The Practice War [Complete]

[Snowfire]

"Are you sure you'll be alright taking care of Arcadia?" You asked, for what had to be the millionth time if Mary's amused resignation was anything to go off of. You were both in the small sitting room which you'd transplanted almost directly from the Residence on Earth. A place for close friends, but mostly just family. It had been used several times over the last week, after you'd returned from the meeting aboard Prometheus.

"I think I'll appreciate the busyness," your friend said, one hand tracing the line of your blonde hair as you half-sat, half-lay on one of the wide sofas together. "With you and Iris both going up there this year," she shook her head. "It's going to be hard watching that, Mandy."

"It's going to be hard being there," you said, in a low voice. You'd both known that Iris was too much your shared child to ignore the conflict that lay ahead of you. But that had been different to realising that that moment was now here, or soon would be. "Even though I know she's going to be the safest person there," you shook your head.

"She's still our daughter," Mary finished, pulling you close for a moment. "And we don't want anything bad to happen to her."

"Yeah," you blinked a few times, but you weren't trying to hide how you felt. A few tears slipped down your cheeks, and Mary brushed them away very gently. "I know we've done everything we could, both for her, and everyone else. But I still can't help but worry. Battle is insanity and despite all the practice I've done," you shook your head, hard, "I still hate it."

"I know, Mandy," Mary said soothingly, and you didn't need to move to know the expression on her face. Calm resolution, above everything. You could feel the emotions beneath it, but she knew that, and you both knew you wouldn't comment. "We've been very lucky, to have all this time. But we knew this coming."

Neither of you added what you both wanted to. That you wished it could have come later. It would have been wasted breath, and you had only so much time left. At least this time, you had a proper date. Insight had improved. Not, you had to admit, that that was always a nice thing. Part of getting better meant more information, like what was coming.

"And all we could do was be ready to face it," you completed the words, a saying that had been popularised around the Second Battle of Sol, and was now experiencing an entirely predictable resurgence. "Do you think we are?"

"Mandy," your friend's voice was gently chiding, but also accepting, just as yours had been. "I hope so. But we've done all we can now. Nothing on Arcadia's roster could be completed in time for deployment by May, anyway. It's down to you now, and Lina."

"She's not going to make it easy for them," you stated, and felt Mary nod against your shoulder. "And no matter how much I don't like fighting when it's for real, neither will I."

"Of course you won't," Mary smiled with her voice. "You promised Iris and I that, because we all know that you can't promise anything more. And I'd never want you to lie to make me feel better."

"You will be as safe here as anywhere in the star system, though," you said, and you felt the vibration as she laughed gently.

"You know, Mandy, most people give their friends personal protective gear, or try to get them somewhere they know they'll be safest. They don't," her voice caught, despite her best efforts, "reinforce the defences of her current home with reality bullshit until they can withstand direct anything short of the planet cracking in two."

There was a moment of silence, a longer one, as you struggled a little to find the right words. "Well," you said at last, a bit of bluster in them, "some people aren't me!" You knew you sounded childish, and you didn't care in the least.

"True," Mary agreed. For what time remained, neither of your spoke, you didn't need to. Everything that needed said had been said, and you knew each other well enough to know what wouldn't be. This might be the end of a bright and wonderful time, yes, but it didn't have to be the end of that type of time. You wouldn't allow it. Not whilst you still drew breath. And Mary, you knew, would do everything in her power to help you realise that goal.

You'd be back again before the battle, but a highly intensive five months lay ahead of you. You kept goodbyes brief at the door, promised (again) to call, then extended your Aegis and streaked up into the Martian sky. You had work to do.

0 Research Actions
Mary is running Arcadia this year.

5 Minor Actions

[] Mother of Circles: Beyond returning to the Circles to learn and teach, there's also the opportunity to simply be part of them again. You never lost your place among them, you simply set it aside for a time. Now you can return to it if you wish, to grow and build.
[] Valkyries: The Two Twenty Three were the only force to emerge from the Second Battle of Sol intact, after facing the most lethal of the FSN's enemies in that fight. They brought down the Medicament, and faced Shiplords in direct combat aboard Calypso. Yet there is much that can still be done to temper the blade of the Unisonbound, and you are part of that weapon. With Third Sol swiftly approaching, even the smallest flaw could be fatal. None must be.
*New* [] Nexus: Before the Second Battle of Sol, you forged a nexus of power from your words that eventually granted you the strength to Speak Purify upon the Medicament that travelled with the Tribute Fleet. Now, Adriana has suggested you do so once again, for the battle to come.
*New* [] Worldheart: Humanity is far more stable and ready for this moment than it was for the Second Battle of Sol, but that doesn't mean entirely. Adding your voice to those working to maintain that stability might not be needed, but it would help in ways nothing else could.
[] Write-in

4 Personal Actions
Mentor not locked this round due to Third Battle of Sol.

[] Unison Training: Training with the entire Two Twenty Three is one thing, but you can get just as much personally out of dedicating time to work with your own small part of it. Vega, Kalilah and you represent three of the organisations most powerful members, and a high level of synchronicity between you will reflect on the rest even without full group training. Of course, combining the two will make that effect much stronger.
[] Bonds of Blood and Laughter: Although your sabbatical has ended, you won't be missing your friends or family as much as you did before. Lead Director of Arcadia is a big job, but it pales in comparison to the Presidency. Still, you could always make more time.
[] Mentor: When Iris found her first friends in Aya and her sister Nei, you had been glad. You'd not expected that, most of a decade later, you'd be teaching one of those friends how to understand and use her Focus. But what Aya might be able to do, once she does know those things, would make the effort worth it regardless. That it lets her be near to those she cares for, well…that's just a happy side-effect.
[] Lyrics of Fire: You can remember the melody of the song that rang in your mind in the moment you spoke Purify the first time, at the height of the Second Battle of Sol, but you cannot find the words. To Speak as you did then, or even surpass it, you must find not just the shape and feel and sound of humanity, but the music which makes it more than a civilisation of those who are simply living. [157/???]
[] Write-in

Due to limited time before the Second Battle of Sol, it will require 2 Actions to effectively match the output of 1 on a normal turn, and even that will operate with a small malus. Please note if you are assigning two actions to a task by line. For example:

[X] Plan Rainbow Paradise Blueray

Minor (5)
[] Nexus – 2 Action
[] Valkyries – 2 Actions
[] Mother of Circles

Personal (4)

[] Unison Training – 2 Actions
[] Bonds of Blood and Laughter
[] Lyrics of Fire

Click to shrink...

There will be a nine hour moratorium on this vote.​

 

[Snowfire]

May 22nd, 2130

Fifteen years of preparation after the last battle, bending the collected passion and genius of humanity to the task of finding a way to survive not just the Regular Fleet bearing down on you, but what would come next. The last five months had given you little time to consider what lay after this coming battle, but you'd seen traces of it in talking with the crews of the Unison Couriers you'd never realised Lina was building. You'd known that the Unisonbound would need to board ships to move around the system, if the battle became spread out as Lina had thought it might. But your assumption had been that the role would be filled as part of another ship's broader role, not that the 223 would get purpose-built couriers.

There were five of them in total, each equipped with one of the highly prized drives traded with the Contact Fleet for a deeper explanation of what Practice truly was. There was little more to the craft beyond that barring basic systems. Each ship could carry the full complement of the 223 in what you knew was relative comfort for a warship, and their primary defence was a stealth suite reverse-engineered from the Tombstone hull coating with help from Project Insight and their relative insignificance. Or more precisely, that had been their primary defence before the Unisonbound boarded the craft five months ago.

You'd intended to spend most of your time out there training with the FSN, preparing for what was coming. And you'd done that, too, whilst helping to teach the Unisonbound Auxiliaries how to best use the new strength they'd all acquired so recently. You'd hoped to be able to do the latter, and things had just gone well for the Two Twenty Three in the time you'd had.

Valkyries: 100 + 32 (Nat 100 rollover) + 36 = 168. Overwhelming Success. Nat 100 cancels time penalty for Valkyries and Unison Training.
Unison Training: 55 + 36 = 91. Solid Success.

Very well, in fact.

Lina had obviously expected you to make changes to your temporary homes, the ships had been designed with that in mind. Giving every one of them the endurance under fire of a full FSN capital ship, however, had not been. And Vega and the smattering of other Harmonials among the Unisonbound had bent their talents to the other defensive systems, seeking a result as close to pure harmony with one's surroundings as one could get in the stealth suite. It wasn't perfect by any stretch, but it was much more than they'd had before. Making more work for yourself after the battle, you'd thought ruefully, when Vega showed you the final results.

Training the new Unisonbound had gone far better than anyone had hoped, too. Although you weren't able to dedicate as much personal time to the matter as you'd hoped to, it didn't seem to matter. All older Potentials, well acquainted to the strengths of their Foci, the only real difficulties had been teaching them how to use the vastly increased capacity to act against the conditions of local reality; things like flight being the most common one. Many Potentials knew how to use suit systems to fly, but that was a different thing altogether to the sort of motion a Unisonbound could call upon.

From the reports you'd read the year before, as part of the nominal commander of the Two Twenty Three, you'd been worried about the new Unisonbound being able to join the battle, let alone survive it unaided. There'd been ways to handle that, of course, one of the original plans for the Two Twenty Three in the SBOS had been to keep them aboard ships and use their Practice to enhance or repair things. That wasn't going to be necessary now, though you might have preferred that it was. You knew intellectually that the unit that had been assembled since you'd worked out how to create Unison Platforms were in the same general ballpark as you'd been the last time you'd thought the Shiplords. But that had been against a Tribute Fleet. Regulars were an entirely different proposition.

Fortunately, you'd prevailed on them the need to act primarily as auxiliaries and support. The true line of battle engagements would be left to your unit. That still worried you; the Two Twenty Three had been inordinately lucky against the Tribute Fleet and that good fortune was unlikely to hold. At the same time, the Two Twenty Three were far, far more dangerous than they'd been then.

Filling the unit out had plugged holes you'd never even realised were there, and in the decade and a half since the Second Battle of Sol, nearly every member of the group had produced at least one Artefact. And then there were the Speakers of the unit. Not many of them, the technique wasn't for just any Potential. But you'd trained eight more Unisonbound of varying Foci since Mir. Including you and Vega, that made eleven Speakers, almost five percent of the unit. Given how important Speaking had been to victory in the Second Battle of Sol, you were confident that was going to matter.

(Unisonbound battle couriers highly upgraded, new Unisonbound trained fully for auxiliary roles in the battle to come, with enough focus placed on core skills to ensure survival. Every member of the 223 has reached Adept level competence.)

Of course, that wasn't the only thing that was going to matter, and you'd spent your fair share of days away from the FSN as it drilled and prepared for the battle bearing down on you. If there was one thing that your life had taught you, it was of the strength of a people united in purpose. It had not been skill that supplied the power which had unleashed Purify, after all. That had been the strength of billions behind you in that moment, strength you'd never have been given if the world hadn't been united. Humanity was going to need that power again.

Mother of Circles: 67 + 33 = 100/2 (Time Penalty) = 50. Success.
Worldheart: 55 + 33 = 88/2 (Time Penalty) = 44. Bare Success

There were downsides, it seemed, to having spent so long out of the public eye. You were still more than capable as a speaker, but some of the ease in how you'd faced those around you with awful truths had blunted itself. Part of that was simple time pressure, but there was another side to it. You wanted to protect the world for another, in a way you'd never felt before Iris. Nothing you did was exactly poor, and you did bring the people together, but it was less smooth than it had been before. Nothing to complain about, but you feel as if you could have done better.

(No appreciable effect on morale)

But the Circles are behind you. It would take far, far more than emotion to change that. With them, you have done all you can to prepare them for what's coming. Many of them were not old enough to understand the phenomenon which gripped humanity at the height of the Second Battle of Sol. Explaining that, and ensuring that people understand the commitment it represents, is an important part of your time. Looking at it honestly, it takes up more time that was spent on your speeches.

Nexus: 46 + 34 + 20 (Arsenal of Wisdom) = 100. Success

It's a difficult sacrifice to make. Morale has a place in battles, and making sure humanity was ready for the fight ahead isn't unimportant in the least. Survival though? That's vital. So most of your time is spent on this, bringing together a much larger consensus of power than you'd had when forging your latest Artefact. In the Second Battle of Sol, you'd kindled a spark and had it grow into a beacon, and all of it by accident. This time you knew what you were doing.

You didn't have much a yardstick to go off of, but you did remember the feel of nascent power as it had begun to gather ahead of the Second Battle of Sol. This…it wasn't stronger, but it was deeper in ways that you struggled to understand even now. Billions of people reaching into the well of power unevenly shared by humanity, to grant the fragments held by their souls to you. You still wondered if that trust was justified, but you were the only person who'd done this before. At least on this scale.

(+100 to Nexus Interface, ??? triggered.)

You only hope you can put it to use in a more controlled fashion than you had during the battle. You know, thanks to Phoebe and Project Insight that you will be taking the field against Medicament-class ships, as well as their larger cousins. The ships of a Regular Fleet are not so large as Collectors, but they are far more advanced, and numerous when deployed. Against that, you will need more than just power, but the ability to use it freely.

The key to which lies buried in your memory, out of reach last year, but there is a reason you dedicated as much time as you did to it this one. The song of power that had held your soul is not one you wish to replicate in full, but it will serve as a fine example to forge your own melody. You only need recover it. Not as simple as it sounds, no. But it's necessary.

Lyrics of Fire: 91 + 34 + 20 (Arsenal of Wisdom) = 145 - 20 (Time Penalty) = 125 + 157 = 282/275.

Necessity, some have said, is the mother of many things. Mostly invention, though, and here it proves so. Getting to the music itself this year is just an act of completion; it seems that you were most of the way there already. The main work this year was taking what you'd found and making it yours. And there you've succeeded. You will never like violence, or using your Focus aggressively. Sometimes, though, that's necessary. And now you'll be able to.

(Amanda Hawk gains trait: Healer's Edge)

Through all that, and you managed somehow not to be totally absorbed by your work. You fought for every hour and minute of freedom to be with your family before the battle, some of whom would be there with you. At least Iris has promised to stick to infospace combat with Vision and Marcus' teams…unless absolutely necessary. You weren't happy about that caveat, but you also could tell a losing proposition when you saw one.

