u/Bad_Author

“Request acknowledged”

Admiral Zyroth stared out the viewports of the ships bridge, his eyes wide and body frozen. A haunting sight met his gaze, an entire fleet burning and dying. What was once the pride of the Galactic Councils navy now drifted as carcasses in the void. Cruisers floated lifeless with shattered hulls, escort destroyers showed no sign of life. The Galactic Council had been at war with the Terith Empire for mere months but in that time they had been crushed, world after world falling and multiple fleets burned from existence. All around Zyroth alarms blared and his command staff were reaching the verge of total panic, one officer begged for orders as others were desperately reading off damage reports and casualty numbers. Zyroth was in a daze, the voices around him muffled by the shock of watching yet another ship disappear in a near blinding flash.

The Admiral was ripped from his numb disconnection when a panicked officer shoved a datapad into his claw.
“Admiral we cannot sustain this rate of attrition. What are your orders?” Another Council ship was vaporised by a plasma blast, the entire bridge crew shielded their various optical organs to avoid being blinded by the flash of a reactor going critical. Zyroth considered his options, continuing to hold the line was suicide but retreating made them open targets. He took a deep, heavy breath. He was about to issue an order that would almost certainly get him arrested and possibly even executed.
“Issue an open distress call.” The Vrelath officer looked at him with concern.

“Admiral that is strictly forbidden, we cannot possibly know who will answer and you will be disgraced for admitting defeat” the fear in the voice of the Vrelath was evident despite its best efforts to conceal it
“I am aware, I will take full responsibility for the consequences of this decision. My only concern as of right now is making sure ships leave this battle with survivors, we are to broadcast on all open military FTL channels. Comms Officer, are you ready?” The four upper appendages of the Quela Comms specialist danced across her control panel.
“Ready Admiral” she said, her translator implant struggled against the fear in her voice.
“Ready to broadcast Admiral”

His voice boomed across the bridge
“This is Admiral Zyroth, Commander of the Galactic Council 5th Fleet and Captain of GCN Flagship Yazrith. We are engaged in combat with a Terith attack force and in desperate need of reinforcements to cover our retreat. Any and all forces capable of lending assistance we humbly ask for your support” the message was sent, anyone within range would receive it in minutes. Zyroth had little hope that anyone would answer but it was the only choice he had, they would either receive help or die in the void. Only three outcomes were possible now, no one answered their call and they would all die on this battlefield, reinforcements would arrive or they had just signalled their exact location to other enemies of the council.

Several gut wrenching minutes passed, more Council ships fell, thousands of more lives were thrown into the vacuum and the Terith fleet still advanced. All hope was lost, this was to be their last stand.
Then a voice crackled over communication systems
“GNC Yazrith, distress signal acquired. Request acknowledged” the voice was cold but calm. It was the voice of a species Zyroth had never expected to hear, it was human.

Only a few brief moments later something tore its way into reality. It wasn’t the clean and precise drop from hyperspace that Council ships used, it wasn’t the instant appearance of Terith vessels. It was a violent thing, as if space itself was being ripped apart and out of the wound in reality that Zyroth could barely comprehend something emerged. It was vast, it was dark, it was vicious. A craft stretching multiple miles clawed its way into the battlefield and immediately opened a communication channel with the Yazrith.
“GNC Yazrith, this is Dawns Light. Your request for reinforcements has been answered” it was the same hard unwavering voice as before. A human face lit up holo displays across the bridge. He was old, scarred and had a face as expressionless as stone. Adorned in a simple dark blue uniform with a few dulled metal emblems pinned to his chest.
“Pull back any vessels still functioning, we will do what we can” Zyroth stood in stunned silence as the human ship advanced over his.

