This one's a doozy.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

THE CRUCIBLE

Hygeia had fallen.

The humans did not know it yet; no one inside the system knew it yet.  But the near destruction of the local Vasari fleet doomed the system to Aeronian control.

The Vasari were desperate.  They needed the humans to focus on the Eastern Front, so that they could finish conquering the West.  They need to leave, and soon.  They cannot afford a protracted war...

But the Advent, ah....

He turned his gaze to the cannon over Kronac.  The sins of our empires destroyed our peoples, but the Advent have yet to suffer atonement.  They conquer and destroy with no thought to peace or rule, only vengeance... fire and blood...

This is what they shall earn.  The Advent shall reap what they sow.

Kol barked a rapid series of orders as the Advent moved to engage teh Aeronian fleet.  This is madness.  Three enemies fighting each other, a clear path to a beleaguered planet, why am I not over Hygeia?

Yet every instinct told him to fight.  The Aeronia want peace.  We need peace.  I cannot abandon potential allies to their fates...

The Aeronian commander was equally involved on his own ship..  Unlike Kol, however, he had been expecting the Advent; his ship's sensors had detected their impending arrival.  THough his fleet had immediately altered their maneuvering to position the Vasari fleet between them and the imminent arrivals, the 54th reacted to the Advent's appearance in a characteristically Aeronian fashion- they ignored them, focusing on the main threat until the Advent closed the gap.  When outnumbered, a three way fight is better than three two-way fights....

A comm aide relayed a new link from the Imperator.  ETA two minutes.... perfect.

He was not smiling for long.

Kol could not believe his eyes.  They're IGNORING the Advent?  Yet it was true- the Aeronai did not react at all to the arriving fleet.  What game are you playing?  He was ordering battle speed when it all went to hell.  "Sir the Aeronia-"  the Aeronian ships ceased firing, ceased moving... stopped... for a brief second.  When tehy started moving again at all, it was at a much slower and less measured pace.  The Advent did not waste any time; in that brief time, thy had rushed through the Vasari and began pummeling the inexplicably muted Aeronains ships, utterly ignoring the equally ferocious onslaught of the flanking Vasari.

Amidst the macabre array, Kol didn't notice the brief flash of an arriving ship; reviews of the sesnor data would vex him for the rest of his days, with a rather conspicuous ship changing the course of the war.

Admiral Niara looked out over her fleet.  The commandant had sent the coded message signaling the attack.  The Advent will die.  We can track the white eyed freaks from orbit.  Her eyes found the distant pin of light.  My target....

"Tell the captains that standard protocol is required.  I want no dead civilians."  The distant comm officer rushed to obey.  If only it were that simple...

The Advent had proven to be diabolically clever, ruthless enough to use their own civilians as soldiers....

The first garrison had suffered waves of civilian mobs, unarmed and unthinking, incited to an overwhelming rage by the psionic adepts of their planet....  one outpost had been torn apart by a horde of children, unwilling to use their weapons against them.  Even destyroing the temples was not enough.  The freaks sense us coming, and disperse into the streets to incite more riots.  Small wonder Admiral Kohnn exterminated a world.

Admiral Kohnn had slaughtered an entire planet- civilians or otherwise- to kill the two hundred or so Adepts it harbored; his brother had been killed by a child-riot, and a sister lost an arm to a psionic projectile, spending a week writhing in pain as medics cloned her a new one.  His actions were understandable... Yet he also killed a human scout.  That was not justice, nor revenge, nor even expediency.  That was murder.  THe Admiral had chosen a new life of service in leiu of of a trial, his disembodied brain acting as the nucleus for a new organic AI, soon to be installed in a recently built Hydra.  She looked back to the emblem of the empire, a blue-and-white phoenix blazing thorugh the stars.  Death Beofre Dishonor, read the inscribed Aeronian words beneath it.

A noble sentiment... yet even memories of past sins and the shameful of our brothers pale in the eyes of death...

Taking a slow breath, she looked back to her target.

I will not falter.  How could she?  The Advent could not hide form her fleet.  Techs had developed sensors to track the brain patterns of various species- specifically, to find the psionic activity of an Advent adherent.  Now we can find them.  Now we can kill them, without having to search every home, every cave, every street for the freaks.

Their task was even easier than she could expect; mass ion bombardment disabled the entire defensive infrastructure of the planets and greatly reduced background emissions.  We will destroy their defenses, slaughter thier adepts, annihilate every shard of their vile Unity.  Perhaps then they will understand the value of peace.

The Unity soon suffered the same fate as thhe 54th- her brightest minds slaughtered, her defenses paralyzed, the links scattered and broken.  The Advent Fleet, fueled by the wrath of other acolytes, suddenly emerged in their own surroundings, cut off fromthe rest of the Unity, fear and confusion soon eclipsed teh overriding fury that had pushed them through the heart of the Vasari.

