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Prologue: A day in the desert3,084 words
Chapter 1: Contact1,626 words
Chapter 2: Decisions2,559 words
Chapter 3: Old steel and new blood1,248 words
Chapter 4: Preparing589 words
Chapter 5: A hegyek mögött463 words
Chapter 6: Le vent est tombe1,030 words
Chapter 7: Dronish Decent600 words
Chapter 8: hovern Enkan927 words
Chapter 9: Suspicion691 words
Chapter 10: Yeshoua1,182 words

Prologue: A day in the desert

BY THE GRACE OF GOD
WE, KERIM SHAH II,
EMPEROR OF THE ROMANI,
MONARCH OF SIHEM, GERAT AND HORAN.

Order the TARKHAN OF THE FLEET Grand Duke Mark Sayadi Salemsky to proceed with the search for the Project 'Salvation'. He has been given command over the imperial cruiser Sevastopol and may use the fleet he has amassed during the campaign for the liberation of Gerat at his sole discretion.

May God grant him the wisdom to use the power with which he has been entrusted for the good of the Empire.

Issued in the city of Ur, on the 2nd month of the year 215 of the Dynasty.

Written by His Imperial Majesty's own hand:
Kerim Shah II

The great desert of Gerat.

A land doomed to bear the burden of war, whether it be with itself or with foreigners. A land locked in a perpetual cycle of violence and barbarism.

A land that was now dying.

The nuclear attacks conducted by the Gathering had destroyed many cities and left hundreds of thousands dead while kicking up ash and dust that blotted out the sky. The sun hadn't risen in weeks. Everyday, it was getting colder. The refugees flooding in from the south only worsened the situation the newly liberated land was facing.

The only hope the lands had for survival was the mysterious project 'Salvation'. It was discovered when the Grand Duke had translated the writing on the central column in Khiva's reactor control room and found out it was instructions to enter a code to enter into one of the ancient computer terminals in the facility.

The code was entered into one of the ancient terminals that seemed to have broken a long time ago. At first, it didn't work, leading everyone to believe that it was just another one of the old world's machines that had lost it mind to the Great Catastrophe. To everyone's surprise, the computer switched on a moment later and gave them a single document.

A single document with priceless information.

According to the it, there was a device, code-named project Salvation, hidden away in a bunker somewhere in the desert, far northeast of Gerat. The date that was on the document made it clear that it was ancient, dating back to the time of the Great Catastrophe. The document hinted that it was a device made to undo the effects of the Catastrophe but never got used.

Perhaps it could be the empire's salvation from the nuclear winter that was now threatening to end it.

And so, on the 1st day of the 3rd month of the 215th year of the Dynasty, the fleet took to the skies once more, with one goal: finding salvation.

The sand stretched from horizon to horizon, like an endless sea, just like the one of the stars above. The only sound was the howling of the wind as it passed through the occasional rock formation or the rare empty ruin. It was like a world of its own, cut off from the misery and pain that Elaat was full of.

The sky was clear which allowed the second moon, Chandra, which was full on this night, to illuminate the great desert in its silvery light. There was no other source of light other than the stars and the moon as far as the eye could see.

Then that changed.

In the distance, at the edge of the horizon, a new light could be seen. A normal man would tell you that its just another star but a wise trader, one who has travelled a lot, would tell you that it is no star. The light continued moving across the sky at a steady pace.

High up in the sky, closer to the clouds than the ground, was the source of the light.

The imperial cruiser Sevastopol and the fleet that it was the flagship of.

The roar of the fleet's engines disturbed the calm and quiet of the landscape, with the searchlights of the ships shining brighter than any of the stars above as they swivelled around in a search for anything new on the ground.

On the bridge of the Sevastopol was the tarkhan of the fleet, Grand Duke Mark Sayadi Salemsky, sole heir to the throne of the Romani empire, liberator of Gerat, brilliant tactician, and, according to some people, a prophet.

He observed the sky through the viewing port, amazed by how truly beautiful it was. In the capital of the Empire, Salem, where he grew up, the stars never shined because of smoke from the factories and light from the city. Only the Star of the East, Al-Jharmi was visible in the night sky. In Gerat too, the sky was polluted but not to such an extent, allowing him to see more stars. Alas, he was too busy with the campaign to ever notice the sky and after the ashes from the nuclear strikes on Salem had blotted out the sun, he could not see the stars nor the sun, for weeks.

But here, out in the unsettled desert, far away from any city or civilisation, far away from any conflict or war, he could witness the night sky in all its glory.

He was broken out of his trance by the sound of an alarm going off followed by the sounds of the bridge's day crew getting up and moving. He was a little spooked but reminded himself that it was just the current crew being rotated by the night crew and not a missile coming towards them.

He sighed as he watched the next shift enter the bridge and take their place with little chatter. Sleep had not been coming to him easily for the past few nights. There was an irrational feeling of dread within him, telling him that something would go wrong. He had tried telling himself that it was just anxiety he had got from the campaign but the feeling wouldn't leave him.

