Chapter 8: The Third Battle of Atarah Star-Zone Part 2: Ashes

I

All around Yi, the world was spinning. The young boy swallowed his breath; his tanned face had become confused in the instant that he transitioned from artificial to zero gravity. This was due to his sense of up and down going haywire making him lose track of where he was. He had been through a thousand times while training with Ambrose and Texeira, yet no matter how many times he practised, he just couldn’t get the hang of it. His breathing and pulse had accelerated making his blood pressure rise as in his cockpit. The adrenaline in his veins was probably up as well. His head had begun feeling hot, he thought perhaps his dark hair had something to do with it, but quickly dismissed it. His heart and stomach felt as if they were running to another place and his inner was rebelling against him. It took him over twenty seconds to regain his sense of balance and equilibrium.

Yi inhaled deeply and finally checked the vastness of space full of lights around him. A sight that stole Yi’s gaze was that of an allied ship taking a hit right after releasing its fighters. The ball of light swelled outward, and once it subsided, all that was there was an empty region of eternal darkness. A chill went down Yi’s spine he thought about how lucky he had been to not be in that ship, Yi raced through the spaces filled with nothing in order to not get caught in cruiser fire. He was trying not to go too deep into the enemy fleet, but he knew that the mission was to cause as much damage to the enemy, which had just begun to release its small fighter squadrons. Yi eventually made his way to the enemy controlled space having flown through a hole in an allied ship that had been struck down earlier in the battle. There was not a single body in his sight. The only thing was left was rubble, the ship that had once been brimming with the life of soldiers had its flame extinguished. Yi looked at it back while avoiding the fire of enemy ships and thought. “Will I suffer the same fate?”




In a sudden a Revolutionary fighter made its way to Yi’s view. His heart skipped a beat, the enemy’s turns were fast and sharps, and its movements were swift and controlled unlike Yi’s clumsy movements. He was facing an experienced pilot. Yi felt as if he could imagine the man’s eyes filled with murderous intent for his motherland, with the certitude of victory at the sighting of an inexperienced fighter. Even with these thoughts crossing Yi’s mind his hands were moving faster than he desired on instinct. His fighter’s movement were sudden protesting at its will. Abrupt, sharp changes in trajectory threatened to make him nauseous, so he looked at the trail left by the elegant laser beam that had just slipped past. Yi thought it of good luck; as he saw no way he could’ve dodged his first fire from an experienced pilot without it. Underneath his tight flight suit, his skin had become tense. Yi needed to avoid moving in straight lines, and he had to keep his eyes on the enemy’s position. Yi had slipped past what was the enemy’s sure-fire killshot and that had driven the pilot furious amplifying his bloodlust. The pilot raced to challenge Yi once more, light beams raced toward Yi, there was no direct hit this time either. Had he dodged or had they just missed?

Yi went upward, then downward to avoid all of his enemy’s fire. Just one hit would mean the end of his short journey through the stars. He hadn’t moved through the path he originally calculated, this meant that the enemy’s predictions were thrown off at his unexpected movements. The two crafts passed close to each other, allowing them to gaze at one another, and the next second Yi was looking down on the fighter now below him and in an instant pulled the trigger on his neutron beam to fire. Yi had no time to see the ball of light that engulfed the fighter, nor did he care. After seeing the enemy was going Yi could only think about one thing “A direct hit? For real?”. Lt. Jr. Yi Sun-Sin had just erased the existence of his first enemy fighter.





He felt a rush of adrenaline in his body as if his cells were burning inside of him. Yi just couldn’t stop thinking about the pilot he had just killed. Could he have had a family? Perhaps he had a wife and a family? A girlfriend? That one enemy fighter was tied to a human life; from that life many ties surely had branched creating bonds inseparable bonds. He was not thinking this out of sentimentalism; it was just something that couldn’t be removed from the mind of anyone that had just taken a human life. Yi continued forward making his way deeper into the enemy fleet.

