Fall of Gemini
- Thread starter nebulaman
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And now, FINALLY, heres the last part of fall of gemini
Chapter 5
How did this happen? How did the human race fail so miserably in detecting its greatest foe, the most dangerous and bloodthirsty race in the known universe? How did we become so complacent, so careless, that they were able to take us by surprise so easily, and crush us so effortlessly? These and many more questions drifted through the mind of the prosperian, as the mantis squads swarmed around his home’s atmosphere. Tears shone in his eyes, and others around him as he knew he was going to die, it was blindingly, beautifully obvious. In the months after the rebels took gemini from the imperials, he had lived on prosperous carefully, hesitantly. He, like so many other humans, had grown careless and arrogant, sure of his own safety.
The prosperian looked up, into the sky, at the massive radiation shield protecting the surface from the twin gemini suns. It was so clear, now, what the mantis intended to do. Such a fragile existence, and now it was about to shatter.
*****
Erik’s storm ship exited the sol stargate, along with admiral Hornblower’s fleet. The silence of space now only served to make Erik even more nervous. As he had entered the gate, his head was filled with thoughts of what they would find on the other side. And now that question was answered. Just a few hundred miles in front of him, there were mantis ships swarming around the gemini starbase. Thousands of them. Erik gasped; not in all his life had he seen so many mantis warships, and this was most likely just a detached force. The mantis had evidently noticed the rebel fleet, adnwere moving in to attack.
The admiral’s voice blared harshly through the comm system.
‘All ships, prepare for combat! Activate aim computers and shields! Engineers, be ready for nanobot activation and rematerialization!’
Erik swallowed, this would be a hard battle. With a few swift clicks he activated the aim computer, and targeted the nearest mantis ship. He fired his rockets, and they found their mark. The ship was torn apart, and the shockwave blasted through him. All around him, mantis and rebel ships were shooting at each other, and it seemed like the mantis were winning. The main problem seemed to be a lot of the mantis ships had draconian dark matter technology, and the antimatter rebel ships seemed like a toy in comparison. The rebel ships were not only outnumbered, they were being heavily outgunned.
Five ships suddenly appeared on Erik’s tail. His ship shook as it took blast after blast. The storm ship swung round to face them, but Erik knew he was far outmatched. Nevertheless, he used every trick in the book to evade the mantis, twisting and turning, desperately trying to avoid destruction.
Alarms blaring in his ears, his ship almost disintegrating, Erik began to lose hope. He might not be able to beat them, but he would certainly take them with him. His hand moved to the control panel, and flipped the lock on the self-destruct button. Sacrificing himself would trigger a small antimatter/matter annihilation, completely destroying everything near it. His shaking hand inched over the large red button, and with a deep breath, he moved it down.
A deep roar brought him out of his trance. Shocked, Erik looked round at the source. A massive ship flew past him, engines thundering through the explosion. It was a Parsec! Erik was amazed. The Sayaron fleet didn’t contain Parsecs, they only known to exist in the core rebel fleet, and even then there were only several serving. Erik sat agape as the Parsec tore through ship after ship, taking barely any damage. Then something amazing happened. Parsec after Parsec started flooding through the Stargate, and immediately blasting mantis ships with no let up. Parsecs were only ever flown by the elite rebel pilots, and only a few were known to exist. But today…there at least 500 of the legendary ships on the battlefield!
Erik immediately contacted the lead parsec, and was startled to see a familiar face at the helm. It was major Ivanova, her face a fierce mix of beauty and determination.
‘major…what-’
‘I see you’ve decided to call me by my correct rank now, captain,’ remarked the major, an eyebrow raised.
‘in case your wondering, yes these are genuine parsecs, and yes we really do have this many in our fleet, if not more. This is the sayaron emergency taskforce fleet, a secret fleet created when all seems lost.’
The major finshed her speech with a small grin.
‘and you kept this secret?!’, cried Erik incredulously. ‘we might have faired ok in this battle if you had been here from the start!’ Erik couldn’t believe that the sayaron fleet, the most powerful of all the rebel fleets scattered throughout the galaxy, had neglected to dispatch its most powerful ships in this vital battle.
‘Captain spiro, do you have any idea how many favours I had to call in to get these ships ready?’ spat ivanova.
‘I can imagine’, remarked Erik sharply.
The major sighed as she transferred battle data from her ship to Eriks. It showed the gemini system, with mantis fleets showing as red and rebel as green.
‘as you can see, the mantis seem to be congregating around the planet prosperous. it’s the second richest planet in the gemini system, and is also the largest deposit of cryonite here, so its no surprise the mantis would target it next.’
‘ok, so the fleets moving to prosperous?’
‘yes. We’re going now. Prosperous cannot fall.’
*****
Interplanetary flight is the second fastest way the human race can travel. With speeds reaching up to 100 times the speed of light, ships and whole fleets can cross entire systems in minutes. Eriks lightning storm whipped through the gemini system, with 15,000 ships in tow, speeding towards the planet prosperous. Little did they realise the horrific events that were about to unfold…
Prosperous, 3 hours after initial mantis attack
The rebel fleet dropped out of warp speed, to be confronted with a scene of utter devestation. 200 miles
above prosperous, an enormous mantis fleet was tearing a small rebel force to pieces. The rebels seemed outnumbered 20 to 1, and were in a state of dissarray.
Now they realize they weren’t prepared, thought Erik grimly, activating his aim computer once again. Mantis exploded all around him as the sayaron fleet moved in. with the new help of the parsecs, the wind finally seemed to be in the rebel’s sails. The mantis were desperately trying to evade the rebels now…or were they simply trying to flee? Erik’s pilot instinct flared up. This was highly unusual behaviour for the mantis. They were naturally a warrior race, and were proud and honourable race who never fled from a battle, even if they were on the losing side. It was second nature to any mantis to revel in the destruction of their opponents, to rejoice in the spilt blood of the enemy. They never ran away… unless there was no longer a battle to fight?
Erik looked around the battlefield. Mantis ships were indeed fleeing in droves, getting away from the rebels as fast as they could.
Worried, Erik decided to message Ivanova’s parsec. The major appeared on the screen, her expression of confusion a mirror to Erik’s.
‘major, what are they doing? The mantis never try to run like this…’
‘ I have no idea, captain. Perhaps we should-’
Ivanova stopped in mid sentence, her words drifting away. She suddenly began tapping on her ship’s console.
‘the mantis don’t care if they lose in a battle. Which would suggest they’re running away from something, but not us…’ she stopped tapping, her eyes widening in horror and shock.
‘my god!,’ she cried out, ‘ they have planted antimatter bombs all around the radiation shield! they’ll detonate in three minutes!’
Erik felt a weight slide down in his stomach. The mantis had never gone this far before in the war against the rebels. Yes, they had enslaved hundreds of millions to mine cryonite, and killed millions more, but even they had limits. This was simply barbaric and cruel, and it made Erik’s blood boil.
I was wrong about the manit, thought Erik grimly, it seems they have lost their honour as warriors.
‘major,’ he said fearfully, ‘theres over 8 billion people on that planet. If the radiation shield is destroyed…’
‘there’s-there’s nothing we can do, captain. The bombs will detonate in seconds!’
‘so your just going to let 8 BILLION die at the hands of the mantis?!,’ roared Erik.
‘yes’, said the major, her face both sad and angry, ‘we don’t have time to do anything at all.’
She turned in her chair and opened a channel to the entire fleet.
‘ all pilots, this is major ivanova speaking. We must evacuate back to the sayaron sanctuary. Gemini is lost to the mantis, they have too strong a hold on it now.’
Erik couldn’t believe his ears. Was this really major ivanova speaking? It seemed all the fight had gone out of her, and her voice was flat and resigned.
