Sunrider Fanfic: Rising Dragon

Obligatory World Building Entry

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(KDRY)
Hongxi reclined back in his chair and faced the wall. The Holonet was broadcasting the news of the Massacre of Liberation Day and the unanimous decision for the Solar Alliance to launch a full scale invasion into Pact. A beep and a hiss as the door behind him opened.

Yayoi: “Captain? You called?”

Hongxi: “Come in. Take a seat.”

He turned off the Holonet and stayed silent, listening to the door close and the chief officer made herself comfortable in a seat.

Hongxi: “Tell me, how educated are you in Tianxia’s world history?”

Yayoi: “Not, much sir… I didn’t exactly pick any for my electives back in the Academy.”

Hongxi nodded and let a deep hum. He turned around and stood up, picking up the pointer that laid across his desk.

Hongxi: “Very well, let me give you a brief history lesson. First, tell me Yayoi-san. What is this wall map of?”

Yayoi: ”*gasp* He called me by my name!”

Yayoi shook her head of the thoughts and looked at the map spanning the entire far side of the room. It showcased a single massive continent that comprised over 70% of the planet’s landmass. The remaining landmass belonged to all the various islands, particularly a string of islands that lay not too far off the coast of the mainland. Of this world, there were three different states, noted by the colored border markings. There were two states on the mainland, one state spanning the majority of the continent and a few coastal islands while the second occupied a large peninsula to the eastern coast. The third and last state made up the island chains.

Yayoi: “It’s a map of Tianxia sir. And the three states of Tianchao, Han, and Wa.”

Hongxi: “Good, at least you know your geography. Tianchao, Han, and Wa are three very old nations on Tianxia. Throughout history these three states have existed side by side, both in times of peace and prosperity and of war and suffering. They’ve all been through their version of the warring states period... The feudal ages. Th-“

Yayoi: “The Romance of the Three Ki-“

Hongxi: “No! No, we don’t talk about that! Bad Yayoi! Bad, shh.
…
Anyway, so deep were we locked in conflict that we had lost sight of progress. It wasn’t until one fateful summer that the entire sky shook and thundered. As great and mighty our weapons of war were, they were no match for something that descended from space. It was then, an Admiral Perry from the Solar Alliance came upon our shores.”

Yayoi: “Admiral… Perry? Oh, you mean that guy from that cartoon called Sayona-“

Hongxi: “No! No! No, we don’t talk about that either! Just. Just, listen…
It was clear that we stood no chance against the might of the Solar Alliance, even more so when seeing how divided we were. It was then, and only then did our world form its very first unified government. A representative of our planet was dispatched to represent us in the Solar Alliance and what happened next was a decade of rapid modernization.

However this peace did not last. As each of the three states rushed to form new ties with the many corporations that pumped the lifeblood of space trade, we were bound to run into conflicts sooner than later.
What began as local resource disputes soon erupted into a war of nationalism and patriotism. We began to only look at the differences between our cultures and not its similarities. Wa invaded Han, Tianchao saw this as a challenge to its authority and responded swiftly. The military now equipped with the latest in technology from the Solar Alliance proceeded to wage the bloodiest war in Tianxia’s history. Over 6 billion lives were lost over the course of three years. Revolutionaries appeared, idealists spouting their ideals and beliefs. Peasant armies and warrior nobles who had lost their lands and traditional privileges rose up. The world was in chaos.
Our civil unrest drew the attention of the Solar Alliance. Some of its members began to supply and fund the different states, sending military advisors and weapons in the name of protecting Alliance interests. Hmph, merchants of war that’s who they were.

And at last, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the guns fell silent and all was quiet on the eastern front. The war to end all wars was over and the only task now was to win the peace. The Council of the Three Elders was formed and an armistice was signed, never again would we raise a hand against one of our own.”

Yayoi sat there, taking it all in. She recalled the news broadcast and wondered if this little history lesson had anything to do with that.

Hongxi: “It seems Cera has suffered much due to our interference. High Command is assigning us to occupy the sector seeing how we will be switching to a different ship. They’re ordering us to fly Tianchao’s colors next to Alliance’s, apparently they think it will help ease the tensions.”

Yayoi: “Sir, occupy?”

Hongxi: “Apparently these Alliance have grown lax, all they’ve done in the past centuries was land marines and killer robots. They are referring to our ‘expertise’ in land warfare. Leave neutral world matters to non-core worlds seems more like it.”
Hongxi scoffed and reached under his desk. There was a small beep and a hiss as a secret compartment slid out. Reaching inside, he pulled out a laserdisc and handed it to Yayoi.

Yayoi: “Sir? What is…”

Hongxi: “A laserdisc. It’s how we used to store data and information. Inside you will find all you need to know about the IWS Yamato. It will be unlike any Alliance ship you ever served on. That is all, you are relieved.”

Silent and slightly confused, Yayoi stood up and dismissed herself. As she left the room, she looked at the disc and wondered how she was going to play it.

You know... It's actually kind of hard keeping these below 1000 words.
Bonus points if you know where I totally did not rip this scene off from.

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(NVXG)
Planet Tianxia, Tianshang Outer Port -First Pass Above Heaven-
Battleship Zheng Yuan, Second Bridge

Battleship Zheng Yuan warped into a debris-spilled battleground, a stone’s throw away from the planet’s asteroid belt. Lasers and missiles streamed across space and exploded with great ferocity. A small PACT fleet comprised of a few cruisers and destroyers had warped into the seemingly undefended space of Tianxia intent on taking it over.

Hongxi: “Seems like the battle has already started huh? Hail First Pass Above Heaven, get them on the line.”

Yayoi: “Yes captain. Hailing First Pass Above Heaven.”

There was a brief moment of static before the comm-channel opened, showing a very weary commander Jiguang Qi.

Jiguang: “Admi- I mean Captain Hongxi. It is good you are here, a small PACT fleet has warped in and is assaulting this station. We have but gunboats to hold them off. The Council of the Three Elders have not given permission to activate our-”

Hongxi: “I understand commander. Is Great Harmony ready?”

Jiguang: “Yes sir, Great Harmony has been retrofitted and lies in slumber deep inside the Stone Sentinel Maze.”

Hongxi: “Delay the enemy for 30 more minutes while I transfer over to Great Harmony. The Zheng Yuan shall assist you in the defensive effort, that is all commander. Cutting transmissions.”

Qi Jiguang’s face disappeared from view as communications were cut. Hongxi made his way off the bridge followed by Yayoi and Yi-Sun. The door hissed open to reveal his replacement, the cadet from the other day. Upon seeing him, the startled replacement saluted.

Cadet: “S-Sir?!”

Hongxi: “Now you’ll know what it’s like to be a captain. Take care of her.”

Hongxi patted him on the shoulder and moved on, leaving the cadet to his fate. Outside, a shuttle sped out the private hanger and blasted towards the planetary asteroid field. The Machiavelli-class Battleship then pulled away and sped toward First Pass Above Heaven to join the fight.

Tianxia’s planetary ring was unique in a few ways. One of them all being that it was mostly artificial, another being that many of these chunks of rocks were bigger than what was expected. It had a story buried deep behind ‘missing planets’ as reported by Alliance surveyors when they first entered the system and ‘missing moons’ that the Mining Union had initially intended to secure contracts for but could not find. While it was mostly passed off as an error on the reporter's behalf, there was a certain truth behind them. A truth that will not be revealed until it's too late.

Battleship Zheng Yuan, Second Bridge

Bridge Crew #1: “Captain, incoming torpedoes and missiles!”

Cadet: “Fire flak, take them out!”

Bridge Crew #1: “We can’t keep this up captain, there’s too many of them! First Pass Above Heaven isn’t looking so well either!”

Cadet: ”Ahh, why did captain suddenly have to leave? And why did he pick me of all people?! I was not at all ready for this!”

Bridge Crew #2: “Captain! Unknown incoming transmission! It’s… It’s using a really old code!”

Cadet: “What? Patch it through!”

A female voice came through the comm links, however there were not any visuals.

Female Voice: “This is Battleship Yamato, please hold off the enemy for a few more minutes.”

Bridge Crew #2: “Captain, an asteroid is breaking away from the Stone Sentinal Maze and heading right for Tianshang Port!”

A 2 kilometer long asteroid had indeed left orbit and was flying towards Tianshang Port, Tianxia’s main space hub. It was a series of massive interconnected stations which included Tianshang Shipyards, Tianshang Hub, and the Academy where future officers are trained.

Just as Battleship Zhengyuan was about to bare it Saviors upon it, the asteroid started to crack. The entire topside of the asteroid ruptured and fell apart as a massive ship almost 2 kilometer long lifted itself away from the asteroid. A shockwave erupted from the ship, visible from the dust and debris, as its main engines powered up and propelled it forward with speed almost unnatural for a ship its size.

Cadet: “That… That is..!”

At that moment, all the Zebben bridge crew stood up from their seats in awe while staring at the monitors.

Bridge Crew #3: “The IWS Yamato!”

Battleship Yamato

Hongxi: “Sun-Sin, we will now fire the Macross Cannon. Target, PACT Fleet.”

Sun-Sin: “It has not been tested yet sir.”

Hongxi: “And?”

Sun-Sin: “... Yes, I think we can fire it.”

Hongxi: “Then make it happen.”

Sun-Sin: “I understand sir. Commander, prepare to fire the Macross Cannon.”

Yayoi: “Order received, preparing to fire the Macross Cannon.”

Hongxi: “Raise Macross Drive pressure, close emergency valves.”

Yayoi: “I have the Engine. Raising Macross Drive pressure, closing emergency valves.”

Hongxi: “Open Macross Cannon outlet.”

Yayoi: “Opening outlet.”

Sun-Sin: “Chamber pressure rising!”

Yayoi: “All energy to Macross Cannon, initiate forced induction.
...
Initiating.”

Hongxi: “Prepare to fire. Release Macross Cannon safety.”

Yayoi: “Releasing. Safety locks at zero. Pressure approaching firing point, releasing final safety.”

Sun-Sin: “Yamato on incoming PACT Fleet and torpedo salvo trajectory.”

Yayoi: “Lock onto that. Manual firing mode activate, contrast gauge at brightness 20. Target, PACT Fleet and torpedo salvo.”

Sun-Sin: “Range, 900,000 kilometers.”

Yayoi: “Energy at 100 percent, countdown to-“

Hongxi: “Wait.”

Yayoi: “Energy at 120 percent!”

Sun-Sin: “Chamber limit!”

Hongxi: “5 seconds to firing! Brace for shock and flash.”

Yayoi: “Five…
Four…
Three…
Two…
One…
Macross Cannon, hashya!”

There was a silent, bright flash as a wide red beam blasted out from the nose of the ship. The blast incinerated the incoming torpedoes and caught the enemy in its center. Armor and plating tore away from the pure shock of the blast, ripping the ships apart and engulfing them in a fiery inferno.

While this event seemed insignificant in the course of the war, already the eyes and ears of PACT and Alliance was reporting this to their masters. What was this ship? Where did it come from? And what else was Tianxia, the Alliance’s outermost member, hiding from the core worlds?

This entry, is just exposition porn.

Notes: If you were here for that little chat in the shout box... It originated from this.
I calculated this from the final mission where the Sunrider has to travel 900,000 kilometers to close the gap. When the mission ends, it is stated there is still 100,000 more kilometers. Thus a map is estimated to be 800,000 kilometers wide, making 1 tile approximately 44,444 kilometers. I know, I wish they’d make the distance 1,000,000 kilometers so 1 tile’d be a nice even 50,000 kilometers.
In game mechanics perspective. The Yamato has an effective range of 7 tiles. Battleships would be at 100% to hit, cruisers and fast cruisers at 90%, destroyers at 75%, and etc.

Deleted Scene: “with a muzzle velocity of 19,656 kilometers per hour when firing AP shells and 20,286 kilometers per hour when firing HE shells.”

You know… When they say, realistic space battles would be very boring. It probably is… Because even when shells are traveling at speeds of 20,000 kilometers an hour, it would still take 15.75 hours to hit something 7 tiles away…
Kayto: “Target the enemy cruiser.”
Ava: “Fire saviors!”
Kayto: “Alright folks, break! Let’s head on over to the mess hall for breakfast and the rest of the day is yours. Meet back here at 2100 hours. Don’t make a mess of the cafeteria again, that food fight last time had the janitors working overtime. I don’t want it to happen again.”

