RFI is, at it's core, a story about a talented young woman who learns how to face traumatic events, a young man who refuses to face his own, the generational trauma they both share and the consequences that follow. While the story takes place at a galactic scale, with the fate of the human race in the balance, the exact same conflict could play out between these two on a middle school playground. This is their story, and everything else is just the extra fluff us writers feel the need to cram in there to make sure our main story doesn't bounce around too much in shipping.
A young League Officer (Miranda) is transferred onboard the LSX Archigos. This ship, one of the proud few left of her class, is a bit of a mixed bag. The other ships in her class are generally considered dead-end career enders, but this this is different; it has a reputation as being a "crucible" for promising new officers. Miranda has been bounced around since graduating, never staying in one place for more than a year, but getting a steady stream of promotions. She thinks this is a good sign, but it's difficult to tell.
Meanwhile, trouble is brewing in the galaxy. A mysterious group has contacted the Lyndri and provided "proof" to them that the NorAellians were behind the pandemic that has left their species almost entirely female, with a very low birthrate. The Lyndri responded by declaring open war on the NorAellians. Normally this would be an empty gesture, but somehow the Lyndri have acquired a massive (if ancient and only half-working) fleet. This new war threatens to destabilize the whole galaxy. In response, the People's Republic of Terra and the League of Allied Worlds have both deployed their fleets along their shared border; it appears that the cease-fire established 43 years ago as part of the Charlemagne Accords is about to be broken.
Unknown to the League, the Terrans were already planning to take advantage of this instability. They planned "Operation Fortitude", which much like it's historical namesake involved deceiving League Intelligence into thinking that the Terrans were building up along the border, when they were in fact massing their fleet much further to the north near Freelance space. The leader of this operation (Sean) planned to invade a relatively small Freelance system of Tel'Erani. What was special about this system was that it had a subspace corridor to a Terran world. If they could take the system and hold it with an interdiction field, they could establish a beach head that was within hours travel of multiple League systems. It would take weeks for the League to move their fleet from the border and the Terrans had kept just enough ships in reserve to make a push along the border the moment the League started to pull out, hopefully making them question a full retreat.
The Archigos is one of the few ships left to patrol the border. Because the space is so large for them to cover, Miranda gets tasked with trying to find a way to detect ships or pick up distress signals; anything like that. She helps build a sensor net that has to be deployed before the software is ready. She struggles to come up with a solution for processing all the data until some of her new friends on the ship help her with a breakthrough. As she's processing the data, she realizes it shows two Terran Bastion class ships heading down the subspace corridor to Tel'Erani.
The Archigos immediately heads to Tel'Erani to meet the oncoming Terrans. They are vastly outgunned and their only hope is in lasting long enough for the LSS Erebus and her Taskforce to arrive; Admiral McKEnzie has arranged it so that she was undergoing "refit" and therefore was much closer to Tel'Erani than any other ship. (He wanted to make sure at least one task force stayed near the border. Still, the Erebus was still too many hours out for the Archigos to have any real hope of survival. To give them a fighting chance, McKenzie contacts his son David who is executive officer on the Spring's Endeavour. They scramble with Captain Achenson's full fleet of Spring's Endeavour and two Phobos class ships.
Once the Archigos arrives, they contact the colony to get them to evacuate, but a lot of them refuse, wanting to stay and fight. The governor tells the Archigos that she won't force anyone to leave that doesn't want to; it's not like they have enough time to get them out anyway.
After making a rough battle plan, the crew is tense, waiting for the arrival of Sean's ships. In the middle of this, Selene arrives and starts killing the entire bridge crew. The only one to survive is Miranda, and she only survives because Glyse shows up in the nick of time to fight Selene. Selene escapes after dealing a near-fatal blow to Mir. She kills several more people along the way, before escaping to a shuttle and making it to subspace, heading for the oncoming Bastions.
