WEEK 8 - Captain Axis, True Knight of Fate

Deep in the Brethren Expanse the joint defense site against Temporal Incursion called Sentinel Station 3 had become fully operational.

It was just in time as a Mothership of unknown origin raced from the heart of a nearby temporal wormhole.

Lt. Palomedes was standing in base command deep below the surface of Sentinel Station 3. He had a desperate hope, but didn't hail the ship yet. Instead he used a Nanite Communicator to signal to Sector General Stark.

Then he gets the answer he hoped he wasn't going to hear. Deliberately Lt. Palomedes declared a base alert when Sector General Stark transmits that his stolen Fleet of Fate Mothership just left Kyrpos and arrived on the other side of known space to defend his holdings on Refuge. If it wasn't their only stolen enemy warship, they were an enemy.

Lt. Palomedes was ready, he turned his comms to signal Captain Axis and General Garmin Fe. Their forces would be needed for the coming fight.

Then he saw something he never had seen in his life.
A real Iron Republic Mothership and twenty I.R. Starcruisers shadow jumped into the area between the temporal wormhole and the Sentinel Station.

A voice could be heard on all frequencies, she said, "This is Sector General Olivia Lorelei and the Brethren Expanse is my land. Surely property is something you understand. And now you approach our borders so expect to act quickly and with no violent intent. What are your intentions?"

A single set of buzzing voices, like millions speaking as one said, "We are here to unite you. We will draw you into our connection and together we will cleanse your galaxy of all evil as we have in our own timeline. Join us."

"Power down your weapons, and send over diplomats and we will all sit down to talk," said the Sector General.

On an encrypted channel Lt. Palomedes said, "With all due respect Sir, what are you doing here, I was assigned this job by the Board of Directors themselves."

"And this is my Sector, boy," snarled Sector General Lorelei, "My sister ruled this area, and was consumed by it. I will not accept her fate. I have with me, Stockholders Maxim Ghulani and Jillian Sforza, who have demanded under section 22 page 10024 caption 2 and 3 that we observe and they take over any diplomatic meetings."

Lt. Palomedes wouldn't be deterred, "With all due respect Sir, they are just using the time to hack your systems."

"What do you mean?" asked the newely hired Sector General.

"You've never faced Unity," replied Lt. Palomedes, "Until now they never spread this far out. That's probably why the Fleets of Fate decided to take these planets. Withdraw now, please Sir."

The FoF Mothership fired a single beam which cut the entire Iron Republic mothership in half.
The comms from the Sector General Lorelei's flagship went dead. The nearby I.R. Starcruisers had been thoroughly hacked and turned their weapons on each other destroying them within moments.

A single shuttle craft was trying to fly from the wreakage of the I.R. Mothership, its small size allowed it evade the Fleet of Fate's attention.
The shuttle broadcast, "Help, Please Iron Republic Forces, I am Stockholder Jullia Sforza. I escaped on my personal shuttle but need help."

The Iron Republic forces weren't close enough to intercept the FoF Mothership as it moved in on the shuttlecraft. It opened its docking bay and twenty thousand tiny starfighters seemed to swarm from inside it. Looking closer Lt. Palomedes could see they weren't starfighters, they were Warframes, small robotic drone bodies with select areas of cloned flesh. They moved in like a school of piranha around the shuttlecraft.

At that climactic moment when everything seemed the most dire, former Sector General Stark arrived aboard his new flagship The Shield of Refuge. The former fleet of fate Mothership opened its docking bay doors and from it flew wing after wing of modified cloaking Gunpod Starfighters.

They screened the allied vessel in trouble, using hit and run tactics to draw the FoF warframes away.
The Shield of Refuge activated its beam weapon cutting through the closest FoF Mothership.

Over all channels the voice of Stark could be heard,

"Thanks for not coming to look for me when I went missing! Do you know how much it sucks to get trapped in the outer pull of a Blackhole!! Weeks spent spinning with engines straining to prevent us from getting pulled towards its consuming gullet. And you know who was the only one to contact me?
A Quall Queen because she wanted technology from me. Good to know the universe cares.
Luckily for you all an ascended being saved my arse and led me to some heroes who helped me jack a Fleet of Fate Mothership.
Now I'm back!!!"