Inside of the Odenwitz fleet heads were turning in bewilderment at the sights that of Stein’s top notch pilots. Some had even begun taking down some of their cruisers. The Odenwitz fleet had dispatched their own fighters immediately after Stein, however the number of fighters they had when compared to Stein were about a quarter. This had been due to Admiral Odenwitz requesting only a small amount of carriers believing that they wouldn’t be necessary for the task he had of keeping Stein away from the main battle. If he had known that Stein held the majority of fighters in his fleet then he surely would’ve brought more, but at that moment he had no other choice than to stand his grown and keep a defensive formation. Their fighting would rage on for some time, and their skirmish outside the main fleet battle was still far from over. All the meanwhile Stein looked at how his pilots were disrupting the enemy fleet by plucking wholes in their defences by taking down some ships. They didn’t take down many; however for Stein it was enough to leave him assured that he had compensated for the disorganization his fleet had fallen under. Stein still couldn’t feel relieved; he began to bite on one of his nails thing that his Chief of Staff noticed. Everyone in his bridge dismissed, but Laidler knew the true reason for his behaviour.







It was just some time before the battle began, Stein was admiring the constant sea of stars thinking of the time those stars would be under his control. His Chief of Staff made his presence known to the Admiral and approached him to go through his concerns on the plan that they had originally desired to carry through. He claimed that based on what he saw it nothing more than a tactic based on pure armchair theory. Stein tried to argue with him as he saw Carey’s plan was perfect, however following some explanation he began to see the worries that his Chief of Staff had. “So then what do you suggest we do?” asked Stein. Laidler then explained to him that based on other research following their loss the third battle for Musen it was likely that their enemy would use whatever they had used to make the air combust when pressed with high-energy beams. The enemy would also probably drive his fleet away in order to keep him interfering from their plan. Stein nodded asking his Chief of Staff how they should prevent it. Laidler looked directly at his superior and in a monotone voice said, “We shouldn’t.” Stein’s eyes widened as he rose from his chair at such words, he questioned him saying that the Konev fleet had soldiers with wives and children, mother, fathers, brothers, and sister. Laidler nodded and added “Your excellency, Konev is supported by the leaders of this nation. His fall alongside a portion of his fleet would be the start of their fall, and along you saving the rest of his fleet it would be the start of your rise.” Stein still couldn’t accept his words. If he allowed Konev and a small part of his fleet to die the, how much better than the corrupt politicians was he? Stein said that it was not fair to allow so many people to die for his political gain to what Laidler added “You must first gain power, before caring about what is fair and what’s not” a couple of minute passed before Stein finally gave his answer. “Very well. We will allow their plan to go through, however no one must know about it. We must act as if we are being played at every given moment.” The Chief of Staff bowed and took his position as the flagship kept making its way towards battle. That was the reason for Stein’s behaviour, he kept thinking if he was doing the right thing and began considering to pull out and go help Konev’s fleet. He would take some more time before making a decision however


Yi was now in the midst of an even more intense battle, he was deeper into the enemy territory and so looked down on his monitor to look for any allied or enemy fighters. In the split second he looked a down, a radiant beam of energy went past his vessel. He quickly looked up to find the position it had come from. He located it almost in an instant. Yi took aim and squeezed two rapid shots from his beam cannon and got yet another direct hit to an enemy fighter. The photflux adjustment system activated, causing the main screen to display the ball of light created by the fighter’s end. Yi had now taken down two enemy fighters that was a great success in battle for a novice such as himself. He kept however thinking it was all just luck, as he saw no way that he could be taking down so many enemies even after his training not bearing the greatest results. His dark brown eyes were gleaming with confidence in the inside of his helmet. With two kills in his first sortie as a pilot, Fleet Admiral Stein was sure to be impressed. He might even be promoted again, however he had no time to think for that.

Yi continued through space until a huge wall rose up in front of his fighter. Had he not instinctively pulled his fighter up then he surely would’ve met his end at that moment. It was an enemy cruiser, he had heard earlier through a communication that his mentors Amborse and Texeiera had both taken down eight cruisers each already, granted they were the only ones taking them down, but still for Yi the opportunity he saw was immense. Yi knew that he should not make any careless moves; a direct hit from the cruiser’s cannon would wipe him off the universe before he could register any pain. That would for some be a better way to die, but Yi had no intention of entering a relationship with death yet. He adjusted his speed to be about the same as the cruiser’s and maintained a cautious distance. He was almost touching the energy field around the cruiser. While he was doing that Yi felt like the hero of a great legend, of a young soldier who had taken down an enemy cruiser alongside an enemy cruiser in his first sortie, he however had no time for thinking of such things.



