Lore I: An Overview
Lore II: Republic Politics
Lore III: Corporate Politics
Lore IV: Military Structure
Lore V: Other Civilizations of Sol
Lore VI: The Europa Conflict
Timeline of Events[www.dropbox.com]
Phoenix Classification System
The Solar Armory

Kal landed the Nova on a landing pad near the top of the spire. Just under a kilometre above the ground, the ballroom they would be going to tonight possessed a grand view of Titan’s metropolis. The event had been meticulously planned to woo many of Titan’s most influential investors, CEOs, and other people of authority. Tonight was meant to rally many of these supporters to Dyros’ cause: to reconnect Titan with the home world, Earth, and ensure the dominance of Earth’s government could extend to the outer reaches of the system.

Originally a conspirator in the point defence system sabotage on Mars, Dyros felt immediate regret when he saw the Martian colonies bombed from orbit. He blamed his fellow conspirators for the deaths of those citizens; however, and never forgave them for the chaos that followed. However, he also knew that his crimes against Earth would ensure that he was put to death if captured, so he chose to flee with his colleagues when the ships blasted away from the red planet and into the void. Dyros bided his time, building up influence and resources, hoping to one day find a way to offer Titan to Earth in order to secure for himself absolution, as well as vengeance against those who, on Mars, brought death upon themselves.

Tonight’s rally was to be a culmination of much hard work to that end. There was still much to be done, of course, but the people needed to be reminded what they were fighting for if they were to help Dyros continue his cause well into the future.

Kal knew there would be no rally tonight, though. The main speaker was not going to show. Just as Kal had finished prepping the Nova for launch, Dyros backed out at the last minute, saying an important matter had arisen. Kal was to show up at the party still, though. Appearances had to be maintained, though Kal wondered who the appearance was for. The guests would soon see that the Yacht was empty, and the pilot was not known for his speeches.

Still, Kal did as he was told, and the door to the Yacht opened to a landing pad filled with many of Titan’s elite, all waiting to hear from their leader. Before Kal explained the truth to them, he was approached by Mikal, a vice president of the Uyuni Entertainment Corporation.

“Let me handle this” Mikal said as he turned around and addressed the crowd.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, if you please, I am sure Dyros needs rest from his long flight over here, and you wouldn’t want our main speaker to doze off in his speech would you?” Laughter followed, “If you will all please return to the main ballroom, we will begin the event with our first speaker, Taryn of Ligeia.”

Clapping followed as Taryn’s name was mentioned. He had been one of Dyros’ strongest financial supporters. Several ushers took their place to move the people into the ballroom. Soon the landing pad was only attended by Mikal and Kal’s Nova crew.

“You’re stalling?” Kal asked, “You know they are eventually going to be disappointed, don’t you?”

“Of course I know that, but we only need to keep them ignorant long enough for them to get drunk and make their investments in the excitement of the build-up. Once Dyros’ time to speak appears, we’ll simply tell them that he became too emotional by their amazing response and was embarrassed by his composure to speak. People love that emotional nonsense.”

Kal gave Mikal a sceptical look, but followed him into the ballroom anyway. The introductions had already been made, and Taryn was beginning to give his speech.

Suddenly, gas began to pour in through the events. Guests rose up in a panic before slowly succumbing to the tranquilizing vapour and falling over in their sleep. Security rushed to get gas masks to the most important people, as Mikal showed up next to Kal and slapped a gas mask onto his face as well.

As the two began to run back out of the room towards the stairs to the landing pad, Kal noticed several troopers in black armour fly up on jetpacks and burst through the windows. One of them seemed to catch Kal’s eye before Mikal slammed the door shut and typed in its locking sequence.

When the two made it outside, a Hummel dropship started to rise up over edge. Troops jumped out onto the rooftop and made their demands to stand down.

“Go!” Mikal yelled, “Get back to Dyros and let him know what-“

He was cut short by a Taser round and fell to the floor. Kal desperately ran towards the Nova, but suddenly felt all his joints lock up in the most extremely painful version of a cramp he had ever felt in his life. He was able to feel another round hit him in the shoulder that caused all of the former pain to quickly begin fading away. However, his senses also were slowly eroded as darkness began to overtake his vision and voices became muffled noises. The last thing he noticed were two of the black armoured men standing over him as his consciousness finally slipped out of his grasp.

Kal woke up in a dark room, which illuminated by blue floor lights, but only so much that one could navigate without stumbling. He could not make out the shape of the walls beyond the darkness, or how high the roof was above him. However, the most impressive feature of the room was at the opposite end of where he was seated – a round window which offered a grand view of Saturn. The orange light coming from the planet reflected off glossy black flooring, which served as the room’s primary source of any real light. He felt confused, though, because he did not feel like he was in space right now. On starships and stations, gravity was simulated through magnetism, but Kal knew he wasn’t wearing any of the right clothing for that to be possible. He walked closer to inspect the window as he suddenly noticed it distort a bit to match his perspective.

A door hissed open behind him and he saw the silhouette of a man in the light of the hallway beyond.

“Like it?” The figure asked as he began to approach Kal, “That’s some of the latest technology in vid-screens available. It simulates the view as if you were looking through a window, tracking your position and shifting the perspective to match.” The man moved forward into the light coming off the screen. He was a fairly normal build, with hair just beginning to grey. He wore a uniform that looked similar to a naval one, but it was entirely black with silver embroidery and insignias. Kal had never seen the uniform before, but he figured the colour scheme had something to do with the black armoured soldiers who raided the rally.

“I assume I’m not here to view your latest in entertainment technology” Kal stated dryly.

The man smiled, “no, of course not” and motioned towards the seat where Kal was sitting a moment earlier.

As Kal sat down, the man took his position across the silver desk, tapped a button, and a compartment opened up revealing various and highly expensive refreshments. “Care for some wine? It’s an increasingly rare brand, left over from the early days on Mars.”

“You can get to the point, I doubt this is a friendly meeting” Kal snarled.

“Oh, but that’s just it. I do want us to be on friendly terms, Kal, and I think, in a few minutes, you will want to as well. By the way, my name is Arik.” He held out his hand to shake Kal’s, but Kal did not move. Arik waited for a few seconds after retracting his hand, giving a confused look at Kal. He then went on to start pouring himself a glass of the wine for both of them, pushing the glass towards Kal’s side of the desk before taking a sip of his own and leaning back in his chair.

“I guess I’ll get right to it, then.” Arik began, “You are an associate of Dyros. The man is a terrorist and I am going to make sure he doesn’t get any further. You are his pilot, so I am sure you know where he likes to hang out. Therefore, I want you to help me find him.”

“And why would I do that? I don’t even know who you are. Navy? Police? Corporate Security?”

“Intelligence”

“Intelligence. Figures.” Kal spat, “The military would just throw me in some prison. Only the RIA would bother with trying to make me feel welcome when I am not.”

“Oh believe me, Kal, the military is already demanding you thrown in a prison, along with every other associate of Dyros. In fact, most of them are in prison already. You are here because you might be useful to us. And, more importantly for you, you are just a pilot, not any accomplice to Dyros’ plans. You have no serious crimes we have to follow up on.”

“Then why does the military want me in prison?”

“Because of who you do work for. The military does see few distinctions, at times. You and I know better, of course.” Arik paused, “However… if you were to prove uncooperative, I am afraid you would indeed be guilty of the crime of harbouring a terrorist. Wouldn’t want that would we?”

“Good luck, I don’t work for Dyros just because of the pay. I won’t tell you anything even if you do throw me in the worse jail on Titan.”

Arik adopted a more threatening stance, “No, Kal. I don’t need you to tell me anything. We have ways to find out what we want. Hallucinogens, truth serums, and my favourite – the MOS. Ever heard of that one?”