The rebel fleet started moving out, away from prosperous. They had 10 seconds before the bombs exploded. Tears of frustration rolled down Eriks cheek as he called up a video screen showing prosperous. With a massive shower of bright white, all 800 bombs set by the mantis detonated, and the radiation shield was obliterated, shards breaking off and flinging into the inky blackness of space. The chances of someone surviving a catastrophe like that were tiny. The shockwave hit his ship with a low boom, vibrating through him.
And so it was that the gemini system, with all of its 27 billion human inhabitants, fell to the mantis empire. With this this heavy blow, the rebel force almost collapsed throughout the galaxy. The morale amongst the rebels fell to an all time low. But even in light of this terrible loss, they endured. The human spirit could not be broken by the loss of battles or lives. They would survive to fight on, for as long as they possible could.
We will survive. We are mankind. We are Sayaronians.
^^
Chapter 5
How did this happen? How did the human race fail so miserably in detecting its greatest foe, the most dangerous and bloodthirsty race in the known universe? How did we become so complacent, so careless, that they were able to take us by surprise so easily, and crush us so effortlessly? These and many more questions drifted through the mind of the prosperian, as the mantis squads swarmed around his home’s atmosphere. Tears shone in his eyes, and others around him as he knew he was going to die, it was blindingly, beautifully obvious. In the months after the rebels took gemini from the imperials, he had lived on prosperous carefully, hesitantly. He, like so many other humans, had grown careless and arrogant, sure of his own safety.
The prosperian looked up, into the sky, at the massive radiation shield protecting the surface from the twin gemini suns. It was so clear, now, what the mantis intended to do. Such a fragile existence, and now it was about to shatter.
*****
Erik’s storm ship exited the sol stargate, along with admiral Hornblower’s fleet. The silence of space now only served to make Erik even more nervous. As he had entered the gate, his head was filled with thoughts of what they would find on the other side. And now that question was answered. Just a few hundred miles in front of him, there were mantis ships swarming around the gemini starbase. Thousands of them. Erik gasped; not in all his life had he seen so many mantis warships, and this was most likely just a detached force. The mantis had evidently noticed the rebel fleet, adnwere moving in to attack.
The admiral’s voice blared harshly through the comm system.
‘All ships, prepare for combat! Activate aim computers and shields! Engineers, be ready for nanobot activation and rematerialization!’
Erik swallowed, this would be a hard battle. With a few swift clicks he activated the aim computer, and targeted the nearest mantis ship. He fired his rockets, and they found their mark. The ship was torn apart, and the shockwave blasted through him. All around him, mantis and rebel ships were shooting at each other, and it seemed like the mantis were winning. The main problem seemed to be a lot of the mantis ships had draconian dark matter technology, and the antimatter rebel ships seemed like a toy in comparison. The rebel ships were not only outnumbered, they were being heavily outgunned.
Five ships suddenly appeared on Erik’s tail. His ship shook as it took blast after blast. The storm ship swung round to face them, but Erik knew he was far outmatched. Nevertheless, he used every trick in the book to evade the mantis, twisting and turning, desperately trying to avoid destruction.
Alarms blaring in his ears, his ship almost disintegrating, Erik began to lose hope. He might not be able to beat them, but he would certainly take them with him. His hand moved to the control panel, and flipped the lock on the self-destruct button. Sacrificing himself would trigger a small antimatter/matter annihilation, completely destroying everything near it. His shaking hand inched over the large red button, and with a deep breath, he moved it down.
A deep roar brought him out of his trance. Shocked, Erik looked round at the source. A massive ship flew past him, engines thundering through the explosion. It was a Parsec! Erik was amazed. The Sayaron fleet didn’t contain Parsecs, they only known to exist in the core rebel fleet, and even then there were only several serving. Erik sat agape as the Parsec tore through ship after ship, taking barely any damage. Then something amazing happened. Parsec after Parsec started flooding through the Stargate, and immediately blasting mantis ships with no let up. Parsecs were only ever flown by the elite rebel pilots, and only a few were known to exist. But today…there at least 500 of the legendary ships on the battlefield!
Erik immediately contacted the lead parsec, and was startled to see a familiar face at the helm. It was major Ivanova, her face a fierce mix of beauty and determination.
‘major…what-’
‘I see you’ve decided to call me by my correct rank now, captain,’ remarked the major, an eyebrow raised.
‘in case your wondering, yes these are genuine parsecs, and yes we really do have this many in our fleet, if not more. This is the sayaron emergency taskforce fleet, a secret fleet created when all seems lost.’
The major finshed her speech with a small grin.
‘and you kept this secret?!’, cried Erik incredulously. ‘we might have faired ok in this battle if you had been here from the start!’ Erik couldn’t believe that the sayaron fleet, the most powerful of all the rebel fleets scattered throughout the galaxy, had neglected to dispatch its most powerful ships in this vital battle.
‘Captain spiro, do you have any idea how many favours I had to call in to get these ships ready?’ spat ivanova.
‘I can imagine’, remarked Erik sharply.
The major sighed as she transferred battle data from her ship to Eriks. It showed the gemini system, with mantis fleets showing as red and rebel as green.
‘as you can see, the mantis seem to be congregating around the planet prosperous. it’s the second richest planet in the gemini system, and is also the largest deposit of cryonite here, so its no surprise the mantis would target it next.’
‘ok, so the fleets moving to prosperous?’
‘yes. We’re going now. Prosperous cannot fall.’
*****
Interplanetary flight is the second fastest way the human race can travel. With speeds reaching up to 100 times the speed of light, ships and whole fleets can cross entire systems in minutes. Eriks lightning storm whipped through the gemini system, with 15,000 ships in tow, speeding towards the planet prosperous. Little did they realise the horrific events that were about to unfold…
Prosperous, 3 hours after initial mantis attack
The rebel fleet dropped out of warp speed, to be confronted with a scene of utter devestation. 200 miles
above prosperous, an enormous mantis fleet was tearing a small rebel force to pieces. The rebels seemed outnumbered 20 to 1, and were in a state of dissarray.
Now they realize they weren’t prepared, thought Erik grimly, activating his aim computer once again. Mantis exploded all around him as the sayaron fleet moved in. with the new help of the parsecs, the wind finally seemed to be in the rebel’s sails. The mantis were desperately trying to evade the rebels now…or were they simply trying to flee? Erik’s pilot instinct flared up. This was highly unusual behaviour for the mantis. They were naturally a warrior race, and were proud and honourable race who never fled from a battle, even if they were on the losing side. It was second nature to any mantis to revel in the destruction of their opponents, to rejoice in the spilt blood of the enemy. They never ran away… unless there was no longer a battle to fight?
Erik looked around the battlefield. Mantis ships were indeed fleeing in droves, getting away from the rebels as fast as they could.
Worried, Erik decided to message Ivanova’s parsec. The major appeared on the screen, her expression of confusion a mirror to Erik’s.
‘major, what are they doing? The mantis never try to run like this…’
‘ I have no idea, captain. Perhaps we should-’
Ivanova stopped in mid sentence, her words drifting away. She suddenly began tapping on her ship’s console.
‘the mantis don’t care if they lose in a battle. Which would suggest they’re running away from something, but not us…’ she stopped tapping, her eyes widening in horror and shock.
‘my god!,’ she cried out, ‘ they have planted antimatter bombs all around the radiation shield! they’ll detonate in three minutes!’
Erik felt a weight slide down in his stomach. The mantis had never gone this far before in the war against the rebels. Yes, they had enslaved hundreds of millions to mine cryonite, and killed millions more, but even they had limits. This was simply barbaric and cruel, and it made Erik’s blood boil.
