Shipmaster Kharl polishes the rest of the meal off of his plate, carefully making sure not to get the sauce in his glorious beard. With his meal eaten, he pats his most impressive belly. He is proud of his large gut, and for his race, it's a sign of dominance for a man to have a big belly. Shipmaster Kharl definitely is a dominant male. He contentedly smiles for a moment before falling to a frown. In his mind, despite good food and drink, he worries about the actions he had committed. Not necessarily the morality of the actions, because he understands they were heretics, and their deaths alone do not worry him. Instead, he worries about the humans, not for them, about them.
He thinks back on each time the humans were forced to perform military action, yes, forced, he reminds himself. He constantly has to remind himself of that every time the humans engage in conflict, they have exhausted all diplomatic options. Hell, he had to commend the pale beings due to how long they tried to follow diplomatic proceedings even when it was clear none of the nobility or the inquisitor had the intention to "coexist" with the humans. Shipmaster Kharl had been censured by the Inquisitor because he was the only one to argue that maybe the humans weren't something the Eternal Kingdom could easily assimilate.
With his meal finished, the Shipmaster walks out onto his personal balcony on his ship. He stares out across the bow of his ship, taking in the expert masonry that makes up the outer armor of his vessel. A perfect mix of functional defense and beautiful artwork. He pats the railing, and with a quick chant, his eyes begin to glow. His glowing eyes make the artificial blue sky of his vessels' shield become clear, and he can now see the stars and the other vessels in his fleet past the defensive shielding.
He looks out at the six other ships of the line floating in orbit, the small carracks darting between them and the surface, bringing supplies and luxury items onboard. Shipmaster Kharl thinks for a moment and remembers the single carrack they had left behind to patrol the world they had scoured. He summons up a messenger slave and commands them to go and get a report from the communications team.
Rubbing his beard, he can't help but wish the rest of the fleet that had done the scouring was still here. Seven ships of the line and a few dozen carracks in the past would've made him feel safe against everything he knew existed, but after the loss of the inqusitors personal vessel, the humans proved that size and numbers may not mean much... although Kharl has no idea how many human vessels were ever in Eternal Kingdom space, no form of scrying device or mana sensor was able to pick up any human vessel. Their only hope for when the humans do anything is that they can see them, but the black hulls of the human vessels make them very difficult to make out against the infinite void of space.
There is a momentary flash that catches the Shipmaster's eye. He quickly turns his head to see that one of the other large ships seemingly took an impact of some sort, tons of masonry spiral into the void from what appears to be a strike from one of the carracks. He grumbles angrily and mentally notes to have the offending captain executed, but then he remembers that there was a flash, one that usually means a shield was struck by something, and then the entire vessel begins falling apart.
The multiple-kilometer-long vessel begins simply falling apart as if the stone no longer wished to hold itself together. Large hunks of the vessel, hundreds of meters across, seemingly slowly drift away from the center of the vessel as more cracks race along its entire shape. The entire ship had been shattered from the inside across the entire length. The flash the Shipmaster had seen wasn't the shield reacting from something hitting it, it was the shield overloading and going down. Then the mana banks begin falling apart.
Large tendrils of iridescent color lash from the collapsing vessel, releasing intense heat and light. Any of the remaining crew that hadn't died from the rapid decompression of the atmosphere of the ship, disappearing immediately upon the shields' destruction, were now being cooked alive by intense mana, or their bodies simply exploded due to them being unable to contain the mana overload inside their mortal forms.
The horror isn't over. Shipmaster Kharl is suddenly illuminated by multiple flashes all around him as a similar fate is thrust upon them at speeds thought impossible. He can't even see the event happen; it's just a flash followed by something exiting the back end of the ship, throwing masonry like a fistful of pebbles. An impossible force shatters the entire ship as it rips through. No warning, no build-up, and no sign of where it came from. Little does the Shipmaster know, but each of these rounds had been travelling for almost an hour as they had been fired from the far side of the moon, the stationary orbit of the Eternal Kingdom ships making them easier targets.
Kharl closes his eyes in fear of his own sudden fate, but it doesn't come. Kharl opens his eyes to watch burning streaks of light that look like miniature comets stream from the void and begin shredding the barracks, which have begun evasive maneuvers. These lights seem to track and follow the carracks' movements before slamming into them and engulfing the internals of the wooden ships in a hellish red flame. Kharl then looks up in horror as, from over the horizon of the planet below him, coming from the northern pole, more of these burning streaks come to life as they begin an interception burn after over a day of sitting dormant in polar orbit.
