Chapter 1 - A new threat I

Vernond was currently sitting in his seat in the middle of the bridge of his spaceship, the Nexus and was watching the unfolding battle from the screens on the walls.

Inside the command room, which was located in the center, are multiple screens on each of the walls showing the current situation outside, as well as inside the ship. Along the walls are seats placed, on which the important officers are sitting and each one has two monitors, one mounted on each armrest and placed in front of the officers for quick access on all vital information.

All together, there are about 10 other figures sitting along the walls, except Vernond.

He was currently reading a blinking message on his left screen, which was surrounded by a red light.

As he finished reading he immediately said: „Bring us on course toward the sector b5, we have been commanded to assist our other ships. They have encountered a new enemy and are in dire need of backup."

He added quickly: „Together with our Nexus are one Battleship, 32 other Cruisers, 219 Frigates and about two thousand heavy fighters."

The other officers looked at him in shock, after all that was about 2/3 of the fifth fleet which is planned to be the backup in cases of need.

The Nexus was a medium-sized battle cruiser from the Norsu Coalition, meaning it was about 400 meters (437 yards) long. The ships the Norsu Coalition uses have normally a pointy front, kind of like the tip of a spear, while they are gradually getting bigger the further back you go. The Nexus in special has four flat sides, getting bigger towards the back, like a pyramid. On each of these sides are multiple spots with 3 thrusters each and in between slots for weapons and other modules. At the back are five big engines which propel the Nexus forward with great speed, if wanted.

He tightly gripped the armrest while contemplating about his next actions.

After receiving the command the Nexus quickly joined up with the rest of the backup fleet, in which the smallest ships, the heavy fighters which are about 20 meters (22 yards) in length and the biggest ship, meaning the battleship which is about 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles) long quickly got in formation.

As they received green light from the commanding Admiral, the humming sound of the FTL drive was heard and the ship accelerated at an extreme speed, however nothing from that was felt inside the ship.

The ships all left one after another with bright streams of light behind them.

As they stopped accelerating, Vernond prepared himself, before pressing a button on the screen in front of him.

A warning sound echoed through the ship, indicating a message from their Captain. Hearing the sound, the soldiers on the ship temporarily stopped doing what they did and saluted, while silently listening to their captain's words.

"Hello fellow soldiers." Vernond greeted, which made most of the soldiers smile lightly, after all, the captains on other ships maintain a rather distant relationship to their subordinates. Vernond thought differently about this because he reasons that having a good relation to his subordinates would make it easier for them to trust him, and they would follow his commands with more ease and more willingly.

„As you have noticed we are currently moving using our FTL drive, and we are heading toward battle sector b5. Our mission is together with the other backup ships to support our comrades. They are in dire need of help, as they have encountered a new enemy. As we don't know what awaits us, prepare for battle and enter battle stations. Good luck to everyone."

…

A few minutes later, they arrived at the battle sector and slowed down to battle speed.

However, the moment they slowed down enough to perceive their surroundings, a deadly silence descended in the command room, before being abruptly disturbed by multiple alarms going off at the same time.

„Immediately start emergency evasion maneuvers!" Vernond shouted after a brief second. At the same time the maneuver thrusters at the sides of the ship started working at full power to evade everything big enough to damage the ship.

And just in time as just a few seconds later a large piece of hull, nearly half as big as the Nexus, flew by at great speed.

The Nexus was fortunate enough to be on one side small enough to be still quite mobile, while also having reacted fast enough, unfortunately the heavy cruisers behind them weren't as lucky as them and two got hit by the wreckage.

One immediately exploded in a big fireball, killing everyone on board as the wreckage hit the ship dead in the center, fortunately the other one was fast enough to only be hit at the main engines, rendering it immovable.

As this was the only real danger, and the only wreckage big enough in the Nexus's path to actually deal great damage, Vernond relaxed significantly. The ship was still hit by thousands of debris but most of them just bounced back on the ship's armor, after all the Nexus isn't a medium Cruiser for nothing.

Being lightly damaged and having successfully evaded the most dangerous and nearest wave of debris, he quickly contacted the other captains and tried to assess the damage the fleet sustained.

As the highest ranking captain, the captain from the battleship took command and quickly gathered all reports. In total, they lost most of the fighters, about 80%, one cruiser, with one heavily damaged and most of the others lightly damaged, around 100 of their frigates as they don't have a very strong armor with again most of the others damaged.

The battleship luckily sustained zero damage, as it was able to put up its shields fast enough. It is the only ship in their formation with shields, as the current shield technology needed extremely vast amounts of energy as well as a lot of space, which only battleships or above ships could provide.

However, the effects showed clearly as not even a wreckage of about 100 meters (109 yards) could penetrate its shields.