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[humonjello]

Vurzr Obr-Saz--"Admiral" as far as the Terrans were concerned--sat on the bridge of the Zof-Bozr, watching the displays that were tracking the fleet's travel speed and the remaining distance to the Terran fleet. A blue-green speck of light that the Terrans called "Alhabor" hung in the corner of the forward display screen. It was the nearest point of reference, but it was still too far away to make out any of the planet's details, much less get a visual on any of the Terran ships that protected it. The Entheri Overseer needed to rely on the Zof-Bozr's sensor systems to get a meaningful picture of what the Terrans were doing. So far, it seemed that they were digging in and waiting for the attack to come to them, and that suited Obr-Saz's interests just fine.

"We are now approaching within one Enth-unit of the Terran fleet, Overseer", reported an insectoid officer manning a sensor station. He was, of course, speaking in the chirping, clicking, buzzing language of the Entheri, but for the purpose of this retelling, his words have been translated to English.

Obr-Saz steepled his spiny fingers in front of his mandibles, clacking the chitinous claw-tips together idly in thought. "Against a weaker fleet, one should attack", recited the overseer as he stared at the forward view-screen. It was a familiar Entheri saying. He continued, "If an equal fleet is encountered, one should attack. And if the enemy fleet is stronger... also attack". The overseer clacked his mandibles excitedly. "Attack! Attack! Attack!", he summarized, looking across the bridge at his comm officer, "Relay this message to our advance parties".

It was the pre-arranged code phrase that would signal the stealth ships and the Ekee vessels to begin accelerating towards the enemy fleet for a close-range strike while the rest of the Entheri warships continued to decelerate so that they would reach zero relative velocity outside of the attack range of the Terran warships.

"Then relay a message to our carriers: We are the ones who are moving now... Experience BIJ!"

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

***

The central interior docking bay of the Carrier vessel Gan-Tozr was a cavernous hexagonal tube that ran along the centre of the ship, near the stern. If the carrier were an insect, this massive compartment would be her abdomen. There was no gravity in the centre of the bay, only upon the six walls that ran the length of it, each wall pulling the crew towards the exterior of the vessel.

At this particular moment, each of these six walls was alive with a sea of shifting heads and thoraxes, and swirling head-wings. The ambient lighting reflected dimly off the polished carapaces of the gathered Entheri pilots and maintenance workers. They were packed shoulder-to-shoulder upon their respective walls, each one designated to a different Swarm within the 1200-strong Plague that was being carried aboard this great ship Gan-Tozr. Each Entheri body stood upon four legs, and each warrior was leaning slightly forward and resting his four arms upon the back of the warrior in front of him, so that all the bodies in each entire Swarm were connected to one another and each individual could feel the vibrations of the other bodies carrying through the formation. The sum total of every click, scratch, and wing beat resulted in a soft steady hum that filled the entire bay.

A platform floated in the gravity-neutral centre of the great hexagonal chamber. Upon it stood the Plague's commander, Vurzr-Zat Szok-Nezr, and he projected his voice against the background hum to address his pilots thusly:

We outnumber the humans. Our flying skills are superior and so are our fighters. Ignore the nonsense you have heard about mass drivers and energy shields. These things are nothing. There are more bureaucrats than warriors in the Terran Imperium. Humans are not unified in purpose. They do not even have chitinous bodies! We have slaughtered them on other worlds, and when they see our weapons and feel our spirit, they will break. Stay in formation. Focus the lasers, then close the distance. Overload their shields with your plasma repeaters and finish them off with your lasers. Forget about this planet. Just win and the Terran homeworld will be ours to plunder.

An attendant kneeling on six limbs next to Szok-Nezr then rose up from the floor to deliver a message to his Swarm Overseer that he had just received from the fleet flagship. "Higher One", he said, using the standard title of deference to a superior officer, "Obr-Saz commands this: We are the ones who are moving now... Experience BIJ!"

Szok-Nezr looked up from his attendant, and then addressed the Plague once more:

Now we launch! Go to your ships! Go to your stations! May the All-Swarm dominate the galaxy!

