The Death of Peace

"Will it be like home?" The little girl asked, looking up from the data pad, the words 'Alberesque Three' rotating on the screen.

"It'll be better than home." Mum promised, not looking up from her book, mind lost in the world within.

"Will we see the sky?" The girl carried on, the words 'Rolling fields and scenic valleys' moving onto the screen. Mum looked up from her book and smiled, patting her daughter's head. "Yes darling, every day." She said. The little girl shut the pad off and looked up. "No water tax?" She asked. Mum nodded. "No water tax." She whispered.

********

"This is TNS Thrax to TCS St. Clair, how copy over?" Captain Kruger placed the mouthpiece back in its holster as he awaited a reply. He gazed at the view screen at the stretched rectangular shape that was a Laptev-Class starliner, silhouetted against a swirling purple kaleidoscope that was voidspace. Not too far astern of her, a second Laptev, the Gilian Myers tailed her. Several arrowhead shapes loitered around her, part of her military escort. Somewhere in the void, Kruger knew, lingered the Lawrence Schmidt, a solid chunk of its cargo made up of prefabricated housing, mining equipment and foodstuffs; everything a growing colony needs.

"This is St. Clair, we read you five by five." the crackled reply came. "Comm-o, can we clean the signal up at all? Kruger queried. His comms officer, Xiong nodded and tweaked his display. "Should be clearer now." He nodded. "St. Clair, prime your drives we are approaching destination. get your people ready to jump over." Kruger took his finger off the transmit button. "How many people aboard the St. Clair?" They turned to their first officer, a burly Indian by the name of Varma. "Around two thousand, not including her crew," Varma responded, checking his datapad. "Brave new world huh?" Kruger said, watching the ships lumber through the void. "Yeah..." Varma glanced down at the map on his datapad, half of it wearing a dark red with the words IMPERIAL NA'HAGI SPACE in bold spread across it. "Brave new world."

****** "All passengers please proceed to your designated jump seats." The announcement rang out of the speakers around the atrium. "Please ensure all luggage and personal items are securely fastened as we will be engaging our jump engines shortly." It went on.

"Okay sweetie pack the pad away now." Mum stood up and clicked her neck. She raised her datapad and tapped it. "Paul, where are you? We are dropping soon." She said as the young girl stood up and tucked the pad into her backpack. "Yeah getting a coffee, wont be long, what are our seats again?" The reply came. Mum rolled her eyes. "Paul we drop like now, we dont have time for coffee c'mon." She said, standing her daughter up.  "And we are on seats E sixty six, sixty seven and sixty eight." She said. "Darling, d'you have everything?"  The little girl nodded.  "Right, come on, lets head off, daddy will be with us shortly." 

"Roger TCS Thrax, we are priming our drives." The reply came. Kruger nodded. 

"Copy that St. Clair, we will give you and the Myers a wide berth, over." Kruger smiled. "Have we heard from the Schmidt?" 

"Schmidt is priming her drives, civilian vessels are ready for the jump." Varma checked his pad again.  "And the Peregrines?" Kruger took position in the captains chair.  "Frigates are good, we are ready to drop once we get the greenlight from the civis." 

****  "Paul, hurry up." Mum muttered, getting her daughter clipped into the jump seat; a glorified passenger seat adhered to a wall with a safety harness. She tugged at the straps so the harness fit her daughter snugly.  "Where's daddy?" The little girl murmured cuddling her backpack. More and more passengers were beginning to strap in, the elderly being helped by their children, who then attended to their own children. The atrium which had been so full of life was now draining and starting to look like a ghost town.    "He'll be here soon honey don't worry." Mum took a seat in her jump seat and began to tighten her harness. She looked up in time to see one of the crew moving up the line checking the seats.  "Everyone, make sure your jump harness is secure, parents check your children and ensure your luggage is secure." He said in a monotonous voice, robotically checking the safety harnesses.    "Excuse me, um-Sir." Mum said as the crewman drew level.  "My husband, have you seen him? He's about two meters tall, black hair, um-" "I uh, got you decaff." A voice sounded. Mum peeked round the crewman to see Paul, bearing a wide grin and a tray of coffees. "Uh, Sir, please make sure you keep a hold of that, we will disengage gravity soon to start the drives." The crewman said with a sigh.  "Oh, I uh, I will." Paul took a seat and awkwardly began to get his harness on. ****  "TNS Thrax this is St. Clair, we are ready to jump, drives primed, gravity off." The voice came over the bridge loud speaker.  "Copy St. Clair, start your drop, out."  Kruger replied. "All civilian vessels lead off of St. Clair."  Kruger hung the handset back up. 

