EliteCommander

The Cradle

The Tindrel’s strategy of using their planetoid as a ram had worked twice so far, but it seemed that it would not work for a third. The enemy was keeping close track of their movements, and approaching from a distance as it was, they had plenty of time to push forward into the asteroid field, moving aggressively into the lines of the Outreman ships. The planetoid could not follow, both because of the asteroids, and to avoid endangering their own allies. Their weaponry however, certainly still had the potential to contribute. The enemy’s fighters and support ships had been positioned to fight the Humans, so a good number of torpedoes from their flanks were able to find their marks and spread out significant damage to a few capital ships. As long as someone could keep pressure on them, they would not be able to disengage to recover their shields.

Unfortunatley, losses were still piling up on both sides. A few more capital ships had been knocked out. Currently, victory was not guaranteed, though it was looking more likely than not. However, on the current path, losses were going to be heavy. The pressure from the enemy was constant, and relentless, and the commander was going to have to prioritize what to protect. They had managed to keep the QV ship intact for now, but hostiles were close to surrounding it. The shields of the battle group’s Outreman flagship were currently below half, and it could be in danger without some relief. As well, there were two enemy cruisers maneuvering to try to take out the “Bertha” rail cannon.

---

“We should let the evidence build the pattern naturally. Best not to color our perspectives with potentially unfounded assumptions.” Marae answered. She was linked in to the computer via her implants, so she could adjust the parameters of their scans through thought alone. The new parameters she was inputting and updating moment-to moment danced across the screen almost faster than one could read them. “Let’s do a deep scan here. Focus on the settlement and its surroundings.”

Using readings from both the Cradle and Navigator as a reference point, Marae started guiding a wide scan through the entire EM spectrum. She did not design each test unassisted, of course, but before their eyes, she implemented a program that would automatically update and iterate between each of the thousands of tests it was performing per second. It was following a genetic algorithm to continually refine potential signal profiles to search for. The tests themselves were perfectly comprehensible to someone with relevant expertise, though the way she treated complex programming as if it was simple mental math was a sight to behold. The only aspect of the tests that the other species might not recognize as readily would be the scans utilizing induced gravitational waves. Compared to anything on the EM spectrum, gravitational waves were exceptionally weak and required immensely sensitive instruments to even detect. The physics involved was well-known to any spacefaring species, but to be able to manufacture a device both capable of detecting such waves, while also being small and practical enough to fit in a sensor package, was not something that others could yet do.

The Cradle

Given their apparent indifference to the rest of the fleet so far, it was a pleasant surprise when the Tindrel commander began to take charge and give direction. With the swiftness of the enemy’s surprise attack, it had been unavoidable that their battle group had taken losses. A few of the Outreman ships, including one cruiser, had been taken out of the simulation, and several more had registered hull damage before being able to retreat into the asteroid field. Of course, the enemy had also suffered similar damage in the exchange, and they now had the opportunity to get to some measure of cover and try to replenish the shields on their more vulnerable ships.

The Rothian cruisers deeper in the asteroids were eventually able to bring their ships around and rejoin the battle. Now that the enemy was exclusively on one side of them, they could face their armored crests towards the threat to greatly improve their own durability, though the current situation called for them to advance forward quickly and try to take pressure off of their allies. For the power they had, their greatest weakness was that there were only three of them. The battlefield was wide enough that, no matter how they were distributed, there was a large part of it they simply could not influence. In the parts of the battle in which they were present, though, they could be an impactful asset. For now, the cruisers pushed forward and joined some of the Outreman ships in trying to rescue the retreating Qalian-Vosh vessel. The ranking Rothian captain marked the closest cruiser to their ally, prompting all three to converge fire upon it from their main batteries. Fusion cannons were powerful on their own, but the version the Rothians were using now were stronger than any the Rothians had revealed before. They ripped apart the enemy shields at blistering speed, only to shift their focus fire to a different target once they had exposed the vulnerability on the first.

Rather than take the time to finish off the enemy cruiser themselves, the Rothian captain instead marked the vulnerable ship as a priority target for the Outremans. Their rail cannon was a dated weapon as far as naval technology was concerned. Powerful, but slow to fire. Volleys of high energy projectiles, or sustained beams, were more efficient at depleting energy shielding. Still, the Rothians calculated that a single, well-placed shot should be sufficient to disable or destroy an unshielded hostile vessel.