At that moment another two FoF Motherships decloaked from their Grey psychic cloaking. They fired their beam weapons and the Shield of Refuge exploded in a brilliant flash.

It was shocking and sad, and drew the attention of all allied forces. And few noticed the cloaked gunpods creating networks around the Stockholder's shuttle to bring it safely away.

Another two clouds twenty thousand thick flew from the two other FoF Motherships, warframes of varying sizes and loadouts.

Lt. Palomedes gulped, actually wishing for a second his father was here. Then he knew it was his turn, and a good leader is not the one always is the best at everything. A good leader looks at the allies he has, and uses their teamwork so the best of his or her team on a specific topic was the one placed to handle the individual obstacles so the team succeeded.
And Garmin Fe was the resident expert on Unity tech. Especially since Captain Axis just had a wait signal on his commlink.

So Lt. Palomedes said, "General Garmin Fe, are you there?"

And Garmin Fe was there, he was just consumed by thought.
The fleets of fate finally came. Garmin was once told that should they make themselves apparent, it would only be when they were convinced that they could not be defeated.

Sentinel Station 3, a planetary-sized fortress purposefully placed in their way, was heavily defended by an allied front. This however, would not be enough to stop them. To stop the Fleets of Fate, one needed an element of surprise. Or, point-of-fact, a series of surprises.

A fleet of starfighters rose from the surface of Sentinel Station 3, and flew towards the enemy fleet.
850 starfighters of the Beacon City Starforce versus 40,000 Fleet of Fate warframes.
It was perhaps the greatest moment of courage in the lives of the pilots of those Jotun, Grex and Sagittae Starfighters. The Warframes had energy weapons, death rays that cut cleanly through the hulls of Sagiitae killing the cloned brain matter inside. The Jotun Pilots were able to retaliate with hail of EMP missiles that disabled hundreds of Warframes.
Then the Minions of Fate joined the battlefield. They were a melding of technology and Quall that was quite illegal under current Unity laws. And the resulting technomantic monsters were igniting Jotun Pilots as they flew by.
The FoF Mothership's beam weapons cut across a wing of Jotuns destroying all four in a single pass.
Then the Fiends serving Fate filled the battlespace with missiles and the starforce was crushed within 3.241 minutes. The Fleets of Fate considered it a hard fight and respected their beacon city enemies. Drones flew around collecting bodies to bring back inside.
Some of the dead was converted, but before most could be taken, the Vengeance Cannons Sounded across the surface of the Sentinel Station 3. The bodies that the Fleets of Fate held turned to dust, as a clone was created back on Sentinel Station 3.
The clone of Kha’z’hak Muir, one of the few that assaulted the Moon of Ryn Lac, lay sleeping. An instant later he awoke. His original body destroyed by an attack by a mothership. Coughing and weak the warrior knew it might only be a matter of time till it happened. He looked sternly at the ceiling and waited to see if he could feel for the very instant it occurred. Kha’z’hak Muir had always been the bravest of his ilk and nobody could refuse him the assignment to Sentinel Station 3 once it became known what was being asked. No hope of resurrection through Leyas, because the fleet of fate would try and steal their bodies and memories.

Kha’z’hak Muir thought he could sense the pull of his soul as it entered his new body. Off on another world a cannon was fired and Kha’z’hak suddenly felt colder and somewhat lonely. He felt the moment but could not pin point it either. Kha’z’hak had served his nation to the full extent for which it could ask, in return, the walking memory of himself would be endowed with a blacken-steel armor. He would lead a platoon of men and women, forever known as the Beacon City Black Guardians.

But as Muir grew and formed, the battle continued to rage around the Sentinel Station 3.


P1 of ?

Prime considered his options regarding the Fleets of Fate. His gut instinct was to do nothing, but the more he considered it, the more he questioned. There were so many of his instincts that he could not rely on. Prime was synthetic. Mortal though, and about to enjoy a fantastic meal with Layne Yr.

The battle belonged to Captain Axis, and the dice would fall where they would. However, the Sentinel Station would need assistance. It was an incredible weapon, possibly the only battle computer capable of combating the power of Fate, but it required a shield. This was why Prime made the Apostles, after all.