The burning lights slam into the upper decks of the vessel, and Kharl immediately begins mentally going over where each of the objects struck. Plumes of smoke rise from the holes where the burning objects slammed into the stone, and a hellish hiss comes from every hole as their light descends as they burrow into the ship. After a moment of jogging his own memory, Kharl realizes each of these objects hit right above the main mana cores of the vessel, specifically the ones controlling weapons and propulsion. He can only watch in horror and drop to his knees as these burrowing weapons detonate right next to the mana cores with the force of 2000lbs of TNT. Masonry flies into the sky from each hole like an erupting volcano as the entire artificial atmosphere of the vessel is filled with fine powder. Shipmaster Kharl feels the need to run away, but he has nowhere to run. He tries to think of what kind of enemy he is facing, but the answer comes to him immediately when a black ship appears in front of his vessel, humans.
The ship maneuvers over his ship, and there is a rapid burst from the bottom of the vessel as large metal objects slam into the large Eternal Kingdom ship. A second one of these same ships appears suddenly from the inky blackness of space, and many doors open along its sides, and a swarm of armored beings comes pouring out and head toward his ship, being propelled by tiny bursts of white-hot gasses. Then a third ship appears, the smallest human capital ship he's ever seen, but its firepower is beyond impressive as it begins raking the open decks with bursts of fire from dozens of automatic weapons. The crew trying to prepare for boarders is butchered in a way the Shipmaster had never seen before, and could never imagine. In this moment, he understands something about humans: they do not care about honor in war; their definition of war is simply to slaughter your opponent until they bend to your will...
The lights inside the grand ship of the line had gone out after most of the mana cores had been destroyed in a sudden attack. Slaves and free crewmen alike run around chaotically as the upper decks are reduced to rubble; everyone who pops their head out has it removed by a burst of high-explosive 25mm rounds. To everyone's surprise, inside the ship, the huge metal objects didn't explode when they penetrated deep into the ship. The crew that had found them found them burst apart. At first, it was believed they were meant to throw metal around them to kill the crew, but they were ineffective.
From the shadows, just out of the range of the crew's emergency lanterns or magically produced lights, the marines silently follow groups heading to places of interest or are moving to protect officers. Their metal boots had been covered with a fine velvety fabric, reducing their steps to near silence. Elsewhere on the ship, the shipbreakers begin doing as their name describes. Using specialized cutting saws and explosives, they begin tearing the ship apart at the seams. Their helmets are feeding them maps that are constantly updated by the penetrating sensors of the nearby frigate, which is giving them fire support. This overlay allows them to more accurately choose places to cut or explode so that the most damage possible can be caused...
Sir Pellios III stands in front of his men in the dark room of the mana core responsible for the shield of their vessel. He gives a mighty speech to his men, illuminated by the faint glow of the mana core and the various emergency lanterns of the crew. His words speak of honor and glory, and how this place needs to be defended to the death at all costs. The ship shudders around the men as more arrive by the second to defend one of the most important parts of their vessel. In the darkness, other things slip in through the doors behind the crewmen seeking refuge in numbers. The rally builds morale quickly as swords are drawn and a chant of zealous determination begins... then dozens of .50 caliber rounds expertly destroy all the lanterns, leaving only the dim glow of the mana core to illuminate the room in its dim multi-colored light, barely enough to see a few feet in front oneself, then some of the officers around the edge of the crowd are dragged into the darkness screaming only for their screams to stop with the sound of their skulls being slammed against a stone wall, exploding them.
Sir Pellios shouts his challenge and begins readying a spell, a mighty fireball that slowly illuminates the room in orange light. The crew looks to him for guidance, but only stares in shocked horror as a towering metal beast stands behind him. An emotionless face of flat metal and two soulless lenses stare down at the knight from behind, its arms outstretched. The knight doesn't have but a single second of shock as two large hands slam into his shoulders, breaking them badly, then he is crushed by the being, armor and all. He can't even scream, there is only the sound of shattering bone and squealing metal, with the sound of a torrent of blood hitting the floor. The spell dies and the room is back in darkness... then there is panic. The room explodes into chaos and muzzle flashes as the marines secure the room...
