Commissioned by RoyalTwinFangs
Project PHAETON
Chapter 2
-VB-
Jebbadiah Sevenclear sat in his seat next to his buddy, Jerome Sixcloud. Both of them wore the same flight suit, held the same rank, and had the same face.
Despite this, the two of them could not be more different.
Jerome was a classic music enjoyer while he was a lofi relaxer. He loved sweet things while Jerome hated sweet things. They got into a fight over artificial yuzu flavored ice cream, though; it was just not sweet enough that Jerome picked it out but it was also the only sweet available at the base that week. So yeah, they fought and got flak for it from their superior. Jerome was also an adamant Christian while he wasn’t an atheist.
There were others who had the same rank and face as they did, and so many of them were similarly different from him and Jerome. It was crazy how very minute changes produced such varieties in clones.
Still, Jeb loved his life and the people he protected.
He was a proud fighter pilot serving under Clan Caelum’s Black Banner.
“What do you think this is about?” he asked his partner.
“Probably another experimental fighter,” Jerome hummed as he sat on the cheap plastic chair with his arms crossed. “You know what House Lord Caelum is like. The man is a polymath with the power of the three largest League colonies under his command. He’s probably the richest person in the Solar System and he loves inventing stuff. You put those two together and you get us.”
Jeb raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, but he just rolled out a new fighter for us to fly, remember? The Ghost series drone fighters are pretty great, you know?” he grinned.
The current most advanced drone fighters - and the next five most advanced drone fighters - all belonged to the Phaeton League, and among them all, the current best drone fighter was the X-9 Ghost, which came equipped with two hardpoint Samson Dual 10mm Pulse Lasers and four anti-fighter Salem Micro Rocket Launchers. It was only slightly better than the X-8 Ghost, which had the same weapon loadout but the chassis was half a ton heavier and that much harder to maneuver.
Last Jeb heard from the eggheads, they were still scratching their heads trying to figure out how the House Lord managed that. Jeb didn’t care much. All he cared about was that he and his comrades were getting fun toys every few years, and if any of those Zeon fuckers tried anything again like they did with Vesta Asteroid Colony.
Pirates, my ass.
Jerome didn’t look as happy with the drone fighters as Jeb felt. “Yes, well, it’s not something that we get to ride, isn’t it?” he grumbled.
“... True. We don’t get to fly the fighters ourselves much since the House Lord’s been pushing for all of those efficiencies and stuff,” Jeb drawled with a sigh.
Just then, a Titan power armored officer patrolled through the corridor this meeting room was directly attached to. As it passed by, the room shook slightly from the vibration of three ton footsteps.
‘Oh yeah, that was one of the new things, too,’ Jeb thought as he watched the power armored patrol walk by, and noticed afterward that he wasn’t the only one watching. It was a new addition to the arsenal of weapons and tools made by House Caelum just like the Ghost series drone fighters, though on separate lines of development.
“What’s your rank?” Jerome asked him.
Jeb blinked. “109th, why?”
“Ugh. I’m 114th.”
“Sad.”
The Simulation Rank determined which pilots could pilot manned fighters, instead of staying aboard the carrier to remotely pilot the drone fighters like the X-9 Ghosts. But even that was not a guarantee because there were rumors about a new artificial intelligence that might be implemented to auto-pilot the drone fighters.
Currently, the cutoff sat somewhere between the 30th and 35th rankers for being able to pilot the famed Exus Mobile Armor. The Exus was not as fast as the X-9 Ghost but it came with two 40mm machineguns that were longer than the entire length of the X-9 Ghost and four heavier rocket launchers that made an Exus a very real problem to larger threats like patrol ships and corvettes.
But there were ten X-9 Ghosts for every Exus MA, and wargame simulations showed that, as great as the Exus was, it was no match for five X-9 Ghosts, nevermind ten. And whereas an exploding Exus MA meant one of their own pilots would die, the League could throw as many Ghosts at the enemy as they could make them.
Oh, and apparently, the Exus cost five times as much as a single Ghost, which was why only the most elite cadre of Black Banner pilots had the privilege to pilot them.
And if a pilot wasn’t in the Black Banner? If they were part of some other League members’ navy? Pfft, forget about it.
The Black Banner was the private military of House Caelum of Clan Caelum, and only those who were born into Clan Caelum were even allowed to be part of the Black Banner. Which was why the Black Banner - and many other Banners of House Caelum - were filled with clones.
