49 Interesting Times - Chapter 49
October 28th, 2173
16:09 Earth Time
Somewhere in Alliance Territory
Bordering the Attican-Traverse
It had almost been two days since an order went through the Ad Astra network to all higher-ranking personnel of the Ad Astra Security Forces.
Every ship captain of a frigate or higher received the message. And not only those in command of a ship that could be classified as a warship if someone wanted to categorize them.
The message to get battle-ready arrived at every outpost where Ad Astra Security Forces were present. Be it an outpost with around a few hundred members or a minor one with just a few dozen.
It wasn't public knowledge, and even most Ad Astra personnel had no idea how many people worked for Ad Astra's military arm.
And to call it anything else but Oscar Denebren's private army would have been an underestimation. If that part of the company ever split from the main body, it could easily find work as a private military company or mercenary group that could rival Eclipse or Blood Pack within a few years. Even now, it could probably conquer a small planet and hold it for months on end.
Yet, it was part of a company with a well-developed military supply structure. And that was the deciding point that enabled the Ad Astra Security Forces to punch much higher than their weight class.
Eclipse had century-old connections and a reputation of professionals on their side, while the Blood Pack could call on the ferocity and battle-prowess of Krogans. Both had been established in the galaxy long before humanity ever appeared on the galaxy's radar. No mercenary company in the known galaxy considered itself their equal or ever thought of going against them out of fear of being mercilessly destroyed by one of the two mercenary behemoths.
Yet, the Ad Astra Security Forces, or AASF as they painted proudly on their armors, would never fear direct confrontation with them.
Because why should they?
They had exceptional training, the newest equipment, state-of-the-art vehicles, and a support structure that could outcompete those of the militaries back when Earth had been all humanity knew.
If a smaller unit has better equipment, support, intelligence, and training, it can take on a much larger enemy and emerge victorious, especially if they're also employing superior tactics.
And nobody inside the AASF thought that Eclipse was their superior in any of those categories.
When the order for mobilization first arrived, many people in charge of carrying it out didn't know what to think about it.
There had been no announcement from the Alliance that they entered a state of war, the only scenario they had thought to be the reason for such an order.
Yet, they followed the order nonetheless.
Some were grumbling about it because their vacation times were cut short, canceled altogether, or for other reasons. None of them had served in the Alliance military previously. Those just acknowledged their orders and prepared.
It took some time until the reason for their mobilization trickled through, and with the reason came the identity of their enemy.
To say that the story of how Eclipse had kidnapped and executed simple workers at the Ad Astra Illium Branch just to make a statement had silenced the grumblings about their canceled vacations was the same as to say that the sun was hot.
It didn't manage to describe the sheer anger everyone felt.
Among the lower ranks, it came out visibly. Many cursed Eclipse to seven hells and back, and even more threw everything they had into training, going into it with a focus that their trainers hadn't thought possible before. A problem that those in charge only halfheartedly addressed was the rising xenophobic tendencies many of those that could be called grunts showed. Slurs against Asari and Salarians, or mocking the Turians. And the other species didn't get away unscathed by their remarks either.
Thankfully, that problem wouldn't turn into a greater one down the line, as a speech from Oscar Denebren over the internal network of Ad Astra directed their anger and hate towards a single target, namely Eclipse.
Every member of Eclipse had become persona non grata overnight in Alliance territory as it didn't take long for the news to trickle into the civilian sector, on the down low, of course.
Companies and private individuals who had either thought about hiring the mercenary organization were in the process of hiring them or even employed them heard about Ad Astra's stance on the mercenary company and, in a wave of solidarity that had been partly out of the desire not to get lumped in with them, cut off any contact with them.
Those who had hired them for ongoing jobs paid them for their time but booted them out even faster. Anyone else just dropped any and all contact without giving any explanation.
The sudden drop in potential business opportunities didn't hurt Eclipse's coffers and reputation at all, as they conducted most of their business in the Attican Traverse, the Terminus-Systems, and the Outer Council Space, but it stopped their incursion in human-controlled space.
A case that wouldn't change in the foreseeable future if it would change ever.
The administrative section of Eclipse couldn't explain this decrease in work for a time, but for them, it also didn't take long to come up with a possible explanation. One that would prove true as well.
Especially after three groups of Ad Astra warships made up of a cruiser and two frigates each, disappeared into the swirling blue vortexes created by their DR drives.
Their destinations?
Three Eclipse bases located on uninhabited planets from where Eclipse directed their operations in those sectors.
In the following days, there would be no more bases.
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October 30th, 2173
11:03 Earth Time
Shadow Sea, Attican Traverse
Loccas, Redudas-System
Myx knew that he wasn't important in the grand picture. He was a small-time grunt in Eclipse's operations. The only thing that prevented him from getting sent to fight at the front of any conflict was his slightly above talent with machinery and data. Well, slightly above average meant a lot if one applied the Salarian standard. That meant he was still better than more than 80% of the galaxy.