So, for the sake of… Er… Game mechanics? Let’s say it takes only 2 seconds to fly 315,000 kilometers (roughly 7 tiles). Shells would be traveling at 283,500,000 kilometers per hour or you know… A bit over a quarter of the speed of light. 78,750,000 meters/sec Oh and while we’re here (I’m assuming the length of a barrel is 88 meters calculated from a screenshot of the Sunrider) (F=ma, m = 907.185kg, a = 31965707253196022.727272727272727, F = 31,965,707,253,196,022 newtons or 31.965 petajoules… In perspective, the nuclear citybuster dropped on Hiroshima is only 63 TJ. So, a 1 ton shell fired from the Sunrider’s Saviors impacts with the force of 507 times Hiroshima.

Edit: Changed to the original 140 km because in the end 315,000 km seems a little 'out there'.

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(HJSF)
Battleship Yamato, Ryder Hanger

Hongxi and his entourage was inspecting the new ryders being brought in. These were indigenous designed ryders used by the inhabitants of Tianxia long before the Alliance’s arrival. They were decommissioned for the large part of a decade when Tianxia joined the Alliance and started having their pilots train in Alliance infantry ryders. However with orders from above, these relics of a war were being reawakened and placed back into the line of duty. Yamato herself was docked with Tianshang Shipyard as final adjustments were made and supplies loaded in. Being that Yamato was the only other battleship Tianxia had, high command did not want the ship leaving without having everything covered.

Hongxi: “Hm. Sun-Sin!”

Sun-Sin: “Yes sir!”

Hongxi stared at the white colored ryders being secured in hanger by #4.

Hongxi: “Brief me about our new ryders.”

Sun-Sin: “Yes sir. Upon seeing the effectiveness of the Sunrider, the Council of the Three Elders have ordered that a small ryder hanger to be included during the retrofitting of the Yamato.

The six ryders that will be joining us are Qiang, Pai, Katana, Tanegashima, Pyeonjeon, and Hwacha. First are the two ryders from Tianchao, Qiang and Pai.

Qiang is a melee, spear type ryder. It is armed with a non-crystalline diamond tipped spear as a primary weapon, capable of penetrating the thick cockpit armor of any standard ryder. It is lightly armored, however it has powerful thrusters giving it a great deal of movement and evasion. It is highly recommended that any ryders disabled by Qiang be taken in to be recycled for material.

Pai is a support type ryder unique to Tianxia. It provides an assortment of abilities that are useful on the field. Instead of generating an energy shield field, it instead deploys stationary ryder-size shields capable of completely nullifying energy weapons. It does not possess any offensive capabilities, and instead carries a launcher that is above to set up 6 different shields at a distance.

Pai’s massive computing power can also provide targeting support by sharing its processing power with allied units, thereby improving accuracy and or the chance to critically damage the enemy. Pai comes in two loadouts, light and heavy. While light, Pai carries only the launcher to maximize mobility. While traveling heavy, Pai’s armor is significantly increased and it now also has the ability to carry out emergency field repairs.

Next are the two ryders from Wa, Katana and Tanegashima.

Katana is a heavily armored melee, saber type ryder. The Katana is armed with a saber as a primary weapon and a short saber as an offhand. Its pilot is rumored to be even able to block and parry with this combination. Katana’s mobility is quite high, allowing it to launch devastating charges against enemy ryders. However it is lacking in side thrusters, meaning its evasion rather poor. It also does not carry any assault weapons, making it suitable only for ryder to ryder engagements.

Tanegashima is a heavily armored, long range kinetic type ryder. It essentially is the same ryder as the Katana, but with a different loadout. Instead of a saber and short saber it is armed with the Tanegashima rifle, a long range accurate kinetic rifle that is able to penetrate even ship armor.

The last two ryders are from Han, the Pyeonjeon and Hwacha.

Pyeonjeon is a lightly armored, long range energy type ryder. It is armed with the Pyeonjeon guided plasma bow. It’s quite an interesting design. The ryder first places a capsule of volatile gas between the two ends of the bow and fixates it with a string of electromagnetic tidal force. It is then superheated with super accelerated electrons before being launched towards the enemy at hypersonic speeds. The effect is quite devastating and accurate too, capable of melting away the toughest battleship armor or tearing apart the agilest ryder. However it is mitigated by shields.

Last of all is the Hwacha, a lightly armored rocket artillery type ryder. The Hwacha MLRS is capable of firing hundreds of low yield rockets at the enemy in a single volley with adjustable dispersion from 1 kilometer to 100 kilometers. Due to the amount fired, flak and other anti-missile defense systems are almost completely ineffective against it.”

Hongxi: “Two melee anti-ryders, two snipers, one support, and one artillery. Tell me, why so many melee ryders?”

Sun-Sin: “That would be to cover the Yamato’s integral weakness sir. Despite being outfitted with over eighty-four hundred 8.8cm flak guns in twenty-eight hundred triple mounts, twelve hundred 127mm dual purpose guns in four hundred triple mounts and four hundred 15.5cm dual purpose guns in two hundred double mounts, Yamato’s biggest threat is still ryders.

Yamato was built for ship to ship combat, and it was built to take on multiple of the heaviest ships our adversaries could throw at us. The thirty-six Type Jiu Shi Si spread over twelve triple mount turrets is proof of that. A full salvo from the 322cm cannons lobbing 10,220 kilograms of armor piercing rounds will decimate any ship. If acting as orbital bombardment, a single 9,520 kg high explosive shell will obliterate any soft and medium targets within a 500 meter radius.”

Hongxi: “Couldn’t just say we had a lot of guns huh? You military otaku.
Look at us, we’re probably the only ones who puts a significant amount of resources into grand warfare at this point. All the others have fled into space, and have not looked back.”

Sun-Sin: “That is because there is no major drive behind other spacefaring nations to pursue ground warfare. Up until now, a fleet is more than capable of laying siege to a planet and forcing negotiations.”

Hongxi: “And what makes us different, Sun-Sin?”

Sun-Sin: “It is to my understanding, a direct order passed down from the Council of the Three Elders to continue to make advances in this sector. In fact, approximately only a third of our project went into the space program as we had stopped indigenous development and merely manufactured and used Alliance ships.”

Hongxi: “Aah, but do you know why?”

Sun-Sin: “… No, sir.”

Hongxi: “Conventional combat is too one-dimensional. I trust you have studied countless holos about warfare back at the Academy yes?”

Sun-Sin: “Yes sir, I graduated 22nd of my class.”

Hongxi: “Forget them.”

Sun-Sin: “S-sir?!”

Hongxi: “Well, not really forget them. But empty your cup and be ready to refill it. Sun-Sin, tell me. When was the last time Yamato went into battle?”

Sun-Sin: “I believe it was the final battle ending the World War, when 400 ryders bombarded and sank the Yamato.”

Hongxi: “And how many direct battles has the Yamato fought in?”

Sun-Sin: “None sir… She mostly acted as fire support, and never actually fought in a direct engagement.”

Hongxi: “Thus, prepare to write a new military treatise on the ways of combat Sun-Sin. I’m putting you in charge of recording battles and analyzing them.”

Sun-Sin: “Haa… Yes, sir.”

As they chatted, the crewman around them worked tirelessly to retrofit the ryder hanger. The two walked toward the control room tucked away in the corner of the hanger. The door slid shut behind them, canceling out the noise from the outside.
Hongxi sat down in one of the spinnable chair and gestured for Sun-Sin to do the same.

Hongxi: “Military otaku, time for an exposition. Tell me all you know about the Yamato.”

Sun-Sin blinked a couple times and wondered to himself if this was some kind of test.

Sun-Sin: “Yes sir.

The Yamato is an eight sided battleship 1.8 kilometers long, 160 meters tall, and 550 meters wide. If looked at from the front or rear, it follows the p4 symmetric pattern of an octagon. Each of the ship’s side is symmetrical in almost every aspect except for the pagoda rising from the “top” of the ship. The front of the ship narrowed into a cone with an opening for the Macross Cannon and 6 smaller torpedo tubes encircling it.

From the z axis, the ship is shaped in a stretched out triangle, wider at the base and narrow at the tip. From the rear of the ship where it is widest, the upper and lower sides are 75 meters across while the right and left sides are 60 meters thick. This slanted side armor ascends at a rate of 11.89 degrees. From the nose the sloping frontal armor ascends in a 1.59 degree angle, minimalizing the targetable surface area and maximizing the possibility for deflecting incoming kinetic weaponry. Thus it is highly recommended to always engage with the nose or sides of the ship directly facing the enemy.

The Yamato carries an assortment of weaponry. Her 12 turrets are grouped in 4 groups of 3, located on each side of the slanted side armor. Each turret is 210 meters in circumference with a gun barrel approximately 300 meters long, weighing at 11,152,578 kilograms or 1270.5 tons. The Type Jiu Shi Si gun fires a 10,220 kilogram or 11.2665 ton armor piercing shell or a 9,520 kilogram or 10.493 ton high explosive shell at a rate of .25 rounds a minute, or 1 round every four minutes.
The Yamato’s guns have an effective range of 140 kilometers. After 140 kilometers the shell’s dispersion exceeds 500 meters and the chances of hitting cruiser size ships falls below the assured hit levels of 90%.
Seven hundred 8.8cm flak guns, one hundred 12.7cm DP guns, and fifty 15.5cm guns run down each of the four slanted side armors from the rear of the ship to the front. One hundred and twenty 2 meter concealed broadside guns run down each of the Yamato’s sides, capable of firing standard Alliance AP shells.

The ship’s gravity generation does not follow the conventional method. Instead, the ship is divided into a northern and southern hemisphere. Instead of having gravity draw everyone towards the bottom like most ships, gravity draws everyone towards a central plane. People in the southern hemisphere is pulled “up” while people in the northern hemisphere is pulled “down”.

The Yamato has 4 main thrusters accompanied by 24 secondary thrusters. Located in the center of the 4 main thrusters is the launch bay for the ship’s complement of ryders. Aside from the ryder hanger, there are two main hangers located in the middle of the northern and southern hemispheres. Each of these hangers are connected to the central deployment area located towards the interior, center of the ship. The ryder hanger is a separately connected section and is instead a part of the detachable section of the ship.

Likewise, the central deployment area is also divided into a northern and southern hemisphere. Yamato’s main contingent of troops was divided into two regiments, making up a total of one brigade. However these troops were not evenly divided. The northern regiment contained mostly S.A. or Space Adapted vehicles and troop transports specialized for invasive boarding. S.A. vehicles are vehicles adapted to operate in the harshness of space. They are airtight and are equipped with electromagnetic that will secure them to asteroids or even the hulls of ships. The southern regiment on the other hand contained G.A. or Ground Assault vehicles and troop transports. These troop transports are swift and heavily armored landing crafts without “bottoms”. Instead of a floor, they had a shield in which the marines would stand on. Upon landing the shields would deactivate and the landing craft would lift off, leaving the marines behind for immediate and rapid deployment.
The detachable section of the ship is a small 300 meter long by 80 meters wide by 40 meters thick atmospheric “aircraft” carrier named Ding Yuan. It is the Yamato’s primary planetary air support, capable of atmospheric reentry and even landing. It detaches itself and leaves through the rear of the Yamato, carrying with it the Ryder bay as well. It can at times also serve as a mobile HQ for carrying the ryders into areas too small for the Yamato. The Ding Yuan possesses little armaments, sporting a CIWS composing of four dozen 25mm triple turrets along the side and half a dozen missile racks at the rear and front for offense. While it is capable of operating in space, the incapability of atmospheric jets to operate in vacuum coupled with the carrier’s light armor means it should not be deployed in dangerous hostile situations. It carries below deck a full group of atmospheric interceptors and one wing of heavy bombers for a total of 150 aircraft…

Sir?

Sir!”

Sun-Sin cleared his throat, waking up the half-asleep Hongxi.

Hongxi: “Hm? Ahem. Yes, I was listening. Our little atmospheric carrier has a detachment of 150 aircraft you say.”

Sun-Sin: “Yes sir.”

Hongxi: “Well that is simply splendid. I wonder how well it will fair during the occupation of Cera.”