I was wrong about the manit, thought Erik grimly, it seems they have lost their honour as warriors.
‘major,’ he said fearfully, ‘theres over 8 billion people on that planet. If the radiation shield is destroyed…’
‘there’s-there’s nothing we can do, captain. The bombs will detonate in seconds!’
‘so your just going to let 8 BILLION die at the hands of the mantis?!,’ roared Erik.
‘yes’, said the major, her face both sad and angry, ‘we don’t have time to do anything at all.’
She turned in her chair and opened a channel to the entire fleet.
‘ all pilots, this is major ivanova speaking. We must evacuate back to the sayaron sanctuary. Gemini is lost to the mantis, they have too strong a hold on it now.’
Erik couldn’t believe his ears. Was this really major ivanova speaking? It seemed all the fight had gone out of her, and her voice was flat and resigned.
The rebel fleet started moving out, away from prosperous. They had 10 seconds before the bombs exploded. Tears of frustration rolled down Eriks cheek as he called up a video screen showing prosperous. With a massive shower of bright white, all 800 bombs set by the mantis detonated, and the radiation shield was obliterated, shards breaking off and flinging into the inky blackness of space. The chances of someone surviving a catastrophe like that were tiny. The shockwave hit his ship with a low boom, vibrating through him.
And so it was that the gemini system, with all of its 27 billion human inhabitants, fell to the mantis empire. With this this heavy blow, the rebel force almost collapsed throughout the galaxy. The morale amongst the rebels fell to an all time low. But even in light of this terrible loss, they endured. The human spirit could not be broken by the loss of battles or lives. They would survive to fight on, for as long as they possible could.
We will survive. We are mankind. We are Sayaronians.
^^
Fall of Gemini
Written by Nebulaman,
We weren’t ready for them. We were never ready for them. No matter what preparations we made, no matter what countermeasures we took, we were never ready. They came like the pestilence, swarming over our ships and decimating our armies. Within two weeks following first contact, we had lost over 80% of our navy against them. Unstoppable and inexorable, the Mantis Empire swept away our armada like sand in the wind.
When it became clear the terran empire was powerless to stop their advance, the emperor of sol himself, Kaligulia, sent a request for negotiations to the mantis high command. And so began the worst betrayal of the human race ever commited by its ruling power. In days, a treaty was drawn up, a truce called. The mantis fleets descended on sol, meeting no resistance from imperial warships of any kind, enjoying the treatment of honoured guests by the emperor. They soon settled with an iron grip on the planets and the people, a harsh regime now enforced by the terran empire. Billions were soon forced to mine cryonite every day until their deaths mercifully took them away, and almost the entire race of man was enslaved by both the terran and the mantis empire.
But even in this darkest of hours, the tiniest spark of hope remained…
Chapter one
Sayaron Sanctuary Rebel Base, outer sol system,
The deathly silence that usually befell space was torn apart by the thunder of ship engines. An enormous vessel was manoeuvring into the docking bay of the sanctuary, its hold heaving with ill-gotten mantis technology. The ship entered the base and settled on the landing pad surprisingly quietly. Though perhaps not so surprising when the man piloting the ship is considered. Though his face betrayed little emotion, underneath, Captain Erik Spiro of the 45th Sayaron fleet was surging with adrenaline. His latest mission a success, Erik drew out a cigar from his breast pocket and lit it, repeating his celebration ritual for the umpteenth time. After a short wait for the cockpit to depressurise, Erik swiftly opened the hatch and clambered out, flushed with excitement.
‘ So, I assume the raid was a success, captain?’
I know that voice, thought Erik wryly. Turning around, he found himself face to face with major Ivanova, a legend amongst the Sayaronian pilots.
‘ Ivanova’, said Erik, ‘ I swear you look lovelier every time I see you. How are you?’ the cheesy attempt at conversation was exactly what Erik knew pushed her buttons, and he loved doing it, despite the risk it carried.
‘hat’s MAJOR ivanova to you, captain’ she testily replied, eyebrows arched. Her slight Russian lilt always intensified when her voice became stern. It was a warning sign that shouldn’t be ignored. Major ivanova could be deadlier than a mantis death squad when she was pushed.
‘Er-hem. Sorry ma’am. Yes, the raid was a success. I acquired 8 different weapon systems blueprints. I also discovered one very unusual blueprint…I’ve never seen anything like it before’. Erik delivered the news in a textbook manner, all levity disappeared.
‘unusual?’ the major crossed her arms, a clear sign of intrigue. ‘in what way was it unusual?
‘well…for a start its power source is dark matter, so that would suggest technology from the draconis system’ Erik decided to wait for the majors reaction before revealing any more information.
‘You mean…this is draconian technology?’ Ivanova sounded unnerved for the first time. She, like all Sayaronians, knew the draconis system was the hub of all mantis activity, being their home system. The most advanced technology the mantis engineers produced was standard in draconis, and used dark matter as its power source. It made antimatter technology look archaic and inefficient.
‘if draconian technology is being deployed in a place as remote as commerce central, then that means…’
‘Yes,’ said Erik, ‘the mantis attack on Gemini is coming, just as we knew it would.’
There had been rumors of a mantis assaut being planned on the gemini system. It made perfect sense to try to take it. The planet prosperous happened to be the richest cryonite reserve in the beta quadrant of the galaxy, and a bustling hive of business and commerce for the rebels, who had managed to capture gemini from the terran empire four years ago, after a ferocious battle was fought.
It was thanks to a revolutionary invention, the planetary radiation shield, that enabled humans to live on the surface without fear. The fierce amount of radiation produced by the gemini binary star system meant any living creature would be vaporised without any sufficient protection. It was a vital strategic and economic stronghold to the rebel cause, and Ivanova, Erik, and every human being alive, knew it must not be lost…
Chapter two
Life for a gate guard is not what you’d call exciting. You are stuck in a ship for 10 hours a day, bathed in the eerie, unnatural light produced by the stargate you are watching over. Cabin fever sets in, and work-related stress and exhaustion soon follow. Almost all contact with the outside world is severed, as the gates void field neutralizes subspace most communication. The average life expectancy for a rebel gate guard is surprisingly almost as low as a soldiers, put down mostly do sheer boredom. At least they get to have all the fun. Until now, that is.
Fleet commander Lewis Beltram sat in his chair, massaging his temples with a sour expression. The two aspirin he had taken had done nothing for his blinding headache, and he was beginning to wonder if it was yet another negative effect of the stargates void field. He looked up through the window, and his eyes settled on the massive object. Having guarded it for 3 years now, he had often thought about the origins of the gate, and all the others dotted around the galaxy. One thing was obvious: it was not human or mantis hands that had crafted these. They were in excess of 100,000 years old, long before both races were walking and talking. There were legends, of course. They spoke of ‘the ancients’ the same beings who had built the famous temples of vega 1. The ancients had bestowed the gates upon the galaxy in their epic quest of discovery, travelling to each and every star system in the milky way and creating a pathway to it. There was even whispers that, somewhere out in the vastness of space, there was a gate to an entirely different galaxy…
Ridiculous, thought Beltram. There had to be a logical explanation for the stargates existence, though he was damned if he could think of one. He had never believed the old legends of the ancients, despite the mounting evidence to the contrary. It was more of a case of not wanting to believe, than not being able to. Beltram thought it slightly embarrassing that humanity would need to piggyback on someone else’s ingenuity to explore the stars. Surely humans could work it out for themselves?
Sighing, Beltram turned back to his control panel. A flash of light caught his eye, a small blip on the analysis of the gate. Probably just a cargo ship travelling through, he thought. As the stargates were all interconnected, whenever a ship passed through one, every stargates in the galaxy registered its presence. It was yet another of their curious features that had baffled the human scientists for centuries.
