LDFCV Steel Claw’s Bridge

Blood dripped from the side of Commander Stormworn’s maw as she struggled to pull herself back into her seat. The last barrage had caused her to smash her face against one of the displays, cracking it and slicing her jaw against the edge of the metal bordered screen. A medic rushed up to her, but she shook her head fervently. “No, the bridge crew first.” She insisted, her weapon’s master was bleeding worse, one of his fingers at an awkward angle as he continued to try and get the main cannon to target the last battlecruiser. The Leonin had quickly learned the threat posed by the massive cannon, and were flanking them, maneuvering too quickly for the ship killer to get a lock. One Ragerian support ship had already been lost attempting to apply emergency repairs to the carrier’s armor, and most of her fighter compliment had been lost. Some Ragerian Wing Commander had replied to their distress call but... she knew that was unlikely to do much good.

“The Destroyers are nearly out of missiles,” Monk noted over the shared comms Stormworn was monitoring, “after that they’re far less of a threat. It’s that battlecruiser that’s the problem... the armor plating on their thrust controller is exposed, a decent explosion will leave them adrift for a brief time. Steel Claw, if that battlecruiser lost its thrust for several minutes, would you be able to engage?”

“Yes but...” ancestors, she thought, is he planning what I think he is?

“Be ready then, Steel Claw. Stripes, you have command of this flight.”

“Monk, what are you doing???” Came a voice across the channel that sounded Tigrin to Stormworn.

“What I must, Order Beneath the Disorder, my life for many others.”

Moment’s later Monk’s fighter slammed into the lower rear of the battlecruiser, and it’s engines flickered out. Stormworn closed her eyes, and saluted the display, now filled with static. “May the ancestors welcome you, Ragerian.”

“Commander, we have a lock.”

“Fire.”

---

“NOOOO!” Saril screamed as Monk’s transponder vanished, his vision turning a tint of red as he targeted the nearest Leonin ship and opened up with everything he had. Then the next. Then the next. And again, and again, and again!

“Stripes! Stripes! You’ve got one on your tail!” Icebox screeched over the comms, but Saril didn’t care. He was going to kill every. Single. Damned. Leonin.

He’d barely noticed it, but the Captain of the New Dawn, and defacto military leader of the new Alliance was on System-wide comms now, addressing the Leonin and imploring them to surrender.

Like they’ll do that. Saril thought, spinning his ship just in time to engage the Leonin on his tail. He didn’t even hear the Leonin Admiral’s response as another fighter locked onto him from behind and then… suddenly all of space lit up with brilliant flashes. Covering his eyes quickly, he panted heavily, blinking away the afterimages of explosions and what remained of his rage... to see no Leonin ships remained in sensor range.

Suddenly remembering he’d been given command and now seeing the command comms, he hit the button to call them. “C-command, all enemy contacts in my area are down, requesting new targets.”

The face of a startled looking Yotan officer responded to him. “...Stripes? It’s over, we’ve won. Search for ejected survivors if able, then proceed to the nearest allied carrier or base for debrief.”

Lupin Prime, moments before

"What is he doing?" Scythe muttered to no one in particular as her aide Lt Chase brought her tea. Various displays showed her almost every specific detail as the battle unfolded over her home-world, but there was one thing she didn't understand - whatever it was Hack was doing.

"Alpha," replied her aide, "it has been some time since I actively served in CyberDef, but he appears to have some level of presence on the Leonin command network in system."

"I am aware of that," Scythe replied, concealing the mild irritation she felt, "I meant why he asked for an open comms line." I did not mean to ask, she thought, but Chase can be insightful.

"Hmmm," Chase rubbed his russet furred muzzle as he peered over at the screens that duplicated Hack's, "he could easily send any message he wished to the Leonin, even try and fake it as coming from one of their officers. This tells me two things: he wants everyone receive the message, and he wants them to know it is an external message. As for why he would chose to do this?" Chase shrugged, shaking his head. "I do not have anything conclusive, Alpha. Perhaps it is a Ragerian thing, or a Yotan thing, since that is what he considers himself politically."

