What Nikolas had said to him weeks ago wandered in his head for long after everything had begun to settle down. Retirement with his family. What a peaceful fate for an honorable man. Probably the best, or the least bad, of what could happen after the horrible five-year war. Alexander himself did imagine himself one day to be like that, but knowing the state of the Ascendancy right now, stepping down from power is just like abandoning ship, but you do not actually leave the ship. On the one hand you have idiots in the Ascendancy High Command, all the way from the top, fidgeting with their own golden chicken nugget thinking how to make themselves look cool and powerful. On the other hand, you have private companies trying to exert control over the government because of this. That itself is another political sewage water to dig his hands into. And on the other other hand, you have terrorists and rebels - gullible fools attracted to lofty visionaries singing anthems of an egalitarian utopia. Unlike the government or the companies though, the rebels are mere worms in comparison. Easy to squash, and easy to use.
Beep Beep Beep
"Who is that?" Alexander heard the doorbell to his room.
"It's Carina." A female voice went through the intercom. "I brought some new report...and lunch. May I come in?"
"Sure." Alexander pressed the remote on his desk to open the door. Behind it was a woman Alexander entrusted in the helm of his newest weapon - Captain Carina Sansonetti. With her were a tablet held between her arm and torso, and two trays of spliced BBQ beef and mashed potatoes on both hands.
"Uh...should I?" After taking off her shoes, she noticed the pair of lion slippers on the shoe-rack nearby.
"Oh, if you like to. Room's clean anyway."
"Alright thanks" She ignored the slippers anyway and proceeded into the room only with socks. "Is that yours?" Carina was curious though. It was her first time being in a private quarter of her superior and old-time officer academy friend, and that slippers looked a little off for the kind of guy he is.
"What? Oh that." The Grand Admiral chuckled a bit. "Yeah that's mine. It's a gift from someone I know, but I never use it. It looks kinda silly in my opinion."
Yeah, she could figure he would say that.
"Wait..." Alexander looked at the tray Carina put before him. "This again? Haven't we had MRE for like a month now?"
"Yeah, but we're in a bit of a pinch in food supplies right now." Carina replied, also handing Alexander the tablet. "It appears it's not because of annual price increase. Agriculture produce price still continues to rise among the general market. So we'll have to deal with it for now."
"That's curious." Alexander said. "Do we know anything about what happened?"
"No clue. The media has been silent about it."
Prices are rising and the government is staying silent about it?
"Looks like we'll have to take matters into our own hands as well." He shrugged with a sigh. "After our current mission. For now, it's mashed potatoes for another month I guess."
Carina nodded with an amused smile, as she sat down next to another table (with his permission) to enjoy her own lunch, the same meal Alexander and the rest of the ship crew have. By enjoy, she meant tolerate. She'd want to get back to her favorite meal of lemon spiced chicken, but for everybody else, she'd be motivated to having to deal with endless mashed potatoes. If they're gonna suffer, it's equal sufferings. Even the Grand Admiral deals with the same crap a Private has to deal with.
"Say Carina. Do you have any plans next month?" Alexander suddenly asked.
"Hmm...no. Just gonna be here like usual. What's up?"
"Oh, I'm just saying I'm going to take a break after this two missions."
"Oh?" Carina was surprised. Alexander hadn't taken a single day of leave for like what...4 years? "For how long?"
Alexander turned down his mouth. "A month probably. I'm gonna have Faro or Kotaro over to run the fleet in the meantime."
Carina had worked with them before. They are capable men, so she had no problem being under either's command. And while there were still insurgencies to squelch, it wasn't as urgent as it used to be. Alexander did say afterward that the task of handling rebellious activities would temporarily be handed over to someone else, but didn't say who. "So where are you going specifically?"
"Home." Alexander simply replied. If anything, this is the most predictable part about him.
Carina gave a laugh. "Well, tell them I say hi."
The Rat's Trap
Time was not wasted as soon as his lunch was over. Alexander made his way not to the bridge but the meeting room, where a few ship Captains and Commanders were also filing in for what was probably too commonplace for a war-hardened army. They knew what was coming
"Thank you everyone for being timely as always." Alexander briefly thanked his subordinates before swiftly moving into the topic at hand. "Just today, we received another raid report by the contingent group Deilos, this time on the convoy belonging to the Gravia's Military Company."
By the aptly named Deilos, Alexander referred to the remnants of the Ascendancy's army who managed to survive Proxima but refused to face the consequences for their actions. And by that, they were mostly from the 11th Fleet, previously under the command of Grand Admiral Berkeley - the man whose legacies are still being that painful gum ulcer on his tongue. After having pretty much all their fleet assets destroyed during the Rau've war, the Ascendancy's security was in a very poor state by the end of the war, with riots from both the xenophobic pro-Ascendancy and non-xenophobic anti-Ascendancy pretty much going kerbatzoes on each other, the defection of these cowards flew under many's radar. Even though there were much bigger threats to the Ascendancy's strength and security to be dealt with, like the Windsor's Autonomous Trading Fleet or the victim in question, the Gravia's Military Company, these guys are at least benign for now, while the Deilos were hungering terrorists to be crushed.
Alexander knew the state of their fleet right now. It had been a long decline for them, with Alexander slowly picking off their ships one by one with every engagement. They had little means to rebuild their ships; little resources, low manpower, little infrastructure. Any damage caused on them would stick, so no need for a decisive and costly battle. The more choices a wounded animal is allowed to take, the more predictable it becomes.
And here it is.
"The Gravias fended them off, but not without casualties for the convoy ships." Said Carina, who was sitting the closest to Alexander. Her glasses were on the table, her lime-colored eyes not glancing at the reports, having clearly been well-versed before she came into the room. "Funny thing is, no casualties for either side's military ships."
"They're plunderers. That's what they do." Another voice echoed - the Commander of the heavy cruiser Seagal. "It's just that we've only limited their attack pattern to resourceful areas, which can include anywhere in the Zenith outer rim." To which all attack reports originate there, just as expected.
"Really? I think that is the most interesting part of the report." Alexander replied, adopting a more casual tone for discussions. "Since they have their loot, without any casualties whatsoever, they are very likely to be emboldened by this and continue their attack."
"Given they were under the influence of Berkeley, I am not surprised." Carina added. "So where do you think they'll attack next, Alexander?"
"I am almost certain they will attack the Eden system, specifically the planet Maiden Reach." Alexander began. "Their fleet's targets seem randomly picked, but their vector's patterns are indicative of their behavior. Fightings that are too short and successful are followed up with a second or even third attack, either within hours or a few days following the first."
"That's actually true." Another ship Commander spoke up. "So by that logic, and their preferred choices so far, the next targets shall be Maiden Reach, Eden's Sanctuary of the Eden system, or the Agri-World of Plenty or of Prosperity."
"That's right." Alexander nodded. "Agri-Worlds aren't likely to be their concerns. They've already attacked another target for rations already recently. Eden's Sanctuary is a rainforest planet. It's more tourist site than actual resources. That leaves us with only Maiden Reach."
"It's a chance for them to earn some quick credits. They might use it to compensate for their ship losses in the last few months. Hell they could even be cooperating with poachers as well if God knows." The Seagal commander spoke. "It's still a fairly busy area, despite being Frontier-Worlds. I suggest a lockdown for the next few days there."
"Yes Harald. The Seagal, along with the Bolt, Novak, Williams and Jordan will work with local ships to instigate a blockade around Southern Eden until further notice." The moment ship names were announced, everyone in the room began standing in attention. "The remaining ships stand ready at these designated locations with stealth up. I will personally take charge of this ambush. Is everything clear?"
"Yes sir!"
The commanders and captains immediately dispersed. They already had their orders, and their military prowess was enough that they need not any more hand-holdings. And for the Deilos? He could only hope they value themselves high enough to shoot themselves, because they are to be burned alive for their crime.
"Saxon, this is a bad idea. That wyvern is gonna break him into pieces."
The governor's only response was adjusting his helmet.
"It's not going to stop him. He will have to figure that for himself."
But to send him towards an incredibly hostile creature to humans? No matter how determined or brave they are, no one in the right mind would send a 14-year-old kid to that monster. Saxon was the one sending him to Leon for personal protection. He wanted safety for him, and yet...
"Kids his age are aimless. They play all day and they study all night. And then there is Alexander." The governor looked at the wyvern. "I want to know if something is true."
Meanwhile, Alexander was ready to go in and confront the wyvern.
"Here sir." He handed his Staff Sergeant all his weapons and his ID.
"All of them? What if it attacks you?"
"I'll be dead either ways. Don't worry, just chalk it up as an idiotic daredevil's death if you want to."
At least that would not tarnish his reputation.
"Wait-" He didn't have a chance to finish what he said as Alexander had already walked in. Now, it is a staredown between a man and a beast.
Noticing one particular human suddenly getting too close to its territory, the wyvern's eyes turned red in response. A furious growl echoed, with its bared teeth in full display. Alexander had the instinctive reasons to run, but he was determined. He had set course on his goal, as he took his steps forward towards the wyvern. And another. And another.
"Stay away from me human!" Finally pushed to the point, the wyvern spoke, its voice harrowingly booming.
Alexander wasn't flinched. He opened his palms wide, as he took yet another step.
"I shall not."
His eyes did not once look away from the wyvern's, still glowing red in anger. To the wyvern, this is an unacceptable act of trespassing. By a human nonetheless. The one species that ruined the lives of its ancestors. And here this one subject thought it had the audacity to try and ruin its lives as well. But his arms continued to be wide open. The tool he requested wasn't even in sight. It was just a slim man in two layers of fabric. He looked so defenseless, yet every look in his eyes was an indication that the wyvern was the one defenseless. One small step at a time, Alexander made it to its six toes, each claws on them large, long and sharp enough to pierce through an Ascendancy transport vehicle. He placed his hand on each of them, one at a time.
"Are you trying to deceive me into trusting you?" The wyvern bent its neck down to Alexander's level, its voice much deeper than before.
"I don't need to deceive." Alexander replied almost immediately. "You're wounded."
"That's none of your business." It snarled again.
"It's not a business. I am just helping."
"I can do it by myself!"
"But it hurts for you." Alexander now approached the head itself, feeling its bone-numbing freezing breathe down his spine. He removed his right, revealing his bare hand to the wyvern, along with the dark line that sliced through his palm. "There. I have nothing. I also have nothing to ask."
Confusion sowed. Everything just felt surreal to the young wyvern. Everything told it to just snap this human in half, but his touch was so gentle. It wasn't vengeful, nor deceptive. His imitation of the wyvern's usual bonding gesture was also strange, well beyond being amusing. What was he even thinking at this moment in time? SWISH!
...
SPLAT!
...
"Are you alright?!"
...
"You have to let him go with us..."
...
"You say I have the intellect beyond others. And yet you say I am to sit here helpless?" The wyvern let out a sudden puff of ice, blowing over the human before it. Carefully, it swirled its wings around, letting them lay on the ground with its wounds exposed. The eyes were still red, but his breathings had slowed down much. Alexander had earned its trusts.
"What is this even?"
As Alexander made his way up there and using his special tool to accelerate wyvern healings on the wounded area, both men were just as astonished as anybody present. The wyvern was literally putting its guards down just for him. The Dragon's Brigade commander wasn't sure if this is something he would ever see again in his life.
"What's your name?" The wyvern's voice suddenly echoed in his head.
"Hmm, I'm sorry?" Alexander was a bit caught back by the Mind Magic use.
"You humans like to use names. What's yours?"
"Alexander." He replied with his thoughts. "What's yours?"
"...I don't have one."
"Oh right, right." He forgot how this young wyvern was already out there by itself. After having finished patching the wing, Alexander, instead of climbing down from there, climbed up onto the wyvern's head instead.
"Athenia. That's what I'll call you."
"Hmph..." It snorted. "I thank you human...no, Alexander. Is every human like this, or are you just one of the good ones?"
"Hmm..." Alexander hummed both in thoughts and outside. "I would like to say they are not, but I'm sure there's something you also feel confused about your own species as well."
"How the hell do you know about it? Your Mind Magic can't be this strong."
"I don't have it. I just know." His thoughts whispered. "How about we set an example?"
"Is it even going to change anything?"
"I don't know, but I will try anyway." Alexander crouched and brush through its fins. "Will you, Athenia?"
