5361•11•18

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was stationed on Unicopia right before transferring aboard the Dignity. The Iceblock this year's much worse, caused a blockage on the speedway from Arcadia to Bastion," answered Vamil. An ensign in the Icenin Navy, Vamil manned the Dignity's helm. He had neat blonde hair and donned the standard Operations leather jacket.

"Ouch," said Dowk. "Well, perhaps they'll use the speedways as the track for the icecross tourney this year."

"Now that sounds like great fun. Long roads, each round could las-"

Vamil was interrupted by the hushing of the bridge's doors. Admiral Pundus, dressed in a long military coat, strolled in.

"Quit the chit-chat. Ensign, ETA to Folcantus?" Pundus walked to stand in front of his Captain's chair, staring at the viewer. The large screen showed them travelling in subspace.

Vamil glanced at his console and replied, "Less than fifteen seconds, sir."

"Very good." Pundus walked back and tapped the controls on his chair's armrest. "This is your Captain, all hands to battle stations."

The ship jolted as it exited subspace. The viewer changed to a view of Folcantus with an armada of Holhup vessels in the way.

Vamil started to read out the fleet report. "Starships Cygnus, Rhinestop, Mirageous, Perilion, Grunger, Majestic, Undaunted, Liberator, Korytar, Avar and Aspire accounted for, sir. Starship Vakmar reports they will be delayed due to engine issues."

Pundus called out to Gwar, the ship's science officer. "Professor, perform a sensor sweep on the enemy fleet and expedite my targeting solutions."

Gwar began furiously tapping away at his terminal.

Pundus turned to Dowk, his weapons officer, who sat behind a control panel beside the Captain's seat. Pundus ordered, "Lieutenant, bring up the viewer's tactical display and show overlays for all the enemy ships' vital information. Weapons, shields, vectors, all of it."

"Yes, sir. Scanners count ten destroyers and ten battlecruisers."

Vamil piped up from his console, "Captain, incoming transmission from the Cygnus. Zanc's on the line."

Pundus tugged at his coat and undershirt and said, "On speakers."

"Admiral. The enemy awaits. My ships are at the ready and I hope yours are too. Shall we begin?"

"Of course."

The communications channel cut to static. Pundus barked, "Ensign, maintain current position. Commander, redirect power from lateral shields to fore shields and charge plasma turrets."

Vamil reported, "Holhup battlecruiser on an intercept course. Several destroyers breaking off to attack the Folly."

Pundus saw the enemy craft headed towards them on the screen. He shouted at Dowk. "Commander, is it too much trouble to ask you to fire at that?!"

"Firing main turrets and missiles. The ship's closing in too fast. Stymanuk's rendering support fire."

"I see it, take it out!"

{•}

The belligerents' fleets hung in orbit above Folcantus. Neither side pulled the trigger at first, but once they did, multicoloured neon beams shot across the void. Hamma's two starships activated an invisibility cloak and made their way behind enemy lines.

The Holhup vessels began attempting to outflank the Assembly fleet. A squadron of destroyers peeled off from the starboard side and destroyed the Federation's starship Folly. In response, the Empire's Aspire and the Confederacy's Noke, Orbis and Regius broke off and began firing on the flanking vessels, critically damaging one of them. The Avar provided cover fire at the fore, before turning about back to safety.

On the port theatre of battle, the Cygnus headed an assault with the Grunger. The Concordium's Majestic and Undaunted swooped in from their positions and fired their weapons batteries, covering for both the Federation's ships. The Undaunted flew over the crossfire as Holhup ion cannons grazed its shields. The combined effort destroyed three Holhup vessels.

Meanwhile, at the Dignity's front, a sizeable Holhup battlecruiser made its way towards the allied fleet. Supported by the Stymanuk, the Empire's flagship opened fire with a barrage of beams and torpedoes while the Stymanuk fired its two heavy plasma cannons. The large craft, the Holhup's flagship, had its engines damaged by weapons fire. It started to bank downwards and drift towards the Dignity.

{•}

Alerts started popping up on Gwar's console display. He immediately said, "Captain, the lead Holhup vessel's propulsion systems have been disabled.

