War of Revelation (Babylon 5 AU)

[Jaenera Targaryen]

Disclaimer: I do not own the Babylon 5 franchise it belongs to J. Michael Straczynsky and Babylonian Productions

War of Revelation

Prologue​

An Elysian warship cruised through space, sleek with sharp contours and angles broken only by a gun turret along the forward dorsal hull as well as the command tower to the rear. Plasma blazed from the ship's engines driving it towards its destination, while aboard the ship's crew both organic and synthetic stood at action stations, ready and waiting for the possibility of combat.

"Reporting," the sensor officer spoke up from one of the bridge crew pits, buried safe and deep within the command tower. "Long-range scans have a fix on Listening Post S7G. The station appears intact, but in a low-power state. Shields are down, and weapons are unpowered. No life signs detected."

"There should be over two dozen people on that station." Commander Marcus Thiel remarked from where he stood next to the command throne.

"Is it possible they're simply too deep in the station to be detected?" Captain Anton Canies asked.

"Possible," the sensor officer replied. "But extremely unlikely. With shields down, there shouldn't be anywhere inside the station that our sensors couldn't penetrate."

Anton pressed his hand against his lips, pursed in thought. "Continue scanning as we approach, just in case." he finally said.

"Yes, sir."

"Communications?" the captain asked.

"No response to any of our hails, sir." the communications officer replied. "Attempts to remote-access the station using fleet command overrides have also failed, although it doesn't appear to be the result of active countermeasures. Instead, from the look of things, either communications are down, or the main computer is offline or cut-off."

"Just what the hell happened here?" Marcus muttered.

"S7G is on the edges of the hinterland." Anton sighed. "It's entirely possible one of the coreward polities attacked after discovering its existence, and treated it as a hostile intrusion in their space. But if so, then Intel's assessment of the local astrography would be outdated, as to our knowledge this region of space is unclaimed and indeed, well-off the known hyperspace routes."

"...could be pirates." Marcus said after a moment.

"Possible," Anton said with a nod. "But there is at least one known coreward polity with an established capability to go off the beacon network."

"...they are supposed to be touchy, aren't they?" Marcus mused. "But if so, why leave the station intact and not simply destroy it after going through it with a fine comb?"

There was a long moment of silence, and then CO and XO alike turned to look at each other with a knowing glance and shared a nod. "Shields are up and weapons are charged." the latter reassured the former as they turned back to the tactical display.

"Good." Anton darkly said. "It's really looking like this is going to go bad sooner or later."

Even at cruising speed, it still took the light cruiser half an hour to enter striking range of the seemingly-desolate listening post. As it did so, armored doors on the ship's prow slid open, before boarding torpedoes blasted out at high speed. Not of their own power, at least not until they were clear of the ship, at which point the torpedoes' own plasma thrusters came to life, sustaining their motion and accelerating even further.

In just over a minute, the torpedoes slammed into the station, a combination of sheer momentum, the torpedoes' specially-shaped prows, as well as matter disruption fields along said prows, cutting through the armored outer hull and then into the thinner pressurized inner hull. Once the torpedoes came to a halt, armored doors slid open, allowing Pacifier robot infantry to disembark.

"Reporting," the ship's arms master began, standing on the command deck before the command throne with a datapad in one hand. "Pacifier platoons report no signs of life. The command deck is clear, as are all action stations. Pacifier platoons are still securing the living areas, and from there will proceed to the engineering spaces."

"Aside from the complete absence of our men," Anton said. "Have they found anything else out of place?"

"Minimal signs of combat," the arms master said, causing everyone to stiffen. "Plasma burns and blood splatter. From the look of things, the crew got taken by surprise and were overrun in short order. Unfortunately, we have yet to find evidence as to who the assailants were, nor what they did to our men's bodies."

"I already have suspicions as to who those assailants were." Anton shortly said before narrowing his eyes. "Unfortunately, it's all conjecture based on circumstantial evidence. What of the station's databases?"

"The Pacifiers report they've been locked down." the arms master replied. "It seems our men on the command deck managed to hold out long enough to secure the main computer. Whoever these assailants were, they didn't get anything out of the station databases."

"It's intact, then?" Anton asked with a sense of foreboding.

"By all accounts, yes."

"Those bastards stocked the bait well." Marcus hissed, and Anton nodded in agreement.