Beltram went to turn away from the panel, when the blip was joined by another. Then another. Then…another. Beltrams eyebrows knitted together. This was highly unusual activity, he had never seen this happen before. Could it be just a busy day in transit? A quick diagnostic of the blips soon revealed three points. One, The blips were all coming from the Draconis gate. Two, they were registering as deadly mantis avengers and maruaders. And three…there were now over 10,000 blips on the screen, and rising with ferocious speed. 20,000...30,000...50,000... the number kept rising, as Beltrams eyes widened. Fifty thousand ships! Never had such a massive fleet been assembled in all of history! He had to warn the gemini defence force, though what good they would do against an armada of that size, he had no idea. Time was not on his side. The more ships came through a stargate at once, the longer it took to for the gate to process the data and transport it to the other side. Beltram quickly did the calculations. 50,000 ships left him with… 3 minutes for him to get a warning to the defence force. Beltram hated his job, and today, the relationship was not getting any warmer.
Chapter 3
Lewis Bertram’s concerned face appeared on a holocom platform inside the starbase orbiting Desai. As the main military base for the rebels, the Desai starbase had the responsibility of guarding not only Desai, but the whole of the Gemini system. The main Gemini starbase was mainly used for scientific research and civilian living, and had little fighting capacity. There had been concerns voiced by citizens recently, however, that the Gemini defence force wasn’t doing the its job as well as it ought to.
Graham Lochlain, head of the Desai base, rolled his eyes when Beltram appeared. Lately, the old man seemed to have been sent a bit crazy with the stress of the job. He had been regularly complaining about faults in the stargate, but upon inspection, nothing seemed wrong with it. It happened a lot to gate guards, and Graham suspected it was another sign of his deteriorating mental health as he started rambling on about a massive invasion force. Bertrams face contorted with panic as he spluttered away, becoming more and more agitated as he went on. Graham listened with a detacthed interest for a few seconds, then raised a hand to silence him.
‘lewis‘, he started, ‘ there’s no way the mantis would be able to put together a fleet like that without us knowing. Weve got eyes on the draconis system constantly. If they managed to make a fleet of 50,000 ships, I think we’d know about it, my friend.’
‘you don’t understand! I know what I saw!’, blustered Beltram. ‘ I might be the only one guarding the gate at the moment, but you’ve got to believe me! Damn it man, you’ve got seconds. Seconds!’
Graham sighed, and was just about to disconnect the link, when his eyes settled on something. It was Beltrams data transfer of the gate, updated automatically every two minutes on the condition of the gate. Grahams breath caught in his throat as he saw the latest report.
‘Im-impossible!’, he gasped. ‘we should have known about this ages ago’! he was looking at the ship transport analysis. It was reading that at least 50,000 mantis ships were entering the draconis gate, and exiting through the gemini one.
Graham looked up at Beltrams image, blood draining from his face as he spoke.
‘Lewis…I-I…had no idea…’ he trailed off at the sight of Beltrams sad eyes.
‘Graham’, he said softly, ‘ that transfer came through 30 seconds ago. Its too late to do anything now’
‘you mean-’
‘Yes. They’ve already come through the gate.’
*****
They say you know when you’re about to die. Just before it happens, its as if your brain and body has accepted their termination, and doesn’t bother to do much about it. These was what was happening the Captain Lewis Beltram now, and it was the reason why he felt strangely calm about his current situation.
In front of him, 8,000 metres ahead, he faced the largest fleet he had ever seen. Mantis ships poured through the gate, and never seemed to stop coming. Avengers, marauders, frenzoids, custodians, behemoths, juggernauts… he had never seen so many different types of mantis ship all at once, or so many at once at all.
The warning radar blared through his cockpit speakers, and he looked at the cause. A single juggernaut seemed to have noticed his presence, and was drifting towards him. In spite of himself, Beltram smiled slightly. An evil, twisted race the mantis might be, but they knew how to make their ships all right. The enormous ship's weapons started glowing, as it prepared to destroy him. Beltram stood up out of his chair, and closed his eyes.
He was ready.
Chapter 4
(2 hours after initial mantis attack)
Erik had never felt worse in his life, and he had experienced some horrific ordeals in his time as a captain. Just 20 minutes after his touchdown at the sayaron sanctuary, he had gotten wind of a massive mantis invasion force attacking gemini. The fear was made worse by his sheer sense of helplessness and desperation. He had known this was coming. Every single captain, commander and ensign knew that someday, the mantis would finally march on the gemini system, and take what they had craved for so long. The rebels had only barely managed to win gemini from the terran imperial forces, they had been shaken and weakened by the fight.
In response to mounting pressure from the mantis and imperial navies, the gemini defence force had been created, an armada with one objective: to defend the gemini system and all its inhaditants, whatever the cost. However, all was not as it seemed with the force. Its role was mostly symbolic, a method used by the rebel leaders to quell panic in the populace of gemini, and had little real military might. Under spending, cutbacks and half-hearted ship production left the defence force much more vulnerable than they realized.
And today, the evidence for their shortcomings had become quite clear.
Just an hour after their entrance into the gemini system, the mantis invasion fleet had scythed through the force like a knife through soft butter. A desperate plea for help had managed to find its way to the sayaron sanctuary, and now the base was getting ready to send out interception fleets to assist the defence force, or what was left of it.
Erik’s pace quickened as his warship came into view. He couldn’t help but grin at the ship, it was like seeing a dear friend every time he needed to fly in it. The STAM-S Lightning Storm Prometheus, Erik’s ship was a marvel of technology. Only a few hundred of these ships had been made so far, but they were in high demand for the rebel military. A heavily upgraded variant of the STAM-R Storm, it possessed the very latest in aim computer and perforator technology, and was second only to the legendary X-12 Parsec in overall performance and firepower.
Erik pulled on his helmet and clambered into his cockpit. A sharp hiss sounded as the hatch sealed itself from the outside. After getting clearance from the dockmaster, he fired the engines with a few swift clicks of buttons. A familiar gentle roar gathered as the ship’s antimatter thrusters propelled him out of the sayaron base. His nervous state softened slightly as he felt the pull of g-force on exit.
A communication came in from the fleet flagship Ascension. A man’s face appeared on the hologram emitter. Erik did a double take in surprise at the identity of the man. It was none other than the legendary Admiral Hornblower, one of the most famous rebels of all time. At the age of just 19, the then captain Hornblower led 5 ships into battle against 3 mantis death squads, and had commanded the fleet so expertly and precisely, only one ship was lost, and the mantis had been destroyed. His status as rebel hero was secured from that day. Hornblower had a cybernetic right eye, the result of a horrific ship malfunction during another deadly battle, but that only made his vision sharper than ever, and he had soon climbed the ranks to admiral.
Hornblower smiled grimly at Erik as he spoke.
‘good evening, captain Spiro. As you can see, we are nearly ready to ship out. Please make your final preparations for the coming operation’
‘y-yes, sir,’ replied Erik, ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you on this mission, sir.’
‘well, given the strategic importance of the gemini system, they decided to ask my help for one last time on the battlefield. We leave in 2 minutes. Be ready.’
The admirals no-nonsense attitude hadn’t changed since his days as a captain. It was yet another trait that made him so versatile in battle.
Erik smiled slightly, then looked up out of his cockpit window. Ahead of him, he saw an enormous rebel fleet, possibly the largest they had ever assembled. The fleet consisted of mainly STAM ships, with a few armored transports as support artillery. There were at least 15,000 ship there, and Erik was impressed.
Perhaps they had a chance in hell after all...
His attention snapped back to his ship. it registered the fleet was beginning to move out, heading towards the sol stargate. Erik breathed deeply to calm himself, then fired his superluminal thrusters.
this was about to get quite interesting...