It was at this moment that the flagship exploded.

After everything he had seen already, Kol did not expect to be completely surprised yet again.  Yet again, he was wrong.  "What-"

A bright flash cut through the Advent fleet, detonating half a hundred frigates and consuming the lead battleship in blue fire.

Another beam carved a swathe through Vasari and Unity to blast a Rapture to oblivion.

Kol reacted as frantically as ever.  "Sir, another Aeronian ship-"

"I see it."  The ship in question plunged into the heart of the Advent fleet, blasting away at the disoriented frigates and cruisers and slaughtering them as quickly as if they were strikecraft against a Garda.

THe Imperator is the eighth of fifteen battleships in the Expedition, dating to the Imperial reign.  zThe sheer size of the Imperium- entire galaxies would spend centuries without a single invasion- proved troublesome to control, and teh Aeronia created massive warships intended for near constant patrols and self autonomy.  THe draconis class moved from police force to border patrol in the years after the Fall; teh Imperator had acted as a rear-guard for the 54th, guarding newly conquered planets along the assault route until reinforcing convoys could arrive and the planet was deemed secure.  The Imperator had been awaiting the inevitable fall of Hygeia, to move into place and assist in repelling any counter-assaults, but recon drones spotted the Advent fleet preparing to jump to the star.

THe Imperator jumped into phase space barely a minute before the Advent arrived.

Kol had his fleet remain in a defensive ring, far from the remaining engagement.  Slaughter, is more like it.

THe Vasari withdrew almost as soon as the battleshp arrived.  Intriguingly, the Aeronia and Vasari fleets completely ignored each other, their ships passing within thirty-five hundred clicks- well within range- and firing not a single shot.

The Advent fought to the bitter end, as always, though they did not have enough time to organize a retreat...  Now only the Aeronia remained.

Waiting.

"Orders, sir?"

Kol contemplated the opposing fleet.  If they move towards Hygeia, I have no choice but to attack.

Yet they did not move.  The Battleship turned out to deep space- the same heading it had arrived from- and left the system.. but the rest of the Aeronia remained in a static defense formation...

waiting.

He drew a deep breath.

"Have the fleet remain in a defensive formation, and open a wide-range communication with the Aeronia."

To his surprise, the same captain responded to his link.  Whatever cut the link on their end, it didn't destroy the ship.. or even cripple it.

The link was as clear as ever.  "I understand your confusion.  You fought us before, yet we spared your life when we had you at our mercy.  Now we are facing each other again, and you do not know our intentions."  He smiled.  "You want a peace, but you do not know what we want from you."

Kol nodded.  "Yes.  That more or less summarizes my.. situation."

He looked amused.  "Not entirely.  You might not know this, but the Vasari have launched another fleet via their cannon-phase gate link... a massive fleet is now jumping directly from a distant star system to Hygeia, and will arrive in thrity minutes, perhaps less."

Kol's fleet moved towards Hygeia almost immediately.  "Commander Kol.  A word of advice- the fleet is too great for you to resist alone."  He ordered his ship to a halt, as the rest of the fleet moved on.  "I have no intention of fighting your forces, but nor will I aid you without recompense.  Our forces have fought long and hard for Hygeia.  I will not risk my crew's lives to return home empty handed."

He folded his hands.  "That is my price for an alliance.  If you will not accept these terms, then we will leave in peace."

Kol could only give one answer.  "Alliances are built on trust, and High Command has no reason to trust you.  We fought for Hygeia before you ever arrived in this sector."

The commander nodded slowly.  "Then I wish you victory in your campaign.. although I still recommend an evacuation of Hygeia before the Vasari arrive.  They are not as amicable as you and I, particularly in their grief."

The link cut out as Kol jumped to Hygeia.

Kol spent the time reviewing the sensor data, trying to make sense of the chaotic events that had transpired.  Of all the mysteries, one above all remained inexplicable- the Advent had turned to leave before they were even aware of the battleship's arrival.  Why?  He replayed the recordings again and again, but could find no answer.

Hygeia arrived too soon, but he arrived too late.

"Admiral Kol!"

Kane's forces were in the heart of the ragged defenses, battered and bruised under the Vasari assault.  We managed to warn them, and now we can help them.

Kol had sent an abbreviated version of the Aeronian communication to Kane, along with sensor data and his own terse commands and comments.  Prepare for the worst, he had said, the Vasari will want revenge for their losses, they expect heavy Aeronian resistance.

He had recommended a partial evacuation of ground personnel, and a protective shutdown of defensive structures; the planetary shield would be deactivated until the Vasari arrived.  This was a calculated risk; the shield required a good three minutes to fully activate, and it would take at least ten to recharge the depleted energy reserves after near-constant use.  Kol had gambled that the Advent, Vasari and Aeronia would not launch a major offensive in the interim, giving the defenses an opportunity to rest, and prepare for the onslaught.