One of the gun’s turrets made itself known; it swivelled around but failed to lock on him. Yi had probably been spotted by the enemy’s detection system, but he had moved into a blind spot just in time. Yi waited as the turret kept looking trying to decide whether something had actually flown by it, or not. After a few seconds a small slit had opened in the backside of the enemy vessel, and from it a warhead of photon missiles appeared taking aim at an allied ship. Just as it was to launch, Yi emerged from the blind spot of the cruiser and fired his canons at the ship following that he launched himself in a steep climb through space, as behind him a burst of light exploded and a rolling wave of energy scooped his fighter up higher into space. He had just taken down his very first cruiser.

When a new enemy showed itself in front his fighter, he remained calm and collected a far cry from the way he had reacted when he saw his first enemy. He felt like he could respond to the situation in the best possible way. A light flare railed out from behind of him as another fighter had come hunting him down. Yi was not in the usual group of three that Stein’s pilots were known for being in, still he shot two energy beams at the enemy in front of him hitting it directly following that by turning his fighter around in a fast, yet not even a tad gracious. His enemy attempted to shoot him down and missed. Yi then once again fired two shots from his cannon hoping for a direct hit, but he failed his shot. Yi realised that he had become infatuated at the sight of glory; he shook his head trying to keep such thoughts away from his mind. If he only thought about such things then he would surely one day become an incompetent commander who orders his troops to charge for their own personal satisfaction. In his split second of indecision two more enemy ships appeared attempting to claim his life, one was a fighter whose wife had been working as an officer on the cruiser he had shot down not too long ago, the two fighters chased Yi down arguing with each other about who should take the enemy before them down. They both fired at the same time, but Yi managed to barely scrape by and continue flying. In a split second both fighters were ready to fire once again with their target locked in sight. They were ready to fire at Yi, however right before they could their own fighters were engulfed in a ball of light. They had been shot down by Commanders Ambrose and Texeira, who Yi proceeded to thank for their help. Texeira told Yi that he could pay him back by getting him a drink or two, and then told him to go and refuel. Texeira then shot down another enemy fighter while covering Yi and enthusiastically exclaimed “28 at his partner” Ambrose responded by taking down a fighter of his own and exclaiming “29” making Texeria frown. Yi had to swiftly make his way back into his own fleet to look for a ship to refuel. He found a mothership and once given permission to land he made his way into it and stayed in his fighter until given the order to leave it during reenergizing. Yi however was in the end unable to go back out, since by the time his fighter had been refuelled, all other fighters had already been called back.

II

While the Odenwitz fleet was having trouble against Stein’s fighters, the main Legitimate fleet was pushing Marshal Yin to order them to pursue Konev and blast his fleet. This was mostly being pursued by Vice Admiral von Libenstein, who was irritated at the fact that the Chief of Staff and the Fleet Admiral were allowing Konev to get out of their firing range and start to retreat, which would allow the Stein fleet to regroup with them and cut off the plan they had thought of. The Fleet Admiral nodded at von Libenstein and said that while his worries were right to be had, he should have no reason to worry, as he was ready to begin their plan. This plan began with Marshal Yin ordering Skye to leave her position in the left and go forward staying out of Konev’s firing range.

The Skye fleet’s movements were swift it took them only a few hours to get into the position they desired to put their plan into action thanks to the fleet movements by Vice Commander John Starr. As they approached the Konev fleet, Skye looked over to her Chief of Staff and deputy Chief of Staff, while her aide stood by her side as she began to explain what they would do. The plan was rather simple in a way; they were going to release the zephyr particles given to them by Lt. Commander Haylie, in a directional form using the device that had been implanted into Skye’s flagship. They would however have to do this while staying out of Konev’s firing range as otherwise their entire fleet could go up in flames. Thinking about that possibility Skye’s eyes lost their lustre for a brief moment prompting Rear Admiral Kotobuki to take the lead and ask her if they would lead the Konev fleet towards the particles.