This funny little human. Weak, feeble and powerless, yet here speaking about changing the world. To a system deeply rooted in centuries of bloody history. He wished to change that, as someone who probably had never seen a wyvern in his life. And yet Athenia let him. It felt...empowering. It wasn't merely reasons, the empty husk of words and letters often conjured up for a convenient cause. Perhaps they were more similar than it was led to believe. The difference is that he is more courageous. And he'd probably succeed.
That, Athenia shall see for itself.
WOOSH!
Its wings, fully healed, opened to its full majestic beauty. Its eyes turned white. It stood up, carrying its companion to tower over everyone else. "Thank you for trusting me." Alexander said. "Be the flow, Athenia. Let's go!"
It took off.
Carrying the young ambitious Earthling.
Standing firm and proud.
With courage and ambition.
Ambition that would take him to the end of the galaxy.
There was something about him that made us feel we could do more than we ever imagine...
Draken'vina, Fehtzaal's Military Base, 2456 AD
"So this is the situation." Various holographic photographs were laid out by the Lieutenant before the Staff Sergeant and the rest of his squad. On his left side's were something coming straight out of a disaster movie. Entire towns frozen in ice, even the tall crops of some poor farmer living there were at the time were frozen it its place, the icicles sideways. On his right was multiple angled view on a huge creature, toweringly soaring through the sky with its gleaming silver blue wings. Its entire body was plastered with uncanny silver fins, with occasional spikes along its spine, ending at its diamond-tipped tail. Unlike a dragon, this beast only had two legs.
"An ice wyvern has been terrorizing towns around the east of the Vanguard Mountain Range. It has destroyed many houses and halted the production of crops of these towns. Luckily, the local militias of the area have been able to evacuate the civilians to safety, so human casualties are minimal. Nevertheless, we are trying to keep the creature dormant, but it is behaving very aggressive and continuously lashing out against intervening soldiers."
The Lieutenant, with an insignia belonging to his clan family, let out a deep sigh.
"So you are tasked with putting it down."
It wasn't at all desirable, but it had to be done. This was supposed to be a paradise planet, or at least the areas where humans live are, and this wyvern is threatening it.
"Lieutenant? How old is the wyvern?"
A voice suddenly came from the ranks. It's that nerdy kid again.
"Corporal Kherol. I have not given the authority to speak." The Staff Sergeant barked, visibly annoyed. He had been fed up with this 4-eyed kid for quite a while, ever since he transferred to this unit. He had been asking so many questions and so freely that it is making people think he couldn't control his men.
"Permission granted." The Lieutenant overruled the Staff Sergeant instead, curious to see the kid noticing this detail. "It's relatively young. If I'm going to give an analogy, it's probably around your age in dragon's lifespan."
Wyverns do grow quite fast, so under untrained eyes they might not be able to differentiate between an adult wyvern and a young one.
"Hmm, thank you Lieutenant."
"You are to deploy your squad quickly. We have cornered the dragon now and we do not want it to lash out anytime soon and ruin all of our work." Strangely enough, the wyvern wasn't in a cave or something that could encapsulate it like Alexander initially thought. It was rather in front of a massive vertical mountainside. Soldiers donning both the militia and the Ascendancy's military uniform were swarming the increasingly agitated wyvern, as its standing ground was getting smaller and smaller. But occasionally, Alexander could see the wyvern covering its mouth with the upper-side of its right wing. Why such a thing? That is unnatural posture for a wyvern, and why would it do such a thing that could leave it vulnerable to attacks from the soldiers.
Once he was on the ground with his fire squad, however, it became clear to him what was going on. There was a huge gaping slash wound on its right wing. That explained why the wyvern felt the need to cover its mouth by it: it was actually licking it. As Alexander approached the other men who were keeping the wyvern in place, he could have a closer look at the wound itself. It looked messy, as if something coarse had inflicted upon it. It probably meant that this was not inflicted by a sword by a human being. It also explained why the creature is behaving so aggressively. Well, they behave aggressively on a daily basis against humans anyway, but wyverns don't tend to lash out in his previous sorties against them.
"I didn't expect you here sir. 3rd Platoon reporting in."
The Lieutenant saluted two men Alexander recognized. The first one he had met a couple of times but never spoke to. The commander of the Dragon's Brigade, Leon. Alexander already heard of him through stories, but he personally didn't find those stories particularly entertaining, as they seemed to be packed with so much aggrandizing that it does not sound realistic, but he overall found him to be a decent guy. The other man he knew particularly well though.
"Hey Alexander." He also recognized the young Corporal just as soon, giving him a handshake even when Alexander was still standing in formation. "I was supposed to come to base to visit, but me and Leon also came across this. Sorry that we have to meet right here."
Governor Saxon of Earth. He was the one taking in Alexander after he left his parents and got him into the military in the first place. He also arranged him to Draken'vina as a trainee soldier, and hopefully be a part of the Dragon's Brigade as well, or at least having a post here, where things were relatively peaceful. It might sound cruel to be sending a kid into the military, but this is the Ascendancy they're dealing with.
"That's ok. We can't help it." Alexander replied, his eyes more interested in Leon and the wyvern. "Can I speak to Mr Leon?"
"Sure, I guess." Saxon called the man in question over, followed by the Lieutenant.
"Is there something you want to say to me young man?" Leon politely asked as he gave Alexander a handshake as well.
"Yes sir. I want to know if the wyvern was attacked. I saw a big wound on its right wing"
"Well, I don't know for sure, but all I know it's already there when I had my men deal with it. Good observation." He nodded.
"It may be aggravated by the wound, causing it to rampage. Is there any ways we can heal its wounds?"
"We have special tools to seal it at least, but good luck calming it down. You can't reason with wyverns."
Can they? That was exactly what he was taught, as well as any books he could lay his hands on about this place. Intelligent beings but lonely and never hunt in packs. But they hated humans. To their very guts. They came to the planet and chased them out of their habitats, so in turn they hunt humans. They don't even speak like humans even though they can. Reasonings to them are weaknesses, natural instincts triumphs everything. Smart for a species, but primitive compared to human beings. That is the reason why they are not meant to be reasoned with. You just force them to be dormant or kill them. But is it truly so? It was all but a trend, a trend unbroken, but it is a trend.
Alexander observed the wyvern carefully. Its right wing twitching slightly, still threatening to soar from the humans grasp at any moment. Its breathings surprisingly slow, while its eyes trailed the soldiers back and forth.
"Please get it for me, Mr Leon. I'll calm it down."
Leon was obviously not convinced. "Are you crazy? It's gonna kill you. It won't listen to humans."
"Yes it can." Alexander pointed firmly. "To me."
"What will we do then if it lashes out again? If it kills someone here because of it." He sternly doubled down. "It's not something I will take from a 14-year old."
"I will take full responsibility if that's the case. Prosecute me, court martial me or however you handle things here, like adults to adults."
Alexander also wouldn't back down. His eyes trailed over to the governor, who were also a bit surprised that he would raise his voice to the Dragon's Brigade commander. Luckily, this is Leon he's talking to, not some self-endorsing vain captain of the Ascendancy.
"Let him be." Saxon intervened.
"What? Are you serious Saxon?"
"If there's any danger, get back immediately, ok?"
"Charging in from the sun, that's..." Actually he hadn't thought about that kind of tactics before. Probably because he had been trained more for those standardized testings that are available at UA rather than actual practical situations, so that might actually work...probably...
"I like it. I'm gonna give it a go, if I can." He gave Carol the thumbs-up. Depending on the starting position, he might be able to try it. "And...is that a real crime?" Acion scratched his head over Carol's 'ripping the tags from the mattress' thingy. Now that he thought about it, the tag was always on the mattress whenever he saw one. Damn, now it's gonna stick around in his head. He needed to know the truth.
Then comes the topic of combat effectiveness that Acion brought up. Carol seemed to be pretty reserved when she went on about fighting dirty. To be fair, it was something usually frowned upon by some people. His family frowned upon it. Hell, Acion, to some degree, frowned on playing dirty. It was...unhero like, let's put it. But that was before that one camping trip he had. It really hit him that once he was on the ground being punched, all pretenses of playing fair went out the windows.
"I usually try not to play dirty, but I did have to break it once. It was a life or dea-" He realized mid-sentence that may be awkward for him to talk about. "Nevermind what I said. But if playing dirty is inevitable...I don't see what's wrong with it."
He was about to go into his own combat effectiveness, but another someone showed up before the villain team. He didn't recognize her from yesterday, but he did see a strange name on his team. "Hey. I'm Acion Nakamiji. It's nice to have you joining today. And no, you're not late, we're just hanging around waiting for Mako-sensei to start us. We haven't really grouped up anyway." Acion said as he peered over to Dulga, Yukari and Kouji, who were just doing their own warm-ups.
And just as he said that, Mako began the exercise. The rules for him was just getting the gold briefcases and bringing it back to the starting point. Seems pretty much like 'Capturing the Flag' to him, at least on the villain's side. But he didn't know where the briefcases were to be exact. If they are all inside the buildings, then that's gonna change a lot of what tactic he would use.
They weren't given any time at all for strategy meetings though, and Dulga seemed to prefer having the head start instead. Well, that sucked. Acion generally wanted to be a bit more careful, but since Dulga's gone, he'd probably have to try to work around that, or just let her do her own thing. It's a bit annoying planning around your ally who wasn't there.
"Well, I don't think divide and conquer is necessarily a bad thing. We do have the number advantage for now. But then again, I don't know what your quirk does, Emi-san, since you weren't here yesterday." Acion turned to Emiho. "I feel like we should familiarize our quirks first before doing anything else. For me, it's pretty simple." He creeked his six wings for everybody else to see, most of them already witnessed its grand sizes already. Hopefully after this they could finalize some sort of battleplan, even if it might just be simple guidelines to how to approach this exercise, and quickly.
"I'm perfectly fine operating on my own or with someone else. If anyone feels like they need assistance, I am willing to serve. But for now..." Regardless of plannings, he was going to do this anyway. He wanted information, and if he was optimistic, he could probably snatch a briefcase back to base before the heroes could react in time. "I am going to have a quick glance at the buildings. I'll let you guys know if something's interesting."
After Dulga, Acion now let his wings wide as he made another vertical takeoff like during the demonstration the day before. The lift of all his wings lifted him up high into the sky, before falling down just enough distance to build himself some speed, gliding towards the center buildings. He made a quick dance of weaving around the buildings as he surveyed the buildings from the outside. They were either not directly visible there or the glasses weren't transparent for him to see.
Nevivsky Kremlin, OGLE-2005-BGL-390Lb, Headquarter of Ascendancy’s 1st Fleet
Windsor had kept his promise, and there has been no trouble among the planet’s civilian population since the incident of a year and five months ago. However, new potential problems were about to arrive when an encrypted communications message was sent to Alexander’s personal office: Dragon’s Fleet has been dissolved. Converge with Admiral Laguna on the Dragon’s Headquarters to enforce the division of the Fleet and their troops among your forces. You can have the personnel while the Ms. Laguna have the vessels themselves.
The intent was clear: Emmanuel intended to saddle Kherol’s fleet with over-idealistic, over-honorable ‘liabilities’ while keeping the cutting-edge technology and ships for his ‘pet’ Admiral. Transparent, but at this stage, there was little that can be done without resorting to overt treason.
That doesn’t look like disbanding to him
What it really appeared was the President was just taking the ships for himself and handed the ‘troublemakers’, to him at least, to someone who could handle them. If the core units of the Brigade remained intact, then it would just remain almost exactly the same as before. Ships could be replaced, rebuilt and even improved. In fact, now that the war had just ended, with the Ascendancy ravaged by war, and a crippled military forces having to cooperate with local militias to keep the peace, while also fending off potential treaty violators, building new ships were among his priorities. Having a bit more ships in the queue were not that big of an issue for him.
But would he be able to rein them in anyway?
That’s a question he was more interested in than finding it problematic. They are great soldiers, well-trained and extremely deadly. He’d be more than willing to entrust a weak flank in a battle to them and they wouldn’t simply stop the enemy but annihilate them before the other flanks could finish the job. He’d take them over any other units in the Admiralty, but the problem was more of their attitude. He remembered the time they refused to chase down the remnant of a battered fleet after a major battle only because they thought it was so-called ‘dishonorable’ to cut down fleeing enemies. That remnant contained dreadnoughts and supercarriers. Needless to say they were like the gum ulcers on his tongue for a few months or so.
’Ayyy…’ Alexander sighed a little.