On the top deck, Shipmaster Kharl stares across his family's greatest treasure, a ship that had never once been forced to yield or turn from a battle before, being reduced to a slowly crumbling wreck as the humans tear it to bits with little issue. His best knights having their innards smeared across the ancient masonry, his officers hidden out of fear, and his greatest mages under his employ dead before the first words of a spell can be said. Kharl, in his defeated mind, falls back to his younger self. A highly analytic mind without much care for politics and social rank. He drinks in the chaos and soon comes to understand that this entire situation isn't actually as chaotic as it seems. It's a beautifully choreographed dance that humans created. Each one of their metal monsters flows in packs, hunting targets with unnatural precision. The humans are leading a dance, a dance that none of the greatest minds in the military academies of the Eternal Kingdom have ever learned the steps to, in fact they have never heard a song in thousands of years with a rythym like this, fast while still careful, focusing on decapitating those that rally, keeping organizatonal control of the battle, they decide when each engagement happens, either avoiding large clumps of defending crew or leading them into traps where the numbers advantages do not matter. The largest revelation Kharl finds in the dance of death before him is the ease the humans can lead the dance; every single part of the human plan has been done before, hundreds if not thousands of times. It's not just a matter of their weapons, they have an entirely different definition of war and combat.
Kharl, in his despair, feels it loop back around. Instead of feeling suicidally defeated, he now feels a renewed spark in his heart. He knows he has lost, but that means he has nothing left to lose; his rank doesn't matter anymore, which has freed his mind, no longer needing to heed the politics of simply existing in any leadership position in the Eternal Kingdom. His old self as an apprentice shipmaster has returned, a ravenous mind looking for more information and wanting to know more, wanting to break tradition and make something of his own! This is all great, but he neglects the fact that he is actually falling into hysteria due to the trauma of his family's legacy being obliterated right in front of him. The rules are well-known to all shipmasters. if their ship, especially a ship of the line like this one, is lost, their entire family name is taboo, and none of their bloodline may ever hold a noble position again; such is the price for losing one of His Majesty's irreplaceable vessels.
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Behind Kharl, the doors to his private room are ripped from their hinges by one of the metal monsters. A group of four enters and approaches the fat alien slowly. The lead one speaks in a harsh voice,
"You are under arrest by the United States Navy for suspicion of assisting in an act of genocide. Please come quietly."
Kharl doesn't argue or even try to fight. He simply faces them and holds out his hands. The metal monsters bind his hands with a pair of strange cuffs before another human ship appears, a small one with only enough room for a few dozen. Kharl is loaded onto a ramp that extends onto his balcony, and through the quickly closing doors, he watches his beloved vessel disappear...
Shipmaster Kharl sits down in the interrogation room chamber after having most of his mana drained by the human's strange technology. Normally, he would think this to be some sort of cruel punishment, but he knows full well that humans cannot survive around high concentrations of the stuff. Kharl, for the most part, is still aloof due to the trauma of his loss, but is slowly growing fearful of his situation. As he moves through the bland halls of one of their ships, he realizes he has no idea how humans treat prisoners. He knows they don't like slaves, but with their lack of care for honorable combat, what does that mean for honorable captivity?
The metal monsters gently escort Kharl into an unmarked room, and when the door opens, a wonderful scent fills his nose. The room is lit entirely, and in the middle is a table with the woman, Shariah, if Kharl remembers correctly, sitting there eating a strange meal. A second serving awaits on the opposite side from her, and she calmly says,
"Please sit down, Shipmaster. I apologize for having my meal right now. I haven't eaten all day. I had the cooks make you some too."
Despite having just eaten dinner, Kharl isn't one to turn down the opportunity to eat an alien meal, but the room does bother him slightly. All the walls are featureless, no pictures or anything, just bare metal with a slightly off-colored section in the middle of one of the walls. He sits down as his two escorts wait just outside the door. He picks up the single fork offered to him, and it feels strange in his grip. It's too light, but it feels incredibly sturdy. Testing it slightly, he squeezes it to bend it slightly, but it doesn't budge. Ignoring the strange utensil material, he takes a bite of the food.
It's a fried white-meat bird of some sort covered in a glaze full of flavors he has never tasted before. A mix of savory, sweet, sour, and with some slight kick on the back end. The bird meat sits on top of some kind of white grain that is soft between the teeth, with not much flavor, but it easily absorbs the glaze from the meat. He scarfs down this exquisite meal and asks the human woman,
"What is this delicious meal your chef has prepared for us called?"