***

Gar-Na-Kuul, First Minion of the Ekee auxiliary forces, stood on the cramped bridge of the lead Ekee Sapper ship, "0x7F". His 7-foot-tall body nearly scraped the ceiling. Clad in a jet-black repulsor-fitted armoured spacesuit, he was ready to lead several thousand Ekee warriors on yet another suicide mission, his second since being promoted after the previous First Minion was splattered against the wall of his command ship when it crashed too hard into the enemy.

On a tiny intermittent holo-screen before him, the blurry distorted image of an Entheri senior officer relayed three words to the Ekee leader. "Attack! Attack! Attack!", declared the holographic image in the Entheri language, before the communication was terminated and the screen went dark.

Gar-Na-Kuul raised a single winged arm, and flicked his index finger forward to signal the Sapper's engines to be engaged. The movement of the lead Ekee vessel would trigger the rest of the Ekee ships to follow suit. Any that did not would be given a not-so-gentle "push out the door", meaning a moderate-power laser blast from the nearest Entheri warship.

0x7F and two dozen other Sapper ships had all set a course to collide with the Allosaurus, while the remainder of the Ekee ships would be targeting individual battleships to try to reduce the Terran fleet's firepower. Attacking a Terran dreadnought head on with a cluster of small vessels was a low-percentage play that would normally never work, much less against a super-dreadnought like the Allosaurus. But even if every single Ekee ship was destroyed or disabled on the way to its target, the disruption they would cause to the flagship's operation was worth the sacrifice of Ekee lives, at least in the minds of the Entheri fleet command.

Everything on a Sapper ship was cheaply made. None of these ships were intended to survive a battle, so the less they cost, the better, just as long as they were able to achieve the objective. The Ekee warriors who crewed each ship were just as cheap, although it took time to raise, indoctrinate, and train each new generation of slave soldiers, and so the Vurkasz tried not to waste them unnecessarily. To a brainwashed Ekee warrior, being hurled towards an enemy flagship was the highest honour one could aspire to, short of perhaps taking part in the invasion of an enemy homeworld. Gar-Na-Kuul had lived his entire short life for this moment, when he would have the chance to disrupt the beating heart of the Terran fleet, and if the gods willed him to survive long enough, even perhaps do personal battle with their admiral.

Gar-Na-Kuul fired up the comm system to address the other Ekee ships. He spoke in the Entheri language, as he was raised to do, and encouraged his comrades thusly:

Fellow servants of the Overlord. The Golden Hall waits for all of us! Attack the human ships with resolve and cunning. Do not fear death, only fear a poor death. You should fear being destroyed by our masters, instead of the enemy. You should fear being killed before you have had the chance to engage the enemy hand to hand. You should fear giving your life without taking at least 5 human lives with you! When you die, you will stand before the gods and account for your deeds, and if you have nothing to say for yourself, They will banish you to the Pit of Oblivion. Now, onward, to destiny!

Unfortunately, the comm system shorted out halfway through his speech, and so the other ships did not hear anything after, "before you have". Not that they cared what the First Minion had to say anyway. Word had been circulating among the lower ranks that the Terrans were offering amnesty to Ekee defectors. No one knew for sure if the rumours were true, or if it was a ruse to tease out the disloyal slaves. Nobody dared speak about such things to the First Minion, or any other veteran slave. Too many warriors were still loyal to the Overlord and would not hesitate to report any sedition they heard. But the rebellious undercurrent was growing...

[VagabonD SerpenT]

<<Communication coming over nearly every Entheri frequence at once, sounds in the Entheri language>>

"Ekee warriors!! I am Angela Knyazeva, third of my name, Duchess Venus, Queen Sirius and Vega, Princess Terrana, second in line to the Throne of Terra! While there's still some time before the fighting starts, hear me, listen to me, and know that my word weighs heavy in our realm and that none would dare to challenge it, not even my family, for I've got their full backing on this!