If worst comes to shove, he could just assign them the appropriate roles. The dirty work could be left to someone else. Hey, shifting responsibilities were already too common around the Admiralty anyway.
”Grand Admiral Kherol to Captain Sansonetti.” Alexander pressed the intercom button on his desk. ”Inform Kotaro I am leaving for Draken’vina, Vell Station HQ of the Dragon’s Brigade Fleet, under the President’s order. Set course and leave when ready.” Vell Station, Dragon’s Brigade Fleet Headquarters in orbit of Draken’vina
Nikolas was in his office on the station looking over the request forms of transferring his fleet by the President’s orders. He had always known this was going to come to pass, it was obvious as day, after the war the Ascendancy had been decimated. If anything, this was basically to make Laguna’s fleet stronger by the overwhelming firepower the Black Ops Ships held. However, the one guy he respected in the military’s admiralty was also coming for his soldiers.
’Ugh… Knew this day would come but it makes it a bit ironic that it would happen now of all things. Nikolas sighed and rubbed his forehead.
If anything, his soldiers were extremely loyal to him and wouldn’t want to be separated from him. It was like the Battle of Proxima was a set up, felt a bit stupid to believe they could win that battle. And least of all the Child soldier underneath his command was captured by the enemy, which was his goddaughter. It frustrated him a bit but his frustrations showed a weakness that not many people saw in him.
”Alexander and Laguna. As usual, the ‘dog’ of the President would be coming here. Pleasantries are better to greet them with instead of the opposite.” Nikolas looked up and pushed a button, it was to Vienna. ”Vienna Stoutfield, can you please welcome the Admirals with open arms, when they arrive at our station. Thank you for serving me well.” It was pleasantries required for Ms. Laguna and Alexander when they arrive at the station.
Admiral Laguna had brought her entire fleet, not trusting Nikolas to give her his ships freely. With her were the last few Dreadnoughts of the Ascendancy Military, as well as a few Carriers of her own. Accompanying those were an array of cruisers and frigates, corvettes and supply ships. A sight meant to overawe, but also conveyed the increasing paranoia of the Ascendancy.
Nevertheless, the Admiral had consented to go to the station with her security detail, with instructions to her fleet to begin an engagement at the slightest sign of trouble.
Originally Altair from Re: Creators, now Grand Admiral Laguna
If Nikolas attempted some form of treachery, she’ll be there to deal with him. In fact, considering the fact that Kherol was there, she might even try and start an incident forcing the two to fight each other… No. That would backfire. She had common sense.
The final guest of the station arrived in the exact opposite manner.
Originally the XII-91 carrier design by Passion Blue
The only capital ship to show up was the Manfred von Richthofen. The first of the class, its sheer size were a monstrosity compared to the other ships among Laguna’s fleet. It couldn’t simply be called a carrier. It couldn’t simply be called a dreadnought either. It is a heavy supercarrier. Constructions were repeatedly delayed during the war by the Admiralty, but by the time most of them were wiped out as the war progressed, funds were quickly diverted to this project. Flight hangars were numerous, but the amount of guns sticking out of the hull was even more terrifying, challenging even the toughest of heavy cruisers in any fleet to embark on a hunting trip against it, but at the cost of its shield protection systems. As if its improved dreadnought armor scheme needed them anyway.
And finally on the tail fin displayed 6 circles in a circular chain with the seventh ring on top of it all. A proud insignia of the 1st Fleet.
Following along the ship were two light cruisers and five auxiliary transport ships. They were well-prepared for their newest members of the 1st Fleet. And a lot of them today. Docking right close by to Laguna’s dreadnoughts, once the authorization was to be cleared, a small ship made its way from the flight hangar of the supercarrier to the Vell Station.
Emerged from the shuttle gate were three men, two in their dark red signature coat of the Ascendancy’s 1st Fleet, flanking around the man in his usual pitch black battle officer uniform, his eyes unnervingly unseen from the outside as he greeted the Brigade’s soldier assigned to him.
He knew the Brigade wouldn’t lash out. They knew their code of conduct, and Alexander knew they knew. The Richthofen’s appearance was not meant for them.
Coming across Laguna along with her own tight security team, the Grand Admiral gave a quick yet seemingly more casual salute, along with a sly smile
”Good day, Ms Laguna. It has been a while since we last met.”
The Grand Admiral nodded, knowing who to envy and fear at the same time.
Vienna approached Ms. Laguna and the Grand Admiral Alexander, with a gentle smile to the two in question. If anything, she knows what is going to happen since she is the leader of the Honor guard that protects Nikolas. She was wearing her usual honor guard uniform, which had an obvious logo of such on her shoulder. If anything, the fact she wasn’t equipped with the usual honor guard’s sword showed she means no harm to either Admiral.
”Ah, I must say welcome to Vell Station, Admirals. Ms. Laguna and Grand Admiral Alexander, Nikolas are waiting for you in his office. He told me to greet you with open arms and escort you to his office. Since this station is a bit confusing to non-brigade officers. However, I think this is your third visit to the station Alexander.”
Vienna had a more familiarity to Alexander since he did visit the Vell Station a few times before the war. However, she definitely had an accent of someone who was born on a far flung station in the Ascendancy’s borders. In terms of everything, she looked at the Brigade soldier, which was assigned to Alexander and basically showed she’ll take them the rest of the way. The Vell Station was machine greatly oiled by their commanding officer, Nikolas. The Brigade Soldier, bowed to Vienna and gracely saluted Alexander and Ms. Laguna and went on their way to the task they had to do. She turned around from where the two were and walked in the opposite direction towards The Dragon’s Office on the station.
With a sigh, Laguna followed the frontier-born soldier to the Dragon’s office, all the while finding this business too easy. Did he install some sort of electronic traps inside his vessels? If so, she’d have to contact Conner about it. In fact, maybe she should bring up Conner in Nikolas’ presence - With Alexander around, she can get away with such a provocation, and if ‘The Dragon’ acted violently… More advantage to her.
Smiling tightly at the thought, she walked beside Alexander, not wishing to present herself as his inferior…
”Indeed I do, Ms Stoutfield.” Alexander nodded, having known her before, pointing his thumb over to the porcelain sculpture of Nikolas. ”Though I don’t remember that one little statue over there, do I? Unless my memory serves me incorrectly~”
It was actually there at the time, but it wasn’t Alexander misremembering. His eyes glanced over beneath his glasses to the seemingly quiet Laguna walking right beside him trying to keep pace.
”Anyway, I hope everything is proceeding well for your Brigade. It’s a rough time to be in the army right now.”
Vienna expected as much as who would be talking since Alexander is one of those men who would rather chat instead of assumptions. She had known that much of Alexander during Nikolas chats with the Grand Admiral. If anything, Vienna wasn’t surprised at all. The only thing that surprised her was the fact Ms. Laguna wasn’t speaking, she did hear her sigh. However, she looked over to the porcelain sculpture Alexander pointed out.
”If anything, Alexander, it has been slightly altered since the last time you came over, to hold his sword in a stance fitting our Engaged Sword Techniques.”
She had always been enjoying informing others of the changes to their station. Even though, this point of time it's a bit of a sobering experience since no one from the Dragon’s Brigade will be here anymore. On the subject of what Alexander brought up, she sighed a bit. It’s only because if it wasn’t for Nikolas’ she would never have been a part of the military and done her own thing on the Station her family owns.
”It is, proceeding according to Nikolas R. Zahrin’s Orders. It is obvious why you two have come, Alexander and Ms. Laguna. At least you are both showing a common courtesy to Nikolas’ legacy as a Commanding Officer.”
She always was grateful to Nikolas R. Zahrin’s family in the Brigade. The expectations to become a part of the Brigade were not that high since Nikolas saw much potential in every single person he had come to know in the Brigade. But it was time for that past to become something more even though the nostalgia of being a part of something that felt good and truly bound by the rules of engagement. Nikolas never cut corners, in anything he did for the Ascendancy’s Military. It didn’t take long, which felt like not that long of a trip through the Station, they finally reached the Dragon’s Office.
”Here you are. Nikolas R. Zahrin is waiting inside the office. I will be standing outside. I do hope you have a wonderful chat with Nikolas.”
Vienna turned around and bowed to Alexander Kherol and Ms. Laguna and smiled at them. With an understanding of everything happening to the Brigade, it is Nikolas R. Zahrin’s pride and joy. Even though it is a bit prideful of him having statues of himself all over the station. Everyone in the Brigade sees their commanding officer more as a surrogate father figure.
Grand Admiral Laguna entered the office alongside Kherol, feeling more isolated than ever. It was clear that the Dragon’s Fleet and associated brigades loved their commander, and she felt some pity, some empathy, for that. But it mattered not - Emmanuel’s plan needed to be implemented and Nikolas was a danger to it.
Confronting the man in question, all Grand Admiral Laguna can blurt out was, “I am glad you are accepting your ‘retirement’ with the same honor you show in battle. I and Mr. Hadley will take good care of your ships.”
Nikolas looked up from his desk, when the two Grand Admirals walked into his office. When Ms. Laguna sat down first then Alexander. While he raised his eyebrow when Ms. Laguna blurted out specifically what she wanted to say. It was blatantly obvious what she was trying to do, get a rise out of him. It was nothing out of the ordinary since he does hate the way the Gravia Military Company conducts themselves but he learned his mistakes from that meeting all those years ago.
”Aha, so that’s what your plan is? Trying to get a rise out of me just by the mentioning of Conner’s last name. Laguna should be trying with more substance over the past. But I suppose you are here to help with Conner’s ego. Since he did say something about it. He would get me back for what I did. However, Orders are orders and the Fleet is yours, there’s no tricks. But, I am honor bound to do what I must to help the Ascendancy. It means, there’s no tricks in those ships you humbly saw on your way here next to the Station in their docks.”
Alexander heard Laguna being non-specific with her statement, while also triggering Nikolas with the mentioning of him. Ah, that guy. What was that company supposed to do even? If anything, it just convinced Alexander that the Ascendancy didn’t need more of private and well-armed corporations. And for Laguna and Mr Hadley...worth-noticing.
”For your personnel, I will ensure they fit into our culture. As you may know, we are not...shall we say...the same as yours in terms of codes of conduct.” Alexander rolled his eyes over his outburst. ”But I also know you live and die by your code of honor. I am most curious by such discipline. So if I may ask, I would like to have a read through it. Maybe we can learn something from it.”
Nikolas didn’t forget Alexander since he was also in the room. He was grateful that all the Grand Admiral’s Alexander was different. The Dragon smiled graciously towards Alexander.
”Alexander, I must say it’s good to see you in these troubling times. I did see your Flagship when it jumped into the system. It’s impressive nature would make anyone going against it tremble in fear. Also, yeah I do know of the differences between our two fleets. The culture of mine is more of a family, while yours is different.” In terms of Nikolas he had always been pretty defensive to his family no matter what. He was a chill fellow as long as you try not to get a rise out of him. ”Yes, I do live and die by my code of honor. The discipline I trained in my brigade is the reason why the Rau’ve feared it. But you know of it very well. I’ve written the very conduct of my brigade. Now where was it?”
Nikolas opened his bottom drawer of his desk and brought out a monstrosity of the code of conduct for the Brigade. He sat it down on the desk, which kinda looked a bit heavy in the traditional sense. The Code of Conduct looked more like a novel than the regulation codes in the military. Alexander is a super genius, since his tactics were great.
”I must say, sorry if that hurt your ears when the book landed on my desk. But it's a monster. The Title of the Book is the Honor Code of the Dragon. Even though it was much easier to teach them the code over forcing them to read it. Because some of them didn’t want to read something so massive. In terms of everything, I do hope you enjoy the source material, Alexander. Good luck, since I am basically retired as Laguna said...”
Nikolas does have a sense of humor. Even though, his sense of humor is a bit much even for some people. Including the Super Genius, Alexander.
He did expect a long read, since their discipline were something else. But to see this much...reminded him of his officer days where he would cram for nights on perfecting the art of war. Ascendancy tactics were sometimes repetitive, and that would be the worst place to be so.
”Oh boy…” Alexander moved his glasses down away from his eyes instinctively for a very brief second, as he stared at the sheer amount of information he expected to read for the Brigade’s integration. They’re meticulously written, very detailedly elaborated upon, with examples and non-examples all covered. And in a book no less. At this day and age, he thought it would be on a flash-drive or something. But the one thing he’d complain about would be that: couldn’t this be written any shorter? Technical writing is a real thing in the computing world, if Alexander didn’t have to find himself in the military.
