“ Spacecom defense fleet, this is your C-in-C Captain Alexander Malarek. Once you have all established your designated
positions as stated by Spacecom fleet orders, I ask that you all maintain them to the best of your ability. As I’m sure you’re
all well aware of, your shields will be useless against the Tars, so I suggest strongly that you refrain from allotting any
energy resources to your Main Deflector Arrays or Shield Integrity Layering fields. The Manojarrans are no longer working
with the Tars, and so we have a rather substantial force coming to back us up. Some thirty-seven warships from our Allies
have followed the Lodestar into this sector, and will assist. They too will be unprotected by shielding, as their former
fighting associates now know of their technology and will undoubtedly adjust themselves to compensate for this factor. In
short, all you’ve got are your weapons, which means it is imperative that we all take a very offensive stand against the
Tars invasionary force. This is a direct change of procedure for most of you I’m sure, but get used to it. As for the Tars
force itself, they will number an estimated seventy-five or so vessels. Not all of them will be heavy battle-cruisers, in
fact a great many are anticipated as being of sector class equivalence or less. After the incident with the now infamous New
Defender, their first attack fleet was reduced significantly, as was much of the Manojarran fleet. What is here today for our
assistance is the remaining bulk of the Manojarran Imperial fleet. If you are at all uncertain of what your goals are today,
I will try and make them more clear for those who may be so deprived. This mission is based on the overall defense of the
Unified Confederacy, our government and the peace and order of our homelands. If this war is to come to an end, it will have
to be ended here, in this sector, and you my fellow officers will be the ones responsible for that duty, and perhaps honour as
many will see it. I’m afraid I’ve never seen war as an honourable act, but I will not take away the pride and glory of
those who see it as such. Now it is time for the light to fall on us and to guide us safely into the future. Best of luck
to all of you, and I wish you and your crews Godspeed.”
The transmission ended and Malarek soon began to realize the full meaning of the mission himself, even after lecturing
everyone else on it. It had only begun to sink in for him. Not that he had any doubts about protecting the Confederacy, not
at all. But what bothered him was the significance of this battle.
This was the very first battle, afterall, that was to involve more than one or two ships from the Confederacy. It was
the first to join and combine the collective forces of the Confederacy, in a moment of true unity as thousands of fellow
member planets of the U.C.I.A. began forwarding all they could muster to the military head of operations, Spacecom. Funds,
materials, personnel and whatever else could be gathered for wartime flooded into the Headquarters of Spacecom in Earth orbit.
Traders and merchant Captain’s offered their services to the fleet in defense of the Confederacy, institutions and
corporations made gargantuan contributions to the war effort that only now was beginning to kick in and take on its full
swing. Private agencies, local enterprises, individuals all did their part. Not as was necessarily expected of them, but as
they saw necessary. Independent organizations, interstellar crown corporations, private and public star fleets - even the
Trader’s Union - all pitched in and offered their very best to their very own Unified Confederacy. The one interstellar
government that was now united in its struggles for peace, and not in warring or treacherous activity the others seemed so
preoccupied with. No, this was not a time for indecisiveness, cowardice, fear, descension, unrest or uncertainty. It was a time
for unity. And those who led the defensive forces of the Confederacy government had nothing more to fear than the enemy
himself for the unity was there, the unity that made the Unified Confederacy of Interstellar Authority a proud and
honourable name.
“ Signal the Manojarrans to take up positions alongside the Spacecom fleet at their convenience. Suggest to them on top
of that that the Tars fleet is expected to arrive within the next half hour and that it’d be best if they were prepared for
their arrival.”
“ Aye, sir. Transmitting now.” replied Brius.
“ Sir, the sensors are detecting an enormous energy surge developing in the next sector.” notified Hassick.
“ The Tars fleet, undoubtedly.” remarked MacKenzie. “ Coming out of cloak or out of Hyperspace.”
“ Likely.” returned Malarek. “ Got to Red Alert. All engines at station-keeping.”
“ Aye, sir.” said Hassick. “ Weapons systems now on-line. Forward, port and starboard laser cannons and torpedo launchers
armed and ready to fire at your command. Aft launchers now loading. Upper and lower hull integrity set at maximum.
Hyperspace field coil strength is stable and Main Power supply is on full-recharge.”
“ Very well, helm. Lt. Nora, lay in a course to intercept lead Tars vessel. Remove positioning thrusters and engage at full
Impulse.” he commanded, taking full control of the situation and leading the flagship into battle as it was intended to be.
