"They're waverunners," Blue informed her. "In the early part of the war, our single craft fighters were getting slaughtered. They weren't maneuverable enough or fast enough to be effective against Tsavitee ships. The waverunners gave us a fighting chance. Because they're so small, they're harder to lock onto, and their boards can be used as a battering ram for an insertion force."
"After that, it's a matter of planting a few bombs in critical areas and then bugging out before the ship blows," Raider added.
"Clever," one of the oshotas from Roake said.
"We thought so," Raider said.
Not to mention they were useful when dropping into atmo for a space to ground insertion. It was easy to hit one big target. Much harder when trying to hit hundreds.
It was a hell of a ride down, though.
The simulation resumed with the Tsavitee ship firing. Debris flew from the ship on the right. The McNeil.
Unlike in holofilms, ships didn't typically explode immediately upon taking a hit. They were built to withstand a lot. When the survival of those inside depended on the air and atmosphere staying where it was, it made you a tad paranoid in the design.
There were redundancies built into a ship in the event of hull puncture. It was always the vacuum of space that got you in the end. Punch enough holes in a ship's hull, and it didn't matter how good the design, you'd suffocate in seconds if you weren't wearing a pressurized suit.
That was demonstrated seconds later as the Tsavitee launched scatter bombs, which detonated a hundred feet from impact, the shrapnel shredding the ship's port side.
The McNeil listed to one side.
"They should have retreated at this point," Rheya said. "It was obvious they were outmatched."
Silence fell as one by one, eyes turned toward Kira.
"Blue, give me your tablet," Kira said calmly.
Blue flicked a glance in question toward Raider. He hesitated before nodding.
Blue handed the tablet over. Kira bent, her fingers flying across the screen. A short time later, she smiled. She should have known Blue would have all the mission reports, every piece of information she could get her hands on, stored in her files. It made sense. The Curs had been her family too.
"Jin, a little help," Kira whispered.
"Got it."
Kira flicked the information away. Jin took it and put it on the same device Rheya had been using for her little presentation.
"What you didn't take into account was the fact that this was the single most important moment in human history," Kira told her, rising.
In the midst of the three ships that had remained close to the moon, a Haldeel diplomatic vessel took shape.
"That day, we were in the midst of talks regarding a treaty." Kira descended the steps, her pace slow and unhurried.
"We couldn't retreat because the Haldeel's ambassadors were planetside. We knew if the Haldeel lost any of their diplomats because we turned and ran, we could kiss any possibility of support goodbye." Kira's lips quirked up on one side, the half-smile not touching her eyes. "Though, I'll admit the prospect of abandoning three million never really occurred to us. I doubt it would have occurred to Roake either, if it had been their people down there. We'd already lost so much. They were ours, and they deserved our best even if the sacrifice was more than we wanted to pay."
Kira's attention moved to the hologram as she studied it. She thought Rheya had controlled it like this. Kira made a gesture, and the scene rewound.
"The waverunners were sent out to investigate a stray comet. The Tsavitee war party was using it to hide their ship's signature in a move they learned from us."
Humans hadn't been able to fight head to head so they'd gotten crafty, using any and all techniques to even the odds. It was one of the reasons the runners had been sent out. The command team had known exactly how a comet could be used to hide unsavory surprises.
Turns out, they were right to be worried.
The battle resumed as the McNeil began to break apart, venting atmosphere and water that froze instantly, creating a giant plume around it.
"You have this part right. The McNeil falls early. Its death serves as a warning to the rest of the fleet," Kira said, circling the table, her gaze fixed on the battle taking place above her head.
"Outgunned and outmatched, they only have minutes to decide on a course of action." Kira stopped, facing Graydon. He listened; his thoughts unreadable. “The commander of the Vega, Charles Berry, decides to lure the Tsavitee into a trap."
"How?" one of Roake's oshota asks.
"Only a few species of Tsavitee display executive functioning skills. Most are a slave to their desires. Enrage them. Distract them, and they're easy to manipulate."
"They wouldn't leave a force of that size to one of the lower forms," another oshota said.
"You're correct. A higher form always accompanies a force of this size. Sometimes it's a general; or it can be a mantis, skyling, or yellow, as we call them. The commander opens a channel to the lead ship and offers them something they've wanted for a while." Above Kira, the Vega slowly breaks off its attack, heading toward the moon.
Soft murmurs break out among those watching as the Tsavitee ships followed.
"On the moon was a temporary mining camp of a mineral called Smaralta, a compound known to be dangerous when combined with hydrogen. If exposed to heat, it will explode. The more heat, the bigger the explosion," Kira said. "While the Vega and the McNeil buy them time in the battle, the miners start flooding the shafts with hydrogen. They set charges throughout in the hopes of creating a big enough explosion to damage the Tsavitee ships."
The Vega circled to face the Tsavitee warships.
"Unfortunately, no plan ever survives contact with the enemy. Those on the waveboards would have been in the path of the resulting debris. Exposed. Defenseless. Their armor would have been little protection; the debris would have shredded it. However, if they veered away to try to escape, they would have alerted the Tsavitee to the trap."
They weren't the only ones in the path of destruction either. The Vega also stood between the moon and the approaching force.
Above Kira, the moon exploded, a quarter of it disintegrating as a great plume of debris shot toward the ship and waverunners. Everything was destroyed.
Kira touched the small icon hovering in front of her. The battle scene faded, replaced by hundreds of photos with names under them.
Rheya stared at them in confusion.
"I thought you should know the faces of the people whose sacrifice you were so dismissive of," Kira said.
There was a frozen look on Rheya's face, as Kira walked away, the colored lights from the hologram playing over her as she stepped through two of her fallen friends. She felt almost brittle as she made her way to the door, past caring what anyone might think of her.
Jagged glass coated her throat as she fought to swallow dangerous emotions.
She needed be away from here before she did something she might regret.
*
The individual photographs scattered to reform into one large group photo. This one was different than the others, unposed. The people in it were relaxed and comfortable, their postures saying they were familiar with each other. Taken on the flight deck of a human destroyer, there were cargo containers and mechanic tools scattered all around.