Grand Admiral Laguna rolled her eyes, saying, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you’re running your Fleet as your private fiefdom, Nikolas. Don’t forget whose coffers paid for your ‘private culture’.”
A frown as she said, “Nevertheless, I can appreciate the sense of togetherness and community you fostered in your fleet.”
Appreciate the danger it presented to the Ascendancy and the President-for-Life’s goals.
A quip, “You know, elections for Congress are still half-free. Why don’t you spend your retirement trying to wrangle a seat in the Ascendancy House of Representatives?”
Do take it seriously - You’d be better off there than planning treason.
Nikolas noticed Alexander’s eyes, for the very brief second they were shown. He did laugh at Alexander’s words of oh boy. However, Grand Admiral Laguna was still trying to get a rise out of him but in a different way. If anything, Laguna is on the side of the president definitely with how she tried to say Conner’s last name. Not much of a surprise there to him, he always knew Conner had more friends in the Admiralty than just Berkeley. Even though it would have been better if Conner wasn’t involved at all in anything since his private military company was also a danger, but it fully supported the President.
”I know who paid for my culture, it’s the government who wanted me to defend themselves from the unknown. I did my duty to the letter, Ms. Laguna. I was as privileged as the other Core Worlders but I didn’t let the core world’s biases get in my way. It's the reason why the Dragon’s Brigade Fleet was feared in the galaxy. But the good times must end. Like all things in this galaxy.”
He knew from the get go that Laguna only wanted one thing in the whole world was to end him with anything she could get on him. However, he smiled when she said togetherness and community. However, the quip to become a politician just made him laugh.
”I do appreciate the men and women under my command. I’d have to honestly decline becoming a representative in the government. It would be better for me to retire and live on Draken’vina, my homeworld with my family. Over dealing with the day to day politics of the Ascendancy. I promise to you, Laguna. On my code of honor I won’t be planning any treason against the Ascendancy. Even if you don’t feel like you can trust me, you have Alexander here to tell you that the word of mine is much greater than anything. When I bound myself to my honor. Hope that helps your weary soul, Grand Admiral Laguna and you can tell the President for Life and Conner the good news. That they don’t have to worry about Nikolas Richard Zahrin, the Dragon leaving his homeworld.”
Nikolas had a smile towards Laguna. He put his own honor on the line, like he always would during this exchange to show he has truly learned his lesson with what he almost did with Conner. Conner fears Nikolas and that’s much is obvious. He looked directly at Alexander to see what Alexander would say in addition to what he said. Because Alexander knows Nikolas too well to back down on his honor, what is honor if anything but nothing if he breaks his honor oath.
It was both a little amusing to find himself being the third wheel in a quarrel like this. But seeing it unfold like this, it was kinda obvious how both sides like apples and oranges and they’re not accepting the other one’s.
”Well, we all know people lie all the time. They say they swear by the oath, but they would turn their backs at the moment you don’t expect them to. That applies to Nikolas, me and even the President himself...” Alexander simply shrugged as he was asked about Nikolas’s credibility, his tongue growing slow and sly as he mentioned President Emmanuel. ”At the end of the day, it’s how much leap of faith you’re willing to take.”
”With the fleet number and the personal security personnels you’re willing to take out there, I don’t think even my words would count.” He said. ”But you have done this before right, Ms Laguna? The battle for Masser Primus. I’m sure you have enough leap of faith in you.”
Admiral Laguna gave a thin smile, “Yes, I have enough faith in myself to continue advancing the Ascendancy’s future…”
”Perfect. Now we can proceed with settling in.” Alexander smiled as he declared. ”Orders are already out to my auxiliary transport ships to dock. Your men and women can begin the transfer to our carrier.”
The male Grand Admiral stood up straight, with a firm hand extended to Nikolas, the other holding the book he received.
”Hope you have a good retirement with your family.”
When would that day come?
Nikolas shook Alexander’s hand and smiled towards him. If anything, this last exchange felt right to him. Even though he planned this for a long time coming, he always was wanting to retire from the military anyways.
”I thank you Alexander, for this last exchange between us. It was always an honor to fight along with you in these wars we had. Even though my last war would always be this one that the Ascendancy lost terribly. I had everything pre-planned even before this day actually came, I do know you will take care of my soldiers better than anyone. As well, Ms. Laguna hopefully you will enjoy the Black Ops Ships in my fleet to be added to yours. I do know you will remove all designations of my fleet after they had a refit to fully be integrated into yours, it’s not rocket science.” He was content and played her little game to show he was truly grateful to the military for what he wanted. If anything, it’s better this way.
”A little word of wisdom. Hopefully you will never come face to face with a true Dragon. Like I have. Since they are truly terrifying creatures. But majestic at the same time. It is the reason why I absolutely told my soldiers to avoid the Kaisoken, they reminded me of the Dragons on my homeworld.” He was a bit odd to say that, but then his eyes turned into Dragon’s Eyes because of his Biotech Upgrade. But they returned to normal afterwards since he was always a bit nostalgic for certain things.
- The Mind of a Genius (Exceptional Intelligence x5): An unexplainable inhuman intelligence, Alexander is capable of understanding layers of complexities that can take years to fully understand in a few explanations, and quickly coming up with solutions that can go beyond the grasp of even a smart person. - Leadership is Two-way (Exceptional Leadership): There is a difference between just dying for the Ascendancy and willing to die for the Ascendancy - Never Interrupt Your Blundering Enemy (Exceptional Generalship x3): In war, he knows exactly what to do when there is both something and nothing to do. - House of Cards (Exceptional Politics): It takes a lot to keep himself within the Ascendancy High Command without being ousted. It's not just sheer intelligence and tactical ability - Eagle's Eyes (Exceptional Attention to Detail): Even the smallest detail that occur during the most chaotic time can be caught under his thick glasses. - Be Like Water (Exceptional Martial Arts (Hand to Hand)): Physical exercise and mental intelligence goes hand in hand. It clears the mind, shifts your focuses, and sometimes can bring out subconscious ideas that you never think of. Alexander has always followed these principles during his early military training, and after the war he proceeds to expand his scope of cultural understanding by studying other different martial arts as well.
"Those who are willing to start violence often aren't willing to pay its price."
Full name: Alexander Kherol
Age: 34
Race: Human
Affiliation:
The Ascendancy of Man - Grand Admiral Appearance:
Alexander is a fairly thin individual in the modern standard, but genetics are more to blame for this, as in actuality the Grand Admiral is very active physically, despite having reached the point where he needn't do so. For strangers and enemies, Alexander gives off an unsettling aura of intention and intimidation. Every time he shows up, they never know what his intentions are. Maybe he's looking to cooperate. Maybe he's trying to offer surrender terms. Or he is intent on wiping everybody off of existence. It's hard to know, because he always come with the high ground. For allies, everyone has noted that he gives off a very powerful sense of possibility, that they can achieve so much more under him. Alexander tends to speak more casually in private with those he knows their loyalty is secured.
His white hair is neatly cut and well-maintained. He is commonly seen sporting his black Grand Admiral uniform - to contrast with the usual dirt green uniform of the Ascendancy's officers - a symbol of authority and order that he quickly adopted as part of his public facade. He also wears glasses, but unlike everybody else, he chooses a very thick and non-transparent glasses. He begins wearing it one day, and very few actually remembered how his eyes really look. He never took it off in public, and never really explained why. Rumors said that he has feminine eyes so he has to wear them so people would take him seriously.
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 162lbs
Important Item: A small picture (See sidestory chapter 3)
A pair of glasses.
Plasma pistol (self-defense purposes)
Biography Alexander was born on Earth, one of the metropolitan planet in the Core World of the Ascendancy of Man, and poetically the origin of humanity itself. Rumors, whether true or false, persisted in his city that the young boy was able to compete in local chess competitions for high school students by the age of two. Nine years later, that boy beat a chess grandmaster for the first time. By the time he was seven, he attended high school and as he reached the age of thirteen, he was able to think critically and conduct certain analysis at university and post-graduate level.
His reputation spread far, but through a miraculous yet brilliant twist of fate, Alexander did not perish under the Ascendancy's early policies of using young children. Before the Ascendancy could forcibly kidnap this standout young genius, one certain nobleman, governor and politician of his planet, someone whom Alexander would look upon with respect and gratitude later in his career, offered him the opportunity to enroll in the Grand Military Academy when he reached the age of twelve. Yes, voluntarily. There, young Alexander would be given special protection from all the overly-ambitious Ascendancy's leaderships who were looking to use prodigious children as tools of their own.
There, he received over-the-top quality education that only served to further his inhuman ability. By the time he was eighteen, the normal eligible age, he went into officer training. He became a ship's midshipman aboard a Cruiser by the age of twenty, and then a captain of a dreadnought by the age of twenty-one. Things go uphill very quickly for Alexander. From the command of one individual ship, he rose to the rank of Commodore, commanding a dreadnought and two cruisers, then to Admiral, taking charge of a fleet of seven ships, consisting of cruisers, battleships and fleet carriers, with his personal capital ship. His finest hour was during the first years of the Rau've War. Alexander was the mastermind behind Operation Conundra, in which was a successful lightning military campaign against the Rau've important military targets. It is considered by most, if not all analyst, to be a spectacular tactical victory, as it disabled over half of the Rau've's space fleet in a course of a few weeks. However, some analyst considers it a strategic defeat, but most Ascendancy's military commanders see otherwise, as subsequent military actions were the prime reason for their defeats later on. Nevertheless, Alexander was promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral by the age of thirty for the successful strike.
That was the peak of his career, however. As the war progressed on, Alexander could see the Ascendancy's armies slowly stagnating in its track and entrenched. Foreseeing a long-term war, the newly promoted Grand Admiral proposes a more defensive plans, intending to play the game with them, the game that he excels at. However, the high command rejected this proposal, as they found it too passive. As a result, the scale of war gradually tipped to the Rau've, as things began to go downhill for the Ascendancy. With Alexander's effort, however, he manages to lure the Rau've forces into a decisive battle at Proxima. There, he was determined to crush the Rau've's forces with his superior ships. His initial plans for the battle was to entrench the Rau've in the defense line while destroying the backbone of the Rau've heavy ships and guns with field artilleries and carriers before steamrolling the smaller pawns with the dreadnoughts. This, however, was countered by the Ascendancy's high command, through lack of understanding of rules of warfare. This was the last straw for the Grand Admiral. He knew the Ascendancy was doomed, but didn't want his men to die in vain, so he counter-proposed to let his ships remain in reserve, ready to back up the troops at the front once the defense line was breached. His proposal was granted, but he did not keep his promise.
Before he knew it, the war was over. A peace treaty was signed, with the Ascendancy's army from an intergalactic force to almost complete destruction, with only the 1st Fleet completely intact and ready for combat. This was the wake-up call for Alexander, as he redoubled his effort to expand his military forces. He spent his post-war year maintaining order around the Ascendancy as well as speeding up several of his pet-peeve project for his army. Character Traits The Mind of a Genius: An unexplainable inhuman intelligence, layers of complexities drilled through in just a few explanations. Allows very fast learning of knowledge and creative innovations of solutions. Sheeps Led by a Lion: There is a difference between just dying for the Ascendancy and willing to die for the Ascendancy. His followers gain resistance to external coercion, whether it be magically or diplomatically, and high morale in combat. Veni Vidi Vici!: An exceptional military commander by all regards, both on land, at sea or in space, feared and respected by many, both friends and foes. His victories usually come swift, brutal yet conclusive. Everyone would dread the moment the red seven-ringed flag are coming for them. Has potentials to demoralize his immediate enemies. Megas Alexandros: He has big dreams, and once he wills them, no mortal could convince him otherwise. Increases resistance to all Mind Magic, greatly requires effort to be convinced diplomatically and is impossible to be subconsciously coerced through magical means. Physically Active: Physical exercise and mental intelligence goes hand in hand. It clears the mind, shifts your focuses, and sometimes can bring out subconscious ideas that you never think of. Alexander has always followed these principles during his early military training, allowing him great physicality, more resistance against fatigue or diseases, and can sufficiently sustain himself in physical combat if necessary.
Theme Song
Recommended read before the crew meet humanity's greatest but also troubled mind.