“No”

“The MOS, or Mind Override Serum, is a recent development by some of our more science oriented friends in the corporate world. It’s similar to brainwashing, only it’s completely temporary. You are given a keyword that we then use to access the information we want, asking you as we would ask an automated dictionary or GPS system. It’s quite humane really. No pain or torture, just a nice conversation between two friends. The effect even wears off after about an hour, but by then, well… you’ve already told us everything we want to know.”

Arik continued, “So I offer you a choice. We can use the MOS, get what we want, and then you go to jail knowing that it was all in vain, or you tell me what I want to know right now, and I let you go free.”

“And what’s to stop me from telling everyone about your little operation once I’m free?” Kal asked, “Surely you wouldn’t let me go that easily.”

“No, there’s no catch.” Arik smiled, leaning back in the chair again, “But I am not worried because I think you are about to want to betray Dyros. Do you know why Dyros was not going to speak at your rally?”

“He never said. Just seemed worried about something.”

“He was worried because we tipped him off that we would be coming.”

“And how does that help you?”

“A man like Dyros has too many connections, contingency plans, and so on. If we were to catch him in a public place like that he would either find a way to escape, or with that many high profile people there would be far too much legal red tape to slow down our progress. We needed a way to find Dyros when he thinks he is safest, not when he is paranoid. We need someone to tell us where that safe place is. We need you, Kal.”

“So what’s your point?”

“My point is in the very fact that our plan worked perfectly. Dyros knew the RIA would be coming for him, and yet he sold all of you out. No one knew that we were coming, not even Mikal or Taryn. All of them are in jail now because Dyros felt it was more important to keep his appearance than to help you avoid capture. He turned his back on you, Kal.”

“You know as well as I do he is well connected. He could bribe them out or break them out easily.”

“Not this time, not with us involved. We will make sure of that. And I am confident Dyros knew that risk when he betrayed all of you, as well.”

Arik got up from his desk, tapping a few buttons on a remote as he did so. The view of Saturn suddenly switched into a grid of surveillance videos of various murders. “Did you know Dyros has been linked to over 135 crimes throughout the city? His followers always leave their distinctive mark – an often poorly drawn version of the logo of Earth’s government. It makes the detective part of our work a lot simpler, I really must say. Here, let me list some of the big points for you: Sabotage of a PFS Shipyard on Hyperion that led to the death by oxygen loss of nearly every single worker. Murder of several TVSI employees during their stay on Titan. The attempted ramming of a Navy starbase over Titan (which would, mind you, have led to the death of thousands of civilians from falling debris). The successful bombing of several police stations: PFS, Cayuga, KUS. Shall I go on?”

“You’ve made your point” Kal conceded.

Arik switched the screen off and leaned back against the desk on the side where Kal was sitting. He waited a moment before giving the signal to what Kal assumed were people watching through cameras. Two men in black armour came in, one with a syringe ready.

“We are going to put you back to sleep for your trip” Arik said, “If you are going to lead us to Dyros it needs to be convincing, so you’ll find yourself in prison when you wake up. Remove the sink from the wall to find several EMP charges and some thermite. The defences of the prison are all automated, so you won’t need to kill anyone to escape. Just place the EMP charges properly to disable the sentries, and use thermite to get through your jail cell and other fortifications. It’s a lightly defended prison so it won’t be much trouble. You aren’t a high profile criminal so we were easily able to get you a spot in a minimal security prison without much issue.”

“And you are just going to hand this all over to me willingly?” Kal asked, surprised.

“Call it a measure of good faith. I want to trust you, Kal. Would you like to honour that trust?” Arik asked rhetorically. “Of course, try to escape and we’ll eventually find you. Then again, maybe you’ll get lucky and you and Dyros can go into hiding somewhere for the rest of your lives, but can you enjoy the company of a murderer, and a man who would sell you out so easily just to save himself?”

Arik handed Kal a data-slate with a map on it, “Come to these coordinates when you break out. I’ll be waiting for you there.”

With that, the armoured man stuck the needle in Kal’s arm and his consciousness faded away.

When Kal woke up, he found everything as Arik said it would be. He used the thermite to melt through his cell door. As the alarms went off, he waited patiently in his cell for the sentries to group up and head through the door before throwing the first EMP grenade and disabling them. He continued through the next 2 layers of fortifications with similar ease, eventually making it outside where he stole a police transport using a start-up sequence that had been included on the data-slate Arik gave him.

The dropship activated and automated systems took over. It flew itself over a park as the engines began to overload. Kal tried to stabilize them, but it seemed that it was happening on purpose. Eventually, they overheated and the dropship began losing altitude. It was then that Kal noticed a blast protection suit in the co-pilot seat. He scrambled to put on the suit, just managing to throw on the helmet as the dropship crash-landed in the park. The suit softened the blow, and Kal stumbled out of the wreckage, suddenly realizing where he was based on the landmarks the map which Arik gave him had shown to him.

He found his way to the sewers, and managed to slip away as the sound of pursuing sirens began to grow in intensity as other police units closed in on the crash site.

Eventually, Kal found Arik waiting for him. He was geared up in matching armour to the squad of men surrounding him.

Arik smiled as he saw Kal, “I knew you’d make the right choice. Let’s get started, shall we?”

Admiral Goro, House Tokugawa - Commander of the Europa Incursion Fleet
Rear Admiral Shun, House Tokugawa – Commander of the 3rd Light Flotilla, Europa Incursion Fleet
Captain Kyo, House Tokugawa - Commander of The Dragon of Pallas
Fleet Admiral Harlon, Republic Navy – Commander of the Republic Heavy Fleet
Rear Admiral Gaius, Republic Navy – Commander of the 21st Carrier Squadron, Republic Heavy Fleet
Captain Severan, Republic Navy – Commander of The Eternal Flame

The Dragon of Pallas – expecting the inhabitants of the belts to have little with which to defend themselves, Horus sent one of its most advanced battlecruisers to retake several key asteroids. The battlecruiser featured a revolutionary design of Jump Drive – one that could warp in an entire fleet. Horus hoped that their demonstration of military power would rally people to their cause at an earlier time when they were still on the rise. There was a drawback, however, in that the Jump Drive required fleet ships to come close together so as to enter into the envelope of the Drive’s warp effects, and it had a lengthy charge time. This flaw worked to the advantage of the defenders of Pallas on the day that Earth ships warped in. Having brought few escorts, the CEU defenders made short work of the escorts, and managed to cripple the ship while it attempted to recharge its drive and retreat. House Tokugawa later re-purposed the ship, and it became the flagship of Admiral Goro’s Fleet.
The Eternal Flame – The flagship of the Republic Heavy Fleet, this was the most up to date and advanced model of the Kestrel II Dreadnought in its day. Its most notable feature apart from other ships of its class was the inclusion of a fully internal Jump Drive.
The Purifier – A Phoenix II class Drone Carrier, The Purifier served as the command ship for Rear Admiral Gaius, who used it and the carriers in his squadron to support the Republic Heavy Fleet with key strike craft.


Admiral Goro stood in the CIC of his command ship, The Dragon of Pallas, observing the space battle going on in the distance. In front of him was a display of the icy moon of Europa. Several blue triangles floated in the centre of the display, with a green on in the middle designating the position of his ship. Several centimetres to the right, representing distances of several kilometres, was a fast moving formation of blue triangles in white outlines – the third light flotilla, under the command of Rear Admiral Shun.

The last few days had been spent hunting down the Phoenix Shrikes and what little escorts they came with. For all their flaunted military prowess and propaganda, Goro had found himself sorely disappointed when he finally went into battle against the Republic. Shrikes would appear and take down Harbingers, and then would quickly disappear, depriving him of any satisfying target. On occasion he tasted battle, but most of the time the kills came by way of AAI pilots that had joined the fleet with their advanced strike craft.

