.

[Alversia]

Captain Seamus Cole stood on the bridge of the Zhirkov and wondered just what exactly they were due to face once they reached their destination. He was nervous, of that there was no doubt, but he was also confident. Cole had always believed that the only way the Alversians and Setulans were going to clear a path through the convoy route and rid of Zillars once and for all was to go on the attack, use their superior firepower and training to run through the Zillars. It was not a difficult task surely, complicated only by the size of space and the amount of territory a force would need to cover. He was glad that someone in HQ had finally decided to make the move however. It seemed right to him that the Coalition should go on the offensive at some point rather than continuously hiding behind their defences. An assault was needed and now was as good a time as any.

The Zhirkov, he considered, was a fine ship. Less than two months old, the ship was a Leeds-Class light cruiser, which made her the most powerful ship in the small flotilla that was being sent to target the pirate base. He was looking forward to the attack, a chance for his ship to really show it’s mettle in battle, rather than chasing away small corvettes, shackled to the lumbering giants of the convoy. He looked at the Captain’s monitor, which was perched next to his chair and gave him the ability to look at any console on the ship, and saw that they were not long from exciting transwarp and entering the combat zone.

Exhaling calmly to settle his nerves and grippingly a little more strongly on the chair arm that he would have liked, Cole nodded his head to his first officer,
“Red alert. All hands to battlestations.”

[Setulan]

Haraung, Wishful Thinking, Macklok's Revenge, and Zhirkov dropped out of FTL at the edge of the asteroid belt and powered in, shields maxed, weapons armed, and sensors on passive search as they approached the asteroid with cloaking activated. The Storm-class frigate, Wishful Thinking, led the way; as the most versatile of the light ships in the little group, it was the best on point they had. Zhirkov was directly behind it, and side by side and behind the Alversian cruiser was the Setulan frigate Haraung, loaded with ion cannons and missile launchers, and the destroyer Macklok's Revenge. Cruising into the dense belt, they started probing for signs of life.

Aboard the Wishful Thinking, Captain Martimen looked at the scans he was getting suspiciously.

"That ain't Zillar."

"No, sir, it isn't. We don't recognize the pattern at all."

"Close enough for a visual?"

"Not yet, sir, but the energy signature is all wrong for any known Ternion vessel." The Captain stepped back pensively.

"Well...we know they're hostile if they're on this rock. So no more fucking around. Let's do it."

Ghosting silently forward, the battle group entered what was effectively point blank weapons range for the mighty warships.

"Sir, they have no idea we are here."

"Very well. We've got the ball. Sensors go active, targeting solutions on the three enemy ships the moment we have them, match bearings and fire ordnance!"

In a flash, all the ships sensors went live, and they released a storm of missile, torpedo, and macro cannon fire at the three docked ships.

[Alversia]

“Dropping out of transwarp in 3, 2, 1, we have exited transwarp and returned to real space." The helm officer, a Kitsune, announced from the front of the bridge, his hands running over the buttons which controlled the ship. Cole stood for the last second of the countdown, unable to contain his nerves any longer and feeling that standing was a far better option that just sitting down. He was in the centre of the bridge, with the helm, science and flight consoles directly in front of him while the tactical and operations consoles were behind him. It was a good system he felt, one where he was right in the middle of the action and within easy communications distance of the entire crew. His first officer, an Alversian woman by the name of Karol Hampsey, stood at his side, waiting for the vessel to drop from transwarp and for the action to begin.

As soon as the ship was back in real space, just seconds behind the Wishful Thinking, Cole went to work,
“Shields up!” He commanded, although he knew that would have been the first thing anyone on the ship did. The alarms were still ringing softly in his ear, less urgently now that all crew should be at their stations anyway and a deafening alarm would only serve as a distraction. The Operations Officer was frowning at her console however.

“Sir, I’m detecting three ships on the asteroid. None of them match any known Zillar types.”

“Maybe they’re not Zillars then?” Hampsey suggested helpfully, to which Cole could only nod in agreement.

“Whatever they are, they’re not friendly, so let’s get this over with. Tactical, launch all torpedoes.”