---

The ship’s deep scans had picked up what appeared to be a settlement, though deep underground beneath a massive mountain range covered in the Morgrawal. “A settlement, it looks like.” Enha, the Rothian xenoanthroplogist, remarked. “It looks to be native, not alien. Though it is quite remarkable for a native settlement at this level of technological development. I normally would not expect them to be able to maintain such an organized settlement in such a challenging environment.”

The Cradle

Under most circumstances, the strategy their enemy was using was not something the average fleet commander would even consider as an option. It took any concept of strategic maneuvering or macro tactics and threw them out the proverbial window. Fleet commanders would lose almost all influence over the overall battle in favor of a simple aggregate of the competence of each fleet’s respective ships, captains, and crews. Naturally, most commanders would rather not give up their own contributions, especially as such a battle would likely end with heavy losses on both sides. Ironically, though, despite how aggressive and chaotic the Tindrel’s strategy was, this particular brand of chaos was so strongly to the detriment of the flagship that formed the center of their strategy that it was the best option they had.

The Tindrel’s initial strikes had wiped out multiple groups of ships, but the remainder of the enemy fleet still outnumbered the allied battle group, to a not insignificant degree. It was not insurmountable, but they needed to find some way to regain an advantage. The only macro strategy that the enemy was following at the moment was unrestrained aggression. As the Outreman fleet tried falling back into the field, the enemy tried to stick with them to the best of their ability.

The Rothian cruisers, for the moment, were having to execute some rather slow turns to bring their ships to bear while confined in the asteroid field. They had some cannons with angles on the enemy, and their torpedoes could target omnidirectionally, but it would be a few minutes before they could rejoin the battle in full. The QV ships were currently in danger of being overwhelmed, and it would be up to the Tindrel commander to decide how they would respond.

---

Vreta hummed to himself for a moment. “They’re going to be wrapped up in this simulation for a while. I guess we should just keep on task. I’ll pass it along for Rareth to deal with. Hopefully they don’t get in the way of our search, but we should be careful. If they are on the surface, then they are probably flaunting the law. They may not respect the authority we bring with us.” He warned.

The Cradle

For the Tindrel’s planetoid, the ships that had moved into the freight channel had little chance for escape. In open space, the enemy might have been able to scatter more efficiently, but the asteroids surrounding them would restrict how fast they could maneuver, especially as a group. They had executed their plan as well as they could, and no doubt, the planetoid would be able to clear a fair sized group in a single pass. However, they had no way of stopping the rest of the enemy fleet from repositioning, and no way to regroup with the rest of their own fleet quickly. The asteroid field would restrict the planetoid even more than it would for the enemy vessels.

Had the enemy used their FTL jump to close in on the planetoid, the rest of the fleet might have been able to maneuver in to the field to reinforce their flagship. That, however, was not their intention. The planetoid was currently in the middle of the asteroid field with the freight channel as the only method of egress. It was, for the moment, a prison for it that it could not quickly escape. As such, nearly the entire remainder of the enemy fleet jumped to FTL, wrapped around the outside of the asteroid field, and appeared suddenly together...right on top of the bulk of the Outreman ships. They dropped out of FTL at extreme close range to most of the Outreman and Qalian-Vosh ships, sending the battlefield into immediate chaos. They seemed to abandon any notion of organized formations and instead positioned themselves in and among the allied fleet, firing on everything around them. It went without saying that this was a strategy that entailed full and complete commitment. There would be no escape for either side if they failed, but it was a sort of chaos that could be to their enemy’s advantage. Even should the planetoid manage to maneuver back around to rejoin the fight in time, it could not use its primary strategy so far without barreling through its own allies.

---

Vreta looked up to the hologram of the planet, his eyes narrowing noticeably. “Interference with pre-spaceflight species runs rather specifically afoul of our treaties.”

Vreta stepped away from Freyr’s station and moved closer, up behind Dr. Wetherall’s. “Are you able to pinpoint the locations of these alien signals?”

The Cradle

For the Rothian captains, it was certainly an improvement that they now had orders, at least. The plan that the Tindrel had did make some sense, even if it was unconventional by Rothian standards. They just needed to find a way to pressure some of the enemy ships out into the open. The Outreman ships were moving around the outside of one of the clusters, though the Rothian ships had more options than simply following them. At the very least, having so few ships meant that the Rothian cruisers could move deeper into the cluster while maintaining a somewhat close formation.

