Chapter 3
Bridge of the HDE Invincible:
There were sirens blaring across the entire ship. Somebody had made an unscheduled launch in one of the crew's personal fighters. This didn't look very good.
"Commander, we have finally been able to isolate whose ship it was that left. It was Wing Commander Artus Somtaaw's."
"Damn. Find Commander Somtaaw and inform him of this."
"Uh, sir, that could be a problem as we can't seem to find him. I think that was him in that fighter."
"Why would he defect? That isn't like him. He's one of the most patriotic people in the entire ship."
"Yes, sir. I don't get it either. But what about the ship, sir? We can't seem to raise it on any comm. channel."
"Send out a small EMP probe task force. Maybe we can take him out without hurting him."
"Good idea. Dispatching probes now."
Four small ships similar in design to the old Taiidan probes from the Homeworld Wars but with larger engines and a small array attached to the front were launched from the carrier and headed straight for the fighter. AS they got close the fighter sped up until it reached maximum speed and then a strange blue gate appeared in front of the fighter and enveloped it. The probes flew right to the fighter and then stopped, there target gone.
"Sir, it appears he had a small Hyperdrive Module attached to his fighter. It has escaped us."
"DAMN! Retract those probes and get me Admiral Sirhaa Somtaaw. We need to tell him of this."
"Roger. Calling him now."
On the main view screen a middle aged man appeared.
"Ahh, if it isn't Commander Th'lan and his battle group finally reporting on what happened."
"Yes, we are sorry for the delay but we are sending out the exact information as we speak. The main reason we called is because one of our officers defected and entered hyperspace in a fighter before we could catch him. He was one of my best men."
"Hmm. Don't worry about that now. I'll handle that. How did the mission go?"
"Very well. We lost two Assault Frigates and a single Beam Frigate as well as some fighters but most of the pilots successfully ejected. All in all we lost forty of our men, thirty on one of our frigates that had no time to launch escape pods. All of the Taiidans in the system are dead. We caught one Bentusi alive and we interrogated him but he didn't tell us anything and died from the information extraction procedure. One thing to note is the same person that served as the interrogator was the same as the one that defected."
"Interesting. We will keep on a lookout for him. Now we need you to stay in that system and move under normal thrusters to an area of space a few AUs on a positive XYZ vector. Once there we need you to jump into the Skaarlot System. This should take about two weeks. We need you to jump from here as that is where the Taiidan base that you will be attacking usually gets reinforcements from."
"Aye, sir. Is that all?"
"Yes it is. Good luck and Godspeed."
With that said the image disappeared to be replaced with a tactical map of the system.
"Helm, you heard the man. Set your course. I'm going to be in my room if you need me."
Th'lan leaves the bridge and his number one, So'kar Manaan, took over.
Two Weeks Later:
The small fleet finally reached the location. It was an area with a large amount of asteroids and dust around it. It was also a very good place to hide as the asteroids and dust clouds fogged the sensors, which hadn't evolved as fast as the other Hiigaran technologies. At the specified time the fleet entered hyperspace bound for the Skaarlot system.
The Skaarlot System:
As the fleet exits hyperspace sirens start to blaze as sensors come on line. An enormous Taiidan fleet surrounded the small battle group...
Bridge of the HDE Invincible:
"My, god. They must have sixteen Heavy Cruisers. Four of them alone could destroy us. We don't stand a snowball's chance in the Great Desert against them. If we even tried they would fry us before we could take out a single frigate. We should surrender."
The other officers on the bridge where listening to Commander Th'lan talk. They silently agreed and then voiced their opinions.
"Yeah. We can't win against that."
"We don't have the firepower to even try to stand up to them."
"We're doomed..."
Everyone on the bridge seemed to agree with these statements. They seriously couldn't defy them and still live.
"Get me a comm. line to them. We need to negotiate the terms of surrender."
"Aye, sir. Line open."
As the Sensor Officer pushed the buttons on the control panel a view of a Taiidan officer. He seemed to be waiting for something.
