《The Nomads of Sol》
Prologue + Chapter One The Battle for Earth
After the shock of the announcement, the others began to ask questions about the first humans and how they died. Arlie seemed to think a moment then she spoke while telepathically asking Aurora to bring Xaros to Voros:
¡°I will tell you the story. It is a story of how the first humans fell and the rise of the gods but this is not the place. Also Rose, Lily, I have something to tell you in private later.¡±
Then Arlie raised her hands and a portal sprang into existence. Then she told them her living room would be more appropriate and comfortable. The party stepped through and then they made themselves comfortable around Arlie¡¯s table. Once they were gathered Arlie began to tell the story all the while creating visual images for all to see.
¡°I guess the best place to begin is the year before the Earth-Cathamari War. After nearly a century of war Earth and her colonies were finally looking at an age of peace. Earth had recovered from the effects of WWIII. Which had ended 98 years prior and built a powerful fleet commanded by a powerful flagship called the EFS Yamato she was the largest spacefaring ship ever built by humans and believed invincible, we were wrong, all of Earth¡¯s warring colonies who had been at war with each other for much of the last century had finally been brought into line by the Earth military. It was in this period that Humans made first contact with an alien race that race was called the Cathamari.
Spoiler: Spoiler
The Yamato:This massive Earth Dreadnaught served during the Third Colonial War and the Earth-Cathamari War. She was 9700 meters long and had 700 decks, crew 12700. 8 massive quad core engines gave her a top speed of .6C and class 4 maneuverability (turn rate 185 degrees per minute) her armament was: 180 Fusion torp banks, 32 super heavy particle banks, 45 heavy particle banks, 55 standard, 90 light, 4 Cutting Beams and 20 fighters. Her defenses were Class II Radiation Shields, Energy Web Projectors, and 12 meters of mark III overlord armor. She is also equipped with 3 mag tractor projectors and class one spatial sensors.
The Cathamari first showed up near Titan Colony on March 3rd, 2 BDE on the Solean calendar, or on the old calendar March 3rd, 156 CSD. There were four Cathamari cruisers to be specific they were Ravager class Battlecruisers they were met by the TFS Hammerhead the namesake ship of the Hammerhead Class. Both civilizations managed to communicate, but all the Cathamari were interested in was humanity''s immediate unconditional surrender. Old Earth naturally refused, and the Cathamari opened fire the resulting battle lasted 14 minutes and 29 seconds and nearly ended in a victory for the TFS Hammerhead but a lucky hit to her magazine belt sank the ship. The Cathamari retreated before the TFS Mako who was approaching could engage them. The Cathamari returned two months later. For Two years Earth and the Cathamari fought each other. Notable battles occurred at Titan, Mars, Venus, and Luna the last battle occurred at Earth on May 23, 000 SDE or 158 CSD. The battle of Earth technically began late the day before when a massive Cathamari fleet assaulted the Lunar defense perimeter. By this point in the war Earth¡¯s fleet was devastated with only a little over 2000 warships remaining, most of Earth¡¯s resources were dedicated to rebuilding the fleet. The Lunar defense perimeter was Earth¡¯s last real line of defense with four converted defense stations, billions of mines orbiting the planet, and millions of automated torpedo platforms. The Cathamari lost half their fleet penetrating the perimeter. Of their 30,000 ships only around 14,000 penetrated the perimeter. The resulting fighting was serious, but a good number of their ships slipped past the fleet to attack the planet, where they were engaged by the planetary defense system, a vast series of orbital slammers, ground to space beam weapon sites, ground to space shield penetrating missile and torpedo batteries and ground to space heavy particle cannon batteries. They losing ships to these defenses, began bombarding the planet with unintended consequences.¡±
Arlie paused for a moment gauging their responses and then continued.
¡°Which brings us to the beginning of our story and my role in the story back then I went by the name Jac Countryman. I was at Star Tech HQ that day heading to board the EFS Enterprise .........
As Countryman exited the lift a massive ship came into view. She was the first of her kind the ship was shaped like an elongated saucer with an indent dead center on her the fore of the primary hull, a strong swept-back neck attached to a large half-disk mounted above her primary hull linked the two hulls. Swept-back struts linked to a pair of nacelles mounted below the primary hull a second pair of equally thick struts linked directly to the secondary hull with a third set of struts linking the other two pairs together.
On the far side of the ship from his position Countryman could see two massive landing struts extending from the primary hull to the ground with a ramp leading into the ship going between them. The name and registry of the ship were emblazoned in several places on the ship''s hull but Countryman couldn¡¯t read it from his point of view. Countryman, however, knew the name was EFS Enterprise. A dozen workers could be seen loading supplies and equipment into the ship. A moment after he left the lift the entire room shook. A deck officer greeted him a few seconds later.
¡°Commander, your credentials please,¡±
¡°Here,¡± replied Countryman as he showed the officer his credentials.
¡°Ah, Commander Countryman Captain Reynolds was just asking about your whereabouts.¡±
¡°Where can I find him?¡± asked Countryman as the room shook again.
¡°He is over their directing the workers loading the ship.¡± replied the deck officer.
Countryman thanked the officer and then headed down the ramp. A few minutes later he walked up to Captain Reynolds and introduced himself.
¡°Commander Countryman tell me why did command assign me a scientist for a first officer?¡±
¡°Because I helped design the Enterprise and I am the foremost expert on her and the new systems she is equipped with,¡± replied Countryman while silently running a quick diagnostic of his defense systems, just in case he needed them. As Countryman was a cyborg, like most cyborgs of the era his implants were concealed so he, for the most part, looked like a normal human of around 50. His eyes were the only noticeable implant but only when one looked closely.
¡°That doesn¡¯t mean you will make a good officer, but since I am stuck with you. Why don¡¯t you help me get the last of this equipment on board, and while you''re at it, why don¡¯t you give me the rundown on my new ship,¡± replied Reynolds
¡°The EFS Enterprise is a heavy cruiser she is equipped with an experimental warp drive that gives her a top theoretical cruising speed of 11 times the speed of light. She has five main particle pulse wave engines with a tri-core configuration and two dual-core antimatter reactors giving her a top speed on sublight of .98c, Class II maneuverability (turn rate 362 degrees per second) and she can reach top speed in 30 minutes when using the Pulse Detonation Drive. She is 5020 meters long has 194 decks in the primary hull and 25 in the secondary. She carries 24 fighters, she is armored with mark III overlord armor plating 12 meters thick, she has class II radiation shields and improved energy web projectors, her armament is 20 forward torpedo launchers 12 aft, 12 triple tube light photon missile launcher banks, 18 medium particle banks, 8 heavy particle banks, 2 cutting beam arrays, 1 fusion mine disperser, 2 mag tractor projectors, and 2 electro cannon banks.¡±
Spoiler: Spoiler
Earth propulsion technology: The Pulse detonation drive is the Pulse wave engine equivalent to an afterburner. The Particle Pulse Wave Engine is a sublight drive system that functions by bombarding a Rydium core with sustained particle beams. This process generates pulse waves which in turn generates thrust. An interesting benefit of this tech is that the pulse waves effectively nullify 60% of the equipped ship¡¯s mass. All modern Earth spaceships use this propulsion system.
Rydium is an artificially synthesised and remarkably stable super heavy element when bombarded with a laser or particle beam it radiates a mix of EM radiation and Graviton based Pulse Waves, Rydium also has remarkable energy conversion properties and is used heavily in Human technology.
Earth Armor (Mark Three Overlord): Third generation Overlord Armor plating. It functions by running an energy field through a series of layered plates. These plates have dispersion layers and dispersion field generators that disperse the energy of weapons fire over the hull of the entire ship. Energy absorbers embedded in the plating absorb and shunt incoming energy into the AIF field partially recharging it. Provides superior protection over Polarized Hull plating. Like Polarized Plating when the energy field fails the ship becomes vulnerable to attack. Damaged plates and hull breaches reduces its effectiveness. Field strength increases with thickness increasing the amount of damage it can absorb. Absorber efficiency improves with the size of the equipped ship which consequently improves the defensive effect.
Earth Weapons:
Earth weapons have good armor penetration, but most don¡¯t do well vs shields. The effective range of common Earth weapons is as follows:
Particle cannons: 10,000 km light, 15,000 km medium, 20,000 km for heavy cannons
Cutting Beams: 25,0000 km
Electro Cannon: 4782 Km
Photon Missiles: 30,000 km light 35,000 km standard
Mk V Fusion Torpedos: 90,000 Km
Reynolds then looked over at Countryman and asked,
¡°Electro Cannons?¡±
¡°A new weapon system still experimental. It fires a highly charged stream of ionized plasma at a target it doesn¡¯t do much hull damage, but it is devastating to organic tissue, and in theory it should collapse the shields the Cathamari use to protect their ships it will also disrupt subsystems. According to theory the high energy blast of the electro cannons, will destabilize the shield matrix of the targeted ship, causing it to violently release all the energy stored in the matrix as an EMP resulting in the collapse of said shield matrix rendering the target vulnerable to more conventional energy weapons. Early testing revealed it has a short effective range not much better than a plasma thrower, but the weapon is more effective than any known weapon at defeating our armor plating a sustained burst will completely drain our Overlord Hull Plating in just a few minutes.¡±
¡°Would have been useful back during the colonial wars, but now I think I would prefer a volley of Mark V Fusion Torpedoes,¡± replied Reynolds then he continued, ¡°by the way does the increased power generation provided by the antimatter reactors provide any benefits to the shields, hull plating and weapons?¡±
¡°Yes, the shields are 20% stronger than older versions. But just like the old models, they will collapse if too much energy is directed against them too quickly and any energy they fail to mitigate will still strike the ship. Most of the ship¡¯s systems benefit from the increased power generation, the most notable is the ship¡¯s hull plating. With significant increases in both regeneration and integrity. The hull plating should last twice as long under fire before failing. As for weapons the only notable improvement is increased yield and armor penetration, but the systems are still largely unoptimized so they won¡¯t perform to full potential.¡± said Countryman.
Spoiler: Spoiler
Sheilds: Radiation shields are a type of early energy shield tech, and are a precursor to a type of shield called absorption shields. When energy hits a radiation shield, the energy flows across the shield bubble and is radiated outward as light causing the shield to glow. Any energy the shield can¡¯t mitigate will strike the ship and if too much energy hits the bubble at once, the shield generators will overload collapsing the shield. The more advanced absorption shields have an additional layer that absorbs excess energy that the shield can¡¯t mitigate to be radiated later. Absorption shields fail when the bubble reaches saturation, and must then radiate the absorbed energy but they will continue to mitigate incoming weapons fire.
¡°I think I heard something about that. Is it due to the rush order caused by the Cathamari breaching the Lunar perimeter?¡±
¡°Yes, sir. Other than the onboard nano-fabricators and disassemblers, all other systems are fully installed, the final scheduled week in the yard was to be spent finishing those two systems and to optimize her primary systems.¡±
¡°Those fabricators are for the advanced repair systems, I heard about right?¡±
¡°Yes, sir. The Enterprise was designed with long-range deployment mission profiles in mind, as such the ship would be expected to spend months without access to a friendly port, as a result, she is equipped with eight pairs of retractable repair arms, mounted on the underbelly, and industrial-grade fabricators and disassemblers to facilitate field repair of the hull. She also has internal fuel refineries allowing her to refine deuterium in the field if necessary and four large hydroponics bays allowing her to grow food onboard, which greatly extends her operating range. She is also equipped with 3 pairs of enhanced high-density fuel cells, which give her a range of 4000 lightyears assuming no engagements,¡± said Countryman
¡°4000 lightyears? Why would we need that much range? After all you''re talking about nearly four centuries worth of fuel,¡± said Reynolds.
¡°Keep in mind that the actual range will be much lower, since it''s not just the engines drawing power, but the weapons and armor too. A typical combat engagement is expected to consume roughly 20 lightyears worth of fuel. The Enterprise¡¯s intended mission profile is a long-range search and destroy mission. Her goal was to locate and destroy the Cathamari homeworld, for that mission she is carrying 10 antimatter bombs and because of the distances involved resupply was determined to be a practical impossibility.¡±
¡°Antimatter bombs? You mean my ship is carrying some stripped-down torpedoes outfitted with experimental warheads? What kind of firepower do these bombs have?¡±
¡°Yes, and each warhead has a yield of 100,000 megatons. Which means just one of those bombs is an extinction-level event if dropped on a planet,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°As I recall our torpedoes have nowhere near that yield.¡±
¡°That is correct, they have a variable yield of up to 200 megatons each, but that is more than enough for their intended purpose,¡± said Countryman.
¡°True, now since the ship is equipped for field repair, can you tell me what kind of quality I can expect and can the Enterprise repair other vessels,¡±
¡°The quality, in theory, should be shipyard quality, sir, since the ship is supposed to have Industrial grade fabricators, but until we get those working it would be much lower and in practice that would only really apply to the hull and some systems would require an actual yard or a landing if it is urgent enough. As for repairing other ships, the answer is yes we can, and we are equipped with four anchorage arms for that purpose,¡± said Countryman as they loaded the last of the supplies on board. ¡°We can even build new ships if we need them, in theory, and assuming we had the necessary materials,¡± thought Countryman.
¡°Well let''s get to the bridge. I hope you didn¡¯t change the layout too much, and on the way you can tell me more about those new warp engines.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry it is a standard bridge module. Deck one has the same layout as every other ship in the fleet,¡± replied Countryman as they started up the ramp and the room shook once again.
They reached the top of the room and one of the workers hit the control panel and the ramp began to retract and the armored door started to slide into place. Reynolds looked around the loading bay, and then started toward the lift on the left side of the bay. Countryman stopped him and said:
¡°Wrong way, captain, the bridge is this way.¡±
The captain cursed about engineers changing layouts and then followed Countryman across the bay and down a hallway to one of the ship¡¯s main Tram Lifts. They boarded grabbed the handrails and activated the voice controls and set their destination for deck one. The Lift swiftly carried them through the ship to deck one.
¡°The warp drive functions by folding space in a radius of about 100 Km in front of and behind the equipped ship. The process generates spatial distortions that will rip apart most debris in front of and behind the ship, but we still have to contend with translight particle impacts and we should avoid colliding with large objects like asteroids, other starships, or planets. Our hull plating can deal with a fair amount of the small stuff, but as added protection, the warp field can be calibrated to push debris and particles away from the ship, but this calibration increases fuel consumption by 40% and loses effectiveness as speed increases. theory states it will become ineffective past warp six, but we can only reach warp 3.98 in theory, that''s 98.2C, when pushing the engines. The spatial distortions generated by the warp field also generate a pressure wave that acts on the ship, creating resistance to forward movement, this forces the sublight engines to remain active at all times, to maintain warp cruise speed.¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
¡°So, sublights provide thrust at both, warp and sublight velocities?¡±
¡°Yes, sir. The only thing the warp engines do is fold space in a bubble around the ship, thereby shortening the distance between two points. Speed is, therefore, a factor of your sublight speed and the spatial folding rate. I¡¯ll have the curve for that on your desk later, since that isn¡¯t something to go over in a lift,¡± said Countryman.
¡°What about combat at warp?¡± asked Reynolds.
¡°Consider that a practical, impossibility, sir. The first issue is power generation, most of our available power generation would be going to the engines, so we will have very little power to spare for the weapons, which require a lot of power I might add. The second bigger issue is the fact that warp engines generate significant spatial distortions around the ship, these distortions make it almost impossible to fire torpedoes, and they will often cause energy weapons fire to miss entirely and they will mess up our targeting vectors. The final issue is the relative speeds of the ships involved would make targeting solutions problematic, since the ships would only be in effective firing range for a few seconds at most,¡± said Countryman
¡°I see,¡± said Reynolds as they exited the lift.
They came out in a short hallway with 4 doors. The one behind them led into the lift, the one to the left led into the Captain¡¯s Ready Room, the right led to the officer¡¯s conference room and the door opposite the lift led to the bridge.
Standing next to the bridge door were a pair of security officers. They walked up to the door. Reynolds placed his hand on the palm scanner and the door opened as Reynolds walked through the door Countryman also put his hand on the scanner to register his entry. They entered the bridge on its upper level. Jutting out toward the center was a small balcony with the captain¡¯s chair located in the center. Mounted at eye level from the chair on all the walls were a series of screens that provide a 360-degree view of what was going on around the ship. On either side of the captain''s chair are a pair of staircases that led to the lower level. To the fore and on the left was the helm to the right of the helm was navigation both the helm and navigation consoles had a midsize viewscreen mounted in front of them. On the left side of the bridge was a bank of consoles dedicated to tactical, on the right side was a bank dedicated to engineering. In the center was a large display console which was currently dark but when active it typically displayed a tactical representation of what was going on around the ship. The rear wall had three consoles against it, two were science stations, and the third was the Operations console. Most of the bridge crew was present but the second officer was not on the bridge.
Reynolds asked the operations officer where Commander Greyman was.
¡°Deck 97 Main Engineering sir,¡± replied the young ensign.
¡°Tell Greyman to finish whatever he is doing down there and get up here,¡± then he turned to Countryman and said:
¡°Take your station, start the pre-launch checks and while you¡¯re at you can tell me how long it took to build this.¡±
¡°Aye sir,¡± replied Countryman as he took his station, a console next to the engineering console bank, and started the checks.
¡°The Enterprise is the result of the Warp Three Project, which began about five years ago,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Warp three? Wouldn¡¯t you start with warp one?¡± asked Reynolds.
¡°Yes, Mars created a warp one engine about 50 years ago, but it had so many issues it wasn¡¯t viable. A major breakthrough in spatial fields five years ago, lead to the first viable warp one engine, but it wasn¡¯t practical for interstellar travel. To that end the warp three project was proposed whose goal was to create a warp engine capable of reaching warp three, that was the easy part, the hard part was power generation. The project should have been finished a year ago, but it was slowed because of the war and Admiral Carrington¡¯s Project.¡±
¡°Admiral Carrington¡¯s Project? That was the mission to capture a Cathamari cruiser intact, right?¡±
¡°Correct, the primary goal of that project was to get our hands on an intact Cathamari warp engine, so that we could reverse engineer it. Ultimately the project was deemed a total failure, 6 months ago after 92 successful captures failed to yield an intact warp engine. As a result, the Warp Three Project was reevaluated and a significant amount of resources were devoted to the project, which got us back on schedule.
¡°You seem to be better informed than I am, since I thought that project failed to capture any cruisers.¡±
¡°I have Alpha One-One level security clearance, so being informed about high-security projects comes with the territory.¡±
¡°How does a commander get, High Admiralty level clearance?¡± asked Reynolds shocked to hear that Countryman had the highest level of security clearance.
¡°By working on top-secret projects for over a hundred years, and we are green across the board so we can launch when you''re ready,¡± said Countryman. Reynolds quickly acknowledged Countryman¡¯s statement and began barking orders.
¡°Bring all engines online and energize the hull plating,¡± ordered Reynolds.
¡°Aye sir¡± replied a young man at one of the engineering consoles. He had a 2nd Lieutenants markings and was clearly the senior engineering officer on the bridge. A moment later he informed the captain that the engines were online and the hull plating was charged.
¡°Retract landing struts and open the docking bay doors,¡± ordered Reynolds.
¡°Aye sir retracting struts,¡± acknowledged the young man at the helm.
¡°Aye sir, opening bay doors.¡± acknowledged the junior officer at operations.
Moments later the doors above the ship began to open. As they opened water began to pour in and flood the bay the EFS Enterprise was in. Within seconds the bay was completely flooded.
¡°Helm take us out,¡± ordered Reynolds.
¡°Aye sir,¡± replied the ensign at the helm.
Moments later the ship began to lift out of the bay. The ship cut through the water with ease and moments later they were above the water. Behind them was an island covered with an extensive city. The island was one of many artificial islands built over the last two centuries. The city on the island was called Star Tech HQ. It was dominated by many dome-like structures and towering spires that stretched high into the sky. It was the largest academic city on Earth and the center of Earth¡¯s space technologies research, which was organized by the organization called Star Tech. Reddish energy bolts were raining down from the sky all around them. Several of HQ¡¯s domes had been damaged, smoke was rising from several of the structures and the entire city was visibly sinking into the sea. Which meant the supports that kept the artificial island it was built on afloat had been destroyed. They could see blue particle beams shooting upwards from distant ground battery sites, to strike targets in orbit and missiles flying to strike targets in orbit all around them. Ahead of them, they could see the new destroyers Coto and Umikaze rising into the sky with them. The destroyers resembled the Enterprise but they were smaller and the secondary hull was below the primary hull and the nacelles were mounted at the same height.
Spoiler: Spoiler
The Coto and Umikaze are the first of their class. Equipped with Warp drive they are among the first of Earth¡¯s FTL capable ships. They are armed with 24 forward torpedo launchers,14 aft, 1 cutting beam array, 4 medium particle cannon banks, 2 fusion mine dispersers, and 1 Electro Cannon Bank. Warp cruise speed: 11 times the speed of light. Top sublight: .98C Class I maneuverability. Length: 970
Defenses: Class II radiation Shields, Energy Web Projectors, and 3 meters of mark III overlord armor
A few minutes later they left the atmosphere and entered low orbit. From this vantage point, the could see strange reddish storms spreading across the surface of the Earth. Countryman scanned the storms and noted that they were radioactive plasma storms heavily concentrated in the upper atmosphere. Ahead of them was a Cathamari Battle Claw class battlecruiser bombarding the planet. Like all Cathamari ships she had a triangular forward section a sleek neck swept back to a rounded central body from which two pairs of swept-back wings were attached. The ship was predominately black with red streaks on her wings and sides. The overall coloring pattern and shape gave her an almost predatory look. Reynolds gave the order to open fire. A volley of torpedoes shot out at the cruiser looking like blue streaks. 2 of them were stopped by her shields, which glowed with an eerie red light, but the rest passed through and dealt severe damage to the cruiser. The Enterprise then finished her off with a particle beam fired directly into her main reactor. As the ship exploded the captain gave the helmsman the order to increase speed.
Spoiler: Spoiler
Battle Claw: Cathamari cruiser designed for fighting Earthships: Class IV Maneuverability, max sublight: .48 C
Armament: 72 Plasma Torpedo banks, 14 concussion plasma banks and 14 fighters. Class II sega shielding. FTL Cruise speed: 124 times light speed
Cathamari torpedoes have an effective range of 12000 Km
Cathamari Plasma Cannons have an effective range of 10000 Km
Moments later their orbit increased and several more cruisers attacking the planet came into view they were engaged with 3 Earth Cruisers. At a glance, Countryman was not sure of their class. The cruisers were either Tokyo or Osaka class vessels but other than armament ships of those classes were identical in appearance and capability. The Earth ships had an elongated saucer with a v-shaped wedge missing from the aft section. A pair of thick struts attached to the endpoints of the v swept back to a central point behind the hull where a half-disk secondary hull was mounted. A second set of struts swept back and out from the side of the saucer to a pair of nacelles, which were connected to the secondary hull as well by another pair of sturdy struts. The primary hull, the Secondary hull and nacelles were all located on the same plane. Unlike the Enterprise, none of these cruisers had warp capability since there were only three ships in the fleet with that ability. Both the Earth Cruisers and the Cathamari Cruisers were exchanging torpedo volleys.
Spoiler: Spoiler
Tokyo class heavy cruisers were designed to fight the Cathamari. Class III Maneuverability, Top speed: .82 C Armament: 12 light particle cannons, 6 heavy, 12 fusion torpedo banks, and one Cutting Beam Array. Length: 2200
Osaka Class heavy cruisers were designed to intercept and destroy pirate vessels and now serve as escorts. Class III Maneuverability, Top Speed .82 C Armament: 24 Light particle cannons, 8 heavy, 2 fusion torpedo banks, and one cutting beam array. Length: 2200
As the Enterprise was entering weapons range they witnessed some Cathamari Torpedos get intercepted by the energy web of one the Earth Cruisers. Moments later Reynolds ordered tactical to target the nearest Cathamari ship and open fire. Along the hull of the Enterprise, numerous turrets and emitter arrays lined up with the target and opened fire. Thousands of bluish particle bolts ripped across space to strike the damaged alien cruiser. Its weakened shields held up for barely ten seconds before failing, the hull lasted only a second and a half longer, before the ship was reduced to an expanding cloud of atoms. The other cruisers responded quickly and engaged the Enterprise, reddish bolts of plasma striking the hull, to little effect. While one fired her torpedoes at the Enterprise. A minute after the Enterprise sunk the first cruiser, the Coto and Umikaze joined them in the engagement. The addition of the three ships, changed the dynamic in favor of the Earth fleet. Both the Coto and Umikaze opened fire with their torpedoes, glowing blue bolts flew out across space, the Cathamari cruisers already struggling with the sheer volume the three earth cruisers had been putting out were overwhelmed. The remaining cruisers were struck and exploded in massive fireballs.
Spoiler: Spoiler
Energy Web: A device that projects a web of laser pulses and magnetic fields that intercepts and destroys incoming ballistic ordinance
It is not 100% effective and can only be maintained for a few seconds before it must shut down and recharge
As the last cruiser in the area sunk, Reynolds decided to check on the ship''s status and that of their allies.
¡°Status report,¡± barked Reynolds.
¡°Hull Plating at 97% sir, No Damage,¡± replied the senior engineer on deck.
¡° Coto and Umikaze report light damage. The Maryland was sunk and the Aksay reports moderate damage, and Paris has taken heavy damage. The Paris¡¯s engineers say they can have her combat-ready again in 23 minutes,¡± replied the Operations officer.
¡°Order the Aksay to guard the Paris and scan for enemy ships,¡± ordered Reynolds.
¡°Aye sir,¡± acknowledged operations.
¡°Sir, we are receiving a distress call from the EFS Baltimore,¡± reported operations.
¡°Navigation set course for the Baltimore fastest possible speed,¡± ordered Reynolds.
¡°Aye sir,¡± replied the woman at navigation.
¡°Operations order the Coto and Umikaze to follow us,¡± ordered Reynolds.
¡°Aye sir¡±, replied the operations officer.
¡°Course set¡± declared the navigation officer.
¡°Helm engage,¡± ordered Reynolds.
The ship then surged forward and a few minutes later the Baltimore came into view, an Osaka class heavy cruiser. The ship was under attack by multiple Cathamari Battlecruisers and was taking heavy damage. Her hull plating was visibly failing and several breaches in the hull could be seen, the attacking cruisers were dumping their torpedoes in mass and the Baltimore¡¯s failing defense systems were struggling to protect the ship. The ship was just hanging their drifting. They hailed the Baltimore as they closed. The Baltimore¡¯s captain Mary Williams informed them that her hull plating was failing, she was out of torpedoes and her Main Engines were offline. Which only confirmed what Countryman had already deduced from observing the ship. There was only one other Earthship in the area a Charleston class light cruiser. The Charleston was taking heavy damage as well. They watched a volley of Cathamari torpedoes strike the ship, and penetrate the hull, before the Enterprise could enter weapons range. The resulting secondary explosions tore the light cruiser apart. There was no time to abandon the ship. As soon as they were in range Reynolds ordered tactical to target the nearest hostile and open fire. The Enterprise fired a volley of torpedoes from her forward launchers the blue streaks sailed across space, a few of the torpedoes were stopped, by their shields but the remaining torpedoes struck the ship amidships.
Spoiler: Spoiler
The Charleston class is a light cruiser and carrier employed by the Earth fleet. Class II Maneuverability, top speed: .87C Armament: 4 Particle Cannon Banks, 15 torpedo banks, and 30 fighters. Length: 950
¡°Direct hit, captain moderate damage to their hull and their shields are down sir,¡± stated the chief tactical officer.
¡°Helm put us in a defensive position above the Baltimore. Tactical target their reactor¡± ordered Reynolds.
¡°Aye sir¡± replied the helm officer.
¡°Reactor targeted,¡± reported tactical.
¡°Beams fire,¡± ordered Reynolds.
An instant later a light blue particle beam shot forth from the dorsal beam array and penetrated through the target ship''s hull and main reactor. A second later the hostile cruiser was torn apart by an antimatter explosion. A few seconds later the ship sailed into a defensive position above the Baltimore.
¡°We are in position, sir,¡± said the helm officer.
¡°Tactical fire at will, operations order our escorts to strike at their flanks,¡± ordered Reynolds.
¡°Aye sir,¡± replied tactical, and operations.
Seconds later the Enterprise opened fire with her main batteries on the nearest hostiles and started firing torpedoes on targets of opportunity. A couple more Cathamari cruisers already damaged from previous engagements quickly sank, under the fire. While the Baltimores engineers took the opportunity to try and get their engines back online. Several Cathamari cruisers came about and fired a torpedo volley at the Enterprise, large red bolts could be seen streaking across space towards the Enterprise. Reynolds ordered the web deployed and 3/4 of the torpedos were blocked the rest struck the hull.
¡°Hull Plating 79% sir,¡± reported a junior engineer.
¡°Order the Umikaze to attack the ship bearing 203 mark 4,¡± ordered Reynolds.
¡°Aye sir,¡± said the operations officer.
¡°They¡¯re firing aft torpedoes,¡± reported tactical.
¡°Deploy Energy Web¡± ordered Countryman. The web deployed and intercepted most of the torpedoes. Reynolds was surprised that the Web could be deployed as he thought it had a longer recharge. Countryman quickly informed him of the improved recharge of the new generation energy webs on the Enterprise.
¡°They are coming around for another pass, sir,¡± reported the chief tactical officer.
¡°Tactical focus fire on the nearest one¡± ordered Reynolds.
¡°Aye sir, focusing fire¡± acknowledged tactical.
The focused fire quickly tore through the targeted ship¡¯s shields and the cruiser was shredded by the barrage. The rest opened fire. About half of their torpedoes were stopped by the web this time and the rest struck the hull. Another of the enemy cruisers sank as it passed by.
¡°Hull plating is at 40% sir and that last hit damaged the web projectors¡± reported engineering.
¡°How long before the Baltimore¡¯s engines are back online?¡± asked Reynolds, somewhat concerned.
¡°Five minutes, sir,¡± replied operations.
¡°They are launching aft torpedoes,¡± reported Tactical.
¡°Deploy web¡± ordered Reynolds.
The Web deployed and blocked most of the torpedos despite the damage its projector took. The Cathamari went around for another pass as they were turning two more cruisers were sunk by the Coto when she hit them with a barrage of torpedoes bringing the total to 8. While the Umikaze managed to sink another, with a particle beam through the reactor when its shields failed. The Cruisers launched another volley at the Enterprise. Her damaged projectors were barely able to stop the volley from depleting the hull plating.
¡°Hull Plating at four percent sir¡±
¡°Helm Evasive Pattern Gamma Six. Countryman get down to engineering and see what you can do about the hull plating,¡± ordered Reynolds, counting on Countrymans knowledge of the ship to get them out of this before it failed.
¡°Yes, sir. I will head to main engineering immediately,¡± replied Countryman.
Countryman quickly vaulted up the stairs and headed through the main door. He was only halfway down the corridor when the ship shook and he heard an explosion. He accessed the wall panel next to the lift and quickly brought up the status display. It showed a diagram of the ship. One section was highlighted red at the top center of the ship. A line next to it read ¡°main bridge: destroyed.¡± Several other sections were highlighted orange.
Countryman then entered the lift and ran into Richard Greyman, whom he dragged with him to engineering. As he entered he saw several engineers rushing about in a hurry. He ordered them to transfer control to the Auxiliary Bridge. He then accessed an engineering console it took him a couple minutes but he managed to restore the hull plating to 20% and increase its resistance slightly. He gave a couple more orders to the engineers in the room and asked where the chief engineer was. They told him she was in Warp Engineering.
Then he accessed the external sensors. They showed the surviving Cathamari cruisers in full retreat but he could also see that the strange plasma storms now completely engulfed the Earth. Countryman knew at that moment that the Earth was dying and it filled him with a mix of sorrow and anger. Moments later he and Greyman left Main Engineering and headed to the Auxiliary Bridge on deck 4. Once there he assumed command of the Enterprise. From all around the battlefield they were receiving distress calls from the damaged ships that had survived the battle.
As Countryman went about directing repairs he ordered the fighters dispatched to search for survivors and sent the Umikaze and the Coto to aid the damaged ships they found. He then invited Captain Mary Williams aboard (She was an older woman of around 50 with blonde hair and blue eyes.) and began to discuss with her the salvaging of her ship. Both of them agreed that her ship was too badly damaged to repair. After some debate, they decided to transfer the Baltimores bridge module to the Enterprise to replace the Enterprise¡¯s destroyed bridge. Since both ships had identical bridge modules it would be a simple job. The consoles would have to be reconfigured but that would be easy. After that, the conversation shifted to the future of humanity. After hours of debate, they decided they would have to leave the Sol system, but first they would have to prepare for the trip as best they could and rescue as many survivors as they could.
Chapter II The Tour
The next day Countryman was walking down the corridor on deck 5. He stopped at the door of his chief engineer a young woman named Megumi Richards. Countryman was looking forward to the encounter and wondering what kind of person the daughter of his former love would be like. He activated the doorbell on the doors control console.
Megumi was in the middle of changing when the doorbell rang. As soon as she heard the bell she rushed over to the door panel and fumbled for the comm, but in her haste, she accidentally opened the door instead. As she flushed in embarrassment about being seen in her underwear, Countryman turned around. Megumi was a young woman of 26, she had black hair and like most humans from Mars, her eyes were red. She composed herself and spoke:
¡°One moment, Commander¡±
Then she closed the door and hurried to put her uniform on. Then she exited her quarters and asked the Commander.
¡°Can I help you, commander?¡±
¡°I mostly wanted to introduce myself. I am commander Countryman, my friends call me Jac¡±
She quickly took a second look at Countryman. He was an older man who looked to be around 50. His hair was a dark brown and beginning to gray. He was clean-shaven and his brown eyes reflected the wisdom gained from years of experience. In disbelief she responded:
¡°You can¡¯t be that Countryman, can you?¡±
¡°You look like your mother almost exactly the way I pictured you, but I take it I am not as you pictured,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°But mom said you were already an older man when she met you. You don¡¯t look old enough to be him.¡± She replied still trying to reconcile the disconnect. But as she looked at him she noticed he looked almost exactly as her mother described him.
¡°Then I take it your mom never told you that I am a Cyborg.¡±
¡°No, she didn¡¯t but it would explain why you haven¡¯t aged much.¡±
A few minutes later she asked:
¡°I have heard mom¡¯s stories about you for years. What was she like when you met her?¡±
¡°Sarah was young when I first met her back on Mars. She was my student then and she was younger than everyone else in the class. It was two years after the 2nd colonial war ended, I got to know her when she came to me for tutoring. She was strong-minded and brilliant, but most importantly not afraid to ask for help when she needed it. After she left my class we kept in touch a few years later she graduated and since work outside of the military was rare back then she came to me for a job. It was during those years that I first got to really know her. By that time she had grown into a pretty, young woman but I was most impressed with her intelligence.............¡±
As she listened a part of her began to wish she hadn¡¯t asked. As he spoke he signaled a direction down the corridor and they began to walk in that direction.
¡°...... it was a lovely day in the middle of the Martian summer when we went on our first date. She was wearing a lovely red dress that day that brought out her eyes, which seemed like rubies in comparison. I took her to a lovely restaurant on Aka street. We ordered steaks that day she was surprised that I could afford them. After the restaurant I took her to watch the setting sun and presented her with a box of martian chocolates......¡±
It was around this point that they got off a lift and rounded a corner before entering a room in the forward sections of deck 12. It was one of the ship¡¯s Lounges, the room had dozens of tables. The chairs at the tables looked like normal chairs but they were actually on concealed tracks. At one end of the room was a small bar, at the other was a bank of recreational computer consoles. Next to the console was a series of shelves stocked with board games. Next to the bar was another set of shelves stocked with a number of data disks for use with either the consoles or the tables. The tables had a screen built-in and control panels on two sides. They had games programmed in such as chess and checkers. The external wall was dominated by a series of viewports. Like all viewports on the ship, they were equipped with retractable armor plates. The plates were currently retracted and provided an excellent view of the debris field and the moon which was just entering the field of view but Earth was not in the field of view. They sat down at one of the nearby tables.
¡°....... with the New Industrial Revolution on Earth, we decided to move to Earth as the economic opportunities were immense. We settled into a nice house at Star Tech Headquarters that had been in my family since 2033. My cousin had more than enough space for us. She also had no right to complain since I had been the one paying the bills on that house for decades. The next two years were the happiest in my life. But that turned into sorrow and pain 28 years ago.¡±
The fact that the house had been in his family so long was impressive especially since few buildings survived WWIII and most of the ones that did were appropriated by the then newly founded U.E government. That last statement caught her attention and she asked:
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°It was a lovely day in February, and I had just purchased a ring worth ten years of my savings when I heard a strange rumor, naturally I investigated. That rumor turned out to be true and wounded me to the core. The woman I loved and was planning to marry had betrayed me. She had cheated on me with another man just two days before. I was furious and confronted her later that day. We had quite the argument then she left for Mars despite the fact that the Third Colonial War was raging. We did not speak again for 12 years. 16 years ago though she contacted me, told me of the illness she had contracted and asked me to take care of you if she died, in fact, she told me a great deal about you. After that, I began secretly sending her money.¡±
After hearing this dozens of questions flew through her mind. She wondered what happened to the ring and why he started sending mom that money. She was even curious about what exactly mom had told him. A part of her even wondered if this man could be her father. The first thing she chose to ask him was about the ring.
¡°The ring? I still have it,¡± he replied then suddenly his right arm opened up, eight plates retracted revealing complex circuitry and a mixture of organic and artificial materials in complete symbiosis. She even noticed the casing of what looked like an E-11 personal defense cannon and fitted over the emitter was a beautiful diamond ring. Countryman removed the ring and handed it to her and said:
Spoiler: Spoiler
E-11: Older weapon that was favored by Cyborgs. It was in heavy use from WWIII to the end of the First Colonial War. Fires laser pulses and is one of the rare Human weapons that have both kill and stun settings. It is quite small and was designed so it could be easily concealed. However the laser battery can¡¯t hold a large amount of charge limiting its capacity. Range .9 km RoF: 1300 bolts per minute capacity: 120, 240 on stun
¡°This is the ring I was going to give your mother. I considered selling it after our argument but I didn¡¯t, it''s been decorating my cannon emitter ever since.¡±
As she looked at the cannon she began to wonder how old Countryman was. She then took the ring and began to look at it before asking him his age.
¡°Tomorrow would be my 191st birthday, not that it is worth celebrating in the light of our recent sorrow,¡± he replied while closing his arm plates.
¡°Then you must have some insight into the technologies of the first colonial war. In fact, what was it like to travel on those ships?¡± asked Megumi.
¡°They were slow and maneuvered like tubs. When WWIII started to break out I boarded a transport headed to Mars colony. Those were the most boring 8 months of my life. Even with the books and collection of old games I brought with me,¡± replied Countryman
Having finished examining the ring she moved to hand it back. The ring was an elaborate silver band with a beautiful natural set of stones arrayed to resemble a flower instead of the synthetic stones that were popular nowadays which also explained the high cost of the ring. It was obvious to her that the ring would have cost Countryman a few hundred million dollars. But Countryman pushed it back and said:
¡°No, I think you should have it and I don¡¯t need it anymore.¡±
She argued with him for a while, but eventually accepted the ring. Then Countryman asked her a question.
¡°So, have you familiarized yourself with the ship''s layout yet?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Haven¡¯t had a chance yet sir,¡± replied Megumi.
¡°Then let me show you some of the highlights,¡± replied Countryman
She agreed and he showed her around the ship. He showed her where the ship¡¯s maintenance pathways were, The shuttle bays on decks 4, 98, 50, and H deck. The lettered decks were located in the secondary hull and numbered primary hull. He also showed her the War Room on deck 30, Central weapons control on deck two, the science labs on deck 102, Energy Web Control on deck 52, Navigational Control on B deck and several other facilities before they came to deck one. The bridge was not yet repaired, but they were heading to the Officer¡¯s Conference Room inside several officers were waiting from both the Baltimore and the Enterprise. They had come to the conference room before the tour could be finished because they were summoned.
As they entered Greyman and Williams were arguing over who should be captain of the Enterprise. Williams seemed to think that she should take command, while Greyman was arguing that they should follow standard protocol, and put Countryman in charge of the ship.
Countryman moved to the table and took a seat and silently motioned to Megumi to take a seat as well. Then he began to listen while silently charging his defenses and switching them to stun just in case.
¡°...... and since he has little command experience I am a more suitable candidate for command of this ship then he is,¡± stated Williams.
¡°I have quite a bit of experience with command. I have commanded a few science ships in the past.¡± interrupted Countryman.
¡°A science ship is a far cry from the Enterprise,¡± jabbed Williams.
¡°If you are worried about my tactical skills, I was trained in modern ship to ship tactics by command, and I have quite a few tactical manuals loaded to my neural net.¡±
¡°Cyborgs are almost as bad as androids you can¡¯t trust them,¡± spat Williams.
¡°Well if you''re going to play that card go ahead, it won¡¯t get you anywhere. Besides I outrank you,¡± coldly replied Countryman.
¡°I doubt that, there is no way, a commander outranks me, I have been a captain for 15 years, I am more qualified than you,¡± replied Williams.
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¡°Actually I do. My military rank may be commander, but I have High Admiral level authority anyway let''s just put it to a vote, I would rather not have to use my clearance code to assume a command that is by rights mine, according to the chain of command, and military tradition,¡± replied Countryman.
The other officers in the room were 1st Lieutenant Kaori Airi a 23-year-old from Mars with red hair and eyes, she was formerly the Chief Tactical Officer aboard the Baltimore. Ensign Misaki a young girl of 17 from Venus with red hair and blue eyes, a recent graduate of the academy she was serving as operations and comm officer aboard the Baltimore. Ruri a 32-year-old woman with black hair and blue eyes, who was currently serving as the Enterprise¡¯s chief science officer. 2nd lieutenant Mitsubishi Eri a young woman of Japanese descent with black hair and brown eyes, age 19 she was formerly the helmsman of the Baltimore. 1st Lieutenant Maria Sanchez, a Hispanic woman of 27, she was the navigation officer aboard the Baltimore. The Chief medical officer was mysteriously absent. The vote for captain was almost unanimous with only Sanchez voting for Williams. Most of the officers being smart enough to know that voting against tradition would open a can of worms best left closed. With Sanchez being the only officer who had been under Williams¡¯ command for more than a couple of months. Williams and Countryman weren¡¯t allowed to vote. Making the vote 5 to 1 in favor of Countryman.
Williams was not happy and stormed out of the room and Sanchez followed her. Greyman approached Countryman and said:
¡°We are still receiving distress signals and both Captain Dykes and Captain Smith say they need help rescuing the survivors. When do you plan on getting underway?¡±
¡°As soon as the bridge transfer is complete and the damaged hull plates are replaced. Which if everything goes according to schedule would be around 1400 hours today.¡± then Countryman turned to the others and thanked them for their support before asking Megumi to accompany him. The two then left the room.
A couple of hours later the bridge officers filed into the newly replaced main bridge. Countryman took the captain''s seat and Greyman stood next to him. The other officers took their stations. Countryman took a moment to survey his bridge before giving his first order.
¡°Sanchez lay in a course for the nearest distress call,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Aye sir, course laid in,¡± said Sanchez.
¡°Eri ahead full¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Aye sir,¡± replied Eri while she engaged the engines then she said, ¡°Just so you know sir Eri is my given name.¡±
¡°Richards keep an eye on those new hull plates,¡± ordered Countryman, while ignoring Eri¡¯s statement, he had already known that, but chose to use her given name because it was shorter.
¡°Yes sir,¡± replied Megumi while Ruri entered the bridge and approached Countryman.
¡°Sir I have analyzed the last engagement and I think I can improve the Energy Webs effectiveness.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s hear it,¡± replied Countryman
She then described her idea to Countryman.
¡°Run a few simulations and see if it works, if it does we will implement it. I also have a few ideas for enhancing the hull plating that take advantage of our superior power generation. You will find my experimental AIF configurations in file XAE-2370943-B. Also, check out my enhancements for the Energy Absorbers in file XAE-2370941-F and my ideas for improving the dispersion field emitters in file XAE-2370943-D,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Yes sir and may I ask why you chose such long names for your files?¡± asked Ruri.
¡°No,¡± replied Countryman than Ruri left the bridge while writing the file names into her datapad before she forgot them. A few minutes later a damaged Charleston class light cruiser entered view.
¡°Sir we are approaching the EFS Essex,¡± reported Eri.
¡°All Stop. What is the status of the Essex?¡± said Countryman.
¡°Her hull plating has failed. She has 42 hull breaches, fires on decks 4, 7 and 18 her port nacelle has been destroyed, her weapons array is offline and her port fighter bay has been destroyed. Her main reactor shielding has failed and is leaking radiation. We are detecting 113 survivors in the ship''s forward sections. Fortunately, her comm array appears to be undamaged, sir,¡± reported operations.
¡°Hail the ship¡± ordered Countryman.
A few moments later a young man with a Lieutenant''s markings appeared on the forward view screen. The room behind him was in shambles with a collapsed bulkhead in the background.
¡°Sir, glad to see you the captain and most of the crew is dead and the ship is flooding with deadly radiation,¡± said the young man.
¡°Can you eject the reactor core?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°No, the remote control systems are frozen. We can¡¯t eject the core or separate the secondary hull,¡± replied the young man, clearly frightened.
Countryman then assured the young man that he would take care of it and closed the comm channel.
¡°Kaori charge the cutting beams,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Cutting beams charged, sir¡± reported Kaori.
¡°Lock on to the connecting struts and fire,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Beams locked, firing¡± reported Kaori, as she guided the beams to cut the connecting struts.
An instant later twin blue particle beams shot out and started to cut through the thick armored struts that connected the secondary hull to the primary and the remaining nacelle. 34 seconds later the beams cut out and had to recharge before firing again. It took three full discharges of the beam array to separate the secondary hull from the primary taking a total of 110 seconds. As soon as the hull was separated Countryman ordered the ship to move into a towing position. The ship then closed the distance to a little under 50 km and Eri angled the ship so that the aft Mag Tractor Projector had an angle to fire.
¡°We are in position, captain¡± stated Eri.
¡°Engage tractor,¡± ordered Countryman.
A second later a pair of mag disks shot out and attached to the hull of the Essex. Then a pair of towing beams were established.
¡°Tractor beam established, sir,¡± stated Richards.
¡°Eri, move us away from the Essex¡¯s secondary hull, ahead one quarter. Tactical target the hull and prepare to fire on my command,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Aye sir¡± replied Eri.
The distance slowly started to increase. Kaori stated the distance every twenty seconds. A few moments later:
¡°We are now at 12000 Km from the target, sir.¡±
¡°Destroy it,¡± ordered Countryman
An instant later a beam shot out and pierced the Essex¡¯s Secondary hull. After 22 seconds of continuous fire, it shot out the other side. The next second the module exploded as the reactor lost containment.
¡°Local radiation levels are dropping captain,¡± said Misaki
¡°Evacuate the Essex and shut down the tractor projector,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Aye sir launching shuttles,¡± replied Misaki.
¡°Aye sir disengaging tractor,¡± replied Richards
A few seconds later the mag disks detached and the beam pulled them back into the projector before shutting down. Ten minutes passed before the first shuttles left the shuttle bay to evacuate the Essex. It took time for the bay workers to load and ready the shuttles before decompressing the bay, to allow for a launch. It took nearly half an hour to evacuate the Essex. After that the Enterprise evacuated 4 other ships before coming across the EFS Yamato. The Yamato came into view and the damage was very noticeable even from a distance.
¡°Scan the Yamato, I want to know if the damage is as bad as it looks,¡± ordered Countryman. The Yamato had a huge chunk of her primary hull on the starboard side blown away and all three of her starboard nacelles were gone and she was venting burning deuterium from rips in her secondary hull. As they approached an explosion rocked the Yamato and tore another hole in her hull.
¡°The Yamato has suffered severe damage sir, most of the ship is vented to space and there are fires on every deck not vented to space. Her star frame is beginning to buckle and the ship is breaking apart,¡± reported Misaki, after consulting the sensors.
¡°Life signs?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°None on the ship, but I am picking up hundreds of escape pods,¡± replied Misaki.
Countryman ordered the ship to begin recovery operations. Dozens of shuttles were launched to tractor the pods back to the ship. It took hours to collect all the pods and they only accounted for 4,752 people out of a crew of 12,700. Among the survivors was the injured Captain Ashley Drakes and his daughter Hannah. Countryman headed down to sickbay to see him.
Countryman entered sickbay on its uppermost level on deck 39. The rooms were a flurry of activity with dozens of personnel moving back and forth. Some people were being rushed into the operating rooms on stretchers with severe injuries. Countryman walked over to the officer at the desk and inquired as to the location of Captain Drakes. The young man there told him that Drakes was on deck 42 in recovery room 49. Countryman then headed to the sickbay lift. A few minutes later he entered recovery room 49. There Drakes sat on a biobed he was an older man in his 50s with brown hair that was beginning to grey and blue eyes. He had a short disheveled beard and his uniform was torn.
¡°Here to greet me, eh, captain?¡± said Drakes as soon as Countryman entered.
¡°Welcome aboard, Drakes. May I ask what happened?¡± said Countryman.
¡°They sent half their fleet at us, and once the hull plating failed they dumped a dozen torpedoes into our starboard side lost half the ship when the Starboard torpedo bay exploded. One of their torpedoes must have ignited the fuel for our torpedo warheads. Would have been the whole ship if the bay wasn¡¯t nearly empty. After that fires broke out and the fire suppression systems failed. I was forced to give the order to abandon ship,¡± replied Drakes.
¡°Well then Drakes may I ask how you got stuck with a girl''s name?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°My parents wanted a girl. Let¡¯s leave it at that,¡± replied Drakes.
Countryman and Drakes continued to speak for half an hour before Countryman had to leave. Countryman then headed back to the bridge. It took two days to find and rescue all the survivors of the Battle of Earth after that they began salvaging the debris field. Every ship Human and Cathamari alike were stripped of usable technology and materials. Anything they could not take with them was stored aboard the converted defense station Star Tech One, They were able to start up and expand the hydroponic bays on the Enterprise with crops and fish they found on the surviving orbital hydroponics facilities. For food, they had a variety of grains, vegetables, fruits, and fish.
As the month ended and June came around they were finally ready to depart Earth orbit, but Williams brought up the issue of command again. The bridge officers and former captains all gathered in the officer¡¯s conference room. Countryman sat down at the head of the table and began to listen to her power-hungry argument.
¡°....... and furthermore putting a cyborg in charge is like putting a computer in charge. I don¡¯t know about you, but I would rather die than accept putting a computer in charge,¡± finished Williams.
¡°That can be arranged,¡± said one of the former captains.
¡°Really, well I don¡¯t see why that means we should put you in charge,¡± stated another.
¡°I don¡¯t have a problem and Countryman¡¯s pre-service record shows he has a strong grasp of command and tactics,¡± said a third.
¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Williams, now a bit worried that her speech hadn¡¯t rallied her fellow captains against Countryman.
¡°The incident occurred 69 years ago, Countryman was in charge of the MFS Nebula he was testing the ship''s new engines when she was attacked by three Lunar cruisers, despite being heavily outgunned, out-ranged and outnumbered he managed to sink all three cruisers with minimal casualties and only light damage.¡± replied the officer
¡°How did he accomplish that?¡± asked the ship''s tactical officer Kaori, her eyes seemingly sparkling.
¡°My ship was more maneuverable and a bit faster, so I outmaneuvered them. The Nebula was equipped with sophisticated computer equipment it was easy to reconfigure some of it to serve as a basic electronic warfare module. I was able to sink the first cruiser by tricking their missiles into thinking their cruiser was my ship. In the brief moment of surprise, I quickly closed to weapons range on the second and sunk her by targeting her reactor module. The third proved more challenging but I was able to avoid her missile volleys by using the debris as a shield forcing her captain to close to laser range. Just before he entered laser range I generated an EM pulse that temporarily blinded her sensors. It only lasted 3 seconds but it was enough for me to knock out her main engine. I took some damage from her return fire before I could maneuver into the cruiser¡¯s blind spot. Once there I fired a few shots into her main reactor with my lasers,¡± explained Countryman. Most of the officers were impressed, but Williams wasn¡¯t.
Spoiler: Spoiler
MFS Nebula: The MFS Nebula is a Martian Fleet Ship of the Nebula class. The Nebula Class is a science ship armed solely with laser cannons. 3 laser cannon banks, and 8 pd laser banks to be specific. Laser cannons have an effective range of 10,000 km. Pd lasers have an effective range of 432 km Top speed: .8C Maneuverability: Class III Defenses: 1 meter polarized hull plating, class I radiation shields.
¡°An incident 70 years ago involving outdated weapons and defenses doesn¡¯t mean he is fit for command of the Enterprise,¡± argued Williams.
As the discussion went on the officers were more and more in favor of maintaining the current captain. Especially since any action that went against tradition would cause problems, and dissatisfaction among the officers. Most of the officers gathered recognized that making anyone other than Countryman captain would open up a can of worms that in the current situation was best left closed. To calm Williams one of them proposed the creation of an officer''s council which would wield some power on the ship. After some debate, they decided to create one. Its job would be to manage fleet resources, maintain order, and determine the fleet¡¯s long-range goals.
¡°Alright then I agree that those powers make sense, now who do you think should be on the council,¡± said Commander Greyman.
¡°The former ship captains¡± said one officer.
¡°Any officer currently holding the rank of captain,¡± said another officer.
¡°It should be a group of elected officers of rank commander and above¡± suggested a third.
They were several more suggestions before they began to debate the pros and cons of each suggestion. After several hours they had finally decided who belonged on the council and the subject moved to supply.
¡°One of the big items that would affect morale is our limited coffee supply, we only have enough for a few weeks before we run out and we have no means to replace it,¡± said one officer.
¡°Perhaps one of the colonies has a supply of coffee plants we could use,¡± suggested a third.
¡°Unlikely all the colonies imported the stuff from Earth. Mars tried to grow coffee 120 years ago but the resulting coffee was considered disgusting so they stopped,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Well then perhaps we could synthesize a substitute for coffee,¡± suggested Williams.
¡°We don¡¯t need the stuff and I know of several mild stimulants that could substitute for the stuff. Even though they don¡¯t taste the same,¡± said Chief Medical Officer Robins.
¡°We will use the substitutes Robins suggests. Now let''s move on to our immediate goals¡± said Countryman.
¡°Have any in mind?¡± asked Williams.
¡°I was thinking we should take Star Tech One and hide it in the Asteroid belt. We should also visit Mars and see if we can find any plants that could supplement our list of crops. If we get lucky we might even get a supply of Martian Chocolate plants which would definitely boost morale, and who knows they might make a decent trade good,¡± replied Countryman.
Spoiler: Spoiler
Star Tech One was formerly a high energy research station. The Station is over a hundred years old but regular maintenance has kept it in a like new condition. The facility is located in high Earth orbit just 25000 Km past the moon¡¯s orbit. With the Cathamari threat looming the station was converted into an orbital defense station along with its three sister stations. It¡¯s energy vents were weaponized creating the most powerful weapon known to man. The defense station¡¯s combined with the Lunar Minefield created a powerful defense barrier around Earth and Luna. That weapon was given the nickname Disintegrator but was named the Energy Vent Cannon. It has the longest effective range of any known weapon at 10,000,000 Km and a yield high enough to destroy multiple Cathamari cruisers in a single shot. The downsides are the weapon¡¯s long recharge of 15 and a half minutes, its high power requirements and a bulky size which prevents it from being mounted on all but the largest capital ships. Star Tech One was the only defense station to survive the Battle of Earth.
¡°Mars sounds like a good bet for food supplies. Given that they were the largest agricultural producer outside of Earth, I am certain some of their farming survived the last battle of Mars,¡± replied one of the other officers triggering a mutual line of consensus. They then began to consider which star system they should head for after they cleared the inner system. Several systems were proposed, but they eventually chose Alpha Centauri.
Chapter III The Sol System
A few hours later the fleet of three ships left Earth orbit while towing the Star Tech station behind them. As they left Earth orbit Countryman silently vowed that they would return in 10,000 years and wondered if the monument to the past they left on Luna would survive. This time of year Mars and Earth were not at their closest points on typical system charts Mars was on the lowest point of its orbit approaching Jupiter. Mercury was closest to Earth at this point in its orbit with Venus at the furthest point of its orbit to Earth. Their course was also complicated by the fact that the system was riddled with debris fields, minefields, and radiation fields that were created as a result of the colonial wars and the more recent Cathamari war. They had to plot a course that avoided the older colonial minefields that wouldn¡¯t recognize them as friendlies or simply lacked a friend-foe recognition system. The resultant course to Mars took them relatively close to Mercury, but not close enough to actually see it on visual sensors. Towing a station also slowed them down, since they couldn¡¯t tow something that big at warp. That and warp towing was mostly theory anyway and no one wanted to risk the station on a theory anyway.
Countryman was comfortable in his quarters reading a book in the after-hours of the day on June 7th when he was suddenly summoned to the bridge. As he headed up to the bridge he started wondering what it could be, since they were in the middle of nowhere. Since the crew hadn¡¯t put the ship on tactical alert he could assume it wasn¡¯t a Cathamari attack. The instant he stepped on to the bridge he saw the distinctive shape of an old first colonial war era cruiser, he recognized it as Olympia class. The ship was long and cylindrical with a hammerhead-shaped front section. It had three massive rotating rings around the ship. These rings were used back then to provide artificial gravity instead of grav plates. He took his seat and then he asked for a report.
¡°Not much to report, sir. The cruiser on screen is roughly 4500 Km out from us and 3 degrees off starboard. I haven¡¯t been able to identify her but scans indicate that someone has outfitted her with modern photon missiles.¡±
¡°No need she is Olympia class. How many life signs?¡±
Spoiler: Spoiler
Olypia class: Old Earth Combat Cruiser. Top Speed: .2C Maneuvering: Class VIII, Defenses: Titanium hull plating partial coverage. Armament: 3 Type II Railgun Banks, 4 Nuke Missile Banks, 2 pd laser Banks. Length: 470 detection: radar
Type II Railguns: effective range 400 km
Old style nukes: effective range 5800 km
¡°165 sir. It''s hard to imagine traveling on one of those ships. No grav plates, no inertial dampers, and no regenerative life support.¡± remarked the young man currently sitting at operations.
Spoiler: Spoiler
Regenerative Life Support is a system that employs a regenerative matrix to generate oxygen for the crew. The Matrix only functions as long as it has power. For radiation protection most ships have a special lining on the hull, the radiation shields provide extra protection when needed.
¡°Deactivate hull plating and hail the ship,¡± ordered Countryman. Countryman had the hull plating deactivated because it scatters sensor signals when active. This scattering effect is caused by the built-in dispersion field generators. It also makes scanning inside the equipped ship difficult without specially configured sensors. Most human ships, are naturally designed to use these specially configured sensors and as a result they can see each other easily, but the older Olympias use radar and can¡¯t detect ships equipped with overlord armor.
¡°Aye, sir.¡±
Moments later a young woman appeared on the screen. Before Countryman could say a thing she was speaking.
¡°Are you heading to take back Mars?¡±
¡°No, I regret to inform you that Earth is gone,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Gone what do you mean gone?¡±
¡°Simple, we lost the war. Now we are currently heading to Mars for extra supplies before we leave the system. Why don¡¯t you join us?¡± asked Countryman.
A few minutes of conversation later she agreed. Her crew then transferred over along with their supplies. They set her ship on a gentle course before continuing on their way. A few days later they entered high orbit over Mars. As they entered orbit their view was dominated by the wreckage of the eight battles fought in Mars orbit by Humans and the Cathamari.
Countryman watched the wreckage of a fairly intact O''Brien class destroyer drift by, before asking Sanchez to chart a course through the wreckage. It took nearly an hour to get past the wreckage to a point in low orbit that would allow them to safely launch shuttles for the purpose of finding supplies on Mars. Countryman¡¯s view was dominated by the wreckage of a Lincoln Class Carrier.
Spoiler: Spoiler
The O¡¯brien was Earth¡¯s mainstay destroyer very fast and very maneuverable. Top Speed: .87C Maneuvering: Class I. Armament: 8 particle cannon banks, 2 fusion torp banks. No towing capability.
Length: 542 meters
The Lincoln was the mainstay carrier of Earth Fleet. Top speed .8C Maneuvering: Class IV Armament: 4 Light Particle banks, 7,500 fighters. Length: 5790 Meters
¡°Scan the planet and deploy shuttles to search the wreckage.¡±
¡°Aye, sir¡± acknowledged Misaki
A few moments later with the first of the scout shuttles leaving to search the wreckage for usable equipment and supplies, Misaki informed Countryman of the results of her scan. Most of the planet was radioactive wastelands but parts of the northern hemisphere were still habitable. Countryman ordered shuttles sent down to find edible food supplies. The search of the debris field yielded little in usable material but the search of the Martian agricultural areas yielded a few new plants to supplement their food stores including martian chocolate. The area though was devastated and the yields low, apparently no one had cleaned up the last ground battle on Mars. The bodies of soldiers on both sides lay where they fell. Hundreds of miles of farmland were burned with destroyed tanks and walkers scatter across the battlefield. The search teams buried anyone Human they could find, but left the Cathamari bodies to rot in the open.
During the search, Countryman had gone to his ready room. The room had a large desk with a built-in console on the right side facing the door positioned near the rear wall. The rear wall was dominated by a viewport. The right side wall was dominated by shelves featuring models of ships dating as far back as the first colonial war. The left had a few photos framed on it and a few cabinets. Countryman was sitting at the desk performing maintenance on his cannon when Kaori rang the bell.
¡°Come,¡± said Countryman moments later Kaori walked in.
¡°Is that an E-11¡± asked Kaori.
¡°It was 50 years ago. While the casing is still that of an E-11, I have upgraded it to an EX-94 Mod C-2,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°I¡¯m not familiar with that modification.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not surprised the mod is fairly new. It has better range and power than the standard but a lower fire rate. Anyway did you need something?¡±
¡°No, I¡¯m here to tell you, we have finished our survey and salvage operation of the debris field. Other than some Rydium, deuterium, and a few intact engine parts there was little of interest. It appears the Cathamari have left the area but there was one unusual thing found.¡±
¡°What was that?¡±
¡°We detected a Cathamari plasma trail without the typical spatial distortions heading out of Mars orbit.¡±
Spoiler: Spoiler
Cathamari engines are plasma based and achieve thrust by venting plasma. This process leaves a trail that can be tracked. By measuring the plasma¡¯s ambient temperature and particle density one can determine the age.
¡°That would indicate they left on sublight. How old was the trail?¡±
¡°22 days sir¡± replied Kaori. Countryman noted that would place the time of the Cathamari departure on May 27th. Four days after the Battle of Earth.
¡°Did you note the direction?¡±
¡°The heading was out of the solar system, sir.¡±
¡°Then let''s prepare for our own departure.¡±
A few moments later the two entered the bridge, Countryman took his seat and ordered a course out of the debris field. This time it took less time to pass through due to the mapping of the field. As they were clearing the field Ruri entered the bridge.
¡°Captain I have completed the simulations on the proposed enhancements,¡± said Ruri.
¡°Alright let¡¯s hear the results,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°The proposed enhancements on the absorbers increased absorption by 10 MW per second per absorber. The proposed improvements of the AIF field increases field density by 15% and AIF regeneration by 25%. The overall enhancement of the armor will increase damage absorption by 21% after optimization. The energy web enhancements will increase efficiency by 12% and intercept chance by 2.3%. I also ran simulations on long-range energy projections and efficiency measures. I put all the details in Ruri-23 Alpha. In short, by shutting down all non-essential systems and minimizing power in most of the primaries, life support will be unaffected, but we will dim the lights to a minimum, we can function on with both main reactors at 60 % output and it will increase the range to 5557 light-years. 5567 if we restrict to aux power while on sublight.¡±
¡°Good we will probably need them and we can make do with minimal lighting. When can they be installed?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°It will take two days to install the enhancements, 4 days to implement the power conservation measures,¡± replied Ruri.
¡°Get an engineering team on it,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Aye sir¡±, replied Ruri as she moved to leave. But before she could Countryman asked her a question.
¡°How goes the project on decks 193 and 194?¡±
¡°On schedule sir,¡± replied Ruri then she left. As she left Greyman approached.
¡°Sir, we are not too far from Jupiter, a detour to visit the colonies there might be worth it,¡± said GreymanStolen story; please report.
¡°For now we will set course for mining sector 23. The conditions there would be perfect for stashing our starbase,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Aye sir,¡± replied Greyman
¡°Sanchez lay in a course for mining sector 23,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Aye sir, course laid in¡± replied Sanchez.
¡°Engage,¡± said Countryman.
Moments later the ships began to head toward the asteroid belt. With the station in tow, it took three days to reach the edge of mining sector 23. The sector was filled with debris. During the war, the sector had been the site of multiple engagements, before the war it had a number of mining colonies that provided materials for ship construction in the outer system. Nowadays it was filled with debris, mines and radiation field generators. The radiation field generators were devices designed to flood an area with deadly radiation, combined with the mines it made the sector impassable to Cathamari cruisers.
¡°We are at the edge of the sector sir,¡± reported Eri
¡°Raise shields, full power to hull plating,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Raising shields,¡± stated the officer at science station one.
¡°Hull plating at full power, sir¡± reported Kaori at tactical.
¡°Take us in 1/4 thrust,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Aye sir 1/4 thrust,¡± replied Eri.
The ships slowly moved into the debris field, mines and debris bounced off the hull as they moved in. The mines didn¡¯t explode due to a device in them designed to enable them to recognize friendly ships. The shields protected the ship from the radiation bombardment but physical matter passed through them with ease. It took several hours to reach the center of the sector. As the ship slowed Countryman took a moment to survey the field even though the heavy radiation reduced sensor ranges to a few dozen kilometers and visual sensors were equally impaired greatly limiting what he could see.
¡°All stop¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Aye sir¡± replied Eri at the helm.
¡°Release tractors,¡± ordered Countryman,
¡°Tractors released.¡±
Moments later the projectors pulled back the plates and returned to their housings. Star Tech One had reached its new home. The spare resources they couldn¡¯t take with them were now safe in case they needed to come back for them. As the station stabilized in its new orbit, Countryman accessed its systems and activated the defense protocols he had installed over the last few days. With the station in place, the fleet set course to leave mining sector 23. It took several hours to clear the sector. They cleared the sector 2.2 Au out from Jupiter and ran straight into a remnant of the Cathamari fleet. 12 cruisers dead ahead, all with moderate to heavy damage.
The ship shook slightly.
¡°Report,¡± barked Countryman.
¡°That was a Cathamari plasma shot, it overloaded our shields but, hull plating is holding,¡± replied Richards. No one was surprised, the shields weren¡¯t good at blocking weapons fire, and prone to overloading in combat which is why Human warships never raise shield during battle, although the shield does help against low yield beam cannons, and some mid yield beam weapons. High yield beam weapons though would overload the shields, and regardless of yield, the beam will still strike the hull, just at a reduced strength. However, none of this matters, since the Cathamari doesn¡¯t use beam weapons. All of their weapons are strong enough to overload the weak human shields.
¡°How many ships?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°12 sir, 6700 km out in a shield formation sensors indicate they have sustained heavy damage and all have lost warp capability,¡± answered Kaori.
Spoiler: Spoiler
Sheild Formation: A Cathamari battle formation, it requires their ships to move into a close formation. Once established they interlink their shields creating a powerful super shield that is impervious to earth torpedoes. However, if the shield fails all ships in the formation lose shield protection. Also limits their maneuverability.
¡°Order our escorts to flank. Helm ahead full,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°They''re firing torpedoes,¡± reported Misaki
¡°Deploy energy web,¡± ordered Countryman.
Reddish spheres impacted the web and a few struck the hull.
¡°Hull plating at 89% sir,¡± reported Richards referring to the energy field running through the hull plating.
¡°Return fire all forward particle batteries and scan their torpedo bays,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Aye sir,¡± replied Kaori and Misaki.
An instant later the Enterprise¡¯s forward particle cannons opened up and began to bombard the Cathamari shield. The blueish energy burst rippled against their shields. As they entered effective Electro Cannon range.
¡°Their bays are almost empty sir,¡± reported Misaki who had just scanned their torpedo bays.
¡°They¡¯re firing again,¡± reported tactical.
¡°Deploy energy web,¡± ordered Countryman. Internally happy they were almost out of torpedoes, especially since the torpedoes were the only weapon they had that could damage the Enterprise while her hull plating was charged. The hull plating would start taking damage from the torpedoes at around 20% and they would start penetrating at 10%. The energy web helped a great deal, as it could neutralize a fair number before they could interact with the hull.
The last of the Cathamari torpedoes shot across space and impacted the energy web a few got through. The Cathamari then attempted to increase the distance and move away. Countryman was not surprised since he would have made the same move given the circumstances.
¡°Hull Plating 80%, sir¡± reported Richards.
¡°They are trying to move away sir¡± reported Kaori.
¡°Maintain distance, and inform me the moment the Coto and Umikaze report they are in position¡± ordered Countryman. He leaned back in his chair, happy with the situation. His hull plating was too strong for their main guns, his escorts had significantly less armor, but they were smaller and harder to hit so he wasn¡¯t worried about them. Tactically his position was superior and barring reinforcements his victory was assured. His only real worry is if the electro cannons failed.
¡°Enemy ships are firing their plasma cannons, hull plating is holding,¡± reported Kaori at tactical.
¡°Shall I fire the Electro Cannons?¡± asked Kaori.
¡°Not yet¡± replied Countryman. Waiting so he could attack from multiple angles and maximize the resulting stress on the Cathamari shields. He wanted the shield down quickly, since he couldn¡¯t be certain they had called for reinforcements. Which could easily ruin his day. The vessels continued to exchange fire with each other to little effect for several minutes before the destroyers reached flanking positions. Then Countryman gave the order:
¡°All ships fire electro cannons,¡± ordered Countryman.
A lightning-like discharge ripped from all three ships and impacted the Cathamari shield within seconds it collapsed. As it collapsed a massive pulse of light rippled outwards, as their entire linked shield grid, overloaded and destabilized generating an emp in the process.
¡°Enemy shields down, sir¡± reported tactical.
¡°All ships fire beams and cannons on all targets¡± ordered Countryman, relieved the cannons had worked and brought the shields down, more easily than his wildest predictions. Making these new cannons his trump card, the short-range and high energy requirements though would limit their use. Working cannons removed several worries from his list, but he still had other concerns.
The ships opened fire. Thousands of blue particle bolts were rapidly fired by the main batteries of all three human ships, while the beam arrays fired powerful particle beams aimed at key locations with the intent of causing secondary explosions. The vulnerable Cathamari attempted evasive maneuvers to no avail. Within seconds all twelve of the ships were torn apart, just a few more floating chunks of debris in a system choked with it.
¡°Scan the area I want to know where they were headed,¡± ordered Countryman as he surveyed the battlefield.
¡°Local plasma trails indicate a course towards Jupiter sir,¡± replied Misaki.
¡°Focus long-range sensors on Jupiter, I want to know why they were headed there,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°I am picking up an outpost in high orbit,¡± reported Misaki.
¡°Sanchez set a course,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Course set,¡± reported Sanchez.
¡°Helm, follow the course, full sublight,¡± ordered Countryman.
Moments later the ships surge forward. Within minutes they were moving at high speed. A few hours later they arrived in high Jupiter orbit. Even here the debris of past battles was everywhere.
¡°I have the station on visual scanners sir¡± reported Misaki
¡°Time to weapons range?¡± asked Countryman
¡°At current speed, we will enter effective torpedo range in 12 minutes,¡± reported Kaori.
¡°Scan the station,¡± ordered Countryman
¡°The station appears to be an automated Cathamari supply and repair station, sir. Minimal defensive armaments and class I shielding. It does not represent a tactical threat.¡± reported Misaki.
¡°Lock torpedoes on her defense mainframe. Set yield to 15 megatons,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Torpedoes locked, sir. Yield set,¡± reported tactical.
A few minutes later.
¡°Distance to target 90,000 Km, sir,¡± reported tactical.
¡°Fire,¡± ordered Countryman, as he watched the screens.
Three blue streaks flew out from one of the forward launchers and struck the station. One of them was blocked by the shields the other two pierced the station¡¯s shields and struck the stations hull.
¡°Her defense systems have lost power, sir,¡± reported Kaori.
¡°Close to 24,000,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Aye, sir, closing,¡± acknowledged Eri at the helm.
¡°Prepare a boarding party,¡± ordered Countryman.
A moment later
¡°We are now 24,000 km from the station. Shall I initiate an orbit?¡± asked Eri.
¡°Yes, Operations launch the boarding party,¡± ordered Countryman.
A few moments later a pair of shuttles left the ship and headed to the station. With the station''s defense systems down the shuttles easily reached the station without opposition and docked. Once docked the marines on board entered the station by hacking the airlock doors, no point damaging something you might need later it you can help it. The station''s anti-personnel defenses were still online, however. So as soon as they were on board, they began to make their way to the central control room, the only location on the station from which the internal defense could be disabled. The marines were well trained and this wasn¡¯t the first station that Earth had raided in their war with the Cathamari, so they knew what to expect. As they made their way to the control room one man, got unlucky and his personal armor failed at just the wrong moment and a plasma bolt burned through his chest cavity killing him. Once at the control room, it took the marine¡¯s hacker only a couple of minutes to break the station¡¯s encryption protocols, and disable the defenses. Once that was done the marines reported to the Enterprise.
¡°Boarding party here, we lost Thomas, but the internal defenses are offline sir,¡± said the Commander in charge of the party a man named Everson.
¡°Good, I will send the engineers over,¡± replied Countryman, moments before ordering the shuttle with the combat engineer team aboard to launch. Not happy to lose a man under his command, but it wasn¡¯t the first time nor would it be the last. Countryman focused at the task at hand.
A few moments later another shuttle headed out to the station. Once on the station, the engineers began to search it for anything useful. They came back an hour later with Cathamari data modules and warp engine parts. Once Ruri and Richards saw the Cathamari engine components they came to Countryman with a proposal. Countryman was in his ready room going over, engineering reports when the two rang the bell.
¡°Enter,¡± said Countryman.
They entered the room excitedly and began speaking a dozen words a minute.
¡°Calm down and start over I can barely understand you,¡± said Countryman.
¡°The Cathamari engine components on the station are quite different from ours, but have some key fundamental similarities,¡± stated Richards.
¡°You think they can be used to enhance our engines?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°With time and effort we might be able to use them to enhance our engines, but without access to a working Cathamari warp engine progress will be slow,¡± replied Ruri.
¡°You want my permission to study these components then?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Yes, sir,¡± confirmed Ruri.
¡°You have it, the project is low risk and the reward will definitely aid the search for a new homeworld,¡± replied Countryman. Then as the two turned to leave Countryman asked Richards to stay a moment.
¡°Anything else of interest on the station?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Not really it looks like the Cathamari stripped it of almost everything, there was just enough material there to repair and resupply the twelve ships we encountered. Which makes it look like the main Cathamari fleet pulled out and left this station for the damaged ships,¡± reported Richards.
¡°Sounds like a reasonable hypothesis, get someone on those data modules I hear we picked up,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Aye sir,¡± replied Megumi as she turned to leave. Then the bell rang.
¡°Enter,¡± said Countryman. A second later Williams entered the room as Megumi left. Williams seemed a bit flustered and concerned over something.
¡°Can I help you?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°I am convening a meeting of the Officer¡¯s Council on an urgent matter,¡± replied Williams.
¡°May I ask what the topic of discussion is?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Our current rationing system isn¡¯t working and logistics seem to be having trouble keeping track of where our food supplies are located. Just yesterday they lost three hundred pounds of potatoes,¡± answered Williams.
¡°First I heard of it, but I am a bit behind on reports¡± replied Countryman while indicating the three-inch stack of unread reports on his desk. Williams took a look at them and then said:
¡°The problem is that with over 30,000 people, both military and civilian it becomes almost impossible to keep track of who gets what and when even with the computer¡¯s help and then thefts are inevitable as well. In fact, most of the issues are coming from the civilian side of the issue, the rationing program just wasn¡¯t designed with civilians in mind. We have also had a few protests on the rationing from the civilian side,¡± said Williams.
¡°I have heard of the protests, rationing has never gone over well with civilians, but I have a few ideas that might help. See you at the meeting¡± replied Countryman
The Meeting convened a few hours later. By that time the crew had scuttled the Cathamari station and they were now scouting the local debris fields. As Countryman entered he noted that all the other officers on the council were present. He took his seat and Williams presented the problem. A number voiced various ideas before Countryman voiced his:
¡°We could issue people single-use credits that they can use as currency. It will be transferred into their accounts for completing their tasks. To ensure people work to fleet standards they will receive zero credits if they do not work or substandard work. We could offer bonus credits if their work is superior. One credit will equal one meal. People will be able to use them for anything they need. Which should make the civilians happier as well since it won¡¯t feel like a rationing system, but getting paid instead,¡± proposed Countryman. Almost all the other ideas were discarded and the company began to debate the two that remained. Eventually, they decided on Countryman¡¯s, but began to argue on some of the details.
¡°The ration credit is a good idea, but without a proper limit they would be useless,¡± said one officer.
Sparking a bit of a debate, with some officers wanting around a month as the limit and the rest is highly in favor of a day.
¡° I keep saying they should expire after a day,¡± said Williams.
¡°For now let''s try issuing them on electronic pads keyed to the user¡¯s biosignature with a one week limit. We can adjust the limit later if we need to,¡± suggested Countryman.
Several murmurs went around the room about the last suggestion before they decided to go with Countrymans final suggestion. With that, the meeting moved on to how to deal with the problems in logistics. It took several hours to reach a decision on that.
By the time the meeting adjourned it was 22:40 hours ship time. Countryman headed to the bridge and asked for a report:
¡°We finished sweeping the debris field and are currently in a high orbit over Jupiter¡± reported the night shift duty officer.