With the Outremans moving around the outside to block escape in those directions, the Rothian cruisers could move straight forward some distance to try to force some of the hostiles in front of them out into the freight channel. The channel was directly behind the nearby enemies’ position, and the captains quickly came up with a plan to “encourage” them out into it. The cruisers’ weapons had the power to penetrate the asteroids entirely, while their enemy did not. As such, the cruisers positioned themselves in cover behind close asteroids while firing through them to the enemy position on the other side. From there, only torpedoes could maneuver around the obstacles to strike the Rothian ships, and with the Rothians positioning their fighters and support ships purely defensively to screen against them, very few could actually get through. While the asteroid field provided strong cover against the planetoid, they were nothing but a disadvantage against the Rothian ships. At close range, at least.

For the hostile vessels, there were two courses of action. They could advance on the Rothian position to get clear shots, or retreat out into the freight channel. Should they advance, they would have to move relatively slowly in order to maneuver around the asteroids, during which time the Rothian cruisers would have free reign to barrage them from cover, taking more and more damage the closer they came. As with any energy-based projectiles, the fusion cannons were more powerful at closer ranges, since they would lose coherence the longer they traveled. Should the enemy move out into the channel, however, the opposite would be true. As powerful as they were, shooting through the asteroids did drastically reduce the effective range of the Rothian weapons. Should they fall back, the cruisers’ weapons would start to deal much less damage, and the Rothians would have to leave the asteroids in order to face them on more even “ground”. Since the Outremans were effectively blocking retreat from any other angle, the choice was obvious for them to move out into the freight channel.

The entire time, the planetoid had been taking constant fire from other hostile groups spread across the field, but that fire began to suspiciously diminish seemingly all at once. Aside from the groups closer to the Rothians and Outremans, nearly all of the rest of the enemy fleet had moved into cover. A sensor sweep revealed that most of the enemy fleet was now powering warp drives. Charging a warp drive required substantial amounts of energy, so for vessels without dedicated FTL power systems like the Tindrel planetoid possessed, jumping beyond lightspeed imparted a substantial energy tax onto the rest of the ship’s systems. They had to remain stationary, while shields and weapons were usually hampered in their effectiveness. The same was true for their enemy, but the majority of their ships were currently at long range with hard cover behind the asteroids. They had no real way to exploit the vulnerability in time. Most of the enemy fleet was about to suddenly reposition somewhere soon, so the allied battle group had to decide quickly how they were going to prepare.

The Cradle

The enemy battleship had a respectable amount of firepower on its own, but without support, there was no way it could get through even a single ship’s shields before its own were depleted by the focus fire of multiple capital ships converging on it. The third Rothian cruiser joined the Valkyrie and the other Human ships in overwhelming their foe. With all of their fire combined, it did not take more than another barrage to tear the battleship to pieces. The enemy carrier, meanwhile, had found no safety behind the asteroid it had gone to for cover. It launched as many strike craft as it could as quickly as possible, but the carrier’s fate was sealed by volleys of superheated plasma from the first two Rothian cruisers. Fighters and bombers could be dangerous even to capital ships when utilized properly, but the enemy fighters that had been launched so far had no ship support nearby. Rather than throw them pointlessly at the allied battle group, the enemy instead gave the order for their fighters to disengage and retreat back through the asteroid field to their own lines so they could still utilize them later in the fight. Rothian fighters pursued them some distance and destroyed a portion of them, but they too did not want to push their fighters too far beyond the support of their motherships.

The initial strike had been undeniably effective, but the majority of the hostile fleet still remained. The planetoid had built up incredible momentum and was unquestionably effective in close quarters, but the enemy was quick to adapt. The Tindrel’s current targets were at long range, so they had much more time to evade than the initial group. Rather than move together, however, any ship within the planetoid’s projected path scattered in all directions, often weaving between asteroids to make a direct pursuit path more difficult. It was unlikely that any individual ship could escape the Tindrel, but with intelligent maneuvering, the enemy could guarantee that the massive planetoid could only chase, at most, a single ship at a time. All the while, every other ship in the fleet was unpressured and free to engage at long range. The pelting of ranged weapons fire was a constant against the planetoid’s shields, and it was far from efficient for them to have to chase down every hostile ship individually.

While they had secured a position within the asteroid field, there was a question of what to do next for the rest of the battle group. The Tindrel were taking plenty of initiative to act with their own ships, but beyond being told to “attack”, there had been no orders for the rest of them. The Rothian cruisers formed up, positioned their strike craft defensively to intercept incoming munitions, and returned fire. They certainly had the range to engage any ship in the asteroid field, but there was still no coherent direction for allied forces. They did not know what targets the Tindrel would engage next, and therefore which targets would be most effective to focus fire, nor how to position tactically to take advantage of whatever they were going to do next. There were certainly protocols the Rothian captains could follow to quickly establish a firm chain of command to begin giving those orders, but that was not the purpose of this exercise. The Tindrel commander was not incapacitated; therefore, they needed to try to follow their direction. One of the Rothian captains opened the fleet’s comm channel to request those orders.