"Mister Varma, lead off of St. Clair." 

In the cold depths of realspace, a yellow sun beat down on the worlds of the Alberesque System. Four planets, broken up by a band of asteroids. And slipping through the system, arranged in a squashed rhombus, four warships. The cruciform-shaped ships, with thrusters on the back, with turrets lining the vertical sections, held formation perfectly. Several thousand kilometers in front of them, reality buckled and twisted. Finally space gave way and a squat rectangular ship was vomited forth from a swirling purple mass. Smaller vortexes opened up around her and more ships were deposited in realspace. 

****** "Helm what the hell are those and why are they here?" Kruger snarled approaching his viewscreen.  "Checking thruster output..." The Helmsman, Helders began. She slid her headset down.  "Sir thruster output is consistent with Type-27 destroyers." She said, colour draining from her face. The whole bridge fell silent, the crew's eyes resting on Kruger. Kruger ran a hand over their head and chewed their lip.  "Alright people, keep it cool, lets hail them."  "Sir, getting a transmission from the Type-27s." Xiong began.  "Put it on speaker I wanna hear em." Kruger said, hands crossed behind their back. Xiong nodded and flicked a switch. 

"This is the captain of the Imperial Naval vessel Ur'Vel." A deep voice boomed out. "This system is under the control of his Holy Highness Otak the Fourth, return to void space immediately."  

"What in the name of all that's...Helm check position, have we overshot?" Kruger chewed their lip.  "Negative, this is the Alberesque system." The response came. 

"Mother of the fucking stars..." Varma began. "We're outnumbered."  "Thrax this is St. Clair, we are being hailed by unknown vessels, what is happening over." The com crackled.  "St. Clair, wait one." Kruger snapped.  "Xiong get a tachyon burst out to Terra right this second, tell them the situation and get me some orders, I refuse to be the one to start a war dammit." 

****  The War Room as it was known, was a cold room. Rows and rows of LCDs provided scant light as the dozens of naval officers collated reports from warships across the Commonwealth. A huge irregular shape projected on one wall, pockmarked with azure dots, made up a map of the Commonwealth. 

Lieutenant Ivan Saralov frowned. This was most irregular. Na'Hagi Warships? In a neutral system?  'To steep for my blood." He muttered and thumbed the 'escalate' icon on his screen and it was no longer his problem. 

PRIMSECOM the sign on the door read. Within, one of the most powerful women in the Commonwealth sipped her tea. Admiral Rhonda Stark furrowed her brow as the report popped up on her screen.  "Stars above....Al, get me the Naval Chief." 

Supreme Admiral Khan's mouth dropped open when he read the message. 

"Colonisation fleet has encountered 4 (four) Type-27 Destroyers in the Alberesque System. Fleet is attempting evasive maneuvers, requesting orders." 