At least, that was what he told himself to keep his spirits up when everything else seemed bleak.
Like the planet they were stationed at.
He didn't care that there was a Mass Relay that could connect them to the rest of the Attican Traverse if they traveled only one solar system further. Or that this place was perfect for when they finally could start getting operations inside the Alliance territory.
Well, for that, they would have to travel through at least half a dozen secondary relays as the humans still didn't want to open the primary relays in their direction, citing some nonsense about safety precautions and Council protocols even if the Council itself had given them their permission.
In the end, nothing of that mattered to Myx as he started out of the window, looking over the bleak landscape he had called home for the last seven months.
It wasn't even an interesting bleak he looked at. A bleak that changed sometimes after a storm like the desert planet he had been previously at. The heat and dryness had been hell on him and his skin, but at least the view had changed sometimes.
Yet, this time, it was only dry and cracked earth. A dead planet if he ever saw one.
Perhaps there were some rare minerals found on it if someone started to look for them, but that wasn't why Eclipse was here.
It was out of the way, and nobody would look for them here.
For who would travel to a system containing a dead planet, a scorching planet that could be summed up as a single big vulcano, and a gas giant with storms so devastating that they ripped apart ships before they even entered its atmosphere?
Nobody!
And that made it the perfect planet for Eclipse to build a hidden base.
Myx sighed as he let his eyes wander over the sensors he had to watch today.
They had a rotating schedule to watch these sensors for anything out of the ordinary, like approaching ships. If Myx noticed anything unusual, he would have to contact the repurposed Asasri cruiser in orbit they used to transport their troops to their mission to either fight the invader off, mostly if they were pirates, or hide when the Alliance or any other with any government-affiliated organization traveled through the system.
Since he had arrived on this planet, they had only two incidents where they had to sound off the alarm, and one of them had only been a survey vessel that had walked away as soon as their initial scan had finished. It hadn't even been a deep scan, but only to check if any of the two planets had a breathable atmosphere, which Loccas didn't have, much to Myx's displeasure.
Taking walks to clear one's mind shouldn't only be possible within the base, in his opinion, and wearing a helmet wasn't something he liked very much.
The other incident involved a small pirate vessel that their cruiser had destroyed in a flash without much resistance. The loot they got from it had resulted in a slight raise for that month's paycheck.
Nonetheless, the frequency of anything interesting happening was almost zero, and the only thing that appeared on the sensors was the meteorites that got loose from the gas giant's ring and flew in their direction.
Yet, as Myx was about to open up the interesting novel he found on the Extranet on his Omni-tool, the sensors beeped.
He could do nothing else but frown as he looked at the unusual readings the sensors gave out. Never before had he seen such values, and even the VI analyzing the data could not give a definite answer about what was going on.
Perhaps it was caution or perhaps boredom, but Myx decided to contact the guy who currently sat at the sensors of the cruiser to get a second opinion and to warn them about the unusual occurrence if they hadn't got the same readings.
"This is Base Sensors. We got unusual readings in quadrant H6-Q1-V9. Did you get the same? And do you see anything? You aren't too far from that position and should easily get visual confirmation."
"We got the same readings, probably a bit earlier than you and in higher intensity. We're closer after all," came the reply of an Asari. "The captain already is getting closer to observe whatever is happening. Shouldn't take much longer, we..." Instead of continuing, the Asari trailed off before screaming, probably toward her captain: "The readings spiked suddenly in intensity! We should be safe at this distance, but if we get closer, our shields won't be able to hold the radiation off!"
Myx heard another voice in the background, slightly muffled but still clear: "Stop the forward engines and engage the backward thrusters! Deaccelaerate and then move back to our current position! I want every eye trained on that piece of space! I want to know what's going on!"
The voice of the captain sounded urgent but not panicking, something Myx interpreted as that the situation wasn't unsalvageable.
Taking precautionary measures, Myx activated the base alarm via the keyboard in front of him and set the alarm level on Code Yellow, which meant that there was a situation whose danger level couldn't categorized at the moment but nonetheless required caution.
"Cruiser, give me a play-by-play," asked Myx, wholly interested in what was happening. Finally, something interesting happened at this forsaken base that wasn't just some meteorites or pirates dropping by.
"Crusier is currently holding position, the radiation values are still rising, and..." the sensor officer stopped her narration once again and this time, Myx had a sinking feeling in his stomach that it wasn't because of some new readings on her screen.
"Three blue vortexes just opened in space. I don't know what's happening, but I've never seen something like this in my five hundred years of life."
Myx didn't notice how the door behind him opened, and a Salarian and a Turian entered the room until one of them laid their hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump in fright, whirling around to face them while his hand twitched toward the pistol at his side.
