Having been denied their initial target, the Free Galactic/ Galaxy Resistance moved its fleet through open space and into the massive asteroid belt that stood between the system’s star and the only planet in said system. The scouts had already found a decently sized path through the belt, but the ships would have to tighten their formation and move in a serpentine way to avoid the larger and more dangerous asteroids. The hope of these terrorists was that they could use the asteroids as cover to mask their approach towards the Arcadian mining stations, and apparently it did not occur to them that the handful of navigable paths through the belt would be monitored.

It could be said that the reason that they were so clueless was that the scouts had done a rushed job, but this would only be one of the reasons for their inevitable failure. Of Arcadia’s Mobile Suit Golems, some of them were less combat oriented and geared more towards other means. The most common of these ‘support-type’ MSGs were those who had EWAC systems built in. These systems drew power from sources that would otherwise be unrestricted, and this made EWAC-type MSGs slower and prevented them from using certain weapons.

But the job of an EWAC-type Mobile Suit Golem is not to actively fight an enemy, but instead to support its allies by providing an early warning and by monitoring the opponent from afar. As you might imagine, in an asteroid belt as massive and as dangerous as the one in the El’gan system, sensor readings can be easily messed with and the distance between asteroids could be smaller than even that of a standard corvette, thus the beyond numerous EWAC-type MSGs were extremely useful in that environment. This fact (among others) would come into play as the FGR fleet began its long, winding maneuvers through the belt, and all the while they were being watched by tens of hidden photoreceptors and other sensory systems.

…

“Eyes up, everyone! I want every free body to be watching the rocks out the viewports! Don’t know where or when or if the damnable Arcadian mongrels are going to strike!”

The rest of the crew sighed and followed their orders. It was not as though they didn’t understand the reasoning behind their captain’s command, it was just that they didn’t feel that those directions were necessary. There was barely room for a strike craft to maneuver between the asteroids out there, let alone a warship. Sure, their captain had lived through a few battles against the Arcadian monsters, but if there was barely enough room for a fighter to move, let alone maneuver effectively, why would they need to worry about an attack?

“I see those looks!” the captain bellowed over the intercom. “I was like you once, but then I saw the bastards’ greatest and most terrible of weapons. Just because you can’t fit a warship between those rocks and just because there would be practically no room for a fighter-bomber to move around effectively doesn’t mean we can be careless. Those damn ‘bots of theirs are a damn nightmare to deal with, and they could use this place as a shooting gallery if we aren’t careful. Train those guns on the asteroids, not on what’s in front! If those ‘bots come charging through the gaps in the rocks, I want to be able to take as many down as possible!”

“But sir, the orders clearly state-!” one officer tried to argue, but…

“The orders can go fuck themselves! Those orders were made by people who have never fought the Arcadians themselves. They were made by armchair generals whose military expertise amounts to about four thirty-minute-long holos on basic tactics made by rank amateurs! If they want to come out here and force me to follow orders that will get us all killed, then they can come and control this ship themselves, ‘cause I’m sure as hell not gonna follow orders that will get us all blown to space dust!”

The officer sighed and yielded to the wisdom of his senior. The captain had a point; the ones in charge were armchair generals at best and they had never actually set foot on any battlefield for any length of time. Their captain, on the other hand, still bore the visible scars of his run-ins with the Arcadian military. A cybernetic eye replaced the one he had lost when the ship he was on suffered critical damage and sent shrapnel into his face, and half of his fingers on one hand and his entire limb up to the elbow on another were also mechanical, while the flesh on his face still bore the marks of a transplant that took place after he was burned by an on-ship fire.

The captain knew what he was doing, and he had not let them down this far, so why push the issue any further?

“Ah! Captain, there is a message from the Fleet Commander!”

The captain grumbled and flicked a switch. The holoprojector in the bridge flickered to life and an insectoid male who looked to be a mix of a grasshopper, Hercules beetle and a honeybee stood before him with an angry look on his face. Not that it was easy to tell, of course.

“Captain Barborat! Why are your ship’s guns not facing the correct way?! Conform to the orders given or else I will assume that you are working with the Arcadians!”

Captain Barborat scowled and spat at the spittoon near his feet.

“Go suck an egg, you paper dreadcat! I’ve fought these bastards before, and this is the best way I know of to prepare for their attack. It’ll take way too long to reposition the guns if and when they strike, so we’ll keep our guns pointed at where the mongrels are going to come from and stay alive for a while longer, thank you very much! If you think that the other ships can move their guns faster than a Arcadian ‘bot can, then be my guest and prove me wrong, but if I am right in my assumption that they know we’re coming, then this is the only way I know how to keep my men and the fleet safe.”

“You! You dare!?” blubbered the insectoid disappointment. “Give me one good reason why I should not simply have your ship shot to hell!”

Before the good captain could give his reasoning again to the ignorant bug-man, the claxons on every ship in the FGR fleet began to blare. A few ships in the fleet were hit with the dreaded ‘Shieldbreaker Blue’ canister missiles, spreading the gunk all over them and exposing those parts of their ship to the eventual direct fire from directed energy weapons.

“Damn!” Captain Barborat hissed as he turned to his crew. “Ignore the bug and fire at the asteroids! If those bastard ‘bots are hiding there, I want them to be reduced to scrap metal!”

“You! Don’t ignore me, you insubordina-!”

Captain Barborat flicked off the holoprojector and began to order his crew around like the competent leader that he was. While other ships began to try and move as much as the corridor between the asteroids could allow and basically act like headless chickens, Captain Barborat’s ship began to fire every energy weapon it had at minimal settings at the asteroids nearest to it. Minerals and ice went flying and a handful of explosions became visible even as the space dust obscured a decent bit of vision. By the time the fire from both Captain Barborat’s ship and the hidden MSGs ended, more than half the fleet had at least some of the dreaded blue gunk stuck to it.

A sane man would have ordered a full retreat, but the insectoid idiot was not nearly competent enough to know when he was walking headlong into a trap, even when the first part of it had been sprung. The fleet went forwards, this time with a commissar on former-Captain Barborat’s ship to make sure that the new captain that replaced him followed orders and would not end up spaced like Barborat had been.