Part 1: The Struggle

May 6th, 2277 UN Space Force Outpost Caloocan

Senior Astronaut Alice Santos stared blankly at her scopes, as she had for the past two hours. It wasn't that different from usual. Her scopes never showed anything, other than the occasional nitrogen tanker heading for the fuel station, which helped remind her that she was still alive. She would usually be passing the time with some idle chatting with the other people in the CIC, but she wasn't in a very talkative mood today.

De Vries had broken things off with her yesterday, and everyone knew it. It didn't help that he was on the same shift as her. Alice had always thought the saying "Don't shit where you eat." was silly, but now she understood. The whole CIC was awkward as hell, with everyone walking on eggshells around the two.

It hurt worse than it should have because Alice couldn't be mad at him. He was pretty objectively in the right, as far as these things go. She was a shitty girlfriend. Her old man had left her a basket case, and she had unloaded all of her baggage on De Vries. She had driven him away because of her crippling trust issues. She wanted to blame him, but she couldn't.

A small voice in the back of her mind reminded her that she probably wouldn't have tolerated the same behavior out of him, and certainly not as long as he had tolerated it out of her. So, she was stuck stewing in her own self-hatred, unable to blame De Vries even though she desperately wanted to. There was also a little guilt thrown in, for ruining everyone else's day because of her own personal bullshit.

There was one man who wouldn't let his day be ruined by Alice's foul mood. Lieutenant Commander Ahn strolled happily into the CIC. His wife had popped out their twins early, and the Commander had been devastated that he couldn't be there. However, he was going on leave in a few days, and the prospect of getting home to them had pulled him out of the doldrums.

"Anything interesting?" he asked, despite knowing full well that nothing interesting happened at Caloocan.

There were a few smirks at his joke, but otherwise no one said much. There really was nothing interesting to be found at Caloocan. The star system that the outpost was in was pretty barren, even by the notably low standards of red dwarf systems. It's only significant celestial body was an ice giant, which happened to have a healthy quantity of nitrogen in its atmosphere. Someone had set up a small orbital farming array to take advantage of all of that nitrogen, and renamed the system "Caloocan", as was the right of first settlers.

One thing led to another, and the farming complex had become a major provider of food to most of the human stations and settlements in this sector of human space. The farms were important enough to the local economy and vulnerable enough to piracy that the Space Force had decided it warranted a communications and patrol outpost, and so Caloocan Outpost had been constructed.

There was a single blip on Alice's scope. One of the outpost's interceptors, on patrol. The three Interceptor boats in its hanger represented the offensive capabilities of the outpost. The station had a few weapons to defend itself with, including long range UV laser that took advantage of the station's large fusion power plant to turn it into a weapon that was useful beyond spitting distance.

Alice was still a little dazed from her very liquid method of coping from yesterday, but even hungover she would notice when a new contact appeared on her scope. Her training took over, and she relished the distraction.

"Commander, I've got a new contact on my scope." she called out to Lieutenant Commander Ahn.

The heads of everyone in the CIC turned towards her. They were relishing the distraction too.

The Lieutenant Commander raised an eyebrow, "That's unusual." It was an understatement. Nothing happened at Caloocan.

"What's the drive signature, Santos?" Alice read the data her scope fed her. Suddenly she wasn't relishing it.

"Sir...it's definitely an anti-matter drive." she said

There was silence in the CIC. No one was relishing it now. Humans didn't use anti-matter drives, which meant the vessel belonged to another species.

This likely wouldn't have put them on edge during a better time. But this was not a better time. Humanity was currently in a dispute with a very old and very aloof species known as the Ivos. The Ivos had shocked the interstellar community by demanding that the human race hand over the Tau Ceti system.

Interstellar law considered every star within ten light years of of a sapient specie's home system to be their "Natural Territory". Everything else was fair game. Tau Ceti was outside of the "bubble" of natural human territory by about two light years, so the UN Interstellar Council had thought it had violated some previously unknown law. The Interstellar Court had informed them that, no, they were perfectly in their rights to colonize it. In the vast sea of stars that was the galaxy, most advanced species wouldn't begrudge a fledgling interstellar species a few dozen systems, which was why the "Natural Territory" law was usually respected.

Humanity had sought the advice of all of the species that it held diplomatic ties with, and each one of them appeared to be as mystified by the situation as the humans were. The Ivos hadn't made a territorial claim in...ever, really. They were an ancient and isolationist race. Why they would take an interest in the affairs of a species as insignificant as the humans was a mystery to everyone. Humans were technically "next-door neighbors" to the Ivos, so it was thought that it was Tau Ceti's relatively close proximity to Ivo space that had got them riled up. However, there were other colonies and outposts that were far closer to Ivo space then Tau Ceti, so that explanation didn't work either. Not getting any answers from the other species, Humanity had opted for the direct approach: they'd politely, but firmly asked why the Ivos wanted Tau Ceti.