Long ago, there was Roman Empire on ancient Earth. They were strong and powerful and conquered many lands and enslaved many nations, proud nations. Those slaves were made fight each other to death in a bloody spectactle to appease the crowds and even indoctrinated that this was a honourable thing to do. Such was the way of things for a couple of centuries at least, and there were eventually more slaves than their masters thru the Italy. One day a Thracian named Spartacus was captured by the Romans and thrown into the same gladiatoric pit. He came out as the best fighter in the history of the arena and suddenly rallied the slaves under his command and started the rebellion that steamrolled over the whole Latium for several years, instilling bloodchilling dread as the former masters were slaughtered like the lambs, even the elite armies overtaken by their numbers. The fall of Spartacus' armies was caused by the sad lack of a proper military training and professional command among the rebellious slaves, so they have evenutally had ran of their luck and were defeated by the fresh armies coming from the overseas. The rebellion was squashed, but the history was changed forever.

Ekee!! You are the Spartacus! You are the Crixus! You are the Onemeaus! The fact that the filthy honourless bugs told you to fight instead of them tells you all that you must know about those cowardly and treacherous race! Do not attack us! Instead, turn your weapons on your masters, join our ranks! Slavery is a capital offence in my realm and the slaver is punished with painful death by our laws! A slave who would slay their master in quest for freedom does nothing criminal and is not punished for that! Join the humanity! You will be granted full citizenship with all the rights and privilegies! Join us, let the bugs hear the terrifying rebel's yell!

We are what the ancient slave armies lacked! You're the Spartacus, and we're the military might and brilliance of Marcus Lycinius Crassus, Gneaus Pompeus Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar fighting on YOUR side!! Together, we shall see the fall of Na Ethor and Enth and liberation of every race that the worthless insects have turned into their slaves!! My mother, the Empress, will personally see to that YOU rule over YOUR homeworld again!!


Ekee warriors! Your vessels have ten Terran minutes to alter course somewhat so we'd see who is rebelling. After that time has passed, I will order fire all calibres. Dark Angel out."

[humonjello]

<<Bridge of the Zof-Bozr>>

Angela was a little more than a minute into her speech before her first words reached the Entheri fleet. Thus, the Ekee ships, being roughly halfway to their target at this point, had been allowed to listen to at least 30 seconds of uncensored foreign ideas. This fact was going through the admiral's mind when the first two words reached him: Ekee warriors!!

His mandibles clicking furiously, Obr-Saz shouted an order to his bridge crew, "Jam her! Silence that signal!" Someone tapped on a panel, and Angela's words began to break up among static white noise, but then the signal became clearer again a minute later as the Terran AI started predicting the interference pattern and compensating for it, a feat of mathematics that would have been considered completely impossible a century ago.

When it became clear that there was no way to stop the Terran princess from having her say, then Obr-Saz decided that his only counter was to lift the jamming and broadcast a speech of his own in rebuttal, as if he were actually standing in the Agora of Rome opposite his fiery-haired opponent.

"All slaves of the Dominion are commanded to disregard transmissions from the enemy!", Obr-Saz's voice fumed over the command channels in the Entheri language, "It is a well understood fact that the Terran Imperium freely engages in deception to undermine our purpose and solidarity. THEY WANT YOU ALL TO TURN AROUND AND PRESENT YOUR ABDOMENS TO BE MOUNTED!"

"No truly loyal minion would allow himself to be swayed by the words of a treacherous Terran! Spartacus and Crixus are Terran names that mean nothing to the Dominion. Ekee warriors could never have such names! You are not Spartacus and Crixus; you are Gik-Szatf and Tek-Zurzr*! You are Ak-Wezr**! There is no future with the Terrans. There are no Ekee females in the Imperium. Those who betray the Dominion will never have a chance to breed. And even those who have already propagated will have those lineages exterminated, if they disobey my direct command to ATTACK THE TERRANS!"