"We shall find out soon." Scythe nodded, blinking as she noticed Hack had stopped typing, holding one finger over the button to execute a command.

"Ready for comms." Hack sighed in resignation, before trying to get himself into a more visible level of composure.

Once the active comms light turned on, Hack launched straight into speaking. "Leonin fleet, there has been more than enough death today. Surrender or I will be forced to destroy you. You have one minute to respond."

Scythe blinked, and looked over to Chase, mouthing a he can do that?

Chase looked at the screen and command logs and just shrugged. "He has something ready to run recursively, looks like a core function common to Leonin ship systems. I am not familiar with it."

The laugh of a Leonin echoed over the comms moments later, with no visuals accompanying it. "It is you who should surrender, the Empire does not bow to any inferior species."

"You leave me no choice then, may the Order forgive me." With a final sigh, Hack's finger pressed the button it had been held over.

ILMBC Starborn Manifest

Admiral Argenvald sneered at the display panel showing an overview of the battle-space. Things were not going as he had planned at all; not only had he lost his two sister battlecruisers, but worse - he'd expended his supply of missiles, and none of the hab-stations had been "de-orbited". The plan had been to destroy the stabilizer thrusters on the stations, and force them to crash into Lupin prime. It mattered little that almost all Lupin who dwelled on their home-world lived in deep, underground caverns that would only be nominally impacted by the, er, impacts; killing the excess civilian population was the point. The Lupin will kneel before their true masters, or be purged from the galaxy! This setback matters little, we will wear down their pitiful allies in time.

His thoughts were interrupted by an open comms message, which he brought up on his display. To his shock, it was a Ragerian, and demanding he surrender or be destroyed. His snarl turned to laugher at the pointless demand, and the airless threat it included. The fool cannot possibly harm us he thought as he countered with his own demand, and sent an order for comms to trace the signal so he could make it a target... before alarms began to blare, reactor containment alarms. All he could do is watch in horror as he saw his entire fleet exploding from runaway fusion reactions... until his own ship's core exploded, and he was reduced to basic particles.

Command Ward Room, New Dawn

A Yotan Colonel checked the buttons on his dress uniform. He'd already prepared heavily for this important meeting, knowing it would be more than just a regular after action; this would be his first formal meeting with Lupin military leadership and he wasn't about to start it with a sloppy outfit. Whilst doing so, he noticed a loose thread on one cuff which he snapped off cleanly with a well practiced tug, holding the snapped and frayed thread up, a random thought occurred to him. The pattern of the weave is distinctive to Yotan, but apparently, like most species, the Lupin see it as something they would call the color 'green'. As tangential as this thought may seem, he knew from recent experience differences of perception and thought could make a significant difference in how operations were carried out, and cause issues well beyond minor annoyances. Many interfaces had already been altered to color code visuals when set for non-Yotan use, and new markings had to be applied to physical systems - especially since the more complex identification patterns were very difficult, or even impossible for other species to identify accurately, especially when it had to be done with no more than a momentarily glance. The Yotan had their own solutions, including implants that allowed them to temporarily perceive the regular visible spectrum, albeit at the cost of migraines when used for extended periods of time. Perhaps we can eventually adapt them to do the reverse for... a loud beep sounded from the console in front of his seat, and his eyes jerked up reflexively, the meeting as about to start.

Two holographic projections appeared in the nearby seats: Hack, the New Dawn's Captain (his own superior officer), and that of a white furred Lupin.

"Major Illoria Scythe," began the Yotan, "on behalf of the Mobilized Yotan Federation, I would like to welcome the Lupin to the New Alliance. Together I'm sure our people can-!"

"Colonel Pauls, spare me the platitudes," Scythe sighed, shaking her head as she interrupted them, "I have not the time for them." At this she glanced at the single empty chair remaining. "I was advised military leadership from all full members of this coalition were to be present..."

Pauls looked over at the empty seat, winced inwardly and then turned to Hack. "Commander Arth was notified of this briefing when you were." If she's gotten drunk again, I swear to the Guardian...