Sun-Sin grew quiet at this remark. Hesitantly, he asked.

Sun-Sin: “Sir, what are our chances of breaking through the Pact lines? What are you really planning, captain?”

Before Hongxi could answer him, there came a sharp knock on the door.

Hongxi: “Come in.”

Yayoi: “Sir!”

The door slid open and in marched Yayoi, looking proud and regal as ever. Sun-Sin arced an eyebrow and gave Yayoi a look, as if asking what was the matter.

Yayoi: “The retrofitting of the Yamato is going smoothly sir! Last minute crew transfers are complete and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Armored Divisions have finally arrived and are awaiting transfer.”

Hongxi: “Good, good. Yayoi-san, won’t you sit down and join us?”

Yayoi: “Haai!”

She plopped down into one of the open seats and beamed happily at them. Hongxi took this chance to silently watch the two, to see if anything had changed since the days of the Academy.

Sun-Sin had probably changed the most. Back during the Academy, he was a frail little thing who would hole himself up in the library for hours on end. He has since then become a handsome young man. Standing at 187cm tall, Sun-Sin was a good 8 centimeters taller than himself. A lean build with broad, square-like shoulders, long arms, fair skin and a strong jawline, Hongxi wondered why more of the female crewmen weren’t approaching him. Sun-Sin’s eyes were black, making it slightly difficult to tell just what he was looking at at times. He kept his hair cut short and his face cleanly shaven, or perhaps he was simply one to not grow facial hair? Thinking about this, Hongxi suddenly came up with the question why didn’t Sun-Sin dye his hair blonde or brown like most other Hangul young adults. It was the latest in fashion if he remembered correctly.

Yayoi on the other hand was just as he had remembered. Standing at 169cm, she was exactly 10 centimeters shorter than himself. However she was considered taller than average for Wa females. She would carry herself with elegance and dignity, turning heads whenever she walked down the halls of the Academy. Her silky black hair was quite long, falling down to her waist. She had Hongxi’s ideal body type in a woman, a slender body with a modest chest. Whenever he walked past her, he could always catch the faint scent of sakura flowers. She had an even fairer complexion than Sun-Sin with deep brown eyes that one could lose themselves in.

Hongxi shook his head, clearing it of any weird thoughts and replacing it with an image of himself being decapitated. After a few moments, any lingering thoughts had left him.

Hongxi: “There… That’s better.”

Yayoi: “Hm? Is something wrong, captain~?”

Hongxi: “No, nothing’s wrong. Whatever happened to the traditional and conservative Yayoi back in the Academy? She looked the most beautiful in that kimono of hers when she attends Tea Ceremony. Well, I guess a cutesy version isn’t too bad.”

Yayoi: “Hmmm? Are you falling in love with me?”

Hearing this, Sun-Sin scoffed.

Sun-Sin: “As if, a man like the captain wouldn’t fall for your type.”

Yayoi: “That’s not true! I heard cutesy type are reaaaally popular over in Huaxia right now, especially amongst the Southerners!”

Sun-Sin: “The captain’s ancestors came from the north.”

Yayoi: “Eeeeh? But wasn’t the captain born in the south?”

Sun-Sin: “Yes, but he was raised at the Academy. He probably prefers foreigners, the wavy blonde type with large bosoms.”

Yayoi looked down at her modest chest and black hair.

Yayoi: “I could probably dye this, and maybe implants?”

Sun-Sin: “That was a joke nee-san, geez. You’re always like this.”

Hongxi silently chuckled to himself as he watched the back and forth between the two half siblings. He smiled to himself and stroked the light beard he was growing.

Hongxi: “Ahh… Maybe I should shave too.”

Yayoi: “I’ll just ask the captain myself! Captain!”

Sun-Sin: “Captain!”

Hongxi was wretched back into reality by the quarreling. Never breaking his smile, he entered the conversation.

You know… All I’ve been doing is layering development upon development. I thought I’d get to the action a lot sooner, but background is so fun. =w=
Two old men muse about the future. (Wait, two?)

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(JHFA)
First Pass Above Heaven, War Room

Hongxi, Jiguang, and Yayoi stood around a holographic projection of the Tianxia System. Yayoi was mostly there as an observer, noting down the conversation for the archives. She took a moment and spared a glance at Jiguang. Jiguang was an older, middle-aged man. His neatly trimmed graying mustache and hair and wrinkled skin gave away his age. Jiguang was more on the heavier and stocky side, sporting a beer belly and muscular arms and shoulders from years of protein rich diets. He looked to be approximately the same height as Hongxi, however he did have a little bit of a slouch.

On the holoscreen was Tianxia’s red giant, the three rocky planets, an asteroid belt, Tianxia and two other rocky planets, and then four gas giants. Listing the names from closest to the star to the farthest, they were called: Muxing, Huoxing, Tuxing, Tianxia, Jinxing, Shuixing, Tianwangxing, and Haiwangxing. All five rocky planets were already fully colonized and terraformed long ago while only mining facilities existed on the ‘surface’ of the gas giants. Instead, colonization was directed at the numerous and sometimes unwelcoming moons. Not much time has passed between initial colonization and present day, thus only about a quarter of the gas giants’ moons were fully terraformed and the others were simply in the proto-terraforming stage. As of the moment, these proto-terraformed moons were restricted to military colonies only.

Due to the remoteness of the Tianxia system and the rather close proximity with the Astral Expanse, domestic trade vastly outnumbered foreign trade. Just a century ago, the domestic market had suffered a massive recession when the Alliance and their corporations entered the fray with their vastly superior goods. However when peace and stability finally returned to the system, the Tianxia’s system rapid growth quickly reversed any competitive advantage these intergalactic corporations initially had. Currently, the only industries with foreign competition are those involving popular culture.

Hongxi: “Jiguang, how goes the defenses?”

Jiguang: “Mobilization and activation of our defenses can be done rather quickly when the Council of the Three Elders authorizes it. All interplanetary merchant ships have already been notified of mined space and have received instructions to dock with the nearest starport upon commencement of hostilities. Likewise our minelayers have already finished covering all the non-major trade route space and are ready to deploy at a moment’s notice to seal off all trade routes.”

Hongxi: “How about the defensive satellites I ordered to be deployed in the asteroid belt?”

Jiguang: “Preparations are almost complete. The asteroid belt is 95% seeded, including the 101st to 174th armored divisions.”

Hongxi: “How about the colony’s IPBMs? It is to my knowledge that construction of their missile silos did not initiate until I pushed that bill through last year.”

Jiguang: “Ahh, don’t worry about it old friend. It was a little tricky, but after the Council of the Three Elders approved shifting the Interplanetary Economic Policy from Peacetime to Gearing, those silos were built in no time. However their stockpile is obviously not as heavy as Tianxia’s, thus we are currently transferring some from Tianxia to her colonies.”

Hongxi: “How many are we transferring per ship?”

Jiguang: “We’re only using light transports right now so, a few hundred a ship.”

Hongxi: “Not enough, enlist the commercial freighters. Those can carry tens of thousands. We cannot afford to allow even one colony to fall or the entire defensive network in this system will be compromised.”

Jiguang: “I understand, it will be done right away. Hongxi, you will only be taking the Yamato with you yes?”

Hongxi: “Yes, only the Yamato. I managed to recall 2 out of the 3 cruisers given to us by the Alliance in time. However the 3rd one is still in Alliance docks for repairs, I fear for our men and women on that ship.”

Jiguang: “… So that means we will only have 2 cruisers and a battleship left as a mobile fleet huh. We have 2 light carriers converted from atmospheric aircraft carriers as well as the thousands of police gunboats that patrol our trade routes. For a total of 5 capital ships plus auxiliaries.”

Hongxi: “Didn’t you always tell me that our strength lie not in our fleets but our planets? That the age old doctrine of ship verses fort, the fort wins?”

Jiguang: “Yes, but I’m just trying to plot possible raids we can do. However at this point, our fleet feels more like a liability than a bonus. Are you sure you can’t take them with you?”

Hongxi: “They are too slow. If there is one thing the Yamato can have pride in, it’s its speed and maneuverability. Our guns and the Macross cannon are simply scaled up versions of the Alliance, the maneuverability however comes from over engineering and the complete disregard the Imperial Wa Empire had for cost during the World War.”

Jiguang: “I suppose… Oh, did you hear? The Alliance embassy fled just hours ago.”

Hongxi: “Really?”

Jiguang: “Yeah, right after we declared our intent to secede from the Alliance. Haha, they took off with their tails between their legs. You should have seen the look on their faces.”

Hongxi: “Both Alliance and Pact are staring each other down with no clear moves on either side. They will likely ignore us as we are too far out to be of any strategic importance. The Alliance might send a reserve fleet to subdue this system, thinking there’s only a battleship and two cruisers guarding it.”

Jiguang: “In which that case I do what I do best.”

Hongxi: “Indeed. One bushel of wheat captured from the enemy is worth ten bushels of your own. It is unlikely PACT will pursue our system upon seeing the Alliance be defeated, they might try to approach us diplomatically to win us over to their side.”

Jiguang: “But that’s not going to happen is it? What you’re aiming for is complete and utter humiliation of Alliance while expanding our prestige and military might. PACT is simply another empire full of planets you want to expand the ancient Tianchao Tributary System to, isn’t it?”

Hongxi: “It will be difficult… When I carry out my raids, I will not be occupying any planets. Alliance’s and PACT’s numbers vastly outnumber mine and it will be impossible for me to hold onto any planets. I will strike at their outposts and supply lines, destroy their stations and remove all influence of their embassies until-“

Jigaung: “Until they decide to send a fleet to stop you or to occupy us in order to bring you in.”

Hongxi: “Occupying the Tianxia system will be exponentially more difficult than subduing the Yamato. But yes, that is the end goal. They will send a fleet at you, you will capture or destroy them. They will send a bigger fleet, you will capture or destroy that too. They will not want to waste any more ships, but I will force them to. I will slowly but surely draw the attention of the galaxy to us here, the Tianxia system.”

As Hongxi spoke of this, the hologram changed showing a single ship being pursued by thousands of Green and Red ships. The two fleets slowly shifted their positions inwards toward the galactic center where Tianxia was located. Jiguang then motioned with his hand an explosion when the two fleets entered the Tianxia system.

Jiguang: “The inner galaxy is a hostile place. Supermassive stars, gravitational anomalies, massive black holes, volatile nebulas. Their routes are limited, even now foreign trade ships rely on our navigators to arrive. A truly fitting place to bring this silly war between the two galactic superpowers to an end.”

Hongxi: “Indeed, hopefully sheer attrition will be enough to deter any more combat. As soon as the First Imperial Fleet is complete, it will be deployed heading towards the outer edges of the galaxy and incorporate any world I managed to ‘liberate’ from Alliance and PACT control.”

Jiguang: “The media will have a field day with this.”

Hongxi: “Not until they realize the nature of the Tianchao Tributary System.”

Jiguang: “The first intergalactic tributary system huh? Tianchao has sure come a long way if we get there. Give a little money, get more in return and benefit from the protection of the Imperial Fleet? Sounds like a good deal to me.”

Hongxi: “While they do maintain independence, their fleets and armies will be disarmed and incorporated into the Imperial Fleet. The monetary funds they contribute only covers the maintenance of their own fleet and the revenue from newly established trade routes should be more than enough to cover that cost.”

Jigaung: “And such flourish of trade will only be possible because..?”

Hongxi: “Your favorite, pirates. Individually, the planets of the Neutral Rim do send out patrols. However these patrols only cover the immediate vicinity and rarely do any of them send out punitive expeditionary fleets.”

Jiguang: “So I’ll be doing the same job my ancestor did huh?”

Hongxi: “Yes. However instead of hunting Wokou, you will be hunting space lol- ahem I mean space pirates such as that Cosmos fellow. Our actions immediately after will be critically important in establishing the galaxy’s view of us. Perhaps the planet of most interest would be Ongess.”

Jiguang: “Think you can succeed at rebuilding Ongess where others failed huh?”

Hongxi: “Ongess is a world rich in Ongessite. Nations and corporations exploit it for economic reasons. We, brother, do not.”

Jigaung: “Reading Alliance history books and all their colonial exploitation… They think by mandating it in our curriculum, we will understand and become aware. All it does is make me sick.”