Now, Goro watched as one such hunt for Shrikes took place. Several had been sighted in this sector of space, presenting a threat to a landing of CEU troops that would be taking place later in the day. Goro’s honour demanded that he clear such a path, though he himself cared nothing for ground troops, as he believed that full scale bombardment of Europa into a lifeless rock was a far more effective use of resources. However, CEU politics had prevented him from having his way, so here he was, hunting shadows.

“Wolf pack sighted. Moving to engage” Shun’s voice over the intercom cut through the silence, “We had a few missiles fired at us, but we managed to jam their tracking.”
“Let’s get this over with. Send AAI to do what they came here for” Goro replied.

Several orange triangles appeared from the 3rd Light Flotilla’s icons, and they moved towards the red ones representing the Phoenix Shrikes. One of the red icons turned towards an X, designating a kill. The other two disappeared.

“Blast” spat Goro, “They run every time!”
“They can’t have gone far.” Replied Shun, “Our tactical readouts showed them as low on energy. They must be at the end of a patrol, and will need to---“
“Admiral! Port Side” Shouted Captain Kyo. “The Shrikes have warped to our flank!”
“Are they in range?”
“No, Sir”
“Well then, make them be!” Goro shouted. “Shun, bring your ships back this way on an intercept course. Let’s finish them off!”

The floor lurched under Goro as Kyo’s crew activated the ship’s engines and brought it about in a manner that was typically too stressful for a ship this size, but the crew, like Goro, had grown impatient with their ghost hunting. Shun’s fleet disappeared from the display as they activated their jump drives, appearing within engagement range of the Shrikes moments later.

Shun’s ships unleashed a volley of fire at the closest shrike, obliterating it instantly. There was no sign of movement from the other one, and suddenly Goro felt a tug of apprehension in the back of his mind.

“Shun, get out of there!” Goro yelled.
“Sir, we are detecting a build-up of energy in the remaining Shrike.” Kyo cut in. “They are overloading their fusion reactor”

Just then, the remaining Shrike exploded in a bright flash and cloud of plasma. Nuclear weapons were far less destructive in space in the conventional sense, but they could bring crews lethal dosages of radiation if they were too close, and wreaked havoc on communications. As such, Goro saw his icons of Shun’s ships disappear. He knew they would not be destroyed, but the radiation was wreaking havoc with their ability to be detected. Shortly after, the display itself cut out. Goro and Kyo moved up to the Nav bridge of the ship to visually navigate, assuming that Shun and his fleet would do the same.

After several minutes, communications on the ships began to resume. Goro immediately called for a status report from Shun, but before he could get a reply Kyo interjected. “Sir, we are getting multiple incoming hostiles!”

“How far?”

Before Kyo could answer, Goro watched outside the windows of the bridge as several ships the size of his own warped into engagement range, coloured in the white and blue of the Republic. As if to drive home the point in some pre-planned theatric, the flagship of this fleet, a Kestrel II that Goro recognized from propaganda reels, appeared directly ahead and in the middle of the smaller ships. The Phoenix Navy had finally come to take Europa.

Admiral Harlon stood in the CIC of The Eternal Flame, viewing the display of the CEU ships before him. Neither side had fired yet, the CEU ships would doubtless be spending the time getting their targeting algorithms back to full operational levels since the nuclear EMP burst.

“Gaius reports his fleet is en-route. ETA ten minutes” Captain Severan announced from the crew pit below the Admiral.

Gaius’ fleet of carriers was instrumental in what was about to take place. Harlon had heard reports of the AAI fighters and what they did to Shrike cruisers. He was not about to begin a battle in which they would be allowed to be unchallenged by Phoenix counterparts.

“Blast, then it seems we must waste our most valuable tactical opportunity on stalling. Is their communication up?”
“Yes, sir” Severan answered.
“Send a transmission. If this Goro is as honour-bound as they say he is, hopefully he won’t turn down a personal challenge.”

The transmission went through, and the acceptance of it was confirmed by the image of Admiral Goro appearing on the display in front of Harlon.

“Admiral Goro, you and your house have committed acts of war against the Phoenix Republic by bombarding our civilian sites on the moon of Europa. The Navy will no longer tolerate this intrusion. Leave now, and no further hostilities will occur.”
As expected, Goro replied, “Your precious Republic oversteps itself, Commander. Europa belongs to no government. The Phoenix corporations of CDI and KUS have violated the laws of neutrality, and we intend to make you pay for this error.”

Harlon expected to get nowhere with this rhetoric, but he continued nonetheless, goading Goro into discussing politics in order to buy time. Finally, Goro cut him off and his ships began to move into attack positions.

“Well, couldn’t have lasted forever.” Harlon sighed. “Bring our broadside to bear. Battlecruisers, move to their flanks. All ships, fire at will.”

The Eternal Flame opened up with a massive volley at the escort ships closest to The Dragon of Pallas. Meanwhile, the Phoenix battlecruisers moved into their positions. Several Raptor II class ships moved to cut off CEU ships as they attempted to spread out into a firing line. Hammerhead class ships drove straight towards Goro’s flagship in an effort to draw fire away from their comrades.

The Dragon of Pallas began to charge towards The Eternal Flame. As he closed the distance, Goro pulled his ship up into a quick ascent to be directly above Harlon’s flagship. He rolled The Dragon of Pallas onto its side, and the broadside fired directly into the top of The Eternal Flame. The projectiles began to strip away the outermost layer of armour, while several of the ship’s downward engines were destroyed, creating hull breaches and leaking oxygen from the compartments beyond.

Captain Serevan ordered the railguns to fire at The Dragon of Pallas. While being directly on top of The Eternal Flame had allowed Goro to evade a large amount of turret firing arcs from the Dreadnought, it had also put him within line of sight of all six of its railguns. The gunners hit home at The Dragon of Pallas’ forward engines, crippling it instantly. The Eternal Flame sent its engines into overdrive, turning and driving into the centre of Goro’s main fleet.

Finally, Gaius’ fleet of carriers warped in out of engagement range. They launched their fighters immediately, sending them straight into the raging battle around Harlon’s flagship. Several of the CEU ships began to move away from their attackers, and Harlon gave pursuit. At the same time, Shun’s fleet was finally getting their systems back to full operation, having been hit the worst by the radiation.

Shun’s flagship and his escorts were all that remained. The other ships had seen their crews incapacitated by the intense burst of radiation, in spite of the shielding that was meant to keep them safe. He moved his fleet to protect Goro’s drifting flagship, while sending their remaining fighters to attack Harlon’s fleet.

Harlon was busy coordinate as many attacks as he could process, ensuring that the CEU ships were dealt with efficiently. AAI pilots entered the fray to fire their torpedoes at the battlecruisers, while PD systems and skilled Phoenix pilots shot down the projectiles before they could hit home. Still, some made it through, sending one of the Hammerheads drifting into a collision course with two CEU frigate class ships, causing all three ships to explode near-simultaneously. The railguns of The Eternal Flame worked to cripple faster CEU ships, allowing the Phoenix fighters to pick off the sitting ducks. However, they could only fire so quickly, and the AAI pilots began to coordinate with several CEU ships and see them destroyed. Both sides were seeing their resources diminish into a war of attrition.

“Sir, we are detecting a large build-up of antimatter from The Dragon of Pallas” One of the bridge crew interrupted.

Captain Severan leaned over the console and confirmed “They are warping out.”

Harlon switched his tactical view to a visual display. Shun’s ships had grouped in close to The Dragon of Pallas in an attempt to warp all their ships simultaneously. “Get me a trajectory.” He yelled to Severan.
“Analyzing…”
“Sir, they are heading straight for Gaius’ fleet.”
With their fighters all depleted into the main battle beyond, Gaius’ fleet of carriers were practically sitting ducks for the assault oriented ships that would soon be upon them.
“Activate our Jump Drive. 576, 433, -234” Harlon responded.
“Sir, that puts us directly-“
“I know what it does, Captain.”
“Coordinates locked in, sir.” Severan stated soberly. “Jump commencing in 10, 9, 8…”

Harlon returned his attention to the tactical display. He saw The Dragon of Pallas and its new fleet disappear from view, marking a jump. His display cut out a quick second after, marking the jump of his own ship.

