Chapter 5

Three months of preparation have gone by. His required personnel were in their positions. The rescued Tol survivors, as many as would go with him, were in fighters. His fleet now surrounded Earth. Three dreadnoughts, eight royal cruisers, seven battle cruisers, twenty light cruisers, fourteen battle ships, and well over one hundred frigates. It was as much as he could produce from Earth. In front of his fleet though stood the bulk of his navy. The Th'Arirax gladly gave up their life for him now. Two hundred hypes, One hundred thirty three carriers, nine hundred and eighty seven supers, seven hundred and one cleaners, and then three hundred and sixty four nautiluses. A greater navy then he had ever imagined. And he hoped it was enough to combat the Gr'Ivicus. It had been arranged to fight here. With the winner getting the prize planet: Earth. It was ripe for the picking and a perfect breeding ground for the Gr'Ivicus.

The day was coming fast. Two days time, the day after tomorrow, and the opposing fleet would be here. Earth was prepared for the worst. They had rapidly built millions of underground bunkers to house most of its population. They would be in there by tomorrow at the soonest.

Aocles himself was on the bridge of the Arabius. He decided to keep it as his flag ship. Even with bigger and better ships, this was the only one with an AI. Azra'il would keep him posted on battles and statistics. Aocles pondered his power. Over the three months of preparation he had grown exponentially. He could personally crush a half a fleet. Well half of his Earth built fleet. It wasn't much but it would count in the upcoming battle.

Feeling a loss at his side he stretched his mind for his wife. They had finalized it a month ago. They were bonded, married, or however you wish to say it. He couldn't feel her. That was odd. The entire fleet filled the solar system up to Neptune. His sense went out past Pluto. Nowhere was she to be found. No there. Somewhere on Earth, the African continent. She was returning to him. His mother was with her. Ikilla shadowed them, almost waiting for someone to attack them.

Something else pulled at his senses. They were here. Well a scouting party anyway. Thirty freighter size ships. They flew in-system, toward Neptune. With a small flick of his thoughts, Aocles commanded ten cleaners after them. They met at this year's cross in paths of Neptune and Pluto.

Admiral Abigail Ackish followed the mental order. She was overall commander of the first wave. It was her punishment for the accident months earlier. The Elbis sailed ahead of the other nine ships. Her cleaner ship was the best in the fleet. It was also the most advanced. Hence the reason it had an Admiral in command of it. Klaxons started blaring. They cut off at a simple command. Red lights still flashed around the ship though. Her two squadrons of fighters would be prepping for actual flight now.

Ahead of the Elbis sailed thirty nligers. The Gr'Ivicus version of a nautilus. They seemed battered, undermanned, and most importantly in need maintenance repairs. Lasers flashed from the nligers. The fourth cleaner ship blew. Their lasers seemed to be fully powered.

"Cut speed power and reroute it to our shields. Cut gravity back to half power. I want it pushed into our own lasers. And get our fighters out there!" That would let them survive at least five more shots from those lasers. Hopefully. Beneath her feat she could feel the ship slow, another hum faded and she felt lighter.

Laser turrets started pounding away on the nligers. More and more batteries came on line and added to the fire. Out of the thirty nligers, twenty-two survived. They fired their own laser cannons. These were bigger and hurt harder when they hit.

The Elbis rocked beneath her feet. "Forward shields down 50%. Laser turrets 5 through 8 are disabled. Levels 2 through 9 are breached. Command level has added personal shield to its defense." More laser blasts came through. There was something wrong. Twenty-two nligers shouldn't have gotten through. None of them should have. Her ten cleaners weren't going to be able to hold it.

"Communications, send a message to Commander Aocles. Request back up." The ship rocked again. "Damage report!"

"Levels 1 through 29 have breached. Command is only airtight level remaining. All laser batteries are down. All shields are down. Engines have been disabled. Ma'am, we are a sitting duck down here."

"Incoming message from the commander. Message follows: Hold the line or die. If you fail and live your life will be miserable. Do not fail me. End message."

"Send a reply. Tell him our lives our forfeit. We can no longer hold the front line. We will not go without a fight but we are done. May the empire live." In her mind she wasn't thinking of the Tol empire. She wanted the Th'Arirax empire to live.

The bridge was quiet. They knew it was the truth. They knew they were going to die. They just never thought they would die this way. Fighting for a man and empire they didn't belong to.

The nligers continued their fire.