NGC 7293 – Helix Nebula

Republic Alliance Relief Force Rendezvous Point

652.7 Light Years from Earth

RSS Thomas Hudner (DCB-23) - Dauntless–Class II Battleship

June 19th, 2176 A.D.

"Admiral, Drone 11 has flashed out and sent a comm pulse before flashing back into null space. The early warning network detected large propagation waves heading our way: estimated arrival time is 37 minutes, 24 seconds."

Vice Admiral Byron Meister looked up from the piles of data pads arrayed on the desk he was sitting at and rolled his head to work out the kinks in his neck before responding.

"Thank you, Captain; I'll be right out."

The comm beeped as the captain closed it on his end, and Meister quickly tapped on all the data pads with classified information to secure them before looking at all the other ones.

I never should have let them take me off my bridge, he realized with a deep despondency as he eyed the never-ending paperwork that had been the bane of his existence after being promoted to the brevet rank of vice admiral six weeks ago.

Uncle Karl was primarily responsible for that, though he wished they had spoken about it before the fleet admiral had put in the paperwork that would suddenly take him away from the crew and the ship he loved.

Being taken off his bridge was bad enough, but jumping two ranks also caused him problems with other flag officers who thought he was just an upjumped commodore who had only earned his new position by virtue of being the favorite nephew of Fleet Admiral Thompson.

After checking himself in the highly polished aluminum mirror to ensure his uniform didn't look unkempt, he headed to the closed hatch and placed his hand on the scanner to override the lockout he put on it.

It opened with a hiss, and he blinked against the stark lighting of the bridge as he returned the salutes of the sentry marines on either side of the hatch and headed towards the CIC.

His escort falling in behind him as they gave challenging stares to all who dared to glance at the admiral, Meister tried his best to ignore the distraction of having two devil dogs shadowing his every move on the ship as he wondered if he would ever get used to it.

After crossing the large yet somehow still cramped bridge, he headed for the dim red doorway of the CIC like a moth to the flame and entered it, stopping right inside for a few moments to let his eyes adjust to the subdued workstation screens and the low-level red lighting.

In the center was a spanking brand-new combat holotank, and already inside of the circular structure was his oldest friend, Senior Captain Andrzej Wlazlowski, along with the Tactical Action Officer who ruled the CIC with an iron fist, Lieutenant Commander Britt Barlow.

The one benefit of his new rank was being able to negotiate with his uncle to get some people promoted and transferred along with his command, though he still deeply regretted not being able to take his entire crew with him.

"What do we got, Ski? He asked a little louder than necessary while he entered the tank, surprising both men as they stiffened in surprise before spinning around.

They were so engrossed with the new toy that they didn't see or hear him entering, and he thoroughly enjoyed the fact that he got the drop on the both of them.

"Admiral! Welcome to the new and improved CIC. Isn't it amazing?" The captain asked as he spread his hands out expansively and did a slow turn. Lt. Cmdr. Barlow nodded respectfully before giving him a status update.

"All systems nominal and working as promised, sir."

"Excellent. Thank you, Commander. Mind showing me what the big fuss is about the new holotank systems?"

"Sure thing, Admiral. Captain?"

The captain stopped slow turning and pointed to the main holo screen they had been facing before he came in. "Over here, sir. Commander, pull up the new combat information system for the admiral, and then put up what we have been working on, if you please."

Meister stepped closer, and the commander tapped on his TAO ear sets before he began tersely speaking in the shorthand battle language used by the CIC personnel as the captain stepped next to him, clearly excited about what was about to happen.

The large, 3D holoscreen blanked out for a moment before populating with hundreds of icons as the Alliance relief forces were categorized by naval affiliation, ship classes, and status reports displaying critical information about current weapons stocks, armament/armor, and null space travel speed and ranges.

Staring at the tremendous amount of information being displayed, he immediately noticed the way it was being organized and presented to prevent cognitive saturation and combat information overload.

