[spoiler]just a little short story I wrote, not part of any Offtopic canon. Lmk what you guys think.[/spoiler] “All units are in position. Waiting for your signal.” The Admiral stared out the window into the void of space as if it were just another enemy to destroy. The focus and intensity of his gaze was unnerving- Raddoch half expected the stars to give way under it. “Get me Ryden Samir.” “Right away, sir.” Raddoch responded. Samir walked into the command room without his usual pilot swagger. “You sent for me, sir?” “Yes. Have you reviewed the attack formations I laid out for you?” “Yes sir, my pilots have been briefed on every detail.” “Good. No improvisations this time, yes?” “No sir, I will stick to the script.” “You better, or this will be your last mission under my command.” The voice of Tactical Officer Cerryn came over the PA system. “Censors have detected Sureli ships in Sector 4638A, as predicted. All pilots to battle stations. Admiral Polonium, your presence is requested on the bridge.” The silent excitement in the main bridge was contagious. Everyone on board knew that this battle would determine who controlled the Kylen System, which was rich with resources. The Admiral took his seat overlooking the stations. To his right sat Captain Mudley, who was in charge of overseeing the day-to-day procedures of the ESS Brooklyn, Admiral Polonium’s flagship. While in theory second-in-command to the Admiral himself, Mudley was not well-liked by the crew and was called “Janitor Mudley” behind his back. To the Admiral’s left sat the actual second in command, the notoriously competent semi-telepathic Venusian known as Raddoch. Tactical Officer Cerryn broke the silence. “Sir, we are receiving a subspace transmission from the Sureli.” “Patch it though.” The voice of the Sureli leader was modulated, as if put through some sort of synthesizer. [b][quote]“This is your last chance, Polonium of Earth. Leave our system at once and never return, and you will live. Stay, and you will be destroyed.”[/quote][/b] For all the fake, gaudy technology obscuring the alien’s voice, the Admiral detected a hint of fear. He motioned to Cerryn to put him on the line. “It appears I am at a disadvantage... you know my name, and I have not a clue as to yours... oh yes, I remember now. I don’t care.” The crew laughed, but were silenced by a glare from Mudley. “You call this your system! Tell that to the locals you terrorize. I’m sure they’ll thank us when we blow your fleet to Kingdom Come. Enjoy your day.” The alien commander laughed, or rather, did something akin to laughter. [quote][b]“You speak of terrorizing, human? You think you can do better? You think yourself... moral? We shall see.”[/b][/quote] The transmission ended. Every eye on the bridge turned to the Admiral. Edward A. Polonium grinned. “Light ‘em up, boys.” The bay door opened, and thousands of Warbird starfighters launched into the cosmos. At their head was the customized X-37 Nighthawk flown by a smiling Ryden Samir. *All squadrons, report.* *Beta Squad is accounted for, sir!* *Charlie Squad is accounted for, sir!* *Delta Squad is accounted for, sir!* *Echo squad is accounted for, sir, and we’d like to add that drinks are on us tonight!” *I’ll hold you to that,* Ryden responded. *Let’s blast these bugs to hell.* Thousands of pilots cheered, a joyous sound over the intercom that was muted by the emptiness outside. The insect-like Sureli fighters poured out of the battle cruisers, each one an ugly blot on the horizon. Ryden’s mouth twitched into a smirk. His fleet of sleek silver Warbirds drove a point through the horde of unorganized metal-clad fools. It wasn’t a contest. It never had been. The Sureli were tactical idiots. They fought through brute force alone, gaining territory by outnumbering their opponents. They were no match for an organized military strike led by the greatest strategist known to the galaxy. Polonium had quite literally a perfect record. He was a war hero whose desk drawers were chock full of medals he never wore. In fact, he’d been known to turn around and give a medal he won to a man under his command. He was Ryden’s childhood hero, the best bug-blaster around, a paragon of the Royal Navy and Ryden never felt better than when he was fighting under his command. The battle was over in minutes. All those stories and movies about long, drawn-out trench wars were ancient history. Out here on the final frontier, the battles were won or lost before they began. Those that remained of the Sureli roaches limped back to their cruiser, damaged. The Brooklyn fired a couple warning shots at them, as the cruiser powered up its thrusters and jumped away. The pilots cheered raucously. The remains of some Sureli pilot floated past Ryden’s viewscreen. Ryden stared at it, a little alarmed. The textbooks and pictures of the Sureli never depicted the actual beings, only their buggish vehicles and their dwellings, which resembled a cancerous growth on the skin of a planet. Ryden had never actually seen a Surelan before. Everyone assumed them to look sort of bug-like. Confusedly, they looked quite similar to the humans. They had a bipedal structure, with four limbs, almost-human like pale skin. They were mostly subterranean beings. Their key differences were marked in their eyes, an alarming solid black, with no iris and no pupil. They had no hair, and their face was not quite human either, very high-cheekboned long-jawed, not distinctly male or female. A gaping hole was torn in its side, from a piece of shrapnel from its destroyed fighter. Ryden sat and stared at it float by, its black, unblinking eyes staring right at him.