*

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**

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<<Sapper 0x7F>>

The admiral's words were just beginning to reach the tin can known as 0x7F, where First Minion Gar-Na-Kuul stood stone-faced upon what passed for a bridge on these ships, but was really just a forward position to secure oneself close to the flight controls. There was no artificial gravity on these sapper ships, and so the warriors kind of just floated around unless they hooked their combat exoskeletons to some fixed point on the walls. The benefit of this arrangement, aside from cutting cost and weight by eschewing gravity systems, was that warriors could be lined up down the length of the ship on four walls (or six walls in some models) allowing many warriors to cram together into a very small space while still having an open aisle between them all so they could move up and down the ship.

It was down the length of this aisle that Gar-Na-Kuul stared menacingly, searching for any signs of dissent, that any member of his elite squad might have thoughts about taking Angela's offer seriously. A small part of the First Minion hoped that out of his 99 warriors, there would be at least one whom he could make an example of, to reinforce his dominance over this ship and by extension the entire Ekee attack force.

Near the back, someone fidgeted, and that was close enough for Gar-Na-Kuul. He bellowed out, challenging the restless one to come forward and fight him. The warrior in the rear, named Kah-Si-Oorr, grimaced. It was impossible for him to back out now, and he really did hate Gar-Na-Kuul's guts, for reasons completely unrelated to this battle. Roaring a battle cry, Kah-Si-Oorr unhooked his tether and launched himself down the aisle toward the bridge, drawing sword and energy spike as he flew.

Gar-Na-Kuul raised one taloned leg and fired a stream of energy bolts down the aisle at his opponent, which were all absorbed by the crackling energy spike in the reptile's right hand. Grinning under his dark-visored helmet, perhaps out of sheer battle lust rather than any expectation of success, Kah-Si-Oorr activated his suit jets and rocketed forward, closing the distance between himself and his First Minion in only half a second.

But Gar-Na-Kuul was ready for this play, knowing how predictable Kah-Si-Oorr had always been when they sparred together. The First Minion made a quick spin in place using his suit jets, and kicked the sword out of Kah-Si-Oorr's left hand with a swift and precise strike of his right talon. Then, still spinning, he planted his left talon against the base of Kah-Si-Oorr's helmet, and unloaded another stream of energy bolts point blank into his face and neck, killing him instantly.

The body of the slain warrior twitched as it floated in mid-air, still encased within its armoured combat suit. Obr-Saz was still ranting on the comm systems, and Gar-Na-Kuul reached up and grabbed the nearest wall-rungs to pull himself back into the command position on the bridge. With his back to his defeated enemy, he ordered gruffly to his second in command, "Secure the body astern"

After Obr-Saz had said his piece, some of the Ekee ships started squawking on the short-range comm system:

"First Minion, Seven-Fourteen remains loyal", came the Strike-Leader of 0x7F's sister ship, 0x7E. The eight-limbed Entheri used what was effectively a hexidecimal numbering system, thus the names for their sixteen numerals have been translated into the equivalent full numbers in English.

"First Minion, Seven-Thirteen remains loyal", reported the Strike-Leader of 0x7D next. And so on it went. The 0x7-series ships contained the elite veteran warriors who owed their entire careers to their Dominion masters, and had been rewarded for their valour by being allowed to father offspring that the Dominion now held hostage. These ones would never turn.

But then as the numbers got lower, there were noticeable gaps in the sequence, either because of malfunctioning transmitters, or because those vessels were actually planning to defect... or at least were not willing to declare their intentions openly. And that made Obr-Saz nervous.

<<Sapper 0x75>>

"First Minion, Seven-Five remains loyal", said the Strike Leader of 0x75 into the comm system as he held onto the rungs at the bridge. The exact moment when he finished his statement and release the transmit button, he was suddenly skewered through the heart by the energy-spike of his second in command standing behind him. The entire crew of 0x75 was ready to rebel, except for its Strike-Leader. Thus, 0x75 soon had itself a new Strike-Leader more receptive to the Terran way of seeing things.

<<Bridge of the Zof-Bozr>>

0x75 was the first to draw the admiral's attention. He could see it tilting and then burning its thruster to change trajectory. Immediately, he ordered all heavy lasers to fire in a spread around the point in space where the ship would be by the time the light reached it. One minute and 20 seconds later, he could see 0x75 exploding silently and spilling its flaming guts and struggling occupants out into the vacuum of space. A few seconds later, most of those spaceborne warriors had been vaporized by subsequent laser fire.