Still, she's not treating this with any overconfidence. She's nervous as anyone who's never truly fought for their life is before battle; you were like this before the Second Battle of Sol. And that, it makes you glad. Because it means that she will be careful. That absolutely necessary will mean that. You're not sure you could have handled her being on the battlefield in any other circumstance, though she will be on it in her avatar. Aboard Lina's command ship, of all places. A little strange, but there's symmetry there too, considering your presence on it in humanity's last engagement with the Shiplords.

The entire FTL capable FSN, along with escorts, has been placed around the edge of the SEZ. When the Shiplords arrive, they will be ready. Response groups lie within, anchored around Mars and Earth, each bristling with their own orbital defences, supplemented by the true Orbitals. The Third Battle of Sol isn't going to be the same, grinding affair as the Second, but a war far more in line with battles as the Contact Fleet's races know them. And in those, initiative lies with the defender. As advantages go, it's not the greatest – initiative can always be turned against you if your enemy has reserves you don't know about. But Lina will take every advantage humanity can get, and so will you.

You can only hope that it will be enough.

 

[Snowfire]

Insight had continued to narrow down the exact time of arrival of the Shiplord fleet as the months had brought the day ever closer. They'd had little success in confirming where the Regular Fleet was going to jump to, as apparently that was chosen just before the jump was made. But timing? That they could do, and had continued to do as the days ticked down. They'd managed to narrow it down to a specific set of minutes in their last Thoughtcast, placing the arrival of your foes within a fifteen minute window, just after three in the afternoon.

And yet even with that, perhaps even because of it, there was a moment of very human surprise when the Regular Fleet flashed into reality at the edge of the Sol system. After seeing the ponderous mass of a Tribute Fleet, the flickering tide of lethal warships that made up a detachment from the Shiplord Regulars was odd to say the least. Maybe that too added to the moment, no matter the intelligence reports that had been distributed across the Fleet. The pause was tiny, really, so brief as to be invisible to most of humanity, and insignificant to almost all of the rest. The sort of momentary lack of response that even the best training in existence can't erase.

Shiplord cyberwarfare had learnt to prepare for it across literally millions of years.

Shiplord Cyberstrike Timing: 34 + 56 + 10 (Practiced Leadership) + 20 (Neural Accelerators) + 10 (Forewarned is Forearmed) vs 59 + 80 + 20 (A Thousand Times Before) + 40 (Synchronisation) = 130 vs 199. Major Failure. Ministry of Security response too late.

They timed their strike perfectly.

Shiplord Cyberstrike: 28 + 80 + 20 (A Thousand Times Before) + 40 (Synchronisation) + 20 (In the Gap) = 188 vs DC 120

And yet, they erred.

The Shiplords had AI technology, you knew this: it was one of the several powerful tools available to them that the other races of the galaxy couldn't match. It was, you suspected, part of why the Second Secret was so forbidden. Not even Potentials could act as swiftly as an AI, even a Unisonbound struggled when placed against a being whose thoughts could now move faster than light. And though the Shiplords might have many in their fleet, they could never have expected you to have your own. And surprise tells.

As the Shiplord strikes lashed out for any open connection they could find, the first intelligent creation of humanity since the Sorrows gathered herself around humanity's infosphere, forming the same invisible wall that had held it so steadfastly against the Tribute Fleet fifteen years before. She'd done so with the help of a Potential then, but a lot had changed since 2115.

The Shiplord assault faltered as Vision slammed shut every connection she could in a flickering instant. The pressure on the ones left which she couldn't close spiked almost instantly, but it won her a precious moment of her own, to solidify her own defences in response to what the fractional moment of contact had given away. That wasn't Vision's primary focus, but she logged the data nonetheless. And as the Shiplord AI's pressed their assault, they discovered the most important thing that had changed since humanity had last faced them.

Vision wasn't the only one of her kind anymore. She wasn't fighting alone.

AI Interrupt: 58 + 86 + 30 (C+ Processing) + 15 (Would You Like to Play a Game?) + 20 (Swifter than Thought) + 30 (In Unison) = 239 vs 188. Solid Success.

The image of a young blunette stood beside her in the infospace, hair rippling into crimson at its tips. She wasn't truly there, but then, neither was Vision. The infospace was a useful abstraction, but it was also just that. So just as neither Vision nor Iris were truly real in that image, the latter striking forward into a tide of brilliant light, neither were the three hundred and more faint presences that gathered around the pair of AI, absorbing any more overt assaults.

The invisible walls of humanity's network bent and strained, swiftly sealed gates buckling under the weight of eons of terrible skill. Neither Vision nor Iris could hold a candle to that experience, yet near enough as to be all of it had been won against beings who were not AIs, no matter how potent their augmentations. On this field, against these opponents, that expertise held far less weight.

So when Iris struck back against the Regular Fleet's AIs, in a pause so small that only another AI would have been able to see it, the strike sent them reeling. The pressure on Vision dropped as the Shiplord AIs turned their attention to this newcomer, but she didn't give them that chance. In a move that gave you nightmares for years to come, Iris dove straight through the very heart of the Shiplord's attack.

She didn't even try to fight them head-on - engaging in a straight up brawl against dozens of equal opponents would have been suicide. Instead, she used the total surprise radiating out from her sudden appearance, and sliced deep into the the Regular Fleet's datanet. A ripple went through the Shiplord fleet as systems suddenly screamed intrusion warnings, its entire AI network abandoning their attempts to break into humanity's infospace as Iris rampaged into the very core of Regular Fleet's overarching network.

Much later, she'd explain the decision she'd made in terms of maximum effect for minimum risk. She knew that Insight had a full listing of the fleet, and a great deal of detail on what the ships arrayed against them could do. She also knew that there was precious little she could do that would be permanent on the scale of the full engagement. Striking the datanet would be repaired too quickly. It might win Lina a brief opening window, but nothing more. Going after targeting algorithms or drone links would certainly have helped in small ways, throughout the battle, but only in small ways. To win this fight, as everyone prayed it could be won, humanity needed more than that.

She couldn't access any primary self-destruct systems, those were locked out from AI control. But the secondaries…

Counterstroke: 100 + 87 (Natural 100 rollover) + 52 + 30 (C+ Processing) + 15 (Would You Like to Play a Game?) + 20 (All Out Aggression) vs 30 + 80 + 20 (A Thousand Times Before) + 40 (Synchronisation) = 304 vs 170. Overwhelming Success.

Atmosphere and brilliant spurts of fire bloomed suddenly from hundreds of ships across the Regular Fleet, the first thing every human in the star system truly saw of them, as sixty five percent of their courier drone inventory self-destructed in a rolling wave of barely-controlled internal detonations.

---

You were a little too busy to take that into account right then, though, as the ghostlike presence which had been building around you for almost half a year stopped hiding. The Web contracted, music kindling between its strands as power rushed down them, the metaphysical response to billions of souls turning their hopes to you. You caught it simply enough, as you'd done during your last battle against the Shiplords, but now you knew what you had to do to use it properly.

Power flickered around your hands, silver and aquamarine running like luminous water between gloved fingers, each breath pulling more of it into the Aegis wrapped around you. Vega was already dropping into a half-Trance, a wreath of white and gentle blues glowing soothingly upon her brow as she brought the FSN together. She synchronized their motions as ship after ship dropped away from the armoured gantries which held them, combat systems racing to full readiness. The rest of your Heartcircle was there with you, the veterans standing calmly whilst Mir did his best not to fret. You'd done everything you could to prepare him for this, but the reality of what you and Vega could do was still something he'd only read about.

He looked up sharply as you sang a gentle note out into the Web, Vega's harmonics spinning it 'louder' across the construct like a metaphysical amplifier, and you shivered as the Web answered. It sang its own notes back, a melody of war and sorrow and hope, all woven together to form a chorus wishing of bloodless victory. That alone couldn't make it real, and you knew that no matter how hard you tried, there would be human lives lost today. But with this, you would be able to save as many as you could.

A look at the screens through Sidra showed you that the Shiplord vessels were pausing in place, swiftly rearranging their formations as drone craft spilled forth to wrap them in layers of the entirely disposable craft. Not dangerous to threaten you, but they'd be unpleasant at best for Fighter Command. But they'd trained for this, and every single one of them was a volunteer, just like the rest of you.

Hundreds of ships streamed towards the edge of the Stellar Exclusion Zone, as the FSN's First Fleet, Mobile Forces, started to come together. It was a force near enough to match that which the Regulars had brought to face you, but this was just the beginning. You couldn't match the Regular Fleet's numbers in FTL capable craft, but Lina had never planned to – there'd never been enough drives for that.

But you could still go out to meet them, and the opening you'd later find that your daughter had given you wasn't one she was willing to just throw away. Lina's voice slashed across the net, cutting further thoughts away.

"First Fleet, prepare for close range engagement with the Shiplord forces. Tactical packets are going out now. Launch all limpet craft the moment we stabilise from the jump." An idea taken from the Collectors, which had carried their auxiliary craft to the battlefield, limpet craft were highly specialised support craft designed to 'ride' FSN capital ships into the heart of battle before deploying. They lacked FTL drives, but they'd been designed for a role that wouldn't require them. It was a calculated risk, as if a fleet had to reposition quickly, the limpet craft might be left behind to die. But it was a necessary one, too, given the numerical superiority of your foe in the outer system and the considerable body of desire to keep them there instead of letting them into the SEZ.

Lina had been a firm supporter of that, too. Just one courier drone with good scans of the inner system could be far more dangerous to humanity than dozens taken from the outer system.

:Amanda: Lina spoke directly through her implants to Sidra, entirely bypassing the need for ears. :You're going in with us. We're going with Case Samson, which leaves your target options open.:

:Understood,: you replied. You didn't like it, but you'd expected it, and were already considering your options. Case Samson had been designed in the event that the Shiplords focused on their heavier assets and droneship support, and as Lina said, left your options mostly open. But it was your choice to make, now, and depending on what the Shiplords brought in next, the wrong choice could cost a great many lives.

Samson also instituted a hold on the use of Words until released by one of a select set of circumstances, or Lina herself. You knew why Samson had been a primary plan, it held back a lot of your strengths in the hopes of a sucker punch. But getting that sucker punch placed properly would mean the sacrifice of hundreds of human lives. Necessary sacrifices perhaps, in the grand scale of things, but given your Focus? No sacrifice like that was ever acceptable, no matter how necessary it might be.

Even with Samson' restriction, though, you had options. The question was which was the right one.

Spoiler

The Two Twenty Three are being deployed alongside the FSN's First Fleet against the initial strike force from the Regular Fleet. The Shiplord attack force has been heavily skewed towards heavy assets and the larger droneship carriers of the Regulars, which have deployed a full shell of drone craft as the initial force reforms following the damage inflicted by Iris. Such damage is essentially minimal in terms of its effect on any ship's direct combat capacity, but the specific phrasing is very deliberate.

Going off of the fleet list obtained by Project Insight, several more task forces will remain after this, though none so heavily skewed towards capital class vessels.

Which section of the Shiplord assault force should the Two Twenty Three focus on?

[] Sweep the Field: Work with Fighter Command to clear the drone forces. The Two Twenty Three are uniquely suited for this work, given their speed, firepower and sheer durability, and this would allow FSN escort forces to get to grips with the Shiplord drone carriers – or at least severely restrict their launch vectors. Would also allow Fighter Command to launch anti-shipping strikes against the Shiplord capital craft, and would prevent the Shiplords from doing the same to First Fleet.
[] Burn the Barns: Ignore the drone forces themselves, leaving them to Fighter Command. Instead, strike directly at the Shiplord carriers and seek to remove a considerable portion of heavy launch assets from the Regular Fleet right now. Although the drones currently launched will default to hunter-killer programming, their effectiveness will be lessened without the direction of their motherships. Could effectively remove Shiplord drone forces from the battlefield entirely until more droneship carriers are brought in.
[] Dread-Naught: Fighter Command and First Fleet's escorts were designed to deal with drone forces. Go for the heavy assets of the Shiplord assault, with the aim of removing their most powerful singular assets from the field. A clean sweep will be impossible without the use of Speaking, but the Two Twenty Three can inflict significant damage on their own.
[] Red Crossed: The heavier ships are just a distraction, though a potent one, for the ships that truly make a Regular Fleet dangerous. The Unisonbound are fast in a way no vessel can match, use that to track down the Regular Fleet repair and support ships and destroy them. Successful removal of these assets will lead to far more Shiplord vessels destroyed outright before more support craft are brought. Does, however, risk the possibility of reaction shock if Amanda gets too close to a Medicament-class or one of its analogues.
[] Write-in

 

[Snowfire]

The moment stretched, then stretched again, pushing Sidra's ability to accelerate your thought processes to its very limit as you ran through the possibilities available to you, all coming down to a very simple question: who did you shoot first? The repair ships were an obvious target, and one you knew you could get to despite the Shiplord drone shell. Yet could you trust yourself to do so without your Focus forcing you to act against them with all of your strength, not just what Samson limited you to? You'd learnt a great deal of control since the Second Battle of Sol, but you'd thought you'd done so before that battle, too. Could you risk it?

:It's too big a risk, isn't it,: you thought to Sidra, your only companion in the depths of perceptual acceleration so deep that none of your Heartcircle had joined you yet. :Purify, what led to it, we can't let that happen here. Hopefully not at all, but certainly not now.:

:If not them,: Sidra replied calmly, their tone every so faintly approving, :then what? Whilst we could certainly strike at their capital strength,: they began.

:It would be foolish too,: you finished, a mental nod and rush of thanks slipping between the two of you. :The carriers then, or their drones. Which would allow Lina's ships to act most freely?: Scenarios flickered across the shared space, and you felt the others of your Heartcircle join you around them, playing out possibilities. It was only a fraction of what you'd have liked, but you didn't have time for them all before the jump.

:Elil?: The name of the one Insight Focused among your Heartcircle, the single word all the questions he'd need. His answer came with only the barest of pauses.

:Fighter Command will benefit more from removing the drones.: There was no uncertainty in his statement. :And point defence won't have to split its attention between missiles and drones.:

:My assessment as well,: Kalilah added her thoughts to the consensus of command among the Two Twenty Three, before you could ask it.