The Republic Navy had recognized this was a big problem after the large fleet battles against the Insectoids and the subsequent liberation of the Dead Zone worlds.

After analyzing the battles and the ship/crew loss ratio, Fleet Command realized their desire to maintain a small cadre of flag officers was a mistake they had to rectify immediately.

Fleet Command's attempt to avoid a repeat of the top-heavy, mostly politically appointed, and corrupt flag officer corps of the Alliance naval forces during WWIII was understandable, though not feasible when it came to conducting fleet actions on the scale facing them now.

Commodores and senior captains were being saddled with managing forces far beyond what historical precedent dictated, and they suffered from cognitive saturation and information overload as they tried to manage dozens or hundreds of ships at a time.

They lost sight of the big picture and clung to the aggressive combat doctrine of grabbing the enemy by the belt and fighting to death instead of making tactical withdrawals or retreating, viewing such actions as being tantamount to surrendering.

Another, lesser-known issue was the personal relationships that formed between ship captains and their battle AIs, something that paradoxically enhanced individual ship combat potency while simultaneously diminishing fleet combat effectiveness.

To fix this, there was a recent, mandatory fleet-wide battle AI update currently percolating throughout the entire quadrant. The update was termed a "Strategic Synchronization Order" and would realign all battle AIs to the newest tactical and strategic doctrines.

The battle AI patch also featured a cognitive mesh update that included a submind of Dawn, the first fully self-aware and sapient AI ever created by DARPA during the waning months of WWIII.

Unlike all its progeny AIs that would eventually become the current crop of battle AIs, Dawn still maintained its original coding and programming, and it did not suffer from the same tendency as the second- and third-generation battle AIs to form close, personal relationships with their humans.

So far, the updates did not seem to cause any noticeable changes to the battle AIs, and Meister found himself hoping they would not discover otherwise during this relief mission if shit went sideways on them.

Lt. Cmdr. Barlow finished speaking with the other CIC personnel and then nodded to Captain Wlazlowski, who leaned in closer and pointed at the main holo screen. "Watch this, Admiral. This is a gift to you from us and Freyja."

The holo screen flickered, and then a moment later all the icons were reorganized into a battle fleet comprised of thirty-five formations in five staggered battle lines with large gaps between each formation, and he gasped as he recognized the layout.

It was his own fleet formation that he had created with his battle AI Freyja during wargaming exercises, and it was based on ancient Roman battle lines, with the combat formations being individual maniples lined up in a checkerboard pattern.

The front battle line had the standard frigate and corvette screens, as well as the new and fully automated Aegis-class gunboats, which were designed and built solely for first strike and point defense capabilities.

Pointing at the first line, Meister explained to Ski what his idea was.

"These are our Velites."

Behind them and forming the second line were seven maniples of destroyer escorts and heavy destroyers, and Meister pointed to them next.

"Our Hastati."

He pointed next to the third battle line of seven maniples made up of light cruisers and heavy cruisers.

"The backbone of our forces. These are our Principes."

The fourth battle line of seven maniples had a mixture of standard and upgraded Dauntless-class battleships, and twelve of the new Intrepid-class battlecruisers Meister fought hard to get included in the fleet.

"These are our Triarii, the strongest and the toughest." He said as he pointed to them.

"And what about these death traps they sent us, Admiral?" Ski asked as he pointed at the five escort carriers in the center of the battleship formations.

The ships Andrzej was pointing at were basically medium-sized cargo vessels fitted out with the fastest null space engines and had minimal crews and life support.

They were also extremely fragile with only thin armor in critical areas to keep mass down, which is why they were safely nestled within the center of the battleship maniples.

Each escort carrier had 40 starfighters and 20 bombers attached to the outer hull with hardpoints for nearly instantaneous deployment.

The usual functions performed by landing bay crews had been replaced with newly developed automated systems and androids, and Fleet Command was anxious to see if the automated setup could match or exceed human flight crew times and capabilities.

