The last great war against the Iborroran Outer Rim Republic had ended in disaster.
Propulsion systems ruined beyond repair, power levels rapidly dropping below the levels that would have been necessary to sustain a controlled atmospheric descent, the Seraphim class carrier Borothis streaked through the atmosphere.
The Borothis was cloaked in fiery plasma, hull surface temperatures exceeding five thousand degrees Celsius. A massive meteor descending uncontrollably through the planets atmosphere, shards and pieces of the hapless carriers hull broke off and whistled past the vessel, forming a comets tail of sorts. The crew on board the vessel could only watch in horror as the ground drew closer and closer many of the escape pods had been requisitioned or damaged during the fierce battle immediately preceding the untimely descent of the Borothis, and even so, escape pods would never have survived the intense frictional heat generated by re-entry.
Upon the bridge, the few still-functioning display monitors flashed desperate warnings. Only the peculiar configuration of the command area, located near the surface of the hull but underneath the main sensor rig, kept the bridge from immediately being destroyed. External monitors blinded for the most part by the veil of plasma that surrounded the vessel, Commodore Peterson could do nothing but wait stoically, as the surface drew ever-closer.
Despite himself, he cursed his fate. There were so many ways for an Alliance naval captain to die Commodore Wolf had gone down with his vessel, heroically battling an armada of Iborroran drone-hive battlecruisers against all odds until his reactors went supercritical Lucas had flown his Seraphim into an asteroid storm- that was the last mistake his astronavigator would make in this life Santiago had brought his carrier into the fray during the Conflict of Narrawz in order to provide close-range tactical support for his badly-outmatched pilots. The battle ended in victory, but at the price of his life
My wife my son .
It seemed like only three years ago he had left the safety and familiarity of Eridani for the wild wastes of unsettled space. That day, he had enthusiastically kissed his young wife good-bye, airily stepping towards the hover-shuttle that would take him to the port, and eventually to Alliance Yards
I promised that Id mention her in my acceptance speech for the Cross of Valor I was scheduled to receive after the Battle of Desshiro during our last holo-communication session. I only hope now that shell remember my promise as she receives it in my place
The Iborrorani inhabitants of Convalas stared at the bright star that had suddenly appeared. Anxiously, they had watched the night sky for the faint flashes of the orbital battle occurring thousands of miles overhead. Occasionally, one of the faint pinpricks of light would blossom into a bright point of white light, only to fade and dim away. But they had not been expecting the star
Moving through the atmosphere at speeds in excess of fifty thousand kilometers per hour, the hull of the Borothis began to fragment, millions of tiny metal pieces trailing the doomed carrier like the tail of a comet. Thermal insulation, never intended to withstand such extremes of temperature, began to fail and chemically decompose, exposing the few critical components that still functioned to the heat of re-entry. The overheated ultracapacitor array detonated, spewing shards of metal and plastic through engineering- explosions blossomed along the aft section of the vessel, just forwards of where the engines had formerly been located. The emergency environmental shields, now deprived of power, failed spectacularly- two thousand naval crew died instantly, vaporized by the full force of the plasma that now poured into the vessel.
So many ways to encounter an untimely death, but this was the nightmare of every capital ship captain- to slowly roast while plunging through the atmosphere of a populated world within an uncontrollable wreck. The civilians below
Petersons thoughts wandered again. The pride of his family was his almost-legendary ancestor and famed officer of the Resistance, so long ago in antiquity struggling against the ancient Neo-Socialist Enlightenment fascist government; two factions now relegated to the annals of distant history. It was Samuel Peterson, Theatre Commander, who had taken up the duty of desperately attempting to stall the NSE fleets bent on incinerating dissenting worlds. He had passed up a promising career in the Enlightenment Navy to join the Resistance as he had been quoted, no number of promotions, of military victories were worth enough to bring humanity into permanent and eternal slavery
By no means was Peterson unfamiliar with loss on such a scale. His own familial homeworld, Altayis, had been glassed by Enlightenment admirals during the conflict that had turned Samuel from just another unknown but willing warship captain to a figure still extolled by the Federation of Democratic Worlds today. But what was about to happen to the unfortunate citizens of Convalas was unprecedented
NSE world-destruction had required days of nuclear and protonic bombardment, and there was always the risk that a Resistance warfleet would catch a NSE fleet deployed and therefore relatively helpless. However, never before in recorded history had a planet ever been sterilized of life by artificial means so rapidly. That would change today.
By now, the Borothis was little more than the kilometer-and-a-half long flaming remnants of a hull and a reactor compartment, tumbling through the thickening atmosphere. The destruction of the higher-level crew, secreted within an inner chamber, took place slowly, as the plasma crept ever deeper into the vessel and fried the hapless men and women alive. As temperatures began to rise even within this sanctum, an ensign, barely fifteen and barefoot, his naval uniform in tatters, desperately dragged a barely-conscious Commodore Peterson through the now-perilous corridors.
As the hapless inhabitants of the soon-to-be-formerly prosperous, important, and cultured world of Convalas watched, the Borothis came in low and impacted with the ocean.