:And,: Mir paused a moment, collecting thoughts that had never faced battle before. :It's the choice that will hide our true capabilities best, as Case Samson directs.:

:True enough,: Kalilah's comment came with the presence of a nod and an approving smile.

Lea said nothing, her presence simply supportive of whatever decision you might make, whilst Vega… Vega would bring you together, all of you, to best execute whatever strategy you chose. But she would not be involved in the choosing; her attention was bound too tightly to the tightening weave of purpose spinning across the entire star system.

:Their drones, then,: you confirmed, and your perceptual acceleration fell back to that of Lina's, and you repeated your decision to her, prompting a sigh of relief you felt despite the very best of attempts to conceal it. :We'll launch the moment the courier translates; hit the drones as fast as we can.:

:You've made my FCO very happy,: Lina sent back most of a minute later, as you approached the edge of the SEZ with First Fleet. :And we'll use the space you give us.: There was something hungry behind those words, like a cat ready to pounce.

:We know,: and you did. Lina was perhaps the most brilliant tactical mind of her generation, and her command of the FSN during Second Sol had been nothing short of inspired. She'd held that fleet together, and emerged from the fires of that battle stronger for its trials. If there was anyone you'd trust most to take advantage of the opportunity you were about to give First Fleet, it was her. :Good luck.:

:Forty seconds,: came the reply, and the connection cut a moment later. It wasn't a lack of courtesy, just the need to focus as First Fleet came together at the edge of the Stellar Exclusion Zone in preparation to jump. This was the moment where it was most likely for another strike group to jump in on top of you, though the line of battle you had thanks to Insight made that very unlikely.

The Two Twenty Three were ready, each Heartcircle gathered in preparation for launch the moment you jumped, and they all understood the plan. That hadn't even required words; the links between you all were strong enough for simple intent to be sufficient. None of it had taken long, so now you all stood ready, gathering your strength in a hundred different ways for the fight ahead. And for you, that was rather more literal than the rest of the unit. The gathering of power you'd built with the Circles was beginning to stir, pulses of brilliant energy flowing out across your being at every one of its endless levels. Silver and turquoise shone and sang together, the colours of your Aegis brightening steadily, yet keeping their colour.

:Are you able to understand it yet?: You asked Sidra as the seconds ticked down.

:Almost, I think,: the Unison Intelligence's reply was given only through rapt focus on the Artefact which had been integrated with your Aegis in its moment of creation, and yet had resisted any attempts to access it until this moment. :It's not just power, Mandy. There's more to it, just as we'd planned for.:

Hoped, really, if you were truthful. The working you'd built into Sidra's housing had been far too complex to just be power, but it had also been the first one of its kind. Without the ability to test it properly, there'd always been a worry that it might prove less than you'd built it to be. Fortunately, it seemed that was no longer the case.

:Jump activation in ten, nine,: an artificial tone began counting down the final seconds, painfully slowly to your accelerated senses, but you didn't want to leave any of this to chance. Most of the unity was doing so, but as a commander you had a different duty.

:Six, five,: Something shifted in the Shiplord formation. Not the larger craft, but the drones around them. Those patterns tightened, layer upon layer of drones forming an almost solid wall from their hulls. The movements of First Fleet couldn't be hidden, and they had to recognise what was coming. Iris' assault on their systems must have made it very clear that they were facing a hostile polity, but if so…

Where are the rest of them? You thought, in the relative privacy of your shared thoughts with Sidra. There had been enough time to bring more in, and surely they had to be considering it. But then, they didn't know you knew about the other ships. So they were trying to lure First Fleet out, snarl it up in swarms of drones and heavily armoured firepower. But then what?

:Is that really the most pressing concern for you, Mandy?: Sidra sighed, their tone resigned to the reality that you'd still worry about it, but attempting to get you back on task regardless as the countdown ticked past three.

:No,: you admitted. :I guess it isn't.: Your right hand rose, tracing the shape of a staff, and radiant light poured into the empty space, turning the image in your mind into something real. You raised your voice, sending it out through the links between the Two Twenty Three, calling them together, to battle, to life. All that, in three words. :Here we go.:

The countdown hit zero and, for a single perfect instant, the world around you vanished. There was no way to describe it, no way to explain it. For a single perfect moment, you were somewhere else, before a field of endless stars, their light reflected into the shape of a towering gallery. But only for a moment, even with your perceptual acceleration at its highest. And you were left no time to try and form thoughts on the matter, as First Fleet burst back into reality right at the edge of its weapons range.

:Go!: Kalilah's voice snapped across the Unisonbound net, and your body moved without direction from your mind. No time to consider what you'd just seen, you stuffed it away for now, bringing your focus back to the battle erupting across the reality before you.

The limpet craft were already in motion, automatic launch commands having broken the links to their motherships the instant the fleet had exited jump, and a veritable swarm of fighter craft was already joining them. The bounty of a breakneck development cycle led by experts from Fighter Command, to build a craft capable of matching the drone craft of a Regular fleet. The data had looked good, but this was the first true test for them. That could be said for the entire fleet, though, at least on a hardware level.

And as you wove between the sleek shapes of that fleet, their targeting systems reaching out to confirm locks on targets decided before jump, you saw more than just the materiel. More than just almost a thousand of the most advanced warships humanity had ever built, a beautiful spearhead tipped by the nine three-kilometre long behemoths of Lina's command squadron. You saw the crackling power fuelling their systems, the steady presence of their shields, and beneath that, the absolute willingness to defy those who had come to judge your race.

Opposed Tactics: 12, 95 + 30 (Martial) + 20 (Web of Unity) + 20 (Void Mistress) + 10 (Harmonics) vs 70 + 45 (Martial) + 20 (Synchronisation) + 20 (Eldest Tradition) + 10 (Electronic Superiority) Nullified by Harmonics = 175 vs 155. Success

And then the vessels of that defiance spoke, heaping their fury upon an enemy who could not possibly have known how close to parity humanity had truly become. The empty, quiet space between the two fleets vanished into a howling maelstrom of crisscrossing weapons fire, and the Two Twenty Three dove into it without fear. As they had trusted in the paths of Insight twinned with Harmony in the Second Battle of Sol, so they did so again. And this time, you and Vega were there with them.

You crossed the rapidly shrinking no-man's-land in a pair of howling instants, the short distance a result of Lina's willingness to engage the Regular Fleet attack group in close quarters with the Two Twenty Three supporting her. First Fleet was the only FSN force that could do this, but if Insight was right, it was the only one that would have to. Humanity's forces were outnumbered here, but that was only if you looked at ship counts. Unisonbound weren't ships, and the real edge that this group had in terms of numbers was assault carriers. Dangerous opponents on their own against smaller warships, yes, but their real combat power was in their drones.

The Two Twenty Three had had fifteen years to train since their first battle. Fifteen years to hone the edge of your united Practice into a weapon without peer in all the galaxy. Case Samson restricted the full use of that weapon, but against what you'd chosen as its target, that didn't matter in the least.

Four hundred and forty six souls dived into the seething mass of drones wrapped around the Shiplord fleet, following the invisible guidance of a score of Foci acting as one. You hit by Heartcircle, brought together in the instant before contact, and light of every colour and more erupted from those impact points. Rings of prismatic fury pulsed out from Heartcircles of the Two Twenty Three, scattered along the flank of the Shiplord fleet, and at their touch the curtain of droneships ignited like tinder put to flame.

This was the other side of the coin that had been deployed with such brilliant success in the Second Battle of Sol. Against Collectors and the Medicament, they'd needed to focus their strikes into highly directed bursts. Here, there was no such need, and for all that the Shiplord drones here were many, their individual strength was insignificant when compared to those ships shattered by the Unisonbound fifteen years ago.

Don't Fear the Reaper: Greater Success
I'm not even going to bother showing this roll. You had an edge in modifiers of more than a hundred. The only reason I even rolled was to see if you got a critfail or nat 100.

Pitted against that sort of power, there was no defence. Armoured chassis blew apart in a rolling wave of silent thunder, the blast waves merging as they rolled across the formation of deadly automatons like a living thing. Only shattered wreckage remained when the fire died, lack of fuel the cause, and a full missile launch from the Shiplord warships went with it, the munitions overloaded by the devastation unleashed by the Two Twenty Three against humanity's foes.

It was a truly effective way of making the Two Twenty Three a target, too, but you'd planned for that. And what you'd just done, whilst flashy, was actually a relatively low energy expenditure compared to many of the other options in your playbook. Those wielding weapons stepped back from the fore, taking a moment to recharge as drones started to boil from the carrier craft. Far more immediate, though, was the weapons fire that lanced out at every Heartcircle. Those like you rose to face it.

You swept your staff in a broad arc, and a wall of fierce, aquamarine light filled the space along its course, shedding the fire of dozens of Shiplord craft like rain on a rooftop. Point defence fire only, you realised a moment later, though you could feel other weapons retargeting onto you through Sidra. But you'd never started without a plan; the Two Twenty Three had built a doctrine around the destruction of Shiplord fighter assets. Now you implemented it.

The Heartcircles abandoned their placements across the breadth of the Shiplord flank as the vanguard of Fighter Command's first strikes finally reached the shell of dead drones, angling deeper into the Shiplord formation. There was no time to shepherd those strikes, to protect them, and you tried not to think about what every sudden flare of light in that onrushing wave meant. Time enough for that later, once humanity was safe again. Flickers of Practice light trailed your rush into the Shiplord formation, seeking the carriers. Not to destroy them, that you would leave to Fighter Command, but to leave them toothless.

It didn't matter how many ships they poured out into the void, not if you could kill them all before they reached engagement range. The Two Twenty Three fell into an intricate dance, panels of defensive energy flashing up to protect, bursts of lethal power racing inwards to wipe away any attempt to restore drone cover. And unless the Shiplord fleet focused its main armaments on you, thereby choosing to ignore the FSN capital ships bearing down on them, you could stay here endlessly, by the standards of battle.

Red-gold and brilliant white flared across the stars around you, as Fighter Command found their own targets, and the larger ships of the FSN added their own fire to the inferno, stoking it higher and higher as Lina sought to wipe the entire first assault group from existence before they could receive reinforcements. As plans went, it was a worthy attempt, but ultimately doomed to failure as all involved had surely known. Which was why she didn't focus the efforts of her fleet on securing kills, but on knocking out enough of a ship's systems to render their FTL drives inoperable. And she knew, better than any being who'd ever faced a Regular Fleet, how those fleets fought.

Which is why it came as a surprise to absolutely no one when a second wave of Shiplord craft flickered into being, a wave of heavy escorts around the carriers to counter your actions, and a veritable wolfpack of Regular Fleet cruisers to tip the balance of power against First Fleet's capital spearhead. Energy weapon fire poured from the escorts that had appeared around you, and the wild dance intensified, the paths of your actions weaving together with blinding speed. It wasn't a struggle to keep up with it, yet, but the Shiplord commander had chosen the right counter to your actions.

A gestalt raced out to Lina, even as you batted aside a flurry of particularly accurate fire aimed at another Heartcircle, their defenders focused in that instant on more lethal matters. Thanks surged for a moment from that Heartcircle, but you paid it no mind. No injuries so far, that was good. But if you stayed here like this, it wouldn't last.

In the wider battle, things were progressing well, though not as well as you'd hoped. The initial fighter strike had failed to prove decisive, even with the close quarters support from Lina's dreadnoughts. As you'd hoped, she'd sent them after the repair ships, but there were still enough left to maintain a rotating capital formation. It was bleeding steadily, but again, not decisive.

Beyond this engagement, another group had entered the system, dropping into reality around the orbit of Saturn. The Third and Fourth mobile response fleets were preparing to engage it, but Lina was holding back the Second, clearly wary of an attempted strike on the core worlds, within the SEZ.

So far? So good. But Case Samson's optimal projections were built around the Regulars having committed the entirety of their combat forces before the restriction on Speaking was lifted. There were various ways the Unisonbound could contribute to that, but it was up to Lina what form that would take. Her response reached you a moment after you completed that thought.

:Core Foundations.: The command was as you'd expected. The two words dictated Unisonbound strategy on multiple levels, most directly how you were allowed to respond and what you were meant to assault. Core meant that the central tenets of Samson remained in effect, no esoteric Practice use. Foundations meant to keep hitting the support, and leave the slugfest to the FSN. Though by modern standards, the cruiser flotillas that had been brought in could technically classify as support.

Spoiler

First Fleet has engaged the Shiplord Regular Force as intended, with the Two Twenty Three summarily executing the entire enemy drone force before they could fire a shot. In response to this, and the tactics adopted by First Fleet in their engagement, the Regulars have brought in further forces to this fight.

An additional strike group has entered Sol near the orbit of Jupiter, and the Third and Fourth Fleets of the FSN's mobile forces are preparing to engage. According to the order of battle obtained by Insight, roughly 35% of Regular Fleet is now either engaged, or about to be. Only one mobile Fleet remains undeployed, standing by to either support First Fleet or harass any assault against humanity's core worlds.

First Fleet is holding at 90% combat readiness, against a 25% larger Regulars Force, currently operating at a combined combat readiness of 83%. Note that this combined readiness includes the newly added task groups.

The Two Twenty Three have inflicted significant logistical strain on the assault carrier mass reserves for a negligible reduction in combat capacity, but are now under heavy fire from escort groups. Case Samson remains in effect, restricting the unit to more conventional combat tactics. As of this point, the Two Twenty Three's combat readiness is at a firm minimum of 94%

Taking into account Lina's orders, the options facing the unit are as follows:

[] Hold the Course: The damage so far is relatively light, and though it will climb steadily, it is of more use to First Fleet for the Unisonbound to remain in position, despite the significantly increased escort presence.
[] Reap the Whirlwind: These escort groups are not a problem now, but they could become a significant one if simply ignored. Detail several Heartcircles to reducing the new escort groups, reducing pressure on the Two Twenty Three in exchange for allowing some drones to escape. Broader effect on the battlefield should be minimal.
[] A Lance of Fire: The carriers have been rendered temporarily impotent, now is the time to make that status permanent. The escorts can wait, but if you let these carriers go, they'll only fall back to rebuild the Regular force's drone shell.
[] Fall, The Guardians: Enough of this. The staying power of the carriers has been degraded sufficiently. There are still support ships that remain, and the Shiplords have not brought in additional ones yet. A risky move, perhaps, but if you can force another Shiplord group into combat here, it will make your first Words all the more deadly.
[] Write-in

 

[Snowfire]

It was the work of an instant to update Lina on your plans, a simple gestalt transmission across the lesser web held between the Two Twenty Three and her command ship. Cutting through the Shiplord jamming was still proving more than the FSN's EWAR suites could handle alone. Fortunately, they were not. Harmony stretched between the ships of humanity, between mind and souls and metal, unifying action into a single purpose. Vega shone at the centre of the greater Web, the light of her soul spinning its threads together around her circlet. To break it, one would have to assault the web itself, and nothing the Shiplords had could do that.