¡°Anything interesting?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Not really, sir, most of it has already been picked clean by scavengers. The only thing left of use are the metal alloys, but the bays are pretty full so we have nowhere to put it,¡± replied the duty officer.
¡°Well then hold the fort,¡± replied Countryman before heading off to bed.
The next day on June 19th they set course for the closest star of the Alpha Centauri system and engaged the warp engines. They estimated that at 11 times the speed of light it would take about 20 weeks to reach their destination.
Bonus Material: The Enterprise A Tactical Overview
Before we can take a look at the tactical configuration of the Enterprise, let''s first take a look at hull classifications you will and have encountered. Most hull classifications do not have a set size, but may have a size range. An example of this is the Starfighter which we will cover first.
Starfighter: light craft typically launched from a carrier, some designs have FTL capability size typically ranges from 4-14 meters in length.
Hull Code: SF, SFI, SFX, SFB, SFH
Code Ident: SF means starfighter, and most fighters including space superiority fall into this code. SFI is for interceptors and light fighters. SFX is for prototype fighter designs it is not listed below but add an X to any primary hull code below to denote prototype status. SFB is for bombers. SFH is for heavy fighter designs.
Shuttle: Light craft used to transport people or cargo between ships and stations, some designs are lightly armed.
Hull Code: SH, SLC, SLR
Code Ident: SH is for most shuttles. SLC indicates the shuttle is armed and means light combat shuttle. SLR is for shuttles with extended range and they may carry light armaments
Combat Shuttle: Armed shuttles designed for military use, they are often equipped to carry troops and equipment, some are even outfitted with bomb bays the X-1205 is an example of this craft type.
Hull Code: CS, HBS, AS
Code Ident: CS means Combat shuttle and is for basic armed shuttles. HBS is for shuttles that carry bombs instead of troops. AS is for shuttles like the X-1205 who can carry either bombs or troops and are geared for an assault role.
Spaceship: Basic classification that indicates a ship is limited to interplanetary travel at best. Typically used by civilian ships.
Hull Code: S
Starship: Basic classification that all vessels capable of interstellar travel fit into, but is typically used for civilian ships.
Hull Code: SS
Corvette: Light craft that border the line between fighters and frigates, built for speed and maneuverability they are often used for a variety of duties from patrol to escort. Has no more than three decks and a hull length no greater than 130 meters.
Hull Code: CV, CVE, CVP
Code Ident: CV is for your standard corvette. CVE is for escort corvettes, and CVP is for patrol corvettes
Frigate: Light combat ship typically no longer than 250 meters. They usually have between 10-30 decks. They never carry torpedoes or bombs a subtype of this class is armed solely with missiles. Frigates are designed to be cheap and easily deployed, as such they are among the most numerous ships in a fleet, only the patrol cruiser is more common.
Hull Code: FR, MFR, FRE, BFR
Code Ident: FR is for the standard frigate, MFR is for missile frigates. FRE is for escort frigates. BFR is a subtype of the standard frigate geared for speed and a strong frontal attack at the expense of defense often called a Bird of Prey.
Destroyer: Medium combat vessels, typically armed with torpedoes. Destroyers typically favor speed so that they can dump their payload of torps quickly. Both subtypes listed below are used solely by nomadic races such as the Soleans. Most are no longer than 2 km in length.
Hull Code: DD, DDE, DDC
Hull Ident: DD is for most destroyers. DDE is a special subtype of destroyer geared for Escort duty and as a result carries more AA than a typical destroyer. DDC is a special subtype of destroyer geared toward stealth and ultra-heavy weaponry which is typically carried by dreadnoughts to make up for her reduced torpedo armament
Cruiser: These mid-sized vessels are the workhorses of the fleet. Designed for a variety of roles cruisers are divided into five subtypes. Because of their versatility cruisers are among the most numerous ships in a fleet, and used for almost any role imaginable. Cruisers can vary in size quite a bit with the largest cruisers being the size of small capital ships.
Hull Code: CR, CL, CH, CM, CE
Hull Ident: CR is for most cruisers. CL is for Light cruisers which are built for speed. CH is for heavy cruisers which favor strong shields and/or Armor. And feature a well-balanced array of heavy and medium weapons. CM is for missile cruisers. CE is for Carriers.
Battlecruiser: Typically larger and heavier than cruisers these powerful ships bridge the gap between cruisers and Battleships. They focus heavily on speed and firepower but have little in the way of defense making them somewhat fragile. This fragility means they are poorly suited to slugging matches. Instead, they lend themselves to hit and run attacks. These small capital ships excel at hunting smaller ships like cruisers, but fare poorly against battleships and dreadnaughts.
Hull Code: BC, BCL, BCH
Hull Ident: BC is for your basic Battlecruiser which focuses on a balance between firepower and speed. BCL is for light battlecruisers which focus on speed over firepower. BCH is for heavy battlecruisers which focus on firepower more than speed. All three types don¡¯t have good defense.
Battleship: These ships boast powerful shields and/or armor, and favor powerful artillery to quickly break an opponent and are among some of the most feared ships in a nation¡¯s arsenal. Any battleship design longer than 15 Km is automatically considered a Dreadnought. Battleships have even been seen in nomad fleets protecting their valuable city ships.
Hull Code: BB, BBH
Hull Ident: BB is for battleships which balance firepower, defense, and speed. BBH is for Heavy Battleships which focus on firepower and defense at the expense of speed.
Dreadnought: The Heaviest ships in a fleets arsenal, boasting powerful long-range weapons, and sturdy defenses, these ships are typically fielded as flagships. They typically suffer from poor maneuverability. It is rare for a nomadic race to field one of these impressive ships. They typically measure between 15 to 2000 Km in length. Early dreadnaughts are significantly small, however. The sheer cost of these ships means only the wealthiest nations would field even one of these ships on the battlefield. When nomads field these ships, they are typically used to protect their main fleet.
Hull Code: DN, DNH
Hull Ident: DN is for standard dreadnoughts. DNH is for heavy dreadnoughts.
Super Dreadnought: These super behemoths are among the largest ships in the universe and typically carry enough firepower to rival a fleet. Their massive size means that they are incredibly expensive to build and maintain, few nations have the means to field more than one of these ships. The smallest of these ships measure 2000 Km in length with the largest examples being the size of a small planet. It is extremely rare but not unheard of for a nomadic race to own one of these ships, but nomad versions are typically built to serve as a central mobile base for their fleet and operate not unlike a colony, with factories, farms, markets, shipyards, and cities to service the fleet and therefore have considerably less firepower.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Hull Code: SDN
Now let''s move on to Earth technology. Earth during the first Colonial war used Ion engine technology, but Laser Pulse Wave engines were developed in the interwar years that solved the maneuverability problem early earth spaceships had, during the second war Mars Colony developed the first Particle Pulse Wave engines which are superior in every category. Pulse wave engines produce thrust by using a laser or particle beam series to excite a Rydium core. The number of cores varies by design. By increasing the number of cores in a given engine size you increase thrust, but also increase fuel consumption. For military use the triple-core is considered to have the best balance between fuel use and performance, no military craft has more than 4 cores or less than two. Another important fact about pulse wave engines is they partially nullify a ship''s mass around 60% of it in fact.
Let''s move on to armor, Earth vessels have always been armored with titanium-based alloys, during the First Colonial War, spaceships had little to no armor, but during the Second Colonial War the advent of Grav Plating allowed shipwrights to armor every section of a ship and increase the thickness, this led to a race to develop better ship armor to counter the ever-evolving weapons technology. First came polarized plating to counter the shift towards energy weapons and later the early designs of Overlord Armor. The current titanium-based alloy used in armor construction is called Titan Alloy, for the colony that developed the alloy. The alloy is in heavy use due to its high compatibility with structural reinforcement fields. Titan Alloy despite the name is not entirely composed of metal, but is a mixture of several metals, carbon, thirteen artificial polymers and a small amount of Rydium dust. This mix is not only highly compatible with reinforcement fields but remarkably strong. With high marks for resilience, against both kinetic and energy-based impacts on its own. The biggest downside to Titan Alloy is that it is a heavy material for starship construction, which makes it unattractive to the civilian market.
Overlord armor functions by running an energy field through layered armor plating, a dispersion layer is integrated into the plates to disperse kinetic energy across the surface of the hull. Dispersion field generators are integrated into the hull which disperse energy weapon shots across the surface of the hull. Energy absorbers are also integrated into the hull plating. When a weapon is fired at the plating its energy is dispersed across the hull, then some if not all of its energy is absorbed by the absorbers which shunt the absorbed energy to the armor integrity field, recharging it or in some cases overcharging it, then the excess energy of the shot is absorbed by the AIF unless it has failed, in which case it is absorbed by the hull. When an Earthship monitors her hull armor she is monitoring the AIF. The AIF¡¯s effectiveness drops as it weakens and some energy can get by it when its energy level is low enough. The effective strength of the AIF is dependent on the thickness of the hull plating, while the dispersion field and EAs are dependent on the surface area of the ship being protected. A weapon that can resist being dispersed can cause a localized failure of the AIF and breach the hull, torpedoes, and beams are often good at this, but there are exceptions. Hull breaches reduce the effectiveness of the armor, while being overcharged temporarily increases its effectiveness.
Next is shields. Earth does not have much in shield technology and only have two devices that could be considered a shield. The first is the radiation shield, These shields block radiation from interacting with the ship¡¯s hull via a process called mitigation, and the military version can reduce the power of beam weapons, but weapons that aren¡¯t continuous such as pulse weapons quickly overwhelm the shield, while ballistic weapons pass right through like it wasn¡¯t even there. The second is the Energy Web, a defensive device that detonates ballistic ordnance such as missiles and torpedoes before they interact with the hull, but not with perfect effectiveness.
Finally we have weapons. During the first Colonial War, railguns and missiles were the weapons of choice, but as armor evolved the laser cannon became more popular and later the particle cannon. After the advent of overlord armor weapons development switched to torpedoes since they were the only weapon that could reliably punch through overlord armor, while beams could quickly drain it. After encountering the Cathamari Earth encountered the first true combat shields and developed the shield piercing torpedo and later the Electro Cannon to counter them. The shield piercing torpedo while powerful is not perfectly reliable at piercing shields and some shield designs can stop them. The electro cannon, on the other hand, suffers from a short effective range.
Now we can finally cover the Enterprise. The Enterprise is a Heavy Cruiser measuring 5020 meters in length, and 3800 meters at the widest point on the primary hull. Nacelle separation is 4000 meters with the secondary hull half-way between, and mounted above the primary hull while the nacelles are mounted below. The primary hull is 1000 meters thick at the thinnest point and has 194 decks with an additional 25 decks in the secondary hull. The secondary hull is a half-disk attached to a thick and sturdy angled neck. The secondary hull is 120 meters tall, 240 long and 220 meters wide. She was designed to comfortably carry 15000 troops, 1200 tanks, and 80 Scorpion Class battle platforms. Five Massive Tri-Core Particle Pulse Wave Engines provide the majority of the ship''s thrust. Each main engine is directly linked to two Quad-Core sub-engines used for maneuvering. Each Nacelle is 1600 meters long and mounts 20 paired Tri-Core Sub-engines plus two Warp-Engines. Giving the Enterprise a total of 59 engines. The primary FTL motivators and spatial regulators for the Warp Engines are located in Warp Engineering which is in the secondary hull. The ship is also equipped with a pulse detonation drive which functions a lot like an afterburner increasing acceleration, speed, and maneuverability for a short time but increases fuel consumption.
The ship¡¯s shape allows the ship to focus the majority of its fire forward, dorsal, ventral, port, or starboard, but the Aft quadrant suffers. The ship''s weapons are divided into banks which are subdivided into batteries, each bank contains ten batteries which contains 20 cannons. This gives the Enterprise 3600 medium particle Cannons and 1600 heavy particle cannons. She also has 2400 triple tubed photon missile launchers and 400 Electro cannons. A beam array is a series of linked beam emitters and is considered one weapon but each beam array can target and fire on multiple targets simultaneously. After adding the torpedoes the Enterprise has a total of 8034 weapon mounts not including the mine launcher which raises it to 8035. The Enterprise also carries twenty-four fighters, with the majority of its hangar bays being devoted to auxiliary craft for her large troop complement.
The ship''s weapons array is divided into 6 groups and each tactical station on the bridge controls one group, with the Primary tactical officer responsible for directing each group. The beam arrays are typically controlled directly by the Primary tactical officer. Each weapon battery also has its own secondary one man aux control room, and there are over a dozen aux control rooms for the whole array which ensures the ship can keep firing even if the ship is largely inoperable. The ship has multiple engineering substations on the bridge for monitoring different subsystems groupings the ship''s armor is monitored by the three different stations, Primary tactical, Operations, and Structural Engineering. The main engineering station provides a general overview of the ship¡¯s status. The bridge¡¯s screen layout gives the captain a full field of view on any object in visual range. The captain can easily change what is shown from his station. A tactical display in the center of the bridge displays a top-down tactical view on all ships in sensor range.
The Enterprise is uniformly armored with 12 meters of Mark III Overlord armor in a type IV configuration giving her an average armor absorption rating of 4520 GJ per second, and an AIF that can absorb up to 4130 TJ before failing. The armor type configuration differs based on the role and size of the ship in order to maximize protection. Type IV is for heavy cruisers, battleships, and dreadnoughts. Type I is for corvettes, shuttles, and fighters. Type II is for frigates and destroyers, while type three is for cruisers and light cruisers. The ship¡¯s nacelle mounting struts are structurally reinforced and almost completely solid each one being nearly 70 meters thick with only narrow maintenance corridors and necessary fuel and power lines inside. The entire ship is built from the Titan Alloy and each deck is structurally reinforced. Furthermore each hull plate is coated with a special material for thermal resistance and specially polished to help reflect lasers. The inner hull and internal hallways are all lined with a special lining to provide protection against cosmic radiation, this lining has limits and the shields are used to provide extra protection when needed. The ship, as a result, can enter the Earth¡¯s atmosphere from any angle without fear of burning up assuming the ship had a reasonable speed under .23c and has excellent impact resistance. Each of the ship¡¯s viewports and access hatches are linked to retractable armor plates. The ship also has a number of exhaust ports which are typically closed, they only open when the ship is venting her engines to protect them from overheating, when open they present the only weakness in the ship''s armor.
Additional protection for the ship comes from the ships Energy Web generators which surround the ship in an energy grid, while projecting dispersed particle blasts around the ship. This web is the replacement to traditional point defense and is highly effective at intercepting and destroying incoming ordinance. Missiles, torpedoes, mass driver rounds and even fighters if they get close enough can be destroyed by the web. The web has deployment radius of two hundred fifty meters (meaning there are two hundred fifty meters of space between the hull and the web¡¯s barrier). The ship also carries two linked class two radiation shield generators, which project a low-level energy shield around the ship with a radius of three hundred meters. This field can be focused on any direction to provide increased protection in that quadrant at the expense of the others. The shield has a decent mitigation rate, but nothing impressive. This rate can be increased by disabling the overload safeties, but this risks permanently damaging the generators. This shield lacks an absorption layer and as a result, any energy it fails to mitigate will strike the ship, the shield is prone to overloading if massive amounts of energy is thrown at it in too short a period.
The ship armor is considered a critical system when traveling at warp, since translight dust impacts are common during warp. A series of specialized kinetic energy absorber and the normal general ones combined with the AIF and the hull dispersion layers, disperse the energy of these impacts and protect the ship. While a special warp field configuration is used to divert these impacts away from the ship. The warp field configuration, however, loses effectiveness as ship speed increases according to theory this field configuration becomes completely ineffective once a ship exceeds warp 6. However, this field does allow the Enterprise to limp away from a battle at low warp even with multiple hull breaches.
The ship¡¯s alert statuses are as follows
Blue: Condition normal. Weapons are offline and armor is charged to 15%, reactors are kept at minimal power output.
Red: also known as tactical alert or battlestations, indicates vessel is under attack or preparing for battle. All weapons and defenses are bought online and reactors are brought to full output.
Green: Docking/ landing stations
Orange: Biohazard warning
Chapter IV 140 days in Deep Space
It was July 19, everyone had settled into a comfortable routine when something occurred to disrupt it.
Ensign Misaki was down in the main mess hall on deck 42. The room was large and toward the center of the ship. The rear of the compartment was dominated by the serving windows. There were a number of people in the lines waiting to get one of the meals of the day. The room was filled with long anchored tables with benches. The tables were a utilitarian design with a faux wood finish. While they looked like wood they were actually a titanium alloy. Misaki didn¡¯t normally come to the Main mess hall. but she had business with one of the engineers there. She had found him at one of the tables on the starboard side.
¡°There you are, you were supposed to fix my shower yesterday afternoon¡±
¡°Sorry, sorry, but you aren¡¯t the only one with shower problems.¡±
¡°You were supposed to fix them yesterday, so why aren''t they fixed?¡±
¡°I haven¡¯t figured out where the problem is yet, but I found the cause. Some idiot flushed a large object down the pipes and it''s backed the entire system up. It''s just a matter of finding and removing it. We¡¯ll have them fixed by tomorrow I promise,¡± replied the junior engineer. The problem with the showers on the deck was they were flooding, due to an inability to drain.
Before Misaki could reply the ship was shaken by a sudden jolt. She rushed out of the mess hall and headed to the bridge. When she got there she discovered that the jolt was the ship dropping out of warp.
Kaori was in the armory practicing her shot. She was currently using the LP-1230, a standard-issue particle pistol with two settings. She was on the range facing armed drones in a simulated battle. The drones were armed solely with a stun beam whose characteristics were similar to the LP-1230¡¯s beam setting but with a variable shot speed and yield. This was to enable different difficulty settings, she had the drones set to the highest difficulty level. Which meant the drones stun cannon, had the same yield and shot speed as her own pistol. She dodged a beam by ducking into cover just before it fired and then returned fire with a burst from setting two. The drone registered the hits and shut down. She was just about to shoot a second drone when the ship suddenly shook. Thinking the ship was under fire she quickly ended the scenario and rushed to the bridge only to discover it was the ship dropping out of warp unexpectedly.
Spoiler: Spoiler
LP-1230: A Standard issue particle pistol. The pistol has two settings. Setting one fires a focussed beam that stuns the target, highly accurate but low fire rate. Multiple hits on setting one have been known to kill. Setting two fires focused particle pulses that inflict particle burns. A single pulse to the head or chest will kill instantly. Setting two has a higher rate of fire, but is less accurate. Weapon does poorly vs personal shields.
Shot Capacity by setting:
1: 280
2: 140
Eri was down in the port side fighter bay. She had finally found the time to take a look at the new X-1204 fighter. She found the fighter to be quite sleek and wondered what it would be like to fly one. The fighter had a long triangular main body. The fighter was highly aerodynamic with swept-back wings. The wings were tipped with a thick plate. Mounted against the plate on the top and bottom of the wing was the ship''s particle cannons. In addition to the four light cannons, she had 4 missile launchers mounted on the underside of her wings with an embedded loader allowing her to reload each launcher once before she ran out of missiles.
Spoiler: Spoiler
The X-1204 is a next generation prototype space superiority fighter designed for the Enterprise she carries 24 of them. Top speed .78C Class I Maneuvering Armament: 4 light particle cannons, 4 light photon missile launchers, and 2 micro fusion torpedo launchers. It is armored with 12 cm of mark III overlord armor. It carries a total of eight missiles and six torpedoes.
Mounted under the cockpit were two micro torpedo launchers designed for rapid-fire and to use the micro variant of the Mark V Fusion torpedo. She approached the ship and entered the cockpit and was studying the controls when the ship shook suddenly. She quickly vaulted out of the fighter and headed to the bridge, as soon as she got there she noticed the stars weren¡¯t streaking by as quickly. She quickly discovered the cause of the jolt was an emergency shutdown of the warp engines and with the Inertial Dampeners at minimal power, the crew was given a jolt from the sudden disappearance of the pressure wave the engines create.
Sanchez was eating her lunch in the officer''s mess hall and enjoying a nice conversation with her former captain Mary Williams. The officer¡¯s mess was located on deck 5, it was smaller than the other mess halls on the ship, which each deck, containing crew quarters, having its own mess hall.. The port side of the compartment had a counter linked to the local galley, where officers ordered their food. The room was filled with anchored tables and chairs on concealed tracks. The tables were topped with actual wood and the chairs lightly padded and colored to match.
¡°What I don¡¯t understand is why everyone else chose that machine. He isn¡¯t even human anymore,¡± muttered Williams
¡°I don¡¯t understand either, I thought loyalty to one''s captain was important, but they chose to support his rise to captaincy instead,¡± replied Sanchez.
¡°Ah, I¡¯m not all that worried. One day he will make a mistake and then we can put someone proper in charge¡± replied Williams.
It was at that moment that the ship suddenly shook. Williams¡¯s drink suddenly spilled all over her and Sanchez¡¯s plate slid toward and dumped its contents in her lap with some of it going down her shirt. The two cursed and then rushed to their quarters to change. Neither bothering to clean up their lunch or check to see what was happening.
Megumi was in the lounge with Captain Countryman. The two were playing a space combat strategy game. The game was created to emulate the combat of the current era and the previous wars depending on the player''s initial settings. Megumi was currently losing. The two were also having a chat about ship operations.
¡°... seems to be working but the civilians keep complaining about the limits.¡±
¡°Well the factory project is nearly finished. The initial tests seem promising by next week the civilians will have something to do and less reason to complain about the rationing.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good to know,¡± replied Countryman as he moved his fleet to take Megumi¡¯s last base.
¡°Unfortunately, it won¡¯t do anything about the complaints coming into engineering, between kids sabotaging the plumbing with their toys and people trying to burn down the ship, we have our hands full,¡± replied Megumi while she desperately tried to protect her base.
¡°I only received a single report of someone setting fire to the ship, do you mean another one occurred?¡±, replied Countryman as he took Megumi¡¯s base ending the game. Then the ship shook and the stars streaking by the forward viewport slowed down. The two rushed to a comm panel and contacted the bridge.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
¡°Report,¡± said Countryman as soon as the second shift ops officer picked up.
¡°Engineering just initiated an emergency shutdown of all warp engines, sir,¡± replied the ops officer on the comm.
¡°What happened with the engines?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°I don¡¯t know something about a coolant failure,¡± replied the officer.
¡°Have the other ships dropped out?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Yes, sir, they are 400,000 Km ahead of us,¡± replied the shift officer.
¡°Inquire if they experienced engine trouble, and if they did have them send the data to warp engineering,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Aye sir¡± replied the officer
Then Countryman and Richards rushed to Warp Engineering. Warp Engineering was located on J deck. The chamber was dominated by two massive dual-core antimatter reactors that served as the ship''s primary power source. The room was filled with equipment and drive components for the warp engines. Along with banks of monitors for monitoring and operating the warp engines.
¡°What happened with the engines?¡± inquired Countryman as soon as he entered the room.
¡°The main port engine stopped transferring energy correctly so we switched to the backup engine, but it started to overheat which caused the spatial field generators to lose cohesion forcing the system to shut down,¡± replied the on-duty officer
¡°Let¡¯s see the engine monitoring data,¡± asked Richards
Moments later the data on the engines was brought up both Countryman and Megumi looked at the data. It took Countryman a few moments to diagnose that the main engine didn¡¯t suffer a power transfer failure, but suffered an energy drain.
¡°This is no power transfer failure, but a power loss in the primary spatial field generator,¡± remarked Countryman
¡°The engine monitors are dotted with red lights, whatever happened seems to have damaged half the components of the main engine and it looks like it damaged the coolant system,¡± commented Megumi
¡°Let¡¯s take a direct look at the engines, they should cool enough for an inspection in two hours.¡±
¡°I agree,¡± replied Megumi
Two hours later Countryman and Megumi found themselves entering the port nacelle. They passed the forward particle sub-engine pair and then headed aft down the catwalk towards the warp engines which were toward the center of the nacelle. As they approached the main engine in section 55 the damage to the surrounding area was immediately apparent.
¡°Well looks like we found the cause of both problems,¡± said Countryman.
Megumi moved to the damaged engine and looked inside before replying, ¡°Looks like one of the plasma conduits ruptured and the warp plasma escaped and burned a hole through multiple components and damaged the coolant system, it will take a couple days to fix.¡±
Looking at the conduit Countryman said, ¡°While we''re at it we should beef the conduit up and run an investigation on why it failed.¡±
¡°Agreed,¡± replied Megumi.
It took two days to fix the conduit and modify it and its twin to prevent a repeat of a failure of this type. By the time the engines were fixed the other ships had returned to their original relative positions. As the engines were powering up, Megumi finally asked a question that had been bugging her for a while.
¡°Are you my father?¡± asked Megumi.
¡°I wouldn¡¯t know, but your mother seemed to think so,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Can we find out?¡± asked Megumi.
¡°Yes, my nanites can run the test without bugging the medical staff,¡± replied Countryman.
They ran the test two hours later, but kept the results to themselves. After running the test they got a call about the factory project. Both then headed down to deck 193 and entered a room that had previously been an incomplete shipboard factory. The room had been filled with boxes full of industrial equipment and half-built machines. The room was now filled with industrial equipment capable of breaking down salvaged scrap or processing ore and turning it into anything the ship may need, for now, they were planning on melting down and compressing the scrap that was filling some of the cargo bays into space-efficient cubes. The workers in the room gave them a demonstration of the newly operational factories. The factories were functioning as intended and were online ahead of schedule. A total of eight such factories were on decks 193 and 194 all of which were now operational and ready for business.
¡°Finally I don¡¯t have to worry about running out of spare parts, for a while longer now.¡±
¡°We still need to figure out a way to get new materials other than salvaging destroyed ships, if this turns into an extended search,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°True but if we could figure out a method of orbital mining could solve the problem, asteroid mining could work as well. Unfortunately, we didn¡¯t find any asteroid mining equipment in a working condition back at mining sector 23. but with these shipboard factories we can make some,¡± replied Megumi
¡°Unfortunately stowage may present a problem, but we can solve that problem later, for now, we need to break down and compress all the scrap metal taking up space in our cargo bays, get as many people as you can on it,¡± ordered Countryman pleased that the factories were ready ahead of schedule.
¡°Aye sir¡± replied Megumi
As Countryman was heading up to the upper decks he was intercepted by Everson, one of the commanders for the ship''s marine complement.
¡°How can I help you?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°My men are bored, I was hoping you could approve converting one of the practice ranges down here into a recreational facility to help improve morale,¡± asked Everson
¡°A reasonable request, I will allow it just don¡¯t take too much time from the engineering staff,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Wasn¡¯t planning on it, Some of my men are field engineers and the labor shouldn¡¯t require any significant changes to the ship so I thought my men can do the work¡±
¡°Well before they start have them draw the plans up and present them to engineering for approval,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Aye, sir,¡± acknowledged Everson.
After that Countryman headed up to the bridge, the rest of the day proved uneventful. Two days later they found some debris, which led them to drop out of warp to investigate. The debris turned out to be an old auxiliary power module, some engine parts and parts of a ship¡¯s outer hull from Earth. The ship it belonged to had been forced to eject the module because it was leaking radiation. It took a couple of hours but they were able to salvage the module. Analysis of the debris indicated an accident aboard ship had damaged the module and caused a hull breach which had scattered the debris across a few hundred thousand kilometers. They would have missed the field entirely if it wasn¡¯t for the unusual spike in radiation leading the on-duty science officer to scan the area. A long-range scan failed to locate the ship the debris originally belonged to.
After resuming their course engineering spent a few days carefully disassembling and storing the parts of the power module as it was a good source of spare parts, but there was no point in repairing the module since the Enterprise had no fission power plants. As they were working on the module they got the proposed rec room plans and approved them. The Rec room took several days to build.
The debris, however, proved to be a hot topic. Over the next few days, most of the ship¡¯s occupants were discussing the debris found and theories about what happened to the ship it had belonged to abounded everywhere. Some more elaborate and ridiculous than the next. Of course like any rumor these rumors, dispersed when something more interesting happened. In this case, the more interesting thing was when a young couple was caught going at it in one of the science labs. The lab was set up for weapons research, mostly for particle cannons. Not being the wisest place for intercourse, it wasn¡¯t long before the whole ship was talking about it.
Countryman was walking down the corridor and passed a couple of crewmen talking about the latest rumor on his way to one of the sub rooms for main engineering. Megumi apparently had something she wanted to show him. It was something about the month¡¯s engine efficiency chart, but she want to show him in private first before it was released to the council. He made one last turn before coming to a door and then he keyed the access panel before entering the room. The room was filled with monitors for one of the five main engines, and had several lockers full of tools on one wall. Megumi was sitting in front of one of the monitors when he came in.
¡°Ah, captain I thought you would like to see, the data. We haven¡¯t had an opportunity to see how warp fields and our pulse wave engines interact long term before so come take a look at this,¡± said Megumi. Countryman approached an looked at the charts the data was intriguing. Megumi than began to explain the readings and shift between a few charts.
¡°As you can see here, engine efficiency is ten percent above our predictions. We are actually using less energy at warp than our previous predictions indicated. Which means we can actually cut our power output a little more than we thought,¡± said Megumi.
¡°Now that does sound interesting, any idea why?¡± asked Countryman. Megumi smiled and looked up.
¡°I spent last analyzing the data, most of it is still in my quarters. It seems our warp field is affecting our pulse wave engines, reducing the energy needed to produce thrust,¡± replied Megumi.
¡°That sounds interesting, think the effect can be replicated on sublight?¡± asked Countryman hoping for more efficient engines. Which would be quite helpful.
¡°Yes, I have some of the details worked out in my quarters. It may take a while to work out the rest though. Want to come see?¡± asked Misaki. Countryman said ¡° sure,¡± and followed her out the room and to her quarters. Which triggered an interesting rumor that was talked about for the next several weeks.
Later that week, a young woman from the Hydroponics department came to Countryman¡¯s office with a proposal. She was cute, and like every member in the department, her uniform was covered with stains.
¡°Sir, I was wonder if we could use the gene bank we recovered to clone some livestock. A lot of the civilians have been complaining about a lack of meat,¡±
¡°Unfortunately as much as I want to say yes we can¡¯t. As things stand we just can¡¯t afford to maintain a livestock population and even if we could we have nowhere to put it. We just don¡¯t have the space. We will just have to make do with fish and vegetables for now. I do have plans being made for a dedicated agricultural ship. That way we can have livestock, if ever get the materials needed to build said ship,¡± replied Countryman. The girl said she understood with some clear disappointment, before quietly leaving the office. The rest of the trip to Alpha Centauri was fairly uneventful.
Chapter V Proxima
Captain¡¯s Log November 9th, 158 CSD,
Today we finally reached the first star of the Alpha Centauri System, Proxima. There is some debate going on about the continued use of the colonial calendar, and several proposals have been put forth to change the calendar to mark Earth¡¯s destruction as the start of a new age. We have also had several heated debates on what to call ourselves, but we have finally decided to call ourselves the Sol Refuge. Long-range scans have pinpointed several planets in the Alpha Centauri system with two lying in the habitable zones one of which is already known to be uninhabitable the habitability of the other has not been established. More recent scans have revealed a significant number of asteroids orbiting the three stars. The majority of these asteroids can be found between Proxima and Alpha Centauri AB.
¡°We are secure from warp speed, sir,¡± reported Eri
¡°Position?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°21,000 Km out from Proxima b,¡± reported Sanchez.
¡°Switch to Aux power and scan the System,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°No ships in the immediate vicinity, sir, but I am picking up a ship near Centauri II. Sensors are having difficulty identifying it though,¡± reported Misaki.
¡°Scan the planet, and Sanchez chart a course to Centauri II,¡± ordered Countryman,
¡°Proxima b reads as a barren world, but she has abundant surface minerals, sir,¡± reported science.
¡°On sublight, it would take several weeks to reach Centauri II, but at warp 3 we could be there in a week,¡± reported Sanchez.
¡°Set a warp course and engage.¡±
One week later they came out of warp near Centauri II. They were some distance out and the immediate vicinity was clear of asteroids and debris. Not far from their position was a moon not far from their position and a ship could be seen orbiting the planet.
¡°We are secure from warp speed, sir,¡± reported Eri.
¡°How close are we to Centauri II?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°310,000 Km out, sir,¡± reported Sanchez.
¡°Is that ship still in the area?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Yes, sir, and sensors can now identify it as a Newton class science cruiser. Sensors indicate she has taken damage to her port sub-engine and has a hull breach encompassing three decks. Her port aux power module appears to be missing,¡± reported Misaki.
Spoiler: Spoiler
Newton class science cruiser: A science ship employed primarily by Venus colony, some examples have been commandeered by pirates because of its high speed and decent maneuvering. Top speed: .98C, Class III Maneuvering Armament: 2 Particle Cannon banks. Defenses: .5 meter Polarized hull plating, Class I Radiation Shields
Length: 340 meters. 11 decks Crew: 147 Class II spatial Sensors.
¡°Set course for the ship and open hailing frequencies,¡± ordered Countryman.
A few moments later an older man appeared on the viewscreen. He was wearing an old Venusian colony uniform. His hair was beginning to gray, and he was unshaven. Behind him was a small but orderly bridge. Although if you looked carefully you could see signs of the crew having made repairs to the consoles, chairs and the walls. There was a dark spot, where a fire must have been in the past.
¡°What¡¯s an Earth warship doing out in the Alpha Centauri system?¡± asked the captain
¡°Surveying the system,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Well, you wouldn¡¯t happen to have some spare parts and fuel I can borrow, Otherwise I will never get back to Venus.¡±
¡°No point going back, the system is uninhabited and the colonies destroyed,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Impossible¡±
¡°A lot has happened since you left, The colonial wars ended and then an alien race invaded the system,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°I find that difficult to believe,¡± replied the ship¡¯s captain.
¡°Well before we continue I think we should introduce ourselves, I am Captain Countryman of the Earth Fleet Ship Enterprise Earth Fleet Registry Experimental 1250 and you are?¡±
¡°Captain Stalwart of the Venus Fleet Ship Horizon Venusian Fleet Registry 22470.¡±
Countryman spent several hours explaining the last few years to Captain Stalwart. Starting with the final days of the Third Colonial War and ending with the Battle for Earth which occurred just 177 days ago. Countryman included the historical recordings of the battles and the Enterprise¡¯s sensor records of what happened on Earth in his description.
¡°Well after I have seen all this I find it difficult to refute. I assume you are here looking for a new homeworld then?¡± asked Stalwart.
¡°We are,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Well I spent the last three years surveying this system, the system is minerally rich but the only habitable planet is no garden world. Centauri II is mostly desert with a small habitable band around the northern hemisphere just below the ice cap. Gravity is 1.2 Gs, the atmosphere is slightly thinner than Earth''s, and vegetation is scarce. It would be almost impossible to establish a colony here and the planet can only support a population of 1.2 million,¡± said Stuart.
¡°Interesting, why don¡¯t you come aboard and bring your data with you,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Sure,¡± replied Stuart.
A few minutes later the four ships were flying together in a medium orbit over Centauri II, as Stalwart¡¯s shuttle docked. As soon as the main shuttle bay pressurized Countryman entered the bay and greeted Stalwart as he got off the shuttle.
¡°Welcome aboard captain,¡± said Countryman
¡°You have a nice ship here, captain¡± replied Stalwart as he looked around the bay. Noting the reinforced and armored internal walls, and the excellent layout of the shuttle servicing equipment. Countryman then motioned towards the exit and said, ¡°This way Captain.¡±
Moments later they left the bay and headed towards the aft lift. They passed a sign labeled deck four and then entered the lift. Countryman entered the destination as deck one. They came out in a short corridor. They took the door on the right and entered the Officer¡¯s Conference Room. The officer¡¯s council was already gathered. Stalwart¡¯s system survey was presented to the gathered officers and the group began to debate whether or not they should settle in the system.
¡°I don¡¯t agree, even if the planet can support all of us it is too close to our home system the Cathamari will find us here and we don¡¯t have the resources to defend a colony we must look elsewhere,¡± said Greyman.
¡°We don¡¯t have the resources to survey every local system and it takes weeks to get from one system to another we should take our chances and settle here, with a little work we can terraform this world so that it can support a larger colony and the resources here could fuel the construction of a new fleet to defend us in time,¡± said Williams.
¡°I agree with Greyman this world is completely unsuitable,¡± stated Drakes
¡°I think the planet may be worth the risks,¡± said another officer.
¡°I would prefer a world further away as well,¡± said Countryman.
¡°If we are to rebuild we will need a new homeworld as soon as possible, we should take the risk and settle here, if we build the colony underground we could avoid detection from would-be invaders,¡± suggested another officer.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The debate was still going nowhere with the officer¡¯s council still split when the tactical alert went off. Countryman quickly left the room and entered the bridge. He took his seat and then asked for a report.
¡°One Cathamari ship just came out of warp near Centauri Prime, class unknown.¡±
¡°Has she detected us?¡±
¡°Doesn¡¯t look like it, sir,¡± replied Misaki.
¡°Maintain minimal power and keep an eye on her,¡± ordered Countryman.
Several agonizing minutes later.
¡°The ship appears to be surveying Centauri Prime, sir¡±
¡°Slowly charge the particle cannons, on all ships to 2 percent then stop. assuming they are surveying the system how long before they reach our position?¡± said Countryman.
¡°Based on planetary positions, this planet would be the next logical step in a system survey. If they jump to warp they can reach our position in six minutes, sir.¡±
¡°Try predicting their warp out coordinates and position the fleet to ambush them, limit to shadow maneuvers,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Aye, sir,¡± replied Eri.
The Cathamari ship spent the next four minutes scanning the planet before leaving orbit. As soon as the ship was out of orbit she made the interplanetary jump to Centauri II. The ship came out of warp 6 minutes later 40 km off the Enterprise¡¯s port bow and on a collision course.
¡°Open fire all batteries, Evasive maneuvers,¡± ordered Countryman.
Eri maneuvered the ship to avoid the collision. While the ship maneuvered to avoid a collision, the particle cannon emitters all along the Enterprise''s hull realigned position and angled to fire at the cruiser. The many cannons then opened up firing a short burst of particle bolts at the Cathamari cruiser. The bolts lanced out across space and then tore into the hull of the cruiser as if it was tissue paper.
¡°Full power now, and bring us about,¡± ordered Countryman.
The ship''s hull plating and weapons quickly began to charge to full, but the Cathamari did nothing. The Enterprise rapidly repositioned to face her opponent, who sat there as air, and fuel leaked from her many new wounds.
¡°The Cathamari have not raised shields or charged weapons, sir,¡± reported Misaki.
¡°Scan the ship.¡±
¡°Sensors indicate she has lost power and is venting atmosphere on multiple decks, sir¡±
¡°Stabilize the ship''s orbit and launch a boarding party. Also, what is the condition of her warp engines?¡±
¡°Her engines appear to be mostly intact, sir,¡± reported Misaki.
A few minutes later the Enterprise had stabilized the ship¡¯s orbit and her marines were boarding the ship. The ship¡¯s numerous hull breaches proved to provide an excellent entry point. The marines were easily able to take the engine room as it had been vented to space, but the bridge proved more difficult. As the Crew had fortified their position, forcing the marines to break their position. Fortunately, the widespread venting prevented the crew from getting the heavy weapons in the armory lockers. A few grenades followed by a charge, allowed them to break their fortifications and take the bridge. Ten minutes after boarding:
¡°Boarding party here, the ship is secure.¡±
¡°Prepare to receive science team,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Moments later a science team was dispatched to study the ship¡¯s engines and other surviving technologies of interest. As they were studying the ship Ruri came to the bridge.
¡°Sir, we have finally created a rudimentary translation of the recovered data modules from the outpost.¡±
¡°Anything interesting on them?¡±
¡°A few contained local star charts but it is mostly outdated tactical deployment data, the only thing of interest is that it lists the locations of a few nearby Cathamri outposts but not their homeworld. Apparently they have an outpost at Barnard¡¯s star for example. With this information we now know the location of several habitable planets in local space unfortunately almost all of them are either inhabited or in systems with Cathamari outposts, also the data indicates the Cathamari were engaged in the Sirius system with someone called the Krall Imperium. For the most part, I would say the Cathamari control most of this star sector,¡± said Ruri.
¡°Then I guess we will leave the sector, maybe we will find a nice planet elsewhere. Did the maps list any worlds belonging to these Krall the Cathamari are fighting?¡±
¡°No, only that the Krall attacked them at Sirius was mentioned.¡±
¡°Unfortunate I would have liked to meet a race at war with the Cathamari. However we are currently studying an intact Cathamari ship, would you care to see the initial results?¡± asked Countryman.
She said she would and was present a few minutes later when the initial report came in.
¡°This Cathamari ship appears to be a scout or survey ship, sir. It is lightly armed, and most of the onboard space is devoted to sensors, while her sensor arrays took heavy damage there is enough left to study, Her engine design differs from our own, sir, the advantages of this FTL configuration is not yet apparent, but the ship has an extra drive core that appears to be directly linked to the other two. As far as we can tell the extra core seems to function like a regulator. In other news the ship¡¯s computer is intact with a little time we may be able to access the data stored on its drives,¡± reported the boarding party.
¡°Send all your data to Ruri¡¯s lab and get to work on the computer, but continue studying the drive.¡±
¡°Aye sir, boarding party out.¡±
¡°What do you make of the data?¡± asked Countryman. Ruri who was looking at the preliminary data stopped and answered.
¡°The initial data answers quite a few questions on their drive configurations but more study is required before we can give a definitive answer on their tech,¡± replied Ruri.
Three days later Ruri came to Countryman with an updated report.
¡°We have been able to download its database, there''s quite a bit of data and the battle fragmented its database so it will take a while to catalog all the information. The data cataloged so far has identified this ship as a scout, the Cathamari name for its class roughly translates to Seeker, so we have designated it the Seeker Class. Our study of its sensors has yielded information which will allow us to increase our sensor range by a tenth of a light year and resolution by three percent.
Spoiler: Spoiler
The Seeker class is a Cathamari scout cruiser. Top sublight: .73C Maneuvering: Class III FTL cruise speed: 124. Armament: 4 concussion plasma banks. Defenses: Class I sega shields, Duranium Hull Plating. Equipment: Tractor Beam, Class III spatial sensors
We have also learned a great deal from their warp engines. It seems the third core is used to regulate the spatial field, it seems the Cathamari computers are slower than ours and cannot regulate the field properly without this core. The Cathamari engines are more powerful and generate a denser spatial field, which results in higher rate of spatial folding, I believe we can modify our engines to increase the spatial folding without significantly altering fuel consumption now. I did find one important fact about our drive compared to theirs, it seems their drives are nowhere near as efficient as ours which limits their range, this weakness has nothing to do with the Warp engines but the sublight component. Our sublights provide better speed, range, and maneuvering than theirs do. We can¡¯t match their folding rate, but we should be able to get close to their speed, close enough in fact that we can outdistance them. Their tractor beam tech appears to be more advanced than ours and doesn¡¯t require a mag plate to establish a lock, I have a team transferring their tractor emitter to lab 5 for analysis,¡± reported Ruri
¡°Did you find anything on their comm systems?¡±
¡°No, unfortunately, that subsystem was destroyed,¡± replied Ruri.
¡°How much longer do you need to complete your study of the ship?¡±
¡°A day then the engineers can take it apart,¡± replied Ruri
Two days later they began to disassemble the cruiser. They were still in orbit building the parts they needed to modify the engines a week later. It was now the 28th of November, the crew of the Horizon had transferred to the Coto and the Horizon was scuttled. Countryman and the officer''s council had decided on their next destination star, but were planning on waiting until the engine modifications were complete before leaving. This plan was blown out of the water when seven Cathamari cruisers came out of warp.
¡°Report¡±
¡°Seven Ravager Class battlecruisers just came out of warp, sir. Distance 230,000 Km bearing 130 mark 20.¡±
Spoiler: Spoiler
Ravager class battlecruiser: Cathamari cruiser design with similar capabilities to the Battle Claw. Class IV Maneuvering, Max Sublight .52 C. Armament: 72 Heavy Concussion Plasma Cannon banks, 4 plasma Torp banks, and four fighters.
Class II sega Shields. Earth ranks this ship as threat level low.
¡°Seems they miss that cruiser already, Eri take us out of the system one-half sublight.¡±
¡°Sir?¡±
¡°Rather not waste ammunition if I don¡¯t have too,¡± answered Countryman, glad that no one was out working on the alien cruiser, since there was nothing left aboard of interest.
Moments later the ship was heading out of the system, but not in a hurry. The Cruisers did not move to engage. Instead, they scanned the system and then merely kept their distance.
¡°Report¡± barked the Warlord from his throne. His tail poised as if to strike.
¡°What¡¯s left of the Dredal is orbiting the second planet, Three Earth ships were near it but they seem to be moving away¡±
¡°Identify the worms¡±
¡°Class and Configuration Unknown, they appear to be two cruisers and a battleship.¡±
¡°Alert command and keep an eye on them.¡±
A few minutes later:
¡°Sir the Earth vessels just warped¡±
The warlord looked at the data and muttered something about the impossible just happening and then said:
¡°Recover the Dredal¡±
¡°Sir we have cleared the planet''s gravity well,¡± reported Eri.
Countryman came down to the lower level and accessed the Nav console and laid in a course. Then said:
¡°Eri follow this course, maximum emergency warp.¡± Eri looked over her shoulder and asked, ¡°are you sure?¡±
¡°Yes,¡± replied Countryman. Moments before Eri engaged the engines while saying, ¡°Sir, I must remind you that we cannot sustain that velocity for long or we risk burning out the drive.¡±
¡°I am aware. We should be able to maintain it for two hours, drop out of warp in two hours,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Aye, sir,¡± acknowledged Eri.
Two hours later they dropped out of warp in deep space. Countryman ordered Eri to continue following his course on sublight before heading down to Warp Engineering. Warp Engineering was a flurry of activity. With junior engineers scurrying about to complete various tasks. Countryman headed straight to Richards who was standing near a console next to the port side reactor.
¡°How long before you are ready to begin the modifications to the warp engines?¡±
¡°Another hour and we can begin, sir. We should have the modifications done by tomorrow, sir.¡±
¡°Good I¡¯d like to be underway as soon as possible.¡±
The rest of the day was uneventful. It was early the next day that they tested the new warp engine modifications. The modifications worked better than expected. The modified engines were now capable of a cruising speed of 1000 times lightspeed, assuming the cooling systems could keep up with generated heat. But the current cooling systems can¡¯t keep up with that kind of heat, this limits the maximum cruising speed to Warp 4.6 which is around 640 times lightspeed. The tests revealed this was because the ship''s computer could regulate the field more efficiently than the Cathamari version, allowing the Earth vessels to take full advantage of the sheer power of the Cathmari enhanced engines. As soon as tests to the modifications were complete, they plotted a new ftl course and jumped to warp four. Their destination a system in a neighboring sector with no known Cathamari activity.
Around the same time, at the warlord¡¯s council. High ranking Cathamari Warlords had gathered around a table to discuss the ships seen a few days earlier. A projection of the Enterprise was floating above the table. The cruisers that saw her, didn¡¯t get a complete image so some of the ship¡¯s appearance had been filled in by extrapolation. As a result, the version shown here had significantly more torpedo ports than the actual Enterprise.
¡°No, we can¡¯t track them. Like most Human ships, these have a scattering effect on sensors that makes getting a solid read difficult. To make it worse, they have a much lower energy signature than older ships, which makes getting a read even harder,¡± said one Warlord his face covered with scars from many battles.
¡°That means they can be anywhere!¡±
¡°Maybe not, their drive can¡¯t be too powerful. They didn¡¯t have warp technology at the start of the war, so their drives can¡¯t push them much faster than warp three,¡± said another Warlord with bright blue scales on his face.
¡°I wouldn¡¯t be sure of that the Dredal, was stripped to the bulkheads. We can¡¯t be sure but they may have taken warp parts from our ship. Humans have proven very good with tech, we should expect them to be capable of warp four,¡± said the scarred Warlord.
¡°We should increase the local patrols, Humans are unpredictable it would be best if we had some extra security in case they attack,¡± said Blue scale.
¡°I concur, now let''s move onto the Krall. We have seen an increase in probing attacks....¡±
Chapter VI The Incident at Beta Six
Captain¡¯s Log January 1st, 001 SDE,
After months of debate we have implemented a new calendar, that marks the years since our homeworld was lost.We are currently on final approach to the Beta Six system. Initial scans indicate the system contains 7 planets 1 of which lies in the habitable zone. The star is M Class so this zone is very close to the star, so if the planet is life-supporting it will probably be unlike Earth. This would be the 7th system we have visited since Alpha Centauri and I am hoping this system is better suited to our needs. Unfortunately I have a strong feeling this system will turn out to be a battlefield like the last one.
The ships warped out into the middle of a debris field. Several damaged cargo containers floated pass and in the distance weapons fire was being exchanged between two ships and a space station.
¡°Scan the area,¡± ordered Countryman
¡°I am picking up two small ships attacking a Cathamari Outpost, their configuration is unknown. seven other small ships are combing the debris of a Cathamari freighter 200,000 kilometers from our position. Another fourteen ships, are harassing a trio of freighters and their two escorts about 1.8 million kilometers out from the station. The debris around us is what''s left of another Cathamari freighter and a cruiser, sir,¡± reported Misaki
¡°Scan the debris¡±
¡°The freighter appears to have been carrying food, most of the surviving containers are filled with organic material high in protein.¡±
¡°Sir it seems we are beginning to attract attention, three of the ships are now heading toward us at high speed.¡±
¡°Scan the ships¡±
¡°They are lightly armed with some sort of plasma weapon with twelve confirmed gunports, their engines are fairly powerful for their size granting class II maneuvering and high speed, they have thick armor, but they don¡¯t have shields. Analysis of their weapon indicates a rapid fire rate but low yield.¡±
¡°Sounds like an easy fight then, arm the cutting beams.¡±
Moments later the ships entered weapon¡¯s range and opened fire on the Enterprise. Orange-red bolts of plasma sailed across the void and struck the Enterprise¡¯s hull armor only to absorbed harmlessly by the hull plating. Bluish light rippled across the Enterprise¡¯s beam arrays and condensed on three points. Light blue particle beams lanced out across space and struck the alien ships. Each beam was targeted on the same system for each ship, but the ships were struck in different spots. The first ship was hit amidships her armor only held up for a fraction of a second before the beam punched through the plating and tore into the hull. The beam ripped through dozens of systems including the reactor control systems before punching through the armor on the other side of the ship and out into the void. The second ship had been turning and was struck in tail section, the armor being thinner there was pierced almost instantly. Allowing the beam to rip into the hull and devastate her fragile systems before ripping out the other side of the ship and into space. The third ship was hit dead-on in the front with the beam tearing through the bridge and crew quarters before lacerating the engineering section and again piercing the hull armor on the other side of the ship and into the void. Seconds later the three ships exploded in an impressive fireball as their damaged reactors overloaded.
In the distance, the fighting continued the damaged freighters returning fire as the pirate ships hounded them. One pirate ship came onto the flank of one freighter her hull absorbing a few plasma bolts from the freighters defensive armament. The ship then fired her forward guns, orange-red plasma ripping into the freighters weakened shields. The shields already heavily saturated from previous hits failed under the barrage and plasma bolts ripped into her unprotected hull. Her hull ruptured under the blast and the freighter went dark as one bolt ripped into her primary power distribution node. From the rips in the hull atmosphere and cargo were venting into space. One of the pirate ships came up alongside and launched her boarding pods into the ship.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, the pair of cruisers fighting the station stopped firing. After their last missile tore apart the station''s sole remaining plasma cannon battery. With that battery silenced the station was now defenseless allowing the raiders to easily land their assault forces.
¡°How¡¯s the station?¡± asked Countryman
¡°She has taken quite a bit of damage, her weapons are down and she has lost shields. Sensors indicate heavy fighting aboard the station,¡± reported Misaki.
¡°Well, it''s a Cathamari station no point helping them out. Run a comprehensive scan of the station I want to know its purpose,¡± said Countryman
¡°Most of the station, appears to be given over to large docking ports, extensive cargo handling systems and large cargo bays. Judging by the large number of freighters in the area, it is most likely a transfer station,¡± replied Misaki
¡°Sanchez, set course for our next destination, warp four.¡±
¡°Course set, sir¡±
¡°Engage¡±
Moments later the three ships came about and were soon moving along at a hundred times the speed of light toward the next star system on their list.
Half an hour later, the officer council had gathered to discuss the recent encounter. In the center of the conference room, a holographic scan of the new alien ships they had encountered was displayed.
¡°The alien ships we encountered at Beta Six aren¡¯t all that impressive. All of the ones we scanned are in various states of repair. Internal configurations also vary, but all of them are built to be fast with large cargo capacities. Most of them are clearly raiders, while not much of a threat individually a swarm can be deadly. Most of them are armed with either low yield lasers or plasma cannons as their primary armament and a few of them carried ion weapons. The ones that were attacking the station are clearly cruisers, and are outfitted with several outdated missile banks, low yield plasma cannon batteries and ion cannons. Light energy shielding and heavy armor are their primary defenses. Any one of our ships, is more than a match for both cruisers, and their shields are too weak to withstand a barrage from our particle cannon banks,¡± said Ruri briefing the gathered officers on the scanned ships.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
¡°Sounds like we encountered some alien pirate ships. Do these pirates have any weapons that can penetrate our armor?¡±
¡°Not while the plating is charged, but a few of the pirate ships were carrying some low yield Cathamari torpedoes so it is possible that we may encounter pirate ships with weapons capable of penetrating our armor,¡± replied Ruri.
¡°If we are seeing pirates attacking a transfer station, the Cathamari fleet must be stretched thinner than we thought. Our recent engagements can¡¯t account for how thin their fleet is, the last three times we have seen them, their battlegroups have been lacking in heavy elements especially cruisers. I¡¯m guessing their wars have something to do with this. Either their losing or they are gathering ships for a massive engagement. Then there''s that wrecked cruiser in the beta six system, it should have been more than a match for that pirate fleet and yet its floating wreckage was found not more than 400 kilometers from our jump point. I¡¯m curious how these pirates managed to sink it, since their weapons can¡¯t penetrate their shields,¡± said Drake
¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it was hit as soon as it came out of warp, we already know from experience that Cathamari ships are vulnerable to flanking attacks immediately after coming out of warp, since they focus their shields entirely to the forward quadrant, while at warp. We made good use of this during the early months of the war before they got more cautious about using in system FTL,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Scan data is also fairly consistent with that theory. Damage patterns on the sunken cruiser indicate she took a barrage of missile into her sides crippling her systems. The ship was ultimately sunk by a barrage into penetrating her torpedo bays which tore the ship apart,¡± said Ruri
¡°Anyway if the Cathamari are having pirate problems, it''s good for us. Perhaps we should find and make contact with these pirates, maybe we could get something worth the effort,¡± said Williams.
¡°Maybe, but we have plenty of fuel and food. There isn¡¯t anything in particular we need, but if there are pirates there will also be a smugglers enclave around. Making contact with the local smugglers would be lower risk, and could be useful later if we start running low on supplies,¡± said Drake.
¡°Useful, but let¡¯s not go out of our way to find them. We should focus our resources on exploring new systems in search of a new homeworld. Speaking of a new homeworld, what do our preliminary readings of the next system tell us,¡±
¡°It¡¯s a K type star, with three confirmed planets. One of which lies on the far edge of the habitable zone. The system¡¯s mineral readings are on the low side, so it may be difficult to establish an industry there if the system pans out.¡± said Ruri
¡°Not a very promising system is it,¡± said Williams.
¡°No, it is not. If the one planet proves habitable it would be cold, with the only viable farmland being near the equator,¡±
The discussion continued for another half hour before the officer¡¯s adjourned.
Across the stars, the High Warlord of the sector was sitting in his office, internally grumbling about his bane and nemesis, paperwork. Then he heard his door open and a young female walked in holding a datapad. He thought,¡°this better be interesting.¡±
¡°High warlord, we just received some new reports from intelligence. Including the report about the recent attack on the transfer station at Dedra, and we have found our missing battlegroup. Well, what¡¯s left of it anyway,¡±
¡°Dedra, that was just a cowardly pirate attack, right?¡±
¡°Basically yes. However, sir. The Human warp-capable fleet appeared about an hour before our fleet arrived to engage the pirates. They didn¡¯t attack the station, but they did briefly engage the pirates before conducting a system-wide scan and several focused scans on the station and the pirates. Then they made another warp jump. This incident has revealed that the human FTL engines are more efficient than previously believed, we also got a clear reading of their warp signature. There is a partial Cathamari component to their signature,¡±
¡°Cathamari component? Does intelligence have any theories on why?¡±
¡°Yes, the Dredal, when it was attacked, was stripped to the bulkheads, intelligence had long suspected they had stolen engine parts from the ship, but had no proof until now. Unfortunately we can¡¯t be certain of their exact capabilities if they solved our field regulation problem they could be much faster than us for example.¡±
¡°So they dared steal from us!? Can we use their signature to track their ships?¡±
¡°Unfortunately no. Our strategic sensor arrays aren¡¯t designed to track warp signatures, it will take a few months to refit them to do so. Fortunately we got a general heading and the only thing out the way they are going are systems with known pirate strongholds. Hopefully, they do us a favor and wipe the scum out for us,¡± said his aide.
The warlord was familiar with why only a handful of races actually used warp drive. Most used other methods for crossing the stars with hyperdrives being very common, it was simply easier and more reliable to track ships in FTL based on their power signature instead. Tracking ships in hyperspace was a tricky proposition in the best of circumstances, fortunately ships in hyperspace created energy fluctuations in normal space that could be tracked. Unfortunately, this only gave you a location, number, size, and configuration were all left as unknowns using this method, and the location was not exact either with an error range of plus or minus two lightyears.
¡°So what happened to our missing battlegroup?¡±
¡°They were sunk in battle with the humans. There wasn¡¯t much to salvage but we did recover a fully intact data module. Its data was damaged, but we were able to recover a good chunk of the battle record,¡±
¡°Anything interesting in it?¡±
¡°Yes,¡± replied the young woman as she inserted a data chip into a data port. Moment¡¯s later a playback appeared on a screen. ¡°As you can see, our battlegroup found them while patrolling the Ferosa System. The Humans were conducting high-intensity scans of the system primary. Their escorts were not with the flagship and were scanning the third and fourth planet. Our battlegroup ambushed their flagship at the system primary. Unfortunately, the primary star¡¯s radiation worked against our battlegroup. Our shields were heavily taxed just protecting our ships from the solar radiation, the humans on the other hand simply remodulated their shields to ignore our weapons.¡±
¡°Shields? I thought Human ships don¡¯t use shields.¡±
¡°Human shields are weak, and not very sophisticated either. Their shields are utterly useless in battle, they can only mitigate incoming fire and they don¡¯t do that very well either. Normally the human¡¯s don¡¯t raise them in battle, but Human starships have been observed using them to protect against environmental hazards,¡± said the young woman. At the same moment, in the images the Human starship fired a particle beam, which ripped across space to strike a nearby destroyer, the destroyer¡¯s shields flared and a significant portion of the beam pierced the still active shields and then lacerated the entire side of the hull. Then the destroyer went silent, her shields failing and then her hull started melting.
The warlord surprised, rewound the video and made it display additional data. The extra data revealed that beam pierced the destroyer¡¯s shields because they were already heavily saturated and struggling to mitigate the star¡¯s radiation.
¡°They don¡¯t seem to be doing a lot of damage and the radiation seems to be harming our battlegroup more than aiding it, just look four destroyers and a cruiser are already dead in the water. An additional three destroyers and another cruiser have been sunk, why isn¡¯t our commander ordering a retreat, there is no tactical advantage to continuing this battle?¡±
¡°No idea, sir,¡± replied the woman. A few moments later, one of the cruisers making a torpedo run was hit by a lightning like discharge. The pulse ripped into the cruiser¡¯s shields, then a pulse of light radiated from the cruiser and the ship went dark.
¡°What was that,¡± said the High Warlord.
Looking through her pad the woman replied, ¡°That was some sort of charged ionic plasma beam. The high-intensity energy pulse overloaded the cruiser''s shields, generating a high-intensity electromagnetic pulse in the process. The moment the shields failed the remaining energy from the beam went straight into the hull and overloaded her primary systems.¡±
¡°Any defense?¡±
¡°Not yet, but the weapon is short-range and energy-intensive, it will take them time to charge the weapon, but as you can see it has a decent fire rate once charged,¡± said the young woman as a second ship was struck by a lightning like discharge. Lightning like discharges propagated all across the shields before they ultimately failed. Seconds later the other ships in the battlegroup came about to put distance between themselves and the Human flagship.
Just as the ships were getting close to clearing the gravity well, the Human destroyers came out of warp directly in their path and opened fire with their particle batteries. The remaining battlecruiser, flagship and the four destroyers that were left in the group, were rapidly shredded and reduced to a cloud of debris, and then the recording cutout as the ship the data module was from took a fatal hit.
¡°Send this video to all commands and make sure the commanders are advised not to engage the Humans in close proximity to a star,¡± ordered The Warlord.
¡°Aye, sir,¡± replied the aide as she rushed out of the room.
Chapter VII Encounter at Vela
Captain¡¯s Log February 6th, 001 SDE
We are now approaching a system named Vela, scans reveal it has 12 planets, 3 of which lie in the habitable zone, it is a G type star with a similar spectral configuration to our own sun. We are hoping we will be able to establish a colony here, but there is no guarantee that any of the planets would be habitable. In other news the first child since the destruction of Earth was born today. I hear she is a healthy young baby girl, that her parents named Eva
¡°Sir, we are secure from warp speed,¡± reported Eri.
As they came out of warp, weapons fire could be seen being exchanged in the distance. But the immediate area was clear of activity. Eight ships could be seen fighting in the distance. Four cruisers and an equal number of destroyers were engaged in battle the debris of several more sunken ships scattered across the area. All but one of these ships belong to the Cathamari. The alien cruiser had light condense at a single point on one of its emitter arrays and a beam cut across space from that point to hit a Cathamari destroyer. Her shields flared blocking a fair portion of the beam, but some of it punched through to melt the hull armor cutting a swath into the destroyers side half its length. The destroyer returned fire with a full broadside, Cathamari Concussion Plasma bolts ripped across space to strike the alien cruiser her shields having failed from a previous strike did little to stop them. Several bolts were absorbed by the ship¡¯s armor, but a couple pierced the plates, rupturing the hull. Atmosphere and objects violently vented into space for a couple of seconds before emergency force shields snapped into place, effectively sealing the breach. While the alien cruiser maneuvered to avoid further impacts, another destroyer got a bead and dumped her torpedoes on the cruiser while taking several hits from her port batteries which caused the destroyers shields to fail. Forcing her to fall back. Before the torpedoes could hit the cruiser finished cycling her shields and they came back up just in time to absorb the impacts of the torpedoes they couldn¡¯t avoid.
¡°Scan the area, I want to know who is fighting,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°I am picking up the debris of several Cathamari warships, 3 Ravager class cruisers, 4 Rapier class destroyers, and one ship of unknown design,¡± reported Misaki.
Spoiler: Spoiler
Rapier class destroyer:
A Cathamari destroyer designed to counter Earth vessels. Its effectiveness has caused it to appear on other fronts where it has performed admirably. Top sublight: .8C Maneuvering: Class II
Armament: 2 Concussion plasma cannon banks, 4 Plasma torpedo banks
Defenses: 2 meters Polarized Duranium hull plating and Class II sega Shields
Length: 450 Crew: 250 torpedo capacity: 210 FTL Cruise speed: 124
Earth threat level: High
¡°Check the Cathamari Database.¡±
¡°It''s not in their database, but the general design parameters identify it as a Krall cruiser,¡± reported Misaki.
¡°Full power to the hull plating, charge the weapons and Eri move to aid the Krall cruiser,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Aye sir¡±
The ship rapidly closed the distance. They were almost on top of the combatants when they were detected. Two Cathamari destroyers moved to engage, one of them had lost shields and the others shields were on the brink of collapse.
¡°Beams, fire target DDR-2,¡± ordered Countryman.
Twin blue beams lanced out and cut across her unshielded hull. The beams did not pierce the hull but partially depolarized the ship¡¯s hull. Then both ships unloaded a volley of torpedoes on the Enterprise. Large reddish spheres of plasma lanced out across the void to strike at the Enterprise.
¡°Deploy energy web, return fire all particle batteries,¡± ordered Countryman.
The web sprang into existence and neutralized most of the Cathamari torpedoes with some of them impacting the hull. The Enterprise returned fire with a mixed barrage of particle cannon fire and beam strikes which destroyed DDR-2 and dealt heavy damage to DDR-1.
¡°Hull plating 87%, sir¡± reported Richards
¡°DDR-2 sinking, sir¡± reported Kaori.
¡°Beams, fire target DDR-1,¡± ordered Countryman.
Twin beams lanced out and speared through the hull of DDR-1 as she was attempting to retreat. Moments later the ship went dark and then a second strike from the beam array went through the ship''s main reactors and the ship was torn apart by a matter-antimatter explosion.
¡°Sir the remaining Cathamari ships are moving to engage us¡±
¡°Eri maneuvering pattern vulture,¡± ordered Countryman. The vulture pattern was a simple pattern in which one circles their target while maintaining maximum weapons range. Earth vessels used this pattern heavily in the war due to their superior maneuverability and weapons range compared to their cathamari counterparts.
¡°Aye, sir, pattern vulture,¡± acknowledged Eri. Before shifting the ship into a circling maneuver, while coordinating with tactical and the other ships, so that they could fire on their foes freely.
¡°All ships, fire at will,¡±
¡°Aye, sir, firing at will,¡± acknowledged Kaori.
Moments later all three ships began to bombard the Cathamari ships with particle fire. Hundreds of bolts sailed across the void to impact the targeted Cathamari. BCHR-2 sank almost instantly as her shields were already on the verge of collapse. The bolts splashed against the ships weakened shields, which flickered and then failed. The following bolts ripped into the hull of BCHR-2 like it was tissue paper. One of the bolts hit the reactor and the ship lost containment, causing an explosion that ripped the ship apart. The Krall cruiser took advantage of the situation and moved away from the Cathamari ships before coming about and bombarding the Cathamari ships with beam weapons fire. Powerful beams of plasma ripped across space and struck the Cathamari ships, their shields straining to block even a portion of the beam. Some of the beams ripped past the shields and melted large chunks of the hull plating. The Cathamari ships did not hold up well under the bombardment, the two remaining cruisers quickly lost shields and were ripped apart by human particle cannon blasts. The destroyers did not last much longer, the first sank when a krall plasma beam struck the hull while her shields were down, melting through the polarized plating cutting right through the main engine room and out the otherside, the resulting secondary explosions reducing the ship to an expanding cloud of debris. The other destroyer tried to run, but was ripped apart by particle cannon fire the instant she tried to go to warp. With the enemy ships sunk the Enterprise hailed the Krall ship. It took a few moments to establish a comm link.
The Krall ship-leader was observing the battle. She could hear her battle-leader barking out orders when suddenly one of the officers shouted out.
¡°Sir, three unidentified ships on approach vector, distance 14700 Metrasi (12000 km)¡±
Intrigued she asked a question of the officer even though the battle-leader was currently in charge. ¡°How did they get so close without being detected.¡±
¡°Their power signatures are unusually low and for some reason their hull is scattering sensor signals,¡± replied the officer
The battle-leader barked an order to change maneuvering patterns and then asked:
¡°Are their battle systems charged?¡±
¡°Yes sir, their firing¡±
When they didn¡¯t feel anything and none of the indicators went off, the battle-leader asked:
¡°Did they miss?¡±
¡°No they hit one of the new Cathamari destroyers its hull plating has dropped to 14%, and the interesting part is they used a beam weapon,¡± replied the officer.
The ship-leader was intrigued, but they had little time to investigate the new ships. A few moments later the new ships drew the attention of the Cathamari fleet and they took advantage of the situation to get out of the cross fire then they came about and opened fire on the surviving Cathamari ships within minutes the fleet was torn apart by the barrage. She took note of the fact that the new aliens employed powerful particle weapons that could rip through hull plating like it was made of tissue paper. Then suddenly they were being hailed by the new ships. The ship-leader took command and a few minutes later managed to align their comm system to establish a link. She was somewhat surprised though that they hailed her ship on sublight bands.
Seconds after the link was established, an alien female appeared on his screen. Her features were generally reptilian, but their were a few exceptions. The most notable exception were her mid-sized breasts. She had a short snout, purple eyes and her scales were arranged in beautiful patterns of red and gold. She was wearing some sort of armor that was predominantly leather with thin silvery metal plates layered across the torso. She was surrounded by the features of an alien bridge, strange consoles covered with strange alien text in purple characters could be seen in the background. The alien female seemed to regard him for a moment before speaking,
¡°I am ship-leader Tika of Krall Imperial Cruiser Teketh, in the name of the Imperium I greet you.¡±
¡°I am Captain Countryman of the Sol Refuge ship EFS Enterprise, we gladly greet enemies of the Cathamari,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°I was not aware the Cathamari had any other enemies in this sector,¡± replied Tika.
¡°We are the last of our people, we have been at war with the Cathamari since they invaded our home system nearly three years ago.¡±
¡°That implies you lost the conflict,¡± said Tika.
¡°They had FTL capability we did not, we fought valiantly, but we could not develop the tech to strike at them in time. We now search for a new home.¡±
¡°Your actions today have proven your honor. I will help you.¡±
¡°Do you require any further assistance?¡±
¡°That depends do you have warp towing capability? Our inversion drive was damaged during the battle and my engineers are telling me it will take some time to repair.¡±
Spoiler: Spoiler
Inversion Drive: A drive system that creates a spatial inversion that effectively instantaneously transports a ship a great distance. FTL speed is determined by jump range and cycle speed. Larger ranges and higher cycle speeds increase ftl speed.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
¡°We have towing capability, but I am not sure about warp,¡± replied Countryman. Warp towing was still mostly theory and they had been to busy to test it.
¡°Can you send us the specs or are they classified?¡±
¡°I can send them, our tractors aren¡¯t classified.
The Krall female looked at the specs and then told Countryman that the beams should remain stable during warp. Only mentioning a need for expanding the ship¡¯s warp field to encompass both ships. As she was studying the specs, one of her officers told her something interesting about the hull of the Enterprise. She got this information by adapting the sensors to compensate for the signal scattering, but she still couldn¡¯t penetrate the hull.
¡°...Also, my science officer tells me she found trace amounts of salt compounds on your hull, but she can¡¯t explain them.¡±
¡°Probably from water that evaporated during launch.¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Water, you can¡¯t possibly mean a ship of your size class was surface launched, can you?
¡°We were.¡±
¡°But that would require incredibly powerful engines.¡±
¡°One of the benefits of Rydium based particle pulse wave engine¡¯s is that they nullify 60% of a ship¡¯s mass. They also provide large amounts of thrust, that is highly dependent on available energy,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Rydium? I¡¯m not familiar with it, but it sounds like a very powerful and useful material,¡±
¡°Yes, we discovered it quite by accident. It is a remarkably stable superheavy element, with equally remarkable properties, it is heavily used in propulsion, but it has applications in other fields as well, mostly anything involving energy conversion,¡±
¡°Well, most of the big breakthroughs are discovered by accident. Since you mention most of the application¡¯s for it involve energy conversion, that sounds like it is useful in power generation,¡±
¡°Yes, propulsion, power generation, and cooling systems are the big examples. But raw Rydium is useless outside of propulsion, and must be refined and combined with several other materials to be of any use in other applications. Refined Rydium is also more useful then the raw stuff when used for propulsion,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Interesting, our scientists would probably be drooling over a new material,¡±
¡°I¡¯m sure they would, now let''s get on with that tow,¡± said Countryman.
A few minutes later the Enterprise took the Teketh in tow, while expanding her warp field to encompass the ship, and then set course for Illeria a nearby system that is host to a Krall Outpost. A few moments after initiating the towing beams they jumped to warp. At warp four it took them nearly eleven days to reach the system.
Tika was a bit bored, they had been at warp nearly a week now and there was little to do while being towed by another ship. Coming out of the lift she entered the bridge which was mostly empty and was almost immediately waved over by her science officer.
¡°Ship-leader our new friends are fascinating,¡± said the young female officer.
¡°Oh in what way?¡± asked Tika.
¡°Sir, contrary to normal starship design their ships lack a deflector. Instead it is their armor that deals with translight particle impacts,¡± said the officer excitement evident in her voice.
¡°Their armor? How is that possible?¡± asked Tika wondering what the ship was made of for that to be possible.
¡°Scanning their armor was difficult, but I was able to get a general idea. Their hull plating is composed of a previously unknown titanium based alloy, and reinforced by a multilayered structural reinforcement field. My analysis indicates their armor provides protection comparable to Valorian Omicron shields in fact I believe it is superior. Especially given the embedded energy absorption matrix I found. Which absorbs incoming fire and shunts it into the SRF,¡± replied the officer. While showing Tika the supporting sensor data which showed how the ship was dealing with the translight particle impacts. Tika than asked, ¡°Are you sure their armor is stronger than Valorian shields?¡±
¡°Yes, sir. I¡¯m positive it is,¡± said the officer. Tika found that interesting since the Valorians had the best shields in the quadrant. The officer than interrupted her thoughts, ¡°Also sir, my scans revealed that their ship is producing gravitons in rather massive quantities.¡±
¡°How massive?¡± asked Tika wondering why it was mentioned since most ships produce them for things like artificial gravity.
¡°Around three hundred million particles a minute sir,¡± answered the officer. A number that left Tika astonished. The best graviton particle generators she knew of could only produce a few thousand in a minute.
¡°You wouldn¡¯t happen to know what they are using those particles for would you?¡± asked Tika some excitement evident in her voice.
¡°Yes, sir. The particles appear to be a product of their engines. The gravitons are partially responsible for the pulse waves they use to move their ship. The other component of the pulse wave is a previously unknown particle. Do you know what this means?¡± said the officer.
¡°Yes, I do,¡± replied Tika she was very familiar with the theory and given the rate they could produce gravitons if they could learn the tech it would lead to a new generation of energy shields. Shields far more powerful than any currently in use.
Captain¡¯s Log February 17th, 001 SDE
The last eleven days have been a pleasure, the Krall males are a bit gruff but pleasant once you get to know them and a bit dull when it comes to the sciences. Their females however have a strong grasp of the sciences. In the days since first contact we have learned more about the Krall then we have about the Cathamari in three years. They have strongly defined gender roles and a strong sense of honor. Speaking of honor the name of the Teketh¡¯s class roughly means honor so we have designated the ship Honor Class. The most unusual thing about the Krall is their leadership. The Krall divide leader roles between males and females and as a result their ship has two captains. The Krall were able to contact the outpost and let them know we are coming. Personally, I am looking forward to the chance to meet the Krall ambassador who is now waiting for us in the Illeria system.
Spoiler: Spoiler
The Honor Class is highly versatile cruiser employed by the Krall, has good range. Top sublight: .74C Maneuvering: Class II. FTL Speed: 150 times light speed
Armament: 2 plasma beam arrays, 4 plasma cannon banks, 1 spatial torpedo bank.
Defenses: 1 meter duranium hull plating, class III sega shields
Length: 1219 m Crew: 752
Effective range of krall weapons:
Plasma beam: 25,000 Km
Plasma cannon: 23,000 km
Spatial Torpedoes: 74,000 km
¡°We are secure from warp speed, captain,¡± stated Eri.
¡°Release tractors and set course for the outpost, 1/4 sublight.¡±
¡°Aye, sir¡±
The system was filled with Krall activity multiple Krall ships of unknown configuration were moving around the system many on patrol. The majority of the activity was centered around the fourth planet. A massive orbital facility was built over the planet and several shuttles could be seen rising from the planet''s surface and heading for the outpost. Within seconds of entering the system several Krall destroyers entered formation with them and escorted them to the outpost. While the Coto and Umikaze took up positions near the outpost the Enterprise docked at one of the outpost¡¯s larger docking bays. As Countryman was getting off the ship he was greeted by Tika.
¡°Greetings captain,¡±
¡°Hello Ship-leader,¡±
¡°Before we head to the ambassador, I should let you know that because of an incident that happened a few years ago sensors have been put in place to detect unauthorized weapons. So if you plan on bringing weapons with you, you will need to have them authorized.¡±
¡°Thanks for letting me know,¡± replied Countryman. Then he opened his right arm revealing his cannon before saying, ¡°so where do you register an old defense cannon around here.¡±
She looked at the cannon in surprise before asking, ¡°is that a weapon directly integrated into a cybernetic system.¡±
¡°It is. Why is that impressive or something?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Depends on who you ask. Cybernetics is a field in heavy use with numerous applications, but honestly no one in the Imperium has tried to weaponize it.¡±
¡°Curious, it is not difficult, I last reconfigured the parameters of my weapon two years ago and installed the original 112 years ago.¡±
She was clearly surprised to learn Countryman was over 100 years old and said so before escorting him. A few minutes later, the Krall ambassadors, Countryman, Drakes, and Greyman were sitting around a table discussing their future relations.
¡°......Unfortunately, we can''t help you find a new homeworld directly, the war with the Cathamari is straining our resources. Instead we will give you our star charts. We will also render whatever aid we can,¡± said one ambassador.
¡°I thank you for the offer and offer our assistance whenever we are in the area,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°That is generous of you, but I can¡¯t accept that and still call myself honorable,¡± replied another ambassador.
¡°You can¡¯t?¡±
¡°No, since your resources are limited and you need them more then we do.¡±
The discussions came to a sudden halt when the alarms went off. Countryman, Drakes, and Greyman quickly headed to the door and were met by Tika she had been ordered to escort them back to the Enterprise. As they were heading to the Enterprise they felt the station shake. They were halfway to the Enterprise when they encountered a Cathamari boarding team. They were short legged with longtails and covered with scales colored a light red brown. They were all armed with plasma rifles. Countryman armed his cannon and took cover, the others hid behind cover as well. Countryman aimed his cannon at the first and fired a shot. A powerful particle pulse shot across the hall and struck the Cathamari in the face.