****** "Peregrine 101 close up you're straying from defence cannon coverage." Kruger transmitted. On his view screen he watched the ship maintain its course. "Negative Thrax, one of those Type-27s is on an intercept course, we run the risk of collision if they up their velocity." The reply came. "They're trying to spread us out, make us prey for torpedoes." Varma mused. Kruger nodded and thumbed the transmit button. "All Peregrines, maintain formation, keep the colony ships in defence cannon range." He ordered. "Comm-O, anything on the T-beam?" Kruger gazed over at the communications officer. Xiong shook his head. "Right, Miss Turner, prep the chemrails, load all Cutlasses and spark the guardian array." Kruger ordered, turning to his first officer. "I am taking us to battlestations Mister Varma." "Aye, captain." He nodded. Kruger pulled his microphone down, thumbing the shipwide communication button. "All hands, battlestations, I say again, battlestations. Na'Hagi warships are closing range. Set condition Zebra throughout the ship." He said, hanging his microphone up. "Xiong, tell the Peregrines to go to battlestations-" "Sir lead Type-27 has locked onto the St. Clair."

"Mum?" The little girl gripped her mums hand. "What's happening." The St.Clair shuddered violently as it attempted to maneouver, RCS thrusters blazing to change its attitude so it could bring its main thrusters into play, putting distance between itself and the cruciform-like Type-27 that was closing range. "I-I don't know honey, it's okay, just the space ship moving, probably to get out of the way...." Mum looked to Paul. "Uh, right, see when these big spaceships come out of Purple Space, they have to slow down a lot, so what they do is....."

"Sir Type-27s thruster output has spiked, it's closing on the St. Clair." Xiong said, watching the radar readout on his screen. "Thrax this is Peregrine 33, we have been locked by distant most Type-27." "Xiong, designate those destroyers, Alpha through Delta, start with the closest." Xiong's hands moved in a flurry over his display. "You tell me the moment we get a T-beam, I want to know what has gone wrong out here."

*****

Prime minister Alvarez read and re-read the communique. "What is the likelihood the Na'Hagi will respond aggressively, if we press ahead with colonization?" He queried. His cultural expert, Cooper, a short man with wire-rimmed glasses, pushed them up his face. "High, I am afraid Prime Minister." He mused. "The Na'Hagi empire would view it as a challenge to their strength." "Sir, if we back down, we may never stop." Admiral Lucas, a bullish man with little in the way of hair, argued. Alvarez looked between the two. "There will come a day, probably very soon, we may have to have this fight but it is not today." Alvarez sighed. "Lucas, pull the ships back, Cooper, get me the Na'Hagi Ambassador." ***** "Lock alert, lock alert, Type-27 bravo has locked onto us." Xiong said. Kruger softly punched their armrest. "Miss Turner, target lock Type-27 Alpha, and put a chemrail shot across their bow." Kruger snapped. Varma furrowed his brow. "Sir, I must protest, we are not at war." He began. "Yes, and if we can keep the St.Clair safe we can keep it that way," Kruger said, turning to Turner. "Make it so, Miss Turner."

B-turret spoke with a burst of flame and an arc of electricity. The round closed the gap in under ten seconds. In a shower of orange and azure the round impacted the shield of the leading Type-27.

"I said across the bow, Miss Turner!" Kruger snarled rising. "That round was keyed to pass two hundred kilometers in front of Alpha, he's upped his acceleration and must be running his shield wide." Turner said, hands moved away from her console. "Can confirm, Alpha's shields are running further from the hull than usual." Xiong chipped in.

Varma turned to Kruger. "Sir, we need to disengage, we can' take on four Type-27-" "Vampire, vampire, vampire!" Xiong yelled. "Missiles are loose from Alpha...and Bravo..charlie...and delta..."

From across the gulf, Thrax's telescopes spied missiles streaking forth from the Na'Hagi formation. Seconds later they spotted the cyan glare from the destroyers' railguns. The Peregrines moved split; two took up flanking positions on the Thrax, send forth showers of infra-red flares into the icy blackness. Gillian Meyer fought hard to keep itself astern of Thrax, Lawrence Schmidt taking similar measures.