Core foundations, you'd been told. There were three escort groups raining fire down on you, but that was only three, and you had the manpower to handle that whilst keeping your cordon against drone launches strong. You could do that.

Your decision flashed out through the Two Twenty Three, and five Heartcircles dropped away from the blurring formation of Unisonbound around the Shiplord carriers. Light condensed around them as they switched to more focused attack forms on the move, the fruits of a decade and a half of labour unfurling with all the easy beauty of a blossoming flower. Two hundred and twenty-three bodies, twice that many souls, and every one of you united. The Shiplords had learnt to merge with their machines in battle, or so you believed. But that could only go so far, and you could not believe that they possessed the same depth of connection the Unisonbound shared.

Point defence fire shifted to the detached Heartcircles as they angled in on their targets, and pain flashing through your links for a moment as one among the larger Heartcircle took the combined fire of an entire task force to the shoulder. Yet it was only for a moment, until one of the Menders of that group reached them. Energy rippled between the two, the essence of healing made manifest, and pain vanished as the injury responsible for it ceased to be. A few other injuries flared amongst the other groups as they closed, forced into steadily narrowing vectors to do so as swiftly as possible, but none were worse than the first. Menders made short work of them, though you had to keep an eye on that. There was a limit to what you and the other Menders could recover, just as there was a limit to destructive output.

Not something you had to worry about right now, but equally not something you could afford to ignore. In front of you, a few drones were making it through the webwork of weapons fire and discordant bursts of manifested energy. But it was only a few, a handful really. Fighter Command would swat them aside with ease. You should make sure, though. The Two Twenty Three were Lina's most potent ace in the hole, and keeping up with the broader battle was easy with your perceptual acceleration. You reached out, linking into the battlenet of Lina's command ship, absorbing the new tactical situation.

First Fleet: 63 + 30 (Martial) + 20 (Web of Unity) + 20 (Void Mistress) + 15 (Harmonics) + 10 Fighter Supremacy vs 65 + 45 (Martial) + 20 (Synchronisation) + 20 (First Traditions) + 10 (Electronic Superiority) Nullified by Harmonics = 158 vs 150. Bare Success

Here among the heavier force of Regulars, First Fleet was starting to pay for its charge straight into close quarters combat. It was still holding cohesion against the larger Shiplord force, and Fighter Command's complete dominance of the battlespace thanks to your actions was steadily chipping away at their logistics wing. At the same time, however, Lina was being forced to rotate her heavier ships out of high intensity combat faster than had been planned. Right now, it wasn't a real problem, but if the trend continued it would open holes in First Fleet's formation that the Regulars would be only too happy to capitalise on.

In some ways that was a good thing, it would make the Regulars more likely to send reinforcements into the Two Twenty Three's engagement range in the hopes of finishing First Fleet off. But it also was a legitimate concern. If the Regulars could commit everything to that attack, at the right moment, nothing you could do would be enough to prevent massive casualties. Words took time to Speak, after all. But for now, at least, Lina was holding. Her attack had shifted into a holding action, one that was beginning to tip in favour of the enemy, but nothing was certain yet.

Not as good as you'd hoped, but about what you'd expected. At least no reinforcements had entered the local battlespace yet. Thought if not here, where were they? You turned your attention to the other Regular Fleet group currently present, that the Third and Fourth Fleets had jumped to engage, and your eyes went wide with shock.

Third and Fourth Fleet: 100 + 95 (Nat 100 rollover) + 24 (Martial) + 20 (Web of Unity) + 15 (Harmonics) vs 28 + 45 (Martial) + 20 (Synchronisation) + 20 (First Traditions) + 10 (Electronic Superiority) = 252 vs 123. Overwhelming Success.

On the strategic display you had access to, an entirely new Shiplord force was joining the fray, trying to stop the situation from degrading further from bad to catastrophic. You didn't know how the FSN admirals had done it so perfectly, but they'd brought their forces out of FTL right on top of the second Regular assault fleet, angled so that all of their weapons could crossfire the enemy without any risk of conflicting each other. They'd focused all their fire on their target's comparatively fewer capital ships, and the results had been brutal.

A full two thirds of that assault group's capital ships had been completely wiped out in that first firing pass, and the two human fleets hadn't faltered. With a decisive edge in heavy assets, they'd closed into knife range through a hail of Shiplord fire like sharks scenting blood. Lacking the direct presence of Vega among them, their own EWAR suites hadn't been able to keep up, but that had hardly mattered. With the capital assets largely destroyed, the two fleets defaulted to tactics specifically built for such situations. Lighter task forces took their cues from pre-assigned battlegroups, concentrating fire without the need for functional comms. By the time the second Regular force entered the field, almost half of the first group's ships were gone.

Third and Fourth had paid a price in how they'd chosen to attack, but it could have been infinitely worse given that both fleets were individually smaller than the one they'd savaged. Even an instant of poor timing could have inflicted vicious wounds. But that hadn't happened. By now the two Fleets had combined their globes of fire, and their own fighters were holding in close support positions to engage the rapidly forming juggernaut of drones swarming into space ahead of them.

…wait. That many drones could only mean one thing, if Insight's fleet listing had been correct. The Shiplords had committed the rest of their heavy drone carrier strength, and not here. Why would they do that? The thought remained, niggling at your mind even as the five Heartcircles you'd detached tore into the escort groups around you in bursts of prismatic lightning.

Of Circles and Scattered Winds: Greater Success.
Not bothering to index this roll. You did not crit, that is all that matters.

Against the sort of firepower that could shatter full capital ships when properly applied, the groups of lighter escorts stood about as much chance as the drone swarm had: that being none at all. Shields died, armour buckled, and delicate internal systems blew apart under a torrent of Practiced weaponry and more elemental power. They'd gotten a few good hits in to begin with, but now that members of the Two Twenty Three were in among them, the Shiplord escorts couldn't effectively concentrate their firepower. And that doomed them. Without the ability to pull away, to reform, there was nothing they could do but die.

Yet even then, the niggling worry remained, and you saw Lina's formation shift in response to her own instincts. She'd seen the same thing, or perhaps deeper, missing and she wasn't going to give whatever it was the opportunity to surprise her. Long range bursts of lagless had brought Second Fleet to the very edge of the SEZ terminator, ready to respond to whatever had to be coming.

Your enemy was bringing ships in steadily to replace their lost logistics craft, but the pace of Fighter Command against those hateful craft was too slow to be decisive. Medicaments and their ilk were far too efficient at self-repair to be reduced by anything less than incredibly focused firepower. Yet even then, barely more than half of the Regular Fleet had entered the field. Where was the rest of it? What was it doing? Not for the first time, you wished that you'd focused more time on humanity's extra-solar detection grid, but there was nothing to be gained lamenting that now.

Third and Fourth Fleets had been replied to, with enough strength that the result should be a slow, painful grind of a battle now that their drive charge had been expended in that devastating attack. But here with First Fleet, nothing but a steady stream of logistics craft, garnished with lighter escorts to engage strikes from Fighter Command.

What Hides?
46 + 30 + 20 = 96
16 + 18 + 66 = 100
78 + 18 + 27 + 30 + (90 vs DC 80. Success) 25 = 178
96, 100, 178 vs DC ???
Bare Success, Bare Success, Second Order Success

:Where's the rest of them?: you muttered across the Heartcircle's local net, frustration clear in your voice even as you blocked a beam strike from one of the Shiplord assault carriers. :Lina's starting to flag, but they're not winning here. What are they waiting for?:

:Something,: Elil's thoughts were rife with their own brand of frustration, but his was more concerned than their own. :Something deliberate, but you and Lina have already seen that. There's something missing from the formations I can see, but nothing I'm looking for in Insight's listing is giving me an answer. It just looks…wrong.:

:Almost makes you wish we had someone like Kirstin in the unit,: Kalilah noted, an idle motion of her hand sweeping a fleeing squadron of drones from existence. :We're all feeling it, but no one can put it together. Maybe one of the analysis groups will get it. I know they have Potentials like her, who can put the pieces together instead of trying to just create an image wholesale.:

:I hope so,: is what you would have sent, but the sudden surge of thought from Vega overwhelmed your message. Her voice came across the closed link, restrained for now, but clearly unhappy about doing so.

:Mandy, we need to leave. Right now.: Her tone was almost frantic, as if aware of some unseen danger looming above. But she didn't leave it at that. :Their engagement pattern is all wrong for any of the fleets to be the focus of it. They responded to Third and Fourth because they wanted to keep them occupied, to keep our attention focused. And they're keeping this group up against the First not because they care about First Fleet, but because of what's with them.:

A terrible chill washed over you as Vega flung her own understanding of the Regular Fleet's harmony out to the rest of you, more words filling in the holes in rapidly assembling chains of logic. :They started out focused on First Fleet, but it shifted after we engaged. The escorts were to see how we would react, but also for something else. I don't know what that is, but something about what we did made their entire focus shift.:

An image of the solar system took shape between you, showing everything you could access through your tactical link to Lina's command ship. But here, lines of connection had been drawn between the Shiplord craft, sketching an image of their own harmony. And at the very centre of its focus was not a fleet, or a ship – the Regulars made a habit of targeting command ships, after all. It was the Two Twenty Three.

:Oh…fuck.: Mir's youthful exhalation was almost fervent in its intensity. You had no support where you were right now, nothing you could fall back to safely. And something was stirring in the Shiplord pattern, like the ripples of some deadly monster, rising from the depths of an endless ocean. None of you could tell what it was, but its gaze was fixed on the Unisonbound of the Two Twenty Three. You hadn't wanted to try to touch that harmony, remembering what had happened when you'd delved into it during the Second Battle of Sol. But to fight an enemy, you have to know it. This didn't feel like something Insight had missed, not in terms of ship counts. Something aboard some of those ships, maybe? But what?

:Amanda!: Lea snapped, cutting into your thoughts before you could let the decision run away with you. :You know what happened last time you looked upon our enemy. Are you certain you wish to do so again?:

:Do we have a choice?: You replied levelly, as the last of the escorts blew apart and the five detached Heartcircles looped back towards the rest of you. The movement was almost tortuously slow. :If we'd gone for the carriers, then we could disengage without risking the balance tipping against Lina. You can see how close it's getting for her. Throw their drones back into the mix?:

:No certainty either way,: Elil sent, their mental tone firm and secure in its certainty. :They're equally matched at the moment. But if we can punch our way out before whatever the Shiplords think they have responds, we could help her directly instead of detaching. And we'd be able to fall back on her support when whatever it is does come in.:

:Or we go through the carriers, they're in line with First Fleet anyway, and cripple as many as we can.: Kalilah pointed out.

:That'll take more time, and energy we might not want to expend.: Mir said carefully, before you could. :It'll be worth nothing if what's behind these ripples catches us short of First Fleet.:

:And everything we're saying is based on not knowing what we might be fighting.: you sighed. :We know that Shiplord combat chassis were capable of engaging us fifteen years ago, but we've come a long way since then, so I doubt it would be that. Even so, we can't discount it. So either I go looking, with you supporting me,: you added the second part quickly, as if it had always been planned to be there.

:Or we fall back.: Lea agreed. :Doesn't matter how we do it, it'll still be retreating. And if we do that now, after clearing the space around us…couldn't that tell the Shiplords that we somehow sensed that they had something coming?:

You growled, left hand blurring to summon another shield of aquamarine light around a Unisonbound that had just been boxed in by beam fire. Unknown threats. You hated unknown threats. Anyone sane hated unknown threats. But what could you do?

Spoiler

First Fleet maintains the tactical edge against the Shiplord Fleet arrayed against it, and the Two Twenty Three have cleared the space around them of the new escort groups, and no further craft have entered the field around them. Minimal drone forces were able to make it out through the Two Twenty Three's blockade, and First Fleet still utterly dominates that area of the battle.

First Fleet's engagement this round was even closer than it was on their initial strike, and the heavier ships of the fleet are starting to show damage. At present it remains controllable, but the frequency of combat rotation is starting to creep past preferred levels. First Fleet combat readiness now stands at 82%.

Destroyed logistics ships of the opposing Regular Force are currently being replaced from outsystem reserves, meaning that combat readiness has dropped rather less than had been hoped. Taking into account the steady reduction in carrier reserve, however, the combined combat readiness of the force is estimated at 71%.

A third Shiplord Force has entered the star system, in support of the one engaged by the Third and Fourth Fleets of the FSN. The two human fleets executed a devastating crossfire strike against the Shiplord Regulars, all but obliterating that force's capital ship strength. The lighter elements of that force have folded into the new force, which appears to have brought the rest of the Regular Fleet's heavy carrier strength onto the field. For all intents and purposes, the second Shiplord Force no longer exists.

Third and Fourth Fleets are at 85% and 87% respectively, facing an enlarged Regulars Force that roughly matches them in tonnage, but is also skewed towards lighter, non-capital assets. That force is at 100% readiness and appears well placed to wrest fighter superiority from the Third and Fourth.

As of this time, 53% of the Regular Fleet has engaged FSN forces. One FTL capable FSN fleet remains in reserve.

The Two Twenty three have cleared the escort groups around them without casualties, with the few wounded being recovered by Restorer Focused. Unfortunately, they have also detected a shift in the Regular Fleet's priorities to the Two Twenty Three. Some sort of countermeasure appears to be being prepared, though the nature of it remains unclear. The five Heartcircles detached against the Shiplord escorts are moving to rejoin the core group. They will have arrived by the time any formative decision needs to be made. So you must make a choice.