The tactical officer did as ordered and so within seconds, over a hundred torpedoes had been launched from the bows of the Zhirkov, locked on to their target, spinning in space as they sought to line up with their enemy as soon as possible and bring bloody revenge for all the merchants and spacers lost in the convoys.

[Setulan]

Aboard all the ships of the little task group, sensors would scream as they detected huge power surges from the idle ships on the asteroid. It didn't help one nearly enough; cries of "Multiple hits!" rang across the bridge of all the warships as one of the pirate vessels ruptured and died, punched full of gaping holes before its point defenses and shields could be properly activated.

The coallition forces weren't so fortunate with the others, however, and while they were both damaged, neither was destroyed. With weapons and other systems online, the two powered out from behind the asteroid and fired off a huge volley of FTL anti-matter torpedoes and missiles that ripped through space towards the attackers before both made FTL jumps, dissapearing from the system.

"Sir, missiles are on us-"

The Wishful Thinking shook heavily.

"Hit, sir, we just got hit by an anti-matter."

"Damage assesment?"

"Took the hit on the prow, sir, we're ok."

Silently blessing the engineers who had designed the distinctive heavily ridged and armored prow of Setulan warships, Captain Martimen turned to his XO, looking troubled.

"Those were definitely not Zillar."

"No, sir, they weren't. Bringing up an image now..."

The ship that appeared on the viewscreen was as alien as it was terrifying.

Long and low, it was about three hundred meters from engines to what looked like a ram. Shaped somewhat like an arrowhead, the vessel was covered in spikes, ridges, and missile and torpedo batteries, with some kind of larger weapon running down the spine of the ship. And hanging off of it...

A little green, Martimen turned to his XO.

"Are those chained people?"

[Alversia]

The Zhirkov shook as it took a single hit from an FTL missile but it only dropped the shields by 6%. Nothing dramatic that really required Cole to leave his seat. He sat in the bridge as the ship operated around him. Like most warships, there was little need for him to get involved at this stage. His crew were well trained and experienced enough to go to work without his input. He would simply be here to give the commands when he was needed.

“Sir,” The Operations Officer was standing at his console and frowning at his console, “the ships do not match any Zillar type that we know of.”

“On screen.” Cole was staring intently now at the holographic screen, wondering just who it was they were fighting. When the screen flickered into life, he got his first taste of the enemy and their ships made his skin crawl. No thought had been put into the design other than making it as intimidating as possible. It was as terrifying as Alversian ships were elegant. It was not the worst part though.

“Captain…Sir…” someone said behind him before their words died in their mouths.

“Oh my god.” Someone uttered the words softly while Cole crossed himself. He could see the people chained to the hull. He realised that they were living beings and the Orders of the Alversian Military would prevent him from attacking those ships. There had to be some way to rescue them from the hull. They had their shields up so transport was impossible. Well…almost…if he ordered narrow-beam transport then it would be possible to penetrate the shields. But it would mean taking them out one at a time and there had been dozens if not hundreds adorned on each hull. No matter what they tried, they were going to have to resign themselves to losing innocents.

“Operations Officer, begin narrow beam transportation. Beam them directly to sickbay and erect a level 10 forcefield around them. Inform the CMO that we are expecting casualties.” Cole was standing now as he stared across at the wretched beings. He made a promise to himself that he was going to see every member of this species dead.

[Setulan]

The alien ship was clearly battle damaged; vapors and other gasses were trailing from it as it powered towards the coalition ships, pieces falling off as it tried to get closer. For the Alversians trying to teleport the prisoners off of the hull of the ship, they would find themselves badly dissapointed as all their attempts fizzled and died, none able to breach the double-shielded captives.

"Fuck these things, kill it!"

The ships in the battle group thundered into the silent void once more, causing massive damage to the pirate ship. It started to fracture and come apart before their eyes as the huge shells and missiles tore it to pieces, finally detonating in a brief flash of yellow and orange fire. Taking a deep breath, Martimen shook his head.

"That was...sick. Sick, sick fucks. But alright, let's finish the job. Op, do we have our life scans yet?"

"Yes sir, we show signs of alien life on the asteroid. Probably not Zillar, sir."

