Know Thy Enemy

cover of Repercussions

> *“If you know the enemy, and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.*
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> *“If you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you will also suffer a defeat.*
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> *“If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”*
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> — “Attack by Strategem”, from *The Art of War* by Sun Tzu (believed Eastern Zhou Dynasty, China, c. -544 – -496 Adjusted Years)
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***Know Thy Enemy*** is a novella by Aaron J. Davis in the *Repercussions* anthology, set in the age of the Orion War. The story retells the Battle of Five Fleets from the perspective of A.S.T. Space Force Admiral Sini Laaksonen.

## Synopsis

### 8947

Sini arrives at the office of her superior, Fleet Admiral Jerra, the CO of the ASTSF Eridanus Border Command, and is given marching orders to lead twenty thousand ships to attack the colony of New Canaan. Immediately, Sini expresses serious concerns about nearly every aspect of the mission, but most strongly about the prospect of facing Tanis Richards in battle again.

### 8927

> *"Well, sir, wasn't it you who said this was likely to be the most interesting battle of our careers?"*
> *"*(snort) *So I did.*
> — Rear Admiral Chan speaking to a subordinate
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Sini, commander of the Fifth Fleet, arrives at the Bollam's World system, with orders to capture or destroy both the ISS *Intrepid* and the Boller fuel planet Aurora. Her flagship, the dreadnought HWS *Imperatrix*, dumps from the dark layer with the 66th Battle Squadron twelve light-hours from the Battle of Five Fleets, just in time to receive a distress signal from Rear Admiral Chan's flagship HWS *Zhukov*, sent as it was destroyed by the *Intrepid*.

Sini spends the next two days reviewing the *Zhukov*'s logs, including viewing a sim of Chan's memories of the battle. She observes the first duels between stasis shield-equipped ISF Arc-6 fighters and Padre's ships, the final confrontation between Admiral Senya and General Tanis Richards, the Mark forming a gravity shield bubble only to be rammed by *Sabrina* and obliterated.

Within mere minutes of the battle's beginning, only the Bollam's World Space Force and Chan's own fleet are still standing. The ISF turns its full attention to the Bollers, striking first with a salvo of relativistic missiles and following up with grapeshot. Finally, the *Intrepid* reverses its ramscoop, blasting the last few attackers with a stream of radiation as Chan finally makes his move.

Chan warns the BWSF survivors to get out of his way, but instead the opposing ships open fire. Chan returns fire. Shortly after, ISF fighters begin an attack run. They pass through the squadron's gravity shields and release their picobombs, and Sini is forced to watch from Chan's own perspective as he is devoured by a picoswarm.

In shock, Sini orders the Fifth Fleet to concentrate and attempt to detonate Aurora to kill the *Intrepid*. She miscalculates: the explosion is so potent that the planet's lower layers are forcibly collapsed into a black hole. A sixth of the fleet is lost as the rest struggle to escape the disaster and pursue the fleeing colony ship, but as they reach firing range, the *Intrepid* escapes into the dark layer. Sini leaves HWS *Agrippa* and *Sitting Bull* in Bollam's World as occupation forces under Rear Admiral Lanza, and disperses the fleet to follow the *Intrepid*.

After two weeks' fruitless pursuit, Sini returns to Bollam's World to find Lanza has been driven out. Infuriated, she relieves Lanza and plans to return to Bollam's World in force.

### 8947

Sini continues to object to the mission against New Canaan, arguing, "*They did all that to get* out *of a system. You invade New Canaan, you invade their* homes*, Jerra.*" Jerra prepares to order her to do it, but Sini refuses, and resigns her commission.