Emperors Palace, Imperial Capital, Issa
Imperial Guard troopers lined the hallways, their black and gold body armor gleaming dully in the reddish glow of the overhead lights. They snapped to attention as the trio of naval officers past them, their rifles snapping to present arms with machine like precision as the officers came abreast of them, and snapped back to rest with the same precisions as the officers past them.
The ranking officer came to a halt in front of the massive door at the end of the hall, and the two troopers to either side snapped a smart salute and swung the massive valves of the door open. The room beyond was large, dominated by benches laid out in a u shape, and stacked several ranks deep, all facing the holographic tank in the center of the room.
Directly facing them, the First Minister of the Issa Empire sat, surrounded by functionaries and staff officers. His cybernetic eyes glowed a baleful red as he stared across the room at the three naval officers standing in the door. His long grey-blue fingers flicked out in a beckoning motion, and the three officers approached.
The First Minister leaned forward, his grey-blue skin flickering with sub-dermal conduits and pathway traceries. "What is this?" his voice rasped out, with a menacing metallic undertone, "I ordered the senior naval commanders to present themselves, and I have a mere Zdnavi Aatl and two subordinate Zdnavi before me?" More cybernetic eyes bore down upon the naval officers, as they became the focus of the rooms attention. "And wearing Scouting Force sleeve markers, not Battle Force!" The First Minister leaned forward, like a raptor preparing to strike.
The senior officer, the Zdnavi Aatl snapped off a crisp salute, right arm vertical, with a fist beside his right temple, and sketched a short respectful bow. "Zdnavi Aatl Labraatl reporting First Minister. I regret to inform you Excellency, that I, Zdnavi Aatl Labraatl, am the most senior Naval Commander currently."
The murmuring that had filled the room dropped to a ghostly silence. The only noise was the hum of the holotanks power fields and the tick of the air filtering system.
The First Minister leaned back in his chair, his skin paling to a lighter gray. "Explain yourself Zdnavi Aatl, where is Aatlavi Djeginishir?"
The officer and his subordinates stood braced in the position of 'Respectful Attention to Superiors' as the Zdnavi Aatl replied. "The Aatlavi perished with his command in the last battle in Kishintivir, First Minister." The room immediately filled with whispers and murmurs from the officers and functionaries sitting behind the First Minister.
"Where is Lord Viminismegr, Aatlavi Kos of the Navy?" the First Minister rasped.
"Lord Viminismegr has apologized to the Emperor for the Navy's failures with his life, First Minister"
The whispers in the room picked up in intensity.
The First Minister sank back in his chair, looking almost deflated. "I.... I see." Unconsciously, the First Minister began rubbing the mounting surrounding one of his cybernetic eyes. "So, Zdnavi Aatl Labraatl, was it? What is the status of the Navy and our current situation with these damnable Terrans?"
Labraatl gestured at one of the younger officers behind him, and the holotank swam to life with a schematic of the Issa Empires systems and warp lines.
"As you all know, Lords, the Terrans made a major push into the 73 Vridi system a few weeks ago." The focus of the holotank swam down to focus on the system. "The Terrans destroyed three of our fleets in the system in a space of four days. We lost three fleets to the loss of two Terran ships."
Labraatl gestured again, and the names, tonnages, and classes of the ships swam up in a side bar of the view. "Despite the warnings of the Intelligence service, the Battle Force organized all three fleets in our standard configuration, with light escort elements and medium missile combatants supporting a core force of our Alcanada class beam cruisers." More side bars swung open on the tank, showing the task forces order of battle.
"The two Terran ships lost were destroyed by our beam armed warships, but the Terrans speed allowed them to disengage from the close action at the jump point, and push out of our engagement range." The tank began to run a replay of the action. "Once the range was opened, our ships could not close with the Terran fleet, and their missile cruisers and destroyers bombarded our ships until they were destroyed." The tank reply stopped, showing the baleful yellow icons of destroyed ships. "At this point, instead of retreating, the remain fleet commanders pressed the attack individually, and were defeated in detail by the Terrans."
The room grew still as the numbers and details of the defeat impressed themselves on the officers and functionaries. The bulk of the active Battle Force had been in 73 Vridi, and the defeat was a disaster.
