I sit in the observation deck once more, staring at the darkening edge of an alien moon. The scarred exterior forms a sort of beautiful abstract art. Due to orbital positioning, the blue orb that is a vibrant and beautiful alien world cannot be seen from behind the pale gray and black of the moon. I can relax like this because there are no threats in the system. We deployed drones and probes in strategic spots all throughout the system and found not a single alien vessel, military or otherwise. They simply blinked out of the system after my discussion with the inquisitor ended.

  It has been a couple of weeks since the "fight," so we checked on the civilians below to see if they are being starved since the ships have stopped coming, but it appears the world below is quite self-sufficient. We also found that the capital is the only fortified settlement, with the rest of the world's settlements being villages right out of fantasy novels and movies. The estimated population of the world is measured as under 2 million in total. This has led to the theory that this planet is still a colony or frontier.

  I finish with my stargazing and head to the bridge, adjusting my dress-uniform's trifold hat. The relief fleet is arriving sometime today or sometime within the 24-hour period since days are kinda hard to determine in space. I make sure the entire bridge crew is in their best blues for this. I am already embarrassed that I need relief; I don't want to be found for lack of discipline, even if I don't run the strictest of ships when there are no military threats.

  Thus begins the worst part of military service, waiting around for something to happen. Luckily, I'm not waiting to see if a tungsten slug is on its way to vaporize me this time, but this is close. My leg bounces as I sit in my chair, so I stand, but I'm doing a little jig as I do. I hate anticipation...

  Hours later, we get a report from one of the probes that there is a gravity disruption matching the profile of an event horizon being opened and quickly expanded. Then, in a sudden moment, there are reports of multiple large vessels entering the system about 30 light minutes away, then disappearing again, leaving a trail of collapsing warped space that only shows through the interaction of spacedust and how it forms a spiral pattern when it is disrupted in this way.

  30 Minutes later, a fleet composed of not many but massive ships appears from nowhere. All sensors are filled with static for a moment as the effects of warped space send an echo out of nowhere. I immediately open the channel and greet the newcomers,

  "Welcome all to alien space. Today's weather is nice, and there are currently no threats! I hope we can be gracious hosts!"

  A female voice replies, and it makes my blood run cold,

  "Good afternoon, Commodore Hollander. I am Commodore Aria Le'blanc, but we already know one another."

  I laugh and respond,

  "Ah, Commodore Le'blanc, welcome. Glad to have you around again."

  She responds,

  "I'm sure you are, but we are not in a state for personal conversations right now. You are still operational command; tell us where to park."

  Without words, I send information about our formation and tell them where they can sit in orbit so as not to crash. I am then hit with another comms request. I answer and a gruff voice asks,

  "Sir, this is the captain of the USS Schokolate. We were wondering if we are allowed to begin our task?"

  I respond,

  "What task is that?"

  He responds,

  "I am the head of the merchant marine infrastructure crew hired to come along and build some space infrastructure for ya. Also, tell us what we can and can't touch and where to put things."

  I respond,

  "The asteroid belt is all ours, no issue there. I think the moons of the nearby gas giant are fair game, too, but I don't care either way. I'll leave the location up to you, but I will say these guys might be hostile, so put it somewhere a little bit far from the inhabited planet."

  He acknowledges,

  "Sir, yes, Sir! We are on our way!"

  The four 5 km long freigher/construction ships peel away from the formation before disappearing in a spiral of displaced dust. That's nice to hear. They will just do their job without much direction. I now have to turn my attention to the remaining five ships, three of which are gargantuan army transports, each one over 3 KM long, containing what is best described as a military base in space with all the facilities the army could ever need. I feel my heart rate increase with joy when I see a yellow shield with a horse's head on it painted on the side of one of the army ships.