"Transmit the fleet command overrides." he ordered. "Download everything on those databases as well as the station logs before initiating the self-destruct sequence. Expedite it, arms master. This has all the makings of a trap."

"Understood, sir." the arms master said while relaying the captain's orders.

As for the captain himself, Anton just sat back into the command throne, a finger tapping nervously at an armrest. As it was, it didn't even take a few minutes for things to quickly go south.

"Sir," the arms master said with a note of alarm. "The Pacifiers are reporting ambushes in the living areas and towards the engineering spaces. They are engaging but…the assailants, they're Minbari!"

"As expected…" Anton snarled. "...damn aliens…order the Pacifiers to initiate a tactical withdrawal. Consolidate their positions and hold the command deck until the data has been transferred. Once we have the data, we will withdraw from this region of space immediately."

"Sir!"

Anton nodded as the arms master relayed his new orders, but then blinked as alarms began to sound. "Energy spike!" the warning came from the sensor section. "Incoming neutron beams!"

Eyes turned toward holographic displays just as blazing white particle beams slammed into the ship's portside screens. The ship didn't so much as tremble, but alerts and updates flashed on the displays as the ship's shields fended off a precise volley of neutron fire.

"Prepare to return fire!" Marcus shouted. "Enemy locations?"

"No readings on any EM bands." a crewman replied.

"The Minbari have advanced ECM." the sensor officer snapped. "Compensate!"

"Compensating…" the crewman replied, working her station before nodding after a few moments. "...we have them, sir. Bringing up on the tactical display, reading three capital ships and at least eighteen escorts."

"Damn, that's too much for us to handle." Marcus cursed. "Your orders, sir?"

"Hold fire, let's keep the enemy guessing what our ships are capable of aside from quantum shielding." Anton replied. "Divert power to shields. Status of download?"

"Forty-seven per cent complete, sir!"

"Expedite! Navigation, plot a course for Port Magna Nubae. Helm, standby for emergency slipspace jump. Once we have the data, get us out of here."

"Sir!"

For the next couple of minutes, the ship weathered the Minbari bombardment as they steadily closed, and then the download was complete. "Adjusting heading." the helm officer reported. "Standby for emergency slipspace jump once we're clear of the station's gravitational influence."

"Pacifiers are holding position in the station." the arms master reported as the ship sped away from the station. "Self-destruct is armed and set for detonation once we're clear of the blast radius. Standby…standby…standby…final transmission received - Glory to Mankind."

Anton blinked and then fixed his eyes on the image from the ship's aft scopes, watching as the station erupted in a flare of white-hot plasma, before exploding in a blinding flash. Reflexively, he brought his right arm up, and swung his open hand palm down over his chest in a ninety-degree angle.

"Glory to Mankind." he softly echoed, and he wasn't the only one.

"Minbari ships are picking up speed…hyperspace portals opening to port and starboard!"

Anton narrowed his eyes, as Minbari escorts micro-jumped to port and starboard. Plasma blazed as the Minbari vessels delivered powerful broadsides with fusion lasers, the Elysian shields buckling and barely holding at such close range, the ship finally trembling at the impacts.

Then to the Minbari's shock, a ring opened in space right before the Elysian ship's prow. Its interior was no different at first glance from the darkness of space, yet when the Elysian ship passed through the ring, it did not emerge from the other side, but seemingly disappeared, diving into the darkness before the ring flickered and went out.

"Slipspace transition successful!" the helm officer reported. "ETA at Port Magna Nubae is fourteen hours and twenty-two minutes."

"Very good." Anton said, finally relaxing into the command throne. "Have the crew stand down to alert level two. Comms, contact Fleet Command: inform them we have secured S7G's data and destroyed the facility. Also, we have identified and engaged the enemy - the Minbari."

"Yes, sir." the comms officer said with a nod before turning back to his subordinates.

"Looks like we caught the enemy by surprise back there." Marcus remarked. "Then again, to our knowledge no one aside from ourselves has ever used an alternative form of FTL aside from hyperspace."

"True enough." Anton said with a nod. "As for surprising the Minbari, well, I'd say the debt is partly paid then."

"The remainder to be repaid in future battles, sir?" Marcus said.

"Is there any other way to repay it?" Anton grimly asked.

"No, I suppose not, sir." Marcus admitted.

"And there you have it." Anton said with another nod before narrowing his eyes. "Looks like it's going to be a war. What a shame."