A column of flame and water rose kilometers into the sky, as the massive volume of air displaced from the fallen carrier swept out in a shockwave, racing across the surface of the planet, annihilating everything standing in its path, wiping out entire cities in seconds. The terrified dying gasps of billions were drowned out by the low, resounding thunderous rumble that preceded the main shockwave.
Milliseconds after the initial impact, the reactor detonated. A secondary shockwave of ocean water was hurled with incredible force towards the shorelines, towering walls of water collapsing upon the superheated remnants of the coastal cities, crashing down upon the ruins of what was only minutes ago a thriving center of regional and galactic trade. The explosion vaporized a sizable amount of the carriers hull and spewed even more fragments into the atmosphere.
As they reached the apogee of their ascent and began to fall through the air, they began to immolate themselves, heating up the atmosphere as they did so. The air became unbearably hot; any remaining combustible organic matter that remained upon the surface of the world ignited. Like a malevolent plague, the surface of Convalas rapidly turned pitch black, the continents of the world now a massive firestorm, each new forest aflame contributing to the rapidly rising atmospheric temperature.
Even as the Borothis erupted, there could be seen a tiny flash. The escape pod, dwarfed by the bitter majesty of the dying carrier, burst through a gout of flame and punched through the massive wave of water. Blast-zone clearance thrusters burning at 225% of rated capacity, the miniscule pod and its two occupants rapidly cleared the rapidly-burning atmosphere and hurtled out into deep space.
All readouts were normal. The young ensign and the commodore, now fully conscious, stared through the rear viewscreen in unmasked horror as the planet immolated itself. The remaining Iborroran capital ships began rapidly withdrawing, hurtling towards the far jump gate at incredibly unsafe velocities.
It looks like our fleet has already jumped out, sir. Unfortunately, therell be nobody to pick us up for a while now. The ensign informed Peterson nervously.
Take us into the near jump-gate. Use the standard neutral refugee/escapee encrypted key set one-oh-five-five, and set our destination for the neutral system of Wyas. Peterson carefully eyed his clipboard, and then the ensign. Ensign how did we escape from the Borothis alive?
Through the grandeur of space, the tiny pod slowly proceeded towards the jump gate, which lit up. Into the blindingly bright eye of subspace they proceeded, disappearing into the void.
Republic News Network Press Release: Peace Treaty Between Federation and Iborroran Republic Ratified, War Over.
DAVITAIN, DAVITAIN system- Following the unpremeditated and unprecedented destruction of the Iborroran-controlled planet Convalas, in the Convalas system, representatives from the Iborroran Outer Rim Republic and the Federation of Democratic Worlds navy, on the behalf of the Federation of Democratic Worlds, signed a peace treaty mediated by the nonpartisan Galactic Red Cross two days ago. The ratification of this treaty brings an end to the five-year Third Galactic War that drained the resources of both parties and resulted in the disruption of normal interstellar trade.
The Third Galactic War (GWIII) was instigated by the Iborroran Outer Rim Federation navy as an attempt to seize key human-controlled systems rich in resources in order to increase Iborrorani corporate leverage of galactic trade. What began as a series of surprise strikes into human territory soon became prolonged conflict, most of which was fought either in Iborroran territory, or the inhabited systems slightly beyond. The destruction of the Seraphim class carrier Borothis propulsion systems during the Final Battle of Convalas resulted in the vessel entering the atmosphere of the planet Convalas and impacting upon the surface of the planet, rendering the planet uninhabitable. Soon after this incident, Iborrorani diplomats requested that the Galactic Red Cross mediate talks between Federation and Iborrorani envoys.
The Treaty of Davitain specifies the transfer of seven border Iborroran systems to Democratic Worlds Republic control as a punitive penalty for instigating the conflict, and the withdrawal of Federation forces from all occupied Iborroran worlds. As well, tariffs on Iborrorani goods and resources exported to the Setalriitanius Empire or Democratic Worlds Republic have been imposed for a period of time no less than five years by both parties. Analysts widely believe that the Democratic Worlds Republic will transfer control of the Iborroran systems to the control of the Rim Miners Group (RMG).
When asked about reports of an unknown alien vessel that appeared within the Convalas system during the Final Battle of Convalas and wiped out the drives of the Borothis, military personnel emphasized the fact that they had not yet reached a conclusive decision as to the validity of such reports. According to Admiral Minsk, Unfortunately, the sensor records of the Borothis are unsalvageable, and we have not fully analyzed sensor records from the other Federation warships that participated in the battle. Therefore, such claims are as of yet unsubstantiated. Although both Iborrorani and Alliance officers have claimed sightings of such a vessel during the conflict, sensor records and deep scans have not revealed enough information for authorities to make a definitive conclusion. When Commodore Peterson, commanding officer aboard the Borothis and one of two survivors, was interviewed, he declined to comment upon the matter.
The Federation Navy is currently under the control of Christian Alliance provincial government under the terms of the Charter of Beta Aquilae. The Tanis Realm province is scheduled to take up the task of military maintenance and command in one hundred forty years.
(This message has been edited by UE_Research & Development (edited 09-23-2003).)