August 2374
Planet Wasa, Rau’ve’s Space Dock #3
The war had begun more than three months ago, but the Rau’ve had already been decimated. Their poorly prepared defense line would be a source of ridicule among historians for generations to come. The Ascendancy’s space fleet sliced through their lines like a knife through butter. Their once mighty two carrier space fleets now two asteroid belts of metal. The third one, having managed to escape the carnage of Alexander’s lightning campaign, retreated to the orbit of Planet Wasa, one of their Space Dock deep in their home territory, initially for refit of armaments and space planes in order to counter the superior Ascendancy’s armor and firepower. Too bad for them that they would never be able to accomplish their original objective. For by the time the Rau’ve finally got together the tools to upgrade their fleet, the Ascendancy would have been at their very door steps, with bombs all over their vegetable heads. And six months later, the Ascendancy’s flag would be flying high at their capital.
Upon the news of the Rau’ve’s second line of defense being breached, the Rau’ve’s third carrier group had instead dug into their docks and made it their fortress. With the remnants of the broken second defense line rendezvousing at the once prosperous industrial planet, they were determined to halt the rapid advances of the Ascendancy’s Navy. But if only if they knew who they were up against…
“4 Dreadnoughts, 6 Cruisers, 15 Frigates, 12 Corvettes and most importantly 3 Carriers.” Said the grey-haired admiral, wearing the standard dark grey Ascendancy’s officer’s uniform, sitting at the far end of the table. His eyes hidden behind the thickness of the glasses, adding another layer to the already present aura of mystery and chilliness. “That’s our price for the taking.”
“But they are dug into their asteroid belt, with multiple stationary guns on the asteroids. And even though we have the same number of carriers, their number of ships in total are nearly twice our numbers” Replied one other commanding officer at the table, this one sitting right next to Alexander, his embellishment missing a star comparing to Alexander’s. His voice lowered. His eyes twitched as he kept his gaze on the battlefield being replicated in the hologram right in front of him on the table.
“They fight as one we’ll kill them as one.”
“They’ve chained up now, it’d be hard to break.”
“Not with the right way.” Said Alexander, eyeing over the battle overview. “The Rau’ve's position implies they are trying to counter our lightning strike strategy. We'll present them something else at the last minute, and we shall watch them fall apart...”
And that was exactly what he did. And it all began with his explanation.
“The Rau’ve have chosen the battlefield in a way that can maximize the strength of their numbers. Our forces will approach them just like we usually do. Like a nailboard…” “Lan, you will be commanding this front.” The next day, what was materialized on that holographic table was right there, on the space just a few thousand kilometers wide area of space, with the asteroid belt flooded with those heavy hitting anti-armor railguns. And that would be the thing the Ascendancy’s Navy would have to break in order to win this battle. Along with the lines of guns are capital ships, frigates and corvettes taking their cover behind these meteorites, ready to meet their adversary. And right behind those things would be the reserve fleet. And behind that the carriers. Those juicy target that Alexander was longing for.
The Rau’ve was certainly surprised by the speed of the Ascendancy’s Navy, but they were not daunted. Morales were high, and they were determined. But their pride had blinded them. For the Ascendancy approached the battle line just like how Alexander had told them, but with a single twist. “But this time, our dreadnoughts will not be at the front anymore. Instead, the breakthrough will be made by the heavy cruisers.” And indeed, they were. Right at the front, ready to charge into the thick. And they went under the blind’s eyes. ”Before the charge, however, I want you two brothers, Nawal and Rar, to destroy their air group.” And so the battle began. The Ascendancy’s carriers immediately sent out hundreds of their star fighters, accompanied by other ships in the fleet, though with lesser numbers. And in response, the Rau’ve also dispatched their entire fighter groups to the ensuing battle. The air fight opened the curtain for one of the most biggest space dogfight the universe has ever seen. In a narrow area of empty space, nearly five hundred fighters had slammed themselves against each other, greeting each other with bullets and metals, clashing with the others on a personal level. And those to come out victorious, could change the course of the entire battle. ”If we win this air fight, we win the entire battle. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is. Even if you suffer massive casualties you must gain air supremacy.” All of Alexander’s hope for this battle came in the form of a few hundred fighters. He normally despised relying on one single thing in battle, but this was the only time he had to put faith in it. On the grittiness, the well-trained pilot of the Ascendancy’s Air Force. It was chaos. A birthplace of aces, but a cemetery for hundreds of young men and women. A clash of steel, of skills, of wits, but not without blood from either sides. But the ensuing 15 minutes battle had emerged the Ascendancy as the victorious side. Air supremacy had been achieved. ”While the air battle concludes itself, our breakthrough forces will surge forward. The Rau’ve will definitely respond with a hail of fire from their asteroid guns.” As the cruisers moved, the guns lit themselves up. Hell ensued for the heavy cruisers. Of course because the cruisers were not as heavily armored as the dreadnoughts, they were not as well protected as them. They would reach the belt faster than the dreadnoughts would, but in doing so, some began to burn... ”Do not relent. Once your cruisers reach the asteroid belt, you will have time to repair, in which you must, because the Rau’ve will throw ahead their reserve, to push us back.” And exactly that, they surged forward, frigates, corvettes and dreadnoughts descended upon them, taking the Ascendancy’s cruisers right on their faces. The Ascendancy’s advances had been halted. ”At this point, the Rau’ve will think their plan worked.” The cruisers slowly backed, as the Rau’ve poured down fire upon their invaders. Some unfortunate were left burning… ”Give ground, and let them believe.” Soon, the grounds the Ascendancy had gained were handed back to the Rau’ve, as fightings intensified. Guns blazed, star fighters answered. The entire asteroid belt was lit up by a spectacular lightshow of fire and bullet. No ships were willing to relent, as they continuously hailed down fire upon anything that moves, until they could no longer
At this point, the Rau’ve had the reason to be proud. They held their ground, they pushed the Ascendancy’s back. They thought they may have ended the myth of Ascendancy’s invincibility. And they were led to believe, as their lines between the reserve and the front began to merge ”It is then that we will mobilize our two dreadnoughts in reserves, and our remaining bombers, destroy the entire belt.” It was too late for them.
When they had realized their mistake, they had nowhere to go. Any form of retreat would mean giving the Ascendancy the means to break their line completely. But staying would mean no different. The Ascendancy do not intend to play a fair game here. They only have one objective, and that is to obliterate the Rau’ve’s naval fleet completely.
From above and below, Ascendancy’s dreadnoughts approached, like the hammer and anvil. Their huge battle cannons turned, strangling the Rau’ve with every angle. Bombers from the carriers accompanied them in the violent purge with their shield-deactivation bombs. Once they had locked on their targets, it was when chaos descended. It was the same for the killed and the survivors. When they opened their eyes, it was a scene right from the depths of hell.
The Ascendancy blew up the entire asteroid belts. They buried the Rau’ve alive. ”The rest of the fleet will charge forward, surround the belt, and cut down any stragglers. There will be no mercy.” The winner had been decided in the first fifteen minutes of the fight. And the tide turned in just less than 5 minutes.
In those 5 minutes, the Rau’ve’s forces went from solid confidence and discipline into a complete riot. Those who were courageous enough to remain in the fight were cut down without mercy, their corpse dissolved in the flames of burning ships. If one still valued their very lives, then he must strip away their weapons, armor and gave themselves in voluntarily, for they may find the Ascendancy’s prison having a higher chance of survival. Those foolish enough to run away from battle, the Ascendancy spared no moments of hesitation. The lighter ships charged forward, unleashing barrages of rocket and main battery fire, disintegrating the Rau’ve’s armors in seconds. Screams echoed, as panic settled into the ranks of the Rau’ve, until there were no more organization, no more resemblance of a military forces, just a massive hulk of crowd running fearfully for their lives. And then, there were no more… “It was the greatest battlefield victory of the age. Their entire fleet was destroyed or captured. Not one single ship made it back to their home for any form of resistance. And above all, over fifty thousand Rau’ves, including five high-ranking generals and many officers had been declared killed in action. Our road to the capital had been opened.
Today is a victory greater than any victories the Ascendancy could have achieved throughout its one hundred years of rules. A victory that would solidify me as the greatest Ascendancy’s military commander of all time.
"Alright, Alex. How about you, can you solve this equation?"
The teacher said, as he gently handed his child the pen to the holographic board. A child of merely eight years of age. Among a crowd of thirty kids, all one head taller than him. The kid was reluctant to be called so suddenly, but at the gentleness and politeness of his professor, he found himself unable to deny his offer.
The child slid out of his chair, walked to the board and slowly, his hand holding the pen to which he would write with. As he neared, he simply stood still, silent. He inhaled, and exhaled. Again, and again.
And he wrote.
"This is an equation that if you follow the conventional way of solving, it will resolve in a massive power number, which is technically very difficult to solve. But if you prove and apply this inequation to our main problem, it is possible to see that the left hand side of the verse can be reduced to this, which is always larger or equal to the right side of the verse, which is zero. So the equation only occurs when a specific condition is met in the left side of the verse. This greatly reduced the complexity of our problem, and it's quite straightforward from there."
The boy put down his pen, as he finished the last of his solution, as he slowly returned to the seat. But what he did not notice, perhaps too young to notice, were the eyes towards him. His teacher. His peers. Even the parents of some other kids who happened to be there at the time. They were shocked beyond belief. "...In my years of teaching, I've never seen a mind like your son’s." "The reason that Kobald failed on his conquest I believe was more to his own logistic than his enemy's tactical ability like you said teacher. The guerrilla soldiers did little in terms of combat, but it was the scorched earth policy done by the citizens that actually dealt the damage. Kobald's region was too far away for a reliable source of provisions, so he brought little and mostly lived off his conquered land, which was vulnerable to this policy"
"He possesses the mind of a genius. One that many centuries we have yet to see again."
"Castling on the king side is the most common move here, as it would grant the king additional protection against the enemy's knights and bishops, but if we play Queen to A4, it will block that Knight from going anywhere, while threatening the D4 pawn, so it's a more reasonable move."
"He’s the only underaged student we have admitted, and yet he has already learnt everything we could ever hope to teach a child ten years older than him. There’s nothing more here for him to learn. Please, you have to let him go with us."
The teacher begged, again, as his parents began to feel more and more reluctant.
"He is too young..." His mother said, her voice full of indecisions.
"I am aware ma'am." The teacher responded. "But his reputation has already spread across the school. No, the district now. It is only a matter of time until the Ascendancy took notice of his unusual mind."
His mother's eyelids dropped, as if the dam was about to break. His father looked at his son, who was innocently reading the book inside his room, completely unaware of what was being discussed outside. There were inside rumors of the Ascendancy intending to kidnap prodigious kids for a special military program. And they all knew the system at play here, it wasn't that hard to believe. It was perhaps the only situation when a parent would be in painful tears upon the discovery that their child was a genius.
It would be hard. For him to face reality this early. For his parents, to not worry about him. And for both of them, to say their goodbyes.
"I understand your concern. It's better to be voluntary early, than being forced out later. I know a person that can help him avoid that fate. But please..."
He knew this would be his legacy. Like the great Napoleon who was only remembered for his defeat at Waterloo, Alexander would be remembered for this one decision that he decided not to mention to the higher ups of the Ascendancy. Not his Operation Conundra, nor the Seven Days Campaign he just emerged from completely exhausted. All because this god damned collective group of unevolved electrum-licking troglodytes, who looked at a man defeating a fleet 3 times his size 6 times over and decided to go deaf on him. The president too spoke in favor of this plan. He'd had enough. That man can flex his insecurities all he wants, Alexander would not let the consequences rolling over his own soldiers.
He decided not to take part in this battle.
"When the 3rd line got counter-ambushed, which they will, that's when we will be called in." Alexander's voices echoed across the map room. "Whatever you do, do not respond. Don't move forward, don't provide any artillery, air support and don't reply, even if they plead."
"Ohhhh, I wish." One of the admirals in the room, Lan, said. "I'd like to see their faces when they flew too close to the sun."
"Believe me I want to see it too," The Grand Admiral shrugged. "but the last thing I want are records of you taunting our own allies as they die."
"Aye, no problem." She briefly replied, soldier-like. "Alrighty then, if there's nothing more to that, I'll prepare myself to see thousands of men and women die."
Normally, Alexander would respond with something witty, but there were no good responses to the scenario. Many of these guys were conscripts that had to choose either a bullet to the head or this. The Star Marines too. They were one of those people he could relate to, despite his harsh attitude towards them, and now they were likely to just die.
"Yeah that as well." He simply just nodded. "Good luck everyone...and I'm glad to be fighting alongside all of you. Now, it's whatever comes next."