"Yeah, I'm getting that. Alright, send in the Infiniti. And tell them to be careful. We don't know what's on that rock..."

The little flotilla moved into position around the asteroid as they prepared for the clearing operation. The ships took up a defensive position as a precautionary measure just in case the strange aliens brought friends, but as a rule they were not too worried about that eventuality; the liklihood was that they were just as confused as the Coalition had been, and were still trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

With a perimeter established and sensor nets deployed, drop ships started depart the vessels, heading towards a confrontation on the asteroid...

***

"Sir, I don't like it."

"Neither do I, private, but I don't know what you want me to do about it."

Lieutenant Shultz stopped at a corner and beckoned her squad down as she readied her fiber optic cable to check around a corner. So far the Setulans had been met with no resistance, which had unnerved them greatly. Even though there were more than a thousand of them combing the asteroid mine for hostiles, there hadn't been any contact yet with the unknown aliens, and for every second that there wasn't shooting, Shultz was that much more certain that they were walking right into an ambush.

The gravity hadn't been tampered with, and the lights were all out; each new section of the mine was pitch black, and only after the Infiniti had found the necessary power box could they turn the lights back on. Sections were pushing towards the main control grid, but due to the cautious nature of the 'attack' so far, things were going slowly.

"Alright, looks clea-"

She didn't get a chance to finish the sentence as a strange sound came from down the hall, a muted cryeeah! that was unlike anything she had ever heard before. It was followed by a thud of impact, and then screams as Private Morrison died messily, something eating through his armor and flesh...

"Contact! Open fire!"

She hadn't really had to say it as her entire lead squad opened up, rail guns vs. whatever it was the aliens were using. Though the sounds of their weapons couldn't be heard over the noise of the RAWs, their results were clear as another trooper fell back, screaming in agony until he was silenced. A strange clacking could be heard from down the hall, and the next thing she knew, the ambush was sprung as a huge thing appeared at the corner she had just thought was clear. Instinctively, she gunned it down, clenching down the trigger and sending a stream of rail rounds into the things chest. It fell back, making a strange hiss-clack sound as it died, but there were more behind it, nightmare apparitions at least the size of the Setulans they were fighting and frequently larger.

Backing up slowly, Shultz opened the link to her platoon.

"Fall back! For the love of the gods, fall back now!" She could see in her helmet display that of the thirty two soldiers she had come down the hall with, six were now dead and four more suffering wounds, and she could tell it would only get worse as the largest one of the things by far came thundering down the hall. One of her squad leaders raised his weapon but was suddenly lifted into the air...while the creature was still a good ten feet away. Convulsing, she heard every bone in his body snap at once before his jiggling corpse was tossed down the hall. What she thought were hands suddenly dissapeared as huge serrated pincers appeared just in time to rip one of the other soldiers clean in two, ripping through armor and flesh with equal ease.

Desperate, Shultz grabbed a disc grenade and armed it.

"Fire in the hole!" With a heave, she sent it spinning down the hall and she threw herself to the ground. The disc exploded, ripping off the large monster's legs and killing a few of the things compatriots.

"Advance! Kill them all!" The troopers stormed forwards, weapons blazing, and after a few more brutal seconds the hall was clear. Shaky, Shultz rose and took a good look at the monsters they had been fighting.

It was grotesque. Covered in spikes, hooks, and barbs, the serrated natural armor that covered the entire body of these things reminded the young Lieutenant of nothing so much as shellfish, and she knew she'd never be able to eat crab again. Long, strong arms that ended in...wait. Looking closely, she saw that the huge, spiked pincers were normally held over slimy, four fingered hands. Shuddering, Shultz looked away.

"Screw these things. Let the scientists deal with them. All we need to know is that we can kill them, so let's fucking do it." Fiercly determined, the attack continued...