Before he could finish his thought a projection of the New Gnoll Matriarchy's top commander appeared where it should have already been. She looks sober enough at least, guess expecting her on time was unrealistic.

"Can we make this quick?" Arth growled before anyone could remark to her late arrival. "We won, the Leonin lost, what else matters? We already know everything that happened, unless someone has failing memory!"

"A great many things..." replied Pauls, giving her a look of disdain, "after-action briefing are mandatory, and included in the charter your Matriarch agreed to." Don't like me or Yotan protocols? Tough shit, the point of a military alliance isn't having fun.

"Perhaps Commander Arth would prefer to start with the other part of this meeting first then;" Scythe offered, a glint of fire in her eyes, "deciding upon our response to this attack."

"Better than babbling about who did what," Arth grumbled, then snickered, "if Paulie here doesn't mind."

"That's an acceptable compromise," Pauls replied with a nod towards Scythe, honestly grateful of a reprieve from Arth's exhausting ire, determined not to give her the reaction she was looking for by mangling his name, "on that, my career has primarily involved dealing with the Vulpin - the best way to deal with them is make prospective and active engagements as expensive as possible. Clearly, that is not an effective strategy for handling the Leonin."

"Of course not," Arth laughed, "if that was how they worked, they'd have given up on killing my people hundreds of years ago!"

"The Vulpin are not the subject of this meeting," Scythe said with a nod to Arth, "I fear you may be out of your depth, Colonel. Intel collected by Outworld Affairs suggests the Leonin will continue to attempt belligerent expansion and suppression of non-Leonin so long as they have any assets needed to do so, regardless of costs on any level."

"And what's that supposed to mean, in Standard?" Arth practically demanded, leaning forward towards Scythe.

"What both you and I already know," answered Hack, "the Leonin will not stop until they cannot do anything at all."

"Dang Lupin, always so wordy," Arth grumbled, "could have just said that and saved time. At this point we need to hit them hard and fast! What else is there to discuss?"

"Exact objective, timetables, logistical considerations, personnel capabilities of specific units, anticipated enemy response..." Scythe was ticking off each item on a finger as she pointed out some of the many things that needed to be planned to 'hit' the Leonin, before sighing deeply. "And the list goes on."

"Arth, you must consider that either you can discuss all these things with us and reach a mutual agreement," Pauls stated flatly, "or not, and explain to Matriarch Razormaw that you simply let us decide for you."

"Like void she'd let me get off that easy," Arth groaned, rubbing her face, "where are we going to attack?"

"Nowhere." Hack replied, prompting the others to gawk at him. "At least not yet. No single target is going to stop Leonin aggression, nor would a series of targets. At best it will just delay their next assault, at worst... they could twist the event to make us look like the aggressors."

"Then what is the point of the New Alliance?" Scythe growled, giving Hack a hostile glare.

"You know the answer to that question," Hack responded, "the real question is, how do we destroy the Leonin Empire, or reduce it to a state in which is is incapable of acting against anyone? Moreover, how do we do it in a way that saves as many lives as possible?"

"The Lupin Council has joined the New Alliance to protect its own citizens, not risk them in a hopeless cause for unrelated worlds." Scythe huffed, looking away from everyone as she folded her arms in front of her chest.

"Major," Pauls replied, sitting up straighter, "I think the biggest take from the battle we just won is: when you try to only look out for your own, you lose. That is the point of the New Alliance, we all have to look out for ourselves first, sure, but like it or not we all live in the same galaxy. The problems elsewhere have a way of becoming the problems here if they're not addressed. In fact, had it not need for Hack's ability to exploit a hard-coded Leonin kill-switch on their ships, a lot more would have been lost, by all of us."

"Much as I hate to say it, but my ladies wouldn't have been here to help had Hack not done the same for us in the past. I don't know about everyone else," remarked Arth, "but us Gnolls didn't join the New Alliance to sit on out tails and discuss philosophy. We need to do something, what are we doing to somehow destroy the Leonin."