The gamble had paid off; the planetry shield remained fully operational even after the Kostura blast, and the carefully protected defenses were quickly restored to operational status.

Yet the Vasari fleet was as large as the Aeronia had claimed....

Three Orkuluses were under construction when he arrived; only one survived to completion.  Only three of the inital five Argonevs had survived the previous engagements, but one succumbed to a brutal onslaught of bombers and phase torpedoes.

Another Argonev, surrounded by ragged defense platforms and under assault by a newly minted Orkulus, deliberately overloaded its reactor in a final act of defiance.  When the explosion faded away, the Orkulus, shieldless and streaming smoke, stood alone in a massive cloud of debris that had once held half a million defenders....

In a macabre display of comeupance, the dying Orkulus rammed full speed into the sole surviving Argonev; a massive explosion consumed an eighth of the planetary defenses and nearly a dozen of Kane's frigates.  Kol felt sick.  I need to get over there, now.

Kane's squadrons met the Vasari fleet as it poured through the gaps.  The shield glowed mockingly against the pitiful streams of Vasari bombardments.  Kol's ships finally reached missile range, but Kol forbade any assaults until they closed the gap.  "Conserve your strength.  At this range a missile could as easily hit our own ships."

A Sova, streaming smoke, attempted to ram a Kortul, but exploded barely a thousand klicks from its target, showering debris into the heart of the Vasari fleet.  A perfect distraction.  By thio time, Kol's forces were within cannon range; the Aceron unleashed its full fierpower on the Vasari fleet.

Three Kortuls moved to intercept his flagship, and two of his escorting Marzas met the challengers with a hail of missiles.  "Launch all squadrons."  The Aceron's bombers streamed out to join the fray, urged on by a salvo from the main gauss cannon.

It was an endless dance of madness.  Kol lost all memory of time; battles were measured in death.

The Aceron was hit by a Torpedo, its deck shuddering violently as a large portion of the hull  blew open into space.  Kol barked a single order- seal the breach.  Survivors, if there were any, had to fend for themselves.

A phase missile impacted a port autocannon, killing several gunners.  Another hit the ventral hangar bay, killing everyone inside when the atmosphere blew out.

Kol had already evacuated the bridge for the secure command center within the heart of the ship.  Though this was far safer in combat, it also precluded any evacuation from the ship itself; there would be no time to reach an escape shuttle or flee to the hangar bay.

Yet it was a prudent decision; two phase missiles destroyed the bridge within the first five minutes of battle.

Kol did not know when the shields failed.  It hardly mattered.  The hull remained intact; he was still alive.  So long as his ship could fight, he cared nothing for damage reports or casualty counts.

Two more autocannons suffered damage from strafing runs; one exploded under a pulse beam, leaving a smoking crater where fifteen men had been.  The dorsal hangar bay, damaged by teh same missile that detroyed its counterpart, finally succumbed to a wave cannon.  Fifty eight good men died, and Kol no longer had facilities to repair or field more fighters.  It was a major nuisance; he had been using the anti-fighter turrets in point-blank strikes against the gun emplacements of enemy capital ships.  Now they had to focus on fighters again.

Now the main reactor was going critical; Kol ordered it to be deactivated.  The emergency generators came online to pick up the slack.

His beam cannons started overheating after an enemy fighter collided with them.  He turned his ship towards an enemy Kortul and pumped his reserve energy into the lasers, blasting it into oblivion and destroying the impudent beam emplacements.

His Gauss cannon was running out of ammuniton, so he ordered planetary warheads to be deployed.  He should have done that sooner; the nuclear bombs were dirty and powerful.  They would do great damage to the enemy and only minor collateral against the defenders.

His remaining warheads were launched judicously, to limit the chance of an enemy ship disabling the cannon beforehand.  All of the warheads and most of the gauss shells were fired off before the cannon suffered a debilitating pulse beam strike.

Now the lasers were overheating.  Energy reserves were far too low for any other practical use, so he poured all he had left in a final strike against a Desolator; a lucky his detonated its racks of phase missiles, obliterating it in a ball of flame.

His remain autocannon battery ran out of munitons.  He ordered them to start using the frag rounds at maximum charge, and blasted away at an encroaching Cruiser squadron with close range shotgun blasts.

Finally, these too, were depleted.  His ship could fight no longer; even a suicide reactor overload was impossible, as he had thoughtlessly wasted his energy reserves in his indulgent laser strike.  His engines had insufficient power to ram an enemy ship, so he moved the Aceron an orbit that would place it between Hygeia's defenders and the Vasari; her hull was still a considerable quantity of mass, and would be useful as a defensive shield for the rest of the fleet.

He gave the order to abandon ship.

