Sixth Year of the Exodus

Sixth Year After the Battle of the Sol System

Ottolu’Liekki Vanha’Verta stared at the text of the missive on his primary display. He struggled to believe what his eyes told him. It read: ‘Ottolu’Liekki Vanha’verta, Kokko’Liekki Vanha’Verta. I bring word from the Empress, whom we both serve. Congratulations on a task well accomplished, but I think that we should save the formalities for when you come aboard CV Kruunu’Rutto’Tuo. I will see you soon, grandson mine.’

His grandfather, the Kokko’Liekki in command of the Empire’s entire voidborne fleet, had come to this system in person? And what was this about an Empress? Had the old Emperor passed away in the two hundred odd Crown World Orbits that had passed since he had completed the conquest of this still nameless system?

“Cryer, missive to Kokko’Liekki Vanha’Verta aboard CV Kruunu’Rutto’Tuo. Missive begins. ‘Kokko’Liekki, it is an honor to receive you in this system. I am currently in orbit above Salama’Maa (map designation S04-ZNB-AO-T095); the fourth world from this system's primary star. My ship, CL Viimein’Laiva’Elossa, will maneuver to match orbits with you on arrival. Navigational Advisory: Major asteroid belt is hazardous to approach in this system due to automated mining operations.’ Missive ends.”

“Ottolu’Liekki, Cryer. Clean copy, transmitting missive now.”

Kokko’Liekki Vanha’Verta looked up from the missive on his display, “Steersman, adjust fleet course to avoid the local asteroid belt.”

“Kokko’Liekki, Steersman. By your will.”

“BIC, do we have a hard count on the ships in this system?”

“Kokko’Liekki, BIC. Still only the twelve ships Kokko’Liekki. We’ve got the eight ship Worldshaper web over Salama’Maa, the three Scout Destroyers and the CL forming up into a parade formation, and nothing else.”

“Thank you BIC. I had hoped that more of the Scout-Clamant Flotilla had survived, but it appears that the fragmentary reports were indeed correct.”

Ottolu’Liekki Vanha’Verta tugged his dress uniform into order for the twelfth time and stared at the shuttle’s transfer hatch. He could not help but wonder that the Empire had sent its only Carrier just to relieve him. He wished that he had had time to meet with the Archivist and Shipkeeper teams before this meeting to discuss their missives more thoroughly, but their impersonal testimonies transmitted to his ship would just have to do.

The hatch slid open on squealing hydraulics and the ramp descended to the deck. He walked down it, the three Scout Destroyer commanders at his heels, and saluted the officer of the deck. “Permission to board?”

“Permission is granted Ottolu’Liekki. The Kokko’Liekki is expecting you in briefing chamber one, if you would follow me?”

Ottolu’Liekki Vanha’Verta stood next to the chair and tried not to look nervous. The BIC officers buzzed around outside the door, clearly searching for something deeper in the system. The Kokko’Liekki shut the door and took his seat. Everyone else followed his example and the debriefing began.

“What happened in this system Ottolu’Liekki?”

“Did you not get the reports I sent back to the crownworld aboard Scout Destroyer Eight?”

“She broke up upon revision, snapped in half at the keel. We managed to retrieve fragmentary data from her computers, and the battle damage was obvious, but the after-combat summaries were either lost or incomplete and deemed outlandish by the politicians of the day.”

“If that is the case, then I should begin at the STL speed revision, unless you would like me to being earlier?”

“STL revision would be the place to start.”

“The Scout-Clamant flotilla reverted to Slower Than Light speeds at the system edge, just outside the orbit of the eighth planet. We deployed Beacon probes and activated active scopes, dispersing into a standard search pattern. Almost immediately, the Beacons began relating artificial structures and ship movement in the asteroid belt, and I enacted First Meeting Principles before dispatching Scout Destroyer One to investigate.

“This was a mistake. The Beacons were starting to report more ship signatures further into the system at the same time Scout Destroyer One entered the vicinity of the asteroid belt. One of the mining ships there, automated as we would later learn, detected the battle armor on her hull, decided that she was an asteroid worth mining, and proceeded to do so.

“Scout Destroyer One lost all atmosphere and crew before we could render any aid. I discontinued First Meeting Principles and went to combat alert at that time. My intention was to secure the system without further Empire deaths if possible. All non-Empire ships in the system maneuvered to make orbit around the third world from the system’s primary star. None of them exhibited inertialess drives, which became doubly evident when fifteen of them, the largest the size of a destroyer, shut down their engines and rotated to engage with meteor cannons at extreme range.

“Their fire proved unable to breach, or even seriously stress, the screen of my Flotilla, so they ceased fire for some time. Having taken fire, and with all foe ships on predictable vectors, I salvoed missiles at long range. The foe blew all thirty six of them out of the void with ease, and replied with three hundred and thirty four missiles of their own. Two hundred and twenty eight of which were ‘conventional’ ship killers, while the remaining one hundred and sixteen were particle-merger type World Breakers. Ottolu’Liekki Vanha’Verta paused, waiting for the inevitable outcry. It was not long in coming.