Tau Ceti had a population of almost thirty million people. Humanity was not interested in evacuating the colony, but they also didn't want to make an enemy of their very powerful and advanced neighbor. Even if they had wanted to evacuate the colony, humanity lacked the logistical ability to do it in any reasonable capacity. Even if the UN drafted every hull in human space, it would take years to evacuate Tau Ceti. So, the UN Interstellar Council sent their reply, and waited anxiously, hoping that if they at least understood what the Ivos wanted they could come to some kind of agreement.

It was not to be. The Ivos' reply offered no explanation, and simply demanded the system again, in what some thought was an angry tone.

Without many other options, the UN had appealed to the Interstellar Court. However, no one was counting on it doing any good. The Court had even less teeth then the UN had, before interstellar relations had necessitated some kind of unified human government body to represent all humanity. Interstellar Law was more akin to a "gentleman's agreement" than anything. The court didn't have any real authority to prevent a species from breaking it. Despite all this, no one, not even those in the Space Force, thought it would come to a war. It was thought that there would be some more diplomatic back and forth, before some kind of deal was made. It was thought, anyway.

"Battlestations everyone, recall the Hermes and scramble the other two interceptors And relax while you're at it. They're probably hear for some saber rattling, not to start a shooting war."

Lieutenant Commander Ahn said this, but he didn't sound convinced. "Battlestations" for Alice meant that she did the exact same job she did normally, but with a more concerned look on her face. She kept tracking the alien ship. It was still slowing down, so it was flipped around, with only the light of it's drive visible. She trained her station's telescope on it, hoping to catch it when it flipped back over, so she could get a visual on it. The Hermes was following the Lieutenant Commander's orders, burning hard for a rendezvous with the Tecumseh and Crane, the two other Interceptors which had just launched from the Outpost's hanger. While the title "Interceptor" brought images of fast and sleek aircraft to mind, the three interceptors had more in common with a WWII era PT boat than a fighter jet. Alice watched the three blips on her scope hurdle towards each other, even as she kept the telescope trained on the alien ship.

Lieutenant Commander Ahn called out, "Tell the interceptors they aren't clear to fire unless fired upon. We're not gonna start a war because of someone's twitchy trigger finger."

His eyes were glued to the tactical display as he said it. Alice watched her scope, and her stomach flipped over as she watched the alien ship do the same. The ship was shaped like an arrow head, with the bottom corners curving inwards. The corners had the distinct red glow of radiators. The computer instantly recognized it as an Ivo design.

Alice called out, "Sir, bogey is confirmed Ivo vessel!"

Ahn grimaced at that, then said, "Give me an open hail." The comm officer rushed to comply.

The Lieutenant Commander cleared his throat, "Attention Ivo ship, you have entered human territory. Please identify yourself and state your intentions."

There was no reply. Everyone in the CIC waited for a tense moment.

Ahn sighed, "Attention Ivo ship, you are travelling through human territory without authorization. Continued refusal to communicate will be interpreted as a hostile act."

Everyone waited for several tense minutes. No reply. Ahn didn't sigh this time, he just frowned.

He spoke again, "Prepare to be boarded."

He turned to his operations chief, "Alright, tell our birds to plot an intercept course. They aren't to fire unless fired upon. This is a boarding operation."

The orders were relayed, and the interceptors complied. They burned hard, and then coasted along an intercept trajectory. Everyone in the CIC watched for ten minutes, as the interceptors coasted towards the Ivo ship.

As the interceptors came up on their target, the captain of the Hermes hailed the ship. "This is the UNS Hermes, come to a full stop and prepare to be boarded."

The captain waited a beat, then went to give the order to move in. Before he could gather the breath for the words, his tactical officer shouted, "Vampire! Vampire! Vampire! Nine vampires inbound, three with intercept trajectory on Hermes."

The captain didn't hesitate, "Weapons free, take down those vampires. I want a full torpedo salvo on that ship."

The three interceptors unleashed a hail of automatic railgun fire on the incoming torpedoes, their two heavy gauss cannons loaded flak rounds, and the interceptors' silos opened and unleashed every torpedo they had. The ships' computers seized control of the helm, and burned hard in an attempt to outrun the Ivo torpedoes.