"Destroy the Leonin Empire," corrected Pauls, "the Charter is explicitly clear that the Alliance will not be a party to Genocide."

"Fair," Arth nodded, "question stands."

"How empires always fall," Hack explained, "we get them to tear themselves apart."

Leonin Base, Planet Huska, Current time

“Really? That’s it?” Garret remarked as Van removed the data crystal from the console, “I didn’t see anything happen!”

“You’re not meant to,” she said softly, pocketing the data crystal, “instructions were to leave it in for 30 seconds at least, I gave it a minute just in case. Not that I know what it did, but I’m familiar with exploits like this.”

“Good, let’s get out of here then!” He grumbled, nodding to Lia and Lana as they headed for the exit, trying his best to be casual. This has been entiiirely too easy, I expect we’re about to walk into a firing squad.

In spite of barely running into anyone, apart from a few random soldiers who saluted Garret until he was well past, he wasn’t about to relax... not even a little. Well, maybe a bit, once we’re back on the ship… but surely not until we’re well away from Leonin space. In spite of this promise to himself, he breathed a heavy sigh of relief after they were out of earshot of the base, now moving through the remains of the woods and towards Blueden... and their escape.

“Gotta say, I’m impressed,” Lia chuckled, trying to hide a slight shiver and chatter to her teeth, “never thought you’d make such a natural spy.”

“Doooon’t remind me, dear...” he groaned, “and we still have to get out of here... with Vanara and my sister. The Leonin will to notice if they leave the planet, and even our benefactor makes it magically look like they haven’t... surely her commander will decide an inspection is in order sooner or later.”

“Y-you don’t have to remind me of that!” Lana visibly shivered, rubbing her short mane, “it’s strange, he tends to show up unannounced once a week, but... hasn’t for a while, and has just been taking my reports in a more snippy manner than usual, like problems keep falling into his lap. Must not be ones he can delegate either, because he’s big on that... when he’s not micromanaging remote outposts.”

“Just don’t invoke it...” Vanara muttered, shaking her head, “we’re overdue for something to go wrong as it is. I...” a tear came to her eye, as she slowed, glancing around her home-world for what may be the last time. “I never thought I’d abandon my home... let’s go, whilst we can.”

Meanwhile, on Lupin Prime

“How much longer must we wait?” Major Illoria Scythe asked Hack, or perhaps more demanded. “The announcement has been recorded and packaged, has it not?”

“Illoria,” Hack sighed, shaking his head as he tapped his padded, blunt claw tipped fingers in a nondescript rhythm, just short of the physical keyboard as his somewhat impromptu workstation, “I told you before, we have to wait because there’s an op underway that the announcement will put in jeopardy. Maybe you’re ok writing off your deep cover operatives for something this galaxy shattering, but I’m not, much less the New Alliance. We do not abandon people unless there’s absolutely no other option.”

Scythe, for her part, barely managed to not roll her eyes at that response. “I am merely surprised you are so attached to the crew of an independent freighter; especially since it is my understanding you only know one member of said crew, and did not have a favorable relationship with them.”

“How I feel about my former teacher is beside the point - they’re people, not just tools to be used and discarded when they become inconvenient. That said...” he sighed, lowering his ears slightly, “I do understand why your people have had to make unpalatable decisions. I’m not trying to be accusational, just saying you need to not get comfortable treating your own as tools.”

“Your statements and convictions are most noble,” she replied flatly, her right ear twitching in mild annoyance as she tried her hardest to tune out Hack’s fingers tapping on a metal desk surface as he spoke, listened and watched some incomprehensible output on various displays, “but I fear you shall find it is not so easy to keep to such pure intents when this kind of work is involved.”

“Well...” he paused, reading over something and typing on the keyboard rapidly for several moments, leaving Scythe hanging to the point where she began tapping one of her hind-paws impatiently. “Hang on Major, this is time sensitive... there, they’ve just accomplished objective one. Once objective two is complete...” Hack swung the chair around, looking directly at Scythe for the first time this morning, “we can proceed as planned.”