Chapter 1: December 8th, 2349

We return to space once again, the dark void of nothingness. It is cold and massive to all who see it. An ocean of black and white spectacles of light, the word defines itself perfectly for the name. We once looked at Jupiter. The planet is seemingly a distant speck despite how gigantic the planet is in the Sol System. With such a monstrosity, Jupiter should have been a star, but it wasn’t. Instead, it holds its numerous moons in its cold iron grip seemingly for an eternity. It is expected that even if the G-type star expanded to a red giant, Jupiter would remain. One day, the planet would look up to see the sun as it consumes Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Perhaps in its infancy, the Sol system had more planets that revolved around it, but the star is hungry. It keeps expanding as it gets bigger and bigger, but ... only so slowly. Year by year, the star gets larger. Mercury is the first to see it. Billions of years are needed as the sun continues to expand. One by one, the planets will fall, and Jupiter will become the new Mercury of the Sol System.

But ... that isn’t today, and neither will it be tomorrow. Instead, we listen to the sounds of the solar system, the electromagnetic waves, and the charged particles of the planets. They produce various melodies for all to hear if they listen closely. We know the sounds of Jupiter, for we have already heard it. Our attention was focused on this planet for a good reason. It was so large that it dominated the solar system. The moving gas and red spot continue for what seems like an eternity.

That isn’t what our attention is focused on. We are too far away from it now. The sounds grow more and more distant, and eventually, we hear nothing. The planet has shrunk to a tiny speck as we leave the world for good. Jupiter is in good hands. It doesn’t need us, and neither should we worry about him.

Instead, we hear the sounds of something new. We travel further and further out into space, and we hear a calm ambient noise. It almost sounds like blowing wind. We turn our attention to the next greatest spectacle in the solar system. It is the planet that humanity had placed more focus on the outer Sol System once they expanded beyond its dying home. The world comes closer and closer to us. Its illumination is so bright that it reflects almost 50% of the light of the sun that it receives. Occasionally, we get a deep harmonic hum from it. Eventually, the sounds become intense. The electromagnetic particles caused by its shape are deafening and frightening, and all for a good reason.

It is Saturn that we look upon. The second-largest planet in the Sol System. It is beautiful but scary for those that could hear it. It produces the sounds of a screeching demon. The reason is all too apparent because the rings are the cause of it. Saturn is far from the sun that it orbits, measuring over 1.4 billion kilometers away from it. Even with the speed of light, it would take an hour for the light to make it there. Humanity, in its attempt to evacuate its dying world, wouldn’t have much hope of making it here. Conventional drives would take years of travel. Thankfully, humanity would have their past heroes to make the process possible.

Saturn might not have had the glory that Jupiter has, but it makes up in other ways. Seemingly, it was just another gas giant in the galaxy. It was not a beautiful planet at all, but it had one thing that captured the hearts and minds of the former people of Earth ... the rings. It was the rings that made the planet what it was. It measures over 100,000 kilometers long from the equator of the planet. It is surprisingly thin and less than 20 meters long, yet it captures our vision from vast distances. This ring of ice particles is remarkably tiny. You could go through it and feel almost nothing. Yet Saturn is hungry. Possibly made by a destroyed moon that fragmented into dust particles, the planet is consuming it. It is expected that within over 100 million years, the rings will be no more. The beautiful world will just be an ordinary gas giant planet in the solar system.

Yet Saturn still holds gifts for humankind. The planet screeches, roars, and screams at us. Over eighty moons circle around the ringed planet. We zoom by Enceladus, the icy moon of Saturn. Its sound is odd. It produces a reverberating echo of an electronic wind that blows going up and down. It is this moon where a research ship used to orbit. The reasons were evident at first. It was covered in frozen freshwater, producing a pearly white and blue color. Where there is water, there is most likely life. Geysers erupt from it, expelling ice into the air as Saturn flexes it. There are signs that deep inside it, that life can exist. Sadly, that is not where we are supposed to go. Humanity is at war. The ship that studied it is gone. The Sol System is in danger of an invasion. The research will have to wait...

