บท 176: Chapter 174

Axel watched the battle between the two fleets unfold from the safety of his cloaked flagship. As the Nimrathi and Kynthari fleets clashed, their advanced technological capabilities were recorded and analyzed by the Ascendency's specialists, comparing the weapons and defensive capabilities to their own. The Kynthari appeared to have the upper hand, with faster, sleeker ships that maneuvered around the bulkier Nimrathi ships, tearing them apart with concentrated energy weapons.

The Nimrathi had bigger ships, which could deal out a lot of damage, but not enough to counteract the damage that they were receiving from the Kynthari ships. As the battle went on, Omni appeared next to Axel with some new information, "Sir, we have intercepted and translated another Kynthari communication. It appears they are ordering their forced to advance toward the second Nimrathi planet in the system."

The problem with this news was that the more the Kynthari expanded throughout the system, the more Axel risked being trapped within the system as he didn't know if the Kynthari could track slipspace jumps or not, nor did he want to find out. "Let's not stay here then," Axel commanded. "Let's retreat to the edge of the system and jump to another system. Have the scout ships located any resource rich systems that we can start mining?"

"Yes Sir, one of our scout ships has found a system not too far from here that appears to be rich in resources. The team is already conducting surveys to get the exact lay of the land, but preliminary reports indicate an abundance of common and rare elements." Omni replied.

"Excellent," Axel said, already having plans developed for what they were going to do. "We'll head there next and set up a base of operations to begin extracting resources and researching a way to get back home."

As the ship quietly slipped away from the system, the battle between the Nimrathi and Kynthari raged on. It was a stark reminder of the law of nature, survival of the fittest.

A few minutes later, Axel's flagship had arrived within the system and settled on a world which they dubbed Gamma-01. It was an uninhabitable planet, but it was filled with lots of natural resources.

"Once we land, deploy the Terraforming device and send out the Sentinels to start setting up the mining operations," Axel instructed, his eyes scanning the barren landscape of Gamma-01. The planet was rocky and desolate, but beneath its inhospitable surface lay a wealth of resources waiting to be harnessed.

The ship descended onto the planet's surface maintaining a few meters off the ground before being placed into a dormant hover mode. Hundreds of sentinels were deployed from the ship and began to spread out to the surrounding area. The Terraforming device which is more like a massive structure had begun its construction.

"Estimated time until the Terraforming device is finished is 16 hours." Reported Omni. Axel nodded his head while pressing a button on his chair which connected to the rest of the ship.

"All crew members are hereby given the rest of the day off to rest, relax, and gather their thoughts. While we may be a long way from home, we will return. I promise you that," Axel said.

"Omni, keep me updated on the progress of the Terraforming device and the mining operations," Axel instructed as he left his command chair heading towards his quarters.

Some of the crew members went to eat, some went to their quarters, and some went to engage in recreational activities to pass the time and ease their minds. Laughter echoed and stories were shared from one corner of the ship to another, as the crew found solace in each other's company. Despite the uncertainty of their situation, there was a sense of unity among them.

—Endeavor—

On the Endeavor, their current situation had taken a vastly different route than intended. The enemy forces which they had encountered before had found them again. Except this time, they were hopelessly outnumbered and surrounded on all sides. The slipspace drive had been disabled due to incoming enemy fire and they were also being boarded, while on the ground, their outpost was being attacked by more enemy forces.

The Spartans were fighting both on the ground and within the ship alongside the marines, but they were heavily outnumbered.

As the battle raged on, the captain of the Endeavor, Captain Harper could only watch as the reports came in while also preparing to defend the bridge against the enemy who were on board. The Ship's AI reported the status of the battle both on-ship and on the ground. He highlighted areas of the ship that were most heavily compromised.

"Current enemy numbers on board are above a hundred, Captain… Thirty personnel lost. Lieutenant Meyers and her team are leading a counter-offensive in sections three through six."

Captain Harper clenched her jaw as she watched red indicators flash on the holographic display denoting each area of loss. In dire times like these she was glad that she has previous experience being in the military. As much as she wanted to join the fight, her place was here, trying to encourage the crew, who were mostly civilian volunteers to keep doing their jobs while the Spartans and marines handled the invaders.

"All hands, prepare for enemy breaching attempts," Harper announced over ship-wide intercoms as the AI continued providing a real-time analysis of the situation.

The hostile forces increased their assault on the Endeavor. Numerous smaller vessels attached themselves to the Endeavor's hull, drilling into it with mechanical arms to flood the corridors with invaders. The marines and Spartans fought valiantly, but there were just too many enemies, and they didn't have enough Spartans to protect every place.

Within the next few minutes, hostile forces could be heard outside of the bridge fighting against the two marines stationed outside to protect the door. One moment gunfire was heard, and in the next, a marine was thrown through the bridge door with their face almost mutilated.

The bridge crew had grabbed their weapons which they were provided the moment they were boarded and aimed it at the entrance. Once the first person who wasn't a Spartan, marine, or wearing a crew uniform walked through the door, everybody opened fire.

The first enemy combatant to breach the bridge was a hulking figure, wearing full body armor, and a face hidden beneath an intimidation helmet. Its physiology was unlike any species the crew had been familiar with. Still, they were all unified in their response; a surge of collective adrenaline drove them to pour a hail of gunfire into the approaching foe.

Despite their best efforts, more enemies poured into the room and overwhelmed them, killing most of the crew, while Captain Harper was spared because she was recognized as the captain of the ship due to where she was standing in the room.

Laying on the floor, Captain Harper managed to press the button on her Captain's chair to tell everybody on board to abandon ship as one of the aliens stood over her.

The Alien's hand reached down towards her, but before it could grip her, Lieutenant Meyers had charged into the bridge and pushed the Alien so hard that it flew through the window, breaking it instantly.

Luckily, they had counter measures for this and a mini forcefield was created in place of the broken window to not deplete the oxygen and kill anybody who was still alive.

After pushing the first alien, Lieutenant Meyers proceeded to massacre the rest of them, before grabbing Captain Harper and heading to an escape shuttle. And they couldn't allow the ship to fall into enemy hands so before she left, she ordered the AI to self-destruct the ship preventing it from falling into enemy hands.

Once they boarded the last escape shuttle with a few more crewmembers already onboard, they shot out into open space as the escape shuttle activated its cloaking ability and proceeded to get a safe distance away.

Once far enough away, a massive explosion which destroyed over half the enemy ships and killed everybody onboard. On the ground at the outpost, they were less fortunate as the outposts staff were taken prisoner and the Spartans had forced themselves into hiding.

They were without support and were running out of ammo, but they would continue to fight until their final breath.