Meanwhile, Spring's Endeavour is en route when they get a mysterious message informing them that unless they engage this mystery foe, they will destroy all the colonies in the Legendarium system. As proof of their intent, they destroy Juno station. Emelyn is forced to engage, delaying their arrival.
Miranda wakes up in the sick bay. She's surrounded by the Marines she'd befriended, as well as the surviving command staff. She's now in charge, because she was 3rd officer and equal rank with the survivors. She can't deal with everything that just happened and tells everyone to get the hell out. Camilla (ranking surviving Marine) shoves everyone out, including Glyse. She stays behind and talk to Miranda, who finally relents and takes command. In her broken state, she comes up with a rather clever, if slightly fucked up plan.
Sean arrives and sees a rather badly positioned Archigos that has to scramble to meet him and his fleet. There's an exchange of vague threats, with him dismissing Miranda, who appears completely in over her head. Eventually, Sean orders the Archigos to surrender, Miranda refuses, and he orders an attack on them. The ship takes the hits, losing control and just slowly spinning in space with fluctuating power. As he's gloating, the civilians catch up and try attacking; he shoots the lead ship as a warning and it explodes with a massive explosion, as if someone rigged it's hyperspace engines to go critical. All sensors are blinded and his ship starts taking fire. He orders a blind jump deeper in system, as the Archigos and her fighters take out the interdictor and the other Bastion. It turns out Miranda deployed several of her sensors in system so they had hyper-accurate positions and they rigged a freighter to overload it's subspace engines, scrambling everyone's sensors. Her fighters were lying in weight and using the provided sensor data they just tore Sean's armada apart.
Sean, infuriated by what was going on orders a bombardment of the planet. His XO refuses and Sean kills him on the spot for refusing an order. Sean starts attacking the planet as the Archigos arrives and does it's best to provide cover. Even with all her fighters and a few of the civilian ships, they can't provide cover and deal any damage, but the Bastion is powerful enough to hit both the Archigos and the planet. Miranda refuses to stop defending the planet, and the Archigos takes massive amounts of damage. She looses one of her reactors, and the other is quickly failing. Miranda makes a decision; faced with the prospect of hundreds of millions of deaths, she decided to ram him. It's an old tactic she read about being proposed for this ship class; no one outside of simulations had ever done it, but there was no option left.
In order to do this, however, she needed as much power as she could get. The engineering teams come up with a crazy idea to get the other reactor going. They will bleed plasma from one reactor to the other to "jumpstart" it. The process worked, but one of the engineers (Steve) is killed in the process.
Suddenly at full power again (but only for a little but before the whole thing burns out) the Archigos screams forward and slams into Sean's ship. Sean orders all weapons to fire on the ship, and then leaves the Bridge. Selene is waiting for him, already killing all the guards and making a clear line to a shuttle she had prepped and waiting. They escape as the Archigos slams into the Bastion, disabling both ships. As they're watching, Selene knocks Sean out.
Miranda wakes up on a ship she doesn't recognize (Rekonin). She's been injured, having lost a leg, and otherwise having been very messed up. She's greeted by several people she doesn't know and one she does: Admiral McKEnzie. The others are the Captain of the Erebus, Emelyn, Liz, and Rekonin. McKenzie explains that they're on the Rekonin. He explains about the destruction of Juno station by a Grey ship and gives her a very frank briefing on everything that's going on. Glyse explains just who and what Selene is, and that this is the opening of what's likely to be a very messy war with a hidden opponent.
Miranda is given the choice: she can take a promotion to Commander, and take over as Captain of the Rekonin, or she can be sent home on medical leave. McKenzie would love to use her, but he knows what he's asking. It's unfair, but he doesn't have time for hand-holding. Miranda understands and accepts. (Rekonin is delighted.)