We hear a new sound, and it draws us closer. It is a drum-like sound. The electromagnetic particles radiated from it are steady. We travel to this fantastic rhythm. The screams of Saturn and the dull voice of Enceladus are instead drowned out by the amazing cheer of another moon. The drum continues to a steady beat. Another harmonic tune kicks in. It is as if the place that calls to us wants us to be there. The sound is beautiful. It is almost music that we can’t ignore. We start hearing another series of thumps from the moon that wander into our view.

We now see the cause of this fantastic rhythm. The moon that comes closer is the one that takes the stage and for the most significant reason of all. The drums sound like a beating heart. It is here that the amazing moon known as Titan comes into view. What is considered the second-largest moon in the Sol System, humanity has come to respect this satellite that orbits Saturn. The name is fitting. Named from Greek mythology, the Titans were the gods before the Olympians. The Titan moon is more massive than Mercury and should perhaps be considered a planet. The deep orange, blue, and yellow hue is an actual atmosphere.

We go to this moon for a good reason. The humans were smart to choose this world for a colony. We fly through the thick Nitrogen atmosphere as the music continues. The atmosphere is so thick that it is producing a greenhouse effect. Much of the harmful radiation from the sun is taken out before it touches the surface. Ships are even instructed to travel slowly when venturing down the atmosphere. It is hoped that the thick atmosphere will provide some cover for the military base that exists there.

The thick nitrogen that permeates the air is met with the relatively smooth surface of the moon. The gravity is seemingly weak, being less than Luna. It is so light that the nitrogen just hovers over the vast distance ranges. We then fly over lakes. Surprisingly, the yellow and orange landscape is beautiful. The moon is so cold, with temperatures that radiate minus 180 degrees Celsius, that methane turns into a liquid. There is a climate on Titan, and actual rainstorms of liquid methane occur. The pressure is adequate for human life, where only temperature and oxygen suits are needed to walk around the surface. Natural gas is everywhere. It is even possible that life can exist on Titan. When the star begins to turn into a red giant, this great moon can bear life as it grows hotter.

The music radiates through this beating landscape. The building blocks are present, and it was here that the United Human Navy would choose this moon as a base. After the famed Gabatrix Experiment of 2259, the growing Martian fleet needed to ensure that they had an emergency base of operations. What became known as the “Ring of Hope Program” would ultimately create the colony on Titan. It would serve as an emergency military base in case Mars is compromised, a reserve base for the fleet, and help hold a small colony of people. Established in 2290, the military base of Titan would be expanded in years to come.

We fly through the area easily over the small jutting hills and mountains to find this base under the thick atmosphere. The music starts to come to a close as we view the base as a whole. It is moderate in size. It is partially on the surface and partly underground, and there is a large docking facility for the spaceships. The gravity is so light that it is perfect for the Martian warships to come and land. Since the air itself has so little oxygen, there is no fear of combustion. While spaceships can come and go, there is no gate array in orbit. Ships must open their own wormholes to leave the area to help keep it more isolated. The goal of the base is secrecy. Instead, one must fly in to see the spinning, rotating centripetal habitat that supports the seven thousand people that live on the moon. With gravity so light, people must try to keep their bodies healthy. Even with the promises that Titan offers, there are still issues with it. Gravity is weak, and deteriorating health effects are an issue. Thankfully, medical advances are there to help the population, and the station is designed to be self-sustaining even with its own hydroponics bays.

The outside of the spinning ring is a series of weapons arrays. Railguns, missile launchers, laser turrets, and flak turrets all dot the surrounding area, ready to repel a small fleet of alien warships. The base would remain active through the whole mess that lies elsewhere.

It is here that we zoom into the vast hangar facility. We penetrate through the thick alloy of the hull to peer inside of it. When we look, we see at least ten giant docking housing pylons for the UHN Warships to rest comfortably. At least six of the docking pylons hold a UHN ship. The docking area is fitted perfectly for each vessel. Whereupon the vessels have a similar appearance to one another. They are typically cylindrical-looking and have a centripetal ring near the stern. They connect to the Super Direct Fusion Drive and aft engine modules. The ring, which carries most of the crew during their off-hours, is designed to generate gravity for the ship by centripetal force. With the gravity tugging down on the vessels, the rings were offline. Instead, the alcoves are dug in to allow the ships to rest their ventral side firmly on the pylons.