Hongxi: “That is because you do not understand. The Alliance heavily emphasizes critical thinking, something we taught only to the brightest minds and only in specific subjects.”

Jiguang: “Critical thinking… Useless. Understanding your opponent and breaking the norm to defeat them, I understand. Understanding the motives and reasons behind some villain in a novel written hundreds of years ago? Utterly useless.”

Hongxi: “Remember, our own history developed in a vastly different direction. We were mostly unified, these Alliance weren’t. They developed along the basis of intense competitive growth, we developed along the basis of a stable and powerful empire. When they expand, they seek profit and resources. When we expanded, we sought prestige and the spreading of our culture and people. Sadly it was this savage competitiveness that caused them to outstrip us in the fields of technology and when they arrived… We were vastly underprepared.”

Jiguang: “A stable and power empire with no competition. Han and Wa were strong, but they dared not challenge us and vied for the status quo. We have competition now yes? Our people are smart and hard working. Brother, we will overtake them.”

Yayoi: “These Huaxia call anybody close to them their brother don’t they.”

Jiguang glanced at Yayoi who was silently standing by, documenting the conversation.

Jiguang: “Who’s the Zebbener? A fling?”

Upon hearing this, Hongxi coughed and cleared his throat.

Hongxi: “Ahem, my First Mate to be exact.”

Letting out a deep bellow of a laugh, Jiguang ruffled Hongxi’s hair.

Jiguang: “Ha ha ha! I know, I know. That’s about the closest I can get in making you to break your composure.”

Hongxi: “Are you ready to debrief the defense forces?”

Jiguang: “Yes, but are you ready to address the people?”

Hongxi: “What is there to be ready about, I am simply addressing them of our intentions.”

Jiguang: “Hm, so your thoughts do not reach your heart. One day brother, one day. Someone somewhere will crack open that shell you built around your virgin heart of yours and ravage it.”

Hongxi: “Thoroughly and intensely?”

Jiguang: “Yes, savagely and barbarically.”

Yayoi blinked a couple times at this, the conversation finally piquing her interest.

Yayoi: “Barbarically… We’re called the Eastern Barbarians by the Huaxia right? Soooo…”

Hongxi: “Oh my… Well, it will certainly be something to look forward to.”

Yayoi mentally squealed.

Yayoi: “CHANCE!”

Jiguang: “Buahahaha! Alright, get out of here sir. We have things to do.”

A/N: Yamato Special Ability, +10 to initiative? Oh and, parenthesis are just notes. Extra exposition.

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(ODGW)
Planet Willis, Alliance occupied space
Liverpool Station -Forward Alliance Supply Station-

Things were quiet and peaceful. The commander on the station went by the name of Baton Jones. He was a hardworking man who worked diligently to keep track of the amount of supplies in the warehouses. Ammunition rounds, food, water, oxygen, fuel… If any fell below a certain point, he would send in a request for new supplies. Speaking of which, the current fleet of eight cruisers resupplying was probably going to use up most of his stores on hand. He should probably put in a request soon…

However any notion of sending in a request went out the window when every alarm in the station started blaring. However the most confusing alarm of all was the one for gravitational wave, usually originating from the collision of objects of massive stellar mass. Did a start go supernova somewhere and the gravitational waves were reaching them just now? If so, it would be an extraordinary rare event that could win him several prizes in the scienti-

Jones’ assumptions were shattered when the source of the waves themselves hit. The entire station groaned as the very fabric of space and time oscillated. Jones suddenly found himself massively disoriented and even nauseous when his body was suddenly stretched and squished by a few millimeters. For a brief moment, his knees went weak and he collapsed onto the ground.

However military training and discipline kicked in soon after. As soon as the gravitational waves passed, he ran straight for the command room. The doors slid open just as he arrived only to almost have himself knocked off his feet by a sudden tremor throughout the station. The lieutenant, a Mr. Turner who was on watch, clambered to his feet.

Jones: “Status report!”

Turner grasped onto the control panel, his fingers raced across the holographic keyboard in front of him. An diagram of the station appeared with multiple sections flashing red.

Turner: “We have multiple breaches across… All the decks! They’re, they’re boarding us sir!”

Jones: “What?! Who?!”

Turner: “Them!”

Turner could only point at the window showing the outside. Jones had not paid much attention to it at first, but at the back of his mind he was wondering why the outside was unusually dark. It also solved the mystery of where that gravitational wave had come from earlier. A massive ship almost two kilometers long had warped right outside the station and was barely a few hundred meters away from crashing into the station itself. Jones watched helplessly as hundreds of pods were shot out of the countless cannons onboard the ship and towards them and the docked cruisers.

Turner: “Incoming! Brace for impa-“

A pod had flew straight into the command room, shattering the armored viewport and crashing into the command room itself. Quick reflexes was all that saved them from being sucked out into space by decompression. The room soon stabilized as metal shutters bridged the gaping hole. Jones coughed and drew in a breath of sweet air before calling out.

Jones: “T-turner! Are you alright?”

Turner: “Yes! Sir!”

The two disoriented men dragged themselves onto their feet. A sudden unfamiliar hiss and the sound of rapid footsteps piqued Jones to look up at what had crashed into the command room. The last thing he saw was the barrel of a C-28 Impaler gauss rifle in the hands of a 7 foot tall machine monstrosity, the IMC Powered Combat Suit.

Yamato, First Bridge

Hongxi stood on the bridge of the Yamato, watching the scene unfold before him. One by one, his squad leaders radioed in reporting they had secured a ship until finally he heard the one he was waiting for.

Saito: “This is Sergeant Saito, we have secured the control room. Shutting down lockdown of the station, my men are securing the routes to the storage room now.”

Hongxi: “Good work. As soon as it’s secured, our cargo shuttles will begin transfer of any salvageable supplies. Plant charges, be ready to blow the station when we’re done.”

Saito: “Yes sir!”

Communications ended, however the excitement was not over yet. There was a small rumble through the ship as one of the cruisers had lit up her laser cannons. Upon impact, the beams etched themselves into the hull of the Yamato. However the material was simply too thick and too resistant and the shots too sparse that the metal cooled and solidified as soon as the beams ended.

Arching an eyebrow, Hongxi looked at the screen and opened communications with the squad leader responsible for securing the Alliance Cruiser Dauntless.

Yazhu: “Sir?!”

Hongxi: “What is the matter.”

Yazhu: “The ship’s crew reacted faster than expected, they’ve currently barricaded themselves in the bridge.”

Hongxi: “I give you permission to use explosive charges, take care not to cause too much damage. We want these ships as whole as possible.”

Yazhu: “Yes sir!”

Hongxi ended communications and glanced over at the 8th ship docked with the station. There was a flash from the Dauntless’ forward guns as a kinetic round struck the slanted hull. The round slid off the extremely low profile of the Yamato, ricocheted against a turret, and went hurling into the planet below. The cruiser would futilely let off a few more streams of laser and flak in anger before finally going quiet. A few seconds later, Yazhu radioed in saying the bridge was secure.
Hongxi then returned his attention to the station in front. Every now and then, the enemy would manage to activate one of the station’s guns and open fire. However those were either quickly subdued by his marines, or by one of the Yamato’s numerous guns.

Hongxi: “Yayoi. Send a message to the planet below. That we are not conquerors, nor are we liberators. We are but the servants of the Celestial Empire and that we recognize their sovereignty and right to rule on this planet. And should they wish to benefit from our protection and wealth…. Send the ceremonial details of becoming a tributary state. One year from now, we will return with a fleet far mightier than what we have here today and that is when we will receive their answer.”

Yayoi: “Sir! Compiling message now.”

Sun-Sin: “Sir, all squads reporting in. Station is secure, transports ships are now moving in. Ryders report no anomalies. Estimated time of arrival for emergency relief fleet… T minus 10 minutes!”

Hongxi: “Activate the station’s defenses, fire smoke and launch beacons and warp jammers. Activate on my mark. Rapid deploy CWE (Capture With Escort) group onto station’s surface, hide this ship in the station’s shadow. Have this ship and all Ryders switch over to Silent mode.”

Yayoi: ”Understood, Gunnery? This is the bridge, fire thick smoke. Range, 75 kilometers, spherical.
Southern Hanger? Bridge speaking, launch three CC-P (Cruiser PACT) beacons. Random dispersion, 50 kilometers.
Northern Hanger? Bridge, deploy two squads of SA Lau Hu Heavy Tanks, 3 squads of SA Akizuki DP Tanks, and 2 squads of SA Cheonja Heavy Ion Artillery onto Liverpool Station’s surface. Have the RBCs (Rapid Boarding Craft) standby, extra caution to the marines. The enemy is on alert.”

The ship’s engines and thrusters roared to life as the ship slowly repositioned itself behind the station. The massive main guns elevated themselves into firing position and fired, sending a deep reverberating shockwave throughout the ship. Dozens of canisters of ultra-compressed gaseous substances shot into space at near reentry speeds, exploding into a massive thick cloud that effectively blocked all visuals of the station and its immediate surrounding. Three beacon drones sped out of the Southern Hanger Bay, flying off into the midst of the cloud.

The Northern Hanger Bay doors opened and out shot a few dozen vehicles, flying into space for a few meters before the electromagnetic tracks kicked in and latched them back onto the hull of the ship. They drove at top speeds before disengaging and free drifting off the ship and towards the station. When the station drew near, the tracks were reengaged and the vehicles slammed onto the station’s surface with loud thuds that could be heard by the station’s inhabitants. After covering a good distance, the vehicles stopped and deployed grapplers that punctured into the hull of the station and anchored themselves in.

Alliance Rapid-Response Fleet
Complement: 1 battleship and 4 cruisers

Commodore Boisson was incredulous. Moments ago, a supply station in the neighboring system had sent out an incoherent emergency signal on all channels before being jammed. All subsequent attempts at reaching the station ended in failure. PACT? Out here? This wasn’t that far from the front, but it would be suicidal for PACT to deploy this far in. What were they intending? The truth would reveal itself in a few moments as the fleet came out of warp. The Lafayette was a fine battleship and his fleet should be adequate enough for relieving the stationed fleet there.

Boisson: “Hail the sta- what is that?”

The people on the bridge could scarcely believe their eyes. The entire station was gone, covered in some kind of thick white cloud. The flash of kinetic guns and the occasional stream of lasers could be seen within the cloud.

Radarman: “Sir, we’re picking up three PACT cruiser signatures from inside the cloud. I’m detecting weapon fire from the station, they seem to be engaging the PACT forces. We’re not detecting any live signatures of the cruisers that’s supposed to be stationed here.”

Boisson: “Blast, have they already wiped the fleet? What sort of new weapon is this… All ships, full speed ahead! We must not let the station fall!”

Navigation: “Aye sir, full speed ahead!”

Boisson: “Ready weapons, lock onto the signals. Prepare to fire when in range!”

Gunner: “Aye sir!”

The Alliance relief fleet rapidly closed in on the station. As soon as they were within range, they let loose a stream of shells and lasers into the cloud. This message was received clearly, as the relief fleet was responded in kind with kinetics.

First Officer: “Sir, the shots have gone wild!”

Navigation: “Sir, do we enter the cloud?!”

Boisson: “Grr… We’re still too far away for our kinetics. They only have 3 cruisers left, into the cloud! But go with caution, continue firing!”

Navigation: “Aye sir, heading into the cloud!”

The Machiavelli-class Battleship and her escort slowly descended into the thick cloud while keeping up a sustained barrage of shells. In one of their volleys, a stream of lasers actually managed to hit the beacon itself. Now with a gaping hole in it, the drifting beacon sparked a few times before going offline. Onboard the Lafayette, a red blip on the radar extinguished.

Radarman: “Sir! Enemy cruiser destroyed!”

Boisson: “Good! Don’t let up! Head toward the station, our priority is to safeguard the station. But fear not, we will destroy these reds. We will not let the 12th fleet death be in vain!”

Crew in Unison: “YES SIR!”

The flotilla of cruisers and their battleship flagship drew near the station while keeping up their relentless assault in the direction of the beacons. It was then when a ball of ultra-polarized ion energy slammed into the underside of the ship, knocking out all power in the local area including the engines.

First Officer: “Sir! We just lost all contact with engineering! Our engines are gone sir!”

Navigation: “Sir, something is jamming our fleet’s ability to warp!”