[Alversia]

APS Zhirkov, Bridge

Cole crossed himself as the enemy ship was destroyed, taking countless Alversians with it as the shields failed, the hull fragmented and finally the whole structure was ripped apart by explosions. He understood why the Setulans had destroyed the ship and he knew in the back of his mind that they had done the right thing by removing the exterior threat before dropping off their contingents of troops. Even so, the images he had seen on his viewscreen were going to stay with him for the rest of his life. He had nothing but a burning sense of anger. Anger at the beings who had done this and he was overwhelmed with the desire to just destroy the whole asteroid, turn the Zhirkov’s turrets on that rock and blow it into the next universe. If the Infiniti were not already onboard then maybe he would have.

Regardless, it was a ground battle now. His own marines were still aboard and would not be deployed unless it was off the utmost urgency. It was up to the Infiniti now to secure that cursed rock.

[Setulan]

The fight to take the asteroid mine took another hour and a half of brutal, close quarters fighting. Once the control center was reactivated, it was a downhill race, but for all that losses were severe; more than fifty of the Infiniti were killed, and more than twice that number were injured, many critically. Medics tried desperately to figure out what exactly the weapons had done to the soldiers and were disgusted and repulsed by what they found.

Angry but determined, the Infiniti started to set up their FOB, bringing over more poweful scanners from the ships and begining to set up other critical equipment for their forward base.

Imri, Setulan System

Mohr and Voss were back in the Setulan's office as the chief medical officer of the battle group spoke to them over holo-link from light years away. The man, a full Colonel, was an experienced doctor and had seen service in a dozen campaigns, but even he looked somewhat repulsed as he explained what had happened.

"Admirals, these things are like nothing we've ever seen before, and their weapons are the same way. From what we've determined, this race is heavily psionic; their weapons dont have triggers per se, but seem to be fired using neural power only. Each of these weapons is, unfortunately, excellent in close quarters. Observe."

The feed changed to the view from a helmet camera, with the Colonel in a small box in the corner. As the two Admirals watched, the Guardsman whose point of view they could see was desperately working on an injured soldier, removing strange crustacean bug things the size of a Setulan's thumb from the horrific wound. The Colonel spoke over the feed.

"As you can see, their weapons fire living ammunition. I suppose from a scientific point of view it's remarkable, but as you can tell, the results are devastating. Each of these little things-" The camera shot changed once more, showing one of the bug-things in a close up-"Is a little machine of destruction. They are fired out of the weapon in a concentrated ball that spreads out on impact, leaving dozens of them all over a soldier's armor. Once they hit, they spit a highly corrosive acid that eats away at armor and flesh, and once they get through the outer layer, they start to devour the target. From the inside."

The camera view changed to the doctor once more.

"We're doing what we can, but once they get inside, it's just as devastating as a rail-gun shot to the chest. They're deadly little fuckers. The other types of injuries we are seeing are psychic-induced. Admirals, these things have unrivaled control over their minds. I've never seen anything like it. Not even Xiscapians are this good. Some of our soldiers had arms or ribs broken by psychic forces. In a few other cases, every single bone in the Guardsman's body was shattered into chalk."

A picture of a dead alien appeared on the screen.

"As you can see, they seem to have evolved into the consumate close-combat fighting machine. Those claws and barbs are incredibly sharp and incredibly dirty; they'll penetrate armor with relative ease, and we're seeing some strange infections from non-fatal wounds that we think we have under control. I'll have more on that shortly and report it to you. Moreover, there biology is full of redundencies-cutting them open, I found multiple hearts, lungs, and other organs I won't even try to guess the purpose of. Their natural armor is unfortunately effective, though they don't seem to use any shielding we can see.

"Any questions for me before I get to work, sir, ma'am?"

[Alversia]

Voss sat in the office of the Office of the Admiral and tried to quell the disgust which rose inside her like a bubbling cauldron. Whatever these things were, they certainly weren’t Zillar and they weren’t a part of the Coalition. Not that she could see anyway. She wondered if they had been hired by the Danaversians to carry out attacks on this sector of Coalition space. It was a mystery that she honestly had no real interest or intention of solving. When she saw the images that the attack had brought back, the human shields strapped to the hulls of their ships, the bug-ammunition which poured from the wounds of Infiniti, feasting on the flesh of the suffering, the way they smashed, clubbed and crushed all in their path, she knew that they were not dealing with a species that could be reasoned with. Her mouth tightened until it was barely a line, her brow furrowing in determination.

