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”There is no peace, no peace in this galaxy.”

Part one

THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD
Admiral Blue doubted that many TIE officers had heard that sound and came back alive. But he had, far too many times. It was the noise of his fleet coming out of warpspace, having masterfully evaded the FTL magnet that had held them at bay for so long. A group of unmanned interdictor drone platforms had warped in on a suicide mission. Due to how the FTL magnet was operating, they arrived right into the jaws of the TIE fleet at point-blank range. The interdictors though had raised an interdiction field that prevented the rest of the fleet to be caught in the trap. Due to this manoeuvre, they had come out at very-long-range, as they always did. Blue did not enjoy war, but something other than artillery battles to get his adrenaline pumping would be welcome. His scanners picked up the colossal structure, the main FTL magnet. Its size was enormous. It was a grey structure with many antennae and sensory towers protruding from its main body. The body in question was hidden, embedded within a large asteroid that had been dug out for the project. Around it, capital ships. At least 20 of them. They ominously floated about the titanic FTL magnet. The only ship that could compare in size was the Yoshiaki, the only remaining dreadnought of TIE. Blue remembered when he studied the battle of Yashinda, seeing railgun shells hammer that very same ship mercilessly. The ship had somehow recovered. It looked in good shape with a few patched-up spots where the paint job was fresh. Some guns and systems were replaced with newer ones in a way that made the ship asymmetrical. Blue’s ship, the HMS Pride one of the most powerful ships the Royal Navy had to bare, yet the Yoshiaki was more than twice as long. His fleet had more supporting ships though. Around the behemoth that was his battlecruiser flew 45 Bastonian cruisers and over 70 destroyers. He split his fleet into three sections. The centre section was led by his command ship HMS Pride and the flanking section by two heavy cruisers each, the HMS Principality and HMS Virtue. The TIE fleet raised their shields quickly. They had anticipated the attack for a long time. The long warp jump had drained the Bastonian ships of their power and was staggering. Though due to the nature of TIE’s weapons, they weren’t able to capitalize on this. Nova and Victory-class capital ships were sent forth, unleashing volleys of missiles. The battle had begun. ”PD corvettes form three screens in a V formation in front of each battlegroup and begin standard firing protocols in volleys.” Blue commanded. The warships obeyed, swinging around their coilgun barrels and pointing them against the enemy wedge ships. Each ship was pushed back by recoil as the guns thundered in a barrage unleashing a wave of shells toward the enemy.

Commander Hoscian of TIE’s Imperial Navy saw the blips in the distance drawing ever closer. His ships were heading full speed at the Bastonian battlegroup to get within range, while the GBE fleet was already firing everything they got. Hoscian was in command of a small strike group consisting of 3 Nova-class capital ships and a dozen other newer warships. The shells came in, obliterating a corvette in front of him and whipping past his bridge and hitting his allied ships all around him. Without warning one smashed into his ship’s shields, lighting it up in a nuclear explosion, damaging the front and throwing Hoscian to the floor. Missiles were now arriving by the hundreds, his point defence was doing the best it could at intercepting them all. He ordered the firing of more missiles to match them, but the main batteries came hammering down, never stopping. He was racing towards the enemy but they weren’t even a quarter of the way and his fleet was under fire he knew they couldn’t sustain for long. Hoscian took a long look at the formation the enemy admiral was employing, analyzing the ships and the information that they had gained in previous battles. That’s where he noticed the weakness. The fleet had only 7 interdictors. Either they assumed that the FTL magnet would stop faster than light manoeuvres or they had too much faith in their non-dedicated interdiction-carrying warships. Either way, he knew to never interrupt his enemy when they are making a mistake.

Blue saw the enemy fleets attempt at etching closer to them. He analysed that they were too spread out for a crescent formation. The best option was just to shoot them from long range. He ordered his ships to start reversing away from the enemy, to keep their distance. But he knew that their ships were faster and would eventually catch up. All the heavy armour was a burden on the Bastonian ships' acceleration. And when they got to medium range, Blue had a surprise for them.