  The "Patton" Class Army transport vessels are huge ships built off the designs of bulk freighters. At 3 km in length and a max width of 250 Meters, they are gargantuan hulks. They have an odd shape too which makes them almost pear shaped with a really wide "butt" that contains a large indoor track and field-like area for PT and other fun army activities. The rest of the vessel is nothing but cargo containing all their vehicles and other supplies as all the barracks are lined across the walls of the ass-end track and field. As for external armament, they are nothing special, utilizing nothing but CWIS batteries, a few dozen 5-inch guns, and many short-range defensive missile tubes. Their most striking ability is that fairly large portions of the ship can "break" off, but they are really massive landing craft meant to ferry troops and equipment onto a planet. It is impressive how seamlessly those dropships are docked into the large frame, considering you can't tell they're there unless you already know how the ships are designed.

  The last 2 ships are a newer design of battleship designated as the New Mexico Class light or fast battleship depending on which naval training facility you were trained on, both words can be used interchangeably. Despite being called fast or light, that doesn't mean they are small- quick maybe, but not small, petite things at a gargantuan 1.5 km long. They are quite skinny, though as technology has progressed, it has allowed for all internals to be shrunk considerably. The hull is triangular bayonet-shaped, with 3 edges ending in what looks to be a very sharp point on the end. The design is not necessarily for stealth as a 1.5 km ship, regardless of size, sticks out like a sore thumb based on its thermal output just from moving alone. The shape is especially not for ramming because that's a desperate last-ditch effort. The reason is entirely for the angling of armor, and due to the shape, there are very few angles from which you can fire upon it and face a 90-degree bit of armor. Due to modern technologies these ships also run on skeleton crews without marine compliments, the huge ship only having 35 crew with room for an extra 20 auxullaries, the rest of the ship is dedicated to weapons, ammo, cooling, and power systems, not to mention the multiple meters of composite armor composed of tungsten, uranium, some fancy alloys, some osmium, and a form of carbon mesh. Despite all this armor and other survivability features, the ship is still built around fairly speedy maneuvers for its size, as the survivability onion doubly applies when battleships fight, considering the firepower being unleashed.

  As for weapons, these ships are definitely not lacking. They are considered "fencer" vessels or battleship hunters. While they can work in standard battleship roles as direct heavy fire support and in fleets as heavy elements, they are generally meant to work alone or in pairs, hunting down large enemy targets, usually being enemy battleships or defensive stations. High speeds and maneuverability grant them tactical advantages over the other normally lumbering brutes of the void, so they show up, unleash apocalyptic firepower, and then run away before an enemy fleet can pop in and support their vaporized behmoth. Their other role is to duel with enemy battleships or other large vessels in crazy displays of firepower and speed, keeping the heavy hitters away from more squishy vessels in a formation. I guess my description of large alien vessels meant the navy decided to send us some extra punching power just in case these large ships require a more heavy-handed approach.

  Each ship is armed with 12 16-inch triple-mounted realatavistic railguns. Despite the vessels being large enough to mount more standard 16-inch weapons, the internals of each turret include a circular track for each shell to be put through to increase the velocity to these extreme speeds. Although each relative shot takes 10 seconds to charge, the charge can be held due to the shells being in a vacuum while being magnetically levitated on their track, meaning very little loss in energy for prolonged times. The weapons can also be fired in a standard manner for a maximum velocity of .02 C, which can be fired at nearly 50RPM. Due to the large power draw of these weapons, there is little room for secondary railgun batteries so the rest of the area of the ship is filled with hundreds, of nuclear-tipped missiles ranging from devastating 10 MT area of effect ones, to smaller 1MT cassaba howitzers for those targets that really don't want to die. There are of course, hundreds of conventional explosive missiles, too, for things that require less collateral damage. Any space after this is filled with CWIS batteries composed of the standard many-barreled and gunned 25mm arrays, defensive missiles, 50mm autocannons, and short-range defensive lasers.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Overall, these ships are definitely overkill based on what we know of the Eternal Kingdom as of now, but you never know, so something like this may be needed for some reason. The two ships sent are the USS Pueblo and the USS Navajo. This screws up my fleets naming convention, but I can't complain about having their extra firepower around.

  I walk into the HQ room of the lead army transport to find a person I can't stand being with and a person I can't stand being without. My younger brother of 10 years stands up with a big smile on his face and we half-run toward one another and share a big bear hug. Shariah squeaks in suprise after she bumps into my back only for Malakai to reach his arms further and grab ahold of her as well, joining her in the brotherly hug for no reason. He looks behind him and says,

  " Le'Blanc, get over here and join in!"