"As you say, sir."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N

I will admit, I originally envisioned this as taking place in Star Trek, but decided to put it in Babylon 5 instead. The Earth Alliance could surely use some help, even if there's going to be fun times trying to figure out how and where an advanced interstellar Human civilization that isn't them popped up. Or not, depending on how first contact between Earth and Elysium goes.

As for the Minbari…yeah, let's see how they like fighting a war where they can't cheat.

 

[Jaenera Targaryen]

Disclaimer: I do not own the Babylon 5 franchise it belongs to J. Michael Straczynsky and Babylonian Productions.

War of Revelation

Chapter 1​

Elysia Augustus was the capital of the Imperium Elysio, and its capital was the Pomerium. Named after the sacred space of Rome of old, most of the city's inhabitants of 20 million lived in the Lower City, a vast collection of ziggurat-like arcologies and other structures that sprawled across an artificial plateau over twelve kilometers across at its widest point. To the western side of the city, the taller ziggurats of the Midline housed government functions both planetary and interstellar, among other eminent interests, all clustered around the highest ziggurat-arcology of them all.

The Capitol: seat of the Elysian Senate and the High Council alike. And it was in a chamber high up in the Capitol that the High Council met that day.

"Well, we knew this was inevitable." the First Lord said with a sigh. "I just wish it wasn't the Minbari who stumbled on our listening posts out in the Hinterland. Prickly aliens, not very friendly, to say the least."

"Not that diplomacy is going to even be possible to begin with." the Second Lord added while pinching his nose. "Minbari died during that skirmish. And from what our psyche profiles of the Minbari tell us, they're going to demand geometric retaliation for their fallen, and that's before factoring in the nature of our outposts near their space."

"We can hardly blame Captain Canies and his crew for defending themselves." the Lord High Admiral - regardless of her actual gender - said with mild heat. "Or for that matter, the crew of Listening Post S7G. Indeed, I must point out, and as the First Lord himself has just noted, our listening posts are out in the Hinterland. That is, relatively-uncharted space unclaimed by any polity, whether ourselves, the Minbari, or any other coreward polities."

"I agree." the Lord Commander said with a nod. "Our forces were merely defending themselves, although I will admit that we were spying on the Minbari and other coreward polities. Even if we were based in the Hinterland, that wouldn't make us look good."

"Information gathering on unknown or at least uncontacted polities is simply part and parcel of statecraft." the Keeper pointed out. "If the Minbari disagree, then they are simply naive."

"I'm not sure they'd disagree," the Lord Commander said. "Seeing as they have those so-called Rangers or whatnot of theirs, as much as they'd use it as an arguably-valid cassus belli."

"A fair point," the Keeper conceded. "Although I would still say it'd be something of an overreaction. An overreaction that regardless, we will have to respond in kind towards and if necessary, escalate."

"Escalation is going to be inevitable at any rate." the Second Lord said with a sigh. "Minbari are very proud and condescending, not that it's any surprise, considering how old their civilization is. Diplomacy will not be possible until their pride has been satisfied, pride already wounded by our apparent spying on them, no matter the rationale behind it, as well as the deaths of their own against our defenses. And it will only get worse as the fighting continues and more Minbari die."

"It's inevitable people die in war." the Lord High Admiral dryly said.

"I know." the Second Lord said with a nod. "And the Minbari do as well. In other words…"

"...total war." the Keeper concluded with a shared nod with his nominal superior off the council. "Nothing less would assuage their pride as well as justify and appease all their dead."

"If that's what they want, then that's what they'll get." the Lord High Admiral firmly said. "It's been centuries since the last war, but it too was no less total than what we seem to be facing. And it will end the same way."

"Not that there's any other acceptable alternative." the Lord Commander chimed in.

The First Lord coughed and gave a sharp glance at his fellow councilors. "Not necessarily," he said. "Our enemies in the past all proved unwilling to negotiate even with our ships over their worlds, which is why the Kishin and the Makareshi are both confined to their homeworlds for the foreseeable future, but that need not be the case with the Minbari."

"With respect, my lord," the Lord High Admiral began. "Do you truly think the Minbari will ever negotiate fairly for a peaceful end to the war?"

"...it's extremely unlikely," the First Lord admitted after a moment. "But I don't think it's impossible."

