Note: This is the only chapter, except for Chapter 7, if I upload it, that will not be divided. Also, it will be rewritten eventually. I'm not at all happy with it, nor should I be. When you read it, you'll probably agree that it needs rewritting.

Chapter 3

At a point in space known as Sector 19 Alpha, Destroyer Squadrons 117-which just recently returned from Earth-, 80, 911, and 16 were at full rest. In the center of the fleet was the Victory, commanded by Admiral Maverick. Ever since the Kingdom’s fleet arrived at this same point in space, which only occurred fourteen days ago, the fleet was at the highest level of alert. Maverick knew that there was going to be a breach along the border eventually.

The Admiral Nelson was currently on patrol at the very edge of Republic space when a warning tone sounded at the tactical station. Glancing at the sensor report, Lieutenant Jennifer Gate’s heart skipped a beat or two. Sensors showed many unidentified ships speeding towards Republic space.

“Captain, I have a lot of unidentified ships approaching. I’m not certain how many there are, but there’re a lot,” she said looking over to Captain Robert McGraw. “I make at least eighty ships.”

“Thank you, Jen,” he replied. Looking over to his communications officer, he ordered for a warning to go out to the entire fleet.

After several tense minutes had passed, Communication Officer Lieutenant Commander Joseph J’lin looked up from the communications station. “Sir, Admiral Maverick issued an order for all units to form up in formation Delta 5. We’ll be leading the port side of the formation with the Victory leading the other side of the formation.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” the captain replied turning towards the helm station. “Mr. Montgomery, please form up with the rest of the fleet,” he said to Senior Chief Michel Montgomery, the current helm officer.

For the next ten minutes missile tubes were loaded, laser arrays and shields charged, and personal reported to their battle stations. The tension levels on all the ships were at an all time high; not even simulators or war games could truly prepare a crew for an actual ship-ship engagement on the scale they were facing. Most of the time ships only faced privateers or pirates. The last major war was over a hundred years previous, so no one in the current Navy command structure has experience.

Finally, after twenty very tense minutes a communication came in for Admiral Maverick from the Aktris units. As the holoprojection unit came to life, Maverick realized that the whole bridge crew on the other ship was made up of just Aktris.

Because the Aktris body was radically different from the human body, there were two sets of seats at each station on the bridge. The average Aktris stood only one and a quarter meters tall on all four legs of their, though they stand to over two and a half meters while standing on their hind legs, which is what the Aktris in the center of the bridge was currently doing. Maverick recognized that this was a male Aktris because the skin color had a reddish tint to it. Just as recognizable was the fact that this particular Aktris was a 1st Overlord since the ridge that started at the nose and went all the way back to the shoulder of the arms had two wide crevices carved into it and three thinner crevices above the two wide ones.

“Admiral of the Human fleet, this is 1st Overlord M’kata. I demand that you surrender your ships and the crews of them all. If you wish to fight, you’ll be soundly defeated,” the Aktris said in a deep, rough voice. “One of your vessels will be allowed to record the engagement and return to Earth.”

“1st Overlord M’kata, I’m Rear Admiral Maverick of this Ranzan Republic Destroyer Fleet. I cannot and will not allow this fleet to surrender without a fight. You’ll most likely destroy every single ship here except for the one which I have record these events, but you will not defeat my fellow Humans,” Admiral Maverick replied. In a sincere tone he concluded, “I guarantee it, 1st Overlord.”

“You have ten minutes to decide which ship you’ll have record the battle. Likewise, I’ll have one of my ships watch, in case you should win. The ship will be at the following coordinates,” the 1st Overlord said as he transmitted some coordinate.

“Very well, 1st Overlord. My ships will not attack them. My ship will be here.”

As soon as the transmission concluded, Maverick had the Majestic, one of the newest destroyers in his fleet, go to the coordinates that were supposed to not be attacked.

For the ten minutes after the transmissions between the two sides concluded, battle plans were transmitted between ships on both sides. Neither side moved towards each other. On the bridge of the Admiral Nelson, Captain McGraw could feel the intensity among his bridge crew.

After the ten minutes had passed, there still wasn’t any movement towards the other side. Ten more minutes passed, which seemed like an eternity for Admiral Maverick, before the Aktris fleet started to move towards the destroyer fleet.

