Homestar Saga

Chapter 133: Already Losing

Yvian awoke to flashing red lights and a blaring alarm. She reached for the wrist console sitting on the small nightstand next to her bunk. No messages. The time was 0332 hours. She activated the console's comm. "Can somebody tell me what The Crunch is going on?"

Captain Mims answered. His voice held the cold, professional calm that meant trouble. "Better if you see for yourself. Come to the bridge."

Yvian let out a breath. She was briefly tempted to shut off the alarms and go back to sleep. She knew that she couldn't. The Captain wouldn't be waking everyone up if it wasn't important. She grumbled curses under her breath as she climbed into her voidarmor as quickly as she could. Mims hadn't said they were in immediate danger, but that was no reason to dawdle.

Helmet secured, Yvian started to run. Lissa came out of her room, saw Yvian, and broke into a jog behind her. They reached the bridge quickly. The Encounter wasn't a big ship, and their bunks weren't far from the bridge.

Mims, Scarrend, and Kilroy were already there, clustered around the holodisplay. The display had been split up into four sections, each showing a different sector of Vrrl space. All four sectors were swarming with Federation ships.

"The attack started ten minutes ago," Mims reported. "They're hitting Metalfang, Blood Forge, Deathworld, and Starfang itself. Eight hundred million ships so far, and they're still coming out of the Gates."

"Crunch." Yvian stared for a moment. Vrrl ships were mixed in, fighting the humans. They looked... outnumbered. The Vrrl Starfang Empire was a major power. Not as strong as the humans, maybe, but a significant force be reckoned with. "Where are the rest of the Vrrl?"

"Dead." Scarrend growled. "The Empire has no counter for shield piercing technology, and we have no MACdrivers of our own. The humans have already wiped out most of our defense force."

"That's why I called you two here," Mims addressed the pixens. "The Empire needs help and they need it now. The question is, what can we afford to send?"

"What are the stakes?" Lissa asked. "What happens if the humans take these sectors?"

"The Empire will fall." Scarrend spoke firmly. "Metalfang and Bloodforge are where we build most of our ships. Deathworld and Starfang are our last two remaining worlds, and Starfang is the seat of our government. Losing any of these sectors would be a crippling blow."

"Everything." Yvian gave a sharp nod. The others looked at her. "We send everything. We can't afford to let the Vrrl fall."

"Yvian." Mims gave her a look. "Have you learned a single thing I've tried to teach you this last couple years?"

"Ok. not literally everything," Yvian corrected herself, "But all we need to defend New Pixa is the Stingers and the Queenships, right? We could send everything else."

"Negative." Kilroy's eyes were purple with worry. "We do not have enough Peacekeeper pilots to fly all available ships. We can deploy a maximum of Eight million, two hundred thousand, seven hundred and two without compromising other operations."

"Do it," said Mims. "But keep enough units to initiate Operation BACKLINE."

"Affirmative." Kilroy's eyes flashed combat red. "Initiate Operation BACKLINE?"

"Damn right," said the human. "Let's hit them where it hurts."

"Affirmative." The Peacekeeper didn't move. Yvian knew he was transmitting. "Operation BACKLINE initiated. Peacekeeper units will also arrive to reinforce the Vrrl in twelve minutes, forty three seconds."

"Will that be enough?" Lissa asked. "They'll be outnumbered a hundred to one."

"Depends," said the human. "Scarrend, what kind of reinforcements can the Empire field?"