After a good night's sleep with Emma, it was time to return to the game.
Alexander's in-game journey to Terra was about to complete, and Emma had to resume planning the invasion of the Enclador Prime system.
It was 8 o'clock in the morning. Alexander and Emma, after a hot night, finished the lovely breakfast which Diana prepared for them, then separated. Emma sat down at the computer desk to work while Alexander set up his gaming booth. He made sure that the nutrient IV was full, then settled inside and connected.
***
System: Welcome to the Galaxy of Horus!
Apophis was, of course, in the cockpit of the MK.1. He immediately inspected his ship's dashboard, checking that his journey at subliminal speed was still properly guided by the ship's autopilot, which he had set back on Era.
Only an hour remained before he would reach Terra, the heart of human civilization in the galaxy.
He immediately contacted the MK.2, 3, 4, and 5 on a common frequency to give a light briefing to the best players of Eclipse.
"Let's do a little recap," said Apophis over the comms. "When we joined the war on Cronos I, we inadvertently left a very important NPC in the hotel known as the Royal Palace of Terra. For those of you who don't know, I'm referring to Princess Antanria.
"Unfortunately, due to the recent attacks against the Federation on Terra and elsewhere, she and I lost contact. In response to this, I gave a conditional mission to the Eclipse members who fought on Cronos I. Since they would respawn on Terra upon death in battle, they were to investigate Princess Antanria's current status. Unfortunately, once more, we've lost all contact with those players as well, despite numerous attempts to reach them.
"Our current mission is to reconnect with both the guild members of the previous MK.1 team and to recover Princess Antanria. We have no intelligence about the current state of Terra, nor any idea where to look for them. Moreover, in view of these events, I doubt that we'll be conducting a simple investigation.
"Chances are, we'll probably have to fight on Terra. It's even very likely that the occupying forces are hostile to us in particular. That's why I've summoned the best captains in Eclipse, along with their ships and their crews. This will undoubtedly be one of your most difficult missions so far. Good luck to all!"
The five corvettes exited hyperspace at the edge of the Terra Prime system, and Apophis immediately broadcast a hailing signal to Terra Air Control.
"This is Colonel Apophis of the Federation, ID code A9567, requesting clearance to land on Terra."
There was no answer.
Apophis switched to his team's frequency. "No official response from Air Control. Stay safe, get into a tight formation, and prepare for any eventuality."
The five ships obeyed, arranging themselves in a formation to prepare for combat.
Apophis switched back to the air control frequency and repeated his message. "This is Colonel Apophis of the Federation! ID code A9567! I am requesting permission for our five ships to land on Terra. Please answer, Air Control!"
He received an answer back…
But it was strange and garbled.
"Avoid… Back… Colonel… Don't…"
The signal turned to pure static.
Alexander switched back to the group frequency. "I heard back, after a fashion… But it doesn't mean anything good. Get ready!"
Suddenly, dozens of corvettes and hundreds of blue-colored hunter-class ships with the Federation's crest swept past them, ignoring their group completely to accelerate at high speed towards Terra!
It was at that moment that the planet itself became fully visible.
The scene was unimaginable.
Two huge human-style war fleets of over 100,000 ships were in the midst of a stellar battle over Terra. By the numbers, almost the entire former Federation fleet seemed to be divided between the two sides.
Apophis's squad had arrived in the middle of a stellar battle in the civil war between the old fleet of Federation supporters trying to reclaim Terra and the new fleet of Azerof's would-be human empire!
As always, in space battles, orbital communication relays were priority targets. Those stations on Terra must all be jammed or destroyed, which explained why the guild members on the planet were unable to communicate with the rest of Eclipse.
Apophis thought quickly. How was he going to get through this hellish situation with five ships and penetrate Terra? A stellar battle on this scale could last from several days to several weeks, due to the number of ships involved… It would be impossible to just wait it out.
Well, first he should make contact. It was likely that the Supremacists had abandoned the old military transmission codes in favor of their new ones, so it would be safest to contact the Federation supporters.
Apophis spoke to his team over the radio.
"Alright, stay in formation behind me. I'm going to prepare a transmission, and we'll try to get through…"
A voice spoke up on the radio. "This is the captain of the MK.4, Hulk… What do you mean by 'try to get through?!'"
Apophis smiled. "We're going to make ourselves look like Feds!"
Hulk said, "Wait, what?!"