In response, the sixteen ships of the destroyer fleet moved forward to meet the enemy in battle. On his bridge, Admiral Maverick was watching the display in front of him intensely, waiting for the enemy ships to be in range to fire on. Finally the enemy ships came into range, crossing an imaginary line approximately fifty thousand kilometers in front of the ship farthest back in the destroyer formation.

“Open command net to all the ships,” he ordered his communications officer, who replied instantly that it was open. “All ships, you’re ordered to engage fire plan Delta Fifteen.” Within only a few seconds, he felt the maneuvering thrusters engage.

As one, the port section of the fleet opened fire with their lasers at the center of the enemy formation, which was where the Sh’tite cruisers were reported to be located. At the same time they fired, the starboard group angled upwards sharply and scattered, firing their lasers at the same time.

The Aktris fleet, still not in range to fire their laser arrays, launched their superior missiles in response. Over a hundred thousand missiles were launched before the laser beams reached their ships. Three Sh’tite cruisers were destroyed instantly, with two more so severely damaged that they were considered out of action for the battle. The lasers scored direct hits on several other ships, causing the engines on two other ships to fail and the weapons taken off line on another.

The captain of the RNS Yellow Jacket was excited as the damage to the enemy ships appeared on his display; however, the incoming missiles made the excitement short-lived. Over a hundred missiles targeted his ship alone. Only twenty missiles were able to penetrate the ship’s shields, tearing through the steal of the ship’s armor.

Other ships in the field of fire were the Intolerant, Defiant, and Victory, all destroyed instantly. The Hornet’s engines were totally destroyed, and the majority of her weapons taken off line.

With the destruction of the Victory, confusion reined as the remaining captains didn’t know who was in command. Technically, the Hornet should have been in command with the original command structure of the fleet, though the damage to her engines was so severe that the captain ordered the next in command to take over, which was Captain McGraw, whose ship took only a half dozen missiles.

“All ships, form up in Zulu 3,” Captain McGraw said into the command net. At once the remaining ships formed up into the formation, which was a perfect defense formation. In this formation, all ships were so close together that their shields were only meters away. “I want all ships to fire their laser arrays on a rapid fire mode, switching targets every five seconds. There aren’t any assigned targets.

As he watched on his displays, the remaining ships in the fleet under his command fired almost instantly. In the seconds it took for the laser beams to get to the enemy ships, the enemy ships launched another missile barrage that was weaker then it was the first time they launched.

In a normal mode for the laser arrays, the arrays fired a laser for a second then recharged for almost one minute. The rapid-fire mode, however, made it so the same array fired three times in one second, with a quicker recharge time.

Unfortunately, the rapid-fire mode wasn’t recommended due to the damage it could do to the ship that fired, as the Vigilant demonstrated. Only after half a minute of rapid-fire, a short circuit in the fire control caused the laser array to blow up, taking out the control lines for the reactor. Without any warning, the Vigilant exploded, damaging the Admiral Nelson.

“Captain, I recommend that we cease rapid-fire,” Lieutenant Gates shouted to be heard over noise coming in from other ships with their command nets active. “It will only be a matter of time before another ship explodes like the Vigilant.”

“I agree, Lieutenant,” the captain said as he was opening the command net. “All ships, return to normal fire mode.”

During the minute of rapid-fire, the fleet had targeted over half of the remaining Aktris ships, destroying all they attacked. However, the missiles that were launched came in just as Captain McGraw was giving the order to return to normal fire.

Out of the eight hundred missiles that were launched, only fifty made it through the shields of the ships they attacked. The penetrating missiles took out the port weapons systems of the Typhoon, the port generators for the Flag of War, and the secondary antimatter lines on the Admiral Nelson. None of the missiles destroyed a ship in the fleet.

Deciding that Human ships were either going to totally crush them, or would die taking out the rest of their fleet, 1st Suboverlord M’rath, now in command of the fleet, hailed the Admiral Nelson.

“Captain, your people have fought bravely today. For this, I’m prepared to offer you a chance to leave without further damage to either fleets,” the Suboverlord said to Captain McGraw.

“Very well, 1st Suboverlord,” he responded. “However, it’s your people who will leave this space. If you don’t like it, I’ll finish off your fleet right now.”

“I knew that you would say that, Human. I will order my people to leave this space now,” the Suboverlord said angrily. “One other thing, Human. Don’t be fooled in thinking that you’ve slowed our advance down.”