We zoom closer to one of these six ships. Two of the vessels look the same, having two centripetal rings, a stubbier nose, and a bow-mounted dorsal hangar bay. The names UHN Michio Kaku and UHN Tyson were written on their hulls in both English and Chinese. On the other four pylons was that of UHN battleships. Three of them looked the same, carrying a single centripetal ring. They have a rail gun turret mounted on the dorsal and ventral side of the central portion of the warship. They also held a ring arrangement near the front bow consisting of several small turrets resembling anti-missile weaponry. The central section had an internal hangar bay on the port and starboard, and not far from it was a docking hatch that led into the building structure itself. As we get close enough to the ship, we see the name “UHN Gabatrix,” written in both English and Chinese, not far from the docking hatch. The pennant number MBB-53, possibly referring to the UHN acronym “Guided Missile Battleship,” was etched into the hull.

We now head in through the docking hatch. There is an assembly of crew members coming and going. Families are giving hugs and kisses to the enlisted sailors who will depart on the old warship. Their red and blue jumpsuit uniforms indicate their position and rank compared to the officers of the Gabatrix. We glide through the long internal passageway of the spaceship. The 280-meter-long ship seems enormous by comparison to older steam-powered warships of Earth’s past, but most of it is automated. Despite the internal layout of the battleship, it appears to be in moderate condition. Perhaps it has seen better days or serves as a sign of its age compared to the newer warships of the UHN. Then again, why is their crew getting on board this ship? Why are they saying their goodbyes to their families?

Perhaps the only way to answer that question is by one man. We travel down the passageway until we come to a stop. Near the center portion of the ship, we turn to the right to look at a sealed door. We go into it to find a meeting taking place.

There were at least ten officers inside the Gabatrix’s conference room. The place consisted of a mounted frame table and a series of chairs. Even in the 24th century, the room was seemingly stale. The chairs had straps to ensure that the crew wouldn’t float away if they tried to sit down. Being in Titan, this was no issue, but the Gabatrix, much like the other UHN ships, had no means to generate gravity. The only exception, of course, was the rotating ring once it was functional. Thankfully, Titan at least had some sort of gravity pulling the crew down where it didn’t matter anyway. For now, the room had the officers of the Gabatrix sitting in these metal-mounted cushioned chairs. The walls had installed picture frames depicting the UHN Gabatrix’s glory shots in space taken by other spaceships and warships. There were mounted overhead displays and a center table holographic imager projector on the conference table itself.

The officers seemed bored. The captain wasn’t present yet. It was the motto of the UHN to “Get your ass to the location immediately and wait for an hour.” The sailors of the military were used to this. The officers’ uniforms were seemingly similar to the enlisted. They wore red and blue jumpsuits but carried different rank insignias. It was evident, of course, that this was a prepared launch. Crews were getting ready to depart and had switched over to their standard uniforms. The time of dressing in fancy suits was over. The Itreans were getting closer. UHN fleets were in higher alert status, and an alien fleet could come any month, any day, or any hour. Death was at their doorstep. Perhaps that was why the crew was saying goodbye to their loved ones.

But our attention is not directed towards the officers of the Gabatrix. It is instead directed towards the adjacent room. Next to the conference room was a smaller room. It was preparation rooms of some sort, most likely the CO’s own office. It was not large, and the captain was not present. It consisted of a single wood-furnished desk and two mounted wood cushioned chairs. It also had one digital display on the sidewall and an entrance that led to the main conference room and central outside passageway.

A man by the name of Jonah Kane stood looking at a projected image from his hand. He seemed to be in his thirties and had short brown hair. The man was clean-shaven, had a pale complexion, and blue eyes. He was well dressed, but he did not wear the UHN uniform. Instead, he appeared to be a civilian of some sort. His white and black, almost skin-tight suit indicated some importance and influence.