Out on a limb, one of the Peregrines took herself to full military velocity, spaceframe creaking under the strain, warning alarms blaring through her cramped interior. She hurtled through the black, flares arcing forth, aiming to put herself between the hapless St. Clair and a slew of oncoming torpedoes. Her guardian systems roared into life, vomiting a hailstorm of hypersonic steel into the path of the torpedoes. It was Peregrine 101, and she was going to save the St. Clair.

Thrax's guardian arrays made a tell-tale rumble throughout the ship. It was punctuated by several more rhythmic thumps as the Scimitar system offered up several interceptor missiles with streaked out towards the torpedoes. A ripple wave of explosions lit up the view screen on Thrax's bridge, several torpedoes running foul of countermeaures.

Peregrine 101 had shot down seven torpedoes and her guardian array was bearing down hard on an eighth when the St.Clair took its first hit. A railgun round had passed scant kilometers from 101's stern and punched through the pressure hull.

"Mummy!" The little girl screamed as a klaxon filled the atrium. Emergency blue lighting kicked in, Paul looked round frantically. "Honey, it's gonna be okay, I promise it's going to be-"

Kruger had never seen a nuclear detonation, not in real life. They'd seen old combat footage and numerous training videos in the academy. The view screen seemed to undersell it all, just a brief, bright flash of light and then nothing. The logical part of their brain knew that the vacuum robbed a reactor detonation of its shockwave, but it seemed insulting that two thousand and fifty lives were snuffed out by a simple flash of light.

"Sir...sir..we have a T-beam directly from the Prime Minister...we are to disengage..." Xiong's voice seemed hollow, detached. Kruger recognized someone shutting their emotions off to cope. "Copy, Mister Helders, warm the drive." They pulled the microphone down and set it to fleet wide "All ships, warm your drives, we are disengaging. Gillian Meyers, Lawrence Schmidt, go, we shall provide cover and join you in void."

Peregrine 101 flipped and burned her main thrusters, weatherign a cloud of debris that was the St.Clair. She burned hard towards the Thrax, jinking occasionally to throw off incoming fire. Lawrence Schmidt went first, dropping down into the void portal.

"Schmidt is away." Xiong began. "Copy, all ships, salvo fire torpedoes, we need to keep the destroyers occupied." Kruger transmitted.

Just as Peregrine 101 passed within defense cannon coverage, just as the Meyers dropped into the kaleidoscopic mass of void space, Peregrine 33's luck ran out. She had been weaving under thrust like her sister, 101. A railgun round cored the ship, tearing into the bow and ripping through decks, armour, crew, and finally thrusters, exiting the stern.

"Sir...Peregrine 33's transponder has gone dead...."

33s revenge was mixed in with a flurry of other torpedoes she and her sisters had launched several minutes prior. The Cutlass torpedo was an older missile but it's phased plasma warhead could boil armour with the best of them. One of Thrax's chemrail rounds had managed to collapse Type-27 Alpha's shields and create a buckle in the hull plating. 33s torpedo was clipped by a defence cannon shot about fifty kilometers away from the hull but it was too late. The torpedo tumbled along its axis, disintegrating and detonating scant kilometers from the hull, a brilliant shimmering lance of purple plasma punching into the hull, sending gouts of molten titanium into the void which flash froze, tumbling through the void.

"Take us sensor blind, prep for drop." Kruger said, eyes fixed on the viewscreen. "Aye sir...sir, Type-27 Alpha's thruster output has dropped to zero, she's gone signals dark." Xiong said. "Good." Kruger said, sinking back into their chair." Peregrine 3 sunk down into the void, offering a single blind railgun shot as she did so.

Thrax followed, Kruger watching Type-27 Alpha start to tilt-bow up. They could vaguely make out the ripple of rocket ignitions as lifeboats were launched.

Peregrine 101, hull pock-marked with dents, guardian arrays scanning for the torpedo salvo that would never come, hung in space for a moment. She delivered a final shower of flares before her commander, with tears in his eyes, gave the dive order. 101 dropped to void and left the destroyers to their spoils.