-six months later, after having been promoted to Chief General-

I am currently in hyperdrive on the bridge. That blue-black vortex surrounding us keeps fascinating me every time a new.

One month ago, General Harkin took over the defense of the Aberra system. With a greater rank comes greater responsibility. The Department of War has assigned me a new mission. I had one month to prepare my fleet and organize my ground troops. Additionally to my flagship, I have been given two extra cruisers.

Our mission is to break through the defense in front of Orio and secure a base on the planet for further operations. The Department of War decided that Orio will be the next planet we will acquire from the Galactic Empire. The war has been going on for twenty years now. As no side has the edge over the opposing fraction, the war was more or less a standstill with slight geographical shifts. The Galactic Empire has mostly focused on the left side and has managed to secure several systems and planets.

On the other hand, the Galactic Federation has been mostly focusing on the right side, as tries to take back lost territory failed horribly. The Galactic Federation managed to expand its territory on the right the same size into the Galactic Empire's borders as the Galactic Empire managed to do on the left side. There were no territorial changes in the middle of the universe, as it would be unwise to attack there, as the enemy has way more potential to flank you there. No party has yet tried to make a breakthrough with all their forces, as they both believe they could win in the long run.

In two days, we will engage three enemy cruisers. There is no point in bringing more ships, as the enemy's radar will spot incoming ships early on, and if we, for example, would bring four cruisers, they will simply reinforce another cruiser to their defense. This also works vice versa. They can not merely add more ships to their defense when they see our approach, as we will also be able to spot this and react in time to stop our advance. Though the side that defends is still better off in the long run, they have a better supply line because their planet is regularly supplying them. As such, as an attacker, you have to strike hard and use your momentum. Without a grave tactical mistake by the enemy general or numerical superiority, it is impossible to win a space battle in a short amount of time. As such, our objective is to make it possible for our ground troops to break through the defense and make it alive onto the planet.

"Captain Han, establish holo communication with leaders of our allied cruisers."

"Yes, Chief General Tarkov."

Two minutes later, Chief Captain Landov and the newly promoted Chief Captain Chi were standing holographically in front of me.

"Chief Captain Landov, Chief Captain Chi, it is great to see you. As you probably know, this is by no means an easy mission. However, it is also by no means impossible. The key to success in this mission is smoothness and precision. We could calculate that 80% of our troops will reach the planet through several battle simulations, that is if everyone performs their task perfectly. The number of troops that reach the planet will be key in whether or not we will be able to occupy this planet. As we know from several intelligence reports, this planet suffered through a horrible disease that drastically reduced the enemy's ground units. Now it is our time to strike. Should we be able to take over this planet, we will also be able to take over the air space, as they can not blockade the planet when they get attacked from two sides. The plan will be as followed: Chief Commander Reymon will lead our troops in the air, while Chief Commander Bonanza will lead our troops on the ground. Our troops will be divided into two units: the hunter and the transport unit. When we leave hyperdrive, we will engage the enemy cruisers with every weapon we have on our cruisers, so they have to focus on defending against them as much as possible. Every hunter and transport vehicle will be sent into action. The air troops will use the hunters, while the ground unit will use the transporters. All of our troops will fly at the highest speed possible in a diamond formation. The hunters will fly in the formation's formation's outer edge while the transport ships fly in the middle. This diamond formation is especially effective in protecting the inner circle. As such most casualties will be in the hunter unit. Any questions?"

Chief Captain Landov asked:" Chief Captain Rostov, when we use nearly all our energy on our lasers, we will quickly get badly damaged, mainly when they concentrate fire on one of us. What is your plan on dealing with this?"

"Fair question Chief Captain Landov. As you correctly stated, we will not last more than five minutes without huge damage. As our troops will need our cover fire, we can not instantly leave after releasing the air units as our troops will need four minutes to cross their blockage. When we managed to conquer the planet, we will start a full-fledged air offense. In this offense, the air units on the planet will play a critical point in our strategy. The constant harassment from behind will force the enemy to use some energy to defend themself from this side, which will give our cruisers a critical edge. That is it, gentleman. Tomorrow will be a big day for all of us and the Federation!"

"Yes, sir!" - they both saluted and shouted in unison.

"Stop the holo communication, Captain Han."

"Yes, Chief Captain Rostov."

I sighed as I thought about all the children that will lose their fathers and mothers tomorrow.