"The Akhetaten; the latest and most sophisticated design to emerge from Juneau's dry-docks. Such firepower, such capabilities; decades of military research and development. Thirty-three years of service."
"Wasted."
First, it was the Sentinel sightings in Kepler. The anomalies. Entity. Events shadowed by the Republic's hatred of the Order, of the Technocracy. Shadowed by orders that had the Navy chasing after those that held knowledge, rather than after knowledge itself.
Then came Omicron Nu. Long lost fleets, assets, people. Now mere ghosts of their past selves. Discoveries shadowed by the war against the newly formed Insurgency.
And then came Ontario. Planet Sudbury. An alien site long left untouched that had now activated itself. An energy source; a beacon, perhaps.
"SL-40-8830, code-name Hades, lost. Deceased. Killed in action."
The survey liner that held important finds on the anomaly at Planet Sudbury. The liner that the Republic could not spare enough forces to defend. The liner that the Navy could not free from Rheinland's grasp. Gone. Destroyed. Shadowed by the war against the Militants. A mere necessary sacrifice.
Scattered across the Vice Admiral's desk were numerous reports from the past six years. Reports that all had one thing in common.
An alien threat of utmost importance being overshadowed by...
"Meaningless endeavors to please the Republic's corrupt ideals and futile goals."
It had been many years of trying to convince herself that Christopher was wrong; that the Republic is not blinded and deafened by it's own trivial, pointless, ambitions; that one day the alien threat will be recognized and proper measures will be taken to ensure that the second Nomad war does not wipe humanity.
But...
"He was right all along."
The Government wasn't going to listen, for they did not care; nor now neither thirty-four years ago.
The Order; the protectors of humanity that had emerged from the shadow of the Republic to save the world not four decades ago. Nowhere to be found; perhaps busy fighting their war on ideals against The Core, or maybe occupied scheming with the Xenos.
The elephant in the room had gone ignored for more than half a decade and Maria knew that soon all the puzzle pieces which were neglected would inevitably connect.
"Fumbling in ignorance. Incapable of understanding."
A decision laid ahead of her. One that wouldn't be easy. One that boiled in her mind for months. One she was too afraid to come to terms with.
But if she wasn't going to make the call - nobody would.
"So what's the plan? You're clearly not going to sit here and watch from the sidelines," the Commodore's voice echoed through the Vice Admiral's quarters.
"I didn't call this meeting so you can ask me what the plan is, Edwards," Maria responded with a firm tone, "offer me ideas."
It would be a silent two or three minutes in Uhmen's quarters after her last statement, as her guests were pondering.
"Vice Admiral, may I?"
"As you were, Captain," she turned her head to look towards Brown who was seated on the opposite side of the desk.
"I believe you should discuss the matter with someone that can do something about it first. I think that is the solution you're looking for, ma'am."
"She's not wrong," Christopher said, standing in front of the observation window and looking out towards space, "Kemp-Smith has already shown he trusts you."
"It's only right if you at the very least consult him, Uhmen."
He wasn't wrong. Uhmen knew she already had the Fleet Admiral's full support on all of her previous endeavours not only in Ontario but also in Coronado. Not only that, but Kemp-Smith had even gone the extra step to share the Vice Admiral's trust for Revenant - something which came as a pleasant surprise to Uhmen.
"So what are you suggesting then? I tell the Fleet Admiral that the Republic's doing nothing about the alien threat? That all our hopes so far lay with the LSF who are not even to be trusted? That we need Auxo's help in this?"
"Don't be silly, Maria."
"Think of it differently; the Republic has thrown countless of resources and its best engineers - its biggest minds - into Project Akhetaten. From the ship's very construction thirty-four years ago to her return to service seven years ago to her retrofit four years ago. What matters truly is how you approach the matter and how you form your.. complaints."
"Elaborate."
"Ask for a hearing; perhaps a comms channel with the Government. Speak with them. Offer solutions to the problem rather than simply mentioning the problem. That's what they looove to hear. Solutions."
The Vice Admiral's gaze would turn towards the Commodore who almost spoke in riddles. He'd stare back at her through the reflection on the glass.
"The difficult part is finding those solutions," he added, "I've got a few things in mind myself to pitch towards the Fleet Admiral. But we'll not only need his approval," he turned his head towards the Vice Admiral, his eye locking onto hers before he continued, "we'll also need his own opinions on the matter - don't forget that."
"So what are those solutions you're pondering of?" She asked the Commodore.