[] Into the Deep: The Shiplords have brought…something with them. Elil believes it is not more ships, and you are inclined to believe him. But if not ships, what? And why would it be focused on the Unisonbound? You need answers, and there is only one way to get them. Dive into the Shiplord web, and seek the truth. A success will require a save vs Reaction Shock, but you will be rolling with a significant bonus. Fastest way to answers, but leaves you in the middle of the Shiplord fleet.
[] From the Field: You are alone amidst the Shiplord fleet, with no safe place to find harbour. If there is an unknown threat coming, it is simple sanity to seek allies. Return to First Fleet, and only then seek the truth. This will allow the carriers to recover and rebuild a drone shell. Also carries the risk of alerting the Shiplords to your ability to see further into things than those not gifted with Practice should.
-[] Upon Wings of Fire: Of course, you could attempt to hide that awareness by engaging the carriers on your way. Assault the heavy carriers that you have been keeping at bay, aiming to remove as many of them from the battle as possible in a single firing pass. Will reduce the effectiveness of any reformed drone shell, and the chance that the Shiplords will recognise your actions as reactive.
[] Unbowed We Stand: You know something is coming. You know that it's coming for you. A final FTL capable FSN fleet remains unengaged, and the true breadth of the Two Twenty Three's capabilities remains unused. Let yourself be bait, and when the trap closes, spring your own. Means facing an unknown threat, without knowing any details of it, but will not risk them realising that you'd become aware of it until it is already engaged. If chosen, pick one of the following options as your offensive focus.
-[] Render Unto Dust: These carriers have continued for long enough. If you are about to be the focus of a Shiplord assault, they have to be removed. End them.
-[] Unbreaking The Storm: More escorts continue to join the battle, preventing Fighter Command's assaults from being truly decisive. Assault those ships, ignoring the carriers for now – they will take time to recover, after all. Remove the escorts, and let the rest burn.
-[] Shattering Everest: Why waste time with carriers or escorts, when First Fleet is bleeding. Strike at the heart of the Shiplord formation, their heavy capital assets. Remove those, and First Fleet will be able to crush anything that remains.

A note: querying Lina for orders at this point would not be an effective decision. She's aware that something is wrong, but the choice of how or where to find out what would lie fully in your hands.

 

[Baughn]

Diaries of a chuuni kid

Diary of Neptune, Age 1130

Hello, diary!

"Hello, Neptune."

Amazing! Mom seems to have found me a talking diary. It even knows my secret name. I had a dream last night. In it, the shiplords arrived… but I swept them away with a single stroke of my sword! Everyone was cheering.

Okay, okay, it's not that big a secret. Let me introduce myself. My name is Neptune, sometimes called Michiru, and I'm eleven hundred years old. And a half. I look much younger, but that's because I'm actually a half-goddess. My special skill is transformation!

I have two best friends, my little sister and Noire. Um, and Noire doesn't really have any other friends, so I try really hard to be there. She's a bit of a loner. And my little sister is, um, I sometimes took her too much for granted. ...but Aya talked me through that, and Dad, so I don't do that anymore. Sarah is the best sister I could ask for, and I want to make sure she knows that.

Mom threatened to stuff an eggplant in my mouth if I don't stop saying it all the time, so I mostly do so by hugging her.

Names, names. I know a lot of people. Apart from my bestest friends, I know Uni — she's Noire's little sister. That's the nickname I gave her, 'cause she's on her own a lot. Er, it sounds bad when I say it that way, but I've never done so, and she likes it. Actually, I almost forgot. Actually, she's right downstairs watching a movie with Sarah. She's not really on her own that much anymore.

Then there's Iffy, 'cause her clothing style is iffy. She's my bodyguard. She's a mercenary, and will do anything for food, even fight monsters.

…

I know, diary. I suck at names.

Diary.

Can you make someone a friend if they drop a car-load of snow on you? Because that happened today. It was cold. And heavy. And it actually hurt a little. And it was very unfair, since I was about to defeat Aya and Nei once and for all!

They made a new friend too. Her name is Iris.

Yes.

That Iris.

...she's kinda mean. I think she's evil.

Diary of Neptune, Age 1134

Dear diary. Two weeks Four years have passed since my last entry.

This may be my final entry.

The balance of power has broken, and the world now teeters on the brink of destruction. Iris has come upon us. My continued hope is that all the snow will melt, as surely not even divinity can condense snowballs from thin air.

She also makes awfully good cookies, so I guess she's not evil after all. Tomorrow I'm gonna show her around!

Diary of Neptune, Age 1403

Peashy's here~!

Dear, diary, I guess I should explain. Peashy is my cousin, she's ten, and unlike Sarah she has the good sense not to be taller than me. (Little sis is now officially the Tallest. She got so sorry about that, I had to spend the day comforting her with snacks and games. What's with that? Ah, but 'twas fun. Mom says I'm okay, I'm just growing like she did, but li'l sis is growing like Dad.)

Peach stops by pretty often, I just haven't written about it before. Her mom died during second Sol… so…

I guess she was too young to remember, though.

She's a good girl. Full of life, I guess I should say. A bit too eager to punch people— I've got to get her out of that habit, she's strong enough that it's starting to hurt.

I took her out to play with Noire and the others, and when we were tired we stopped by Aya's place. Nei dotes on Peashy— she's really good with kids. Me, I'm, um, I sometimes get into fights with her if we're both tired. I've been trying really hard not to do that. If I don't mention it again, then maybe I succeeded.

I never told you, diary, but keeping one was Aya's idea. She thought it would help if I write down what I'm doing. I read the first couple of entries again yesterday, and wow.

Anyway, turns out Iris was visiting. That's, what, the fourth time this week? I think they're cooking something up. I'm sure I'll find out what it is later.

She took Peashy flying.

Since when can Iris fly?

Diary of Neptune, Age 1404
They turned the entire hill into an underground labyrinth! There is a minotaur! There's no way Iris and Nei did this on their own!

Diary of Neptune, Age 1405
I'm more tired than I've ever been in my life, and I can't stop grinning. Getting Peashy to sleep will be impossible.

Diary of Neptune, Age 1406
We defeated the minotaur! I slid between its legs and stabbed it from behind, and then Noire cut its throat, and it sort of fell onto Peashy's punch. Turns out it, uh, was Iris all along. But she was a party member! What.

I've said it before, I'll say it again, Iris is bullshit, but I think I love her. Best summer ever.

Michiru's Diary

This might be my final entry.

How am I supposed to seriously write a line like that? Even though it's true, who will believe me? I've used it before! If you've read my diary then I hope you're me, future me, and that you're just as awesome as I always hoped you'd be, or… no. Nonononono. We're not doing this. I hope that you're alive.

The Shiplords arrive today.

My name is Michiru Kaioh. I'm sixteen, and I can't help at all. For the longest time, I wanted so badly to think I could. I told myself, "I'm special," or "Somewhere else, I'm really a goddess," or even just that I'd become a Potential. Maybe. Someday. If I just believed hard enough—is that the bargaining phase? It didn't happen.

Delusions? Sure. I told everyone, I knew I was making it up. That I was just playing. I'm not Neptune, she's just a girl from a game. One I made up based on my dreams. One I've still got to program. And, I did know. I'm not crazy, no matter what Noire said

No matter what Sandra says. I'm sorry.

I just hoped, because hope was all I had. I'm not a Potential, like Aya. I'm not as smart as my little sister. Heck, I'm not even tall and strong like her. I'm not a great warrior, or a poet, or even dedicated to schoolwork like my best friend and, and I knew I could be, but time slipped and I didn't want to not have fun and I wanted something magic to happen and… here we are, I guess. Koharu says writing sometimes makes her cry, so maybe I can be a writer? I just can't see myself spending all my time cooped up the way she does.

Nei is on Mars, stopping there from being a fourth Sol. Knowing her, I'm sure she's in the lab right now. Iris is… Iris is fighting. My hands shake when I think about that. At least Peashy's dad is pretty safe, but Iris isn't, no matter what she says. I never told her how much I liked being her friend.

Time's slipping away. I should comfort my sister, but she's got Uni and I'd be in the way. Who do I have?

You know… if I had time, this would be when I'd crumple up the paper. It's all so overwrought. We'll be fine… right? Iris said so, Aya and Nei said so, and they wouldn't lie. My family won't die. It's just, they'll be fine despite me.

What can I do? What could I have done?

Nothing I can think of.

There's one last thing I can do. I'm going to hug Sandra, and I'll tell her why, and I won't let her go. I won't tease her, either. I'll tell her that. I'll tell her I never really meant to. It's not much, but it's something I should have told her a long time ago.

And I'll see you later, diary.

 

[Snowfire]

You considered your options as the detached Heartcircles slid across the yawning void of empty space towards the rest of the Two Twenty Three, the light of burning starships painting space behind them in short lived blossoms of colour. Beautiful, in its own way, if you could ignore the cost in lives. You knew that feeling was a bad thing for any soldier, but it was hard to ignore. Despite everything, you were still a Mender. More than anything, you wanted a way to fix this, without anymore bloodshed. Such a silly thought to have, in the middle of battle. But was it really such a surprise for doubts to come at the crux of things?

Not in your experience.

You could run, return to First Fleet before going looking, but that would leave the carriers time to regenerate. Given time and access to the logistics ships, they'd be able to rebuild that enormous drone layer. No small amount of First Fleet's successes had come from the ability of Fighter Command to operate freely. Take that away? Or you could-

:Amanda!: Vega's cry of your name cut through the tactical planning, and something pulled your head around to check on your friend. The circlet the Harmonial had crafted in preparation for this fight burned upon her brow like a crown of white flame, and you realised a moment later that you could feel that light in the Web. It burned away darkness, fatigue, and any hint of panic or despair, no matter how well hidden by training it might be. :Lina's squadron.:

Your gaze snapped around, awareness leaping out through perceptions as perfect as the finest sensors. A curse bubbled around your lips as your found the leading column of First Fleet, exacerbated by the curse of an unknown threat still marshalling to strike. But far more of your own feelings were focused on the core of that column, Lina's command ship, and the vessel upon which your daughter's physical body currently stood. They'd been fine less than a minute ago, you were sure of it!

First Fleet: 40 + 30 (Martial) + 20 (Web of Unity) + 20 (Void Mistress) + 40 (Harmonics) + 10 Electronic Superiority + 10 Fighter Supremacy vs 87 + 45 (Martial) + 20 (Synchronisation) + 20 (First Traditions) = 170 vs 172. Bare Failure

Now more than half of them were leaking atmosphere. Not Lina's flagship, you realised a moment later, subduing the suddenly rising panic and desire to just be there, right now. There was wreckage strewn all around the dreadnought squadron, remains of their attackers no doubt. But what had they been? A moment later, you realised, your perceptions catching the shattered remains of several Shiplord cruiser squadrons retreating behind the advancing mass of their own dreadnoughts.

The Shiplord cruiser force which had entered the field when you'd hit the carriers had made it through the withering fire of First Fleet's heavier assets. They'd found their range, and though they'd died, they'd savaged the core of Lina's capital force. Even as you watched, massed grav disruptor fire lanced out towards the most heavily damage human dreadnought. It was already launching escape pods. Damnit, damnit! First Fleet's formation was tightening, and you could see Lina's intent as orders continued to flow from her flagship with metronomic steadiness.

You wanted to contact your daughter, to make sure she was alright, but there was no time. The decision you had to make. :If we go back, they'll bring in whatever they have right on top of First Fleet. They're not as badly hurt as they look, but if they're put up against fresh forces, along with what the Shiplords are aiming at us?: The perception of a sick headshake pulsed out from you to your Heartcircle. :I won't sacrifice them for us. Not if we can help it. They need time to recover. We can give them that.:

Even as those words left your mind, your extended perceptions registered the FSN carriers launching again, an anti-shipping strike that had suddenly become vastly more important. They'd be aiming for drive nodes this time, not kills. If they were going to succeed, they'd have to be able to engage freely. Which meant keeping you here, preventing the carriers from recovering. Even leaving one or two alive could mean failure for Fighter Command's strike.

:So we go looking, then.: Kalilah's voice was rich with anger and the tightly controlled desire that had made her a Potential of Destruction. You felt the Heartcircle shift closer as you formed your reply, preparing to support you.

:Together.: Lea's hand found your shoulder, her mental voice firm, backed by the will of the rest of your Heartcircle. :Like we should be.:

:Of course,: you sent back, the words thick with emotion. It wasn't that you knew better than to argue, though you did. But they were there beside you in this, no matter the danger. That meant more than words, or even thoughts, could properly express. :Thank you.: And before they could reply, you reached within, grasped the far smaller web of your Heartcircle, and cast yourself from it out towards the danger lurking beneath the surface of your present.

What you did wasn't a Thoughtcast, or at least not in the way Insight did them. It was closer to what a Thoughtcast might be if Harmonials attempted it, using the connections between things to seek an answer instead of diving into the space between reality. Your soul burned against your breast as you slipped from the web of humanity into that of the Shiplords, the closest thing to pain of the soul you'd felt since Purify. It pushed at you, like an itch you couldn't scratch, reminding you of everything that had led to that Word, and why you'd used it.

For a moment, it was almost too much, the feeling and memory together stronger than your will alone. But it wasn't just your will. Your Heartcircle's presence was a ring of adamant around your soul's outrage. They didn't try to neutralise or hide it; it was yours, after all. They just held it steady, until you could focus on it fully. Something you certainly couldn't do now, as your focused awareness flashed across the web of the Regular Fleet, searching for the weapon being aimed at you and the rest of Two Twenty Three.

Unveiling the Unknown: 87 + 18 (Martial) + 66 (Practice) vs 18 + 40 + 30 (Essence Disruption) = 171 vs 88. Greater Success.

It was almost too easy. The feeling of threat resonated out from a single point of the web, and the bare veil that wrapped the construct was no barrier against you. Again, this wasn't a Thoughtcast; you couldn't access data in the same way Insight could – and that was good. But you were working to learn something, nonetheless. Reaching out across space and more to find the truth. And find it you did.