"At the very least," the Second Lord thoughtfully said. "Not until we've forced them fully on the defensive. Their pride will not allow it. And even then I'm not confident of our chances."

"Even so," the First Lord firmly said. "The option of diplomacy will remain on the table, until our hands are forced to end the war once and for all."

"Which begs the question: now what?" the Composer-General asked.

"Well," the Lord Commander replied. "Before anything else, we need to determine our objectives in this war with the Minbari. Those will be what we'll be fighting to achieve, after all."

"What is the mood in the Senate?" the First Lord asked the Speaker of the Senate.

The other man shrugged. "On this issue?" he asked back. "Annoyed, although not towards this council or the policies we've followed for centuries now. No, their annoyance is directed towards the Minbari botching what is essentially First Contact between our two civilizations, at the cost this will inflict on our society, and of course, at forcing the revelation of our existence towards the coreward polities not at a time or circumstances determined by either this council or the Senate."

"The Terrans, I imagine, are a source of concern for the Senate." the Composer-General said.

The Speaker sighed. "Yes," he admitted. "But opinions on Earth and its people are mixed in the Senate, as they always have been. On one hand, it's Earth. Our ancestors were forced to flee that world in the face of genocide, and the suspicion remains that's what we'll face again if we're revealed to them. On the other hand, it's not our ancestors' Earth, is it?"

The Composer-General sniffed but said nothing more, her opinions clearly on the former side of the argument.

"But on war with the Minbari," the First Lord said, bringing the conversation back to the matter at hand. "What is the Senate's position?"

"The factions in the Senate haven't solidified any concrete positions towards the war," the Speaker replied. "Aside from a general sense that if it is to be war, then it must end with our victory."

"No point in war if it doesn't end in victory." the Keeper agreed.

"That should go without saying." the Lord Commander added his support.

"Agreed." the Lord High Admiral said with a nod.

"Then that's our first objective in this war." the First Lord said with a shake of his head. "We win. Everything else follows from there."

---

Port Magna Nubae, Elysium's primary naval base in the coreward direction from the empire. It shares its name with the surrounding sector, itself derived from the four colossal nebulae that dominate the local astrography, spanning nearly a thousand light-years across between them. The sector itself forms the great coreward frontier of the empire, sparse in habitable worlds, but with mineral-rich worlds aplenty. This has made it a major source of raw materials for the industries of the empire's heartland, with thousands of unmanned, fully-automated industrial outposts and over a hundred worlds settled and developed solely for mining and resource processing.

Port Magna Nubae itself is located on the fringes of the Great Nebula, the biggest of the four nebulae in the sector. Orbiting a young and docile red dwarf star, the port proper is built into a partly hollowed-out planetoid, with the fleet spire rising out of the planetoid's core while smaller ziggurat-arcologies, lesser spires, and other structures covered the surface of the hollow carved out of the celestial body by the Elysians. Planetary-grade quantum shields protected the naval base and its surrounding infrastructure, augmented further by hundreds of drone fabricator-hangars as well as anti-orbital anti-proton cannons and plasma torpedo batteries.

The surrounding system also featured multiple ancillary naval and artillery outposts, ensuring any enemy that dared attack would easily face capital ship patrols backed by millions at the very least of combat drones, all the while being bombarded at light-second ranges by anti-proton cannons. All before facing the hundreds of warships that made up the Coreward Fleet of the Elysian Empire.

Its military assets aside, however, Port Magna Nubae was also home to millions of civilians. Not just the families of men and women serving in the Elysian Navy, but also artisans, service providers, and various other specialists and hangers-on. For this reason, the port was not only largely self-sufficient, able to produce all the food, water, oxygen, and most of the spare parts it needed, but also fully-furnished in non-military services.

These included schools, hospitals, sports facilities, entertainment centers, and even civilian R complexes. Thus, while classed and treated as a military facility, Port Magna Nubae was for all intent and purposes a fully-developed world of the Elysian Empire.

"I'm home!" Zicui cheerfully called out as she stepped into her apartment, carrying bags heavy with groceries with her. Simultaneously, she reached out with her mind, instantly finding and touching her husband's mind who reacted with warm recognition.

Ah…working on his toys.

Not toys. Bronze sculptures. There's a difference.

Zi Cui giggled at her husband's mental rejoinder, making her way towards the kitchen across the apartment. She'd barely managed to set her groceries down on the dining table when footsteps could be heard approaching from behind, and then Anton Canies was walking into the kitchen.