---

“Well, if we do everything right, the Morgrawalai will never know we were here.” Marae remarked, though her voice trailed off as she started to focus more on the console in front of her, and the data that was pouring in.

Vreta watched the screens as well, though with less of a focused eye than the scientists analyzing the data. “Hopefully so. We just need to be prepared if things don’t quite go to plan. If this object is buried as deep as the Navigator was, it will take a whole excavation team to extract it. Of course, if it isn’t, then the natives may have already discovered it. About how ‘primitive’ are these primitives? I know they are pre-spaceflight, but are they at the point of using livestock, wagons, and iron swords, or are we talking cars, biplanes, and gunpowder?”

The Cradle

The orders given by the Tindrel commander were quite basic. Simply advance forward and attack at close range. Rothian vessels tended to prefer keeping range on their intended targets, as it allowed them to best utilize the heavily armored frontal crest present on most capital ships. Being in close quarters allowed hostiles to more easily position themselves to bypass it. Their ships were not specifically vulnerable at other angles, but it meant they could not as effectively use one of their main defensive advantages. Still, one could not deny the effectiveness of this initial strike.

Naturally, the hostile capital ships in the Tindrel’s path powered engines to maximum acceleration to avoid the massive asteroid’s path. The carrier had been positioned in the back, protected by its battleships, so it was able to get clear first. The battleships would have been able to follow suit in time, were it not for one last-moment adjustment from the Tindrel capital ship. For most ships, engaging a warp drive was not something one could do easily in combat. It required remaining stationary for any significant jump, as well as imparting a significant power drain on the ship. For the planetoid ship, however, there was more than enough space to build in dedicated power systems for their FTL drive, and it did not need to remain stationary to perform a relatively short jump. The planetoid performed a short jump, just a few miles in one direction, but it was enough to put the battleships right in its path. With the planetoid’s unstoppable momentum, it was far too late for them to respond. The asteroid smashed straight into the rear battleship, broadside. While it was a simple approach to combat, almost primitive in nature, the planetoid most certainly had the mass to make it work. The crushing force burst the battleship’s shields and smashed it into unrecognizable pieces. The second battleship had been closer to escaping, but it was not quite enough. Its stern was struck by the planetoid, shearing its rear half from the ship and sending the remainder into an uncontrolled spiral.

For the purposes of the simulation, the enemy was not programmed to have any forewarning of allied tactics or capabilities. They were unknown to the enemy, just as the enemy was unknown to them. However, the AI mediating the scenario was to ensure that the enemy could learn and adapt efficiently. Admiral Matir, in particular, had insisted that their foe be intelligent and capable. The Tindrel had carried out a shocking and effective first strike; only two capital ships remained in the immediate area, and they were heavily outmatched by the allied forces focused upon them. However, this battle was far from over. They were still outnumbered overall by the enemy in the asteroid field, and they were adjusting quickly to the Tindrel’s approach. Hostile ships were remaining at long range and spreading out even farther from each other, as well as moving closer to asteroids to use them for cover, making ramming more difficult. The dense asteroid field could make it difficult for the enemy to get overlapping fields of fire to be able to focus on smaller capital ships, but the planetoid was so large that nearly every ship could get a firing line on at least some part of it, no matter where they were.

The enemy carrier managed to move behind a nearby asteroid, but two of the Rothian cruisers bore down upon it to try to eliminate the nearest threats as quickly as possible. They could track its position through sensors even without line of sight, so they did not bother to try to move around the asteroid. While there was a fair amount of it, the carrier’s cover was only rock. The power of the cruisers’ weapons allowed them to shoot straight through the small asteroid, rapidly draining their target’s shields regardless of cover. There was a single other battleship in close range firing on everything nearby, but it likely would not take long for the rest of the battle group to overwhelm it. The real test would be how the Tindrel could react to being outnumbered and surrounded, as they were now.

---

“Starting wide-spectrum signal scan.” Marae remarked as she gave the command, though at the moment, it was mostly Nirann who was guiding the process. He did not have a body present in the lab, as he was currently linked into the ship itself so he could better operate the sensor suite. He could remove the intermediate step of a user interface and operate their ship’s hardware as if by thought.