Six ships hovered in the faint light of a thousand distant suns, and their profiles easily identifiable as Shiplord dreadnoughts. Yet they weren't entirely like those already on the field, something told you, and as you closed in on their presence within the Regular Fleets connections, the why of that started to filter through. Something about those ships, deep within them, screamed of danger in a way nothing you'd ever encountered could. It wasn't Practice; you knew what that felt like. It wasn't even truly similar, not in its form. But as a function…yes, it bore some likeness.

It was a blade, poised to cut. The knife, raised in preparation to drive home. Deadly power, focused behind inhuman intent, but without the Focus you knew. And built, you felt sure somehow, so very long ago. Weapons. Not built to fight you, you thought, but it was close enough.

:Never built for us,: Elil said, his words faintly distorted by the web around you. :Those are older than humanity, Amanda. And,: his voice grew more distant as he concentrated on his own Focus. :They're something that they learned to build. You don't learn to do something like that unless you have a reason.:

:How?: Mir demanded. :How could they build something like that, something so close, and not know Practice?: He wasn't expecting an answer, but even if had been, none of you had one to give.

:But they do,: Lea corrected, the memory of words exchanged as the Second Battle of Sol had still raged rising to the top of your mind. :We've known that since before the Second Battle of Sol. Even if the Shiplords can't use Practice, they know what it is. We know they understand the power of the soul.:

Kalilah spoke over your fellow mender, the words crawling with disgust. :Of course they'd build a weapon from it. If something could be used against them, they build ways to fight back.: Maybe there was another, deeper reason. Maybe not. In that moment, the truth mattered not at all when placed against the reality of what you were facing.

:Pattern shift!: Vega snapped, her own senses keener than your own in affairs of her Focus. You felt the ships begin to move, vanishing out of one perception to appear in another, much closer, and Vega spoke again. :Major shift. They're not coming for just us.:

The Shiplord web shifted in your vision, granting you a flicker of the soon-to-be. There, a fleet sent to hold Second Fleet in place. By the Third and Fourth Fleets more reinforcements, to continue the slowly turning engagement firmly to their favour. And the rest…all of it into the space around you, a space that you realised to your mounting horror must have been deliberately cleared. But not to encompass First Fleet, and that meant-

:Get us out of here, Vega.: Your voice was entirely too calm for the situation. You reached out with Sidra, and cut through the whirlwind of commands pouring from Lina like an awl, your shared presence descending upon her like an axe of silent purpose. You didn't let her speak, there wasn't time. :They're moving. A screen aimed for the second, rest to us and the Third/Fourth. Targeting the 223. Will be effective. You have less than a second.:

The orders stopped, and for a single, terrible moment you thought that you might have come too quickly, dragging Lina's beyond the capabilities of her implants. One microsecond, then another. You gathered your thoughts again, she had to act! And then a raft of new commands poured from the mind of the most talented human tactician since the Sorrows, reshaping the battle in an instant.

Second Fleet darted out of the Stellar Exclusion Zone as Shiplord craft burst into existence around them like a bloom of lethal algae, and their drives swept them away before the Regular Fleet force could fire a shot. They appeared behind First Fleet within long-range weapons range of the Shiplords and a flurry of grav disruptor fire erupted from the fresh FSN battlegroups, to cover their comrades' retreat. System defence forces were already moving to stop the Regulars force short of Earth and Mars, racing towards the Shiplord fleet that now had nothing in its path.

Part of your mind idly noted it bypassing your fortifications, ignoring the fleet bases but for a single firing pass. Those stations would need repairs, and you didn't want to think about how many people had just died aboard them, but they were still there. The Regular group dived into the deeper system of Sol, the massed stations of the Beltway leaving them little choice, and you found the time somehow to spare a heartfelt thought for the system defence forces.

Another part saw the Third and Fourth fleets suddenly race together, their combined fighter strength catching the Shiplord drone mass short in a corona of brilliant detonations. Half again the current Shiplord strength arrayed against them flickered into being around them, but their motion arrested the attempt by the source of the drone wave to drive between them. With the two FSN fleets coming together, that would have been suicide.

Third and Fourth Fleet: 97 + 24 (Martial) + 20 (Web of Unity) + 40 (Harmonics) + 10 Electronic Superiority vs 100 + 32 (Nat 100 rollover) + 45 (Martial) + 20 (Synchronisation) + 20 (First Traditions) = 191 vs 217. Failure.

Third and Fourth paid for that manoeuvre, and your heart clenched tight as hundreds of fighter craft burned away, sacrificing their lives to buy the rest of the fleet time. How many families had just lost loved ones there? Not now, you told yourself. There wasn't time. Long-range fire spat from the three Shiplord forces that now surrounded the joined human fleets, and with them still reorganising, their cruiser squadrons took the brunt of it. The heavier human craft moved back out as fast as they could, fast enough to stop the losses being anything more than painful, but any loss in that new situation was a bad one.

Not that you could afford to linger on it. The craft carrying those ancient weapons flickered into being around the Two Twenty Three, attended by shoals of support craft. And you spared a very brief moment to thank Lina for the single order she'd given you. Templefall. One of the execution codes for Case Samson's second stage, and the one which released the Two Twenty Three of all restrictions. That order rippled out across your own small web in the same instant as the shape of the weapons about to be fired against you. If the Shiplords had thought your display against their drones had been something, they were about to learn otherwise.

There was no dancing to your formation this time; these weapons wouldn't care for evasive patterns. Vega had brought you all together, close enough for you to become a single entity, bound together by the most tangible expression of human unity: held hands. Power rolled off of your souls like a rising wind, swirling in through the Web to the focus that was you. And you felt the immaterial aspect you'd crafted of your self and soul stir as that energy raced across it. The web of the Two Twenty Three expanded, reaching inwards to the two worlds your species had made their own and the billions of lives that inhabited them.

You'd never been religious; no one really had been after the Sorrows. But you thanked whatever god or gods might be in that moment that you'd had so much in reserve when those terrible weapons fired. There was no burst of light or fury, simply a rush of overpowering energy, and then pain. Something in the way that energy struck you wasn't quite right, as if tuned to a subtly different wavelength. But it was close enough.

Strike the Void: 25 + 48 (Martial) + 45 (Unison Wings) + 40 (Harmonics) + 66 (Power of Practice) – 50 (Soultear) vs 76 + 45 (Martial) + 20 (Synchronisation) + 20 (First Traditions) + 50 (Void Weaponry) = 174 vs 211. Solid Failure.

The web Vega was crafting sheared away short of Earth and Mars, torn apart by the emotionless edge of Shiplord weapons, and your friend screamed in sudden agony as pain lashed at the very foundations of her soul. She was the first to do so. She was not the last. Scores of Aegis' flickered at the touch of that power as it reached into the link between Potential and Unison Platform and drove knives of merciless force down upon them.

None of them broke, somehow, but the pain was unlike anything you'd ever felt, and your formation staggered in place, trying to rise away from the Shiplord forces bracketing you at the very limits of your speed. But those weapons, whilst they couldn't cut through the links that made you Unisonbound, had disrupted them, and you found yourself slowing. The Shiplord craft weren't nearly so vulnerable, and with every shred of your power dedicated to defence, there was very little you could do against them anyway.

You cast your staff away, focusing purely on the feeling of energy surging wildly inside of you, your Focus screaming even as picks of ice drove into your mind and heart. You were screaming too, you realised later, but even that was a distant thing in that moment. You focused on those things around you, your friends, screaming in pain.

"You're humanity's daughter too, but you're ours."

Your family, just Mary and Iris this time, and how much faith they'd put in you. What it would mean if you fell here. What humanity, and so much more than humanity, would lose.

"How can you give us hope?"

Your vision blurred, aqua and emerald sparks trailing your fingers as they fought for purchase. The beat of your heart, in time with two hundred twenty-two others, all fighting to find a way through the inhuman energy choking you. The light of your souls, over four hundred all told, guttering like a fire suddenly robbed of air. The weight of an empire that had chained the galaxy in darkness for millions of years.

"It's easy to forget the sun when darkness reigns."

You fought for the words, the moment, the feeling. More light pooled around your hands, spreading up along the elbow-length gloves of your Aegis, wrapping you in colour that fought to be real against the new weapons of the Shiplord fleet. Intent flooded through you, fighting to be made real. Words give actions purpose, you knew this. Purpose is power. But forming even the first syllable seemed so very hard. Maybe-

Harmonics: 100 + 96 (Nat 100 rollover) + 45 = 241 vs DC 40. Absolute Success.

Vega sang. There were no words, no meaning, not even a melody. Just a single, perfect tone that cut through the veil of choking shadows around you like a new dawn, and the circlet of silver metal she bore kindled to life once more, its fires those of a newborn star. For a few short instants, the dark-haired Harmonial stood alone against weapons beating down upon the Two Twenty Three. She bought time to recover, breathe.

That Brilliant Symphony: 47 + 45 + 10 (Unity Circle) = 102. Success.

And for the Web she anchored, that you'd all been torn from, to race out from her again. And this time, it held a fragment of her soul's light. The Shiplords' weapons would tear and twist at that, but they would not break it as easily as they'd done before. Not without time to focus on it. Time you would not give them.

You drew in power along the links to the Circles and more, reaching out to thirteen billion souls, united in a harmony of many parts. That you would not die, that you would find victory, that their children would live, or their parents would survive. The world stilled as you drew all that in, a breath of all the things that had been found to make life worth living after the Sorrows. A deep, deep breath, from something far vaster than you.

And then the Artefact built upon Sidra, the Artefact linked so intimately to your soul that it had changed the way its power could touch the world. The Artefact forged of pure concepts, and an echo of humanity's brilliant power. That Artefact…

…woke.

The patterns of energy around you tilted suddenly, forming a funnel that a touch of riotous life spun into a whirlpool. Those currents, now suddenly static, stabbed up through the Web that had created them, puncturing it in a score of places, but only those upon which power flowed. And all the strength contained in those channels poured suddenly, endlessly, into your soul.

Catching Shadow: 88 + 106 (Practice) + 80 (Unisonbound Ace) + 50 (Mender's Soul) - 86 (Soultear) vs 82 + 45 (Martial) + 30 (Essence Disruption) + 50 (Void Weaponry) = 238 vs 207. Success.

Light of your own shattered the world, just as Vega's started to falter, and a shroud of aquamarine light tore its way into being around the Two Twenty Three, anchored by a tiny star of blue-green and silver at your breast. It didn't burn; that would have implied consumption of something to maintain it. It simply was, and the Shiplord assault withered at the touch of its light. You felt hatred then, beyond the impersonal edge that had cut into your souls, and paid it no mind.

The Shiplords had wielded their hate against the will of humanity once before. They had lost then; they would lose again now. You did not think that; you simply believed it to be true. That was enough.

The cloak of radiant light around you and your fellows flowed and twisted like liquid, catching the power set against it with absent perfection. The flagging, choked Aegises of a dozen of the unit's least skilled Potentials solidified again as the link behind them stabilised. You still couldn't move as quickly as you needed to to escape, but you had survival now. And yes, what the Shiplords had done couldn't be easily escaped. They'd be able to stay with you now, wear you down, and for all your power the Two Twenty Three were skirmish forces. Capable of entering the crucible of battle and emerging whole, yes. But not for long, and against weapons like these, not long at all. Which meant another choice in the offing.

At the centre of a maelstrom of power, just barely holding back the attack of your enemy you might be. But you always had options. The perks of not fighting alone. The ideas came in concept form only, no words, but they came. Four, above all, the rest derivatives, and the words pulsed in your mind. You could seek to overwhelm the assault against you, or simply overcome it. You could try to escape, too, thought that would take you through the lion's share of the Shiplord Fleet to reach safe harbour. And of course, there was another choice. To forge a path of Words from the strength of your soul, and set it against power of Shiplord science.

There wasn't a single one of those options you liked, but there was a time and a place for such luxuries. Now wasn't one of them.

Spoiler

First Fleet has taken significant, though not crippling, damage to its capital groups as the result of massed assault from Shiplord cruisers. Although few of those ships survived the engagements, they did their job, and First Fleet is now attempting to withdraw. Fighter Command's latest strike is aiming for the drive systems on Shiplord capitals, intending to spread them out and bleed the force as it comes in. Second Fleet has jumped in behind them at long range, and is moving to provide covering fire for the withdrawal. First Fleet is currently at a combat readiness of 71%. Second Fleet is currently entirely undamaged.

Third and Fourth fleet have taken damage unifying their forces in response to full deployment of available Regular assets, but far less than it could have been. They have moved to a fully defensive posture. Their combined combat readiness stands at 79%.

The Shiplord task groups facing Third and Fourth fleet are at 97% combat readiness across the board, and together are fielding twice the FSN's numbers in the battlespace. The force sent after Second Fleet was somewhat stronger than its target, but appears to have been meant as a simple entanglement screen. It is now heading deeper into the SEZ, and system defence forces are moving to intercept. First, and now Second, Fleet are facing a Shiplord force of about three quarters their combined strength, operating at a combat readiness of 70% thanks to their logistical element.

The entire Regular Fleet is now on the field.

Roughly the same number of ships have surrounded the Two Twenty Three, including a squadron of seven Regular Fleet dreadnoughts equipped with weaponry capable of attacking the Unisonbound at the core of what makes them what they are. This group is untouched at present, and only the swift actions of Vega Cant and yourself have held the Two Twenty Three's combat readiness at 80%. There have been no deaths, but it was a close-run thing for a moment. And now, another choice faces you.

[] A Path of Words: This power that seeks to choke away the link between you and your Unison Platform cannot be laid against the other Potentials among humanity's fleets. Do as a healer sometimes must. Become a soldier, and end those craft.
[] Lantern's Charge: If it can be hard to see the sun when darkness surrounds you, then be the sun itself. Make of yourself a lighthouse, and use the strength of the web shone through it to drown the night.
[] Withstand: This is not the moment that hope dies. None of you will allow it. The Shiplords have flung their most lethal weapons yet against you, and you yet live. Perhaps it cannot last forever, but you can endure this. The other Potentials among First and Second Fleet? You think not.
[] Through Death and Fury: You cannot move fast enough to escape the Shiplord craft bombarding you with the jagged pain of a soul broke in two. You can, however, hold the range. Use that, and withdraw to the relative safety of First Fleet as quickly as you can. It will take you through the heart of the Shiplord Fleet, but it will bring you safe harbour soon enough for it to matter.