He got up from his seat, deciding that he'll take a short walk around the ship, maybe to stretch his legs or to get rid of that feeling. He got down from the elevated platform that the captain's seat was placed on and walked towards the exit, passing by the operators who were monitoring the radar, radio and ELINT. They paid little attention to him as they continued doing their duty. Mark, too, didn't bother them and continued on his way.

He exited the bridge into a thin hall, turned left and started walking. He passed by the crew quarters, not bothering to enter as he didn't want to interrupt the previous shift of crew who were having dinner, judging by the sounds that came from the other side of the door.

He was heading to the new fuel section that had replaced the two missile silos, to see if they were functioning properly. Of course he didn't need to go there physically since any problems with them would be reported to him on the bridge but he still wanted to do so as the replacement had happened hastily as they had to leave quickly.

Finally, he reached the section. He opened a door and entered a medium sized room that filled with screens and consoles that showed the condition of the fuel tanks that were beyond another door, opposite to the one he had entered from. In the room two men and a woman were present, monitoring the screens. They had stood up and saluted him when he had walked in and then resumed doing their jobs, except for one of the men who approached the duke.

"Sir, is there anything that you need?", he asked Mark.

Mark shook his head and replied, "No, I had come to check if the tanks were working fine."

"Well sir, the tanks are working just fine. I understand if you have some doubts since the modifications were done so hastily. We will inform the bridge if anything go wrong though.", he replied, causing the duke's feeling of dread to subside a bit.

'Maybe nothing will go wrong.', Mark thought to him self with a smile.

"Okay then, you may carry on with your duties.", Mark responded. The crew member saluted and returned to his seat. The duke stayed there for a moment, thinking about where he might go next. After deciding that he'll go to talk to Pyotr, he turned and left through the door he came.

He was once again in the hall, though this time there was more activity than before. The maintenance staff were doing their usual rounds of checking the ship's systems for damage or malfunction. They were going to stop their tasks and acknowledge his presence with salutes but the duke raised a hand, giving them the message to continue with their work. They understood and continued their work as Mark continued his walk.

He knew that Pyotr would be somewhere on the radio tower, probably taking in the view. He started walking back the way he came since the tower's entrance was on the same path. As he came upon the entrance, a crew member ran up to him, looking worried.

"Sir, your presence is requested on the bridge. General Pyotr and Admiral Daud are there as well.", he informed Mark after doing a quick salute.

"What is it?", Mark asked as they started making their way to the bridge.

"A message came from the hidden city we were going to stop at. It isn't good.", he informed as he kept up with Mark.

His feeling had been correct. Something had gone wrong.

He entered the bridge, where an old man and a middle aged man, both in officer's uniforms were waiting for him . They were General Pytor Ignatyevitch Shahin and Admiral Daud Sharif Rahmatovich. He could tell by their grim expressions that whatever it was, it was bad.

"General Pyotr, Admiral Daud.", he said, "What is the situation?"

"Grand Duke, we have received a transmission from the hidden city.", Pyotr started, "It was coded, which was strange, but after decoding it, we found out why it had been."

"The city had been attacked by a remnant of the Gathering's forces.", Daud said getting to the point immediately, "There was no other information in the message and we haven't received any other messages."

This was bad. Mark thought that the Gathering had been eliminated when the Romani fleets and armies had entered Gerat to liberate the last of the cities which were not captured by him.

"How far away from the city are we and how powerful was the Gathering's fleet?", Mark asked.

"We are around two thousand kilometers away from the city and it will take us a day to reach there. About the strength of the Gathering's fleet... we can only guess. From the intel that Alsahir had given us, the city had plenty of defenses with the city being built into a mountain and having some high caliber cannons and a few ships but had very few people to actually man them. I'm not sure but I think that the fleet might have been a weaker strike group or maybe a garrison fleet that escaped us.", Pyotr answered grimly.

A fleet, out here in the desert. It raised many questions for Mark but those could be answered once they reached the city. Right now, they needed a plan.

"What are our options to deal with this situation?", Mark asked the other two for their opinions.

"I think that we should send captain Ibrahim with his Lightning and the Skylark to scout ahead of us. It will allow us to plan our actions if there is a strike group and it is still there. If it isn't a strike group then Ibrahim will be able to free the city from the enemy after which they can land and find out what has happened. That is if the enemy is still in the city.", Pyotr suggested.

"But where would the fleet go? The city is the farthest city in Elaat. There is nowhere to go from there except back to Gerat! I say that we attack them with all the ships we have instead of endangering two small ships for nothing. They cannot call anyone for help and the odds would be in our favor.", Daud suggested.

Mark now had a choice to make. He could go with Pyotr's plan, potentially saving the people from the Gathering's men but also putting his best captain in danger of being obliterated by a fleet that could potentially be a strike group. Or he could go with Daud's plan of hitting them with all they had. No one would be endangered too greatly but the enemy fleet's strategy and strength would be unknown. Or he could make his own strategy to deal with this.

