Universe on Fire, Chapter 1

[Tyrazial]

Aidan sipped slowly at his morning brew of tea and honey as he watched the holo-viewer. His eyes sat in the same position as the bright display processed the images in front of him. Giant metallic figures hovered in the sky, dancing about the three-dimensional holographic display. Large groupings intermingled with small grouping, some of the objects glowing bright than blinking off the display.

The darkened room glowed with a sublight level of ambience, the barely luminescent holo-projector bathing the room in an eerie haze of just enough light to barely catch the visible spectrum. The Dragon leader stood motionless in front of a podium, the bench immediately behind him remaining unoccupied.

His soldier's stance was unmistakable. A rigid stance, legs firmly together and straight, his back lined up in crisp attention. His eyes slowly closed, his mind replacing the holographic display with live images in his mind's eye.



“Sir we've got more incoming Alien attackers. I'm reading a dozen medium sized attackers, bearing right for us.”

“Damn, they've broken through the fighter screen. Bring our fore missiles to bear and lay an intercept trajectory. They might not bring those Aliens down, but the missiles should rattle their cages. Have our PPC cannons charged and ready to fire the moment they come in to range.”

The gunnery officer nodded and relayed the orders to the soldiers in the actual weapon bays at the various points throughout the ship. Aidan turned to the communications officer and continued giving orders,

“Get our support fleet up to cover that hole in the far right side of our battle line. Have the frigates move closer to directly oppose the enemies offensive line. Order all remaining forces to move directly to engage the line and make ready to force their weapons down th enemy throats. Tell Admiral Garavac I need her to m-”

“Sir! The Admiral's ship... it's moving on it's own. Her entire fleet is breaking formation!”

“What?! Why wo-”

“They're pursusing an errant Alien command ship. The Aliens line is breaking off in different sectors!”

“Why would she br-”

“Sir the missiles have brought down two enemy ships, the rest are entering farthest safe weapon range.”

Aidan looked to the gunnery officer, “Begin to fire as soon as you have a solution, soldier.” He turned to the comm officer, “Contact the Admiral tell her to keep her line. They aren't breaking, merely trying a feint to get our weakened line even more spread out. We have to stick together.”

Both officers nodded to their leader and carried his orders out.

Aidan sighed and gripped the railings he had been standing against tightly. His eyes began to close though he was far from removing himself from the battle. Without a word, he reached out with his mind, contacting other dragons commanders.


Tiamat, Leviathan, the good Admiral is breaking the line in bad fashion, and foolishly pursuing the enemy. We have to get that line closed. Have your support fleets move in and patch that hole and order your defensive screen of fighters to enter the fighters already actively engaged.

Azura, Azeragos, Move your cruisers into the center and be ready to push this line forward.

Aidan opened his eyes, his mind brought out of concentration by his comm officer, “Commander, the Admiral is refusing to acknowledge your orders and is continuing to pursue the alien command ship. Sir! Her vessel is being swarmed by hundreds of their tiny attack craft. They've surrounded her whole fleet now.”

Aidan looked at the giant holographic display in the center of the command bridge. Sure enough, the Admiral's fleet had foolishly gone after the Alien's command ship and pulled herself from the nestled battle line. Within seconds the collective Alien effort came after her isolated fleet. One by one the fleet ships began winking out, taking a vast amount of alien ships with them. The Admiral's ship itself was the last to go, and in the holographic display it was almost impossible to make out from the hundreds of enemy signals surrounding it.

Aidan's eyes winced, his mind able to pick up the loss of mental signature from the Admiral, acknowledging her death.

“Damnit! This is not good!”

“Sir, the enemy ships are within their firing range, they're opening a barrage on us.”

“Swing the ship around, bring our port weapons to bear. Continue firing with all our cannons! We'--”




Aidan snapped open his eyes, shaking his head. The images faded, though the event still finished in his mind. The battle had gone poorly. The Admiral's foolish decision caused the Alliance's line to break, and chaos to ensue. Fleets piloted by non-dragons began to break off, frantically trying to save their own skin. Dragon fleets tried desperately to keep order and calm the rest of the Alliance soldiers, but it was hopeless. In the end much of their effort was for naught. What might have been the end of the Aliens ended in a retreat and regrouping at a nearby Alliance base, prolonging the end of the war and adding to the losses a number of important Alliance officers.