Goro’s fleet came out of warp about 1 km away from Gaius’ ship. They were still very concentrated due to their pre-jump formation, along with the smaller ships that had attached themselves like parasites to The Dragon of Pallas in an effort to tow it into battle. Suddenly, The Eternal Flame appeared only meters before them. They had no time to react before The Dragon of Pallas and several of its escorts collided tremendously into the broadside of The Eternal Flame. A massive chain of explosions marked the end of the majority of ships involved, including the flagships of both fleets.

Several of the CEU ships attempted to surrender, but Tokugawa remained a majority of the fleet, and continued fighting until the end. Gaius and his carriers picked off the remaining ships from the mass collision, and then moved to group up with the remaining battlecruisers beyond. The carriers were not frontline ships, but the remaining CEU resistance was within their ability to handle.

After the battle, Gaius sent out encrypted transmissions back to Titan calling for reinforcements. They would be greatly needed in the battles ahead, as Tokugawa had proven to be an aggressive enemy with no intention of surrendering. He then waited with his fleet for the CEU landing forces later that day, but they never arrived. The Phoenix troops would finally get the break they needed.

The soft melodic tapping of the raindrops on my balcony window seem to be counting down the seconds until I have to leave my flat and venture off into this dark, unforgiving night. It’s always raining when I leave my place, or at least, it seems that way. The dim lighting in my neighborhood brings to mind corruption and danger, fitting seeing as I to happen to be corrupt and dangerous myself. Turns out I live just where I should…

I’m on my way to a meeting set by an old friend of mine. He didn’t tell me much about details, only an address and a “codeword”. He said I’d know when to use it. The address is to a frequently busy restaurant on a side alley nestled in between two towering office buildings, not exactly the place you would expect for such an operation. Walking down the streets I become more and more aware of the weight of it all, the weight of my eyelids, of my head, the weight of all the death left in the wake of my designs. All of this pushing me down into Earth's crust, pushing me to find a way out, a way to leave it all behind. The answer lies a few hundred meters ahead of me.

It all started at a young age, the fun and freedom of childhood stolen from me at the age of 10 due to having a higher IQ than the majority of classmates. I could never understand how being smart was a punishment, how it could lock me into permanent servitude. It’s strange that in order to have free will on this planet it's better to be unintelligent. A shadow ahead of me lurches into movement, causing a cold rush of fear to run up my spine.

“Just a cat… calm down, you’re ok”

This all makes me crazy, everything is putting me on edge lately. Even the failing facades of the building unnerve me. Latest reports from the news claim we have the highest crime rates in this city. The crumbling sidewalks and eroding buildings with their boarded up windows drive this statement home even further. "I hope I make it to this place in one piece”

Suddenly, almost as if the atmosphere of the night wanted to keep that thought at the top of my mind, a police siren wails the next block away. A gunshot then is followed by some manic laughter, far too loud to be the next block over. I look around trying not to seem frantic, nothing to my left or in front of me, the alley I need to make it to is now just 200 meters to my right, and the restaurant just 50 down that. I look over my shoulder, and that's when I saw him completely enveloped in a shadow cast by an awning I had just walked under not even a minute ago.

The light above the man flickers on, flashing in an odd manner in his left hand, a knife then. Without even thinking about it my legs are moving faster than before, hurtling me towards safety, towards my way out. The rain gets louder, drumming against the top of my head. All sounds start to fade, all but my heartbeat. I can’t turn around and see where he is, too afraid to do that.

In the back of my mind I can almost feel his breath on my neck whispering in my ear.
“Death is coming, death always finds you”

100 meters to safety, I run harder pleading with my legs to give me more strength. 50 meters now, he’s closing on me. This time I do feel his breath, I smell the pungent aroma of chewing tobacco. “Just keep moving, you’re so close”. Now I'm 25 meters away pushing even harder, using the last of my anger at the ESC to gain some distance on the attacker. 10 meters, I can hear the people chattering inside, I can smell the food wafting through the cracked windows.

The few people outside the door take notice of me as I’m rushing towards them with sweat dripping down my face. I peer over my shoulder again and he’s gone, gone like he was never there to begin with. I slow to a brisk walk and check the time, 10 minutes left before the opportunity of freedom vanishes from me. I open the door in front of me with the words “Salt and Fire” etched into the glass.

Inside, my senses are overloaded by the sights and smells of the restaurant: a dark, almost crypt like feeling encompasses the place, followed by the smells of burning hickory and steak, whiskey and cigars. Not exactly the place you’d expect an agent of the glorious Phoenix republic to hide, and that is what made it the perfect place. Quickly, I'm brought back to reality as a man steps in front of me.

“Can I help you?” He asks gruffly

“Yes, I was told this is the place to go if you needed to escape the outside world” I reply, using the code-word I was provided.

At that, everyone in the place stops talking and begins to stare at me. The blinds come down over the windows, everyone starts moving about in practiced movements. The man places his hand on my shoulder and pushes me forward towards a corner table. A man leans forward into the light. I wouldn’t have noticed him if not for that. The moment I sit down he starts the conversation as if I’d been sitting there the whole time.

At last, freedom has come my way { } will assist me in my escape off world and will house me in a location until I can be { } and given a chance to start a new life. I walk out the door refreshed by the news, now the only thing left to do is to get home safely and wait it out.

Liri awoke to the sound of fighters flying overhead. They had just broken the sound barrier, unleashing a powerful boom across the Academy grounds. She had been dreaming of the training session a few days ago, when they had practiced live fire testing. The sonic-boom of the fighters overhead occurred at such a time that it caused her to dream of her fighter exploding after a missile impact. She jumped up from her bed, awaking to realize what had actually just happened.

She checked the chronometer; it was 2405 Martian Standard Time, almost at the days end. Of course, here on Titan it was 0700 in the morning, but Liri kept her watch on Martian time, and liked to mentally convert it to Titan time as she went about the day. Her watch was given to her by her father, who was one of the original colonists to flee Mars. He often told her stories of the red planet, and she kept the watch to remind her of that heritage.

Getting out of bed, she put on her uniform and polished her insignias and boots. She would look pristine for this day, because this would be the day that everyone would be watching. Her father, Marius, had been a pilot for one of the corvettes that flew past the Earth blockade during the Mars civil war. He had continued flying the ship even though he had been shot in the stomach by a soldier while he was boarding the vessel. Medical teams tried to persuade him to come with them, but he insisted that he stay in the cockpit until they had breached the blockade. By the time he had succeeded, he had blacked out from blood loss, but autopilot was able to take over that point. He met Liri’s future mother in the med bay, and the two were married when they arrived on Titan.

As the daughter of a hero, and a member of one of the wealthiest families within the PFS state, everyone was expecting great things from Liri. She carried the burden willingly, appreciative of the opportunity to exceed their expectations. Under her father’s recommendation, she had taken up the path of piloting for the Navy, but found small craft much more her style than the larger ones her father had flown. Today, she would prove just how skilled with interceptors she had become.

She walked towards the grand assembly hall where the instructor would be waiting for the flight cadets to arrive for their final exam. The procession was a long hallway of cathedral like arches, illuminated by blue lights in recessions between each arch, in contrast with the orange sky of Titan beyond. Phoenix banners fell from the ceiling between every other arch, creating a proud display of nationalism. The cadets were filing out of their dormitories into the main assembly hall. Along the way, Liri was met by a man in a long, white overcoat with navy trim and the logo of PFS below the left shoulder – her father.

“Are you ready?” Marius asked as he embraced her.
“Of course, I have been training for this my whole life”
“What is the acceleration of the StrF MAN AC4?”
“26.79 m/s^2, Father. And before you ask, the mass is 32,587kg, it has 4 autocannons thus the designation AC4, supplemented by 34 containers for ammunition, fuel, and oxygen. But none of that matters today, we already passed the written exam.”