"How was your trip to the grocery store?" he asked while walking over to help unload the groceries.

"Oh, the same as always." Zi Cui said after giving her husband a kiss on the cheek. "The turbolifts were slow and full, the maintenance robots kept getting in the way at the most inopportune time and places, and conversation with the other ladies at the store was dreadfully dull and mundane…"

Zi Cui paused and heaved a sigh. "Very everyday, all things considered." she said. "Something to be grateful for, considering what's coming."

"Well, there's…there's always a chance war could be averted." Anton said.

Zi Cui smiled and nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I hope so too."

"...speaking of which," Anton began after a few moments as he and Zi Cui busied themselves in the kitchen. "Nothing should be in the media about a possible war, at least not from what I've heard. Or has the Capitol gone public already?"

"No, no, nothing like that." Zi Cui reassured him. "Although we do live in a military base, so there might be gossip about that elsewhere and I just haven't heard. It's just…you know…well…I can't help but worry, you know?"

"Yeah, I suppose." Anton conceded before trying to change the subject. "What time is Yinghua supposed to be back from dance classes again?"

---

"I'm home!" Yinghua Canies shouted as she entered her family apartment, her nose simultaneously drawing her to the dining room even as her mind touched the expectant minds of her parents. "I smell…shrimp! Fried rice! Stir-fried vegetables!"

Dumping her sportsbag in a corner and quickly unzipping her jacket before tossing it onto the former, she made her way to the dining room just as her mother placed a big bowl of cut glass filled with ice, syrup, sugared fruit, and jelly onto the table. "Welcome home, Yinghua." Zi Cui greeted her daughter. "How was dance class?"

"It was fine." Yinghua replied while crossing into the adjoining kitchen to wash her hands at the sink. "Although I'm getting bored with the current routines, I wish we'd move onto the more advanced sets already."

"Well, that's up to your teacher." Anton said, putting down his datapad even as Zi Cui took his plate and served him up some dinner. "Talk to her, although if she thinks you still need more work at your current level, well, I'd defer to her if I were you."

Yinghua sighed. "Yeah, I know." she said while wiping her hands on a towel before returning to the dining room and sitting down. "Just griping, really…but aside from that, yeah, it's fun."

Anton smiled knowingly. "You say all that," he began. "But you still don't want to go professional, no matter how good you get?"

"I'm not good in front of crowds." Yinghua said primly. "If it's just my teachers, friends, and classmates, then all well and good. In front of potentially hundreds of strangers in person? Maybe millions if it's broadcast like during any professional dancing exhibit or competition? No, thanks. Sorry, if that disappoints you, though."

Anton just laughed. "Oh, it's fine." he said. "It's what makes you happy that's important."

Zi Cui hummed and nodded in agreement while putting food on her daughter's plate followed by her name. "And if you're worried that the twins will judge," she said. "You know they won't, right?"

"Yeah, I do." Yinghua said with a nod. "Although I do sometimes get a bit jealous they've got the nerve to compete professionally. Then again, you've got to have a lot of nerve to go solar surfing in the first place."

"That you do." Anton agreed after swallowing down a slice of garlic shrimp. "Even I wouldn't, and I'm void-rated for navy duty."

"Then I'm quite pleased to find my sons have surpassed their father in at least one way." Zi Cui said smugly, and causing the rest of her family to laugh.

"She's got you there, dad." Yinghua said.

"Well, can't say I'm not proud of my boys for that either." Anton admitted, and causing his family to laugh again.

---

Anton was busy making a wax model of a knight when he sensed the spike of alarm from his daughter. With ease born of training and experience, he unconsciously ignored the urge to get up and check on her, already knowing that despite her alarm she wasn't in any danger, and she'd be coming soon enough to tell her what had alarmed her so.

He didn't have to wait long. Soon enough, the sound of slippered feet could be heard, and then with a knock, Yinghua burst into his workshop.

"Dad!" she said loudly. "You need to see the news!"

"That doesn't sound good." Anton dryly said, already putting his tools down and wiping his hands. "What is it?"

"We're at war!"

"...let me guess, the Minbari?"

Yinghua's jaw briefly fell open but she just as quickly recovered and linked the dots together. "Oh!" she said with wide eyes. "You were the ones the First Lord mentioned on the news…the ones who got ambushed by those aliens."

