RM2-Prelude2-edited

Prelude 2

Sivenfosieven, Command Wizard of the 7th Kermac Space Lord Fleet, carefully attached the artificial beard to his chin. He took great care in tying the light blue ribbons that held the cone-shaped, appendix-like beard which slightly curved upwards against his lower jaw.

In the days of old, the ribbons really did hold these beards. The ribbons now used as a symbol of status and position. The color, width, length of the ribbons and the way they were tied was codified in great detail in the elevated Scrolls of Greatest Importance.

Now these false beards, that had become synonymous with Kermac Wizard culture, were often glued or like in his case, attached via surgical implanted micro connectors, holding the artificial beard securely and made connection to the neural link.

The morning ritual of attaching the beard was important for every Kermac and practiced with spiritual and religious significance. To Sivenfosieven, it was the time of day that gave him strength and centered his thoughts.

Kermac beards also contained hidden PSI technology.

Every Kermac had a Ministry of Control approved mind-shield in his beard.

Those in higher positions; like him, also had a small but quite powerful Neuro Ripper in its tip. On very low intensity it was a perfect tool to make servants, slaves, and others lesser than him squirm with uneasiness and painful nerve-tingling while in the presence of a Kermac Wizard. He was well aware of that effect. First aimed at him while he clawed and schemed his way up the advancement ladder. Then of course dishing it out, whenever possible, he liked inflicting pain on others.

Sivenfosieven also invested in a terribly expensive PSI enhancer, to increase his psionic abilities. His natural Psionics had the potential for telekinesis, but his natural strength allowed him to manipulate objects of no more than a few grams at the greatest concentration and exhaustion.

With his enhancer, he could manipulate almost 50 grams within viewing distance. This was something he was tremendously proud of, as only one in about 100,000 Kermac developed telekinetic abilities.

That his PSI shield was not MOC approved, was quite illegal, but he considered it as one of the perks a military leader of his level enjoyed.

Secretly, he too feared the ever-present shadowy threat of the Thought Police. Once denounced by a TP officer as someone with thoughts not appropriate for a Kermac, even a man of his position could face the terrible punishment of a Mental Wipe.

While he tied the last knot of the upper ribbon ends and checked the result in a mirror field; he had to admit he had many of such non appropriate thoughts lately.

He brushed his long thin hand over his completely smooth skin of his bald head and wondered if he would find time to have a skin bleaching session today. In his self critical opinion, he found that his skin was still several shades below the blessed true White of a Kermac God.

Religion was for Thrall species and slaves. Kermac knew and worshiped only one thing, themselves.

He checked the black mascara that lined his eyes and applied more lip white to make sure his lips matched the whiteness of the rest of his face and recited the seventeen reasons why the Kermac were supreme above all.

Making sure he did it loud enough, so his aides waiting for him outside could hear him. He spoke the words mechanically as he had lost the conviction needed to recite this required daily sermon with passion:

“Above all that exists and lives, are Kermac. To all that lives and exists, we are Gods and must be worshiped, for we are supreme. We are not among the dirt that dares to defile existence, we are elevated, and must be served by all that lives.”

He had not even reached the sixth reason when someone rapped against the folding door that separated his private accommodations from the Command Center.

The Command Wizard was aboard the most powerful warship ever created by the combined sciences and engineers of those who served the Kermac. This 1200 meter giant was part of a force counting over 2000 units of similar size.

He swallowed his anger for being disturbed, as he was quite aware that no one would have dared to do so if it was not utterly important.

By waving his hand toward the door, he signaled the door to fold away.

It revealed Sub Command Wizard Achnacdrie with a thinly veiled expression of concern on his less than perfect white face.

His subordinate said, bowing in the required motion. “My eyes are inadequate to fully appreciate the magnificence your presence bestows upon this universe; my lips are inadequate to...”

“Suspend the litany. If you felt it was important enough to interrupt my recital, then time must be of essence.”

“Indeed Magnificent Sivenfosieven, Commander most wise and supreme. We received a message via Long Range Telepaths that the Hilibar have fallen.

Union barbarians somehow managed to circumvent the brilliant tactical defenses planned and implemented by our other regional leader, the supremely brilliant master tactician, the Great Command Wizard Fivtofortwe.”

“The fall of the Hilibar was only a matter of weeks and expected. The forces used to assist the Hilibar can now be diverted and bolster the Unifrim to protect the Agerath System. Go inform my less than I, capable colleague at once.”

“Indeed you’re Magnificent Apparition of Perfection; that is strategy of supreme wisdom. However Great Command Wizard Fivtofortwe might have experienced slight complications in that matter.”

“What kind of Complications?”

“Your colleague of highest esteem and almost equal magnificence was so kind and sent message via LRT that the Union completely destroyed the Agerath System; they destroyed the actual planets, Agerath and all Itkkme present. That supremely talented tactician is currently engaging in a brilliant maneuver of a hasty implemented retreat.”

