Chapter 54

“Do we know who dared to probe Ganvil?” the Hegemon asked in freezing tones of his Security Command group.

“No, Most Radiant of the Heavens. Though we suspect the Republic of Zelnot as they are closest to the Ganvil system,” Senior Commander Hirk of the Lightning Blue Depths replied for the group.

“That that group of five worlds would dare spy upon the Supreme Power in the Galaxy?” Senior Controller Kli of the Jade Green Path sneered. “Do not be preposterous!”

“They are apparently under the protection of that upstart mongrel Empire. They may feel they can be so bold as to test our patience and that of the Autocrat of All under the Firmament of the Stars,” Senior Advisor Menl of the Soothing Rainbow Nebulae countered.

“That Empire is as nothing to the might of the Starlit Hegemony,” the Hegemon sneered.

“Do they know that?” Voice of Truth Nild asked. As he was the Hegemon’s brother and through his title he was expected to speak truth to the Power.

“They surely must?” Hirk replied, though not in confident tones.

“All know of the supreme might of the Starlit Hegemony!” the Hegemon replied in angry tones.

“This Empire, have they ever approached our borders and been rebuffed?” Nild asked, silencing his brother.

“No, they have not,” Menl replied into the silence.

“It may be, then, that this Empire is under the misapprehension that they are somehow equal to the Starlit Hegemony.”

“Impossible!” Kli exploded.

“Is it?”

“The Voice of Truth is correct in this,” High View Yit of the Way of Yellow Sunlight stated. “Assuming others see us as we see ourselves would be hubris on our part.”

“Indeed so,” Nild replied, agreeing with the Senior Administrator of the Hegemony.

“We are supreme!” the Hegemon stated in fury.

“Indeed, we may be,” Nild replied. “However, believing others may think so is extreme hubris on your part, O Ruler of the Starlit Hegemony.”

“Leave now! Your very presence offends me,” the Hegemon snarled.

Nild simply stood and walked out, not even bothering to give a formal ‘kowtow’ before leaving the room.

“Autocrat of All under the Firmament of the Stars, what are your commands?” Kli asked.

“Destroy the worlds of the Republic for their temerity.”

“And if they were not to blame?”

“It will serve as a lesson to those who did.”

“By your words shall the Galaxy be shaken to its core,” the group intoned as they all got to their knees and pressed their foreheads to the ground in obeisance to the Hegemon.

Comm Officer Grinna of the Imperial scout vessel The Hole in Space was going through the raw data the vessel was collecting on the various military style constructs surrounding the Ganvil system when alarms started going off all over her board.

“Massive inbound transition, multi-fleet sized at least in towards the Fleet Base,” she informed Passavo, her lover and the pilot of the vessel.

“Numbers?” he asked, suddenly becoming alert.

“Huge, almost ten thousand vessels detected so far, sixty percent of them capital sized.”

“Oh, this cannot be good.”

“Deploying array, informing FleetInt.”

“Hope this is just an exercise as these numbers would cause mayhem if it’s an invasion fleet.”

“It would, detecting more inbound too,” Grinna replied.

“FleetInt wants to know time and direction if they transit to XD space. We are to follow and observe,” Passavo informed her as he read an inbound communication.

“Don’t blame them. If they’re heading for the Empire, I’d want to know as well.”

Supreme Oramiral Hassatt of the Starlit Hegemony sat in passive serenity as the five fleets of the Orichalcum Principate assembled above the Fleet Base of Ganvil to have their stores replenished from the goods held in storage there for the event of an invasion by a foreign Realm.

“All is ready, your supremacy,” his senior Laksamana, Colovi, informed him.

“Very well, let us begin the process of punishing those who have disturbed the Starlit Hegemony’s tranquillity.”

“At once, your supremacy,” came the reply. “Set course for the barbarian world of Vircon!”

“It’s Vircon ... or at least that direction,” Grinna announced.

“Beginning transition to XD space, continuing to update FleetInt via the Array,” Passavo replied.

“You don’t suppose this is all because the Misty Cloud actively probed them?” Grinna asked.

“If it is, it’s a massive over-reaction,” Passavo replied after a moment’s reflection.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” she muttered as she constantly monitored the Hegemon fleet and did updates on numbers and performance.