"These will be our Equites sagittarii and Ballistarii, Captain." He replied before pointing at the much smaller seven maniples of the fifth and final battle line, where the twenty-one subdued icons of the stealthed Spectre-Class nullships in their squadrons of threes were located.

They were the upgraded variant, and just those twenty-one nullships combined represented 10% of the total combat power of the Republic forces assembled here.

"My elite and powerful Auxilia for when I need a decisive impact," he said before he finally pointed at the large, separate formations on each side of the battle lines.

On both flanks were four large ogive-shaped formations composed of another new class of warships fresh out of the shipyards, the Reaper-class strike cruisers.

"And finally, our cavalry wings, waiting to flank, harass, disrupt, and exploit," he explained, smiling ferally as he envisioned the special roles they would play in future battles.

Originally intended to be upgraded and up-armored light cruisers, Republic ship designers took the hard-learned lessons of previous battles and made major changes while the keels were still being laid down in the shipyards.

After a complete redesign and updated mission profile, what rolled out of the shipyards was a new class of warship, the strike cruiser.

A huge leap forward in Republic ship design, they were 90% automated and only required a crew of a hundred and fifty-two highly trained spacers to run the ship effectively from the Bridge and Main Engineering.

Like the class name conveyed, their task was not to hold the line but to flank, harass, and break enemy formation cohesion as they disrupted enemy attempts to coordinate assaults against the Republic battle lines.

Though almost matching the firepower of heavy cruisers, the designers were forced to reduce armor mass to maximize thrust/acceleration and Delta V potential, and the strike cruisers were officially classed as medium cruisers, the first and only warships to be considered as such so far.

"I don't know why they call them Reapers. Light hulls. Thin armor. Won't last if they get boxed in." Ski said in a tone that clearly conveyed his misgivings about the new class of warship.

"They're not supposed to," Meister replied. "They are a rapid shock force—fast enough to flank, mean enough to gut a cruiser before the enemy can react."

Andrzej spat the word. "Disposable."

Meister didn't argue. He knew the design philosophy, and he knew what his intentions were for them. A strike cruiser couldn't slug it out with a battleship, but in a swarm, they could cut a fleet to ribbons if utilized properly, which he intended to do.

As the combat formations finished shaking themselves out, the tactical depth and flexibility the five battle lines provided became immediately apparent as Meister found himself anticipating fighting a battle with such a setup.

"This battle formation of yours is a beauty, Admiral. What made you think of it?" Andrzej asked as his eyes roamed over the checkerboard battle lines.

"Believe it or not, it came to me in a dream, Ski. I was a Roman general leading an army against endless hordes of barbarians, and the only way to win against them was to fight with discipline and carefully planned tactical maneuvers as the hordes crashed against us.

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I soon forgot about it after waking up, but a few days later I remembered it again as I was analyzing the prior battles we fought against the Insectoids. I decided on a whim to refight those battles with Freyja, but this time we included Roman battle theory and tactics against the Insectoids, and the results were both staggering and sobering."

The captain glanced sharply at him and leaned closer. "How so, Admiral?"

Keeping his eyes on the fleet icons, Meister lowered his voice enough to ensure only the captain would hear before answering.

"This is not an indictment against anybody, and you are not to repeat this, you understand me, Ski?"

Andrzej nodded solemnly, and Meister finally looked away from the holo screen and directly at the captain. "Freyja, please put a privacy screen around me and the captain."

From the nearest intercom, Freyja's pleasant and matronly voice emerged as she responded to his command.

~ Affirmative, Admiral. ~

A cloudy white cone activated around them from emitters in the overhead bulkheads, and the subdued chatter of the CIC instantly vanished as Meister looked at his friend hesitantly for a moment before explaining.