He ran a hand through his red hair, sighing lightly and breaking the overwhelming silence of the room. He shook his head, a thousand frustrations running their way through his thoughts. His hands drifted from the podium itself to a set of controls situated nearby. The holographic display changed, showing another grouping of different objects. Aidan watched silently again, another battle from long ago replaying in front of him.




--------------------------------



Admiral Karlson looked over a datapad, watching an amalgum of information fly past the small device held in his hand. His aged eyes poured over the text as it scrolled by. A dozen similar device laid in various positions on his desk. After a moment, he tossed the one he was holding into the pile and stood from his metallic chair.

“Why did I become an Admiral in the first place?”

A female voice cooed from nearby, “Because you were far too charming for anything less.”

He smiled and turned to his wife, Denise, sitting on a bed nearby. He shook his head, “All day long I read reports on fleet formations, intelligence reports, injuries, mission logs. I read how the Dragon Republic keeps shifting their fleets, moving but never striking. Poising to attack but never springing into action.”

“Come on James, you know why they won't attack. Those barbaric creatures are just afraid. They know we have the manpower to stop them. They exist because of the graces of the Alliance. If the people wanted war, the dragons would be overwhelmed by our unity. Not that they don't deserve to be crushed. Martha Evers said her husband, the merchant captain, saw a recording from a ship that got boarded by Dragons. They ate the crew alive!”

James Karlson rolled his eyes, “This is the same Ryan Evers that swears his ship is haunted by the spirit of an engineer who died building his ship's engine manifold. Spacers are always making things up. But you are right, they definitely deserve to be destroyed. To think they would abandon all humanity they ever knew and become like the Aliens they were made to fight.”


The Admiral moved from his wife to a viewing window. It was night-time outside, the light around the window borders the only light beaming inside the room. He stared at nightsky, thinking of what might happen should a war actually erupt. While the government kept the people believing the Alliance's fleets were supreme in the skies, the Admiral knew the truth. The Dragon Republic could potentially destroy the D.A.P. fleets if it was to come to war.

Granted, they had the “Seraphim”, but Admiral Karlson refused to put his faith in something that in truth was only inches from becoming as barbaric as the dragons themselves. Humans forceably altered through science and technology to become better killing machines.

If the good Admiral had his way, they would be scrapped as a failed experiment, but so long as they killed Drgaons without questions the Admiral would abide with their presence in his fleet. Though, there was little hope for that necessity. The Dragons, for all their cruelty and viscous love of war, had not attacked the Alliance since they forcibly claimed planets bought for with Alliance blood so long ago.

And so the two forces sat, always ready to engage each other, never quite getting to that point. Like pawns moving in a stalemate across the intergalactic chessboard, the two fleet would hang in space unused, untested. And God help the universe the day that changed. Regardless of what the end result, the war itself would leave little but ash and dust in it's wake.

[Astral Harmony]

The Seraphim Shion's male persona woke up bright and early, had breakfast, and stepped out into the corridor. Vanilla, one of the local patrol guards, greeted him out in the hallway.
"Hiya, Shion. Lookin' yummy as usual."
Shion flushed slightly. "Ah, good morning, Vanilla." He tried to think of something to say. "Are they ever going to give you a day off?"
"Aww, do you want us to have more time together? I'm so sorry, but when we're this close to territory that we don't control, I should be so lucky that I only have to do twelve-hour shifts."
Shion turned over his badge to be quickly checked by Vanilla and then returned to him. "I feel lucky, though. At least my detail allows me to talk to you without having to also deal with your 'Big Sister.'"
"I get the morning and she gets late night by agreement so she can get drunk and into fights without me chiding her and I can have a wholesome breakfast and morning exercise without her calling me something...vulgar."
Vanilla chuckled. "Well, I'd better get back on my patrol. If they catch me talking to you one last time, they'll change my patrol route. Take care."
Shion and Vanilla parted ways and Shion stepped back into his quarters, accessing the data terminal to confirm his own patrol for today. He still had three hours before he had to report for duty. He would check the latest news and maybe read one of his books before it was time.
Hey, Chickenshit.
Shion straightened up, shocked that she was up this early.
Big Sister? You're usually not awake until I've begun working.
Yeah, well I didn't drink a lot this morning. I promised someone I'd be their sparring partner.
What? But I was hoping to finish this latest book.
Fuck books. We're forced to read too goddamned much as it is. Sit your ass back because I'm taking over.
...Just don't make us late for work again.
Shion's female persona took over and headed down to the recreational bay of the Overlord Class Cruiser they were stationed on.