All the admirals in the room gave Alexander a simultaneous salute, before their holograms began to shut off one by one. Rarely ever would one see a moment of tranquility in the Grand Admiral's life. It was the roaring stream on a river; whether it be his child prodigy fame, his progression through the army academies, or his unparalleled generalship in this war, they were all propelling him into unknown territory too quickly. But today, he had his calm waters. All plans had been laid out for his generals, his officers were already preparing for the battle, the aftermath were already covered with his contingencies. At this point, there was nothing left to make himself occupied, but sitting down to actually take a deep look in the mirror.
In that mirror, there was a man. He stood upright, his hands clasped in front of his stomach, donned in a black Grand Admiral uniform. Unlike the normal dark grey officer uniform of the Ascendancy military, the black represented power and terror, befitting the individuals worthy of such authorities. Indeed he could feel the power radiating from this cotton fabric. People cower, soldiers stand at attention, officers listen, officials drawn toward, the person wearing this uniform commanded a certain recognition without the need to prove leadership or competence. As such, in a way, he felt a certain comfort donning this uniform. The man was a force of nature, his ingenuity brought about many victories for his followers, his charisma brought hope for everyone who listened.
His hands raised up for his eyes, his two fingers pinched the two end pieces near the hinges, moving it away from him. And right there was Alexander, and his once charming lively eyes had gone a little dull over the years. He loved puzzle games, board games, reading books, or just trying out new things, new activities that he probably never knew existed. He loved talking to people too, sometimes just chilling out with them over a good movie, a cup of tea or a funny topic that he could ramble into the night. But who in this universe would willing to sit down with him for that? Who would be willing to learn about his love for a good romance story? In this uniform, who would be willing to do all of that?
Alexander washed his hands and face before exiting the bathroom to his desk. He tried to turn the desk lamp on, but it apparently broke. Something to notify the logistics team for sure. But for now, he was going to turn on the room light instead, as he wasn't going to do much. But something told him not to. He reached out for his drawer instead. The one at the very bottom, his hands grabbed a few things in it and laid them out carefully in front of him. One was a small picture. A paperback picture. Not very commonly seen nowadays. And in it was a young boy, gray-haired but without glasses, smiling prettily. The boy was barely even six when this picture was taken. And next to him, crouching and holding onto his shoulder was another person with the gorgeous silky platinum hair, tied into a side bun whilst the rest left hanging down to her waist. Her smile perfectly matched her beauty. And standing right next to the two mother and son was the final puzzle to make a happy family. At the back of the picture was a beautiful feminine handwriting. The other was also a paperback picture, this boy had grown a little from the last one, surrounded by a group of kids his age. One of them was a tangerine-haired girl, overflowing with energy in her ponytail and sky-blue eyes, while another blonde girl was charming and welcoming from her kind smile. The back of the photo still carried all their names.
The last item he took out was a wooden-electrum mixed figure. A small figure that could lie comfortably in his palm, shaped like a tower, a crown and a ball on top of it. A majestic queen, the most powerful and most important piece on the chess board, one that under no circumstances should Alexander allow her to be lost. Standing next to the two photos, in the dark it glowed beautiful apricots, as Alexander laid on his desk observing. The amber light illuminated his eyes, giving the Grand Admiral a brief peace of mind in the dark juncture he found himself at.
Important Item: A small picture (See sidestory chapter 3)
A pair of glasses.
Plasma pistol (self-defense purposes)
Biography Alexander was born on Earth, one of the metropolitan planet in the Core World of the Ascendancy of Man, and poetically the origin of humanity itself. Rumors, whether true or false, persisted in his city that the young boy was able to compete in local chess competitions for high school students by the age of two. Nine years later, that boy beat a chess grandmaster for the first time. By the time he was seven, he attended high school and as he reached the age of thirteen, he was able to think critically and conduct certain analysis at university and post-graduate level.
His reputation spread far, but through a miraculous yet brilliant twist of fate, Alexander did not perish under the Ascendancy's early policies of using young children. Before the Ascendancy could forcibly kidnap this standout young genius, one certain nobleman, governor and politician of his planet, someone whom Alexander would look upon with respect and gratitude later in his career, offered him the opportunity to enroll in the Grand Military Academy when he reached the age of twelve. Yes, voluntarily. There, young Alexander would be given special protection from all the overly-ambitious Ascendancy's leaderships who were looking to use prodigious children as tools of their own.
There, he received over-the-top quality education that only served to further his inhuman ability. By the time he was eighteen, the normal eligible age, he went into officer training. He became a ship's midshipman aboard a Cruiser by the age of twenty, and then a captain of a dreadnought by the age of twenty-one. Things go uphill very quickly for Alexander. From the command of one individual ship, he rose to the rank of Commodore, commanding a dreadnought and two cruisers, then to Admiral, taking charge of a fleet of seven ships, consisting of cruisers, battleships and fleet carriers, with his personal capital ship. His finest hour was during the first years of the Rau've War. Alexander was the mastermind behind Operation Conundra, in which was a successful lightning military campaign against the Rau've important military targets. It is considered by most, if not all analyst, to be a spectacular tactical victory, as it disabled over half of the Rau've's space fleet in a course of a few weeks. However, some analyst considers it a strategic defeat, but most Ascendancy's military commanders see otherwise, as subsequent military actions were the prime reason for their defeats later on. Nevertheless, Alexander was promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral by the age of thirty for the successful strike.
That was the peak of his career, however. As the war progressed on, Alexander could see the Ascendancy's armies slowly stagnating in its track and entrenched. Foreseeing a long-term war, the newly promoted Grand Admiral proposes a more defensive plans, intending to play the game with them, the game that he excels at. However, the high command rejected this proposal, as they found it too passive. As a result, the scale of war gradually tipped to the Rau've, as things began to go downhill for the Ascendancy. With Alexander's effort, however, he manages to lure the Rau've forces into a decisive battle at Proxima. There, he was determined to crush the Rau've's forces with his superior ships. His initial plans for the battle was to entrench the Rau've in the defense line while destroying the backbone of the Rau've heavy ships and guns with field artilleries and carriers before steamrolling the smaller pawns with the dreadnoughts. This, however, was countered by the Ascendancy's high command, through lack of understanding of rules of warfare. This was the last straw for the Grand Admiral. He knew the Ascendancy was doomed, but didn't want his men to die in vain, so he counter-proposed to let his ships remain in reserve, ready to back up the troops at the front once the defense line was breached. His proposal was granted, but he did not keep his promise.
Before he knew it, the war was over. A peace treaty was signed, with the Ascendancy's army from an intergalactic force to almost complete destruction, with only the 1st Fleet completely intact and ready for combat. This was the wake-up call for Alexander, as he redoubled his effort to expand his military forces. He spent his post-war year maintaining order around the Ascendancy as well as speeding up several of his pet-peeve project for his army. Exceptional Skills Exceptional Intelligence x5 Exceptional Willpower Exceptional Diplomacy x2 Exceptional Speech Exceptional Politics x2
A collection of side stories about one of the Ascendancy's greatest generals. From his earliest day, through to his finest and his lowest moments, his most extraordinary and his most human. All separate stories.
"Alright, Alex. How about you, can you solve this equation?"
The teacher said, as he gently handed his child the pen to the holographic board. A child of merely eight years of age. Among a crowd of thirty kids, all one head taller than him. The kid was reluctant to be called so suddenly, but at the gentleness and politeness of his professor, he found himself unable to deny his offer.
The child slid out of his chair, walked to the board and slowly, his hand holding the pen to which he would write with. As he neared, he simply stood still, silent. He inhaled, and exhaled. Again, and again.
And he wrote.
"This is an equation that if you follow the conventional way of solving, it will resolve in a massive power number, which is technically very difficult to solve. But if you prove and apply this inequation to our main problem, it is possible to see that the left hand side of the verse can be reduced to this, which is always larger or equal to the right side of the verse, which is zero. So the equation only occurs when a specific condition is met in the left side of the verse. This greatly reduced the complexity of our problem, and it's quite straightforward from there."
The boy put down his pen, as he finished the last of his solution, as he slowly returned to the seat. But what he did not notice, perhaps too young to notice, were the eyes towards him. His teacher. His peers. Even the parents of some other kids who happened to be there at the time. They were shocked beyond belief. "...In my years of teaching, I've never seen a mind like your son’s." "The reason that Kobald failed on his conquest I believe was more to his own logistic than his enemy's tactical ability like you said teacher. The guerrilla soldiers did little in terms of combat, but it was the scorched earth policy done by the citizens that actually dealt the damage. Kobald's region was too far away for a reliable source of provisions, so he brought little and mostly lived off his conquered land, which was vulnerable to this policy"
"He possesses the mind of a genius. One that many centuries we have yet to see again."
"Castling on the king side is the most common move here, as it would grant the king additional protection against the enemy's knights and bishops, but if we play Queen to A4, it will block that Knight from going anywhere, while threatening the D4 pawn, so it's a more reasonable move."
"He’s the only underaged student we have admitted, and yet he has already learnt everything we could ever hope to teach a child ten years older than him. There’s nothing more here for him to learn. Please, you have to let him go with us."
The teacher begged, again, as his parents began to feel more and more reluctant.
"He is too young..." His mother said, her voice full of indecisions.
"I am aware ma'am." The teacher responded. "But his reputation has already spread across the school. No, the district now. It is only a matter of time until the Ascendancy took notice of his unusual mind."
His mother's eyelids dropped, as if the dam was about to break. His father looked at his son, who was innocently reading the book inside his room, completely unaware of what was being discussed outside. There were inside rumors of the Ascendancy intending to kidnap prodigious kids for a special military program. And they all knew the system at play here, it wasn't that hard to believe. It was perhaps the only situation when a parent would be in painful tears upon the discovery that their child was a genius.
It would be hard. For him to face reality this early. For his parents, to not worry about him. And for both of them, to say their goodbyes.
"I understand your concern. It's better to be voluntary early, than being forced out later. I know a person that can help him avoid that fate. But please..."
"Teacher, am I right?"
"...you have to let him go."
August 2374
Planet Wasa, Rau’ve’s Space Dock #3
The war had begun more than two weeks ago, but the Rau’ve had already been decimated. Their poorly prepared defense line would be a source of ridicule among historians for generations to come. The Ascendancy’s space fleet sliced through their lines like a knife through butter. Their once mighty two carrier space fleets now two asteroid belts of metal. The third one, having managed to escape the carnage of Alexander’s lightning campaign, retreated to the orbit of Planet Wasa, one of their Space Dock deep in their home territory, initially for refit of armaments and space planes in order to counter the superior Ascendancy’s armor and firepower. Too bad for them that they would never be able to accomplish their original objective. For by the time the Rau’ve finally got together the tools to upgrade their fleet, the Ascendancy would have been at their very door steps, with bombs all over their vegetable heads. And six months later, the Ascendancy’s flag would be flying high at their capital.
Upon the news of the Rau’ve’s second line of defense being breached, the Rau’ve’s third carrier group had instead dug into their docks and made it their fortress. With the remnants of the broken second defense line rendezvousing at the once prosperous industrial planet, they were determined to halt the rapid advances of the Ascendancy’s Navy. But if only if they knew who they were up against…
“4 Dreadnoughts, 6 Cruisers, 15 Frigates, 12 Corvettes and most importantly 3 Carriers.” Said the grey-haired admiral, wearing the standard dark grey Ascendancy’s officer’s uniform, sitting at the far end of the table. His eyes hidden behind the thickness of the glasses, adding another layer to the already present aura of mystery and chilliness. “That’s our price for the taking.”
“But they are dug into their asteroid belt, with multiple stationary guns on the asteroids. And even though we have the same number of carriers, their number of ships in total are nearly twice our numbers” Replied one other commanding officer at the table, this one sitting right next to Alexander, his embellishment missing a star comparing to Alexander’s. His voice lowered. His eyes twitched as he kept his gaze on the battlefield being replicated in the hologram right in front of him on the table.
“They fight as one we’ll kill them as one.”
“They’ve chained up now, it’d be hard to break.”
“Not with the right way.” Said Alexander, eyeing over the battle overview. “The Rau’ve's position implies they are trying to counter our lightning strike strategy. We'll present them something else at the last minute, and we shall watch them fall apart...”
And that was exactly what he did. And it all began with his explanation.