Sean wakes up in a cell. He is being held, and he's unsure by who. Over an unknown amount of time, he manages to get one of the guards to try to help him, before they go mysteriously missing, and several other escape attempts. Finally he meets with Mr. Zaine, who explains what happened as an attempt to recruit him. Sean agrees, and we find out he's been modified to be more Sooni-like. He agrees and is given Selene to do with what he will, a Grey ship, and told that there was about to be a lot of chaos in the galaxy; all they want is for him to be a monster and indulge himself. He vows he'll have his way with Miranda, as well as burning down everyone who ever doubted him.
McKenzie has returned to Prometheus station for a meeting with Jirael, the head Sooni Ambasador. She is helping him to prepare for his meeting with the Joint Chiefs to urge them to act on the growing number of attacks since the Tel'Erani. War has been declared with the Terrans, but there's enough mysterious attacks that he's convinced are Grey ships, he just doesn't have any proof. He's sent Rekonin to look for proof, but so far, nothing.
As they are talking, one of McKenzie's aides, a man McKenzie has known for decades, attacks him, revealing himself to be a Sooni. McKenzie and Jirael manage to defend themselves and take the guy out. But the stations' alarms sound, and it becomes clear that Zealot agents all over the station were revealing themselves and attacking. What's worse, Sean Harper, the head of the Joint Chiefs is a Zealot agent and almost manages to kill all of the joint chiefs, with it wasn't for Kashk arriving at just the right moment and fucking him up a bit. Harper escapes, taking McKenzie's flagship, the LSS Rokkr. However, waiting onboard was Simon, who goes toe to toe with Harper. Simon is surrounded by Harper's agents, but starts to fight them anyway.
Miranda is leading the Rekonin on a hunt for a Grey ship that has been attacking. They find it, and the battle is a hard one. In the middle of the fight they get hit by waves of distress calls as all the League frequencies are flooded with reports of what sound like mutinies, and sabotage. The Grey ship disengages with them as Rekonin finds a news broadcast reporting an attack on the League capital, describing an explosion in the capital that took out the capital building in the middle of a presidential speech. The President and all of Congress are presumed dead. A breaking report comes in that the Vice President and his family have been found dead, as well as a series of assassinations being reported across League space; it would appear the entire government had been wiped out in a coordinated series of assassinations.
Sean arrives at a Terran communication station, making his way through it to the control room, killing anyone who tries to stop him. He tortures one of the techs into giving him the codes to send out an official broadcast, where he calls on the Terran Officers to overthrow their noble-born commanding officers, seize their ships, and join him. A purge has been started among the nobility, and it was a new era for the Terran people. One that would throw off the old caste system, for a more fair and equitable one. Join him, and he will lead them to victory, not just against the Nobility, but the League and all of Mother Terra's enemies. He broadcasts that to the entire fleet.
McKenzie is meeting with his cabinet. He was next in line of succession to be President, and over the last several weeks oversaw a series of elections that replaced all the murdered politicians. He just came back from a vote asking for a declaration of war, and emergency powers which passed with wild support. Part of the reason it passed so quickly was because modified Terran ships have been randomly attacking colonies both Terran and League and burning them to the ground, pillaging, raping, etc. It's been horrific, and all of it was being broadcast. What's more, several Terran colonies had asked to join the League, and McKenzie wants to get most of the Terran worlds to agree, now that their own military had turned on them. He and his cabinet discuss plans and next steps. It becomes clear that what they need next is a win.
Miranda is meeting with several Captains, including Emelyn and Liz. They're discussing how super shitty all the engagements with Sean's forces have gone. It appears their ships have been modified with Sooni and Grey technology, giving them a huge advantage. What's more, Sean has a few Grey ships in reserve he pulls in when Miranda's forces get too close to winning. They keep losing ships, and at this rate, there will be no stopping Sean. She needs a victory badly, and she needs to come up with a way to get one. Emelyn points out that none of the Freelance people she knows will commit forces without such a win, especially since while the Confederacy was hit, Sean's forces had been leaving them alone ever since.