Apophis snapped, "I don't have time to explain! Just do what I tell you and get in formation behind me!"
Suddenly, three red-colored hunters swooped out from behind a nearby asteroid… Ships belonging to Azerof's Imperium!
"They're coming at us!" Apophis shouted. "Activate shields!"
But it was too late.
The ships concentrated their fire on MK.2, which had been too slow to switch its power from the subliminal drive to its shields. In moments, the MK.2 had been blown into dust!
Hulk said, "Shit! That was Banana's ship, the replacement captain for Lotus! Fuck you, bastards!"
Apophis gritted his teeth. "It's okay. She'll just respawn on Terra. Hulk, get a grip on yourself! Everyone spread out! Assault formation! Destroy those three hunter-class fighters!"
The four remaining Eclipse corvettes immediately dispersed…
But then a small detachment of two corvettes and an Imperial destroyer also swooped down to attack them! It seemed the three fighters were anchored to a much more solid combat formation!
Apophis reacted at once. "Okay! Concentrate your fire on the destroyer! It probably holds the commander guiding those fighters!"
Apophis's squadron charged towards the Imperial destroyer, but the hunters and corvettes immediately adjusted their attack vectors and charged to intervene!
The MK.3 and MK.5 attacked the two corvettes that were defending the destroyer, allowing Apophis's MK.1 and the MK.4 to pass swiftly by, then launch their torpedoes at the Imperial destroyer!
The missiles struck their targets, heavily damaging the ship's reactors and life support systems. It retaliated with a medium-band laser cannon, evaporating a few layers of the MK.4's ablative armor but otherwise leaving it unharmed.
This allowed the MK.1 and MK.4 to pull all the aggro from the two corvettes and the three fighters that were chasing the others. They fired their own laser cannons at the two corvettes, causing them to react and eagerly return fire.
The MK.3 and MK.5, now free of distractions for a moment, stabilized in space and fired their own torpedoes at the Imperial destroyer!
The MK.3, in particular, aimed its ten torpedoes well. They smashed through the last few layers of the hull, ripping into the center of the ship and then exploding!
Between the concussive force from within and the now-open wound connected to the vacuum of space, the destroyer's own propulsion systems tore itself in two in the space of a moment.
<strong>System:</strong> You have destroyed a Type 3 Destroyer with 146 crew members. Gain 13,025,125 EXP.
<strong>*Level 32 achieved*</strong>
Seeing this catastrophe, the two corvettes which had been escorting the destroyer now fled as quickly as they could!
To their credit, the three hunter-class fighters fought on valiantly, refusing to flee as their allies had. The skirmish lasted another ten minutes, since the fighters were extremely agile, but eventually the Eclipse corvettes destroyed the last of them, and there was only debris floating in space to serve as grave markers.
Apophis took a deep breath and spoke into his comms.
"Report!"
White said, "MK.3 here. Nothing to report. Well, I'm out of torpedoes, but then I think everybody is."
Hulk said, "Hulk, captain of the MK.4, reporting! Heavy armor hit, but no structural damage. Err, yeah, out of torpedoes here also."
ραпdα nᴏνɐ| сom Chocolate said, "MK.5 reporting. We sustained hits to two reactors, so I ordered them to be deactivated to prevent any risk of explosion. Even so, I don't think either were in a critical stage. When we land, my two Engineers can take a look."
Apophis was relieved that things weren't worse, and was proud of his men. Considering they weren't very accustomed to space combat, they had handled the ambush very well!
"Alright, I understand the situation. Most of the ships have taken some damage, and we don't have any torpedoes left, so we can't face another destroyer… let alone anything heavier. We need to get down to Terra quickly and have a thorough inspection."
Of course, they'd had a very important loss. Banana was no longer with them, along with her entire crew… and the Zetark Experimental Corvette itself, the MK.2.
Apophis tried to remind himself that their losses could have been much worse against such odds, but the losses were still bitter.
Finally, Apophis found his goal: A huge warship, blue in color, several hundred kilometers wide, armed with thousands of laser cannons.
Its class was probably either "heavy battleship" or even "mega battleship," which meant it might hold up to 150,000 crew members.
The ship was positioned strangely far from the front lines, which meant that it was probably the Federation flagship!
The Federation commander would be aboard, directing his forces. Apophis needed to get closer to this ship if he wanted an escort to Terra.
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