There will be an eight hour moratorium on this vote.​

 

[Snowfire]

But you had prepared for this. In weeks and months poured into learning how to wield words invested with the strength of your soul. The same time again devoured by charting the patterns that bound humanity together, and how to connect yourself to them. And in the last year, you'd found the final piece of what you'd needed to turn that strength into a weapon. Not a shield. After all that time, could you really just leave it be?

:Vega,: the thought thrummed with a calm power that you couldn't quite convince yourself to match, beneath the walls of training. :I'm going to need everything you can give me, if I'm going to make my voice heard over that.: There was no word to describe the distortion raging beyond the shield of blue-green-and-silver light that surrounded the Two Twenty Three. If you were to Speak in full, you would need to quell that. You could tell it would fight you, in ways and on levels that you'd never faced before. But here and now, you were a soldier in service of humanity, facing those who would tear down the world you sought to protect. And you would not falter against that enemy.

Vega could tell, all of your Heartcircle could, and you could feel their concern blending with hope as they recognised both your intent and the realisation of how much it might cost. :Are you sure, Amanda?: Lea asked, though the question had no teeth, not after a dozen Aegises almost flickering out.

:I can't see a better way,: you sent back, fully aware that those words were not an answer. They were true, though. :This isn't like anything we thought we'd face. Insight never saw them. But we can't run now, and the only other way out of this is trying to match strength to strength.:

:I know that might be safer,: you added, sensing the interruption before it could flower. :I know that Words can be fragile. But I'm the only one who can do either of these things. And I've made my choice. I will not stand by and watch or hope. That isn't in me, and I know it's not in any of you.:

:No,: Elil agreed, his thoughts cast into a fleeting moment of perfect silence. :No it isn't. I can help you pick the right moment.: Wordless agreement joined his, flowing from the other members of your Heartcircle in steadfast support. Somewhere very far away from what was then your reality, you felt tears creep into the corners of your eyes.

:Thank you.: You knew you didn't have to say it, but that didn't mean you couldn't. For them to stand by your decision, no matter their concerns, meant far more than you could put into words. And yet you'd try, nonetheless. Something in the bond between you, deeper than thought, recognised that. It was enough.

:Let's go.:

Lea didn't so much speak the words as make the thought real. Vega did…something, and the whirlpool of power born of riotous life somehow grew even stronger, the Web itself burning with energy as it flooded from the hopes of humanity into your soul. It filled the air around you, an incense of power and will that reflected the burning light of your soul made manifest. You'd thought you'd seen that last thing before, when Purify had illuminated Sol as a second star. Now you understood the truth. The energies were the same, but the light of a candle is the same as the light of a sun.

As it did, the shield around your formation intensified. Lines of brilliant light ran down and through it, a manifestation of hands held and hopes unbroken. Vega's strength, spreading through the Two Twenty Three to harmonise the power of nearly five hundred souls. Together they would stand against the Shiplord weapons, and give you time to Speak. And even as you thought that, the moment rose, the feeling of it carried by the web that bound the first of the Unisonbound together.

You could feel them as power beyond reckoning poured into your soul, concentrating in your lungs while you sought the right Words for this moment. Searching for what you could say, what Words could be turned to the battle beyond as that old, old melody started to pulse through your veins. The wordless song that you'd found in your memories of Purify, restored.

Most of those with you today recognised at least the echoes of that song, and what it had done once before. With that, came the knowledge of how much more skilled you'd become since then, balanced against the reality of a situation you'd never been able to prepare for. Yet they held. No matter their feelings on the matter, what they might have preferred, they held. That, you thought, was power all of its own.

Then the moment was upon you, and there was no more time for thought.

To Speak of Endings: 47 + 106 (Practice) + 20 (Concert Set) + 25 (A Burning Soul) + 30 (A World in Harmony) – 53 (Soulbreak) = 175. Solid Success!

The pearlescent fire around Vega had lessened to dancing flames, but now it surged forth again in an inferno of cleansing power. It tore a hole in the Shiplord attack far greater than the one your defences had opened, slicing through the discordant pattern and rendering it without life for a handful of precious instants.

Words came together in your mind, their meanings already decided by your soul. Silver-turquoise light bloomed around you, resonating with the song that had made Purify real like a vast tuning fork. Then your throat burned with phantom heat, and a chain of radiant sound burst from your lips.

Words in the Night: 39 + 106 (Practice) + 80 (Unisonbound Ace) + 50 (Mender's Soul) - 86 (Soultear) vs 82 + 45 (Martial) + 30 (Essence Disruption) + 50 (Void Weaponry) = 189 vs 207. Failure.

And, as if they'd been waiting for it, the Shiplord energy patterns intensified impossibly. They slammed the area that Vega had cleared around you back towards your firmer shields. And, as the knots of blazing energy that were all you knew of your Words hit them, the destructive power of those weapons took hold. You felt connections strain, and hurled power down your link to the words, trying to hold them together. But none of you had mastered Speaking at a distance.

Here and there, the patterns of energy bound to verbal concepts started to snap, twisting out of your control, changing the weapon you'd forged of your Focus' power. Something twisted inside you as you saw it happen, and you were at the very centre of the Two Twenty Three's formation. There was no way to get to them in time, even if you could have left the shield you'd forged without-

The feeling of two souls in the link abruptly vanished.

Something struck the words from behind, a vicious pattern of destructive power that tore the patterns bound to them entirely asunder. The energy bound to them let go in scorching bursts that were more than light, yet nothing so terrible as Purify had been. A streak of crimson dived through those minor cataclysms, leaving a trail of utterly lethal not-colour in its wake. The Shiplord weapons refocused as that streak closed, and the person at its centre swung her spear in a deadly arc.

Destructive energy lanced out in a wide cone, yet none of it was trying to fight the Shiplord weaponry. Instead it tore into the pattern those weapons created and ripped it apart, just like they'd done to your Words, and a figure of red silk and dark metal scattered the broken energies behind them like dust in a hurricane.

In the instant it took you to understand what you were seeing, Kalilah slashed between formation of escorts around the ships that had sought you out, and you felt a sudden burst of impossible pain as her Focus lashed out at them. As a Mender, you understood pain in a way few but those like you could understand – to fix something, you had to know what was broken. This, though, was unlike anything you'd ever felt. As if her very soul-

:I'm sorry, Mandy,: Kalilah's mental voice was untouched by the agony that you could feel coursing through her. :Couldn't let you do it. Not after everything you've done, and how it would have been twisted.:

:That, that's fine, Kalilah,: you sent back, confusion and fear writhing in your breast. :But why are you there? You should be back here!: Yet even as you asked, you knew.

:Because something has to take their place.: Kalilah told you gently, unlight sweeping out from her Aegis to tear at the Shiplord craft as she dived deeper into their formation. :And it's not going to be you.:

Crimson light flared at the centre of that field of pure destruction, a field you recognised as what Kalilah had created when she'd synchronised, only tens of thousands times larger. That field had almost broken your Aegis, and you felt the focus of the Shiplords shift away from your formation. If it had any effect you couldn't tell, but the pain lancing through your friend surged higher, and you realised in a flash of horrified insight what she was doing.

:Kalilah, you can't!:

:No, Amanda,: the gentle voice came again, entirely removed from the battle around you both. :I can. And I must. No one else can do this. And I am the only one who has nothing left of my family to remember.: Something tried to shatter inside of you, but for perhaps the first time in decades, you couldn't find the words. Nothing came, just a whirlwind of feeling that you flung across the link between you…and that Kalilah grounded away effortlessly.

:Please!: You could feel her soul burning, the telltale flicker in a place below what eyes could see. You'd thought it might be possible, for a Potential to let their Focus consume them, but Kalilah had never told you she'd worked out how to do it. :What about Asi?: You pleaded, seizing on that possibility with both hands. Kalilah cared for her Platform in a way that was hard to describe, a bond that was not family, yet one of the deepest she'd ever allowed to form.

Your only reply was the feeling of a sad smile, and a motion obscured by the ships closing in around her. Before a shrieking missile of Practiced metal and raw power punched through the side opposite you, flinging something away from the Shiplord formation. Golden metal and crystal reflected distant starlight. :He will find another.: Kalilah said, as you took in the housings for the Unison Intelligence, wrapped around the weapon that Kalilah had taken into battle with her. :He has given me that promise freely.:

The pain of tears still unshed tore at your soul, their reason changed beyond all recognition, and yet her voice was still the same. :Do not weep for me. You have given me so much. Now I return what you taught me; that destruction born of loss and hate can save a world full of light.:

You felt her bring her hands together, no fists, her Aegis burning around her despite the lack of her Unison Platform. Bring them together, as if in prayer, to a god or gods she'd never once spoken of. You saw the beginnings of light without end, building in her soul as she reached down into the heart of the well and pulled.

And you saw your friend. Alone. At the heart of a theatre of monsters, and drawing a blade across her throat as you stood holding them back. Except…they weren't focused on you anymore.

:We can hold long enough.: Vega, so quick to realise, and they could, couldn't they. But could you? No, that was the wrong question. Would you be able to protect your friend from her own power unleashed, after failing to master your own? And yet…

:Violence has never been your gift.: The concepts were so elegant that they defied the need for words, yet you heard Vega's voice in them. :Do what has always been.:

:Save her.:

Kalilah Mishra has dived into the heart of the Shiplord formation seeking to assault the Unisonbound, and is preparing to burn up her soul to fuel a burst of Destruction that will utterly obliterate the fleet currently engaged with you. This burst will fire regardless of which action you pick. What do you do?

[] Sacrifice: Kalilah wants this, and thought it may break Amanda's heart, she can give her this. Stay, and protect the rest of the Unisonbound from the coming storm. Kalilah will die. Due to character influence (OOC: Stop hitting me, damnit!) this vote will require a two-thirds majority to take effect.
[] Save: Dive into the heart of a building storm, through Shiplord weapons and a fire born of a soul of Destruction, to save the one who summons it. Amanda will survive this, and for an action so deeply within her Focus, she has a good chance of saving her friend. But there will be consequences.

There will be a ten hour moratorium on this vote.​

 

[Snowfire]

Spoiler

In months and years to come you'd wonder if you could have done anything else. But every time you did, it always came down to the same thing: who Amanda Hawk truly was. You'd been a leader, a mother, a teacher, and always a friend. But when it came right down to it, at the very core of your reality, Mending was only the term you'd felt closest to what defined you.

When you'd first set out, in the very beginning, you hadn't been trying to fix things. You'd been trying to help people. When the Circles had grown, slowly at first, but then into something so much more than you'd ever imagined, you'd never sought to use them. They'd been a creation of yours, yes, but also of so many more. Knowing that they'd also been your first Artefact didn't change that, either. And when the Pattern had been found, when the plans of the Elder First had been shown to be something that could not be followed, you had not stepped into the light because you wished for power. It had been because you cared, and despite your total inexperience in matters of war, you'd recognised the needs of the heart.

Humanity united would always be greater than humanity apart. You did not think that; the Web had shown you that reality to be true. But that was your truth, not one for everyone. And in this, you understood why Kalilah had chosen as she did. Seeing death ahead of you, and no way to escape it after Words failed, she'd chosen to give of herself to save those she cared for. Your bodyguard still, after all this time. But that wasn't everything she was, not anymore. And looking back on the moment, you'd realise that that was the only reason you'd had time.

:Blast radius. Run.: Your own gestalt flashed out across the Two Twenty Three even as you dropped away from them, Vega's influence finding you a way through as not-colour and pure white danced at the centre of the Shiplord globe. Shields flashed as they tried to resist the echoes of that power before being overwhelmed. And as you dived towards the inwardly focused ball of Regular Fleet craft, you saw their armour start to slough away, running like water. Behind you, you felt the Two Twenty Three wheel away, the protections of their united strength now sufficient to allow full flight. They would be safe, at least, and able to respond to whatever came next even if you were not.

Arcs of power flashed from the core of the building firestorm, centred on the point where Kalilah's hands were still clasped in silent prayer, and you wheeled around one as it sliced a Shiplord cruiser ahead of you into two ragged halves, atmosphere and the flare of secondary explosions painting the world around you in an orgy of clashing colours. You dived through the scattering wreckage in a nimbus of aquamarine light, ignoring the drones and Shiplord suits around you. They couldn't touch you, after all.

Instead, you focused on what was ahead of you, the point at which the Shiplord weapons and Kalilah's burning soul met, and why she'd chosen this. Pain, yes, of course. A desire to do more than just watch as so many others died. But it went deeper than that, and you needed to find how.

Kalilah had lost everything and everyone she'd ever cared for in the Sorrows. She'd honed herself into a weapon without equal, a Lance that had been wielded to devastating effect against the Tribute Fleet during the Second Battle of Sol. But since then, with the expansion of the Two Twenty Three and all the time you'd spent together, you'd thought she'd been getting better. Except, she had been. Of course she had been. What else would drive one to sacrifice like this but a desire to protect?

She'd failed to protect her family. She'd failed to be there to protect you during the Second Battle of Sol, no matter that you'd survived. Her purpose, as she saw it, was different to what you'd seen it as. And when she'd found herself forming connections again, was it any wonder that she'd be willing to sacrifice anything, even herself, to protect those she'd connected to?

On some level, deep down, Kalilah had found her way to a new family. But in her mind, that only went one way. She had to protect, to defend, but when your gift is only destruction, how can you do that? Answer, destroy that which threatens your family. And if the power you bear is not enough? Find more, no matter the cost to yourself. For your family matters. Compared to that, she did not.

How could you have been so blind? Because she'd thought of herself as whole, inasmuch as she ever could be. No matter for now. You could address your mistakes, and hers, later. For now, you had to make sure there was a later.

You were past the first two shells now, dancing between whips of lethal power that scorched space itself as they tore through lighter Shiplord craft. They were trying to run, you thought, but they'd left it far too late. And it was only then you realised that you'd never even asked Sidra if they were ok with doing this. There was, again, no time for words, but the gestalt you heard in their voice was quite clear enough.