“Of course, I am just making sure you are awake.” He said with a smile. Marius then leaned in to speak to her more softly, “They will all be watching you today. They are expecting only the best from you, and I’m sorry you have to suffer the burden of my legacy, but I have every bit of confidence in you. Regardless, whatever happens, your mother and I will always love you more than anything. You are more valuable to us than any honour the corporation can bestow upon our family.”

Liri nodded, simply replying, “I love you” her father returned the sentiment with a kiss to her forehead, and she was off to the assembly area.

The room was built in a similar architecture to the processional hall, but it was built like any auditorium, with walls that narrowed as they approached the stage, which was flanked by the banners of each of the corporations represented by the cadets who had made it this far. In the middle, behind the stage, was the banner of the Republic, its dark blue-black colour making a stark contrast to the white stage and podium where the overseer would soon be addressing them. The family members of the cadets were seated in the balcony, with the cadets on the main floor.

The auditorium suddenly became very silent as the cadets saw the overseer walk in. The cadets stood in a salute as he walked up to the podium, only being re-seated when he finally returned the salute. Overseer Davrus was a strict but fair man, whose face showed the signs of having spent a whole life in service of the Navy. Above his chiselled features, his short, white hair was swept back into a very formal look. He wore a ceremonial uniform for this occasion, a white Navy uniform tunic with Black pants. On his left breast were multiple flight commendations, medals, and wings, again alluding to his long career and verifying his qualifications for overseeing the training process.

“Welcome, cadets, and congratulations on making it this far” He began, “As you know, today marks the final rite of passage for becoming a full-fledged pilot for the Navy. As I’m sure you are also aware, the nature of this exam is highly competitive. There are 50 of you now. Only 20 of you will move forward.”

At these words, many of the cadets visibly flinched. “We have purposely kept the nature of this final exam a secret from you until this point.” He continued, “Real combat does not give you time to prepare, so you should not have that advantage when attempting to prove to us that you are ready for it.”

A hologram of an asteroid-like moon came into view: Hyperion. The cadets knew the place; they had been training in trenches and fire exercises throughout the months leading up to this moment.

Davrus continued, “Your squadrons will fly out of Titan’s atmosphere into a live fire test along Trench #34. You will find the obstacles here to be far more intense than any you have encountered so far. Your craft is not expected to remain online during this simulation, as there is far too much EMP fire. Your goal as a squadron is to survive as long as you can. That is the first part of the test. The second part is the more difficult. You will be ejected from your craft as soon as it is struck by a lethal EMP blast. At this point, you must successfully stop your forward momentum, slowing your velocity down so that you are pulled back down by Hyperion’s low gravity. Upon arriving on the surface, you will need to regroup with your squadron as much as possible, find a way to get comms operational, and relay for a rescue team to extract you. Bear in mind, this part of the test does pose a real threat to your life. Your oxygen supply is limited, so we will be monitoring your status carefully throughout the exam. If you fall into a critical level before you succeed, you will fail the exam and an emergency team will evac you before you black out.”

“Should you have any questions, address them with your respective flight officer. You have one hour before the test begins. Dismissed.”

The cockpit lit up as Liri opened its canopy and entered in. Blue coloured display screens flashed into life, showing the armament, countermeasures, avionics and fuel status of the Mantid fighter. She keyed in the start-up sequence, and felt more than heard a low hum fill the cockpit as the plasma engines came to life. She checked her suit seals, and linked up her suit to the fighter’s oxygen supply in order to conserve her personal oxygen reservoir. Everything was ready, now all that was left was to wait for the flight officer to give the all clear.

They would approach the testing grounds in waves of 5 at a time – the same squadrons they had been training with throughout the whole course. Each squadron was made of 5 fighters, with 1 of the 5 acting as the leader. Festus was the leader of Liri’s squadron. He was from the Huygens state, and was always rather arrogant about his scientific upbringing. Liri had done her best to put that aside, preferring to focus on her duty to her own state and let that motivate her. Other members of the squadron were Erioch, Festus’ wingman from the same state, and Tarl and Yarl – two twin brothers from the TVSI state. The fact that Liri was the only PFS member of a squadron flying PFS fighters meant that expectations were even heavier on her to exceed the skill of her squadron members.

The fighters tilted back as the launch pads turned to point them towards the sky. The flight officer gave the all clear, and they shot off full throttle into the atmosphere.

Escaping Titan’s gravity was nowhere near as difficult as the feat of escaping Earth which early spacecraft had to do, but it still came with heavy G-forces that weighed down on the pilot significantly. Liri fought to keep her hands on her flight stick as the forces tried to push her arm back into her seat. Finally, the squadron broke the atmosphere, and a feeling of weightlessness began to set in. Staying coordinated in space was always more challenging. Pilots could no longer hear the hum of their squad mate’s engines, and they were forced to rely solely on visual contact and radar. Additionally, only their instruments gave them any sense of direction, as there was little reference to go off visually. The pilots set their engines to idle, and plotted an intercept course to coast towards Hyperion.

Liri began to drift off and enjoy the view of Saturn’s rings outside her canopy window. Titan was on the light side of Saturn this time of its half-month, giving them a perfect view of the gas giant as the sunlight passed through the rings and into the abyssal gas clouds beyond. Liri had never been to Saturn, only heard stories of the gas miners and the tales of how some had gone too far down only to find themselves trapped by pressure and gravity and unable to escape.
Her reminiscence was cut short by a young and over-eager voice over the comm, “All right everyone, there’s the trench, let’s get through this as fast as possible. Don’t slow down for anything, and stay as close to each other as you can. If you get shot down, radio your coordinates immediately before your comms cut out.”

Voices rang out in acknowledgement of Festus’ orders, and the whole squadron started into a dive maneuver, following the fighter in front of them. Pulling back on their flight sticks, they began to ascend and then roll, still pulling back, into a nose dive. It was a maneuver that was entirely unnecessary in space, but Festus enjoyed theatrics and trying to relive the tales of atmospheric dive bombers in wars long passed.

The maneuver did have its payoff; the fighters were quickly locked on by EMP missiles as they descended straight toward the surface. Once they came within a distance that was a bit too close for Liri’s liking, they pulled straight up 90 degrees to place their noses horizontal in relation to Hyperion’s surface. The bottom engines shot out in a fury, rapidly decelerating the fighters to prevent their momentum carrying them into the moon’s surface. At the same time, the forward engines of the fighters shot them ahead at full force. The missiles that had been trailing the fighters had already begun to curve into a nose dive as they followed the fighters, and now the quick vertical deceleration and forward horizontal acceleration of each fighter was too quick and caused the initial wave of missiles to crash into the moon’s surface.

The fighters continued into Trench 34, weaving in and out of cracks with expert precision. On the edges of the trenches, flak turrets began firing down at them, but the squad had dealt with this kind of opposition before, and they managed to analyse the firing patterns and weave in and out of the bursts before they happened.

At one point, the floor of the trench dropped out underneath them, placing the squadron above a floor of laser turrets. A grid of light shot up into the sky, and began to pinpoint the individual fighters as they flew over.

“Don’t let them keep a bead on you, they’ll overheat your engines” Festus yelled over the comm. Each fighter was forced to maneuver dangerously close to any obstacle of cover they could find just to get a break from the heat of the lasers for a time. Amidst the chaos, Tarl’s engines overheated, and he pulled into a quick ascent to make room for his ejection and slow his velocity. Erioch was next, who radioed his coordinates before his comms went out with a static buzz.

“Well, at least they’ll have each other” Yarl commented as the three survivors moved on through the laser grid. They came rapidly towards a cliff wall, and pulled a hard ascent up its traverse, eventually coming out of the laser grid field. The next obstacle proved to be even harder. A narrower trench lay before them, with laser grids inside of it. The three weaved their way through each of the defence lines, until Festus overestimated himself and went into a barrel roll, sending him scraping against a cliff wall, and he barely had time to eject before his fighter disintegrated against it.

