"....10 billion entities as the known population of Pollux I, 8 billion entities as the known population of Pollux II, 12 billion entities as the known population of Pollux III, 600 million entities as the known population of Research Alpha Pollux IV, 10 billion...."



The drone of the computers voice passes in and out of Rear Admiral Archer's hearing range as he stands over the planning map near the central area of his ships bridge. Soldiers and officers help drown out the monotone voice as they run back and forth yelling information every which way about the War, incoming invasion fleets, allied ship movement, and homeworld defense strategies. His personal assistant, a spry young cadet just out of training, is hypnotized as she watches the list of planets get repeated over and over on the screen behind them. It seems the true scope of their reality has just sunken in to that young, naive mind and the full weight of the Defense Force's mission has dropped onto her shoulders.



"Cadet, bring me the maps of this arm of the galaxy!" The admiral breaks his aid out of her trance and footsteps behind him tell of her moving to a console to send the digitized diagrams his way. Within seconds the maps light up the cores of his eyes and he thumbs through the mountains of data contained within, "Get me General Hardtack on the line, we will need his troops to move essential tech out of the system before the operation begins." Keep them occupied, don't let the minds come through on their own or else there will be a breakdown of orders and the chain of command itself may falter.



That's the problem with cadets these days, with nearly two centuries of peace with the galaxy around them they are soft and unable to cope with the terrors of war. Rear Admiral Archer is one of the rare few, a decorated vet of the Craver Incursions near the Sirius Sector he knows exactly what needs to be done to stop those monsters from advancing any further into their territory. During the Incursions two decades ago Archer was merely the pilot of a simple Corvette class ship in a fleet tasked with defend the Sirius System. When the Cravers first came through it was merely a scout ship, they'd managed to chase it off with a show of force and a light skirmish, but then the main fleet came. In the middle of one of the first major fire fights his Defender Class corvette was shot down above one of the invaded planets, Sirius II, Archer then saw first hand, after landing his escape pod on the surface of the Jungle world, the absolute destruction and consumption these xenos wrought on the planet. Entire cities turned into work camps with the population turned into slaves that, when found useless to them, would then be converted into food supply.



That will not happen here, it will not happen at Pollux, Archer will make sure of that with the full force of the United Empire's fleets behind him. Even if they have to kill billions of their own people to do so. A sound tones within his mind as the communication chip in his brain flicks on with General Hardtack at the other end, "Are all the ships loaded and ready to go, General? We need you out of there within the next 24 hours."



"The last ships are being loaded now, we have had some trouble with the local civilians but they did not show any knowledge of what is going on. All they know is the research base on Pollux IV is being moved elsewhere, more space is needed. Do we have an ETA on the enemy fleets?"



Archer flicks a screen to the foreground bringing up the information network of scouts and defense fleets, a few seconds pass as he digests the latest news on the enemy fleets. "You'll need to pick up the pace, General, we have a large enemy fleet incoming... they just passed through Rigel. We can assume they will be hear within at least a day." The Rear Admiral immediately switches the link between him and the general off and orders that the fleet be turned to Red Alert status, then he asks that the captains of all the ships in system be patched through to his console. He is about to order the hardest operation ever attempted by the Defense Force and hopefully the last of its kind.



The colours of the ship change around him as emergency lights replace the bright fluorescents of the normal lighting, a siren comes up in the background as a signal for the crew to take Battle Stations. Watching the chaos gives the Rear Admiral time to count the last few seconds he will be free of the blood on his hands, the blood of his fellow humans. A static sound, short but annoying, comes from the communications chip telling Archer that the conference call to all the other ships is ready to begin. With a heavy weight on his shoulders and a deep breath he turns to the Strategy display before him and prepares to make a speech to all the captains on the mission they are about to begin: Operation Scorched Earth.



"Fellow Admirals, Captains, Pilots... today we find ourselves at the brink of a deep precipice of the like we've never seen before and hopefully never see again. The United Empire has charged us with this crucial task in the hopes of finally stopping the Craver invaders and hold the line against them.



"As you all know the Cravers infest each planet they colonize like a plague, they take everything as a resource to be harvested from infrastructure, to minerals, to income, and even to the populations themselves. As you all know I was decorated with the United Star as a survivor and victor in the Sirius Incursions, what you do not know is that even if we defended this system from these monsters they will still get what they crave out of us. When I was on Sirius II fighting alongside the resistance I saw things I will never be able to get out of my mind. They used entire cities, provinces even as resource camps to subjugate and eventual consume the population. All with half a year they'd already started taking everything. We cannot let this happen at this system, we must stop the enemy advance once and for all, even if we have to sacrifice our own people to do so.



"The Pollux system, of which we are in now, is the Gateway of the Empire. A bottle neck system in which there is only one string highway from here to the seven Core Systems of the Empire. If we can halt the advance of the Cravers in this system, we can stop them from ever threatening our homeworlds. But to do so we must not leave anything in this solar system for the Cravers to use as resources for their war. As of right now we are to burn the planets of this system to ash, leave nothing for the enemy to use against us and use the dead worlds as a beach head against the coming assault. As Rear Admiral of the Defense Fleet I take full responsibility for the failure of this mission, the dead are on my hands, if we do not succeed. Rear Admiral Archer, out."



Turning back to his console Archer finds he can't look at his aid, her family is from Pollux the fifth planet if he remembers the file on her right. For good reason he feels personally responsible for this, though it should be the leaders of the Empire that have to push the buttons themselves and watch their own worlds burn. Giving the signal to arm the Mass Drivers he flicks open the console that will be his right alone, the one red button that will erase this system from the maps of the galaxy.



As he depresses the key and the rumble of missiles firing from their pods fill the ship the Admiral thinks back on the rational of the Empire's monarchy which ordered this mission to be carried out. To them this solar system is merely a dot on a map if many other dots. On their map the Craver Empire spans through hundreds of stars, over the now dead Horatio traitor's empire, and into the Hissho's territory. This one dot, this star system called Pollux is now the only system standing between the Empire and the Cravers so they have elected to erase it from the map and make a stand on the bodies of billions of their own people. All for some dots on the map.

Excellent story, keep it up.

is this the first chapter, if not i would like to start with the first one. could you post the link?

It is just a one off short story right now inspired by the Raze ability that is coming to the game later. I could make more stories based around Rear Admiral Archer, or this iteration of the United Empire later on... but for now it is solo.

Very nice. I'm working on some short stories too, based around the UE Heroes, and then a OC guy of mine.



Keep up the good work, I can't wait to read more.

When the game comes full circle I can't wait for the Fan Fiction and Role Play aspects and potential to take full swing. This game is like a gold mine... for me anyways.

This was an amazing story, very inspiring. Well done! =)

Thanks for the comments and ratings, guys, the next story I'll write is going to feature the Hissho. I'm going to stick with using the same universe for all of them, so maybe in the future come full release I'll have chapters or sections organized if I write enough. Rear Admiral Archer and other original heroes/historical figures will make repeat appearances.

A story about the Hissho would be great, a grandiose tale of conquest and glory! =D

Enjoyed so much reading this. Keep up the good work!