Alternate History - Gallia Triumphant!

[Capt. Henry Morgan]

7 September 826 AS
RNS Bellegarde, Cambridge Orbit

The uprising on Cambridge had been raging for the last week. What had started as a student protest at the University had quickly turned into a planet-wide uprising. The BPA had purged itself of collaborators and linked up with resistance units. Together, along with a ragtag army formed from the planet's civilian populace, they quickly pushed the Gallic garrison back to their main base at the planetary spaceport.

Captain Chanteraide of the Destroyer Bellegarde had received new orders to proceed to Cambridge and provide a demonstration to quell the uprising. For the last few months, the Bellegarde had been keeping the peace in Omega-3, ever since the GRN had taken over management of Aland Shipyard to restore their depleted forces and to construct ships for the new BAF. The IMG had put up a fierce resistance, but they hadn't counted on Gallia's secret weapon, the Warwolf siege cannon carried by the Bellegarde and her sister ships. The impressive weapons had torn through IMG defenses, allowing marines to land and secure the yard. Since then, IMG security forces had been engaged in raids on GRN patrols and Gallic shipping, making it necessary to keep Omega-3 garrisoned.

As the Bellegarde exited the trade lane at Cambridge it took up a geosynchronous orbit above the target. Chanteraide hesitated to give the order, as firing on civilians went against everything he believed in. The Gallic forces on the planet were counting on his ship's assistance, though. Chanteraide walked over to the weapons console and took over from the young officer manning it. He couldn't ask anyone else to take responsibility for what needed to be done. He aimed the weapon at the target coordinates and opened fire. A few short minutes later, the historic University and a large portion of the surrounding city were reduced to ruins.

As Chanteraide stepped away from the console, feeling sick at the atrocity he had just committed, he heard a proximity alert from the sensor station. The officer manning it spoke up.

"Captain, the Battlecruiser Fortitude has exited the lane and is approaching on an attack vector."

The Fortitude was the lead ship in a new class of Battlecruiser, the first new ship produced for the post-war BAF. She was a fusion of Bretonian and Gallic technology, intended form the backbone of the new Gallic-allied BAF. The Fortitude was supposed to be in orbit of Ross Planetoid, coordinating local BAF patrols to free up GRN ships for use elsewhere.

"Comm, hail the Fortitude."

"Channel open."

"Fortitude, you are away from your post. Return to your assigned area, and we'll forget this breach of discipline."

"No response, sir. They're continuing to close in."

"Helm, keep out of their weapons range and get us back to the trade lane. Set course for Omega-3 and rendezvous with the rest of the Battlegroup."

The Fortitude was a powerful ship, more powerful than the Bellegarde, but she was slower than the Bellegarde, allowing the smaller ship to minimize time in weapons range and get their distance. Just as they were about to enter the trade lane, Chanteraide heard another proximity alarm.

"Sir, an IMG battlecruiser has just exited the lane ahead of us and disrupted it behind them."

Chanteraide knew it was over at that point. With two battlecruisers working to keep the Bellegarde pinned down, there was no way they would be able to escape. He wasn't about to die without a fight, though.

"Turn us back toward the Fortitude and ready the Warwolf. Fire as soon as you have a target lock."

As the Bellegarde fired their Warwolf, the IMG ship fired it's own heavy weapons. With the power demands of the Warwolf, the Bellegarde's shields were already compromised and quickly fell to enemy fire. The Fortitude was soon reduced to a flaming wreck, but the as the IMG battlecruiser's weapons continued to find their mark, the Bellegarde soon began to come apart.

Chanteraide knew, as his ship came apart around him, that what he felt now was nothing compared to the eternity in hell that awaited him.