Pundus smirked. "Good. Commander, finish

it."

Before Dowk could respond, Gwar shouted,

"Sir! I'm detecting a voluntary containment breach in the Holhup's reactor!"

Vamil muttered, "They're going to self- destruct."

Pundus' smug look turned into one of shock. "Redirect auxiliary power to forward shields! Helm, full reverse and tell the Stymanuk to do t-"

The bridge's viewer, which previously showed the Holhup ship moving towards them, turned to an instant of a blinding yellow flash. A shockwave hit the Dignity. Although reaction thrusters lined the hull, they were not designed to cope with such sudden movement. The ship was flung back, and Pundus fell to the floor.

As the shields absorbed some of the shockwave's kinetic, the energy was channelled into the shield capacitors. Much higher than their maximum charge, the remaining power shot through the ship's conduits. Across the bridge, fuses within consoles started blowing. The helm was one of them. Sparks and debris flew out the terminal with a blast and knocked Vamil to the floor.

Pundus lay on his stomach. He blinked rapidly, regaining his senses, He turned on his back and sat up, seeing Vamil lying on the floor with electrical burns.

"Ensign Vamil, report to sickbay. Dowk, get a damage report and send damage control teams at will."

Vamil clutched a wound on his arm. His once clean jacket now had scorch marks. He nodded without a word and ran off the bridge. Pundus stood up and plopped down on his seat. From behind him, another operations officer ran up to replace Vamil. Pundus had a quick glance and made a note of her rank.

"Lieutenant, send a message to the Cygnus, tell-"

She quickly looked at the fleets' status. "Sir, I can't get through to them, their comms array was damaged in the blast."

"Damn!" Pundus slammed on his chair's armrest controls. He looked past the flickering tactical overlay on the viewer and regained a sense of his ship's state. From the movement of the starfield on screen, he could tell the Dignity was still tumbling away. He activated the intership communications system and asked, "Engineering! Rekja, where the hell are my reaction thrusters?"

"Sorry, I prioritised the artificial gravity, unless you'd like to be slammed into a wall at 10 Gs. Half of our thrusters are burnt out, we won't be able to repair them until we get to a drydock. Shield capacitors overloaded as well, best I can do right now is 50%. Oh and, jumpdrive is offline."

Pundus sighed. "Understood, do what you can to get our shields back up."

Gwar updated, "Captain, most of the Holhup fleet was also affected by the blast. The flanking ships have regained control, but most of the fleet is still attempting to reorganise."

"Tactical, conn, you heard that. Let's get back into the fight before they do."

Dowk enthusiastically responded, "Yes, sir!

Recalculating targeting solutions."

The helmswoman replied, "We're realigned with the Folcantian plane."

"Fire at will, but save our torpedo batteries for the battlecruisers."

The sound and vibrations of the plasma turrets shook through the ship's superstructure. The grunt and wheeze of the cannons recharging

and expelling concentrated particle beams was distinct across all Icenin vessels.

"They're returning fire," Dowk announced.

The ship rocked as ion cannons impacted its hull and shields. Gwar's console exploded. A stray shard from his console shot into his neck, and he was knocked to the floor, unconscious and bleeding.

Pundus saw his science officer producing a pool of blood from the throat and tapped on his commspanel. "I need a medical team on the bridge!"

{•}

The Dignity shot jets of gas and plasma from emitters on its hull, causing the ship to rotate. It turned and faced the enemy fleet. The plasma turrets lining the rollbar of the ship lit up a bright white in sequence. They began firing short spurts of particle beams at the enemy ships. The beams impacted the Holhups' shields, causing their hull to turn a different hue of brown.

The remainder of the allied fleet was still disoriented by the blast. Taking advantage of their dire condition, the Holhup vessels disabled several starships.

As one exploded, the other Holhup ships returned the Dignity's favour. Their spiked ships had ion cannons mounted on either side of their hull. Those barrels shot streams of ionising particles at the Icenin flagship.