Skye shook her head explaining, “There will be no need. This is merely a defensive wall, we shouldn’t wish to annihilate their fleet.” The Rear Admiral nodded at her words perhaps feeling as if she was not taking her job seriously enough. Once they were within range, Skye ordered the zephyr particles to be launched creating an invisible wall that could combust at the sight of a single speck of an energy beam. These particles reached all the way to the Konev fleet, but he was too busy in his retreat that had slowed down due to a hit his flagship had taken earlier on in the battle. Skye ordered her fleet to return back to the main fleet not too long after they had deployed the particles, she had been expecting their retreat to only be given a problem by Admiral Stein, but even her predictions were thrown off in an instant.

The moment Stein launched his fighters and the hours that took Skye to reach position to drop the Zephyr particles were parallel to each other, as Skye was moving forward Stein’s fighters were disrupting Odenwitz’ fleet. Since this was happening simultaneously the moment that Stein was informed by his Chief of Staff that the enemy had deployed the last part of their plan had begun, he started bouncing his leg up and down and bit his nail for a split second before asking all his fighters to return. His fleet had already distanced itself enough to easily get out of the enemy’s firing range and make its way towards the entrance of the corridor separating them without entering the range of the zephyr particles either. Still Stein was hesitant about what he was about to do, he wondered if he really shouldn’t send at least a message telling Konev to retreat faster. He knew that even if he did that there was no guarantee he’d listen, but Stein couldn’t shake the feeling of discomfort in his being at the possibility of the majority of Konev’s fleet to be annihilated.


Admiral Odenwitz’ staff saw Stein begin to retreat towards the corridor’s entrance and pressed their commander to pursue them. The Admiral refused saying that they had already obtained a strategic and tactical victory, he could’ve ended it at that retreating back to the main fleet and returning with it back to home as the Revolutionary fleets retreated. Karl however had a plan spark in the matter of seconds after seeing that the Konev fleet would take a couple of hours before leaving the range of the Zephyr particles. He ordered his staff to completely empty a ship and have it remotely controlled towards the Konev fleet. His staff and attempted to question the Admiral, however he insisted on not saying what the purpose of such move was. This was due to Karl fearing that the fleet’s headquarters would disapprove of such a move, not only that but also he knew that his wife would object of what he was planning even if the headquarters agreed to go forward with his idea.

The ship was emptied in a quick manner thanks to the fast organization of that ship’s commander Commodore Abigail Hobbs. She attempted to convince the Admiral to allow her to captain the ship into the enemy fleet as well, but Karl said that he had no intentions of creating a martyr. Therefore the ship named “Kashan” made its way towards Konev’s fleet. It took the ship a few hours to enter the range of the particles dropped by Skye, thus that meant that all Admirals had seen the ship made its way. Every one had a different reaction towards the ship’s appearance. The Legitimate admirals were for the most part ecstatic at the sight of the ship and the initiative shown by Admiral Odenwitz. Admiral von Libenstein specifically noted, “Despite the fact that he is to take all the glory, I shall admire the light show he had decided to put on.” Not all Admirals felt this way however, Admiral Carrizo remained indifferent to the idea even if his friend had come up with it. Fleet Admiral Yin questioned Admiral Odenwitz through a video communication, but in the end he remained indifferent as well only telling him he should’ve at least mentioned he was attempting such a bold move. In the Revolutionary side the Admirals under Conner Konev were bewildered, they began cocking their heads sideways towards their staff and kept communicating to Konev telling him that this was a most certain trap. A single ship was heading their way, Konev kept telling them that once the ship entered their firing range they would just blast it away, but that didn’t shake the feeling of his subordinates that something was amiss.

Admiral Stein’s subordinates were all relaxed at the sight of retreat and saw no reason to worry about the enemy ship. “The Fleet Admiral will take care of it.” Explained Jakob Thomas towards his officers who were some of the few in the fleet worries about that ship. Meanwhile in the fighter hangars Lt. Jr. Yi met his mentors and commanders Texiera and Ambrose. He told them his battle results leaving them shocked “You took down a cruiser?! At this rate I will be able to teach you to take down some other types of cruisers.” Said Texiera before getting interrupted by Ambrose “Don’t corrupt this young man with your evil ways, still taking down a cruiser in your first sortie. That is something to be celebrated.” Yi appreciated the thought, but his body felt lethargic at the moment and therefore excused himself to get some rest. Marshal Stein kept bouncing his leg, alternating between which nail he was biting, and started ruffling his golden hair. Murmurs and whispers quickly began about the Admiral’s behaviour “I heard that he had only been promoted due to favouritism.” Said one of the veteran officers, only to be interjected by another “No, you’re wrong. I heard that his sister has gone back to the anti-war movement.” In the end the murmurs were shut down by the ship’s captain who had been commanded by Laidler to silence the officers. Laidler still couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if the Admiral ordered the fleet to go with the Konev fleet, thefore he asked the Fleet Admiral to go towards the nursing room telling him that he should do it only to kill the rumours of his behaviour being because of other more unsettling things. Stein nodded and left Tyler Carey in command of the fleet in the case of an enemy attack and his Chief of Staff in command during their retreat. Laidler then ordered all ships to speed up while retaining their formation putting them farther away from the main fleet.