She knew it was a horrible thing to think but she was glad that the Alversian reinforcements had not arrived in time. She supposed it was a natural reaction to seeing these things that she was glad that none of her troops had suffered such agony. The Setulans were already working on some way to counter their ammunition and Alversian doctors and scientists were keen to get the beings onto dissection tables to examine them properly and see what made them tick. They were durable alright, but nothing that a solid rifle and enough fire wouldn’t take down.

She glanced across at Mohr, who was clearly as upset by proceedings as she, if not more so, there was only question she wanted to ask however;
“If these things are clearly not Zillar and they’ve been attacking us so often for all this time, how in the hell did no one notice they weren’t Zillar before now?” The question was, in truth, directed more towards Mohr than the Colonel but it was still one she wanted an answer to. If they had known about these things then they could have prepared. They could have been ready. Now they were playing catch up.

[Setulan]

Mohr gave the Alversian a dark look at the question, though she would know the anger wasn't directed at her-it was more at the situation in general.

"I believe there are those more qualified than I to answer that." The doctor-Colonel stepped out of the way respectfully, and another Colonel walked into the frame.

"Admirals, I'm Colonel Nielson, Guard Intelligence. The answer to that comes in several parts. First off, as you know, our ships never actually got visuals on the targets when they engaged the convoys. The standard tactic was to launch missiles and torpedoes from deep within the asteroid belt that were targeted on our ships, and our own ships would return fire in much the same way. Because of the range and the interfering asteroids, we could also never define exactly what kind of class the enemy ships were; they had roughly the same power output as Zillar raiders, so we simply assumed that such was the case. As I'm sure you both know, the Zillars are incredibly in regards to harrasing supply lines. We had no evidence to the contrary, so we just went with prior knowledge."

"Son, I've been looking over the energy signatures from these new warships, and they do not look like any Zillar ships I know." The Colonel nodded.

"True, sir, and that brings me to point number two. As the doctor has said, these beings are highly psionic. My hypothesis at this time-and I'm afraid it's all we have until we can get some solid evidence-is that they used psionic amplifiers built into the ships themselves to garble their signatures, perhaps intentionally replicating Zillars to hide their presence."

Mohr nodded agreement reluctantly.

"Fair enough. But if that's the case, why did we get true signatures on these warships we ambushed?"

"I don't think they had time to activate their amplifiers, sir. We caught them completely by surprise." Mohr grunted acknowledgment and turned to Voss.

"Answer your question, Admiral?"

[Alversia]

“It answers my first question,” Voss nodded although internally she was seething. Amplifiers or not, range or not, attack or not, highly trained Alversian Officers looking over the readings from long range, aggressive sensors should have been able to tell that these were not Zillars. She was going to have to talk with the Captains under her command to see if anyone had actually questioned, even for a moment, that this could be a new species. How many Naval personnel and civilians had been left behind by the convoys in the mistaken belief that they could be cared for by the Zillars? How many had suffered because of the stupidity of their comrades and protectors? Voss was in half a mind to drag everyone of Lieutenant Commander rank or above into her office and give them the bollocking to end all bollockings.

At the back of her mind though, she knew she was being unfair. The crews had done the best they could, over-stretched and over-worked, they had saved a lot more vessels than she could have expected. It was just that seeing how these…things…treated her people, the people she was supposed to protect…was enough to make her see red. She knew she had failed her duties as protector when she had allowed this to happen. She was kicking herself for taking so long to find out what had happened. She was determined to start making up for it now, although she knew the black hole in her heart that had been torn open when she saw those images would never seal itself. Her guilt would never leave her now, no matter how many she killed in revenge.

“My next questions are thus: How easily do they die and how do we find all of them?” She growled. She looked across at Mohr but she couldn’t be sure he was thinking what she was thinking. Total annihilation. It was the only answer to such savagery. Such peoples could not be negotiated with. The only language they understood was violence and so by violence they would be cast down. She would make it so.

"Also, how do we counter their masking technology? Any ideas how to do that?" She asked sharply, perhaps betraying a bit more than she had intended.

[Setulan]

Nielson listened attentively to the Admiral before answering.

