Genocide

[Error]

"Agreed, General. Start with an area large enouh for a firebase; we can expand from there. I have civilian construction teams ready for assist you, should you need them."

- - -
The stealth vessel cruised slowly, observing the fleet and tapping communications.

"Helm, confirm with the loyalists that they are ready."

"Confirmed, all ships ready."

"Execute jump."

Several ships - primarily civilian - turned together, orienting. As they did, their F-Drives charged; and with a dull blue distortion, they vanished into FTL, only to reappear over the planet's first moon. Shortly thereafter, a transmission came back to the remaining fleet;

"This is Commander Hood of the UNSV Blink of an Eye. You are preparing to conduct an unlawful colonization. I realize we have been travelling for twenty years, but is it really worth it to conduct a genocide just for the sake of colonization?"

[Professor Fenway]

Hendrix switched on the communicator. "The crew of the Hell Frozen Over, in light of our data, refuses to commit to the colonization of the planet. The planet is both extremely toxic to us and inhabited by sentient beings." He took helm controls, switched on the F-Drive, and shortly jumped away into the system's asteroid belt.

[DeadlyMiddie]

General Lynx smiled and activated the ship's intercom.
"First and Second companies, board your dropships and begin planet fall at *coordinates*. First and Second Gunship Squadrons, I don't want a single plant or building standing in a 1km radius of those coordinates. Be advised: the indigenous plants are highly toxic. Keep your suits sealed at all times."
Lynx turned to his weapons officer, "Have the missile launchers fire their thermobaric weapons into those coordinates as well."

The unlucky reptiles that lived in the coordinates specified by Lynx thought that a meteor shower was coming from the sky. Then the explosions started. The reptiles either asphyxiated, flattened, or burned to death from the thermobaric missiles. The remaining reptiles peaked out of their meager cover to see the gunships come screaming out of the sky. A reptilian child tried to wake up its dead mother. After the gunships made their runs, the dropships came in for a landing. The marines disembarked, shooting any non-human thing that they saw. After about half an hour, Captain Ortiz of 1st Company transmitted to Barian and Lynx, "AO is secure. I repeat, the AO is secure. You can bring down the contractors."

[Solar112]

One crew member on the bridge asked to be excused and was immediately granted permission by Jochen. Everything was going to plan. The crew immediately gathered their 60 men. Jochen, and Eckhardt excused themselves from the bridge, moving to the group of 60, all now carrying their weapons. Then the men were split into two groups, one assaulted the bridge, killing all the marines, with about 15 casualties, the other assaulted engineering, also killing the marines, with 20 casualties.
===
The ship prepared to jump to the very edge of the system.
===
Once at the edge of the system, the cargo container that contained weapons immediately was pillaged and each member got one weapon.
===
Jochen prepared to have the ship landed on the small rock they were orbiting.

[Error]

Barian's reply sounded almost smug. "Well done, General. Have fun."

Hood shook his head. Madness.

"Haverson."

"Sir?"

"Tell me OUNI had some tricks for our dear flagship."

"Activating them now, sir."

- - -
The deck shifted as the engines engaged; the low rumble of thrusters permeated the hull.

"Report!" barked Barian, grabbing the rail around the command station.

"Thrusters engaged. Some kind of outside interference. We're deorbiting." called the helmsman, in the cool-never-flinch voice of pilots everywhere.

"Sound evacuation alarms. Override those damn engines. An-"

An explosion rocked the vessel, throwing half the crew to the floor; the remained glanced around as the ship went silent, before the wailing of alarms continued.

Barian opened a transmission to the fleet. "All ships, this is Admiral Barian. Outside interference has disabled the flagship. We are on an uncontrolled descent trajectory. Escape pods are launching; pick up any you can. General Lynx, dep, oy dropships to the crash site to retrieve survivors."

Switching to internal comms, he spoke grimly. "All personnel and passengers, report to escape pods. If you are not out in ten minutes, report to the upper decks and strap in; I want decks fifteen through thirty evacuated ASAP."

People scrambled; alarms wailed; the escape pods began ejecting, burning back into orbit or orienting for atmospheric entry. The outer hull of the Terra began to glow a dull red as it hit the atmosphere.

[DeadlyMiddie]

Lynx reacted with astonishing speed,
"I want 3rd Company spaceborne, NOW! GET THEM TO THE CRASH SITE OF THE TERRA! And what the fuck happened to the marines on the Stellar Heart? Whatever, it's not important. 2nd Force Recon, board your dropship and get down to Firebase Alpha. 1st Engineer Battalion, get down to the firebase and actually make it a firebase. Just medium howitzers for now."