Chapter 5
How did this happen? How did the human race fail so miserably in detecting its greatest foe, the most dangerous and bloodthirsty race in the known universe? How did we become so complacent, so careless, that they were able to take us by surprise so easily, and crush us so effortlessly? These and many more questions drifted through the mind of the prosperian, as the mantis squads swarmed around his home’s atmosphere. Tears shone in his eyes, and others around him as he knew he was going to die, it was blindingly, beautifully obvious. In the months after the rebels took gemini from the imperials, he had lived on prosperous carefully, hesitantly. He, like so many other humans, had grown careless and arrogant, sure of his own safety.
The prosperian looked up, into the sky, at the massive radiation shield protecting the surface from the twin gemini suns. It was so clear, now, what the mantis intended to do. Such a fragile existence, and now it was about to shatter.
*****
Erik’s storm ship exited the sol stargate, along with admiral Hornblower’s fleet. The silence of space now only served to make Erik even more nervous. As he had entered the gate, his head was filled with thoughts of what they would find on the other side. And now that question was answered. Just a few hundred miles in front of him, there were mantis ships swarming around the gemini starbase. Thousands of them. Erik gasped; not in all his life had he seen so many mantis warships, and this was most likely just a detached force. The mantis had evidently noticed the rebel fleet, adnwere moving in to attack.
The admiral’s voice blared harshly through the comm system.
‘All ships, prepare for combat! Activate aim computers and shields! Engineers, be ready for nanobot activation and rematerialization!’
Erik swallowed, this would be a hard battle. With a few swift clicks he activated the aim computer, and targeted the nearest mantis ship. He fired his rockets, and they found their mark. The ship was torn apart, and the shockwave blasted through him. All around him, mantis and rebel ships were shooting at each other, and it seemed like the mantis were winning. The main problem seemed to be a lot of the mantis ships had draconian dark matter technology, and the antimatter rebel ships seemed like a toy in comparison. The rebel ships were not only outnumbered, they were being heavily outgunned.
Five ships suddenly appeared on Erik’s tail. His ship shook as it took blast after blast. The storm ship swung round to face them, but Erik knew he was far outmatched. Nevertheless, he used every trick in the book to evade the mantis, twisting and turning, desperately trying to avoid destruction.
Alarms blaring in his ears, his ship almost disintegrating, Erik began to lose hope. He might not be able to beat them, but he would certainly take them with him. His hand moved to the control panel, and flipped the lock on the self-destruct button. Sacrificing himself would trigger a small antimatter/matter annihilation, completely destroying everything near it. His shaking hand inched over the large red button, and with a deep breath, he moved it down.
A deep roar brought him out of his trance. Shocked, Erik looked round at the source. A massive ship flew past him, engines thundering through the explosion. It was a Parsec! Erik was amazed. The Sayaron fleet didn’t contain Parsecs, they only known to exist in the core rebel fleet, and even then there were only several serving. Erik sat agape as the Parsec tore through ship after ship, taking barely any damage. Then something amazing happened. Parsec after Parsec started flooding through the Stargate, and immediately blasting mantis ships with no let up. Parsecs were only ever flown by the elite rebel pilots, and only a few were known to exist. But today…there at least 500 of the legendary ships on the battlefield!
Erik immediately contacted the lead parsec, and was startled to see a familiar face at the helm. It was major Ivanova, her face a fierce mix of beauty and determination.
‘major…what-’
‘I see you’ve decided to call me by my correct rank now, captain,’ remarked the major, an eyebrow raised.
‘in case your wondering, yes these are genuine parsecs, and yes we really do have this many in our fleet, if not more. This is the sayaron emergency taskforce fleet, a secret fleet created when all seems lost.’
The major finshed her speech with a small grin.
‘and you kept this secret?!’, cried Erik incredulously. ‘we might have faired ok in this battle if you had been here from the start!’ Erik couldn’t believe that the sayaron fleet, the most powerful of all the rebel fleets scattered throughout the galaxy, had neglected to dispatch its most powerful ships in this vital battle.
‘Captain spiro, do you have any idea how many favours I had to call in to get these ships ready?’ spat ivanova.
‘I can imagine’, remarked Erik sharply.
The major sighed as she transferred battle data from her ship to Eriks. It showed the gemini system, with mantis fleets showing as red and rebel as green.
‘as you can see, the mantis seem to be congregating around the planet prosperous. it’s the second richest planet in the gemini system, and is also the largest deposit of cryonite here, so its no surprise the mantis would target it next.’
‘ok, so the fleets moving to prosperous?’
‘yes. We’re going now. Prosperous cannot fall.’
*****
Interplanetary flight is the second fastest way the human race can travel. With speeds reaching up to 100 times the speed of light, ships and whole fleets can cross entire systems in minutes. Eriks lightning storm whipped through the gemini system, with 15,000 ships in tow, speeding towards the planet prosperous. Little did they realise the horrific events that were about to unfold…
Prosperous, 3 hours after initial mantis attack
The rebel fleet dropped out of warp speed, to be confronted with a scene of utter devestation. 200 miles
above prosperous, an enormous mantis fleet was tearing a small rebel force to pieces. The rebels seemed outnumbered 20 to 1, and were in a state of dissarray.
Now they realize they weren’t prepared, thought Erik grimly, activating his aim computer once again. Mantis exploded all around him as the sayaron fleet moved in. with the new help of the parsecs, the wind finally seemed to be in the rebel’s sails. The mantis were desperately trying to evade the rebels now…or were they simply trying to flee? Erik’s pilot instinct flared up. This was highly unusual behaviour for the mantis. They were naturally a warrior race, and were proud and honourable race who never fled from a battle, even if they were on the losing side. It was second nature to any mantis to revel in the destruction of their opponents, to rejoice in the spilt blood of the enemy. They never ran away… unless there was no longer a battle to fight?
Erik looked around the battlefield. Mantis ships were indeed fleeing in droves, getting away from the rebels as fast as they could.
Worried, Erik decided to message Ivanova’s parsec. The major appeared on the screen, her expression of confusion a mirror to Erik’s.
‘major, what are they doing? The mantis never try to run like this…’
‘ I have no idea, captain. Perhaps we should-’
Ivanova stopped in mid sentence, her words drifting away. She suddenly began tapping on her ship’s console.
‘the mantis don’t care if they lose in a battle. Which would suggest they’re running away from something, but not us…’ she stopped tapping, her eyes widening in horror and shock.
‘my god!,’ she cried out, ‘ they have planted antimatter bombs all around the radiation shield! they’ll detonate in three minutes!’
Erik felt a weight slide down in his stomach. The mantis had never gone this far before in the war against the rebels. Yes, they had enslaved hundreds of millions to mine cryonite, and killed millions more, but even they had limits. This was simply barbaric and cruel, and it made Erik’s blood boil.
I was wrong about the manit, thought Erik grimly, it seems they have lost their honour as warriors.
‘major,’ he said fearfully, ‘theres over 8 billion people on that planet. If the radiation shield is destroyed…’
‘there’s-there’s nothing we can do, captain. The bombs will detonate in seconds!’
‘so your just going to let 8 BILLION die at the hands of the mantis?!,’ roared Erik.
‘yes’, said the major, her face both sad and angry, ‘we don’t have time to do anything at all.’
She turned in her chair and opened a channel to the entire fleet.
‘ all pilots, this is major ivanova speaking. We must evacuate back to the sayaron sanctuary. Gemini is lost to the mantis, they have too strong a hold on it now.’
Erik couldn’t believe his ears. Was this really major ivanova speaking? It seemed all the fight had gone out of her, and her voice was flat and resigned.
