Collection 59

Collection

Chapter 59

-VB-

Precentor Ryumi Han

Lucknow System

3005 October 11

This … was the best that both ComStar and ComGuard had to offer. 

And it was the best that they will be able to offer for years to come. 

Two Black Lion-class battlecruisers, two Cameron-class battlecruisers, two Aegis-class heavy cruisers, five Lola III-class destroyers, and five Dante-class frigates. 

This was the best that her people had to offer to test the “truth” of the Arlaoskas Union and their fleet while their Fleetmaster was away on vacation with the vast majority of their warships. 

The Victoria System now only had one fortress station and six frigate-class patrolling warships. 

It was … it was not a lot. 

Compared to Arlaoskas Fleet’s one hundred plus warships of varying classes and sizes, some of which boggled her mind still, this was nothing. 

But what they lacked in numbers, they made up for it with nuclear warheads. 

A whole thousand of them, in fact. 

Their mission was simple and straightforward as it came: engage the fortress station in combat, destroy it with minimal casualties to their side, and then jump back out with the help of the LF Batteries installed on every single ship of the fleet. No identifying evidence must be left behind for the Union to use against ComStar. 

Their purpose of their mission was less straightforward. 

This attack would be used to identify whether or not their current naval capacity would be able to defend against the Union if they sought to take Terra for themselves. And upon the destruction of this station, their job was to scavenge whatever technology that survives the explosion and bring it back to the Hidden Worlds for reverse engineering. 

Because every single fucking Scavenger Lord aimed for Terra sooner or later, and this new Leaguer-derived state wouldn’t be any different. Sure, the current ruler might not want to right now, but what about his successor? Their descendants? Hell, what happens if some other house came to prominence like it did with the Lyran Commonwealth? 

Whatever happens in the future, everything will always come down to Terra. 

“All ships are ready for your order, precentor,” her second-in-command spoke up.

Ryumi took a deep breath in.

She was not experienced. 

This, she knew and acknowledged. 

She could not defeat someone who accumulated hundreds of hours of live combat. 

This, she knew and acknowledged. 

She could not bring everyone back home.

This… she knew and acknowledged. 

“Jump.”

There was a brief flash of light -.

---

Demi-Precentor Joseph Miles

Victoria System

Joseph blinked the jump flash out of his eyes as he tried to get his bearings… and immediately heard screeching klaxons. 

“We got in 10 seconds behind the rest of the fleet! The fleet’s under attack!” the sensor officer shouted from further ahead of the bridge. 

Grimacing, Joseph looked up and saw the holographic map of the space around them. 

“Move up! We’re the shield that will keep the rest of the fleet safe from fighters and bombers!” 

He felt acceleration kick in and send him crashing back into the captain’s seat as Tomorrow’s Sunlight - a false name for his Dante-class frigate ISS Perdition - roared forward. 

As he moved forward, he began to receive orders from the precentor-admiral. 

[Screen Flank SB-H.]

Starboard-Horizontal. 

He grunted. Finally, he got his vision back together and saw what he and the rest of the ComGuard fleet was up against. 

And he winced. 

The enemy space station was a giant thing no more than five hundred kilometers away, and there was a whole swarm of ships flying around it. Where had those come from? Their HPG stations here reported that there were only six patrolling -.

‘Arlaoskas kept them all inside the station?!’ 

“How many contacts?” he demanded with a growl. 

“At least forty!” his sensor officer replied. 

“Our aerospace fighters?”

“Already released, sir!”

Then a blink.

His gaze snapped to half a dozen blink crossing the vast space between the space station and their position. 

“Enemy scouts incoming!”

“Shoot them down!” 

Naval Laser 55s, all twelve of them on his ship, opened fire. Blinding lasers silently roared across space. 

Lasers were the best weapons in space combat due to their lightspeed nature. Even then, some of the shots missed. 

“One down! There’s still five!” 

Other ships in the fleet kept shooting as they began to move in closer toward the space station. 

Why were they only sending half a dozen warships and at that fast a velocity? Were those even warships? Were they fighters? 

“100 kilometers!” 

Damn, they were closing the gap quickly. 

“Keep firing!” he shouted. “I don’t want those ships getting close to us!” He didn’t say out loud that there was a chance that those ships - warship or otherwise - might have nuclear bombs they might use the moment they got within range. 

“In range of autocannons!” 

“Fire!” 

His ship rumbled as its autocannons fired their payloads.

Still four remaining. 

Other ships fired, and finally, one more went down. 

And then there were two. 

“50 kilometers!” 

Disgustingly fast for how slow they had been just a few minutes before. 

At this range, missiles and other weapons opened fire not just from his ship but also from the other ships. 

One more went down when the duo crossed the 20 kilometer mark.

And then it was here. 

… It was a small ship. Agile, yes, but small. 

What did they expect a single ship to do against their fleet -?

Then he saw it. 

Before the holograms showed the change in position, he saw through the narrow viewport of the bridge as close to a hundred ships just zoomed across space at faster than light speeds and came up to the ComStar fleet right up to its face. 

‘Oh,’ he thought as the enemy ships opened fire. ‘We’re fucked.’

None of these ships were of the same size or appearance as the “Onslaught” Arlaoskas had shown off, but it didn’t matter with how mercilessly their lasers scythed ships apart, how their powerful autocannons punched holes into ships from stern to aft, and how numerous the attacks were. 

“Orders from the admiral! Jump out, jump out!” the communication officer shouted. 

“JUMP!” Joseph roared.

And the captain of the ship jumped. 

As the Perdition jumped out, Joseph noted that they hadn’t even managed to strike the space station. 

-VB-

Edward Arlaoskas

Victoria Fortress Station, Victoria System

3005 October 12

By the time I returned home to the fortress station, my AI officers and agents - my children, really - found out everything about the attackers. 

As I had suspected, it was ComStar and I had the bodies, their faces, and enough personal and ComStar-related items to prove it. 

So I did. 

I had my children send out the information to all of the Great Houses and Periphery states. To anyone willing to listen, really. 

I made it clear to everyone that ComStar’s previous attack on me had not been an accident. That ComStar was behind this attack, too. That ComStar will come for them if they were allowed to survive. 

Along with this, I made sure my declaration was sent out. 

My war against ComStar and anyone else who stood in my way. 

---

‘...and here I declare from Victoria that the Arlaoskas Union is now at war with ComStar! The deceivers shall fall to ruin at my hands and no one will stand in my way! By the time I am done with them, either Terra burns or it will no longer be under ComStar’s purview!’

-Official declaration of war by Arlaoskas Union’s First Fleetmaster Edward Arlaoskas

---

Official Count for the Slaughter at Victoria (3005)

Arlaoskas Union

5x Slasher frigates lost

ComStar Fleet

1x Black Lion-class battlecruiser lost

1x Cameron-class battlecruiser lost

2x Aegis-class heavy cruisers lost

4x Lola III-class destroyers lost

4x Dante-class frigates lost

‘This is the first naval engagement in which footage of “microwarp” capabilities of the Arlaoskas ships survived the battle to fall into non-Union hands. Their ability to “warp” in normal space had already given the Arlaoskas Fleet a vast technological advantage strategically and tactically, but the reveal of “microwarp” now solidified their naval combat capability as unassailable. 

‘Think for a second what they could do. As long as they had one of their allies far enough distance away, they could warp into or away from a fight. And in fact, this was exactly what they did over Saturn when they first encountered ComStar’s SDS warships…’

-Crown Prince Hanse Davion to his brother's advisors, generals, and admirals. 3005 November 10, Mount Davion.