The two newcomers took a step back, holding up their hands in a non-threatening gesture, and Myx relaxed as one of them, the Turian, said: "Just wanted to check up on why you issued the Yellow Alert. The boss wants to know the reason."
"Something is happening up in space right now. I don't know what, but it's unusual enough to warrant the alert," Myx responded while turning back to his station, activating the speaker function so that the sound wouldn't only be sent to his ears.
"The vortexes are getting bigger and start to swirl faster," came the continuation of the sensor officer's narration before a shocked gasp escaped her. "How?! There's something coming out of them! Is that?"
The disbelief in her voice was plain to hear. And not just from her. The communication channel wasn't the best there was, but the background noises of the crew should have come through if nobody was speaking directly into the microphone, but all Myx and his two new companions could hear was the background humming of the cruiser. Something that only should have been possible if there was nobody capable of making noise. It spoke of the shock the whole crew must be under at the thing they were seeing.
Myx couldn't stand the sudden tension that hadn't only descended on the cruiser's crew but inside his room too, and screamed into the microphone: "Tell me what you're seeing! What's happening!?"
His scream was enough to partially release her from her state of shock, but at the tone she used to answer Myx's question, all three realized that whatever she saw didn't mean anything good for them.
"Three ships just appeared out of these blue circles. Right in front of our noses. I can't... I can't describe it... It's just impossible."
Another voice suddenly shouted inside the cruiser. "We're being targeted by them! Putting all energy in the shields!"
The sudden blaring of alarm sirens could be heard over the speakers, followed shortly after by explosions and more shouts from different members of the bridge crew, trying to give all available information to their captain.
For the three listeners down on the planet, it was hell having to listen and being unable to do anything. They couldn't do anything but stand still and listen. It was like they were frozen in their places. The thought of upping the alarm level of the base crossed through Myx's mind, but he couldn't get himself to move.
"Our shields are down! We won't survive another salvo!" screamed someone, followed by someone else's: "They hit our engines! We can't get away!" "We have to evacuate! Captain, give the order!"
Yet, their captain remained silent.
She knew that there was no escape. They were dead in space, without any means of running away. Their shields were down, and the only planet they could reach was Loccas. She also knew that these enemies weren't just here for them. They would go down to the base and turn it into dust.
Why else would they have arrived with so much firepower on their side?
With their sudden appearance, even the cruiser would have been enough to destroy this outpost.
They were here to make a statement.
The captain didn't know who was so angry at Eclipse to embark with so much firepower to destroy an outpost, but they had to be powerful and very angry if that was their reaction.
Furthermore, and that was the most important thing, in her opinion, she knew that the only thing she could do and retain even a sliver of her dignity and pride was to accept that she would die in a few seconds. Like the rest of the crew who were trying to deny the inevitable.
Their fates were sealed, and as the captain saw the flashes coming from the three warships in front of her ship, she barely had enough time to close her eyes and relax her body.
After that, she felt nothing.
Down on the planet, Myx stared silently at the screen. The connection to their cruiser had cut off almost two minutes ago, but the only thing he managed to do was force his hand to move toward the button that would set the alarm level to Red and press it.
Between the emergence of the ships out of the anomaly and the destruction of their cruiser, not even three minutes had passed, but to him, it had felt like an eternity. Every second he had listened appeared to him as if some cosmic entity had drawn out until they could pass off as hours or even days.
Of the pair of a Salarian and Turian that had previously entered the room to investigate what was going on, only the Salarian remained. The Turian had bolted out of the room the moment it was clear that the cruiser had been destroyed. Probably to inform the base commander of the fact.
One had to love Turian discipline, even if something unexpected happens, they manage to get their priorities straight.
"We should probably get going. Get ready to fight the invaders off, whoever they are," said the Salarian behind Myx in a low voice, laying a hand on his shoulder to give him some comfort after the shock they just got and to bring him back to the here and now.
Finally returning back to reality, Myx shook his head. "I've to stay here and keep an eye out on the sensors," his hands flew over the keyboard, activating more screens in the process that showed the outside of the base. "I also got some access to the cameras from here. It would be better if at least someone keeps an eye out from an outside perspective. Knowing where the enemy is attacking is as important as the fighting itself. If our guys don't know where to fight, they're going to get massacred."
"If you say so," answered the Salarian with a shrug, buying Myx's explanation without much protest.
In truth, Myx wanted to stay away from the fighting as long as possible.
He knew his way around a battlefield if it came to that, but that didn't mean that he was any good at it or that he enjoyed being thrown into situations where he could lose his life from any kind of accident or inattention.
Perhaps, some would call him a coward, but Myx would reply that his strength lay in supporting his comrades, be it from the backlines on the battlefield or off of it altogether.
