Humanity Endures

Part 5 - War is Politics With Bloodshed | Chapter 2

Charging ahead both waves of munitions were tens of thousands of "defender" missiles — specialized, quicker moving nuclear missiles intended to travel and explode ahead of the main body of nukes, destroying hostile projectiles and clearing the way before those hostile nuclear weapons could themselves destroy the friendly warheads that the "defenders" screened for. Such was the complexity of interstellar naval warfare, where the best counter to nukes was one's own nukes, and the best counter to those nukes, were nukes. That one could recite humanity's military doctrine at a bar and get a good laugh was itself rather entertaining, even if this doctrine remained effective at ensuring the slaughter of billions — something that was decidedly less entertaining. For all the nukes used in modern warfare, if it were not for ludicrously efficient radiation cleanup techniques, half of the galaxy would have been irradiated by that point due to the catastrophic states of warfare that humanity sporadically inflicted on itself in the name of betterment, or survival.

The raiders amongst the Tehkrian fleet, acting as deadly picket ships whose purpose was to intercept hostile fighters and warheads, then moved to the head of the Tehkrian formation, their point-defence bathing the void in the invisible might of countless anti-missile and anti-fighter lasers, whose righteous beams melted through millions of Nahmatiixian warheads and thousands of hapless fighters in the opening minute of battle; in the vacuum of space, lasers could not be seen by the human eye, but this did nothing to impair their lethality. These were joined by countless Tehkrian fighters, which also occasionally possessed their own limited, purely anti-missile version of laser point-defence, that similarly sliced through swathes of the Nahmatiixian ordinance approaching them. With the void being filled with countless lasers, and more munitions than anyone could count, the bridges of the Ineffable and innumerable other craft were occasionally privy to gasps of awe or delight as the tide of the confrontation shifted magnificently; Lassarha, already harboring a closeted fascination with destruction, had to exert conscious effort to not join the ranks of the gawking spectators. In spite of the Tehkrians' efforts, tens of millions more Nahmatiixian warheads remained; these were now a target for the far more deadly complement of nuclear warheads that flew towards the screening ships' far-away prey.

Behind the Tehkrian nukes advanced the Tehkrians' own swarm of fighters, intent on attacking the Nahmatiixian carriers and their fighter craft once their superior nuclear barrage had rendered the latter mostly nonexistent. Indeed, the weakness of the Nahmatiixian position seemed so simple that even a naval cadet could lead the Tehkrians to victory at this point. Furthermore, as the Tehkrian fleet was no longer in the Remnant, its remote-piloted fighters could finally be employed; as Nahmatiixian carriers were designed without much point-defence, instead relying on their own fighters to intercept threats, Yezalax saw his fighter craft as yet another means he could tear his ill-prepared opponent apart. This was too easy.

With each passing moment, the twin swarms of warheads and fighters drew closer together, both sides' fighters dodging the gauss and plasma rounds that were being exchanged at long range between the two fleets, while the warheads were soaring forth in such great numbers that evasion was pointless. At present, Yezalax's strategic situation could not have been better. His foe's fighters were about to be annihilated by a few nukes; his forces, aided by the Ineffable's antimatter cannons, could win any long-ranged duel; he had a few hundred thousand defensive stations pummelling his foe at every opportunity: had he not painfully learned to fear overconfidence a few decades ago, he would have already been opening bottles of celebratory alcohol. Indeed, many on his bridge, even those who had been suspicious of the battle's circumstances, had succumbed to this foolish optimism and were already cheering at the specter of victory. Those who were more seasoned, more cautious, or more cynical amongst Yezalax's crew joined their captain in being rightfully tense and apprehensive, as they watched the progression of the sea of warheads before them with morbid curiosity. The two, endless seas of ordinance were but a few thousand kilometers from each other; all of Tehkria's space was bathed in soon-to-be-detonated weaponry, and everywhere throughout the system, people braced themselves.