“The Rau’ve have chosen the battlefield in a way that can maximize the strength of their numbers. Our forces will approach them just like we usually do. Like a nailboard…” “Nawar and Rar, you brothers will be commanding this front.” The next day, what was materialized on that holographic table was right there, on the space just a few thousand kilometers wide area of space, with the asteroid belt flooded with those heavy hitting anti-armor railguns. And that would be the thing the Ascendancy’s Navy would have to break in order to win this battle. Along with the lines of guns are capital ships, frigates and corvettes taking their cover behind these meteorites, ready to meet their adversary. And right behind those things would be the reserve fleet. And behind that the carriers. Those juicy target that Alexander was longing for.
The Rau’ve was certainly surprised by the speed of the Ascendancy’s Navy, but they were not daunted. Morales were high, and they were determined. But their pride had blinded them. For the Ascendancy approached the battle line just like how Alexander had told them, but with a single twist. “But this time, our dreadnoughts will not be at the front anymore. Instead, the breakthrough will be made by the heavy cruisers.” And indeed, they were. Right at the front, ready to charge into the thick. And they went under the blind’s eyes. ”Before the charge, however, I want you, Lan, to destroy their air group.” And so the battle began. The Ascendancy’s carriers immediately sent out hundreds of their star fighters, accompanied by other ships in the fleet, though with lesser numbers. And in response, the Rau’ve also dispatched their entire fighter groups to the ensuing battle. The air fight opened the curtain for one of the most biggest space dogfight the universe has ever seen. In a narrow area of empty space, nearly five hundred fighters had slammed themselves against each other, greeting each other with bullets and metals, clashing with the others on a personal level. And those to come out victorious, could change the course of the entire battle. ”If we win this air fight, we win the entire battle. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is. Even if you suffer massive casualties you must gain air supremacy.” All of Alexander’s hope for this battle came in the form of a few hundred fighters. He normally despised relying on one single thing in battle, but this was the only time he had to put faith in it. On the grittiness, the well-trained pilot of the Ascendancy’s Air Force. It was chaos. A birthplace of aces, but a cemetery for hundreds of young men and women. A clash of steel, of skills, of wits, but not without blood from either sides. But the ensuing 15 minutes battle had emerged the Ascendancy as the victorious side. Air supremacy had been achieved. ”While the air battle concludes itself, our breakthrough forces will surge forward. The Rau’ve will definitely respond with a hail of fire from their asteroid guns.” As the cruisers moved, the guns lit themselves up. Hell ensued for the heavy cruisers. Of course because the cruisers were not as heavily armored as the dreadnoughts, they were not as well protected as them. They would reach the belt faster than the dreadnoughts would, but in doing so, some began to burn... ”Do not relent. Once your cruisers reach the asteroid belt, you will have time to repair, in which you must, because the Rau’ve will throw ahead their reserve, to push us back.” And exactly that, they surged forward, frigates, corvettes and dreadnoughts descended upon them, taking the Ascendancy’s cruisers right on their faces. The Ascendancy’s advances had been halted. ”At this point, the Rau’ve will think their plan worked.” The cruisers slowly backed, as the Rau’ve poured down fire upon their invaders. Some unfortunate were left burning… ”Give ground, and let them believe.” Soon, the grounds the Ascendancy had gained were handed back to the Rau’ve, as fightings intensified. Guns blazed, star fighters answered. The entire asteroid belt was lit up by a spectacular lightshow of fire and bullet. No ships were willing to relent, as they continuously hailed down fire upon anything that moves, until they could no longer
At this point, the Rau’ve had the reason to be proud. They held their ground, they pushed the Ascendancy’s back. They thought they may have ended the myth of Ascendancy’s invincibility. And they were led to believe, as their lines between the reserve and the front began to merge ”It is then that we will mobilize our two dreadnoughts in reserves, and our remaining bombers, destroy the entire belt.” It was too late for them.
When they had realized their mistake, they had nowhere to go. Any form of retreat would mean giving the Ascendancy the means to break their line completely. But staying would mean no different. The Ascendancy do not intend to play a fair game here. They only have one objective, and that is to obliterate the Rau’ve’s naval fleet completely.
From above and below, Ascendancy’s dreadnoughts approached, like the hammer and anvil. Their huge battle cannons turned, strangling the Rau’ve with every angle. Bombers from the carriers accompanied them in the violent purge with their shield-deactivation bombs. Once they had locked on their targets, it was when chaos descended. It was the same for the killed and the survivors. When they opened their eyes, it was a scene right from the depths of hell.
The Ascendancy blew up the entire asteroid belts. They buried the Rau’ve alive. ”The rest of the fleet will charge forward, surround the belt, and cut down any stragglers. There will be no mercy.” The winner had been decided in the first fifteen minutes of the fight. And the tide turned in just less than 5 minutes.
In those 5 minutes, the Rau’ve’s forces went from solid confidence and discipline into a complete riot. Those who were courageous enough to remain in the fight were cut down without mercy, their corpse dissolved in the flames of burning ships. If one still valued their very lives, then he must strip away their weapons, armor and gave themselves in voluntarily, for they may find the Ascendancy’s prison having a higher chance of survival. Those foolish enough to run away from battle, the Ascendancy spared no moments of hesitation. The lighter ships charged forward, unleashing barrages of rocket and main battery fire, disintegrating the Rau’ve’s armors in seconds. Screams echoed, as panic settled into the ranks of the Rau’ve, until there were no more organization, no more resemblance of a military forces, just a massive hulk of crowd running fearfully for their lives. And then, there were no more… “It was the greatest battlefield victory of the age. Their entire fleet was destroyed or captured. Not one single ship made it back to their home for any form of resistance. And above all, over fifty thousand Rau’ves, including five high-ranking generals and many officers had been declared killed in action. Our road to the capital had been opened.
Today is a victory greater than any victories the Ascendancy could have achieved throughout its one hundred years of rules. A victory that would solidify me as the greatest Ascendancy’s military commander of all time.
And yet I felt no sense of triumph…”
What happened to our victorious march during the early days? After the battle of Wasa, there was nothing.
In the mind of the Ascendancy’s youngest and most feared general was full of melancholy. He did not work so hard for his entire life for this moment. He did not leave the comfort of his home, the warmth embrace of his mother and father for this. Nor did he work his entire way up to the rank of grand admiral, ignoring the brutality and hostility of where he was raised. Nor his effort to bring the Ascendancy to the doorstep of the Rau’ve capital. For this. For the Rau’ve to reorganise, counterattack and inflict deaths upon the army. For them to push the army the entire way back, reversing all of the effort Alexander had grinded through. All thrown into the bin in the most ungrateful manner by the colleagues he worked with.
He saw this coming. With those eyes behind the thick glasses yet saw far better than those perfect visioned so-called generals. He saw the slow decline, and he tried to stop it. But once glory had been achieved, these men and women decided to toss him aside, gradually throwing him into the sidewalk because they didn’t want to miss out on the glory that they craved. ’Glory my ass.’ Was always his thoughts. If they were his direct subordinate, he’d have their head taken, or in his procedure, stripped of their ranks and booted back to being a common soldier. Anything glory driven was always a waste of time, manpower and resources. But like his old teacher once said, his mind was far few in between. Only he could see it. No other could. And when stupidity plus ego, here he was.
Sitting in the tall-backed chair in the private quarter of his huge battlestation, the capital dreadnought Aegis, he, for once, took off his glasses, revealing his true colored eyes for the very first time, though unfortunately no one was there to witness it. He took out a small handkerchief from his pocket as he wiped the layers gently. A long sigh escaped his lips, his breath held weight, and it was pulling him down, also the rare moment of human emotion he displayed ever since he was stripped away from his parent. From his normal life.
His only work for the moment was to wait. In the hours that seemed like an eternity to the grand admiral. It had been a few hours since the last strategical meeting had concluded. The high command had decided against his military advice. Not far-fetched from what he expected, but this time it was the only decision that he very much feared. He had called for a reconsideration, and they were discussing it. If they did reconsider, then he’d be informed of another meeting. That was the message that he was expecting to receive for hours.
For he knew if they went forth with their decision, it would be a massacre.
The silence was just unsettling. The silence that he once enjoyed, from the stillness of the bookshelf to the solemnity of the chandelier. He couldn’t sleep. Nor could he do anything either. He normally hate idleness but today he couldn’t help but be so. Doing anything would be useless right now.
And then, for some mysterious reasons, his hand suddenly reached for his drawer. He opened them, and inside was a small picture. A paper-back picture. Not very commonly seen nowadays. And in it, it was a picture of a young boy, gray-haired but without glasses, smiling prettily. The boy was barely even six when this picture was taken. And next to him, crouching and holding onto his shoulder was another person with the gorgeous silky platinum hair, tied into a side bun whilst the rest left hanging down to her waist. Her smile perfectly matched her beauty. And standing right next to the two mother and son was the final puzzle to make a happy family. The man did not have any resemblance in terms of hair-color, but he was well-tuned, well-dressed, smart-looking. And that passed on well.
A picture of a happy family. Of a loving mother and father, one that would pull them into their warmth everytime they fell into a dead juncture, one that would cheer them on from the back as they march on the long road that is called life. Alexander spent a few minutes without lifting his eyes. And then he turned around to the back, to see a beautiful feminine handwriting on it.
October 23rd, 2349.
An outing with my darling and my sweet child…
…
…
But before anything, a notification suddenly appeared in front of Alexander in a form of a hologram. Incoming call. From Admiral Damon. It must have been it.
Alexander had no hesitation in pressing the receive call button. As the image of the admiral appeared in front of Alexander, he quickly re-adjusted himself, put away the picture and put on his glasses again.
“Yes, Admiral Damon?”
“Grand Admiral, I’m here to inform you about the high command’s decision of your request for a strategy reconsideration. The President has refused your request. You will proceed to execute the plan according to what had been given in the last meeting.” Damon quickly informed.
Alexander’s expression was unreadable.
That’s it then…
“Is there anything that must be clarified, Grand Admiral?”
“No, thank you.”
Alexander briefly replied, as he looked at Damon one last time before his image disappeared. He knew that this would very likely be his last time speaking to him. Damon was the commander of the ambush task force. And he was certain that the ambush would turn out a spectacular disaster. And Damon was definitely not a righteous man. He had committed numerous atrocities against Rau’ve’s prisoners and civilians. There is no way the Rau’ve would let this go unpunished. If he did not die with honor on the battlefield, he’d rot in the Rau’ve’s prison, or had his neck broken in a noose, or his chest made into cheese in front of a firing squad. He definitely felt he deserved it, but nevertheless, Alexander could not help but feel bad for him. He had yet to realize his fate.
Nevertheless, Alexander stood up from his chair. His eyes now completely clouded behind his thick glasses, unseen from the outside. He immediately called one of his admirals under his direct command over to the bridge. The days after the final order had been given, the atmosphere surrounding the Aegis was the polar opposite of Alexander’s private quarter. Ship crews were hurrily running around in the ship, trying to reach their battle station. Sounds of boots clattered with the hard floor on the ship, echoing into deep space. In the midst of it all, standing in the middle of the room was Alexander and Admiral Faro of the 1st Fleet. Facing each other, their brows furrowed.
“I’d say it, we’re done for.” Alexander said. “Despite everything I've said, they still found a reason to disagree.”
“No disrespect sir, but what do you expect from a band of circus clown, kidnappers and sadists?” Faro replied, making an unimpressed face.
“Be serious, Faro.” Alexander adjusted him. “I’d have to take matters into my own hands. Proxima will be lost by tomorrow. When they do, who will defend the Ascendancy’s homeland from the Rau've?”
“Are you sure you can hold, with just a single carrier fleet?” Faro asked skeptically.
“Once they knew who they were against, they’d be having second thoughts. They can win, but heavy casualties will ensue. Thousands more lives would be lost.” Alexander replied "The Rau've are compassionate folks, they will see the better options here."
“Be careful, that can be interpreted as treason.”
“Ha, Faro. Don’t worry. If it saves the Ascendancy, they would have to accept it. Killing me would just be sawing off the tree while sitting on the branch.” Alexander said. “Now is all ships in position?”
“Yes sir. We’re all set.” Faro replied.
“Very well.” Alexander gave a short sigh. “Tell the other grand admirals that we’re ready.”
“Yes sir.” He nodded as he turned on his heel to leave.
“Oh.” Alexander suddenly called him just as the bridge’s door opened. Faro turned around, curious. “Tell those admirals to visit by Nevivsky sometimes.”