Radarman: “Sir! The Jean Bart, Rapiere, and Sabre are down! The Pegase is operating with only 10% of her systems sir!”

Alarms rang and blood drained from Boisson’s face. The same thing that was happening to his ship were happening to the others as well. His only saving grace was being a battleship, size was to their advantage but even that would not hold out for long.

Boisson: “Where?! Where are they coming from?!”

Radarman: “The-“

The radarman took a step back as the bridge suddenly lost all power, plunging them into darkness. A few seconds later, auxiliaries kicked in and lit the room up in a dim red.

Radarman: “The… Station.”

Boisson shushed him when they heard a long bang on the hull. The faint sound of decompression and the whir as the ship sealed itself off. Heavy footsteps, the sound of gunfire, and screams rang down the hall. Boisson motioned to the others and they nodded, rushing to the bridge’s storage of emergency weapons cache. It was all training Boisson never thought he would have to use, breaking the safety glass and jamming the key into the lock to open the safe. Boisson passed the anti-personnel rifles out to each of the bridge crew who took up positions behind whatever cover they could find. Boisson himself shoved a thermal detonator into his front pocket before taking up position behind the control panel.

The heavy footsteps, footsteps too heavy for any man, drew nearer and nearer to the bridge until. They stopped. Time seemed to stand still as each and every one of the bridge crew stared at the dim red door, sweaty palms gripping the rifles that they have only ever fired once before during training. Boisson’s own hands were shaking nervously, something he hoped his crew couldn’t see in the dim light. Suddenly there came a loud bang and a large fist size dent appeared on the door. Boisson immediately whispered to the others.

Boisson: “Activate personal shields. Hold your fire until my mark!”

His crew nodded and activated their personal shields. There was another loud bang and an even bigger dent. Two, three more bangs and a small hole appeared in the middle of the door. Eight fat, mechanical fingers reached into and pried the door apart ever so slightly. However before Boisson could give the order, something flew into the room and exploded with a blinding flash and deafening explosion.

Boisson: “AAAGGHH, FIRE! FIRE!”

He did not know, could not tell if his crew had heard his order. His eyes were squeezed shut and his hands over his ears. Disorientated, he fell to the ground and rolled. Through brief glimpses, he could see flashes of light. Large 7… 8 feet tall men in some kind of mechanical suit charging into the room wielding guns the size of his young daughter. His own crew cut down by the spray of bullets. He could not hear their screams, their pain, and agony for his ears were still ringing. He could vaguely feel himself being lifted off the ground, and in his spinning head he could see the yellow faceplate of the monstrosity before him.

Boisson: “FA… *cough* FACK YOU!”

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the thermal detonator. He pressed the trigger and quickly let go. Boisson closed his eyes and let his arms go limp. Seconds seemed to tick on into infinity until from the ground, a fiery explosion engulfed the bridge…

Taejong, the squad leader, instinctively ducked into cover when he saw the captain’s hand pull out a thermal detonator. A fiery explosion rocked the bridge as the captain’s last act of defiance. When the flames had cleared and the smoke settled, Taejong came out of cover.

Taejong: “Kim!”

Taejong yelled into his com and stepped toward where the captain used to be. Kim was the one who had picked up the fallen captain and snarkily reported, “Hey, think I’ll get promoted if I bring in his head?"
Kim was now on the floor, dazed. His face plate had not crack, but the grenade had blown off both his legs. Already the suit’s self-preservation systems were cauterizing his stumps. From brief bursts of com, Taejong could hear Kim’s screams.

Kim: “AAAHHHHH- MY LEE-“

Taejong motioned to the others and they quickly came over, shouldering their gun and lending an arm to pick up their wounded brother. They dragged him to the wall and leaned him against it, the narcotics already kicking in and putting Kim to sleep. Taejong looked over the bridge once more, his scanner showing no signs of life. Letting out a sigh, he broke radio silence and reported in.

Taejong: “This is Taejong, we have secured the bridge of the Lafayette. No casualties, one wounded and requesting immediate treatment. Son of a bitch had a Deadman’s grip on a thermal, took out both legs of one of my men and probably fried all the controls too. The bridge doesn’t look pretty, so give the repair crew a good one for tonight’s dinner.”

Yayoi: “This is bridge, your comments are noted. Dispatching medical shuttle and repair teams now, please guide them when they near the Lafayette. Oh, and good work.”

Taejong: “Thanks.”

Taejong stood there, unmoving and enjoying the faint memory. The commander’s sweet voice ringing in his ear. One of his marines, Okazaki, came over and punched him on the back, his laughter coming over through the comm.

Okazaki: “What’s the matter captain? Love shocked just by hearing the commander’s voice?”

Taejong stumbled forward and turned around before shoving Okazaki back. The man stumbled backwards a couple times before he came crashing backwards onto the floor, the weight of his suit denting the metal grating below him.

Taejong: “I don’t want to hear it. I’ll have you scrubbing the dorms when we get back.”

Warned Taejong as he walked past the fallen marine. All he got in response was the marine’s cackle.

Taejong: “Alright men, we got one wounded with medics and repair crew coming in hot! So we better make our beds and give them a warm welcome!”

Marines-in-unison: “Sir yes sir!”

After leaving behind a scanner next to Kim, Taejong lead his men down the hall in a search and destroy mission to clear a path to the hanger. This event would see the loss of twelve cruisers and a battleship to the Alliance. The numbers themselves were insignificant when compared to the entire Alliance fleet, but when observed in retrospect. It meant the enemy was now thirteen ships stronger.

This would become known as the Raid of Planet Willis. Liverpool station was completely destroyed, blown up into several pieces and sent hurling into the planet below to be burned up in the atmosphere. Alliance quickly reasserted their occupation of the area and had begun construction of a larger space station under the watchful eye of a much bigger fleet. Details from the battle were unknown save for the transmissions of the Lafayette. Blame was automatically placed on PACT, but there was no move by the enemy to claim the victory as theirs. First an outlying system ceded, and now this. It was as if it were a sign marking the beginning of hard times to come.

Yes, that is totally the Alcubierre Warp Drive I’m describing. Now ya’ll astrophysicists out there calm down, this is a fictious story. So I’m going to be very liberal with the existence of things like element zero and whatnot in this.

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(LKII)
Long Range Warp, Captain’s Quarters

The triple entente was once again holed up inside the captain’s quarters, musing and discussing what lay ahead. Yayoi was once again spinning around in the chair, Sun-Sin leaning against the wall, and Hongxi sitting and leaning against the bedpost this time.

Sun-Sin: “Sir, if I may ask. Why have we not engaged the enemy yet?”

Hongxi let out a sigh. Sun-Sin have been eager to see the Yamato in battle, and so had many of the crew actually. It was the most heavily armed and armored pure battleship sailing the open space, and the gunnery crew were complaining about how only the marines saw action.

Hongxi: “Because Yayoi is right. This is an old and out dated ship.”

Sun-Sin: “Sir?”

Hongxi: “It was built in the World War and repaired just recently. All the upgrades we put into her will not change the fact that she’s an old ship. But, she’s a big ship. Know when, where, and how to use your resources Sun-Sin.”

Sun-Sin: “But, she’s a battleship sir.”

Hongxi: “She was built as a battleship, and perhaps for her time it would have been a fine and mighty ship. But not now. Our shielding, no matter how powerful it is, is only able to cover 150 meters of hull at any single time. Our missile launchers are SA heavy Odin walkers that are brought upto the surface of the ship by elevators. Our only lasers are the pulse lasers found on the SA Akizuki DP tanks that have to be anchored onto the ship’s hull before battle.
We carry the single most powerful landing force found anywhere in the galaxy, to land and occupy enemy planets? No. They’re here to supplement and project our own firepower. Do you understand?”

Sun-Sin: “Y-yes sir.”

Hongxi: “Good. And the more times we can have our landing force engage away from the ship, the less of a chance the Yamato will be damaged. There are no shipyards big enough to conduct repairs on this ship in Alliance spaces or the Neutral Rim. Any damage done to the ship will have to be repaired by ourselves.”

Sun-Sin: “We do have an onboard refinery and assembler sir-“

Hongxi: “It is a lot more difficult and time-consuming assembling complex ship components on a ship versus on a station. Do you understand what I’m trying to say? That we can’t risk direct engagements?”

Sun-Sin: “He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious. Right… Sir?”

Hongxi: “Yes.”

A knock and a muffled voice came from the door.

Dynamic Duo: “Captain, Tactical Officer Tact reporting! Electronic Countermeasure Officer Coco reporting!”

Yayoi stared at Hongxi.

Yayoi: “Hey, captain. The speakers can clearly broadcast their voice in, why do you set it at ‘muffle’?”

Hongxi: “It’s less of a disturbance. Come in.”

The door slid open to reveal two young Wa officers in their late teens. Tact was male, a little on the short side with a thin and tone build He stood at 170cm tall and sported short dark blue hair and dark blue eyes. Coco on other hand was female. She was 5 cm shorter than Tact, had a modest chest and curvy waist, and had neck length light brown hair with matching color eyes. They entered the room, lined up to face the captain, and saluted.

Tact & Coco: “Sir!”

Hongxi: “At ease, you’re off duty aren’t you? Make yourself at home. Ah, there’s a pot of tea and a tray of seaweed crackers there on the table. Please help yourself.”

Meanwhile the two young officers had a look of confusion upon seeing the laidback atmosphere of the ship’s highest officers.

Tact: “S-sir?”

Hongxi: “Call me Hongxi when we’re off duty. Go on, go ahead. It’s my favorite blend of orange flower tea, hopefully you’ll find it to your liking.”

Coco, as if interpreting it as an order, swiftly responded and began pouring tea a new cup.

Coco: “Yes sir, I’ll bring you a cup right away.”

Hongxi: “No no, it’s fine. As you can see, I have mine right here.”

Hongxi gave her a little smile and raised the simple dark brown teacup he had by his side.

Sun-Sin: “I just had the sudden dreadful realization that if any of our enemies got their hands on gravity mines, we’d be in serious trouble.”

Yayoi: “Why’s that?”

Sun-Sin: “The entire highest chain of command is lazing away in the captain’s quarters. We are completely unprepared should someone drag us out of warp.”

Yayoi: “Ahh, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Sun-Sin: “No it’s not fine. What we’re doing right now is jeopardizing the entire ship, especially since we’re warping deep into PACT space. This is no longer Alliance space, we don’t know their patrol routes, the positions of their fleets and bases. We know nothing but what intelligence has gathered. We can’t even play innocent bystanders anymore if we’re caught.”

Yayoi: “But. Buuuut, PACT doesn’t have gravity mines do they?”

Sun-Sin: “Hmph, as far as we know.”

Tact and Coco suddenly found themselves stifling a giggle. Upon catching Sun-Sin’s sideways stare, they snapped to attention and apologized.

Tact: “I apologize sir, I did not mean to laugh.”

Hongxi: “Sun-Sin you’re scaring the kids. Smile a little.”

Sun-Sin sighed and cracked a smile.

Hongxi: “You see? No wonder you’re the most popular man on the ship.”

Sun-Sin: “You exaggerate sir.”

Hongxi: “It’s true, you’re the one I hear the most gossip about while in the cafeteria.”

It was then when Coco let out a squeak, drawing the stares of the three somewhat older adults.

Coco: “O-oh, I’m sorry. Uh, captain. If you don’t mind me asking…”

Hongxi: “No, go ahead. I won’t mind.”

Hongxi gave her a smile a grandfather would give a granddaughter.

Coco: “You… When..? Do…. Uhh, you eat at the cafeteria?”

Sun-Sin answered for him.

Sun-Sin: “He disguises himself as an artillery officer and spies on his crew to hear all the latest gossip in an attempt to catch up with modern youth culture.”

Upon seeing Tact and Coco’s horrified faces, he added.

Sun-Sin: “No, I’m not joking. Usually one could notify the military police and file a suit, but the head of the military police is appointed by the High Admiral of the Fleet so… Don’t worry, he’s not the type to lay his hands on his subordinates.”

Yayoi: “Ahh, captain. If only you had asked, I help you release all that pent up… Stress.”

She looked at the captain, licking her lips and lightly brushing her hand down her face and her body.

Sun-Sin: “Nee-san, please. Not with the younglings around.”