Against a normal torpedo, with a simple chemical drive propelling it, it would have been fairly easy to out run it. Chemical engines gave a pittance of delta-v, and the powerful fusion torch of the interceptors could burn for weeks on end in comparison. These were not normal torpedoes, however, and they streaked recklessly towards the interceptors with a dozen gravities of acceleration and climbing. The interceptors, with their human cargo, couldn't push past ten gravities unless they wanted to turn their crews into paste. It was a forgone conclusion.

The interceptors' defenses managed to shoot down two of them, but the torpedoes were too fast. They pierced straight through the outer and inner hull of the interceptors, and once inside the ship, they detonated. All three interceptors were vaporized by the resulting explosion. Lost, with all hands. The torpedoes launched by the interceptors still streaked towards the target, heedless of the loss of their mother ship. The Ivo ship made no move to dodge. The invisible light of defensive lasers was unleashed, and the human torpedoes were all turned into molten slag.

---

Everyone in the CIC stared at the tactical display in shock. Interceptor crews were naturally quite tight-knit groups, but they still had friends on the station. Friends who were now struggling to contain their tears. Ahn snapped everyone out of it.

"I want firing solutions on that bucket, now! Inform the civvies that they better start evacuating if they want to live. And warm up the courier ship. Send them for help."

It wasn't possible to send a signal over great distances in Dark Space. It just got...lost. Courier ships were the only reliable means of FTL communication because of this. They were designed to be the cheapest and fastest possible ships that could still make it into dark space independently. It was still expensive. More expensive than the three sublight interceptors that just got slagged, anyway.

Alice listened to De Vries, who was the weapons chief, call out a countdown until the Ivo ship was within range. Her whole body quaked with fear. There were escape craft, of course, but there was no guarantee the Ivos wouldn't just vape them the after they finished trashing the outpost. She thought of bolting for one of them anyway, but then the captain ordered the station to change position. Maneuvering so it stood between the Ivo and the civvies

The Ivo ship was heading straight for the farms, and the civvies inside them. She remembered her duty then. They would buy time for as many of the civilians as possible to evacuate. Already, she saw some nitrogen tankers taking off from the stations, their already cramped hulls likely filled to bursting with as many people as possible. She steeled herself for what was to come.

De Vries called out, "Bogey in UV range!" Ahn didn't waste a moment, "Weapons free."

The station's huge UV laser shot out towards its enemy, ten thousand kilometers away. It didn't even take a fraction of a second to meet its target. Alice watched the Ivo ship start to spin, a defensive measure against laser attacks. It didn't seem to be a particularly urgent maneuver.

De Vries called out in a slightly crestfallen tone, "No effect so far. Bogey still incoming."

The laser poured its energy onto the still spinning Ivo vessel. The Ivo vessel was coasting lazily forward, not even firing its drive. Then, without warning, there was an energy spike. The station's computer had a faster reaction time then any human could hope for. While a horrible streak of white energy started to shoot forward from the Ivo ship at near light speed, the computer calculated the best dodging trajectory. It was forced to redo its calculations as its programming reminded it that it could not allow damage to the civilians, and the weapon was aimed at them. A small dodge, then.

All of these calculations happened in a few fractions of a second, and the computer executed a maneuver. The station rolled violently, and took a savage hit that disintegrated a large chunk of the station. It was not, however, a direct hit. It still sent the station reeling, and the computer struggled to right itself while inertia threw its human occupants against the bulkheads.

Eventually, the station righted itself, and the computer continued to fire on the Ivo ship. It was well out of effective range for the railguns, which meant the Ivo could simply move out of the way of the shots, but it might at least distract the enemy. Or so the computer calculated. It continued its firing solution, awaiting new orders. The orders came from a badly wounded Lieutenant Commander Ahn.

"Protocol Indigo Charlie Epsilon. Voice Authorization Ahn, Samuel. All hands, abandon station."

He coughed up blood then, and read the screen as the computer sent acknowledgement of him transferring command over to it. Then he passed out for a bit. All of the crew members who could still move scrambled for the escape craft. There wasn't anyone who could move in the CIC. They'd all been crushed violently against the wall.

---

Alice woke up coughing up an unreasonable amount of blood. She took a moment to remember where she was, and then rolled over. Her body protested painfully, but she was mostly numb to it. She saw an all too familiar face, and crawled over to it. It was De Vries, crumpled up in the unnatural pose of the dead. She dragged herself over to him.

"Luuk..." she whimpered.

He was going to go back home to the Netherlands for university when his enlistment was up. There was a time when she had hoped to go with him. That was gone now. Nothing but death. She started sobbing, for Luuk, for herself, and for the whole human race. She cradled his head in her lap and waited for death.