She shrugs and responds,
"Well, the galley called it kung-pow chicken on white rice, but I'm not so sure about this sauce; it tastes far closer to sweet and sour with hot sauce and soy sauce added."
None of those words mean anything to the Shipmaster, but he understands that what he is eating is a cheap imitation of what it is supposed to be, but still, the complexity of the flavors and all the spices that had to be used mean even the cheap imitation must be quite special considering the humans are so far from home. He then states,
"Regardless, I've never had anything so... complex, my compliments to the officer's chef."
The woman shakes he head while chewing and after swallowing responds,
"We don't have chefs specific to officers. This is the meal for every single one of the sailors and marines on this vessel tonight. Take it or leave it."
The Shipmaster grumbles after being revealed he ate common food, but keeps it to himself because he doesn't wish to offend his captors. The last part confuses him though,
"Take it or leave it? Are you telling me something so highly spiced and flavorful would be rejected?"
Shariah nods and explains,
"Like I said, this is a cheap and low-quality dish that the cooks, for some reason, threw together instead of just using what they had already. To be honest, it tastes okay, needs some work, I think. I am also probably not the only one to think this way."
Kharl frowns but understands quickly what the diplomatic woman is doing. She is making sure that the Shipmaster fully knows he has no power here. Something as simple as a good meal, and either lying or telling the truth about how common and mundane it is, can show how rich, powerful, or important someone is. What she is attempting to get across to the Shipmaster is that, even so far away from home, they can have good and tasty food, to the point where one can complain about the quality.
Once again, Shipmaster Kharl is reading the humans wrong as Shariah truly hadn't eaten dinner yet and was hungry. That and her intention was to show how kind and generous humanity is, that and showing how awesome the USA is with its many cusines and other such things as she is still attempting to convince the Eternal Kingdom that much would be lost to assimilation, even though the person she is talking to now, currently no longer holds any noble title.
This has always been the issue since day-1 of human-alien relations. Each side saw some similar things about the other and assumed everything would be the same. Both sides tried to play political games that they understood, and knew worked, but situations like these, with unknown and alien cultural values and goals, are completely different, even though some of the most superficial aspects are familiar at a glance. Both sides are rational actors in the theater of politics, but only on their own stages.
Shipmasyer Kharl asks the diplomat woman,
"So it appears you all were lying when it came to wanting the planet you took."
Shariah shakes her head, her eyes going hard, and she explains,
"No, we do not care about our holdings in this part of space except for those that we constructed. What we are doing now that has resulted in your capture is a punitive action taken to arrest those responsible for crimes... well, we call them crimes against humanity, but we have reasonable legal justification to extend the conditions to sentient alien life as well.
To explain it simply, to answer your questions that are probably in your mind, these are crimes that do not require a surviving victim to be enforced or charged. Any crime of this type can have judgment passed by any nation at any time with proper legal justification and proof of the crimes being committed. All actions taken to arrest guilty individuals are not considered an act of war, and if one's native government does not turn the charged party over, any military actions are deemed just in order for this demand to be met.
You are being charged with assisting in a crime known as Genocide, specifically for religious reasons. While the religion you may have targeted was most likely rogue human actors' fault, it does not justify the attempted mass killing of an entire planet's populace."
Shipmaster Kharl goes through a long series of differing emotions before landing on incredulity and sending questions Shariah's way,
"So, how do your people deal with planets of non-believers and heretics? There cannot be a simpler way than just removing the problem. Is your nation so chaotic that you allow enemies to exist within your borders?"
Shariah shakes her head and answers him,
"No, we do not allow enemies, instead, we do not label those different than us in any aspect as an enemy. The only time we ever decide someone is an enemy is when they take up arms against us, or against others we are sworn to protect.
Our nation, the United States of America, is a nation of thousands of cultures, races, and religions. How we deal with these many differing opinions is through the best method we have found so far, rational discussion. Simply willing to discuss all differences calmly and with a proper understanding has solved many more problems than it has created. We have found that if a belief is wrong or dangerous in some manner, we do not oppress it, as we have found that to solidify any view like that. Instead, we give them the opportunity to see our side of things and explain why their way of thinking may be problematic for themselves or others. For the most part, when this type of discussion is done, it's not to eradicate the view or belief entirely, but to remove the dangerous aspects of that belief.