Sivenfosieven did not blame is Sub Commander for acting the way he did. It was how Kermac spoke and behaved. Over twenty thousand years of Thought Police made this as natural as eating and drinking. He did not blame the other Command Wizard, even though he considered him to be an Idiot.

Whatever they threw in the way of the Union onslaught was obliterated, killed and destroyed in a truly terrifying methodical fashion. “What of the Unifrim? He commands the Unifrim. Simply speak of facts and refrain from elaborate Form Speak.”

The Sub Commander sighed. “Your Magnificence, they fled too. After the scion of military knowledge and supreme tactical expertise commenced that wisely lead retreat, the Unifrim decided to retreat as well and left the Itkkme to fend for themselves.”

“In that system was one of our most important shipyards. Quick, signal the Unifrim to return to their posts. The Itkkme were vital to our war efforts.”

“Indeed your Magnificence, it was.”

“There is more, isn’t there?”

“Our long-range detectors confirmed a collection of several insignificant, low tech barbarian spaceships heading into this area. These few contacts coming this way are just Union. it is of course completely impossible for them to ever reach this bastion of Kermac might.

This is after all not a system that is home to worthless servants, this is a Kermac System. Defended by none other than you, the most brilliant Command Wizard. Their inferior technology and stupidity will make them easy prey to our mighty fleet and your brilliant order decisions you will give. Is this not so?”

“There is a fine line, Sub Commander. There is a fine line indeed between using Form Speech to laud and elevate your superior, or use it to express sarcasm. You have long ago crossed that line, your sarcasm is so thick, it has reached your eyes. So spare me your excuses and attempts to convince me otherwise. Now tell me how insignificant that Union Fleet is that is supposedly coming this way. Concentrate a few units at the outer orbits. A handful of stragglers, survived Unifrim defenses?”

“We think it is their full First Fleet with the Devastator. No other known spacecraft makes our mass detectors spike that way.”

Sivenfosieven was certain he just managed to gain a few shades towards the Supreme White without any bleaching sessions. The word insignificant and weak somehow didn’t come across his lips. All he was able to say was. “Stahl is coming?”

Someone in the Command Center said, “No, your Magnificence, that Union Devil is already here. We might not be able to follow the brilliant strategies and retreat as well.”

As if to underline these words, the Kermac flagship vibrated from Battle Alerts and warning sounds.

Hundreds of new suns bloomed into existence, each of these fast expanding energy clouds had a Kermac unit at its center.

-””-

Admiral Stahl was not on the bridge of the mighty USS Devastator; this Union battleship of alien origin was under the command of its current CO, Captain Tor Igvar.

The immortal Terran, known throughout the known universe as the Eternal Warrior, felt unable to remain behind the lines and direct his forces from the safety of his flagship, as a man of his importance should have done.

Instead, he sat in the command seat of an Ajax Class Super Cruiser; an old almost mothballed unit he had pulled out of the surplus pool of Delta Group about a year ago.

It bow carried the Union Fleet designation USS War Hawk and whenever First Fleet went into battle, he took her out personally, surrounded by a handpicked crew.

The War-Hawk was a 800 meter Super Cruiser a true old timer almost 360 years old, now lovingly refurbished and refitted with the most advanced shields and updated weapon systems the Union had.

Because of course due to a fanatical devotion of the Devi’s engineering department, to make it a ship fit to use by the Old Man, they had used every trick in the book bypassing regular Naval channels to acquire the very best tech.

Of course, Stahl could have taken command of any ship in the fleet. He could have requested the latest and newest Dreadnought coming off the assembly lines at Ross 129; but that would have been inappropriate in his opinion. New ships were needed for the war effort and were assigned to proper commanding officers and crews. Pulling such a resource, merely to satisfy his personal ambitions and desires was something the man synonymous with integrity simply did not do.

Taking an old ship headed to a boneyard to be decommissioned and crewing it with volunteers was as far as he was willing to go. Putting himself in danger on the front lines was not exactly the role or position that the supreme commander of all Union Military should take, that was of course criticized by Admiral McElligott, along with pretty much everyone else at Fleet Command.

But sitting on a desk and delegating forces behind the lines simply wasn’t him. He could delegate and direct onboard the Shadow Hawk just as well and in the very center of the action.

While his style of command and his decisions to almost always fight right alongside regular units was scolded and criticized by Fleet Command, it elevated his legend to almost godlike status among the spacemen, soldiers, and marines of the Union Fleet. They followed him with a sense of unequaled pride and devotion.

Stahl himself spearheaded this all out assault on the first Kermac star system. The USS War-Hawk was among the first ships dropping out of Quasi.

He did not take his eyes off the tactical screen when he said. “Brytha make those loaders sweat!” Stahl said to his Tactical Officer. “Keep your barrels straight ahead and sweep the path.”

“Aye Sir.” The Saresii woman behind the weapon controls replied and forwarded his request to the gun deck. A bulky Quadi-Ped, Chief Loader of the gun-deck barked as loud as he could. ”Lassies and lads. the old man wants quick reloading. Let’s show him why we are the fastest in the fleet.”