It was enormous, three times the size of his flagship. It was ugly, brutal, unkind. Council ships were designed to have dignity and honour on the battlefield, a surgeon’s scalpel, a precision tool. The thing now advancing on the Terith fleet was an object of pure destruction. It took almost a minute before anyone spoke, they all simply stared in a mixture of awe and horror.
“Order all ships to retreat, those with functioning weapon systems will give fire support from range!” Zyroth shouted.
“That will be unnecessary Admiral, we have assessed the enemies weapon capability and discovered that they are of little threat to us” there was a cold venom in the humans voice that made Zyroth uneasy “we have the firepower to deal with this threat, focus your efforts on retrieving damaged ships”

Not a moment after the human finished his sentence every weapon on his ship roared to life. First were missile swarms, thousands of guided warheads tore into escort vessels and fighters. Instantly the viewport on the Yazrith’s bridge filled with fire. Next came plasma bombardment as cruisers and carriers had their hulls melted down to boiling slag. Most Terith vessels were now nothing more than scrap floating lifeless in the void, but one still remained. A gigantic dreadnought almost equal in size to the Dawns Light. It began its own attack. Plasma slammed into human armour sending out flashes of brilliant blue light, emp warheads detonated directly next to engines and last of all suicide drones loaded with explosives crashed into every point they could find. The barrage was intense enough to completely obscure the Dawns Light from view, hidden behind a wall of fire and smoke.

Zyroth’s heart sank, he had just sent an entire ship of humans to their deaths. However their courage and sacrifice would never be forgotten, they had bought him just enough time to retreat what was left of the 5th Fleet and get them into hyperspace launch point. Then it happened, the flank of the Terith dreadnought simply disappeared. No explosion, no flash of light, it simply ceased to be. And from the cloud of smoke and fire emerged Dawns Light, hull charred but still standing firm it continued its charge. This was its final attack, kinetic bombardment. Giant cannons bloomed fire from their muzzles and sent shells the size of fighters crashing into the dreadnought. Torpedos left craters in the armour. The the entirety of Dawns Light began to glow, a deep red emitted from energy channels as the ship began to charge. Zyroth immediately understood what was about to happen, what had already happened once before. The shot that carved out part of the Terith dreadnought was a railgun, a truly enormous one. As this realisation came to him Dawns Light fired again, the recoil was so intense it knocked the ship off course but the strike landed perfectly. What was left of the dreadnought was split in half. This battle had gone from a last stand to total victory in minutes.

“Why did you come? What is your name?” Asked Zyroth in utter shock.
“We came because you asked us to, we do not leave those in need behind. My name is Captain H.Arthur. We will escort you to friendly territory if possible”

(Ik my writing isn’t the best, the only way you get better is through practice so enjoy my practice)

Ella stood as the only human, an obstacle course stretching out before her. She was surrounded by several alien life forms. Instructor Duran’s deep and booming voice filled the training hall. “You will complete this course in any way you deem appropriate, no approach is considered unacceptable. So long as you reach the other side i will consider it a pass”
Every word was dripping with the cold confidence she had come to expect from her Zenistrian instructor.

The obstacle course was a mire of environmental and active threats. Plasma turrets loaded with training rounds lined the walls, extreme temperature fluctuations littered the course, gravitational anomalies were spread throughout and differing surface textures lie as hidden threats.
“Really!? On a Monday of all days” Ella thought to herself very much regretting the previous night.

She was tired, hungover and entirely done with every part of this cross species training exercise. “Going out drinking last night was definitely a mistake…oh well, i still had fun” she murmured to herself, still not fully awake.
The first cadet to tackle the course volunteered himself, a Drakri adolescent full of pride. Ella smiled, it reminded her of human teenagers. The Drakri cleared the first few obstacles with ease, he vaulted blocks and darted between cover. Then fatigue began to set in, his core heaved trying to keep up with the sudden burn of energy. He slowed to a crawl after just a few minutes and a plasma bolt hit him in the second shoulder joint sending his armoured carapace crashing to the ground. The sound was deeply unpleasant and medical crews rushed in and took him away immediately as if they had predicted this outcome, something told Ella they had.

Duran summoned the next student to the starting line, a feline Ve’ri with striped fur and an elegance unmatched by anyone present. They launched forward jumping between cover, moving with unmatched precision and a near psychic knowledge of where the turrets would fire. They dodged every shot from the turrets even as they saturated their position with fire. They leapt from cover to cover with ultimate precision, finally breaking free from the turrets field of fire they sprinted forward. All seemed to be going well until they reached a gravitational distortion zone, three times galactic standard. The Ve’ri was immediately pinned to the floor unable to move. They begged for the test to end as they were crushed under their own weight.