The rebel fleet started moving out, away from prosperous. They had 10 seconds before the bombs exploded. Tears of frustration rolled down Eriks cheek as he called up a video screen showing prosperous. With a massive shower of bright white, all 800 bombs set by the mantis detonated, and the radiation shield was obliterated, shards breaking off and flinging into the inky blackness of space. The chances of someone surviving a catastrophe like that were tiny. The shockwave hit his ship with a low boom, vibrating through him.
And so it was that the gemini system, with all of its 27 billion human inhabitants, fell to the mantis empire. With this this heavy blow, the rebel force almost collapsed throughout the galaxy. The morale amongst the rebels fell to an all time low. But even in light of this terrible loss, they endured. The human spirit could not be broken by the loss of battles or lives. They would survive to fight on, for as long as they possible could.
We will survive. We are mankind. We are Sayaronians.
Written by Nebulaman,
We weren’t ready for them. We were never ready for them. No matter what preparations we made, no matter what countermeasures we took, we were never ready. They came like the pestilence, swarming over our ships and decimating our armies. Within two weeks following first contact, we had lost over 80% of our navy against them. Unstoppable and inexorable, the Mantis Empire swept away our armada like sand in the wind.
When it became clear the terran empire was powerless to stop their advance, the emperor of sol himself, Kaligulia, sent a request for negotiations to the mantis high command. And so began the worst betrayal of the human race ever commited by its ruling power. In days, a treaty was drawn up, a truce called. The mantis fleets descended on sol, meeting no resistance from imperial warships of any kind, enjoying the treatment of honoured guests by the emperor. They soon settled with an iron grip on the planets and the people, a harsh regime now enforced by the terran empire. Billions were soon forced to mine cryonite every day until their deaths mercifully took them away, and almost the entire race of man was enslaved by both the terran and the mantis empire.
But even in this darkest of hours, the tiniest spark of hope remained…
Chapter one
Sayaron Sanctuary Rebel Base, outer sol system,
The deathly silence that usually befell space was torn apart by the thunder of ship engines. An enormous vessel was manoeuvring into the docking bay of the sanctuary, its hold heaving with ill-gotten mantis technology. The ship entered the base and settled on the landing pad surprisingly quietly. Though perhaps not so surprising when the man piloting the ship is considered. Though his face betrayed little emotion, underneath, Captain Erik Spiro of the 45th Sayaron fleet was surging with adrenaline. His latest mission a success, Erik drew out a cigar from his breast pocket and lit it, repeating his celebration ritual for the umpteenth time. After a short wait for the cockpit to depressurise, Erik swiftly opened the hatch and clambered out, flushed with excitement.
‘ So, I assume the raid was a success, captain?’
I know that voice, thought Erik wryly. Turning around, he found himself face to face with major Ivanova, a legend amongst the Sayaronian pilots.
‘ Ivanova’, said Erik, ‘ I swear you look lovelier every time I see you. How are you?’ the cheesy attempt at conversation was exactly what Erik knew pushed her buttons, and he loved doing it, despite the risk it carried.
‘hat’s MAJOR ivanova to you, captain’ she testily replied, eyebrows arched. Her slight Russian lilt always intensified when her voice became stern. It was a warning sign that shouldn’t be ignored. Major ivanova could be deadlier than a mantis death squad when she was pushed.
‘Er-hem. Sorry ma’am. Yes, the raid was a success. I acquired 8 different weapon systems blueprints. I also discovered one very unusual blueprint…I’ve never seen anything like it before’. Erik delivered the news in a textbook manner, all levity disappeared.
‘unusual?’ the major crossed her arms, a clear sign of intrigue. ‘in what way was it unusual?
‘well…for a start its power source is dark matter, so that would suggest technology from the draconis system’ Erik decided to wait for the majors reaction before revealing any more information.
‘You mean…this is draconian technology?’ Ivanova sounded unnerved for the first time. She, like all Sayaronians, knew the draconis system was the hub of all mantis activity, being their home system. The most advanced technology the mantis engineers produced was standard in draconis, and used dark matter as its power source. It made antimatter technology look archaic and inefficient.
‘if draconian technology is being deployed in a place as remote as commerce central, then that means…’
‘Yes,’ said Erik, ‘the mantis attack on Gemini is coming, just as we knew it would.’
There had been rumors of a mantis assaut being planned on the gemini system. It made perfect sense to try to take it. The planet prosperous happened to be the richest cryonite reserve in the beta quadrant of the galaxy, and a bustling hive of business and commerce for the rebels, who had managed to capture gemini from the terran empire four years ago, after a ferocious battle was fought.
It was thanks to a revolutionary invention, the planetary radiation shield, that enabled humans to live on the surface without fear. The fierce amount of radiation produced by the gemini binary star system meant any living creature would be vaporised without any sufficient protection. It was a vital strategic and economic stronghold to the rebel cause, and Ivanova, Erik, and every human being alive, knew it must not be lost…
Chapter two
Life for a gate guard is not what you’d call exciting. You are stuck in a ship for 10 hours a day, bathed in the eerie, unnatural light produced by the stargate you are watching over. Cabin fever sets in, and work-related stress and exhaustion soon follow. Almost all contact with the outside world is severed, as the gates void field neutralizes subspace most communication. The average life expectancy for a rebel gate guard is surprisingly almost as low as a soldiers, put down mostly do sheer boredom. At least they get to have all the fun. Until now, that is.
Fleet commander Lewis Beltram sat in his chair, massaging his temples with a sour expression. The two aspirin he had taken had done nothing for his blinding headache, and he was beginning to wonder if it was yet another negative effect of the stargates void field. He looked up through the window, and his eyes settled on the massive object. Having guarded it for 3 years now, he had often thought about the origins of the gate, and all the others dotted around the galaxy. One thing was obvious: it was not human or mantis hands that had crafted these. They were in excess of 100,000 years old, long before both races were walking and talking. There were legends, of course. They spoke of ‘the ancients’ the same beings who had built the famous temples of vega 1. The ancients had bestowed the gates upon the galaxy in their epic quest of discovery, travelling to each and every star system in the milky way and creating a pathway to it. There was even whispers that, somewhere out in the vastness of space, there was a gate to an entirely different galaxy…
Ridiculous, thought Beltram. There had to be a logical explanation for the stargates existence, though he was damned if he could think of one. He had never believed the old legends of the ancients, despite the mounting evidence to the contrary. It was more of a case of not wanting to believe, than not being able to. Beltram thought it slightly embarrassing that humanity would need to piggyback on someone else’s ingenuity to explore the stars. Surely humans could work it out for themselves?
Sighing, Beltram turned back to his control panel. A flash of light caught his eye, a small blip on the analysis of the gate. Probably just a cargo ship travelling through, he thought. As the stargates were all interconnected, whenever a ship passed through one, every stargates in the galaxy registered its presence. It was yet another of their curious features that had baffled the human scientists for centuries.
Beltram went to turn away from the panel, when the blip was joined by another. Then another. Then…another. Beltrams eyebrows knitted together. This was highly unusual activity, he had never seen this happen before. Could it be just a busy day in transit? A quick diagnostic of the blips soon revealed three points. One, The blips were all coming from the Draconis gate. Two, they were registering as deadly mantis avengers and maruaders. And three…there were now over 10,000 blips on the screen, and rising with ferocious speed. 20,000...30,000...50,000... the number kept rising, as Beltrams eyes widened. Fifty thousand ships! Never had such a massive fleet been assembled in all of history! He had to warn the gemini defence force, though what good they would do against an armada of that size, he had no idea. Time was not on his side. The more ships came through a stargate at once, the longer it took to for the gate to process the data and transport it to the other side. Beltram quickly did the calculations. 50,000 ships left him with… 3 minutes for him to get a warning to the defence force. Beltram hated his job, and today, the relationship was not getting any warmer.