<<Sapper 0x68>>

The flight controls on 0x68 reported the brilliant destruction of 0x75 only 300 metres to starboard, and a few seconds later this was confirmed by the banging and thumping of debris against 0x68's starboard hull. That soon became zenith as the 0x68 began to slip into a slow clockwise spin as a result of the impact. There was nobody at the helm to correct this course, because the entire interior of the ship was the scene of a bloody close quarters melee between the loyalist faction near the bow of the ship, and the rebel faction near the stern.

The loyalists had a slight advantage in numbers, but the confined space amidships had turned into a senseless meatgrinder, strewn with severed limbs and heads, some spitting a trail of bright red blood globules, and others trailing only streams of smoke because they had been cauterized by energy weapons. There was one extremely large glob of blood that was aggregating all the little bits together in the centre of the battle, and it was actually blinding some of the combatants as it stuck to their suits and completely engulfed their helmets. Finally, one of the loyalist fighters took advantage of this distraction to start spraying the rebel side with automatic fire from a plasma carbine he caught floating in the empty space near the bridge.

The weapon beeped and whined, and eventually overheated and shut itself down, but by then every warrior on the rebel side had been silenced, and on the loyalist side there were fewer than twenty able-bodied warriors remaining. On top of that, the plasma fire had gotten dangerously close to breaching the ship's hull and crippling the vessel.

Almost as an afterthought, the warrior holding the carbine slapped the button on the comm and growled, "First Minion, Six-Eight remains loyal". His name was Ik-Za-Keel. He was not the Strike-Leader for this ship, but the Strike-Leader was dead, and so it seemed Ik-Za-Keel might as well take initiative and claim the promotion for himself, for however long it lasted.

What he didn't know was that Kai-Ee-Kaa, second-in-command of 0x75, was at this moment desperately clinging to the exterior hull of the 0x68 and searching for an opportunity to force his way aboard the ship and take over control.

<<Sapper 0x55>>

The rebel faction took control of 0x55 quite swiftly, executing the Strike-Leader and the nine Sub-Leaders before they could even put up a fight. The other 90 warriors aboard 0x55 were all committed to the Resistance, and they weren't going to make the same mistakes as the ones on 0x68 and 0x75 had done. Pushing his way past the dead bodies of his former superiors to reach the bridge, Ver-Sa-Taa barked into the comm system, "First Minion, go screw yourself. Five-Five presenting arse. Terrans do your worst"

With a quick pull on the flight control lever, Ver-Sa-Taa launched 0x55 into a perfect 180, flipping around to present its more vulnerable aft to the Terran fleet while positioning the strongly armoured bow to absorb the brunt of the Entheri lasers. A quick thrust of the engines in a sideways directions would set the ship on a new course that would narrowly miss the battleship it had been targeting, and instead take the ship into high orbit around Alhabor.

If 0x55 survived long enough to prove the Terrans were serious about their promise, other ships would begin following 0x55's example. However, Ver-Sa-Taa was no fool, and he also kept a ready hand on the controls, ready to flip around and change course again in the event that it really was a trick and the Terrans intended to fire on him when he got closer.

[VagabonD SerpenT]

Obr-Saz's speech didn't take long to reach the Imperium Navy, where the AIs swiftly translated it into German for the Princess. She had listened into it and chuckled, feeling that she had hit the right button. Clearing her through and switching the wide broadcast on again, she let another stream of words loose.

"Do you hear how that cockroach talks to you, Ekee?! Slaves! He calls you his property! Yes, there are no females of your species in Pax Terrana, but that's only until we liberate YOUR homeworld! Fight with us and we'll make sure that nobody is telling you if you can or can not breed anymore!!"

