November 4, 2111
Commander Sizar
Awards and medals lined the wall behind Commander Sizar. Within his private quarters, Sizar leaned against his desk chair, feet crossed over his desk, hands over his stomach. This by-the-books, dogmatic commander prefers an order to things; his books have always been in the same order on his bookshelf near the door, his hologram monitor above the bookshelf is always the same volume, and when Sizar requests his favorite qwayk-made wake-up beverage, he always requests it the same way. This is the precedent by which he leads, and to be honest, he enjoys the power. Sizar holds no sympathy for any unfortunate soldier or unit that falls out of order. When this occurs, the punishments he employs can be seen as over-the-top by other commanders.
Commander Sizar stared at the endless painting on his ceiling, deep in thought. Thinking, thinking as time paced onward. His thoughts drifted from the painting to the current war, properly named the Wersillian War, after his foes, the Wersillian Legion. Ever since the beginning of this harsh conflict over the fate of the Milky Way Galaxy, Sizar has been at the forefront. When the Wersillian Legion made the first attack almost a decade ago, he was one of the first to be informed of it. His alliance of humans, qwayks, maelkii, and dor'o, known as the Alliance of Republic Worlds, or ARW, saw the Wersillian Legion as a threat to many species' way of life. The Wersillian Legion has been after control, and the ARW has opposed the legion's methods of stripping away freedoms from other intelligent species across the galaxy. This conflict eventually boiled over into an all-out war the ARW are losing. They have been since day one.
Suddenly, his concentration was broken as the door to his quarters was flung open. It was his first officer, the second in command of his starship called the Tempest of Titans.
"Sir, the Striking Star is in range of our tracker beams."
"Pull them into our hangar, then prepare the rangers to secure the fugitives James Stone and his squad." Commander Sizar's pale, qwayk face reddened with anger as he mentioned James's name. He wanted nothing more than to see the out-of-order, rogue soldiers punished to the fullest extent of their military crimes.
"Already on standby, sir, but that isn't all."
"Proceed."
"It's Chief Admiral Day-Bringer, sir. She wants a word with you."
"Chief Admiral… right, transfer her call to my cyberwatch and see yourself out."
"Sir." The first officer nodded and swiped over the call before closing the door on his way out.
Sizar took a deep breath, unsure of the topic of this call. "I was unaware of your promotion, Chief Admiral Day-Bringer. Congratulations," Sizar answered in an unenthusiastic tone. In the ARW military structure, chief admirals are elected by the ARW senate as the highest ranking individuals of the military. Each of the four core species in the ARW has one chief admiral, and because of this, the position is among the most prestigious in the alliance. It seems Day-Bringer is the new Chief Admiral representing the dor'o species.
Day-Bringer's response was unsympathetic, and her words dropped like stones. "Frankly, you've had your head in your ass for too long! Your bombastic ignorance doesn't even surprise me, given your devoted and horribly unnecessary manhunt of a rogue squadron."
Sizar's blood boiled in his slim, pale body. Keeping Day-Bringer's rank in mind, he held back his spite when responding, "Ma'am, you can hardly call James Stone and his legionnaire squad a common rogue squadron. Being the former legionnaire director, I would think you, of all people, would understand the principle we must uphold. We cannot let James set a standard amongst the few aces we have. His actions must be punished severely."
In war, soldiers willing to fight for a cause are the greatest resource available within a military. When some of those soldiers have supernatural abilities gifted to them through a genetic mutation, codenamed aces, they become invaluable. Aces are the 'ace up the sleeves' of the ARW military, and such is the origin of the name. Such a fitting term, too.
"This isn't about James Stone. Did you forget we're at war, a galactic war - one we're losing?" Day-Bringer sneered.
"No, ma'am!"
"Your recent actions have left me unconvinced, so let me reiterate! We're fighting a legion of nearly twenty billion dytircs, and another billion lycargans, with roughly four billion soldiers between the four species in our alliance! Let me put it like this, Sizar: I'm representing the ARW senate when I state your side mission is hereby terminated! Instead--"
Sizar cut her off, "Ma'am, we have the rogue legionnaires in our tractors as we speak. They'll be in custody within fifteen minutes."
Her next words came softer. "That's of no concern to the senate. Handle that on your own time. We have a more pressing concern for you."
"Ma'am?"
"Multiple scout squads are reporting a massive gathering of our enemy, the Wersillian Legion. They've also spotted korkyran warchiefs gathering with our foes. In response, I'm sending your ship and Commander Balthric's ship, the Leviathan II, to a nearby planet. There, you'll do whatever you deem necessary to find out why the Wersillian Legion is gathering with the korkyras. Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"I want your ship in slip space and on your way there within three hours," Day-Bringer cut off the conversation without a send-off.
Sizar grunted before messaging his operations assistant. "Sir?" the operations assistant responded.
"Send in our ships' prosecutor to my office. We have a trial to expedite."
"He's on his way."