Stormi_chan
GenericUser984
Catplayz
jbox1
gearshift48
Fort_Master_Gustav
The commander of "Empress's Eye" finally lost any control over the situation. His understanding of the world, his boundless belief in the supremacy of reason and rationality... This whole structure of knowledge, theories, predictions, and his extraordinary intelligence, coupled with caution and insight, was now collapsing with a terrifying crash, disintegrating into a cascade of fear and impotence. A frightening report about the announcement of the seventh level of alarm on one of the transports without any specific information about what actually happened, new contacts with unidentified ships that look completely different and use fundamentally different technologies to move, the appearance of an unknown ship in the colors of the Irri battle fleet, strange metamorphosis of the gray-purple ship... due to the number and diversity of the aliens, the commander almost lost the ability to monitor them all at the same time. As the cherry on the cake - from the headquarters of the FDF instead of another confirmation of the adoption of the report the alarm signal came. Someone broke into headquarters. The signal carried no information, no call to action- it was a simple statement of fact. In the main room of the headquarters is something alien and potentially dangerous.
The commander sat in front of the monitor, his head in his hands, convulsively crumpling his beautifully trimmed feathers. For the first time in his life he questioned the fact that the Protocol can provide answers to any questions.
The adjutants stood motionless behind him, exactly at the distance required by army regulations. Now commander genuinely envied them. The lower ranks were concerned only with obeying orders from their superiors. They were not authorized to worry about global problems, and they had no right to be afraid.
Now, after a level twenty-two alarm had come in from headquarters, Protocol dictated that further orders from the headquarters must be ignored. This level of alarm suggested that the control terminals could be controlled by anyone, and the defense systems were absolutely incapable to stop the invading forces.
The control of the Irri space fleet has passed entirely into the hands of the senior naval commander on duty at the moment. Right now it was the commander of "Empress's Eye". There were no senior officers left- only gravitational telescope's commander and Protocol.
We are face to face with something truly supernatural. And while on our face the surprised expression freezes, their muzzles bloodthirsty lick their fangs.
The commander slammed his hand down on the transmitter's activation button. The tuft of snow-white feathers he had clutched a moment before remained in his tightly clenched fist.
-All FDF fleet commanders with sufficient rank to receive this broadcast. Combat alarm. Level- absolute, type five. To the crew of transport ship "Yerr'vi" number 14/71- immediately execute the prisoner and destroy the items belonging to him. In case of failure of this task- initiate self-destruction. To the crew of transport ship "Yerr'vi" number 94/70- isolate the alien artifact immediately and refrain from further contacts with it. To the commanders of battleship groups number 1, 4 and 5- open fire in accordance with the doctrine. To the commanders of battleship group number 2- open fire on the newly arrived ships in accordance with the doctrine. To the commanders of battleship group number 3- provide fire support for group number 5. Leave nothing.
For the Empress.
The commander paused. He wasn't sure that his voice sounded calm and impressive enough. He had a small, sneaky, insidious thought that it would be good to rewrite the order, to make sure that his voice did not tremble or break... It would be good Idea to wait, to consider the situation... maybe things will work out by themselves- he should just wait a bit...
But there was no time for that. It was necessary to send the recorded message immediately. It had to be done before the aliens strike first.
The commander grinned wryly and sent his order by pressing another button.
•••
Iv'ieu sighed. The pilot's words seemed sincere. It seemed... It seemed to be a kind of translation of the woman's thoughts, and for some reason the senior paladin suddenly felt that he would feel the lie in these words, if it really was in them.
-Good. I believe you. I'll have some engineers sent for this device. What does it look like? I hope you have...
Senior paladin had not finished his speech. The plasma charges on the woman's arms exploded, spilling out torrents of violent heat. Iv'ieu, who was standing very close to the pilot, was literally vapourised before he could even understand what's going on.
•••
-Zura? Beautiful name.
The officer smiled, but there was no friendliness in his smile.
-I wish I believed a word you said.
The officer raised his pistol in one swift movement and fired at the figure. When the bullet had gone through and done no harm, he smiled sadly and shook his head.
-What a pity... So you didn't lie to me here, and I really can't kill you that way. So, what do you need, Zura? I'm sure you didn't come here just to meet us. And what is that "Old Great One" are you talking about?
•••
All single alien ships were attacked- at least one volley of quadruple mass accelerators from two different directions (front and rear of the ship) and also in different planes.
The fleet coming from the wormhole was attacked by a group of ships that had moved in to stop it. The small, unarmed ships had made almost simultaneous jumps with the help of gravity well generators, and now they are moving to the larger ships of the unknown fleet with intimidating speed.