And any Salarian would agree that, as long as there was a choice, one should always play to their strengths.
The Salarian was about to turn around and leave when he suddenly noticed something on one of the camera screens. He pointed at it and asked: "See that? Do you know what that is?"
Myx frowned in reply and put some commands into the keyboard to get the camera to zoom in to get a better picture of the three grey blobs that had appeared on the screen. As it got closer, Myx's heart started to beat faster every time the resolution of the camera adjusted itself to give out a detailed picture.
It didn't take long for the three grey blobs to become detailed enough to identify them as three starships, probably those that had destroyed the Eclipse cruiser a few minutes ago, especially as they came closer as the camera was zooming in.
"They are coming directly at us!" whispered Myx harshly. "How do they know where they could find out base? I should, at least, have gotten a warning from our sensors that they were scanning the area. This way, I could have employed countermeasures to give us time to prepare!"
"They're not sending out boarding shuttles," noticed the Salarian, his face going as pale as possible for a Salarian. "Why are they not sending shuttles?!"
"I don't know," answered Myx frustrated, furiously tipping on his keyboard to direct any and all sensors toward the three warships his systems categorized as two frigates and a cruiser. The sensors couldn't make out any signs of their affiliation, but they could get some information about their mass, size, and anything else that could be of use to Eclipse right now.
Myx's eyes narrowed in thought as he noticed that the ships were getting slower in their approach as if they were about to land on the planet's surface. While he could believe that the two frigates could possibly achieve this, there was no way the cruiser with its sheer mass could do it, too. Perhaps it would provide an area of air superiority to protect the two frigates while they were vulnerable as they landed?
The next thing he noticed caused him to throw that theory out of the window, bury it, and himself right with it.
"They are turning their sides toward us," he said quietly.
The other Salarian didn't understand the significance of the event right away and had to ask: "And that's important why?"
Myx turned toward his fellow Salarian whose breath stopped in his throat when he saw the hopelessness, the fear, and the despair in Myx's eyes.
"It means they don't intend to send a single person down here to try and take the base or any of its values. They are here for one thing, and one thing only."
"And that would be?" asked the Salarian, his voice conveying the dread he felt. He knew exactly what those unknown invaders were here for but needed someone else to say it out loud.
"Death," replied Myx gravely. "They are here for our deaths and nothing more." Somehow, he felt far more calm after he spoke out his thoughts. No, it wasn't calmness, it was acceptance.
"How can you stay so calm?" screamed the Salarian, working himself into a panic. "We have to warn the others! Evacuate the base! Anything!"
"And what would that change?" asked Myx, turning his hollow eyes toward his comrade.
"There were no survivors in space. If even one escape capsule got away, I do not doubt it would be hunted down. There is no escape. The enemy's ships are too close, and their sensors will pick up any shuttle trying to leave. Furthermore, our cruiser was the only way to travel to another system. The best we could do would be to run away until we were exhausted. It would be only an extension on our lifespan counted at most in hours." Myx took a deep breath. "And my calmness comes from the fact that I understand and accept this outcome. That's all I can do right now. Accept death."
The Salarian could only shake his head in denial. "There has to be something. I can't accept such an outcome. I have to do something."
Myx watched how the Salarian ran out of the room, desperate to prove Myx's words wrong.
In response, Myx could only smile sadly.
There was no escape, that much he knew. But if he was honest with himself, he would have liked to deny it, too. To have hope until the last moment when his life ended in the cannon fire from those ships would have been far better than to sit here and watch.
Alas, his mind didn't work that way, and an empty hope that he knew to be false couldn't and wouldn't change that.
His fingers flew over the keyboard one last time, activating the music player he had installed a few weeks ago when he had been bored to death. A few more klicks and a song from the time he had been still young and full of dreams about the future started to play.
A tear slid down his cheek. "I wish I had more time to fulfill at least one of them," he said to no one but himself as he watched how the warships started to rain down fire on their base.
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The destruction of the Loccas Eclipse base had only been the opening salvo of Ad Astra's retaliation against Eclipse.
The bombardments of bases repeated two more times the following week. The three groups of Ad Astra warships appeared out of nothing close to their Eclipse enemies and took them by surprise, eliminating and destroying everyone and everything.
It was the kind of statement that had not been seen since the Krogan Rebellions.
Furthermore, the rest of the galaxy heard about the destruction only in rumors, and nobody knew who did it.
Of course, Eclipse speculated that Ad Astra was behind it, but not once did those speculations leave Eclipse's ranks and survived more than a few days before far more outlandish or believable rumors buried them under their sheer amount.
Yet, Ad Astra's war against Eclipse had only just begun, and when the curtain opened to the next act, the galaxy would see the winds of change blowing through it.
Whether it wanted or not.
