Firebird

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The retreat from the border was not an organized one. With the remnants of the offensive fleet scattered across the systems, the humans were able to pursue and pick off the stragglers one by one. Even I was not safe, only managing to Jump deeper into Empire space after taking a direct blow from one of their rail cannons. The ship could not hold itself together after such a maneuver, and I spent a number of days stranded in an escape pod before being extracted by Empire forces. In that time, the humans had pushed into empire territory by using our own launching point of Apura V against us. However, the battle of Apua V left their own fleet with heavy losses, halting their push into empire space. This led to a stalemate that lasted for a number of months, months that were occupied more by the skirmish of ground forces on planets instead of any large offensives in space. I had been recalled to the Empire core worlds at this time, for after the casualties of Apura V were tallied I was found to be one of the few left in line to inherit the throne should the Empress herself fall in battle. Outwardly I was dissatisfied with such a predicament, but I could not help but feel a sense of relief as I left the battlefield.

News of the war came to me in the form of the overly optimistic news broadcast through our controlled planets and the private reports sent to me by friends and subordinates still out in the conflict zone. Where the news exaggerated our small victories over the humans in small planets the reports detailed a far more… realistic picture. Yes, through sheer force of numbers were our army was able to keep the humans from taking anymore planets, but they peppered us so much that we had difficulties in organizing any large offensive force. Due to the maneuvering of the humans at Apura V, my predecessor was wary of launching any more offensives against the humans for it could leave other parts of our empire ripe for the taking. For a time left the battles on the war front to her generals, something that was unlike her. Szetschu was a shrewd woman, while many thought she had been disheartened by her defeat in Apura V, something told me that she was planning something in the meantime. What it would be, I could have never guessed.

During the time of stalemate, many of the reports I received mentioned a combat squad of humans who, officially, went under the moniker Solias. My people however, had given them a different name, the Hand of the Infernal One. Though I am not as religious as many of my people are, I am familiar with the words of our scripture. The Infernal One is said to be the doombringer of our galaxy, a being cloaked in fire that burned so bright it would kill you just to gaze upon him. Had our faith in the Divine ever faded enough, the Infernal One would appear and raze the stars themselves so that a more devout, more sensible species would take our place to worship the Divine. I never put much stock in such stories, and indeed not many of us had in this age of space travel, but the sight of Solais squad, the reports of their prowess, had given me pause at the time. Indeed, the Sect of the Divine made much gains during our conflict with the humans, using the visage of Solais as an instrument of fear and anger. My people feared that Solais was only a sign of things to come, and at the same time their anger and pride as a people would not allow themselves to be defeated by such a force. They believe the humans were servants of the Infernal One, here to do his work in his stead, with Solais as its spearhead. It was an effective tool, if I am honest, and only drove people to enlist in our forces even more with the notion that they were fighting ultimate evil of the galaxy itself. Indeed, the Sect of the Divine still preaches such things, though their power has waned since the war. I later learned that this propaganda campaign was orchestrated by none other than my predecessor, though the Sect had eventually taken things to their extremes. She did not care for that, however, for it gave her the troops needed to keep the humans at bay, troops driven by religious zealotry that would make them fine with doing just about anything to destroy the humans.

My view of Solais squad was different, however. Perhaps it was the privilege of being left in line for the throne or my own skepticism of the Sect’s message, but the reports I requested told a more tempered story than beings set on destroying our worlds. Of all the human forces that the empire had encountered during the stalemate, it was Solais squad that had been the one that our forces could not hope to keep up with. Their tactics did not rely on overwhelming numbers as we had, but instead on precise applications of force, much like how the human fleets in space operated. Where our armies would storm human installations in waves of forces, eventually winning the battle at the expense of hundreds of our troops as opposed to their dozens, Solais squad could not have been any more than ten people. Yet in every battle they participated in the humans would be overwhelmingly victorious. Part of this, I realized, was that Solais would frequently be silent in their initial assaults. Sometimes our bases would be crippled overnight, left wide open to the human arsenal, other times our military leaders would disappear without warning, only to be found dead or captured by human forces. Yet, it was just not stealth that defined them, for if it was they would have never been known in the first place. Their ferocity in combat matched their subtly, holding points with only ten that previously taken a hundred to defend, destroying our vehicles in clear, coordinated strikes that occurred so quickly and with such force that it was impossible to believe that their group was so small. From that alone it was not surprising that we had named them as we had, but… I could never see them that way.