Clones like himself and Jerome were birthed by Iron Wombs, and served the House in any shape or form for ten years. After ten years, they were granted citizenship, guaranteed voting rights, minor pension, tax reduction, and free ride for four years of college education.
Of course, many of the clones preferred to stay in the Banners. It was just … an easier life. What else was there in life? Good food, good friends, a great purpose/leader to follow, and a good home. And House Caelum provided all of those.
Which brought him back to why he and Jerome was in this meeting room with close to a hundred pilots and navy personnel.
And then -.
“All rise!”
Everyone rose up, and chatter came to a halt immediately.
And a man walked into the room from the side and walked up the stairs to the raised dais at the front of the room.
Jeb recognized him immediately. That was General Noctis Caelum, the son of Lord Zeyus Caelum.
The general came to a stop in front of the podium.
“Salute!” the captain standing to the general’s right and front on the floor and not on the dais ordered, and everyone saluted.
“... At ease,” the general said and everyone did. “And take a seat.” And once everyone did, the general spoke again. “Most of you know who I am. For the few who don’t, allow me to introduce myself. I am General Noctis Caelum of Banner Command, and I am here to tell you what your mission will be and what its parameters will be.” He clicked a button and holograms lit up behind the man on either side. The one to Jeb’s right showed the Solar System and the other … showed the flag of the Principality of Zeon.
“Goddamnit, it’s the fascists again,” Jerome muttered under his breath, though Jeb heard his friend.
The Principality of Zeon has been the source of all manners of insurrectionist, separatist, anarchist, communist, and other ideological rebellions over the last five years. It wasn’t that Zeon believed in any of those ideologists, but they used those as proxies to try to weaken all of their “rivals.” Oh, and piracy. They denied it, of course, but everyone - from Earth Federation to Jupiter Fleet - knew that Zeon funded pirates.
“Currently, the Principality is going through a purge. Again.” That got some chuckles out of the airmen, sailors, and marines in the room. “This time, however, we have a group of them, those who were friends of the late Deikun, who are asking for asylum in the Phaeton League while trying to reach us in a cargo hauler. Our House Lord Caelum has decided to accept their request. Unfortunately, they may have been discovered because we know that Zeon has dispatched a kill squad after the hauler. Our job is to reach them before Zeon does, accept their request in person as it is required by law, and protect them from Zeon. Any questions?”
Jerome’s hand rose up.
“Yes, airman.”
“Which units will be involved in this operation, general?”
The general nodded. “Good question.” He clicked a button again, and the hologram of Zeon’s flag changed to show a number of unit insignias. “Currently, I will be taking the 2nd Ceres Guards with me directly.”
Jeb nodded. It was a wise decision to take the entire unit instead of just a few wings, just in case Zeon thought it smart to do something stupid.
Like shooting at the general.
Because if they thought they could get away with it, then they would definitely shoot at the general.
-VB-
The 2nd Ceres Guard.
It was one of the seven units underneath the Black Banner. Each unit under the Black Banner existed as a fleet with the number of ships ranging from a measly three in the 7th Ceres Guard to an impressive forty ships of the 1st Ceres Guard. Compared to the 1st Ceres Guard which existed as the core defensive fleet around Ceres and surrounding colonies under or in the sphere of House Caelem, the 2nd Ceres Guard operated as a strike force. It was the fleet created and sent to take care of the first pirates that harassed the League’s first colonies. It was the muscle sent to Side 1 colonies when a clone was murdered by Islamist extremists to remind them that the League will not take no accountability bullshit from the Side 1 colony’s administration and the Earth Federation.
It was the sword to the 1st Ceres Guard’s shield.
The 2nd Ceres Guard’s flagship was the Crown-class battlecarrier Saloren, a three hundred meter long heavily armored monster of a ship that was capable of housing close to a hundred X-9 Ghost drone fighters and a dozen Exus Mobile Armors. Unlike the Earth Federation warships that mimicked wet naval ships, the Crown-class battlecarrier didn’t look like an ocean going ship but something closer to a long asteroid. Impossibly smooth and metallic asteroid with hull plates, lights, and fighter bays, yes, but still looked more like an asteroid than a ship at first sight.
The seven warships, ranging from cruisers to corvettes, didn’t follow the battlecarrier in design philosophy. They still had no edges and islands like a wet naval ship, retaining a lot of the smoothness of the Crown-class battlecarrier. Instead, they possessed more wing-like structures, though stubby as they were compared to what wings were like on dedicated fighters.
