Tomedana stood outside of the council hall. All he could hear was the muffled voices of the eldest Bonda. He heard nothing as to if the EIT were declared evil or not. No voices were raised, no tears were shed. There was no sign either way. Tomedana looked outside. he saw young Bonda children, happy and playing. It was a glorius day on Grell. He then imagined the destruction that could be cuased by the war. The glorious day suddenly turned into a nightmare. Flames rained from the sky as Grell died slowly. He almost wanted to burst in there and stop them. Theri ancestors did not want blind war on their quest to destroy evil. If only he could stop it. If he did, the Wolforum would have his head. Then rage for the Wolforum filled his head. They turned the Bonda into exactily what created the great river. But nothing could stop the council. They were the great leaders, and were the supreme authority, with Barodo at its head. He liked Barodo, but feared the man was going senile. He spent all of the Bonda budget money on tri fighters, which now make up our whole navy. Many people have tried over and over to add something besides fighters, or to create a more democratic Grell, but between hi aging and the Wolforum, there was little hope for him, or the race. Tomedana could not help but feel responsible. He told his species of a race who killed the Grox. But once they found out the truth behind the Eteno, everything changed.
Three days later, Tomedana's greatest fear wash realized. The Eteno were declared evil, and would be sent a message, asking them to repent in but a week, or face death
---
Barodo sat down and began to pen a message to the Eteno.
Adressed to the Eteno Race,
Greetings. We are the Bonda empire. Due to your deeds, you have been declared evil by our elders. You have exactly one week to repent and give back your conquered land, or be destroyed. You are also given the option to surrender if you please. if you do not take either action by the end of said week, we will declare war, and so will all empires allied with us.
With slight regret Barodo ordered the message sent, unable to be either retracted or edited.
ENS Maksym, Palchas System[]
He had seen it coming. Yes, he had seen it coming from the very beginning. The Grum, after so many centuries of value increase, had finally had a string of bad days. Still much stronger than the Sporebuck, but weaker than two or three other currencies Mihail could name off the top of his head. He had meant to check the going rates of the galaxy's foremost currencies, but the means and desire to do so were never present simultaneously. Fleet matters were much more interesting, and time consuming.
"Admiral Karp, message from the capital."
Mihail turned his attention to the communications section. It had been so long since direct orders had been given to the Maksym's strike group from the capital itself.
"Well, don't keep me waiting."
"Orders to head for... A system called Qwil. Nav info and such seems to be all here... Command wants us to destroy the fleet of a race called the Bonda, and provide orbital gunfire support for troops that will be landed after our first objective is completed. It's been too long since a good bombarding, sir. Are we going to shove off now?"
"Of course we are. Order all hands to brace for warp! We're going to war for the first time in far too long!" Mihail Karp could hardly stop a silly grin from creeping onto his features.
"Roger that, sir. Officer, get on that."
"Yes sir. All hands, prepare for warp. I repeat, all hands, prepare for warp."
"Helm, put us at full speed in approximately one minute."
"Copy. Full speed, full speed prepare."
"Comms!"
"Yes sir?"
"Hail fleet, slave their nav systems to ours!"
"Yes sir. Attention all ships, slave your navigation systems to system designation three, six, four, nine, seven..."
"Confirm, navigation?"
"Roger that, comms, navigation info locked in, ready for warp."
"Alright, gentlemen, here we go." Admiral Karp licked his lips in anticipation, "Helm, full power!"
And just like that, over a hundred Imperial Navy vessels shot towards the home of the Bonda. It was a relatively short trip, only a few hours. Much of the crew readied themselves for what was to come, from storing their effects to bringing up ammunition for the railguns.
"Admiral, we're ten minutes out."
"Good. Go to General Quarters!"
"Yes sir. Comms, order GQ!"
"Roger that." The sound of a flicked switch was all that preceeded the piercing sirens that blared from the ship's hundreds upon hundreds of built-in speakers.
"General Quarters, General Quarters, all hands to battlestations, all hands to battlestations."
Helmets were passed around the bridge while thousands of men and women activated guns, loaded ammunition, and fortified large passageways in case of boarding. Marines clung to their rifles in anticipation, and pilots rushed to their fighters and bombers in the hangar bays.
"Coming out of warp in five... Here we are!"
"Radar, what are we looking at here?"
ENS Maksym, Qwil System[]
"Ah... This can't be right, Admiral.
"And why is that?"
"From the signatures I'm receiving... This is a fleet made up entirely of fighters here. They look like they were about to go somewhere themselves, their formations are tight and orderly."
"Deploy all fighters, and order the corvettes to take the lead. I want a fighter screen shielding the front of all the battleships and cruisers. Fire missiles and beam weapons once the bogies are close enough to guarantee a hit on something."
"Yes sir. Attention fleet, adopt these formations now. Corvettes, take the lead..."
"Helm, show them our broadside. Gun control, fire missiles and beams when the bogies are close enough, and order the other weapons stations to lay down suppressive fire starting this very instant! Get it done!"
Waves of Bonda fighters turned and sped towards the Eteno fleet, braving the thick sheets of exploding rounds and laser fire set down barely inches away from the forefront craft. Eteno corvettes and frigates rushed ahead of the main fleet, spreading out to ensure maximum anti-fighter gun coverage. Once the Bonda fighters came within a few dozen miles, the smaller Eteno ships' gun batteries lit up, spraying the fast-approaching fighters with a deadly wall of laser and gunfire. Few fighters even came within range of the fighter screen before evaporating into clouds of smoke, fire, and shrapnel. Those that did found that their lasers and missiles did farily little damage to the shields and hulls of their targets.
While weaving in and out of the larger ships proved to be a good tactic for prolonging their lifespans, the Bonda fighters soon found themselves facing a different threat: Imperial Navy 'Luca' and Defender fighters. They were as fast or even faster than the Bonda craft, and their advantage in numbers meant that veritable hailstorms of missiles went their way, weaving around the Eteno capital ships as effortlessly as the Bonda did. It was in short time that the last fighters met their end at the hands of the short, yellow imperialists. Admiral Karp ordered troop transports and shipments of heavy Imperial Air Force aircraft, and began his wait, carefully arranging his battleships, cruisers, and destroys in the most effective pattern for surface bombardment of the planet Grell, which had been reported to be the Bonda capital.
From the surface of Grell, Bonda citizens and military personnel alike looked up in awe at the sky when great shadows were cast on the surface by ships in orbit, sitting between the radiant blue star of Qwil and the now-besieged Bonda capital.