"Give some time, Uhmen. I'll need to think about it some more," the man replied before walking towards the door, "I'll let you know when I've got something to work with," he added before stepping out of the Vice Admiral's quarters.
"Dismissed, Captain," Uhmen nodded to Brown, who firmly got to her feet and walked out of the quarters.
With the Akhetaten spending the majority of the last few months in Juneau's dry docks for thorough maintenance and upgrading of various components in order to ensure the warship is kept up-to-date with the most recent technological advancements, the warship and her crew barely saw any activity during that time. The flag officer's quarters had been kept rather free of noise, with the Vice Admiral often pondering in silence about the growing situation that the Government does not seem to react about, or even identify as a problem.
When the prototype battlecruiser was not grounded at Juneau, the missions it carried out did not extend further than simple patrols around sovereign Liberty space.
Recently, however, the warship undertook an important role.
During a typical patrol in the California system, and while in the vicinity of Planet Los Angeles, the ship's sensors picked up multiple hostile contacts belonging to Task Force Prometheus - a rather recently formed assortment of imbeciles that sought to revive the long-dead Hellfire Legion, referring to themselves as Legionnaires. With due haste, fighter squadron Alpha was deployed and they swiftly took care of the miniscule threat.
However, it soon would turn out that there were greater dangers looming in the dark, as multiple unknown contacts would begin to appear on the warship's long range sensors. With Nomad weaponry being identified on some of those vessels, it very quickly became apparent that the Navy had Wild ships on their hands, and the situation would grow even more dire as several additional contacts made their appearance on the battlecruiser's sensors.
With the Akhetaten undertaking the role of close support and acting as a mobile carrier for the allied fighter squadrons, the battle that followed was a significant victory for the Navy, during which they suffered no casualties. Fleet Admiral Kemp Smith's fighter was severely damaged during the fight, but with the battlecruiser being present and ready to initiate search and rescue, the Fleet's commanding officer was in no trouble whatsoever.
The engagement itself, a rather simple raid in the minds of most pilots and officers, was something far greater than that to the knowledgeable eyes of not only Uhmen, but Edwards as well.
And not one day later, the Vice Admiral's quarters would see the two of them discussing the ongoing matters yet again.
"It looks like they're not planning to give up anytime soon, hm?" The Vice Admiral spoke with a dissatisfied tone in her voice,
"It does not look like it, no," the Commodore replied, exhaling heavily, "not only are we not making any progress towards thwarting the looming alien threat, but I heard the Government ordered a full retreat from Ontario. Nobody's stationed there anymore, last I checked," he continued, his eye locked onto the flag officer, almost as if he was trying to read her thoughts while she sat in silence.
A thud. A wake-up call that something had to be done. The Commodore stroke his fist against Uhmen's desk.
"And as if the Nomads weren't giving us a tough time already, there's West's goons roaming free out there, apparently supported by the Technocracy. Get a load of that," he angrily continued, almost growling as he spoke.
The Vice Admiral deeply inhaled and stood up, turning her back to Christopher and looking out the window that was behind her.
"Task Force Prometheus is out there, looking for the perfect opportunity to prey on more of our people. And Nomads, Wilds, infectees and any other scum that follows them are not far. We cannot sit in silence any more, Uhmen, by the time the Government decides to act, it'll be too late."
"Then what is it that you propose I do?" The flag officer asked calmly, slowly turning towards her subordinate, looking into his eye as she raised an eyebrow.
A long pause followed. A few moments of quietness as the Commodore pondered in silence.
"You have the Navy's most powerful warship under your command, one of the most fearsome warships to have ever roamed Sirius. You have a task force dedicated to that very warship. You have effectively formed your very own battle group centered around this ship, something I could've never even dreamed of."
"You have the tools, technology, the people and all the support you require," Edwards paused for a second, allowing the flag officer to process his words. "You need to get Kemp-Smith involved. Inform him of everything that is going on, the looming dangers that are all around us, feeding off of the Governments inaction."
"But remember," a long pause followed, "offer solutions, do not just mention the problem. You have the most capable ship in the Navy's arsenal at your disposal. You have a fearsome battle group ready to follow that ship anywhere. Use what you have. Request unique rules of engagement, request operational independency for all of Task Force Akhetaten. Take the matters into our hands, maybe we still have a chance to fix things."
With that, the Commodore turned away, facing towards the door to Uhmen's quarters as he begun walking towards it.
