Chapter 7: The Helmsman

January 11^th, 2279

Or is it already the next day? Feels like it.

The Oopid alliance was a union of around 20 races that had been forcibly unified by the Oopids using the Seki, a race whose origins were completely in the dark. All that was known was that the original Oopids suddenly showed up with the Seki in tow, along with their unique ships and fighting style. They spent decades subjugating the systems and sectors around their homeworld and by the time they clashed with the League, they were much more experienced in warfare than the League, which had just spent 121 years at peace ‒ the so-called bright era ‒ steadily expanding through trade and kind words. The League was completely unprepared to fight a large number of small, nimble ships whose primary weapon – some sort of shapeless energetic projectile ‒ easily brought down their shields in just a few hits and wreaked havoc on their hulls effortlessly. Capturing one of those vessels and with it the installed weaponry had been attempted multiple times ending in disaster ‒ Oopid ships had dozens of fail-saves destroying ships whenever they left the fray. They only knew that the weapon was a volatile system, usually the first to blow up when their gunships were critically hit, possibly also a fail-safe or just due to the nature of the system. The war only ended in a stalemate when the Seki turned against the Oopids for an unknown reason and the Manqs, another Empire and known for its principle of secrecy, took the opportunity to grab some territory from the Oopids, overstretching the Oopid’s capacity to fight. There had been a demilitarized zone between the League and the Oopid alliance ever since, closely guarded by both fleets and riddled with mines and other unpleasant surprises. The League’s leadership was well-aware how lucky they had beeen, which was the main reason why there was now an internal conflict in the Senate, one part wanting to build even more and stronger ships and another part desperately looking for allies, engaging in treaties that were to the detriment of the League. There also was a small faction wanting to work towards peace and understanding with the Oopids and Seki, but they were seen as optimistic fools by most and a danger to be yelled at by some.

Basil had been part of some false-flag operations during the war, his most successful resulting in a sweeping victory in the Helix nebula. But it had come at a high cost for all involved. Originally, a whole division of the Kebi fleet ‒ one of the races subjugated by the Oopid-Seki onslaught ‒ was secretly reaching out to the League, wanting to change sides after an internal coup. They were fed up with the Oopid-Seki leadership using them in massed wave assaults and plundering their homeworld and colonies for the war effort. Basil had been the agent sent to determine if this was a genuine attempt at securing a partnership or another Oopid plot – of which there had been many, often fooling the League, which was unused to the trickery agents from more autocratic systems often excelled at, having come up in a climate of fear and suppressing their honest thoughts. Basil had met with the council of soldiers now in charge of said division and determined they were likely honest about their intentions. They were, however, an isolated garrison covering the nebula flanking the most active battlefields a sector over. CO decided on a ruthless, but in their eyes necessary plan: They transmitted the data on the Kebi division Basil had collected via codes that the Oopids had just cracked, forcing the Oopid alliance to act. They suspected the leak was by design, but they could not let a whole division become an example to the other races secretly fed up with their strange overlords. So, they pulled a whole fleet from the front and entered the Helix to wipe out the traitors, only to discover the latter had entrenched themselves well in their defensive position ‒ as ordered ‒ but in all directions, not only towards the League. The ensuing fight was a brutal affair, losses for the Kebi were around 90%, but the Oopids also suffered half their ships being destroyed. And just at the moment when the Oopids were securing the final bases the Kebi had held, the League’s 2^nd fleet moved in. It was a two-pronged attack, the 2^nd fleet succeeding in wiping out the Oopid fleet in the Helix with acceptable losses, but the assaults of the 11^th and 6^th fleet in the neighboring sector on the frontline only found limited success against the overstretched Oopid forces, reinforcing their inferiority in tactics and doctrine. However, the League finally had a victory to show for. The whole preceding operation was kept under close wraps, the official position being that they had been unaware their codes had been broken for the 11^th month in a row and that the 2^nd fleet was supposed to link up with the Kebi and flank the Oopid front through the Helix.