Tact: “S-so this is the true side of the commander huh..?”

Yayoi: “Hm? Oh, don’t mind me. I’m only like this around the captain.”

Coco: “Eeeh? Is it true?! That you and the captain are-“

Yayoi: “Yes!”

Sun-Sin: “No.”

Hongxi: “I’m not looking for relationships at the moment.”

Yayoi: “What? Caaaptain, how long are you going to make me waaaait.”

Yayoi slid off the chair and crawled towards the captain on all fours. She held out one clenched hand and lightly pawed at Hongxi’s shoulder.

Yayoi: “Nyaaa~”

Sun-Sin: “Nee-san, please…”

Sighed Sun-Sin who couldn’t bear to look. Coco giggled and walked over, crouching in front of Yayoi while holding out a hand.

Coco: “Paw.”

Yayoi: “Nyaa~!”

Yayoi puts a paw on Coco’s hand.

Coco: “Roll over.”

Yayoi toppled over onto her back and looked up at Coco while holding up both hands in front of her.

Yayoi: “Nyaa~?”

Coco: “Good girl.”

Coco smiled and started scratching Yayoi behind the ears.

Sun-Sin: “Please don’t encourage her…”

The wristband on Tact’s right arm suddenly began beeping. Frowning, he raised it up and tapped it. A holographic image of a map appeared in front of him.

Hongxi: “What is it?”

Tact: “We’re… Leaving Warp in 5 minutes.”

Instantaneously, all discipline and order was restored. Sun-Sin and Yayoi were already brushing past Tact and Coco and towards the door.

Hongxi: “Leaving warp? That’s faster than expected.”

Tact: “It must be some kind of calculation error, our destination is off by several lightyears. I’m… I’m not sure where it’s taking us out sir.”

Hongxi: “Get to the bridge, sound the General Quarters alarm.”

Tact: “Yes sir!”

Planet Cera, PACT main fleet

Upon warping in, Hongxi finally realized the full extent of the ‘simple calculation error’ made by the Macross Drive. Something was terribly astray, for they had arrived in Cera system and was but a measly twenty thousand kilometers away from the closest PACT ship. Arrayed before them was over a thousand PACT ships of all various sizes, the PACT garrison.

Tact: “Sir! We have warped right into the middle of a PACT Fleet at… Cera!”

Yayoi: “Sun-Sin I thought you said the captain wouldn’t take us here!”

Sun-Sin: “Not intentionally!”

Hongxi: “… I don’t suppose we could jam their targeting systems can we?”

Tact: “Only if they were bunched within a 150,000 kilometer cone! Beyond that, there’s no assurance-“

Coco: “We’re being locked on sir, incoming missiles!”

The one thousand or so mix of PACT cruisers, destroyers, and battleships locked onto the Yamato and launched their stock of missiles and rockets. A long continuous hailstorm of missiles streamed from the armada and towards the Yamato.

Hongxi: “How long until we can warp?!”

Yayoi: “One minute sir! The engine is still charging!”

Hongxi: “If placed into full emergency mode, the Changcheng Combat System can track and shoot down up to 700 simultaneous targets within a one minute time frame. With five spread throughout all sides of the ship and one located on the bridge, judging from the direction of the missiles only four can be fully implemented. Meaning approximately 2800 missiles, with the engine being fully charged in 45 more seconds and calculating the rate of missiles fired multiplied by the approximate amount of ships…
Sun-Sin, accelerate us to max speed! Coco! Disengage safety on the Changcheng Integrated Combat System! All guns open fire!”

Coco: “Yes sah!”

Sun-Sin: “Yes sir!”

The Yamato’s engines ignited and sent the entire ship lurching forward. The ship accelerated rapidly under the full propulsion of its engines, its mass steadily increasing the more speed it built up general relativity speaking.
The thousands of tiny assault guns lining the slanted armors of the Yamato lit up the missile filled space, spewing bullets at rates of thousands of rounds a minute towards the incoming swarm of missiles. The space before them exploded into a dazzling array of light.

Hongxi: “Fired at a resting pace, PACT missiles have a maximum velocity of 20,000 kilometers per hour. Even with this ship’s pulse fusion engines at max, we’re accelerating too slow for those missiles to overshoot. Wait, what if instead of overshooting…
Sun-sin! Disengage all warp safety mechanisms and engage frontal half warp ring!”

Sun-Sin: “I told you 32 more sec- half warp?”

Hongxi: “JUST DO IT!”

Startled by the captain’s outburst, Sun-Sin obliged.

Sun-Sin: “Yes sir!”

Frontal warp ring? What did the captain mean by that, and was that even possible?! The warp drive operated by contracting the space in front of the ship and expanding the space behind the ship. For the warp to work, a ring of negative energy had to be generated around the ship’s midsection and oscillated in rapid speeds in order to soften the fabric of space-time enough where the warp field could stabilize and carry the ship forward. There wasn’t enough energy for a full warp, but certainly enough to cover the front space of the ship. There were numerous safety mechanisms ensuring that all three had to be turned on at the same time as activating only the forward or rear warp rings would be extremely dangerous to anything in front or back of the ship. However in this case, there wasn’t anything they had to worry about outside the ship. Sun-Sin manually activated the drive and turned on only the forward warp components.

Hongxi: “Tact! Concentrate all forward firepower on the warp bubble in front of the ship!”

Sun-Sin: “Warp bubble?”

Tact: “Yes sir?!”

Unsure what the captain meant, he re-inputted the Changcheng parameters to narrow its forward firing arc. Even though now wasn’t the best of times, Tact’s curiosity got the best of him and he sneaked a glance away from his monitor and at the front window. The face he wore after seeing what he saw was shared by nearly everyone onboard the ship.

The wide spread of missiles in front of them suddenly found the amount of space they could travel in to be much less. Some of the more fragile larger rockets couldn’t withstand the warping of space and simply exploded. With the majority of the missiles coming in from the front suddenly bottlenecked, the Changcheng Combat System suddenly found that it could shoot down a lot more missiles with a lot less bullets. It made suitable readjustments to fully exploit this.
Yayoi: “Captain! By engaging half warp, it will take our ship even longer to charge up the Macross Drive for warp! Our new estimated warp point is 5,000 kilometers behind that PACT cruiser!”

Hongxi: “Can we do an emergency side thruster maneuver?“

Yayoi: “We’re too close!”

Hongxi: “Activate the pinpoint barrier system! Concentrate it at the prow of the ship!”

Coco: “Yes sah! Activating pinpoint barrier system, prioritizing the prow!”

A new holographic screen displaying the ship and incoming enemy projectiles appeared in front of Coco. She cracked her fingers and lightly laid them on the hologram. Outside, ten different 15 meter wide circles of energy appeared on the ship’s hull. Coco then traced all her fingers to the front of the ship. Outside, the ten energy circles joined together at the prow of the ship to cover the nose of the ship and then some.

Yayoi: “But sir, we haven’t tested it since installation at First Pass Above Heaven!”

Hongxi: “Nothing like a field test right?!”

Random-crewman-caught-on-the-bridge-at-the-wrong-time: “The Yamato will always stand by you, sir!”

Hongxi: “That’s nice kid, save that for when we come out of this alive. All hands, this is the captain speaking! Brace for impact!”

The many digit number ton Yamato slammed into the PACT cruiser that was in its way, the shielding at the prow absorbing most of the impact and energy and converting it into electrical energy that was then funneled into the Macross Drive.
Now for those wonderful if the pinpoint barrier system was some kind of giant solar panel, why not keep it on all the time? This was due to the fact that the pinpoint barrier system usually tends to consume more energy than it absorbs and thus inefficiency is the key reason. Also, the surface area of the pinpoint barrier system was quite small, even when totaled up it would be no bigger than 150 meters across.

The PACT Cruiser was quite literally rammed in half where its top half separated from its bottom half. The extremely low profile of the Yamato had turned it into the galaxy’s largest spearhead. The two PACT battleships beyond the cruiser were already veering off to the side, fearing the same fate would befall them if they simply sat in front of the Yamato.

At this range where the Yamato was in the center of the fleet, PACT was switching over to kinetics and lasers and slowly maneuvering themselves into position. It was not every day where a single ship would charge straight into the fleet and causing them to suddenly find their firing arcs pointed at empty space. Conventional methods called for ships to laser and broadside each other with kinetics from a distance.

The two battleships in the Yamato’s path had no qualms about firing though to which they did, and quite liberally at that too. Streams of lasers burned into the Yamato’s hull and 1,000 kilogram shells hurled themselves at the ship. However at this angle, the lasers were doing more damage than the kinetics as they were simply redirected after striking the extremely slanted slope of the ship.

Yayoi: “Once we’re past them we’ll be free to warp sir!”

Hongxi: “Then let’s give them a little going away present, open port guns zero through eighty on both sides and roll out the cannons! Alternate between KEP and HEAP rounds! Fire on my mark! Warp as soon as we’re clear!”

All along the Yamato’s flat side, the reinforced armor over the gun ports slid open and out rolled the Type Jiushiyi gun, the Tianxia equivalent of the Alliance kinetic gun. From inside the ship dozens of gunners and technicians stood at ready beside their guns, the angles already calibrated and the cannons ready to fire.

Each cannon was massive, about six stories tall and over 40 meters long. On the ground next to each gun was a control panel and a gun crew consisting of 3 gunners, 2 technicians, and 1 artillery officer. The gunner was in charge of positioning and ignition of the gun, the technicians were there to conduct emergency repairs if needed, and the artillery officer would direct when and where to shoot. Although only one gunner was needed, the others were simply there as backups should anything happen to the main gunner.

Upon receiving orders from bridge, the artillery officers barked out the order to load. The gunners would first disengage the safety before pressing a switch that would bring out the next shell. The thick massive doors on the far side of the battle hanger opened and out came the HEAP shells drawn from the deep interiors of the ship. Though a series of buttons, switches, and multiple safety disengages, the hatch on the back of the Type Jiushiyi cannon opened and the shell slid right in. Upon finish loading the cannon, the leader gunner would call out ‘Gun loaded!’ and the artillery officer would either call out ‘standby!’ or in this case the direction of the target and ‘Fire!’

Hongxi waited, counting the seconds and milliseconds unconsciously. The Yamato was speeding towards the space between the two PACT battleships. His eyes followed the noses of the battleships, waiting. Waiting until they passed the nose of his ship…

Hongxi: “Now! Fire broadside cannons!”

One second later, when the nose of his ship had already crossed half the distance of the PACT battleships, the cannons fired. A straight line of 1,000 kilogram shells erupted from the flat sides of the Yamato, striking the PACT battleship all along the side from nose to rear. It was a salvo no ship could withstand, 120 shells with around 13 meters of dispersion between each shell. Granted, a full broadside of the Yamato’s side guns would only be effective against a ship as long as it or longer.
Nevertheless with over 65 of the 80 shells fired hitting the enemy on both sides, they were quickly torn asunder. On the right side, the High Explosive Armor Piercing rounds penetrated the hulls of the battleships and burrowed themselves deep into heart of the ship before exploding. Every critical system that was laid along the centerline of the ships were destroyed beyond repair as fire and force bent and obliterated metal. The Kinetic Energy Penetrators however kept on going, tearing through the entire battleship and over-penetrating. Fired with a force several times greater than the HEAP shells due to the sabots attached to its side during ignition, they emerged on the other side and kept sailing on. Even though it had considerably less energy than when it first started, it was going to ruin the day of any unarmored or lightly armored object in its path.

On the left side, three of the HEAP shells found themselves inside the ammunition room and detonated. A KEP round tore itself through the engine, shutting it off. The entire front section of the battleship blew up and the ship was swallowed in a massive fireball. When the heat dissipated all that was left was the blackened rear half of the ship, drifting away into space.

Yayoi: “We’re clear!”

Hongxi: “Warp!”

The first streams of lasers from the surrounding ships slammed into the hull of Yamato, burning deep into the top and bottom armor. However the ship warped away before any irreparable damage could be sustained, leaving behind nothing but an afterimage.

The Yamato emerged from warp a couple dozen lightyears away. Hongxi and the rest of the bridge crew were drawing in sharp breaths and trying to calm their beating hearts.

Hongxi: “Tact, did you figure out what was wrong with the Macross Drive?”

