Dark Fire
From the observation room of his ship Norian Dhen watched Wulfen's militia astrocrafts become distant points of lights, carrying with them the Jehnizar captain and the documents he provided.
Their orders were to maintain absolute secrecy about the whole matter that could only be communicated to the battle Marshall in person.
"What your decision will be Karl?"
Thought the Field Commander continuing to stare at the cold empty space long after the astrocrafts disappeared in the distance.
Light-years away, in the Theresian Quadrant, Zhenar Xhan was hearing the reports of his reconnaissance officers.
They were approaching their objective while still out of reach of enemy sensors, from what they could gather through the probes the surveillance seemed much lower than expected, quite strange for a planet that hosted the Jehnizar military facilities of that quadrant, working as base for the troops and port for their astrocrafts as well as production and maintenance center for their war fleet.
The commander couldn't shake away the uneasy feeling that accompanied him since when they registered that echo, and Captain Houser, that was sent to investigate, didn't reported yet.
But, as an experienced commander, Zhenar Xhan knew that hesitation can be the worst enemy in war and with grimly determination issued his orders.
"Activate the distortion field, advance at sub-luminous speed, all the battlecruisers take the assigned position according to the tactical data they received."
In few minutes they came in range for launching their attack while the 'condors' and 'vultures' positioned in defense of the Jehnizar base pointed towards them.
However, the effect of the distortion field coupled with the energy shields and heavy armor made the battlecruisers of the Commonwealth almost invulnerable against so few enemies.
Contemporaneously to that the light astrocrafts escorting Zhenar Xhan's battle group launched a barrage of electro-plasma bombs aimed to disrupt the enemy electronic planetary defenses.
The battlecruisers advanced sweeping away the first batch of assailants with their powerful pulse cannons, and assumed position, encircling the planet.
The Jehnizar in a desperate attempt launched a massive missile attack from the planet, while their battlecruiser in orbit, acting as flying bastions, began to fire all their weapons against the incoming menace.
The onslaught severely damaged two of Zhenar Xhan's battlecruisers but didn't stop them.
With efficiency and discipline they swiftly positioned themselves, ready to launch all their nutron bombs at the commander's order.
And the order come, almost immediately, ninety nutron bombs were discharged, penetrating the atmosphere with the deafening cry of the attrition of tons of metal precipitating towards the surface.
"To all ships, retreat."
Prudently ordered Zhenar Xhan, that was the first time that such a massive number of nutron bombs was used, no one could have been really sure of the effects.
In minutes the metal ogive penetrated the surface as torpedoes, planting themselves as ominous seeds.
The shockwaves of the explosions shook the planetary crust as it was made made of wet clay.
All the sensors of the Commonwealth battlecruisers blank out due to the massive ionic emission from the planet.
The Jehnizar astrocrafts in orbit lost control of their propulsion systems and slowly began to drift inside the burning atmosphere.
Zhenar Xhan observed the greenish color of the planet turn to orange-purple in few instants, the chain reaction induced by the neutron emission looked like a burning fire clouded by its own smoke, it was as a giant snake would had encircled the planet in its dark spires.
At that point the few, sparse, ships of the surviving Jehnizars had already fled for some unknown destination inside their territory.
The commander continued to watch as solid rock was transforming into a mass of fluid plasma, illuminating the surrounding space with its lethal combustion, slowly consuming the planet designated with an undescriptive number on the astromaps of the Commonwealth.
The mission had been a complete success, and before them was laid the vast, unexplored, immensity of an hostile territory.
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A)This could be the occasion for obtaining vital informations, advance into Jehnizar territory.
However, Zhenar Xhan will be forced to rely heavily on automatic probes for traveling through an unmapped zone of space, very time consuming.
B)Point towards Karhyen, the lack of informations from Captain Houser it's a source of concern and even more worrisome is the low number of enemy astrocrafts guarding such an important facility, the possibility of a surprise attack couldn't be excluded.
C)Go back to the Green Company headquarters as originally planned, it's the safest option, even considering the possibility of a surprise attack, in this way you will be ready to intervene, if needed, in a number of strategic key points.