It was not a given that there would be much communication between Axis and the Fleets of Fate. Axis didn't strike Prime as the kind to mince words with those who would control him. No, he would strike at them, despite the power of Fate. It was one of his more excellent qualities.

Prime keyed the appropriate command codes, and two Apostles jumped to the battle, one on either side of the Sentinel Station, though hundreds of miles apart. They would protect all allied ships, allowing them to strike. They would also send Epistles into the battle and between capital ship lines if it occurred, shredding fighters, flying infantry, or missiles, the ship might strike with.

The Apostle Heavy Capital Ships arrived just in time to see the Vengeance Cannons fire.
Beams streaked from the surface of Sentinel Station 3. They were powered by the noble sacrifice of the Beacon City Soldiers. The beams cut across the Warframes, killing four thousand in a single salvo.

The two FoF Motherships seemed to be ready to return fire when SG Stark's new flagship, the Shield of Refuge, reappeared behind the FoF. To those watching it was obvious that the ship's crew were using Light Leyas to hide their presence and create illusions, and turning on and shutting off obscurements to throw off those viewing it using Leyas Sight.

The two FoF Motherships followed after the Shield of Refuge back through the temporal wormhole.

The allied vessels had escaped in the interim and the Shield of Refuge dropped its Leyas based invisibility, revealing it had only been an obscured illusion that fled into wormhole. Its own cloaked gunpods caught another thousand Warframes in an EMP blast. But the numbers were terrifying and overwhelming for all the defending starfighter pilots.

Four more FoF Motherships appeared, and then another four, and the another four until twelve Motherships surrounded the Sentinenl Station and its dwindling starforce.

"We control this sector of space now," commanded the Fleet of Fate, "Flee if your base intincts take over. Or release yourselves to become connected. It is your fate. Your ultimate fate."

Lt. Palomedes suddenly gotten an Iron Republic tactical report, twenty other solar systems had been taken during the battle so far. It had been decisive when the Fleet of Fate Prophets struck the planets. The nanoplague that hit everyone had changed them within moments. Those that didn't connect, were hunted and exterminated.


Lt. Palomedes suddenly felt like Sentinel Station 3 had gotten a lot lonelier.

Part 2 of ?

If the fleets of fate were really a mean version of the unity like he had heard whispered in reports he shouldn't have been allowed to read, then Childeen's biggest fear is all the ultra-hi tech weapons systems and star ships, and hell even sentinel station itself, that the IR and Unity used would get hacked and turned on the ones that the FoF couldn't hack.

A flotilla of fighters and 2 vespa freighters scrambled from Druzi would make their way to Sentinel Station 3. Childeen's biggest concern would be being hacked. Not much fear of that in the thirty or so stillettos which were as simple as a starfighter could be. Hopefully the 50 or so aegis fighters and 20 machetes would be good enough if they turned off their radios and used Neliff communicators.
Pesh also suggested that anyone who could hack as good as the Fleet of Fate could jam hand held radios used to communicate.

The Vespas would ask permission to dock from Sentinel station. They would try to convince all the non-clones on the station to evacuate and leave the defense of the station on the IR side to the very competent Alpha brethren sergeant of the Guard.

After the Vespas left the fighters would be tasked to whoever was in command of the defense.
The Alpha Brethren in charge of the I.R. command structure brought Peshareen into the command room with Lieutenant Palomedes.

"Interesting communicators," mentioned the Lt. Palomedes.

"Top of the line experimental black bag tech," said Pesh,"But we may be able to put some into your hand through our distributors at Conflagros."

"Ahh Blackheart trains his reps well," said Lt. Palomedes, "Always be closing?"

"We have more important things to do right now than make sales," said Pesh, "With all due respect, Lieutenant, we need to respond to their attack right now. Or those Warframes are going to tear this planetoid apart."

At that moment hundreds of ships began to shadow jump into orbit around Sentinel Station 3. It was the Unity's own Fleet of Fate, under the infamous Captain Axis.

Captain Axis has waited for this moment for some time. Much preparation had gone into this.

“Only one can call itself the Fleet of Fate”, he snarled. “My moment as the Knight as Fate has finally come”.