Labraatl continued. "Once 73 Vridi was cleared of our Naval assets, the Terrans landed large concentrations of GROUND forces and smashed our forces occupying the Milerton slave world. Our Intelligence agents still operating there sent back attack analysis summaries, and the news there is bad as well, the Terran ground forces are superior to our own. They are also more numerous, the attack force the landed on Milerton is larger that our Home Defense units total strength."
The ranking officer of the Army, Kzhaatl lan Chiejeztlas went noticeably pale as the presentation and summary of Terran ground forces was displayed.
"The Terrans followed up the attack into 73 Vridi with intense survey activity, and probed all the warp points within a week of seizing the system. Intelligence believes they may have recovered astrogation data from our destroyed ships or captured crews." The view changed again, showing the warp points. "The most critical issue was the Terrans probing and surveying the Dijinis system. Intelligence had counted on the Terrans disovering the 107 Psi system and its habitable world, and investing their efforts there."
The First Lord gestured at Labraatl. "Does Intelligence believe that the Terrans compromised our security and discovered the importance of Djinis?"
Labraatl jerked his chin sharply, "No your Excellency. Intelligence believes the Terrans were being thorough, and that they investigated ALL the warp points out of 73 Vridi at the same time. The reports from 107 Psi report that they were probed at roughly the same time."
The tanks view changed again, showing the critical important Djinis system in the center. "The situation as it stands now is quite dire, your Excellency." Labraatl paused to highlight Djinis. "With the Terran capture of Djinis, they have effectively cut the capital off from the rest of the Empire. Our colonies and commercial traffic are cut off, and most of our colony worlds are not at a self sustainable level. Unless we can dislodge the Terrans, all our smaller colonies will die. Additionally, our major colony at Epirdia is cut off, and the five other habitable colony worlds have been cut off before we could establish an sort of foothold on them outside of survey outposts."
The tanks view changed again. "Three days ago, the Terrans jumped into the Kishinitivir system. They met the remainder of the main Battle Force under Aatlavi Djeginishir, and destroyed them for the loss of one Terran ship." There was a collective gasp, and hisses from the rest of the room.
"With the destruction of the fleet in Kishinitivir system, all of the Navy's heavy warship assets have been destroyed. We have the Terrans literally on our doorstep, as then are a jump away from Issa itself. For defense, we have several squadrons of fast attack craft, though three of the five are of older models. We also have a few older 2nd line warships, two escorts that were refitting, and a few new ships undergoing shakedown cruises."
The mutterings and whispers in the room had taken on a tone of fear, and the First Minister was clearly shaken by the news.
Labraatl turned and faced the First Minister squarely. "Your Excellency, we, the Navy have concentrated on defending the warp point from the Terrans. However, we know ONE Terran fleet managed to defeat several of ours in detail, and Intelligence estimates that the Terrans are fielding at least THREE such fleets. If the Terrans press us in force right now, it is very likely that the Issa system will fall to the Terrans as well."
Labraatl saluted again smartly and slipped back into a position of respectful attention. Clearly from the tension radiating from the officer, he expected the report to be taken.... badly by his superiors.
The First Minister stared at the Survey Force commander briefly. It had taken a monumental amount of courage to deliver such devastating news to his superiors. Such actions were often harshly 'rewarded' in Issa service, but Labraatl had done his duty.
"Tell me Labraatl" the First Minister began to ask, "What is the status of our officer corps after all of this carnage?" Labraatl blinked in surprise, for the First Minister to use just his given name, and not his rank and name implied a great deal of familiarity. It was usual not the precursor to being ordered to 'apologize to the Emperor'.
"Your Excellency, there are no Aatlavi Kos, or Aatlavi left in the Navy, I am the only Zdnavi Aatl remaining. There are five Zdnavi remaining, sixteen Tekushav, and forty seven Teku left in the officer corps. Only twelve of them are Battle Force commanders, the rest are Survey Force. Sir!"
The First Minister sagged even deeper into his chair.
"Aatlavi Labraatl, you have done an admirable job of showing us our situation. Please turn your attention to the fleet and the defense of our system." He gave the surprised officer a weak smile, and slowly rose to his feet.
"I must take this information and present it to the Emperor. We shall see what direction His Illuminated Name provides to us."