  The white haired woman replies,

  "I'll pass, I'd rather not."

  He shrugs, and we eventually let go. I apologize to Shariah. Malakai says to her,

  "Sorry, Diplo-Colonel, I just got overwhelmed by seeing Barnabas and thought you wanted to join in."

  She waves it off, and we all head to the table while I quietly scold the 54-year-old man trapped in a 20-year-old's body. I sit at the table and ask,

  "Alright, where do you want to start?"

  Commodore Le'Blanc starts by saying,

  "Well, as much as it pains me, I've been tasked by naval high command to give you this."

  Her dainty hands pass me a letter, and I notice a golden band on her left hand. I say,

  "Congrats."

  She nods and quietly says,

  "This time, he isn't actually double my age."

  I snigger and open the letter, and my eyes go wide as I look at the contents. Commodore Le'Blanc then says unenthusiastically,

  "Congratulations, Rear Admiral Hollander."

  I am surprised and elated that I am finally considered an admiral. She then scoots a box across the floor to me, and I open it to find the accompanying uniform modifications to show my rank. I immediately change out my commodore insignias for the single silver stars showing my rank, I'll do the rest later.

  With that done, I continue,

  "I'll take that as the Navy saying I am still in charge of this operation. So here is the deal: the aliens engaged us by destroying a civilian vessel and capturing our science boys. We responded properly and rescued all those captured. There are apparently no enemy forces left in the system, so it is considered safe for now. Since I want a mustering area, this system is good enough for now. I designated 2 fallback points, one being the outer part of this system near a gas giant, where I told the builder boys to build whatever they are tasked with building. I also have designated a final point in the system nearest, which is a single gas giant system. If they follow us there and they are putting on pressure, I'll call off the entire operation, and we will most likely come back with an actual invasion fleet, or we decide to just ignore them for a while.

  Any questions?"

  There is silence for a while before the other naval officer, Captain Lock, states,

  "I have none, sir. just tell me what needs a really big hole."

  I nod and then say,

  "If there are no questions, then I'll dismiss y'all. I do want to inspect and see what I'm working with, so I'll be around. Mostly the Army stuff because there's still that glitch in the integration systems that just tells me AFV and troop numbers. "

  I shake my head with a sigh as all the officers begin to leave, aside from my brother and Shariah. As the door closes behind us Shariah asks,

  "So... what's between you and the commodore, admiral?"

  I sigh, and Malakai chuckles. I respond,

  "Not right now."

  Malakai, in all his younger brother dickheadedness, tells her,

  "They were a thing for a while, and our lovely Barnabas here neglected to tell her he was older than her father."

  I immediately grab the Lt.Colonel, put him in a one armed headlock and through gritted teeth say,

  "Does someone need to remind you who is big brother again you little shit?"

  He punches me in the side, and I involuntarily jerk away, letting him go with a yelp of pain. He responds,

  "Do I need to remind you who actually works for his living, Gayvy boy?" (Pronounced Gay-Vee)

  Before we can continue, I take a long breath and hold my hands up and say to Shariah,

  "Yes, we sorta had an on-off sort of thing during a Naval campaign until she found out I am quite old. That was enough of a turnoff, and she is quite mad. In my defense, I forget that I am this old, especially since she looks older than me."

  Shariah just shakes her head in disappointment before asking,

  "Can we just go take inventory of what the Army brought?"

  I nod, and our merry band heads to the massive transportation bays that double as a motor pool and mechanic. As we move through the big open field inside the massive ship a group of soldiers come jogging by for PT as a Sargeant bellows a running cadence.

  I watch the faces of the men and women run past, they can't help but rubberneck at the Navy man standing there in their PT area. They pass, and we continue into the transport bay.

  We approach a group of mechanics who are reading technical manuals and inspecting what appears to be a brand-new vehicle. Calling it a vehicle seems incorrect, as I've seen 2 story houses much smaller than this thing. I approach the men, and upon seeing me and their Lt.Colonel, they stand and salute, one smacking his head on an overhanging piece of armor. Malakai gives them the "as they were" order and I ask the NCO of the group,

  "Tell me, sarge, what's this beauty you have here called?"