Nevivsky Kremlin, OGLE-2005-BGL-390Lb, Headquarter of Ascendancy’s 1st Fleet
For any newcomers, this was frozen hell. To the soldiers of the Ascendancy’s 1st Fleet, this was their normal daily lives. The howling wind, the half-ice pellets raining on their snow goggles, the frozen engine that constantly hopped in and out of consciousness. They’re used to it. By the weekends, it would be a wonderland, stores would be open again in the nearby city and the soldiers back out on the training field before they could go wild with their boozes.
A cup of hot coffee next to the fireplace, the various designs of space warships laid out on the table before him, while his tablet was on his lap. For today however, it’s just about getting comfortable in his office. He hadn’t felt this much serenity ever since he joined the army. Constant fighting against the Rau’ve and within each other had allowed none of such luxuries, but power dynamics of the war was changing. His political rivals were beginning to rise up, trying to cash in on the glory that he himself created. Also fueled by the high command’s fear of losing him on the battlefield, his involvement in the campaign gradually began to be a lot more passive. Now, all he heard about were from his private office instead of on the bridge of his starship. It was getting frustrating, but he at least had some free time to enjoy himself a little.
“Grand Admiral, someone’s requesting entry to the planet.” A sudden voice message popped up on the room’s intercom.
Alexander’s eyebrows piqued.
“Who is that?” He immediately called the sender.
“It identifies itself as a private vessel from the Windsor’s family.”
Windsor? He’s here for them?
“Let them through.” ---------------- You'd know this is one of their places immediately from the first step onto the monstrosity and masterpiece of architecture.
A fortified complex, stretching a small town’s worth of area, surrounded by gigantic red walls dwarfing most mortal beings passing through. The soaring towers radiated in a strange violet aura that helped form a massive transparent dome covering the entire base from snow. Buildings in the inner layers were no less extravagant. The rather more traditional Earthly palace architecture did not hide the fact that this was a military base. Gun placements could still be seen from the ground up, covered by what seemed to be moveable rooftops that could easily go undetected by radars.
It continued with his office as well: the long walk from the door, across rows of tall pillars and a thick textured purplish marbled floor. The multiple holographic projection of a soldier carrying a classic projectile rifle, wearing solemn dark grey uniform, typical of Alexander’s approach to his army design. Yet it proved to be brutally effective, as seen along with the walls marking the mementos of the Guard's past triumphs on the battlefield.
If the grand display at the interior of the entrance wasn’t enough to put guests in their places, then the look at the man himself probably did. His eyes were hidden behind the thick glasses, yet it still gave off the image of a thousand needles jousting into a man’s throat. The slim build, gray-white hair, thin lips were still, expressionless, watching his every movements with interest. The symmetric insignia was engraved right on his collar, blended in with his black red uniform, yet few could miss it entirely.
“William Windsor. It’s unexpected that you’d come here today.” The Grand Admiral welcomed, his tone unreadable.
--------
William knew that despite his own genius and knack for political theory, as well as learned skills through various interactions, that it would not be good to underestimate Kherol. More to the point, it would be better to anticipate a loss beforehand and begin preparations for damage control even before the talk had properly begun. After all, Kherol was more experienced than he was, and sharper too.
Accompanied by only two bodyguards and two aides, William had chosen not to be extravagant, and chose the simplest of his steelweave silk clothes, a black-and-white business suit which absorbed and retained warmth even in the cold of the military base. Said warmth will have to reassure him in the upcoming confrontation with Alexander Kherol.
As the dark-skinned blond gave a short bow to the Grand Admiral, he knew that said confrontation would not be easy, but he owed it to his folk to try. The Windsor Family insignia was on his own collar, a reminder of the power his family had, and it was a reassurance that if he was cautious and perceptive enough, he might gain something from this.
He then spoke and said, “Grand Admiral Alexander Kherol, your men have charged several innocent traders, some with connections to the Windsor Autonomous Trading Fleet, with various crimes ranging from the petty to the outright harmless. I have also received word that your subordinates, in their zeal, have escalated the situation such that both sides ended up exercising their right to self-defense.”
William sighed, “The Autonomous Fleet stands for the promotion of free commerce in Ascendancy space, and have paid large sums to the Military’s war effort in order to strengthen their ability to protect trade and entrepreneurship. I do not believe that such a relationship should be interrupted over a few harmless exchanges.”
An obvious legal fig leaf, but flimsier arguments had won before in this regime, as long as those in power profited from it. A reason for humanity’s stagnation before, during, and after the war.
“And I know that’s the case. That’s why I simply offered them to release a public apology to those involved, promising not to promote alien cultures among my troops and the people of Nevivsky.” Alexander simply shrugged his shoulders. “By then, I’d let them go basically scot free. Plain. Simple.”
William Windsor blinked at that and said, “Thank you. I will secure such a public apology from them immediately. Does this mean that this situation is defused even before it starts?”
“Well, they’re not obliging. That’s why it has dragged on for so long.” Alexander replied. “I want the ones involved to say it themselves.”
The dark-skinned blond twitched, and his speech was genuinely snide - Though the snideness was not directed at Kherol - when he said, “And I thought the age of martyrs was over. Very well, I’ll talk to them immediately and secure a public apology. I presume there’s no additional business to talk about?”
As he prepared to depart, William whispered a brief, “Thank you,” one that could be picked up by Alexander’s ears, but swiftly denied by William if called out.
“And how will I know if that’s genuine?”
His words echoed just as William was about to be out of the door.
“I want a genuine apology, not explicit coercion. That’s why I am surprised you are here. Unless you have that sort of charisma in you.”
William turned back and said, “I came here to prevent innocent merchants from becoming martyrs, no more, no less. No merchant should die for their beliefs, it’s bad for business.”
A half-truth - William did not believe that martyr and merchant should be synonymous, but he did believe in fighting for one’s beliefs… Eventually.
Then he sighed, “I have no plans for ‘explicit coercion’ either - As I said, merchant-hood and martyrdom are incompatible and a true trader can be convinced of that.”
“Then make sure it is so. Send me the speech so I can see if it is. But keep in mind, it’s not going to be towards me that they will be addressing. I'm not concerned. It’s to the people of Nevivsky.”
William paused for a moment, knowing full well that Alexander Kherol was fully able to cut through the evasive language, useless qualifications, word padding, and blame deflection that a ‘normal’ apology speech would have. So with some reluctance, he ventured a question.
“Is the amount of feel-good, flattering, pacifying wording that nevertheless doesn’t take true blame for the perceived crimes you are willing to take the same as the people of Nevivsky are willing to accept? This is a pure hypothetical, of course. Either way, the people will be at peace, I can promise that.”
The promise was real, the hypothetical was not, but challenging it when peace was already offered was for someone who can afford a political crisis over something with an excuse. Hopefully.
And of course, William can always bring up his final emergency card, the small minority of ‘non-human auxiliaries’ in Alexander’s forces...
Alexander’s eyes rolled beneath his thick glasses. His lips perched up for a brief second.
“Just to pull you aside a little, what do you think about...the city’s architecture?”
William replied right away, “Brutal. Regal. Meant to close people’s minds while at the same time making them more receptive to what they’re being fed by the authorities. Conveys distrust of the people while seeking to overawe them.”
A pause and a thin smile, “I know my history. The people here take after promises of peace, land, and bread like moths to a flame, and live with disappointment for decades after such promises.”
An interesting chuckle echoed throughout the room. “You are one cynical man, Mr Windsor. But I do not deny such interpretation. But, there is more to it than just a fortress. You don’t see it from here because of the blizzard, but from that angle, there is a big clock tower, a reminiscence of the old days of humanity. And it’s mechanical as well, made purely by turning gears. There is something truly beautiful in that that is lost on today’s society.”
He paused a little, to turn his seat around.
“And that is the human roots. We grind our way up from the ground, with no magic, no Kaisoken dusts. And people here are proud of such heritage. And I don’t blame them. I am proud of what I have achieved.” Alexander looked at Windsor directly. “But with the combination of what you just said, you can understand why I want a genuine apology.”
William nodded at that and said, “There will be one for treating the populace like sheep to be influenced, and one for the violence which has occured. But there is a fine line to not wanting my affiliates to martyr themselves and asking them to sincerely renounce their convictions, which are their own and need not cause further disorder.”
A pause, “I offer peace and the end of involvement in your garrison’s affairs. Any other officer would have accepted this without question, without trying to make windows into my soul or the souls of my affiliates.”
Alexander sighed loudly. Seriously? He came here unexpectedly without any invitation, and now he’s telling him off?
“I don’t remember inviting you today, do I? Hmm.” Alexander threw a quick jab, but stopped soon to halt any escalations. “But anyway, I have a reason to proceed now. Glad we could have this discussion.”
Being one of the early bird to the scene, as he stood by and waited for his teammates to arrive. During the meantime, he took the time to stretch his limbs and warm himself up, including all six of his wings. It did look sort of unique to see Acion bend his wings one by one as a warm-up exercise, but it was his anatomy, what could he do?
As his classmates trickled in after finishing their changing, Acion began to seriously consider the team roster. On the one hand, he had to deal with Alice, who would probably be his primary opponent, considering Donny probably didn't have much power to deter Acion's aerial attacks. Nadeko could probably do some crazy metal gymnastics with her magnetic hand, but if he paid close attention it would probably not be a big deal. Alice's silent flight could be cause of concern, but Acion was confident he could disengage if things go sour. On the other hand, he had Dulga on his team, who had one impressive display the day before of strength and precision. It felt a little bit relieving to be on her team for the first combat. It would be scary having to deal with her when he didn't know what her combat style was. Kouji was also there, but he is more talk than walk at this point to have any sort of opinions on his capability.
And there was Carol. She arrived just in time when he was thinking about her.
"Oh hey." He turned around as soon as he heard her. "Yeah...I guess so. Well, I can't do ambushes of course, because...just look at me."
Though the easier it is to ambush the enemy team, the easier it is they can do the same towards his team. But information is key to any successful ambush. Being a flyer in a team fight, Acion felt like it's a good thing to provide for the rest of the team. He might not be able to perform the ambush, but helping creating a perfect ambush could be something he could definitely do.
"I'm not sure what we're supposed to do in this exercise anyway, so I can't think of a concrete 'evil' plan, let's say." Acion laughed at that part. Hey, they were acting like the villain after all. "I guess what we can discuss for now is how do you usually fight? Or what do you think what is effective? For me personally, I'm like that...you know that creature in that blocky building game. I think it's called Phantom. But yeah, I just swoop down on people from heights then go back up."
Depending on what they're allowed to bring in for this exercise, this could be devastating.
"How about you...uhh...Tennebalm-san, if you don't mind me calling you that? What are you good at?" @ShwiggityShwah
The rest of the school days were uneventful and grindy at worst. His curriculum put him in classes that lean more on the technical science rather than social, and as a result, Acion was rather surprised at how much assignments were given out to him on the first day, a stark contrast to the mere introductory classes before lunch. While the most of them would not be due the next day, he preferred if he got it finished while the iron is still hot. And to make even further use of his long commute time, Acion did some of them while on the train home. Once he was back, what greeted him was a silent and locked house, just as expected. His sister had already left for her hero works, but not before leaving a neat little dish of rice and salmon, accompanied by a bowl of Shchi soup. A pleasant surprise indeed, he hadn't had it for a while, and that time were still vivid as if they were yesterday. A cherry on-top for what was otherwise a successful start to his school year.
The next day's classes followed exactly the same pattern as the afternoon of the day before: long, grindy and uneventful, and more assignments. Despite knowing and having interests in science, the sign of fatique was plastered all over his face as he walked into his final class, which also happened to be the Hero class. From the back of his head, he begged for something interesting. If it's anything about hero history, organizations or definition, his neck would hurt after this. But thankfully, he wasn't disappointed.
'Villain? Very interesting.'
He actually never did this kind of exercise, let alone being a villain. But it might just end up being a 'Red versus Blue' kind of training, something in which he did know a little something about. The teacher did indicate that the Hero would be judged on how they conduct their exercise as well, something which did pique his interests. He'd probably have to face some sort of deficits to balance this out? Well, only one way to find that out.
After changing into his gym clothes, he made a beeline for the training ground. It really did look like ground zero of a cataclysmic explosion. Everything looked like it hadn't been touched for a very long time. Is this really safe like the teacher said? But considering he would probably not touch the area with a ten foot pole for like half the exercise, Acion could brush his concern off his shoulders for now.
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