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17 days later

”Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”

Part two

The distant sunlight made the imperial grey of Hoscians ships glow. The distant Royal Navy warships’ hull was partly concealed by their own shadow, occasionally glowed up by the firing of guns and missiles. Sometimes they’d be covered in the orange light produced by the demise of one of their fellow ships, throwing the shadow onto the other side of the ship. Hoscian watched coldly and observed the defensive way the enemy formation was set up.
”Focus fire on all of those seven interdictor ships.” Hoscian commanded, ”Send frigates forward in a spearhead and launch a volley of missiles and fire our torpedoes simultaneously. Have our fighter wings go in before them to act as cannon fodder for their interception systems. Send a request for the others to do the same.”
”Aye, commander.”
His communications officer talked into the comms: ”Requesting strike craft wing backup in a forward saturation attack to cover for missiles. Over.”
Hoscian saw torpedoes slide out of their tubes and vertical launch bays open to deliver their nuclear payloads to the enemy. Strike craft roared past his bridge in large V formations and took point. It was all done in a bureaucratic and organized manner. A way that didn’t betray the panic that was going on inside the TIE capital ships, not being able to shoot back.

He was looking through the artificial window of his bridge, marvelling at the utter size of the TIE star dreadnought that stood in his path. Old, but still fearsome. The garbled comms spoke from Admiral Blue’s ships. It was a message from one of his sensor ships detecting an incoming threat.
”Incoming missile volley. DST, minus 0.2 AU +3 north, +5 autem, +12 east, T-minus 8 minutes. Over.”
His communications officer responded, ”Affirmative, enemy launch confirmed. Over.” He looked up at his admiral awaiting orders.
”More power to point defense lasers.” He said, ”What’s their target?”
”Unclear, sire. Attacking all battlegroups. Limited spread indicates single targets.”
”Most interesting. Move our destroyers and heavy cruisers to the back of the formation and keep corvettes covering their sides. Move this ship forward, it can take the hit.”
His ships still pressed the attack, the deafening sound of coilguns and autorailguns and the shaking of the ship had gotten familiar and Blue barely noticed except for each main battery barrage. The main gun that lay beneath the bridge tower was so unfathomably enormous that every time it fired, it shook remains of ice and dust off the ship and made the whole 7 km long hull recoil. It lobbed more shells into the void together with his support of cruisers and destroyers. Main batteries tore through a Victory-class, its hull shrivelled up from the kinetic impact. The nuclear payload went off and the inner detonation deformed and warped the ship’s burning hull. Its neighbouring ship, a Nova-class, attempted to make a hard starboard turn. As it rotated around, two main railgun shells hammered into it achieving full penetration and coming out the other side. The light flickered off and escape pods launched in desperation. By the Executor star dreadnought, a main battery shell from the HMS Pride missed its target. Its manoeuvring thrusters pushed it off to the side, striking an imperial cruiser, completely annihilating it and leaving nothing left but debris.
a The enemy's most potent long-range firepower would now arrive. The missile barrage he expected to hit his larger ships zoomed past him. Streaks of bullets were filling space with lead as lasers tracked the missiles with pinpoint accuracy. Their grey trail of smoke betrayed their targets. There were 7 groups of missile trails and thus 7 concentrations of missiles. Blue remembered he had brung 7 interdictors and deducted that they must be their target. But it was all too late. He turned his body around with a stern softness, watching as the torpedoes struck every interdictor in his fleet with precision, slamming into them one after another. Like a continuous explosion being replenished by each missile strike.

7 interdictors down. Hoscian watched his information feed and the 3D holographic battlefield map. The red-marked interdiction area decreased significantly.
”Ready my fleet's hyperdrives and set a course 40 degrees port side.”
The warships of Hoscians strike groups engines burned as he began the manoeuvre.
”Time it with arrival within heavy plasma battery range and keep them spooled. Request the magnet to shift our exit point to their flank the moment we enter hyperspace.”
Hoscian smiled to himself as he waited. This was his purpose. He looked back at his memories as a teenager, aspiring to be a great military leader. It felt surreal that he was here now. And a great military commander he was. If only old ‘admiral’ Aldrag wasn’t in command over the rest of the fleet. He was inefficient, slow and more of a politician than a commander Hoscian thought. His death was expected, and with it, a promotion for Hoscian. Though this victory wouldn’t come at a loss. That damned Executor dreadnought would be lost in the process and Hoscian would have to command fleets of whatever he had at his disposal. Yet this disadvantage only stood to balance out his advantage, his mind.