Admiral Skye Hyde was at the time enjoying yet another cup of tea brewed by her ward Nero. This time it had no alcohol in it to the resentment of the Admiral, but had she asked Nero to put some in it then her ward would’ve surely been scolded by her Chief of Staff for allowing the Admiral to ask such things during battle. The Admiral was distracted from her drinking, by Commodore Massaro who alerted her of the allied ship entering the zephyr particles range. Skye shocked at the sight of an allied ship spilled her tea on her hand prompting her aide to wipe it off, as she asked her officers to check if the ship was unmanned to what of course the officers after a few minutes answered as affirmative. She looked at the unmanned ship making her ward do the same thing, wondering what exactly was her husband planning sending a ship into the particle filled territory. Her eyes lit up as she covered her mouth for a moment telling herself that it couldn’t be what she was thinking.

“All ships let’s show this idiots going against our national founder’s ideas what true strength is.” Shouted Admiral Konev rallying his fleet to lock on their cannons on the one single ship to make a show out of their fleet’s strength. The feeling of unease couldn’t be shaken off prompting some ships to leave the fleet and swiftly go with the Stein fleet that was at the corridor’s entrance outside of the zephyr particle range. Konev lifted his right arm, smiling at the sight of destroying the small enemy destroyer. Skye and her officer had their eyes glued towards the screen their bridge presented showing what was happening, Stein’s fleet alongside the main Legitimate fleet were all seeing the events unfold. “Fire!” ordered Konev, in that instant a thousand fiery dragons were to be released from their cage. If only that had been possible, the moment the energy beams just slightly went out of their ships the entire area around them filled with flames, combusting the ships, incinerating every living being in the Konev fleet in a matter of seconds. “Long live the revolution!” screamed Konev as his body became nothing but galactic ash. Stein entered the bridge of his flagship and saw the cloud of flames looked over at his Chief of Staff knowing full well he had planned for this even if he had gone along with it, Stein couldn’t shake the feeling that he should’ve stopped what happened. The Legitimate Admirals all stayed silent as a matter of respect for the million of lives taken in an instant, and Skye Hyde clutching her chest for a moment attempting to hold back tears from guilt at ending so many lives in so little time was able to conceal her emotions as Rear Admiral John Starr who had entered the flagship a few moments ago commented “Admiral, this cant be called a war.” Hyde nodded and told her staff to inform headquarters that they should never use such methods again. Marshal Yin upon getting the communicate he accepted it alongside Admiral Hopson who also felt as if such measures were not needed.

Karl Odenwitz remained silent for the rest of their voyage although historians argue whether it was out of guilt or as a move to obtain sympathy. Marshal Yin ordered a salute out of respect as their fleet retreated back to the capital. Siegfried Stein went towards the high chair in his flagship and ordered his fleet to recollect all surviving ships and return towards the capital. The official record for the battle would read that after an exhaustive battle Fleet Admiral Siegfried Stein returned home following the saving of the Konev fleet that had been annihilated due to Konev’s incompetence making Stein look like a saviour in the eyes of many people that were not in battle to witness the events. In that form at the 0340 hours of October 30 Confederate Year 178. The Third battle of the Atarah Star Zone ended as a major Legitimate victory.

III

The retreat back towards the capital for the Revolutionary Confederation was a rather ordinary one. It had no moments of not outside of Stein’s officers counting the casualties for him to organize fleets as the Supreme Commander of the revolutionary space fleet. While he was doing this he was also informed by his request of the battle results of Lt. Jr. Yi. His reaction was pretty similar to that of the fighter squadron commander being impressed at the fact that the young boy who’d be turning 18 at the start of the following year had taken down a cruiser. He then asked now Rear Admiral Laidler to call the young man into his office.