Selena of the Dragon Republic stepped out of the shower, dried herself off, and sighed. It was a pain in the ass, not being able to stand on solid ground. Why a groundpounder like her had to be on a spaceship was beyond her, but orders were orders. There wasn't anything on the agenda today except to remain in combat readiness in case of an emergency demanding military intervention, so she strolled out of her quarters to the holodeck to practice her swordsmanship. Truth be told, she didn't mind the peace that they had...
"Hiyaagh!"
But it was an uneasy peace that they had between them...
"Haagh!"
The kind of peace where both sides were simply thinking "look, if there was a way I could kick your ass, I would" and waiting for the orders from their betters to try and do it anyways. It caused Selena no end of discomfort as she destroyed the false targets one after another.

Sek'rai of the Alien Armada moved about the beast from which she dwelled, scanning it for any irregularities or vulnerabilities. This particular craft had not seen combat against those insolent creatures yet, but that didn't mean issues could crop up, thanks in no small part to the perils of space travel. While carefully seeking out any problems, she daydreamed of the battlegrounds where her kind faced down those audacious beasts, and how disheartening it was to have to flee. She would have gladly given up her life if it meant taking one more of them with her in the end.
"Soon they will learn the error of their arrogant ways," Sek'rai chortled. "And they will pay to learn this lesson with oceans of their lifeblood."

[Tyrazial]

Aidan's eyes fixed intently on what was to be the fifteenth battle he had programmed the holographic projector to display. His eyes danced back and forth following the three dimensional shapes. His focus was so intent that he didn't hear so much as a footstep behind him.

Ryukaji appeared out of the shadows behind him, wrapping her arm around his, leaning into his ear. With concern in her voice she spoke quietly to him, "Ai-kun, why is it you spend your time here, amidst ghosts and shadows? These battles were already fought a long time ago. There is no reason to continue to torture yourself with them."

Aidan pulled his attention way for a moment to look at the woman now curled around his arm. He nodded, " Perhaps. But the moment we try to forget what happened, and those that died, is the moment we fail in our vigil to prevent it from re-occuring."

"Remembering and honoring don't mean you have to physically see it happen again. I know what thoughts spin in your head, our link sees to that. It wasn't your fault what happened, you know. Leviathan, Azuregos, and Azure all knew the risks. They sacrificed themselves for something greater, for a dream of a peaceful universe. A universe free of everything we were created to fight."

"But the creators turned against their creation." Aidan pushed a button on the console in front of them, and the holographic display vanished from sight. He turned to fully look at Ryukaji, "What kind of peace can there be in such a world? We are abominations in the eyes of our masters. They saught to create something capable of fighting a terrible monster, and what they got was a monster equal in terror."

"We are not monsters -or- abominations."

"Tell that to the Alliance. I still remember Fleet Admiral Karlzhof's words to us... 'You are a beast of war and hell. You were made to serve a purpose. That purpose has ended. So has your use.'... I used to respect that man's duty and honor. To hear such words from him..."

Ryukaji snapped at Aidan, "Karlzhof was a fool who deserved to die for those words. We bled in war under his orders only to get his disdain as a reward. The Alliance failed us when they failed to give us the respect we deserve. We were never their tools, and they had no right to demand us to just lay down and die."

"Who are we to say... the gifted us with this power. Should they not have the right to take away?"

The woman shook her head, "I know you feel bad about what happened. I know you feel guilty for everything, Aidan. But you did what you had to do. They asked to let them slaughter us. Yes, they gave us these powers, but since that moment we -earned- them through our sacrifice. We deserve a life just like any normal human.

What the Alliance tried was genocide. We served them and destroyed humanity's greatest threat and they tried to thank us with death. To hell with them. If it weren't for you and Leviathon's last wish, we would probably have declared war on them."

Aidan put his hand on Ryukaji's shoulder, beginning to talk to her without words.