Tact: “The Macross Drive was built using a map of the galaxy half a century ago. And in order to keep its existence a secret from the rest of the galaxy, it was not networked. Thus it could not account for the deviations in long range jumps. The error is less than 1%, but-“

Sun-Sin: “But that 1% almost got us killed…”

Hongxi: “Yayoi, plot us a jump into the farthest asteroid field we can safely jump to. I want us to get somewhere safe as well as someplace with the necessary raw materials for repair.”

Yayoi: “Yes sir, plotting course now. We will jump in T minus 60 seconds.”

Sun-Sin: “What are you planning to do after this captain?”

Hongxi: “What we do best.”

Finally. I got this chapter over with. Now I can get to the fun stuff? :3?

---

(NMDG)
Taejong could hardly believe his luck when he heard the broadcast saying that they would conduct a rescue and destroy operation. A great weight was just lifted off his multiple hearts. He was currently in the hanger and in the middle of hand picking his best men for the job. They were ordered to hit hard and fast, dropping into the station and rescuing as many Tianxia delegates as they can before detonating the station and warping out. Oh and was he determined to hit hard indeed.

The line of men and women before him suddenly snapped to attention. Unusual for a rowdy group like them, which meant the man coming up behind him was either someone of significant rank or this was a collaborated prank. Snapping to attention, Taejong turned about face to encounter…

Taejong: “Admiral Hongxi!”

Hongxi simply dipped his head in acknowledgement and continued towards him, stopping less than half a meter away. Taejong could feel the Admiral’s gaze, penetrating right through the reflective faceplate of his suit and staring right into his eyes. Despite towering over the admiral by two full heads, the admiral’s presence still unnerved him. He instinctively flinched when he saw the admiral’s hand raising out of the corner of his eye, as if expecting some kind of blow. However nothing of the sort happened and instead all he heard was three light knocks on his shoulder armor piece.

Hongxi: “Squad commander. Do you happen to have…? An extra one of these lying around?”

Taejong: “Yes sir! Taisun! Escort the good Admiral to the engineering bay!”

Taisun: “Sir yes sir!”

Hongxi: “Make room for me in your squad. I’ll be counting on you.”

Hongxi walked on over to Taisun with his hands behind his back, the only sounds the squad hearing being his footsteps. The giant, clunky marine saluted and lead him down to one corner of the hanger the marines referred to as the Mechanic’s Cave. The Engineering Bay looked like the assembly line of a factory, multiple robotic arms would either piece together or disassemble power suits around marines that were transported down a conveyer belt. The weaponry and power suits assigned were usually based around one’s rank and profession. Being that this was the admiral, Taejong was slightly curious as to what kind of suit Hongxi would wear. But before that, he had to address the issue that was on everybody’s mind.

Taejong: “Alright, listen up marines! We’ve got a little change in plans! Your mission is now to prioritize the safety and sanity of Admiral Hongxi, do you get me?!”

Everyone: “Yes sir!”

Taejong: “This isn’t the walk in the park anymore men! We have with us the Admiral, Supreme Commander of the Tianxia Space Force! I expect perfect DISCIPLINE out of you apes, DO YOU GET ME?!”

Everyone: “SIR YES SIR!”

Taejong: “I DON’T THINK YOU GET IT! THIS IS ADMIRAL HONGXI! IF WE SO MUCH AS PISS HIM OFF, HE’LL BURY US IN A HOLE SO DEEP THAT IT’LL TAKE LIGHT A YEAR TO GET TO US! AND WHILE WE’RE ROTTING AWAY IN HEAVEN KNOWS WHERE, HE’LL BE MAKING ALL THREE GENERATIONS OF OUR FAMILES DRINK NUCLEAR PISS! DO YOU GET ME?!”

Everyone: “WE GET YOU SIR!”

Taejong: “Good! Now, Joowon, Ha-eun, Seo-yeon, Tanikashi, Tsubaki…”

One by one, the marines he called out would step forward. With his mission priorities completely changed he had to rethink his tactics however that didn’t stop him from thinking in the back of his head, just why was the admiral joining them?

Thracia, Thracia Prison Barge

The Yamato dropped out of warp in high orbit, shaking the very foundations of space-time around it. The Macross Drive’s warp rings powered down and energy was redirected to the main thrusters, propelling the massive ship forward. The thrusters were shut off barely a minute later switching the ship to inertial cruise. The shadow casted by the vessel slowly engulfed the prison barge, plunging it into darkness.

Chaff was launched towards the station’s FTL comms and all radio frequencies were jammed by the Yamato’s powerful radio emitters. Radio signals traveled at the speed of light, was broadcasted in all directions, and could only be picked up and decoded on the right channels and frequencies. Thus it has remained as the most popular and secure form of communication ever since its discovery, shadowing laser relays in terms of range and versatility.

Many nations broadcasted on common, pre-determined frequencies while military broadcasted on classified channels and often in encrypted form. To intercept broadcasts, one would have to tune in on the right frequency and be able to decode its message. To jam, one simply had to overrun it with noise while maintaining one’s own secure channel The Yamato’s jamming technique worked by blasting noise into every frequency, washing away any and all signals and ensuring no one would be able to communicate through radio. Chaff on the other hand worked as a physical jammer, disrupting any radar or radio signals that passed through it. It also assisted greatly in disrupting FTL communications if fired directly into the emitter’s and receiver’s “line of sight”. Targets showing up on radar would turn into incomprehensible streaks, radio signals received through the chaff would end up as static, while FTL communications simply never make it.

These methods were dropped by galactic standards due to them essentially cutting off all forms of communication and inability to distinguish between hostile and friendly signals, a luxury the Yamato could afford to lose. The use of laser relays was still common within the Tianxia Defense Force, a technology that was considered revolutionary at one time but fell into disuses across the galaxy when met with no demand. Thus was the reason for the Yamato’s secrecy and efforts to cover up the aftermath of its operations. The Yamato’s reputation of being an information black hole was common amongst the intelligence of Alliance and PACT. Wherever it showed up, the region went dark. Even long after it has left, the chaff they used would leave a long lasting disruption field, a problem ground armies did not have to face back in the days of planetary warfare where gravity would simply cause all the chaff to settle.

The rear launch bays slid open and out came the Yamato’s complement of Ryders, speeding towards the station below in formation. The Qiang swerved around in place so it could look directly at the others behind her.

Meifeng: “Uh, hello? Testing, testing. Can anybody hear me?”

Xue: “This is Pae, don’t worry. I have a clear sight on you, I’ll relay everyone’s signals even if you don’t have a clear LOS with each other.”

Meifeng: “That’s reassuring to hear.”

Pae: “We are coming up beside the station, the Yamato is launching its marine detachment. Let’s make sure those pods land, designating priority targets. Take them out!”

Everyone; “Yes ma’am!”

Qiang and Katana both blasted their thrusters to full, achieving maximum speed before shutting them off.

Meifeng: “Heeeeeeree IIiii gooooooo! Haaaaaaa!”

The Qiang crashed into one of the flak turrets, plunging her spear into the turret’s base before using it as a lever and ripping the turret out of its socket.

Meifeng: “Whew, go get them marines! We got things out here!”

The Qiang saluted one of the incoming Heavy Boarding Pod. These ones were built for breaking through armor that was too thick for the normal ones to puncture. She watched the thing smash into the hull, stabbing it with its anchor claws before drilling through the armor. Upon breaking through the armor, the drill would open up and deploy the squad of marines inside the pod.

Tsukiko: “One cut, one kill.”

The Katana sped past one of the turrets and sliced the flak gun in half in the process, the thermal vibration blade leaving behind a red hot line on the two halves of the turret. Elsewhere, the Tanegashima and Pyeonjeon were sniping flak turrets from afar. The bolts of tungsten and plasma, being armor piercing weapons, punctured the armor plating and ripped apart the internal workings of the turrets and either caused them to shut down or blow up upon impacting its ammunition feeder.

Yamato, Northern Hanger Bay

Taejong was calm. He was unnervingly calm. Sitting right beside him was the Admiral of the Fleet who had unexpectedly showed up at the last second. Under normal circumstances, this would be an awe inspiring yet nerve racking moment to have the highest ranking man in the fleet sitting right next to you. However this was no ordinary mission, today he was fighting for something beside the duties indoctrinated into him. He was embarking on a mission to personally save someone he cared about.

Taejong mentally laughed to himself. What was this, some kind of B-grade Zebben drama? The ronin warrior descends upon the evil fortress and rescues the princess in distress before running away together to live happily ever after. No, he was no hero. The fact that the admiral himself was personally joining him on this mission probably meant the rumors were true. Taejong closed his eyes and began recounting his oath to the state, this was no time for doubts in his heart. That all he was is a lowly foot soldier escorting his lord in an assault on the enemy’s stronghold.

The Boarding Shuttle buckled and rocked from glancing enemy fire. The pilot said nothing through the intercom, which probably meant they were still okay. The trips in-between was the one thing all marines feared most, the one place where they were the most vulnerable and powerless. Their lives were either in the hands of the pilot or in the luck of the pod to not be hit by hostile fire. Being that this shuttle was carrying precious cargo, they probably grabbed the best pilot in the fleet but even then… The marine corp’s inherent distrust of Fleet was too much.

The shuttle buckled one last time before settling down. The lights turned red and their straps snaped open. The shuttles rear doors flung open and out marched his marines, guns raised and ready to go. Taejong ran out and beckoned Hongxi to stick behind him.

Taejong: “This way sir, we’ll escort you to the prison cells. Oni Squad has already locked down the control room is and clearing us a way.”

Hongxi: “Hm, worry about yourself more than me. My suit is more advanced than yours, soldier.”

Taejong: “Understood sir, this wa-“

Hun’guk: “Incoming!”

Taejong was suddenly shoved out of the way by Hongxi, a rocket zipping past the spot where he was just at. A pair of armored hunter killer walkers thudded into the hanger and lit up their machine guns.

Taejong: “Guh! Take cover, take cover!”

The marines who were returning fire one by one stopped and dove behind the nearby crates. Each one made sure to provide cover fire for the ones who weren’t. Multiple puncture holes appeared all along the walker’s body, but it refused to go down and simply returned fire in the earnest.

Hongxi: “Cover me.”

Taejong: “Wha-?”

He was not used to this. Someone in his squad acting independently. He knew full well that this was the admiral and his authority far exceeded him, but habit of disciplining those who acted out of line still jarred him. The admiral’s orders were orders, peeking over the side he went full auto on the hunter killer. Conservation of ammunition didn’t matter when the admiral's life was at stake and they were this close to a shuttle full of ammunition crates.

Taejong: “All units, provide cover fire for the admiral!”

One of the hunter killer’s legs sparked and finally snapped from all the puncture holes. The hunter killer fell forward and laid in a smoking heap, its chassis filled with more holes than they could count. Meanwhile the second one released another barrage of rockets, forcing the marines to dive out of cover and seek new places. Suddenly the tip of a thermal vibroblade erupted from the center of its chassis. Hongxi had managed to sneak under the walker and stabbed straight through it. No one knew what he stabbed through, but it had to be pretty important if the hunter killer suddenly stopped working. Taejong blinked in surprise, was this really the arm chair admiral he had heard so much about? Even if his suit was faster and stronger than his own, to have the guts to plunge directly into the enemy was shocking.

Hongxi: “Fall in men, Takakuze take point. Hiroto, Hun’guk, secure the hanger. Taejong, you’re with me. Your waypoints have been updated, if we get separated stick to them. From here on out, you’re all my children and I expect each and every one of you to be back before dinner you get me? Now, move out!”

Everyone: “Sir yes sir!”

Taejong could hardly believe what he just heard. Even his way of speech and mannerisms was different too… It was as if the man in that suit was different, that someone else had replaced him entirely and was merely speaking through Hongxi’s voice.

Hongxi: “What’s the matter Taejong, thinking too hard? You’re falling behind, catch up!”

Taejong: “Sorry sir! It won’t happen again!”

Hongxi: “Hm, good. That’s what I expect to hear!”

The operation continued, smoothly. Smoothly, not perfectly, but smoothly. And eerily so too. Hongxi’s quick reactions and orders to every threat they faced, situations with injured and fallen marines, when to fall back and when to advance. He handled the operation with the experience and level headedness of someone who had long been in the field, something that did not quite fit Hongxi’s bio.