Yet he was anxious. Kane took a deep breath. He knew what needed to be presented to the officers next door. He still couldn’t believe he volunteered for this mission. It would either be his moment of glory or his grave.

He took a deep breath. “Calm yourself, Kane,” he said to himself. His voice was composed, but he could tell what was going to happen soon. The captain was going to arrive in this room, and then he would have to do the next best thing.

Kane continued to look at the projected image from his hand. He would use the other hand to alter different projected pictures and descriptions, ensuring he knew everything that needed to be said. His eyes told him everything, and the images seemed promising. His knowledge was excellent, but the future was uncertain.

“Just remind yourself that they are just sailors,” Kane told himself again. “They won’t eat you alive out there. We all know what needs to be done. I know what needs to be done.”

The images showed the picture of the Gabatrix. He knew very little of the military or the inside of how they function, but he could imagine the bureaucracy was pretty much the same. The schematic of the Gabatrix at least gave him a little bit of information.

“Gabatrix ... Helix Class Battleship,” he said once again, reading the information on the projection. “Commissioned in 2301, the UHN Gabatrix is the second ship built from the Helix Class Battleships. It is the first ship named after Ciro Gabatrix, the famous pioneer who would push humankind to new solar systems. The warship has explored nine solar systems, helped enforce the Paloran system against the Nova Hamidou Pirates that raided mining ships in 2336, and helped save the freighter Valiant Heart from a mechanical breakdown in 2339. The Gabatrix has been retired from active service in 2344 and is currently stored at the Titan UHN Starship Colony Base Hyugen. It has not been stricken from service at this time. It carries a crew complement of 100 but can carry about 500 troops for emergency operations. The Magellan and Nelson Class Battleships have long replaced the UHN Gabatrix and her surviving sister ships.”

He only knew so much about the other warships. Again, he was not a military staff or personnel. Even with the political changes that were all over the place the last month, he knew this was where he could serve best.

Finally, after what seemed like ten minutes to him, the door from the passageway had opened up. Kane saw the man that came in. He closed his hand as the projection faded into nothingness and looked at the other who stepped inside. Kane already knew who he was and had already spoken to him before.

It was the captain. He was slightly taller than Kane, standing a couple of inches taller than Kane’s 6-foot frame. His uniform was very much like the officers, but he had a three silver bar rank insignia on his collar device. He looked to be a man in his forties with short black hair, black beard, and a pale complexion as well. He seemed calm but partially grizzled, yet he was more composed than Kane was the moment he walked inside the room. The door closed as Kane greeted him.

“Captain William,” Kane addressed him. “How are you?”

William seemed to give him a hardened look. “Better than you do, Ambassador,” he said with a deep and raspy voice. “Perhaps I truly do have the easier job than you will ever have.”

Kane nodded. “Yes ... yeah...,” he sighed. “It’s funny that I volunteered for this mission, yet I’m anxious as hell.”

“Well, that is understandable,” William said. “You have the most important job that mankind will ever face. It is obvious why you were the one that chose to do this.”

“Like what?”

“The same job I choose. I might end up being the most important captain ever to do a mission like this. Most likely, we will die in the process, but it is better than doing nothing at all.”

“Yeah...” Kane said. “I guess I will send my prayers then.”

“Praying won’t be necessary. We have the greatest ship in the fleet.”

“A rust bucket on a nitrogen methane moon?”

The captain lifted his eyebrow at him. “We have the Gabatrix. It is the ship named after pioneer Gabatrix under my command. Nothing more needs to be said...”

Kane thought about his words. He seemed to agree. “I guess if we have the best shot out there, then it had to be this ship then.”

“It is obvious this ship has seen better days, but I agree with the UHN philosophy. If we fail, it’s no real loss. You are prepared for death, and I’ve made my peace.”

Kane’s thoughts went back to the planet of his birth. He knew the captain enough to see that he was born on Mars. Kane was privileged not to be born there, but it was the more hardened of people who came from the rustic red world. If you had Martians behind you, then victory was assured.