Ella was up next and she was not looking forward to it, not only was she hungover and sleep deprived but she had just watched two of the galaxies most dangerous predator species be defeated by this course in minutes. She coughed twice, she had been trying to hold it back for a while
“Are you unwell Cadet Samos?” Asked Duran.
“Negative instructor, i engage in what humans call smoking, it was an involuntary response. My apologies instructor”
“Very well Cadet, approach the start line” Duran barked

Ella’s heart pounded in her throat, this was going to be the most important moment of her life and all it would take to ruin it was a single mistake.
“3,2,1 BEGIN” roared Duran.
Ella moved on instinct immediately sliding into cover to avoid plasma fire. A round passed by where her head had been barely a second before, she waited for the fire to stop and the turrets to begin recharging before she moved again. She had to move before the turrets were ready to fire again, she launched herself over the small cover block and began sprinting. Just a few more steps and she would be out of the turrets range. She made it, barely. Plasma marks burned just behind her foot, she was in the gravitational distortion section now but it felt good. This wasn’t heavy, this was home. This was the standard gravity of Terra, the galactic community hadn’t prepared anything for a species used to such high gravitational forces.

Ella stood up and took a deep breath, finally some rest. She casually strolled forwards, the weight on her body was comforting. As she walked forward the next obstacle became clear, it was a pool of water and she was going to have to swim its length
“Well…shit”
She reluctantly took off her jacket and jumped in, perfect backstroke on display for all watching.
She reached the other side and swore under her breath
“I fucking hate swimming”

The final obstacle was finally in front of her.
A simulation of thick swamp mud.
“Okay, well thats just amazing”
Ella stepped forward into the quagmire whilst teaching her alien instructors a variety of human curse words with much enthusiasm. Eventually she reached the end of the course.
“Congratulations human, you have passed” Duran said with genuine pride in his voice
“Just tell me about the swimming and mud next time okay” Ella stormed off once again teaching her alien companions that human languages have many way to express discomfort and annoyance

Admiral Zyroth stared out the viewports of the ships bridge, his eyes wide and body frozen. A haunting sight met his gaze, an entire fleet burning and dying. What was once the pride of the Galactic Councils navy now drifted as carcasses in the void. Cruisers floated lifeless with shattered hulls, escort destroyers showed no sign of life. The Galactic Council had been at war with the Terith Empire for mere months but in that time they had been crushed, world after world falling and multiple fleets burned from existence. All around Zyroth alarms blared and his command staff were reaching the verge of total panic, one officer begged for orders as others were desperately reading off damage reports and casualty numbers. Zyroth was in a daze, the voices around him muffled by the shock of watching yet another ship disappear in a near blinding flash.

The Admiral was ripped from his numb disconnection when a panicked officer shoved a datapad into his claw.
“Admiral we cannot sustain this rate of attrition. What are your orders?” Another Council ship was vaporised by a plasma blast, the entire bridge crew shielded their various optical organs to avoid being blinded by the flash of a reactor going critical. Zyroth considered his options, continuing to hold the line was suicide but retreating made them open targets. He took a deep, heavy breath. He was about to issue an order that would almost certainly get him arrested and possibly even executed.
“Issue an open distress call.” The Vrelath officer looked at him with concern.

“Admiral that is strictly forbidden, we cannot possibly know who will answer and you will be disgraced for admitting defeat” the fear in the voice of the Vrelath was evident despite its best efforts to conceal it
“I am aware, I will take full responsibility for the consequences of this decision. My only concern as of right now is making sure ships leave this battle with survivors, we are to broadcast on all open military FTL channels. Comms Officer, are you ready?” The four upper appendages of the Quela Comms specialist danced across her control panel.
“Ready Admiral” she said, her translator implant struggled against the fear in her voice.
“Ready to broadcast Admiral”

His voice boomed across the bridge
“This is Admiral Zyroth, Commander of the Galactic Council 5th Fleet and Captain of GCN Flagship Yazrith. We are engaged in combat with a Terith attack force and in desperate need of reinforcements to cover our retreat. Any and all forces capable of lending assistance we humbly ask for your support” the message was sent, anyone within range would receive it in minutes. Zyroth had little hope that anyone would answer but it was the only choice he had, they would either receive help or die in the void. Only three outcomes were possible now, no one answered their call and they would all die on this battlefield, reinforcements would arrive or they had just signalled their exact location to other enemies of the council.