As an example, we once had a religion in our nation that came from a single planet. It was fairly similar to most other human religions, but they had a part of their faith that required them to end their own lives for what we consider the smallest of reasons. This belief was very important to their faith, and the only reason they hadn't killed themselves off entirely was because of their rules about having an obscene number of children. A big problem arose when these people would end themselves while working important jobs, as their religion considered it a kind gesture to help others end themselves as well.
In a past life, our nation would've attempted to ban this religion for the protection of those people and those around them. Instead, we learned that it only results in the religion changing from one of self-sacrifice that sometimes harms others, to a religion of zealous killings when they feel their faith is being challenged. We have documented proof of this happening before.
The United States solved this issue through a multi-year-long campaign of calm and collected debate. Leaders of different religions, psychologists, doctors, and all kinds of other experts on these types of issues were brought in for these debates. Through proper delicacy and discretion, we were able to convince them to shift their core beliefs slightly. The main one we sought was for them to no longer allow collateral deaths in their self-sacrificial rituals. This was able to happen becasue we were able to find common ground with them, which was shared religious roots with one of our major ones, we used this to help them understand that dying early is not a good thing for others, and they eventually understood that it was not Gods will for them to take others lives, based on their own scriptures, they just had never thought about the issue before we calmly explained it to them.
What I am trying to say is, we do not care for heavy-handed actions like the ones we were forced to do against your fleet. We want to solve things as peacefully as possible, but when crimes like the ones you committed happen, we have no other option than to act in a violent manner."
Kharl continues frowning but asks,
"Now, what do you want from me? Why bring me into this room?"
Shariah folds her hands and with a pretty smile says in a sing-song voice,
"We want some information out of you, and if you comply, we will see if your charges can be reduced... or if you give us enough evidence, possibly dropped."
Shipmaster Kharl is thrown off by the tone change but he asks the right question,
"What information do you need from me?"
Shariah parts her crimson lips, revealing her brilliantly cleaned, white teeth, and she asks with a tilt of her head,
"Where is the Inquisitor? And who else can be considered responsible for the crimes you are being charged with?"
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End of Operation Force Composition
2 New Mexico Class Light-Battleships- USS Navajo, USS Pueblo- Role: Heavy Firesupport and Mainline Combat
Marine Compliment- 20
1 Viking Class Large-Cruiser- USS Catfish- Role: Flagship and Fire Support
3 SF-21 Fighters- 6 support wingmen each
2 UD-12 Dropships- Gunship Configuration
Marine compliment- 100
2 Preist Class Support and Fabrication Vessels- USS Shovelnose, USS Palid- Role: Auxillary
Marine Compliment- 50
2 MacArthur Class Heavy Cruisers- USS Terrapin, USS Snapper- Role: Battleline
2 UD-12 Dropship
Marine Compliment -100
4 Bowman Class Missile Cruisers- USS Quillback, USS Hognose, USS Redhorse, USS Buffalo-Role: Long Range Combat
Marine Compliment- 100
4 Cutter Class Destroyers- USS Bluegill, USS Longear, USS Redear, USS Shellcracker- Role: Escort
Marine Compliment- 80
4 Teach Class Destroyers- USS Largemouth, USS Smallmouth, USS Spotted, USS Neosho- Role: Backline Disruption
Marine Compliment- 100
2 Hellstorm Class Frigates- USS Eel, USS Lamprey- Role: Naval Raiding
Marine Compliment- 50
1 Arsenal Bird Class Drone Carrier- USS Heron- Role: Drone Carrier
400 MQ-25 "Parasite" attack Drones
20 MQ-30 "Plover" Bomber Drones
Marine Compliment-25
6 Boohag Class Marine Transports- USS Bullfrog, USS Peeper, USS Daddys Belt, USS Toad, USS Newt, USS Salamander- Role: Marines
8 UD-12 Dropships- Gunship Configuration
1200 Marines
800 Shipbreakers
4 M3A1 "Stonewall" MBT
24 M8A3 "Gavin" IFVs
8 M112 MRTWP (Multi-role Transport Weapons Platform)
12 M8 "Bunny" Fast Attack/Recon Vehicles
4 Patton Class Army Transport Vessels (unnamed)- Role: Transport
1 Cavalry Division
1 Artillery Division
1 Engineer Division
1 Infantry Division
Total Force:
28 Capital Vessels
4 Troop Carriers
12 Dropships
3 Manned Fighters
420 Drone Fighters
2545 Marines (Including Shipbreakers)
48 Ground IFVs (Crews included)
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