“Looks like it’s just us now” Yarl commented, “That crazy idiot had it coming, though”

Liri fought to suppress a laugh. She knew that the whole was more important than any dislike of an individual she might have. The trench opened up again into a larger field, this time with a mixture of flak cannons and scatter cannons on both sides, with missile launchers staring them straight in the eye at the end of the traverse.

The two quickly found themselves in the midst of a chaotic crossfire, with EMP rounds flying past their canopies, illuminating their cockpits with an electrical blue glow. Both of them were getting hit by stray rounds, but so far no lethal blows had been struck. Liri guided the two of them through a relatively low part of the traverse, affording them a small amount of desperate cover. Suddenly, the missile launchers came to life, firing multiple waves of EMP warheads straight at them. She opened up with her auto cannons to shoot down a few of the oncoming missiles, but a remaining group targeted Yarl and went straight after him. Liri gunned her engines, placing herself in front of Yarl and taking the missiles instead of him. It did little to help, however, as he already had begun to panic and dove into the floor of the trench to come to a crash landing. Liri was hit on the underside multiple times by EMP warheads, the impacts disabling her craft and sending it into a spin.

She disconnected herself from the ship’s oxygen supply, resealing her suit’s connector. She then fought against the G-forces of the spin to reach for the ejection switch, and the canopy was jettisoned into the void while the solid rocket engines below her seat fired into life, scorching the area around her in a fiery red haze. She had successfully left her fighter, but she was still ascending away from the moon, and Hyperion’s miniscule gravity did little to help slow her down. Only a few kilometres more and it would no longer be able to help her. She struggled to unbuckle her harness in the disorienting chaos of her wild spin. Finally, she decided to go ahead and ignite her jetpack’s dampeners, which burned their way through the harness, freeing her from its grasp. She slowly began to decelerate, and eventually began falling ever slowly towards the moon.

Liri guided herself to where she could see the wreckage of Yarl’s fighter, and met up with him when she arrived at the surface. They needed a way to get radio transmissions out, and fast. Oxygen would only last about an hour longer at this point. For the purpose of the exercise, personal transmitters had only been handed to the squad leader, who was several kilometres down the trench. Suits were given downgraded radios that could only transmit 1 km. The intent was to simulate the harsh conditions of operating behind enemy lines or any other worst case scenario. They would have to find their own way to contact Titan.

“What about your fighter’s radio?” Liri asked.
“Already tried it, I think some of the wiring was damaged in the crash and I can’t get it to come on.”
“It’s our only shot” She said simply, and walked over to sit in the cockpit of the grounded fighter. While she was growing up in PFS, she had spent numerous days at the shipyards and learned much about how PFS fighters were built. Liri began to work with the wiring until finally the radio flashed into life, only to quickly die afterwards. The quick burst of life had managed to play a distinct warning tone that told her all she needed to know – the emergency battery was drained. “Must have been those stray EMP rounds that were hitting us. Guess they did more damage than we thought.” She thought for a minute, then began prying the battery from its casing in the cockpit.

“What are you doing?” Yarl asked.
“It’s dead anyway, our best hope is to see if we can leech power off of one of the nearby defence turrets. In the meantime, see if you can still access your fighter’s oxygen supply.”

Yarl nodded, and then checked the system “I won’t be able to get a read on how much oxygen is left without the electronics, but because it’s pressurized we can still use the air pressure to operate the system manually. Here, take my canister with you as a backup. I’ll stay here and link up to the fighter’s reservoir.”

Liri nodded, took Yarl’s canister and the battery, and went off to find a nearby turret. After a little less than an hour, she came across the nearest turret and began tapping into its supply. The turret wouldn’t be willing, of course, so she had to grind open the outer casing and cut the power line. Sparks flashed in Liri’s face as a live wire started surging into the nearby metal. She managed to quickly throw the wire into the battery’s recharge port, and watched as its charge indicator lights turned to a full blue bar.

Oxygen warnings flashed against her helmet, and she replaced her canister with Yarl’s.
As she was nearing the fighter, the low oxygen warning again flashed on her helmet. Yarl’s tank had not been full when he gave it to her, and the trip back to the fighter had taken about a half-hour, using up most of the remaining oxygen.

As Liri attempted to plug the battery back into the fighter, she suddenly found herself unable to remember which wire went where. Oxygen deprivation was beginning to take its toll on her mind. Yarl commented to her that he could feel the pressure of the fighter’s tank begin to drop as well, but she barely acknowledged his voice in her helmet. She took as deep of breaths as she could, fighting to maintain awareness, and slapped the final wire into place.

The radio came on with a static, but Liri could not remember the frequency anymore. Yarl noticed her hesitation and leaned over to type it in himself. Davrus’ voice came over the comm as it was relayed into their helmets.

“Yarl? Liri? What are your coordinates?”
“40 km down trench 34. Crash landed near the approximate center of a flak, scatter, and missile launcher crossfire area.” Yarl replied “Wait, I can see numbers on the defence walls at the edge. T34-04C”
“Acknowledged, sending a team in now. Hang in there” Davrus responded.

Liri began to drift into a half dream state, her mind was barely aware of her surroundings any longer, and she dreamed that she was falling through the atmosphere of Saturn as she looked up toward the planet in the sky.

“Hang in there, Liri” Yarl told her. The words echoed through her dream as though they were being spoken by a miner trying to keep her from falling into the abyss of the gas giant’s clouds. She imagined herself hanging onto a tether from a floating mining platform, and held on for dear life despite the pain in her hands from gripping it so tightly. Suddenly, a bright light flashed into her eyes – in reality, the rescue ship had arrived and a team was extracting her and Yarl. She dreamed that she was being pulled in by the tether back to the mining platform, as a black haze began to cloud her vision and shut out the light completely.

Liri woke up in the bed of a med bay, her father sitting in a chair next to her reading a data slate of the latest news.

“Ah, good. You are awake” her father said as he saw her rise up.
“How long was I out?”
“A few hours, give or take” was the reply.

Just then, the med bay door slid open. Overseer Davrus walked in, followed by a man in a Navy Officer’s uniform. His insignia identified him as a flight commander, but he stayed in the background as Davrus approached the bedside.

“How did I do?” Liri asked

“Well, we were impressed by your actions after Festus was shot down. You managed to keep Yarl alive for quite a ways, managing to make it almost all the way through zone 4. Most don’t make it past zone 3. Your usage of the turret’s power was also very resourceful, though I don’t know if the Navy enjoys having their property vandalized” he said with a hint of laughter. “However, you did manage to succumb to oxygen deprivation, causing Yarl to have to intercede to ensure that you both made it out. You also blacked out upon being rescued, which since you did make it to the rescue is not an automatic failure, but hurts your grade significantly.”

Davrus paused for a minute, allowing Liri to take in what was said, “Void survival is a very difficult and most demanding skill, and it takes years to learn and a lifetime to master… However, I believe you are going to have plenty of time to continue honing your skills with your new instructor.”

At that, the officer in the back walked forward and introduced himself. “Greetings, Liri. I am Commander Wolfe of the 22nd Interceptor Squadron, Republic Home Fleet. Welcome to the Navy.”

December 14, 2099. Muro-Saurian Industries executive complex, Chicago.

Join Horus. For Earth, for humanity.
Make us strong again.

With the silent hiss of magnetic coils the door slid shut behind Secretary Abrams as he came to a crisp stop before the desk of Corporate Premier Bahram Aristides.

“Sir”. He Inquired.

“Yes Abrams?”, replied the premier: slowly, wearily; not looking up from the holographic river of data flowing before him.

“You’ve read the reports”. Phrased hardly as a question.