Red case Giga loads came up the bomb conveyors, the loaders wiping them in breakneck speed, with their anti-static rags as a last manual safety measure before robotic arms stuffed them into the displacement breeches of the six Giga load Translocators.

These cannons of alien origin, and the guarantor of Union might for almost 500 years, displaced antimatter explosions at the very moment of explosion via hyperspace, bypassing space, enemy shields and armor. There was no defense against such an explosion occurring inside an engine room. The slightest external spark or unchecked electron bleed could cause a catastrophic failure at discharge and spell doom for the attacked. After all this time, the system had been improved and the wipe down protocol a vital last step. On the Command Deck of the War-Hawk. Stahl had not changed his posture. He kept issuing a stream of commands. “Kolfsen don’t slow down one klick, if necessary plow right through whatever tries to block our approach.”

Kolfsen was perhaps the only Jooltar in the Union Fleet. The Jooltar grunted and adjusted the Helm System visor before his eyes.

The immortal warrior blinked at the fleet communications icon floating inside his retina, “Stahl to Devi, what is keeping you, Captain Igvar? Light up some of your really big flares and tell them we’re here.”

The Devi responded as her turrets begun firing in salvo tact, every 30 seconds the biggest mobile Translocator cannons in the Union arsenal coughed Hexa load after Hexa load into trans-dimensional space only to re-materialize inside shields and past armor deep inside enemy vessels and each time Kermac Battleships were vaporized with a suddenly expanding temporary mini-sun in its place.

The Kermac did not give up without a fight.

Kermac FTL Line Cannons did pack a wallop by delivering the energies of fusion bomb explosions compressed into a tight focus of only a few centimeters through a compression and acceleration field. This enabled Kermac Line Cannons to engage an enemy target even at translight speed. There was little that could withstand a direct hit. Kermac Psi Powers were one reason the Kermac were so powerful and ruled over the Galactic Council, their Line Cannons were the other reason.

At least this had been so for many thousands of years. Now there was the Union with Battleships bigger than anything known. Their cursed shields withstood Line Cannon fire as it took the combined hits of at least three Kermac Battleships to crack the shields of a Union Ship to cause serious damage.

After the attack wave of Union battleships, sixteen Forrestal class carriers arrived and launched Wolfcraft fighters and Thor Gun Boats.

Swift Destroyers were protecting the carriers with deadly TL Sniper fire against enemy T-Cruisers.

There were casualties among Union units. A number of Battleships were seriously damaged, however the Kermac had nothing to equalize the incredible fast Wolfcraft.

Once again, the true value of space fighters was demonstrated. These were not the Nul or the Dai who also had fighters; few space faring civilizations considered the use of one pilot attack craft. Most certainly, none of the known Galactic Council species did.

Wolfcraft fighters were heavily shielded, had Translocator rotary canons and were difficult to hit, even for Kermac Computronic aided target acquisition systems.

The Saresii Tactical officer of the USS War-Hawk resisted wiping off the sweat from her forehead as her hands punched in energy reroute commands to the shield generator systems.

The Super Cruiser had lost starboard shields and the aft shields flickered with less than 20 %, down to the last shield layer.

The temperature on the bridge was almost unbearable as Stahl had life support and climate controls turned down to an absolute minimum. Every iota of energy diverted to the bow shield projectors.

More than once since this attack run had begun, the War-Hawk plowed right through the barely dissipating energy clouds of enemy and friendly fire alike.

That they could have retreated at any moment return to the safety behind Union Lines was an option no one on this ship considered. Stahl wanted to reach the Kermac World and deliver the Devil’s Bunch attached to an external hardpoint at the keel of their ship to that planet’s capital and seat of the local Wizards. They all would rather die than disappoint him.

A Devil’s Bundle, or Devil’s Bunch was a set of 12 Loki torpedoes connected to each other like a bundle of firewood and released simultaneously. (This harkened back to an invention of Stahl during the Y’All war when he bundled the then common SHIROC anti-ship missiles to knock out Y’All ships.)

The reason for this attack was to destroy the well defended and protected Wizard Tower and by doing so, neutralize the Psionic Influencers the Kermac used to press their will on the Thralls fighting for them at least in this region of space. There was also the hope to possibly neutralize their ability to communicate with Long Range Telepaths sitting in bunkers underneath the wizard tower.

The Bundle was released at a distance where it could no longer be intercepted; it made its run and obliterated the city, the Wizard Towers and the Psi Enhancers. Many of the remaining Kermac ship crews suddenly experienced complete confusion as the psionic oppressive will that pressed them to risk life and health to defend the Kermac was gone. The tactical commands given by their telepathic communication suddenly fell silent.

The entire First Fleet, all four Battle Group clusters, had now arrived and the outcome of this space battle had never been in doubt, but the action led by Stahl himself ensured a fast and decisive victory and the details of this fight were added to the many stories told among the crews and citizens of the Union, about Admiral Stahl.

This was the first Kermac Planet that was ever attacked in over 20,000 years and the first to fall in Kermac history.