He toppled over dead, his head an unrecognizable and charred lump. The other four Cathamari returned fire, but hit only empty air. Countryman fired another shot from cover. This time the particle blast hit one of the boarders in the arm, his armor melted and his arm was left severely burned and he screamed in pain. The wounded Cathamari dropped his weapon and charged. He got halfway down the hall before a second blast struck him in the midsection killing him. The other three screamed a battle cry and charged down the hall. Countryman killed one before the other two reached the party. He engaged the one in hand to hand while the others struggled with the other one. A few moments later the rest of the boarding party was dead and the group had escaped with minor injuries.
¡°Impressive weapon,¡± commented Tika as they walked past the corpses of the now dead Cathamari.
¡°Well, I wasn¡¯t expecting combat. So I only have a single power pack, you wouldn¡¯t happen to have an armory nearby would you?¡± asked Countryman concerned about additional boarding parties. Especially since he only had sixty five shots remaining before he was out of ammo for his cannon.
¡°Yes there is an armory just down this corridor and on the left,¡± replied Tika. They continued down the corridor. Tika used her access codes to unlock the armory and grabbed a few rifles before distributing them. Being designed for the Krall they were a bit awkward for humans to operate but doable. A quick check of the armory and she found a pistol pack that after a couple of modifications was made compatible with Countryman¡¯s cannon. Which because of its larger capacity granted him an extra hundred shots for dealing with boarders.
¡°I¡¯d be prefer it if you had actually experience with those rifles, but a quick rundown will have to do. Each rifle has four settings, burst, stun, snipe, and auto. Don¡¯t bother with the secondary settings and just use the first one. It will fire a burst of three plasma bolts at the target,¡± said Tika while demonstrating the rifle on a nearby test target in the armory. Three orange bolts of plasma smacked into the target. A force field absorbed the blasts, a screen next to the target showing what the hits would have done to a person. A couple moments later they left the armory and Greyman asked, ¡°So this thing has a stun setting?¡±
¡°Of course, policy requires all standard issue weapons to have one. Why is Human policy different?¡± replied Tika and ending with a question of her own.
¡°Most of our weapons don¡¯t have a stun setting. The LP-1230 is the only weapon on board that has a stun setting. There are other weapons with a stun setting, just none in inventory,¡± said Greyman while Drakes checked the corner. Declaring it clear, Countryman interrupted and said, ¡°actually my cannon has a stun setting.¡±
¡°That sounds interesting. I¡¯ll keep it in mind for later,¡± said Tika. The group than continued down the corridor in silence. At the next corridor they came across a second boarding party, that was facing the other way. Countryman, Tika and Greyman each fired at a boarder. Countryman¡¯s shot hit his target center mass ripping into the armor the alien was wearing charring the flesh and leaving a gaping hole wear the shot hit. Greyman hit a little lower than he intended and his bolts struck the Cathamari he was shooting just above the tail crippling but not killing him. As for Tika her burst struck center mass killing the warrior instantly. The two remaining Cathamari turned around and fired their rifles, only to strike air as the group had ducked behind cover. Tika armed and rolled a grenade she had picked up earlier down the corridor. It exploded killing both attackers and the cripple. With party dead the group continued down the corridor. Turning down to the final path the found two Cathamari using the door to the docking bay being used as cover as they fired at defenders in the room. A quick burst from Tika and Greyman reduced them to smoldering corpses.
The entered the docking to find a marine squad was fighting several Cathamari boarding parties. Like most Earth marines, the Enterprise marines were employing the favored XR-471 rifle. The marines were using some crates outside the ship as cover while firing on the boarders. The group¡¯s position placed them on the flank of one of the boarding parties. Taking cover behind some nearby crates they opened fire on the flanked boarding party. Promptly drawing attention to their presence. The Marines took advantage of the confusion to throw a few grenades ending the other boarders. With the area free of hostiles, the group met up with the marine squad.
Spoiler: Spoiler
XR-471: A popular particle rifle employed by the Earth military. It fires a particle pulse that inflicts severe particle burns. It has two shot modes. Setting one is for mid range fire, and setting two fires a shotgun like blast for close quarters. It has no stun setting. Shot capacity: 240. Fire rate: 1200 bolts per minute
¡°Report,¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Several Cathamari cruisers attacked the system and a few launched boarding pods to board the station. Command reports the cruisers have sunk, but there are still boarding parties roaming the station,¡± reported the marine squad leader.
¡°Deploy security teams to aid the outpost,¡± Countryman ordered.
¡°Aye sir,¡± replied the marine.
Moments later several squads of marines were deployed to repel the boarders on the station. An hour later the with the station secure, medics were roaming the station aiding the wounded. The Krall during the incident became impressed with Earth¡¯s dermal regeneration laser. A device that fires a special laser beam that stimulates cell regeneration. The device first scans the person you want to heal then modulates the beam according to their physiology. After the clean up and holding a funeral for the dead both the Krall and the Sol Refuge suffered, the ambassadors gathered and then debated and signed a treaty. During the process the groups negotiated an exchange of technologies. Both sides had techs they were unwilling to trade like Earth¡¯s Overlord armor and the Krall¡¯s Energy shield technology.
With a treaty in place and new tactical information the Enterprise undocked, joined its escorts and set course for a Cathamari border colony in the Iridia system. Before they left the system they traded with a Krall trader and purchased an ftl capable probe, for the price of five salvage cubes and 3 crates of cocoa beans, with a class IV drive enabling an effective speed of 150 times the speed of light. Talking with the traders gained the Humans a wealth of information about the local stars. Including some info on a nearby power called the Valorians. Apparently they were peaceful traders, so diplomatic ties with them could be useful.
Chapter VIII Eye for an Eye
Captain¡¯s Log February 19th 001 SDE,
We are currently in the Iridia system and have been so for the last two days. So far it has been rather uneventful. The system has seven planets two of which lie in the habitable zone, the second of which is a terrestrial counterpart. Albeit smaller with less water and more desert. Unfortunately it won¡¯t be one for much longer, since we fired one of our antimatter bombs at the planet. Said bomb is expected to hit the planet later today and consequently eliminate the Cathamari colony in the system. The other planet is a dry arid world, with a thin atmosphere and little in the way of water, most of which is locked up in the vast northern ice cap. So far the colony has yet to detect us, which means things are going according to plan. We are currently in this system waiting for a Cathamari cruiser to show up. The Iridia system has little of value, and this entire sector is of no strategic import to the Cathamari. As a result the Cathamari only have a single cruiser assigned to patrol the entire sector. This of course provides us with an opportunity we can¡¯t afford to waste.
Long range sensors have picked up a Cathamari cruiser on route into the system she is expected to arrive within the hour. I have ordered the fleet to intercept. Our plan is to ambush it with a low yield torpedo volley, aimed to cripple. We will fire will it is still at warp, so as to ensure we retain the element of surprise. This will complicate things a bit, but we have a good read on the cruiser and should be able to predict where it will drop to sublight.
Countryman watched the forward screen, while leaning back in his chair. Down below the tactical plot displayed the locations of the Enterprise, Coto, and Umikaze. Also on the plot were a number of torpedoes streaking towards the predicted coordinates where the incoming cruiser was expected to drop out of warp. The torpedoes were all set to minimal yields, and programed to hit vital areas of the cruiser. This way they could cripple the ship while leaving it largely intact. Also on the plot was the lonely bomb they had sent on a gentle trajectory towards the planet. It wasn¡¯t far from the planet now, and would hit the atmosphere in just under an hour. Also on the plot was a lone corvette sized ship that had showed yesterday, and was trying and failing at being stealthy. Then a flash filled his screen as the cruiser collapsed her warp field and dropped to sublight.
¡°Warp out confirmed, one percent deviation from predicted course. Course corrections sent, impact in three seconds,¡± said Kaori who had been watching the tactical sensors. Countryman of course hated the use of the phrase ¡®warp out¡¯ since it was inaccurate. Ships at warp travelled through normal space not through another dimension, or hyperspace like the term implied. The deviation she reported though was within his expectations, for this type of attack the acceptable margin for error was three percent and the expected margin was one point two percent so they were doing better than average. Then several explosions appeared on the screen.
¡°Direct hit, enemy engine signature has ceased,¡± said Kaori.
¡°Jam all signals, order the fleet to close,¡± ordered Countryman. Glad that things were going according to plan.
The warlord felt like cursing and screaming his displeasure after his ship had been rattled by a series of sudden explosions. Managing to school his emotions he barked a quick order to the sensor officer before he turned to the console by his station and flipped the comm switch for engineering.
¡°Damage report,¡± he barked.
¡°Whoever shot us knew exactly where to hit us. All our engines are dead, our fuel lines ruptured and our power grid is a sparking mess. We still have power for now, but we are leaking power like crazy. At the current rate of power usage we will be out of power in ¡®thirty minutes¡¯, when the reactor runs out of fuel,¡± said the irritated voice of his chief engineer. She was clearly displeased with what just happened.
¡°Weapons? Shields?¡± asked the Warlord.
¡°Shields are out of the question, and it''s not looking good for weapons either. I can get you one maybe two volleys and then we¡¯ll be out of power,¡± replied his chief engineer. In other words he would have to be very careful with his shots. In space running out of power is a death sentence, something he knew from experience. Of course that all depended on his opponent. Turning to his sensor officer who was patiently waiting to give his report, he barked ¡°Report.¡±
¡°Sensors are tracking three warships, two cruisers and a battleship. Two hundred thousand kilometers out and closing. Signatures are Human,¡± said the officer. Which for the warlord was terrible news. ¡°Apparently the universe loves throwing ridiculous curve balls my way,¡± thought the warlord. Afterall he knew enough about Human ships to know how bad the situation was. Tapping the intercom he said, ¡°All hands grab a weapon and prepare for enemy boarders.¡±
One of the officers suddenly turned and said, ¡°wait you expect them to board.¡±
¡°They are planning on boarding us, otherwise we would already be dead. Now grab a weapon,¡± replied the Warlord. Sure that the young man would not make it through this mission. In fact he wasn¡¯t sure if he would make it through himself. He had heard plenty of stories about how terrifying Human ground troops and marines are. According to the stories they could toss tanks around as if they were as light as feathers, were immune to weapons fire, and in one story he heard they could even shoot fire from their hands. He was pretty sure they had been exaggerated, but most stories are rooted in a grain of truth. From the stories he could guess that they were very strong, and hard to kill. The last story probably described some sort of weapon. He doubted they could actually shoot fire from their hands. Then he gave a few orders for his plan to get out of this mess and was not pleased when he learned the enemy was jamming their comms.
Back on the Enterprise Lieutenant Tom Sirapi, was checking his rifle. He had been assigned to one of the parties and was doing the pre-combat checks that all marines had to do. After a quick once over of his rifle, he was sure his XR-471 he concluded his weapon was ready for battle. He had a fully charged pack in the rifle and the critical components were in prime condition. He also had three spare packs on his belt, along with twelve grenades, two combat knives and a sidearm specifically the standard issue LP-1230 which was popular since it is one of those rare weapons to support a stun setting. He also had a small medkit, containing a nanite injector, dermal regeneration laser, three doses of combat stims and a nanite pack containing three doses. Also on his belt is a plasma cutter and three breaching charges for breaking through blast doors, bulkheads and other obstacles. Done with his weapons check he moved onto his armor.
His armor was a suit of personal overlord armor. It was a type of power armor designed to amplify the wearers strength and speed, while also providing substantial protection against ballistic and energy weapons. It protects against weapons fire the same way the ship¡¯s armor does, but it is made of different materials. Instead of Titan Alloy the armor was made of layered and laminated polymer plates, and lined with a kevlar derivative. The result provides less protection than Titan Alloy does, but it weighs only a quarter of the weight and the protection is still enough to shrug of all but the heaviest weapons with ease. It wasn¡¯t cheap either, but well worth it since it made the wearer into a small one man army the match for a thousand men. He did a quick check of the electronics responsible for most of that protection, followed by the servo motors and the life support systems. Finishing with a check of the power systems and the built in cannon. All modern armors had a single built in hardpoint designed to carry a wrist cannon. While some marines swapped the cannon out for a plasma thrower he kept the standard EX-94. Which is a good solid and dependable back up weapon. He had just finished when the commander he had been assigned to came up to him.
¡°How¡¯s your armor looking, rookie?¡± said the commander.
¡°All green across the board and I¡¯m not a rookie,¡± replied Tom.
¡°You are in my squad. We¡¯re the elites after all,¡± replied the commander. Tom groaned internally. He hated this type of commander, fortunately he knew how to deal with them. Put up with their shit, until they know you are a good soldier.
¡°Well, I¡¯m good to go. Are the techs still dragging their feet or are the shuttles ready to board?¡± asked Tom as he turned on the hud in his helmet. Instantly his hud elements turned on, which included an indicator for his armor reinforcement field, a minimap displaying color coded dots based on his surroundings with data picked up from the suits built in sensors. His life support status and general health as monitored by the suit. As well as a display of his equipped weapons and general ammo status. The suit could keep track of a weapon through special sensors in the gloves, which linked to a chip built into the gun just behind the trigger. There was also a set of indicators that kept track of his squad members.
¡°The shuttles are fueled and ready to go,¡± said his commander just before leaving the room and heading towards the door. Tom followed him into the hanger proper. In the center of the cavernous bay were a row of shuttles sitting on the launch catapults. To be specific they were X-1205s. The X-1205 is classified as an assault shuttle and features a modular design allowing it serve a number of roles. She is large enough to carry twenty soldiers and a tank into battle, but she could be outfitted with bombs to serve as a medium bomber. Right now they had been set up to carry additional soldiers so the tank berth had been removed allowing another twenty soldiers to be crammed into the shuttle. Design wise she looked a lot like a bigger version of a standard shuttlecraft, with short stubby wings, two round bulges on the sides mounted the turrets which each contained a pair of dual particle cannons. Four spinal mounted particle cannons could be seen on either side of the cockpit. A ramp was lowered at the rear of each shuttle and soldier were boarding the shuttle and anchoring into the seats on either side of the rear compartment.
He had done some reading on the X-1205 to his eyes it looked like an improvement on the old Star Ranger that he had the misfortune to experience. As a marine he felt it prudent to be familiar with any equipment he might encounter in the field, and so he had also played with the ship in the simulator. However this was his first time seeing one in person. From his readings he knew the 1205 featured thicker armor, heavier guns and better cargo capacity than its predecessor at a slight cost of speed and maneuverability.
He followed his commander and met the rest of his five man squad at the ramp of the third shuttle to left of where he entered the bay. After a quick chat they boarded the shuttle and strapped in waiting for the green light. Using his interface he linked his helmet to the shuttle¡¯s sensors so he could view the takeoff. Several boring minutes passed before the shuttles were fully loaded and the green light was finally given. Instantly the bay began to decompress a process the took a few minutes to complete. Then the massive bay doors began to open, separating in the middle and pulling into the sides. Each door opened impressively quick given their size and were fully open in just under a minute. The instant the doors were cleared the catapult began to glow a faint blue well the shuttle¡¯s dual engines began to hum. Seconds before the ship was suddenly launched into space at high speed. Of course due to the inertial dampers on the shuttle he hardly felt the acceleration. Of course if it weren¡¯t for the dampers he would dead.
The shuttle flight was uneventful, the cruiser they were about to board having already been disabled. So his attention was mostly occupied by the inflight briefing.
¡°Alright boys and girls. Our mission this time is to capture a disabled cruiser. Our company has been assigned the critical objective of securing engineering. We will be expecting heavy resistance, and command wants the section as intact as possible so be careful when using your grenades. We are not taking prisoners so shoot to kill. The cruiser itself is a standard Battleclaw class battlecruiser. Intel indicates it is one of the ships that participated in the war against Earth and was present during the final battle of the war.
Now the we will be inserting here on deck 23. Damage to the ship will prevent us from taking the direct route to our destination. Instead after securing the local area we will make our way to engineering by way of the ship¡¯s maintenance corridors. While one squad stays behind to guard the shuttle. Charlie squad you will be guarding the shuttle. That''s our evac in case something goes wrong. When we reach engineering we are to eliminate all hostiles and then secure the area, while Specialist Tayoa hacks into the local engineering computers. Once we have control of the local computers, we are to vent the ship and then contact command for further orders. So double check your life support systems. Any questions?¡± said the company commander
¡°No sir!¡± was the unanimous response. After the briefing the only other thing of interest was the massive flash that almost blinded the shuttle¡¯s sensors when the bomb finally hit the planets surface. Most certainly killing the colony on the surface. The shuttle landed on curved spot of the cruisers hull near the rear of the craft. Having landed the marines unstrapped and opened the lower hatch of the shuttle. Then two marines went to work with plasma cutters and began to cut a hole through the armor and hull of the cruiser. The armor was two meters thick so it took awhile, but after several minutes of cutting, the pair kicked the cut plate in and it went flying into the corridor they had cut into. The marines then went through the hatch two at a time. Dropping to the ground, while defenders fired at them from cover. Their armor keeping them safe long enough to get to cover and while they returned fire.
Tom went through the hatch along with his squad¡¯s medic, just as one of the aliens poked their head out to fire a few shots. He reacted instantly firing a burst from his rifle into warriors head. Three bluish particle bolts slammed into the alien¡¯s scally face charring his head black and boring a hole through it and slightly melting the wall behind him. The corpse slumping to the floor, Tom moved into cover nearby and open fire on another target of opportunity with pinpoint accuracy. The alien screamed in pain as his arm was charred beyond recognition for a moment before he stopped feeling it his nervous system having overloaded from the severe pain.
Seeing an opportunity he and one other marine dashed out of cover, and rushed the remain aliens guarding the intersection. He reached his opponent and shot a burst into him. His buddy tried to grapple with him. Tom dropped his rifle and then slammed the guy into the wall denting it blood spraying from its mouth while a crunching sound could be heard as his bones were crushed. Then Tom activated his wrist cannon and fired a few quick shots into his abdomen. The energy frying his organs. Tom grabbed his rifle still hanging from its strap and then fired into the alien charging him. One Cathamari soldier fired his rifle at Tom and scored a couple hits, but his armor absorbed the plasma bolts. Dropping the bar indicating his armor strength to ninety three percent. He returned fire scoring three hits to the chest killing his target instantly. While also clearing the corridor. Since it was clear he checked his rifle to find it still had two hundred and thirty shots still in the pack out of two hundred forty. Then he checked on his buddy to find she had also cleared her opponents and was checking on him.
¡°Area clear,¡± called Tom over the suit comms.
¡°Alright form up. Charlie squad guard the shuttle everyone else, move out,¡± ordered the company commander. Tom formed up with his squad and headed left from their insertion point and down the corridor until they reached the maintenance access hatch. It was locked so he used his plasma cutter to cut the hatch open. Unlike the hull the hatch wasn¡¯t very thick nor was it treated to resist the cutter so he was through it in a matter of seconds. He then took point as his squad made their way through the corridors to engineering. Only encountering two crewman on their way to the section. Both were killed by a single shot to the head before they even realized the marines were there.
They charged into main engineering from a side entrance catching the engineers of guard. They managed to kill three before someone called for help. As the guards came running into the room. He saw one of the scaly bastards run out via the main door. Judging by the longer tail, shorter height and brighter scales it was most likely a female.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Chief engineer Tagisa cursed as she ran out of the compartment with the ship¡¯s log. She had been ordered to manually engage the self destruct since the autodestruct was nonfunctional and jettison the ship¡¯s log. Unfortunately the Humans had been faster than expected at reaching engineering and she had not been able to set the self destruct. Fearing for her life she ran down the corridors dodging several boarding parties and reached one of the escape pods. Jumping into the pod she hit the switch and jettisoned. Her pod flying out into the void. She quickly disabled the distress beacon before it could activate and then kept an eye on the sensors.
Securing engineering hadn¡¯t been hard, but by the time they had dealt with the guards the runner was nowhere to be seen. Rather than worrying about a random runner the marines took up defensive positions around the compartment while the specialist started hacking into the computers. She had been at it for about five minutes when the a couple squads of Cathamari security came along to retake the section. They rolled a few grenades down the corridor, the marines used their enhanced speed to clear the area to avoid the blasts. Then the fighting began in earnest. Tom popped from cover after the grenades went off, and fired into a guard that started advance. The guard¡¯s security armor did little to protect him from the bolts that slammed into his abdomen leaving a charred and smoking hole where they struck. The other charging guards were killed by other members of his company, so he then fired at one firing from cover. His bolts slammed one right after the other into the wall and melted a hole through it going through the corner and into the guards stomach doing lethal amounts of damage to the warrior.
Internally marveling at the shoddy interior armor that should of stopped that, he then shot at another guard through the wall. He heard the guard curse in Cathamari just before another one poked his head out to fire. Tom moved his rifle smoothly and fired just as the guy fired. His plasma bolt slamming into a nearby marine harmlessly. While his particle bolt dropped the guard. Then his hud lit up as a bolt hit him in the back draining a small chunk of energy from his armor. He spun and fired several bolts into the guard who had flanked them by taking advantage of his small size and went through a vent. The guard had barely blinked and was still firing his rifle full auto when the bolts slammed into him tearing through his abdomen leaving a smoking charred hole while his lifeless body fell to the floor. Tom glanced at his armor indicator to see he had lost half of it in those brief seconds and retreated into the main engineering compartment to let it recharge. A minute later when it was back at full the opposition was dead, and a minute after that, ¡°Got it, I¡¯m in vent atmo, now,¡± declared Specialist Tayoa. A second later he heard the distinctive whoosh of an atmosphere being vented and relaxed a bit, since it meant the hard part was over. Then he heard the company commander reporting over the radio.
The return orders were mostly your typical mop up orders, and while his company had come out with no casualties others weren¡¯t so lucky and had wounded. Fortunately there weren¡¯t any fatalities and most of the wounds were easily healed by a field medic. A few however would require rest in sickbay and would be fine in a week. A couple hours later his squad pulled out and returned to the ship.
Back at the hanger he returned to find the captain greeting the marines as they disembarked from their shuttles. It wasn¡¯t in and of itself unusual, since the captain was always talking with the crew and the marines, but he had been seeing him more than usual. In fact he had the honor of making friends with the captain when he attended a birthday party with lieutenant Haley who was in his platoon. He smiled under his helmet and then headed toward the captain to greet him.
Countryman was quite glad with the way things had went as he left the hanger. Walking down the corridor he headed for the lift, going over the things he needed to do in his head. His speaking with the marines had been fun. Some of them had concern over there family on ship or close friends and he tried his best to allay them since he had the opportunity. Especially considering he would need their support later given a certain someone¡¯s schemes to overthrow him. He had learned about it just last week on one of his regular walks around the ship.
Last week a little after ten pm, Countryman came out of the lift on one of the lower decks, he had made a habit of talking with the marines and low ranking crewman when ever he had a chance. It paid well to listen to the crew, in allowing him to find issues before they became problematic. Countryman was approaching an office for the commander of a marine platoon when he saw Williams slip into the office, she didn¡¯t see him. Countryman found the presence of Williams on this deck unusual. Wondering what she was doing on this deck, he accessed his internal comm node and activated it. Then he scanned the bugs he had placed on Williams¡¯s uniforms, it didn¡¯t take long to find the one he was looking for. Just in time to overhear what proved to be an interesting conversation.
¡°What can I do for you?¡± asked commander Yuron. He was an older man, like most soldiers he was physically fit, if a bit greasy.
¡°I¡¯m here to talk about our leadership. What do you think of that machine Countryman?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t really approve of cybernetic enhancement, but honestly as cybernetically enhanced commanders go though, he isn¡¯t bad,¡± replied Yuron.
¡°So you would be open to a change in leadership,¡± stated Williams
¡°Yes, I would be,¡± said Yuron
¡°Would you be willing to back my rise to captain, when the time is right?¡± asked Williams.
¡°And I will benefit from that how?¡± asked Yuron.
¡°How about I triple your rations, after my rise to captain?¡± offered Williams
¡°Oh, do tell me more,¡± replied Yuron greed evident in his voice.
The conversation continued from there, mostly on when they were going to move. From what Countryman could gather, the conditions weren¡¯t yet right for Williams to make her big move. She was mostly waiting until she had two things, enough say over a large enough percentage of the ship¡¯s marine commanders and something to justify her mutiny with. She knew that not everyone agreed with her about cyborgs. ¡°So, she¡¯s going to try bribing the commanders. Well I don¡¯t really need to control the commanders. I just need Forrest, he is our best and most respectable commander, so I can¡¯t lose him. I will need to take steps to ensure, he doesn¡¯t get caught up in this foolish conspiracy. Now to maintain control, I will need the respect of the troops. Throughout history, no ruler has stayed in power without the militaries support and nothing garners long lasting support better than respect. Hmm, I recall that one of the marines a lieutenant Haley has a birthday tomorrow, I believe she sent me an invite. I should clear my schedule and attend it would give me an excellent opportunity to build connections with the troops.¡± thought Countryman.
As he started to make plans to counter her little conspiracy, knowing it was too soon to make a direct move against her. Then he chuckled to himself, he hasn¡¯t had to play the political game in decades, not since the later half of the Era of Fools, but he remembered enough that he knew just what moves to make to end this conspiracy. The trick was to not let her catch on and let her think she was getting away with it unnoticed. That¡¯s when she will get bold, and then she would make the mistakes that will lead to her undoing.
Continuing down the corridor, he came to a marked door and entered the room. The room was one of the crew hangouts. It was a bar and game room. Countryman headed to one of the tables and glanced at the screen on one wall, in which a young lady a junior officer was making ship announcements about ship events. The big headline at the bottom like an old news show was about their victory against the Cathamari. Countryman sat down and when the waitress came by he ordered the same drink he has been ordering, for the last one hundred and seventy years, a lemonade. A couple minutes later she came back with his lemonade, and he then struck up a conversation with the junior officers at a neighboring table. It wasn¡¯t long before they had joined him at his table and they were having a conversation while playing a friendly game.
Countryman came out of the lift near main engineering just as he finished his walk down memory lane. Entering the room he saw Richards bent over a console studying a holographic display of the freshly captured cruiser. Walking over to her, he came up behind her and asked a question that made her jump. He chuckled and then asked her again, ¡°So how¡¯s it looking?¡±
¡°Normally I¡¯d say we would need a yard to fix this up enough to do this, but with the Enterprise we technically already have one with us. The cruiser will need a full refit of course, but I think we can do it in two or three days,¡± answered Megumi Richards.
¡°Sounds good, so far. What are the plans for the refit?¡±
¡°We will be stripping the hull armor and tearing out the crew compartments first. We will then use the metal to shore up the bulkheads and reinforce the starframe. The warp drive is not quite satisfactory so we will modify to our standards and upgrade the ship computers with our own custom software. We will replate the ship in Titan alloy, and upgrade the armor scheme to overlord. We will also build in four new pulsewave engines, which should greatly improve the ship¡¯s speed and maneuverability. Finally, the ship¡¯s plasma torpedoes are quite similar to the energy torpedoes that were popular during the last Colonial War, so they should be compatible with the same modifications. If so we should be able to triple the yield and increase the effective range to eighty thousand kilometers,¡± said Megumi.
¡°Sure the replate is a good idea? Our alloy seems to be pretty unique they might be able to trace it back to us,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°No, but we can¡¯t replicate their alloys. Not to mention the ship will need the upgraded armor to ensure it actually reaches the target. Besides the blast should vaporize the evidence anyway. They will have a hard time tracing this attack back to us, and by the time they do we will be long gone,¡± said Megumi.
¡°In that case, I¡¯ll leave you too it,¡± said Countryman as he turned to leave.
A young woman leaned over console watching the alien ships on her screen. She had come to this system the day before since she heard the locals had uncovered some valuable crystals. So she was going to launch a quick raid and get some to sell to good buyer. However she had sensed something wrong the moment her ship had come out of hyperspace, and chose to stay low.
Good thing she did, too. She hadn¡¯t even seen the alien ships until they had attacked the local patrol cruiser. The battle was over now, and they were now holding position with their prize moored beneath their flagship while they did some work on the ship. She also found what happened to the planet unfortunate since it ruined her plans, but there was nothing she could do about that. Instead she was focused on the escape pod she had seen drifting away from the Cathamari cruiser. She was hoping that recovering it would gain her something to make up for this failed run. Then she felt someone lean over her shoulder, and reach for her breast. She responded the way she always did and elbowed the man right in the stomach.
¡°How many times have I told you not to touch me, Klav?¡± she said emphasizing the last word with disdain.
¡°That big ship is prize that would make the clan great again, we should rally the clan and take it,¡± said Klav acting as if he had done nothing wrong.
¡°You¡¯re as stupid as you are ugly. Get out of my sight before I shove you out the nearest airlock,¡± said the woman. Sure she wanted that ship too. She however knew that a ship that big had a crew more than ten times the size of the clan. There was no way they could take it. Although that didn¡¯t mean they couldn¡¯t build something similar with the right resources, and it didn¡¯t have to be that big either. At around half the size it would be perfect for a mobile base for the clan. She barked a few words to her thugs at the consoles, and then retired to her chamber to start designing the flagship she wanted. She was already planning on what company she would have build it and where she would get the money. A couple hours later her crew picked up the escape pod, to find it contained a rather grumpy Cathamari engineer, along with the ships log. Then they made the jump to hyperspace.
Captain¡¯s Log February 22nd 001 SDE,
Our refit of the prize cruiser went along a bit faster than planned thanks to the extra volunteer labor that we got from the civilians. Apparently it is not easy keeping a secret on a ship, even one of this size. Somehow news of our plan leaked out to the general population. Anyway we have completed the test trials of the refitted cruiser. Her refitted engines are powerful enough that she should be able to make the trip to Cathamari Prime at warp seven point eight, however the strain will burn out the engines. That is not a concern for us since this is a one way mission to begin with. Nor is it entirely surprising, in theory with all four of our warp engines in sync we can reach warp seven point four, but our warp engines are less powerful and the waste heat will make that difficult to maintain. The Cathamari are using a device called a subspace radiator to deal with the waste heat they generate. This device radiates their waste energy into subspace, and can deal with greater amounts of energy then our own waste heat recyclers. I have sent one of their spares to the labs for analysis the rest were used in the refit to ensure it could handle the waste energy of their enhanced engines, but I¡¯m not inclined to use them. Use of radiators would increase our fuel use and increase our expanded sensor profile making us easier to track. The torpedo enhancements worked out better than expected, but not by much. The yield increase was three percent better than expected, and the improvement to effective range was marginally higher as well. As such we are currently loading the ship with some of the bombs in our stockpile.
Countryman came out of the lift on deck one and made the short walk to the bridge. He gave a brief nod to the armored guards on each side of the door and placed his hand on the palm scanner. The scanner glowed briefly and then the door slid open. A few practiced steps brought him to his seat on the command balcony. The watch officer stood up from the captains chair and saluted before giving the morning brief.
¡°Good morning, sir. No incidents to report, the night watch went smoothly. Engineering reports the cruiser is ready to launch on your command,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Sounds good, go get some rest lieutenant,¡± replied Countryman. The officer smiled and then headed for the door. Countryman turned and sat in his seat and surveyed the bridge. Like most mornings he was not the last to report for the day shift. Two of his officers had yet to arrive. A couple of minutes later the door to the lower entrance opened and the latecomers came through rushing to their stations just five minute before the clock struck eight which is when the shift officially begins.
¡°Glad you could make it,¡± called Countryman.
¡°We didn¡¯t make it Misaki. The captain beat us, again,¡± said Eri with a defeated tone. Countryman chuckled since this happened almost every morning.
¡°There isn¡¯t much on today¡¯s schedule so let¡¯s get the important things out of the way first that way we can spend the rest of our shift with nothing to do, but stare at screens and tell lame jokes. Engineering tells me that our cruiser is ready for her mission. Misaki begin remote preflight checks. Sensors I want a full long range sensor sweep,¡± said Countryman. A number of ¡®aye sirs¡¯ and chuckles resounded across the bridge as people got work. Nearly an hour later all of the work they need to do before launching the cruiser to its destination was done. Then the order was finally given and the battlecruiser jumped away on its journey to Cathamari Prime, carrying a supply of antimatter explosives and a probe.
Warlord Sakass walked down the corridor to operation, silently cursing the young warrior that had disturbed his sleep. Grumbling that it better be important or he was going to toss the lad out an airlock. Then he finally reached the hatch to operations and entered. The chamber was abuzz with activity with dozens of officers were running around like headless hatchlings. He approached the only person not acting confused a female slave manning the science station.
¡°What is going on, slave?¡± said Sakass.
¡°Warlord Sakass! We picked up a ship approaching at high warp, the signature is Cathamari,¡± replied the slave.
¡°That doesn¡¯t sound unusual, we get hundreds of ships coming through everyday and most of them are Cathamari,¡± replied the Warlord.
¡°No, what unusual is its speed. The ship is traveling at warp factor seven point eight.¡± said the slave.
¡°Your joking right? The strain alone would rip any ship trying to go faster than warp five to pieces. If someone had broken the warp five barrier I should have heard about it,¡± said Sakass. She responded by tapping her screen and bringing up the sensor readouts to show a ship traveling at warp 7.8.
¡°I¡¯m not, also the ship does not have a flight plan on record and has ignored all hails. It will be dropping to sublight in five minutes,¡± said the slave. The warlord getting the gist of things turned to the rest of the room and demanded order. It took almost two minutes to get things in order and the he ordered the defense fleet to intercept the ship.
The ship came out of warp in a massive burst of light and immediately began venting superheated plasma into space. Twelve cruisers and twenty four destroyers from the defense fleet approached it position.
¡°Still no response to hails,¡± reported the comm officer.
¡°Order the fleet to open fire, shoot to disable,¡± ordered Sakass following procedure. Immediately the ships opened fire bolts of plasma sailing across space. Suddenly the cruiser performed a maneuver that should have been impossible given its mass. The bolts missing it by a large margin.
¡°She is charging torpedoes, sir,¡± said someone but he wasn¡¯t paying much attention to shocked by the scene. Then the cruiser fired her torpedoes. Red orange bolts ripped across space and struck one of the battlecruisers. Her shields flared red and buckled the remaining energy slamming into her hull melting it. The lights on the strikken cruiser went dark as she lost power. Another cruiser coming up behind the modified battlecruiser opened fire. Most of her shots missed due to a sudden maneuver but several hit knocking out her target¡¯s shields. Who returned fire with a volley of torpedoes.
The volley struck amidships and the cruiser exploded in an impressive display of fireworks. Which snapped the warlord out of his trance, he turned to his science officer and asked, ¡°How exactly has that cruiser been modified?¡±
¡°Some sort of distortion field is hampering our sensors, but it seems that someone has enhanced the engines, and weapons,¡± said the science officer. Which told him basically nothing. Turning back to the screens he saw that he had missed the rest of the battle. The only ship left was the intruder and she had only sustained light damage. More concerning was the fact she was no accelerating toward the planet. He ordered more ships to intercept, but it was clear that it would reach the planet before the ships could reach it. The moment the cruiser entered weapons range of his station he gave the order to open fire. The cruiser rolled out of the way of his volley and returned fire with a volley of torpedoes. The entire station shook when they hit, and someone yelled about a hull breach. Their second volley grazed the ship, doing light damage, but then a torpedo strike knocked out the power grid. It took only a couple of seconds for the backups to switch on, but by then the cruiser had hit atmosphere. An instant later, the cruiser along with an entire continent vanished in a massive flash of light. The shockwave was so powerful it traveled through space and shook the station. Her shields flaring as entire sections buckled and molten debris slammed into her hull. In the chaos that followed noone noticed the small probe that had been launched by the cruiser jump away after taking a number of discrete scans.
Captain¡¯s Log March 10th 001 SDE,
Our probe has finally returned bringing with it news that our attack on Cathamari Prime was successful. The cruiser struck the planet at a significant fraction of lightspeed. The energy of the crash and following explosion has devastated the planet. Her orbit has been shift four degrees away from the local sun and an entire continent was erased from her surface. Most of it was moved into orbit and has likely formed rings around the planet by now. The blast also dealt massive damage to her orbital infrastructure. Scans indicate approximately nine billion dead, with another Six point two receiving a lethal burst of radiation. The krall probe¡¯s subspace radio picked up a lot of comm traffic over the past month that indicates that the Empire is dissolving. Entire fleets of gone rogue, a number of individuals have declared themselves the rightful heir to the throne. Colonies are declaring independence, and slave revolts have occured on almost every planet. A civil war is inevitable. We will be leaving this system later today, and will be heading towards the territory of the Valorian Trade Confederation from what we have heard they sound like a friendly enough people. Their civilization is dominated by the major markets, and anyone with something to trade is welcome in their territory. They also control a significant chunk of the quadrant so we are hoping to purchase some star charts from them. Which will go a long way towards our goal of finding a new homeworld.
Chapter IX The Valorians
Captain¡¯s Log April 5th 001 SDE,
We are currently holding position in the Delta Four star system. The system is not far from the Valorian border, but we are have been waiting in the system for R&D to finish deciphering subspace radio technology which we have stripped from the probe. Something they finally finished yesterday, now we are working on enhancing our comm systems to use subspace radio. Having access to ftl communications technology will be invaluable and will allow us to communicate with our contacts when necessary. As for this system, it is not very interesting. The system is also a navigator¡¯s nightmare, littered with asteroids and debris. Some of these asteroids are quite rich with valuable ores and minerals, but the debris has made the system valuable to space pirates. Which we cleared out the day after we got here. So in addition to upgrading our comm systems we have also been using the system to test our new asteroid mining rig. Which is basically a modified cargo shuttle outfitted with a mining equipment. Initial test show it works well, and is actually bringing back excellent yields per trip. As such I have ordered three more mining shuttles to be put together. To save power I have ordered the hull plating turned off since we are just holding an orbit over a dwarf planet.
A young Valorian woman was studying her sensors. They had arrived in the system to subjugate some pirates who had been getting unruly of late, just two hours before. Only to find an unusual lack of pirates. Her ship was currently orbiting the remains of what was clearly a former pirate base. However someone had bombarded the former asteroid base with heavy weapons fire. As for the former pirate ships moored at the base, there was nothing left of them except for a few clouds of charred debris. Then she heard footsteps behind her to her captain approaching.
Her captain was a lovely woman of about average height at ¡®155 cm¡¯. Her skin was a lovely light blue, her silver hair was kept in a braid. Her uniform was kept tidy and sharp. See her looking her way she smiled, her blue eyes sweeping across the room as she gracefully crossed the distance.
¡°So Reia, figured out who dusted our pirates?¡± said her captain.
¡°No, but I did find what we were looking for. Whoever did this used particle weaponry, and fairly powerful ones at that. The weapons left behind a unique signature that we can use to identify them if we can find them. Unfortunately the trail is already cold, I was unable to find an engine trail for the attackers,¡± said Reia.
¡°No trail? Any evidence of warp, inversion or hyperdrive use?¡± asked her captain.
¡°None of those markers were seen, either. So I am inclined to believe they are still in the local area,¡± said Reia.
¡°In that case run a long range sensor scan and see if we can¡¯t pick them up. I¡¯m going to confer with the rest of the task force,¡± ordered her captain. After acknowledging the order she turned back to the sensors and started the scan. It took her multiple sweeps before she found what she was looking for. Hundreds of ship signatures were on her screen, most of which were hardly bigger than a shuttle. Often moving around in groups, it seems they were moving to various spots in the debris field. Most of the points of interest were near locations of suspected pirate bases. This system was a well known pirate nest so every few years a subjugation force was put together to clear them out. Of course, those bases deeper in the system often escaped since they were too deep to reach. Especially since a mineral common to this field interfered with shield generators making even the smallest collisions deadly. The small ships would remain near these bases for a few minutes before returning to the motherships which were orbiting the largest planet in the system, which was a dwarf planet. Being a trinary system with a large amount of planetary debris and several gravitational anomalies, the system did not lend itself to large planets.
Reaching the ships she had found would be tricky, the debris was quite the navigational hazard and the pirate clans in the area liked to leave booby traps in the system. Fortunately, the new aliens probably cleared those out given how they were moving with impunity and she had found a possible route to meet them. Turning around she found her captain already finished with her conference with the other task force captains.
¡°They are still in the system, but much deeper than is considered safe, sir,¡± said Reia.
¡°So where exactly in the system are they?¡±
¡°Rizmar, the rumored location of Gremin¡¯s Raiders stronghold,¡± said Reia referring to one of the most powerful pirate clans in the sector. Then she continued, ¡° they seem to be holding position in orbit of the planet in a low power mode. While dispatching shuttles to salvage the debris left behind from their attack on the pirate bases. They do seem to have patrols around the planet however, but it doesn¡¯t look like they are expecting company.¡±
¡°Can we reach Rizmar?¡±
¡°Yes, I found a route big enough for the task force to follow, that leads close to Rizmar,¡± replied Reia.
¡°Transfer it to navigation, I guess it''s time to go meet our new neighbors,¡± said the captain. Navigating the route took several hours, but near the end of the shift the task force of thirty ships was finally nearing Rizmar. Reia had spent most of the time studying the sensors and the alien movements. What bothered her most about the aliens though was the lack of transmissions between them. Now the debris field here was known to disrupt sensors and comm signals, but not enough to account for the lack of signals she was getting from the ships. She did however manage to get some decent readings on the alien ships when they started getting closer, but those scans had caused her more questions than they answered. Her scans only ended up giving her vague general idea of their capabilities, and many of their systems had modifications that were completely unfamiliar to her.
¡°Sir, we are nearing their position,¡± reported the navigator. Her captain then turned to her and asked, ¡°I assume you can give rundown on their ships in case things go horribly wrong by now?¡±
¡°Yes, sir. While their technology has some question marks, I have a general idea of their capabilities. The alien task force contains three ships, two destroyers and a Heavy Flagship Cruiser. None of which are small, the destroyers are ¡®970 meters¡¯ long and the flagship is full capital ship measuring ¡®5020 meters¡¯ long. Materials wise they build their ships with a Titanium based plassteel alloy ..¡±
¡°That choice of materials, early interstellar era primitives right?¡± interrupted the captain.
¡°Maybe, but that alloy is actually quite remarkable. A material analysis indicated that it has a strength and resilience comparable to duranium. Although it does weigh more. Their ships seem to rely on a thick layer of heavy armor reinforced by a high density energy field, and integrated dispersion generators. The result makes their hull incredibly tough, and invulnerable to most known weapons. Scans of their warp engines indicate they are comparable to the faster designs in the confederation. Also their weapons appear to be quite advanced for an early interstellar era civilization. One of the big questions though is how they travel between star systems. I have been unable to find a system resembling a deflector or a proper shield generator. Nor have I found anything resembling a sublight engine. Judging by the complete lack of thrusters, I suspect they use some type of reactionless drive. Just I don¡¯t think they are using one of the known types of said drive. Although their method of dealing with waste heat is interesting,¡± said Reia.
¡°Oh what is interesting about it?¡±
¡°They seem to be using a waste heat recycler setup without radiator. While that is not uncommon for civilian ships in the confederation. It is very odd for military vessels, and these are clearly military vessels. Anyway I would recommend being very careful, any fight here will favor them greatly. Between the debris making maneuvers difficult, and the dust weakening our shields we won¡¯t last long in a fight and the only weapon we have that can penetrate their armor are short range torpedoes,¡± said Reia.
¡°I have to concur, this is not a good battlefield. Let¡¯s hope first contact goes well,¡± said her captain.
Countryman was settled in his bridge while watching the alien ships approaching. It was a small task force of roughly thirty ships. Mostly fast corvettes, but there were a few light cruisers in the force as well. In general they were fast, and had strong shields but they were lightly armed and lacked armor. They had been spotted just a few minutes ago, and the ship¡¯s reactors were already warming up. While the armor was starting to charge again. Countryman didn¡¯t think they were going to be hostile, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
¡°Contacts are entering visual range now, sir,¡± said Misaki. Just as the alien ships began to enter view coming out from behind one of the many asteroids in this part of the debris field. They had an elegant appearance, a long cylindrical hull, with a large ring near the end and tapered to a point near the front. The hulls were painted purple and gold. Then Countrymans enhanced eyes noted the flag painted on the side of their hulls, one he had seen before when talking with the traders at Illeria. They had described it as Valorian flag, so he figured it a good bet these were Valorians.
¡°Any response to our hails?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°None yet, sir,¡± reported Misaki.
¡°Try signaling, tell them to check the sublight bands. Apparently not everyone listens to the sublight bands,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Aye, sir,¡± said Misaki turning back to console. Only before she could try signaling twelve of the ships opened fire. Low yield plasma pulse rippling across space to strike the hull for little effect.
Reia stared at the screen, shocked. They had not gotten any response so far from the aliens, so she was about to try signaling them. When suddenly several of the other ships opened fire. Looking over to her captain, she saw that she was just as surprised. Then the aliens returned fire on all of their ship simultaneously. Her ship shuddered under the impact the lights flickered and while she felt and heard the rumbling of something exploding. Then suddenly air began rushing from the compartment as the hull ruptured. She immediately braced herself against the chair holding on for dear life. A few seconds later just when she was worried that her arms were about to be torn off, the emergency containment field kicked in sealing the breach.
Looking over she saw her captain injured with a head wound, who yelled, ¡° damage report¡±
¡°Shields are gone, hull breaches on decks one through four, seven through nine, and twenty three. Weapons control offline, main power has failed, engines are not responding, we are dead in space,¡± said the officer at the engineering station.
¡°What about the rest of the task force?¡± asked the captain.
¡°Twelve ships lost with all hands, the other seventeen ships have been disabled, damage is almost identical to ours,¡± reported Reia after consulting her screen, then she said, ¡°All twelve sunk ships were the ones that opened fire, and I can now confirm that these are the ships that dusted our pirates. Also sir, they appear to be standing down.¡±
¡°Theories as to why?¡± asked the captain while holding her head.
¡°They may be one of the more honorable races, in which case they will demand our surrender. If they do it would be wise to accept,¡± said Reia.
¡°Damn this situation is nothing but a pain. What on Valoria possessed those trigger happy fools to open fire?¡± asked the captain.
¡°I can¡¯t say, and we may never find out seeing as they are dead,¡± replied Reia. Just as the alien lead cruiser started painting their hull with low intensity rapid laser pulses. Recognizing it as signaling, she turned to her console and began trying to decode it. It took her only a couple of minutes to find she was dealing with two signaling languages. One completely alien to her, and the other was Krall.
¡°Figure out what they are saying yet?¡±
¡°They are telling us to check the sublight bands,¡± replied Reia confused as to why. Almost noone used the sublight bands, after developing FTL technology.
¡°Well scan them,¡± ordered the captain just as the bridge door opened and another woman entered. She was one of the ship¡¯s doctors. She went around checking on the injured. Reia began scanning the sublights and quickly discovered that they were being hailed on one of the mid bands. She then turned discover the doctor trying to order the captain to sickbay.
¡°We are being hailed,¡± reported Reia.
¡°On screen,¡± ordered the captain. It took a few moments while the computers exchanged language data. The image on the forward screen shifted to reveal a rather dark alien bridge. It was just barely bright enough to see, and the camera was focused on an older looking individual in a large chair mounted on a balcony, overlooking the rest of the bridge. The individual was surprisingly familiar in appearance with a build not unlike a Valorian male. However his skin was a color not found in there species and he was clearly larger with a sturdier build. From her viewpoint she guessed he was around ¡®160 cm¡¯ tall. He was well dressed in a dark blue military uniform with grey trim, she guessed the marks on his collar were an indication of rank. His eyes glowed a gentle blue in the dim light and his hair seemed very dark, but flecked with grey. His face was rugged, and well shaven.
Countryman studied the bridge shown on his screen briefly before speaking. The bridge had some debris strewn across the floor. In one corner a shimmering energy field could be seen in one corner sealing a breach in the hull. The consoles in the background were covered in alien text. Three alien females could be seen in the camera''s field of view. One was wounded with a head wound. She was wearing a skintight uniform that was purple with gold trim. On her right breast was a series of four slashes over a solid bar. She had a very human like figure, but with light blue skin and silver hair that fell to her waist. She had strong blue eyes as she looked at the monitor. Her figure was quite attractive as well with full breasts and a firm figure.
Next to her was a smaller girl, maybe a hundred and thirty five centimeters tall with pale blue skin. She had long purple hair that fell to her waist. A cute round, almost childlike face with large green eyes and a small nose and mouth. She was fairly busty and had a nice toned figure that her skintight uniform did little to hide. Like the first girl her uniform had markings on her right breast. These markings were almost identical but lacked the solid bar which probably meant she had a lower rank. The last woman in the room was clearly a doctor.
Her outfit was a good hint, since it was despite the cosmetic differences clearly a lab coat. The real hint though was the tools in her hands and the way she was fusing over the head wound. Appearance wise she was an older woman. Wrinkles beginning to show on her face, her hair greying and her eyes clearly displayed the wisdom of age.
¡°Shooting people before you have even spoken to them does not make a good first impression. If that¡¯s normal for you it is a miracle that you have managed to garner a reputation as peaceful merchants. Anyway my terms for your surrender are as follows. I will spare your lives, and provide medical and engineering assistance if you need it. In exchange you will provide me with local star charts, and one of your number will transfer over to act as my liason to your people and advisor. I will also forgive this transgression, I will not be so lenient for a second,¡± said Countryman. The two younger females looked at each other and the replied, ¡°We accept.¡±
¡°Good, now that that is out of the way, let¡¯s introduce ourselves. I¡¯m Captain Jac Countryman of Sol Refuge starship EFS Enterprise, and you are?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°I¡¯m Captain Neyla of clan Urko, commander of the Valorian Confederation cruiser Salari, and this is my first officer Reia also of Clan Urko. Call me Neyla. Now do I call you Captain Jac or Captain Countryman?¡± responded Neyla.
¡°Captain Countryman, or Countryman will work,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°So, Countryman it sounds like you already know a bit about the Confederation,¡± said Neyla.
¡°Yes, your reputation precedes you. We learned of you from traders. You¡¯re apparently the largest power in this part of the quadrant and an economic powerhouse. Anyone with something to trade is apparently welcome in your stars. Your reputation is in large part why we are here to begin with. Otherwise we may have chosen a different course. Anyway why did those twelve ships fire on us?¡± said Countryman.
¡°I don¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t even know they were going to fire on you. If I had I would have stopped them,¡± replied Neyla.
¡°Well, we will see if the debris sheds some light on that then. Now go ahead choose who you will be sending over,¡± said Countryman moving on to the next item on his list.
Two hours later Countryman stood in the starboard hanger¡¯s observer bay watching a shuttle land. It had a cylindrical design, with a flat bottom and a half ring at the rear. The shuttle came to a stop and touched down gently on the deck plate. Behind her the bay doors began to close at a fairly rapid pace. In under a minute the doors were close and hanger began to pressurize. A process that took several minutes. The moment the bay was pressurized a hatch on the side of the shuttle opened and disgorged a young woman. An officer came over and led her to him. As soon as the bay was clear the depressurization alarm went off and the bay began to decompress so the shuttle could launch.
¡°Welcome aboard the Enterprise, Reia,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Reporting as ordered, sir. May I ask what that noise is?¡± asked Reia.
¡°Decompression warning, anyway we have quite a bit to do today. It is not everyday that someone new joins the crew. Now before I forget, this is yours,¡± said Countryman handing a silver card over to her. That he had pulled from one of his pockets.
¡°What is this?¡± asked Reia.
¡°Your ration card, don¡¯t lose it. It will require activation, but I can do that now. It has twelve hundred ration credits on it. You will need those for anything you might need on the ship. Food, clothing, water, utilities, and even entertainment for example are rationed through those credits,¡± said Countryman.
¡°How much are these worth?¡± asked Reia.
¡°For the most part you will find that out on your own. Everyone earns credits through their assigned jobs, the amount is heavily affected by your performance and is calculated daily. Rank also affects this, and adjusts the cap. However credits are issued monthly, and the old expire. Depending on your quarters you can scrape by on between twelve to twenty two credits a day. Around here a basic meal, costs half a credit. A dinner serving is a full credit. The public baths cost around ten credits to use. If you have private or semi private quarters you will find that the utilities are rationed, and you will pay up to ten credits a day for their use. As for entertainment, your options are limited, use of the Lounge is free, but the game rooms are ten credits for an hour. The ship has a weekly movie night, but since seating is limited those seats are also rationed at twenty credits. Most things you will need can be found in Aka or Ao sections. Clothing, soaps, toys and other products are distributed there. Our selection though is limited,¡± said Countryman
¡°I take it the Enterprise does not visit her homeport often,¡± said Reia.
¡°The Enterprise doesn¡¯t have a homeport. However she was designed for extreme range deployments and as a consequence was designed to be as self sustaining as possible. All of our necessities and even the few luxury products we have are produced locally. In fact the Enterprise is perfectly capable of supporting a small fleet on her own. Anyway we do have things to do today. First, we need to stop by sickbay the doctors want to go over your medical records make sure they are up to date. Then we need to visit the quartermaster and get you a uniform issued. Followed by a general tour of the ship, and I will show you your quarters. I was able to find you some semi private quarters, which you will be sharing with three other women ,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Lead the way,¡± said Reia, confused. Countryman lead her out into the corridor and then said, ¡°You will find that since the Enterprise is a large ship, getting around can be difficult. You should memorize the locations of the tram lifts, they are the fastest way to move about the ship.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind,¡± replied Reia, while they rounded a corner. ¡°So you said, the Enterprise doesn¡¯t have a homeport, what happened to it?¡±
¡°The Cathamari destroyed our homes, you are looking at the remnants of a once prosperous people. However we still retain, our people¡¯s knowledge and expertise. We may not have the luxuries we used to, but we are very well off for people with no home. Especially since most of us are soldiers, scientists, maintenance workers and engineers or their families. That and our ship net contains a comprehensive archive of Earth¡¯s scientific achievements, along with any alien technology we have studied. All of which means, that when we find a new world to claim as our own, we will be able to easily rebuild our civilization,¡± said Countryman finishing as they reached the lift. Entering the lift he imput their destination as deck 39 sickbay.
¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that. Unfortunately it is not an uncommon story. However people like yourselves do not have a good reputation which may cause you problems in the future. Many such refugee groups for one reason or another ended up joining the pirate clans or marauders. The result is that piracy has become rampant across the board and we are just as screwed if try taking them in. Many groups fail to assimilate and end up on the fringes of society joining criminal gangs and syndicates,¡± said Reia.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
¡°Yes, I am aware of that. We have no intention of coming as refugees. We are not desperate, and would prefer to find a world of our own. Preferably in an isolated region, so we can rebuild and grow in peace. I know you scanned my ship, so I''m sure you are aware that I have a large fuel reserve. We also have all the equipment we need on board to refine new fuel, and produce anything else we might need. With our current stockpiles we should be fine for several years,¡± said Countryman. Reia briefly remembered the scans and how accurate that statement was. She had seen the factories on the lower decks, and the large fuel cells. The factories were huge, and the ship even had repair arms and external anchorage arms. She wouldn¡¯t be surprised if she learned that they could build ships.
¡°Sounds like I¡¯ll have to get used to frontier living for a while then. I wonder if anyone is really happy with that here though?¡± said Reia.
¡°That depends on who you ask. Not everyone is happy with things as they are, but most are at least content. Williams though makes no secret that she doesn¡¯t approve of me being captain. If you talk to people, or just listen to the ship news everyday you will see what I mean. You will find that general opinion varies heavily based on their demographic. The scientists for example are easiest to please and consequently the happiest. Most of them don¡¯t even care about their living conditions or the food. All they really care about is the funds for their research. While on the flipside the civilians are the hardest to please, and are rather vocal about the overcrowding issue and the privacy issues. We have done what we can, and converted storage into living space, but we can only do so much about that. As for the other issue, well we can¡¯t do much about that,¡± said Countryman as they came out of the lift. Reia than followed him into sickbay. A quick chat at the entrance and she found herself being taken to one of the back rooms where she was asked a number of questions. Before going through a checkup, which was surprisingly quick, but the whole process still took an hour. When she returned to the main room she found the captain was chatting with one of the doctors.
¡°I thought you would have more important things to do than wait for me,¡± said Reia.
¡°Technically I am doing something more important that simply waiting for you,¡± said Countryman before turning back to the doctor, ¡° Robins I¡¯ll see what I can do about that but no promises.¡± The doctor thanked him and left. Reia stood there confused trying to figure it out.
¡°Now, Reia you were a first officer so you should understand this to a degree. Leadership is not simply sitting at the top and making decisions for everyone. As a leader you have to talk to your people. It doesn¡¯t matter what kind of a leader you are, you must talk to them. I take every opportunity I have to talk with them. Even if I can¡¯t do something, it makes people feel better to know they are being heard, but more importantly it gives me a better picture of what I need to be doing,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Now that I think about it, I guess that is true,¡± said Reia.
¡°Now next up is the quartermaster,¡± said Countryman. The walk to the quartermaster was pleasant enough and the stop at the quartermaster did not take long either. She left the quartermaster dressed in a Human uniform, with her old uniform stashed in the bag she has been carrying. Then Countryman led her to a lift, and took her to one of the lower decks. They came out in a busy corridor. Following him they ended up in a large bay, in which stalls had been set up. Lined along orderly paths, each stall had various goods on display. Metal crates were stacked behind the stalls and some next to them. People could be seen browsing the stalls and making purchases. The entire area reminded her of the frontier markets she had visited on frontier worlds.
¡°Welcome to Aka section, that corridor over there will lead you to its counterpart Ao section. Most anything you need can be found here, now while I don¡¯t think you need anything just yet it won¡¯t hurt to take a look around. Also don¡¯t be surprised if people come on to you, a side effect of our limited entertainment options is that people find other ways to entertain themselves. Which in case you were wondering is what is causing the noise coming from that storage closet over there,¡± said Countryman. Reia looked over at the closet he mentioned, not entirely surprised. It was a problem that was common on ships that spent a lot of time between ports.
Being in the market led her to become fully aware of what Countryman had meant when he said their selection was limited earlier. For most of the things on the market she found that most items only had two or three variations and that was when they had a variant. Things were a bit better when it came to clothes, but not by much. Despite the limited selection she did find a few things of interest in the market.
¡°Yeah you were right, not much here. Anyway, may I ask why the lights are so dim. The only place with decent lighting was the medical bay?¡± asked Reia.
¡°It is one of our power conservation measures. Lighting is kept to minimum, the only places with full lighting are those that need it. You¡¯ll get used to it,¡± said Countryman as they were leaving the market and heading back to the lift. ¡°Anyway it is around lunch time, so I¡¯ll show you the Mess Hall. Normally I eat at the Officer¡¯s Mess, but there is not much difference between the two in terms of food. Furnishing is a different story however,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I¡¯m not familiar with your food, what would you recommend?¡± asked Reia, not worried about weather or not she could eat it since she had already been cleared for it by medical. While they entered the lift.
¡°Well as long as you stay away from the experimental dishes you should be okay. I¡¯ll help you make a choice, but there aren¡¯t very many options this time of day. Well, Fish and Chips should be on the menu it is also a very safe choice,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Fish and Chips?¡± asked Reia.
¡°It is one of the more traditional dishes on the menu. Invented in an extinct nation state called England, which is where it got its odd name from. While recipes vary depending on the fish you use, in general it is two to three fillets lightly seasoned and breaded and then fried served alongside french fries. Which are strips of potato a type of vegetable, that have been fried until crispy and then salted. Of course you do have other choices, I think the item of the day is a baked fish served in a red sauce, with bread and Asparagus,¡± said Countryman.
¡°That sounds fancier than the first item,¡± commented Reia.
¡°Well, that''s because the item of the day is three credits, Fish and Chips is half a credit. Although there are more expensive things on the menu. Those come with a wait period though,¡± replied Countryman. As they came out into the corridor not far from the Mess hall. A short walk later they entered. Reia looked around and found that the room was massive. Rows upon rows of benches and tables filled the room. On the far wall were a number of stalls builtin were people were lining up and ordering their food. The tables looked like they were made of wood, but they were actually topped with faux wood. The benches were topped with the same material. The ceiling had reinforced bulkheads running across from which long lighting strips were mounted. The walls were plated with the same interior plating she had seen everywhere else, right down to the utilitarian paint job. She could see parts of the galley through the large serving windows of the stalls. Dozens of young men and women could be seen cooking and serving the hungry crewman. As Countryman led her into one of the lines, she asked about the plating she has seen everywhere.
¡°Yes, it is built quite sturdy. Our internal armor plating, exists for several reasons. It provides protection for our more sensitive components from small arms fire and penetrating hits. The armor is of the same type as our hull plating, and as a side benefit gives us expanded energy transfer abilities. In effect we can use any corridor in the ship, as a high energy transfer conduit. The benefits are enormous, the biggest is that when we are at full power, we can transfer enough energy to the hull plating to temporarily overcharge the plating to ten times its normal field value. The other major benefit is increased redundancy. We were able to reduce the size of the normal transfer conduits, which allowed us to mount additional backup systems. The Enterprise is designed to take a pounding that even dreadnoughts would struggle to live through, and you will find evidence of that everywhere you look. This just one example, other examples are every single bulkhead has been reinforced, our starframe has been overengineered and we have blast doors installed every ten meters just to name a few,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Yes, I noticed but to rival dreadnoughts I¡¯m not sure about that,¡± said Reia recalling the scans she had seen.
¡°The Enterprise was overengineered during construction, the mission she was originally designed for required a very robust ship. A ship capable of resupplying itself and a small fleet in the field. Conducting repairs in the field, and a defense strong enough to penetrate capital world level defenses. The result is the Enterprise can take more than ten times the damage, a Yamato class dreadnought can and continue to fight,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Yamato class dreadnought? I take it, that is your most common dreadnought class or something?¡± replied Reia as they were getting close to the head of the line.
¡°The Yamato class dreadnought is our only dreadnought class. Only one ship of the class was built, measuring 9700 meters long she was the largest ship we ever built. Due to her size she carried significantly more armament than the Enterprise. She was built during the Third Colonial War, she first fought during that war, and was instrumental in uniting the colonies. She is most famous for her actions during the Earth-Cathamari war, during the course of the war she alone sunk over ten thousand ships frigate class and larger. Ultimately it took the Cathamari half their fleet to sink her, and she took nearly three quarters of those ships with her,¡± said Countryman.
¡°That sounds very impressive. How did the ship get a kill count that high anyway?¡± said Reia. Countryman smiled, and then suggest they get their food first. A couple minutes later they sat down at a table, with a light meal. Countryman pulled something out of his pocket, and placed it on the table in front of them. It was a small silver object, with a circular glass top. Clearly an electronic device of somesort, but with no obvious controls. Suddenly the top glowed and a holographic image was projected above the device. The image looked like a three dimensional schematic for a torpedo of some sort.
¡°During the war, both sides struggled with the others defenses. Prior to our war with the Cathamari, we had never encountered energy screens. Initially, we could only deal with them by overwhelming them with massive torpedo barrages, but that was very costly. So we need a more effective weapon for dealing with them. This is our solution for energy screens, the Mark V Fusion Torpedo. It has an effective range against maneuvering targets of ninety thousand kilometer. Against stationary and slow moving targets that range increases to five hundred thousand. It is outfitted with a variable yield warhead of up to two hundred megatons, but the true gem of this weapon is the shield penetrator that is built in,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Shield penetrator? Wait are you say these torpedoes can bypass shields? That''s not possible!¡± said Reia.
¡°Actually it is. Our shield penetrators are in their third generation now. They are not one hundred percent effective, but they don¡¯t need to be. Five to six torpedoes is usually enough to destroy a Cathamari ship, and our ships are designed to fire torpedoes by the thousands. The Yamato could fire them by the tens of thousands, and carried nearly a million. The Yamato also carried forty five banks of Super heavy versions of the particle cannons, of the same type we carry. All of which were equipped with a supercharger, which allowed her to vastly increase both her fire rate and yield for ten seconds, but it would overheat the guns. Which meant once she used her superchargers, she would be unable to fire her superheavies until they cooled down. Between the two, they gave her enough firepower to deal with most ships, and until the Battle of Earth she was believed to be invincible, since the Cathamari had never managed to pierce her armor. Anyway most of this is largely unimportant now,¡± said Countryman, just as the image shifted to display a holographic map of the internal layout of the Enterprise. The rest of the lunchtime conversation was focus on describing where certain sections were in relation to another. Mostly covering what she would need to know.
After lunch they headed back to the lift, and Countryman escorted her to the quarters he had gotten for her.
¡°Alright, this is the last stop, your quarters. You have the rest of the day to acquaint yourself with them. I will expect you to report for the day shift tomorrow morning it starts at eight local time, so you will be expected to report at least five minutes prior,¡± said Countryman as he handed her a card with a piece of paper taped to it. She looked at him with a what''s this expression. Then he told her that it was her access code and card, something she would need to enter her quarters or use any computer terminal on the ship. She was also told that she was expected to memorize her access code. That was to be expected as every ship she had been assigned to had similar security protocols.
As Countryman walked down the corridor, she went to open the door. It proved simple enough, she didn¡¯t need the card for the door, simply her code and the door opened. Inside was small room barely larger than her quarters on the Salari. A double set of dual bunks lined the right hand wall. In the corner on the left was a small desk with a terminal. On the right was closet that was partitioned into four sections, each with a built in dresser. Under each bunk were a pair of chests on tracks built into the floor and locked with an electronic lock. Near the door she found a control panel, that controlled hidden furniture, that was stored under the floor or in the walls, and the lights. On the door frame was another panel that controlled the local comm, the lock on the door and opened or closed it as well. The hidden furniture were four chairs, a table and a sofa. The table had a pattern stenciled in, so she assumed it to be a game table.
Not having much to do, she put her stuff away in the empty third closet section, and then sat down at the desk. Unlike with the door she had to insert her access card into the card scanner, and type in her access code. Once that was done, she had access to the public net. She spent most of her time reading what was publicly available. She found that she had access to their general history files which painted an interesting picture of their culture, despite the lack of detail. She had been reading for several hours when the door opened and three young woman walked in one after the other, just after she had found something she was pretty sure wasn¡¯t supposed to be on the public net.
¡°Hello, you must be the new roommate the captain informed us about,¡± said one of the girls.
¡°Yes, I¡¯m Reia, and you are?¡± replied Reia.
¡°I¡¯m Aya, the redhead behind me is Delilah and this is Seri,¡± said the first girl. Aya was a young woman, of average height and build with long black hair. Delilah was a tall girl, with long hair red hair framing her face. As for the last girl Seri, it seemed she had dyed her hair blue and she was the shortest member of the trio. All of which had lightly tanned skin.
¡°Glad to meet you. Anyway, I¡¯m not sure but I don¡¯t think this was supposed to be on the public net, even if it is the history files is not the right place for a blueprint¡± said Reia pointing at the screen. Aya took a look, and replied, ¡°No its not, it''s probably Brennan''s work he has a tendency to save things in the wrong place. I¡¯ll fix it later. Looks like he designed another agricultural ship, don¡¯t know why. It¡¯s not like we could afford to build one,¡± said Aya.
¡°Agricultural ship? I thought it was an armed merchant,¡± said Reia.
¡°Well, it could be employed as one, but you can tell by the size of the hydroponic bays he put in the blueprint,¡± said Aya.
¡°Yes, I see that,¡± said Reia before changing the subject. Nearly an hour later she asked a question she had asked the captain.
¡°I have been wondering but are any of you happy here?¡± asked Reia.
¡°That depends on what you mean, but I would have to say, no,¡± said Seri.
¡°Why, would you have to say no?¡± replied Reia.
¡°We lost our world, our homes, our friends and family. We lost everything to the Cathamari and while nearly a year had passed, the wounds still run deep. It may be decades before they heal,¡± answered Seri, than Aya cut in saying, ¡°Yes, we may be looking for a new home, but honestly not all of us are ready to settle on a new world. In fact most of us aren¡¯t.¡±
¡°Wait, what do you mean not ready?¡±
¡°Well, we have had a few opportunities to settle a new world, during the year we have been in space already. None of them were ideal, in fact most were barely habitable. However the biggest reason we didn¡¯t settle them, it was fear. Fear of the Cathamari, fear of losing a world again,¡± said Aya.
¡°But you said they were barely habitable. Doesn¡¯t sound like the type of world someone would want from you,¡± said Reia.
¡°Not initially no, but they were all too close to the Cathamari for our taste, and that would change pretty quickly after we settled a world. Our people have become pretty adept at terraforming. Can¡¯t do too much with an airless world yet, but most of those worlds could have been terraformed. The process would have taken decades, but we could have settled those worlds long before the process was complete,¡± said Aya. They spent the rest of the night talking before going to bed.
Two weeks later the Enterprise departed the system, and crossed into Valorian space. The faster patrol fleet went ahead of them. While Reia started to settle in, and gave them their first destination. The Valorian colony of Cantha, was not far and according to Reia it was the local trade center for the sector. As for why the Valorians fired on them to begin with, it turned out, much to Reia¡¯s exasperation to be simple greed and stupidity. The younger captains on those ships, got blinded by the fact that the Enterprise¡¯s cargo bay was filled with salvage from the pirates they had sunk. Their inexperience led them to believe they had a tactical advantage, when they didn¡¯t and they tried to get their hands on the treasure they saw. The patrol fleet, naturally apologized after they had discovered the reason.
Captain¡¯s Log April 21st 001 SDE,
Our new crewmember seems to be settling in. Which is good, I don¡¯t plan on her staying indefinitely. So I want her time on board to be a good experience, especially since I promised her captain/cousin I would look out for her. She also has been getting along well with the crew. Our scientist were more than happy to talk with her, and while her scientific knowledge of her own tech is limited, she was a great help with the subspace radio, and helped us fix some of the bugs with the original setup.
Countryman was watching Misaki and Reia chatting on the lower level, while relaxing in his chair. The ship was currently in deep space and traveling at warp four point two, so there wasn¡¯t much for him to do. Which gave him a little time to relax, while he went over his plans in his head. At their current speed they were still weeks from their destination, so unless something happened he would have much to do. Lifting his pad from the armrest, he flipped through the electronic pad¡¯s pages going over the report, he had received an hour ago. It was nothing special, just the weekly efficiency report. He had just reached the end and confirmed his electronic signature on it, when Misaki suddenly reported something.
¡°Sir, we are receiving a general distress call, from a nearby Valorian Outpost. The distress call identifies it as Transfer Station 2378¡± reported Misaki.
¡°A distress call? Does it say the nature of the distress?¡±
¡°Yes, sir. They are apparently under attack from a pirate fleet,¡± reported Misaki.
¡°Reia, what can you tell me about this outpost?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°It is a mid size transfer, and refueling station that serves this part of space. Most of the trade leaving this sector for planets near Cathamari space, passes through the station. It also serves the local patrols as a forward patrol base. Not much else of note. The station is armed with concussion cannons, and several missile batteries. She should have shields comparable to a heavy cruiser, but she wasn¡¯t designed to fight off more than a small task force,¡± said Reia.
¡°I¡¯m not familiar with concussion cannons,¡± said Countryman.
¡°They¡¯re a type of energy weapon, they are energy intensive and bulky so they are normally not found on ships. They fire an energy pulse that cause concussive shock on impact,¡± said Reia.
¡°Thank you. Helm, set course for Transfer Station 2378, warp five point eight. All hands to battlestations,¡± said Countryman, then he tapped the internal comms and called Engineering. ¡°Richards, I want all reactors brought on line, and the main power cycled up to full,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Aye, sir,¡± replied Richards. While the battlestations alarm, went off and red lights strips flashed. Moments later the ship had changed course, and Countryman was being informed that the reactors were cycling up.
¡°All weapons are charging and on standby sir,¡± reported Kaori. While the helm officer was calling out their speed every minute, Reia walked up the stairs to the command balcony.
¡°How long can you maintain, that speed?¡± asked Reia.
¡°Only for a couple of hours, on paper. We actually haven¡¯t pushed the engines to their full capabilities, mostly since we are still trying to solve our cooling issue,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Cooling issue?¡± asked Reia with a hopeful tone to her voice.
¡°Our engines are perfectly capable of maintaining warp five, but our cooling systems limit our cruise velocity to four point six. That however is something you would have learned just from being here,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I was hoping to learn a bit about how you cool your engines. I already know that you recycle your waste heat, but based on what you just told me, your method is at least ten times more efficient than any currently in use,¡± said Reia.
¡°Well, now is not the time for that kind of discussion. What can you tell me about these pirates,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Not much, the distress call didn¡¯t identify which clan was attacking. I can however say it would have to be one of the larger clans. The larger clans actually have the resources to build their own ships, and as such there vessels will be in better repair and better suited for their line of work than other clans. Expect their fleet to be composed primarily of corvettes, and fast destroyers. With a handful of midsize cruisers, most of which will be outfitted as carriers with expansive cargo bays. For weapons, they will usually carry Ion Cannons and low yield energy weapons usually lasers. As for defense they will be lightly armed and plated with medium armor. However pirate engineers are not known for quality work there ships typically have low structural integrity and their armor does not hold up well under fire,¡± said Reia.
¡°Tell me about these Ion Cannons,¡± said Countryman.
¡°An energy weapon that has been in use for centuries, most races have them in one form or another. It fires an ionized energy pulse, that saturates shields and disrupts subsystems. Most ships now carry shields hardened against these weapons. Unfortunately your lack of shields makes you vulnerable,¡± said Reia.
¡°Don¡¯t be so sure, what are the exact characteristics of these pulses? Are they pure energy, or do you use heavily charged ionized plasma as the medium,¡± said Countryman. Reia¡¯s response gave Countryman a fair amount of info on these cannons. Although some of his questions confused her.
¡°It seems these cannons are remarkably similar to a weapon we developed, but differ in a few key ways. Unfortunately for the pirates, I already found a way to adapt our armor against Electro Cannons, and those same protections should stop Ion Cannons completely. If they had Electro Cannons they would actually fair better though,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I have never heard of Electro Cannons,¡± said Reia with a confused tone.
¡°Well, you already saw them. We are carrying two banks of the weapon, perhaps you will see them in action,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I¡¯ll look forward to that then,¡± said Reia. The next couple of hours were mostly normal at warp operations, and combat preparations.
¡°Sir, both Umikaze and Coto report their engines are overheating they are unable to maintain this speed for much longer,¡± reported Misaki suddenly. Countryman glanced at his arm console and checked the ETA. They were still half an hour out from the outpost.
¡°Order them to drop out of warp, and vent the engines. Engineering will our engines be able to hold up for another thirty minutes?¡± said Countryman.
¡°Aye, sir,¡± acknowledged Misaki.
¡°Yes, sir, but barely,¡± replied Engineering.
¡°Increase speed to warp six, engineering standby to vent the nacelles,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Sir, our engines are already dangerously close to overheating. Increasing speed risks damaging the engines,¡± said Richards.
¡°They can handle it, just do it,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Aye, sir,¡± replied Richards. Richards followed orders and then Eri increased the throttle. The ship then accelerated to warp six. Just as she hit warp six, the previously smooth ride began to get bumpy, due to fluctuations in the warp field.
¡°Your engine seems to be reaching its limit,¡± said Reia.
¡°Yes, I know if we want to go faster we would have to use the back ups in conjunction with the mains,¡± said Countryman. A few minutes after hitting warp six the ship came out of warp, vents all along her nacelles opened up and superheated plasma began venting into space. Several smaller ships were unfortunate enough to be nearby and were destroyed. The plasma overloading their shields and melting the hulls. As for the Enterprise, her hull and vents were designed to withstand those extreme temperatures, and was fine.
¡°We are secure from warp speed, captain. Auto venting in progress,¡± reported Eri.
¡°Multiple contacts on sensors. The outpost is heavily engaged, scans show she has lost shields and fighting has broken out on multiple levels. Most of her weapons have been disabled, we are detecting 42 ships in the system, not counting fighters. Including two cruisers and ten destroyers. Looks like there were more, but our venting destroyed them,¡± reported Misaki.
¡°Launch fighters, Kaori lock forward particle batteries, fire at will,¡± ordered Countryman.
Following orders, the launch bays on both sides, of the ship deployed the ship¡¯s complement of fighters in short order. While the forward batteries locked onto hostile pirate ships in range in short order. Thousands of blue bolts lanced across space to strike the ships. The pirates slow to react, failed to evade the bolts. The bolts slammed into the ships, the first few being absorbed by the low strength shields, but those failed quickly under the strain. The bolts then tore into the hull, ripping through armor and bulkhead alike as if the ships were made of tissue paper. In an instant a dozen ships were reduced to floating wrecks that resembled swiss cheese. The remaining pirates began evasive maneuvers, while their fighters moved to engage.
Within seconds, the fighter wings were engaged in a dog fight. The differences rapidly became apparent. While the Human fighters didn¡¯t have shields, they were faster, more maneuverable, with sturdier armor, and better armed. As such while less numerous they were able to keep most of the pirate fighters occupied. Two squadrons made a direct run for the Enterprise however. Their ion cannons harmlessly struck the hull, as photon missile batteries along the hull rotated to target the fighters. A string of light missile launches fired into space as they flew past. The light fighters too slow to evade were doomed, as the high yield anti fighter missiles hit. Each fighter exploded in a flash of light, one pilot however got somewhat, lucky as the blast merely disabled their fighter. Causing it to spin out of control, and crash harmlessly into the hull of the Enterprise. The fighter would never fly, again but the cockpit and pilot survived.
The two pirate cruisers entered weapons range, and opened up with their heavy ion cannon batteries and laser arrays. The white-blue ion pulses and invisible laser pulses ripping across space to slam into the hull of the Enterprise. Her hull armor easily absorbed the blasts. The Enterprise returned fire with her heavy particle batteries. The cruisers being outfitted with stolen Valorian shield generators held up easily under the barrage and withdrew. At the same moment one of the pirate destroyers got too close to the engaged fighters, while attempting to line up for a torpedo run. Two human fighters broke off from their squadron, evading several hostile fighters and lining up for a run. The destroyer fired her light guns at the fighters, but missed. Both fighters opened up with their torpedoes. Four micro torpedoes flew across space, one of which exploded on the destroyers shields. The last three buried themselves into the hull amidships and exploded. The ship was torn apart by the resulting explosion, both fighters then vectored off to re engage the pirate fighters.