"This is Commander Th'lan Nabaal of the HDE Assault Carrier Invincible. We would like to negotiate terms of surrender as we cannot stand against this force."
At the mention of "surrender" another comm. window opened. It was Commander Ortus Shir of the Heavy Cruiser Blockade.
"What are talking about, Commander? You will actually surrender to these, these barbarians!? I can't believe this, you're talking about surrender of a carrier to them! We can not let this be. All ships loyal to Hiigara, ATTACK!"
The Blockade and about three fourths of the Battle Group attacked the carrier. Over the comm. link there were shouts of "FOR HIIGARA!", "DIE, BLASPHEMOUS SCUM, DIE!"and other shouts against the crew of the carrier. Even on the inside there was a small fight among the gunners. Some targeted the ships that were helping the Invincible and others fired on the ships helping Blockade. Fighters were launched from the Carrier, swarming the Heavy Cruiser. They fired off their torpedoes and their IPCs. The battle waged on. Hiigaran frigates were destroyed by other Hiigaran frigates. And the battle waged on. Hiigaran fighters attacked Hiigaran fighters. And the battle waged on. Hiigaran destroyers attacked Hiigaran destroyers. And the battle waged on. A Hiigaran Heavy Cruiser attacked a Hiigaran Carrier. And the battle waged on. Hiigaran corvettes attacked Hiigaran corvettes. And the battle waged on. Hiigaran ships were destroyed by Hiigaran ships. And the battle waged on. Hiigaran fought Hiigaran. And the battle waged on. Brother fought brother, sister fought sister. And the battle waged on. And it continued until a Hiigaran destroyer fired on a Taiidan Destroyer. And then the battle stopped as Hiigaran ships blew up everywhere. The only Hiigaran ships that were left were the ones that had wished to surrender.
The battle ravaged the group. They were down to five Assault Frigates, three Ion Frigates, a single Destroyer, some strike craft, and the carrier. All of the ships were heavily damaged. The silence after the battle was deafening. Nobody would speak as what they had done dawned onto them. They had killed their own people. They had killed their friends. Their relatives. Their significant others. Everybody was in shock at what had happened. It was silent for over ten minutes before someone spoke. That someone was Commander Th'lan Nabaal.
"We have killed our own fleet. We have killed our brothers, our sisters. We have killed those who we loved. We killed the ones that we need the most. We killed our friends, our relatives. Some even killed their children. But the important thing is to survive. That is what we will do. We will survive. We will surrender to the Taiidans and have them do whatever they want to do to us. But we will survive. If they kill us as we surrender, we will still survive. The name of this ship symbolizes that undying will to survive. Our will to survive is what will keep us alive. If we forget, even for a second, then we are lost. Never forget that will you had today as it is what binds us as a people. If we forget our will to survive, then what's next? Our lives. That is what we would lose without this will. That is what our comrades that attacked us lost. That is what would have happened to us if we had lost it. Do not falter on the path of life as this will help you lose your will to survive. If any of you lose that will, then I pity you, as you will never know the true love of life until you live a full life. When you are an old man, when you have seen everything you wanted to see in life, then you can lose the will. But not today! Today we will not die. We will not go out in the black of the night! We will stand up for our life! If the Taiidans want us to die, so be it! We will not go down without a fight if that is what they want. But we will do it on our terms! This is not the place for a fight and it is not the time. It is the time to surrender. All of our ships are badly damaged and need to be fixed before we go into hyperspace and we can't activate the cloak. So we will surrender. But we will not lose the will to survive!"
His speech had raised the entire crew's spirit, as well as that of the rest of the fleets, and even that of the Taiidans. He had been transmitted on all frequencies and in all languages. There was a great cry of agreements coming from across the fleet and even from some of the Taiidans. Then another voice broke through. This one was very commanding. Much like the leader of a people.
"You would make a good politician, Commander Nabaal. I believe that we have some negotiations regarding your surrender. We would like to make them inside the outpost, during dinner. You and five of your crew are invited to come."
"We accept. We will come to it in an unarmed shuttle."
"Good. I can't wait for this."