Kaj, relax. I know how you feel. And I agree that it wasn't right that the Alliance asked us to die like that. But I can't stop feeling guilty about everything.

She seemed to calm down and began smiling, "I'm sorry, Ai-kun. The Alliance always gets me irritated. They constantly hari our borders trying to provoke us into attacking them. Cowards refuse to take initiative and confront us openly."

"The Alliance is blinded by generations of deception and media controlled lies. I doubt any of them even know the truths, what the Alliance did to us. They probably think we're brutes, ungrateful savages clinging too hard to our ways or war and hatred. You can not blame them, no one lives now who knows the truth. They are an empire of lies and corruption now..."



-------------------------------

Karlson straigthened the sides of his uniform, stepping up the stairs leading to the speaker's podium. In front of him sat tens of thousands of officers, all dressed in formal assembly uniforms. The Admiral looked over all of them, examining the people assembled in front of him. He cleared his through before speaking into the microphone.

"We are gathered here to honor the memory of perhaps one of the greatest fallen soldiers of all time. Fleet Admiral Nicholai Karlzhof. Admiral Karzhof fought first in the Great War, than fought against the brutal and unforessen betrayal by the Dragons. He pursued the savage beasts as they retreated into what is now their space. He came upon one of the fiercest of the enemy's leadership, Josiah Galtron, known also as Leviathan. In the face of a ferocious and bitter enemy, the Admiral never hesitated in pursuing true justice.

The treachery of the Dragons is overshaded by the legacy of this great man. It has been one hundred and thirty years to the day that he died, and every year it is my honor to speak in memory of this man. While I may fill his shoes, I can never replace his courage. We live and serve in his memory, and the memory of others that fell in battle since the Alliance begun. Let us drink and remember them, for they paved they way for our generation's future."

Every seated officer stood and applauded the Admiral, and the procession broke out into various other exceedingly large halls where the officers sat, drank, and mingled amongst themselves. Admiral Karlson opted not to join any of these congregations. He moved instead towards the meeting hall's internal landing pad. Dozens of bays branched out where various sshuttles and transports could drop off and pick up their retinue. Parked on a roped off pad was a grand-looking shuttle. The Admiral moved to it. Soldiers stood at the ready, nodding to him as he moved past them and into the bowels of the ship.

He moved into the insides of the shuttle, taking a seat as he arrived in the vehicle's cockpit. On his left, the shuttle pilot looked to him with a smile, "Not staying for the drinks, sir?"

Karlson shook his head, "No. Let those fools drink themselves into a stupor. With the Dragon activity picking up along our border I don't intend to let myself get hindered in any way. Take us back to the ship, Commander." The pilot nodded and pushed a few buttons. Behind the two men, the two soldiers that had been standing outside moved into the shuttle and closed the doors, latching them shut as they did so. "Control Tower, this is Leapfrog One, we are departing planet and returning to the Indominable Will ."

A voice crackled over the shuttle's internal speakers, "Roger that, Leapfrog One. You are cleared for departure through the zenith space lanes. Good luck and fly straight, Leapfrog One. Thanks for visiting our planet, Admiral."

"Roger that, Leapfrog One out."

[Inbred Chocobo]

John sat at his own table, drinking pretty much the same thing that everyone else was drinking. He really wasn't here to pay much attention to the Karlson that was giving the speech, he was here to pay his respects to Karlzhof. He remembered hearing speeches from that man as well, though he was listening with thousands of other soldiers at that time.

However once the speech was over with the applause, John stood up and joined them. He would give that Karlson did talk nicely about Karlzhof, even if he seemed to make himself out rather nicely at the end. So then when everyone was heading towards the hall to do random chit-chat and discussion, John noticed that Karlson happened to be leaving in a hurry. "Well that's a little odd." John muttered to himself. The guy next to him agreed though, and they walked off into the hall to share a drink and a story.

Though sometime during the talk, John called up someone on his ship. "Yes Morgan. Listen, can you track Karlson's ship for me? He seemed to be leaving in quite a hurry. Yes don't worry about interrupting me down here, we all are just sharing a good story. No better keep it a little on the down side, don't want to make everyone think I am spying on them. Yes you better address me before you take any action." John hung up then, and went to refill his drink.