Three other destroyers were moving to line up with the Enterprise for an attack run. When suddenly the Enterprise accelerated to three quarters of lightspeed, before decelerating to her previous velocity. Closing the distance between her and the three destroyers in an instant. She opened fire with her electro cannons, the shields of the destroyers collapsed instantly. They went dark a second later, as their systems were fried. Leaving them dead in the water. The Enterprise then turned and did the same to the cruisers. Seeing this the remaining pirates, turned and jumped to warp not even bothering to collect there comrades, that were still engaged.
Reia seeing that relaxed her grip on the railing where she was holding on, and looked up at Countryman, ¡°I hope you aren¡¯t going to do that again.¡±
¡°No need,¡± replied Countryman, ¡°Tactical standby all weapons, Misaki open a channel to all pirate ships. Issue a general surrender order.¡±
¡°Aye, sir,¡± was the general response. Most of the pirate¡¯s surrendered the few that didn¡¯t were destroyed. Three hours later, three Valorian cruisers arrived to find the outpost safe, and with more prisoners than they could handle since the Enterprise turned them all over to the outpost, including the pilot from the fighter that crashed into their hull. As for the Enterprise, after turning over her prisoners she recovered her fighters, and then took up a position a fair distance from the outpost. The cruisers seeing the situation resolved, collected the pirates and left. The Enterprise stayed in the area for a few more hours waiting for her escorts before departing herself. During the wait Reia, found an opportunity to ask some of the questions she had, but only received answers for some of them.
Three weeks later, on Valoria several individuals gathered together to discuss the Enterprise. Captain Neyla was among them, having been brought before the council to provide her impressions and opinion on the matter.
¡°Ah captain Neyla, welcome to the council chamber. Now that you are here tell me you thoughts on these new aliens in our space,¡± said an older woman at the head of the chamber. She was the chairman of the Valorian council.
¡°They are quite friendly as long as they are unprovoked. They are difficult to place technologically, but some of their tech is comparable to our own. They have not developed shields, but their armor technology is the most advanced we have ever seen. Their armor is so resilient that most known weapons are useless against it. It would be wise not to provoke them. Fortunately they seem to be willing to ignore the initial blunder at first contact, and also appear to be interested in trade. I think it would be best to open trade relations with them,¡± said Neyla.
¡°I disagree, intel has dug up new evidence about these newcomers. They seem to be refugees from a war with the Cathamari, and since they seem to be better equipped than other refugee groups, we need to find them and destroy them. Preferably before they join one of the marauder or pirate clans in the area,¡± said one councilman.
¡°I don¡¯t think that will happen, they answered a distress call and engaged the pirates attacking Transfer Station 2378. If they are attacking the pirates, it is best to leave them alone and let them take care of the problem for us. We should also clear them to trade at our ports, and since they seem friendly that will keep them from raiding us,¡± said a different councilman. The Chairman ended the argument, with a statement.
¡°Enough, I agree with Neyla it would be unwise to provoke these newcomers without knowing their intentions, but it is too early to open formal trade relations with them. So we will let our worlds decide if they want to trade with them or not. The incident at Transfer Station 2378 is a good sign, let''s hope the trend it sets continues,¡± said the Chairman.
Shortly after the meeting one of the councilman, gathered with some others, ¡°damn the council, why can¡¯t they see that we should be hunting down and destroying these refugee groups. It is the only way to end this piracy problem once and for all. This group above all others must be destroyed,¡± said the disgruntled chairman. His croneys agreed and they soon started making plans to put an end to a threat that didn¡¯t really exist.
Interlude Gone Wrong/ Particle Weapons
Particle weapons are a remarkably common type of energy weapon. Being energy weapons they do not experience recoil instead they generate waste heat making the weapons prone to overheating, if they do not have a proper cooling system. Employed by many different races for their reliability, relatively low energy cost, and excellent range. They do however fall short of plasma weapons in terms of raw destructive power. Particle weapons work by firing a stream of compressed particles at a target. Early particle weapons suffer from the effects of particle bloom, but once solved they have good range. Some of the effects of particle weapons can vary depending on the particle composition of the beam. In general particle weapons cause severe thermal damage, limited kinetic damage, and break down the molecular bonds of the target.
Humans have used particle weapons for decades, and have optimized their weapons to rip through most known armor types like tissue paper. Very few alloys can hold up against a bombardment of human built particle weapons. Human built weapons also have fairly rapid fire rate, due to the use of energy absorbers in the weapon design. The absorbers are used to recycle the weapons waste heat, and cycle it back into the capacitors. The process is highly efficient allowing the weapons to fire close to the max potential without fear of overheating, while also reducing the amount of energy the reactors need to generate for successive shots. The fire rate and yield of these weapons can be temporarily increased through the use of superchargers. Use of supercharger will overheat the weapons however, forcing the weapons to cool before they can fire again. Overuse of the supercharger modification has been known to inflict irreparable damage to a starship¡¯s weapons array. However the human optimizations have rendered their weapons ineffective vs energy shields.
A young woman was sitting in her office staring at a holographic image of a ship. The ship in the representation was a cruiser that had caused waves when it first showed up. However it had yet to be seen since then. She was beginning to think her subordinates were incompetent. The ship was the size of a small city and yet they had been unable to locate it, and they have had months to find it. To her it felt like a ticking time bomb. She felt it was a certainty, that if she didn¡¯t find the ship soon and destroy it a calamity would befall the confederation. A feeling that wasn¡¯t entirely unfounded, many refugee groups had joined the local pirate gangs, or the marauders. While often out of desperation, the rising piracy problems were already causing other problems. Ones the greedy council was doing little to fix. This ship however was better equipped and better armed than most pirates, and worse the scans showed it had the ability to support and service a small fleet. What concerned her the most was the fact the scans clearly showed that it had a massive supply of torpedoes. While she wasn¡¯t sure of the exact yield of these torpedoes, or their exact capabilities but analysis put the max yield between ¡®140-260 megatons¡¯. She was interrupted from her worries about what the marauders and pirate clans would do with that kind of firepower, when a young woman, her aide walked in.
¡°Uh, mamm we just got a report about that ship you wanted to find,¡± said the aide.
¡°They found it!?¡±
¡°Um, well they uh did more than just find it. They uh well engaged it,¡± replied the aide.
¡°Where? And how did it go and stop stuttering,¡± said the councilwoman.
¡°Cantha, mamm, and uh well, uh,¡± stuttered out the nervous aide.
¡°Spit it out and stop stuttering,¡± said the councilwoman getting a bit annoyed.
¡°Badly, very badly,¡± said the aide.
¡°What do you mean badly, I have six hundred loyal ships at Cantha! That should have been more than enough firepower to sink three measly ships, that don¡¯t even have shields!¡± said the Councilwoman.
¡°Maybe you should see for yourself,¡± said the aide while inserting a data chip into the viewer.
A few hours earlier, EFS Enterprise in orbit of the Valorian colony of Cantha. Starboard hanger bay equipment lockers. Reia walked into the room to find Countryman was already waiting for her. She walked up to him, stopping at a respectful distance. Then following the protocols she had learned in the months she had been aboard, she stood at attention and saluted before saying ¡°reporting as ordered.¡±
¡°At ease,¡± said Countryman, then he opened a locker and pulled out a bundle.
¡°I¡¯m sure you already aware, but we are now in orbit of Cantha. We will be going down to the surface to trade, and hopefully purchase some star charts. I want you to come along, so it is about time I issue you your field gear. You will find in there, one standard issue set of ultralight personal armor, a standard issue LP-1230, a field guide with voice reader support, and a scanner,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Thank you, sir. Also I have been meaning to thank you for going out of your way to help my people,¡± said Reia as she took the bundle.
¡°It wasn¡¯t too much of problem. Saving that outpost was not only the moral thing to do, but it also hopefully opened the door to better relations between our peoples. As for escorting this convoy, well were going the same way. The only inconvenience was the fact that these freighters can barely exceed warp three. Anyway that ultralight armor, provides some protection against light weapons but unlike our heavier armors it does not enhance your abilities. The field guide is your most useful tool, the idea for it came from a video game. It contains everything you will need to know about field protocols, and it also contains a self updating encyclopedia. Anything you scan, with your scanner will automatically be analyzed, and the info will be used to update the encyclopedia. I know that you are still learning our written language so I made sure it had voice reader support for you. As for the LP-1230, it is one of the few weapons in our arsenal with a stun setting, which is setting one. On setting one, the pistol fires a low yield charged particle beam that disrupts the targets nervous system, a single hit is usually sufficient to incapacitate a target. Keep in mind that multiple shots can kill. On setting one it has a recharge of 1.2 seconds, and the energy cell has enough power for 280 shots. As for the weapon¡¯s secondary setting, in that mode it fires a burst of focused particle pulses that will inflict severe particle burns on contact with flesh. It has a fire rate of 950 bolts per minute, but it drains the energy cell more quickly, giving you only eighty shots,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Sounds like a useful weapon, but how well does it do against personal shields?¡± asked Reia.
¡°No idea, honestly. The Cathamari don¡¯t have personal shield technology, and we don¡¯t have much in the way of shield technology ourselves. I think the Krall have personal shields, but we have had no military conflicts with the Krall, friendly or otherwise. As a result the weapon has never been tested against shields. However, it does have a good track record against amor and can penn most known light armors. Against our own light armor, the armor will absorb between twenty to thirty hits before failing,¡± said Countryman.
¡°That is a fair number of hits,¡± said Reia.
¡°Factor in the pistols¡¯ fire rate, and you will find it is pretty good. A two second sustained burst is more than sufficient to kill someone wearing light armor. Won¡¯t do as well against standard or heavy armor, which both feature significantly better protection. Fortunately no else seems to build armor like ours,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Sounds like a good weapon, but what about particle drift?¡± asked Reia.
¡°You won¡¯t have to worry about that. We solved that issue with a previous generation of particle weapons. Specifically the LP-231 was the first to have that feature. Anyway, you will have time to familiarize yourself with the weapon later. You should get dressed, and give me a run down on the colony. The other two members of our away team will be here shortly,¡± said Countryman. Reia walked behind an open locker door where she couldn¡¯t be seen and started to change into the personal armor.
¡°Like most of the colonies in this sector, Cantra relies heavily on interstellar trade. Being the most industrialized colony in the sector she imports large stockpiles of food and raw materials. While exporting finished industrial products, mostly agricultural goods and field generators. Since we are going to the surface, I would recommend we sell any food we can spare. It will fetch a high price here. One thing to keep in mind though is that since we are in a border sector the military only maintains a token presence here. As a result most of the security is recruited locally. Like any populous world crime is also an issue, here. The rising pirate issues in recent years have also led to the local governments hiring mercenaries, we will have to keep an eye out for them since they can be rather unsavory,¡± said Reia.
¡°Will we have any problems with them in space?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°We shouldn¡¯t, but I can¡¯t rule it out entirely. Most of our issues will be isolated incidents though, caused by the fact that mercenaries tend to have poor discipline. They don¡¯t make the best security forces either, unfortunately the fleet is already stretched thin dealing with the pirates, and the council keeps slashing the budget every year, for their stupid side projects,¡± said Reia.
¡°Sounds like your people are going through their own era of fools. It won¡¯t last, I¡¯m guessing the pirate problems aren¡¯t really affecting the core sectors. So most of them don¡¯t really care, and they are more concerned with their popular image. Most of those projects are probably flawed social programs that don¡¯t actually work,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Unfortunately, yes that is exactly what is going on,¡± said Reia.
¡°The same thing happened on our world, and tore the most of the countries of the era apart. I¡¯m beginning to understand why so many refugee groups end up joining the pirates. I know how to fix this, but you won¡¯t like it,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Wait, you know how to fix it? How?¡± asked Reia.
¡°I have been around awhile, when you have lived nearly three centuries you pick a few things up. Unfortunately it sounds like your people are facing the worst type of corruption. On the surface those social programs, may seem like they are intended to help the people, but in reality most of them are probably designed to line the pockets of your politicians. The only way to clean this mess up is a complete restructuring of the government. All current members of the government will have to be purged, and your active programs purged as well. The process will not be easy, and will require a person or group with significant political capital to pull off. Do note, that because of those social programs there will also be rioting, that you will have to suppress or face civil war,¡± said Countryman.
¡°That sounds rather extreme, and a bit familiar as well,¡± said Reia as she came out from behind the locker. Now wearing the ultralight personal armor, and equipment built. The armor unlike the heavier types used by the troops and guards, was made of nanopolymers and kevlar derivative. Lacking the plates typical of human personal armor, it effectively looked like normal clothes but it was perfectly capable of stopping a bullet or an energy bolt. Explosions were different story however. It was originally designed for use by government officials and police units where the intimidating appearance of standard armor would be detrimental, but the ultralight armor has found uses in other areas as well. She was also now wearing a tool belts, with the other items now holstered on it.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
¡°Wait, isn¡¯t that how your Era of Fools as you call it ended!? I seem to recall reading about world wide governmental purges, rioting and in some cases civil war. I think that when things calmed down, it marked the beginning of a cold war,¡± said Reia.
¡°Yes, it was a turbulent time. I would love to get into a discussion with you about it, but now is not the time,¡± said Countryman. Just as two young women entered the locker room. After reporting to Countryman they went to a pair of lockers and pulled out screens that Reia hadn¡¯t noticed, and started changing into their gear.
¡°I didn¡¯t know the lockers had individual privacy screens,¡± said Reia.
¡°Well, I had those included in the design, after I made the decision to save space, by not having seperate changing rooms for both genders,¡± said Countryman.
¡°So you¡¯re the reason, for that. Did you also make the decision on the baths as well?¡± asked Reia.
¡°No, those were designed by someone else,¡± said Countryman. Just as the two others finished changing and started coming over. The two had changed out of the normal woman¡¯s uniform and into flight suits, and both also carried a pistol on their hips. The two were both clearly young, late teens or early twenties. The one on the left was a little on the short side, with curly red hair, and a cute face. The one on the right was of average height and build with brown hair. Her chest however was anything but average and Reia was staring at it as the two approached.
¡°These will be our pilots, and escort. On the left is Amy White, and the on the right is Samantha Freehand. I¡¯m keeping the away team at a minimum so these two will be our only other members,¡± said Countryman. After a quick exchange of introductions, the group headed for the hanger proper. Most of the shuttles and fighters were stowed away, but in the middle of the bay, there was one shuttle being prepared for launch.
¡°Looks like the crew is about done, getting our ship ready for launch. I chose an X-1205, since it has good cargo capacity, and can defend itself if necessary,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Is there something special about the X-1205, over other shuttles?¡± asked Reia who wasn¡¯t familiar with Human shuttle types and designs.
¡°She is a multirole combat shuttle. She carries four frontally mounted particle cannons, and two turret each mounting a dual particle cannon. For protection she is equipped with fifty five centimeters of type I overlord armor as her sole protection. Her Micro fusion power plant powers a twin set of dual core engines, giving her a fair amount of speed and decent maneuvering. She is normally used for either transporting troops or as a medium bomber. Which means she has a decent cargo bay, which I¡¯m having filled with salvage cubes, and protein paste,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Protein paste? Not the most popular trade product, but I think I could sell it. As for the salvage cubes, if they are what I think they are, they should sell well. The factories have very high demands for processed metal,¡± said Reia.
¡°Maybe not, but it is one of the few products we can produce locally without outside input. We use it in the manufacture of field rations, it is also used in the preparation of some of the fancier dishes in the mess hall. Like the steak imitation that has been popular of late, the key ingredient is protein paste,¡± said Countryman
¡°I tried that. Other than the texture it was almost perfect. I can¡¯t believe they made it with protein paste,¡± said Amy.
¡°Hey I was wondering, since you can build beam weapons suitable for ground combat, do you have any light craft that carry them?¡±
¡°No. Our current beam weapons are not exactly suitable for light craft. While it is possible to mount a beam cannon on say the X-1205, you would not have room for much else if you make it large enough to be useful. Keep in mind that beams are not the best weapon for dealing with other light craft and are better for engaging starships. This means when you mount them on a light craft, they need to big enough to punch through starship armor to be of use, and they don¡¯t penetrate shields very well. There are other problems as well, but we are working on it. Anyway it looks like they are done,¡± said Countryman. The following shuttle flight was mostly uneventful. Leaving the bay they entered the busy space of a major port. There were hundreds of ships in orbit and thousands of shuttles moving goods to and from the surface. The Enterprise was in orbit of the starport, and had already negotiated a flight plan to the surface. Following the plan, the shuttle passed by the orbital starport and headed for the planets surface. As soon as they entered atmosphere they started braking. After a leisurely flight over many kilometers of urban infrastructure they reached a landing field just outside the largest commercial district on the planet. As such it was one of the larger landing fields for shuttlecraft carrying goods to and from the district. The shuttle came to stop and touched down lightly at their assigned slip, landing pad 13792.
Leaving the shuttle, they were greeted by a young man in a fancy uniform. He had come from a nice looking bunker near the landing pad, that was presumably there to protect people from the thrusters of a shuttle. While also being a good spot for defenders to protect the port from invaders.
¡°Welcome to Cantra. I¡¯m Taver and will be your guide while you are here. I have been told, you have products to sell and wanted to browse the market. So do you want to sell, or browse first?¡± said the guide. Reia stepped forward, and having familiarized herself with the cargo while on the flight, told him they wanted to sell and what they had.
¡°You¡¯re in luck, thanks to a recent drought on Vek, there is a bit of a food shortage here. I can take all of your protein paste off your hands for 41,000 credits,¡± said Tavor.
¡°I¡¯m sure you could, but you and I both know this is high grade paste and is worth more than three times as much. I¡¯ll part with them for 230,000 credits,¡± countered Reia.
¡°Fine, two fifteen final offer,¡± said Tavor. Reia smiled knowing she had just got market price for the paste and agreed. She had no doubt that Tavor, knew exactly where to sell it to make hefty profit, hence why he agreed to the price so quickly.
¡°As for your industrial grade salvage, I can¡¯t really sell that myself. I do know some brokers that may be interested however,¡± said Tavor.
¡°Sounds good, call them,¡± said Reia. A couple hours later, they were on the way back to the shuttle, having sold the salvage for a hefty two and a half million credits. The pilots had stayed behind with the shuttle, while Reia and Countryman had went out to the market. After selling the salvage they had stopped by several shops. Countryman had bought several things in the market including the all important star charts. Along with the star charts, he also purchased supplies that they could use. They were now just outside the port, with Tavor hiding behind a canister with several nasty looking thugs blocking the way and a few more coming from behind.
Stepping forward, a large muscle bound alien covered in dark purple fur, chuckled and then said, ¡°I heard some newbies, were spending big in this area without paying the protections fees. Say you give me half a million, and I¡¯ll make sure nothing happens.¡±
Countryman shook his head, and decided the guy was an idiot. Sure he was large, but Countryman¡¯s eyes told him the guy was only half as strong as a Cathamari soldier and his large body made him slow.
¡°Why don¡¯t you just take your men, and leave before you learn why the Cathamari fear my species in ground combat,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Nice, bluff but you¡¯re just a Valorian with an unusual skin color. Weak and stupid, so cough it up, before we have to get rough,¡± said the lead thug.
¡°Fine, have it your way,¡± said Countryman as he opened up his wrist cannon. Firing a shot right into the leader. He had set it on stun, so the ugly purple furred alien simply fell over. The others roared in fury, and opened fire. Reia took cover, and pulled her pistol firing a beam at a nearby alien. While Countryman moving with incredible speed, charged the ones on the flank. His cybernetically enhanced body allowing him to move just like a Marine in Light Personal armor, and the fairly open urban terrain allowed him to take advantage of the that mobility. By the time Reia had managed to stun a second alien, Countryman had taken down four, the first two were knocked out by a quick shot. The other two tried to grapple with him, and were knocked out by a blow to the head. They would live, but will wake up with a nasty headache.
Turning around, he found four alien thugs were still shooting, mostly at Reia keeping her pined. Three were using a trash canister for cover. Countryman switched settings and fired at it, then flipped back and followed up with three stun pulsed. The first shot, disintegrated the large trash bin, and left the thugs exposed to the stun bolts that followed. The thugs had barely enough time to register what happened before the bolts slammed into them. The last thug, tried to run, but Reia hit him with a stun beam. Looking around she said, ¡°How did you move like that?¡±
The group, then called the local security forces. A few quick questions, and twenty minutes after the fight they were back at the shuttle. Getting lift off clearance was easy enough, and before long they were in orbit headed for the Enterprise. Countryman and Reia were in the back seats of the cockpit area, when suddenly a few flashes of light filled the forward screen.
A second later, they were hailed.
¡°Sir, the Enterprise reports she is under attack,¡± said Samantha in the copilot seat.
¡°Tell her to return fire,¡± said Countryman as he began looking over the console.
¡°Sir, multiple fighters are bearing down on our position. Their weapons are charged, and shields raised. They are not responding to hails. Estimate intercept in three minutes,¡± said Amy. Countryman looked at the data, while Reia came over and looked at the readings as well.
¡°You two man the turrets, I¡¯ll fly the ship,¡± said Countryman. The two acknowledged the order and left the cockpit for the aft compartment. Where they could enter the turrets from. Countryman slide into the pilot¡¯s chair and opened his left arm. Several connecters extended from the arm and linked into the ship systems. He then brought the weapons online, and told Reia to strap in. Reia complied and strapped in at the copilots chair.
¡°Those are Valorian ships attacking, why are they shooting at us?¡± muttered Reia.
¡°Don¡¯t know, we will find out later,¡± said Countryman. Moments before the first fighters entered weapons range. Instantly the fighters opened fire. The distinctive red pulses of Valorian Pulse cannons rippling across space. Countryman threw the shuttle into a complex maneuver, that brought it about quickly. Lining up the forward guns with the attackers, he opened fire. Blue particle bolts tore into the forward shields of one of the fighters as it tore past. The fighter¡¯s strong forward shields absorbed the blasts, leaving it mostly unscathed. One of the fighters came at the ship from the side taking several hits to its forward shields, before pulling away. A maneuver that left its aft exposed to the turret. Several particle bolts from the turret ripped into the weaker aft shields, which failed quickly under the barrage. The following bolts tore into the engines and cockpit shredding the fighter. Then its fuel ignited resulting in a miniature fireball as it broke up.
Several fighters unloaded there cannons on the shuttle as it came about. The blasts severely taxing the armor of the shuttle as it slipped out of their arcs. Countryman flew slipped past one of the squadrons and maneuvered to give his gunners a good angle on the aft shields of another. The fighter pilots realizing they were in trouble immediately maneuvered to protect their vulnerable aft. They managed to slip away from the shuttle, but not before half the squadron had been shredded by the deadly turret guns. A couple seconds later, he managed to get behind a pair of fighters and fired the forward guns into their aft shields. The first fighter broke up in a lovely fireball, while the second barely managed to get away. Its backside resembling swiss chess, while plasma leaked from rips in the hull.
Inside the shuttle, Reia wasn¡¯t all that aware of what was going on. Noted a light activate on her console.
¡°What does that light mean?¡± asked Reia.
¡°Engine overload warning. Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Overload!!!? As in explode?¡± said Reia.
¡°That is a possibility, yes. The engines weren¡¯t designed for these maneuvers, but they will hold for another thirteen minutes,¡± said Countryman, before turning his attention entirely back to the fight. An abrupt roll to the left, allowed him to evade a volley of missiles fired from a squad of fighters coming up from the aft quarter. Following the roll, he brought the nose up and increased speed. As he flew by the fighters, his turrets fired across their upper and aft shields. Three of the fighters exploded, while two others escaped the pass with minor damage.
Pulling into another turn, he came about and chased a fighter down. Firing a volley of charged particle bolts into her aft shields. The shields failed under the volley, and the particle blasts tore the fighter apart, shredding it like tissue paper. A couple seconds later, a pair of fighters attacking the aft quadrant, suddenly exploded. As a fighter squad from the Enterprise arrived. A couple minutes later, the remaining Valorian fighters broke off, and the squad escorted the shuttle back to the Enterprise. While Countryman vented the engines, to cool them.
After landing the ship in the hanger, Countryman headed up to the bridge as soon as the bay pressurized to find the battle was over. Greyman greeted him at the door to the bridge.
¡°Report,¡± asked Countryman.
¡°We were attacked by a large Valorian battlegroup. We sustained minimal damage, and sank four hundred thirty two attacking ships, and fourteen hundred fighter craft. We expended a total of 1382 torpedoes, and 6300 anti-fighter missiles in the engagement. The remaining hostiles have retreated,¡± said Greyman.
¡°Can you show me images of the ships that attacked?¡± asked Reia who had followed. Greyman smiled, and pulled up the images. She stared at them for a minute, before saying, ¡°It looks like they belong to one of the mercenary companies. That mark next to the Valorain flag belongs to the Balyanik Company one of the larger mercenary companies in the area. They aren¡¯t known for attacking without reason, someone probably paid them to attack us.¡±
¡°Greyman, have the supplies I bought moved down to the factories. Also have the factories replenish our stock of missiles,¡± said Countryman.
Back in the office the council woman leaned back after watching the battle.
¡°Has this been analyzed?¡± asked the Councilwoman.
¡°Yes, mamm,¡±
¡°Well tell me about it,¡± said the Councilwoman.
¡°While these aliens lack shield tech, they clearly possess a technology previously thought impossible. They are carrying shield penetrating torpedoes, each one with yield high enough to destroy a cruiser in a single hit. The analysis indicates that those three ships, have enough collective firepower to wipe out our entire fleet. Their armor is also virtually impenetrable,¡± said the aide.
¡°Can we win?¡±
¡°Maybe, the battle data, indicates that heavy bombers equipped with Tyleris plasma bombs represent our best chance. Unfortunately, their fighter defense is quite heavy, we will need a large fleet with thousands of bombers to ensure enough hits to penetrate that armor,¡± said the aide. The Councilwoman sat back, there was no way she could get that kind of firepower on her own. Somehow she would have to convince the council to attack the ship. Something easier said than done, most of the others were more concerned about their silly social projects than actually solving the pirate problem.
Chapter X The Raid
Three years have passed since the incident at Cantra. It is now June 3rd, 004 SDE and the Enterprise and her escorts are enroute to Krall Imperium space. After the incident at Cantra, the Enterprise had contacted the Krall, since they lacked the ability to investigate the attack. The Krall had agreed to investigate, in exchange for future favors. The Humans decided it was wise to lay low after the attack, and quietly left the sector. Following the star charts obtained at Cantra they made their way to the Lantaro sector on the far side of Valorian space, a journey of nearly a year at maximum warp especially since they chose to go around the Valorian core sectors.
The Lantaro sector was a lawless region with little political influence from the surrounding powers. Most of the planets in the sector were barely habitable, and the area was generally poor in valuable resources. However a few systems had large, but difficult to access deposits of valuable minerals. The Enterprise and her escorts spent nearly a year charting the poorly charted far side of the sector, looking for a viable world before a pirate attack on the Valorian colony at Hughnan, drew attention to the sector. By that time, the Valorian Council had learned of the technology the Humans had, and saw a chance for untold profit and a threat they could not ignore rolled into one. The Valorians have since been chasing, and engaging the Humans in an attempt to gain their technology and put an end to the threat their weapons represent. Something that proved difficult since the Humans had by then found a way to improve their cooling systems to allow for a sustained cruising speed of warp five, and their ships were hard to track. Despite this difficulty they still managed to find and engage the Humans on multiple occasions. Something that indicated they had found a method of reliably detecting the Human ships. Two Months ago, running low on supplies and having no luck replenishing their supplies locally due to the repeated attacks, the Enterprise changed course for Krall space. Being low on fuel they didn¡¯t have the luxury of going around Valorian space, so they had to cut right through it. A path that leads dangerously close to their core worlds.
Captain¡¯s Log June 3rd 004 SDE,
The continued Valorian attacks have been taking their toll, but it has been several weeks since the last attack. So our new stealth modifications may be working. It remains to be seen how effective they will be since both the Coto and Umikaze have sustained serious damage from our previous engagements. The Coto especially, she has two hundred thirty seven hull breaches, half her weapons array is still offline and her starframe has been damaged. Her structural integrity is estimated to be at forty seven percent of nominal. The Umikaze is not in much better shape, she has one hundred ninety two hull breaches, with a third of her weapons array still offline. With a structural integrity estimate, of fifty three percent. So far the Enterprise has remained undamaged from these engagements, but given our supply shortages it remains to be seen how long that will last. Reia finally seems to be getting over the fact that the Valorian council is responsible for these attacks. The actions of her people have hurt her deeply, and while I have offered to allow her to return to her people she has chosen to stay. A fact that has been of help, since she has helped us avoid their detection grids, which has made traveling through their core sectors easier. If things continue to go smoothly we will reach Krall space in twenty one days. Unfortunately we are very close to some of their more important core worlds so the risk of being detected is rather high. Hopefully if they do see us, they ignore us if not we may end up using more fuel than we could afford to lose.
The ship shuddered under the impacts of multiple plasma detonations. An officer at the engineering station cried out, ¡°Hull plating at 38%, sir.¡± Countryman yelled out an order to return fire.
The ship, and her escorts were in the middle of a battle with a Valorian fleet. The battle had started a couple hours earlier, when the Valorains had intercepted the Human force and used a Warp disruptor to knock them out of warp. A tech that was rather necessary for interceptions, since combat at warp is a practical impossibility. The solution to the problem of intercepting interstellar ships, was to simply knock them out of warp. Something done by generating an energy field that disrupts the stability of warp fields. The same field has the added bonus of also forcing hyperdrive equipped ships out of hyperspace. The Valorian fleet was currently positioned defensively around the ship generating the disruption field. While her fighter craft, bombers and destroyers engaged the Humans.
The bombers that had just dropped their payload on the Enterprise attempted to withdraw, while their escorts kept the Enterprise¡¯s fighter wings occupied. While the Enterprise had yet to lose any of her fighters half of her fighter were too badly damaged to fight, so she only had twelve deployed. Across her hull the Medium Particle cannons that made up her secondaries realigned to target the fleeing bombers. While midsized particle cannons weren¡¯t intended for use as point defense, they were perfectly capable of tracking the slow bombers. Having been designed for use against starships were more than capable of penetrating the shields of the bombers. Blue particle bolts ripped across space and tore into dozens of the fleeing bombers. Their shields held up against the first three or four bolts before they failed, the following bolt disintegrated the hit craft, ensuring it would not be able to return to the mothership for rearming. Still the bombers were maneuverable enough for evasive maneuvers, and half of them managed to get out of the cannons range. It would have been left but a destroyer moved into the line of fire, to shield bombers from the starship guns.
Her shields easily absorbed the bolts tearing into them, but they wouldn¡¯t hold up under the barrage indefinitely. Just as the bombers were getting out of range, the damaged Umikaze entered Electro cannon range of the destroyer, and fired her cannons at it. A bolt resembling blue-green lightning ripped into destroyer¡¯s shields and they collapsed in an impressive flash of light. Allowing the barrage from the Enterprise to tear into her unprotected hull. The bolts tearing massive rents into the ship, atmosphere and living bodies being violently ejected into space. Then one of the bolts tore into the fuel pods, igniting the fuel and the ship was consumed in a massive fireball. A couple of bombers were still to close, and were caught in the explosion, their shields being insufficient to fully protect them. Their hulls being cooked to the point of melting from the blast. Of the bombers that got caught in the blast, only one escaped destruction.
At the same time, the Coto that had moved away from the main line, of battle was coming up on the flanks of the fleet. Lining up with them, she opened fire with her fourteen operational forward launchers. In just under a minute she had nearly two thousand torpedoes in the water. The blueish ripples of the torpedoes streaking towards the cruisers protecting the capital ship generating the disruption field. With several volleys aimed at the disrupter ship. The cruisers detecting the incoming torpedoes, opened up with a their cannons. Their secondaries had been modified with a flak mode to deal with incoming torpedoes. Unfortunately for the Valorians even with flak most of the torpedoes still found their targets. Some of the torpedoes exploded against shields, and nearly three hundred were destroyed by flak, but nearly a thousand struck their targets. Those cruisers unlucky enough to be hit, were torn apart by massive explosions. The capital ship, being the largest ship took nearly thirty hits to the hull, reducing it a wreck of scorched and twisted metal.
Two cruisers made a short warp jump the moment the field failed, and opened up on the Coto. Heavy plasma torpedoes, streaked towards the Coto, while they fired plasma pulses into her damaged hull. The Coto came about, while returning fire, with a course for the Enterprise. The moment the torpedoes, got close she activated her energy web projectors, neutralizing most of the torpedoes, but several hit the hull. Three of those torpedoes, penetrated the hull and exploded. Fortunately no one was in those sections, as the emergency bulkheads closed to seal the breaches. Several systems however were knocked offline for several seconds, while the ship switched to back ups. The Coto returned fire with her aft launchers, twelve blue streaks flew towards the cruisers attacking her. The cruisers quickly switch targets to the torpedoes, but only managed to destroy four, the remaining torpedoes hit them. Half of the remaining penetrated their shields, and detonated. The fragile hulls of the cruisers were unable to withstand the destructive power of the weapons and were reduced to smoldering clouds of dust.
Moments later the remain Valorian ships, went to warp leaving the Human vessels to lick their wounds. Aboard the Enterprise, Countryman requested a status report.
¡°The Coto reports she took some damage during the exchange, including three new hull breaches. She also lost some systems, but her critical systems remain functional. The Umikaze reports nine new hull breaches, and her warp drive is still offline. Her engineers report it will be back online before the hour is out. Given the damage, they have sustained it is now dangerous to exceed warp four. Our fighters all returned, but four of them are no longer combat capable and will need a full refit. Flight leader Robert Meyers is reorganizing our operational fighters into a single squad, and transferring them all to the starboard bay. Our hull plating is fine, minor cracking on the dorsal plates, that engineering is already repairing. However, our supplies are another matter, sir. Our remaining fuel reserves are gone, all we have left is what is in the main reactor. The Coto, and Umikaze though both have roughly 3400 liters still in reserve. Our missile banks have been depleted, and we are down to about 20000 torpedoes fleet wide. For our fighters we have 1200 missiles left, and 900 micro torpedoes,¡± reported Misaki.
Countryman didn¡¯t need to ask after receiving that report to know, they had used to much fuel in that last battle. They no longer had the range to reach the Krall border. Well, technically they could still reach it, by solar hopping but they wouldn¡¯t be able to defend themselves if they were attacked. Which was practically a certainty since the Valorians knew their position now.
¡°Long range sensors, scan for fuel sources in a ten lightyear range. Helm set a course for the nearby star, sublight only. Engineering set hull plating for maximal solar gain,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°The only source of deuterium in a ten lightyear radius of our position, would be New Valoria, sir,¡± said Reia, before Misaki could scan the region. Misaki¡¯s scan confirmed this statement a couple minutes later. While also providing tactical data on the Valorian forces in the area. Well limited tactical, the long range sensors were sensitive enough to identify individual ships and the chemical signature of certain compounds at this distance, but they lacked the resolution to identify weapons, and subsystems.
¡°Reia what can you tell me about this New Valoria?¡± said Countryman.
¡°Why, you not planning on going there are you? Can¡¯t we just do some solar hopping?¡± asked Reia.
¡°No, our ship¡¯s batteries have limited capacity. If we are attacked, they will drain pretty quickly. We will either fight them of, or be destroyed without fuel. If we do fight them off, the batteries will most likely be drained, leaving us stranded in deep space. Therefore we have no choice, but to attempt a raid on New Valoria,¡± said Countryman. Reia seemed to think about it for a few moments and then she replied, ¡°I can see your point. Raiding New Valoria won¡¯t be easy, since it is a heavily fortified world. The planet is protected by planetary shields, multiple ground to space Concussion, and Pulse Cannon batteries. Along with multiple orbital weapons platforms. Also in orbit is the fleet base for the entire third fleet, a heavily fortified starbase designed to service the third fleet. At any given time, a third of the fleet is in system.¡±
¡°Planetary shields? Not a problem, unless they work differently from starship shields. I doubt that though. Now out of curiosity how strong are the shields on that fleet base?¡±
¡°About ten times the strength of those found on our heavy cruisers,¡± said Reia confused. Then Countryman chuckled, and said, ¡°Perfect, let''s give them a bit of a scare. Misaki, have those bombs taken out of cold storage and readied for use.¡±
¡°Uh, bombs?¡± asked Reia.
¡°The Enterprise was launched carrying a complement of ten high yield antimatter bombs, and 1000 dummy bombs. We still have the full complement of dummy bombs, and four of the antimatter bombs. I was considering having the dummies taken apart for parts, but I have a use for them now. Hey Misaki, have engineering strip the shield penetrators from some of our torpedoes, and outfitted on the dummy bombs. Also have 200 liters of fuel transferred to the Enterprise, and a full structural check done on both destroyers,¡± said Countryman.
¡°It sounds like you already have a plan,¡± replied Reia.
¡°The beginnings of one, yes. That planetary shield changes little. The real concern is the fleet. The scans clearly show that the third fleet is out of position, the main fleet group will be slowed by the gravitational anomaly between them and the system. Assuming they detect us, and move to intercept us immediately we will have eight hours before they arrive. The one battlegroup is currently limping away from us at low warp, so we don¡¯t have to worry about them. We can deal with most of the fleet resistance with a massive opening volley. I¡¯m actually most worried about the getaway. I suspect we will have to abandon both the Coto and Umikaze,¡± said Countryman.
¡°But aren¡¯t those two ships, irreplaceable?¡± asked Reia.
¡°No, the only ship we have that is irreplaceable is the Enterprise. We could build replacements for them, if we had the resources and were left alone long enough,¡± replied Countryman. The next few hours were spent, preparing for a raid, and working out the details of a plan.
Captain¡¯s Log June 20th 004 SDE,
We are on final approach for the Valorian colony of New Valoria. The Coto and Umikaze have both been evacuated, and control switched over to the onboard computers. We have set the Last Stand protocols to activate the moment we drop out of warp. The Last Stand protocols are a series of last resort protocols designed under the assumption the ship isn¡¯t going to survive the battle. Our plan is for our destroyer escort to use their entire remaining torpedo supply on the local defense forces, while we target the planet and fleet base. We will open up with the dummies and bombs, with all four bombs targeted at the fleet base. The dummies will be mostly aimed at the planet, targeting the planetary shield generators and defensive installations. Their speed and mass alone should be more than sufficient to destroy their targets, and will minimize casualties from the attack, since they lack warheads. Not our normal methodology, but the Valorian people are not our enemy just the morons on their council. Long range scans indicate that the Valorian fleet was slower than first anticipated at responding, giving us an extra four and a half hours before they arrive. Due to fuel concerns we will not be employing our fighters unless necessary. I have ordered that our full complement of Scorpion Class Battle Platforms, and Raptor Class MBTs readied for combat. We considered deploying ST-42s as well, but decided against. Half our Scorpions will be outfitted for AA combat to counter Valorian Hoverships, according to Reia it is the heaviest unit they use in ground combat. We also expect to encounter fighter bombers, and other air units as well.
Apparently the Valorians don¡¯t use walkers so on the ground the worst we will have to worry about is the occasional hovertank. We expect it take some time for them to organize for a counter attack, since the local garrison is under equipped and undertrained for an attack of this scale. Unfortunately the planet side fuel silos are not far from three planetary garrisons, giving them six hoverships, three hovertank brigades, and three infantry regiments in range to respond. More can be expected to respond, but will take several more hours before we need to worry about them. Also the Krall mentioned they have a small ship in the area. The ship is too lightly equipped to be of much help, but the scan data it provided will be useful for Forrest in planning his ground attack.
Accessing central database.....
Scorpion Class Battle Platform,
The Scorpion is an all terrain heavy walker, and submarine. Designed by Earth during the Third Colonial War for use both on land and at sea. The scorpion is a mobile heavy weapons platform, and can be outfitted to carry both artillery and AA weapons. It can also be outfitted with troop pods and used to carry troops across the battlefield. In appearance it resembles a giant metal scorpion which is where it gets its name from. The front claws are designed for clearing obstacles, but can also be used as an improbtu weapon. The tail when on land curls up and forward. Mounted on the end of the tail is the Scorpion¡¯s primary weapon, the Heavy Particle Lance. Additional armaments include sixteen dual medium particle turrets, 8 dual heavy particle turrets, eight forward torpedo launchers, and two superheavy particle cannons.
Optional armaments for the scorpion include three flak projector turrets or four 178mm Photon Artillery turrets.
Armor is 4.2 meters thick, and each unit is eighty five meters long. Propulsion on land is achieved by six Heavy Titan industries walker legs. At sea the legs fold under, and the tail extends straight behind the craft, and propulsion is achieved by twin pulse det hydro-rams. On land they have a cruise speed of 32 Kph and a sprint speed of 40 Kph. At sea they are much faster with a cruise speed of 60 Knots submerged, 54 surfaced. With a top speed of 73 knots submerged, 67 surfaced.
The Scorpion is a versatile weapon capable of fulfilling a variety of roles, and is often used for breaching heavy fortifications, defending key points, clearing a path for ground troops on land. At sea it typically employed like an attack sub, or to establish a beachhead on a fortified beach.
Raptor Class MBT,
The Raptor is the most advanced combat tank ever developed by Humans. She was designed to during the Cathamari war as a replacement for her predecessor the Rex. A hybrid between conventional tanks and Hovertanks. The tank is actually a bit overloaded equipment wise for her hover systems. Hence the use of a retractable track system, that has been integrated into her hover engines as much as possible. The hovor systems will allow the tank to remain suspend for several hours before the load starts to cause problems. Failures usually happen between six to eight hours. The tank is quite fast, highly maneuverable and can take a great deal of punishment. When fully loaded the tank weighs 185 tons, which is five tons over the weight limit for her hover systems. The Raptor has a track speed of 160 Kph and hovor speed of 92 Kph.
For protection the tank is outfitted with a meter of overlord armor, and she is powered by twin micro fusion reactors. Her main armament is a 155mm Photon Shell cannon, which she carries sixty rounds for. Her coaxial is a medium particle cannon, and she is outfitted with five twin light particle cannon turrets. The tank is controlled by a crew of seven, a driver, commander, main gunner, comms officer, engineer, and two turret gunners.
Photon Cannons, and Artillery,
These are the most advanced projectile weapons ever developed by Humanity. Each shell is accelerated to incredible speeds by a gauss style barrel, and is outfitted with a photon warhead, and a limited guidance system. The guidance system allows the shell to make minor course corrections increasing accuracy. The shells use intelligent detonators that control the detonation to maximize the destructive impact of the shells. The use of intelligent detonators minimizes the risk of an overpenetration. Greatly increasing the chance that the shell will detonate inside the target in the event of a penetrating hit. It is important to note that the intelligent detonator is not foolproof and that some shells will fail to detonate, or detonate too late. These shells come in three types. Type I, are high yield explosive shells. Type II are AP shells that feature a smaller warhead and have been optimized to penetrate armor. Type III were designed to deal with Cathamari armor. The Type III SPAP shells are shield and armor piercing shells. The SPAPs have the smallest warhead of any photon shell to make space for the shield penetrator.
The Enterprise came out of warp shortly after the other two. Thousands of torpedoes were already in the water and some were already finding their targets. As per the plan the Enterprise unleashed her arsenal on the planet and fleet base. The Valorians were already in disarray the local forces, struggling to deal with the sustained barrage. As for the civilian ships, they had already been evacuated by the local forces. It took the Enterprise just under a minute to send her bombs, and the dummy bombs towards their targets.
The Enterprise then set a direct course towards the planet, ignoring the local defense forces. Shortly before she entered orbit of the planet, a massive explosion hit the fleet base. Its shields flared briefly, and collapsed. A bomb lagging behind the others then hit the station. Hitting with enough force to punch through the hull, and bury itself dozens of meters into the hull before it detonated. Vaporizing a large chunk of the starbase instantly the rest being torn apart and reduced to a cloud of dust from the energy of the blast. A few seconds later the orbital weapon platforms were hit by torpedoes launched from the destroyers, and the planetary shield collapsed as the first of the kinetic strike bypassed the shield and knocked out the generators. The following strikes destroying defensive ground installations. As the Enterprise entered orbit she began launching her shuttles and dropships. It took the shuttles just under ten minutes to reach their destination.
At the same time the Coto was out of torpedoes and was engaged in a close range duel with multiple Valorian cruisers. The Coto rolled to dodge a volley of torpedoes, and came about. Opening fire with her forward batteries. A blue green lightning-like bolt impacted the shields of her target. The shields instantly collapsed and unleashed a powerful electromagnetic pulse that weakened the shields of the other nearby cruisers. The lightning-like bolt was followed by a rapid series of blue bolts that tore through the hull. Massive rents were opened in the hull venting atmosphere, and crew into space.
A second cruiser closing on the Coto¡¯s flank opened up with its main batteries. A series of red bolts splashed against her hull. A few bolts tearing into the insides of the Coto, having impacted in a hull breach. The Coto returned fire with her aft guns. Blue bolts splashed against the second cruisers shields. Doing little apparent damage, as the Coto targeted a third cruiser with her Electro Cannons. Two quick blasts struck the cruiser, the first disabled her shields causing another electromagnetic shockwave further straining the shields of the other cruisers. Cruiser two lost her shields, and the Coto¡¯s aft guns began tearing into its hull. The second blast striking cruiser three blew out every major system on the ship and she went dark.
Three cruisers coming up on her port side unleashed a volley of torpedoes on her. She turned towards the ships opening up with every weapon that had an angle on the three. While firing her beam array into the disabled cruiser. Seconds before the torpedoes were to impact she deployed her web, intercepting most of the torpedoes. The remain torpedoes impacted the hull and depleted her hull plating. One of which penetrated the plating and opened another hull breach in her damaged hull. At the close range they were at it took the Coto mere seconds to rip through the shields of her targets. As she was ripping into her targets hulls, the remaining ten cruisers that were holding off closed into weapons range and opened fire. The plasma bolts tearing into the hull, and internal bulkheads. However the Coto was built tough and most of the bolts were stopped before they could penetrate more than a dozen meters into the hull. It took her seconds to finish the cruisers that she was targeting, then she turned towards the cruisers firing on her.
Her onboard computer calculating the most damaging actions, set every system on board to overload. Then it used the pulse detonation drive to close the distance rapidly. In under a minute it reached close range with the cruisers mere seconds before the badly damaged Coto exploded unleashing a massive shock pulse that destroyed all ten cruisers.
Around the same time the Coto self destructed the Umikaze was also engaged and running out of power. Twelve cruisers were engaged with her at close to mid range, and her hull plating had failed and weapons were offline. The Umikaze responded the only way she could, and initiated a full systems overload, unleashing a shock pulse similar to the one the Coto generated when she self destructed. All of the cruisers in the area were caught up in the massive blast wave, eight of the cruisers were too close to survive and were torn apart. The other four were heavily damaged, and would require some time to restore their systems.
Meanwhile the commander of the Valorian fleet was watching the footage with a bit of impatience. She cursed the fact that they had been poorly positioned to intercept the enemy making a direct run on their base. Watching the enemy destroyers explode, she was filled with mixed feelings on the result.
¡°What just happened?¡± asked the commander.
¡°Readings from just before the explosion, seem to indicate some kind of self destruct. Every system on board suddenly built up to a overload. Resulting in some kind of shock pulse, one powerful enough to do massive damage to any vessel to be unfortunate enough to be within ¡®five thousand kilometers¡¯ of the detonating vessel,¡± said her science officer.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
¡°Let me guess that pulse came from the engines detonating, right?¡± said the commander.
¡°Yes, sir. We saw a massive and rapid build up of heat and pressure in the systems we suspect to be the engines. The pulse was caused by an uncontrolled fusion detonation,¡± said her science officer.
¡°Go over the readings maybe it will reveal a weakness we could use,,¡± said the commander.
While the fleet, was trying to gain more intelligence on its route for the system, Human ground forces had landed in one of the larger warehouse districts of the colony. The Enterprise had landed her full complement of ground troops, her early launch meant she didn¡¯t have a full complement of marines, but she did have a full complement of tanks and Scorpions. 10,000 infantry, twelve thousand tanks, and 80 scorpions had landed. The Enterprise kept some vehicles in reserve however. Everything she was keeping in reserve, were vehicles that would not be needed for the mission. Mostly recon, and transport vehicles.
The landing went quite well as there was very little in the way of defense near the fuel depot they were raiding. There were some local security forces, but they weren¡¯t equipped to deal with a large well equipped force. At most they were outfitted to deal with criminals attempting to steal fuel. The depots were located on the outskirts of a major city with plenty of space for large vehicles and limited cover in the area. The depots themselves were protected by a dozen light turrets and a couple hundred guards in two man patrols. By the time Commander Forest the man responsible for leading the Enterprise¡¯s ground troops had landed the local defenses had already fallen, and the troops were securing the depots. Commander Forrest stepped out of his shuttle, and surveyed the area already making plans for dealing with the counterattack he knew would come.
Forrest was familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of the Scorpion and was thinking of where to have them deployed. The Scorpion was an effective ground weapon in open terrain, in urban terrain its size greatly limited its use. Its greatest advantage being the sheer firepower it could bring to the field. Their limited mobility being their greatest weakness, but he already had a few places in mind for positioning them that would mostly negate that issue. Heavy Walkers such as the Scorpion were not known for being particularly fast or quick at turns, but they made up for it with their superior ability to support heavy loads, and excellent performance on most terrain types. As for the Raptors, he wanted to take advantage of their mobility and deploy them as rapid response forces. They would move to reinforce the line when necessary or strike at the enemy flanks when needed. The general lack of cover in the area would present an issue for his marines, but he could deploy some barricades to solve that issue. Looking around he saw a few towers that would be a great spot for snipers. There was also a ridge a couple kilometers to the east of the depots, placing some snipers there or artillery would be a good idea.
Personally, he was leaning towards snipers as for artillery he saw a another good spot for them not far from the ridge about a kilometer south of the ridge. Putting a few artillery Scorpions there would be useful, and it would place two of the ground bases he had seen on the flight down in range of their artillery fire. Hitting those bases preemptively would help weaken the counterattack when it came. So he issued several orders to his lieutenants to reposition the Scorpions and to place four of the Scorpions outfitted with artillery along with two AA outfitted Scorpions in that location. Along with orders to place snipers in the towers and along the ridge. Then he pointed out a few locations for the combat engineers to deploy barricades.
Meanwhile at one of the nearby bases a Valorian general was watching satellite images of the Human troop movements. She was paying closest attention to the walkers, as she wasn¡¯t all that familiar with them. The Valorians didn¡¯t use walkers, and she had never fought any of the races that did in combat. Not surprising since the Valorians haven¡¯t fought a war with their neighbors in decades. She called over one of her engineers, and asked her, ¡°What do you make of those walkers?¡±
¡°Those are clearly heavy walkers, seem to have a good load capacity as well. That armor is quite thick and they seem to be carrying quite a bit of armament. They seem to have two different types as well. Looks like some of them are carrying flak guns and are outfitted for anti air combat. The others seem to be carrying some type of ballistic artillery. I¡¯d say both will be dangerous to deal with,¡± said the engineer.
¡°Well, can you give an idea about their strengths and weaknesses?¡± said the general.
¡°I¡¯m not an expert on walkers, but in general they tend to be slow. They make up for it with high load capacities and excellent all terrain performance. These walkers seem to be on the fast side as heavy walkers go, but they are still slow. That armor they have will be difficult to penetrate, but it should be weaker near the joints. As for firepower, they look to be carrying enough armament to outgun anything we can field. In general they could probably decimate any ground attack we make,¡± said the engineer.
¡°In other words we should probably take them out with an air attack,¡± said the general.
¡°That depends on how effective those flak guns of theirs, prove to be,¡± said the engineer.
¡°All the unknowns are what worry me, they make it difficult to determine how effective any given plan will be,¡± replied the general as she went back to planning the counterattack.
The troops under Forrest had just finished securing the area against a hostile counterattack, and had started loading the first group of shuttles with fuel taken from the depots. When the Valorians finally made their first move. Several wings of aircraft backed up by four of their hovorships struck from the air. They came in from the west, flying at high speed. Before they could even get into range to fire on their targets, the humans were already responding. The AA equipped Scorpions rotated their guns towards the incoming aircraft and opened fire. Almost instantly the sky was flooded with heavy particle fire. The bolts blooming seemingly at random. The Valorian attack planes were buffeted by the flak, their shields straining to protect them from the sheer amount of fire they were taking.
In the minute or so it took the planes to get into bombing range of the Human forces, the heavy flak had drained the shields of the lead planes by nearly half their strength. The following craft had also taken a heavy amount of fire and their shields were drained by nearly the same amount. The aircraft immediately initiated bombing runs on the nearest Scorpions. While the four hoverships they had brought opened fire with their cannons. Two powerful superheavy pulse cannons, and four heavy ion cannon batteries from each ship opened up on their targets.
The Scorpions were just as hardened as everything else the Humans use against ion weapons. So the ion blasts splashed against their armor harmlessly, while the pulse cannons didn¡¯t fare much better against the thick armor. The plasma pulses doing nowhere near enough damage to matter. The volley drained the energy fields running through the armor by barely five percent on each target by the time the aircraft started dropping their bombs. The Valorians had armed their fighter bombers with precision bombs and missile to minimize the risk of blowing the fuel depots, since there was enough fuel stored in the depots that if it blew, the nearby city would be devastated by the blast.
The bombs were released with impressive precision, but the flak proved to be too heavy for the bombs. The instant they were released the computer controlled AA guns instantly locked onto the bombs and refocused their fire to neutralize them. Less than ten percent of the bombs made their way through the flak. With half of the bombs exploding while still close to the firing plane. The few bombs that made their way through the heavy flak, inflicted light damage to their targets. The remaining planes moved to withdraw and rearm, while the hoverships moved to cover them. Just as Forrest ordered several artillery Scorpions to fire on the hoverships, while artillery was not the best weapon for hitting an aerial target was perfectly capable of tracking the slower hoverships. Three Scorpions rotated their turrets to lock on to the Hoverships, 72 guns on 12 turrets opened fire. The 178cm shells fired in volleys of 12 from each gun with a cycle of three seconds between volleys, while causing a sonic boom with each shot the shells being instantly accelerated to supersonic velocities.
The impressive fire rate of the Photon Artillery allowed them to rip through the hoverships in seconds. The shield piercing shells tore through their powerful shields, only one shell in three made it through the shields but that was more than enough to reduce their target to shreds. The first hovership exploded in a brilliant fireball. The first shell that penetrated its shields penetrated its ventral fore tearing a hole nearly 20 meters deep before exploding. The second shell to bypass the shields ripped through the decimated forward sections, tearing deep into the hull and exploded near the reactor causing secondary explosions that ripped the hovership apart.
The second hovership didn¡¯t last much longer, taking four penetrating hits before being destroyed. The other two managed to withdraw, but not before they took damage. The third ship barely got away, her underside shredded and her stern ripped from the hull. As for the fourth ship, her bow was reduced to mangled metal and she lost half her internals to the shells that hit her. Around the same time the hoverships were being fired on, Forrest had the Scorpions that he had placed to fire on the bases open fire. All four Scorpions opened fire with their guns. Thousands of shells were soon on course for the first base.
The base¡¯s local shields helped absorb the brunt of the bombardment however hundreds of shells penetrated the shields. Each shell struck with impressive force, destroying buildings and vehicles in impressive fireballs. Hundreds of young soldiers were killed in the first wave, by the time the bombardment ended a minute after it started, the base had been leveled only the underground portions of the base had survived, but only barely. The second base didn¡¯t fare any better and was equally devastated.
The Valorian general watched the attack on the depots. The attack had gone poorly, especially since she had not expected their artillery to be able to target their hoverships. Nor had she expected them to have the range and firepower to hit and destroy two of her bases so easily. Fortunately she had already started deploying her forces from those bases, but she had still lost an entire regiment of infantry. Along with half her tanks and most of her support units.
¡°Well, I guess that answered a number of questions I had,¡± then she turned to her engineers for countermeasures against those ballistics.
¡°Those ballistic weapons are quite impressive. The fire rate alone is practically insane. On the flip side I don¡¯t think they can carry more than a few minutes worth of ammo. I recommend we stay mobile, we should be fine if we don¡¯t get hit. We could also try using flak, like the fleet does against their torpedoes,¡± said one of her engineers.
¡°Why not remodulate the shields to block those rounds?¡± asked the general.
¡°That was the first thing the fleet tried, but every attempt to harden our shields against their shield penetrating weapons have failed. If we knew how their weapons were bypassing our shields we might be able to block them, but we don¡¯t,¡± replied the engineer. The general looked at her available forces and positions a plan forming in her mind. It wasn¡¯t much of a plan really, but it was the only real option left to her.
While the Valorians were preparing for their next move, the first shuttles were loaded with fuel and launched. Meanwhile in space the Enterprise was engaged with two Valorian cruisers that had survived the initial battle. Her hull plating was already severely depleted and she had eaten through most of her remain power. All of her remaining power had been transferred to the hull plating. As the shuttles broke atmosphere three torpedoes slammed into her port dorsal. The resulting blast draining her armor to critical levels, but not penetrating her thick her armor.
The shuttles were spotted breaking atmosphere, and a dozen fighters that were harassing the Enterprise broke off to engage the shuttles. Being cargo shuttles they were lightly armed and had poor maneuverability. They did however have decent armor. As the fighters got into range of the flight of shuttles, the shuttles opened up with their single dual particle turret. A series of light particle blast splashed against the fore shields of the lead fighters. The decently strong fore shields held up fairly well against the barrage and the fighters opened up with their pulse cannons.
Red energy bolts hit the lead shuttle, her armor holding up fairly well to the volley. As the fighters flew past in formation. Just as they were about to turn, the Enterprise unleashed a series of rapid strikes from her beam array using the residual energy in the capacitors. The beam array being designed for use against starships cut through the weak aft shields easily. In a span of 12 seconds she splashed half the fighters before the capacitors were completely drained. The shuttles managed to track and destroy two fighters while their afts were exposed to their guns. At the same time one of the two cruisers had stopped firing on the Enterprise and was angling to fire on the shuttles. When suddenly a ship decloaked just six hundred kilometers of their port bow.
It was a Krall destroyer, specifically a dagger class. The Dagger class was virtually identical to their mainstay destroyer the Inferno class. The main differences were that she carried fewer torpedoes, and a cloaking device. The Dagger¡¯s main weapon was her single Plasma beam array a weapon famous for its ability to brute force penetrate energy shields. Still the beam often lost a fair chunk of its punch piercing the shields. Limiting what damage it does while the shields are up. Which is why the Dagger couples this weapon with powerful sensors, that allow it to pinpoint weaknesses in her opponents. The preferred strategy for Dagger commanders is to target critical systems such as the shield generators, and to finish her opponents off with a volley of torpedoes once the shields are down.
The Dagger opened up with her beam array. The beam was aim straight at the primary shields generator. The beam lasted a full four seconds, and while the powerful Valorian shields blocked most of the blast the beam still tore a hole in the hull. The beam penetrated nearly sixty meters into the hull and severed three of the primary power transfer conduits and damaged the shield generator. The cruisers shields however remained operational, and emergency force fields sprang up to seal the hull breach. The cruiser returned fire with her port batteries, while the destroyed began evasive maneuvers. Not that they helped much at such close range, which was why they were also increasing distance. While their shields took the volley, draining them nearly fifteen percent over the twelve seconds it took for her beam array to recharge.
Aboard the Enterprise Countryman was considering his options. Main power was already gone, the only power left was in the emergency backups and there was barely enough to keep life support and minimal sensors up. Hull plating was already down to seven percent and running on fumes and enemy weapons fire. Against any other foe they would already be taking damage. Valorian weapons though weren¡¯t all that powerful. They had managed to improve them recently, but they still struggled against the Enterprise¡¯s armor. At the current rate of depletion the plating will fall below five percent in a matter of minutes and once that happened they would start taking actual damage. He had used his last offensive option when he fired on those fighters, as it was there really wasn¡¯t anything he could do without the fuel those shuttles were carrying.
As for the shuttles they were about ready to land in the port hangar, which is opposite of the attacking cruiser. He took a glance at the Krall destroyer engaging the one cruiser, before turning to Misaki.
¡°Misaki, open the port hangar doors. As for the fighters, don¡¯t worry about them. Engineering transfer power from the emergency backups to the hangar bay mag tractor projectors. I want those craft to land safely,¡± ordered Countryman. The mag tractors in the hanger bay didn¡¯t require much power so he felt he could afford to activate them without compromising any systems. Besides the projectors could be used to deal with the fighters, while he had never used them on a shielded vessel himself, since you actually had to hit the ship with a mag disk first. Something that was difficult to do in battle thanks to the speeds and ranges most starship battles were fought at. He was familiar with how the projectors interacted with shields. The shields actually have the peculiar effect of amplifying the beam making it harder to break free. While also causing a drain on the shields.
As the doors were opening one of the Valorian pilots noticed the doors opening and immediately informed her flight leader of the doors opening. Being the closest to the bay, she was ordered to make a run on the bay. She then checked her gauges, determining that she could make two runs on the bay before she needed to refuel. Breaking of her attack on one of the shuttles, she flew straight towards the bay. Getting an angle on the bay she fired into the bay, her pulse cannons splashing against the internal armor. Doing little apparent damage to the internal plating. She was just starting to break of her run, the other fighters moving to make their run when suddenly she felt a jolt.
The jolt happened when she got close enough to be targeted by the mag tractors. Three projectors had locked onto her fighter and launched a mag disk at her fighter. The disks sailed across the short space between her fighter and the projectors and struck her shields. The disk reacting to the energies of her shields adhered to the shields an instant before the beam itself switched on. The beam instantly created disruptions that pushed the disks through her shields to latch on to the hull. These tractors while not as powerful as the ships main tractors, were more than powerful enough to stop her ship cold.
Being an experienced pilot it took her mere seconds to recognize that she had been caught in a tractor beam. She immediately switched the engines on full reverse, and attempted to remodulate her shields. The engines strained against the tractor beam, unable to break free, and her remodulation failed to disrupt the hold of the beam on her ship. As the beams began pulling her fighter in, she got an angle on one of the projectors. Only she missed the timing by a fraction of a second and missed the projectors. Her burst instead splashed uselessly against the sturdy plating. She immediately sent a distress call to her flight only for her hopes of them knocking out the projectors when the Krall destroyer fired her torpedoes at her flight. The other three fighters were unable to evade and were destroyed by the torpedoes. As for herself, not a single torpedo came her way.
At the same moment the destroyer was again firing her beam array at the cruiser. Targeting the shield generators while simultaneously reloading the launchers she had just fired at the nearby fighters. This time the four second beam tore into the hull at an angle. Ripping a gash into the hull nearly a hundred meters long, and compromising three decks. While also disabling two of the secondary generators. The damage disrupted the cruisers forward shields. The shields however recovered quickly. The cruiser continued to fire on the destroyer, but she was having a harder time scoring any hits because of the increased distance between the ships. This gave the destroyer the time she needed to recharge for another strike.
She came about and fired the forward beam again. Just as the cruiser managed to get a solid weapons lock. This time the beam punched through the forward shields and hit one of the primary shield generators for the forward section. The cruiser fired her main batteries just a second after the beam hit her. This time her volley managed to tear through the destroyers shields and strike the hull. The destroyer took a few hull breaches, and minor structural damage. None of the damage was serious and the destroyer let loose a volley of spatial torpedoes. The volley hit the cruiser before she could reset her forward shields, and tore the ship apart.
The Krall battle-leader, turned to his crew and shouted, ¡°Status report.¡±
¡°Minor damage to the forward plating, hull breaches on decks three, four and six. Emergency force fields in place and holding. Minor casualties reported, along with two fatalities and four missing. Shields will be back online in forty seconds, no damage to primary systems,¡± reported his engineering officer.
¡°How about the Enterprise what is her status?¡±
¡°Main power offline, weapons are down and her hull plating is failing. She is still under fire from the other cruiser, and her shuttle flight is landing. She should have main power back online in four to five minutes, sir¡± reported his officer.
¡°Will her plating hold that long?¡± asked the battle-leader.
¡°I can¡¯t be entirely certain, their plating actually draws power from the weapons being fired at it. However, I don¡¯t think their plating will hold for more than a few minutes,¡± replied the officer.
¡°Interesting, can we recharge their plating?¡±
¡°Yes, sir, a low intensity beam preferably set on wide beam should restore their plating, but it would also draw attention to us from that heavy cruiser shooting at them,¡± replied the officer. The battle-leader didn¡¯t need to be informed to know that they would have a hard time against that heavy cruiser since it had better shields and weapons than the cruiser they just sank. Still he felt they could hold out against it for a few minutes, before they were forced to withdraw. So he gave the order to recharge the Enterprise¡¯s hull plating.
Back on the surface, Forrest was nearly done loading the second wave of shuttles. When the Valorian general made her move. She had chosen to attack with a hit and run strategy. A wave of tanks came at human position from the northwest. She had another group come up by way of the city to hit them from the south. She had both groups supported by personnel carriers, the Valorian version of a personnel carrier used a hovercraft suspension and lacked armor. Relying instead on shields to keep the infantry they were carrying safe.
Forrest had several Scorpions target them and open fire. The incoming wave of Valorian troops employed evasive maneuvers the instant they detected they were being targeted. Even with the maneuvering they were unable to completely avoid the artillery fire. Both groups taking damage, losing a third of their vehicles before they managed to get inside the Scorpion¡¯s minimum range. The instant they got inside the minimum range, they engaged the Human lines.
Commander Forrest split his tanks and ordered them to engage the two groups. The Scorpions being less effective now that the tanks were inside the minimum range for their artillery. Still their heavy guns were powerful enough to do quite a bit of damage to any tanks they hit. Often decimating their shields in two or three hits. Forcing the tanks to stay mobile or be destroyed.
Soldiers on the Valorian SPCs opened fire on targets of opportunity from the gun ports. While the Marines used their heavy weapons to fire on the Tanks from positions of cover. In the distance the snipers used their beam rifles to shoot at the SPCs their shields being far weaker than the hovertanks. The weapon the snipers were carrying was the LRB-1247. A favorite of Human snipers the 1247 was the latest in a long line of successful beam rifles. With a maximum range of 9 Km and an effective range of 6Km it allows snipers to engage at greater distances than their ballistic counterparts. The 1247 has a recharge of 2.4 seconds and was designed to fire a short beam capable of punching through light vehicle armor, the focused particle beam also proved reasonably effective at penetrating the shields Cathamari used on their lighter vehicles.
The SPCs were proving to be tougher vehicles, but the solution was to simply have more snipers fire on the same target point. It took multiple snipers aiming at same spot to pierce the shields, but it worked often forcing the infantry aboard to disembark. As for the Marines the heavy weapon they were carrying was the powerful HPL-400. The HPL-400 is a heavy particle weapon with a range of 2.4 Km and a fire rate of 450 bolts per minute. Designed for use against vehicles, it excels as ripping through vehicle armor and is great versus most tanks. The HPL however struggled against the shields on the Valorian hovertanks, their SPCs however proved far more vulnerable.
Half their infantry had already been forced to disembark when the Raptors moved onto the scene. Their turrets targeting the Valorian infantry that were in exposed positions, while they targeted the tanks with their main guns. Loading SPAP shells, they were soon making short work of the tanks. The shells weren¡¯t as good at shield penetration as the torpedoes the Enterprise carries, but were still effective. A single penetrating hit was all they needed to splash the target.
The engagement only lasted a matter of minutes after the Raptors arrived before the Valorians retreated on both fronts. Forest ordered the Raptors to pursue, while the marines mopped up the infantry on the ground. The Valorian tanks though were faster and more maneuverable than the Raptor and managed to escape, but not before the Raptors splashed a few more of their number. As the latest engagement came to a close, Forrest had the damage assessed. On their side the hit, had left four hundred wounded, with thirty tanks knocked out. Fortunately they had no fatalities, and the tanks were only disabled with a few days work they could be put back into the field.
Meanwhile back in space the Valorian pilot was assessing her options. All of her attempts to break free from the mag tractors had failed. Her shields were already failing being almost completely drained by the beam. She knew the beam was actually being strengthened by her shields. Thanks to some kind of resonance that caused her shields to grow weaker while the beam grows stronger. Which meant turning her shields off would weaken the beam, but that wouldn¡¯t help her break free one of her previous attempts to break free having fried her engines. She was already on the deck of the hanger, the beam holding her in place and she was surrounded by ship security. Which since her shields were the only thing keeping her safe, would basically be a surrender an option that didn¡¯t appeal to her.
Unfortunately she was drawing a blank on how to get out of this situation. An easy way to get out would be to self destruct, problem is she broke the system needed to initiate the overload to blow the ship up during the attempt that fried her engines. Which meant she would have to manually initiate a self destruct. Making a decision she reached for the reactor controls, and disabled the safeties. Then she set the output to maximum and unbalanced the reaction. Almost immediately the reactor began building to an overload. What she did wasn¡¯t going to be as effective as the autodestruct but it would do the job. Then she pulled her pistol, and hit the control to open the cockpit. Unfortunately that also caused the shields to drop. Almost instantly the beams holding her ship, shut off. Aiming her pistol she fired a few shots into the nearby security man. Like all of the ones around her he was wearing a suit of personal armor.
The armor was basically the same as the medium armor used by the marines but with a different paint job to indicate they were ship security. They also didn¡¯t have all the toys the marines got to play with. They still got the XR-471 as it was a good weapon for dealing with boarders, but normally they were expected to use the LP-1230. As for grenades they were only issued the stun grenade to incapacite targets.
Her shots struck the first guard in the chest with little effect. Her pistol was a standard issue pulse pistol and wasn¡¯t designed to penetrate armor in the first place. The guards returned fire with their pistols, several beams going over her as she had ducked just before they shot at her. She then jumped out of the cockpit shooting at the nearby guards, before making a run towards the nearest shuttle. As the guards turned towards her she switched settings on her pistol since the first setting wasn¡¯t doing anything against that armor. She also started zigging a bit to throw their aim off. A few beams flew past her and then she returned fire. Her shot however went wide and struck the far wall and then her luck ran out. She was less than a third of the way to the shuttle she was aiming for when a beam struck her. Half her body went numb instantly, and then her muscles locked up as her nerves began screaming at her combined with a sudden bout of extreme nausea before she blacked out.
The instant she fell to the ground one of the guards climbed up into her cockpit and looked around. While he couldn¡¯t read Valorian, because of his required basic engineering course he didn¡¯t need to in order to recognize the reactor was building to an overload. That didn¡¯t help him with shutting the reactor down, but his suits comms did. He contacted engineering and used his helmet sensors to transmit visuals to the engineer that answered. A couple minutes of working things out and they shutdown the reactor with time to spare.
Back on the bridge, Countryman was watching the Krall destroyers engagement with the heavy cruiser. He had been rather surprised when the destroyer fired on his ship. However it was quite clear that they were only trying to recharge his armor. Thanks to them the plating had recovered to fifty percent. The destroyer had already been engaged for a couple minutes now. He watched as another beam struck the cruiser. The cruisers stronger shields absorbed it better than her lighter cousin had and the beam still managed to rip an opening in the hull but didn¡¯t penetrate the hull as deeply.
Then the cruiser returned fire, the destroyer¡¯s evasive maneuvers allowed them to avoid most of it, but they still took several hits. Her already weakened shields failed and she absorbed several hits to the aft section. One of which knocked out her engines.
¡°How long before main power is restored?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Just under two minutes,¡± replied Richards. Countryman could tell the destroyer wouldn¡¯t last long with her engines disabled.
¡°Transfer power from the hull plating to the forward particle cannons and the Electro cannons,¡± ordered Countryman.
¡°Aye, sir transfering power,¡± replied Richards. It took a few seconds for the power to transfer and the weapons to come online.
¡°The forward weapons are online, sir. Hull plating now at twenty percent,¡± reported Richards.
¡°Kaori target that cruiser, with the Electro cannons,¡± ordered Countryman. The cruiser was just barely out of the effective range of the cannons. They however weren¡¯t so far outside said range for the drop off to have much of an effect.
The moment Kaori informed him that the had a weapons lock, he gave the order to fire. A bluish lightning bolt lanced across space and struck the cruiser. Almost instantly the cruisers shields collapsed and unleashed a massive emp. Countryman gave the order to fire on it with the forward particle cannons.
The forward array opened with an impressive barrage that tore through the cruiser like tissue paper. When the barrage ended a few seconds later, entire sections of the ship were open to space, the only thing keeping the atmosphere in the ship were the emergency force fields that sprang up when the hull was breached, but not before dozens of their crew was blown out into space along with a good chunk of the atmosphere. The damaged Krall destroyer took advantage of her opponents damaged state and fire a full powered beam aimed directly at the main reactor. The beam ripped through the hull like tissue paper, disintegrating everything in its path. The beam hit the reactor disrupting the containment and triggering an explosion that tore the ship apart.
A couple minutes later they restored main power, with power back, they targeted Valorain troops in position to attack their ground force. While deploying shuttles to salvage the debris, focusing on their own sunken destroyers. As for the Krall destroyer Countryman hailed them and offered to patch up their hull.
¡°That is a nice offer, but can you afford to do that?¡± asked the Krall Ship-leader.
¡°Yes, we can afford to patch your hull. We might be low on our own titan alloy, but we do have a supply of tritanium. We picked up quite bit of it since it is a popular building material in the Lantaro sector. We don¡¯t have much use for it however, we only keep it because it is a makes an excellent trade good. The debris in the area can be salvaged for anything we need to fix your ship,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°That will make getting back to port easier, but there is a fleet moving on our position. Are you sure you have the time?¡± replied the Ship-leader.
¡°We were planning to hold here for a few hours, by then we should have a full supply of fuel. Repairing your ship won¡¯t hurt our time schedule,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°In that case we accept the aid. We will however patch our internals ourselves, fleet policy on that,¡± said the Shipleader. A few minutes later and the ship was docked with Enterprise, via the lower docking arms. Repair arms extend around the ship and began rebuilding the damaged sections of the hull.
Several hours later, the Enterprise had long since finished aiding the Krall destroyer in patching her battle damage and sent her on her way. They were also finished with their salvage operations and were in the process of recovering the last of their troops when the Valorian fleet entered the system. The Valorian third fleet was one of the larger fleets in the Confederation, with nearly thirty thousand ships. They came out of warp on the far side of the planet from the Enterprise. Which gave the Enterprise the time she needed to recover her shuttles. The Fleet was just coming into view when the Enterprise broke orbit and jumped to warp pushing the engines to warp six.
Special Chapter the Factions
Humans (United Earth):
The humans are the youngest race to have reached the stars. Humans are creative, technologists, highly militaristic and authoritarian. Humans being creative and valuing technological development has fueled rapid technological development for the human people and as a consequence humans have access to several unique technologies. The Human war with the Cathamari has also led to the development of several technologies allowing them to fight their more advanced neighbors, despite their lack of ships. Most notable of which is the deadly shield piercing torpedos. Humans are good with torpedos, engines, and armor. While notoriously bad with shields. Most common ship type is the Heavy Cruiser. Human Starships are remarkably sturdy and can take beatings that would outright destroy their counterparts in alien fleets and still be combat capable. Most Human ships can remain combat capable even when largely inoperable.
Earth starships tend to have the following characteristics:
Weapons: Average
Armor: Vastly Superior
Hull Integrity: Vastly Superior
Shields: Vastly inferior
Stealth: Above Average
Missile Protection: Excellent (Energy Webs)
Ship Speed: above average
Ship Maneuverability: Superior
Ship Construction techniques: Superior (nano construction)
Ship cost: 400% more than average
Ship Build speed: 25% longer than Average
(17)
Unique Techs: Shield Piercing Torpedoes, Electro Cannons, Overlord Armor, and Pulse Wave Engines
The Cathamari Empire:
The Cathamari are an aggressive warlike race. Often at war with their neighbors, they constantly seek to expand their empire. Their empire is run on slave labor, as a result they have access to massive amounts of cheap labor. They are very good at weapons research, and hull construction. Below average with shields. Most common ship type is the Battlecruiser.
Weapons: Superior
Armor: Above Average
Hull Integrity: Above Average
Shields: Below Average
Stealth: Inferior
Missile Protection: Average
Ship Speed: Average
Ship Maneuverability: Average
Ship Construction: Average (slave labor)
Ship Cost: 50% cheaper than Average
Ship Build Speed: Average
(2)
Unique Techs: Cathamari Concussion Plasma Cannon
The Krall Imperium:
The Krall are an interesting people. They have strongly defined gender roles, and heavily value honor. The Imperium is ruled by a council of men and women who determine the course of the imperium. The Imperium is famous for their advanced technology and their ships are generally two or three generations ahead of those deployed by their neighbors in technology. The Imperium is good with Beam Weapons, Stealth and Robotics. Most common ship type is the Destroyer. Their Battleships however are unmatched few races even come close to matching their battleships in combat.
Weapons: Excellent
Armor: Average
Hull Integrity: Excellent
Shields: GoodUnauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Stealth: Superior
Missile Protection: Superior (ECM)
Ship Speed: Above Average
Ship Maneuverability: Good
Ship Construction techniques: Superior (Robotic Workers)
Ship cost: 25% less than Average
Ship Build speed: 25% less than Average
(23)
Unique Techs: Krall Plasma Beam Cannon, Cloaking Shields, Inversion Gate
Valorian Trade Confederation:
The Valorains are the largest of the major powers in the region. Their vast merchant navy provides them with untold wealth which attracts pirates. In recent years internal corruption and a lack of war has forced the Valorian military to deal with continual annual budget cuts. But maintaining a fleet capable of patrolling their borders even with the aid of hypergates, it is expensive. In order to maintain their large fleet and to make new construction possible with the low military budget, they have cut costs everywhere they can. As a result Valorian ships rely on speed and powerful shields for defense. The Valorians are extremely good with shields. They are good with engines, and sensors, but bad with stealth, missile protection and armor. Most common ship type is the Light Cruiser.