“Well then...” Captain William grabbed his attention. “Ready to brief my officers?”

Kane shrugged. “Better now than later.”

“Have no fret, Kane. As a captain, it’s harder for me to admit that I am afraid of my crew. It will make me seem afraid and destroy the confidence of the crew. Since you are a civilian, it is safer for me to admit that I am afraid as well. I expect us to be dead by tomorrow, but again ... it will be worth it. If you are nervous, it is a strength. You are doing more now than ever before. Most of us humans would sooner run under a bed than volunteer for this assignment.”

Kane agreed. A simple pep talk from this captain was all he needed. While he spoke to him before, he would have to get a chance to really sit down and talk with him. For now, he would have to wait.

“Alright, captain, let’s do this then,” Kane said confidently.

William stepped up to the sealed door that led into the conference room. Kane decided to follow behind him. He knew what the sailors were going to say next.

“Attention on deck!” Yelled one of the officers as Captain William stepped inside the conference room.

All the officers in the room stood up and were at attention. Their gaze was focused straight ahead of them. Their goal was to offer the utmost respect to the person who was in charge then and there. Their ferocity was stiff and direct.

Because of this, Kane made sure that he let the captain walk in first. As a civilian, he had no control over these people, but they would listen to the orders given to them by their captain and the laws of the United World’s Alliance.

“At ease...” The captain directed the officers. All of them listened and had a seat. They relaxed only a little bit as they knew that things were only going to get more serious from this point on. William walked into the room as Kane was close behind him. Of course, the officers focused on the captain, but a couple of them briefly looked at Kane.

The man looked at the various officers. He immediately recognized one of the officers was that of Commander Ramírez. This officer was most likely descended from Mexico in Earth’s past. He was bald and had a small black mustache. Kane had already met him earlier when he arrived on the ship, and he knew that he was the ship’s assigned XO. He seemed aggressive but composed enough to do his job. Kane did notice that he had three bars on his uniform, just like Captain William had. He would have to ask about this later on.

“Welcome all of you to the UHN Gabatrix,” Captain William said, walking to the edge of the table. He looked at all of his officers. “As many of you know, our time of launch will be in a couple more hours. I want to thank all of you for volunteering for this mission. None of you are forced to serve this dangerous mission. I will brief some of this, and then I will let Ambassador Kane fill in the rest on what is happening. From there, you will pass along this information to your divisions, which will be passed along to the rest of the crew. After the mission briefing, you will once again be given the opportunity to refuse to partake in this. I promise you, though, that this mission is critical. It could very well turn the tide of the war in our favor or at least give humanity a fighting chance against the Itreans.”

The captain saw a panel in the center. He pressed his left hand to it, and a series of lights began to glow from his palm. It activated the center 3d hologram imager and enabled the other wall displays. The image started to depict a rough picture of Mars. The small red and orange planet was highlighted where it floated and spun in the air as the officers observed the image.

“I want to make sure I remind everyone that what we are doing is considered Top Secret until UHN and UWA consider this safe to inform the public. You are not to discuss this information with the outside public until the success of this mission is made. Is that clear?”

“Aye!” all the officers responded.

“As many of you know,” Captain William explained. “The UHN has placed our fleets in Alert Status 2. Most of our fleets are focused primarily on the planet Mars and Cebravis. Planet Batrice assures us that their Starfortress Batrice is fully operational. They have encouraged most of the defending fleet over their space to join up with the defense fleets over the other UWA colonies.”

The imager changed. It showed the planet Mars, and then two celestial objects appeared in orbit around Mars. The two small moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, were depicted. They were in their orbit, highlighted in yellow, as it then showed a series of smaller yellow dots that were hovering in orbit.

“As we stand right now,” the captain continued to explain. “We have about forty operational battleships and cruisers protecting our capital. Cebravis currently has fifty-two warships in their orbit to help strengthen their defenses.”

“Only fifty-two?” one of the officers asked the captain.