:How else would you be here, if I didn't agree?:

As gestures of support and agreement go, that was a big one. There was just enough time left to take a breath, and power with it; hopefully sufficient to survive what you were about to experience. Then you hit the wall of opposed power, and almost staggered to a halt. Pain tore at you, the merciless presence of the Shiplord weapons matched by the inferno of Kalilah's soul, put to tinder by her own hand.

You remembered this feeling. You'd survived it once, when Kalilah had synchronised with Asi. It was so much more than it had been then, but then, so were you. And you would not let your friend die. Somehow she sensed you entering the field around her, but her movements were slow compared to your own, her Aegis flickering out of existence now that the anchors that maintained it were half a light-second distant.

You caught her side on, Sidra cancelling your speed with perfect precision as you wrapped your arms around her, ignoring the look of shock and…had it been fear? That suddenly marred her serenity. You knew the question she wanted to ask. You knew how she'd ask it, what it would mean. And you answered before she could, with the only words that would ever matter.

"Together." You never knew how you said them so fast, or how she understood. "Like we should be." You pulled the whirling nexus of power still racing around you closer, forming it into a solid shell that was alike to an Aegis born of ten billion souls. Your own strength raced down, deep into Kalilah's soul, where fire and destruction raged.

You didn't try to put those fires out. You didn't think you could have. Instead, you wrapped your own soul around those parts of hers that were now aflame, to protect them. She jerked suddenly in your grip, her eyes wide as she sensed what you were doing. And you found the link between you as clasped hands started to slip.

:No one left behind. Not today.: Concepts without words, but words were all that could describe them. Soothing, gentle, and spoken as only family could.

:Let go.:

Her hands opened. And-

Such A Baleful Radiance: INPUT OVERLOAD ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

A hand torn free as the world died.

There was no sound.

Hatred was not enough for them.

There was no fury.

Only destruction would suffice.

There was only light.

Choose a perspective:
[] Lina Sharpe
[] Adriana Thera
[] Vega Cant
[] Mary D'reve
[] Iris
[] Write-in

Neither Amanda nor Kalilah may be chosen as a write-in.

 

[Snowfire]

Minister for War had seemed such a daunting title twenty and change years ago, but it was nothing when compared to the mental Everest of being directly responsible for the orders that would either save or damn your entire species. You'd enjoyed such success in your initial attack that you'd almost let yourself hope that you might be able to win here. It had been a foolish notion, you'd known that, but you hadn't been able to stop it flowering. Not until Amanda's warning had shattered your plans.

That you'd managed to get Second Fleet out before any of their ships could be disabled had been a mixed blessing, given the absolute focus on the Two Twenty Three that the new Shiplord forces in your battlezone had pursued. That they were supporting someone, instead of fighting a battle at the edge of the SEZ where the system defence fleets couldn't easily reach them was good. That you'd ordered them to First Fleet's aid, instead of Third and Fourth's, though?

But there hadn't been time for anything but a snap decision, Amanda's warning had only told you targets. And there'd been no way to be sure that any reinforcements brought into your battlespace wouldn't have moved against. First Fleet had needed time to recover, and the only way to give it that had been reinforcements. Maybe you could have split Second Fleet, but you knew that that thought was the voice of hindsight speaking.

Not that it had made the situation you'd been left in much better. Somehow, despite Insight's best efforts, the Shiplords had brought something you hadn't known about. Weapons that could somehow hurt Unisonbound, and you'd seen the monitors on a few of them come perilously close to flickering out when those weapons had fired. They were stable for now, but whatever the Shiplords did hadn't let them move as quickly as they should. Which had left you, and Second Fleet, responsible for the battle in front of you.

Compared to the predicament facing Third and Fourth Fleet, however, yours had been light. At least you'd managed to warn Lekan and Kristine before the numbers facing them abruptly tripled. Now surrounded by a larger Shiplord force that was close enough to prevent them from disengaging, the two Admirals were just doing all they could to minimise damage.

Balling up had allowed the two fleets to combine their defensive systems, interlocking to form the largest shield planes possible. Now they were diving below the orbital plane at max drive. It wouldn't let them escape, but holding the range might allow them to hold on long enough for their FTL drives to recharge. Thanks be to small favours that humanity's grav drives were up to that challenge.

With the Regular Fleet so split, holding EWAR supremacy had become so much more important. Thankfully, the FSN had managed to hold that ground against an increasingly proactive Shiplord response, though it had been a close-run thing. The eyes of the young woman beside you on the bridge had lost all aspects of their usual humanity as she fought a literal life-and-death battle in cyberspace against Shiplord assaults that had only increased in strength as more of the Regular Fleet entered the field. Yet she, Vision and the Ministry of Security were holding. Somehow.

And you? You were fully enveloped in the management of the two Fleets around you, even as you cursed the error that had allowed the Shiplord cruiser formations to get so close. You'd lost two dreadnoughts to that, and you were trying hard to ignore losses smaller than a capital ship. You didn't need that sort of horror on your conscience right now. Mourn later, survive now.

Second Fleet was advancing now, its fresh units more than a match for the damaged and unsupported Regular Fleet section that had dealt your command squadron such a painful blow. With the Two Twenty Three otherwise occupied, their drone shell was beginning to reform, but it wouldn't be enough to do more than screen right now. And with the tonnage advantage so far in your favour now, there was no reason to throw away the lives of your fighter pilots.

Admiral Starling had left firing lines for your ships open as he advanced, and the massed volley of disruptor fire smashed the remaining shields of the leading Shiplord capital groups flat. They'd been trying to disengage back towards the groups engaged with the Two Twenty Three, but the fighter groups you'd asked so much of had delivered during your own desperate withdrawal, savaging the drive systems of enemy capitals. They were slower than you now, and their formation tightened as you watched into a narrow wedge. That would minimize their exposure to fire whilst maximising shield strength, but even Shiplord systems had limits.

They'd fought magnificently, but against twice their number, those limits had started to show. First one, then two Shiplord capitals blew apart, with more following. Progress, but not enough of it to make it through to support the Two Twenty Three. Yet after so many years of working so deeply with it, human sensors weren't blind to Practice. Which was why your breath caught in your throat when the surging whirlpool of Amanda Hawk's presence near the centre of the thoughts of billions erupted into view. The most powerful Potential in all of humanity took a breath, and a warning surged out across the fleet. She was about to speak.

Power burst from her lips into the world around her, searing patterns of energy that were almost blinding to your scanners, and hope surged within you again. A single Word from her had all but ended the Second Battle of Sol. Surely almost half a dozen would be enough to see this done.

Except…it wasn't. You never understood what happened until after the fact, when you'd been able to watch replays of the event slowed down beyond even what your implants usually handle. That, and read one of the reports on the matter. Until then…it was all a blur.

The energy patterns had started to come apart, before being completely disrupted by Kalilah Mishra. You'd remembered lurching forward in your seat, the exhalation of shock and fear from Iris as she stood rock-steady beside you, her own hands twisting in ways no human's could.

A trail of devastation behind the blurred image of a woman who'd shattered a Collector single handed, vanishing into the heart of the Shiplord fleet assaulting the Two Twenty Three. She'd drawn their fire, and the attention of the weapons that had disrupted Amanda's words. Impossible numbers on your sensors, as Shiplord craft distorted and warped beneath the touch of a hurricane of light building at the centre of their formation. Whatever their weapons were designed to do, they clearly weren't enough to stop that.

You didn't think you'd ever forget what came next, nor the cry of fear it tore from the throat of Iris. Amanda dived into the heart of that fire, her Aegis rippling with brilliant energy, and the entire bridge surged to its feet as the heart of humanity vanished from every sensor. In that brief moment, as the fire rippled through a wave of prismatic colours, you thought you found what the world before the Sorrows would have called prayer.

Then the light of a soul's burning exaltation blanketed the world in blinding fury, and you knew what that word truly meant. A single tone of perfect sound cut through the moment, born of a voice you knew, and a webwork of brilliant white-gold erupted from the Two Twenty Three's formation. It raced out around the Shiplord fleet, forming a vast polyhedron that cut off just short of your own ships. Somehow you managed to pass the order for all craft not to enter, though it was scarcely needed. The last thing you saw on sensors before every single one of them went blank was a wave of searing energy crashing against the cage of power, sealed by a word of singular purpose.

Peace.

Space around you shook as those forces clashed, the echoes of their conflict enough to drop shields across both fleets to dangerous levels. But if not for that protective webwork, that held for those impossibly lengthy moments, you can't imagine that anything would have survived. There was never any figure put to it in terms of energy output; every sensor pointed at the event had simply overloaded. All that was known was what greeted you, when the light faded.

Where had once been over a third of the Shiplord fleet, there was now nothing but empty space, the final lingering flames dying as they licked against a shelter of peace in harmony. A ragged sound, full of agony, tore from the throat closest to yours as Iris stared at the empty void where her mother had once been, her eyes searching desperately for any sign of her. A sick feeling rose in your stomach as you joined your own efforts to the search, something terrible creeping into your chest. She wouldn't have…she couldn't just die. Not like that.

Perhaps that fear made you blind to it. Others would say that it was the last bursts of brilliant flame that were responsible. In that moment, no one cared. For, at the very centre of the explosion of radiant power, a single shard of light remained. A perfect crystal of silver-green and blue. Amanda's colours. And as you saw it, it fell into itself, compressing down and down again, until a hand grasped all that remained. A gloved right hand, with a bracer of silver metal, holding a staff of translucent light the colour of the sea under sun. In her left, she held the limp form of Kalilah close, crimson and blue-green foxfire chasing each other across the elder Potential's skin.

Amanda Hawk raised her right hand, eyes blazing like sapphire suns as she gripped her staff tightly between her fingers. And when she brought it down, the entire star system rang with the tone of power. And the Shiplords…stopped. Third and Fourth Fleet continued to run, not wasting the chance to get fully out of range. The Regular Fleet ships hovered there, not moving, not firing, even as the remains of their comrades outside of the shell of protective light that had saved you were torn apart by Second Fleet. And for a moment, there was simply silence.

"She's angry," Iris's voice broke that moment, a touch of fear in the young AI's words. "I've," she shook her head, her oddly coloured hair turning drab, as if wilting. "I've never seen her angry. Not like this."

---

:They've stopped.: Sidra told you, their voice a soothing balm to the rage howling in your soul as you looked down at the barely moving form of the woman who had once saved your life. :Mandy, she's alive. So are you. There-: you cut the Unison Intelligence off with growl, sending their presence flinching. Part of you recoiled from the very concept; Sidra was your friend! They were just trying to help.

Another part of you, that you'd never quite realised was truly there, snarled something dark and hateful as you glanced over at Kalilah again. She was alive, somehow. Her soul was intact. And yet she hadn't needed to do that. She hadn't had to almost die, to risk everything she was. That was the Shiplords' fault. What they'd done. You'd seen flashes of what their existence had done to the woman you held, how they'd destroyed her, and forced her to define herself by what had been done to her. How she'd suffered, and somehow found it in herself to overcome, despite the agony.

It would be so easy, you thought, the power of billions singing in your veins. So easy to just reach out, to wipe them away. To take what was yours, a power to heal, and make the Shiplords a disease. They deserved that, for everything they'd done, just to humanity. For killing so many, taking so much, and forcing a friend who had suffered it all to offer herself up as fuel for a fire that had been the only way to stop them.

How many more, Amanda, that part of you hissed. How many more until it is enough for you to accept what you must do, what humanity could become, if you wished it. Your vision blurred, with red and tears, pain and anger, acidic beyond belief. You'd channelled that energy once, when you'd spoken Purify. But now it was seeping into you, cutting and pulling at your soul. Even if you'd meant your actions, and been true to their ideals. To the responsibility that the Elder First had left for you. What good was it if you had to sacrifice so much?

There was a way. You knew it. You could feel it. You had stopped the Shiplord fleet in place. Take the power that had done that, and make it a weapon. A sword of fire to wipe away what had done humanity such wrongs. You could end thi-

"No." The word was barely a whisper, but it came from so close to you that it was impossible to miss. You went utterly still, the sheering flame that had been gathering around the head of your staff snuffed out in an instant. You didn't want to look down, not to your left. But you had to, and when you did…

Spoiler: Consequences

Yes, that is a natural 100.

You found Kalilah staring up at you, her eyes holding an emotion very, very different to what they'd ever held before. She coughed once, and shook her head, hard. Yet it wasn't the motion of a child, for all that she felt so very fragile.

"No, Mandy," you blinked, hard. Kalilah never called you that, not so softly, without command yet utterly beyond your ability to ignore. "I've lost one family," her voice cracked, "don't make me lose another." And the world tilted beneath your feet.

Family.

Kalilah Mishra hadn't had family since the Week of Sorrows. She'd lost them then, along with her entire world. She'd never gotten it back, but that hadn't just been because no one had tried to help her. You'd at least been friends, close enough for her to feel that she could sacrifice herself for you. But family? You'd thought she'd have been angry with you, for taking her sacrifice away. Why was she not?

"You came for me," Kalilah replied, as if you'd spoken the question aloud. "When no one else could, no matter that it could have killed you. You took your life and put it beside mine, and said no. Double or nothing. And then you went and won."

"Of course I did. That's what," and it hit you. That's what family did, in the end. It stood together, and never left anyone behind. Kalilah had been forced to leave hers, and that had shaped her into who she was today. And yet, in what you'd just done, you'd proved through actions what no words ever could have. That the life of Kalilah Mishra was worth just as much as your own. That she wasn't just a self-forged weapon, who had been trying to make her last moments more than the pain and fury that had haunted her for almost seventy years.

That her Focus wasn't a prophecy.

And that she was part of a much bigger family than she'd ever had. Not better than what she'd lost, but not lesser, either. And you'd been standing there above her, ready to throw away everything that had ever defined you for exactly the same reasons she'd become who she was.

"Better." Kalilah nodded, and you felt the presence of the other Unisonbound enfold you as Vega led them down to join you. You looked up at your staff, its head smooth once again, and felt the world around you still burning with the strength of billions.

The Shiplords were still stopped, their attention held upon you by the outburst of raw power. Third and Fourth were safe, far enough way that they'd be able to jump out without needing to risk another clash. For whatever reason, you had a captive audience.

What would you say?

[] Why
[] Leave
[] Write-in

You may be as detailed as you wish with a write-in. Violent ones will be denied.