[Astral Harmony]

"Here you go."
Shion accepted the soft drink with a smile. "Thanks. You're getting better and better."
"I appreciate the compliment, but I think it's just me getting used to having you as an opponent."
"When you talk that way, you sound just like Chickenshit. You know that?"
Shion's sparring partner slung a towel over his right shoulder. "Yeah, well...I'm kind of jealous. He's got something that just attracts the ladies like moths to a flame."
Shion laughed. "And? What, you're trying to be a little more like him?"

Here, she stood up and then leaned close to him, allowing him a full view of what was just barely covered by a sweat-moistened tank top. "Chickenshit is...really, really cute. I think he's been getting cuter since the day we were born as a Seraphim. There's also his silly hobbies like karaoke 'n' stupid shit like that. I dunno exactly how all this brings him willing women by the truckloads, but it does and I don't think any normal human can possibly imitate it."
"..."
Shion stood up straight, taking down the rest of the soft drink. "Fuck trying to be like him. If you don't want to spend a night by yourself, then just get out there and get them. I'm sure there's some girls who would keep your nights a little less lonesome."
The guy remembered how to blink. "Ah...right, sure."
Big Sister, we don't have long before we have to report to work.
Shion looked to the nearest wall-mounted clock. "Hey, dumbshit, we still have fifty minutes." She said out loud.
Yes, but what if the direct route should happen to be unpassable?
She shook her head. "Then yes, we could be late, but what're the chances that an elevator would be inoperable?"
"Quite high, actually. I don't think we've seen a supply shuttle in quite some time."
Shion turned to her grinning sparring partner. "Fuck you and shut up. I'm talking to Dumbass over here."
The guy leaned back. "Do you always talk to him out loud? Some of the others are starring at you."
Shion put her hands on her hips and smirked. "So what? They know I'm Seraphim."
Knowing what we are and being one of us is quite different, Big Sister. Oh, that reminds me...

Before his eyes, Shion's body became distorted as the body's dual personas switched from the dominant seat. Now he was looking at Shion's male personality. "I heard an annoucement on the way here. Do you know what it was for?"
"Another speech about Karlzhof." He said simply.
Fuckin' again?! God damn it, they really just need to let that sonuvabitch sleep sometimes.
Shion turned a little and gestured at thin air, indicating that he was talking to his "Big Sister."
Is that the proper way to respect the dead?
I think it's more disrespecting to keep pulling the fucker out of the ground and dusting him off for this kind of bullshit. This war needs fuckin' heroes, it's true, but what we really need is fuckin' heroes who just happen to still be alive.
I could agree with that, but for a lot of today's heroes, their inspiration is often derived from those who have come before us and done things we would deem only the most heroic of actions.
What, are they so goddamned lazy that they need to be told "well, this guy did this and he's dead!" to finally get off their fat asses and try to make something for themselves? Great, we've turned yesterday's heroes into today's motivation books. Talk about disrespect for the dead.
Shion chuckled, then turned to their friend who just listened to what he could. "Anyways, we're off to work. Have a pleasant day."
He stood up and hailed Shion. "Oh, some girls approached me when they heard we were sparring as usual today. Said they want to see you here after work."
What the hell for? Maybe they just want you to stand there and pose for them or something else equally stupid.
Shion ignored his sister. "Understood."

It wasn't long before Shion was outside, piloting an Orion Class Fighter craft on a routine patrol.

[Flarecobra]

"Geez....Why can't something HAPPON out here? Hell, I don't care if it's pirate raiders.....we've been assigned to this ship for what, a month? And we STLL haven't seen any fighting..." Inyri's male persona said in hir mind. "You know, one would think with all the threats out the..." "Will you shut it!? Look, every flight, you bitch and moan about not being in a fight. Well, there's more to being a pilot then just being able to shoot and destroy stuff. Like now, we're heading out to escort the Captain back." Inyri's female persona shot back. Checking to make sure hir comm wasn't transmitting, sie said to hirself "And he asks why I want us to be seperated..." Turning the comm back on, she spotted the shuttle on sensors, and said "Leapfrog 1, this is Delta 3, I am to be your escort back to the Indominable Will"

[Tyrazial]

Karlson looked to the shuttle's pilot, "I'm going to head into my quarters for a few minutes. Message me when we get to the ship."

