[u][b]Commander Cassius Caspian CVN-069 Blinding Light ( Supernovae Class Carrier) Crusade Fleet Flagship [/b][/u] [img]https://topscifibooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Depositphotos_27260933_original-e1551632503104.jpg[/img] Cassius held onto the back of a nearby chair as the ship transitioned back into normal space, resulting a slight shift in momentum. According to his mental notes, the crusade fleet was almost halfway to the maps designation of Dominion space. In reality however, they were completely unaware of where they were. Long Range travel was limited to the edges of Solite controlled space and just beyond. True long range travel was reserved for solar priests undergoing pilgrimage to other known nations. In reality, the maps and star charts they were using were at least 40 to 50 revolutions old. Cassius always found some comfort in space travel, he never could get over the beauty of the vacuum. It was peaceful in an eternal kind of way, knowing that these were the same stars that their ancestors saw as the made their exodus from the Dominion. This fact meant little to Cassius, but for the majority of the crew and troops onboard this was akin to a religious pilgrimage. Nearly everyone was overtaken by religious fervor and preformed rituals and sacred rites nearly every day. Every bit of the carrier, its strike craft and weapons had been blessed nearly 6 times over and had the purity seals to prove it. Although this was a minor annoyance to Cassius, it was good for overall morale, particularly important during these long voyages. “ Strike group one and three have exited FTL and is standing by 0.2 AU off to our starboard,” a crewmember said towards the ship captain, as he buried his face in the radar screen. The captain nodded in response before looking towards the communications station. “ Have we tapped into the nearby communications array that the recon team dropped?” the captain asked, looking expectantly towards the crew member. “ We have accessed the array and are currently downloading communications from high command, sir”. The crew member answered as he turned to face the captain. Being a former naval reconnaissance operator, Cassius has spent plenty of time on long range destroyers and recon craft. As a result, he knew the procedures and tactics of how these vessels work within larger fleet operations. While underway within a larger fleet, Solite destroyers sit far to the port and starboard flanks of the greater fleet in order to provide both long range defense, targeting and recon to the bigger ships towards the center. Solite destroyers also travel far ahead and behind of the formation in order to provide increased security. Destroyers that are on point, ahead of the formation, will commonly deploy recon craft to jump ahead of the battlegroup in order to map safe FTL lanes and drop small communications arrays to maintain connection with high command. These arrays are small, about half the size of an average man, making them hard to find unless you are right on top of them. Wherever a Solite fleet travels, it leaves a trail of communications arrays all the way to its destination. “ Commander Caspian….” A grainy rough voice barked, breaking Cassius’s trance as he looked out towards the stars. “ Yes…..sir…..Admiral” Cassius answered in a shaky tone, looking up towards the captain’s chair. “ We have downloaded the most recent comm dump from high command, you may want to inform our illustrious high priest that there is information that he should be privy to” the admiral said in a dismissive tone. The navy has always been more rational than the other branches and attracts those of more moderate faith than the Army and Marine branches. As a result, they viewed the intervention of religious clerics as unneeded and often unwanted. Being the oldest branch in the Solite state, they have earned the right to their own relative autonomy. The Admiral of the battlegroup may have been second to the Lord Barca in terms of leadership, but this was the Admiral’s ship and armada, his word was final. “ Yes admiral, I shall inform him at once” Cassius said with a curt nod before walking off the bridge and into the corridor behind. ‘It must be important’, Cassius thought as he walked back to the ships shrine bay, ‘why else would the Admiral request that the high priest read this personally’ Cassius continued as he walked to one of the personnel elevators. The mystery of what this could be was eating Cassius alive as he arrived at the door, opening it with the press of the door controls “ Ah yes, my son…..please sit, we have much to discuss” Lord Barca said as he patted the table next to an empty chair. The room was lit by a large holographic display in the center of the table, displaying star charts, planet and system maps along with what looked like battle plans for the upcoming invasion of the dominion. This was complete with unit compositions and even frequencies for communication with the Saxionian forces in the area. “ This is useful…..” Cassius said as the door to the shrine bay opened once again, allowing the Admiral and General to enter the room. “ Gentlemen, Im glad you could join us….it seems our brothers and sisters of the solar truth have provided us with much needed information” Lord Barca said as the men took their seats The Admiral grunted in response looking at the updated star charts with the new borders displayed. “I wish we knew this a few weeks ago…” the Admiral said in a flat tone, manipulating the display to show the small gap between dominion and OPAO controlled space. “ This is a problem, according to these new charts and plans, we need to enter Dominion space through this bottleneck, flanked on either side by unknown nations” he finished flatly. “ I would recommend finding another route through” the Admiral barely before the General abruptly spoke up. “ We have been blessed with good fortune, the Dominion’s forces are thin here, and our time table