“Tulipalo’Ja’Armo!”

“One hundred and sixteen? Impossible!”

“What Hulluja’Olentoja would make such a weapon?”

Kokko’Liekki Vanha’Verta rapped his grasper on the table to call the briefing back to order. “Officers of the Empire, this is hardly unsuspected news. We knew this was a possibility from the plasma scoring and radiation counts on the hull fragments of Scout Destroyer Eight. Ottolu’Lekiki, continue please.”

“Thank you, Kokko’Liekki. Missile defense went active of course, and performed well, but given the raw numbers of incoming missiles, it was woefully insufficient. Plasma blast fronts blew out screens all across the flotilla, and the combination of electromagnetic and radiation-induced disruptions in flotilla scope and communications threw us into temporary disarray. Communication and control channels were quickly re-established, but the foe had sequenced their resumed meteor cannon fire to come in close on the missile wakes.

“Any ship without a screen was subjected to systematic meteor cannon bombardment. Though the foe meteor cannon fire may have been light due to their small electromagnetic launchers, it was still more than sufficient to punch through our hulls with ease. Sensors and BIC were able to locate the foe’s launch platforms. All of the standard ship killers had come from the foe’s three destroyers, while the World Breaker missiles had come from arsenal ships in planetary orbit.

“A second, smaller salvo of World Breakers came in, this time without standard ship killers in support.” Ottolu’Liekki Vanha’Verta paused again expecting further outbursts, but only clenched graspers and stun-shocked eyes greeted his glances.

“BIC estimated the salvo as containing only seventy eight missiles, so our meteor cannon fire had either killed or disabled one of the foe’s arsenal ships. We copied the foe’s tactic of using cluster submunition projectiles to shoot down missiles at extreme ranges. The few missiles that survived were easily picked off by missile defense.

“The meteor cannon engagement was slowly shifting in the Empire’s favor. Un-screened ships were hideously vulnerable, but any ship with a screen was the next best thing to immune to incoming fire. Weapons managed to pick off a second foe arsenal ship, and BIC was able to locate a large salvo of World Breaker missiles being stockpiled in planetary orbit around the third world from the system’s primary star. Weapons targeted them with cluster submunition projectiles, which impacted at about the same time the missiles were launched.

“The result was the total destruction of the foe fleet and heavy damage to the foe Crown World. At which time I authorized the implementation of the Maail'Man'Loppu Diktat against the local inhabitants of the system, an order which was duly countersigned by both my BIC Officer and my Weapons Officer.”

The briefing room wend deadly silent.

“Why?”

The question came from an unknown BIC officer in the back of the room, but Ottolu’Liekki Vanha’Verta answered it all the same.

“The foe had repeatedly used weapons of a World Breaker nature and demonstrated Fanatical Purifier tendencies in doing so. We all remember the leveler and unmaker rebel groups, and the craters left behind when their secret places were illuminated by the Emperor’s light. These ‘humans’ did the same on a planetary scale, and had the means to do so on a system wide scale.

“Moreover, I had lost all of my marine transports, leaving me without a ground force capable of taking and occupying any world, much less a radioactive deathworld inhabited by foes that would resist to the last. This fanatical, suicidal resistance was confirmed repeatedly and beyond all doubt during the cleansing of orbital installations and moon bases. My ships have literally Crown World Orbits of footage from hundreds of boarding party members that testify to this effect.”

Kokko’Liekki Vanha’Verta stood, signalling the end of the briefing. “I would like you to transmit that footage, along with complete sensor records of the entire engagement, to my flagship for review. I have no doubt that you acted in full accordance with all Diktats and Directives, but an event of this scale, with such casualties on all sides, must be reviewed at the highest levels to ensure the accuracy of your testimony.”

Ottolu’Liekki Vanha’Verta stood and bowed, “I have only two things to add before this meeting is adjourned. The first is that the Scout-Claimant flotilla was extraordinarily fortunate in its timing. My Shipkeer teams have been going over a Titan-class shipyard that had orbited the moon of the foe’s Crown World, and they report that it held the remains of the foes second ever Titan-Class ship.”

Kokko’Liekki Vanha’Verta was visibly vibrating at his grandson’s findings, but gestured for him to continue, knowing that more was to come.

Ottolu’Liekki Vanha’Verta bobbed his head and continued, “The second fact is that these Titan-Class ships appeared to be a Scout-Claimant pattern, according to both my Shipkeepers’ analysis of the wreck and my Archivists’ efforts at translating the wreck’s name. Had the foe possessed a combat capable Titan-class ship in the system at the time of the engagement…”

The audible ping of the ornate, antique timekeeper on the wall of the chamber echoed in the silence.