There was a photo in one of the reports sent to me, taken from a recon mission on the planet of Sairia. It was of Solais squad, in a moment of what I assume was rest. Rocks had blocked a lot of the view, but from what I could make out the majority of the squad wore black armor that was neither too bulky nor too thin, and their helmets concealed their faces with a smooth, black finish that looked like glass. A crest was displayed on their shoulderguards; a sword that looked to be on fire. Effective, to be sure, for such a symbol only played into the preconceptions of the Empire. Two people stood out in this photo. One was a man, tall and with a noticeable amount of bulk underneath his dark blue armor. His face was grim, with a short haircut, square jaw and steely look to his grizzled features that made him seem more beast than man.  A clean cut beast, to be sure, but that only made me more wary of him. He was off to the side, only displaying a profile of his face so I could not make out much more, but at the center of the picture lay another soldier in far clearer view. A woman, dressed in rust red armor that was similar in style to the rest of her squad. Her hair was of the same color, laying down over her shoulder in a loose, disheveled manner. In the dark confines of the rocks around them, her pale, slim face stood out in clear contrast, emphasizing her presence. Her pale, green eyes were like gems, and much like the man next to her, she held a gaze that could pierce the hull of a starship. The report referred to this woman as Impecezsa, or Firebird in the human language. I was inclined to believe that this Firebird was the leader of Solais squad at the time, due to the structure of our own army, but the more I look back upon that photo the more I realize that it must have been the man that was the leader. Firebird had the raw, burning intensity of a warrior, but the man held a more focused look, the look that suggested that he was the one that directed that intensity to its full effectiveness.

I remember looking at that photo, stunned. Had these humans possessed scales and a tail, they would look no different than my people. What I had felt from this photo was not anger, nor fear. Looking at Impecezsa’s face I felt an odd sort of kindredship. I did not know why at the time, but as the years passed I realized is that her resolve was the same as mine. She was out there to do her best for her people, just I had had done when I had engaged the humans at Apura. Perhaps even stronger, for while I had deluded myself at the time that staying back was good for the people and that I would rather be out in the front lines fighting, my complacency back home said the exact opposite. Firebird though… her look told me that she was set in what she was going to do, that her determination was far beyond anything I could muster. The kindred spirit I was looking at through that photo was far stronger than anything I could be, and that brief, fleeting moment of sisterhood I had felt faded away only to be replaced by disappointment in myself. I did not look at the photo again, but still, to this day I can recall the features like it were front of me. The man, the flaming sword, Firebird, I can remember all of it, and I don’t ever want to forget it. I wanted to to meet this woman, perhaps after the war, whenever it ended, to merely speak to her just to hear what she had to say, what her reasons for fight were. But I would never get to ask such questions.

By the time my predecessor had involved herself back into the war our armies were starting to lose ground. The constant guerilla attacks on our troops had taken their toll, and now the Humans were pressing forward against our weakened troop. No amount of Zealotry could counter their efficiency, until the Empress entered the fray that is. With her return came the reveal of a new weapon, one called the Rhekasolis, or Bringer of Light in human. It was a weapon designed in two parts. The Swarm and the Nest. The Swarm consisted of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of small, Corsair-sized ships. The Nest directed the movements of the Swarm, making them more akin to a large appendage rather than a fleet of independent fighters. It was the total embodiment of overwhelming strength, though for reasons that we could not have even begun to guess. We had at first assumed it would be a weapon that would overwhelm the human ships with scores of fighters, though that could not have been the case since the Humans had developed good enough defenses that to maintain the amount of fighters needed to keep up the offensive would have been economically impossible. So I could only ask, what was the purpose of this weapon?