Weapons: Average
Armor: none
Hull Integrity: below Average
Shields: Vastly Superior
Stealth: Inferior
Missile Protection: Poor
Ship Speed: Superior
Ship Maneuverability: Above Average
Ship Construction techniques: Average (Robotic Workers)
Ship cost: 400% less than Average
Ship Build speed: Average
(-1)
Unique Techs: Pulse Cannon, Planetary Shields, Hypergate
Minor Factions:
The Pirate Clans:
While not exactly a unified faction the disparate pirate clans are a minor power in the universe. They are little more than a parasite preying on merchants, the pirates are not known for any spectacular technologies and their ships are built and equipped with whatever they can get their hands on. Pirate ships tend to be fast, and light with decent cargo capacity for their size. Most common ship, converted freighter.
Weapons: Inferior
Armor: Inferior at best
Hull Integrity: Inferior
Shields: Inferior at best
Stealth: Average
Missile Protection: Inferior
Ship Speed: Superior
Ship Maneuverability: Superior
The Smuggler''s Union:
The Union is a crime syndicate in the Valorian trade confederation, who¡¯s primary mandate is the protection and aiding of smugglers for a ¡°Small Fee¡±. Being more organized than most pirate clans they have access to better technology and ships.
Weapons: Poor
Armor: Below Average
Hull Integrity: Below Average
Shields: Below Average
Stealth: Above Average
Missile Protection: Inferior
Ship Speed: Superior
Ship Maneuverability: Superior
The Malora:
Not much is know about the Maloria. Humans only know them by reputation and rumor. What is known is that they share a border with the Valorian Confederation and have several trade routes with the Confederation. It is said they are always looking for opportunities to expand their small nation. They are supposedly good with Disrupters and Ion Cannons. Their ships apparently use hyperdrive technology for FTL travel. Most common ship type is the Heavy Cruiser.
Weapons: above average
Armor: Average
Hull Integrity: Average
Shields: Below Average
Stealth: Below Average
Missile Protection: Average
Ship Speed: Average
Ship Maneuverability: Average
(-1)
The Voskar:
The Voskar are race who makes their home near the Lantaro sector. As such they have built a powerful navy to deal with their unruly neighbors. The Voskar are highly secretive, and have superior stealth technology as a result, but their weaponry is downright primitive. They make up for that with a good grasp of shields and armor. Most Common ship type is the Stealth Cruiser.
Weapons: Vastly Inferior
Armor: Good
Hull Integrity: Superior
Shields: Excellent
Stealth: Vastly Superior
Missile Protection: Below Average
Ship Speed: Average
Ship Maneuverability: Average
(9)
The Toral Confederacy:
The Toral are one of the richest neighbors of the Valorian Trade Confederation, and have had poor relations with the Confederation for decades. The Toral are famous for their capital ships. They build some of the best capital ships in the quadrant. Only Krall capital ships were superior to theirs until Humanity appeared on the stage. The Toral are good with energy weapons specifically advanced particle weapons. The have an excellent grasp on large scale construction, shields and engines. Their Stealth tech however is poor. The backbone of their fleet is the battleship.
Weapons: Above Average
Armor: Good
Hull Integrity: Vastly Superior
Shields: Superior
Stealth: Vastly Inferior
Missile Protection: Vastly Inferior
Ship Speed: Barely Average
Ship Maneuverability: Barely Average
(4)
Quality index from worst to best:
-5 None
-4 Vastly Inferior
-3 Inferior
-2 Poor
-1 Below Average
0 Average
+1 Above Average
+2 Good
+3 Excellent
+4 Superior
+5 Vastly Superior
Chapter XI The Cards Fall
The Enterprise did not set a course for Krall space but instead set course for a region of space known as the Velosa cluster. It is a dangerous region of space known for plasma storms, thick dust clouds, spatial anomalies and other navigational hazards. The region is best known for the fact that most ships can¡¯t see more than a couple of lightyears in the thick soup of the region. The Enterprise chose this heading since the border of this region is just a half dozen lightyears from New Valoria at warp six they could reach the region in just five hours, fifteen minutes, and 21.6 seconds. The region also bordered Krall space, the poor sensor ranges made it the perfect place to escape their pursuers. The Enterprise also has above average sensors, which would help her evade the navigational hazards and make distance on the fleet.
The Valorians however had easily been able to match and exceed the speed of the Enterprise and were currently closing on the Enterprise. The distance she had gained during her early lead rapidly disappearing.
¡°Sir, the Valorian fleet is still closing fifteen minutes before they are in range to use their warp disruptors,¡± said Misaki who was monitoring the sensors.
Countryman didn¡¯t need to do the math to know they would be intercepted at the current rate long before the reach their destination. ¡°Eri, increase speed to warp seven.¡±
¡°Aye sir,increasing speed,¡± replied Eri.
¡°Sir, the engines have never been tested at that velocity,¡± said Richards.
¡°I know, but I would rather not be intercepted. If we must fight, I want it to be on my terms. Beside we needed to test if we can actually reach warp seven eventually. Now is as good a time as any,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°In that case, I better get to warp engineering and make sure the warp engines stay running,¡± said Richards as she handed her station off to a junior engineer.
Meanwhile on the bridge of the Valorian fleet commander. One of the officers turned from her seat and reported to the fleet commander. ¡°Sir the raider is increasing speed. She has matched our speed and is continuing to accelerate,¡± said the officer watching the sensors.
¡°Helm increase our speed as well,¡± ordered the commander before muttering at a lower volume, ¡°I thought they were already pushing their engines to maximum.¡±
¡°Sir, they are leveling off, warp six point nine five, nine seven, nine nine. Warp seven, and holding,¡± reported her sensor officer. Then helm officer reported that they were matching their speed. Unfortunately, the commander knew they couldn¡¯t go any faster than warp seven.
¡°Looks like we are both evenly matched for speed. Now it''s just a matter of who can maintain this speed longer,¡± said the commander.
¡°Sir, at our new speed we will enter the Velsosa Cluster in just under ¡®two hours¡¯,¡± reported the helm officer.
Around the same time on the Enterprise in her brig the young pilot had recently woken up from the stun beam she had taken a few hours earlier. The moment she woke up she was almost overwhelmed by the nausea and pain that were the natural side effects of the stun beam. The nausea was bad, but the pain was worse. Her head was hurting so much could hardly think as it felt like it was going to explode, and that it was on fire at the same time. Her nerves felt like they were burning.
The effects were so bad, she didn¡¯t even notice that she was in a brig. Nor did she notice that she was no longer wearing her flight uniform, but something else entirely. The dim lights didn¡¯t register with her either. The brig was small, barely large enough for a small metal bed. A sink and toilet were placed in an open recess on the right wall. Giving the prisoner in the cell a semi private place to do their business. A similar recess on the other side, had a small hidden door that the guards would use to deposit a plate of food on a small metal table bolted to the wall. Next to the table was a metal chair bolted to the floor. She was currently lying on the bed, which was opposite the entrance. The entrance was covered by an electrically charged metal grid with no obvious door in it. While she hadn¡¯t noticed, the guards had fitted a collar around her neck and chained her to the wall. While normal only done with violent prisoners in her case she was chained to protect her from the charged grid.
Almost immediately after waking up, the pain caused her to start groaning and screaming. Within moments the two guards on duty came from the nearby guard post along with the doctor they had with them. The first guard took a look in the cell and opened the door. Instantly the metal grid split down the center and moved apart opening just wide enough for a single person to walk through. The first through the door was the doctor. She had been standing by just in case she was needed. Checking on the young girl hourly to see how she was doing. It was well known that different people reacted to being stunned differently. For a human, it was pretty easy to predict how they would react, thanks to having a large data pool. This meant they could be treated for the side effects easily With aliens though they had significantly less data points making their reactions hard to predict. Which made treating them a much harder.
Pulling a scanner from her belt, she scanned the girl. Finding the problem pretty quickly she selected a drug and loaded it into an injector. She brought the injector to the girl¡¯s neck, while the second guard helped her by holding her still. When she pressed the button, the injector automatically sanitized the site, and desensitized it before the needle punctured her skin and entered the vein. Releasing the complex mixture that would alleviate the girls symptoms. After releasing the medicine the needle was retracted and it finished up with a microburst from the builtin regeneration laser closing the small hole the needle made. The doctor then cleaned up the injector and put it away. The modern injector, was a complicated little device that had replaced the needles and syringes of old. It was far easier and more convenient to use, which was the chief reason it became so popular among doctors. The device was even equipped with micro sensors that helped ensure that it wouldn¡¯t miss the vein. The use of a micro regeneration laser eliminated the need for bandages after use.
After putting away the bandage, the doctor turned to the guard, and said, ¡°Bring me a chair. You can wait outside if you like. She should be okay in a couple of minutes.¡±
¡°What happened? Prisoners don¡¯t normally wake up screaming,¡± said the guard.
¡°Stun sickness, most cases aren¡¯t this severe. She should recover in a couple of days, but she will need regular injections until then. Also don¡¯t stun her, right now it will kill her,¡± replied the doctor not bothering to fully explain sun sickness, since she knew the guard wouldn¡¯t understand it. Nor did she bother explaining that if the stun sickness was left untreated there was a high chance she would die.
The guard left and brought back a chair before taking a position outside the cell. The young Valorian settled down a few minutes later. The pain significantly reduced and the nausea having diminished greatly within a couple minutes of the drug taking effect. She had barely registered her environment when the doctor asked her a question using a translator.
¡°Feeling better?¡±
¡°Yes,¡± replied the girl.
¡°I¡¯m Amanda and you are?¡± said the Doctor Amanda, deciding to keep things informal.
¡°Sali. Do you know why I¡¯m feeling so terrible?¡±
¡°Stun sickness, a rather severe case I¡¯m afraid. You should be fine in a couple of days, but you will need regular injections every four hours. Try not to get stunned again that will kill you,¡± said Amanda.
Sali didn¡¯t like what she had just heard. She had always heard that being stunned sucked, but she never thought it could feel so bad. Then she started looking around taking in her cell, and then her change of outfit. The only thing she was wearing was a simple cut, white dress that stopped halfway towards her knees. The dress had absolutely no decorations, but at least it covered her. Thanks to the medicine she could also tell that she wasn¡¯t wearing anything else just the dress.
¡°Why am I wearing this?¡± said Sali concerned about what her change of clothes indicated. The fact that she had been striped and dressed in something else while she was unconscious disturbed her.
¡°It is a commonly called a prisoner¡¯s slip. They¡¯re issued to prisoners as soon as they arrive in any prison or brig. As for your clothes and belongings those were confiscated,¡± replied Amanda.
¡°Can I get them back?¡± asked Sali.
¡°Not unless you manage to get yourself released. Just keep in mind you won¡¯t get all of your belongings back. Just the harmless stuff,¡± said one of the guards answering her question. Sali noted the answer and started considering what she had learned so far. In her current state escaping this brig was a bad idea. The other problem was the internal layout of this ship was a complete mystery to her. Even if she could somehow get out of the brig, she had absolutely no idea where to go to get off this ship. It didn¡¯t take long for her to come to the conclusion that she was going to be here awhile. Which meant she would have to learn how to survive as a prisoner in this alien society at least until she either figured out how to escape, or was rescued. So she decided to ask a critical question that she had been delaying.
¡°What are my rights here?¡± asked Sali worried about what they would say. It was one of the guards that answered her.
¡°Ah yes, we almost forgot. Normally you would have been informed before you ended up in a cell. However you were unconscious at the time. Anyway as a prisoner you are only afforded the most basic of rights,¡± said the guard before describing her rights.
As it turned out basic rights weren¡¯t as bad as feared when she first heard that. In fact they were better than what she heard from rumors about some alien worlds. She was guaranteed food and water, clothing, and basic medical care to name a few. Then there was the privileges system she was informed about. Apparently things like hot water in the shower were a privilege that she would have to earn. After a while, she got the gist of things and it wasn¡¯t long before the doctor left her cell. Before the guards locked her cell, one of them came in and released the thin chain holding her to the wall, but not before telling her about her upcoming trial and warning her about the grid.
Alone in the cell, she started to look around. The bathroom if you could call it that was simple and functional in design. Everything in there was bolted down. The sink had a built in soap dispenser and on the wall next to it was surprisingly silent air dryer. Everything was triggered by built in sensors, including the toilet. The thing of most interest were three little buttons with writing, she couldn¡¯t read, on them in a panel over the sink. She decide not to touch them. The table on the other side of the room was interesting, it was a simple metal table bolted to the wall. That wasn¡¯t the part she found interesting though, no it was the odd symbols on the left side of the table that interested her. Also on the left side was a panel, but this on only has one button.
Leaving the table behind she went back to the bed and sat down. Having looked around she had found that the designers designed everything for function and practicality. The bed was not the most comfortable bed she had been on, but it was comfortable enough, well barely. Her thoughts turned back to escape. The trial would help her learn a bit about the layout but not enough for an escape. The biggest hurdle though would be getting out of her cell. The entrance being a charged grid of metal that crisscrossed at a diagonal angle presented a problem. The gaps were too small for her to reach through without getting shocked, and even if she could reach through them she couldn¡¯t see the controls. Which meant she would need a tool to get through, one small enough to conceal, insulated to protect her from shock and capable of cutting through the bars. Which led her to another problem, where was she going to get said tool.
She could try going through the guards when they opened the door, but she doubted that would go over well. They were armored, and had weapons. They also outnumbered her, which is why she didn¡¯t see herself getting very far with that method. Then her thoughts turned to the trial she had coming up. She knew next to nothing about their laws and justice system. She wasn¡¯t going to put all her cards into escape. The trial represented an opportunity to get out of here with any luck she could get herself a light sentence and be out of here quickly. For that she would need to ask some questions, but the trial looked more promising at the moment.
Some time later on the bridge Countryman was talking with Megumi Richards on the ship¡¯s comms.
¡°The engines seem to be holding up for now, but the heat is building faster than before. We should be fine for a while, but I am going to have to keep a close eye on the engines,¡± said Megumi.
¡°Well, how are the mines coming along?¡± said Countryman.
¡°We have rearmed and readied about 20,000 already, sir. Another 20,000 will be ready in ten minutes,¡± said Megumi. The Enterprise only had a single mine disperser but she had two bays filled with mines. Those bays could each hold, thanks to the small size of a mine, half a million mines. These mines had been of great use during the war. Each mine carried a high yield fusion warhead of a gigaton each. Equipped with a form of spatial shielding that allowed it to pass through warp fields, unfortunately the same field was incompatible with shield penetrators which meant they couldn¡¯t bypass shields. Still they didn¡¯t need to since they were often enough of them at any given point in a minefield to overwhelm the shields of target.
Of course they had never been tested at warp speeds. This would be the first time they would ever be used at warp, and the first that they would need to pass through two warp bubbles. Which is why he was having their spatial shielding buffed up. The shielding was basically a micro warp coil generating their own bubble around the mine. It was two weak to be any use against weapons, but when passing through a warp field it generates interference that allows the mine to go through. These mines contributed greatly to the war by slowing the Cathamari advance by forcing them to navigate the Sol system at sublight speeds. Countryman was hoping they would help slow the Valorian fleet and buy them extra time.
Turning towards the tactical stations he spoke to Kaori. ¡°Start deploying the mines, pattern Delta four Alpha,¡± ordered Countryman.
Seconds later on the underside of the secondary hull, a pair of armored plates slide aside allowing a small disk to descend a short distance below the hull. The disk had eight openings along the edge that were short and flat barrels designed to launch mines. The device was the only mine disperser the Enterprise was carrying. It spun up and started firing the mines according to the pattern Countryman ordered. The mines had an onboard micro thruster to stabilize themselves in their intended position, and to later accelerate them towards a target.
It took only moments for a minefield to start forming, and in less than a minute the Valorians started hitting the mines. Something that surprised them greatly, but they recovered nicely. Firing their pulse cannons through their warp field to create a flak screen. While the bolts were scattered going through the warp field, that didn¡¯t matter since they were just creating a flak screen. Still they lost a number of ships to the mines before they started creating the flak screen. The flak screen helped but not entirely plenty of mines got through the screen.
The Commander watched on her screens as one of her cruisers exploded, her flak screen wasn¡¯t stopping enough mines to protect them entirely. Fortunately they weren¡¯t shield piercing, but there were enough of them that they were overwhelming the shields of her ships.
¡°Have you figured out how those things, are hitting us at warp?¡± asked the commander.
¡°Not exactly, sir. As far as I can tell they are generating some sort of spatial field which allows them to pass right through our warp fields,¡± said one of her engineers.
¡°Can you block them somehow? I would rather not see another ship go up in flames,¡± said the commander.
¡°Maybe, but it would require messing with the warp field. In fact a theory about how they are passing through the warp field just occurred to me. Give me a few minutes and I might be able to reduce the effectiveness of their mines,¡± said the engineer before turning back to her console. As she worked on modifying the warp field, a few more ships went up in flames. Explosions at warp speed were little strange looking, they did not seem to be spherical but stretched washing against the ships behind them. After a few minutes she sent out her modifications to the fleet. It took the fleet a couple of minutes to implement them, but once they did the amount passing through their warp fields dropped significantly.
¡°Looks like your modification is working, what did you do?¡± asked the commander.
¡°Remember that process of folding space creates intense spatial disruption around the ship?¡± asked the engineer.
¡°Yes, it''s why combat at warp is considered a practical impossibility. Torpedoes are normally useless and energy weapon blasts are thrown off course. What does this have to do with what you did?¡± said the Commander.
¡°It occurred to me, that they were also folding space, but with a different purpose and on a much smaller scale. Their spatial shielding is designed to interfere with a warp field and create a stable zone around the mine. Thereby allowing it to bypass the warp field intact and on course. I created an interference pattern in the field to disrupt that process, but it only appears to be about forty five percent effective. Anyway what they are doing with those mines is quite interesting. The possibilities that tech represents are intriguing to say the least,¡± said the engineer.
¡°That¡¯s nice I¡¯m going to stop you here, we have more important things to worry about. Than the possibilities an alien tech might represent,¡± said the commander as she turned back to keeping her ships alive as long as possible, while the ship they were chasing was creating a massive minefield in their path. She briefly wondered about how many of these mines they had.
Countryman watched on the scanners as the rate they were losing ships dropped again. Still they had managed to sink over two thousand ships over the minutes they had been deploying the mines. Now it didn¡¯t seem they working well enough to further justify their use.
¡°Kaori, stop deploying the mines. It looks like they figured out the trick and found a defense,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Aye, sir stopping mine deployment.¡± said Kaori. An hour later they were almost to the Velosa cluster, when Richards called the bridge.
¡°Sir, the engine heat is getting pretty bad down here. We are seeing the early signs of system failure we need to shut down the engines soon or we risk permanent engine damage,¡± said Richards. Countryman tapped his controls and checked their eta for the cluster¡¯s perimeter before replying.
¡°Can they hold out for another seven minutes?¡± asked Countryman. Richards took a few seconds to respond.
¡°They will, sir, but not by much,¡± replied Richards.
¡°Prepare to open the vents, and batten down the hatches. Set condition red, all hands to battlestations. Misaki status of the Valorian fleet,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Aye, sir. Readying the vents, and sealing all view ports,¡± said Richards.
¡°The Valorian fleet is four minutes behind us, but they aren¡¯t doing any better than we are with the heat. Some of them have already dropped out of warp. The others all have massive heat signatures, I expect they will be forced to drop out of warp around the same time we are,¡± reported Misaki as alarms started sounding and the status lights turned red.
Down in the brig, Sali was startled awake by the alarms going off. She had fallen asleep at some point during the last couple of hours. Looking around she saw no one, and the twin set of horizontal light strips across the hall from her cell, that had been a steady blue were now flashing red. It was couple moments later when a guard pair walked by. She asked them a question about what was going on.
¡°None of your concern,¡± was their reply leaving her effectively in the dark. Then suddenly she heard the distinctive hum of the engines cut out followed by a jolt, which she wasn¡¯t ready for and she fell on her butt. ¡°I don¡¯t think there dampers are all that efficient, I guess they must have been forced out of warp. Which means the fleet must have caught up with them. With any luck they would rescue her.,¡± thought Sali, not realizing that the dampers were actually on minimal power and the jolt wasn¡¯t from the ship being forced out of warp. The jolt was from them hitting a small space rock just big enough to give the Enterprise a jolt but not so big that it could damage the ship. The rock having crumbled on impact, while not even leaving a scratch. Since most of the energy was simply absorbed by the ships armor.
It was several minutes later that the fleets forward elements caught up with the Enterprise some distance into the dust clouds that encompassed the entire region. The clouds weren¡¯t yet thick enough here to inhibit sensor ranges very much. Making it easy for the forward battlegroups to find and catch up to the Enterprise. Valorian ships while not as maneuverable as the Enterprise or her sunken escorts were faster at sublight speeds. As soon as they caught up they opened fire on the Enterprise.
The distinctive red pulse of their cannons impacting the hull harmlessly. As the destroyers closed to torpedo range. The moment the destroyers were in range they fired their torpedoes. Most were destroyed when they tried to penetrate the Enterprise¡¯s energy web. A few struck the hull draining the armor. In her cell, Sali felt the jolts of the impacts of the torpedoes. Causing her to curse slightly, while wondering what the hell was going on out there. Then she heard voice over the comms, ¡°all hands brace for imminent pulse detonation, in five ...¡±
Hearing the word brace she immediately braced herself, while muttering to herself, ¡°What in Valoria do they mean by pulse detonation?¡± Something she found out a moment later when the countdown hit zero. This time she felt, a powerful jolt from the sudden and rapid acceleration that the dampers didn¡¯t fully compensate for since they were not at full power. Normally this amount of acceleration wouldn¡¯t faze her, since it was normal during fighter maneuvers. Primarily since fighter dampers weren¡¯t as efficient as ship dampers, which meant fighter pilots could expect up to nine gs of internal acceleration. Thanks to her stun sickness and her nausea which the medicine hadn¡¯t fully eliminated she ended up losing her lunch. Then there was another jolt, equally strong that she wasn¡¯t expecting. As she thought the pulse detonation would mean just one jolt. So she had let go of the bed after the first. As a result she was slammed into a wall.
She was just getting of the floor, when she heard a voice announcing another pulse detonation. She hurried back to her bed, and braced herself for another jolt. Saying to herself, ¡°What are they doing out there?¡± This time after the first jolt she didn¡¯t let go. Each time she thought they were about to stop, another was announced. By the time it finally stopped she was miserable, her arms hurt, she was sore all over and she had lost her grip three times being slammed into a wall each time. One of those times tossed her into the grid. Which hurt a lot, after being tossed into the grid, she braced herself near the toilet hoping that spot would be better. That area proved better and she managed to hold her grip better.
Afraid she would be hit with another strong jolt though she stayed their keeping her grip. After awhile when no further jolts came she let go, and moved over towards the three buttons. She had ignored them earlier since she didn¡¯t know what they did. Two of the buttons were grouped together on the left, and were colored blue. The third was on the right and colored red. She need someone here, her cell was a mess and she felt terrible. Guessing the more solitary button to be a panic button or something along those lines she pressed it. Something she figured the cell had since there weren¡¯t guards outside her cell at all times. A computerized voice immediately told her that a guard would be with her shortly. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
She heard the guard before she saw him.
¡°So what is the emer... Oh I see. I¡¯ll get some cleaning supplies up here, a change of clothes and your doctor to check you out,¡± said the guard before making a few calls on his personal comms. A minute later another guard joined him carrying cleaning supplies along with the change in clothes.. Which were nothing more than a scrub brush, two rags, some soap and a large bucket of warm water with three partitions. Doctor Amanda appeared about a minute later.
The guards opened the cell and let her in before placing the supplies by the door inside the cell. Amanda came up to her, and scanned her. Sali hadn¡¯t left the cell¡¯s poor excuse for a bathroom. Instead she had merely sat down on the floor.
¡°A few bruises, some micro fractures but nothing serious,¡± said Amanda as she pulled something from her hip pack.
¡°What is that?¡± asked Sali.
¡°Nano injector, it will fix you up quite nicely and quickly,¡± said Amanda. Just before she used it on Sali. It took a couple of minutes, before she was feeling better. The first thing she noticed were her bruises vanishing and then the pain started to go as well. After about three minutes she was feeling the way she was before she was thrown about the cell.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll leave you to cleaning your cell,¡± said Amanda before leaving the cell. Sali wanted to say she hadn¡¯t seen that coming, but she had. When the guard was telling her about her rights, he had also informed her of some of her responsibilities. One of which was that she was expected to keep her own cell clean. So she went for the supplies and grabbed the brush, and started cleaning her cell. Under the supervision of the guards, even being required to clean up what ended up outside the cell. When she was finely done one of the guards walked in, and placed the change of clothes, which was just another prisoners slip, on the small sink counter and gave her plastic bag.
¡°Clean yourself up, and place your clothes in this,¡± said the guard. This wasn¡¯t something she had expected, but fortunately the guard was leaving the cell. She pulled the bucket over towards the bathroom, and positioned it so she could use and get the most privacy. Not that she had much, something she would probably have to get used to. Using the spare rag, she had fortunately not used, she cleaned her self up using the now almost cold water, in the third partition she had also not used, fortunately. Once she was reasonably clean, she slipped on the new dress which was identical to the old one, minus the stains from her lunch. As she was turning over the bag to the guard, she noticed the lights were blue again.
¡°What do those lights mean?¡± asked Sali as she handed the bag over.
¡°Those are the alert status lights. Blue is condition normal, while Red means battlestations. You don¡¯t really need to worry about them, but you should probably brace yourself for a few jolts when those lights are red,¡± said the guard to her left.
¡°It would have been nice to know that earlier. Is there anything else I might need to know?¡± asked Sali.
¡°Well, not really,¡± said the guard, just as the other guard closed the cell door, pulling the used supplies with him. The two left soon after the door closed. Leaving her standing in the cell with no idea what was going on, yet again. The only thing she really knew was that they had been in battle with someone, and since she was still here they must have won.
Around the same time the Commander was waiting for the rest of her fleet to gather. While rewatching the brief battle with the Enterprise, before she had slipped away into the clouds. Intelligence had informed her they had some kind of hypermobility drive. However the file she read had said they were believed to only be capable of three consecutive jumps, not twenty seven.
She knew they weren¡¯t really jumps, they only looked like they were jumping. It was really a massive burst of extreme acceleration, followed by an equally extreme burst of deceleration. Which meant they must have good inertial dampers to handle it. The energy needed for it was also likely to be quite high. Which she guessed the could afford to use having nearly emptied an entire fuel depot. They had enough fuel onboard to power an entire fleet for a year. She had no idea how long that fuel would last that ship.
All of this meant that she needed a better plan to deal with that mobility of theirs. If not she might lose the entire fleet. She also would need to find them something easier said than done. Especially here in the Valosa cluster. After ripping apart her forward elements in a matter of minutes they had set course deeper in the cluster, and disappeared from sensors. By now they had likely gone to warp. She had an knew what to look for, in order to find them. They had learned some time ago, that their ships generated a fairly large number of gravitons. Which meant all she had to look for were unusual graviton concentrations. Not that knowing what to look for helped her much in this place.
¡°Sir, the rest of the fleet had rendezvous with us, shall I set a return course for New Valoria?¡± said her first officer.
¡°As much as I want give that order I can¡¯t. Split the fleet into battle groups and establish a search grid. We are going to find that ship, and no battlegroup is to engage the enemy if the find them. We will keep in constant contact, so we can close when we find them and engage them simultaneously,¡± said the commander.
¡°Why can¡¯t you give that order? We lost them, and are clearly outmatched we should return to base,¡± said her first officer.
¡°You haven¡¯t considered the political ramifications. The incident at New Valoria, will have massive repercussions throughout the quadrant. The events at New Valoria reflect badly on our military. We must find and destroy, or better yet capture that ship to lessen the impact. If we don¡¯t there will be war,¡± said the commander.
¡°What if we are destroyed? Wouldn¡¯t that be worse?¡± asked the first officer.
¡°We must take the risk, the confederation is not ready for war. Our fleet is stretched too thin, and I fear the new ships the council ordered might not be ready in time for the war. As it was, our relations with the Krall had already taken a turn for the worse last year. The intel update I got an hour ago, mentioned that we now stand at the brink of war with the Malora, the Voskar and the Toral Confederacy. The Krall have increased their border patrols but they don¡¯t seem to be preparing for war just yet. Command wants that ship destroyed, or captured. They believe it to be our only chance at averting a multifront war. We have five months to find that ship, and take care of it, since command expects us to be at war within the next six months. I am not however going to have us stay out here that long, if we don¡¯t find them in the next three months we¡¯re going home,¡± said the Fleet Commander.
¡°I guess I can live with that,¡± said the first officer.yy
Captain¡¯s log June 29th 004 SDE,
The last week has been fairly uneventful if you don¡¯t count the anomalies. If you do, than the three plasma storms that hit us over the week are the only real event. The Valorian charts weren¡¯t kidding about this being the perfect place to hide. Sensor are practically useless in this thick soup. In open space you can normally pinpoint a star system hundreds of lightyears away and determine some of its basic characteristics, such as the number of planets. Here you can barely even see them, from seven light years away and forget learning anything about them without visiting them. Well, you could learn some things like mineral composition without entering the system, but you have to get close enough. Right now, we are currently tracking a plasma storm that we expect will hit us sometime tomorrow. This one is a class three a little stronger than the previous storms, so we are expecting a little turbulence when it hits, but nothing we can¡¯t handle.
Inside the ship, though the week has been a little more interesting. The upcoming trial for the Valorian we capture is the talk of the ship. I assigned Reia to be her legal council for the trial, and she has been reading up on our legal codes. She told she is going to talk with the young girl today, who I believe is name Sali. I have heard she has been well behaved down in the brig. As for the trial I¡¯m still not decided on her sentence. Nor have I figured out what I¡¯ll have her do during her stay in our brig. The only thing I am certain about is that she won¡¯t be leaving the ship. I think I¡¯ll visit her myself later, and ask her about her skills.
Reia hesitated briefly before entering the brig. She didn¡¯t entirely feel ready to meet the girl who she was supposed to council. Honestly part of these hesitation was because she felt that she should have at least spoken to the girl earlier. Entering the brig she found it to be far larger than she expected, but given the size of the ship, she should have expected. She crossed the corridor and knocked on the only normal door in the brig she had seen so far, which had a guard standing on either side. The response was immediate, and she entered the office of the guard captain.
The guard captain was a middle aged woman, with a distinguished appearance. Unlike the other guards she wasn¡¯t wearing her armor. Instead it was on display to her left, ready to be equipped in a moments notice. She was wearing a standard uniform instead. The woman was clearly doing paperwork on her terminal, but she looked up and smiled politely before saying, ¡°Ah Advisor Reia, I have been expecting you. You want see Prisoner Sali, yes?¡±
¡°Yes, mamm. Is there a room I can use or will I be meeting her in a cell?¡± asked Reia.
¡°I¡¯ll have the guards show you to the meeting room, I set up for you. Sali will be there in a few minutes,¡± said the guard captain. A minute later a guard showed up, after she pushed a button on her desk. The guard was also nice and led her to her meeting room. Which was placed near the center of the brig area with several other meeting rooms.
Sali was asleep when her cell door opened and a guard woke her. Which surprised her the cell wasn¡¯t normally opened and when it was it was usually in the evening. Those times in the evening they escorted her to a shower room, where she was allowed a cold shower. The first time she got a cold shower she met a couple of other female prisoners. She wasn¡¯t allowed to talk to them, so she didn¡¯t know why they were imprisoned. As for the door opening, by her reckoning it wasn¡¯t even breakfast yet and was still early morning ship time. Which was very odd for the cell being opened. She couldn¡¯t be sure of the exact time since she wasn¡¯t given the luxury of a clock. One thing she did know for certain is the wake up call hadn¡¯t sounded. Which is why she knew something was up.
Pushing herself off the metal bed, she got up and turned towards the guards. Before she could even ask the one who woke her told her that she was to follow them. He then pushed her gently towards the door. Being escorted like this was nothing new to her. She passed a number of cells, most of which were empty. A few had occupants who were still asleep, what they had done to get in here she had no idea. Then suddenly it occurred to her that her early wake up call and escort might be due to her trial. She was really hoping that she wasn¡¯t being escorted to the trail. She still knew nothing about what to expect at the trial. She had asked the guards, but they had simply ignored the question.
After passing several rows of cells, turning a number of corners, even passing a few shower rooms and the occasional guard post. Not seeing any guards outside the rooms seemed odd. They reached an area that had actual proper doors in it. She hadn¡¯t seen those the entire time she was here. She was led to the third door on her right, the guard in front of her opened the door. Then the other guard shoved her in, causing her to stumble a bit. By the time she recovered her balance the door was already closed.
Looking around she found herself in a room, that was bit larger than her cell. The only furniture in the room was a table and a few chairs bolted to the floor. The chairs looked to be far more comfortable than the one in her cell. What drew her eye the most, was the presence of another Valorian in the room. At first she thought the other woman was a prisoner as well, but that thought only lasted until she noticed that she wasn¡¯t wearing prisoner¡¯s garb.
¡°Hello Sali, I¡¯m Reia and have been assigned as your legal council,¡± said Reia, while signalling she should sit down.
¡°Does that mean you are getting me out of here?¡± asked Sali hopefully as she sat down. The chair was just as comfortable as it looked
¡°I can¡¯t get you out of here, and if you are thinking of escaping I would recommend against it,¡± said Reia.
¡°Why can''t you?¡± asked Sali disappointment in her voice.
¡°I¡¯m here to help you get the best sentence at your trial, not break you out. As for a break out, don¡¯t even try it. You¡¯ll just end up making things worse, and even if you succeed in getting out of the brig you won¡¯t make it off the deck,¡± said Reia, and then before Sali could respond Reia said, ¡°Now then at the trial, I recommend you plead guilty to the charges, they have both video and eyewitness testimony to your crimes. As the charges go, the only one you will have to worry about is the one involving trying to blow up your fighter. The other two are of far lesser value and won¡¯t really affect your sentence.¡±
¡°What kind of sentence am I looking at?¡± asked Sali dreadfully. The answer proved not to her liking when Reia told it was ten years minimum. She already hated this brig and she found herself dreading the idea of spending the next ten years of her life in an alien brig.
¡°Can¡¯t you get me out earlier than that?¡± asked Sali, but without much hope.
¡°No, but their legal code contains an early release system. If you are on good behavior throughout your sentence, you might be released after a review of your case, which should happen every two years after the first, which for a ten year sentence will happen during your third year,¡± said Reia. Sali brightened when she heard that, it gave her a little hope she could get out earlier. The next couple of hours were followed by a great deal of talk on her upcoming trial. Which then switched to learning about each other.
¡°So how long have you been aboard?¡± asked Sali.
¡°It''s been about three years since I came aboard,¡± replied Reia.
¡°Three years? You must have some interesting stories to tell. How did you first days go here?¡± asked Sali.
¡°They were awkward, I made so many social blunders, thanks to not knowing anything, that any conversation outside a military setting ended awkwardly. Then I also miscalculated my rations that first month, and didn¡¯t leave enough for me to eat the entire month. I ended up running out, during the last week of the month. I was too embarrassed at the time to actually ask for help, so I ended up starving for the last few days of the week. That was no fun at all, which is why after that I always made sure I had enough ration credits in reserve to last the month,¡± said Reia answering the question.
¡°How did you end up starving yourself?¡± asked Sali
¡°Well, I was trying their food back then, and I ordered one too many of the more expensive options that month. So how about you? How was your first week here?¡± asked Reia.
¡°Terrible, and boring. Stun sickness is far worse that what people say. You know all they would serve me was flavorless gruel the first couple of days I was here. When they finally gave me proper solid food, it was still pretty flavorless. Just some kind of grain with no flavor, and a fish that needs something. What sucked the most was being thrown about the cabin, especially being tossed into the bars,¡± said Sali.
Reia chuckled a bit and replied, ¡°I heard about that, you know you are the only person to get thrown around that day. Did you even use the bracing bar on the bed?¡±
¡°I, uh, lost my grip on it,¡± said Sali.
¡°Maybe you need a children¡¯s harness,¡± suggest Reia.
Just before Sali could reject that idea, she was bounced by a small jolt. Just enough to lift her barely two centimeters out of her chair, and drop. Soon followed by other small jolts. Sali glanced at the alert lights in the room which were still a solid blue.
¡°Looks like that plasma storm we were expecting hit,¡± said Reia.
¡°Plasma storm? Wait we aren¡¯t in the Velosa Cluster are we?¡± asked Sali mentioning the only place she knew of that had tendency of being hit by plasma storms and was reasonably close to New Valoria.
¡°I can¡¯t answer that,¡± said Reia.
¡°Somehow I expected that answer,¡± replied Sali, then she asked question no one had answered for her, ¡°I have been wondering for a while, but why is the brig so dark?
¡°It¡¯s not just the brig, but the whole ship. They keep the lighting at minimal across the board. I know it takes some getting used to,¡± replied Reia, just as there was a knock on the door. Reia responded to the knock saying, ¡°Come in.¡± a moment later the door opened to admit the Captain. Countryman walked to the nearest chair and sat down next to Sali.
¡°Hello, there Sali is it? I¡¯m Countryman, captain of this ship and I will be the judge for your trial,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I didn¡¯t expect to meet the captain here in the brig. Why are you here?¡± said Sali.
¡°Well, you should have. I normally inspect the brig every three to four months with the occasional surprise inspection. However today I¡¯m here to see you. I assume Reia has already covered the trial, is that correct?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Yes, she did and she was pretty clear about the way things will go,¡± said Sali.
¡°Well, in cases like yours where the result is so cut and dry, the sentence is often decided beforehand. Which is why I am here. I am going to ask you some questions, that will help me decide your sentence...¡± said Countryman than Sali interrupted.
¡°Wait are you saying my sentence is going to be decided today?¡± said Sali.
¡°No, it will be decided during our next session on wednesday, that''s the day after tomorrow. You will need to have your defense ready by then. However if you are ready with it now, we can decide it today. As for your trial it is scheduled for next monday. But if we can decide your sentence today we can move it up to Friday,¡± said Countryman. The idea of getting her trial out of the way faster appealed to her, but she didn¡¯t have her defense ready so she said so. Over the next hour and a half she was asked a lot of questions. Mostly about her skill set and experience. One of the questions was if she had a prior criminal record, which she made the mistake of lying about.
¡°Actually you do, your full name is Sali of Clan Arimae, correct?¡± said Countryman. Sali nodded since that was her name, and she found herself wondering how they knew her clan name.
¡°Our contacts gave us some information about you, including your record. It''s mostly minor pranks. The most serious crime here is a case of theft, when you broke into your commanding officer¡¯s quarters and stole her entire wardrobe. Apparently you served a month in the brig for that,¡± said Countryman.
¡°But that was ten years ago! I don¡¯t even have a prior record here, why would my record in the confederation matter. Besides they were just pranks!,¡± replied Sali.
¡°They matter because the reveal your character and your lying just now doesn¡¯t reflect well on your character. The pranks don¡¯t matter so much, you were a teenager at the time. Teens can often be pretty stupid, you were just testing your limits then. Anyway that concludes our session. I¡¯ll see you again on wednesday,¡± said Countryman before he left. Turning to Reia who was still there, she said, ¡°I think I just made a mistake.¡±
¡°You did, but it was a minor one. Just try not to get caught in a lie again. Anyway it''s about time you get back to your cell,¡± said Reia as she moved to leave the room. Sali hesitated about leaving her seat, but she did and left the room. Where she was promptly escorted to her cell by the guards. Where she found the breakfast she missed waiting for her.
Captain''s log July 6th 004 SDE,
We have entered a small system in a particularly dense region of the cluster. The soup is so thick here that we can barely see more than a couple of lightyears. Our initial survey of the system turned up four planets and several asteroid fields. Including one large gas giant, two planets in the habitable zone, both very cold, and a molten world that is two close to the system primary. Of the two planets in the habitable zone the one closer to the star has liquid water, while the other only has frozen water. Which is why we are in orbit of the second planet. Our initial survey reveals it be a harsh place to try and establish a colony. Most of the surface is covered by ice, with limited vegetation found mostly near the equator. Most of the liquid water also being near the equator. Geothermal activity has created warm regions in chains across the surface where life has managed to take hold. Our scans have found decent veins of minerals across the surface, that could fuel a colony. However it maybe worth it to establish a colony here, and the current ecosystem won¡¯t be a problem it will take time, but we can terraform the planet. Furthermore it is isolated enough that we should be safe enough to rebuild.
As for today¡¯s trial the details have all been worked out. It will start at mid afternoon and by evening the sentence will be officially announced. She¡¯s a nice girl, while unfortunate she will be spending some of her best years in a cell. Outside of being a pilot she doesn¡¯t have a good skill set. So for the work portion of her sentence, I¡¯ll have her assigned to the factories making civilian goods.
Countryman was reviewing the latest survey data, when Megumi walked up to him.
¡°Sir, I think we should land the ship. There are several good sites for landing I have found. This planet represents a good place to conduct some much needed maintenance, I need to patch the engines, and inspect the hull plating. Normally I would do all of that in space, but with this dust cloud. It could cause problems if dust got into any of the connections when I expose the engines. Also Kaori would like to see you in lab twenty seven with one of the younger scientists. I think his name was Paul, or was it his twin Al. I can never tell which one is which with those two,¡± said Megumi.
¡°I have hard time telling the difference as well, you just have to notice the subtle differences,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I¡¯ll try to work on that, next time I¡¯m in the same room as the pair,¡± replied Megumi. Then Countryman went to work landing the ship. As soon as he gave the order to land the status lights turned green, and a general announcement for landing stations went out. It took only a couple of minutes to land the ship on one of the sites Megumi had recommended. The area was a nice flat ice field. To the west of the ship were some cliffs, hills and mountains. While to the east and north was more flat land. Well mostly flat, there were the occasional hill or depression in the land. To the south was a shore, where cold water lapped at a barren shoreline.
After landing Countryman gave Megumi the go ahead for the maintenance, before heading down to lab twenty seven to see Kaori and the scientist that want to see him. It took mere moments for the lift to deposit him on deck 23. The deck was primarily labs and living quarters for the scientists. There were additional labs on other decks, with the majority of the other labs on deck 102. The labs not on those decks were attached to the hangers and intended for studying captured alien ships. Countryman had been on this deck many times, mostly for inspections or to see a scientist about his or her project report and demonstration. As such he already knew exactly where to go to reach his destination. Taking only a few minutes to reach lab twenty seven.
The lab was a midsized lab, near the door was a workstation, that is shielded by a clear, reinforced polymer material. In front of it by about a meter was a particle cannon the casing loosely mounted and aimed at a simulator plate on the far side of the room. The simulator plate was a large metal plate designed to simulate different types of armor. The thickness and material could be changed from a flip of a switch at the workstation. Right now it looked set to simulate overlord armor for a light cruiser around five meters thick. The lab had a two backdoors the one on the left contained weapon parts and spare cannons stored, while the other contained another workstation and a fabricator for weapons research. The two he was looking for were at the workstation. A couple of quick steps and he joined them.
¡°So what did you two want to see me about?¡± asked Countryman. The two turned around and Kaori explained, ¡°Sir, remember the C series particle cannon project?¡±
¡°Yes, I¡¯m carrying a C-2 prototype for the EX-94. The C series as I recall shows the best promise for range and firepower but is lacking in fire rate. Some versions fix the problem, only to suffer from overheating issues. What about it?¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Well,we have solved those issues. That cannon is our prototype version 57b. The original 57 developed on Earth showed amazing promise, but was originally abandoned in favor of the 58 for next generation bolt snipers due to several key issues. We integrated components based on both Valorian and Cathamari weapon design. The result is a cannon far superior and more reliable to the old 57. Armor penetration improved by a factor of ten, yield is up sixty seven percent. Range improved only slightly compared to the old 58, but if we upgrade the cannons on Enterprise our cannons will see a fifty percent increase in range. Fire rate will drop however by 100 bolts per minute,¡± said Al, who should probably wear a nametag.
¡°Interesting, well lets see it,¡± said Countryman. Al turned to the controls and a couple moments later the cannon fired a three round burst into the simulator plate. Three powerful blue bolts slammed into the plate one after the other leaving a large hole in the plate.
¡°The cannon was set to simulate a range of twenty thousand kilometers, and as you can see it ripped right through that plate. Our current cannons would have been stopped by that armor,¡± said Al.
¡®Impressive, what about our beams, have you made any improvements with them?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Yes, sir, we managed to increase their range, power, and focus. While also improving their recharge rate and increasing their firing time. We based the improvements mostly off scans of Krall ship weapons, but some components were based off Cathamari weapons design. We were not able to lase the beam like the Krall do with their plasma beams, but we did manage to replicate the shield penetration effect their beams have. Albeit at a far lesser degree, according to simulations we can expect a twelve percent shield penetration rate on a ship with average shields. Whereas the Krall can expect upwards of eighty percent shield penetration against the same ship,¡± said Al then he continued, ¡°Anyway, sir. Thanks to our increasing knowledge of alien plasma weaponry it might be possible to design one of our own. It will take years with our limited resources and we can only follow one of the paths we are familiar with. At least for now,¡± said Al.
¡°Interesting, what are the options along with their strengths and weaknesses? Also I would like a demonstration of the new beam cannons,¡± said Countryman. Kaori immediately went about setting that up, while Al answered the question.
¡°We have three paths open to us, the first one is the Cathamari path.These are inelegant brute force weapons, they have superb power and a decent fire rate. The downside is these weapons generate a lot of heat, are bulky and suffer from limited range. Honestly they are not much more sophisticated than a plasma thrower. The next is path is the Valorian route for design. Weapons like theirs have superb range and fire rate, but are lacking in power. The reason for this lack of power is due to the fact that the decaying disruption field they use cannot contain a large amount of plasma.
The last path would be the difficult since we have the less data on Krall weapons. but if we pursue similar weapons design, we could see powerful, highly accurate long range weapons with a decent punch. As near as we can tell they use some kind of spatial field manipulation along with a modulated energy pulse to guide and contain the plasma. The downside is their weapons take longer to charge, and as such they have a lower fire rate,¡± said Al.
¡°As interesting as the options maybe, with our limited resources it might be best if we stick to particle weapons development for now. They have proven reliable and we have a lot of experience with them. Maybe we can revisit plasma weapons when we have more resources,¡± said Countryman. A couple minutes later Countryman watched the beam being tested. The mark two cutting beam they had simply sliced through the plate as if it was warm butter.
¡°Looks good, how complex are this modifications?¡±
¡°Not too complex, we can upgrade the entire weapons array to this standard in about ten days, sir,¡± said Al.
¡°Set up a field test, and if goes as well as the lab tests. Schedule the refit with Richards, we are currently on the ground so now would be a great time to update those weapons,¡± said Countryman as he checked the time. It was about time for the trial so he excused himself after the acknowledgement. Before he could leave Al gave him a pad, it was a project report on the Mark II Electro Cannon development project. He read it on the way to Sali¡¯s trial, the report basically said they were still in the simulation phase and had not yet moved on to prototype testing. They had found a promising design, but it had a materials issue. Simulations showed that the cannon would fail due to a breakdown of the conductor rails which charged the bolt. Usually on the first or second shot. The problem was the materials simply couldn¡¯t handle the energy being channeled through them by the new design. He made a few mental notes to have a materials research lab to partner with them and then put it away.
Meanwhile in one of the ship¡¯s lounges, Williams and several of her lackeys were gathered.
¡°That damn cyborg has done it again. He just landed the ship on a worthless ball of ice that isn¡¯t even worth considering as a colonization candidate, without the council''s authorization. At every turn he disregards the council, and he has them so wrapped around his finger that they let him. Not only that, but they refuse to even see reason, and replace him with a more proper captain,¡± said Williams.
¡°How are we going to do that? He basically has all the power on the ship,¡± said Sanchez.
¡°I have the support of a number of the top commanders. I wasn¡¯t able to get Forrest, but I don¡¯t need him. Now listen closely here is how we are going to do this,¡± said Williams.
Around the same time Eri, was taking advantage of the fact she didn¡¯t have to fly the ship to help the hanger crew, by testing one of the recently refitted fighters. This was an opportunity she had been looking forward to for awhile. She had been wanting to fly one of the 1204s since she had first laid eyes on one, and now she finally had her chance. She met Flight Leader Robert Meyers next to the fighter. She had already stopped by the locker room and changed into a flight suit. She had already taken some time to familiarize herself with the fighter so she was ready to fly.
¡°That flight suit, looks good on you. I will be flying a modified X-1205 behind you in case something goes wrong. Get in and double check the preflights,¡± said Flight leader Robert. The 1205 he mentioned and been outfitted with a mag tractor and outfitted so that a fighter could dock on her underside.
¡°Yes, sir,¡± relied Eri as she got into the fighter''s cockpit. She initiated the fighters startup sequence and began running the preflight checks. After double checking the sequence everything read green across the board. She reported it was green and moments later the flight crew cleared the hanger and she launched the fighter. A few seconds later the flight leader followed her out in his X-1205. Moments later she hailed his ship.
¡°So, Robert let''s do a few flights over the ship and then attempt a low altitude orbit before breaking atmosphere,¡± said Eri.
¡°Sounds like a plan,¡± replied Flight Leader Robert.
Soon they were winging out over the frozen ice field that surrounded the ship. Below she could see Megumi¡¯s workcrews already hard at work. Several groups were walking along the hull conducting a thorough inspection of the hull plating. While the majority of the workers were working on the engines which were already exposed. A repair arm being used to remove large damaged components and replace them with spares. They made several passes around the ship, before winging out along the equator. While keeping a close eye on the gauges, she watched the landscape. Below them they crossed small seas the occasional green spot, ice fields and frozen mountains. As they terrain passed below them rapidly, she was enjoying the fighter¡¯s excellent handling.
Before long they came up on the ship from the opposite direction they left from. A quick chat over the comms with Robert and the two pulled up and increased speed to break from orbit. Once in orbit, she opened the comms again.
¡°Looks like the engines check out fully. Let¡¯s move on to the weapons test,¡± said Eri.
¡°I saw a good spot for a weapons test out near the fourth planet. She has quite a bit of debris in orbit, which will make perfect target practice. We will fly out to the planet, and test your main guns first. Then we test your launchers, and see if their are any issues, that weren¡¯t found by the hanger crew,¡± said Roberts.
¡°Sounds like a good plan, setting a course for the fourth planet,¡± responded Eri. The two ships then made for the planet. Being some distance away it would take a few hours to reach their destination.
Back on the ship, Sali was sitting in her assigned seat for the trial. While she knew it was basically a formality. It had been an interesting experience so far. Still, she was looking forward to the sentencing phase that was coming up soon. Mostly because she would finally learn her what it will be. While she knew Countryman had already decided her sentence, she had to wait for the official announcement to know what it was. Which was why she was also extremely anxious, since in a few minutes her fate would be official.
Then she heard what she was waiting for the announcement that the sentencing phase would begin shortly. In the couple minutes she had to wait for the announcement, she was hoping she managed to get on of the lighter ones. She hated having nothing to do as well, so the cell was just terrible for her. Fortunately she didn¡¯t have to wait long before she heard Countryman announcing her sentence.
¡°For her crime of attempting to detonate a sabotaged reactor and firing on our shuttles, the war criminal Sali of clan Arimae has been sentenced to twelve years in the brig, and will be expected to labor in the factories producing civilian goods,¡± announced Countryman.
Sali didn¡¯t know how to feel about her sentence, she didn¡¯t manage to quite get the one she wanted. She did however get one on the light end of the spectrum. While she had been wanting something to do, she wasn¡¯t sure about working in a factory. She was still trying to sort her feelings out when a guard came over and rebound her wrists. Before proceeding to escort her out of his cell.
At the same moment, one of Williams lackys came up to Countryman and announced that he was summoned to a meeting with the officer¡¯s council. As the lacky, turned around to leave Countryman smiled, as he knew exactly about what this meeting was about. He had already noticed that William was making her move, pulling out a comm device he made his counter move. Alerting those loyal to him, that Williams was about to try something stupid.
Chapter XII Instability Part I
Countryman exited the lift on deck one, and could already here arguing in the conference room. As usual Williams had started another debate, and was trying to get him replaced. He never really understood why, she had managed to reach the rank of captain, but she couldn¡¯t accept things not going her way. He gave a quick nod to the guards guarding the door to the bridge, before entering the conference room. As he entered, Williams was calling the council a bunch of idiots. Countryman just shook his head for a moment and then walked to his seat and sat down without saying a thing. Looking around he could see all the officers on the council were present, and that he was the last to arrive. It was not the first time this happened, since Williams liked to call these sudden sessions while he was on his walks or inspecting the ship. Calling a council required the agreement of three members, or the approval of the council head. Since he was the head of the council, she always did it through her lackys on the council.
Several minutes passed while he just listened to her rant. He already knew what she was planning and knew nothing was going to happen here. She was just giving one last shot at convincing the council before trying to overthrow it. She just finished her rant and started looking around when she noticed him watching him.
¡°How long have you been here?¡± asked Williams.
¡°Since you said ¡®you¡¯re all idiots, leaving that cyborg in command is a foolish act.¡¯¡± replied Countryman, ¡°Anyway, we have been through this a thousand times. Why can¡¯t you accept that you aren¡¯t in command? Which is why you keep failing to get the council to revoke my command. They all know that you won¡¯t be satisfied unless you are in command.¡±
¡°You¡¯re all fools!¡± exclaimed Williams, while pressing a little button on her bracelet. Instantly the door opened and the troops that started gathering outside the door a couple minutes after he entered the room, burst into the room. Williams, with a smug I won look on her face, said, ¡°enjoy your time in the brig, while someone proper takes command.¡±
Countryman chuckled, and looked Williams in the eye. ¡°You know Williams, I did not get to 195 years old without knowing who my enemies are. I have known for over three years about your little conspiracy. Bribing the commanders was a good idea, but greed only goes so far. As a leader, you must have the respect of the people, especially the military. Something you don¡¯t really have, those willing to follow you being either dissatisfied with life here or agree with you silly stance on cybernetics. I let you get those commanders, I didn¡¯t need anyone who would be so easily tempted by bribes,¡± said Countryman.
¡°That was your mistake than, I won,¡± said Williams not seeing where this was going.
¡°I did more on my walks than just inspect the departments and talk with people. I listened to their problems, and did what I could for them. Speaking of people, Tom how is your daughter doing?¡± said Countryman. One of the soldiers stepped forward and said, ¡°She is doing much better now, thanks to the medicine you helped me get.¡±
¡°Glad I could help. Could you do me a favor and arrest this fool?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Gladly sir,¡± said Tom, then he and the others started arresting Williams and her lackys. Williams screamed about and said something about the others not letting him get away with it, to which Countryman replied, ¡°I already have, I look forward to seeing you at your trial.
Sali was following the guard, while another was behind her, when she heard weapons fire. They had just come of the lift a couple minutes ago, and they were getting close to the brig. The only sound she heard was the distinctive buzzing of particle beams, but she didn¡¯t hear the sounds of another weapon.
¡°What is going on?¡± asked Sali not expecting to get an answer since the guards seemed to like keeping her in the dark.
¡°Trouble, we¡¯re going that way now,¡± said the guard in front of her pointing at a corridor she knew they didn¡¯t take the first time. The other guard then said, ¡°Don¡¯t be so vague. Some fools did something stupid, and have decided not to go quietly. So a few firefights have broken out on a number of decks.¡± Of course while second guard told her more, he still left most of the details out. Something she noticed, but she didn¡¯t really care. Mostly because she knew enough, and now she wanted out of the corridors. She was under no illusions about the risks of getting caught in a crossfire. The only thing she was wearing was standard issue prisoner''s garb which wouldn¡¯t protect her from weapons fire. For her cell was suddenly a very attractive place to be.
A couple of turns later, they came across a corridor with fighting. Fortunately none of the fire was going their way, but she didn¡¯t like what she was told. ¡°We need to go through that, so I want you stick close to us,¡± said the first guard.
¡°Your joking right?¡± said Sali hopefully, as she watched the blue energy beams firing back and forth.
¡°Nope, look see that door right there on the other side of the intersection that''s the entrance to the brig,¡± said the guard pointing at a large set of armored doors. Doors she realized she recognized, a look around and she realized he was pointing out the quickest way back to the brig. Then she asked if they could go around only to be told they couldn¡¯t. So she did her best to stay between the guards as they crossed the intersection. Several beams passed right past her face scaring her a bit, but she kept herself as composed as possible. Imagining herself back in her cockpit helped her see them as missed shots and relax. Then before she knew it they were on the other side of the corridor.
She then followed the guards into the brig proper, where she saw even more guards than she did when she left for her trial guarding the entrance. She had seen four guards on duty, now there were twelve. One of her escorts chatted with them briefly before leading her back to her cell. Once there she sat down in a corner, next to the small table in the cell. Then she began wondering what exactly the people the guard had called fools had done. She had come up with a few theories, by the time she saw people being escorted and in some cases carried to a cell. All of them were already wearing prisoner¡¯s garb.
Countryman had to wait a couple of hours for the report that all of the mutineers had been arrested. Some of the commanders involved had some people who remained loyal to them and made things tougher. Looking over the report he was glad to see that there weren¡¯t any casualties. He did see the report that Sali got caught in the crossfire, but her escorts kept her safe from the beams. So he made a mental note to mention it at the next crew performance review meeting. Once he had that report, he went over the paperwork and reports he had to do, before heading down to deck 180 to inspect the brig. All the while he was thinking about what to do with all the conspirators. On Earth they would have been sentenced to a mental reconditioning center, out here they didn¡¯t have one. He also couldn¡¯t just sentence them all to a life in the brig, no he was going to have to revive some old policies for this. The next step would be convincing the council to allow the death penalty. Unlike back when it was in use, they would have to do it immediately without allowing for appeal. Mostly since they didn¡¯t have resources to waste on those that weren¡¯t contributing to society.
Sali had been fine for a couple of weeks, since she was going to be assigned a job after her trial. Death row prisoners though, would contribute nothing since you can¡¯t have them do a job while they are in the brig. Furthermore they could be in there for months or even years wasting materials. As for who to execute the answer was obvious the leaders. As for the others, he was thinking a demotion and number of days in the brig based on how involved they were. As for the navigators position which was suddenly open. He decided he would leave it to Eri since she was a better navigator than Sanchez ever was.
Around the same time, Eri and Robert had reached the debris field orbiting the fourth planet. On her scanners were a number of asteroids and several frozen moons. She ignored them and double checked her gauges. Seeing the digital gauges showing green across the board still, and that her fuel reserve was right where it should be, she armed her main cannons. The 1204 had a nice and very user friendly weapons control console on her left. It was used to arm the cannons, missiles and torpedoes. Like most fighters, the firing button for the cannons was mounted on her flight controls. Which was basically a joystick, which had two firing buttons on it, one for her cannons the other for her torpedoes. Just in case she needed it, she accessed the armor controls on her immediate right and increased the power to full. The armor controls were a subset of the system overview control panel, and just below that panel was the power control panel.
She watched her AIF field climb for a minute before she hit the comms and hailed Robert. ¡°I¡¯m ready to test the weapons, I believe the only weapon the techs were worried about were the cannons, and the said launcher two might stick a bit on the launch. Does that sound right to you?¡±
¡°Yes, the sounds like the brief, I have identified a few good practice targets. I¡¯m sending them to your targeting computer now. I¡¯ll hold position here, while you test your cannons,¡± said Robert.
¡°Got it, Eri out,¡± said Eri. Increasing her throttle she started to maneuver towards the first target. Her first target was a small asteroid composed mostly of common minerals and ice with small amounts of metal ores. Coming up on it from behind a larger space rock, she locked her fighter cannons on it and opened fire on the rock. A barrage of blue particle bolts tore into the rock reducing it to dust. Making it almost indistinguishable from the surrounding clouds of dust and gas. Changing her flight direction she made way for the second target, while glancing at the cannons on the status display. So far the cannons were working just fine, but she hadn¡¯t fired them at full power. After weaving around several large rocks she came upon the second of the targets.
The second target was a rather large asteroid, that sensors told her was rich in metals Mostly iron and nickel, but there were also decent amounts of other metals. As she came up on it she set the cannons to full power and strafed the asteroid. Doing large amounts of damage to it surface. Each impact reduced large chunks of its surface to dust and micro fragments that were catapulted into space. When she completed her strafing run there wasn¡¯t much left of the asteroid, except a few large fragments that had holes bored right through them. A quick check and she had used about thirty percent of her weapon capacitor, which was right where she expected it.
After hitting a few more rocks, she made her way out of the debris field to rendezvous with Robert. The cannons were working according to specs, and while she did find one issue she was able to correct it from the system panel. The problem didn¡¯t really show up until her long range firing test, which revealed one cannon was slightly out of alignment.
¡°Alright Robert weapons test went fine, I found one minor issue that was easily corrected from the system panel. Shall we proceed with the launch test for the missiles?¡± asked Eri.
¡°We¡¯ll have to do it in battle, I¡¯m picking up seven Lancer fighters bearing down on our position,¡± said Robert. Eri glanced at her screens and saw the fighters were closing on their position quite fast. She was familiar with the Lancer, it was a common Valorian interceptor fighter designed solely for fighter to fighter combat. The Lancer usually didn¡¯t carry missiles, but when they did it carried four plasma missiles that would be fired from two ports under the wings. Its primary weapon was a pair of low yield linked pulse cannons. It was very fast, but not as maneuverable as her own fighter. Being an interceptor her shields were lighter than those of other Valorian Fighters.
¡°I see them, arming missiles, discarding the dummies,¡± she had been carrying a few dummies. She took a quick glance and determined she had enough time for a quick dock with Robert¡¯s shuttle and load the four missiles she was short on. Getting a lock she fired two missiles at them before informing Robert she was docking. His crew loaded her missile banks quickly, and just as the incoming fighters were getting into range she had undocked. Well most of the fighters, the one she shot at was dead in the water, her cockpit a wreck of twisted metal.
They had expected to be here a while testing her missile launchers, and so Robert was carrying plenty of dummies, but also some real missiles in case she was attacked. It was not uncommon for shuttles to be outfitted to rearm fighters on long range missions. Since their larger size allowed them to carry more ordinance than a fighter.
Moving away from the shuttle, she intercepted the nearest of the fighters. Opening fire with her cannons. Four cannons discharged dozens of bolts into the fighters forward shields. The shields strained against the volley, but held barely. The lighter intercepter shields being barely strong enough to withstand the hits. She flew past the fighter, and began to come around for another run as the fighters broke. Two of the Valorian fighters launched missiles at Robert¡¯s shuttle. Robert increased speed and began evasive maneuvers to avoid the missiles. His gunners firing on the attacking fighters. One of them even got a lock on the fighter who¡¯s shields she weakened destroying it.
She angled for a second fighter getting on its tail and began to open fire. The fighter pilot did a barrel roll, which allowed them to avoid most of her fire. She still scored several direct hits two of which penetrated the aft shields, rupturing the hull. Plasma venting into space, as her pilot increased speed. Then Eri¡¯s fighter shook as one of the the other fighters came on her tail and opened fire. The plasma bolts striking her aft quarter, she watched her AIF drop slowly. At that moment she also saw another fire in perfect position for a missile, but she couldn¡¯t open the armored missile ports with someone shooting at her. So she performed an old maneuver used by pilots for centuries and pulled the nose up looping around onto her attackers tail. Before firing into their aft quarter. Unlike the other fighter this one was unable to shake her and was destroyed in lovely fireball. Reducing the number of attackers to four.
The one that she damaged earlier was still running, probably back to base. Her pilot however had chosen a straight line making it easy to get a solid lock, and she fired missiles three and four at it. The missile flew gracefully across space and overtook the fighter and crashed into the fighter. The first missile knocked out the shields and the second tore the ship apart reducing it to a cloud of scrap metal. Coming around she locked onto one of the fighters harassing Robert. The fighter was on his tail and he was having a hard time shaking it. A pair of missiles took care of it, and then she turned towards another fighter.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
The last two fighters were already breaking off. The one chose a poor path, and moved into the arc of Roberts forward cannons, and he didn¡¯t miss the opportunity to fire on it. A volley of blue bolts tore into its starboard dorsal, the shields strained for a couple of seconds before they failed. The bolts ripping into its hull, and reducing the ship to mangled metal. As for herself she chased the other fighter a bit, as her pilot employed evasive maneuvers to try and throw her of. That lasted until she got a missile lock and she fired the last of her missiles. The pair of interceptor missiles easily caught up with the fleeing fighter and splashed it.
¡°All hostiles have been splashed, how are holding up Robert?¡± said Eri over the comms.
¡°A little shaken, but we¡¯re fine. Hull plating is holding at 64%, thanks to those missiles. Anyway I located the ship that launched those fighters. There is a badly damaged light cruiser, Ophera class on the edge of our sensor range. Looks like she got caught in a plasma storm and it did a real number on her. I¡¯m reading multiple hull breaches, severe damage to systems including communications, weapons, shields, and her warp engines. I don¡¯t think she has reported our position to their main fleet. We should take care of her before she can escape to report this encounter with their fleet,¡± said Robert.
¡°I see it on my scanners, as well. See what you mean about the her systems, those shields are still working though, even if barely. I¡¯ll take care of her,¡± said Eri as she set an intercept course. The Ophera was the most common light cruiser of the Valorian Fleet and as she recalled it was practically a carrier on its own. With a capacity of nearly a hundred fighters. It also had fore and aft torpedoes and four banks of plasma pulse cannons. As she got closer it became highly evident why she didn¡¯t send more fighters than she did. Her hangers were wrecked, and the breaches in her hull were wide rips. The storm must have wrecked most of their fighters and those seven were the only ones they could send. A quick scan from her own scanners told her the ships weapons weren¡¯t just damaged, but all but three guns on the ship were offline. As for her shields they were at 19% and fluctuating quite a bit. Leaving the ship with intermittent protection.
The ship was clearly accelerating and moving away as quickly as she could. However it wasn¡¯t fast enough to get away from Eri¡¯s Fighter. She closed on it rapidly and as soon as she was in range she locked her torpedoes on the reactor, and fired. The 1204¡¯s torpedoes were designed to fire in pairs. Two micro torps screamed through the nebulous cloud of the region and passed through the cruiser¡¯s fluctuating shields. The torpedoes tore into the hull and exploded near the main reactor leading to a series of secondary explosions that reduced the ship to an expanding cloud of debris. With the ship destroyed, she followed protocol and initiated a high intensity area scan. The scan revealed a small probe, just seconds before it jumped to warp, but no other ships in the immediate area.
¡°Robert, we were too late, they launched a probe, which just warped out. It is only a matter of time before the fleet learns of our position. Fortunately the probe is low warp and doesn¡¯t have a long range ftl radio,¡± said Eri over the comms.
¡°Well, I just finished recovering your discarded dummy missiles. We should return to base and report this. Anyway how were your missile launchers?¡± said Robert.
¡°They worked like they were supposed to. Launcher two, did stick slightly according to the computer but it isn¡¯t noticeable. I¡¯m changing course to rendezvous with you,¡± replied Eri.
The flight back was long but fairly uneventful. During the flight back she made use of the rear of the cockpit, which contained the facilities needed on long flights. The 1204 like most human fighter designs was designed with long flights in mind, but her facilities were not designed for comfort. The rear contained a small storage cabinet which contained ration packs and the machine needed to prepare them. On the other side was what passed for a toilet, but it wasn¡¯t convenient to use since they made it as compact as possible. There was also a hatch in the back that would let her reach the rear systems to repair battle damage.
The landing in the hanger went off without a hitch and she stepped out of the fighter to stand on the deck. Looking around she noticed an unusual amount of gossip going on, and the atmosphere seemed strange. She headed to a nearby comm panel and tried to contact the captain. However he was not on the bridge, his office or quarters. It was late so she had expected him to be in his quarters, and if he wasn¡¯t there the bridge. She had tried the office as her last theory. Which meant she was going to have to physically find the captain. Heading into the locker room to change, she stopped someone and asked if the knew what was going on.
The person informed her that Williams had tried to overthrow the captain and failed. She and her cohorts were now in the brig facing charges of criminal conspiracy and mutiny. Most of the gossip going on was people trying to figure out the sentence. She ignored the other girls guess as it felt wrong to her, and head to the locker she used earlier. He Pulled out the privacy screen and opened the locker, so that she could change back into her uniform. Once she was properly dressed, she left the locker room and went looking for the captain. Something that heavily involved asking people for leads.
About an hour after she had landed she was down on the lower decks, talking to the guard captain. The guard captain had confirmed that the captain had come down here to inspect the brig. So she was now asking if the guard captain knew where to find him.
¡°Yes, he hasn¡¯t left the brig yet. You¡¯ll find him near the rearmost cells. If you like I could have a guard escort you?¡± said the guard captain.
¡°No, thank you. I¡¯ll be fine,¡± replied Eri before leaving the room. Navigating the brig wasn¡¯t to hard. While she hadn¡¯t been here herself she had memorized the layout. She had felt it prudent to memorize the layout of every section of the ship just in case. Something all the bridge officers had done, because it helped if they ever needed to find the captain. Honestly she wished the ship, had a feature to locate the captain like some of those ships in old science fiction shows.
She found the captain outside of William¡¯s cell, which was one of the furthest cells from the entrance. Being located near one of the edge sections, she could see alert lights opposite the cell, with no opposing cell. As she reached the captain, he turned towards clearly about to leave.
¡°Ah, Eri, what brings you to the brig?¡± asked Countryman
¡°I have an urgent report about my flight,¡± replied Eri.
¡°Let¡¯s find somewhere more appropriate for that report. There is an observation deck a couple sections from here. At this hour it should be pretty empty. Not much of a view, but is should do,¡± said Countryman. Eri told him it sounded good and followed him to the observation deck. The view ports were open, so she got an excellent view of the outside. Not that there was much to look at except ice and snow.
¡°The report?¡± said Countryman.
¡°During the weapons part of the test flight, we encountered a flight of fighters launched from a nearby and damaged light cruiser. We sunk all enemy fighters, and I personally destroyed the cruiser. Unfortunately, I was unable to prevent them from informing the fleet. They launched a small probe, sir. It warped out mere seconds after I detected it,¡± reported Eri.
¡°How long do you think we have?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°It was low warp, and its comm system short range. A week maybe two?¡± replied Eri.
¡°In that case it will be all hands on deck to complete, our maintenance and refit those weapons. Report to the hanger tomorrow, you and the other pilots will be deploying jammer satellites around the system. Our inventory only includes about a hundred of those, so deploy them carefully. If you need more, there is enough materials here to manufacture more. Those jammers should buy us another week,¡± said Countryman.
The next morning Sali was startled awake not by the normal wake up call, but a general announcement. It took her a couple of moments to focus on the message. She also found herself more tired than normal for a wake up call, and the lights which were always dim were off.
¡°Now hear this, at 1740 hours yesterday one of our flights encountered a Valorian Cruiser near the fourth planet and destroyed it. However the ship launched a probe that escaped. It is only a matter of time until the Valorian fleet learns of our presence here. All hands are to report to their duty stations for updated duties. We are accelerating our time table here. All non-critical factory projects are delayed until further notice. All pilots are to report to the hangers, regardless of their normal duty stations,¡± said the announcement before repeating. Hearing this she wondered if it meant a chance for rescue, but she had a feeling the ship would be gone by the time the fleet found them.
She didn¡¯t have long to think about the announcement, before a guard showed up with breakfast. After the guard pushed it through the door and onto the table, she asked him if that announcement would affect her. She asked primarily since she knew her first day in the factories was today.
¡°Yes, it will, but not as much as it affects everyone else,¡± replied the guard just before he left. Her breakfast was the same as yesterday¡¯s if a little warmer. She had just finished her breakfast and cleaned up the way she had been taught, when three guards arrived. The one opened the door and it wasn¡¯t long before she was being escorted somewhere. She was guessing the factories they had mentioned. The walk to the lift wasn¡¯t long, but they weren¡¯t going to an upper deck. They were going to a deck below their current position, they input some code and then told the computer to go to deck 193.
Deck 193 was very busy when the lift opened. Dozens of people could be seen performing various tasks. Large hover carts laden with supplies were being moved around by people to various doors. All of the doors were larger here, and the halls made wider as well. She was lead down the hull and past by what looked like missile casings. She was led into a large room filled with equipment, all of it entirely alien to her. Nothing in here even remotely resembled the equipment she had seen before, except the conveyors which weren¡¯t all that different from Valorian models.
She saw a number of workers being briefed on what they would be doing for the next few days. Behind the man giving the briefing she saw a blueprint display that looked like some kind of jamming device to her. She however was led to a stern looking woman. The woman looked her over for a moment.
¡°You must be Sali, today you will be moving materials for us,¡± said the woman words that marked the beginning of what proved to a hard day in the factories.
Captain¡¯s Log July 9th 004,
Our factories finally running full force thanks to the minerals flowing into our cargo bays from the mines we setup. Modern mining techniques never cease to amaze me. What would have taken months to do when I was born can now be done in a matter of days. Today the live weapons demonstration I wanted is going to take place today, putting it together took a lot of effort. However the test field has been set up, and several craft have been outfitted with the new weapons. I¡¯m personally looking forward to the weapons test. The test will include several phases, in the first phase the weapons will be tested against live mockups. These mockups are made of differing materials, and will show how well the weapons deal with different materials. Some of the mockups have been outfitted with structural enhancers to increase their resistance.
In the second phase, our craft will engage armed drones in a live battle. We managed to put together four dozen combat drones for the occasion. This will test how the weapons will fare in an actual battle. In the third in final phase, the weapons will be tested against a mockup of capital ship armor. That had been the most difficult part of the test to setup. The hardest part was getting enough titanium to build it, fortunately there is a huge vein just a kilometer beneath the ship. Which we used to get the titanium we needed. In other news, we pulled some old satellites out of storage, they had been transferred aboard the Enterprise from Star Tech One as research materials. Each satellite was designed as a prototype in the miniaturization of Energy Vent Cannon technology. The satellites had never been tested, so we tested one yesterday, the beam split a small moon in two. Not entirely surprising since the beam, was a high energy compressed antimatter particle stream, generated by the energies of a reactor operating at near overload. Still the destruction was higher than we expected, the notes from Star Tech One predicted a yield of half the observed results. Instead the satellite mounted Vent Cannons only lost a third the yield of the one mounted on Star Tech One.
We only have twelve of the satellites, which we have deployed strategically around the system. Some parties have proposed adding a vent cannon to our armament, but I and most of the council disagree as powerful as they are. The chief problem is that they are dangerous weapons to operate, the slightest mistake and you blow yourself up. Anyway if we need more we could build more satellites. Some of our scientists want to develop a safer more powerful version of the weapon. Personally, I don¡¯t think anything will come of it. I feel the Vent Cannons are a dead end in weapons technology. At least without developing a more powerful power source.
Countryman adjusted his environmental suit, which was actually light personal armor as he headed to his shuttle to observe the weapons test. They had erected a prefab observation dome to observe the weapons test with. They had built a number of prefab structures for when they found a suitable world. Prefab domes were considered a good choice since it opened more worlds to colonization. The shuttle was going to land outside so he was wearing this to keep warm on the short walk. The reason was due to a lack of winter coats, no one had foreseen the need to march through the snow. So none were included in the supplies that the Enterprise was loaded with. Fortunately they could make some, but they were to busy with other things, and they had personal armor and extra atmospheric work suits that could be used as substitutes.
The flight in the shuttle was leisurely, while normally Countryman would sit up front, but this time he sat in the back talking with the scientists, who were also on his shuttle. The reason being the conversation was more interesting than the view. Endless fields of ice and snow, marred only by the occasional depression or hill were not all that interesting to Countryman. The flight itself lasted only about twenty minutes. During which time Countryman had an interesting conversation with the heads of several research departments. During this conversation he made sure the materials department assigned a team to work with the team already trying to create a new generation of Electro Cannon.
As the shuttle was landing, one of the scientists brought up the vent cannons again.
¡°Sir, we really need to study the potential of the vent cannon. If we can create a more stable and powerful version of it the potential is enormous,¡± said the scientist.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, but no. Your talking about a weapon that operates at near overload, sure the power is enormous, but it is a dead end. Nothing will come of further research, instead focus on developing a more useful tech. One that we actually need, as interesting as a new weapon of mass destruction is, we don¡¯t need it. What we need is better armor, sensors, conventional weapons, and most of all stealth,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Sir, your a scientist as well, surely you see the potential for what we could learn in high energy physics with this research,¡± said the scientist.
¡°Yes, I do. Which is why we did this research on Earth five years ago. We came to the conclusion that this is a technological dead end. As for the high energy reactions, we documented every test of the cannon and stored the information in our database. Some of that data has already been applied to more practical technologies. The computer uses it to help simulate the workings of new weapons is just one example of the benefits. There is no further benefit to this path,¡± replied Countryman.
The scientist fell quite after that, while Countryman thought to himself, ¡°I¡¯m not a scientist, more of an engineer, and a leader before that. I can¡¯t have my head in the clouds doing research just for the sake of knowledge.¡±
After a brief walk through the snow they entered the prefab dome. Taking a seat near the front, Countryman waited for the live weapons test to occur. Many members of the top brass, and scientists had gathered here to witness the demonstration. Countryman didn¡¯t have a long time to wait before the modified shuttles took of to demonstrate the new weapons. The first phase was over almost before it began.
The shuttles flew out over the mockups of various alien ground vehicles. Some based on real ground vehicles others imagined. Then they began shooting. The bolts and beams ripped through the targets in seconds. Many of the bolts and beams tearing through the fake craft and deep into the ground.
The second phase was longer, and made it painfully obvious that beam weapons weren¡¯t the best choice for engaging fightercraft. The reason, being fire rate. While the beams were more accurate, in the time it took a beam cannon to kill one drone, the pulsed cannons would kill three to four. Countryman found the phase two test rather enjoyable, and informative. The final phase revealed that the beam weapon was far better suited for penetrating capital ship armor than the pulse cannons. Taking less than half the time to cut through the armor than the pulsed weapons did. The results weren¡¯t all that surprising, but proved the improved weapons as viable. Which allowed Countryman to give the go ahead on refitting the weapons.