"Me and my crew, yes." Anton said, falling into step beside his daughter while heading for the living room. "Sorry for not telling you, but, well…it was supposed to be a secret."

"It's alright, I understand." Yinghua said. "You told mom, didn't you?"

"Of course I did." Anton scoffed. "She's my wife, and she deserved to know whenever I got close - no matter how remotely - to getting killed."

"Oh…well, yes…I understand…"

The conversation trailed off then, as they arrived at the living room, Zi Cui sitting on the couch watching the holo. Yinghua walked around and sat down next to her mother, while Anton stood behind them both, eyes grim and face set as he watched the First Lord address the Senate and the rest of the empire.

"...make no mistake, we did not choose to start this war," the First Lord was saying. "But we will end it, and with a resounding Elysian victory. Glory to Mankind!"

Thunderous applause echoed in the Grand Assembly Chamber as thousands of senators rose to their feet and clapped their hands, punctuated by shouts of 'WAR' from more bellicose members of the Senate. "Did they really attack without warning or cause?" Yinghua asked.

"Without warning, yes." Anton said with a sigh. "We've managed to gather that much. As for without cause…that's more complicated."

"What do you mean?" Yinghua asked.

"You know we keep an eye on the coreward regions, right?" Anton asked.

"Yes." Yinghua said in a nod. "They taught us that much in school, we need to keep an eye on all the aliens over there, and our cousins on Earth too. Just in case…oh. They caught us, didn't they? The Minbari thought we were spying on them, and attacked?"

"Pretty much."

"Seems like an overreaction to me, dad."

"You really think so, Yinghua?"

"Well…maybe I'm talking too much," the young woman reasoned. "But isn't it kinda expected for powerful species to spy on each other all the time? Sure, they didn't know that we existed before they found us out, but even if that might be a sign that our spying on them was part of something bigger, to go straight to war over it…"

Yinghua briefly paused and then shrugged. "...I don't know." she finished. "It just seems like they're taking this too personally, or something."

Anton smiled and patted his daughter on the head, causing her to purse her lips in mild annoyance. "True enough," he said. "But, remember that the Minbari have been around for a long time. They were a major coreward power thousands of years before our ancestors left Earth, long enough for past wars of theirs to pass somewhat into legend. And in all that time, no one has apparently been powerful enough to challenge them."

"No one until us, that is." Yinghua said.

"That remains to be seen."

"...really, dad?"

"You never know when it comes to the fortunes of war."

"...I'll take your word for it."

"That's my girl."

Yinghua smiled at her father's praise. "On a related note," Zi Cui chimed in. "Have you noticed the First Lord's choice of words?"

"Depends," Anton pointed out. "I missed most of the first part."

"I'm just thinking that he never actually defined what a 'resounding Elysian victory' actually would be." Zi Cui clarified.

"Hmm…maybe he's holding off on the details - aside from us winning the war - until the Senate's managed to give it a debate or two?" Anton said. "You know how these things work."

"True enough." Zi Cui said with a sigh. "Thinking charitably, though, I do hope the Minbari are willing to talk before it gets to the point of no return. If only to keep too many of our people from losing friends and family in a war that those aliens started."

"...I don't know, mom." Yinghua uncomfortably said. "From how dad described the Minbari, they don't seem the kind to talk unless they've got their enemies cornered and they're holding guns to their head. Or for that matter, to even surrender if they find themselves in the corner, and their enemies holding guns to their heads."

"Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that." Anton grimly said. "It wouldn't be the first time we had to end a war against an enemy that wouldn't surrender, but personally, while I might not like aliens, neither do I enjoy even the thought of having to point anti-proton cannons at a living world and turn it to ash."

"...sorry, dad."

"...it's alright, Yinghua."

"I guess all we can do is pray to any gods that might be listening," Zi Cui said with another sigh. "And hope the Minbari prove reasonable before things get to that point."

"Yeah," Anton said while squeezing his wife's shoulder. "I hope so too."

---

A/N

And it's update time. And what an update it is, with a look at the Elysian capital, plus one of their naval bases, which is actually less of a base and more of a fortress-city or even system. Plus a look at our MC's home life, because I don't want him to be married to work with no life off his ship, but actually has a family waiting for him at home when he returns from the void.

That, and hints to Elysium and the Elysian's origins.