The young man entered the office of his superior officer and saluted him still unable to speak normally in the magnificent presence of Stein. Their conversation was not too dissimilar to their last one and even its end was similar to their previous one with Yi being promoted to a Lieutenant. Yi tried being humble claiming he hadn’t done enough to warranty a promotion, but Stein differed saying that it was an accomplishment to be proud of. Yi saluted his superior once again and left the office. Laidler then informed Stein that a ship had been spotted going through the corridor. Stein dismissed it claiming it was nothing but space rubble. Once that was done the course towards the capital continued in a regular manner.

All the meanwhile the clock turned to November 1 for the Legitimate fleet, which had taken some time to regroup before leaving for the Musen star-zone. Once there Fleet Admiral Yin asked Admirals Odenwitz and Hyde to return the zephyr particles they had to the regimental squadron stationed there, for that they would only take one flagship as for the rest of their fleets they could return with the main fleet in order to not make any problems. In reality this had been asked by the Secretary of Defence who had been planning on something upon the return of the main fleet once they had known what was the battle result. Admiral Odenwitz decided that he would board Skye’s flagship and reach Musen on it leaving his flagship in the charge of his vice commander Commodore Braylon Wright.

Upon reaching Skye’s flagship Karl was met by Nero, who greeted him in a casual way, he however saluted him upon hearing the coughing of Rear Admiral Kotobuki. Nero took Karl towards Skye’s private chambers. Along the way Nero warned Karl however that the Admiral was not in the best moods following what he had done he added that the Admiral had told him that while their job was essentially to kill people, it still was not reason to massacre soldiers who were already retreating, Karl nodded scratching his head through his military beret, he already knew that his wife was probably mad at him for doing such a thing, but he still stood firm by his choice believing it to be the best course of action in the war. The death of a few enemy soldiers is better than that of many more of ours was his train of thought. Karl still however seeing the clock was not too far away from striking midnight decided to wait some time before visiting his wife.
Skye was in her quarter going through the situation that was to play out in her head. She thought of what she would tell her husband the moment that he entered the room, her eyes lighted up as she began thinking of what she was going to tell him, She was surely going to give her a piece of mind harder than the one she had given to her friend Haylie earlier in the year. Upon hearing the doors to her quarter upon she shook being startled thinking her husband had arrived she quickly turned around to face him only to find Nero standing at the entrance serving her two cups of tea. Skye thanked him and asked him to leave the room before Karl arrived. Nero nodded and left the room quickly. A few minutes later the doors opened once again prompting Skye to once again turn around, seeing her husband she opened her mouth to tell Karl about what he had done, but her words were not able to go through since as soon as she opened her mouth she was met by a kiss from her husband who held her tightly to her surprise. She did not try to resist however, as during the kiss she realised the clock had moved forward from the first to the second. Karl released her after a small while and talked “Happy Birthday! Was that all right?” Skye nodded with her eyes wide open after what had happened. Karl then signalled Nero to enter who came in with a small cake for Skye. They celebrated Skye’s birthday for the next hour, which was also the time it took the flagship to reach Musen, in the end Skye was unable to tell her husband what she thought of his actions.

Upon reaching Musen Skye was once again congratulated this time by her friend Haylie who told her that it was a great honour for her to finally be thirty to what Skye responded by saying that it was not like she wanted to turn thirty. Skye and Haylie ended up delaying the time it would’ve taken to give up the zephyr particles for about two hours, but in the end takes to her ward and Rear Admiral Kotobuki the process of giving them back was quick and efficient without many other delays. The staff of the flagship ended up staying an extra day in the cold planet to refuel the ship’s energy in order to make it to the capital in a little less time. Once they left from the planet Admiral Odenwitz was informed that he would need to present himself to the military headquarters immediately for a special message he was to recive. Skye and Karl didn’t think much of it, they thought it would just be the Secretary of Defence congratulating him followed by many camera flashes that would signal the populace that the secretary was a fine politician. If only they had known that the events that were about to occur were the beginning of tragedy.















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Author's Note

This is still a rough draft so any feedback is appreciated.