Beyond the confines of the starship awaited an armada of evil, which in its first steps towards invasion, made the
initiating action of provocation. Head to head by no more than ten kilometers, the U.S.S. Lodestar-Crusader and the newly
launched Akotarsan Imperial flagship Kuur’ta, the Tars word for conquest, glared down the throat of the other in what seemed
like a deadlock. A deadlock before the battle had even began, an unwarranted stalemate that was ended by none other than the
Kuur’ta. One lone torpedo blasted from her forward hull and cruised forth in a perfect line towards the face of the bow of
the Lodestar where her markings boldly proclaimed the vessel’s identification. The torpedo crashed into the Lodestar’s
hull and took with it two words that for years declared the underlying theme and motto of the flagship and that set her aside
from all other ships. The Lodestar - the guiding light for the fleet, the leader, the torch bearer. The Crusader - the one
to fight for what it stood for, that made sure the torch never flickered, the one to distinguish itself from all others as
not a starship to be fooled with.
In adequate retaliation, the Lodestar unleashed an enormous barrage of torpedoes that individually went rocketing
towards the Tars fleet, and not the Kuur’ta alone, jolting the enemy from his firm footing. For seven small ships that
footing let go and they began a spiraling away from the battlefront, giving way for the stronger vessels to assume the
positions at the head of the assault fleet. And although the strike from the Lodestar was powerful for one single vessel, it
was dwarfed by the colossal rebuttal from the rest of the Spacecom and Manojarran fleet. Literally thousands of torpedoes
launched forth into the blackness of space, bright fireballs of penned-up destructive energy that without waver met their
designated targets. And immediately fifteen more Tars ships swerved and veered off into the distance, away from the fray of
the heated combat.
“ Order the fleet to release the supplemental starfighter divisions.” advised Malarek to Brius, and soon she had the
message off and the desired effect was soon in progress.
Dozens of huge cargo bay doors on the side hulls of the Spacecom vessels opened in unison, revealing the enemy despised
Spacecom standard supplemental fleet. The gates glided to the sides and allowed for the launching of thousands of available
small attack craft that soon saturated the war-zone. The Lodestar was equipped heavily with eight-hundred of her own,
along with the five-hundred from the Confederacy and Varastobil and Intrepid. The Nebula class starships and the
smaller Quad vessels emitted a vast array of agile and effective fighting forces, sending out a combined five thousand
starfighters.
Such a numerous fighting force overwhelmed the Tars battle-cruisers to a degree they surely had not anticipated. The
smaller attack units swarmed about the massive starships firing hundreds of thousands of light laser strikes, weak on
their own but collectively overpowering.
But the Tars fleet was not prepared to be defeated by a horde of wasps, and so pushed forward even closer into the
Spacecom wall of defense, a wall connected and joined by its central hinge - the Lodestar. The Tars were more than ready to
take advantage once again of their priceless shield penetration, and rapidly took up positions virtually along side
the Spacecom ships, broadening the target base and shortening the firing range. In doing so they knowingly increased their
weapon effectiveness two-fold, being so near to their target, but it worked both ways.
“ Captain, the Kuur’ta has pulled up alongside the Lodestar. She is firing at point-blank range! The hull will never
withstand that!” exclaimed Hassick.
“ Do we pull back, sir?” questioned Nora.
“ Absolutely not, Lieutenant! Maintain our position. If our wall of defense is moved back, it becomes meaningless. We
must stand our ground!” Malarek fired back, thoroughly taken in by the war that was being waged before his eyes.
“ Hull integrity down fifty-percent, sir.” noted Hassick. “ Port side is weakening rapidly. Attempts at compensating
through lateral field intensifiers has failed!”
“ Acknowledged, helm. Maintain position nonetheless.”
The Lodestar was rocked constantly by the onslaught of numerous consecutive hits that tore through the hull and reduced
the hull integrity to nil. The port side that faced the fiercest foe of all, the Kuur’ta, strained and faltered, snapped
and collapsed.
“ Port side cargo bay has been gutted, sir! Navigational control and the stabilizers are both off-line. Another powerful
hit and we may lose our positioning systems and begin to spiral!” reported Hassick above the chaos of the crew, under an
attack that had gone beyond the limits of trained warfare conventions, and above the screeching and moaning stresses of the
metals and alloys of the bear, unshielded hull.
And to the sides of the Lodestar carried on other battles between the Tars and the Confederacy, and the Tars and the
Manojarrans. Starships, warships and starfighters fell and dwindled away while others climbed high and conquered against
their respective enemy.
The U.S.S. Confederacy, one of the first Galaxy class starships ever built by the Spacecom shipyards, waged war much
the same way the Lodestar did. And due to their inherent disadvantage against the Tars, the Spacecom and Manojarran ships
all bore the battle and its results the way the Lodestar did. One crushing blow after the other.
And the battle became a blur of chaos. Fire weapons! Re-load. Fire weapons! Re-load. Brace for impact! Damage report!
Casualties? Fire weapons! Re-load. Hold on! Send repair teams. Fire at will! Re-load. Weapons off-line? Blast it all! Do
what you can. Hull breach eminent! Core meltdown in progress! Abandon ship! Abandon ship! God help us all!
God save the Unified Confederacy.