The answer came when Szetschu ordered the first attack on the human forces. We had assumed that she had begin the assault to take back the planets that the Humans had stolen, but as the Rhekasolis begun its assault we could do nothing except look on with shock. Instead of weapons, the Swarm was fitted with nuclear warheads that were set to detonate at the command of the Nest. This prevented a cascade of nuclear explosions should any of the ships of the Swarm be shot down, and allowed the ships to hit their target before the explosion was triggered.  The first planet subject to this weapon had a rather large fleet positioned over it. With the Bringer of Light, the rain of nuclear armed ships overwhelmed the fleet and planet before before all warheads were detonated. The resulting explosions cloaked the planet in a shroud of nuclear light, and when it faded, nothing remained. My predecessor did not stop there, for she used the weapon across all the planets that the humans took, tearing a large scar across the galaxy that are now known as the Fractus systems. The radiation may have faded from the systems due to efforts in part of both the Empire and Coalition, but the damage was already done.

My people at the time brought no objections to my predecessor’s actions. Driven by the newfound zealotry fueled by the Sect, they instead applauded her actions as fighting back against the Infernal One himself. Planet after planet broke under the might of the weapon, and still they cheered for her. Nowadays, Khenka Szetschu is seen to as an Empress driven mad by her power, but back then, they looked upon her like they looked upon the Divine herself. This was proven by the fact that the ships of the Swarm were piloted by our own people to ensure that there could be no disruption of their assault. My own people flew themselves into the human ships, into our planet's, all for the sake of destroying what they believed to be the ultimate evil. They were fools, but I could not be angry with them. I could only be angry with the Sect, with Khenka Szetschu. And yet, I could do nothing, and for a while it looked as if the humans could do nothing.

The Rhekasolis eventually arrived to human space at the planet of Dochas, where a large fleet of their ships lay in wait. It was far larger than their size was at Apura V, but so was the fleet that had joined the Rhekasolis in its assault. The humans put up a valiant effort, but as time passed the victory of our fleet was all but assured. Half their fleet was destroyed in the first volley from the Rhekasolis, but they had managed to protect Dochas from the same fate that befell many of our planets. As the Rhekasolis started up for another wave from the Swarm, a single human ship directed its course to our ships. On its hull was the symbol of Solais.

The Solais ship charged at the Nest of the Rhekasolis while the rest of the human ships drew the attention of the Imperial fleet. The Swarm charged the ship, but by that time they had closed in enough to where the ships could not detonate without damaging the rest of the fleet. My predecessor, in her now all too common fits of arrogance, took the Sect’s offer to telecast her charge into human territory at the time. It would document a glorious moment in the Empire’s history, they said, and perhaps it would have, had Solias not acted as they did. The entirety of the Empire witnessed when the Solais ship crashed into the Nest, as they emerged from the vessel, and as the Hand of the Infernal One charged into the heart of the Rhekasolis. Our troops faced determination and desperation unseen by even the humans at Genos Prime. So much destruction lay in their wake that it was as if a force of nature had torn its way through the Nest. But even the Solais squad had their limits, and one by one they fell until there were only two left. The man in blue armor, and Firebird.

I do not know how they found their way to the bridge of the Nest, perhaps it was a result of some espionage that we were not aware of, or a matter of pure luck, but as the last of the Solais squad entered the bridge it erupted into a explosion of gunfire and screaming. A number of High Priestesses of the Sect were present on the Rhekasolis, and in a matter of seconds they fell to the ground dead. The bridge clear, I watched with in awe as Firebird took position at the controls for the Swarm. Our own forces were already trying to force their way into the bridge, but the man in blue armor held them off while Firebird worked through the controls. Again, I do not know how the humans acquired knowledge of our systems, but I knew what she was doing. I knew because it was what I would have done in such a situation. After many plasma bolts to his chest, and many cuts from our blades, the man in blue armor fell. A plasma bolt had struck Firebird in her helmet, knocking it off and letting her hair fall down at her shoulders.

As our troops flooded into the bridge I could only focus on one thing, the look on Firebird’s face. It wasn’t one that was spiteful, it wasn’t one that was filled with hate or anger. No, the look on her face as she detonated the Swarm was one of simple defiance, one that told the entire Empire one simple fact.

“You will never defeat us.”

When the Firebird died, the stars themselves were lost in a sea of flames.

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