The Pilot nodded, than flicked on his comm device, "Roger that, Delta 3. Approach the starboard side and take position on our six. Leaprog 1, out."


In the shuttle's small private quarters, Karlson sat down on a makeshift chair in the compact room. He pulled out a datapad, looking at some information displayed on it. Lists of names and fleets and various star chart data scrolled past him at blinding speeds. He pressed a button and the pad stopped in mid-scroll.

He selected one of the names on the screen, and a video feed opened up. The datapad's speakers sparked to life, "This is Commander Blackburn."

"Commander, this is Admiral Karlson. I want you to get to activate Omega Fleet, and get the Fourth and Fifth Garrison fleets up and running. Have all three rendezvous with our fleet over planet Nilheim."

"Sir?"

"There's been reports of Dragon activity increasing, I want our fleet ready should they decide to end this stalemate of ours."

"Understood sir. I'll dispatch the order myself. Blackburn, out."

Admiral Karlson inputted another sequence of information and another figure appeared on screen. "This is Cutter."

"Colonel. Good to see you. I have a special mission for you and your Seraphims."

[neyo the king]

The screen gave off a dull blue light, the only light in the room, with Fredrick Morfel sitting in front of it, head laying down on the console, sobbing silently to himself.
"Please, please tell me it isn't so... Tell me she'll be ok..." Fred looked up at the screen, tears welling in his eyes.

"Windows Vista XP ver. 3.0.0.1 has encountered a fatal error, and needs to restart. Please press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to restart your terminal now."

"For the love of God. You'd think after these countless years of existence, they'd make it a little more stable. Light on." The lights come on with a pleasant "ding!" and Fred hits the appointed keys. "I swear, they must make it so that if you feed this thing anything not licensed by Megasoft, it just goes kaput..." He flopped onto his manga-covered bed and sighed. "That's the last time I buy RAM from a vending machine..."

"ATTENTION ALL Indominable Will PERSONNEL," it was the intercom. "It has been requested that we remember Admiral Karzhof's sacrifice to the Alliance with a moment of silence. Please, take a moment to remember with us..."

*silence*

"Thank you. you may resume your previous activities."

Fred looked up at the intercom and sighed. "Admiral Karzhof... if only I had a ounce of your greatness... Here's to you." He reached over and picked up a glass of soda nearby, rose it ceremoniously, and chugged it down. His eyes grew wide, and he almost spit it back up, but stopped just in time and forced the soda down.

"Egh! Week old soda... I think it's time to tidy up a bit..."

[Astral Harmony]

Hey, Chickenshit.
Yes, Big Sister?
I just noticed something...just now.
And what would that be?
That we're not in the Fighter anymore.
You're awfully observant today.
Shut the fuck up and explain, moron.
Shion finished dressing in his uniform and proceeded to his destination.
We got orders to stop our patrol and report to Cutter. Something must be up.
Maybe we'll get a day off!
Or maybe we'd just better not get our hopes up.
Yeah, I got it. Alrighty Fucko, let me take over.
What? Are you sure? I mean, when it's you who takes over, we usually end up with annoyed superiors, and they have enough reason to hate their positions of authority without Seraphim.
Shion's male persona may have had a point, but he delegated control to his female persona nonetheless. And with that, Shion proceeded to go see Cutter with renewed vigor.

[Tyrazial]

A very lithe, slender man appeared in front of a holographic display. Amidst the various fleets, his image would appear for Seraphim gathered at appointed assembly places on the ship. His almost weasel like face was illuminated only by the console he was interfacing with.

He stared into the holographic recording device, clearing his throats, "Good day, Seraphims. The time has come for some of you to be tested. A select few of you will be departing on a mission of great importance to the Alliance state. I am handpicking the personnel based on ability and potential. Those not given an invite will continue your regular duties and no one, picked or not, will make mention of this. Not to each other, and not to the other personnel aboard your ship. That is all."

The holographic recorder faded into nothingness. Cutter laughed lightly in the empty room, "Fools. Soon the Dragons shall taste the pain of my mighty Seraphims. And than they'll respond, naturally. Soon we will have our war, little dragons. And soon, the Seraphim will sweep across you like the angels of old. Than you will learn fear. You will learn despair. You will learn, death."