Kibō-hosh, Roman Invasion
The few warships in orbit were decimated by the onslaught, and the civilian transports turned and fled towards the planet, with landing being the only way out with the Hasichi blocked. A few bravely moved to cover the retreat of the others, acting as shields. The planetary defense platforms sent out all of their fighters, but Kibō-hosh was trading world, not meant to defend itself. The new Roman mechs cut through the defenses like butter, but not a single surrender offer was sent. If they surrendered, the Abh knew they would be cast out from their houses, left to live as dishonored warriors.
Within a few hours, the battle was over, with the entire Abh force having been destroyed, inflicting minimal damage on the Romans. However, there was another ship left. Not in space, but on the ground. The
Burakkusutā, a mercenary destroyer being refueled. It was owned by the so-called "House Fumeiyo", named for their reputation for completely disregarding the Abh honor code. They weren't an official house, and the members weren't even related by blood, but they still liked to call themselves by the name given to them by their clients.
Over time, mercenaries gained a certain reputation, and no mercenary group was more famous than House Fumeiyo. They were led by the best pilot in the empire: a woman named Ciaca. Their destroyer had been modified to include negative mass tanks, which acted much like ballast tanks on submarines, allowing it to fly in-atmosphere. Ciaca was know throughout the empire for her skill at manipulating the negative energy flow to use it as a propulsion and maneuvering device, utilizing a similar technique to the one proposed when the negative mass was being looked into for FTL travel. To accompany this atmospheric flight capability, a larger reactor had been fitted to allow for the antiproton pulse to be directed with a magnetic field, keeping it from hitting the atmosphere itself. As such, the
Burakkusutāhad become somewhat of a legend among the airborne forces of the Abh. While they would do almost anything for money, they had been known to defuse conflicts between houses for no apparent reason.
Looking up at the Roman fleet through the blue-green sky of Kibō-hosh, Ciaca frowned. She knew what would happen if the Romans took Kibō-hosh, Abh trade routes would fall apart, and the homeworld would be cut off from the rest of the empire. As had been demonstrated countless times in Abh history, a capital cannot stand without an empire to support it. And then, there was no telling if the Romans would keep their promise. She counted around two hundred ships that she could distinguish, but assumed that there were more than that. Realizing what could be done, her frown turned into a smile, her eyes narrowing as she turned to face another mercenary.
"See if you can get any ship weapons. We'll be running a blockade."
"How do you expect me to buy weapons with the cash we have on hand?"
She took her pistol out of its holster, throwing it to the other mercenary, who caught it with a surprised look on his face.
"If they refuse to give it to us after you explain the situation, then you can exploit their selfishness by pointing that at their head."
Dishonorable cowards! They run from battle! If this is our enemy, then the gods surely favor us!
Empress Na'brel sat upon her command chair on the bridge of her personal starship, the
Teikkupuraim. Its class was named after it, in honor of the crucial role it played in the first victory of the war at the liberation of Shōrino'ba. "Honor of the Empire" was its meaning, a fitting name for such an impressive warship. Its spinal antiproton cannon fired again, instantly vaporizing the battleship that survived the destroyer swarm.
"Pathetic! Their ships head for the planet!" She yelled, standing up from her chair. "We could destroy all of their settlements in moments, the entire planet if we wished, but I'm feeling merciful today."
She unsheathed her ceremonial katana, pointing it at the planet that was shown on the holographic map of the battlefield before her.
"All vessels, blockade their ports! Don't even let a shuttle get through the atmosphere! We will secure the system and await the arrival of the construction vessels, then ensure that this system will never be wrested from our control! Until we have invasion capability, that planet is worthless to us!"
The fleet obeyed her orders perfectly, the blips on the holographic map moving to blockade the enemy planet. Suddenly, an unexpected shockwave shook the ship. Though it was tossed around furiously, the only damage was caused to the shields by a hailstorm of debris. Luckily, they held hard, the shells of almost solid blue energy absorbing every impact.