Chapter 3
Lewis Bertram’s concerned face appeared on a holocom platform inside the starbase orbiting Desai. As the main military base for the rebels, the Desai starbase had the responsibility of guarding not only Desai, but the whole of the Gemini system. The main Gemini starbase was mainly used for scientific research and civilian living, and had little fighting capacity. There had been concerns voiced by citizens recently, however, that the Gemini defence force wasn’t doing the its job as well as it ought to.
Graham Lochlain, head of the Desai base, rolled his eyes when Beltram appeared. Lately, the old man seemed to have been sent a bit crazy with the stress of the job. He had been regularly complaining about faults in the stargate, but upon inspection, nothing seemed wrong with it. It happened a lot to gate guards, and Graham suspected it was another sign of his deteriorating mental health as he started rambling on about a massive invasion force. Bertrams face contorted with panic as he spluttered away, becoming more and more agitated as he went on. Graham listened with a detacthed interest for a few seconds, then raised a hand to silence him.
‘lewis‘, he started, ‘ there’s no way the mantis would be able to put together a fleet like that without us knowing. Weve got eyes on the draconis system constantly. If they managed to make a fleet of 50,000 ships, I think we’d know about it, my friend.’
‘you don’t understand! I know what I saw!’, blustered Beltram. ‘ I might be the only one guarding the gate at the moment, but you’ve got to believe me! Damn it man, you’ve got seconds. Seconds!’
Graham sighed, and was just about to disconnect the link, when his eyes settled on something. It was Beltrams data transfer of the gate, updated automatically every two minutes on the condition of the gate. Grahams breath caught in his throat as he saw the latest report.
‘Im-impossible!’, he gasped. ‘we should have known about this ages ago’! he was looking at the ship transport analysis. It was reading that at least 50,000 mantis ships were entering the draconis gate, and exiting through the gemini one.
Graham looked up at Beltrams image, blood draining from his face as he spoke.
‘Lewis…I-I…had no idea…’ he trailed off at the sight of Beltrams sad eyes.
‘Graham’, he said softly, ‘ that transfer came through 30 seconds ago. Its too late to do anything now’
‘you mean-’
‘Yes. They’ve already come through the gate.’
*****
They say you know when you’re about to die. Just before it happens, its as if your brain and body has accepted their termination, and doesn’t bother to do much about it. These was what was happening the Captain Lewis Beltram now, and it was the reason why he felt strangely calm about his current situation.
In front of him, 8,000 metres ahead, he faced the largest fleet he had ever seen. Mantis ships poured through the gate, and never seemed to stop coming. Avengers, marauders, frenzoids, custodians, behemoths, juggernauts… he had never seen so many different types of mantis ship all at once, or so many at once at all.
The warning radar blared through his cockpit speakers, and he looked at the cause. A single juggernaut seemed to have noticed his presence, and was drifting towards him. In spite of himself, Beltram smiled slightly. An evil, twisted race the mantis might be, but they knew how to make their ships all right. The enormous ship's weapons started glowing, as it prepared to destroy him. Beltram stood up out of his chair, and closed his eyes.
He was ready.
Chapter 4
(2 hours after initial mantis attack)
Erik had never felt worse in his life, and he had experienced some horrific ordeals in his time as a captain. Just 20 minutes after his touchdown at the sayaron sanctuary, he had gotten wind of a massive mantis invasion force attacking gemini. The fear was made worse by his sheer sense of helplessness and desperation. He had known this was coming. Every single captain, commander and ensign knew that someday, the mantis would finally march on the gemini system, and take what they had craved for so long. The rebels had only barely managed to win gemini from the terran imperial forces, they had been shaken and weakened by the fight.
In response to mounting pressure from the mantis and imperial navies, the gemini defence force had been created, an armada with one objective: to defend the gemini system and all its inhaditants, whatever the cost. However, all was not as it seemed with the force. Its role was mostly symbolic, a method used by the rebel leaders to quell panic in the populace of gemini, and had little real military might. Under spending, cutbacks and half-hearted ship production left the defence force much more vulnerable than they realized.
And today, the evidence for their shortcomings had become quite clear.
Just an hour after their entrance into the gemini system, the mantis invasion fleet had scythed through the force like a knife through soft butter. A desperate plea for help had managed to find its way to the sayaron sanctuary, and now the base was getting ready to send out interception fleets to assist the defence force, or what was left of it.
Erik’s pace quickened as his warship came into view. He couldn’t help but grin at the ship, it was like seeing a dear friend every time he needed to fly in it. The STAM-S Lightning Storm Prometheus, Erik’s ship was a marvel of technology. Only a few hundred of these ships had been made so far, but they were in high demand for the rebel military. A heavily upgraded variant of the STAM-R Storm, it possessed the very latest in aim computer and perforator technology, and was second only to the legendary X-12 Parsec in overall performance and firepower.
Erik pulled on his helmet and clambered into his cockpit. A sharp hiss sounded as the hatch sealed itself from the outside. After getting clearance from the dockmaster, he fired the engines with a few swift clicks of buttons. A familiar gentle roar gathered as the ship’s antimatter thrusters propelled him out of the sayaron base. His nervous state softened slightly as he felt the pull of g-force on exit.
A communication came in from the fleet flagship Ascension. A man’s face appeared on the hologram emitter. Erik did a double take in surprise at the identity of the man. It was none other than the legendary Admiral Hornblower, one of the most famous rebels of all time. At the age of just 19, the then captain Hornblower led 5 ships into battle against 3 mantis death squads, and had commanded the fleet so expertly and precisely, only one ship was lost, and the mantis had been destroyed. His status as rebel hero was secured from that day. Hornblower had a cybernetic right eye, the result of a horrific ship malfunction during another deadly battle, but that only made his vision sharper than ever, and he had soon climbed the ranks to admiral.
Hornblower smiled grimly at Erik as he spoke.
‘good evening, captain Spiro. As you can see, we are nearly ready to ship out. Please make your final preparations for the coming operation’
‘y-yes, sir,’ replied Erik, ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you on this mission, sir.’
‘well, given the strategic importance of the gemini system, they decided to ask my help for one last time on the battlefield. We leave in 2 minutes. Be ready.’
The admirals no-nonsense attitude hadn’t changed since his days as a captain. It was yet another trait that made him so versatile in battle.
Erik smiled slightly, then looked up out of his cockpit window. Ahead of him, he saw an enormous rebel fleet, possibly the largest they had ever assembled. The fleet consisted of mainly STAM ships, with a few armored transports as support artillery. There were at least 15,000 ship there, and Erik was impressed.
Perhaps they had a chance in hell after all...
His attention snapped back to his ship. it registered the fleet was beginning to move out, heading towards the sol stargate. Erik breathed deeply to calm himself, then fired his superluminal thrusters.
this was about to get quite interesting...
Chapter 5
How did this happen? How did the human race fail so miserably in detecting its greatest foe, the most dangerous and bloodthirsty race in the known universe? How did we become so complacent, so careless, that they were able to take us by surprise so easily, and crush us so effortlessly? These and many more questions drifted through the mind of the prosperian, as the mantis squads swarmed around his home’s atmosphere. Tears shone in his eyes, and others around him as he knew he was going to die, it was blindingly, beautifully obvious. In the months after the rebels took gemini from the imperials, he had lived on prosperous carefully, hesitantly. He, like so many other humans, had grown careless and arrogant, sure of his own safety.
The prosperian looked up, into the sky, at the massive radiation shield protecting the surface from the twin gemini suns. It was so clear, now, what the mantis intended to do. Such a fragile existence, and now it was about to shatter.
