"Sir, we are preparing to come out of hyperspace." Azdara Ace was awoken by Captain Alexander.
"Very well. Bring up the tactical display, put foward sensors on full." Azdara ace looked up at the tactical, fuzzy for a moment, and then it came into view. "So, when we enter, we should head that way." Azdara Ace pointed to a spot on the screen where a large group of Alien Freightters could be seen. "Mr. Alexander, how good are you at manual hyperspace exits?"
"Ahhh. I see we think along the same lines, Admiral. Yes, it would be best to go for a manual droppout right on top of that alien group."
"So you feel confident in doing it?"
"Of course sir, with this new Titan Battlecruiser, you can't really call it "manual" any more. The computer does all of it."
"Excellent. ETA?" Azdara Ace breathed a small sigh of relief.
"We are approximately 2.234567 minutes away. If we can pull this off correctly, we shouldn't sustain any losses."
"Yes, I was just thinking the same thing." Azdara Ace looked at the tactical. There were around 35 Alien ships in the Rikard system ahead, most of them freighters. A computerised warning voice went off, "10 seconds to hyperspace droppout. Please put on your restraint belt, and man your stations." There were a few crew members that scurried here and there, but overall, the ship was already prepared. It was time. The stars streaked back into normal, and a large planet suddenly appeared directly in front of the fleet.
The Alien's response was one of panic. The right phalanx cut through a freighter group, obliverating all in its path. The center phalanx, with help of Thunderclap Destroyers, smashed though a fighter group. That left about 20 Alien ships in the system, all of them making for the planet, or throttling to hyperspace range. "Left phalanx, Green Group, cut off those freighters making for the planet. All capital ships, full throttle to the planet. We need to be there when the defense fleet shows up." There was a rumbling sound as the whole ship came to life, blasting foward towards the planet. The system was now clear of all Alien ships, either dead, or escaped.
"Excellent!" Just as the words came out of Azdara Ace's mouth though, 2 alien Heavy Cruisers appeared from the planet below. "Hmmmm.....Green Group, Blue Group, Red Group, and all Destroyers and Battlegunships up there, I want you to attack those Alien Heavy Cruisers from all sides, and then pull back to the main force." The plan worked quite effectively. The Alien Cruisers, attacked from all sides, went into a state of confusion, they only had 3 Fusion Particle beam turrets a piece, and were under attack by over 100 differnt targets. The ships that took on the most damage were the Destroyers. One of them was completely disabled, another down to 50% armor. However, the Alien Heavy Cruisers, under intense firepower, survived for only around 40 seconds.
The Dreden force, remarkably, had received no losses in ships. However, many reports were coming in to Azdara Ace that various ships had lost a crew member or so. Tallied together, about 7 lost crew members. The force took the planet easily, the governor practically gave it to them, the hardship of Alien rule was very apparent. The governor proved very useful, actually giving to the Dreden fleet resources, shipyard facilities, and to Azdara Ace's great surprise, 5 Alien Interceptors, along with Alien pilots. "Wait a sec, why would these pilots fly with my fleet?"
"Oh, master Admiral, it is because they, much as most of the Aliens on the planet, hate rule by the empire. We all know that if you Dreden destroy the Empire, our lifes will become much happier, like before. For, you see, the Alien Empire was once a great and wonderful empire, ready to help its neighbors, and always just. However,
with great power comes great possibilities, and one of our old leaders, Kathrii'll, chose poorly. He was the leader that first attacked your human friends, many, many years ago. From then on, the Alien Empire has degenerated to a terrible, terrible thing. The taxes are so harsh that not even I can pay off my bills. It is time for change. These interceptors are my sign of gratitude to you for saving my people." When Azdara Ace looked into his Alien face, for the first time ever, he felt sincereity from an Alien.
"Very well, thank you very much." Azdara Ace, accompanied by a marine group, headed back for the Red Intruder. The Intercetors would arrived there in a few hours, or so the governor said. When aboard, Azdara Ace went to Captain Alexander with the news.
"Excellent, Admiral. This is a good sign for us. If this world hates Alien rule, there surely must be more. Interceptors you say? Well, that is unexpected. We should be able to make room for them, though. I would place them somewhere, where you can keep a watchful eye on them."
"Yes, I agree, what is our fleet status?"
"Well, now with the additional Interceptors,
3 Titan Battlecruisers
6 Athena Battlegunships
8 Odysseus Cruisers
20 Thunderclap Destroyers(1 disabled, 1 severely damaged)
14 Hawk Gunships
30 Lynx Heavy Fighters
40 Slicer Medium Fighters
40 Cricket Interceptors
5 Alien Interceptors
What do we do next" seecord
"I'm not sure, we need to repair those two Destroyers using the shipyard facilities here, and I also want to send a message to President Skyblade. An encoded message." Azdara Ace walked over the the coder machine, typed in the message, coded it, and sent it off, looking like this:
Xjhvj uq ogax wgueyke pt tghgtxk, pt tjqyqj j na qqvmxovv?
Tingles ran down Azdara Ace's back as he thought of the galay without the Alien threat. He now, for the first time, realized that many, many, many, people and Aliens hated the Alien Empire. He only hoped that he could help free these beings to the best of his ability.
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You would have to be ignorant, derranged, demented, or dead to turn down the oppurtunity to fly an Azdara.
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