He was Almost Absorbed by the System

Chapter Ninety Eight - Time's Up

Seven Gold Class Warships cruised amongst seventy Silver Warships, countless dual controlled battleships circled them. This was the second regiment, usually stationed about the Imperial Planet Cherok. They carried with them a small hope, rushed to prototype by military developers thanks to the information sent to them by the fleet which had sacrificed themselves almost three days prior.

"There are only five of these warheads," the Admiral was informed. "We're hoping to make a sixth and seventh, but there is little chance of getting them to the frontlines on time."

The fifth regiment, a small regiment with only ten Silver Warships and fifty scouts, was already at the border, shoring up the nearly lost third regiment. They had also seeded the space with mines, but did not know how effective this would be against the enemy.

The fourth regiment were held back, to ensure that the League would not invade them while they were at their weakest and the first regiment were being held up by the political circles who wanted to ensure their own safety upon Heptilia2. The Royalists would have tried to hold back the second also, were they not pacified with the fact that the Imperial Family were evacuated to Heptilia2 ahead of time.

Jezmi's old regiment, the ninth regiment wished to get to the frontline in respect of their many fallen former comrades, but their Admiral was dithering, despite having received his orders. He would be expected to lead his regiment into battle and he was not okay with that. They were currently lingering several solar systems away, while their Admiral filled in some 'necessary' paperwork.

"Dammit, if only Captain Welhaven hadn't resigned the commission," Captain Corsair muttered under her breath as she was forced to wait on the Admiral, who had chosen to fly aboard her ship. As the only female Captain in their regiment, she could not help but wonder if he was looking down at her, but her fellow Captains believed it was just because she was better to look at than they were.

"I know how you feel," her second in command replied on their private comm channel. Commander Shen had not long commanded his own ship in the regiment, before budget cuts and the weak willed Admiral had caused this to be stolen away from him. He was more than a little bitter.

"Captain!" Her communications officer cut in to their channel with news.

"What is it?" She asked.

"There has been a message from Talaxi Station asking if their is any Military ship left in the region." Talaxi Station's main function was that of a spatial scientific research centre. Not all experiments could be safely done on world after all.

The woman frowned. "Is there a problem with Pirates?" It wasn't surprising she asked this, dealing with Pirates had always been the job of her regiment and it would not be unlike them to take advantage of the chaos.

"No, Captain," came the response.

"Alright, patch them through."

*****

Despite strengthening the checks at the border between the League of Advanced Planets and the Empire, the heightened tension and increasingly obvious fact that there would be war had many elites attempting to flee to the League just in case the war breached their wealthy bubbles and cause them distress. The League had already stated that they would not be offering refuge at this point, especially to those who clearly did not need it, thus to ensure what little goodwill there was between the two nations, the Imperial Guards were refusing to let anyone through without a valid pass and reason.

Into this chaos, a merchant vessel flew. Due to the number of fleeing vessels, ships that simply were passing through with exports were lost in the crowd. Expecting that there might also be merchants handling illegal immigrants fleeing the not yet war zone or Pirates posing as merchants, the Imperial soldiers were wisely checking every ship. But those who were told to turn back refused and made worse the situation.