Admiral Limun was a busy man as the Imperial 11^th and 13^th Fleets made what constituted a mad dash towards the system of Vircon to join the 25^th and Home Fleets.

“A pity we don’t have a defence grid in place there,” he commented to Captain Dinott as the information flowed in from the scout monitoring the Hegemony fleet.

“It’s in transit, but can’t be deployed as yet,” Dinott replied.

“Let’s hope there’s a planet left for it to deploy to.”

“ETA remains the same. The Hegemony fleet is slower than Imperial norm and a lot slower than the 25^th‘s Zelnot component.”

“Cutting it close, but it looks like we’ll arrive just after they emerge,” Admiral Awach added over the tri-dee link from her flagship in the 13^th Fleet.

“Yes, I suggest we emerge behind them and prevent a retreat whilst the Home and 25^th Fleets fight them off initially,” Limun replied.

“Good idea, they’ll still outnumber us, but our beam range is longer.”

“Our smaller vessels will have to watch out for their ‘disruptor’ beams. They look quite deadly if they are allowed to close,” Dinott commented.

“Yes, though I suspect we’ll still give as good as we get,” Awach replied. “I also suspect the heavy fighter components we’re sending in advance to join Home Fleet will cause some issues.”

“Assuming they don’t have a few surprises of their own,” Limun nodded.

“Ready to emerge, your supremacy,” Colovi informed Hassatt.

“Let us begin the lesson,” Hassatt replied as the five fleets assigned to the chastising of the Zelnots emerged from XD space.

“Detecting two fleets between us and the planet ... detecting another two fleets emerging behind us,” Colovi warned, turning pale as the odds of a successful mission dropped.

“So, they are not surprised,” Hassatt stated calmly.

“No, your supremacy, they are not,” Colovi swallowed. “Receiving a transmission from the fleet ahead of us. They demand we turn about and leave as we are not welcome in Imperial space.”

“Imperial space?”

“Apparently our intel is not as up to date as we may have been led to believe and the Republic of Zelnot is no more.”

“Unfortunately our orders are clear, unless you wish your immediate family to be wiped out totally upon our ignominious return,” Hassatt grimaced.

“No, your supremacy, I do not.”

“Launch fighters and bombers; concentrate on the fleets in front of us; attack plan will be Flying Dragon. Let us at least see if we can damage the planet. Order a frigate to try and evade contact and transmit a message of our findings back to the Starlit Hegemony.”

“By your command, your supremacy!” Colovi responded with a smart salute.

“Damned fools look like they are going to attack anyway,” Dinott observed.

“Yes,” Limun sighed. “Bring us in. All ships to keep their distance and engage at extreme range. Launch fighters, targets are the enemy bombers.”

“Admiral Covett from Home Fleet is messaging.”

“Put him through.”

“A pleasure to see you, Limun,” Covett greeted him.

“I’m glad the party didn’t start without us,” Limun chuckled.

“As am I, though we’re going to get a mauling either way, as we can’t retreat any too far. I’m going to use the heavy fighters against anything that breaks through towards the planet.”

“Sound plan. What of the 25^th‘s weapon range?”

“Still slightly better than that disruptor range that was observed. Either way, they’re defending their home soil, so I expect them to put up a stiff resistance,” Covett explained.

“We’ll ensure the Hegemony pay the price for their arrogance.”

“As will we. The Empress commands!”

“And we obey!”

The Hegemony fleet bored in on the Home and 25^th Fleets and immediately came under sustained and destructive long range fire from the Home Fleet, which included two Super-Dreadnaughts whose main weapon was capable of vaporising in short order the ablative armour on a normal Dreadnaught. The 25^th took a slightly different tack and fanned out to either side of the Home Fleet and started to pick off any of the lighter vessels, drawing them to the sides of the conflict and away from the capital ships at the core. It was soon clear the Hegemony was not prepared for the tactics the Imperial Fleets used. They attempted to draw closer, yet saw their capital ships torn apart by the precise and powerful beams of the Imperial capital ships, who were also manoeuvring as they did against the Raffagee battlespheres and not slugging it out with the Hegemony as older tactics had once dictated.

“Your supremacy, we may have a problem in that the Imperial beam weaponry is by far superior to our own and of a much longer range,” a now worried Colovi informed Hassatt.

“Noted. Use evasive manoeuvres and try to get us in closer,” a slightly sweating Hassatt ordered.