"We'll send Captain Ibrahim with his Lightning and the Skylark to scout ahead of us and gather whatever intel they can but with orders to stay undetected and wait for the main fleet to catch up with them. The Skylark's ELINT sensors will help us gauge the enemy's strength and prepare accordingly.", Mark said, deciding to use a strategy he made using the suggestions of both the men.

They seemed satisfied but Daud seemed a bit unhappy with the needless endangerment of the ships and the captain.

"But there is still the question of why the enemy is there. Just like Admiral Daud said, this city is the farthest in all of Elaat and the only place one can go from there is back to Gerat. There are no bases of the Gathering out in the desert either. And then there is the question of how they knew about the city's location. The locations of hidden cities are closely guarded secrets that only a few know of and even fewer people are told about.", Mark continued, voicing the questions he had.

The men stayed silent until Pyotr spoke up.

"They may have acquired the location by using spies. As for the reason why they are there... I fear that our operation's details may have been leaked to them.", Pyotr said, giving a potential answer.

"Are you saying that the Gathering, on the brink of defeat, somehow managed to get intel on a top secret operation?", Daud asked Pyotr.

"I am. It is no secret that the empire is not liked by many people and I think that a traitor may have been behind the leak.", the general explained, "The information might have been acquired by a fleet that had retreated into the desert. Maybe they are trying to stop us, defiant to the end or maybe something else or maybe they are simply trying to escape from Gerat by going into uncharted territories. We can only guess."

"But right now, we have to prepare for a fight."

Meanwhile, somewhere far, far northeast of the hidden city at the edge of Elaat, was a kingdom at the edge of its own world. While it would be more appropriate to call it a city state due to it only spanning a single city, the sheer size of the city allowed it to be called a kingdom. It was a giant tower housing millions of inhabitants within it, with several smaller defensive towers surrounding it, to the main city from dangers, of the desert surrounding it, and to a smaller extent, foreign invaders.

On top of one of the smaller defensive tower, was an observation post manned by two soldiers, both in armor and wielding short swords.

"Ugh, this is boring.", one of them complained as she leaned on the railing of the platform, looking out at the empty desert illuminated by the light of Luna's moon.

"I know but it is important that someone does this job.", the other soldier replied while observing the ground and the skies for danger through a big telescope that was built on the platform. It looked old and somewhat in need of repair but despite that, it did its job of helping the defenders spot enemies from afar, even in the night with some limited night vision capabilities.

"I know that it is important, Max, but I wish we had something else to do other than wait for something to happen.", she replied.

The soldier manning the telescope pulled his head back from the eyepiece and sighed as he looked up at the sky. He wasn't tired or as bored as his comrade but was still unhappy. He had not been given any love rations today, just like the past few days. He could feel the hunger for love grow inside of him but he was able to suppress it. Unfortunately, the side effects of going so long without love rations were starting to become more noticeable: he had started facing difficulty in flying and using magic, as well as feeling more and more lethargic the past few days. It wasn't too bad but he hoped that the shipment of love from Equestria would not get delayed further.

"Huh. Did that one just move?", he heard her comrade say.

"Did what just move?", he asked as he made his way to the edge of the platform next to her.

"Uh, one of the stars? I think it moved. Somewhere over there.", she said as she pointed to the horizon where she saw it. He squinted his eyes to see what she had seen, knowing that she could not have just imagined something. For a few minutes, they both tried finding the anomaly but as time passed, he started considering the possibility that maybe she had imagined it.

Then he saw it too.

"See! You saw it right?", she said but he had already made his way back to the telescope and was already adjusting it to get a better look at the light. It took a few moments but he was able to find the moving light again and with the help of the telescope, he could make out that it was artificial in nature.

"What is it?", he heard her ask from next to him.

"I don't know but it is coming straight for us. Go and alert the commander.", he replied quickly. Whatever it was, it was something new as nothing had ever come from the southwestern wastes before.

He could feel a feeling of dread grow in him as he continued observing the strange light. He could only hope that nothing bad would happen.

Author's Note:

Imma be honest, there's a lot of shit that the highfleet wiki doesnt have info on so im making some shit up like the moon's name. the tarkhan manual is somewhat more useful so that's good. Cant name any cities (except Khiva and Ur) since they generate randomly.

I'll also try me bes t to keep stuff understandable enough so that you dont have to go through the wiki too many times(will provide links if needed but only in the author's note box). will provide visuals where necessary(or where I do not have the words to describe stuff properly)

Sevastopol: Sevastopol | HighFleet Wiki | Fandom

Lightning: Lightning | HighFleet Wiki | Fandom

skylark: Skylark | HighFleet Wiki | Fandom

if you like it then leave a like and a comment since ive become addicted to the feeling i get when i get a comment or a like and it will be the thing that will drive me to continue this story

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