"They'll die, ma'am, have no worries about that. They aren't much harder to kill than a Danaversian, though they are rather tougher than normal humans such as us. The problem is going to be keeping them at bay; once they reach close quarters, their claws and psychic abilities are a decisive advantage. Unfortunately, as you know all too well close quarters are damn near unavoidable in our situations. And to answer your other question..." The Setulan gave a short, unpleasant laugh. "We won't have to find them. They'll find us. We're working on the masking technology now. You'll be updated as soon as we have it."


Clak-Tok Overlord Ship

Hruk, Warlord of this Claw, looked down from his throne at his quarellsome minions as they bickered and snarled at each other, posturing and making threatening motions with their claws. In the cleared space before him, one of his ship captains was postrated before him, face down. Hruk was staring at him with fire in his eyes for the news he brought.

"The fleshlings surprised you, you said?"

"Yes, Lord. They came upon us out of nowhere."

"And tell me, Captain, how did you not detect their coming? What were your warriors doing that they did not detect the enemy?"

"Lord, I do not know!" Angry noises from the crowd, especially from the throne as Hruk grew furious.

"Did they see us?"

"I...I do not know..." The Captain was picked up by an invisble force and slammed against the far bulkhead. He cried out in pain as Hruk stood ominously. The Warlord was enormous; almost ten feet tall and broad, covered in a carapace of spiked, barbed armor. His staff of command glowed with power as he channeled his already formidable will through it.

"Tell me!" He roared to the screaming Captain-caste. "Tell me now! Did they see you!"

"Yes, lord! Yes!" Hruk bellowed in rage, and the pained screams of the Captain climaxed as his natural armor was torn from his flesh, exposing weeping, bloody wounds. He threw the Captain aside.

"Warriors! Fresh meat." With hisses of delight, they fell upon the wounded alien and ripped him to shreds, devouring his flesh and spraying blood everywhere. Hruk sat back down upon his throne, suddenly tired.

So, the humans knew about them now. Very well. No more need for silly games of subterfuge then. Now, it was time to show the humans who they truly fought. Sitting upon his throne, the Claw-Lord planned...

[Alversia]

Voss nodded,
“So we need to kill as many of them as possible before we get to close quarters?” She made a mental note to inform all Marines under her command that Setting three on their rifles would be standard for the foreseeable future.

Setting three was the most powerful setting on any Alversian military rifle, introduced for the current generation as a method for defeating the robotic and durable SASM Bioroids that had wrought a path of destruction across the Alversian republic, virtually untouchable to modern weapons, the outnumbered garrisons on planets had wasted their efforts in trying to stop the wall of advancing metal before being overrun. Setting three had been designed into Alversian battlerifle for the purpose of combating these threats specifically although it turned out they worked rather well against any heavily armoured target. Setting three meant that the rifle, instead of taking a small percentage of the energy from the cell and discharging it from the barrel, the entire clip was used in a single, powerful discharge with enough power to punch through most heavy armour or multiple ranks of regularly armoured enemies. Of course, it required the Cell to be replaced immediately before the weapon could fire again but Alversian training took this into account where a Marine could swap them out in seconds. She suspected that this setting and it’s power would be invaluable against the heavily armoured peoples they had encountered.

Once Nielson had finished, the Rear-Admiral looked to Mohr, the same hard expression in her eyes,
“I think we need to increase the escorts on every convoy from now on. Whatever these things are, they’re an unknown element and we can’t guarantee that our current escort force will be big enough to protect the Freighters.” Internally, she was still kicking herself over how many had been lost. All because they had failed to identify the threat.
“The Grand Admiral will need to hear of this.” She sighed, trying to imagine how she would inform the half-breed of events in this corner of the war.

[Setulan]

Mohr pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes tightly for a second. Always more complications. They get resources and find out who their enemy was, only to learn that it is an alien such as they have never seen and one that they don't have any effective countermeasures for.

"Agreed. In fact, that's incredibly convenient. The next convoy leaves from Alversia in five days. When they return, we'll use the opportunity to get more of the Alversian warship detachment to Setulan. Let's hope it's enough against this new enemy."