---

A small part of the Caloocan Outpost's computer observed the evacuation of its crew, and the civilian evacuation as well. The rest of it was focused on calculating optimal firing solutions and trajectories to keep itself fighting for as long as possible. The gap in technology was significant. When the Ivo ship fired its primary weapon again, the close range meant there would be no opportunity to avoid it. Most of the crew that could possibly evacuate had done so by now. The computer worked it out. The optimal strategy was a full frontal assault. It fired its thrusters and charged.

The Ivo ship was somewhat taken aback by the tactic, and had to devote slightly more attention to its point defense array to keep the station's railgun rounds off of it. The UV laser was also becoming something of a nuisance. It would take ten minutes of continuous burning to get through the Ivo ship's hull, and that was assuming it held still. So it didn't pose a lethal threat. The primary annoyance was that the UV laser was frying some of the ship's defensive lasers' lenses, which took precious seconds to replace. Seconds that the station kept attempting to exploit with its railguns.

The commander of the Ivo ship was growing angry. The unexpectedly sophisticated computer systems of the station had resulted in the waste of a round of the main weapon-something that would not look good on the captain's performance review. Now, this laughably primitive station was causing even greater embarrassment. Nothing short of a miracle would cause the destruction of the Ivo ship, of course, but even superficial damage would be an untenable loss of face. The captain weighed the options. It would be embarrassing to waste another round of the main weapon, but it would be even more embarrassing to take damage, and if the ship ran out of replacement lenses, one of those annoying little railgun rounds might hit him. The captain made a decision.

---

Lieutenant Commander Ahn examined the data that the station's computer had helpfully fed to his handheld. The civvies were evacuating at an impressive rate considering the short notice. 60% were already off of the habitats and burning for the transition station. The civvies were running short of hulls. They'd sent the children first, so the panic was somewhat blunted. Parents who knew their children were safe were less likely to get jumpy. He watched as they desperately jury rigged more space on a nitrogen tanker, taking the tanks and filling them with atmosphere and then stuffing as many people as they could fit inside. It would not be a comfortable ride in the slightest, but they could at least make it to the nearest human settlement. He watched some ships dock with the transition station, and then vanish as it carried them into dark space. Seconds later, it reappeared. It wasn't built for this kind of traffic. It would be running short of antimatter soon. He sighed, or attempted to with his less-than-functional lungs. He dug through his handheld for the picture of his wife with the twins, and he let some tears fall for what he had missed out on.

---

The Caloocan Outpost computer acknowledged the death of its commander and stopped feeding the data to his handheld. It wasn't sad, of course, but its program took note of his absence. The Ivo ship fired its main weapon once again, and this time the station was crippled. The computer used what was left of its thrusters to maneuver for another firing solution, but it didn't have enough power to fire its railguns. It fired its chemical-based light point defense guns in an attempt to prolong the distraction, and then set them on auto fire as its program acknowledged the loss of power to its computer core. For a few seconds, it existed on emergency power. It launched its black box on its pre-planned orbital trajectory, and then it ran out of power.

---

The Ivo ship moved past the ruined station, ignoring the futile fire from a handful of its point defense guns, and came upon the farming habitats. The Ivo sent a few torpedoes after the handful of evacuation craft that were unfortunate enough to be last. The captains of the ships did not announce the incoming torpedoes to the passengers, and silently watched them on their scopes. The refugees were ignorant until the very last moment when the torpedoes vaporized them. There were still one or two thousand people on the habitats, those brave enough or unlucky enough to stay behind. They watched the tiny flashes of light in the sky that signaled the deaths of the last of the evacuees. A few collapsed to their knees and sobbed, having had friends and relatives on the ships. Most did not, however.

The majority of them were those brave enough to volunteer to be the last off of the habitats, knowing full well that it was unlikely they would survive. Many of them were elderly, not wanting space that could be used for their children or grandchildren to be wasted on them. Others were just unusually brave, or perhaps foolish. They all watched the tiny speck of the Ivo ship in the sky as it dropped what some recognized as a bomb near the habitats. Some held hands, others just sat and let the tears come, and others just watched in silence.

---

The Ivo ship got to a safe range and detonated its bombs, annihilating its target. It then made its way towards the corpse of the station, which still had a few guns firing. The Ivo ship's lasers fried the handful of escape craft that still drifted near the station, as it was necessary to eliminate as many potential sources of intel as possible. It sent a bomb to the station and then burned away. Once it was at a safe distance, the bomb detonated. The corpses of the stations crew were given a nuclear cremation, and the Ivo ship left, confident it had eliminated as many sources of potential intelligence as possible. Not that it would really be necessary against the primitives. It activated its transition drive and vanished into dark space, making its way towards the main invasion fleet.