Nearly two weeks after the probe left the fleet commander was watching the replay of a battle. The screen showed two blips one green the other yellow. The green blip was clearly trying to retreat, while the yellow one closed rapidly. As it was getting close, two red blips separated from the yellow one and closed even more rapidly on the green blip. The moment the blips came in contact the green blip that represented her cruiser vanished.
¡°How many were on that ship?¡±
¡°Of her crew of seven hundred and eighty, only three hundred forty seven were still alive when the ship was destroyed,¡± reported her first officer quoting the logs recovered from the probe.
¡°At least we now have an idea, of where in this infernal region they are hiding. Have all battlegroups converge on sector Yecha Four. Let¡¯s flush them out,¡± said the commander.
Chapter XII Instability Part II
It had taken a few days to reach the Yecha Four sector, but the commander and her fleet had converged on the sector. Scans of the region had revealed little in traces of their presence. She also had cause for concern with all the electrical discharges in the area. They were a indicator that a massive plasma storm was brewing. Her group and a number other groups were approaching the system they were last spotted in to look for hints. However just as they were entering the system her view screen turned to static.
¡°Report!¡± She barked.
¡°Sir, we just lost all telemetry and communications,¡± reported her science officer.
¡°What! How?¡± asked the commander.
¡°We¡¯re being jammed. Combined with the dust clouds and the storm brewing, the jamming field has completely blinded our sensors. As for our comms they aren¡¯t cutting through the jamming field,¡± reported her science officer.
¡°Can you cut through this interference and get me my sensors and communications back?¡± asked the commander
¡°Already working on it. . . . and there got it, we have minimal sensors now. As for communications, I got them back, but I wouldn¡¯t even call this minimal. We will only have ¡®20 kilometers¡¯ of comm range at best, and I can¡¯t guarantee any transmissions will come through clearly. As for sensor resolution it is spotty at best, but we could see objects up to five hundred kilometers away. Just note small objects like a raider fighter will most likely not show up on sensors,¡± replied the science officer.
¡°We need to deal with this jamming field or we will never find that ship. Any suggestions?¡± asked the Commander.
¡°Sir, if I may. Previous encounters have revealed they use jamming satellites to hide their activities after they have been in the system for a while. This jamming field means they are almost certainly still here. I recommend we launch fighters and have them search for those satellites. If we can locate and destroy a sufficient number the field will weaken to a point where we can actually see,¡± said her first officer.
¡°Why not capture one?¡± asked the commander.
¡°The last attempt to capture one, resulted in the loss of the Cruiser Valtaya with all hands. Intel suspects the jammer sats are equipped with an autodestruct,¡± replied her first officer. Noting what her officer told her she started giving orders for her new plan.
Countryman stood on the lower level of the bridge leaning over the tactical overview console. Studying the tactical plot he watched the Valorians entering the system. They had only recently completed the refit of the ships weapons array when he had received the alert. The jamming field was slowing the enemy, and he watched as a blip representing a cruiser vanished. Destroyed by one of the beam satellites they had deployed. Of course while the Vent Cannon had excellent range and power they didn¡¯t have enough to cover the whole system, and their firerate limited their effectiveness. Each satellite took longer than the original version to fire the beam and didn¡¯t have a wide beam mode. This meant they could only destroy a single ship every twenty minutes.
Elsewhere on the plot were the shuttles and fighters he had launched earlier. He had all of the 1205s on board outfitted with modified fusion bombs and deployed to act as bombers. He had them deployed in squadrons of three, and since they carried three hundred X-1205s they had enough to represent a serious threat to the fleet. Although he did wish they had more 1204¡¯s, something he planned to rectify when they had the resources. He was thinking of having most of the standard shuttlecraft taken apart and their materials used for the construction. Of course they wouldn¡¯t provide all the materials he needed and he would need special ports for stowing the new fighters. It was problem he would need to fix at a later date. So he put that to the back of his mind and focused on directing the battle.
Right now he had the advantage since he had both communications and a tactical sensor net. They however had the numbers, and there was a storm brewing. Something that concerned him since it was difficult to predict how the weather would affect the battle. On the screen he saw three X-1205 squadrons enter range of a Valorian battlegroup. Within seconds a cruiser vanished from the plot, followed by another a few seconds later. In just a couple of minutes the group was wiped out. He received the shuttles combat report a few minutes later. They had used most of their bombs and were returning to the ship for rearming. At the same moment, he saw a few Valorian fighters approach one of the jammer satellites. He didn¡¯t have any fighters in range to intercept, so he ignored them. He did have a few shuttles nearby, but they were better suited to engaging enemy ships than fighters.
It didn¡¯t take long for the fighters to find the jammer. The squad engaged the sat the moment they found it. The sat however was not unarmed, and was equipped with a single dual particle cannon turret for protection. The battle between fighters and satellite lasted about a minute before the satellite was destroyed. During which time it splashed two of the attacking fighters. The fighter squadron then continued deeper into the field using an obvious search and destroy pattern. Elsewhere on the field, several blips representing a squad of 1204s intercepted another group of blips that represented a squad of Valorian fighters. The resulting battle did not last long and ended with a total destruction of the Valorian fighters.
The battle if you could call that continued like this for the next several hours. While the storm outside the ship was intensifying. The Valorians focused on finding and destroying as many jammer satellites as they could. With each satellite they found their sensor and comm ranges increased and the fighting grew more intense. The Valorians had also found and destroyed all of the Vent Cannon satellites they had deployed. Countryman had recovered most of his craft now, since he had lost a couple of fighters. Along with a few 1205s, with a good number more being disabled and no longer ready to fight. As for the Valorians thanks to the jamming field, he had managed to neutralize a full third of the fleet. Just under twelve hundred ships either destroyed or disabled. His last deployed combat group was three squadrons of X-1205 escorted by a squadron of X-1204.
The had successfully engaged and crippled a Valorian Battlegroup sinking nine cruisers and thirteen destroyers. While disabling another five cruisers and twelve destroyers, before running out of ordinance. They had taken a fair beating in return though, having lost two shuttles and three fighters in the exchange. One of the returning shuttles even had a hull breach in the rear section. Countryman was not looking forward to reading the causality report after this battle. As there were certainly going to be some deaths. Moving away from the console he had been using to direct the battle since the start, he moved for the stairs. Bounding up the stairs three at a time, he quickly reached his chair and took a seat.
Surveying the bridge he waited for the ships he had out to dock. The moment they were aboard he had the hangers sealed and broke orbit. The ship was heading straight for the nearest Valorian Battlegroup. She barreled into the group at full speed and head on as her batteries opened up on multiple ships. The weapon upgrades quickly proving their worth. While the new beam weapons couldn¡¯t penetrate the powerful shields their cruisers had. The same couldn¡¯t be said about their destroyers and frigates, both proved vulnerable to penetration. The Enterprise taking notes from observed Krall strategies focused her beams on shield generators and key systems. While closing on the cruisers, on the other hand the Valorian cruisers attempted to maintain distance.
This didn¡¯t work well however especially given the fact the Enterprise had a nearly full reserve of fuel. With the weapon upgrades she didn¡¯t even need to waste the energy her Electro Cannons drained to deal with their screening forces. In a matter of minutes she had wiped out the battlegroup having sustained no damage and moved on to the next. While multiple battlegroups closed on her position. Before long she was engaged in a massive engagement.
Multiple cruisers moved in to engage her. Opening fire with their heavier guns they focused on trying to penetrate the Enterprise¡¯s heavy armor. While their screening forces were attempting to distract the Enterprise from their cruisers. As the battle waged longer and longer the brewing storm intensified as the Plasma front approached.
¡°Sir, the Vorkal reports she has lost shields, her weapons are gone and life support is failing,¡± reported the Commander¡¯s comm officer.
¡°Order her to withdraw, have the Saris Hal, evacuate the crew,¡± ordered the Commander.
¡°Sir the Vorkal is accelerating, she is on a collision course with the enemy dreadnought!¡± said the Comms officer.
The Valorian Cruiser Vorkal accelerated to its top speed and slammed into the Enterprise¡¯s port nacelle and broke apart on impact. A large chunk of the ship hit the port aft quarter of the saucer section during the impact. No visible damage was inflicted, but a massive chunk of the Enterprise¡¯s AIF was drained. The brewing storm however provided energy to rapidly recharge it, while Countryman diverted auxiliary power to the hull plating. While coming about to a new heading. A nearby destroyer was in her way so she opened fire on it. Two cutting beams penetrated her shields and carved their way through her hull to the shield generators. The shields failed ten seconds into the firing cycle and the ship was carved apart. The Enterprise flew through her debris and then fired her Electro cannons into a nearby cruiser. Before emptying a volley of heavy particle bolts into the cruiser amidships leaving her crippled.
A second cruiser soon followed attacked in a near identical fashion. The only difference is one of the bolts struck near the reactor. Disrupting the containment field for a mere fraction of a second, but it was enough for a small amount of antimatter to escape. The resultant blast claimed the ship in an impressive fireball. A nearby destroyer was too close to the ship and was cooked by the explosion. Her shields overloaded and her hull ruptured in multiple locations. The damage was severe enough that her captain ordered all hands to abandon ship. The Enterprise took advantage of the opening this created to a make a beeline for the fleet flagship, the Valorian Heavy Cruiser Ukosa.
The Ukosa was a newer version designed a successor to their highly successful heavy cruiser class the Defender. The Ukosa is of the Larger and better outfitted Protector class. Outfitted with Class III Valorian Omicron shielding it can take more than four times the punishment the Defender can and still be combat capable. Her weapons array was significantly heavier including thirty six Type III Pulse Cannon Banks and Eight Heavy Pulse Cannon Banks. All of this combined to make it the first true warship in their arsenal that the Enterprise had encountered. The flagship was not the only Protector class ship in the fleet, but it was clearly the most important.
The moment the Enterprise got into range she opened fire on the Flagship. Her initial volleys did little against her powerful shields, but they did get the ships attention. She returned fire with powerful bolts of plasma. The plasma splashed against the Enterprises hull, having a similar effect as the Enterprise¡¯s guns did on the flagship. This was not the first Protector class ship that Countryman had engaged that honor went to a ship he sank half a year ago. The ships guns had failed to penetrate his armor in that battle as well. The same couldn¡¯t be said for the Coto or the Umikaze as the heavy guns on the Protectors could penetrate their destroyer armor.
Both ships began to maneuver for an advantageous position. The Enterprise attempting to close so she could use her Electro Cannons, while the Ukosa was attempting to keep her distance. So that the Enterprise couldn¡¯t use her Electro cannons on her. Several smaller vessels moved in, and attempted to distract the Enterprise and keep her off the flagship. Most didn¡¯t last long and ended up either disabled or destroyed by her weapons fire.
As the two ships were dueling in the clouds surrounded by many other ships. The Plasma front they were expecting finally appeared on sensors. However it was closing much faster and was far more turbulent than they expected. The moment it appeared the fleet broke off contact with the Enterprise and began a retreat. The Enterprise also began to accelerate to get out of the area. Everyone had expected the coming plasma storm, but they hadn¡¯t expected a class ten.
The storm front hit long before they could even clear the engagement area. Ships were thrown of course and slammed into each other. Shields collapsed almost instantly and hulls began to melt. Three cruisers and a destroyer were thrown into the Enterprise as her Hull plating was buckling under the wave. The inertial dampers strained against the forces the ship was experiencing. Crewman were thrown into bulkheads, while the few mothers did their best to keep their children safe. A number of the crewman even blacked out from the high GsUnauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
When the Storm cleared a few hours later the Enterprise found itself alone surrounded by some debris from ships that had been torn apart and deposited by the storm. Countryman cleared his head for second, and then demanded a status report.
¡°Hull plating has completely failed. Multiple hull breaches on decks four, seven, nine through twenty nine, thirty seven, fifty four through ninety one, one twelve, one thirty nine, and one seventy through one ninety three. Emergency bulkheads are in place and holding. Casualties have been reported on multiple decks. Mostly minor injuries, two thousand and twelve severe, four hundred seventy two fatalities and one hundred three crewman unaccounted for. Weapons array reads forty seven percent inoperable. Long range sensors are offline, damage to both sublight and FTL engines. Main power is currently offline, and we are running on Auxiliary power. Nav computer indicates we are about half a lightyear from our previous position. There is also a lot of debris in the area including what looks to be the Valorian Flagship, but she is in worse shape than we are,¡± reported Misaki.
¡°Deploy damage control teams, and search and rescue teams. I want those missing crewman accounted for,¡± ordered Countryman. Reia at the same moment was walking up to Misaki. After she acknowledged the order she got to work dispatching the teams Countryman had ordered.
¡°Hey, Misaki can you tell me if Sali is alright?¡± asked Reia worried for the only other member of her race on the ship.
¡°I don¡¯t know. The Brig reported her as missing, last seen on Deck 193. They didn¡¯t have time to get her to her cell, so her guards had locked her in a storage closet. Both of her guards have been reported missing, but I ran a scan for them in the decompressed part of the deck. Her guards are both alive, but unconscious. Their armor though will keep them alive for a while, and those storage closets are air tight. If she is still in the closet she should be fine,¡± replied Misaki.
¡°Are you sure? She will be fine right? Didn¡¯t you scan for life signs?¡± asked Reia.
¡°I did scan for life signs, and there are other people hiding in storage closets down there. Don¡¯t worry I have a rescue team dispatched to rescue survivors in that section. They will find her,¡± replied Misaki. Reia settled a bit after that, but asked to be assigned to a search team.
Meanwhile on the Ukosa the commander pushed herself of the floor. Her head hurt and felt like her brain was trying to force itself out of her skull. A touch to her forehead came away with blood, which meant she might be at risk for a concussion. Looking around her bridge had not fared well. A bulkhead had collapsed and the front section was open to space. A force field being all that was keeping the air in the ship.
One of her other officers was already getting back to their station, so she croaked out a request for a status report.
¡°Shields are gone, we have hull breaches on all decks, weapons are gone. No casualties reported yet. Main and Auxiliary power are down, we are running on Emergency power. Engines read offline, but the damage doesn¡¯t look all that extensive. I think we can limp home if we can get the power systems back online. Structural integrity seems to be holding for the moment, but could fail at any given moment. Comms are down, so I can¡¯t get a report on the fleet, but I am reading a large amount of debris in the area. On the edge of our sensors, I¡¯m also picking up the Raider warship, but she seems to be ignoring us,¡± said the officer while the commander grabbed an emergency medkit from a nearby locker and began treating her officers.
¡°Their probably just as disabled as we are. Which means we should focus on getting the ship running again, so we can put in at a starbase for repairs,¡± said the Commander. Her first officer who just woke up said, ¡°I concur if the rest of the ship is as bad as the bridge looks there is no way we can fight.¡±
The commander soon got her crew working on getting the ship working. The moment she had her power back, and had shored up the integrity fields she set course for Valorian space at warp three point four.
Sali found herself sitting on a crate. She had been locked in this supply closet for several hours now. A few hours ago she had heard the distinctive sound of air vacating a compartment after a hull breach. So she was quite sure that if she found a way out of the closet, she would find herself in a vacuum. She had searched the closet a few times already, but found nothing that could help her. Mostly because she couldn¡¯t open the crates, or lockers in the closet. Still she hadn¡¯t searched the entire closet since she was having difficulty standing, and it hurt to put any pressure on her left leg. Which is why she thought it might be broken, and that it happened when she had been thrown into the wall. The only thing she did find, was something she guessed to be a toy. It was a spherical object that bounced around when thrown and lit up in fancy patterns. She figured it had been meant for a child that one of the workers must have dropped it in here. Still it gave her something to do and distract herself from her circumstances.
Tossing the ball she watched it bounce off the far wall and come back to her, and caught it moments before she heard a knock on the door. Followed by someone speaking, ¡°Are you alright in there?¡±
She wasn¡¯t sure how she was supposed to respond, so she tried to speak normally and hope the other heard. ¡°I¡¯m fine, my leg hurts and I¡¯m bored,¡± replied Sali deciding not to mention that she also had some bodily needs to take care of.
¡°Well, just sit tight a little longer and we will have you out of there,¡± replied the voice. She didn¡¯t have anything else to do, so she just sat there and waited. It didn¡¯t take long before someone opened the door, but before she could even try to move, someone came in and stopped her from standing. She couldn¡¯t tell who they were because of the suit of armor they were wearing. The person brought a device she recognized as a scanner towards her leg, and scanned her. They said nothing about the results, but they then pulled out an injector from the pack on their waist. The other person used it on her leg, before saying, ¡°Your leg will be back to normal by tomorrow, your lucky it was just a microfracture. Still it would be best if you don¡¯t put a lot of pressure on it,¡± said the other person in voice that revealed they were male. They left the room and came back in with what looked like a light version of their armor.
What happened next was an experience she found very embarrassing. The suit was designed for use with a skinsuit, and so it wouldn¡¯t fit right with her prisoner¡¯s garb on. So the medic had stripped her and then helped her into the suit. Which was more like he simply dressed her in it. The once the suit was on her, he then pressed a button on the small control console embedded on the wrist. Instantly the suit conformed to her figure, a fact that surprised her. She had seen self adjusting clothing before, but had not expected to encounter such things out here. After the medic made sure the suit was on tight, he lead her out into the corridor. Where she saw a strange material erected on either side of the corridor.
¡°What is that material blocking the corridor?¡± asked Sali.
¡°It''s a sturdy polymer that is used to create emergency seals on rescue missions,¡± replied one of the others also a man. She then watched them, unseal it from the walls before packing it away. She was led through a number of corridors. The signs of damage were everywhere, and on the way back to an area with atmosphere, she was brought close to a hull breach. A massive hole could be seen in the hull, the edges melted. Looking at it she found herself wondering what breached the hull like that. She knew quite well that the ships hull was nigh impossible to breach.
¡°What did that?¡± asked Sali not expecting an answer.
¡°Not sure, could have been the storm or one of the ships we hit while in the storm,¡± said one of the escorts. The answer she got left her rather confused. Asking further questions didn¡¯t really give her any answers. Which left her wondering why she even bothered asking questions. They stopped twice along the way after passing the breach in the hull, to rescue people trapped in supply closets or other small rooms that still had atmosphere. As soon as they got to the pressurized sections of the ship she found herself being escorted back to the brig. Where she was changed back into her prisoner''s garb, before being locked in her cell.
Reia was searching another part of the deck, and was promptly notified about Sali¡¯s recovery much to her own relief. Her own group had also been successful in finding survivors in the sections she had searched and were on their way back.
Several hours later Countryman was in his office going over damage reports, and repair estimates. He had already been planning on the Enterprise having a full refit, so that she could more comfortably carry a larger population by removing unnecessary systems and employing a more efficient layout they had designed over the last couple of years. Now the Enterprise was in need of full refit as soon as possible. With the damage the ship had sustained, they were vulnerable to attack. Furthermore the ship was limited to low warp speeds. The ship could no longer safely reach warp four, and engineering believed they could only reach warp three point four nine safely. When Greyman came into his office.
¡°Ah Greyman my good friend, sit down. Anything good to report or just more bad news?¡± said Countryman. Greyman sat down on the indicated chair and replied, ¡°A bit of both really. We finished our sweep of the ship and only two people remain unaccounted for. Most of the missing had minor injuries, two were found dead however. I also have the final repair estimates for the hull plating. The hull plating has been fused, and the plating will need to be replaced. Some of it can be salvaged, but most of it will have to be broken down and recycled. Which means that we aren¡¯t able to restore hull plating at this time.¡±
¡°That is inline with most of the reports I have been getting. Have Eri set a course for Krall space, Warp 3.49,¡± ordered Countryman. Greyman left the room with his typical dignified gait. A few minutes later the ship, came about and jumped to warp. As for the Valorian Cruiser in the area they had started their limp home a couple hours before. One hundred and eight days later the Enterprise would enter Krall space, having traveled a distance of nearly sixteen lightyears at low warp.
Tika was rather bored. Thanks to the rise in tensions between the Valorian Confederation and the Krall Imperium, her ship had been assigned border patrol duties near the Velosa cluster. Her placement here was also to deter pirates. There had been a recent spike in piracy activity in the sector. While her crew didn¡¯t know she had been privy to the recent intel and strategic update reports. Which is why she knew that the Imperium was preparing for war with the Confederation and expected to be at war within the next six months. She was pulled from her thoughts about this upcoming war, when her operations officer reported a ship approaching at low warp.
¡°She has just dropped out of warp, distance ¡®half a million kilometers¡¯. I¡¯m reading significant hull damage, sir,¡± said the operations.
¡°Onscreen, maximum magnification,¡± ordered Ship-leader Tika. On her screen appeared the Enterprise. The damage was quite visible she could see multiple hull breaches and the outer plating looked melted. The appearance was quite surprising to her since she knew how tough that hull was. More so than the rest of her crew, thanks to her clearance giving her access to the latest intel reports.
¡°Scan the Enterprise, I want to know how extensive that damage is. Hail the ship,¡± ordered Tika.
¡°No response to our hails, sir. On any frequency, both sublight and FTL,¡± reported her comm officer.
¡°I think I know why, sir. My scans reveal that their comm system is damaged. The damage they sustained is quite extensive, but is mostly confined to the outer sections. Their hull plating system is offline, their hull is melted, I¡¯m picking up duranium fragments fused with their hull. Their weapons array has taken quite a bit of damage and appears to be about sixty percent operable. Their warp engines also appear to have been damaged, most of their port nacelle shows signs of significant engine damage. As bad as it is, though it all looks to be repairable. A few months in drydock and they will be as good as new,¡± said her operations officer.
A few moments later her comm officer jumped and then said, ¡°Sir, they just signaled us. We have been sent an invitation to land a shuttle in their forward shuttle bay. The invitation came with docking instructions, and a request for parts. Specifically parts to fix their damaged subspace radio.¡±
¡°Helm, bring us alongside the Enterprise. Engineering ready a shuttle and a repair team with the requested parts,¡± ordered Tika. Twenty minutes later she boarded the shuttle with an aide and the repair team. The flight over was peaceful enough, following the instructions they lined up with the shuttlebay, and when they got close they were guided in by guidance beams. There was a brief delay while she waited for the bay to decompress.
Tika stepped off the shuttle and took a look around. The bay was clearly not the shuttlebay you would normally use to accept visiting dignitaries or guests from another ship. This bay was clearly designed to accept cargoshuttles and small freighters. The presence of machinery clearly suited for moving large amounts of cargo quickly were one of the major hints, the other was the rather utilitarian decor. On the far side of the bay a large set of doors opened and Countryman walked in. He came up to her, and greeted her.
¡°Good day, ship leader. I didn¡¯t expect to meet you here but I¡¯m glad I did,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I was surprised to see you as well. I brought some engineers and the parts you requested to fix your radio. We have things to discuss though,¡± said Tika.
¡°Yes, we do the lift is this way. I would have prefered having your shuttle land on the deck four shuttlebay, but the doors are melted shut. It would be nice to have some news about the larger world as well,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Yes, I can see how your information is a little out of date. The last four months since you attacked New Valoria have been quite eventful. Relations between the Confederation and her neighbors have become rather tense. One month ago three of those neighbors declared war, after a few ships that survived your battle with them limped home. The Valorians are now at war with the Malora, the Voskar and the Toral Confederacy. The war isn¡¯t going well for them either. Losing the entire third fleet was a major blow for them, and they simply don¡¯t have enough ships for a three front war. They had to pull ships from anti piracy patrol, just to hold their borders. As a result piracy is up throughout the Confederation, and is even affecting her neighbors. They have also been struggling with Voskar stealth attacks. Which is the only thing the Voskar are known to be good at. Their ships are designed to get in, do their damage and get out quick,¡± said Tika.
¡°Yes, I noticed. We actually fought the Voskar. Their Railguns are quite powerful if primitive an excellent weapon for a surprise attack. Just they don¡¯t fair well against our armor, something they learned quickly. They only attacked us once, and after that they left us alone,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Well, we don¡¯t know much about the Voskar. But that is consistent with what we do know about them. They do not pick fights they know can¡¯t win,¡± said Tika.
¡°So what do you know about them?¡±
¡°Well, culturally they rely heavily on slavery. Apparently about ninety percent of their population are slaves. There core worlds are typically closed to visitors, and they have tight rules of conduct for those visiting their border worlds. They are heavily dominated by mercenary companies, and many of those who visit their territory are there to hire a mercenary company or two for a war, or other job they have that requires troops,¡± said Tika as they came out of the lift on deck one. Countryman led them into the conference room, where they both took seats.
¡°Well, anyway I know you scanned my ship. The primary reason we came this way is we are in need of a refit. We would like to borrow a drydock slip so that we can conduct repairs,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I think that could be arranged, it will require some negotiations with the yard. There is a shipyard a few lightyears from here. I¡¯ll escort you to the yard and try to help you negotiate for the use of a slip. What can you offer the yard?¡± replied Tika.
¡°We have large stockpiles of Duranium and Tritanium we salvaged in our cargo bays. We have little use for the metals ourselves, but it makes a good trade good. While some of them were damaged, we also have onboard factories and can manufacture goods for the yard if they provide the schematics. Also if your going to escort us, I recommend you bring a tug along. Otherwise it might take awhile to get to the shipyard. We have spent the last three months limping along at low warp,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Alright I can work with that, and I¡¯ll have the Teketh tow you to get there faster,¡± replied Tika
A few hours later the Teketh took the Enterprise in tow and set course for a nearby Krall controlled system. The Hylis system was a major industrial system just a fourteen lightyears from their present position. While it would have taken the Enterprise months to reach the system, the Teketh was able to tow them there in just ten days. They system had three colonized planets with a major shipyard complex in orbit of the fourth planet. Which is where they headed.
Chapter XII Instability Part III
Captain¡¯s log November 25th 004 SDE
Negotiating for a drydock slip went well. The Krall mobilization for war, has generate a fair number of opportunities for us in the system. Ones that I¡¯m taking full advantage of to get the materials for our refit. Estimates indicate it will take about three months to refit the Enterprise, time that I will take full advantage of. Being in Krall space represents some lucrative opportunities for trade. The Krall have also found a few candidates for us to investigate when we are ready to get underway again. Unfortunately getting to the sector will be difficult with the war going on. It is expected that by the time our refit is completed that the war will have expanded. I have a few meetings today on the subject of trade, and a social call with Ship-leader Tika to take care of today. As for the Refit, once complete we will have the space and life support for a crew of 70,000 and food production will be increased a bit to support up to 100,000. We won¡¯t need the full capability until we have escorts again. There will be no change in our defensive capabilities, but there will be some improvements to the warp engines and sublights. That will further reduce our emissions profile and increase efficiency. We have also lined up some improvements to improve engine reliability, but there will not be any improvement to speed and maneuverability.
We will lose a few cargo bays though to the refit. Along with some of our backup systems. Which will reduce system redundancy, but we don¡¯t need as much redundancy as we have in those systems. Defensive redundancy however will be maintained. Some have expressed concerns about a lack of privacy in the new living areas the refit will add. Problem is that the most efficient use of space is to use primarily communal living quarters, and semi private quarters.
Countryman stepped off the ship via the portside gangway. Walking down the gangway he passed several crewman on the way down. At the base he passed a couple of guards, and headed towards Tika.
¡°Good morning Ship-leader, sleep well?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Yes, and it seems you have already started your refit,¡± said Tika referring to the lasers being used to remove the fused hull plates. That could be seen from the viewports of the station. The lasers were taking a while to cut through the fused plates, thanks to the excellent resistances of Titan Alloy.
¡°Yes, the plate removal is expected to take awhile. Fortunately most of the materials appear salvageable. Although we are doing more than simply rearmoring the ship. We have quite a bit of maintenance, system repair and optimization to do. The largest chunk of the work it the layout optimizations and changes. The Enterprise was originally designed as a Fleet command and support ship. Her purpose was to support a small fleet on a long term missions indefinitely. We are refitting her to be a proper cityship, maintaining her defensive and offensive ability. By removing some redundancy and sacrificing spaces we don¡¯t need. Once the refit is done, the Enterprise will be better suited for our current needs,¡± said Countryman.
¡°That makes some sense. Anyway, my ship has been reassigned to defend this system, and I have been assigned to be your liason while in this system. Now I believe you have a few meetings with various heads of state, scheduled for today. Anyway, those don¡¯t start till noon so I¡¯ll give you a tour of the station,¡± said Tika leading the way into the station. The tour was fairly interesting. The orbital shipyard complex was fairly large, the slip they had been given number twenty three was a bit out of the way. Mostly due to the fact that it was designed for use with capital ships. The size of capital ships meant the slip need to be further away from the main hub for navigational purposes. As they were touring the station and getting a good look at the ships being built or refitted here, Countryman took note of the robotic workers and androids being employed.
¡°Those androids you are using are quite impressive. Your people did a great job making them look and act realistic,¡± said Countryman.
¡°That¡¯s an odd statement, most visitors don¡¯t even notice the androids we use. How did you notice?¡± asked Tika.
¡°I have ocular implants, they give me a bit of an advantage in telling the difference,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Ah, yes you cybernetics technology, some of our more radical scientists have been interested in it,¡± replied Tika.
¡°We had our line of androids, for different lines of works. It might be beneficial to exchange notes on the subject of advanced robotics. We will also toss in our notes for cybernetics,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Why are you willing to exchange that info now and weren¡¯t earlier?¡± asked Tika.
¡°Circumstances change, and we got to know you better. Cybernetic enhancement can be a pretty dangerous technology in the wrong hands.,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I guess I can see that. I¡¯ll put you touch with the local military research and development branch. You can negotiate the exchange of information there,¡± said Tika. A couple hours later Countryman arrived at the first of the meetings for negotiating those contracts he wanted done. Over the course of the day he negotiated several transport agreements, where his shuttlecraft would transport materials and personnel to various locations in planetary orbit or the surface. Along with a couple of trade agreements, where they sold surplus protein paste for materials they needed for refitting and rearming the Enterprise. The salvage they had onboard had already been sold the day before and generated most of the revenue they needed so these contracts were just supplementary sources of income.
The last of the negotiations that Countryman had for the day was for making the arrangements for local shore leave. This was important since it was an excellent opportunity to increase moral. Williams mutiny had left some shadows that had yet to dispel. A thought that made him think back to her trial. The entire thing had just been a formality by the time it actually happened. The Council had spent an entire month debating just what to do, before coming to an agreement. Williams and the ringleaders had been sentenced to death and were publicly executed. He had personally executed Williams firing a particle blast into her chest. While the ringleaders had been killed the lower ranking lackys had been sentenced to decades in the brig. Most of them expected to spend time in the factories or working in waste processing.
He left that last meeting happy with the arrangements he had made, but exhausted. Honestly Countryman hated diplomacy, thanks to his years he had enough experience with it to be passable. He was much more comfortable in the command chair while in the middle of a heated battle. He did enjoy designing ships and weapons, however. A couple minutes after he left the room he found Tika having a rather high level engineering discussion with another Krall female.
¡°You could solve that problem by increasing the plasma compression,¡± interjected Countryman having listened to what they were discussing.
¡°I think you right! How did a man manage to sit through the engineering courses required to understand my problem though?¡± asked the young woman.
¡°I heard that your men would rather play with a sword, than sit through a class. In my race we don¡¯t have the strongly defined gender roles you do. I actually have a number of advanced degrees in Engineering, Physics, starship design, military theory, starship tactics, and a few minor degrees as well from decades of study within the scientific community of my world,¡± said Countryman while leaving a few others out of the mix.
¡°Sounds like you would know a thing or two about warship design, then. How long have you been designing ships?¡± asked the girl. Tika stood off to the side looking like she wanted to say something.
¡°I have been a ship designer on and off for the last one hundred twenty five years. Before that I was involved in various small projects and political movements. In fact, I was involved in the project that led to our first cyborgs over a hundred and fifty years ago,¡± Replied Countryman deciding not to mention that he was a test subject during the later stages of the project thanks to an accident aboard the infamous research station Star Tech One. Which was one of the oldest stations still in use by the Cathamari War.
¡°How old are you?¡± asked both almost at once.
¡°I¡¯m one hundred ninety five years old. Why do you ask?¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Because most sentient life forms only live to be around one hundred and fifty years old. There are exceptions such as the Cathamari who can live up to four hundred years, and the Malora who can live to be seven hundred,¡± answered Tika.
¡°My race uses a treatment called cellular treatments to prolong life. With them we typically live to be around two hundred years old. However cyborgs, such as myself live longer ageing at a quarter the normal rate and can expect to live up to eight hundred years. Anyway what is that high energy thruster you are working on for?¡± said Countryman. While leaving out the fact that most died younger thanks to the colonial wars.
¡°Ah so your medicine is ahead of normal curve. As for the thruster its for the next generation of battleship. Fleet command wants a new battleship that is just as fast as the current mainstay the Warhammer class with a heavier hull, armor is to be increase to sixteen meters and the bulkheads are to be triple reinforced. Along with significant field integrity reinforcement, and heavier shields. Essentially they want it to be able to take a real pounding,without sacrificing speed. Reducing the armament could help, but nowhere near enough which is what the new thruster is for. Although I don¡¯t think the new thrusters alone, will get me the profile we need,¡± said the girl.
¡°I can help, what do you know about our technology?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Your ships have unusually good maneuvering profiles, especially so when you factor in the higher than average mass of your ships. It is believed it has something to do with your reactionless thrusters, which seem to have the best thrust to weight ratios of any known engine,¡± said replied the young woman after a couple minutes of thought. Tika was about to say she had made an error, when Countryman replied.
¡°Not quite true, a component of our engines generates a field that partially nullifies the inertial mass of our ships reducing the needed thrust. It works in conjunction with the particle reaction our engines use to produce thrust, but it can be separated and employed in other engine configurations. We will just have to adapt the crystal core to accept, a different energy source. A carefully modulated graviton field should generate the required reaction inside the crystal core to generate the desired effect,¡± said Countryman.
¡°As I recall you mentioned that your propulsion technology was heavily reliant on something called Rydium,¡± said Tika.
¡°Yes, we have been considering selling the secret of Rydium manufacture so that we can outsource production. Rydium has applications outside of propulsion engineering. Most aren¡¯t well known because of the classification information, but these include weaponry, armor, energy transformers, energy absorbers, grav plating, mag tractors, and a few more minor applications,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Why no mention of shields?¡± asked the young female.
¡°Because we don¡¯t know of any applications for energy shields. Keep in mind, energy shielding is very new to us. Until six years ago, the only form of energy shielding we knew of were the radiation shields we developed. Our exposure to shields has allowed us to write a few theories on how combat shields work. Those theories are what we used for developing our rather famous torpedoes and our less well known Electro Cannons,¡± said Countryman.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
¡°Considering what you know about shields, why haven¡¯t you developed combat shields of your own?¡± asked Tika, figuring they needed a fair understanding for their shield penetrating weapons to work.
¡°Honestly? Well, most of it comes down to lack of resources. However, there is also a disinterest in pursuing energy shields. Not only that, but combat shields require more energy than our hull plating, and require more internal space than our radiation shields. Even if we pursue them, we can¡¯t use them without a major refit. Not only that but our power systems simply can¡¯t handle both energy shields and armor. Besides we have more experience with armor than shields, which is why we have not pursued shields,¡± replied Countryman. After that the topic shifted back to the original engineering problem.
Misaki entered engineering wearing a work suit. She had been ordered to help the engineering department out with the refit. Although she seriously didn¡¯t want to be here, but that had nothing to do with the work. Her problem was the outfit. The work suit she was required to wear, was basically a thicker version of the skinsuit. As a result it felt like she was walking around in her underwear, which she found to be rather embarrassing. A man walked past her and she tried to hide her small breasts with her hands. Only to rewarded with an amused chuckle coming from her left.
¡°You know the outfit isn¡¯t as bad as you think. Although, the way you are acting does make it rather erotic,¡± said Megumi.
¡°Not as bad? It is basically underwear, it doesn¡¯t hide anything. I don¡¯t see the difference between this and a skinsuit,¡± replied Misaki.
¡°Have you looked in the mirror? The fabric is thick enough to hide your features. Besides the skin hugging design is far safer than anything else you could wear. That suit won¡¯t get caught on anything either. Anyway you and I need to get to deck twelve. We are going to be reconfiguring the power distribution nodes on that deck,¡± said Megumi.
¡°What are we doing with the power nodes?¡± asked Misaki not aware the nodes were on the refit schedule.
¡°We are configuring them to better fit the new layout. We are also increasing the load capacity to the primary systems. Something we can afford to do since we are removing unneeded systems,¡± said Megumi as she began to explain what they needed to do. For the next few hours, Misaki helped the work crews with reconfiguring the powernodes. The moment she was off duty, she rushed to her quarters to change into something she was less embarrassed to be in. Wondering how all the other women on the ship could act like the work suit wasn¡¯t a problem. Although it was just her personal opinion, the materials it was made from were actually quite thick and sturdy. The suits also covered most of the wearers skin, and was made skin tight so it wouldn¡¯t get in the way while working. The thickness of the material not only made it quite protective, but also hid enough of the wearer that it wasn¡¯t as erotic as she thought.
A week after the Enterprise had docked at the Hylis Four Shipyard Complex, the Valorian council was informed of its presence their via their own spy network. Which is why an emergency session was now in progress. Which was becoming a regular occurance for the council. At least once a week the council was convenning for a session thanks to the war they were fighting.
¡°The menace that caused this war has been found. According to our spies they are at Hylis Four in Krall space. Unfortunately our spies could not find any real info for why they are there, and for how long they will be staying. They did learn that the ship entered the system with extensive hull damage and appears to be conducting repairs,¡± reported the intel liaison to the council.
¡°If that is where they are then they are no longer a threat. We should pull the lookouts and focus our forces on pushing back the Toral Confederacy,¡± said one councilman, and was immediately countered by another proposing a focus against the Voskar.
¡°We can¡¯t afford a counteroffensive at this time. Furthermore the menace is still a threat. More so in fact now that they are in Krall space. If they trade any of their unique technologies with the Krall it would make the Krall such a threat that even our combined fleet won¡¯t be able to stop them,¡¯ said the chairwoman.
¡°They¡¯re in Krall space, not much we can do about them. We should ignore them and focus on the war. Besides our relations with the Krall are already poor, best not to antagonize them further, by attacking their friend in one of their ports. Not unless you want a four front war, and need I remind you we are barely holding the border against the forces already invading our space,¡± said one of the younger girls on the council.
¡°I don¡¯t think that will work. I have read the reports coming from Krall space. I fear it is too late to try and avoid a war with the Krall. What we need to be doing is commissioning more fleets. I suggest we attempt a sabotage mission on the ship, and have at least two new fleets commissioned for home defense, and to block any Krall advance on our core systems,¡± said another of the younger council women.
¡°Sabotage sounds like a good idea. How do you propose we will do that?¡± asked the first councilman.
¡°Ideally we would place an explosive device somewhere on the ship,if we can sneak an agent aboard the ship. We will have them plant the device on the ship. If we can¡¯t find a way onto the ship, we will need our agent to plant the devices on the slip. The ship¡¯s defense will likely be powered down, since they are repairing hull damage. A few high yield explosive devices should be enough to destroy the ship,¡± answered the addressed female. The meeting went back in forth with debate and new proposals until they made the decision to have the local spies attempt to destroy the ship.
Sali was sitting in her cell, her back against the wall. She didn¡¯t really have anything to do, so she was practicing their language without the aid of her translator implant. This was not her first practice session in their language. Still she was far from perfect, and she could only speak a handful of words. Her practicing though had made it easier for her to notice that the Humans didn¡¯t speak one language but several. With many of them being bilingual, but she had noticed they had a common tongue. That tongue was the one she was practicing, since she felt knowing and being able to speak it without a translator would be helpful. Language practice had become part of her routine, since she always had some free time between dinner and lights out.
This time of the day was always quiet, broken only by the occasional footsteps of a patrolling pair of guards. She suddenly stopped her practice mid word, when she heard a commotion. Quickly she crossed her cell, and got as close to the grid as she dared before peering down the hall. A couple minutes later she saw a couple of guards and what looked like a pair of Krall security escorting what appeared to be a Krall female down the corridor. Her wrists were restrained by Krall light cuffs. Glowing bands of light were wrapped around her wrists being emitted from a small sphere between them. Her clothing was Krall prisoner''s garb, which was a plain brown dress made from rough looking fabric. Her tail extended from a slit in the back of the dress. The prisoner noticed her and exclaimed, ¡°What is a Valorian doing here in a cell!?¡±
Sali was quite surprised to see Krall on the ship. She had noticed the engines were silent, but she didn¡¯t know they were docked at a Krall shipyard. She didn¡¯t even know they were in Krall space either. So seeing Krall was a surprise. Rather than answer the other prisoner who had directed her question as her, she looked to the guard who gestured that she could answer.
¡°I was captured when they snagged my fighter with a tractor beam, at New Valoria. I have been laboring in their factories since then,¡± said Sali.
¡°Wait your saying you have been here for nearly six months?¡± said the Prisoner.
¡°Has it really only been six months? I thought it was longer,¡± replied Sali. Then she asked, ¡°Anyway what did you do?¡±
¡°Um, uh nothing?¡± said the prisoner.
¡°She was caught planting explosives on the slip. She resisted arrest, wounding two, and killing one before she was subdued. She had a few accomplices that were also caught, and the complex doesn¡¯t have many free cells. So we are going to be holding her for a few days. Why don¡¯t you brief her on what she can expect?¡± said the one guard.
Sali agreed and said, ¡°You can expect a lot of boredom over the next few days. Also expect to spend those days in the dark. Humans aren¡¯t big on keeping their prisoners up to date on local events. Humans aren¡¯t big on bright lights either, the factory isn¡¯t much brighter than the brig. The patrols will pass by at irregular intervals, and you will get meals twice a day. Not that they are any good, nor is there any variety. It is always fish. You get a shower every couple of days, but unless you have earned the privilege the water will be cold. Oh, yes whatever you do, never ever touch the bars that make up this grid here.¡±
¡°Why am I not supposed to touch the bars?¡± asked the girl.
¡°The bars have a high energy field running through it. Touching hurts like ¡®hell,¡¯¡± replied Sali remembering the time she got thrown into the grid.
¡°I¡¯ll take your word for it,¡± said the girl moments before the guards started leading her away. Sali headed back to her bed and picked up the electronic pad she had left when she went to see what was going on. Turning it on she resumed her language practice.
Around the same time, Countryman was reading the report on the sabotage attempt. He had expected a few of his enemies to try something like this, so he had patrols on the slip. He had also made arrangements to prevent unauthorized individuals from boarding the ship. Not much he could so about the report and he agreed with Greymans actions on this particular subject. He did however make a few arrangements to increase local security. Fortunately the following months wouldn¡¯t need the security and the prisoners they gained were tried and convicted in a Krall court before being shipped to a Krall prison.
Captain¡¯s Log March 2nd 005 SDE,
Today marks the end of our long refit. The refit was completed on schedule and the last few months have been quite profitable for our scientific community. We learned quite a bit from our interactions with the Krall scientific community. While the Krall learned some new tricks from us as well. It will take time for us to really put the new knowledge to use, but it has already taken years off of some of our ongoing research projects. The most immediate benefits of our interactions have been to our stealth abilities. With Krall help we were able to reduce our graviton emissions by five percent, which might not sound like much but will help reduce our visibility on graviton scanners.
Before we leave the Hylis system however we have a shakedown cruise to complete. Thanks to the extent of the work done, we will need a shakedown in order to be sure all our systems are working according to spec. The armor was tested last week with a photon field bombardment, and is operating according to specifications. Apparently the Krall use the same technique to test their energy shields. Our cruise will test the systems that can¡¯t be tested in port, such as our engines and weapons. For the weapons test, there is a field of floating hulks in high orbit of the yard. These hulks are older ships, that are no longer functioning and slated to be scrapped. Which to the Krall means, they have been decommissioned and placed here for target practice. Speaking of weapons, my scientists have been telling me about their exciting work with photon fields and shield penetrators. They believe they are only a year away from creating a viable prototype for a shield penetrating photon torpedo design.
For our weapons test, we will be firing our energy weapons on several targets multiple times. We will also be shooting a few dummy torpedoes to test the launchers. After that we will make a short warp jump to Hylis Five before engaging the IKS Teketh in a mock battle. The mock battle will be the best test of our sublight engines. The battle will be conducted with simulated weapons, and our computers will register each hit and simulate the damage. The Teketh may not be as large as the Enterprise or carry as many weapons as we do, but she more than makes up for it with the power of her weapons. Both us and the Krall ran a few simulations and found our two ships to be almost evenly matched. The Enterprise has the advantage thanks to her torpedoes. However the Teketh¡¯s beam arrays can rip us to pieces in short order, if they are allowed into beam range. Our radiation shields can buy us an extra thirty seconds which can help us get out of range. Overall our advantage is minor, and the result will come down to the skill of the captain.
¡°We are secure from warp speed, sir. Now in high orbit of Hylis five,¡± said Eri.
¡°No problems with the warp engines, sir,¡± reported Megumi.
¡°In that case, hail the Teketh and tell them we are ready for the mock battle. All hands to battlestations,¡± ordered Countryman. There was an immediate reaction, as the alert lights turned red. Simulated weapons were brought online, and as the view ports along the hull were battened shut and the plating was charged to maximum. The Teketh immediately acknowledged the transmission, and almost immediately the battle began.
The Teketh accelerated to full combat speeds, and began to close on the Enterprise. The Enterprise opened fire with a heavy volley of simulated torpedoes. Tika¡¯s battle-leader was no fool however and ordered immediate evasive maneuvers. The Teketh using a combination of evasive maneuvers and ECM managed to evade most of the incoming torpedoes taking only a couple of hits. Three simulated torpedoes slammed into the ship amidships and exploded against the hull plating. The ship registered a simulated hull breach, and acted accordingly sealing the section and marking the systems there as down. The Teketh returned fire with a few simulated volleys of her own.
Most of which were neutralized by the Enterprise¡¯s energy webs. Several high yield simulated torpedoes exploded against the ships hull. Greatly draining the local AIF and creating simulated hull breaches. As the Enterprise again returned fire, as she maneuvered to keep her distance from the Teketh. Each ship exchanging significant numbers of simulated torpedoes in a simulated exchange of fire. Both ships taking damage from the torpedoes they could not avoid.
After the third exchange of fire, the Teketh ducked behind an asteriod for cover. Simulated torpedoes slamming into the asteroid. Buying the Teketh the precious few seconds she needed to execute a combat jump into beam weapons range. She came out of the inversion on the Enterprises tail and opened fire. Several beams hits bored into the Enterprise¡¯s hull, ripping opening simulated damage, and wounding several critical systems. The Enterprise returned fire with her aft launchers and turrets. While she simultaneously began coming about, the ship turning faster than most vessels of her size were capable of. The Teketh was already too close for the Enterprise to safely make distance without a warp jump or pulse detonation. As the Enterprise was readying for rapid acceleration she planned to close the distance for a quick run on the Teketh.
The Teketh took a number of hits from simulated torpedoes disabling a number of systems and causing multiple simulated hull breaches. As she continued to return fire on the Enterprise her hull continuing to hold together a testament to the impressive Krall Engineering techniques. The Enterprise entered electro cannon range and opened fire. The Krall shields collapsed and the Enterprise followed up with a number of penetrating hits from her particle cannons and cutting beams. At the same moment the Teketh managed to fire a penetrating hit that disrupted the containment field on one of the Enterprise¡¯s auxiliary reactors. The simulated battle ended a few moments later when the simulated explosion claimed both ships, making the battle a draw.
¡°That was a good battle, Ship-leader Tika. Your battle-leader made an excellent decision with that combat jump. I honestly thought I was going to win until that jump,¡± said Countryman.
¡°My battle-leader didn¡¯t expect you to close the distance. Although in hindsight I think he made a poor choice targeting you reactor after you closed the distance. Although I hadn¡¯t expected an explosion with the big of a shockwave either,¡± said Tika.
¡°Well we are carrying a lot of fuel, and at the time our engines were charging for a pulse detonation. The reactor containment loss knocked out the flow regulators for our port aft engine, causing the engine to overload. Now that we know the risk of this happening exists. It will be simple to prevent,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Sounds like everything is fine over there. So where are headed after this?¡± asked Tika.
¡°Sector 4115, of the places you told us about, that sector seems the most promising. We will have to cross Valorian space, but we aren''t worried. With the war they will most likely be too busy to bother us,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°In that case I wish you luck, and escort you to the border,¡± said Tika as she signed off. A few minutes later the Enterprise went to warp. The Teketh escorting her to the border.
Chapter XIII A Dead World
Captain¡¯s log March 17th 005 SDE,
We passed the Krall Valorian border three days ago. So far we haven¡¯t seen much activity, but we are on the far side of the Velosa Cluster and no where near the Valorian core worlds. Still long range sensors have been tracking a small Valorian fleet for the past two days. We haven¡¯t been able to identify the classes since they are on the extreme edge of our range. They appear to have about two thousand ships in loose formation. Most likely a border patrol fleet. We could probably get more data on the fleet if we were willing to risk using active scanners. Unfortunately that would also reveal our position, something that I would rather not do.
Countryman had just finished his log, and was entering the bridge when he received a report from Greyman who was watching the bridge.
¡°Sir, the fleet we have been tracking has changed course,¡± reported Greyman.
¡°Have they spotted us?¡± asked Countryman more worried about the attention a battle would bring than the ships themselves.
¡°No, a second fleet appeared on scanners just a few minutes after we registered the course change. Readings indicate a mid size fleet emerged from hyperspace in a star system roughly twelve lightyears from our present position. According to our star charts the system is of no value. No habitable planets, no military bases, no civilian mining operations, no science stations, nothing of value in the system. It does have a decent number mineral deposits, but nothing exotic,¡± replied Greyman.
¡°That does sound interesting! I highly doubt the Valorians would be moving to intercept that fleet unless there was something of value in the system. Perhaps a black site?,¡± speculated Countryman before giving new orders.
¡°Alter course to investigate that system, Warp four point three,¡± ordered Countryman. At Warp four point three it would take the ship nearly twelve days to reach the system. By then the battle would likely be over, and the Enterprise can easily evade the sensors of most ships as long as they weren¡¯t being actively scanned for. He doubted the Valorians would be actively scanning for his ship, and if they won he could easily dispatch a Valorian fleet of that size. Of course if he did attack that fleet, it would put the entire sector on alert. Which is one of the reasons he would like to see the Valorian fleet lose.
An hour later Countryman was standing next to the tactical display, watching the battle unfold as recorded by the long range sensors. Since the battle had started they were risking active scanning to get a better view of the battle. Which meant they weren¡¯t just reading the active emissions of the ships in range of the sensors, but sending active pulses to identify objects in scanning range. He had the sensors sending low intensity pulses to minimize the risk of detection.
Both fleets were of roughly equal size, the Valorians had two thousand and fifty seven ships, while their opponent had more at two thousand one hundred and sixty nine. Which meant the battle would depend heavily on the technology and tactics of the two sides. As soon as the Valorians came out of warp, they split into three distinct groups. One large group and two smaller groups. The large group moved to attack the intruders in a frontal attack, while the smaller groups attempted to flanks the other fleet.
Two small groups broke off from the other fleet and intercepted the flanker groups. While a third small group of ships snuck off from the fleet. It didn¡¯t take long for the battle to start going full swing. Countryman spent the next hour watching the blips on the screen. Every few minutes a dozen or so blips would vanish, with neither group seeming to have the advantage. However that was only how it appeared, as the unidentified fleet was slowly drawing the Valorians in. Suddenly the commander sprung their trap, and the ships they had placed in reserve suddenly appeared on the Valorian flank firing full force. At the same moment the other groups intensified their attacks and focused on command ships. While hidden satellites, that had been placed before hand opened fire. The Valorian fleet quickly broke into confusion, suddenly losing ships at nearly forty a minute. The confusion didn¡¯t last long though, and the Valorian commander managed to reorganize the fleet and retreated.
¡°Well that was a little disappointing,¡± said Countryman as he switched off the console. At the same time the sensors were switched back to passive mode.
¡°Pathetic is more like it. I swear we were chased by more competent commanders than that one. They lost to one of the oldest ploys in the book. A first year cadet would have done better,¡± said Greyman.
¡°Well there is nothing really important in this sector, which might be why they got assigned to this backwater sector,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Well there must be something important, in the system ahead or they wouldn¡¯t have fought over it,¡± said Greyman.
¡°Yes, there must be. Keep in mind it isn¡¯t in the public record either. Which means the Valorians couldn¡¯t place too many ships or high value personnel in this sector. Not without drawing undue attention to this sector,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°I know that, but if it was important they should have placed a more competent captain in charge of the fleet,¡± said Greyman.
¡°Well no point arguing about it, now. We will find out what is so important about this system in a few days,¡± said Countryman.
A few days later the Enterprise came out of warp in the system. Her arrival went entirely unnoticed by the ships still in the system. Most of the alien fleet had left the system after the battle. Chasing after the Valorian commander to the local fleet base, which was little more than a light armed outpost and supply depot. Now it was and expanding cloud of dust, and the remains of the Valorian fleet were retreating to a neighboring sector. That battle had been a little more interesting to watch, but not by much. Between the two battles the Valorian commander had lost half their fleet and only sinking about one ship for every three ships they had lost.
There were only about two hundred alien ships in the system, including a dreadnought. The ship was far larger than any the Enterprise had previously encountered and bigger than some ships in an old science fiction that was later ruined by a company of fools. The dreadnought measured an impressive twenty one kilometers in length and was bristling with heavy weaponry. Her hull was heavily plated, and the ship was clearly designed to favor broadsides. Her armament was mounted in massive turrets and emplacements positioned to maximize her broadsides. Unlike human designs which favored placing hangars on either the top or the sides, the alien dreadnought had hers facing aft located between the primary thruster ports. The ship had massive thrusters the size of small starships, from experience Countryman knew that alien ship designers had their own tricks to protect against the vulnerability the engines created. Without an active scan he couldn¡¯t determine what tricks were used here. The most common trick was to use secondary shield generators to provide extra shielding for vulnerable sections of the ship.
Given the size of some of the guns and how thick the armor seemed to be it was a menacing looking ship to say the least. One Countryman would prefer not to fight if possible. Based on the appearance of the ship, he guessed it to be a ship from the Toral Confederacy. He didn¡¯t know much about them beyond what he had learned from the Krall, the Valorians and his brief encounter with one of their ships over a year and a half ago. Toral capital ships were among the best in the quadrant, according to every source he had listened to, only Krall capital ships were superior. Which wasn¡¯t all that surprising given that the Krall are the most advanced race in the quadrant their ships being two to three generations ahead of their rivals in technology. What he did know of them was that they were a friendly enough people. Their last contact had been friendly enough, but that had been with a small trade convoy passing through the Lantaro sector.
The convoy had chosen to risk going through the Lantaro sector to avoid the tariffs and transit taxes of passing through Valorian space. They figured they wouldn¡¯t have to much trouble since they had a decent escort that included twelve light cruisers. A force that most pirates wouldn¡¯t risk engaging. The Enterprise had encountered them after they ran afoul of one of the better equipped pirate clans in the area. One that had little reason to fear risking going after larger prey like the Toral convoy. The Enterprise had been surveying a nearby system, when she had received their distress call. Needless to say the Enterprise had responded and made some new friends in the process. Although they hadn¡¯t really kept in contact with the Toral.
¡°Looks like we found a Toral fleet,¡± said Greyman.
¡°Of the possible encounters, I think we got lucky. We already know the Toral and our relations with them are the best out of the three races at war with the Valorians. We should hail the flagship and see if we can¡¯t learn what they find so interesting about this system,¡± said Countryman. Before Greyman could even make a response the tactical alert went off, alarm klaxons blaring as the alert lights went from blue to red. Countryman immediately barked for a report.
¡°A Toral destroyer opened fire on us. No effect on our hull plating,¡± reported Misaki.
¡°I have a weapons lock on the destroyer, bearing two seven nine mark six eight, distance thirty four thousand kilometers. Shall I return fire?¡± reported Kaori.
¡°Not just yet, hail the ship and ask them to patch us through to the flagship,¡± said Countryman.
The Toral captain watched as the violet bolts from his ships particle cannons impacted on the alien hull. The energy splashing harmlessly against the heavily armored hull. His tactical officer reported from her station almost instantly.
¡°Multiple direct hits, no effect,¡± said the tactical officer.
¡°Sir, we are picking up a spike in the ship''s energy signature. We are being targeted!,¡± reported another officer from their station.
¡°Full power to shields! Evasive maneuvers pattern Hurval Nine,¡± ordered the captain.
¡°Sir, we are being hailed by the alien ship. They want us to establish a line between them and the flagship,¡± said his operations officer. The captain felt his muscle relax as most of the tension of the moment left him. He had not wanted to fight an unidentified alien capital ship. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
¡°Put them through,¡± said the captain feeling like he just got a lucky break.
Countryman had to wait a couple of minutes for the Toral destroyer to patch him through to the flagship after they had stopped firing on his ship. Then the ugly image of the Toral appeared on his screen. The Toral were a rather hairy humanoid creature with four arms, and thick tusks on their face. Their facial features were rather rough, with a rather bony appearance. He also found the orange and green fur of theirs rather odd to look at.
¡°I¡¯m captain Countryman of the Sol Refuge ship EFS Enterprise, who do I have the honor of speaking with?¡± said Countryman.
¡°I¡¯m Vokal captain of the Kal¡¯mek and commander of this task force. I apologize for my destroyer captains actions. May I ask why you are here? I didn¡¯t expect to encounter your rather famous ship here in this system,¡± said Vokal.
¡°We were curious as to why you and the Valorians were fighting over this supposedly useless system,¡± said Countryman.
¡°For the most part it is useless. The third moon of the second planet however contains a classified research outpost. Quite a disappointing outpost as well, turns out they were developing a new generation plasma cannon. We found some notes indicating they were working with several other outposts in parallel, though. Honestly I¡¯m more interested in the planet it is orbiting than their research,¡± said Vokal.
¡°New generation weapons sounds like quite the find. Why is the planet more interesting than the research?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°They were developing a forced pulse plasma cannon, that seems to have some basis in Cathamari design. Looks to be in the final prototype phases in fact, but honestly we have better guns than that cannon. Although it does have an odd modulation to it, that my engineers can¡¯t figure out why they added it. It actually weakens the cannons effectiveness against shields,¡± said Vokal.
¡°Let me guess, it enhances the punch against armor, correct?¡± said Countryman.
¡°Yes, it does. However plasma weapons can melt through armor and hull having little need for armor penetration,¡± said Vokal.
¡°Against most armors, yes. Our armor and some types of Cathamari armor can withstand repeated bombardment from those pulse cannons the Valorians use. I¡¯m guessing that cannon is their latest solution. Their last was a high yield plasma torpedo, quite the pain to deal with as well,¡± said Countryman remembering the torpedoes that were largely responsible for the damage the Coto and Umikaze had sustained before he sacrificed them at New Valoria.
¡°I have heard of your engagements with the Valorians. I believe they engaged you in multiple skirmishes over the last two years. I think you sunk or disabled a few thousand of their ships, at least until your skirmish with their third fleet. In which you almost sunk the entire fleet,¡± said Vokal.
¡°Actually I barely put a dent in the fleet. Managed to sink a fair chunk, but the plasma storm is what sunk the rest,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Maybe, but using the weather as a weapon is the mark of a great warrior. Don¡¯t hide such an impressive achievement behind humility. Anyway, to navigate the Velosa cluster as effectively as you did you must have a good set of sensors. Would you mind helping me investigate this planet? I will make it worth your time, I¡¯ll give you the Valorian weapon data, and two thousand Ephon crystals, for the data you collect,¡± said Vokal.
¡°Ephon crystals? Those are pretty valuable, this planet must be very interesting if you want to trade them for sensor data on the planet,¡± said Countryman.
¡°The planet is a Class IX world, but shows signs of once being a Class IIB world. Our scans have revealed planet wide ruins and dead vegetation. The planet still has a Class II atmosphere, but we have found no evidence of life anywhere on the planet. Not even microbes, the odd part is most dead worlds have an obvious reason for a lack of life. Yet all our scans indicate this planet should still have life. The outpost didn¡¯t have any data on why this planet is like this, only a general warning to the scientists that the planet is off limits. With no mention as to why,¡± said Vokal.
¡°We don¡¯t use your class system, but I think I got the gist of what you were telling me. That does sound interesting, did you scan the planet for signs of a pandemic level disease?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°No our sensors, are barely sensitive enough to pick up the life signatures of microbes, they can¡¯t tell the difference between a harmless strain, and a deadly one. The only reason they are even sensitive enough to pick up microbes is you need that kind of sensitivity to locate ships at long range, or stealthed ships like yours,¡± said Vokal.
¡°Fortunately we do have sensors with the abilities needed to differentiate between microbes. I¡¯ll rendezvous with you in an hour, as I find this planet interesting as well,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I look forward to meeting you in person, captain,¡± said Vokal as he closed the channel. Countryman than ordered a course for the planet. A couple minutes after the Enterprise changed course the destroyer that fired on her earlier took up an escort position. The flight to the second planet was nice and leisurely. An hour later the Enterprise took up orbit near the large dreadnought she had spotted earlier. That dreadnought was the flagship of this task force, and was even more impressive up close. Countryman wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if those massive guns mounted on the hull could penetrate his ship¡¯s armor. Which is why he was glad the Toral were friendly.
After taking up orbit near the flagship, he began a high intensity scan of the planet. It became painfully obvious how dead the planet was very quickly. Whatever had killed the planet, must have killed all life on the planet rather quickly as the readings indicated that there was not much deterioration of the organic material down there. It had even killed most of the microbes on the planet, his sensors did pick up a few strains of microbes down there, and they were responsible for what deterioration they did see.
The dead civilization on the surface appears to have been in the early atomic age (comparable to Earth around WWII) but there was no evidence of a nuclear war. The planets atmosphere and magnetic field were fully intact, so solar radiation had no play in this. Just like the Toral had said. This didn¡¯t seem to be the result of an ordinary pandemic either. The scans indicated that something had turned the soil toxic, and there were massive levels of these toxins in the dead plants. These same toxins were also in the air and comprised near fourteen percent of the atmosphere. Ruri and his other scientist were baffled trying to figure out how an entire planet could be poisoned in this manner.
Of course after a few hours of continuous scanning it became obvious that they weren¡¯t going to find the answers for that from up here. The ruins were also quite interesting. The aliens who built them were a race of avians, with an unusual fascination with building stone walls. Their fields and cities were surrounded by walls. Their cities were massive spires that reached well into the sky and surrounded by elaborate stone walls and towers that were capped with bronze spikes. The fields were all surrounded by smaller and less elaborate walls, also capped with bronze spikes. Along with metal capped wood spikes placed at the base of these walls. Given the fact that they were a race of avians, he doubted such walls were meant to protect against the armies of rival nations and more likely against some kind of predator. One vicious and deadly enough to warrant the expense of walling of their farms and cities. In fact the predator theory was the only one they came up with that made sense. Although it did raise a few questions about the predators that once roamed this world.
Since it was unlikely that they would find any real answers up here, Countryman had a survey team sent to the planet. The shuttle he sent them down in, had been loaded with contamination suits to protect the survey team from the toxic atmosphere. While it was also rigged for decontamination protocols and had a basic lab on board. The Enterprise only had four science shuttles on board, but they weren¡¯t all that different from a cargoshuttle. In fact they were basically the same ship, but they cargo area had been replaced with a basic lab and a few extra systems had been installed. Making it the best choice for finding out was going on down there. The Enterprise hadn¡¯t originally launched with any science shuttles, but she had the blueprints for them. During their time in the Lantaro sector, the need for a shuttle with a basic lab became apparent so he had four science shuttles commissioned for use in planetary surveys. Standard survey protocols required that they operate on full decon protocols until a planet had been proven harmless. Especially since there was no telling what kind of diseases they might find down there. Sure modern medicine had cured most of man''s afflictions, such as the common cold and cancer, but it often took time to identify the cause of an ailment and even longer to cure it.
It took the science team nearly a week to isolate the cause of the planets lack of life. The cause turned out to be quite interesting, which led to Countryman inviting Vokal to the Enterprise to discuss the planet. After the shuttle was brought aboard and subjected to laser sweeps before and after landing. The crew put through an extensive decontamination procedure.
Countryman sat down at the head of the conference table and waited a few minutes for Vokal to be led to the room. Vokal came in alongside two of his officers.
¡°I must say you have a nice ship here. The only thing I have to complain about is the wait while your bay pressurized. If you had a containment shield, you could conduct operations more quickly without having to wait for pressurization,¡± said Vokal.
¡°It would be easier yes, right now open bay operations require the crews to wear space suits. Anyway we found the cause. It was a microbe, someone deliberately killed all life on that planet. The microbe is pretty harmless to people and animals, but plants is another story. The microbe was designed to attack plants at the cellular level, creating that toxin we found as a byproduct in massive quantities. Our analysis has revealed two strains of the microbe, the more common strain appears to have been the original, while the second strain is responsible for the toxins in the atmosphere,¡± said Countryman.
¡°What do you mean deliberate? Are you saying someone engineered it?¡± said Vokal.
¡°While our knowledge of genetic engineering is admittedly limited, the microbe is clearly of artificial design. The gene structure shows signs of extensive artificial modification to the point we can¡¯t even identify the original microbe used as the base. Regardless, the microbe should be considered highly dangerous and this planet needs to be quarantined indefinitely. Unless you want to bombard the crust into molten slag, but it would be far cheaper to just block off the planet with some mines and automated defense satellites,¡± said Countryman.
¡°We did recently manage to crack some of the encrypted files at the research outpost. It seems the defense personnel had orders to shoot any ship that attempted to land on the planet. It looks like this outpost was not just a research base, but part of their quarantine. Although who poisoned this planet would be the next question. The Valorians don¡¯t have the knowledge to engineer a bioweapon like this, and even if they did it violates not only their laws, but the Elder¡¯s covenant as well,¡± said Vokal.
¡°Yes, that would be nice to know as well. Genocide is something we do not condone, but I¡¯m afraid you¡¯re on your own for finding them. We don¡¯t have the resources to waste on a search for the creators of this bioweapon,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°I expected you to say that, we can¡¯t stay here indefinitely so we will leave some defense sats to keep idiots from landing on the planet,¡± said Vokal.
¡°No mines?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Why would we have mines? They¡¯re rather situational in their usefulness in space. Not very many choke points in space afterall,¡± asked Vokal.
¡°Well we do carry mines, they do have their uses afterall. Not enough to mine an entire star system mind you, but more than enough to mine the entire orbit of a planet,¡± said Countryman.
¡°That¡¯s good, because I don¡¯t want to risk something happening that lets such a deadly microbe lose on the galaxy,¡± said Vokal.
¡°Sure we will, help. We are going to be in the area for a while as we cross to a sector that we have heard is promising, for a colony. Don¡¯t want that bioweapon potentially spreading to our new home when we find it,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Thank you for your help, then. I¡¯ll have the crystals and data I promised plus a little extra transfered over to you. If you are going deeper into the sector, do keep an eye out for other ships. We have a few other battlegroups and a couple large fleets in this sector and its neighbors. The Malora also have a couple of fleets in the area, most of the Valorian fleets in the area are already in retreat, and the Malorans the dishonorable rats they are have been attacking us because they want this space for themselves. I would recommend that you keep your distance from the Malora, their disruptor weapons are very good at breaking down ship armor and hulls,¡± said Vokal.
¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind than. Now I¡¯ll show you to your shuttle and then we can get around to mining the planetary orbit,¡± said Countryman. A few days later the planet was surrounded with mines and defense satellites. The satellites were of both human and toral origin. As for the mines, most of their friend-foe recognition protocols had been disabled, they would recognize the satellites as friends, but not the Toral ships or the Enterprise. This had been something they had agreed upon while setting up the mines. After setting up the mines, the Enterprise left the system.
Four weeks later, the Enterprise had entered a sector with little apparent fighting. Over the last four weeks they had seen a number of battles between the Valorians and their enemies. Over half of those battles had been defeats for the Confederation, however he had also seen a few victories as well. Most of the defeats were due to the fact that they were simply outnumbered and spread to thin. They simply didn¡¯t have enough ships to protect all their colonies and outposts. This sector had a great deal of activity in it. The Enterprise had dozens of Valorian convoys on her sensors carrying food, medicine and war supplies for various outposts and colonies. The nearest such convoy was composed of three Merchantman class super freighters and twenty four V-22 escorts. The Enterprise was on course to intercept that convoy. She had intercepted an encrypted Valorian comunique that indicated the convoy was carrying the salvaged components of a Voskar cloaking device. The council had decided that attacked the convoy was worth the risk of trying to obtain the device. Especially since the Voskar had the best stealth technology in the quadrant. Something that would be of invaluable use to the ship, in avoiding unwanted contacts.
Countryman wasn¡¯t too worried about raiding the convoy. The Merchantman was huge, lumbering and slow. Her shielding was also terrible and she was protected by only a single bank of low yield pulse cannons. The V-22 as it had been designated by the humans was a small fast escort corvette. Its shields weren¡¯t all that strong due to its size and it only carried a single bank of pulse cannons. However its speed and maneuverability made it quite the threat to most ships, especially in numbers. They were also cheap which made them an excellent choice for escorting the vulnerable freighters. There was a fleet base nearby, but he was sure he could take the convoy, get what they wanted and be out before any ships could respond to the distress call.
Chapter XIV The Battle Before the Storm
Captain¡¯s Log April 8th 005 SDE,
We are approaching a Valorian Military convoy, in preparation to raid the convoy for a stolen cloaking device that they are carrying. The council and I have agreed that the raid is worth the risks. The convoy itself is of no threat to the Enterprise. Neither the escorts, nor the freighters have shields strong enough to withstand our particle cannons, which normally struggle to penetrate shields. I¡¯m confident that we can take the convoy before the local fleet base can respond. If not it is far enough away that we would have a full three hours to get what we want and vacate the area before they can reach us. Once we warp out of the area, I doubt the Valorians will chase us. Especially given how thinly their fleet is spread. They can¡¯t risk losing to many ships to us, as it may threaten their position in this sector. Especially given the beating their twelfth fleet took three days ago, during the defense of their colony at Hemitar four.
The Enterprise came out of warp just ahead of the convoy and immediately generated a FTL disruption field and a jamming field as well.. Being common devices, it hadn¡¯t taken much effort to obtain one to study. Which is why they had one aboard the Enterprise. Almost instantly the convoy dropped out of warp near the Enterprise.
¡°The convoy has dropped out of warp, sir,¡± reported Misaki.
¡°Kaori target the escorts, fire at will,¡± ordered Countryman. Immediately the beam arrays on the Enterprise glowed briefly before beams of light burst from the hull targeting the nearest escorts. The first escort was struck amidships from above, part of the beam went right through the shields and ripped into the shield generator. Knocking out the shields a couple seconds later and the ship explosively decompressed as the beam passed through the otherside of the ship. The next escort was hit on the port side towards the front of the ship. Her shields held longer since its generator wasn¡¯t in the initial line of fire. The beam passed from the front, straight to the rear. Nearly bisecting the corvette.
Another corvette took a volley from a the Enterprise¡¯s particle cannons. She had been attempting evasive maneuvers, but was unable to completely shake the weapons lock. She managed to avoid the worst of the fire, but several blue bolts slammed into her shields. Her shields held for the first few bolts, before buckling then a final bolt slammed into the hull and the ship broke apart. Then one of the corvettes opened fire followed by the others. The plasma pulses harmlessly striking the hull. At the same moment, the Merchantman freighters changed their course. Moving to get out of the area as quickly as possible. While also attempting to send a distress call. When that failed they launched a few beacons. At an angle away from the Enterprise. It would take a few minutes to clear the jamming field, but that was more than enough time for the Enterprise to deal with the escorts, and disable the freighter carrying the cloaking device.
The escorts almost fanatically tried to distract the Enterprise to allow the freighters the time they needed to escape. Unfortunately for the escorts, the freighters were to slow to clear the area fast enough. The Enterprise managed to destroy or disable all of the escorts in just under three minutes, then she made an immediate pursuit course for the freighters. As she entered weapons range of the freighters they opened fire with their aft guns, which were nothing more than useless pop guns. The pulses splashing harmlessly against her hull. Which wasn¡¯t surprising since they were weaker than those mounted on the escort corvettes.
The Enterprise fired her cutting beams into the engine section of the rearmost freighter. Almost instantly the engines stalled and the ship lost thrust. Two more shots were fired into power grid, within seconds the freighter went dark. This freighter wasn¡¯t the one with the cloaking device they were after, so they let it drift and chased after the other two. The second freighter was disabled the same way, but the third was disabled differently. As soon as they were in range they fired their Electro cannons the first shot collapsed the shields, and the second went right into the hull frying the freighters critical systems. As the ship started to drift, the Enterprise locked her mag tractors on it and brought it alongside.
Down in the lower decks, Tom and his squad of marines were along with several other squads were getting ready to storm the freighter. The ship had already been scanned and the cloaking device located. The Merchantmen class freighters have a crew of four thousand with a quarter of that typically being used for security. Who were used to dealing primarily with pirates. They were raiding the cargo bays which were mostly empty of people. Which meant they expected light resistance, the cloaking device was in a cargo bay to decks below their planned entry point. They were to make their way to the device, secure it and get out. The entire operation was expected to take ten minutes at most. Long before more than a squad or two of the security forces to arrive.
With the ship disabled the lift wasn¡¯t expected to work, so they were going to make their own path. He double checked his XR-471 to make sure it was working. Like the ships guns, his rifle had been modified to the new standards. He rather enjoyed the increased punch and range the mod made to the rifle. The drop in fire rate made little difference in battle. He had just finished double checking his kit, including his side arm, grenades and breaching charges, when they were given the go ahead.
His squad entered the airlock, and waited a couple seconds for it to cycle, and then used a breaching charge to breach the hull. Once in they rushed down the corridor towards the lift shaft. They didn¡¯t encounter anyone on the way, and met up with the other two squads. They breached the doors and made their way down two decks. One of the squads staying behind to guard the door. The lift wasn¡¯t in the way so the easily made their way to the door to the target deck, and used another breaching charge to blow it open. As they were exiting the shaft they came into contact with two squads of Valorian security. The squads had taken cover behind some crates, and portable infantry cover shield generators. They generated a visible blue energy screen that served as portable cover for infantry.
Both marine squads dived into cover and returned fire. Tom fired a shot right into a security officer as he was coming out of the lift before diving into cover. His shot slammed right into the man''s chest, killing him instantly. Popping out of cover for a short instant he fired another shot at a guard as he was firing. The shot struck the man in the arm. Charring the casing of the man¡¯s rifle and reducing his arm to charred flesh. The man cried out, while another member of the squad tossed a stun pulse grenade.
The grenade landed in the middle of the formation. The security force dived away an instant before it exploded. A pulse of blue energy washed over the troops rendering them unconcious. Toms squad continued into the bay, while the other squad stayed by the lift shaft to guard the exit, and help install their impromptu cargo lift. Which was a net and manuel pulley they brought with them.
It didn¡¯t take Tom¡¯s squad long to locate the crate they were after. They were halfway back to the lift, when additional resistance broke into the bay. Tom and a buddy laid down cover fire while the other two dragged the crate back to the lift. Tom fired on those coming from the upper walkway to the left. While his buddy fired on the squad coming from the walkway on the right. Their personal shields being of limited help to a good hit. After about a minute the squad had reached the lift and the local security squads were either dead or suppressed. It took barely any time with improbtu lift to raise the cloaking device, and only a couple minutes more to climb back up the shaft and exit the craft.
Around the same time they were boarding the Enterprise, three new ships entered the engagement zone. All three ships were of a class unknown to the Enterprise and faster than any previously identified Valorian ship class. They were also a fair bit larger than previously encountered ships.
¡°Scan those ships, I want to know what we are dealing with. Also I want to know how they got here so fast, that distress signal was only sent twenty minutes ago,¡± barked Countryman.
¡°They were part of another convoy about three lightyears from our position. My scan reveals heavy energy shields with an unusual matrix, and multiple heavy weapon banks on all levels. All of those of the new design the Toral sent us. Each one has three thousand banks of concussion pulse plasma cannons and four hundred heavy plasma torpedo banks. These are clearly a new type of Valorian Dreadnought,¡± said Misaki. Countryman did a quick mental calculation and noted that the three ships must have exceeded warp eight to reach them as quickly as they had. He figured they would not be able to go to warp so quickly after pushing the engines that high. Even if it had only been a few minutes.
¡°Is our assault team aboard?¡± said Countryman.
¡°Yes, sir they just got back on board, the airlocks are cycling now,¡± reported Misaki.
¡°Helm, get us out of here maximum warp,¡± ordered Countryman not wanting to stick around or test how well the armor would hold up against those new guns of theirs. Almost instantly he heard the familiar hum of the warp engines powering up as the ship accelerated rapidly towards lightspeed. Mere seconds before the ship was about to transition to warp speed the ship shuddered violently and the hum vanished.
¡°Hull breach port side nacelle sections 43 through 117, primary and backup port warp engines disabled. All sub engines in those sections have been disabled,¡± reported the engineer at the damage display console. Countryman thought, ¡°guess we are fighting after all.¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
¡°Full power to hull plating, bring us about to bearing four nine mark two six three. Load all forward torpedo tubes. Target the lead dreadnought,¡± ordered Countryman.
The Enterprise came about, several volley of heavy weapons fire flying towards her position. Several shots impacting the hull, a few being absorbed and others punching through the plating. Then the Enterprise opened fire with her forward torpedo launchers. Dozens of blue streaks zipped across the void. Slamming into the energy screens of the Valorian dreadnought, with less than half the normal amount penetrating the shields. The remaining torpedoes slammed into the hull dealing significant structural damage. However the dreadnought proved to be better built than most Valorian ships. As she withstood the barrage. Half her weapon banks were destroyed, her hangers which were wide open and launching fighter craft were ripped apart. Her forward shield generators destroyed and half of her decks were ripped open to space as thousand were forcible blown out into space.