"Status report!" Yelled the Empress, picking herself back up after a fall. Her mouth was bleeding, and she got the distinct feeling that her left wrist disagreed with its current angle of rotation. Reaching over to it with her right hand, she snapped it back into place with a horrifically painful crack. Blocking it out, she tried to focus on the situation at hand. Now was not the time to get medical treatment.
"We've lost fifty ships!" Cried her tactical officer in shock "Two detonations, some kind of graviton weapon! The things could have destroyed the planet!"
"That's a sixth of the fleet! Where were they fired from?!"
"The retreating fleet, ma'am!"
"Good, that means we won't need to deal with any more. Thank the gods we went for a blockade, if we stayed clumped together the entire fleet would have gone down. Make sure to get that sensor data sent to intelligence, we might be able to do something with it. For now, continue my orders."
She returned her attention to the holographic map, which flickered from the damage dealt by the graviton weapons. Her ship continued to float towards the planet, ready to activate its antigravity systems to stop it from falling into the atmosphere. However, she noticed a House Kyūsei bombardment ship coming up behind her, at ramming speed. House Kyūsei was one of the twenty-six royal houses from the formation of the empire, and killing the Empress and her heirs would give them the throne. However, House Kyūsei had also always been a close ally of the Na'brel House, and had worked together on many of the major colonization missions.
Before she could send a message to the ship, their own message was intercepted by the
Teikkupuraim.
"Adam Agata will defeat the Abh! All hail the New Roman Empire!"
The Empress stood there, staring at the map in horror. Abh, loyal Abh had defected to her enemy. Abh who had seen railgun rounds pierce the habitation orbitals at Shōrino'ba, Abh who had seen the wreckage at Midway. At that moment, she realized what the enemy had done. They had done the unthinkable, the one thing even Draka refused to do. The ultimate violation, the ultimate evil. Through the power that only the gods hold, they had coerced the very minds of her people.
Even in the middle of such a terrible atrocity, even in the moments before her inevitable death, there was one thing she gained from it. Now, she could finally curse her enemy with truth, for she knew their name.
"Adam Agata, it will be a Na'brel that ends your life!"
The moment she finished her sentence, an explosion rocked the ship. She knew that it was the antimatter fuel tanks in the aft section exploding with the engines, killing half of her crew so quickly that they couldn't even scream. An unexpected
kachunk came with an equally unexpected lurch, and the sound of a drive core charging filled her ears. Immediately, she knew what it was: an emergency bridge eject. It was only there in the event of an asteroid collision, to protect her life until her daughter reached a suitable age to claim the throne. That had come and passed, but only a few weeks ago. Removing the system would need a refit of the entire bow section, and she had planned to remove it in this very system.
No, not this, not now!
"NO! OVERRIDE! OVERRIDE!"
The computer ignored her pleas, refusing to allow her an honorable death. Instead, the explosion pushed the bridge further from the ship, causing her to lose her balance and hit the wall behind her due to the acceleration. The bridge tumbled in space, and as she slowly slipped into unconsciousness, she could hear the computer reporting that it was jumping to Shōrino'ba, but even in her current state she knew that was untrue. After being pushed by the explosion, there was no telling where it would end up.
The rest of the fleet couldn't see the bridge jumping away, all they saw was the giant explosion that anhilliated the entire flagship, leaving only a few scattered shards of metal floating in the void, heading to harmlessly fall into the planet's atmosphere. A message was sent out to the entire fleet from the other
Teikkupuraim-Class Warship in the fleet, the House Kyūsei command ship.
"The Empress will be avenged. She was correct in saying that the planet is worthless to us, therefore, we will destroy it! All vessels, open fire on the planet at once! Destroy its crust!"
The fleet obeyed his orders, immediately opening fire on every part of the planet. They wiped out ancient mountains in moments, cutting new canyons with sweeps of their antiproton beams. What had taken nature millions of years to complete, the fleet accomplished in seconds, ravaging the world below in what most species would call an atrocity.
The Abh called it a military tactic.