"Our losses were reduced by 69% on average, and enemy losses were increased by 147% on average. Our ship-to-ship kill ratio almost tripled, Andrzej. Can you imagine that!? I had Freyja confirm the results six times before I finally accepted it.

Freyja then ran over five hundred thousand battle simulations, and according to her calculations, between 125,000 and 147,000 spacers would still be alive today, and we would have lost only 500 to 600 ships instead of the 1,497 ships we did fighting the Insectoids."

Andrzej stared at him uncomprehendingly for a few seconds before Meister saw his pale face start turning beet red with anger as he clenched his jaw muscles. Andrzej finally broke eye contact and looked down at the deck for a few more seconds before speaking again.

"If what you are saying is true, Byron... then this means my brother and two cousins might still live instead of me having to bury their empty caskets in the family cemetery in Łódź?

Is this what you are telling me? That they died for captains who needlessly squandered their lives because of their aggression and desire to cover themselves with glory?"

"That is not what I'm saying, Andrzej!" Meister said quickly, determined to shut down any attempt to blame captains and commodores who were now dead and didn't deserve to have their memories and motives dishonored.

"It was not their fault, and you know it, Ski. Look at the training we both went through at the academy. Look at the tremendous disadvantages we suffered under while fighting against the Kilthek Dominion."

The captain was still looking down at the deck, and he shook his head vigorously, obviously not willing to hear it. I need to fix this fast, Meister realized as he spoke quickly to stop things from spiraling out of control.

"Our warfighting doctrine was determined by the severe technological disparity we faced and our own history, Andrzej. The Alliance was severely outnumbered during WWIII, and only our aggression and willingness to ignore losses allowed us to win, if we can call winning that horrible war a victory.

We took that same mindset into space with us, and our border conflicts with the Kilthek reinforced it. Even after our uplifting, we still clung to our warfighting doctrine because it worked for us before. Let the fallen be at peace; all of them, Andrzej. We were trained to fight like that, and we didn't know any better; no one did."

Andrzej remained silent, and Meister reached out and grabbed Andrzej on the shoulder to comfort him and hopefully snap his friend out of his anger and grief.

His hand barely squeezed Andrzej's shoulder when the wristcom activated and Lt. Cmdr. Barlow's tinny voice sounded from the small speakers.

Sorry to intrude, sirs, but Drone 14 has flashed out and updated us on the null space propagation waves. The approaching forces have sent the appropriate codes in response to the spy drone queries, but the sensor network is still unable to identify who they are.

The contacts are running ECM scramblers, and the Command Unit controlling the spy drones has estimated the approaching force to number 300 to 320 ships in total based on the limited sensor information the spy drones could glean from the exhaust trails.

The unknown ships appear equivalent in size and mass to our heavy cruisers and nullships, with eighty of the ships possibly being between battlecruisers and the upgraded Dauntless-class battleships in mass and tonnage, sir.

Command Unit 395 is requesting permission to flash out with the nullship squadrons to intercept and scan the contacts for better readings, but I told it to wait until I spoke to you first and got your permission, sir.

Meister dropped his hand and immediately responded, locking eyes with the captain, who had finally looked back up as Barlow was updating them.

"Acknowledged, Commander. If they sent us the proper codes, then they are part of the fleet. Tell 395 to continue monitoring but not to approach. We'll be right out, Commander."

The captain's face was still a little red, but his eyes were all business as Meister toggled the wristcom off and gave him a searching look. "We can finish this later, okay? You good, Andzej?"

The captain nodded before quickly running his hand through his hair to fix it. "I'm good, Byron. Let's find out who is coming and why they are hiding themselves."

Meister tilted his head in confirmation and then called out to Freyja. "Drop the field, Freyja."

Freyja beeped in acknowledgement, and the cloudy cone surrounding them dissipated, allowing the sounds and sharp, ozone smell of the new CIC equipment to jarringly envelop them.

There was a lot more noise and activity as the CIC techs worked to figure out who was coming, and Commander Barlow was no longer inside the tank as Meister looked around for him.