The Aceron's dead weight drifted on towards its destruction, intercepting pulse beams and phase missiles intended for the rest of the fleet.  Kol had prudently retrieved all useful sensor data, records, and other items before entering Hygeia and dispatched them on to teh Core; a single grenade destroyed the mainframe, preventing the Vasari- or anyone else- from obtaining anything important.

Now he was drifting into the waiting hangar of Kane's flagship carrier-hybrid, the Implacable, damaged but still functional.

Kane greeted him soberly in the hangar.  "You fought well.  All of you."

Kol looked over the fifty-odd survivors that accompanied him in his escape shuttle.  Another eight had yet to be retrieved, carrying nearly a thousand crewmen.  Eight hundred, of nearly five thousand veterans entering Hygeia....

"The dead fought harder."

Kane shook his head.  "Not hard enough.  Not nearly hard enough."

I recommend evacuating Hygeia... he said as much, and I believed him.  Why didn't I do it?

Kol shook aside his misgivings.  "Take me to the bridge."

Kol arrived just in time to see the arrival of an Aeronian battlegroup.

His breath caught in his throat.  Are they here to help?  Are they here to aid the Vasari?  More likely, they were here for themselves... they said they wouldn't fight us., nor help us... did they lie?

"To Admiral Hakorum of the Exodus fleet.  In the name of the Imperate, by the authority of the Aeronian Magistrates, I claim this system as the domain of theh Aeronian Imperium.  In accordance with Imperial decree, I hereby charge you, under the terms of the trans-Imperial Charter, to stand down.  Failure to comply will be seen as an act of war."

The Vasari launched a barrage of phase missiles at the Imperials.

Fireworks lit the fringe of Hygeia's gravity well, and the imperials fired back.

Aboard the Avantua, the Commandant watched the Vasari fleet die.  His cannon barrage specifically sought out Vasari ships; the humans were untouched.  The orignal plan had been for the fleet to capture the world after it had fallen to the Vasari, btu Kol's survival- and heroic resistance- opened an intriguing possibility.  Kol believed, even if his men did not, that the Aeronia would not break their promise, that they would not attack.  Yet the Aeronia would not leave the system; their claim would be verified by conquest, and they would peacefully occupy Hygeia- which remained untouched by the fighting raging overhead.  Kol would not, could not remain idle as a Hygeia passed into Aeronian control, yet he did not have the strength to oppose the Aeronia alone.  His fleet was too small, too weary, too depleted.  Yet what else could he do?  He would ahve to return to the COre world, with a ragged sector fleet, having refuse to engage the Aeronia on two occasions, contacting them twice, and communicating with the Vasari using his private comm channel.  To return now, openly abandoning Hygeia to the Imperium, would destroy his credibility with his superiors...

He would have to pick a side.  Loyalty and death, or peace, betrayal-

and life.

Kol watched as the Vasari fleet died.  This is what will happen if I fight.  They are too powerful, we are too weak.

But if I turn tail now...

Everyone on the bridge looked to him.  They knew as well as he did that they could not win this fight... yet they knew that retreat would mean defeat; the loss of Hygeia laid the core itself at Aeronia's fingertips...

Yet they would follow his orders.  His ruined flagship remained clearly visible even with the unaided eye.  They do not doubt my loyalty or conviction, but High Command.....  Kane met his eyes.  He understands.  He knows what will happen if I flee.  Kane nodded slightly.  Your call.  he seemed to say.  Your head, your choice.  Death, or dishonor.  We will follow you.



The last of the Vasari ships detonated, and the Aeronia moved unopposed through the dead clouds of Hygeia's defenders.

Waiting.

Hygeia's shield remained operational, but the few surviving defense platforms did not attack the Aeronia, though several were within range.  The planetary cannons, within range of the orbiting fleet, remained quiet.

Waiting.

Kol looked over the dust fields, clouds of death and debris.  He looked at Hygeia, its shield a blue skin covering an untouched world.  He looked at the Aeronian fleet, glittering under their own shields, polished, unblemished hulls gleaming in the sunlight.

He turned his gaze to the ragged remnants of his own fleet.  Half as large, not one ship had escaped unscathed; only three had functional shields, and all had suffered losses.

Finally he looked to Hypatia, where a hundred brave men had died to warn the planet of the invading Advent; to the sun of Hygeia, with its own debris fields and bitter memories; then to the core worlds beyond, distant points of light, beacons for the Aeronian invasion unobstructed by obstacles.  A clear path to the core, to the center of TEC power.

Waiting.  Everything, everyone, waiting.

He slowly turned to the comm unit.

"Send a broad spectrum comm message.  Unencrypted, full range."

Kane caught his eyes again.  The bridge itself fell silent, waiting for his words.

"This is Admiral Kol, commander of the Hygeian defense forces."

The words caught in his throat, but he managed to keep his composure.

"Stand down.  All ships, stand down."