Marae turned away from her console and back towards the others. “This could take a while. It’s doubtful that the signal we find, if we find one, is going to be identical to the Navigator’s. We’re probably going to get a lot of false positives, especially with an intelligent population on the planet, so we’re going to have to keep adjusting the parameters as we go. Nirann can help single out likely signals, though.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

For a moment, it looked like Saras might have some response to Fendros, some justification or excuse to keep working. However, after a few moments of thought, he simply bowed his head slightly. “Of course, Champion. I will…allow others to take over. Your people are ready to hear from you. We have made sure the Rueful Axe is secure as well. It seems to be drained of the power Molag Bal infused it with, but it is otherwise undamaged. If you would like to have the weapon that slew a god for your address, I can have it brought to you. Either way…your people are ready to hear from you.”

In the crowd, all of Tamriel’s lycan clans were represented. Leaders, civilians, warriors, widows, everyone whom Fendros was now responsible for. With the time that had passed, there were no doubt some who may have surmised Meesei’s fate. She had not been seen since the end of the battle, after all. Still, this assembly would be the first official word of what had transpired in the battle’s end. It would be the first time the story of Vile’s downfall could be told, and the first outright declaration of their victory over him. It would be their first word from a new Champion, and for many, it could mark the beginning of a new era, for good or ill, for Tamriel’s lycan clans. How they remembered it would be up to Fendros.

Ahnasha lightly took Fendros’ hand. “Do you think you know what you’re going to say? If you need any help…” Her voice trailed off.

The Cradle

Among the Tindrel’s battle group, the Rothians had just three capital-class ships, along with some smaller support vessels. All were cruisers, which were the main ship of the line for the Rothian navy. They were general purpose ships without particular specializations, but in keeping with Rothian naval doctrine, still exceptionally capable, high quality vessels. All Rothian ships had to be fitted with the most recent upgrades in order to be approved for service so that they could continue to utilize their technological edge. Such measures were necessary, as it was generally expected that their ships would be outnumbered in any given engagement.

On the approach, the cruisers launched their fighters and positioned themselves in the formation to be able to intercept incoming fire. Both capital ships and fighters utilized lasers in point defense roles. They were short range, low energy, and not suited to deal with armored vessels, but torpedoes could not outmaneuver a lightspeed beam. The Rothian cruisers were among the first to be able to open fire, as their fusion cannons had greater range than most other energy-based weapons. Strictly speaking, the projectiles themselves were also composed primarily of superheated plasma, but they were high enough every to maintain sufficient coherence for a longer period of time, and therefore, over a longer range.

One of the Rothian cruisers positioned itself to trade blows with the enemy carrier. Rather than allow the plasma beam to potentially damage any allied vessels, it accelerated to intercept. It positioned the front crest, by far the most heavily armored portion of the ship, to take the brunt of the hit. The shields flared, glowing almost as brightly as the beam itself, but for the first hit, it left no effect on the hull. The ship returned fire with all forward batteries focused on the carrier, sending out a barrage of blinding white energy projectiles. Though for the other species in the fleet, there was something notable about the ship’s weapons. All weapons fire from both sides was, of course, simulated, but the power output they would register from the cruiser’s fusion cannons were higher than their intelligence reports would suggest a Rothian cruiser should be capable of.

While all of the ship captains in the battle group were expected to be able to act on their own initiative moment to moment, their overall strategy was meant to be driven by the Tindrel commander in the core ship. All Rothian captains would follow their orders and defer to the Tindrel’s instructions, once given.

The Cradle

“Did you think this was going to be easy?” Admiral Matir answered. Being that they did not age, it was always hard to tell just by appearance how old any given Rothian was. As long as they were an adult, a Rothian looked about the same at a hundred years of age as they did at a thousand. Of course, the personnel files that the others no doubt had would identify Matir as one of their most experienced naval officers, but even without that, the firm confidence he had with every word he spoke gave him a commanding presence.

“We know nothing of our adversary. Should you be wrong about the primary target, then the secondary objectives shall fail, and the civilians we are sworn to protect at each shall perish. We will complete all stated objectives, and we will do so with the resources we have available. Complete your objectives quickly and efficiently, then regroup on my position for the final attack on our primary target. If your ships are truly strong and your crews capable, then show me what you can do. You have your orders.”

---

Vreta shrugged, tilting his head towards Freyr. “Well, I’ve given my speeches. I don’t have much else to do but watch at this point. I have to admit, I am a bit excited for what we might find, though. If we find another one of these objects here, on another species’ homeworld, then I guess that is pretty strong evidence in favor of the life-seeder hypothesis.”

Crossing his arms, Vreta paused for just a few moments. “Have you wondered how many places this might have happened? How much life is really native to the Milky Way? Maybe there is another one of these on Earth?”