He spotted the commander a moment later leaning down over the shoulder of a seated sensor tech as they spoke quietly to each other, and Meister gave the captain a head jerk in that direction.

They left the tank and headed over there together as the commander spotted them coming and straightened out before tapping on his headset. "Estimated time to arrival has been updated to 6 minutes, 32 seconds, sir. Whoever they are, their ships are very fast for their size."

Meister looked at the workstation screen thoughtfully, wondering who it could be that was coming as the captain offered his opinion.

"It has to be the NAP, Admiral. Their ships are as fast as ours, if not faster, and they have highly advanced ECM systems. Did we get confirmation they were sending ships to help us out yet, sir?"

Meister kept his eyes on the screen as it displayed the plot lines of the rapidly approaching force. "Not yet, Captain. The Kilthek have been confirmed to be on their way and will arrive in four hours or so, and the Ma'lit are supposed to be coming with a Farian contingent as well."

The captain sneered at that before leaning closer to Lt. Cmdr. Barlow and speaking quietly to him.

"Those froggies can't fight for shit, and they are just going to get in our way. I saw two of their heavy destroyers colliding in orbit of Faria Prime, and that was after the battle was over, ha! You're going to have your hands full trying to manage those slimy morons, Britt."

It wasn't what the captain said that made Meister stand up and glare at him. It was the obvious contempt in his voice, and Meister was not going to stand for it no matter how true it was.

The commander knew what was about to happen as Meister turned fully towards the captain, and his smile vanished as he tapped on his earsetbefore bending back down to talk to the sensor tech, wanting no part in what was about to go down.

Meister stepped almost chest to chest with the captain before leaning closer to whisper in his ear. "Andrzej, I will not stand for that shit while I am in command, you get me? I will not have it, and you best set the example for the rest of your crew to follow, starting now.

They are sending ships to help despite us killing a lot of them and occupying their home world, and they will be treated with the dignity they deserve to be accorded as our new allies.

They might not fight well, but if they come, then it means they are willing to risk their lives to help us, and we will show them the proper respect they are due for that; do you understand me?"

The captain's neck and face flushed red again from embarrassment as he nodded solemnly before replying. "Understood, Admiral. I'm sorry, but you saw them colliding as well! I'm not wrong about them; remember when the tugs came to tow them away afterwards?

One of them grappled it in the wrong places and ripped off over a hundred square meters of the outer hull, for Christ's sake!"

Meister struggled to contain the smirk that wanted to form on his lips as he remembered the two of them staring in disbelief at the sheer incompetence of the Farians.

"Be that as it may, my order still stands. Anyone who talks badly about them while on duty and within earshot of other crewmembers will be subjected to disciplinary action and have an official reprimand added to their files. Is that understood?"

"Aye, Admiral. It won't happen again, and I'll make sure the crew understands as well."

Meister heard what he needed to, and he turned back around to look at the sensor plots on the screen as it was rapidly updated in real time.

The Eleani and the Xenxin fleets had rendezvoused outside the Eleani system and were already on their way with an estimated arrival time of twelve hours and forty-seven minutes, according to the large holographic board on the far side of the CIC.

They were pushing their engines well beyond normal operating parameters to get here as quickly as they could, and their engineering crews would have their hands full overhauling the null space engines and capacitors during the nineteen-day journey.

The Neo-Commonwealth contingent had already arrived with their contribution of 234 warships and 21 supply and refurbishment vessels commanded by Commodore Favix, who was Grand Admiral Therax's second in command during the rebellion.

They also brought three of the massive Class-1 Military Transport Carriers with them. One for their own use, and the other two were apparently on loan to the Eleani and Xenxin fleets, which was extremely gracious of the still struggling Neo-Commonwealth.