Miranda decides more ships isn't the answer; they need a win and she's going to get one. She takes the Rekonin and raids one of Sean's staging areas. It's protected by a Grey ship and a handful of modified Terran ships. They attack and the battle is very much not going their way. Out of nowhere, the LSS Rokkr arrives, with Simon and his puppets at the helm. He is able to take some of the burden off the Rekonin, enough to defeat the Terran ships, but the Grey ship is still an issue. Liz arrives and she and Simon board the Grey ship, with the two of them kicking a bunch of Grey ass. Simon destroys the ship's core, rendering it dead. Before leaving, he tells Miranda that she owes him and he will come to collect one day.
Sean hears the news of the attack and is furious. He beats and abuses Selene as she convicnes him it's time to accellerate his plans. He needs to take his fleet to earth. It's time to burn Terra. Sean agrees and gives the order to take the Fleet to Earth, burning everything along the way.
There has been a huge increase in ships from all over joining the fleet since Miranda's victory. Even some Terran ships have joined, as well as a bunch of Terran systems. The only problem is, it's become clear that Earth is Sean's target. Despite that one victory, so far all engagements with Sean's forces have still yeilded nothing, but they have to do something.
Miranda tells her allies to put out calls to everyone and meet at Earth. She takes what remains of the League Fleet and heads there, joining the local defense group. Emelyn arrives with an entire Pirate armada; every pirate with a functioning ship, as well as all the armed forces of the Confederacy and Highland Cluster. It's an impressive fleet, but won't be enough.
More ships arrive (good point for cameos from side stories, like maybe the Moskva?) and a massive fleet has been built. Sean's ships arrive and an all out slug fest ensues. They battle, with Miranda's fleet loosing slowly but surely. Sean's Grey ships are easily taking out large chunks of the fleet. Finally, McKenzie arrives on the Archigos, newly rebuilt. Behind him is a fleet of Lyndri Super dreadnaughts; the same ones the Sooni had helped them rebuild at the start of all this madness. On the Lead ship is the [Lyndri Queen][], revealing her existence to the world. (Possible plot twist: it was the Governor from Tel'Erani; that planet has been the secret Lyndri colony all along. Not sure if I'll go with it, but maybe?) With the help of the Lyndri, they turn the tide of the battle, destroying everything but Sean's ship.
In a last ditch effort, Sean orders his ship to destroy earth. However, one of the Terran Officers onboard pulls out a gun and murders several Grey and other officers. It's Gregorie, and he tries to fight Sean, who easily breaks his arm and pulls him close to gloat before snapping his neck. Gregorie smiles, revealing he had a grenade in his pocket and the two blow up.
With Sean gone, the Grey simply leaves. Earth is saved, even if it feels a bit like a hollow victory.
After the battle, we catch up with the main characters celebrating the formation of the unified human government, with McKenzie being voted as president. Miranda says she's worried there's going to be more to come, but everyone tells her to enjoy the win while she can; they can worry about what's coming next tomorrow. She agrees, and it ends with her and Camilla sitting next to each other.
Sitting in a cafe at a table with two spots is Simon. He's watching everyone celebrating. Zaine sits down across from him and the two talk. It's mostly threats, but Zaine informs Simon that despite everything, the Zealots had gotten what they wanted. The Council will now allow direct interference. Simon laughs and tells Zaine he doesn't understand humanity at all if he thinks the Sooni have any chance at winning open war with humans. Zaine tells him that he should know better; the Overseers made them to replace humanity, there's no contest. Simon laughs and says he knows the creatures the Overseers feared, and frankly, he doesn't think they're all that impressive. Zaine gets up to leave, and Simon stop him, telling him that one day, he would personally kill Zaine. And not for any sensible reason; simply because he had the audacity to use his cane when they first met. Zaine shrugs it off, and leaves. Behind Simon, Liz is sitting and she comments that Zaine is an idiot if he doesn't know to take Simon seriously. Simon agrees, and then asks Liz if she was here to hunt him down and drag him back to his cell. She says no, it's worse than that. She's here to drag him back home; with most of the Terran nobility in shambles, it was time for House Simon to reform and lead them.