Several gut wrenching minutes passed, more Council ships fell, thousands of more lives were thrown into the vacuum and the Terith fleet still advanced. All hope was lost, this was to be their last stand.
Then a voice crackled over communication systems
“GNC Yazrith, distress signal acquired. Request acknowledged” the voice was cold but calm. It was the voice of a species Zyroth had never expected to hear, it was human.

Only a few brief moments later something tore its way into reality. It wasn’t the clean and precise drop from hyperspace that Council ships used, it wasn’t the instant appearance of Terith vessels. It was a violent thing, as if space itself was being ripped apart and out of the wound in reality that Zyroth could barely comprehend something emerged. It was vast, it was dark, it was vicious. A craft stretching multiple miles clawed its way into the battlefield and immediately opened a communication channel with the Yazrith.
“GNC Yazrith, this is Dawns Light. Your request for reinforcements has been answered” it was the same hard unwavering voice as before. A human face lit up holo displays across the bridge. He was old, scarred and had a face as expressionless as stone. Adorned in a simple dark blue uniform with a few dulled metal emblems pinned to his chest.
“Pull back any vessels still functioning, we will do what we can” Zyroth stood in stunned silence as the human ship advanced over his.

It was enormous, three times the size of his flagship. It was ugly, brutal, unkind. Council ships were designed to have dignity and honour on the battlefield, a surgeon’s scalpel, a precision tool. The thing now advancing on the Terith fleet was an object of pure destruction. It took almost a minute before anyone spoke, they all simply stared in a mixture of awe and horror.
“Order all ships to retreat, those with functioning weapon systems will give fire support from range!” Zyroth shouted.
“That will be unnecessary Admiral, we have assessed the enemies weapon capability and discovered that they are of little threat to us” there was a cold venom in the humans voice that made Zyroth uneasy “we have the firepower to deal with this threat, focus your efforts on retrieving damaged ships”

Not a moment after the human finished his sentence every weapon on his ship roared to life. First were missile swarms, thousands of guided warheads tore into escort vessels and fighters. Instantly the viewport on the Yazrith’s bridge filled with fire. Next came plasma bombardment as cruisers and carriers had their hulls melted down to boiling slag. Most Terith vessels were now nothing more than scrap floating lifeless in the void, but one still remained. A gigantic dreadnought almost equal in size to the Dawns Light. It began its own attack. Plasma slammed into human armour sending out flashes of brilliant blue light, emp warheads detonated directly next to engines and last of all suicide drones loaded with explosives crashed into every point they could find. The barrage was intense enough to completely obscure the Dawns Light from view, hidden behind a wall of fire and smoke.

Zyroth’s heart sank, he had just sent an entire ship of humans to their deaths. However their courage and sacrifice would never be forgotten, they had bought him just enough time to retreat what was left of the 5th Fleet and get them into hyperspace launch point. Then it happened, the flank of the Terith dreadnought simply disappeared. No explosion, no flash of light, it simply ceased to be. And from the cloud of smoke and fire emerged Dawns Light, hull charred but still standing firm it continued its charge. This was its final attack, kinetic bombardment. Giant cannons bloomed fire from their muzzles and sent shells the size of fighters crashing into the dreadnought. Torpedos left craters in the armour. The the entirety of Dawns Light began to glow, a deep red emitted from energy channels as the ship began to charge. Zyroth immediately understood what was about to happen, what had already happened once before. The shot that carved out part of the Terith dreadnought was a railgun, a truly enormous one. As this realisation came to him Dawns Light fired again, the recoil was so intense it knocked the ship off course but the strike landed perfectly. What was left of the dreadnought was split in half. This battle had gone from a last stand to total victory in minutes.

“Why did you come? What is your name?” Asked Zyroth in utter shock.
“We came because you asked us to, we do not leave those in need behind. My name is Captain H.Arthur. We will escort you to friendly territory if possible”

(Ik my writing isn’t the best, the only way you get better is through practice so enjoy my practice)