{•}

The Medic tapped his earpiece and shouted over the chaos on the bridge. "This is Doctor Radek. Site-to-site vortex, one patient, gurney needed. Alright Professor, stay calm. We'll be in the medbay in a-"

The Doctor was interrupted by an energy orb which engulfed the both of them, demolecularising them.

Another terminal exploded behind Pundus. Power conduits and junctions were becoming overwhelmed by the energy absorbed by the ship's shields, causing fuses to blow within operating consoles.

"Two Holhup destroyers disabled. Starships Korytar and Avar have been destroyed. Flanking vessels under heavy fire and some are losing main power." reported Dowk.

The deck of the bridge was slowly piling up with rubble. Pundus took quick note of the fleet on display and said, " Concentrate f i re on battlecruisers. Overextend into their lines and fall back right after."

Another Holhup shot rocks the ship.

{•}

Several Holhup craft are blown to kingdom come as the Dignity flies overhead, pelting them with bolts of plasma. As the ship reached the end of the enemy line, it veered around to make another pass back into the friendly cover fire.

From behind the Dignity, two shimmers in the blackness of space faded to reveal the decloaking

of the Nightmare and Darkheart. As they phased back into existence, they shot out a pair of focused positron beams, decimating several Holhup vessels.

{•}

"I'll be sure to give Hamma my thanks after this. Dowk, status of the fleet?"

Dowk checked his sensor readouts. With a grim expression, he said, "Not too good sir. The Concordium and Confederacy has had their ships wiped out. Remaining Empire and Federation ships are the Stymanuk, Aspire, Cygnus, Rhinestop and Mirageous.

A bright flash illuminated the bridge through the windows as the Darkheart succumbed to the combined firepower of several Holhup ion cannons.

"And the Holhup?" Pundus asked.

"A little under half their fleet remaining," responded Dowk. "We won't be able to continue this for long, our shields are below 20%. A... hold on. Captain, incoming jump signatures!"

"Identify them!"

"They're Assembly ships, sir! Federation Starship Debris, flanked by the Endeavour, Vakmar, Parokar, Herida and Therda. Commander Lief on the Debris hailing."

"Fantastic. Put it through audio."

The speaker system came to life. Lief's voice was crisp. "I see the battle's not going in our favour."

"Evidently, sir. Good timing."

"I took the liberty of bringing some of Icenin's planetary bombers from the Tyrum front. The Endeavour is under Captain Boda and will be supporting the fleet. Remaining four ships will begin the bombardment. The Holhup shipyard's in the Grakfa region. Once we clear the fleet in orbit, we assist them."

"Got it." The line cut to static. Pundus looked at Dowk and queried, "Shields, weapons?

"Shields at 16%, half our turrets are down.

Everything else's online."

"Message Boda, tell him to take the lead. Fire at will when able," said Pundus.

"Aye, sir. Changing course to match the Endeavour's. Bringing us about three-zero-zero mark one-two. Sir, the remaining Holhup fleet is retreating to intercept the bombers," said the lieutenant.

Pundus asked, "Numbers?"

" Six total, four destroyers and two battlecruisers."

"Ready torpedoes and missile batteries. Let's get this done with."

{•}

The Endeavour, a large Horat-Class carrier, hung above the Dignity providing cover fire and launching fighters as both ships flew towards the remnants of the Holhup fleet. From its rollbar, the Dignity fired antimatter missiles while the Endeavour's fighters ran interference. As it zipped by the Holhup's weapons fire, a projectile struck one of the destroyer's engines, creating an energy

shockwave, disabling a battlecruiser. The Icenin fleet continued their orbital bombardment, ensuring the Holhup were out of weapons range. As the pair of ships decimated the remaining of the Holhup fleet, they joined the bombers, side by side.

And then they razed the planet.

The remaining ships formed a perimeter in orbit above Grakfa. Within them, engineering crews worked doubletime to load thermonuclear warheads. Within a matter of minutes, each ship began firing them one by one. The impacts could be seen from space. However, as a result of Folcantus' geological instability, faultlines emerged and became prominent across the surface. Lava shot out and began flooding plains around Grakfa. The Holhup were no more.