Angela flew her fighter slowly around the front lines of the Navy, waiting for the reaction. It did not came long because one of the ships began shifting course and barely a minute later a stream of lasers came in, destroying it in a fiery cloud. Whatever rays missed hit the shield umbrellas of the Terran capital ships and the defence bases, and the bigger was the ship, the lesser was the effect. Right now they all had enough time to regenerate all the shields for the upcoming battle without any harrassment. And the Ekee had a chance to see their effectiveness and how the smaller craft like the fighters darted everywhere to hide under the protection of the big fish, not willing to risk if their own shield holds long enough. The Ekee ships were closer and closer, and Entheri fleet was as far as before, so Angela's words now reached them faster and faster.

"See what they just did there?! They've killed those who would disobey them but because they're afraid of your power! Imagine what will happen to them if you all would rebel!!"

And some time after that one of the Sapper ships have turned around, the impulse still remaining and now approached the Imperium Navy with its aft. The Princess rejoiced. She switched her Pyro-GX into a tight beam comm mode and target directly the ship in question.

"Welcome to Terra, Spartacus! Steer your ship five more angular minutes starboard, then you'll pass through the three shield umbrellas on your way to Alhabor and that will help your vessel to stay intact. We'll think of something to discourage the bugs from the further shooting at you."

Tight beam to the 0x55 off, Angela's orders now went out to the Terran Fleet.

"TIS Ares, be ready to break formation and hide that Sapper under your umbrella if they fail to alter course anymore, we need it to survive long enough. All the other ships and bases - cover the defecting ships somehow!!"

Voice of Admiral Moran went over the comms next.

"Defence Bases! All the dreadnaughts!! Arm the superheavy laser mounts!! Lock on the biggest Entheri ships!! We can't bring the light down, but we can force them into evasion, so when the line of fire is clear from the Ekee Sappers - FIRE!!!"

It did not take more than half a minute for some of the mentioned vessels to open fire, others joining in a bit later until there was a real game of colours - the thick looking rays passed the Ekee ships without any harm done, heading to where the Attack Swarm was laying in wait.

[humonjello]

<<Bridge of the Zof-Bozr>>

"Admiral, we are taking laser fire", reported one of the crewbugs from a monitoring station. There were warning lights blinking all over the display, reporting rising hull temperatures at specific points; the tell-tale signature of laser damage. A second crew member monitoring the Terran fleet was also able to confirm the heat signatures of the Terran ships that indicated that their weapons were active. But there were as of yet no incoming projectiles, plasma or otherwise, so the situation was still quite benign.

Obr-Saz raised a single appendage and calmly ordered, "Evasive pattern four, and return fire intermittently". This would set the ship moving side to side, up and down, in an erratic manner that would be difficult for the Terran gunners to anticipate. It was the best defence against lasers at long range, since at this range it would take more than two minutes for a Terran ship to see whether its beam was on target or not, and by the time they corrected, the ship would already be somewhere else in space. The Terran weapons would therefore be forced to spam a broad area and hope for random hits among the misses.

As the Entheri warships followed suit, drifting one way or another according to whichever preprogrammed evasion pattern they had chosen, the heavy lasers on these ships warmed up and began sending short laser bursts back at the Terran ships. It was enough to harass them without drawing away too much power. This sort of exchange was not expected to result in serious damage to either side, but was more of an intimidation exercise, like performing the Haka before a rugby match.

The Ekee ships caught in the middle of the firefight were no serious obstacle. The ships were small and spaced far enough apart that it was easy to avoid hitting them as long as one paid attention to where they were, and the ships didn't deviate from their expected course.

Obr-Saz then gave another command to his bridge crew, "Give the signal to deploy the first wave. Five flanks. And send forward the Primary Greater Plague. Star cluster formation; keep the centre firing lane clear". This order would launch a few dozen cruisers to attack the Terran fleet along five different flanks, while a few thousand manned and unmanned fighters would zip up the middle to engage and occupy the Terran fighters. It would take 10 or 20 minutes for these attack waves to get within effective range of the Terran ships, but that was all according to plan. During that time, the Terrans would be busy dealing with not just the Ekee ships, but also with the stealth attack ships already on the flanks that should by this time be getting into optimal firing range. This would also give the main Entheri fleet time to close into high-velocity-plasma range.