“Yes. After the loss of Cipra over a month ago, we have lost a sizeable percentage of the fleet. Many of the surviving warships are currently getting repaired or forgoing repairs to allow new ships to continue their construction. As you are all aware, Deimos has never been a large moon, and their shipyard facilities are taxed beyond the limit. Batrice and Gillan are promising their most powerful battleships will be fully operational in another year.”

“Of course, Cebravis has little to defend itself compared to Mars,” one of the other officers said. “Everyone decides to move there but do little to strengthen their defenses.”

Kane felt like he had taken some insult in that. He was sure that the officer was most likely a fellow Martian himself. He had already heard all the arguments about Cebravis and was sick from it.

“That’s enough,” the captain said. “We needed a new home, and Cebravis was it. If over four billion live there, then it is the most important home to protect. The Chairwoman herself has told us before that it isn’t our goal to leave. We will not flee as we did at Cipra. If Mars and Cebravis are attacked, we stay until we die. Every last bullet, every last missile, every last bomb ... we will never retreat again. If the Itreans assault our worlds, then we lose billions. I don’t know about you ... but I don’t feel like sitting here and waiting for the Itreans to come and kick our asses.”

“Neither do we, sir!” another officer said.

“This is where our mission comes into play and why you guys volunteered for a suicide mission,” William explained.

His hand was still pressed to the control panel. The image of Mars, the protecting fleet, and the moons were gone. Instead, it replaced the image of a small red dwarf star. The small star showed the flares that went into space as if the projection was natural. Kane could feel himself get a little bit anxious. He knew it was his time to give his own briefing to the crew soon.

“Approximately three weeks ago, the UHN Zheng He, while patrolling the first planet near Batrice, would encounter ‘this.’”

The image changed as it depicted a small spaceship. While Kane already knew this particular ship, his military knowledge was lacking. It appeared to look different than most UHN ships that he at least had seen so far. The vessel was green-colored and had a forward, almost cylindrical shape. The spaceship had an almost boxy forward section to it. A shuttle was docked underneath the ventral side of it. It had a pair of forward-mounted thrusters on the sides, and the ship was armed with one dual cannon of some sort on the dorsal bow. There were a series of antenna arrays on the dorsal and bow sections of the ship. The ship was connected to a rotating centripetal ring that consisted of four rectangular boxes. The stern of the vessel consisted of an engine and power module almost connected together. The engine had two small turreted mounted guns on the dorsal and ventral sides.

“This was an Itrean scout ship or research ship that was hovering near the star of Trappist. Batrice forces responded quickly. The UHN Indonesia managed to sneak up on the ship and unleash a salvo onto the alien ship.”

The image showed a 3D model of the scout ship near the star, trying to break away. It was done in quick time as it began to leave the star. Suddenly, Kane could see its guns open fire. The turrets were trying to shoot down the incoming missiles. Three of the warheads were shot down before the last one struck the forward bow. The Itrean ship was small. Its armor was very light as Indonesia’s missile blew one section of the forward bow and out the other side. The breach was massive. It was like smashing the head of an animal with a hammer. The missile was brutal but effective. There was a series of smaller fires and explosions on the section as the ship’s power began to go in and out. Finally, the vessel was adrift, floating away slowly from the star in the quick time-lapse.

“Nice...” said one of the officers. Kane remained quiet, and the captain was ignoring his officer’s comments.

“It would take about a day before the broken-up ship managed to get safely away from the star,” the captain continued to explain. “We immediately tried to go and salvage it. The fact was ... we scored big time from this attack. The ship was mostly intact enough that we were able to capture the wreckage and begin analyzing it. We ended up getting lucky when we salvaged one of the data chips from the Itrean ship.”

“So you are telling me that a scout ship was hiding in the Batrice system?” a random officer asked.

“Yes. It looks like the Itreans were hoping to use the red dwarf to hide their ship. The Zheng He happened to be close enough to pick it up. How long it was there is a mystery to us. The ship happened to carry with it a storage computer that we have taken into custody. It is currently providing us valuable data on our mystery aliens.”