The Black

…. prepare to be boarded.”

Mac raised an eyebrow.

“I am Admiral Gwen Mackenzie Trenton, Ambassador to the Delmar Confederation from the United Sol Federation, and commander of the United Sol navy Expeditionary Fleet Alpha. We are here under a flag of peace. The report you have is indeed correct. A pirate fleet under the flag of the Voids Revenge did indeed try….. and fail…. to brutalize this planet. However, they have been repelled.” the tall female stated diplomatically.

“Irrelevant, we received word that unidentified ships were in this system and that the planet Delmar was under siege. I do not recognize you, your ships, or your ‘Federation’. Submit or be destroyed.”

“Delmar transmitted no distress call, where did you get your exigence basis from?” The cursed voice of the demon spoke.

“I do not need to disclose my sources, and I tire of your machinations.” Krurog growled, “Have Hand fire the cleanser, target one of their escorts.” He didn’t bother turning off the transmission and turned back to look at these strange beings as they began to speak in another language to each other.

The Hand fired her main weapon. It was a centerline mounted orbital grade hybrid plasma laser cannon that represented the absolute pinnacle of Unity firepower. A 250-meter-wide, 4-kilometer-long beam of wrath erupted from his flag’s sister ship and sped away toward the formation. His eyebrow arched as they did not scatter, his HUD reported massive power readings coming from the formation, and his eyes narrowed.

——————————————————————

“Admiral, reading a massive discharge of some kind of energy weapon. 1 min to impact” Tactical reported stoically.

“Activate Shield-Wall, and tell the Delmar ships to withdraw to the center of our formation.” The Admiral barked as the Mars-made destroyers linked their shields together as Hathcock and Tranquility’s shields combined and extended to connect with that of their escorts. The massive frontal wall of energy shimmered slightly as the combat data link meshed the deflector frequency rotations.

Admiral Gwen turned back toward the viewer, “You commit an act of war Krurog. What is the meaning of this” Her eyes were cold. Her tone, a growl.

“Your insolence is amusing; I shall rid Delmar of its attackers. I look forward to examining your corpse”. The overgrown lizard smiled.

“10 seconds” Tactical called as the streak of laser and plasma raced in, impacting a wall of energy 150 meters in front of the Sol Destroyer screen at the front of the formation. The Shield Wall crackled and flared, Defying the assault as the incoming hate, and several seconds crawled by until the last of the massively long beam of Death finally ceased.

——————————————————————

Krurog’s eyes widened as his sensors recorded the impact and the com connection barely flickered.

“Admiral, shield wall at 94 percent, no damage reported on any vessels” a subordinate off screen reported.

The tall female who called herself admiral narrowed her eyes and bored them into his, “That was a mistake… Hathcock… counterbattery, one round.. Fire when ready.”

“SIR!! Massive power readings coming from the enemy formation! Something’s…”

Eros Dreadnought Hathcock had targeted the Hand of Security with a 40 meter long tungsten cored steel dart weighing 100 tons. It left her barrel at 15 percent the speed of light. In the next 7 seconds, that superheated dart went semi molten, and elongated into a molten spike 70 meters in length and 10 meters in diameter. At second number 8, that spike impacted the Hand of Security. Her shields never had the time to properly fail. Hathcock’s wrath came within 30 meters of one of the Brigs… which was now burning from a melted streak along its starboard side... its shields stripped by the glancing impact as the voice of an Eros disemboweled the Hand of Security from bow to stern. The fact that an Eros superheats its projectiles on firing was a designed result. The molten projectile began to break up upon contact with Hand’s shields, losing about 20 percent of its total velocity as the shards ruptured the bow, flash cooking everything and everyone in their path.

The Hand of Security burst like a watermelon full of napalm, splitting into dozens of long strips of flaming hull segments. Several sections slammed into the Wrath of Conformity’s shields as Krurog was thrown from his command chair at the impact.

“Report!” He roared.

“The Hand, sir. She’s gone.”

“WHAT THE VOID HIT US” He bellowed, sitting back in his chair.

“Humanity” a familiar voice spoke. Krurog cursed himself for forgetting the hailing connection was still active. He slowly turned back to the viewer.

“Demon...” He hammered his hate into that one word. The cursed being responded.

“Leave, now. The second shot will not be a warning.” Admiral Gwen’s voice was hammered steel.

“A warning!! I will personally fillet each and every o….”

A titanic monstrosity 500 kilometers by 1000 kilometers flashed into existence between the two fleets.

“No, you will not.” a deep metallic voice sounded over the open hail. Both images on their respective screens were replaced with the face of a massive metal being. Krurog instantly fell to one knee.

“Aiericastum..” he bowed

“Your orders are rescinded. They were not authorized by the council. You could not know this; you shall not be punished. Depart now, return to the capital, and await interview.” The metal being ordered. It closed the connection with the inquisitorial fleet as it swung around to burn for the jump point.

“Hathcock ready Ithaca” Gwen snapped.

“That will not be necessary… Human.” the voice spoke.

Everyone on the bridge froze.

“You are known to us, Human. However, Humanity is not known to the Unity. You are far from home… Admiral.” The voice continued.

“How can we be known to you, but not the Unity.” Admiral Gwen demanded. She pointedly did not cancel the order to Hathcock.

“In Due time. For now, know that the Tetrarchy knows of your talks with Delmar. We are willing to allow them to continue under one condition.” the Metal being rumbled.

“And that would be?” Admiral Gwen crossed her arms.

“That you send your species name and description to the Unity so that this… unfortunate experience does not happen a second time. We are willing to… overlook the lack of home-world and system coordinates at this time.” The metal monster ended the hale, and trails of plasma began trailing from the corners of the titanic football-shaped disk of a void ship…. Then it vanished in a flash of white light. No burn, no run-up to subspace.

It was gone.