The Grey Chronicles Part Two: Under Siege.

Chapter 1: Dread Not, Dreadnought.

The Anarchist, outer space around Stonehaara One, August of 8096 AL.

This is starting to get annoying, Salem thought as he looked out over the helm, Why, why now of all times?

What Salem was referring to was fear. Of course, if he was not afraid he would have to be even more of a madman than he already was; he had just watched eight thousand dreadnoughts emerge from the storm around the Stonehaaryn home world. It was already impressive that he had not considered running away; anyone else would be shaking in their boots.

If Salem had not been there, the armada around him wouldn't have had a chance. The odds of success were as slim as a skeleton, but without a strong leader their only chance would be snuffed out; much like their lives.

"Sir," Jaeger said, appearing beside the helm, "I count exactly eight thousand hostile vessels, all are copies of the Foehammer."

"Is the original among them?" Salem asked, turning to look at his AI.

"No sir," the bowman answered, "Not that I can tell, at least."

"Thank you, Jaeger," Salem sighed, watching the dreadnoughts advance slowly. He looked down at his console and hailed Seth, who answered almost immediately.

"We can't defeat all of them," the Stonehaaryn leader said bluntly as he appeared on the main screen.

"No, we can't, but we can still complete the mission," Salem crossed his arms, looking Seth straight in the eyes.

"Yes we can," Seth rubbed his forehead nervously, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Split our forces?" Salem asked, "Set formations and send the remainder of the fleet on the retreat?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Seth said, "Standard ten-twenty formation?"

"Aye, that sounds like the best option." Salem looked at Augustus, who started typing up orders for the fleet.

The ten-twenty formation was a standard battle fleet made up of a total of one thousand and twenty ships. It consisted of two hundred cruisers, five hundred destroyers, three hundred frigates, and twenty shieldcasters. The shieldcaster was essentially an engine and a shield generator, creating a barrier for the rest of the fleet to hide behind. The shieldcasters would work together to create one massive shield, and the other ships would work under the command of a single cruiser, using the shield for cover and attacking from multiple directions. It was highly effective.

Salem's eyes snapped back to Seth's, "How many formations should stay? We can't defeat that many dreadnoughts in a space battle."

"I was thinking guerrilla tactics," Seth answered, "You and I can lead four formations against the Titanus fleet now, try to break through their blockade and complete the mission. The other ships can perform smaller raids on whatever is left when we're finished."

"Sounds like a plan," Salem grunted. It wasn't a good plan; they were basically sacrificing four thousand vessels for the sake of the mission. It was a bad plan, but also their best plan, the only option that had any chance at showing results.

"I will send orders to my fleet, we'll split up into two formations," Seth stated, "We should hold onto Admiral Onasi's dreadnoughts, we will need them."

"Aye, I will send orders out to my fleet," Salem looked the Stonehaaryn leader in the eye, "Seth?"

"Yes, Salem?"

"In case we don't have the chance, it's been an honor fighting with you."

"And in what context do you mean 'fighting with you?'" Seth smiled warmly, "Fighting against, or fighting alongside?"