Axis began to commune with the coming vessel: “Supposed “fleet of fate”, recently, you contacted me in hopes I would join you in your attack on this reality. At this point I’m sure that it’s obvious that I respectively decline your offer. Not for any moral reasons, I’m not what any one would consider a good guy. It’s that your plan of conquest I feel is doomed should you attack.

I offer instead this: As the Knight of Fate and the 1st Knight of Kasanth I say go back to your own reality, do not destroy yourselves in this foolish crusade.

Or, join us, join the Trilat. There is much we can offer each other. Don’t be fools and be obliterated. Take one of my two offers or your Fate will be annihilation."

The first of the FoF Motherships powered up its deathray to attack the flagship of Captain Axis' fleet, Axis' Needle. From all sides, all twelve FoF motherships were struck by TRILAT Nodatchi Starfighters. The Nodatchis dropped chill bombs as they cut their way into the heart of the FoF ships. Most of them were cut apart by the cutting beams of the crew of the FoF Motherships, even as they killed the crews with their bombs.

As all twelve Fleet of Fate ships floated dead for a moment, Captain Axis could sense their movement. There were workers inside who were rebuilding the ships at a concerning pace.

Their holds opened and clouds of hundreds of thousands of Warframes to spread out, attacking and cutting apart Kamikazi boarding ships. Even so enough hit the lead FoF Mothership, that it was taken after a fierce floor to floor battle.

The lead FoF Mothership was stolen and piloted away, and the remaining Motherships were targeted by the defenses of Sentinel Station 3.
Axis watched in pride as the blood of his loyal Annihilators guaranteed their victory. Each of the gauss spikes, and flack cannon rounds had been forged with Annihilator blood. Once it reached high speeds it kept going.

The thousands of batteries fired upon the FoF Motherships cutting them apart.
A single FoF Mothership had wiped out an I.R. Armada within moments. Now twelve were cut apart by the forces of Captain Axis.

Lt. Palomedes stares in shock at the most impressive display of power he has ever witnessed.

He grabs the comm and orders, "All IR forces pull back and give Captain Axis room to maneuver."

Turning to Sgt. Makkan, the young LT says, " Now I understand why he is called the Knight of Fate"

As the Warframes tried to turn to focus on the weapons batteries, TRILAT Nodatchis blitz drived in and dropped void bombs. There was little remaining after the explosions.

After the void bombs were finished deploying, Captain Axis signalled to his TRILAT allies.

6 Unity Dreadnoughts and 17 Arcturus Warships of Beacon City shadow jumped into position to begin cutting apart the rest of the FoF Motherships. It was a challenge for them until the Oleiferan Troubadours began to their song.

After the encounter with the Quall fleet, the Troubadours had become quite popular with the Dreadnaught crews. The guide Builders had asked Oleifera whether they should return to Bodhi 1, and received a negative. "Stay with our ally," Oleifera had told them. "Bolster their courage. Also, if possible, introduce their foes to our song. Perhaps this battle can be won before more shots are fired."

The glistening light arrays of their dorsal phosphorescent glands twinkled merrily at the crew from the outside of the portholes, and seeing one pass by was considered quite lucky. A couple of the technicians boasted in the mess hall that they'd taught their "pet" Toubadour tricks, and bets were being placed as to the veracity of that statement when the alert had sounded, and the fleet had jumped into battle.

The rest of the Troubadours had approached the repairing enemy ships silently, without any glow, to blend in with the starscape. They attached to the FoF Motherships, evenly distributed over the hull, and sang the Builder's Song at maximum volume.

As they did the drones repairing the ships calmed long enough for the last few Nodatchis and Dreadnaughts to carve them up.
The Oleiferan Troubadours detached a sad note in their song.

Acting the bodyguard the Shield of Refuge helped the Stockholder escape, but not before she saw the devastation waged by Captain Axis, the Knight of Fate. She leaned in to Sector General Stark and said, "Now I understand why the Sector Generals had demanded we accept to yoke these Unity fellows to our side through treaties."

"You don't yoke a creature like Captain Axis," replied Sector General Stark, "You focus him on your enemy and never turn you back on him. I am just happy he was on our side."


There was now a debris field extending in all directions from Sentinel Station 3.
It has been dubbed by the I.R. The Wake of Captain Axis' Ship

Fin