Imperial Warship Tomerarenai-fū, Captain's Quarters
As Penelope summoned an image of another fairy, Lasis stared in amazement. It looked almost exactly like a hologram, but there was certainly no projector. It was as if she had somehow summoned the image herself, such a power was something only heard of in myths and the ancient records. There was evidence of a species that used some kind of non-technological energy in every aspect of their lives, but the records of them were like mere footnotes, as if they had been left behind in the sands of time.
"Incredible..." She whispered quietly, admiring the accuracy of the image. Refocusing, she spoke aloud. "No, I've never met anyone but Abh. This is the first time one of us has even heard the voice of an alien. Err, no offense meant if that word has any negative connotations to you. As for your other questions, this is a military ship because, well, every Abh House owns some. This one is my house's flagship, the Tomerarenai-fū. It was built to combat the aliens that we're at war with right now, it is a shameful fact that we do not know their name. Right now we're in orbit of Shōrino'ba, our homeworld, waiting for a response to a request I made for extra resources. It also appears that you haven't heard of our honor code. It contains dozens of requirements for all Abh, and many more specifically for nobles. One of those requirements for a noble is taking care of a traveler who has come to you, no matter the harm it may place on you. Many of our legends speak of nobles who starved in order to feed travelers that sought shelter with them, earning them eternal life in the honorable service of the goddess Urania. An example of one of the requirements for all Abh is the requirements that you bow when meeting someone, like I did when I met you."
It took a moment for Lasis to realize what Penelope's comment on iron meant. If her species had some kind of aversion to iron, then it brings up extreme issues with her staying on the ship. While not
everything was made of it, there was something made of iron in every room, and most doors were made of iron alloys. Then there was the food.
"Wait, 'I don't know how anyone can stand having that much iron in their body'? Iron has been used since the dawn of our civilization, the doors of this very ship are mad of an iron alloy! In fact, iron is one of the essential elements that our body needs for survival! We should be able to make adjustments for you, but this is amazing! Our scientists thought that iron was necessary for any form of life, but here you are, a being with the same basic form as us, with similar pointed ears, saying you can't handle it for some reason! This means that life can exist anywhere! You seem to know far more than we do, tell me, how many sentient species do you know of? How many others traverse the stars with you?"
In all of her excitement, Lasis suddenly became aware of the discomfort that Penelope seemed to be in. She was sweating, odd due to the relative cool of the room. It indicated that her homeworld might be extremely cold, cold enough to be frozen over. That is, if it had any water. Cooling the ship would require extra power and quicker usage of coolant, and would of course cause discomfort for the Abh, but honor demanded that it be done if Lasis was correct.
"Are you okay? You're sweating, is it too hot in here?"
Outpose 12, Common Deck of the Honōnoransu
The aliens stepped through the airlock to find a high gravity environment, about three times Earth's gravity. Three people stood before them; a young man, a young woman, and a significantly older man. All of them whore white and gold uniforms, with various different symbols on circular patches attached to their right shoulders. The young woman had dark blue hair, trimmed into a bob cut. She had pointed ears that extended away from her head horizontally (just like all the others), though they seemed to be exceptionally long.
The young man had slightly shorter hair, and it was a much lighter shade of blue (which was apparently the only color their hair came in). His shoulder patch contained more symbols than anyone else's, which probably indicated a higher rank. His ears were the smallest of the three, extending about three inches from his head. The old man had extremely light blue hair, almost so light that the blue had faded from it. Unlike the other two, which had oddly smooth faces, his face was covered in wrinkles. His ears were angled back, almost flush with his head, a trait which none of the other two had. He was also holding a small computer, probably for recording the event.
All three bowed respectfully to the alien diplomats, and with no apparent expectation of a returned gesture, the young woman spoke first (despite the fact that she seemed to be of a lower rank than the young man).
"I am Imperial Princess Laidach Na'brel of the Eight World's Empire, my military rank is Deca-Commander and you are welcome to address me by it if you wish. The young man on my left is Baron Lamsar Socal, his military rank is Captain. The man to my right is Ensign Collus Danroc, he'll be recording this event for posterity. Now, if you do not object, I wish to discuss your reason for being here as well as your reasoning for not opening fire on us. We expected any contact we made to be hostile, and yet here you are, speaking to us."