will not allow us to waste more time traveling around this “bottleneck” to reach the same destination. We have Saxonians depending on us to be at that location at a specific time” the General finished before zooming in on the first system they would encounter. “ These planets are all but undefended, save personal defense forces and police. If we go around, these will be replaced with the local military if we wait and blow our timeline” he said looking towards Lord Barca. “ The gods will it, we must act with the ferocity and speed of a solar flare. It has been foretold and it is written” The General finished. “ I agree….” Lord Barca interjected, only to be cut off by the Admiral “ I trust your word to matters of faith but this is my domain priest, Ive seen this go very badly for our forces in the past. Please, leave the strategy to those who have the pedigree for it…” the Admiral spat back at Lord Barca. The atmosphere in the room changed as Lord Barca rose from his chair, his small frail frame accentuated against the large holographic display. “ These may be your ships Admiral….but this is my expedition” he said as he rested his hands on the table, to lean closer to the pair of officers. His bright red eyes seemingly boring holes into the pair. “ You will go where I order….and I order that we enter the territory here….” He finished pointing up towards the gap between the OPAO and Union. “ Is that understood…..brother..” Lord Barca spat back towards the Admiral as an evil grin began to form on his face. With a deep sigh, the admiral rose from his chair and nodded towards the men in the room. “ Don’t be so hasty to return to ash priest, such glamorous language will have your body floating in the vacuum in short order. I can assure you, it is not a glamorous or quick death.…” the man finished before walking out of the room, followed by the General after the men exchanged their farewells. “ Not making any friends I see” Cassius quipped, looking towards the high priest. “ The path to righteousness will always have obstacles, and those who wish to pull you from it..” Lord Barca answered before walking next to Cassius to pat him on the shoulder. “ Get some rest my son, I will see to it that your on the first recon element that is deployed in this new conflict. You shall have your glory and then return to me, you are far to valuable to loose throughout this new campaign”, he finished before walking to the door. “ Wake me in a few hours, or if anything else comes up…” the priest said with a yawn before leaving the shrine. Cassius agreed with the Admiral, this was risky, dumb maybe, but he knew enough to keep his mouth shut. An admiral can voice his opinion freely, but Cassius was expendable, there was no shortage of noble born sons in the Solis Ecclesia. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [u][b] Crusade Fleet LST-091 ( Incandescent Truth, Heavy cruiser converted to a troop transport vessel) 13th Mordant (Acid Dogs) Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 3rd platoon (Mechanized) Pvt. Cato Euchar[/b][/u] [img]https://scifiinterfaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/starshiptroopers-tank-02.png[/img] Cato’s eyes shot open before he began to fight against his restraints and the intubation tube stuck down his throat. Panic was evident on his face before the automated medical software noticed his elevated heart rate and began administering a mild sedative to calm him down. This was the first time the private had been awake since the ambush on Mordant Prime, he thought he was dead. “ Nurse…….NURSE!!!” a voice could be heard through the amniotic fluid capsule he was in, before a figure could be seen moving around the room, running for the door. The inject calmed Cato down as he slowly settled back into his normal floating position and he was able to take in his surroundings with a clear head. A number of machines were attached to Cato’s body, one around his left leg, his arm and one firmly wrapped around his midsection. They were transparent and Cato could see a number of mechanical arms, rapidly repairing bone, muscle and skin tissues one strand at a time. ‘ I thought I was dead…’ Cato thought before a number of figures hurriedly entered the room again. “ Hey kid….” A familiar voice could be heard before his platoon leader pressed his face up against the glass, followed by the jeering of his remaining platoon mates. “ They took the entire 13th Mordant off the planet after that ambush, we were replaced some by marine battalion…” he stated flatly, an uncharacteristic smile plastered on his face. “ Were somewhere far to the galactic south of Solite territory, but that’s all we know” the lieutenant finished before eyeing the private’s wounds. “ We took a beating in that park, Kuro, and Hellas were killed and you saw Kostin die before we were all blown to shit..” he said in a somber tone. “ We have a while to relax and recoup though, who knows where they are sending us next. Its all good though, it cant be worse that Mordant Prime” he finished with a disturbed chuckle. “ I managed to get you a promotion, you’re a corporal now…congrats. We’ll see you when you get out of this tube, Komninos brewed something from some fruit he stole from the mess hall. It tastes like shit but, it’ll get you some type of drunk” Lieutenant continued followed by the collective laugh of his platoon mates. “ You’ll be out soon kid..” he finished, before removing his face from the glass “ Oh….” the platoon leader said as he walled towards the door, “we have a new name for the regiment. Apparently, the general thought that we moved through rebels like acid and fought like rabid stray dogs” he quipped with a slight shrug and a grin. “ They are calling us the acid dogs now…Mordant Acid Dogs..” he finished with a chuckle as the group left the room. ‘Mordant Acid Dogs….’ Cato thought to himself, ‘ I could get used to that’ he finished before the sedatives took hold again, knocking him out.