As the battle raged on and more TIE ships were disposed of, they reached a milestone in their advance. The two-thirds of the TIE capital ships that remained had arrived within medium range and immediately opened fire with their heavy plasma cannons with the giant FTL magnet in the background. As they reached the GBE ships their plasma shields came up to defend against them. At this range, the plasma had dissipated to such a degree that when hitting the ceramic armour plating of the Royal Navy ships, it simply left a scorch mark with no significant damage. The brunt of TIE’s firepower at the moment were the frigates that were diving in and out of close range. Their volleys of plasma devastating and gutting smaller GBE escorts with pure thermal energy. Now that they were closer, admiral Blue had clearance by protocol to unleash the main weapon of the HMS Pride. The spinal particle launcher, the Liberator, had power funnelled to it from the Pride’s abnormally large reactor. As it was charging he witnessed one of the TIE strike groups disappear into hyperspace. They accelerated into what seemed to be nowhere. But suddenly a light struck the battlefield. He witnessed the whole strike group be ripped out of hyperspace, breaking a rift between the dimensions and being thrown out precisely behind the fleet section covering Blue’s starboard side. He looked to his right, seeing the far smaller TIE strike group, of what he assumed were 3 cruiser-sized vessels with support, brawl it out with the HMS Principality’s escorts of 15 cruisers. It was a close-range duel. The Royal Navy ships attempted to rotate themselves to face the TIE ships but plasma bolts were being catapulted at their rear. The glowing bolts smashed into the behemoths and lit them up with explosions going over their shields and surface. Main batteries were fired and tore through TIE ships. However Blue witnessed multiple heavy plasma batteries tear into the thrusters of GBE cruisers and destroyers as they were turning, filling them completely with destruction. Fire oozed out of all possible exits: windows, cannon barrels, radiators. Multiple capital ships were laid to waste before the ships could turn towards them. The HMS Principality turned its broadside towards the TIE fleet and unleashed its hundreds of guns onto the far outnumbered TIE fleet. They began chewing through the surface of the Nova-class capital ships, while the enemy's plasma bolts were being hurled and knocking out the guns and radiators of the heavy cruiser. Torpedoes were exchanged on both sides, taking out entire ships and hundreds of souls. The Sunrise-class and Eclipse-class cruisers turned their bows at the enemy and unleashed their lances at the enemy. Blue strings of light cut through hull like butter. The enemy took the change and unloaded plasma right into the bows of the cruisers, penetrating right through and crippling several ships. All this chaos and destruction by just a single strike group. The strike group recognized that they were at the disadvantage now. They drifted away and made a second hyperspace jump back into the TIE main formation. Blue, who was shocked, took immediate action.
”All Anrillia-class escort destroyers and Sython-frigates go as our rear guard now! One rear guard by each section of the fleet. And get us as many casaba howitzers onto our flanks as possible. And I want all our interdiction nodes out now.”
”Adjusting fleet positions, sire.” Fleet coordination answered as he began hastily repositioning the ships on his display.
The ship’s onboard battle AI chimed in with a masculine basso voice: We have entered optimal range of the enemy for a lance volley, sire.
”Very good.” Blue said, coldly. ”Initiate firing sequence for the liberator and all other spinal weaponry of this battlegroup.”
Affirmative, sire. Spooling spinal particle lance.