*****
Erik’s storm ship exited the sol stargate, along with admiral Hornblower’s fleet. The silence of space now only served to make Erik even more nervous. As he had entered the gate, his head was filled with thoughts of what they would find on the other side. And now that question was answered. Just a few hundred miles in front of him, there were mantis ships swarming around the gemini starbase. Thousands of them. Erik gasped; not in all his life had he seen so many mantis warships, and this was most likely just a detached force. The mantis had evidently noticed the rebel fleet, adnwere moving in to attack.
The admiral’s voice blared harshly through the comm system.
‘All ships, prepare for combat! Activate aim computers and shields! Engineers, be ready for nanobot activation and rematerialization!’
Erik swallowed, this would be a hard battle. With a few swift clicks he activated the aim computer, and targeted the nearest mantis ship. He fired his rockets, and they found their mark. The ship was torn apart, and the shockwave blasted through him. All around him, mantis and rebel ships were shooting at each other, and it seemed like the mantis were winning. The main problem seemed to be a lot of the mantis ships had draconian dark matter technology, and the antimatter rebel ships seemed like a toy in comparison. The rebel ships were not only outnumbered, they were being heavily outgunned.
Five ships suddenly appeared on Erik’s tail. His ship shook as it took blast after blast. The storm ship swung round to face them, but Erik knew he was far outmatched. Nevertheless, he used every trick in the book to evade the mantis, twisting and turning, desperately trying to avoid destruction.
Alarms blaring in his ears, his ship almost disintegrating, Erik began to lose hope. He might not be able to beat them, but he would certainly take them with him. His hand moved to the control panel, and flipped the lock on the self-destruct button. Sacrificing himself would trigger a small antimatter/matter annihilation, completely destroying everything near it. His shaking hand inched over the large red button, and with a deep breath, he moved it down.
A deep roar brought him out of his trance. Shocked, Erik looked round at the source. A massive ship flew past him, engines thundering through the explosion. It was a Parsec! Erik was amazed. The Sayaron fleet didn’t contain Parsecs, they only known to exist in the core rebel fleet, and even then there were only several serving. Erik sat agape as the Parsec tore through ship after ship, taking barely any damage. Then something amazing happened. Parsec after Parsec started flooding through the Stargate, and immediately blasting mantis ships with no let up. Parsecs were only ever flown by the elite rebel pilots, and only a few were known to exist. But today…there at least 500 of the legendary ships on the battlefield!
Erik immediately contacted the lead parsec, and was startled to see a familiar face at the helm. It was major Ivanova, her face a fierce mix of beauty and determination.
‘major…what-’
‘I see you’ve decided to call me by my correct rank now, captain,’ remarked the major, an eyebrow raised.
‘in case your wondering, yes these are genuine parsecs, and yes we really do have this many in our fleet, if not more. This is the sayaron emergency taskforce fleet, a secret fleet created when all seems lost.’
The major finshed her speech with a small grin.
‘and you kept this secret?!’, cried Erik incredulously. ‘we might have faired ok in this battle if you had been here from the start!’ Erik couldn’t believe that the sayaron fleet, the most powerful of all the rebel fleets scattered throughout the galaxy, had neglected to dispatch its most powerful ships in this vital battle.
‘Captain spiro, do you have any idea how many favours I had to call in to get these ships ready?’ spat ivanova.
‘I can imagine’, remarked Erik sharply.
The major sighed as she transferred battle data from her ship to Eriks. It showed the gemini system, with mantis fleets showing as red and rebel as green.
‘as you can see, the mantis seem to be congregating around the planet prosperous. it’s the second richest planet in the gemini system, and is also the largest deposit of cryonite here, so its no surprise the mantis would target it next.’
‘ok, so the fleets moving to prosperous?’
‘yes. We’re going now. Prosperous cannot fall.’
*****
Interplanetary flight is the second fastest way the human race can travel. With speeds reaching up to 100 times the speed of light, ships and whole fleets can cross entire systems in minutes. Eriks lightning storm whipped through the gemini system, with 15,000 ships in tow, speeding towards the planet prosperous. Little did they realise the horrific events that were about to unfold…
Prosperous, 3 hours after initial mantis attack
The rebel fleet dropped out of warp speed, to be confronted with a scene of utter devestation. 200 miles
above prosperous, an enormous mantis fleet was tearing a small rebel force to pieces. The rebels seemed outnumbered 20 to 1, and were in a state of dissarray.
Now they realize they weren’t prepared, thought Erik grimly, activating his aim computer once again. Mantis exploded all around him as the sayaron fleet moved in. with the new help of the parsecs, the wind finally seemed to be in the rebel’s sails. The mantis were desperately trying to evade the rebels now…or were they simply trying to flee? Erik’s pilot instinct flared up. This was highly unusual behaviour for the mantis. They were naturally a warrior race, and were proud and honourable race who never fled from a battle, even if they were on the losing side. It was second nature to any mantis to revel in the destruction of their opponents, to rejoice in the spilt blood of the enemy. They never ran away… unless there was no longer a battle to fight?
Erik looked around the battlefield. Mantis ships were indeed fleeing in droves, getting away from the rebels as fast as they could.
Worried, Erik decided to message Ivanova’s parsec. The major appeared on the screen, her expression of confusion a mirror to Erik’s.
‘major, what are they doing? The mantis never try to run like this…’
‘ I have no idea, captain. Perhaps we should-’
Ivanova stopped in mid sentence, her words drifting away. She suddenly began tapping on her ship’s console.
‘the mantis don’t care if they lose in a battle. Which would suggest they’re running away from something, but not us…’ she stopped tapping, her eyes widening in horror and shock.
‘my god!,’ she cried out, ‘ they have planted antimatter bombs all around the radiation shield! they’ll detonate in three minutes!’
Erik felt a weight slide down in his stomach. The mantis had never gone this far before in the war against the rebels. Yes, they had enslaved hundreds of millions to mine cryonite, and killed millions more, but even they had limits. This was simply barbaric and cruel, and it made Erik’s blood boil.
I was wrong about the manit, thought Erik grimly, it seems they have lost their honour as warriors.
‘major,’ he said fearfully, ‘theres over 8 billion people on that planet. If the radiation shield is destroyed…’
‘there’s-there’s nothing we can do, captain. The bombs will detonate in seconds!’
‘so your just going to let 8 BILLION die at the hands of the mantis?!,’ roared Erik.
‘yes’, said the major, her face both sad and angry, ‘we don’t have time to do anything at all.’
She turned in her chair and opened a channel to the entire fleet.
‘ all pilots, this is major ivanova speaking. We must evacuate back to the sayaron sanctuary. Gemini is lost to the mantis, they have too strong a hold on it now.’
Erik couldn’t believe his ears. Was this really major ivanova speaking? It seemed all the fight had gone out of her, and her voice was flat and resigned.
The rebel fleet started moving out, away from prosperous. They had 10 seconds before the bombs exploded. Tears of frustration rolled down Eriks cheek as he called up a video screen showing prosperous. With a massive shower of bright white, all 800 bombs set by the mantis detonated, and the radiation shield was obliterated, shards breaking off and flinging into the inky blackness of space. The chances of someone surviving a catastrophe like that were tiny. The shockwave hit his ship with a low boom, vibrating through him.
And so it was that the gemini system, with all of its 27 billion human inhabitants, fell to the mantis empire. With this this heavy blow, the rebel force almost collapsed throughout the galaxy. The morale amongst the rebels fell to an all time low. But even in light of this terrible loss, they endured. The human spirit could not be broken by the loss of battles or lives. They would survive to fight on, for as long as they possible could.
We will survive. We are mankind. We are Sayaronians.
- Status