Hongxi: “Looks like we lost them for now, but we’re still surrounded. Reinforcements from Tangzhong is on their way to our position. Wind down Taejong, I’ll keep a look out.”

Taejong leaned against the wall, letting his arm dangle at his side for the moment. He stared hard at Hongxi’s golden reflective faceplate and saw his own battered reflection.

Taejong: “… Sir, permission to ask a personal question.”

Hongxi: “Permission granted soldier.”

Taejong: “Why are you really on this mission, admiral?”

There was an implausible silence, Hongxi seemed to have froze in place. The next time his voice came through the comm, it was as if the old admiral was back. A much more calm and laidback voice, devoid of the sternness from earlier.

Hongxi: “To rescue somebody’s beloved XO.”

Taejong: “Belo-“

Hongxi: “It’s written all over your face Taejong.”

Taejong? That was the first time Hongxi had used his name during this entire operation. He was only ever referred to as squad commander or soldier…

Taejong: “The rumors sir, between you and the XO-“

Hongxi: “All false. Though I do seem to have taken a liking to her. Hm? Wipe that look off your face, don’t worry. I won’t steal your precious XO from you.”

Taejong: “…Steal? Sir, you misunder-”

Something began bubbling up within Taejong, he didn’t like the way this was going.

Hongxi: “It’s not my policy to interfere with my subordinate’s love life. But since you two younglings make such a good couple, I could make an exception. You’re brave, you readily step into hails of fire. But can y-“

Taejong: “Admiral! Forgive me way of speech but, I must ask! Do you love Yayoi?”

The comm link remained silent for quite a while. A click, indicating Hongxi had activated the channel and was about to speak but nothing came until finally…

Hongxi: “………… They probably should have incorporated interpersonal relationship classes into the Orphanage. Yes. But like I said Taejong, I won’t be-“

Taejong: “Admiral! We marines do NOT take handouts! If you really do love her then you won’t be giving her up like you are now!”

Hongxi: “I-“

Taejong took a step forward, shoving his faceplate right into Hongxi’s who was almost an entire head taller than him.

Taejong: “I don’t want to hear it! I can deal with not procreating above my social status but I can’t and will NOT tolerate someone of your stature treating this as if it were some kind of game! I will not let you trample on the pride of the lower classes admiral-, no, Hongxi!”

Hongxi: “…. You understand what this means soldier?”

Taejong could feel his heart take a plunge. Fear, realization of what he had just done and the possible repercussions. The audacity of his behavior. But it was too late to back down now, his pride would not allow it. He did not know what expression his face was making, and he was ever so grateful for the faceplate being reflective. Mentally swallowing, he nodded.

Taejong: “Yes admiral.”

Hongxi: “Hm. I like you, very well my rival! Let us compete then for a place in Yayoi’s heart! But first.”

Taejong heard a beep come from the comm link and almost instantly a searing hot pain flashed through his body. High voltage electricity surged through his flesh and bone, causing him to fall to his knees. The pain was intense, it was as if his blood was on fire and was boiling him alive. At last the pain stopped when he was nothing but an exhausted mess on the ground, his senses begrudgingly coming back to him. He could feel strength returning to his limbs as the suit injected whatever cocktail of drugs designed by Tianxia researchers.

Hongxi: “Stand up marine, something like that wouldn’t kill you. Remember your oath to the state, you must kill ten soldiers to repay your debt to your country. But I’ll make it easy for you, you must save five lives before you can even think about retiring.”

Taejong groaned and pushed himself up. Hongxi’s mechanical hand extended out to him and he grabbed it. Pulled to his feet, Taejong stumbled backwards a bit before finally shaking his head clear of the disorientation.

Hongxi: “Don’t die on me marine, your punishment isn’t over yet.”

Taejong: “Y-you don’.. Agghhh… You don’t hold back with the punishments do you sir?”

Hongxi: “I have a reputation to maintain Taejong. You’re lucky I’m not making you drink nuclear piss. Now come on, reinforcements have arrived. This is our chance to break through, let’s go.”

Taejong: “Sir yes sir!”

It would not be long until they finally reached Yayoi’s holding cell. Until the fateful event that would lead to the galaxy finally seeing the true horrors of a no-holds-barred war with Tianxia. Of the kinds of war fought within the isolated system in the galactic core. A place any historian would remark how much of a miracle it was for the civilization there to still exist. Of the monsters and demons of its past that was sealed away, sworn never to be unleashed ever again on one another.
Hongxi’s radio exploded with Sun-Sin’s panicked voice.

Sun-Sin: “Captain! Watch out, incoming sh-“

The holding cells exploded. Outside, a ship had warped in. A massive one, red, black, and most of all big. Bigger than even the Yamato. Shells was already being exchanged between the two superships, both armed to the teeth and armored to the bone.

Yamato, First Bridge

Tact: “I-is that the Legion?!”

Sun-Sin: “No, it’s too small to be the Legion. It’s PACT’s Legionnaire program, to think they’ve already completed the first one… It must have been waiting in a nearby system for this system to go dark. Captain, are you alright? Pl-“

Hongxi: “Send a medical shuttle now!”

Sun-Sin: “Yes sir!”

Of the twelve diplomatic prisoners: nine were instantly killed in the blast, two suffered severe injuries, and one was in critical condition. More than that, they were now submitted to the vacuum of space. A nearby medical shuttle arrived and began beaming down nanomachines, putting the survivors into intensive life support before taking them onboard. The other squads received orders and began falling back too, dozens of tiny landing shuttles lifted off the station and returned to the mothership.

The door to the bridge seemed to slam open as if emphasizing Hongxi’s fury and rage. He took up his usual position and stared at the main screen.

Hongxi: “Status report!”

Sun-Sin: “Quantum missile set, marines are safely back aboard. The newcomer, it’s a Legionnaire captain. We are currently engaged in combat with it. We have penetration in the Eastern side armor, Eastern Broadsiders 1 through 14, 26 through 30, 48, and 63 have been taken out. Northeastern Slant Armor looks like it’ll need a new paint job!”

Hongxi: “If that thing warped in here then reinforcements must not be far behind. Our Ryders back on board?”

Sun-Sin: “Yes sir!”

Hongxi: “Detonate the station. Emergency warp, get us out of here.”

Sun-Sin: “Understood, detonating, emergency warp in 3. 2. 1. Warp!”

Space contorted around the Yamato just as a massive explosion engulfed the station from within. The dozens of shells being exchanged from the two massive ships became distorted as they passed through the field until finally nothing but an afterimage of the Yamato was left.

A visible sigh could be heard from the bridge crew upon exiting warp.

Hongxi: “Damage report.”

Sun-Sin: “Northeastern Slant Armor is damaged but has not been penetrated. Eastern Side Armor seeing multiple impact sites. A few glancing shots struck the Northeastern Jiushisi but they are still operational. Thirty-six marine pod launchers have been destroyed, of the 14 marine squads lau-“

Coco: “New warp signature directly above us, it’s the Legionnaire!”

The Legionnaire warped in above the Yamato, the red glow in its barrel representing the impending doom feared by all Alliance. And the Yamato was drifting straight into its path...

Coco: “Det-“

Hongxi: “Emergency reverse thrusters!”

The Yamato lurched when the reverse thrusters were fired, dramatically slowing down its speed. A red beam of light dispensed from the barrel of the 2 kilometer long Legionnaire, burning a hole straight through the central fore section of the Yamato. The bridge rumbled, throwing everyone off their feet.

Hongxi: “Status report!”

Sun-Sin: “That blast burned a hole straight through the ship, anymore and it would have hit the Macross Drive! The Macross Stabilizing Pylons are destroyed captain, we can’t fire the Macross Cannon!”

Hongxi: “Doesn’t matter, warp us to these coordinates now! Full power to the Macross Drive, divert water from the reservoir as coolant!”

Hongxi rapidly typed into the holographic command screen in front of him.

Sun-Sin: “Aye captain! Wait, these coordinates, isn’t thi-“

Hongxi: “Computer, warp!”

The massive supership once again disappeared, warping off into a region of space. Due to its size and nature of the Macross Drive, the trail it left behind was clear as day to those with the right gravitational sensors. It did not rely on stealth, rather on time for the various folds of space-time to flatten out to cover their tracks. However with an enemy hot on their tail, there was no time to be spared.

The Yamato came out of warp and arrived in a dark region of space. Too dark, as if the light from the stars had vanished. And indeed they have, for in from of them was a stellar black hole.

Hongxi: “Thrusters to full! Plot a course to the right, slingshot us out using the black hole’s gravitational field. Load Eastern mine bays and drop gravity mines on my mark!”

Tact: “Yes sir, loading gravity mines!”

Coco: “Sir, warp signature detected. The Legionnaire is right behind us!”

Hongxi: “Persistent sons of bitches aren’t they?”

The ship rumbled as it took more direct hits. Hongxi stared at the screen in front of him, his eyes tracking the speed and acceleration of the Yamato. As soon as it reached its maximum velocity…

Sun-Sin: “Sir, they took out the Eastern main engine as well as the Southeastern quadrant of auxiliary thrusters!”

The acceleration gauge finally reached maximum speed.

Hongxi: “Cut main thrusters, full power to Eastern Fore Thruster and Western Aft Thrusters!”

Sun-Sin: “Aye captain!”

The Yamato’s engines were shut off and the ship drifted forward while making a full 180 degree turn until the frontal section of the ship was once again facing the Legionnaire. The firefight between the two ships resumed, the two seemingly oblivious to the black hole right next to them. Their ships groaned from the intense gravitational pull this close to the event horizon and many questioned the sanity of their commanders.

Sun-Sin: “Captain, Artillery crews are asking for permission to fire the main guns since they’re directly facing the Legionnaire!”

Hongxi: “Deny that, we won’t be here long enough for them to load even the first shot. Adjust Western side thrusters accordingly so we follow the original slingshot path!”

Sun-Sin: “Yes sir!”

The Yamato was now facing the Legionnaire where its frontal armor provided nigh invulnerable protection. The various shells fired from the Legionnaire would bounce harmlessly off the extremely low slope, only those few stray shots that impact the flat frontal armor penetrated, further rendering the already destroyed Macross Cannon even more unrecognizable. The Yamato was doing little in return however for it had no forward facing guns capable of penetrating the Legionnaire’s thick armor except for the dormant main guns.

Some of the bridge crew sneaked a peak at the right main screen amidst the chaos and gulped. They were so very near now to the edge of the black hole’s event horizon. Perhaps just a few more kilometers and the Eastern section of the ship would cross the point of no return. Meanwhile Hongxi’s attention was elsewhere, he stared intently at the ship’s slingshot course and trajectory. As soon as the ship reached the halfway arc point, he gave his command.

Hongxi: “Launch Eastern gravity mines! Detonate on my mark!”

Tact: “Launching Eastern gravity mines!”

A small port on the Northeastern and Southeastern Slant Armors of the Yamato opened up and out dropped two gravity mines. On screen, two blips representing the gravity mines appeared in front of the Yamato as it made the latter arc around the black hole. The blips stayed in place as the Yamato got farther and farther away while the pursuing Legionnaire got closer and closer…

Hongxi: “Detonate!”

The mines detonated just as the nose of the Legionnaire reached past them, sending out a massive and extreme wave through the already extremely curved space-time. This “wave” was what most referred to as gravitational pull (In Newtonian Physics), and the extreme curvatures of this wave was strong enough to even force ships out of warp. Likewise for a ship traveling at sublight speeds, the effect was tremendous and caused the Legionnaire’s path to lurch towards the left and straight through the event horizon…

For the bridge crew on the Yamato, it was as if time had stopped for their advisory. The Legionnaire was frozen in space, unmoving and its image would remain like that until it redshifted out of the visible spectrum. They knew it was simply a side effect of the extreme space-time curvatures and they could only imagine what was happening to the Legionnaire at that very moment. Or perhaps they should say lack of moment, for no events occurred within black holes. No time flowed, all possible directions pointing only inward into an infinitely small singularity. The entity known as the Legionnaire was no more.

The damaged Yamato finished its slingshot maneuver around the black hole and cleared its gravitational field. On the 19th hour of the 2nd day of the 4th month in the Tianxia calendar, the Yamato wasted no time in warping to its next point, home.