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KrankysFirebrand48 changed the title to In my Hands I Hold the Key to Liberation (journal).
    2 months later

    Part three:

    Blue believed that the enemy was aware that he was getting ready to fire his fleet's spinal weapons and that the enemy would not attempt such a manoeuvre again while they were charged. However, he ordered five or six cruisers to hold their fire and put them into a broadside formation in order to keep the enemy away as a precaution.
    ”Sire, all particle lances are prepared to fire.”
    Blue reached out and opened his clenched fist. A spherical holographic controller appeared hovering a couple of centimeters away from his palm. He put his fingers on the various control surfaces, adjusting his targets. He designated the Yoshiaki as the main target. He looked onto the 7 km long hull stretched before him. At its tip the gates of hell swung open. He moved his thumb onto the fire button and it lit green. The bridge light dimmed and the flashing warnings were made more apparent. Fire control confirmed the order: ”Confirmed that’s an order to fire. Firing sequence is complete.”
    The HMS Pide hummed a sinister tune as energy poured from its reactor along the length of the ship. The lance that was known as the Liberator creaked as if it was laughing. It was pointed onto the diagonally angled star dreadnought with the intention of murder. Blue heard the weapons crescendo as the humming turned into a choir. The floor beneath him was vibrating. The choir turned into yelling. The whole ship screeched as a blue spear emerged from the muzzle and struck like lightning, crossing the battlefield in an instant. The cruisers and destroyers around him, dwarfed by the Pride, fired in synchronization. White light spilt onto Blue’s face. His fleet was bathing in it. In the hot scorching light that dug into the hull of the Yoshiaki. Its hull caved in with the impact.

    Fire oozed out of its panel lines. Flame and fury filled its left side. Its escort of capital ships were caught in the particulate spears, scorched black and torn asunder. They turned lifeless. The screeching stopped. The onslaught of fire that was digging into the Yoshiaki seized. The guns stopped firing. As if they were paralazed.
    Blue hadn’t realized that he was still shielding his eyes. He returned to standing straight and looked down at the round control surface to which he felt terrible consequences fall over him as he realized he had just murdered more than he ever had. ”In my hands I hold the keys to liberation. Yet this tool of justice is a weapon. What I hold is the power to kill more than I could ever save. Why should one man ever wield this?”

    Hoscian had seen the particulate lances rip through his own strike group and the ships around him. His last forward frigate had been annihilated in the process and the Bastonains had cleared most of the Yoshiakis escort. The ship was doomed. The plasma from the imperial main gun started flowing and striking into the Bastonian’s tough shells but it would not be enough. Utilizing that Hoscian had already sent in his fighters, the Bastonians sent an onslaught of bombers in the oh-so-familiar lightning formation that almost ended the Yoshiaki in the past. Bastonians sent forth their bombers to further dig into the Yoshiaki before the final hyperatomic shells were fired. The red-hot gun barrels went silent for a moment. Because the battle was over. The hyperatomics struck the dreadnought’s deep wound. The ship shook unbelievably violently. Fuel tanks went up in flames and the main reactor collapsed. The hull crumbled like paper in its final moments, breaking up into pieces and crumbs. The Yoshiaki descended as a wreck.
    ”I’ve seen enough.” Hoscian said as bombers zipped past his bridge with imperial interceptors on their tail, ”Land the strike craft and retreat to Yashinda.”

    The FTL magnet's massive asteroid body was now unobstructed by the formerly great TIE fleet. The remaining ships fled into hyperspace while the stragglers abandoned the ship as they were being hunted down by bombers and attack corvettes. Now the last stage of the attack was to begin. Blue ordered boarding parties to be organized and the first EMP missile volleys to be fired against the magnet.

      a month later

      “Death may be the greatest of all human blessings”

      Part 4:

      The main FTL magnet of TIE was in Blue’s eyes an enormous obelisk. One that blocked his path. The warfleet he had just crushed was simply an obstacle. He watched as the cold corpse of the Yoshiaki sank away into the void. 16 thousand souls had been onboard that ship. The survivors had not been retrieved as the boarding parties were busy inside the magnet's structure. It was too easy, Blue thought. Too easy to kill. But he also thought back to the times where Bastonia did not have an upper hand. Blue felt safe on the bridge of the HMS Pride. But what if he had still been on the HMS Triumph when it was sent to hold off the Bloodcult beasts that had appeared? The thought sent shivers down his spine. He thanked God that he had not applied to be a marine like in his childhood dreams. His very own marines were now operating in claustrophobic corridors within the magnet, working in coordination with eachother and droids. All he could do now was wait and he felt a sense of relief in the helplessness. He left the bridge and took the lift to the admiral's quarters. As he approached the door to his quarters he noticed a peculiar hum. He entered the doorway but stopped as he heard footsteps. A young Bastonian officer came up to him and said: ”Sire, the station has been secured and there is no more resis-”
      A detonation assaulted Blue’s ears like thunder. Red hot gas expanded from behind him, engulfing his quarters and throwing him out of the doorway with the officer. His cybernetics pumped him with adrenaline to dull the burning pain in his body. His heart was beating at such a rate he thought it was about to explode as well. He still felt the shock in his body. Thinking became an impossibility. His mind simply fell deeper into that cold, sharp sensation of shock. He could only make out flashing lights and the smell of hydrogen gas in the air. He heard voices shouting. They pumped him full of synthetic hormones and took him to the medical wing.

      Blue awoke in a hospitable bed. He recognized that he was still on his ship. Surely little time would’ve passed. ”He’s awake again and stable.” one of the medical officers said.
      ”That’s enough. Relieve hormone therapy.” said another. ”How are you feeling?”
      Blue looked around a bit. He twisted and examined his arm, seeing scorch and cut marks on the underside. ”A bit dizzy but I’m okay…” he whispered.
      ”There is a lot to explain. We have yet to do 3 surgeries on you and you are expected to take a month to recover.”
      ”How long have I been… unconscious?”
      ”You’ve been drifting in and out of sleep for 6 weeks.”
      ”And you haven’t sent me back?” he tried to explaim, but he was too weak to speak in anything but a whisper.
      ”I’m afraid that’s a military matter. Estrix?”
      Blue turned his head to look to the left side of his bed. He hadn’t noticed that Fleet Admiral Estrix had entered the room. ”We could not risk it, admiral.” she said coldly. As if he had just been an asset whose life they could put value on. ”We are still investigating the matter.” she continued, ”and we believe that we’ve found the culprit behind your assassination attempt. It is a mechanic. A TIE immigrant.”
      ”You’re telling me this was intentional? Someone tried to kill me?” Blue started processing what had happened in his head and realized that he had asked a stupid question. Someone was really after him.
      ”Indeed, Admiral. A fuel line leading to an rcs thruster was sabotaged. There was a timed charge in the doorway of your quarters that was going to blow the fuel line by your quarters. You were only saved because you did not enter your quarters fully.”
      Blue felt fate wash over him. Another cold sensation. Estrix cold eyes gazing into his soul only added to it.
      ”I know that you respect death. You are lucky to have avoided it this time.” Estrix said.
      ”No, I do not respect death.” Blue responded weakly. ”That’s the difference between you and me. I only bring death, and fear it.”
      Estrix tilted her head curiously. Blue continued: ”Don’t you ever fear that you may never see the skies of your homeworld again? How can you possibly be at ease in the morning, knowing that this may be the final sunrise you witness?”
      Estrix paused before responding. ”We are all dying, Admiral. I’d be thankful to die without notice. Not having to feel your soul wither away and your body rot as you can do nothing but look back at memories of when you were young.”
      ”Stantine would have to live without you. You’ll only be a memory and soon… not even that.”
      ”What I am in the mortal world does not matter to me once I’m gone.” Estrix said coldly ”I have a right to die. It is my fate to die. So is yours. You know what immortality means and what it's done to us. Be thankful for life, and be thankful for death, Admiral. Your suffering must come to an end. Someday.”
      ”Doesn’t it matter to you now? Aren’t you afraid you’ll become nothing? Aren’t you afraid of the millions of people you will never meet? Of the millions of experiences, you will never have. Of the suns whose light won’t ever touch you?”
      ”Admiral. What matters is what you achieve. Now spare your energy. You should rest.” she said bluntly. ”You need to be able to resume command over this operation. Then perhaps you can achieve victory. Until you’re able to, I will continue to lead this operation.”
      She gave him a short bow and walked out of the room as Blue’s eyes followed her out of sight.

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