The Enterprise zipped past her, as maneuvered to avoid the worst of the incoming fire. Several fighters strafing her hull, while the Enterprise returned fire on them with her anti fighter missile banks. Less than half made it out of their run on the ship. As she zipped by she fired a quick volley from her main guns into the dreadnought. Her damaged forward shields failing to absorb enough of the volley. Several bolts tearing through the hull slammed into the antimatter fuel storage pods. Almost instantly the antimatter began to violently interact with hull, the resulting secondary explosions tore the dreadnought to pieces and severally cooked any ship unfortunate enough to be to close to the ship. Nearly a thousand fighters launched from the ship had been destroyed by the resulting blast.
The Enterprise came about, with a roll and a few extra maneuvers before locking her torpedoes on the second dreadnought. The maneuvers helping keep the worst of the fire off the ship, but like the corvettes she had been fighting earlier she could not evade all of it. Bolts of angry red plasma continued to slam into the hull. The Enterprise shuddered under each hit, ever other hit breaching the hull only to be stopped by internal plating and reinforced bulkheads. Several of the hits, damaging conduits and internal systems. Several weapon banks along the starboard ventral went offline moments before the Enterprise got a bead on the second dreadnought. While the third attempted to get on her tail.
The Enterprise unleashed a full volley from both groups of launchers, and changed course and speed to throw them from her tail. Both dreadnoughts managed to escape significant damage, while their fighters chased the Enterprise braving the heavy screen of missiles to unleash their payloads on to the Enterprise. A few of the fighter bombers managed to score a few penetrating hits on the Enterprise knocking out two more weapon banks. Countryman had damage control parties dispatched to bring the weapons back online.
The surviving fighters broke of from their attack to return to their motherships for rearming as the Enterprise charged for a pulse detonation. The ship rapidly accelerated towards dreadnought three and unleashed everything she had on the ship. Multiple lightning like blasts and blue bolts slammed into the dreadnoughts hull. Tearing through bulkheads and people alike. The Electro cannons frying the systems they hit, having disabled the shields in the opening volleys. At the same time the dreadnought fired everything she could keep online at the Enterprise. Bolts and torpedoes slammed into the Enterprise multiple sections of the port dorsal buckled under the barrage. The Dreadnought fared worse, barely managing to escape the barrage. Her hull integrity severely compromised, her shield and weapon systems destroyed. Her fighter bays reduced to scrap metal.
At the same moment a massive energy wave appeared on the sensors of the combatants. The second dreadnought detected the wave and recognized it for what it was. She immediately attempted to warp out. In the process she revealed a design flaw in her design. The moment she transferred power to the warp engines her shields failed for a few seconds. Countryman took advantage of this and fired into her engines disabling her warp and sublight drives. During the short period she was vulnerable. At the same moment Countryman had the ship turn into the wave.
The wave slammed into the ships, a few seconds later while almost unnoticed a single escort that had merely been disable warped out at the last second. As for the freighters two of them were still in the area trying to repair their engines when the wave hit. Being fragile ships, they were ripped apart by the wave, the other freighter had left a couple minutes earlier. The wave hit the Enterprise hard, the ship shook heavily as the dampers strained to keep internal gs to bearable levels. Entire sections of the outer hull buckled most severely near the breaches inflicted by the Valorian dreadnoughts. Still the Enterprise was built tough and she held up against the brutal shockwaves. When the wave passed the ship found herself surrounded by vast clouds of ionized gases. The ship being tossed by the occasional jolt from the storm. Powerful currents pushed the gases around them forming the occasional eddy.
¡°Report!¡± barked Countryman.
¡°Heavy damage to the outer hull. Remaining hull plating is at 23%, Multiple hull breaches to the forward sections, on decks 21-92 and smaller breaches on decks twelve, forty two, seventy nine, one hundred four, one hundred twelve, and one hundred fifty eight. Multiple breaches to the secondary hull on decks A-K, O, T, V, and Y. Emergency bulkheads are in place and holding. The entire forward weapons array is offline, the damage to our port nacelle is quite severe. Our number four engine is not responding, and my engineers report that the port side main warp engine is completely shot. The backup is salvageable, but barely. With current materials and resources we are looking at two weeks to repair the hull damage possibly longer if this storm doesn¡¯t dissipate soon as it will make repairs difficult,¡± reported Richards.
¡°Get started and I want a casualty list on my desk by tomorrow morning,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Sir, I¡¯m picking up the last dreadnought, bearing four six mark nine. Distance 4300 kilometers. The readings are erratic however,¡± reported Misaki.
¡°Send a flight of 1205s and two squadrons of 1204s to investigate and if need be sink her,¡± ordered Countryman.
Thirty seven hours later the flight reached the dreadnought. The storm currents having slowed the flight in reaching the ship, and even forcing them to take a roundabout path to reach it safely. When the dreadnought came into view the damage she had taken was visually apparent. Half of her hulking frame was simply gone, vast rips in her hull left huge sections of the ship vented to the storm. A quick scan revealed that a section of the ship was still pressurized with nearly three hundred life signs across two decks. That was three hundred out of a crew of fourteen thousand. Near the pressurized section was a shuttlebay her doors torn open. The atmospheric containment shields were still intact, according to the scan, but there was no power to the system.
Tom was the senior marine on the flight, and had his pilot hail the Enterprise for his orders. After a brief contact, he was ordered to salvage what he could and rescue as many survivors as he could and get out. His shuttle was the first of the flight to land on the damaged deck. While other shuttles were landing, two of his engineers went to look at the containment field to see if they could fix it. Fortunately the problem turned out to be one the knew how to fix. A simple severed power conduit, something that only took a few minutes to patch. By the time the shield was restored all twelve shuttles in the flight had landed. The shuttles hadn¡¯t been loaded to capacity with troops, since they had been hoping to be able to bring back some salvage from this mission.
As soon as the shield was repaired, he relayed the captains orders and assigned his squads to search as much space as possible in the time they had available. The scans indicated that the ship¡¯s structural integrity was failing. His squad engineers predicted they had an hour at the most before the ship began to break up. Which is why he gave the search squads orders to get back here in forty five minutes. That was the most time they could afford to spend here based on his engineers calculations. He had two squads stay to guard the shuttles, while he led his own squad to search the ship.
Leaving the shuttle bay he found the corridors weren¡¯t much better than the bay with blown panels and collapsed bulkheads blocking some routes. He took his squad left weaving past a collapsed bulkhead, ahead of another squad tasked with finding things they could salvage. After awhile of walking past empty and damaged corridors, one of his men picked up some lifesigns behind a collapsed bulkhead. It took only a couple of minutes using a plasma cutter and their armor enhanced strength to move the bulkhead out of the way. Revealing a small control room, with five people in it. A damaged conduit in the ceiling was leaking a toxic gas into the room. One of them, a man nearest the leak was already dead. Another man was nearby with a piece of debris in his stomach and bleeding severely. Laying next to the console was a woman with severe burns. A quick scan of these two revealed they were beyond help. They could be saved if they were gotten to a hospital ward quickly enough, but even with first aid they would be dead before they reached the Enterprise. The remaining two Valorians a couple of young girls with markings of the Valorian equivalent to ensign were in much better condition.
A quick injection containing a general antitoxin, and a nanite injection were all that was needed to stabilize them. He picked one up, while a squad man picked up the other and carried them back to the shuttle. Once placed on the shuttle he and his squad went back to look for more survivors. They couldn¡¯t go very far thanks to the time constraints and he only found one more survivor a middle aged Valorian woman, who¡¯s legs had been crushed by a collapsing bulkhead, before pulling back to the shuttles. The other squads also had some success in locating survivors, along with some interesting pieces of salvage. Including a Valorian force field generator completely intact. They had collected nearly a third of the survivors they had detected on their way in. Tom settled into a seat at the rear of the shuttle and watched the medic tend to the survivors loaded onto his shuttle, the two girls he had found, the woman, and a man with severe bleeding. In his case the wound was small enough to be sealed with a dermal regeneration laser, although apparently his internal injuries were the real concern. They were four others also on the shuttle all in stable condition. The only reason they weren¡¯t awake was mostly due to oxygen deprivation. They had apparently been found trapped in a compartment that was leaking out into the storm.
The other shuttles had more Valorians on them, that had been rescued. The shuttles lifted off the damaged deck with ease, and slipped out of the bay into the storm. Each one passed through the field with little resistance. As they were moving away from the dreadnought one of the Valorians on Tom¡¯s shuttle stirred. At first she seemed to look around in a daze for a couple of minutes before the fact that she wasn¡¯t on a Valorian ship registered. She immediately backed against the nearest wall, looking panicked.
¡°Calm down, we aren¡¯t going to hurt you,¡± said Tom.
¡°Where am I?¡± asked the girl.
¡°You¡¯re on my shuttle on route to the Enterprise. I¡¯m Tom and you are?¡± said Tom.
¡°Arla, are we your prisoners?¡± replied the girl Arla.
¡°That depends on you, we rescued you from your ship. If you go through that port behind you, you can see your ship breaking up,¡± said Tom. She looked behind her and saw a small door, which she opened. Revealing an unmanned turret, the controls were offline and code locked, so she couldn¡¯t even use them. The turret contained an active virtual viewport though, that as Tom said gave her a view of her ship breaking up.
¡°You bastards sunk her!¡± said Arla.
¡°This storm did that. We already had what we wanted and were retreating. It was your people that forced us to fight,¡± said Tom. Arla was quite for a moment before her eyes locked on the injured man, the medic was treating.
¡°Is he going to live?¡± asked Arla.
¡°I can¡¯t say. I have done almost everything I can to stabilize him, honestly we need to get him to the Enterprise. Nano injectors can only do so much about internal injuries,¡± said the medic.
¡°Will he last long enough to get to your ship?¡± asked Arla.
¡°It will be close, but yes¡± said the medic. Just at the shuttle was suddenly jolted, and everything went dark for a moment. The air of the shuttle was then filled with a strange charge, as hair began to float as if in a static field.
Chapter XV Recalled + Epilogue (Part One)
Ship-leader¡¯s log 5-9-8103 IK
My ship is currently on final approach to Fleet Central. Personally I would rather be with the thirty third fleet as she pushes into Valorian space. Of course two weeks ago when the official declaration of war was made, I was recalled to the capital. I have no idea as to why I am here, since no one told me. It has made the last two weeks a bit tough for me not knowing why. At least the trip was quick thanks to the Inversion Gate we used to get here quickly. Still it is nice to be back to the homeworld. It is always nice to see the glittering cities and the impressive starbase that serves as the headquarters for Imperial Fleet Command. My crew is also a bit antsy, wanting to be in the fighting rather than here on the rear lines. I don¡¯t know how long we will be here, but I have taken the time to schedule some much needed maintenance for the port plasma distribution manifold.
Tika stepped of the gangway and entered the port proper to find her fleet leader waiting to meet her. Tulkor¡¯s presence at the gangway surprised her a bit. She crossed the chamber and met up with Tulkor.
¡°Good to see you, Ship-leader. Better follow me we are in a bit of a hurry. The council is waiting for you and the session has already started,¡± said Tulkor.
¡°The council!? Meeting the council is a great honor, but why I am I meeting with the council,¡± asked Tika as she followed Tulkor out of the docking bay and down the corridor.
¡°Something involving a certain ship, has occurred and since you are the foremost expert on the Enterprise the council has summoned you as a consultant,¡± said Tulkor.
¡°What happened with the Enterprise?¡± asked Tika.
¡°I¡¯ll brief you on the shuttle flight to the surface,¡± replied Tulkor. She followed him to the shuttle. A pilot was waiting ready to launch at a moment''s notice. So the shuttle was flying the instant she was settled into her seat. Tulkor activated a display revealing footage of The Battle before the Storm as seen by the sole escort ship to escape.
¡°This footage was obtained by intelligence. As you can see the Enterprise attacked this convoy. However this wasn¡¯t your typical raid, but rather a quick efficient strike. They knew exactly what the convoy was carrying and went for one thing and one thing only. This convoy was transporting a captured Voskar cloaking device to a more secure location. We were already aware of this convoy, but hadn¡¯t located it yet. The Valorians were going to study the device so that they could better locate cloaked Voskar ships,¡± said Tulkor.
¡°In other words, it was going to be a real game changer for them. Which is why we were trying to find the convoy and deny the device to them. However the Enterprise beat you to the punch and now you want me to help you track down the Enterprise,¡± replied Tika.
¡°Close but not quite true. As you can see three new ships just warped into the engagement zone. Those ships are a new class of Valorian dreadnought, rushed into service thanks to the war. As a result these new Yinta class dreadnoughts as they are called have not had all their flaws ironed out yet. Still they are the first heavy capital ship designed specifically for combat that the Valorians have designed in nearly a century. Measuring ¡®6100 meters¡¯ in length with over four hundred decks and a crew of fourteen thousand. Along with three thousand banks of their new concussion plasma pulse cannons and four hundred heavy torpedo banks they can represent a serious threat. Fortunately the Valorians can¡¯t field these ships easily due to their reliance on a rare variant of the Ephon crystal. As you can see the Enterprise was forced to engage those ships and took heavy damage in the process. Although she did prove herself superior destroying two of them outright,¡± said Tulkor.
¡°Two not ... OH!!? Is that the leading wave of a Hyper-Ion storm?¡± said Tika.
¡°Yes, the storm claimed both the Enterprise and the final dreadnought. Although I¡¯m not sure why the Enterprise engaged this convoy when there was a nearby convoy being escorted by those new dreadnoughts,¡± said Tulkor.
¡°That¡¯s easy, she likely didn¡¯t know. Her sensors are quite good especially her short range sensors, but she likely wasn¡¯t able to identify those three ships as dreadnoughts on her long range sensors. Besides most ships that size in the Valorian fleet are freighters. She most likely thought they were freighters, afterall you normally don¡¯t assign dreadnoughts to escort a couple of freighters,¡± said Tika. As the shuttle was landing.
¡°Well the council will want to know if the ship survived her encounter with that storm,¡± said Tulkor.
¡°In that case, can I borrow a pad? I will need to do the math, and I will need the characteristics of that storm,¡± said Tika. Tulkor pulled one from his pocket with the characteristic already on it.
¡°My aide already had one prepared for you. You will need to add the Enterprise¡¯s data from memory though,¡± said Tulkor.
¡°I can work with that,¡± replied Tika as she began the calculations and followed Tulkor out of the shuttle. The shuttle had landed at the pad nearest the council building so it was only a few minutes walk to the building and a couple more to be let in to the session. By then she had already finished the calculations and had the answer for the main question.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
¡°Ah ship-leader Tika, you are just in time. I trust you have already been briefed on what happened to our good friends on the Enterprise,¡± said the chairwoman. The head of the female half of the council.
¡°Yes, fleet leader Tulkor was kind enough to brief me on the flight down,¡± replied Tika.
¡°In that case can you enlighten us on whether or not our friends survived?¡± replied the chairwoman.
¡°Almost certainly, the Enterprise is a tough ship even factoring in the damage she had taken the ship should have held together. Large sections of the outer hull may have buckled, and given the damage to her port nacelle it is highly unlikely that she escaped the storm before it descended back into hyperspace. Being a class twelve, and having calculated its age the storm should start dissipating in forty to seventy years. Given the damage they took and their estimated material reserves, they should be able to escape anywhere between fifty to eighty years from now. The storm is heading for galactic quadrant three, so they will most likely escape it between star sectors 249 and 2370. Of course that is assuming they survive the radiation,¡± said Tika.
¡°Radiation? What kind of radiation?¡± asked a council woman.
¡°Isanir radiation, a type of radiation unique to hyper-ion storms. Given the difficulties presented in studying such storms not much is known about it,¡± answered Tika.
¡°Could we help them? They have been good friends to us in the past, and it would only be fair that we at least try to help them. In fact my honor demands we at least try to help a good friend,¡± said the Chairman. A few others on both sides voice approval with the statement.
¡°We would need a class two hyperdrive, but yes it could be done. Assuming we could get said hyperdrive. Hyper-ion storms leave hyperspace roughly every ten years, if we can get one quickly enough we could chase the storm down, before it leaves the region and enter the storm. Given the size of the storm it may take any ship we send, months perhaps years to locate the Enterprise. However once they find the ship, they can use the hyperdrive to pull both ships out of hyperspace,¡± said Tika.
¡°I recall that the Rydi have some decent hyperdrives and we have good relations with them. Unlike the Malora and the Toral they aren¡¯t at war, so they might be willing to sell us a couple of hyperdrives,¡± said a councilman.
¡°Well if we are going to do this, we must make sure the ship we send is properly equipped to handle any dangers we encounter in their and with the sensors to record any data. Being inside a hyper-ion storm represents a massive scientific opportunity, that can¡¯t be ignored,¡± said a Councilwoman. Sparking a bit of a debate on the exact parameters of the mission before agreeing on what it was.
Tika was dismissed before they came to an agreement and Tulkor informed her that she had the next week scheduled as shore leave for her crew. She decided to take advantage of that to take care of the maintenance the ship needed.
Epilogue
Closing the Curtain
The sun was setting as Arlie finished telling the story for the day the sun was setting, and she was bombarded with questions. Questions she did her best to answer. One at time after listening to them.
¡°So you want to know who destroyed that planet. Well it was destroyed by a race called the Yokasi, but they had been destroyed because of it a thousand years before the Enterprise discovered the planet. Will the Enterprise survive the storm, well yes they did. Otherwise none of us would be here to tell the story. As for the Valorians, the was they are fighting won¡¯t be the end of their civilization, but they will be devastated by the war. For the next thirty years the confederation will be embroiled in war. Their war with the Krall though is going to be brief, as in just under a year after the Krall formally declared war the Krall would occupy Valoria. Forcing their surrender to the Krall, who dismantled the Valorian Council and placed a new government in power. Her other neighbors however refused to recognize the new puppet government the Krall installed and continued to wage war with the Valorians.
The Krall of course moved to defend their new vassal from it neighbors, but they were only willing to commit so many ships to its defense. As a result the war would move little for the next three decades before those fighting finally came to the negotiating table. Ultimately the Valorians had little say in the treaty that followed and much of their territory was divided up. Leaving them with barely a fifth their previous size. The divisions mostly determined by who was occupying their worlds. Still the Valorians managed to keep the entirety of their core territories since those were the territories the Krall occupied. During this time period the Krall also purchase a pair of spare hyperdrives from the Rydi and outfitted a ship called the Hyketh with these hyperdrives and sent it on a dual purpose mission to both study the hyper-ion storm and rescue the Enterprise,¡± said Arlie.
¡°Did the Hyketh find the Enterprise and rescue the Enterprise?¡± asked a girl named Lily.
¡°What about Earth, surely there must be some survivors there right?¡± asked another girl who was her twin named Rose.
¡°Did the Hyketh find the Enterprise well you will find out tomorrow as I¡¯ll be getting to that next. As for Earth, yes some people did survive the bombardment. Some are living beneath the surface in bunkers and caves, while the rest are struggling to survive on her contaminated surface. While many would die to the radiation, a sizeable enough population will survive, but will mutate a bit. Using what was left of Earth''s rather impressive medical technology they managed to control this mutation. Keeping their appearance the same, but adapting their physiology to thrive in the contaminated environment they found themselves. Before long they would form fractured almost tribal societies that would spread across the planet. However they managed to keep a great deal of our knowledge. Eventually these clans as they became known would begin to war each other. Each having different customs and ideas on how to live. On how things should be done and even who should rule. These clan wars would last for centuries and change the very shape of human society. All of the wars ended rather suddenly when a Valorian exploration cruiser discovered Earth 575 SDE. By then humans now calling themselves Terrans were a highly xenophobic, and warlike race ruled by an empress and saw the Valorian presence and the results of said presence as an act of war. The Cathamari had been distorted over the years into what they called the Sky Demons.
The result is that in just over a year the newly formed Terran Empire readied a fleet of ten thousand warp capable warships and declared war on the Valorian Confederation. By then the Valorians had been released from her vassalage to the Krall and the Krall did not intervene in the war. The Valorians had not taken the Terran declaration of war seriously and been caught of guard by their invasion. Losing nearly twenty systems to the Terrans before they could bring sufficient force to halt the Terran advance to a stop. In any case this is really a story for another time where I can give you the real details,¡± said Arlie.
¡°Will the Enterprise ever build new escort ships?¡± asked a boy named Horon.
¡°Yes, she does, and by then our group of humans had designed some synthetics to fill the positions they needed to have filled. Especially since they decided they needed more ships than they could possibly man with people alone. We will hopefully get to that tomorrow anyway that is enough questions for today,¡± said Arlie as she dismissed her guests. The others leaving through her front door, wondering about the storm and the future of the Enterprise.
Part Two Prologue The Storm
Captain¡¯s Log April 10th 005 SDE,
We have finished our preliminary scans of the anomaly we find ourselves in. It seems this storm has pulled us into hyperspace. Not only that but we are picking up some type of unknown radiation penetrating the hull. So far we haven¡¯t seen any harmful effects. Not wanting to take any chances with this radiation I ordered the shields raised to stop it. Which has revealed something interesting about this storm. Something about the storm is preventing the field generators from initializing, a problem I already have a science team looking into.They know a great deal more about energy shielding than we do and I¡¯m hoping they will be willing to assist our science team in this endeavour. Our casualty and damage reports are also in, and could have been far worse. Mostly minor injuries to moderate injuries, but we have nearly two thousand confirmed fatalities. Most of those happened when the forward sections of the hull plating buckled.
Our flight has spoken with the Valorians they rescued and have been able to give us some information on this anomaly. It is apparently called a hyper-ion storm. These storms form in hyperspace and roughly every ten years they are apparently shifted into normal space for a brief period, that ranges from a couple of hours to a few days. During which time they swallow ships and anything else that happens to be in their path. Unfortunately the Valorians couldn¡¯t tell us much about the insides of the storm beyond what we already know. This means we are going to be stuck with each other for a while. Hopefully if we pool our skills we can find a way out of this storm. As for the repairs, Megumi has revised her estimates thanks to the storm, which makes hull repair far more difficult than normal. Especially since work crews can¡¯t stay out their as long as they could in normal space. Although the storm itself is quite beautiful in odd sort of way, with the way the blue violet and green hued gases swirl together, we are already finding its dangers. I plan on talking with the Valorians personally tomorrow.
Captain¡¯s Log April 17th 005 SDE,
Our shields continue to remain inoperable in this environment. Only one of the Valorians we rescued actually knew anything about shield operation. Unfortunately they have not been able to determine what it is interfering with the shields either. Hopefully it is only a matter of time until they find the problem. As for the radiation we have started seeing effects from the exposure. General radiation treatments have managed to ward off the worst of the effects so far, but they are only a temporary solution. I have ordered the med labs to work on a more permanent solution in case we are unable to reinitialize the shields or if the shields prove unable to block the radiation. Internal repairs have gone smoothly and we will be restarting the sublight engines later to today. Repairs to the port nacelle have been hampered by the storm degrading the power connections. We have encountered similar problems with replacing the hull plates, which will make restoring the hull plating difficult if we can¡¯t find a way to shield the hull from the storm.
Fortunately the plating itself is largely unaffected by the storms gases. While the forward weapons array is still offline. Engineering expects to have the forward weapons restored by tomorrow. In other news we have conducted a few long range scans, and while we can¡¯t see much further than we could in the Velosa cluster we have identified a number of debris fields and other solid objects in the storm. Among these objects, we have also detected other ships in the storm. None are currently headed our way, but thanks to our scans I feel it would be better to avoid them until we have finished our repairs. We picked up a large asteroid about four hundred thousand kilometers from our present position and plan to set course for it as soon as the engines are back online. Hopefully we will find a nice sheltered crater or hollow in which we can safely repair the ship without worrying about the effects of the storm to much.
Captain¡¯s Log April 21st 005 SDE,¡±
The asteroid we found seems to be made almost entirely out of heavier metals, and based of the readings it appears to have been a fragment of a larger space rock, before the storm swallowed it. It has a number of craters and a few deep hollows. We have anchored the ship in one such hollow and are sealing the exit with a makeshift door. Once we have this door in place we can then filter out the harmful gases in this hollow. In effect we are making ourselves a nice little makeshift port here in the storm.
Once that is done, it shouldn¡¯t take too long to finish the repairs we started. These repairs however are making a serious dent in our material reserves. Hopefully we won¡¯t need to make to many additional repairs, but we have already seen some type of sub anomaly strong enough to rip a ship apart. We have been unable to predict where and when these will occur. Our science department has named them as hyperspatial eddies. As near as we can tell they are coming from a deeper layer of hyperspace and when they erupt into this layer the results are rather violent. I have assigned a team of scientist to see if they could enhance the sensors. That way we can detect them before they erupt into the layer.
Captain¡¯s Log May 15th 005 SDE,
We have completed our repairs to the ship, but the radiation is getting worse. Our general radiation treatment is losing effectiveness. As for the shields, we have found the problem. Not that we can do anything about it. The cause has to do with the storm itself, interfering with the generation of the energy field. Exactly how they are being interfered with though eludes us. The observed interference violates known physical laws. I have increased the number of personnel and resources the med labs have for their anti radiation project. Hopefully they find a solution before people start dying.
Anyway since the repairs have been completed. We are going to explore the local area. Investigate some of the debris fields in the area, and maybe make contact with the others we have seen in the area. Not that I expect that to go well, every time a pair of ships get close we picked up the energy readings of heavy combat. Still it might be useful to make contact with the others in the storm, and we might learn something about this anomaly that will help us survive here.
Captain¡¯s Log May 17th 005 SDE,
We had a minor encounter with a hyperspatial eddy, fortunately it was a small one and didn¡¯t directly encounter it, and our hull plating held. The aliens we had made contact with weren¡¯t so lucky and their ship was ripped apart. Not that I feel anything for them. Not the friendliest of people in fact they were trying to intimidate us and give them our fuel reserves. Which has told us a little about the storm, and that fuel is precious enough that the ¡®locals¡¯ have resorted to piracy to get it. As for the debris fields scattered around the local area, some of them contain materials that could be useful. Salvaging them will present some difficulties, especially given the difficulties of getting a lock with a mag tractor. We have that salvaged tractor beam we took from the Cathamari, so I have raised the priority on figuring it out. We hadn¡¯t really needed tractor beam technology until now, so it had been a low priority item.
Captain¡¯s Log December 14th 005 SDE,
Our radiation problems have been getting worse, today we had our first death from the radiation. The hyperspatial eddies have also been causing problems, so I¡¯m not sure which will kill us first the radiation or the eddies. The last eddy ripped open a three hundred meter long gash in the hull. Repairing all of this damage has proven difficult, especially given the difficulties the storm adds to recovering materials that have been ripped from the hull. Worse our general radiation medicine is no longer effective in countering the radiation. Regular nanite injections though seem to help slow the damage the radiation is causing. Hopefully we can find a solution before we run out of medicine. Solving these two problems have become our number one priority. Unfortunately interrogating the locals has not been of much help. The locals have a more sophisticated shield design that is not only incompatible with our systems, but actually functions in the storm albeit barely. Still our science teams are studying those generators best they can to find a solution. However they are worried it will take years, if not decades to figure out a why to fix the compatibility issue.
Captain¡¯s Log March 3rd 007 SDE,
The radiation sickness we are all suffering from has been a real damper on morale for the last few months, but we finally have good news for our suffering people. Our labs have finally found a promising lead on solving it. The latest solution, a special fluid mix containing a new breed of nanite successfully protected the test cells in the latest medical test. We don¡¯t really have time to perform all of the proper medical procedures or check for all the possible side effects, so we are going to skip straight to human trials and synthesize as much as we can. As it is we have already lost a third of our population. Mostly from the older members, younger people have held up better.
Captain¡¯s Log March 29th 007 SDE,
The human tests seem to have worked and no side effects have been observed so far, so we have begun widespread distribution of our new serum. It will take a couple of weeks to distribute it to everyone, and a couple more to make sure it had worked on a wide scale. Although while no side effects have been seen so far, I fully expect something to manifest. Especially considering our solution involved manipulating our dna. This isn¡¯t the first time we have modified our own dna after all. Sometimes with success and others with unwanted side effects or complete failures. The changes are apparently minor, but I¡¯m not a genetic scientist so I don¡¯t fully understand what this involved. Which is why I have decided to read everything we have on genetics and related science branches.
Captain¡¯s Log April 4th 007 SDE,
We had another encounter with a hyperspatial eddy. Engineering tells me it will take two weeks to patch the hull damage it caused. To make matters worse, we have run out of Titan alloy, forcing us to use whatever materials we can salvage from the storm instead. On the brightside science labs have figured out how to modify our mag tractors into the better tractor beams. However they expect it to take a month to reconfigure all the emitters into tractor beams. Since the shield project is no longer needed and is just draining our resources I have suspended the project indefinitely. Instead we are now going to focus on figuring out those Valorian force fields and enhancing the sensors. The force fields are going to be of great help in conducting open bay hangar operations. As for the sensors we have a few promising leads on enhancing them, and each encounter gives us a great deal more information about these eddies. Our last modification attempt helped in predicting them slightly. We can now detect the big ones, one point three eight seconds, before they erupt, which is not even close to enough time to avoid them. Especially given how big the large ones can be. Small ones however are still beyond our ability to detect prior to their eruption in this layer.
Captain¡¯s Log April 18th 007 SDE,
We have been seeing a spike in couples of late. Sickbay has also reported a large spike in pregnancies. Both of these are good things. I hope this trend holds we need the people. As it is losing a third of our crew has hurt us rather badly. We have lost people in every department, and keeping things at full efficiency has been difficult. Not only that, but having young children to care for will hopefully help morale. The most interesting pairings are the human-valorian pairings. Even more interesting is that we are apparently compatible physiologically. Requiring only minor medical intervention in order for conception to occur. Speaking of the valorians, not all of the ones we rescued have been able to integrate smoothly into our society. Some of them have though. Which means we don¡¯t have to keep as much of an eye on them as we did at first.
As for our solution, we have seen a few minor side effects. None of these unintended effects so far have been detrimental so far. In fact they mostly trend towards being positive. All of them are minor. I have a medical team looking into this effects, to see if they can¡¯t anticipate changes to come. Also of note, is that we finally have the time to study the cloaking device that landed us in this mess. I have assigned a small team to study it. We have also been looking into creating android crewman to fill vital roles.
Captain¡¯s Log October 13th 007 SDE,
The solution to our eddy problem continues to elude us, but our scientists are getting much closer. We finally have some theories on how and why the storm has prevented our shields from working. Ruri has given me a very interesting scientific proof on hyperspace. Hyperspace is a rather complicated realm, that can in an odd way be compared to the ocean. Unlike the ocean however here the laws of physics change as you go deeper. With the physical laws being slightly different near the surface, and downright bizarre the closer to the bottom you get. Using her proof we have found that we are deeper in hyperspace than most hyperdrive capable ships normally go. Using the equations derived in the proof we now believe we are in the third layer of hyperspace. Most ships go no deeper than the first layer, because while you could go faster by going deeper it also makes travel more dangerous because of the anomalies that can be found in hyperspace. Regardless this proof is a massive step forward in our understanding of hyperspace. Using it our scientist believe they can create a new type of sensor array that can detect the hyperspatial eddies as they form in the deeper layers of hyperspace.
As for the mutations, we have been seeing we have seen an alarming number of them over the past few months. Including a few that were detrimental, but any detrimental one seems to disappear after a couple of days. In effect we have been seeing a pattern. We have also determined these mutations were only partially caused by our solution to the radiation. Our solution changed the way the radiation is affecting us. The pattern is not dissimilar to evolutionary changes, and yet unlike evolution it is all happening within a generation. As for stopping these changes from occuring every attempt so far has failed.
Captain¡¯s Log January 3rd 008 SDE,
We have completed our prototype of a new form of sensor array. The test was successful and we are now upgrading our sensors to the new standard. Finding the materials for the upgrade was difficult, but we found enough in the local area to get it done. With a defense against the hyperspatial eddies we have decided to head deeper into the storm. There are more people there, and most of the debris is pulled into the deeper regions. We will likely need the resources especially considering that our new multi-spatial sensors as Ruri has designated them require all most as much power as our weapons array at full power.
Unfortunately in order to get a sufficient warning about a hyperspatial eddy in time to avoid them we have to run the array at full power. We have reconfigured our hull plating to draw power from the storm, and shunt it to our systems instead of the field. Not a difficult change, since it was designed with the option in mind. We did have to make some adjustments to the absorbers to compensate for the slight alterations to the physical laws here. This helps a bit, but we are still burning through our fuel at an atrocious rate. I have assigned several labs to find ways to improve the efficiency of our power systems. An added bonus of running these new sensors at full power is the wealth of scientific data we will be gaining.
Captain¡¯s Log June 17th 008 SDE,
The deeper parts of the storm have been interesting these past few months. Our repeated encounters with the ¡°locals¡¯ has taught us a great deal about the society built here by the others that have survived the storm. Many have formed small groups called factions that fight each other over territories and resources. Most of the larger factions have at least one base in the storm to maintain their ships and store what they have salvaged from the wrecks of dead ships. Most of these bases come in the form of hollowed out asteroids. Some of these asteroids are quite large like the one we built our own makeshift port in. Some factions have taken control of planetary fragments, which are likely the remains of rogues that were torn apart by the storm.
Which reminds me the data we have learned with our new sensors has been invaluable. We have learned a great deal about this hyper-ion storms. Including the fact that seem to avoid stars. These storms rarely enter star systems and instead they tend to follow paths through deep space. We are still pouring over the data, and learning new things about hyperspace with each passing day. We have even learned where the energy fueling this storm is coming from. The deepest layers of hyperspace are a source of immense energy in a constant state of flux. The storm is drawing energy from this region. Fluctuations in the deeper layers cause an eddy to form and when it erupts up here it causes the currents and flows of the storm to intensify. These eddies are only where some of the energy comes from. Near the center of the storm, we have learned of an different type of sub anomaly that is almost like an energy well. An intense barrier of sorts surrounds this well and is responsible for most of the storm currents.
Back to the factions, we have begun to compete with them for resources. Most of the factions aren¡¯t really a threat to us. Shields aren¡¯t as big a factor in battle here, since the shields of those ships here in the storm are often already heavily taxed shielding their crews from the radiation. Anyway today is likely to be interesting. Our young prisoner Sali had her case review yesterday, and has been given the chance to integrate into our society. It was supposed to be last year, but we were busy and it was delayed. I¡¯m going to talk to her later today about her options.
Sali was looking forward to going out on her own. She had to wear a damn tracker, but she could live with that. The last five years had been mostly boring for her. Her work in the factories had given her something to do, but she knew that spending her entire life there wasn¡¯t for her. Right now she was waiting for Reia. Reia had told her yesterday that they had a lot to discuss today. Apparently most of it involved her future on the ship and what to expect after being let out. She was hoping to find an opportunity to go home, especially since she missed her clan. She hadn¡¯t been too unhappy with the Humans mostly since they hadn¡¯t hurt her clan. Although she didn¡¯t expect them to let her just leave the ship, so her hopes were not all that high.
A couple moments later she heard footsteps. Coming down the corridor was Reia, alongside a guard. When Reia reached the door, the guard opened it. After a brief exchange she started to follow Reia out of the brig. Reia than handed her something.
¡°What¡¯s this?¡± asked Sali.
¡°Your ration card, don¡¯t lose it. The council has issued you six hundred credits, which is enough to get you through the month and get you a wardrobe to start with,¡± said Reia.
¡°Wardrobe?¡± muttered Sali briefly confused.
¡°You don¡¯t want to keep walking around wearing a prisoner¡¯s slip do you?¡± asked Reia.
¡°I kind of forgot about it,¡± said Sali after being reminded of what she was wearing. Four years of only being allowed to wear them, she had also gotten used to them and the way they felt. ¡°Anyway, why am I getting a ration card?¡± asked Sali.
¡°With your new status, and privileges comes the card. It is a part of their society, and they¡¯re trying to integrate you into society. You have technically been placed in the reintegration program, and the captain has made me your supervisor. By the way your card has a few extra restrictions on it, I¡¯ll tell you about them later,¡± said Reia.
¡°Restrictions? What kind of restrictions?¡± asked Sali only to not receive an answer. Something she had gotten used to and so she didn¡¯t press further. Instead Reia began to tell her a bit about what she could expect out in the ship. Most of it was cultural and protocol for various situations, but the conversation eventually shifted to language.
¡°I assume you have noticed by now that the humans speak multiple languages?¡± said Reia.
¡°Yes, I have. I studied and learned one of them,¡± replied Sali.
¡°I noticed that you learned the common tongue. For the most part that is the only one you will need, since it is used in most shipboard encounters and in the work environment. However, you might want to learn one of the others as well. The others are used mostly in social situations, that you might encounter if you enter the civilian sector,¡± siad Reia as they reached their destination. Which was the nearest of the observation decks to the brig. It was currently empty and the view ports were closed.
¡°What is this room?¡± asked Sali looking around.
¡°This is just one of the lower deck observation rooms, it doubles as a theater. There is a movie scheduled later today, many of the guards come here during their break,¡± said Reia.
¡°Observation deck? In that case can we look outside?¡± asked Sali.
¡°There isn¡¯t much to look at,¡± said Reia as she activated the virtual viewport. She wasn¡¯t going to test how well the actual viewports would hold up to the storm. Almost immediately a view of the storm was projected onto the transparent screen that was the viewport.The gases of the storm swirling around and washing against the hull in forceful currents. Every once in awhile they could see an energy discharge resembling a lightning bolt. Occasionally these bolts would strike the ship. For Sali it was absolutely beautiful.
¡°Are kidding, it is beautiful,¡± said Sali.
¡°At first it was, but it four years of nothing but this storm has gotten old,¡± said Reia.
¡°Four years? Where are we?¡± asked Sali.
¡°Remember how you got sick and were miserable for years? That was because we are in a hyper-ion storm. Have been for the last four years, having you body suddenly change on you though is annoying,¡± said Reia. Sali remembered her own experiences with her body changing on her as well.
¡°I was told it was just a side effect of the cure for whatever I had contracted and it will stop happening eventually. But are you saying the storm is responsible for our bodies changing?¡± asked Sali not that she had entirely believed what she had been told.
¡°Well what you were told is partly right. Their ¡®cure¡¯ protects us from the radiation, but not entirely. Hence the mutations, which they can¡¯t stop,¡± said Reia.
¡°Can¡¯t stop? Correct me if i¡¯m wrong but isn¡¯t their medical knowledge superior to ours?¡± asked Sali.
¡°Yes, apparently they don¡¯t fully understand why the changes our occuring. The way they stopped the radiation from killing us is proof in and of itself how superior their medical knowledge is. It apparently involved genetic manipulation designed to improve our bodies ability to deal with the radiation,¡± said Reia.
¡°Why did they do that, and not something simpler like beef up whatever they use to protect the ship from radiation?¡± asked Sali.
¡°They use a special lining in the hull that blocks most types of radiation, but this particular radiation passes right through it. They did have another idea for stopping it, but the storm itself made that solution problematic,¡± said Reia.
¡°I¡¯m guessing you aren¡¯t going to tell me what that other solution is or why it didn¡¯t work?¡± asked Sali.
¡°I can¡¯t tell you why it failed, but as for what it is well they were trying to raise their shields,¡± replied Reia.
¡°I thought this ship didn¡¯t have shields,¡± said Sali.
¡°Well, we wouldn¡¯t even call them shields ourselves. Their shields can provide some protection against radiation, but are of little use against weapons. Which is why they use them so little,¡± replied Reia.
¡°There is a weapon they are useful against, but we are the only ones that use said weapon,¡± said Countryman who had just entered the room, referring to the ship¡¯s cutting beams. The two greeted the captain, and he sat down in a seat next to them.
¡°So has Reia gotten around to telling you about your options?¡± asked Countryman as soon as he was settled into his seat.
¡°No, she hasn¡¯t,¡± said Sali.
¡°Well, since you are now in our reintegration program, you now get to choose the department you work in. For example, if you wanted to, you could return to your old job in the factories,¡± said Countryman.
¡°No, I don¡¯t want to go back to the factories,¡± said Sali, while suppressing a shudder. One caused by a brief memory of her supervisor there surfacing.
¡°I didn¡¯t think you would. Anyway Reia can tell you about your other options if you want. The council and I however have a position in mind for you. While normally your status would bar you from the department we have waived those restrictions for you. We want you to join the ship¡¯s pilot corp,¡± said Countryman. Sali almost didn¡¯t know what to say. She didn¡¯t really need to hear her other choices, she had loved piloting. She had been worried that she would never get to fly again, but now she was being offered a chance to fly again.
¡°I accept,¡± said Sali.
¡°Are you sure? You don¡¯t want to hear all your options first?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Yes, I am. I love flying, and would like to get out there again,¡± replied Sali.
¡°Alright in that case I will tell you how things will go. Because you have prior piloting experience, but aren¡¯t certified on our craft. We will be putting you through an accelerated training program. Starting with simulated flights, to familiarize you with our control schemes. You will also be trained to read the data outputs of our multi-spatial sensors, and trained to fly in the storm,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Multi-spatial sensors? I believe the confederation has been working on those,¡± said Sali remembering something she had overheard.
¡°Yes, they were. We got some scans of a prototype on their newest dreadnoughts. Their design was incomplete and barely capable of peering into hyperspace. Ours are not so unfinished, and yet we already have ideas to improve them. Being stuck in hyperspace has its advantages for research. In fact we have more projects in mind than we have resources and people to pursue them. Anyway once your training is complete you will be allowed to fly, but not unsupervised. You will have a supervisor on every flight,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I think I can live with that,¡± replied Sali.
¡°In that case I leave you to get settled. Speaking of settled, you should consider settling down,¡± said Countryman as he got up and left.
¡°What did he mean by ¡®settling down¡¯?¡± asked Sali.
¡°He was suggesting that you find someone that you like and form a family with them,¡± said Reia.
¡°A family!? Why?¡± said Sali.
¡°They are an endangered race. Which is why they have been encouraging their population to have children. Their ration credit system, gives parents an extra forty credits a day for each child and an additional ten if the number exceeds three. Which is more than enough to ensure that their children enjoy decent living standards. A child gets to join a department as a cadet at fourteen, and receive their credits directly at that age. They are free to switch departments at any time, and can graduate to crewman at eighteen. This is intended to give them a chance to learn and figure out what they want to do with their life,¡± said Reia as the two began to talk. After awhile Reia took Sali down to the market, so that she could get a wardrobe, before getting her settled in quarters of her own.
Captain¡¯s Log July 1st 008 SDE,
Sali seems to be doing well so far in her program. She had some difficulty with our craft, but those difficulties were ones we anticipated. Her instructors tell me that if she keeps up the pace, we will have another pilot for our salvage missions in about two months. Which is good since, all of our departments are desperate for resources for one project or another. The science labs have a number of projects that they would like to do that need materials. More pilots on salvage duty, the faster we will be able to fill those orders.
Our scientists have put forth new theories in energy absorber design. Some of these seem quite promising. I have already authorized the testing of these new theories. Increasing absorber efficiency will have numerous benefits across the ship, but most importantly will allow us to draw more energy from the storm. Which will reduce the amount of fuel we need to burn on a daily basis.
Captain¡¯s log July 3rd 008 SDE,
Sickbay continues to report a high rate of pregnancy. If this trend continues we expect that we will hit our soft cap in about ten years. In about fifteen years at the current rate, we will hit the hard cap. The space issues can be dealt with by having people bunk up. They won¡¯t be happy about, but the storm is not the place to be building ships. The other issue will be a bit harder to deal with. The other is going to be a little harder, but our science teams have already put forth a project to enhance the output of our hydroponics bays. There are also a few places in the storm that we could use to build hidden farms to help grow food. In any case we will have some options, when our population grows large enough to stress our resources. Also we will have more people to get things done by then.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Captain¡¯s Log January 3rd 011 SDE,
Our children are getting old enough, that we need a proper school. The facilities we set up during the refit aren¡¯t enough for all the children we have that need to go to school. To fix this problem we have converted a couple of smaller cargo bays into a school. The items in those bays were transferred to a larger bay with the space for them.
Captain¡¯s Log May 3rd 013 SDE,
A faction war ignited recently, and we have been caught in the crossfire between three of the larger factions. We have been engaged multiple times over the past couple of weeks and our heading to a quieter part of the storm to lick some of the wounds. Our labs have also made use of salvaged materials to make useful android crewman. We have begun to use them in less desirable occupations, letting people do the more important jobs. We have also seen a drop recently in pregnancies, which means that our little breeding frenzy is finally over. The children seem to be doing well in school. I¡¯m looking forward to when they start joining the workforce in a few years. Although, there is a certain amount of fun in playing with them now. I had quite a bit of fun when I visited them yesterday.
Captain¡¯s Log June 24th 013 SDE,
Ruri just showed me the results of one of our major projects. Our labs have managed to produce a more efficient energy absorber and reactor design. The improvements are quite welcome since we have already burned through half our fuel reserve. The other factions have picked most of the debris in the storm clean of fuel, so getting more fuel is quite difficult. Preliminary analysis indicates the new design, will reduce our fuel requirements by ten percent. As high as that is though, I would like another twenty to feel comfortable.
Also of interest today is the report I received from the med lab. Predicting how we are changing has proven to be difficult. However a pattern has emerged, that is of some interest. Also of note is the changes have started to slow as well. So far we have seen that our very genetic structure has rearranged itself into a remarkable sturdy and resilient structure that is resistant to most forms of radiation. We have also seen signs that these mutations have enhanced our lifespan. Increase cellular regeneration, and lower levels of genetic degradation during cell division. We have lost a number of vestigial organs which have been replaced with new ones. Some of which have no discernable purpose. We have also begun seeing signs of increasing neural tissue densities, and increasing brain activity as well. Which has already led to people experiencing increased intelligence. It has become quite clear that we are changing into a new species, and interestingly enough our Valorian guest are changing in a manor parallel to our own.
Captain¡¯s Log October 23rd 013 SDE,
We had another encounter with one of the factions today. It seems we got too close to one of their ports and they got antsy. They were one of the larger factions and sent twelve ships to engage us. We managed to sink eight of their ships before they retreated. Raiding there port proved quite profitable. We gained four fuel pods and large stockpiles of useful materials to supplement our reserves. We were even able to salvage a couple of alien particle cannons. The design of the cannons are quite interesting. While most of the components are either comparable or inferior to our own cannons, the particle accumulator is of superior make allowing for a quicker recharge. Also of note is our labs recently completed our research into photon torpedoes.
Not that these new torpedoes help much. The storm makes it very difficult to hit anything with a torpedo often throwing them of course and occasionally ripping them apart. Still they will be useful when we get out of the storm. Our particle weapons have been far more useful here and it has become apparent that we need better ones.
Captain¡¯s Log January 14th 014 SDE,
There has been a massive spike in storm activity of late. Normally we only see four to six hyperspatial eddies a day, now we are seeing dozens. The upspike has made avoiding them difficult and we have taken some damage as a result. As for what is causing the up spike we are not entirely certain.
Captain¡¯s Log March 3rd 014 SDE,
The storm activate continues to increase. We have also noticed that the storm is shifting in the subspace layers. We believe the storm is about to exit hyperspace. However we have not yet been able to predict when. Fortunately we have managed to find a calm spot in the storm that isn¡¯t being hit as hard as other parts of the storm by eddies.
Captain¡¯s Log March 29th 014 SDE,
The storm has transitioned out of hyperspace. Escaping the storm however is not within our current capabilities. The outermost layer of the storm is quite thick and the currents their are terribly strong. It is actually easier to enter the storm through the layer than it is to exit. Going through the layer we will be fighting the current. Even in perfect condition getting through would be hard, in our current condition it will be fatal. However where we are has been a nice lull in the storm. I have chosen to take advantage of it, and get some repairs done, before we head back to our hidden port in the storm.
Captain¡¯s Log November 8th 023 SDE,
We have noticed a large reduction in our rate of mutation. One of the new abilities we have developed recently is a highly efficient form of photosynthesis reducing the amount of food we need by seventy percent. A fact that has partially alleviated our food concerns. Which has effectively tripled our food supply. As for our current population we have about eighty thousand people mostly young kids. Of course the firstborns have already entered the workforce as cadets and some are already dating. The average family on the ship has four kids, which is why our population has managed to get as large as it has.
Other changes in our physiology have given us, an innate natural defense in the form of an electric discharge ability. We have also developed telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Along with improved intelligence and reactions. These new telepathic abilities have led to a new form of crime that we call mind rape. A terrible crime that involves violating the most sacred parts of another''s mind. So far the incidents have been few, but we have people looking into ways to discourage such actions.
Captain¡¯s Log April 3rd 024 SDE,
The storm activity has started to spike of late. Which means the storm will be exiting hyperspace soon. It hasn¡¯t gotten as bad as it was last time yet, so we have some time till it emerges from hyperspace. Unfortunately we still have no way to actually exit the storm without tearing the ship to pieces. The greatest irony is that we now know how to beef up our armor and engines enough to get the ship through, but lack the materials. Another note of interest is that we have picked up an automated distress signal. Not entirely uncommon in the storm, but the truly interesting part is that the signal is Krall. Which is why we have changed course to intercept the signal. We expect to reach the signal in three days, and will be in range to identify the source later today.
Captain¡¯s Log supplemental April 3rd 024 SDE,
We have identified the source of the distress signal. It is coming from a Krall cruiser, the design is not known to us. The ship is roughly twenty two hundred meters in length and has two hundred decks. The ship is being partially protected by a low level energy shield and our scans show it has taken heavy damage consistent with multiple run ins with a hyperspatial eddy. Clearly they had been hit by a couple of big ones and were now adrift in the storm.
Three days later, Countryman walked on to the bridge and took his seat surveying the bridge. Not for the first time he was glad that the storm had spared his senior officers. Still like any department he had new faces, mostly junior officers and a new navigation officer. The new navigator was one of the valorians they had rescued, a young girl named Arla who proved to have a natural talent for navigation. On the forward screen the Krall cruiser was coming into view. Half shrouded in the gases of the storm, as the occasional energy discharge shrouded her bruised hull. The ship was mostly intact, but large rips were visible in the hull. Their engineering section already looked to be in shambles.
¡°How does she look and have we been able to make contact with her yet?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°No, sir. As for the ship, she has taken a beating. Her engines have been disabled and large sections of her outer hull have been exposed to the storm. Her shields, while still active are not protecting the whole ship, only the core sections. Most of her systems have been damaged including her comm arrays. Which appears to be why she has not answered our hails. Unfortunately we are not the only ones to have picked up the distress call. We have detected twelve ships, bearing down on our position. They will be close enough to detect us in two hours and intercept us in four,¡± reported Misaki.
¡°Any lifesigns on the cruiser?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Yes sir, all in the central core of the ship. Give the ships size it looks like most of the crew survived,¡± reported Misaki. Countryman thought a couple moments and then gave his orders.
¡°Disable the distress beacon, and lock a tractor beam on the cruiser. Lets not waste resources fighting whatever faction is after our friends,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Aye, sir¡± responded Misaki. A second later she focused a pulse on the beacon and it fell silent having been disrupted by the high intensity em pulse. A couple second later the tractor beam had been established.
¡°Krall distress beacon offline, tractor beam established towing connection is stable,¡± reported Misaki.
¡°Arla, plot a course back to port. Eri get us out of here full sublight,¡± ordered Countryman. The two acknowledged the order, and moments later the ship came about and began to tow the damaged cruiser back to their little port in the storm. Something that would take awhile, since the highest speed one could safely reach in the storm was normally full sublight. There were of course highways of a sort in the storm, where it was possible to reach ftl speeds The ship was currently a month out of port, and they had been planning on crossing to the far side of the storm to chart it. A journey of nearly two years using the highways of the storm. The storm was after all multiple lightyears across.
Meanwhile over on the cruiser a young Krall woman was fixing a console when the ship was jolted. Someone asked what was that, when it happened. A moment later her ship-leader told her to find out. Making the last connection, she restarted the console and activated the sensors.
¡°We are caught in a tractor beam, ship-leader,¡± said the girl.
¡°Are you sure? Whose?¡± asked the ship-leader.
¡°One moment,¡± said the girl as she looked over the data. Then her eyes widened when the computer identified the ship that had them in a tractor beam. ¡°Sir, it is the Enterprise. She found us and has us in a tractor beam. She appears to be towing us out of the area.
¡°Well, Talki it looks like we finally found the ship we were looking for. What is her status?¡± said the ship-leader.
¡°Overall she appears to be in far better shape than we are. However she looks to have taken a beating over the years. Roughly forty five percent of the of the outer hull appears to have been breached and patched with whatever they could find over the years. Her port nacelle is heavily patched and the engines look like they were patched back together. All the damage that was repaired there looks consistent with what we know they took during their last battle with the Valorians. It seems they have also upgraded a number of systems as well, I am picking up force field generators in her hangers and shuttlebays. The odd thing is that, I am picking up just under eighty thousand lifesigns, but nothing to suggest how they are protecting themselves from the radiation,¡± said Talki.
¡°Wait are you saying they have managed to survive here without shields!?¡± said the ship-leader.
¡°Yes, sir. The data indicates they are running with shields down. Oh this is interesting, their sensor array is drawing a massive amount of power, practically equal to their weapons array when active,¡± said Talki.
¡°Why would their sensors need that much power?¡± asked the ship-leader.
¡°No idea,¡± replied Talki. The ship-leader than barked orders to focus on getting the communications array back online.
Several hours later, in the Enterprise¡¯s starboard hanger bay, Sali was conducting a routine check of her shuttles flight systems. She had long since graduated to the status of full pilot and was no longer in the reintegration program. Which meant she could fly without a supervisor now. She was one of several pilots that was to transport teams to the Krall cruiser. Once docked with the cruiser she was to remain on standby, while the teams made contact with the Krall. Their were to be four teams, two groups from engineering, one medical team in case it was needed and some marines. The entire mission was a search and rescue type. She wasn¡¯t looking forward to the wait though. There was nothing more boring than remaining on standby with nothing to do. In fact she had found that she hated having nothing to do. Which is why she had brought something along.
She had just finished the check, when the marine leading this mission entered the cockpit. It was a young woman, that Sali wasn¡¯t all that familiar with. She was one of the lower ranking marines and the only reason she was leading the squad is because the rest were cadets. The reason for the cadets being on this mission, was to give them a learning experience. There was no reason to expect combat since they had good relations with the Krall. This group of cadet were training to be combat engineers, and a search and rescue mission makes for excellent live training for combat engineers.
¡°The cadets are strapped in, we can depart when you are ready,¡± said the squad leader.
¡°I already finished the systems check, we can¡¯t leave yet though. Still waiting for the bay doors to open and the go ahead signal,¡± replied Sali, then she said ¡°Kira right? Why don¡¯t you sit down and strap in.¡±
That is my first name, but we aren¡¯t that close. Call me by my family name, Maru,¡± said Kira.
¡°Sorry, Maru,¡± said Sali just as the greenlight for the mission came in. The hangar doors split apart in the middle moving to pocket on either side of the bay. While at the same moment a shimmering blue energy field sprang into existence. Getting the force field to work had been difficult, because of the slight differences in the physical laws. Still having a fully working example had been a great help for reverse engineering the technology. Unfortunately force fields and shields worked on somewhat different principles. Which meant they had not been able to apply what had been learned by reverse engineering to their shields. Still it had led to some hints, but resources meant other things were being prioritized. Sali spent minute waiting for the door to open, before she took off. The shuttle gently lifted of the deck and the catapult launched it out into the storm.
The shuttle easily passed through the field, just like it was meant to. The field was only designed to keep the storm out and the atmosphere in. As a result physical objects trying to pass through would only encounter a small amount of resistance. Like trying to pass through a piece of paper. Like the paper a low energy object would bounce off it, but a high energy object would punch through. Unlike the paper though, instead of a hole being punch through the field would wrap around the object and close as it passed through. Thereby allowing a shuttle to pass through, but not the air it was meant to keep in. It also prevents someone from walking through the field and into space. Of course high energy particles and high velocity projectiles can still pass through with little resistance. In other words the field did little to stop weapons, although it did provide some protection against cosmic radiation, but not much.
Entering the storm, she alter course and headed towards the cruiser. She had to change course three times, to avoid debris and high velocity currents in the storm. Occasionally a discharge would strike the shuttle and she would watch the armor strength drop. Fortunately the armor could recharge fairly quickly and was charging almost as quickly as it was being drained. Something that Sali remembered didn¡¯t happen with the shields she used to use. Those shields were pretty strong, but they could only charge between cycles. This armor was actually a little weaker, but the ability to recharge while in use made it more valuable. As soon as they reached the cruiser she and the other three shuttles did a quick flight around the ship, before latching onto four docking ports on the port side of the ship. Once docked Kira and the other team leaders disembarked their teams on deck fifty nine of the cruiser. While Sali stayed behind to watch the shuttle. After they left, she setup the sensors to alert her if anyone boarded the shuttle and pulled out the gamepad that she had brought along. The game was one that Reia had recommend to her, and was recommended to Reia by the captain.
Kira and her cadets made their way into the depths of the ship. The majority of Krall lifesigns were concentrated on deck eighty two. Reaching that deck however was going to be difficult. The entire tram lift system was offline and a number of bulkheads on the way down to the deck had also collapsed. Behind her team of cadets was the medical team in case they were needed. From the shuttle the group first headed towards the fore of the ship. They walked nearly a hundred meters towards the front of the ship and passed two blocked corridors and a fire that was being contained by a forcefield. The fire was already dying, when they passed it. Clearly it was starting to run out of air.
Then they reached an access point to the ships maintenance tubes, where they began to make their way through a maze of tunnels to the lower decks. Often being forced to change direction to avoid collapsed bulkheads, or being slowed by locked doors that they had to bypass. Which often meant sitting there for five minutes with a plasma cutter to get through the seal. Eventually they manage to make to deck eighty two, where they found the Krall moving about in a frenzy. Most ignored them, but one of them approached their position. She was one of the younger females in the room, with beautiful red and silver scales and purple eyes. She was only about a hundred and fifty centimeters tall, and had a lovely figure.
She came to a stop near Kira and introduced herself.
¡°Good day, I¡¯m Talki chief subspace specialist and grade three engineer aboard the Hyketh, and you are?¡± said Talki.
¡°I¡¯m Kira Maru, squad leader, I brought some medics with me. We also have some engineers, who went off to access the damage to your engines,¡± said Kira. Talki signaled someone to show the medics to the injured as they were short on medical staff.
¡°It would have been of more help, if they came to help with the shields. Which are failing. Speaking of shields, we are wondering how you managed to survive the radiation without shields,¡± said Talki.
¡°I don¡¯t really understand the how myself. We never could get the radiation shields to function, don¡¯t ask me why either. The med labs came up with a thick silver fluid that seems to protect a person from the radiation indefinitely,¡± said Kira.
¡°Wrong person to ask. Anyway what is with the tractor beam? This part of the storm currently seems to be stable,¡± asked Talki.
¡°You¡¯re right about the area being stable for now, but the storm is entering its active phase. So that could change at any moment. We are taking you to our own port in the storm, its local area tends to remain stable, although it has been hit by a couple of smaller eddies. The main reason for the tractor beam is that command wants to avoid unnecessary conflict, since we aren¡¯t the only ones to have picked up your distress call. Twelve other ships were closing on your position when we arrived,¡± said Kira. Talki was surprised to hear about the distress call. A quick check on the console, and she found the beacon had been activated, earlier. However someone had disabled it. The system showing signs of being burned out.
¡°Why is our distress beacon burned out?¡± asked Talki.
¡°Command disabled it remotely. Also the captain would like to talk to one of you,¡± said Kira. Talki briefly conferred with the ship-leader and decided she would go to talk with the captain. Before leaving the ship, she grabbed a personal shield belt. The shield would protect her from the radiation for a few hours. Before following Kira through her ships corridors, to the shuttles docked on deck fifty nine. Talki was quite surprised to find that the pilot of the shuttle was a Valorian. So the flight to the ship, she chatted heavily with the Kira and Sali to learn what to expect on the ship.
The bay was already open with a glowing field keeping the air in, when they approached the hanger. The shuttle came in, and landed gently on the deck. As soon as she was secure on the deck, the passengers disembarked from the craft. While Sali went back to standby and pulled out her game to pass the wait.
Talki and Kira left the bay to young children running by. Clearly the youngsters were playing a game.
¡°Looks like you have been busy,¡± commented Talki.
¡°Yes, our population has been growing at a fair rate. This way it the lift,¡± replied Kira while using her helmet comms to contact operations. Where she learned the captain had gone down to deck one hundred and two. Visiting the labs on those decks for some reason.
She lead Talki down to the deck and found the captain outside lab 2357. The lab was one of the labs set up for next generation armor research. The captain waited for them to arrive and then said, ¡°Talki is it, are you by chance related to Tika?¡±
Talki stopped in her tracks, with a bit of surprise. Countryman already knew her name, because it was mentioned to operations, by Kira, who then mentioned it to him. Talki was not very surprised by him knowing her name, what surprised her was his guess.
¡°I, uh am, but how did you guess,¡± replied Talki. Countryman dismissed Kira and then replied, ¡°There is a family resemblance.¡±
They had a brief conversation about the storm, and what each party was doing. During which time he learned about the Krall plan for getting the Enterprise out of the storm.
¡°Unfortunately, the spare hyperdrive was in one of the cargo holds that is now flooded with gasses from the storm. Worse the one we are currently using is damaged. Hopefully it can, be fixed and we can recover the spare,¡± said Talki.
¡°That is unfortunate, I hope you kept it in a sealed crate. The storm has a detrimental effect on all technology. If we didn¡¯t have a port in this storm, repairing our hull wouldn¡¯t have been possible. Unfortunately, it also makes finding the materials needed to repair damaged systems difficult. Hence our current hull state, and why only a little over half our hull is actually armored. Which you no doubt already know,¡± said Countryman referring to the fact that he knew they scanned his ship.
¡°We did have it in a crate, but it may have been thrown around when those eddies hit us,¡± said Talki.
¡°I¡¯ll have my engineers keep an eye out for it then. Hopefully it is still in good shape,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I have been wondering, you seem to have figured out force fields, so shields shouldn¡¯t be too far off. Why don¡¯t you have them, yet?¡± asked Talki.
¡°We are working on something, even better and it is looking quite promising,¡± said Countryman.
¡°What could be better than shields?¡± asked Talki.
¡°I¡¯ll show you,¡± said Countryman opening the door to the lab. She followed him into the lab. He led her behind a transparent screen. On the far side of the room, was an experimental plate of armor. The plate was designed to be far superior to the plating they were currently using. Employing everything they had learned by studying alien technology, including incorporating components from alien shield generator designs, and some elements from force field generators.
¡°The cannon you see there in the middle of the room, can punch through our standard plate. This new plate, uses a new type of structural reinforcement field. This new field employs gravitons, which allow it absorb significantly more energy and support thicker plates than before,¡± said Countryman as he signaled the tech to fire. A short burst of blue particle bolts, slammed into the plate. Which glowed slightly as a particle ripple moved across the surface, to little effect.
¡°How strong is that plate?¡± asked Talki.
¡°That plate is about three times stronger, than our standard plate and as a bonus the energy field has some of the same properties as shields. Allowing it to stop radiations that would normally pass through our hull. It still has a few flaws to work out though, but nothing all that crippling. Since we have the time, we going to keep working on it until we have ironed out the flaws. No reason to rush it into service just yet,¡± said Countryman.
Over the next few days, the two crews worked to repair the Hyketh. Her main engines were fortunately repairable, along with her hyperdrive. The spare hyperdrive she was carrying however had been damaged and exposed to the storm. The drives delicate components had been badly degraded by the gases. Still it looked like the drive was salvageable, and it was transferred over to the Enterprise.
¡°Here, you will need these,¡± said Talki handing over a set of notes, ¡°those are my notes on hyperdrive technology. You will need them to salvage the drive, hopefully it isn¡¯t to badly damaged.¡±
¡°If not we can try to leave in a month when the storm surfaces,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Wait, did you say a month? How can you be so sure?¡± asked Talki.
¡°We were here last time the storm surfaced, and we took quite the number of readings when it happened. With our enhanced sensors, we noted a few things about the storm. The storm is entering its hyperactive phase, which immediately precedes the storms emergence in normal space. We weren¡¯t sure of the pattern though until a few days ago,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°So are you sure you will be alright on you own?¡± asked Talki not yet willing to just leave, with the Enterprise still in the storm.
¡°We will be fine, but the Hyketh needs to return to port. If you don¡¯t go now, you risk being trapped with us,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I guess, I wish the drive could produce a window that could allow two ships to pass through,¡± replied Talki.
¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t and it doesn¡¯t really matter to us where we leave the storm. We will return to our homeworld eventually, but not until our numbers have recovered and Earth has had time to recover. Which is why I want my descendants to take us home, in a little under ten millennia,¡± said Countryman. He knew the changes meant he would live longer, but he doubted he would live that long. They were still trying to figure out what their new lifespan would be, but no one thought it would be more than a few hundred years longer.
¡°So you¡¯re not returning to our little part of galactic quadrant one?¡± asked Talki.
¡°Not any time soon. When we leave the storm, we are going to find ourselves a nice isolated place to repair, and build some new escorts. After that we will resume our search for a new homeland. Oh, take this, that pad contains our data on hyperspace, and some of our hyperspace equations,¡± said Countryman. She took a look at the pad, and found that the sheer amount of data dwarfed their own on the storm, and they had been taking continuous readings for years.
¡°This data is amazing! Why are you giving it to us?¡± asked Talki.
¡°It is our thank you for the drive, hopefully that data will help cover the cost of your little expedition,¡± replied Countryman, before seeing her off. A few minutes later he stepped onto his bridge just in time to see the Hyketh open a window and leave the storm. The shuttle transporting Talki already returning to the ship.
Captain¡¯s Log May 23rd 024 SDE,
The storm has surface again, and with it the eddies have subsided. We have returned to the border of the storm and are running intensive scans of the outer shell. We need more data on the outer shell, before we can attempt to leave the storm. As for the hyperdrive, we are lacking in a rare element needed to repair it. Studying the damaged drive however has given us valuable insights into hyperspace technologies. Some of which we are already applying to our research, and to some existing technologies.
Captain¡¯s Log May 29th 024 SDE,
The storm has sunk back into hyperspace, as for leaving it through the shell. We have determined that it would be difficult. The problem lies in our port warp engine, while we patched the drive their, by transferring the backup starboard into the nacelle. The backups weren¡¯t as resilient as the larger more powerful primaries. This means we suffer a burn out in the port engine, during every simulated attempt. The burnout causes the warp field to unbalance, and the ship is torn apart by the spatial stresses incurred. While we could move the starboard engine, the ship is simply to large for a single engine to generate a warp field big enough to encompass the entire ship. If our hull armor was actually intact, we might be able to pass through it at sublight speed, but the shell is a highly turbulent region of the storm that can easily rip our damage hull apart. We will continue to investigate the shell, and work on methods to leave the storm however.
Captain¡¯s Log October 13th 027 SDE,
We have had some problems of late mostly with some of the younger children having nothing to do. Other people have been complaining about the fact that we don¡¯t have any new entertainment material and that they have seen everything in the library. To solve these problems, the council and I have sponsored the start of an animation and games studio. We have plenty of labs on board, so I had one of them converted into the studio. Their goal will be to create new shows, movies and games for people to spend their free time on. With new things to occupy our young children, I hope to see a reduction in pranks. In other news the flaws with the council have become apparent. The council has a number of empty seats, and filling them has been nothing but endless debate. The council has other little issues as well that people have been complaining about as well. We have been debating how to fix, them for a while, but the council was never intended to be more than a temporary government. So we have decided to replace the current council, however we are going to take our time about it. Which of course means years of debate, before anyone ratifies any new council.
Captain¡¯s Log May 15th 38 SDE,
The Officer''s Council has finally been disbanded, it only took ten years of debate. The new Elder¡¯s Council that is taking its place, will serve much the same role. However her powers and structure are much better defined. It has eight seats, seven standard council seats and the chairman. Along with a special seat that will be filled by me. I will be the Supreme Protector, leader of the fleet when we get around to building it. In matters governed by the council, I will only vote in the event of a tie. Mostly the council will manage fleet resource applications, make and enforce our laws, and other tasks. The members of the council, have already been chosen and they are Richard Greyman as head, First Seat Eriko Dykes, Second Seat Ruri, Third Seat Ashley Drakes, Fourth Seat Misaki, Fifth Seat Megumi Richards, Sixth Seat Kaori Airi, and Seventh Seat Samantha Greyman. In other news we have stopped seeing mutations in our populace. Some people have been complaining about the ship being overcrowded, however morale is mostly positive. Our shipwide entertainment network has become quite popular, that everyone uses the network. Which helps, quite a bit with morale on the ship.
Captain¡¯s Log June 21st 38 SDE,
Our continued research has yielded some new technologies. Studying the Krall hyperdrive continues to have benefits, even if we haven¡¯t been able to find enough of the rare material we need to repair it. The latest breakthrough from it, allowed us to create a more powerful and efficient energy absorber. Which is already showing benefits, shipwide. The most important of which is that we no longer have to worry about fuel. Which is good since the last couple of years really ate into our reserves, with the poor pickings. The new absorbers are powerful enough that we can draw all the energy we need from the storm itself.
Our labs have proposed a new propulsion theory. If it works, we will see a significant improvement in FTL maneuverability. Along with a general improvement in all areas. I have also had the honor of witnessing the test of our new generation of energy weapons. The new generation particle weapons fire faster and hit harder than the current generation, but the most impressive improvement is the range. We have also made a great deal of progress in improving the old Electro Cannons, getting better range and power.
Captain¡¯s Log December 17th 049 SDE,
We have begun observing a general weakening in the storm as of late. Our latest propulsion theories have panned out. We can now maneuver much better at translight velocities, so we are going to attempt leaving the storm in a few years when it leaves hyperspace. Our simulations show the ship will take some damage breaking through the outer barrier, but we will make it in every simulation. Their is unfortunately still a high chance of our warp drive burning out, but not fatally in the simulations. Thanks to the safeties we have devised, that help increase response time to warp field collapse.
Captain¡¯s Log January 14th 055 SDE,
The storm has finally left hyperspace, and we are near the outer barrier making ready for the jump out of the storm. We have battened down the hatches and reinforced the hull, best we can. We have double and triple checked the engines, and made sure they are as up to spec as possible. We have also evacuated and braced the outer sections in case of hull breach.
Countryman walked down a corridor heading for a lift. Young children and crewman walking by to their emergency stations. The red alert lights flashing on every wall. As a general announcement was coming over the speakers. Countryman himself had just finished a final inspection and was heading to the bridge. He passed a mother and her two girls as he entered the lift, both girls while young were acting like adults already trained to handle the current situation. Their expressions revealed they were anxious and uncertain however.
The lift took only moments to reach the first deck. Exiting the lift Countryman headed to the bridge and surveyed his domain as he took his seat. The faces of his bridge crew had changed little over the years, a fact that he noted, but had long gotten used to.
¡°Eri, take us out of the storm maximum warp,¡± ordered Countryman. Eri smiled and acknowledged the order, then worked at her controls. The ship responded instantly, the old girl came about and accelerated to warp speeds. The ship slammed into the outer shell at high speed and the hull began to groan and buckle as she went through.
The ship was only in the outer shell for a few seconds, but it was long enough for the engines to redline as they fought the storm. The patched sections of the outer hull were the first to buckle, but a few other sections buckled as well. The ship burst from the storm at high speed, the gases of the storm trailing behind the ship in a massive wake. Just as the port engine burned out and the safeties kicked in. The ship was still damaged by the sudden strain, but nothing fatal.
¡°Report!¡± barked Countryman.
¡°Heavy damage to the outer hull, hull breaches on all decks emergency bulkheads are in place and holding. We have lost power on thirty nine decks, forty percent of the weapons array is non responsive. Warp drive is offline. Number three engine is non-responsive, and fourteen sub engines have been disabled. Minor structural failures detected on decks forty three, seventy nine, and one hundred seven. Estimated structural integrity has fallen to thirty four percent. Our engines have been damaged beyond repair, and must be rebuilt. Good news is that other than a couple of minor failures our star frame is generally intact which means the ship just needs a proper refit,¡± reported Richards from the engineering console. The star frame she mentioned, being the central part of the ship¡¯s structure that the entire ship was built around. The starship equivalent to the keel of old seafaring ships. Star frames can be repaired, but there''s a limit to how much damage can be done to one, before it is cheaper to just build a new ship. In other words the star frame is the skeleton of the ship. The Enterprise being a capital ship originally designed for war had a highly robust star frame so it was no surprise that it held up better than the hull.
¡°Long range sensors, scan for a nearby system with the materials we need to repair the ship,¡± ordered Countryman. The ship sat there floating in space for the next three and a half hours until they found a minerally rich system that fit the bill. Countryman ordered a course and the ship headed for the system at maximum sublight. It would take the ship eight years to reach the system. A system that would later be called Salvation.
The Factions II
The Nomads of Sol (Sol Refuge):
Formed from the remnants of the UE fleet, they have been hardened by decades in the depths of space and the storm. A highly resourceful and adaptable people, they excel at developing powerful technologies with their limited resources. They have few ships, but can easily field new ships if they can hold a system long enough. Especially due to their use of synthetic crewmen. The Nomadic Peoples of Sol have improved on the technologies of Earth and excel at Heavy Armor, Starship Engineering, Propulsion, Stealth, Particle and torpedo weaponry. Shields are of little value to them and have suffered. Experts at salvage and reverse engineering they can easily gain new resources and techs from alien wrecks. They have lost the ability to easily field heavy capital ships, as a result the largest capital ship they will field is the Heavy Cruiser and the occasional carrier. While Battlecruisers are within their reach, the Battlecruiser meshes poorly with refuge fleet philosophy and as such they do not employ them. The Refuge has developed a new ship type that is unique to them, the Bird of Prey. A powerful frigate optimized for raid missions. Refuge ships are incredibly sturdy and can take poundings that would outright destroy their counterparts in other factions and still be combat capable. Decades in space has also taught them a great deal about living in space, allowing them to build city ships and mobile shipyards. Improvements to the modularity of their ship design allow them to more easily refit their ships allowing them to remain in service longer.
Weapons: Above Average
Armor: Vastly Superior
Hull Integrity: Vastly Superior
Shields: Vastly inferior
Stealth: Good
Missile Protection: Excellent (Energy Webs)
Ship Speed: Excellent
Ship Maneuverability: Vastly Superior
Ship Construction techniques: Superior (nano construction)
Ship cost: 400% more than average
Ship Build speed: 25% longer than Average
(20)
Unique Techs: Shield Piercing Torpedoes, Electro Cannons, Overlord Armor, Pulse Wave Engines, City Ships, Deep Space Construction, Mobile Shipyards, Adaptive Hull Construction, Synthetic crew, and Overgunned frigate design.
Note: Can not build battlecruisers, Cannot field heavy capital ships (Battleships, and dreadnoughts), losing ships hurts them more than other factions.
The Cylovan Collective:
The mysterious Cylovans are machine race, that dominate galactic quadrant three. Highly advanced with motives that are known only to them, they constantly war with their neighbors. Very little is actually known about this race, only that they tend to ignore those they do not consider a threat. Cylovan ships are spherical in nature and all of their ship classes are carriers. Cylovans have powerful shields, sturdy hulls, superior propulsion technologies. Their ships employ highly advanced disruptor beam weapons, and cutting beams. They are not known to use any other weapons technology. Their superiors hull construction techniques and materials have made their ships incredibly resilient. Few weapons can even hope to penetrate their hulls. Which allows them to take poundings even Refuge ships would struggle to take. Much of their military strength is currently occupied by their war with the Sylnari remnant.
Weapons: Vastly Superior
Armor: Vastly Superior
Hull Integrity: Vastly SuperiorEnjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
Shields: Vastly Superior
Stealth: None
Missile Protection: Vastly Superior (Secondary Shields)
Ship Speed: Vastly Superior
Ship Maneuverability: Vastly Superior
Unique Techs: Adaptive Ion Shields, Neutronium Laced Hulls, Plasma Impulse Drive, and Cybernetic Integration
Note: their powerful industry allows them to easily field large fleets, of powerful ships.
Mydori Union:
The Mydori Union is a long standing republic, that believes in the free rule of her people. The union thrives on trade, and their riches have long since attracted pirates from all over to raid their lucrative shipping lanes. The Mydori are not known for capital ships, but instead field large numbers of frigates and light cruisers. As a species the Mydori are physically weak and short lived, relying heavily on robotic labor. The Mydori are an extremely fertile race, and always need more space for their broods which has led them to be highly expansionistic. The Mydori are famous for their deflectors and armor, but their energy weapons aren¡¯t any better than basic laser cannons. Being among the most inventive of the races in this part of the galaxy they have access to a wide array of unique technologies. The Union is currently at war with the Cylovan Collective, and barely holding the line against them.
Weapons: Poor
Armor: Excellent
Hull Integrity: Good
Shields: Superior (Deflectors only)
Stealth: Poor
Missile Protection: Above Average (Secondary Deflectors)
Ship Speed: Superior
Ship Maneuverability: Good
Unique Techs: Advanced Deflectors, Maser Cannons
Note: their race reproduces and matures rapidly, and they have strong industry allowing them to rapidly replenish their military losses.
The Rykoni Raiders:
While not the most unified of factions, they are one of the largest. The Rykoni are a collection of loosely aligned pirate clans. The Rykoni themselves are not the most intelligent race, and some believe them to be the fallen remnant of a more sophisticated civilization. Physically the Rykoni are far superior to most other races, and it is believed they were the result of a failed experiment to create the perfect soldier. The Rykoni are terrible at the sciences, and as such all of their technology is stolen from other races. Their ships are often built and outfitted with whatever they can scavenge. Their better built ships are built by slaves taken during raids.