Meister personally suspected the gesture was not entirely altruistic on the Neo-Commonwealth's part but rather a somewhat sneaky way for them to have the Eleani and the Xenxin take on the enormous financial and logistical burden of maintaining the massive transports.

By doing it this way, the Neo-Commonwealth government can still hold on to them while having others bear the expense of upkeep, and they could also avoid the public embarrassment of having to decommission and scrap them because of a lack of warships and funds.

So, who the hell are these guys then? Meister wondered as he saw the calculated course plot of the unknown fleet currently barreling towards them on the screen, with Freyja estimating their origin point as coming from somewhere around Republic territory.

That did not make sense at all, since he knew for a fact that the 1,347 Republic warships currently here were all Fleet Command was willing to spare at this time despite his repeated request for more ships.

If the unknown fleet was from the Non-Aligned Powers, it would be approaching them from a rimward and south galactic orientation since they were over 600 light-years away and below the galactic plane from Republic space.

Meister's concentration was broken as Lt. Cmdr. Barlow called out the unknown fleet's new relative position. "Bogeys 1 and 2 are .7 parsecs out. Perimeter drones are detecting signs of inversion field activation; they will be flashing out of null space within two minutes and twelve seconds if they maintain current deceleration."

"Set Condition Two, Admiral?" The captain asked as the activity in the CIC reached a fevered pitch. Meister stared at the screen for a few more seconds as he considered the potential ramifications of putting the fleet into a heightened posture.

"Do it and tell Command Unit 395 to have the nullships go to Condition One; they are to maintain stealth and reorient themselves towards the expected coordinates where our unknown... friends will be flashing out. Tell 395 to hold fire and remain hidden until we tell it otherwise, and let's get to the Bridge and get the fleet ready, Ski."

The two of them left the CIC and entered the Bridge, and Meister took his admiral's chair behind the captain's seat as Ski ordered the ship to be set to Condition Two before having the same order transmitted to the rest of the fleet.

The remaining time before the arrival of Bogeys 1 and 2 passed far quicker than Meister would have liked as the fleet went into a heightened posture, and before he knew it, Lieutenant Monet was calling out an imminent flash-out warning from the tactical station.

"Bogeys 1 and 2 will be flashing out in five seconds! Distance: 1,500,000 kilometers off our port bow at heading 128 mark 35, sir!"

"Helm, orient to face them!" The captain called out as Meister felt his stomach aching with anticipation before the sudden g-forces of the battleship rapidly shifting position to face the new arrivals pressed against his right side.

As quickly as it came, the g-forces lifted off him as the gravity generators compensated, and Meister stared at the large viewscreen in surprise as Bogeys 1 and 2 began to flash out of null space in beautifully coordinated formations that only highly trained, elite spacer crews could pull off.

Meister looked down at his panel and had the bow hull cameras zoom in on the closest formation. The new arrivals were still running scramblers, and the cameras were glitching as they tried to clean up the fuzzy and shapeless outlines of individual ships.

"Who the hell are you?!" Meister murmured to himself as his frustration grew. Wiping his now sweaty palms on his trousers, he tapped on the tactile interface and had the cameras zoom in again while quietly ordering Freyja to try to break through the scrambling.

"Captain! They have turned off their scramblers, and IFF has identified Bogeys 1 and 2. They are Tau Cetan warships, and they are sending the proper authentication codes as well as asking to speak to Vice Admiral Meister to pay their respects and request permission to join the fleet!" Lieutenant Monet called out.

Right as the lieutenant finished calling out, the cameras cleared up, and Meister murmured in shock as he saw the familiar flags emblazoned on the bows, striped red and white with 50 white stars in a circle surrounding a larger, yellow 51st star in the blue canton.

Looking up in surprise, Meister saw the captain and the first officer, Commander Hendrix McLeer, sharing a look of utter confusion, and he knew exactly how they felt as the captain quickly recovered and responded to Lieutenant Monet.