“Yes I have”. A pause, then almost as an afterthought, “Abrams”.

“The LEU contract was cancelled today“.

“I know”.

“This isn’t good Sir, we dropped another hundred points after the announcement”.

“I know”.

“The board is in uproar Sir, even with your emergency powers they demand your immediate resignation”.

“Yes Abrams. I know ”

The haptic tapping of the premier’s datastream came to a stop and for an eternity of a moment the room was silent.

“Sir? do you have anything to say?”

The crisp sunlight of a winter morning struck through the carbon haze of a thousand assembly plants and danced shadows around the immaculate office.

Suddenly, and without moving his gaze the premier spoke.

“You know, Abrams", He stated solemnly. "They call for me in the streets. Today I am a traitor, a weakling, a disgrace to my planet, many things I was not before”. The scrolling text between them seemed to captivate him for a second until he shook his head and sighed. To Abrams it seemed the edges of a sad smile had crept onto the margins of the old man's face.

“I am not a loved man”. He declared.

They watched as a transport lay a streak of blue-gold across the skyline.

“Sir.” Hesitant to break the silence, and perhaps so much more, “I believe there is only one option before us”.

A sigh; then, reluctantly, “So it seems”.

“Then will you sign the treaty?”.

The text had stopped scrolling and as the universe collapsed into entropy it seemed once again to have captured the attention of the premier. After what might have been a long struggle he pulled himself away from the comforting glow.

“My answer remains the same”

A metaphorical bead of sweat ran down the secretary's brow.

“But sir. You must sign the treaty" A hint of desperation seemed to creep through the cracks in Abrams’s formality. “Our orbital drive yards, our vehicle crews, our software; Horus needs them, desperately!" His voice hit a manic note. "We can strike a deal that will guarantee the security of this company for a century!”. The ghosts of professionality haunted his pleas and he faltered for a moment. “You... you understand the gravity of the situation, Sir. We are on the brink of bankruptcy, our assets will be liquidated and they will get what they want regardless of whether or not we sign". He paused, looking down at his shoes, uncertain of whether or not to continue. Then finding some well of emotion within him turned back to face the man who he had served faithfully for years. "Please Sir. For the sake of the company… for the sake of all of us”.

The premier lay his datapad down on his desk: carefully, as if worried about scuffing the computerized granite. And as he looked up, Secretary Abrams saw that his eyes were sunken and ringed by darkness, the wrinkles that had given steadfast dignity through a decade of tumultuous ownership now marking the sad inevitability of time.

“John…” his gaze finally lighting on the face of the man before him.
“We are at the edge that stands between humanity and oblivion”.
He spoke softly, distantly, as if he was simply too exhausted to flower his words.
“I will not cross that edge”.
There was a pause, and John Abrams found the sorrowful blue of the premier’s stare piercing into something deep and certain within him.
“Even if the cost is everything”.

And a year later, even as the first kinetic shells crashed into the Eastern Seaboard and it seemed that none of it had ever made a difference, he knew it was true.

My name is Admiral Aaz, and in just a few minutes, I will be dead.

Here in my quarters, I am spending these last few moments that I have to give to you the only clue I have time to communicate. I am almost finished scratching "C" into this table.

I wish there was more I could do, but my computer has a virus, just as I now do. If i type anything, it is instantly deleted. The intercom has been disabled, and the door will not open from the inside. I can only wait for you to arrive and open it yourself, but by that time it will probably be too late. I found a ceremonial dagger that I was awarded upon my promotion to admiralty, and it is how I will communicate this last message to you.

There, now to begin on the "R".

I would regret that I never kept any sort of 21st century writing instruments in my cabin, but I hardly have time to worry about that now. I no longer have the luxury of regret.

And if I did, it would be primarily focused on how I spent my final night. We made port around Ganymede after finishing our tour of duty on Europa. A quick stop to let the men get refreshed after the long war, and then we'd be on our way to Titan. The captain persuaded me into it, even though it went against regulations, and as Admiral I ordered the rest of our fleet to continue while I ordered the captain to fake engine troubles on our ship.

The "E" is finished...

There was a brothel in the colony there. It's illegal, of course, but you know how void sailors can be when they haven't been outside a steel hull in two years. One of them was a local and knew about the place. I wasn't about to stop them, I was stressed out myself and needed some relaxation. Besides, they'd have all the blackmail they needed against me after I invited Rhia, the girl I met, into my cabin.

I woke up this morning and dropped her off, per her request, on a shuttle back to Titan. She said she'd meet me there when we made port. She's probably there by now.

We started our own journey back, but we got intercepted by a black ship. Everyone knows what that means. Intelligence doesn't like to make itself known, so when they do anything so overt, you know you're in trouble. I knew they'd come looking for me, so I retired here, to my quarters, so as to keep my crew from being implicated. I've never known intelligence to be interested in prostitution, but if that's why they're here then I will at least accept responsibility for my actions.

That "E" took too long, the poison is almost done with me. I must hurry...

When I got here, I opened my laptop to find a message waiting for me. It was Rhia. She thanked me for my service to House Ramirez, and informed me of the poison now coursing through my body. It was waiting for me inside my vents, with my laptop as the trigger. Fortunately, I'm sure you'll be wearing rebreathers. That's standard boarding procedure for military.

"D" is done. Blast, I'm not even half way there...

I couldn't help but wonder why a spy targeted me, until I began to search my room to find my credentials missing. She'll use them to access a shipyard, no doubt.

The message on my computer deleted itself after it was finished, just like anything I attempted to type out. So i am trying to write "Credentials" on my table with this knife, as it's all I have time for. I hope you'll understand it.

"E" is finished...

The door will open soon, I can hear your men forming up on the other side. You got here sooner than I expected. If i can only hold on a little longer maybe I can-

---------------------------------------------------------

The door of the elevator opened, and the woman stepped forward into the security checkpoint.

She scanned her credentials, and the guard hesitated a moment before opening the next door for her and saluting.

"Welcome, Admiral Aaz. I must apologize, we were not expecting any visitors of your rank today."

The events of this story follow those of 'The Arrival' By Dark Lord

Admiral Gaius looked down at the tactical reports from the ongoing fleet operations. Frowning as the blue light illuminated his face, he turned and faced his window. As he stared, Europa stared back. The two stood there, locked in a battle of wills. The admiral knew that far below him, in the dust and sand of the god forsaken rock he now orbited, brave men and women were fighting for their lives. And he? He was stuck up here hunting shadows in the dark, losing lives to the dark of space. These CEU forces...this House Tokugawa...they were something else. Vicious. Aggressive. Fanatical. They were the cause of all this. Scowling, he turned away from the planet and threw his pad on the desk before walking out of his quarters. As he stepped out of the room, the light of Europa behind him, only one thought filled his mind: No more.

-------
72 Hours Previously
Location: The Purifier (Europa Orbit)

"Admiral. Our vanguard has reported back. What's...left of them anyway"

Looking up from the display, Admiral Gaius blinked in somber silence. For the past 3 weeks, he and the forces of the Republic's Heavy Fleet had been fighting for control of Europa's Orbit. Despite the victory upon their arrival as well as the destruction of the House Tokugawa flagship, he had failed to make any headway since. Every effort to fortify their positions on Europa was met with a swift counterattack from the CEU forces, which prevented any troops or supplies from landing. Every effort to hunt down the CEU strike force with their craft met with only more casualties. Straightening himself, the admiral looked around the bridge. Blue colored displays hummed with activity as the survivors approached. It was there, amidst the flurry of hands over consoles, the noise of the ensign announcing incoming casualties to the ship, and the dull buzz of the lights there was something. Looking around, the admiral felt it. He tasted it. In the air, in the walls, written in the lines of the crews' faces. Apprehension. That was it. And it was everywhere.

