The Nadesico in the Imperium of Man - Vol. 1: Shards of Hope

Prologue

The tension was palpable on the bridge of the Prince Henry III. The colony carrier and her consorts had just been driven at gun point from their designated star system dozens of light years away from Earth.

"What the Hell?" muttered administrator Joanna Tillman as she tried to straighten out what had happened only three hours ago. The head colonist had seen images of the star system throughout the extensive planning nine months prior to the launch of the small colony fleet. They had shown absolutely no signs of previous settlement. And for the three months of travel in what was still called 'boson space', everyone was geared to start new lives on an earth-like alien world.

Instead, they dropped out of 'boson space' into the guns of hundreds of black painted frigates and destroyers of unknown manufacture. They immediately 'requested', in a very friendly manner of course, that the colony fleet turn back to Earth because the entire sector was dangerous and unfit for new settlement. When the new settlers had protested, and threatened to call for UEAF reinforcements, a small number of the unknown vessels destroyed every long range communications and sensor unit in the fleet with precise rail gun shots.

Left with no other options, the colony fleet left the system. But only a single escort ship headed back to Earth; the rest of the fleet was going to the Alpha site, a secondary planet to colonize should something disastrous occur in the primary site. "Well, at least the bakas at the home office had the sense to come up with a backup plan, Ma'am," said one of the subordinate crew members.

"Yes, I suppose we should be grateful for that." The administrator said with overbearing sarcasm. Home office should have gotten it right the first time. At least, when the dispatched frigate gets back, whoever it was they overlooked during the scouting surveys would get a visit from the UEAF Sol System Combined Fleet. The nerve they had, forcing them to leave the system that rightfully belonged to the colonists by charter! And making up some B.S. story about some unnamed danger…

"Ma'am!" a shocked voice from the crew man on the sensor array shouted, "the short range sensors just picked up a large boson jump fifteen degrees off starboard!"

Before the senior officers could respond, he shouted again in a more panicked voice, "MULTIPLE HIGH- SPEED INBOUND TARGETS! HUNDREDS OF THEM!"

The Administrator's face went white even as two of the five remaining frigates exploded in front of the colony ship. Scores of scorpion-like attack drones swarmed all through the formation, energy blasts spewing from their arched tails. Through the screech of damage alerts, the sensors reported that a formation of two dozen capital ships now approached them. The lead ship was sleek, black, and scarcely visible to the naked eye…

And it transmitted repeatedly the same message to every screen in the fleet: Let hope bleed from every soul, for all will share in the Hell I've borne for too long! Tremble at the wrath of the eternal CHAOS! A massive gravity blast reached across space, and the colony ship was blown to pieces…

…the fragments from Ryoko's latest kill danced across her display screen, blocking her view of the other three hostile Aestivalis that were attempting to escape. "Open fire! Don't let them get away!" Three of her wing men let loose a barrage from their laser cannons and the humanoid combat mechs disintegrated into tiny particles. "Alright, now everyone! Assault the dock yard!"

The space dock in the asteroid belt below was stirring with frantic activity. As her squadron drew closer, the camouflaged hanger doors on the massive asteroid began to retract, revealing numerous docked warships and combat mechs. Enemy Aesty wings were scrambling and crews were running to their ships. If only they hadn't bumped into that last patrol…

'No time for 'if only's, just focus on the objective.' Ryoko made herself focus hard on the enemy. "We may not have total surprise, but the enemy must be surprised as hell that we found them, anyway! Fry'em as they launch! And don't waste ANY of the heavy munitions on small fry!" It brought back memories from an old mission with Tenkawa when he had made that mistake and nearly cost all of them their lives.

"Aye, Ma'am!" her twenty-nine strong Aesty squadron acknowledged and cut loose as they descended on the enemy. A fury of lasers and anti-distortion shells tore through the last minute departures. "Ma'am, bogies detected skimming the 'roid from aft and below us!" One of her subordinates radioed.