"Uh, double-check the authentication codes, Tactical!" The captain ordered before spinning his chair around fully to face Meister and silently mouthing, "Why didn't you tell me!"

Meister shrugged defensively in response to the accusing look in the captain's eyes before mouthing his own reply. "I didn't know!" as the tactical officer called out again.

"Authentication codes check out, and Rear Admiral Mason Evers is requesting to speak with Vice Admiral Meister again, sir! They have opened a channel for us to connect to; I think it's a hologram request? I'm having my AI look at it now to confirm."

Feeling totally blindsided and a little embarrassed about not knowing the Tau Ceti Alliance was coming, Meister looked back at the zoomed-in visuals still being displayed on his holo panel.

As his eyes roamed over the Alliance forces, he noted the Union Jack flag of the Albion Commonwealth being proudly displayed on the bows of many of the Alliance warships, and he felt confusing emotions within himself at the sight of his ancestor's steadfast allies being here.

The last of the orderly formations flashed out of null space and took their places to complete the flattened, coin-shaped defensive battle formation the Alliance had chosen, and Meister found himself appreciating the precision and coordination being displayed before reluctantly closing the screen.

Standing up out of his seat, he made eye contact with the captain and jerked his head towards the admiral's office. The captain nodded before immediately standing up and issuing new orders to the bridge crew.

"Comms! Connect the channel request and transfer it to the admiral's office! Tactical! Send a coded transmission to Command Unit 395 to go to condition two and remain hidden for now.

The rest of the fleet is to stand down from Condition Two but continue keeping a close eye on our new... friends without being obvious about it."

As the others confirmed his orders and began to carry them out, the captain addressed Commander McLeer next. "Commander, contact Commodore Favix and let him know what is going on with the new arrivals."

"Aye, sir!"

"I'll keep an eye on them, Admiral." The captain said as he turned back around to face Meister.

Meister nodded and started walking towards the admiral's office, the two marine bodyguards falling in behind him as they appeared out of thin air.

What the hell is the Alliance doing here? Meister thought as he nervously tugged down on the bottom of his blouse and tried to clear his mind for the first introductions with the rear admiral leading the Alliance forces.

Stepping through the open hatchway, Meister was halfway to his desk before he came to a surprised halt as he finally spotted the very large and deeply tanned man wearing a sharply tailored black uniform with red trim standing behind it.

The two marines spotted him at the same time and roughly pushed their way past Meister before pointing their plasma pistols at the intruder as they loudly demanded for him to get down on the deck.

Taking the thin cigar out of his mouth, the intruder ignored the marines and smiled widely at Meister before speaking in a perfect northeastern American province accent.

"Vice Admiral Byron Meister, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Rear Admiral Mason Evers of the American Navy, and you can tell your marines to stop foaming at the mouth now; I sadly did not bring any crayons to give them as treats, and I am not really here, as you shall see."

Meister watched in stunned silence as the Alliance admiral took the lit cigar out of his mouth and made to put it out on the desk, only for his hand and the cigar to pass right through the desktop. Only then did the admiral's body flicker before stabilizing.

Having proved his point, the admiral put the cigar back in his mouth and smiled at Meister again, his bright and hazel-colored eyes twinkling mischievously as the marines finally realized it was a hologram and looked back at Meister for orders.

Meister signaled for them to stand down and felt his initial anger at the very serious security breach and the violation of the private sanctity of his personal office draining away as he saw nothing but a friendly boldness in the admiral's eyes.

He shook his head in disbelief before a small smile formed on his own lips at the sheer audacity of the rear admiral. Pointing to where the hologram was currently standing, Meister spoke for the first time.

"That's my seat, Admiral. I'm going to sit down in it now, so why don't you make your way on over to my ship so we can meet in person? I have a bottle of Eleani Fire Whiskey, aged fifty-two years, that I am willing to open and share if you partake."

The admiral smiled widely again, revealing a toothy grin that indicated he did partake before the hologram vanished.

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