"Sir," a young ensign called out.
"What is it ensign?" the admiral quietly replied.
The ensign looked down at his screen, the words written in his eyes before he even spoke them, "I'm...sorry sir. The Spirit of Fire..she's not among the survivors."
A silence fell over the bridge, louder than any cry or scream that could be uttered. Eyes locked straight ahead, the admiral calmly asked with a voice like steel, "Lost?"
"Yes sir," the ensign replied softly, "a CEU gunboat...rammed her as she was lining up an escape vector. All hands l~"
"Thank you ensign." Gaius interjected, "If you need me I will be in Sickbay helping the survivors."

Turning, Admiral Gaius walked down the length of the CIC. As the door closed behind him, he heard was a young lieutenant say to his neighbor, "That was her ship."

--------
Present
Location: The Purifier (Europa Orbit)

He blinked as he walked through the ship's corridors. Crew ran past him with hurried salutes, downcast eyes, and barely contained pity. All the while, his thoughts drowned out with images of her final moments. Images he only could imagine. He approached the door to the CIC. He paused at the door, staring at the button to open it. With his breath held, he pressed the button and stepped in.

The familiar setting hit him. The hum of consoles, whirl of activity. For a second, no one on in the CIC noticed his arrival, his absence the past three days a sad routine. Orders, requests, and reports were passed to him through the captain. Yes it was war, but they understood. He needed space.

"Admiral on the bridge!"
Captain Tristan, commander of the ship, had noticed him. Across the CIC, every officer stood to attention and saluted. Saluting back, Gaius stepped forward and walked forward towards the main console. As he walked, a slow but steady round of applause burst out from the relieved crew. The Admiral was back. The war could continue.

Looking down at the display showing the fleet formation, Gaius began to give orders.
"Captain."
"Sir."
"Recall all hunting parties and patch these orders through to the fleet." Without turning, the admiral handed him a pad.
Looking down, Captain Tristan cautiously replied, "Sir. These orders...go against the orders of the High Admiral. Are you sure you wa~"
"Do it captain."

With the pad in hand, Tristan patched the orders to the entire fleet. With rapt attention, Gaius watched as the triangles on the display moved into a new formation. The voices of the crew, the noise of the consoles, the buzz of the ship all faded away as finally, like the piece of a puzzle, the Purifier fell into place.
"Patch me into an open com. I want the whole damn Jovian Gravity Well to hear me."
"Aye sir. You're patched in."

Standing tall, Admiral Gaius spoke. "Listen to me, House Tokugawa. I am Rear Admiral Gaius Valera commanding the Phoenix Drone Carrier Purifier. You claim to have honor. That you are retaliating for our aggression. I spit on your honor. I spit on your valor. You who bomb our troops from orbit. Who strike at our convoys and ships from the shadows. You judge us weak? After we sent your fleet back to the lawless belt it came from. After we set your flagship ablaze with our arrival. From where I stand, we are the honorable ones. We are the ones willing to fight. You think us weak? Come prove it. We'll be waiting."

Closing the comm, Admiral Gaius stepped back and watched the display. Waiting. All over the ship, throughout the fleet, crew and captains paused with bated breath.
Suddenly, a red dot appeared on the display. Smiling, Gaius called the fleet to action stations.

Within the void of space, the Heavy Fleet turned as one and faced the solitary corvette off their port bow. Soon, it was joined by another. And another. In seconds, an entire fleet of CEU ships jumped out of warp. Ships ranging from corvettes to the proud Falchion Support Cruiser formed up and began to advance on the outnumbered Phoenix Heavy Fleet.

In the CIC, captain Tristan frowned. "They replenished their losses quickly."
Nodding, Admiral Gaius responded, "It doesn't matter. Move the fleet forward. Have the destroyers and fighters guard the flanks of the Carriers and battlecruisers. Let them come to us, Captain."

A wall of gunfire and missile fire erupted from the Phoenix fleet, tearing into the brash and surprised CEU ships. Explosions rippled throughout the fleet as debris from the destroyed ships careened into their still intact brethren. With maneuverability on their side and advanced ECM systems, however, many of the vessels evaded the majority of the fire and kept coming. Elegant twists and turns brought them closer as the CEU fleet split in two and attempted to flank the slower moving capital ships of the Heavy Fleet. As one, the Heavy Fleet advanced like a movable wall. Shrike class hunter killers and Jormungandr Destroyers emerged from the flanks of the battlecruisers, and carriers, catching the CEU ships in their pincer.

Separated from each other, the two flanking groups attempted to pull back and regroup with the center. As they turned, bearing the brunt of incoming fire, a barrage of torpedoes screamed through the void from the smaller craft of the Heavy Fleet. In an effort to avoid the unguided projectiles, the CEU ships pushed hard to starboard and faced the main battle line again.

Faring little better than the two flanking flotillas, the heavy center group of the CEU fleet devolved into a vicious melee with the main battle line of the Heavy Fleet, using their superior maneuverability to their advantage. Across the starboard hull of The Purifier, a volley of missile fire erupted and crippled the weapons systems. Oxygen, crew, and equipment flew out from several gaping hull breaches as the ship began to list towards the port side. Rushing towards their flagship's aid, two hammerheads cut off a squadron of attack craft and absorbed heavy fire. In seconds, the center hammerhead exploded in a dazzling display of fire and debris, taking a falchion cruiser with it.

The CIC of The Purifier rocked with the explosive decompression of large areas of the hull. Sparks flew as power surges blew out displays and consoles while casualty reports poured in from all decks and the rest of the fleet. Captain Tristan looked at the admiral, blood from an injury to the head dripping down his face, "Sir! They're too fast. Our weapons won't hit them. The center is going to break! We need to act now!"

Gaius nodded, and looked at the display showing the battle. While the center line was marred in close combat, the two flanking flotillas were caught in a pincer by the destroyers and shrike classes, pinning them against the main lines' battle cruisers and allowing the artillery craft to pick them off one by one. He turned to Tristan and ordered, "Now captain!"

Behind the main line, on the port side of the carriers, hangar bay doors opened. Soon, small fighters and bombers rushed out and flew over and under the main line. In seconds, the crumbling center was reinforced as the CEU fleet found themselves flanked on all sides. Missiles, gunfire, and torpedoes begin a dazzling light show of rupturing reactors, exploding ships, and burning hulls as the Phoenix fleet began to tear into the CEU ranks. Boarding craft docked with ships crippled by artillery fire, and Foy Marines fought to eliminate, incapacitate, and take over critical ships.

Across the fleet, cheers erupted as the last, heavily damaged CEU cruiser jumped out. On the bridge of the CIC, amidst the smoke and sparks, the roar of exaltation could be heard over the comms and throughout the ship. Amidst the cheers, Admiral Gaius gazed down at the displays, expecting more. This couldn't be it. After all he'd been through. The lives lost. This couldn't...
"Admiral." Tristan spoke up, voice awash with relief, "The Foy Marines report that they've successfully hacked the computer systems of the captured Tokugawa ships. Communications between the survivors indicate that this was the majority of their strike force in the Jovian Gravity Well. We've done it sir. Europa Orbit is ours."

Looking down at the blue display, a soft sigh escaped Admiral Gaius's lips. Blinking through the smoke, a barely audible prayer could be heard over the sparks and cheers. Facing Captain Tristan, he asked with a voice laden with weariness, "Captain. Analyze their escape vector and patch it in with my report to the Admiralty and Minister. Let them know Europa orbit is finally ours and we'll begin deploying troops and supplies as soon as they arrive."
"Aye, Sir."
"And captain."
"Sir?"
"Let them know we'll be needing reinforcements. Europa Orbit may be ours now, but the tides of war can always change."
"...Yes, sir."

Turning to face the display, Admiral Gaius called up a view of Europa. Around him the crew slowly filed out of the damaged CIC to allow repairs to be done. Yet, Gaius stayed. A lone figure outlined in the glow of the planet below, his somber gaze cast down at the surface, a graveyard to more than just ships.