She had already noticed the blips on her mech's radar. "Ignore them. Focus on the dock!" She ordered the nervous pilot, and maneuvered her squadron in front of the main hanger and proceeded to blast the nearest capital ship with her suit's particle cannon. The Aesties with the heavy particle cannons and anti-ship missiles focused on the warships while the others destroyed anything less worthy of such a spectacular death.

"Remember, this is the Jagged Wing battle fleet we're fighting, so show them no mercy!" Their orders specifically stated there were to be no prisoners taken. But she didn't hesitate to fulfill that order. Their death warrants were signed long ago, after their attack on the Lagrange-3 colony six years ago. They killed millions of civilians just to send a message to the United Earth Forces government. It reminded her of other crimes this group had committed. "This one's for Akito, you bastards!" she growled to herself as she worked the mech's weapon up a cruiser's bridge. A smiled with grim satisfaction as Ryoko watched the frantic bridge crew disintegrate.

This hidden base contained some the Successor's most elite and fanatical units. However, Ryoko and her forces were laying waste to it without much opposition. They were completely unprepared for an attack. And, aside from a few patrols, the enemy hadn't placed any defenses, like sensors, turrets, or mines, in order to make the base less conspicuous. It had kept them from detection in the Sol system for years. Now, that decision was costing them dearly.

The satisfied feeling flowed through her as she surveyed death and destruction sweeping through the hangar doors. Ryoko wondered if this was how Akito felt, waging his personal war across the stars. Constantly fighting, forever hunting his enemies…

"Ma'am, the enemy units are almost on top of us!" Ryoko just ignored the warning. Not a single one of her units turned to face the oncoming threat. The enemy thought they were going to get easy prey…

…Until two more squadrons of Aesties sprung out of ambush positions among the asteroids and launched a tidal wave of radar-guided missiles. Unable to evade the multi-directional barrage, the missiles struck with deadly effect. As Ryoko viewed the destruction of the aft group, she could have sworn the detonations were spelling out 'Hi, Ryoko!' in kanji… "Lt. Hikaru! Stop goofing around!"All she got in response was smiley face drawn out in missile kills. "Fine, you idiot! Just make sure you get them all!"

A gravity blast shot through the wreckage that had piled up at the entrance and wiped out five of the Aestivalis next to her. "Crap! Spread out!" Ryoko screamed as her Aesty's left arm disintegrated. Proximity alarms howled as an enemy battleship's protective graviton distortion shield came online and tore open a hole through the debris. "Give it everything we got! We can't allow it to escape!"

"Ryoko, pull your squadron back," a calm and neutral voice ordered, "The battle group is now in position and will finish the enemy off."

Ryoko quickly ordered all of her squadrons to withdraw and turned to watch as the entire Nadesico 'squadron' bored down on the lone enemy ship. The combined fire power of five frigates, three destroyers, two battleships (including the Nadesico-C), and their massive carrier flagship, the Largesse, came to seventeen graviton wave cannons. And they blew the enemy ship into nonexistence in a single moment. Even a battleship's distortion field was no match for that many high-energy weapons.

More ships began to pour out of the asteroid base. The ships of the Nadesico squadron lined up their guns down the open hanger and fired again. The exposed innards of the base dissolved in the massive stream of energy. When the ships stopped firing, the asteroid was left dark and hallow. The stragglers were put down by missile fire, and, just to be sure no one would ever use this asteroid again, they broke it up with a wave of nuclear missiles.

"Attention! This Captain Makibi speaking, all Aestivalis are to return to the Largesse immediately."

"What?" Ryoko protested, "There might still be more of these scum hiding out there!"

"It isn't negotiable, Commander." The runt likes remind people of their rank way too much, Ryoko thought. "High command has given us new orders."

"New orders?"

A/N: Thanks to some constructive criticism and advise from Sir Dakkalot, I've begun revising my earlier chapters of Shards of Hope. As of this writing, up to ch. 3 has been revised with emphasis on the prolouge and ch. 3 and flushing out details on things that are actually interesting not just background. So hopefully you all will enjoy the changes I've made and then hopefully I can get the next chapter done! Hopefully...