[Solar112]

Once the ship got down to the surface, the dead crew, and marines were buried. The cargo containers were actually properly opened; The sides of the containers facing away from the center of the ship opened up, and laid flat along the ground. The building materials were used to set up a wall facing towards the parent star.

[Professor Fenway]

Hendrix guided Hell Frozen Over towards one of the larger asteroids and slowly, carefully, landed on the rock. It sealed the connection and the bottom laser turret began drilling into the asteroid. One of the ship's sample collection unit had been retrofitted to be a dedicated miner. Using the purification unit and the ship's on-board 3D printer, they could build anything.

Hendrix switched on the intercom. "As you are all aware, Admiral Barian has authorized the colonization of this world. Just an hour ago, Barian authorized an attack on the sentient species inhabiting the planet." He paused.

"Barian is a traitor to the UNSV. We have our work cut out for us." He shut off the intercom and turned to the console again. He brought up several schematic files; armor plates, weapons-grade ship lasers, a disposable missile rack. Downloaded from the Star of Terra during the voyage. He sent the schematics to engineering to get them build and installed.

[Solar112]

"So either we're splitting into several male/female teams, or we're finding another ship, with non-genocidal people. Or we're going home. Though Going home would be boring..." Eckhardt continued rambling for about 3 minutes before he realised no one was listening.

[Error]

A blue glow appeared, space warping slightly as the Blink of an Eye appeared just off Hell Frozen Over's bow.

"This is Commander Hood of the UNSV Blink of an Eye. We understand you remain loyal to the UNIA. We're assembling our amalgamated fleet in the asteroid belt; I would like you to join the captains' briefing aboard my vessel in... thirty minutes. What say you, Captain?"

[Professor Fenway]

"Acknowledged Commander Hood," Hendrix replied. "I accept. I can be over in a shuttle in 10 minutes." He switched off the console, appointed his second-in-command to temporary control, and began walking towards the docking bay.

Near the back of the ship, the first armor batch was completed. Several scientists carried it down to the docking bay, and loaded it into the EVA Construction Unit. It disengaged from the ship and began installing it on the bow.

[Error]

The shuttle drifted in to dock, the stealth ship's docking tube clamping onto the airlock and establishing a seal. As Hendrix exited, Hood waved him to follow, down the narrow passages towards the boardroom.

"Captain."

"Commander."

"I trust you've noted our current predicament and fleet composition?"

"Yes. Why exactly did so many military ships default to Barian's command?"

"Likely chain of command." Hood shrugged. "Most are loyal to their boss more than their country; or in this case, planet. In steps the strong-willed and charismatic Barian, and blam, new leader to follow."

"So how do we prevent them razing the planet? Ram them?"

"Better than harsh language, which is our only other course of action. We can armour our ships, but effective weapons... are still a ways off. We only have one fabrication vessel, nowhere near enough. I am open to suggestions."

The pair entered the wardroom; the loyalist fleet's captains were seated around the briefing table.

Hood gestures Hendrix to his seat. "Gentlemen. I trust you are all aware of our situation. I ask you put forth suggestions on our next course of action."

[Professor Fenway]

"Arm the natives," Hendrix said, relatively quickly.

"What?" someone asked.

"We arm the natives. We have nowhere enough manpower or resources at the moment to even consider fighting them. But we can communicate with the natives, and an entire planet attacking them is sure to drive them off, no?"

[Error]

Hood looked thoughtful.

"Yes... if we can communicate clearly and effectively, and train them to fight fairly well... we'd still need the ships, though. Orbital fire support from Barian's entourage would need to be cut off... and we'll need time to prepare. Very well. Unless any others have a better idea, we'll begin work on that."

No responses.

"Understood. This vessel will go to gather intelligence and the locations of notable cities and settlements; we shall also locate the flagship's crash site."

"Won't you be detec-" one of the captains started.

"No. This is a Point of No Return-class stealth corvette. We'll be all but undetectable. You are free to return to your ships, unless you wish to discuss something with me."

[Professor Fenway]

Clear! *BZZZT*

Hendrix poured over the tapes, looking for patterns and interpretations. From their brief contact, he had an idea of their language's structure. Enough to build a very basic automatic translator.


In the engineering bay, the scientists poured in another tray of liquid titanium. The massive printer closed, whirred, and soon churned out a large set of rifle components, enough to build approximately 15 laser rifles. The labs had been growing focusing crystals for the past 20 years, and now they reached the ceiling. With those, they had the capability to field a small army, at the cost of scientific data. One of the scientists took the components down further to an assembly station; several robots and scientists were working in tandem, putting the rifles together.