In Noctis’s eyes, the most outstanding of these ships were the new Punisher-class destroyers. Rolled just last year, they mixed the use of energy shields and heavy armor to create a monster that most of the sailors and airmen dubbed “the flying brick.” Each of the Punishers carried a dozen drone fighters, though none of them were the X-9 Ghosts; they instead carried less advanced drone fighters called Broadswords, which were slower and weaker but also more armored than the Ghosts just like how the Punishers were more armored than their contemporaries. The Punishers also came equipped with ten GH Pulse Laser Cannons, perfect for taking out smaller targets like frigates, corvettes, patrol ships, shuttles, and heavy fighters.
“General.”
Noctis paused his train of thoughts and turned to look at his aide, the one that was assigned to him by Black Banner Command. “What is it?”
“We’re approaching the expected location of the freighter.”
“Thank you. I will be there at the bridge soon.”
The aide saluted and left.
Noctis hummed.
It’s been close to two weeks of traveling for the entire 2nd Ceres Guard since their departure from Ceres.
Which should be impossible.
But it happened.
And this was one of the greatest secrets his father had kept from the rest of the Phaeton League and the rest of humanity.
The Caelum Sublight Drive.
Of course, no one would say anything. Everyone aboard these ships were paid too much, owed their very existence, and continued prosperity to his father to ever talk about it.
From the perspective of any Zeonites who they might encounter, it would seem like all of this had been planned from the start. Or that the League had always been waiting to take refugees from the Principality.
Whatever the case was and however Zeonites responded to this intervention, the secret of the CSD shouldn’t be revealed for quite some time.
And if the intelligence they gathered from Zeon was any indication…
It might not be revealed until after whatever the Zeonites wanted to do with that massive military build-up they had.
As he walked onto the bridge, everyone briefly stood up to welcome and he gestured for them to return to work. It was already claustrophobic in the bridge; there was no need for everyone to take up more room just to salute him.
His aide was there by his side after he sat down in the captain’s chair.
“... We found the freighter, general.”
Noctis blinked. “That fast?”
“The new sensors installed on all Crown-class battlecarriers are, apparently, far more effective at their job than we expected it to be,” his aide hummed.
“Show me.”
The aide nodded to the sensor officer, who had been waiting for the cue.
Soon, a hologram lit up in the center of the bridge, the only free open space in the entire bridge that wasn’t occupied by some screen, console, or another equipment.
The hologram spun around, showing a 3D globe of their current position, and then pinged on two dots.
One small and one big.
“So the Zeon prince actually sent someone to chase after the freighter,” Noctis hummed. “How far apart are they and how close are they to us?” he asked, though he had a good idea based on the legend provided by the hologram itself.
“The freighter is close to a hundred thousand kilometers from the chasing Zeonite patrol ships, and we are three hundred thousand kilometers from the freighter and three hundred ninety thousand kilometers from the Zeonite warships.”
So in a roughly triangular formation, then? Which made sense. Ships that didn’t have the CSD had to make movements based on orbital calculations; they didn’t travel as this unit had directly to them from Ceres. They were probably traveling based on where their computers expected Ceres to be months from now.
“Do we have an ID on the freighter?”
“We do. They have been broadcasting their IFF signature and Earth Federation trade license numbers constantly, probably trying to get the Zeonites to stop.”
Noctis snorted. As if the Zeonites would stop. That was like telling a paranoid man on Ceres that the pigeons allowed to fly about in the Ceres colonial biodome weren’t surveillance devices; it was a meaningless endeavor.
“Computer, record this message.” He heard a beep not too long after, and the entire bridge quieted as much as they could. “This is General Noctis Caelum of the Black Banner aboard the Crown-class Battlecarrier Saloren. I am demanding the pursuing party to stop chasing the independent freighter … McCormick’s Dick…? Who names their ship that?” he muttered the last part. After a moment, he cleared his throat. “This is your first warning. sigh McCormick’s Dick, if you have your sensors up, then you can probably see us. Make your way to us. General Caelum, out.” Once the computer stopped beeping, he cleared his throat. “Funny name for a ship.”
“The freighter is smuggling the last political dissidents of the principality,” the aide hummed. “I suspect the owner is a smuggler.”
“A smuggler with a base humor,” Noctis drawled. “Alright, start broadcasting my message and if the Zeonites don’t start reverse thrusting by … fifteen minutes from now, directly ping them.”
It was time to see how the Zeonites will react to a Phaeton intervention.
-VB-
A/N: As we can see, our MC(?) can and does bring in tech from other universes (which was hinted at with the colony energy shield bit), but their stats and equipment aren’t a mirror of their original.