  He smiles and responds,

  "This is the M25A1 'Shoggoth' super heavy terrestrial supremacy vehicle. It's a nearly 500-ton behemoth of armor and guns. It comes with armor measured in meters and a nuclear powerplant in the center, giving it some great power features. It has 4 point defense lasers to stop incoming munitions, 4 25mm autocannons mounted in unmanned turrets, an 8-inch railgun that doesn't arc lightning anymore when firing, and multiple many-barreled 50mm mortar systems. It's beautiful Co- I mean Rear Admiral, it's absolutely beautiful."

  I nod, and Malakai begins grumbling,

  "It's got too much fancy tech on it, probably useless in the field. The lightning from the Kansas wasn't even that bad; no one got hurt, plus it built character..."

  He continues on his old man rant for a while as I am handed the technical manual and go over some of the specs. I find them quite good despite Malakai's grumbling. Despite being the older man, I am somehow far more open to tech changes, probably because I'm navy and half metal already.

  I finish my round by inspecting all of the vehicles. The rest are less interesting, mostly the standard "Stonewall" MBT tanks and IFV's which have nothing new or cool about them aside from being tanks which by nature are cool as fuck. With that inspection done, I am confident the 12th mechanized calvalry is more than capable of handling anything the aliens have to offer.

  Back on the Catfish, I lounge in my room for a while, seemingly staring into nothing, but I am working hard on coordinating with the other Army groups sent, mostly for organization in the event a ground war is needed. I above all else do not want to be an occupying force here as I still beleive in the current mission to seek peaceful cooperation even when there have been some major screw ups, but there is nothing wrong with organizing for a terrible situation if it has to come.

  The problem is though that a diplomatic ship was supposed to arrive with this extra fleet as well as some freighters. I can't seem to get a straight answer on that aspect; all I know is that they were part of the fleet and are safe, but no one will tell me where they are. Commodore Le'Blanc gave me the most information, and I quickly learned my brother had no idea what was going on with the ships. Le'Blanc hinted that someone really high up and secret gave them an extra set of orders, and when I asked why, all she was able to say was,

  "Glowies on board."

  That is not a good sign when spooks are around; that means something really shady is going on. While my mind is on this thought, Shariah enters my room unannounced once again. I turn on the lights for her as not to scare her again and rotate on my chair. I mentally note I'll have to talk to her about intruding on my private quarters. I sigh and ask,

  "What's up, Shariah?"

  She salutes, which immediately tells me something important is going on, so I salute her back, and she speaks almost like a robot, clearly reading a script,

  "Rear Admiral Hollander, as the representative of the US Armed Forces Diplomatic Corps, I have come to pass along orders from on high and by those who cannot be named at this time.

  You are to advance the USS Catfish and no more than two other vessels to the next inhabited system of the Eternal Kingdom. From there, we will be expected to interact with their local government and begin demands of retribution for our lost vessel as well as... there will be another ship joining us, and they will perform actions that are classified to either of us."

  I frown and respond,

  "I'll do it, of course, but I want more context because this will result in war."

  She shuffles uncomfortably and says in a weak and almost scared voice,

  "The Eternal Kingdom has been declared a hostile non-peer nation. While not yet at war, our... intelligence agencies wish to begin preperations for conflict."

  I somehow frown deeper, not saying anything else as an image comes to mind. A still frame from the video taken from a marine's helmet cam. A map of the observable galaxy made into a tapestry on one of the walls of the palace building. A gorgeous piece of work that belonged in a museum rather than being annihilated by breaching charges because the wall behind it was designated for destruction. The part that makes me remember is what looked to be the newest section, sewn only recently.

  The part of space that we came from had a vague image of one of us in a spacesuit. Then there were words nearby that once read,

  "Void of no intelligence and no light of divinity."

  But it had been sewn over with the image of some terrible beast. The new additions included more monsters added to our section of space and sewn in bright red, a warning,

  "Here Be Monsters..."

  And unfortunately for the Eternal Kingdom, now they are correct...