Weapons: Poor
Armor: Poor
Hull Integrity: Inferior
Shields: Poor
Stealth: Below Average
Missile Protection: None
Ship Speed: Poor
Ship Maneuverability: Inferior
Unique techs: Salvaged Construction
Sylnari Remnant:
The Sylnari were a powerful race that dominated this part of the galaxy, long ago. Today the Sylnari Remnant is all that remains of a once powerful empire. While they may have lost much of their former strength they still retain many powerful technologies. The Sylnari are an aquatic race and as such their ships have unusually high mass. While powerful they are few in number, and don¡¯t field small ships. Most common ship type is the battleship. They are currently at war with the Cylovans.
Weapons: Overwhelming
Armor: Overwhelming
Hull Integrity: Overwhelming
Shields: Overwhelming
Stealth: Overwhelming
Missile Protection: Overwhelming
Ship Speed: Overwhelming
Ship Maneuverability: Overwhelming
Unique Techs: Xeos Plating, Multi-adaptive shielding, Hyper-regenerative hulls, Antiproton cannons, Prophet Defense Array, Hypervelocity cannon, Hyperspatial torpedoes, Drone fighter, and Burst Drive.
Note: Only fields capital ships, employs drones instead of fighters. Cannot field large fleets. Cannot easily replace ships that have been lost in battle.
Minor Factions:
Unaligned Pirate Clans:
A pest on shipping lanes, the pirate clans are little more than a nuisance. Their ships are typically in poor repair and outfitted with whatever they can get. Their ships rarely represent a threat to a military ships. Some of the lucker clans however can claim ownership of an outdated warship or two.
The Alliance:
The full name of this faction is a little long, and most refer to them solely as the Alliance including themselves. Initially formed by only five races it has grown to contain over fifty races that have combined their power to face the Cylovan menace. They have access to a wide array of technologies, and strong industry. Allowing them to hold the line against the menace, if barely.
Part Two Chapter I The Fleet
Captain¡¯s Log May 3rd 063 SDE,
We have finally reached the system, that has been dubbed Salvation. It is a nice isolated looking system. We have conducted multiple scans of the area and while we have picked up ships in sensor range. The nearest point of alien activity to the system is about fifteen lightyears away. Not that we saw many ships in that system. As for the system itself, it has seven planets. None of them is habitable, but one of them looks like a promising terraforming candidate. If we were willing to wait decades before we can colonize it that is. The system also has three asteroid belts and has quite a bit of debris in its asteroid fields. The dense rich fields will make asteroid mining quite profitable. While also helping shield our activity from prying eyes. We have already found a promising spot to anchor the ship, and have sent out mining shuttles to get the materials we need. Our science labs created a fairly promising new beam weapon, that will be useful on beam sats. These Epsilon Particle Beam cannons have excellent firepower, and a fast recharge. The downside is that these variants of our standard beam cannons produce massive amounts of deadly radiation. We could probably solve the radiation problem with additional research, but the weapon is also a bit bulky and requires an element that is difficult to manufacture and very rare. We have enough from our decades in the storm to build about twenty of them, which should be enough to destroy anyone that pokes into our business while we are fixing the ship. Speaking of the ship refit, I have a meeting with in an hour on the refit.
Countryman walked down the corridor and passed a young woman that nodded briefly to him. Reaching the door, he was heading for he pressed the control by the door and walked into the Engineering Lab. Richards was already there, along with a couple of other engineers. Projected above the central console of the lab, was the image of a ship that looked a lot like the Enterprise. There was just one problem, it was much too large to be the Enterprise.
¡°I thought we were refitting the Enterprise, not replacing her,¡± commented Countryman.
¡°Well, sir remember the Enterprise has a dual starframe,¡± said Megumi Richards pointing out a fact that Countryman was aware of. The ship had two starframes in the primary hull, an upper and a lower frame, that were bolted together by hundreds of thick heavy bolts and then nano-welded.
¡°What about the dual star frame?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Well, sir the dual frame, provides us with a unique refit opportunity. We can actually increase the size of the ship because of this. First we will have to blow the bolts linking the two star frames to each other. Then we will separate the upper and lower halves of the ship and insert between them a new middle starframe section. Then bolt the frames back together. Using the same techniques that were used in the first place, we can guarantee a fairly sturdy bond between the three frames,¡± said Megumi.
¡°Interesting, increasing the size of a ship has never been done. Anyway tell me what do you have so far,¡± said Countryman.
¡°The design we have so far will increase the ship¡¯s length to 7530 meters. We have upped the armor thickness to one hundred and twenty meters, and will be updating it to Mark IV specs. Using the extra space, we have designed a much better residential area, and will be adding an entire deck wide artificial environment. Designed to simulate various battlefields, by request of the marine corps, but it will also be good for ship morale. Our factories will be improved and enlarged to better accommodate industrial orders. Recreational facilities will be updated and better placed to accommodate our population. The nacelles will be increased in size as well and additional engines will be added. Ten new engines in each nacelle and four more in the primary hull. Increasing the engine count to eighty three. Taking into account your desire for more auxiliary craft, we will be enlarging the port and starboard hangers. Increasing the accommodations for up to nine hundred fighters and fifteen hundred combat shuttles. Along with special mountings for two hundred dropships,¡± said Megumi.
¡°Sounds good so far, but what about armament? What do you have in mind for weapons?¡± asked Countryman. Megumi press a button, and instantly a number of spots on the projected hull lit up. Highlight thousands of weapon mounts on the ship design. Then she signaled to engineer on her left to explain.
¡°No change in torpedo launchers, twenty forward, twelve aft. Heavy particle cannon banks will be increased from eight to thirty two and updated to latest specs. Medium particle cannon banks will be increased from eighteen to fifty four, and one hundred eight Light cannon banks will be added to the frame. Her cutting beams will be increased from two to eight arrays. All possible thanks to improvements to our power generation and general miniaturization of components. Our triple tube, photon missile launchers will be upspeced to accommodate the new generation photon missiles and increased from twelve to eighteen banks. In addition our Electro Cannon banks will be increased from two to eight. Our mine disperser will be removed, and the bays repurposed to make room for less situational systems,¡± said the young engineer. Countryman looked it over and didn¡¯t have anything to really add to the weapons and defenses of the ship. They spent the next couple of hours debating the internals of the ship, including things like the best place to put a new device called the stealth field generator. The generator being a device, that had been created by studying the Voskar cloaking device. While they couldn¡¯t replicate the cloak, it gave them clues to creating an active form of stealth that could render equipped ships invisible to most strategic sensors. Near the end of the session he informed Megumi that the council wanted a new line of ships designed to serve the fleet as escorts, and gave her the specifications they had for different classes.
Over the next two years the Enterprise underwent a significant refit, as they said she was split in two, and a new frame was built and inserted between the upper and lower starframes. Halfway through the refit, the ship was operational enough that they devoted resources to building a new redesigned version of the ship¡¯s original class. Which had been redubbed as a Galactic Sovereign class cityship stage one. The ship would be completed a couple months after the Enterprise finished her refit, and took up a station nearby. Where both ships began to build the first of their new ship classes. This ship class was called the Hammer class yardship, these new ships were lightly armed, but they weren¡¯t designed as warships but mobile factories. Easily capable of building multiple starships simultaneously. Four of these ships would be built over the next year, and form the center of their fleet industry. To feed these factories android workers would be built and employed both in mining and construction tasks. Which also helped get these capital ships up and running in half the time it would have taken otherwise.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
After three years in the system, they had managed to put together a decent set of industry and started to work on their escort fleet. They started the escort fleet out with the largest of proposed ship classes, the Battlehawk Heavy Cruiser as it would be designated after it passed its trials. The Battlehawk was designed to carry ninety-six fighters. Her armament is twelve heavy particle cannon banks, thirty medium cannon banks, and thirty light cannon banks. Along with five beam arrays, and five banks of Electro cannons. With ten torpedo launchers fore and aft. For protection the ship was armored with fifty eight meters of overlord armor. The entire ship, measured 2400 meters in length making it a mid sized capital ship, that was designed to take a beating and dish one right back. For ship would prove decently fast and maneuverable of sublight thanks to its four main sublight engines, and was designed for an FTL cruising speed of warp five.
A total of thirteen of these impressive cruisers would be built, before they started work on a new destroyer to serve as their mainstay escort ship. The Saber class as it would come to be known, is only eight hundred meters long. A twin second generation particle pulse wave engine provided an impressive amount of maneuverability and speed to the ship. For protection the ship was outfitted with an impressive forty meters of overlord armor. Her armament includes eight particle flak banks, Four heavy particle cannon batteries, two cutting beam arrays, and four banks of electro cannon, complemented by forty forward torpedo launchers. Twenty eight of destroyers will be built for the fleet, and during the same construction period work began on another ship type.
That ship being the Firebird Class bird of prey. Being a small ship, only a hundred and sixty meters in length, they could field them easily and build large numbers of them quickly. Plated with twelve meters of overlord armor giving it a fair amount of protection. While Eight banks of heavy particle cannons, five light, and two banks of electro cannons made her a threat to most ships, but the true source of her power was the four spinally mounted Super Heavy Particle Cannons. Weapons that would normally be mounted on a battleship, and required a beefed up powerplant to function. The ship looked like an elongated saucer with a pair of wings that swept forward and down at each end. Two of her cannons mounted on the end of each wing, and the other two spinal cannons mounted on the saucer. Her high speed and strong frontal attack would prove to make her very deadly on the battlefield.
Eight years after their arrival in the system, they began work on a number of carriers Only four would be built, each massive ships in their own right. The carriers were large capital ships, measuring 7550 meters in length, and designed to accommodate 9000 fighters. Most of which would be manned by synthetic pilots to make up for their numbers. Which by this point had grown to around half a million people not counting synthetics. The Kingdom line of carriers are plated with fifty five meters of overlord armor. Outfitted with four banks of light particle flak and eight cutting beams. Which made the ship decently durable enough, and gave her protection against light craft, but the ship needed escorts. Like all ships in the fleet the Kingdoms had a cruising speed of warp five.
Captain¡¯s Log October 17th 073 SDE,
Ten years in this system have done wonders for the fleet, we are building. The fleet however has been getting restless. Many of our children have the desire to explore our surroundings. I am concerned about the fighting we have been picking in some neighboring systems. Personally I would be more comfortable with a few more ships, in the fleet before heading out. Unfortunately, we have nearly exhausted the asteroids in this system of some of the valuable minerals needed for building ships. There is plenty more on some of the planets, but collecting those minerals would require infrastructure we don¡¯t have. Besides we were never planning to stay in this system for long.
Countryman starred out the window, watching the work crews and bees moving in the void around one of the carriers. The carriers were in the final phases of construction, and it would be a week or two before they could start the shakedown cruise for the new ships. Without turning he addressed the officer behind him. A young girl who had grown up on the ship.
¡°We can¡¯t leave just yet. We have a few ships that need to be finished and put through a shakedown cruise. Still that doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t gather some information. I have orders for nine ships to form a new task force. The will split into three groups and scout the surrounding systems for us. Those ships are the SFS Batoruhoku, SFS Suzume, SFS Washi, SFS Dagger, SFS Falchion, SFS Scimitar, SFS Tsurugi, SFS Estoc, and SFS Longsword. One cruiser and two destroyers in each group. I want them to be careful out there, and to avoid unnecessary combat, which is to be decided at the captain''s discretion,¡± said Countryman.
¡°It will be done, my lord,¡± said the officer as she left. Countryman sighed, he never understood why the young officers decided to call him lord. Soon the fleet would leave the nest. Hopefully the vanguard would bring back information to better equip them for the dangers they would surely face.
Elsewhere, a young female alien swam down a corridor, her tentacles easily pulling her through the water. Reaching a doorway she passed through the door as it opened for her. Entering the room, she swam up to the male in the room and stopped before him. Giving him a gesture of respect, she then started the report that had brought her here.
¡°My lord, one of our automated scouts has returned from a long term mission,¡± said the girl.
¡°Well, youngling anything interesting?¡± asked the lord. She pushed a data disk into the projector below, and images we projected into the middle of the room.
¡°Our scout has found, one thing of interest. It seems a new race has entered the field. The scout has been observing them for the last eight years. Based on what we see here, they appear to be space nomads, rebuilding their fleet. Their ships lack energy shields, but they seem to be fairly advanced for this part of space. Roughly on par with the Cylovans which means the Cylovans will no doubt take interest in them,¡± said the girl.
¡°A new race? Well then take a ship, and greet them,¡± said the lord.
¡°Yes, my lord,¡± replied the girl before swimming down the corridor to the docks. She knew the lord meant for her to take a shuttle, since the fleet was occupied elsewhere thanks to the Cylovans. It didn¡¯t take long for her to reach the starport and obtain a scout shuttle. A lightly armed shuttle used for scouting missions.
Part Two Chapter II Encounters
TR-108 surveyed her bridge, she was one of the sentient android models the creators had built. She resembled a young girl in her teens, of about average height. She had a modest chest with a small butt and a generally attractive slim figure. The only thing that marked her to be an android was her shoulder length light blue hair. Her sapphire blue eyes glowed slightly on her cute face. Her appearance being so human-like was to help people be more comfortable around synthetics. TR-108 is a command model outfitted with the appropriate software and hardware to serve as a commander. Her bridge was configured a lot like the one on the Enterprise, but instead of people only machines were working the consoles. They were cheaper inferior models to herself that lacked the hardware to support a full sentient AI.
She had been built a few years ago, and really liked the creators and knew why the others were inferior. The reason being more economic than anything else. For the most part the creators had left her rather free to make her own decisions and giving her the same rights they had. She did have a few directives that she had to follow, but she agreed with the directives anyway so they were unnecessary. She had also been equipped with a number of ethical subroutines. She was quite happy with the ship she had been given to command, thanks to the emotions the creators had given her. She could turn them off, if needed but she prefered them on. She was of the opinion that life was dull without them, and it helped her understand why all those machines in the ancient fictions she had found in the creator library went crazy. She had found them on an old data disk that had been gather dust. The file records had showed they hadn¡¯t been accessed in decades, but she had been curious and watched them. Those movies were in part responsible for her current opinion of the creators. That they were good people worth protecting.
She was half lost in thought when one of her crewman, gave her a report.
¡°Transmission received, 84% probability of being a distress call, origin 3.4 lightyears distant, bearing 44 mark 12. Sensor readings indicate multiple ships engaged in heavy combat,¡± reported the drone at operations.
¡°Helm, alter course to intercept increase speed to warp seven. Maintain stealth running,¡± ordered TR-108. Referring to the fact that the ship, could actually cruise at a higher speed than her standard cruise speed thanks to a device called a subspace radiator. A technology that the refuge figured out while in the storm, thanks to having a vast wealth of data on hyperspace. However activating the device makes them visible on all sensor devices so the ship¡¯s standard cruising speed it the highest speed she can maintain without revealing itself. With the radiator off the ship could cruise at warp seven for eighty four minutes before she started risking damage to the engines. The distance was one they could travel in that time frame, so they would only have to wait a little over an hour to reach the system.
Checking the readings of the battle herself, she noted the signatures matched ships seen by the fleet¡¯s long range sensors before. It was yet another battle between the two forces that were fighting over this part of space. Not much was known about this conflict other than the fact that both sides were evenly matched, one through numbers the other quality. Close range data of the battle would be invaluable, and maybe they would be able to learn more about the powers fighting over this region.
Just in case she did a mental inventory of her Battlehawk class cruiser the Suzume and the two destroyers under her command the Scimitar and the Falchion. All three ships were fully armed and loaded. Her ships were carrying the newer photon torpedoes, over the old style fusion torpedoes. Her own ship had eight squadrons of the SF-1204 starfighter, four squadrons of newer SFH-Eagle heavy fighter, and four squadrons of the equally new SFB-Sparrow Bomber.
The SF-1204 had changed little from the original X-1204, but all her systems had been upgraded. Making it faster, more maneuverable and hit harder. Its four frontal particle cannons had been upgraded. Her four missile launchers were unchanged and neither were her twin micro torpedo launchers. She still carried eight missiles and six torpedoes. Although the missiles were of a new generation, and she now carried photon torpedoes. Armor thickness is unchanged at twelve centimeters, but upgraded to the mark four format. Her engines were upgraded to the latest generation. One thing of note is that she is now equipped with a short range tractor emitter, mounted aft.
The Eagle was designed to supplement the 1204 and is a two man fighter designed to dominate smaller craft like fighters and corvettes. While still remaining a threat to larger ships. Because of her larger size, it is a bit slower and less maneuverable than the 1204. However it makes up for it with by hitting harder and her thicker armor at twenty four centimeters let her shrug off hits that would have wounded the 1204.
The Eagle has eight forward particle cannons, four missile launchers and a micro torpedo launcher. Along with a rear mounted dual light particle cannon turret. She carriessixteen missiles and four torpedoes.
The Sparrow was designed to meet the need for a specialized auxiliary craft for engaging enemy starships. The battle in the clouds, would have gone better if the Enterprise had a dedicated bomber and so this was the ship built to meet that need. Equipped with a twin pulse wave engine, she is fairly fast and has good maneuverability for a bomber. Her armor is thirty five centimeters thick giving her far better protection than either the Eagle or the 1204. She is armed with two frontal heavy particle cannons, and an electro cannon. She has two bomb launchers designed to fire shield piercing photon bombs. Unlike the torp version the shorter range photon bombs have the space for a better shield penetrator guaranteeing penetration of enemy shields. Each bomber is designed to carry ten bombs each with a yield of five hundred megatons. A tri-mount light particle cannon turret is mounted on the rear to keep fighters off the bomber.
She gave orders to have her fighters and bombers fueled and readied for standby just in case they got caught in the crossfire. While she ordered the pilots to remain on standby until further notice. She also considered the pilots to be inferior to herself, but they did have the hardware to support an AI matrix. Mostly because the demands of fighter combat required that kind of hardware. Pilots needed quick thinking and adaptability as one wrong move could lead to the loss of your fighter. The M9 pilot drone was the latest in synthetic pilots, and while they lacked the instincts of a trained pilot, they could learn from each battle they fought in. Meaning they weren¡¯t to underestimated in a fight. She had gotten to know the pilots on her ship, as their were only so many sentient AIs on her ship. Their were others of the same type as her onboard, in command positions as well. She had talked with them to, when she was bored.
A little over an hour later the ship came out of warp on the edge of the combat zone. Over a hundred ships were in the area fighting in deep space just a couple lightyears from the nearest solar system. Thirteen of the ships were perfect spheres, twelve clearly of a smaller class with a diameter of 600 meters. The larger one was significantly larger with a diameter of 4800 meters. Thousands of smaller spheres had been launched from theses ships that were clearly some kind of fighter. Engaging them were vessels that weren¡¯t so geometric in design. Their ships narrowed towards the front and widened at the rear, with the top being mostly flat. With a large tower near the rear. Some of the bigger one¡¯s had hanger doors here, and a catapult running the length of the hull. The ventral side of the hull, was typically rounded with the occasional protrusion. The largest of the ships in the second force was only four hundred and fifty meters long.
Looking at the field it was extremely obvious that the second force was escorting a number of transports. They had eight transports on the field, that her scans showed were packed to the brim with people and supplies. The transports were clearly attempting to withdraw from the field, while the other ships held off the attacking spheres. While it was clear that the second force was losing despite TR-108 was leaning towards not interfering in this alien war.
She new nothing about either side, and as such helping either party could be the wrong move. Of course doing nothing could also be the wrong move, but they had also been ordered to avoid unneeded combat. She signalled her two destroyers to stay in formation with her and kept the ship¡¯s signature low.
Over the next few minutes, they watched the battle unfold. When suddenly one of the smaller spheres changed course straight for the Suzume and opened fire. A beam of green energy raked over her armored hull to little effect, and the Suzume returned fire. Glowing blue bolts of light lanced across the void, and impacted against the alien sphere. Nine of the twelve bolts passed right through the ships energy shields and slammed into her reinforced duranium hull. Each one unleashing a force of three hundred and fifty megatons of explosive energy. The ships hull fractured under the barrage and was summarily torn apart by a series of secondary explosions.
The ship shook as one of the cursed machine fighters crashed into the hull. The guns opened fire on a wing coming in for an attack run. The hull taking hits from other fighters firing their beams into the unprotected hull. The deflectors having already failed in a previous attack. Suddenly the wings withdrew as their mothership, suddenly changed course. Heading straight for a patch of empty space, or at least that was how it looked to sensors.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
The captain relax a bit, with the let up in pressure. ¡°Report, how much longer before the transports clear the combat zone?¡±
¡°Eight minutes, sir. However I don¡¯t think we will make it much longer. That last hit knocked out our weapons array, and the hit before it disabled the engines. We¡¯re dead in space, sir¡± reported an officer. Before he could respond he watched the machine ship open fire, instantly a ship that was previously invisible appear on the screens. The captain muttering in shock as his brain struggled to compute the fact that a capital ship had been invisible.
What happened next was even more shocking, as the menace destroyed exploded from a single attack. ¡°Deploy, repair teams, and how in the galaxy was that destroyer splashed?¡±
It took a couple minute for the response, by which time two smaller ships had appeared on his screens, as the mopped up the fighters attacking them. The strange design of the ships indicating they belonged to a race not known to him.
¡°It appears to have been some sort of shield penetrating torpedo. Whoever these guys are, they have much better toys than we do,¡± said his officer.
TR-108 listened to the report as the last of the alien fighters were splashed. All of the remaining alien spheres were heading straight for her ships and ignoring their former opponents. She had attempted to hail these alien spheres, but their had not been a single response. She had already had the ships analyzed. Most of the spheres were made of reinforced duranium hulls, but the larger one had a neutronium laced hull that would make it much more difficult to destroy. The alien spheres entered weapons range, and opened fire with their beam weapons, the hull shuddered as the beams impacted the Suzume. The Suzumes own fighters engaged the alien fighters as they came into range.
While her two destroyers opened up on the alien destroyers forcing them to take evasive action to avoid being destroyed. Allowing the Suzume to close on the capital ship. The alien sphere fired beam after beam of disrupter energy into the Suzume¡¯s hull. Her plating absorbed the blasts taking minimal damage from the barrage. At the same moment she returned fire with her own particle batteries. Thousands of bolts of particle fire and dozens of torpedoes repeatedly slammed into the other ships shields and hull with equally low effect.
Her shields being virtually unaffected by the barrage, while her hull was resilient enough that the torpedoes slamming into it merely scratched the plating. After nearly five minutes of exchanging fire, the Suzume entered Electro cannon range. Blue lightning bolts slammed into the alien cruiser and her powerful shields destabilized releasing an electromagnetic shockwave. Leaving the alien capital ships hull exposed, as the Suzume¡¯s guns rained fire down on the ship.
While normally her cannons would tear through a ship¡¯s hull like tissue paper, the cruisers neutronium laced hull proved to be far more resilient. Her hull armor absorbed much of the energy as the plates started to crack under the barrage. The cruiser responded by changing course and accelerating to increase distance. While at the same moment the Falchion splashed the last of the attacking destroyers, and moved to assist the Suzume. As for the fighters, both groups were heavily engaged, but the Refuge Fighters were proving superior. The refuge fighters wings had lost a few fighters, but had splashed more fighters than they lost. As the destroyers moved past the dogfight they opened fire with their flak screens. Focusing on the fighters not already engaged with the Suzume¡¯s fighters.
The cruisers shields finished cycling a few seconds after she managed to get out of electro cannon range of the Suzume. Her beams raking against the ships port plates as she returned fire. At the same moment the Suzume, launched her bombers escorted by the heavy fighters in her arsenal. The cruiser perfectly positioned to shield its fighters as they launched.
¡°Port hull armor at 63%,¡± reported a drone at the engineering status display.
¡°Transfer auxiliary power to the hull plating, load all forward torpedo tubes,¡± ordered TR-108. The power transfer had an instant effect, increasing the port hull plating to 73%. As soon as the forward tubes were reloaded, she ordered a full volley of torpedoes focused on the most damaged area of the alien capital ship¡¯s hull. Fifty torpedoes slammed into the ship with about forty of those passing through the shield. Slamming one after another into the cracking hull plates, which buckled but didn¡¯t breach. This first volley was quickly followed by a second volley of torpedoes, the Suzume making full use of her rapid fire launchers.
The Suzume managed to get four volleys of torpedoes to strike the point doing significant surface damage to the area, but barely breached the thick neutronium reinforced hull armor. Then the ship managed to rotate the damage plate out of the Suzume¡¯s firing line. The Suzumes bombers, however were getting into range and followed the target. The alien ship fired a few of it beam cannons at the bomber wings, but missed. The beams being anti ship weapons, lacked the tracking to get a proper lock. Forcing it launch what fighters it still had to engage the escorted bomber wings.
Around the same time the two Sabres were entering weapons range of the sphere. While the fighters were mopping up the last of the alien fighter spheres in their engagement area. The two Sabres opened fire with their launchers. Four hundred torpedoes slammed into the cruiser with their first volley. A little under three hundred of those impacted the hull. Each explosion causing microfractures to form in the hull plating. A couple of the plates began to buckle under the repeated barrage from the destroyers. The cruiser switched targets and began firing on the nearer of two Sabres. Powerful disruptor beams raked into the Scimitar, draining significant chunks of the ship¡¯s armor integrity field with each hit.
The bombers reached their target and dumped their entire payload on the site. As they were breaking away to return to the ship for rearming, two hundred and forty high yield bombs slammed into the buckled hull plates. The plates failed completely under the barrage and the hull was breached. The Scimitar drawing the cruisers attention, allowed the Suzume to re enter electro cannon range. Blue lightning like bolts slammed into the ships shields and they collapsed. In a flash of electromagnetic energy.
The Suzume increased speed, and fired her entire weapons array into the ships hull. At the same moment the Falchion used a pulse detonation to close to beam range. She then opened fire with her beam array, firing deadly beams into breach, along with a handful of torpedoes. One of the beams the alien capital ship was firing slammed into the Scimitars hull and it finally buckled under the barrage. Her plating buckled and the beam tore into the hull. Seconds before the cruiser came about and jumped into high warp retreating from the field. TR-108 did not pursue the retreating warship. Instead she asked for a report.
¡°Hull plating is holding at sixty eight percent. We have used approximately thirty percent of our ordinance. Eighteen fighters have been lost. The Scimitar has taken moderate damage, and has suffered two hull breaches. She has lost power on twelve decks, and her hull plating is offline. She also reports that most of her primary systems are offline, and it will take four hours to restore them,¡± reported her operations drone.
¡°Transfer, an engineering team to the Scimitar and hail the nearest alien frigate,¡± said TR-108 hoping they were more willing to talk. A couple minutes later an ugly alien visage appeared on her view screen. The body looked like a four armed gorilla and it had the head of a donkey along with a pair of horns on its head. Three tails could be seen behind it, and its entire body was covered in fur, that was colored in vibrant clashing patterns.
¡°I¡¯m TR-108 captain of the Sol Refuge ship, SFS Suzume and you are?¡± said TR-108.
¡°I¡¯m Vekra, Captain of the Mydori Union vessel Versani. I must add that your people have an odd naming sense,¡± said Vekra.
¡°Maybe, so who were the people that attacked us. I take it you must know, considering they are at war with them,¡± said TR-108.
¡°We don¡¯t know much about them. They are called the Cylovan Collective, but to not know of them you must not be from around here,¡± said Vekra.
¡°No, we are not. We left our homeworld long ago, on a long range mission,¡± said TR-108 leaving the real facts out, as they didn¡¯t know enough about this race to trust them.
¡°Well unless your prepared to fight, I recommend you avoid this part of space. The Collective has no use for diplomacy and is at war with all her neighbors,¡± said Vekra. TR-108 said she would keep that in mind, before closing the channel. A couple hours later when the system patching was finished, she set course for the fleet. As the Scimitar was in need of repairs that couldn¡¯t be done in the field.
The young alien girl settled in front of the console as the energies of her burst drive dissipated. A wave of radiation rippling off her shuttle into space and even hyperspace. Unlike larger ships her shuttle lacked the systems to hide the resulting radiation pulse, and her recent jump would have registered on the sensors of any ship nearby. Fortunately there was only one group of ships in detection range of the jump and they were the people she was here to see. A minute after she made the jump a group of armored fighters. Her sensors indicated they were manned by machines. The fighters didn¡¯t charge weapons, and instead sent a brief inquiry her way. She responded with an equally brief reply on her purpose here. Almost instantly the fighters took up an escort formation around her ship and sent a message for her to follow. Lead into the field, she soon got an excellent view of the fleet moored in the field. Hundreds of fighters were on patrol, and dozens of small shuttles were flying about. Underneath four of the ship in the area, the frames of four massive carriers were anchored. The ships clearly in the final stages of construction. Her sensors told her that all four ships, while unfinished they were already operational and being used as fighter bases for the local patrols.
Her destination was one of the bigger ships, that was roughly the same size as the carriers, but it was not a carrier. Her ship was led to a small shuttle bay on the upper decks and facing the rear of the craft. The fighters broke away from her when the shuttle got near the doors, a few seconds later her shuttle was caught in guidance beams. Which guided her shuttle into the bay. Which landed gently on the deck, as she swam out of the cockpit and into the rear compartment and grabbed a hydration belt. A device that created a field around her body to keep it moist, while also keeping her gills wet, and aerating the water it gave her. In effect it allowed her to breathe and survive in non-aquatic environments.
Part Two Chapter III First Contact
Countryman stepped up to the shuttlebay doors, and nodded to the two guards at the door before entering the bay. The bay doors were already open, a forcefield keeping the air in as the guidance beams brought in the alien shuttle. While communication was brief they had already indicated they were on a diplomatic mission. The shuttle was of fairly interesting design, she was fairly large and her hull perfectly round. The front was an angled cone, the top longer than the bottom, the tip rounded The hull was a lovely blue green shade in color. The ship had no obvious protrusions either. The scans of the ship were also fair perplexing as well, the ship was made of an alloy that defied all explanation. It was some sort of complex coherent molecular alloy, around a neutronium lacing. He doubted their was a single weapon in their arsenal that could damage the alloy. Maybe a concentrated barrage of torpedos would breach it, but he had already read the report sent ahead by the Suzume. The Cylovan ship was made with a neutronium laced hull and that was hard to scratch this looked significantly tougher. As the ship landed he noticed a symbol painted on the hull, one he recognized. He had seen it back at Hylis, it had been shown to him when they were discussing a group of races referred to as the Elder races.
¡°Hm, meeting an elder race, this is bound to be interesting,¡± thought Countryman as a door on the flat angle rear of the shuttle opened up. Then an alien creature stepped out of the shuttle and came around the edge of the shuttle stopping in front of him. It was clearly a female, ten large tentacles extended from beneath a humanoid torso. A belt was snuggly bucked at her waist. The clasp glowing a faint purple, generating a field around her that was only visible thanks to Countryman thanks to his cybernetic eyes. Her torso was covered with light silver and purple scales. A pair of small breasts were visible as well, since the only thing she was wearing was the belt. Her arms ended in a hand with three clawed fingers. Her head was topped by two large frills, that linked to a fin that ran down her back. Her face had two large, silver eyes, no nose and a small mouth, that had a fang peeking out the left side. Over all, she was quite cute, in that monster girl sort of way.
Countryman knew enough about aquatic life forms on Earth to know just how strange a creature she was. Clearly she had mammalian traits, but unlike the sea mammals he knew of she was clearly not an air breather. He figured he would ask her later about what kind of creature she was.
¡°Welcome aboard the Enterprise, I¡¯m Countryman Supreme protector of the fleet and captain of the Enterprise. I must say young one, you will be quite popular with the boys if you walk around like that,¡± said Countryman. The girl had an expression appear on her face that seemed to indicate confusion for a moment or two before it looked like she made a connection.
¡°I forgot you surface races have these strange concepts. But why are you speaking to me like I¡¯m a child. I¡¯m thirty seven years old an adult. Oh before I forget, I¡¯m Selia and I¡¯m here on behalf of the Sylnari Remnant,¡± said the young girl Selia.
¡°Sorry, but when your as old as I am you tend to speak to everyone as if they are a child,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°So you are an elder of your race?¡± said Selia with a much more respectful tone than earlier.
¡°I¡¯m the eldest member of my race, at two hundred and sixty five years old,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Your almost as old as the elder lord! Yet you seem so strong, how long do your kind live?¡± asked Selia a bit surprised.
¡°We aren¡¯t entirely sure anymore. Anyway what brought you to us, and how did you find us?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°One of our automated scouts stumbled upon you, as for why I¡¯m here it is to greet you. Well, I¡¯m also here to warn you about the Cylovan Collective,¡± replied Selia.
¡°I have heard the name, not that it means much to me.What I do know is that their ships are sphere shaped, and that at least one class of ship in their service is armored with a neutronium laced plating, that is damn near impossible to breach. Their shields according to the report while stronger than any we have encountered before, but have the same vulnerabilities, so we can deal with them,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I take it you encountered them?¡± asked Selia.
¡°A single task force did, just yesterday. I read the report, they were unable to destroy the capital ship in the force that attacked them, but they were able to force it to retreat. I would greatly appreciate anything you could tell me about them, especially since they don¡¯t seem to like talking very much. Anything that would help us survive an encounter would be doubly appreciated,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I¡¯ll tell you what I can. I would like to learn more about your race as well and what brought you to this part of space,¡± replied Selia.
A couple hours later Countryman and the council were sitting in their seats in the deck one conference room that had become the council meeting site. In a guest seat Selia was sitting best she could with her body shape and was now wearing something to cover the her breasts. Not that it covered much more. Who would have guessed, but aquatic races weren¡¯t all that comfortable with clothing.
¡°I can¡¯t tell you a great deal about the Cylovans. They don¡¯t have much use for diplomacy and rarely speak with other races. The Collective itself possess knowledge of hyperwarp travel, which has allowed them to spread through the quadrant like a plague. They occupy thousands of worlds throughout the quadrant and worse no race is safe from their aggression. They are at war with all of their neighbors, but the majority of their military strength is tied up with fighting us. Which means you shouldn¡¯t have to worry about any large fleets, as they typically field smaller fleets against their other neighbors. As for why they are so warlike a race, we don¡¯t know. Nor do we know what has motivated these wars of thiers.
Some things you will need to know is that their shields are adaptive in nature. If they can learn enough about your weapons they can modulate them to render your weapons ineffective. Personally we just brute force our way through their shields, but in your case you¡¯ll just have to get creative. Their armor as you mentioned is quite tough, but their fighter hangers are weaker and the structural supports near the hangers are more vulnerable to damage,¡± said Selia.
¡°That is very interesting, but what exactly is hyperwarp?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°A method of FTL technology, that involves creating a tunnel through hyperspace between two points allowing for ships to travel between two points at phenomenal speeds. The average speed of a ship in hyperwarp is about two million times light speed. Its greatest limitation is that the conduits needed for travel require a great deal of energy to form, which is why only the largest Cylovan ships can actually create new conduits, but once created a conduit can be opened again, by a ship with the requisite drive at any time. Allowing near instantaneous transit between any two points. These conduits are not permanent features though and will collapse if not used after a few centuries. Anyone with a decent enough understanding of hyperspace theory and multi-spatial folding can create one of these drives. Also of importance is that these conduits can be deliberately collapsed,¡± replied Selia.
¡°A subspace disruption wave would collapse one, correct?¡± said Countryman.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
¡°... That¡¯s correct, but I just told you about them. How did you guess?¡± said Selia a bit confused as she knew they didn¡¯t have hyperwarp technology. Countryman reached forward and pressed a button, and immediately a hologram containing hyperspace scan data was projected above the table.
¡°We happen to know a thing or two about hyperspace. We may not use it for travel, but we have applied our knowledge of hyperspace to a number of sciences. For example there is a device on board that generates low level subspace disruptions. We designed it for the express purpose of jamming hyperdrives, and disrupting subspace communications,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Well a jammer like that won¡¯t collapse a conduit, but the principles are similar. Anyway I am curious as to what brought you to this part of galaxy,¡± said Selia.
¡°I have no problem sharing that. Does anyone else have a problem?¡± answered Countryman. The council each began to express their own opinions, some of the eight elders were in favor, but others had their own concerns. Selia noted repeated mentions of some kind of test that some of them wanted her to take, but they never elaborated on it. Finally she asked about it while they were still discussing it.
¡°The test is hard to describe verbally, it is easier to understand if experienced,¡± said Samantha Greyman.
¡°It isn¡¯t very ethical either which is why, I am against it,¡± added Richard Greyman.
¡°That doesn¡¯t really tell me anything,¡± said Selia.
¡°To us there is only one possession a person has that belongs solely to them, their mind. The test involves violating the sanctity of the mind, and tests a person''s spirit and character. In a way the test is far more intimate than anything else one can experience. The process of the test will reveal to a person their true nature,¡± said Drakes who was the member of the council to have spent the most time exploring and studying their new powers.
¡°Why are some of you proposing such a thing?¡± asked Selia. There was a brief murmur among the council before they looked to Countryman who stood from his seat and started walking towards Selia.
¡°To answer your questions, you are looking at the last of a civilization. Over seventy years ago, our system was invaded by an aggressive race known as Cathamari. We fought them for years, but eventually our homeworld fell and was left contaminated. Ultimately we managed to locate their homeworld and return the favor. Thanks to the Cathamari and other civilizations destroyed by them we were not very welcome in our home region. Making it impossible to find a new homeland there. Still we continued to try, and while onroute to a sector that one of our few friends told us about we were swallowed by a hyper-ion storm which dragged us across the galaxy. That is how we came to be in this region of the galaxy, and the test being proposed is because they are unsure of whether or not we can trust another race with that information,¡± said Countryman coming to a stop near Selia.
¡°In a way that makes you like us, our civilization has also fallen from a previous height. In our case though, it wasn¡¯t war that brought us down, but a sickness. One that proved difficult to cure, but we did. Our race though breeds slowly, so even thought that sickness spread through our worlds centuries ago we have yet to fully recover. This is not something we normally share, but I figured since you shared we should as well,¡± said Selia.
¡°I guess that does make us more alike than you might guess at first glance. Anyway I can tell you are still not entirely sure about the test they mentioned. So I will show you,¡± said Countryman just as he grabbed her hand. Almost immediately the world warped and she found herself surrounded by images of darkness and war. Looking around she noticed she wasn¡¯t alone, but the space was shared by someone else. Countryman was here as well, but he looked different. His aged figure looked younger, and his eyes were the most striking difference one was pure white, the other pure black. In addition he looked almost androgynous now, with a pair of scale covered wings spreading from his back. Strangely he also looks smaller than he was before, and his clothing had changed. It looked like a mix between a military uniform and a lab coat. Colored in a mix of blue, white and black.
¡°Where are we, and did we just teleport? How did you hide the teleporter?¡± asked Selia.
¡°We are still in the conference room, well our bodies are anyway. Our minds though are elsewhere. We are now in the depths of my own mind, where my dark side resides. The images are a reflection of my own sins and my darker beliefs. This is the part of me is one that most others would fear in themselves, often they would bury it, but I accepted my dark side long ago. Which is why it is so close to the surface of my mind,¡± said Countryman.
¡°If this is your dark side, where is your light side? Also why do you look so strange. Also if your dark side is here what is in the deeper depths of you mind?¡± asked Selia spouting off the first questions to enter her mind.
¡°I was going to get to that, first the mindscape we are in doesn¡¯t follow the physical laws of the real world. For example if you walk into the flaming land with particle blasts falling like rain over there, you won¡¯t actually be harmed. That doesn¡¯t mean their aren¡¯t dangers in the mindscape however. The true depths of my mind would be dangerous to enter on your own, as you will have to contend with my mental defenses. As for what is in the deeper depths of my mind, I don¡¯t actually know. I have an idea of course, but before you ask the reason I don¡¯t know is because that is where I lock the memories I would rather forget,¡± said Countryman.
¡°In other words, not a good place to visit, and I forgot to ask, why are we here and not elsewhere in your mind,¡± said Selia.
¡°I chose to show you my dark side first, since most refuse to acknowledge they even have one, but for me it is a source of strength. The test though is designed to reveal things like this. Anyway you also asked about my form, the answer is that a person''s mental avatar is a reflection of their soul. I will leave figuring the imagery out to you. Nothing here is a literal representation of reality, and some elements like my wings are new. Anyway, my light side is this way,¡± said Countryman leading the way through strange scenes shrouded in darkness and yet revealed by it just the same. After awhile of walking through his mental they moved on to hers. Which she found to be completely different, and unlike with Countryman¡¯s landscape even if the imagery around her baffled her, she knew what it meant. She finally understood as she was looking through her own, why this test was described as intimate. While it didn¡¯t reveal her memories and knowledge ever aspect about herself was being revealed to another.
¡°I think I understand what they meant, now. Anyway how long have we been here, anyway it feels like we have been wandering our mindscapes for days, now?¡± asked Selia.
¡°Time passes differently here than in the real world. In the mindscape, we have been here nearly a month, but in the real world it has been less than a minute,¡± said Countryman. She nearly asked why time was passing so differently here, when she remembered that it is said that time seems to slows down when someone is in a life and death situation. Which lead her to asking if this was a similar phenomenon. Countryman told her that is was similar, but the cause was different.
¡°I take it you have never really been exposed to mind powers like telepathy, and telekinesis?¡± asked Countryman after explaining time to her in the mindscape.
¡°Well, mind powers are rare, in my race it is a great deal more common than it is in younger races for a psionic to be born and it is even rarer for them to awaken the power. About five percent of our population has the potential, but less than one percent awaken those powers,¡± said Selia.
¡°Well, in your case you actually have that potential, and it has begun to awaken,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Your joking, right?¡± said Selia, she had been tested for potential, but she was too young to experience an awakening.
¡°No, I¡¯m not. Watch what I do, and then try to do it yourself,¡± said Countryman. Then light began to gather into his finger tips, casting light on the surrounding mindscape. She still thinking it was a joke did it anyway, and was surprised when the light just came to her.
¡°That is a mere trick, easy to do here in the mindscape where anything is possible, but with your power awakening, before I let you leave this landscape their are some things I¡¯ll have to teach you. Your people can probably teach you better methods though,¡± commented Countryman after her success.
¡°Teach me what?¡± asked Selia.
¡°The basics, like how to block out other people''s thoughts, and how to initiate a telepathic link that sort of thing,¡± said Countryman. Selia wasn¡¯t sure how long they spent in the mindscape, with him teaching her about the powers that he told her awakened thanks to the direct exposure, but apparently it hadn¡¯t been all that long in real time. After the meeting session she went back to her shuttle, and contacted her home. She now knew that these people could be new friends for her people, and that they both had something to offer the other. Something that was quite rare, since elder races like hers rarely benefited from contact with younger races.
Part Two Chapter IV Preparing for Departure
Selia settled into a seat, in the officer¡¯s mess hall aboard the Enterprise. She had been here a few days, now. She was currently the official ambassador and liaison between the Sol Refuge and the Sylnari Remnant. She had learned a bit about the local economy, which was actually pretty sparse. Their factories were being fueled by the materials they got from the asteroids, but they lacked the infrastructure for planetary mining. Still they had enough to produce the everyday goods they needed, and they were pretty good with recycling which helped reduce the cost of consumer goods. She had also learned a bit about their own agriculture. They had two entire decks that were dedicated to agriculture. Massive hydroponic bays produced vegetables, fruits, and fish for their people, while livestock was raised in artificial fields. The livestock population wasn¡¯t large, and as a result products from them were luxuries that only the wealthier among them could afford. Which basically meant those with high rank, and a good track record.
Their Ration Credit was effectively a form of currency, but with an expiration date. People got them monthly, but their earnings were calculated daily. She was told all about how the Ration Credit works when she was given a ration card. Around here the average person would spend about thirty eight credits a day for a decent living. For a bare living with only the basic necessities a person would typically spend about twenty two credits a day. A meal could cost anywhere between half a credit or ten credits. Income was also fairly interesting, a person got a small amount of credits daily based on their rank. With ten credits gained per rank level, which means at the lowest rank crewman you get ten credits. However they technically have sixteen ranks, and at the highest rank you get a one hundred fifty credits from the rank bonus. Thing is most of those higher ranks are relics from a previous era. Which means the best rank to hope for is R10 captain with a hundred credit bonus. The bonus was only part of the system, but the rest of your income is determined by your performance review. Income is capped at three hundred credits a day, so the rank bonus just makes it easier to get a high daily income around here.
Anyway when it came to getting a meal around here, she was granted a fair amount of credits. Meaning she could afford anything on the menu, but she didn¡¯t really care for the more expensive items on the menu. Seeing as she preferred fish and it was available quite cheaply here. Which is why she had a plate of fish in her hands. Which she had set on the table. Shortly after she sat down, another sat down across from her. Someone she recognized to be one of the ship¡¯s elders.
¡°Settling in okay?¡± asked Misaki, a she set her own plate down, which had some kind of meat and vegetables wrapped in something, along with a side of what she knew to be rice.
¡°The quarters you guys set up for me are quite comfortable,¡± said Selia, referring to the quarters they had given her on deck four. The room had been redecorated to better suit her physiology and the atmosphere had been replaced with water. She had been quite impressed at how quickly they had made the change, the only thing that bothered her was that the water was a bit too highly charged. Thing was the entire ship had a slight charge to the atmosphere, she had a feeling it might be due to glitch in the life support system, though. ¡°Just one question, is your life support system having problems, or is their some other reason for the charge in the atmosphere?¡± asked Selia after a brief pause.
¡°No, we actually like the charge in the air, but it has nothing to do with the life support system. Actually we are generating the charge in the air,¡± said Misaki as a sparks began to fly between the fingers of the hand she raised to show Selia. Selia just stared in surprise, her mind having gone blank for a moment before she stuttered and said, ¡°I, uh, have never seen a surface creature with that ability, but you are literally a powersource aren¡¯t you?¡±
¡°We do generate quite a bit of electrical energy, and we have an organ that can store quite a bit of energy. The charge in the air is just caused by the small amount we leak,¡± said Misaki. Before Selia could respond her attention was drawn to the viewports. Out the large open viewport she could see a ship enter the field of view. It was one of the refuge destroyers, what drew her attention was the damage that she could see from her seat. A massive hole could be seen in the hull, that speared right through the ship and out the otherside of the hull. Seeing her gaze, Misaki told her that it was just the Scimitar returning for repairs.
¡°That looks to have been quite the hit. How long do you think it will take to fix?¡± asked Selia.
¡°Just a couple of days. We already knew the ship was coming in for repairs, so all we need to do is remove the damaged modules, install the replacements that have been prepared, and then patch the outer plating,¡± said Misaki, describing a simplified version of the repair process. Not being an engineer, her description was the best she could do. Her estimate wasn¡¯t far off either, since she had spoken with engineering the other day about the repairs. Thanks to their use of modular design the ship could be repaired quite quickly and efficiently. The internal plating and reinforced bulkheads having also helped greatly in containing the damage the ship sustained to a handful of sections. Something she didn¡¯t mention was that the damaged modules would be taken apart and salvaged for usable materials.
¡°Sounds like your engineers know a thing or two about ship repair,¡± said Selia.
¡°One of the reasons, we use modular ship design is because it allows for faster ship repair. Not only that, but it makes ship retrofitting cheaper and easier,¡± replied Misaki.
¡°Well, I don¡¯t know much about ship design theory, but that does sound correct to me. Anyway I have been wondering something. Why is your gender ratio so unusually skewed towards females?¡± asked Selia having noticed that most of the population appeared to be female.
¡°Remember that storm that brought us to this part of the galaxy? Well, what the Supreme Protector didn¡¯t mention is that storm changed us. It changed us so much, we can¡¯t even claim to be the same species we were before the storm. At least we look the same, even if we don¡¯t grow as tall as we used to. Which is why we have not given you a name for our race. We have not yet, been able to agree on a new name for our race. The only thing we do agree on is that the old names, no longer apply. As for why we have so many more girls, than boys we believe it has to do with the changes in our dna,¡± replied Misaki. Listening to all that, Selia wasn¡¯t entirely surprised. This wasn¡¯t the first instance, she had heard about, of a species, or members of said species being changed by an anomaly. Some cases the changes were entirely beneficial, others the results were mixed or downright detrimental.
¡°I have heard about species being changed by anomalies before. Doesn¡¯t happen often, but enough that we have records of. Anyway are you sure your species has gotten smaller, and that it isn¡¯t just that your just maturing slower,¡± said Selia
¡°We are as certain as can be given the time frame. As near as we can tell, we physically stop aging around fifteen years of age. Around the same time, our new powers awaken rather painfully and quite debilitating as well,¡± replied Misaki. The conversation continued for a short while longer, before shifting to mundane things. One of the things she learned, was that they weren¡¯t concerned by the shift in gender distribution. Not only that, but they were encouraging polygamy as one of many methods to increase population growth. Finishing up their meals, they cleaned up and left the hall to lower decks.
The exited a lift on the lower decks and entered a hub of activity. They had entered a part of the ship called Aka district. Everywhere they looked were shops and stalls. The ceiling was open for several levels, allowing them to see walkways above. Dozens of young girls could be seen walking around in groups chatting amicably with their friends. A couple of boys were passing by with a girl or two on their arms, clearly out on a date.
Some older woman were also out and about. Carrying metal baskets and shopping at the stalls, all around it looked to a very busy day. The walkways were all crowded with the hustle and bustle of the day. This wasn¡¯t the first time Selia had been in the district, but it had been nowhere close to how busy it was today, when she was last here. When Greyman had been giving her a tour of the ship, at Countryman¡¯s request. The tour had only covered the common areas, more restricted zones like the science labs, the factories, and the brig were avoided however. She figured all the extra activity was due to an event of some kind that was drawing the people into the corridors and markets of the ship. Amidst all the activity she noticed a girl running towards them and shouting, but not in the common tongue she had heard so far.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
The girl looked to be young, and energetic. She was wearing a short white top, and contrasting black mini skirt, along with her long black hair was done up with a pair of black ribbons. In her hand she was waving around an electronic pad. The girl herself was a little over a hundred and forty centimeters tall, with a modest chest, small frame and a cute face. Her skin was a lovely shade of tan, and she regarded Selia with her large brown eyes as she approached.
She stopped before Selia and stuck her free hand out and said, ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Mary, and you are?¡± Having been exposed to this ritual before, Selia only took a moment to remember what she was supposed to do. She then shook the other girl¡¯s hand and introduced herself. The girl then turned to Misaki and held up her pad.
¡°Elder Misaki, I have something I would like to show you, preferably somewhere less public,¡± said the young girl, Mary.
¡°Sure, I know a good spot,¡± replied Misaki and led the girl, with Selia in tow to a nearby lounge. It was a game lounge with a number of people playing holographic card or board games. Along one wall was a bank of consoles where some people were playing video games, and there was a backroom for those that wanted to play a VR game. Misaki led them to a counter and talked briefly with the woman manning it, before they were led to a private room with a holographic game board, that can be used for either a card or board game depending on how you set it up. It was currently set up for use as a card game board and even had a couple of practice decks on the table for a starship themed card game. The backs of the cards had the image of two ships duking it out on a field of black stars. The room itself was of utilitarian design with grey and white walls and no decoration. The game board table was located smack in the middle of the room and was large enough for four people. On either side of the table was a bench, that would allow two people to sit comfortable at the table. Misaki walked over to the table and sat down, and Mary joined her, while Selia initially remained at the door until she was waved over to the table.
¡°So what did you want to show me?¡± asked Misaki.
¡°Remember, how we are currently lacking in a light cruiser design? The last design having fallen far below expectations and having been scrapped?¡± responded Mary as she plugged her pad into the holographic table, which immediately reconfigured and projected the image of a ship. Along with holographic text, and displays detailing modules and equipment included in the design. The image was a holographic blueprint the type used by engineers for starship design.
¡°Yeah, I remember that project. Shame we had to scrap that cruiser, if it wasn¡¯t for those design flaws it would have been a promising ship. So this Star Knight is the new project you have been working on?¡± asked Misaki having read the text which named the blueprint as the Star Knight Project. While she wasn¡¯t an engineer, she noticed that it was a promising looking design with a powerful engine, a decent power plant and an excellent weapons layout.
¡°Yeah, well after that last cruiser failed we went back to the drawing board. This is what we came up with. I was hoping you could present it to the council,¡± said Mary.
¡°I¡¯ll present it to the council, but I can¡¯t promise that it will get through. We have used most of the rare minerals that we need in the asteroid field, and the fleet is preparing to depart. It maybe sometime before we can build another prototype cruiser,¡± said Misaki.
¡°The fleet is departing? When?¡± asked Mary.
¡°The exact date is not set, yet. We plan to leave late next month, after our scouting groups have had time to recon the area,¡± said Misaki. Suddenly a device on Selia¡¯s belt beeped and she pulled it out, and pressed a button which displayed a holographic screen of alien text. She read through it quickly, and then said, ¡°You remember that cruiser your scouts engaged?¡±
¡°I remember. They forced it to retreat, did you find it or something?¡± asked Misaki.
¡°Our scouts have indeed located the cruiser, it is in a system just nineteen lightyears from here. Seems you did more damage to it than you thought, mostly to the power systems. Our scouts scanned the ship and found evidence that some kind of cutting beam penetrated the outer layers and deep into the core of the ship. Severing the connections of thirty seven power distribution nodes and inflicting damage to several critical systems. Nothing crippling mind you, but enough that they are holding position to conduct repairs. It seems they think it will take the ship a week to patch the damage and then they will limp back to port,¡± said Selia relaying what she had just read.
¡°Interesting I will make sure the council hears of this. It sounds like a good opportunity to get insights into Cylovan technology. Those beam weapons of theirs are rather impressive, but their armor is even more intriguing. Our weapons are specifically designed to penetrate heavy armor and yet they struggled to penetrate that armor of theirs,¡± said Misaki remembering the council meeting where they studied the recordings of the battle. The smaller vessels were easily dispatched thanks to their inferior armor, but they did make up for it with speed and maneuverability. The destroyers had superb shields, but they mattered little against shield penetrating torpedoes. Still most other races didn¡¯t have those torpedoes so it was easy to see how effective those ships could have been. The cruiser however was difficult to deal with, if they had encountered a bigger ship they might not have been able to deal with it. Their weapons being highly inadequate against its superior armor.
Around the same time Countryman was walking down a corridor, passing by young men and women in lab coats. Rounding a corner, he passed three doors before stopping in front of a lab on his right. Reaching for the controls he opened the door and walked inside. A young girl greeted him with a smile on her face. She was one of the newer scientists and her half Valorian heritage was obvious with her icy blue skin. She wasn¡¯t all that tall at around a hundred and twenty centimeters tall. She was also quite cute.
¡°So you had something you wanted to show me, Delilah?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Yes, sir,¡± said Delilah as she turned on the labs holoprojectors and started up a simulation.
¡°We have been conducting simulations as asked for improving our current weapons so that the can penetrate neutronium reinforced armor more effectively. Modifying our launchers to support a higher launch velocity helps, but neutronium is incredible. Honestly none of our weapons reach yields close enough to deal crippling blows you want. Which is why we started looking into new weapon types. We don¡¯t think we can refine a photon torpedo for the required yields, but a plasma torpedo is a different story. We had been looking into plasma torpedoes for a while now, and I would like to show you what we have come up with,¡± said Delilah.
¡°A plasma torpedo? I recall those being dismissed previously due to their short range. I take it you have a solution for the range issue,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Yes, the problem with previous designs is that the plasma is activated during launch. This plasma can only be contained so long before it begins to dissipate, and the plasma itself damages the torpedo. Hindering other aspects like guidance, which is fine for a short range torpedo bomber, but anything else and it is better just to use a different torpedo type. We have come up with a way to use inert plasma in the warhead instead. The new torpedo will use a small antimatter charge to convert the inert plasma into active plasma. To maximize yield the plasma will start highly compressed and the charge calculated to supply enough energy to achieve fusion on detonation. Calculations show that the resulting reaction will be highly explosive. It should be possible to get a detonation yield in the multi-gigaton range if not higher,¡± said Delilah.
¡°I take it you have already reached the limits of simulations? Want do you need for further research into this new weapon type?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Yes, sir. We aren¡¯t ready for a prototype, but we do need to progress towards physical research. We need a steady supply of protoplasma for the research,¡± said Delilah as she handed a container of the stuff she need to Countryman. He examined it briefly looking at the glowing blue-green substance in the container he was holding. He was familiar with the substance, it was one of the reasons they had to leave the system. They had exhausted the system of the critical components needed to manufacture the stuff. It was made by including a mixture of hydrogen and three different kinds of exotic gasses. The hydrogen was easy to get and two of the gasses could be synthesised, but the last one had defied all attempts to manufacture it. These exotic gasses weren¡¯t need for making plasma, but were if you wanted weapons grade plasma. This stuff was critical for the manufacture and arming of Electro cannons. The same grade of plasma was also used in power transfer systems.
¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do,¡± said Countryman before leaving the room.
Part Two Chapter V First Move
Selia was standing outside the room in the corridor trying to sort out her feelings and thoughts. She wasn¡¯t sure how it happened, but she had been roped into giving the fleet officers a briefing on Cylovan ship types and variants. The room she was standing outside of was a large briefing and conference room on deck three. It had enough seating for the officers and a large podium. Behind the podium was a large screen and several projectors were installed in the room to project images above the podium. Finally she just reached for the control and entered. The briefing hadn¡¯t started yet, so she took her seat and waited for the meeting to begin. Someone had taken her tentacles into account and altered a seat for her to be more comfortable.
Countryman walked in a couple minutes after she sat down and began the meeting. The projectors turned on and displayed the image of the damaged Cylovan cruiser.
¡°Today¡¯s briefing covers a new tactical mission. Our primary objective is to be capture the ship shown here. These Cylovans appear to be a significant threat to the fleet, so this is primarily an information gathering mission. We need that cruiser to gather more information on their technology and more importantly their motives. Now Selia if you will, brief the officers on Cylovan ships,¡± said Countryman.
Selia got up and took up the spot at the seat and pressed the button to shift holo slides. A moment later the image of a Cylovan fighter was projected instead of the damaged cruiser. ¡°The Cylovans rely heavily small fighters in combat. This is the swarmer, the mainstay fighter of the Cylovan navy. A perfect sphere with a diameter of six meters, and extremely fast and maneuverable. Each fighter is armed with two Light Disruption Rays. These ships are not much of a threat on their own, but in numbers they can bring down even mighty battleships. These fighters have a larger cousin called the Heavy Swarmer that is virtually identical, but carries heavier guns and thicker armor,¡± said Selia as she changed the image to show the Heavy Swarmer.
¡°You won¡¯t have to worry about the larger cousin fighter. This type of cruiser doesn¡¯t carry them. The cruiser itself, is a type three cruiser. I know that doesn¡¯t mean much to you, but the cruiser three is often employed as a flagship leading their smaller attack fleets. The type three has a diameter of 4800 meters, and has an outer shell of neutronium laced duranium plating two hundred of your meters thick. The ship is equipped with a standard class one cylovan warp drive, and the less versatile class one hyperwarp drive. The ship doesn¡¯t have the power plant for the more powerful and useful class twos. For reference a class one can only open a conduit for travel between two points, while the class two can generate new ones. The ship is heavily protected by four main Adaptive Ion shield generators. Ion based energy shielding is remarkably strong and can cycle quickly, allowing the ship to soak up phenomenal amounts of damage. These shields are the ships first line of defense. Here along the equatorial band of the sphere are the hangar bays. Eight bay doors evenly spaced, and optimized for combat carrier operations. Her massive internal hangars can house a total of 4800 fighter craft. The ship has twenty four disruption beam arrays for ship to ship combat. Be careful of their disruptors, unlike traditional versions theirs are designed to remodulate in order to maximise effectiveness against their target,¡± said Selia.
¡°What kind of yield can we expect from that cruisers guns?¡± asked one officer.
¡°What is their range, and how often do they cycle?¡± asked another before she could answer.
¡°They have a cycle of 32 seconds, a two second recharge and can fire a sustained beam for thirty seconds. They have a fairly high yield. It is primarily an anti hull weapon and direct hits to the hull do massive amounts of damage, but it is only moderately effective against shields. Which is why all Cylovan ships carry a shield disruptor, which fires an energy beam that drains shields. The shield disrupter is part of their beam array, and modulates the beam for anti-shield, but makes it completely ineffective against hull and armor. The cruisers beam weapons have an effective range of seventy five thousand kilometers. Larger ships can support more powerful beam cannons with even greater range and power,¡± said Selia.
¡°A shield disruptor, I didn¡¯t encounter it during my engagement with the cruiser, but then again we don¡¯t use shields. While those Mydori use fairly powerful deflectors instead of shields,¡± said TR-108 who as a ship captain was attending the meeting.
¡°I noticed, most races don¡¯t go as far down the powered ship armor path as you did. So it will take them longer to adapt their weapons to counter your particular type of hull plating, but they are very good at finding ways to drain defenses quickly,¡± said Selia.
¡°Moving on then. The cruiser three we are targeting is located in a system, just nineteen lightyears from here. Which puts it well inside striking distance. For this mission we are splitting the fleet, the Enterprise and four of our escort cruisers along with two wings of Firebirds will jump to the system and engage the cruiser. We will enter the system on a stealth vector at warp six, and drop out of warp here just a few thousand kilometers from the fourth planet. The cruiser is here near the third planet conducting repairs. Our Firebirds will be the leading wave of our attack, and will close on the ship in a classic lancer assault formation at sublight. Their objective is to disable the shields,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Excuse me, lancer assault formation?¡± asked Selia curious.
¡°It is a classic space formation that we have used since the Second Colonial war, which for reference happened roughly a hundred and fifty years ago. Back then ships were getting faster and space tactics were evolving. The Lancer Formation is a double spear formation that excels at maximizing frontal firepower, while minimizing the fleets frontal profile.. It is often used by fast ships to punch holes through enemy lines,¡± said Countryman. Selia than told him that she understood and Countryman continued with the briefing.
¡°As soon as our Firebirds knockout the shield generators, the Enterprise and our four cruisers will warp into battle range. We will target and disable their primary systems,¡± said Countryman.
¡°That armor is two hundred meters thick and the shield generators are pretty deep in the superstructure can a firebird actually knock them out?¡± asked the commander of the SFS Battlehawk. The namesake ship of the Battlehawk class of cruisers. A young woman by the name of Shiro.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
¡°We have run multiple simulations, the Firebird¡¯s main guns actually have the best penetration of any weapon in the fleet against that armor. Unlike the heavy guns on a Battlehawk that failed to fully penetrate on impact, the Firebirds high power cannons can punch through the plating if we overcharge the cannons,¡± answered Countryman. The Firebirds were equipped with a supercharger for the main guns, that more than doubles the yield and fire rate of the cannons. Downside is that superchargers tend to cause overheating which means after using the superchargers, the guns would need time to cool before they could be fired again. The tech was not exactly new either having been in use since the third colonial war with ships like the EFS Yamato having been equipped with early versions of the device. Typically a supercharger would increase the yield and fire rate for sixty seconds, and then the guns would have to cool for the next five minutes. Making them very useful devices when you need that extra punch, but less valuable when you need a sustained fire rate. Which is why they are rarely if ever installed to point defense weapons, but almost always installed on heavy guns.
¡°If the Firebirds have such good chances, why are we risking our cruisers and the Enterprise?¡± asked another captain next to Shiro.
¡°Easy our cutting beams have shown to have the second best penetration against that armor, and are significantly more precise. Which will allow us to cut through the plating and disable their systems,¡± said Countryman answering the question. The rest of the brief was spent working out the final details of the coming engagement. Including going over the details of the boarding operation that would follow the disabling of the cruiser. Near the end Countryman gave the rest of the fleet not going on the mission to rendevouz with the Enterprise as soon as the carriers finished their shakedown cruises.
Eighteen hours after the briefing on the Enterprise. Stepping onto his bridge and relieve the watch officer the union captain approached the conn and asked, ¡°Has any change happened with the cruiser?¡±
¡°None, sir. The enemy continues to hold position in orbit of the planet,¡± reported his tactical officer.
¡°I still can¡¯t believe the amount of damage someone inflicted on that ship,¡± muttered his first officer just barely in earshot. He felt the same, sure they had managed to sink a few of those cruisers. However in every case it had required a large fleet of over a thousand ships to breakthrough those shields, and then a massive concentrated missile barrage to destroy one of those cruisers. He and his officers had read the report about the battle that damaged the ship. As a result he was aware that this damage came from a mere three ships, that didn¡¯t need hours of bombardment to bring those shields down.
As for why he was here, it was to keep an eye on the ship. He knew the cruiser was likely aware of his presence here, but it was well known that the Cylovans ignored those they didn¡¯t consider a threat or a target. His ship was to small to constitute a threat, and they had done nothing to make themselves look like a target. He was brought out of his thoughts when one of the officers suddenly shouted about the ships power signature spiking. He checked his own screens and watched as it suddenly raised shields and powered its weapons. A second later it fired an energy beam into nowhere. He didn¡¯t see anything get hit and the beam dissipated into space without striking something. Then another beam fired into space with the same result, and he doubted this was just a weapons test. The Cylovans don¡¯t just fire at nothing for no reason.
Turning to his science officer he ordered a high intensity scan for stealthed ships. A few seconds later the scan was completed and revealed nothing. Which meant that either A) the Cylovans were malfunctioning and shooting at nothing, or B) they were under attack by ships using a method of active stealth their sensors couldn¡¯t penetrate. He was pretty sure it was the later over the former. He knew of stealth methods that his sensor wouldn¡¯t be able to penetrate, but he had never heard of a Cylovan ship malfunction like this. His thoughts were confirmed a minute later when one of the stealthed ships opened fire. Blue lightning like bolts slammed into the Cylovan shields and within seconds they collapsed with a brilliant burst of light.
Then the entire fleet opened fire and making them visible to the Mydori sensors. High energy blue bolts slammed into the hull of the cruiser in rapid succession. Her hull plating fracturing and buckling where the bolts impacted the plating. The damaged plates were punched clean through and the bolts tore deep into the hull. The cruiser actively returned fire, and the birds of prey broke off in different directions. Several taking glancing blows from the cruiser, which was having difficulty getting a weapons lock on the heavily armed frigates.
The captain listened to the shouts of his crew as he observed, a battle between the Cylovans and an unfamiliar alien race. The ships looked similar in some aspects to the ships seen in the report he had read about a previous battle in which unfamiliar alien ships engaged the Cylovans. The very same ones he knew had been responsible for the cruisers damage in the first place.
¡°Incredible, if these readings say what I think they do, those frigates are outfitted with guns normally found on battleships!¡± exclaimed one officer.
¡°Stop gawking at the their guns,¡± shouted his first officer. While another was marveling about the alien armor. Then he heard one mention something about them targeting the cruisers shield generators.
¡°Wait are you certain they are targeting the shield generators?¡± asked the captain fully aware of how deep in the ship the generators were. Each generator being nearly a kilometer into the hull. Walking over the officer showed him the readings and said, ¡°Quite certain, sir. They managed to hit and destroy two of them in that opening attack, with minimal damage to other systems.¡±
Staring at the readings he saw that the officer was right, they were clearly targeting the shield generators. On the screens, he watched the cruiser returning fire and failing to achieve significant hits. Unlike with their own fleets it wasn¡¯t due to deflectors, but it looked like somehow they were evading a solid target lock, which combined with their high speed and excellent maneuverability made them almost impossible to hit. Then the alien attack craft formed up and made another run on the cruiser, by then it had already restored shields. However they knocked them out in the same fashion as before. Two of the frigates taking direct hits in the process, their hulls buckling but neither being destroyed. As they broke off from the engagement with clearly severe hull damage. The cruiser however had completely lost her shields from the run, the generators having been crippled in the attack run.
A couple second later five ships jumped into the engagement zone. One of which was massive enough to dwarf the Cylovan cruiser. Making it the largest ship he had ever seen in his short life. And his life was short, since the average lifespan for a male of his species was a mere forty one years, and that was thanks to modern medicines. Without those medicines his species doesn¡¯t live all that long at all. On the flipside his kind mature quickly, reaching full maturity in just three years and are highly fertile.
Instantly the new ships opened fire with highly accurate blue particle beams. The beams had a remarkably long firing time and bored deep into the hull of the cruiser. Which began transferring power to the engines in an attempt to get out of the field. They were unable to go to warp however as the drive was being jammed. Over the course the next ten minutes he watched as they systematically disabled the ship. Then the alien capital ships closed on the cruiser and began launching assault shuttles to land troops on the cruiser.
Special Chapter
The Early to Mid Colonial Era (155 BDE- 39 BDE, 2 CSD - 118 CSD)
The colonial era began during a age of prosperity when Earth made her first colony on Luna. The colony took two years of construction before she became operational for her intended purpose. Acting as a forward base for the colonization of the system. In the second year of the colonial era, 2 CSD work began on mankind''s first interplanetary colony ship, which would take two years to build and would arrive at her destination of Mars a year later. Life on these two colonies was hard in the early years, and large biospheres were required to survive on the surface. As such the colonies were built primarily underground.
In the year 12 CSD, a new invention the mining laser revolutionized life in the colonies. The mining laser allowed unparalleled digging speed compared to older methods, allowing the underground complexes that most colonists lived in to expanded faster at lower cost. Later in the same year, work began on a massive solar mirror array in orbit of Mars, while on the surface massive field generator coils were being built. It was the beginning of the Mars terraforming project. Millions began to flock to Mars searching for opportunities and work. Cities began to pop up all over the martian desert.
Elsewhere during the same year, a complex of space stations were under construction in orbit of Venus. These were primarily science stations, but some circles wanted to look into the feasibility of terraforming the planet. These science stations were built in a geosynchronous orbit between the sun and the planet. Each station was designed to be solar powered and as such massive solar arrays were built to absorb and convert sunlight into usable energy. To make them as self sustaining as possible the stations were outfitted with large hydroponic facilities to provide food for the scientists. In later years these solar arrays, would be used to provide cheap power to other colonies in the system. The solar arrays also reduced the amount of sunlight hitting the surface, which caused a slight drop in local temperature.
By 15 CSD, the growing trade network between colonies began to attract pirates and the age of space piracy began. At this point in time, neither Earth nor her colonies maintained an armed space navy. So these few pirates were able to plunder any ship they caught virtually unopposed. Radical action was taken quickly to put the growing pirate problem in check, and within a month Earth had designed and fielded her first armed spacecraft. Before long the colonies fielded their own versions of the ship. However the problems of space combat quickly became apparent. The spaceships of the era used spinning modules to generate artificial gravity, which was critical for crew health during a trip between planets. These components proved to be highly fragile and easily damaged in battle. Worse these spinning modules out of necessity created gaps in a ship''s armor, and ships couldn¡¯t have much armor due to mass limits. Despite the problems little action was taken as the few ships already in service, were proving effective and countering the pirates.
In the year 33 CSD, the first outer system colony was established on Titan. The moon was not the most hospitable and was cold and known for lakes of methane. Large biospheres were built on the surface, but like Luna and Mars the majority of the colony was being built underground. In orbit a shipyard complex was built, as the colony was being built to support operations in the outer system. Around the same time, tugs began pulling ice chunks into the inner system. While on Mars, efforts to terraform the soil and atmosphere were underway, while thanks to the mirrors its surface was warming up, and a magnetic field was being projected around the planet. Aiding in the terraforming efforts.
In the following year, efforts to terraform Venus actually began to much controversy on the Earth. Many didn¡¯t believe it was possible to terraform the planet, and others thought it was too expensive an undertaking, but a large financial backing had been established and those backing the project wanted to prove that it was possible. They also wanted to make their mark on history and what better way than making Earth¡¯s sister into a proper twin. In orbit satellites were erected to generate a magnetic field, each satellite powered by solar array. As for the atmosphere, drones were used to skim the top and extract carbon dioxide from it. Before long it was being shipped elsewhere for use in various industries. Later in the year, they would begin bombarding the planet. The bombardment would ultimately shift the planetary rotation and speed it up.
On Earth in thirty five CSD Earth erupted into global turmoil that tore nations apart. After a long period of unrest the ever widening ethnic and political tensions had split the United States into two with a bloody civil war. During this period of unrest that split the nation, the principles she was originally founded upon were forgotten and neither of the new states were republics. The west became known as the West American Empire and was highly authoritarian and nationalistic. Yet some elements of the original government remained in that leaders were elected, but instead of a new president every four years it was a lifetime appointment. The east was reformed into the East American Union and was a socialist government. Elsewhere other nations collapsed, following a population implosion the Nation of China was torn apart by economic collapse and civil war. While many of the colonies remained mostly unaffected and continued to prosper every nation on Earth suffered from economic backlash as the systems that supported them finally collapsed under their own weight. Governments collapsed as their crippling debts maintained for decades could no longer be ignored.
In the year 37 CSD, the situation on Earth finally stabilized, but half the countries on Earth had disappeared. Some had merged with others, and a few had been split in two by the crisis. With the situation stabilizing, the planet was soon divided between two major alliances. That became known as the Western Coalition which included the West American Empire, Japan, Eastern China, The European Union, the South American Empire, the Canadian Empire, and Parts of Africa. The rest of the world fell under the control of the Eastern Alliance. Tensions between the two alliances were fierce, and many through their weight into projects system wide in effort to gain more influence.
In the year 42 CSD, terraforming of Mars had reached the point that the surface could support life. Planet wide introduction of plant life began, both on the surface and in her growing oceans. Elsewhere on Venus, eight years of terraforming were showing their effects, with planetary temperatures having fallen by half. A noticeable drop in atmospheric pressure had accompanied this fall, and it was now possible for machines to operate on the planetary surface. The bombardment of the planet was changed at this point to introduce water to the surface of the planet.
In the year 44 CSD, industry was revolutionized by the introduction of the microbot, the immediate predecessor to the nanite. These small bots soon found themselves in high demand, in every industry for the work they could do. Later in the same year, the Coalition authorized clandestine antimatter experiments aboard their research facility Star Tech One. The Alliance authorized clandestine FTL research, these experiments ultimately ended in failure when the budget ran out two years later with no results.
In the year 45 CSD, space travel was revolutionized by a remarkable step forward in ion propulsion technology. The new generation of heavy ion engines, could move twice the mass of previous generation engines with the same movement profile. This lead to the development of the first armed space cruisers, including the famous Olympia class of cruisers. Other advancements led to the creation of the Orbital Slammer. Large bulky satelites the size of a cruiser, carrying a large bulky early particle weapon with a destructive yield four times that of the average nuke. Both alliances began to employ these devices in large numbers. As an added bonus these new weapons didn¡¯t have the nasty side effects of nukes when fired. Nukes being smaller weapons, were soon being transferred from planetary silos to fleets. As they were now being seen as high yield ship weapons. An interesting new device that also appeared around this time was a new form of catapult that could be used to surface launch large space vehicles. Which had a massive impact on space industry, making it easier to build large ships, and possible to move more goods in a shorter period of time.
Changing economics sparked a new wave of colonization in 47 CSD, leading to the colonization of the more hospitable moons of jupiter. New mining outposts and colonies sprang up in the asteroid belt. While the populations of existing colonies multiplied as immigrants from Earth caused their populations to swell. Newspapers claimed the system wide census had marked the population as exceeding the twenty billion people mark. A minor accident on Star Tech One occured with its antimatter research claiming the lives of three promising scientists and wounding a dozen more. The Coalition managed to cover the accident up, and avoid suspicions getting out. The Alliance authorized their own, clandestine antimatter experiments with a focus on weapons. A new life extending gene treatment was announced, that compared to previous claim was actual effective, but required continued treatments. These treatment soon became known as cellular treatments.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Late in the year 57 CSD, another accident occured on Star Tech One. This time the accident claimed the lives of fifty nine people, and the explosion was noted by multiple spacecraft. The coalition station failed to escape notice of Alliance of officials, and tensions spiked as accusations of the clandestine development of dangerous antimatter weapons flew around. Despite the double-standards of the alliance. Within three months both the coalition and the alliance were at war. Marking the beginning of Earth¡¯s third world war, both sides opened fire on the other with no regards for collateral damage. The war lasted nine days, and destroyed every single major city on Earth. No one was left unscathed and some countries were completely wiped out, and when the dust settle contrary to expectations it wasn¡¯t a draw. For several members of the Coalition remained standing, while all members of the alliance had been wiped out. The brief war was devastating however and claimed nearly seven billion lives, reducing Earth¡¯s population to just over two billion people.
The same war left a political and economic vacuum that affected the colonies. The two oldest colonies were soon at odds. While Earth set about rebuilding and creating their first worldwide government and laying down laws that would shape the next century, the colonies were debating who would be the new center of trade. Which natural carried the most political capital with it, along with a healthy economic boost. Ultimately tensions between the colonies remained high, and neither side could agree on anything. As a result, the First Colonial War began in the year 63 CSD, 95 BDE.
At the beginning of the war, Luna colony held the advantage. They had been established as a shipbuilding colony by Earth decades prior and had a long tradition of building spaceships. Along with developed shipyards and no shortage of talented shipwrights. While they had a smaller population and fewer resources than Mars they also had a larger navy. Mars however controlled vast fields of fertile farmland, and had the largest population of any world in human space at six billion people. During the first two years of the war, both powers skirmishes throughout the system as they secured allies and resources from other colonies. Many of these battles ended in favor of Luna thanks to their larger, more experienced fleet. Luna even launched several successful attacks on Mars orbit destroying her limited orbital shipyards and weakening her orbital defenses.
All of this changed, when Mars began surface launching new ships of her own. Having built a number of underground shipyards and taking the ship catapult to a new level in order to compensate for her destroyed orbital yards. Her growing new fleet allowed her to regain enough orbital control to rebuild her orbital shipyards. With those yards online the war took a whole new dynamic. Mars having managed to get a fleet large enough to even the field, didn¡¯t go for a direct attack on Luna, but instead targeted the smaller asteroid colonies that supported her.
Being a war fought with slow, fragile ships both sides raced to develop better ships. Missiles proved themselves to be the deadliest weapon in both colonies arsenal, and the soon focused on developing faster deadlier missiles and better countermeasures. Lasers also proved to be effective weapons, but primarily as a highly effective pd weapon. Some ship classes of the period even mounted early ship to ship versions of the laser. The most notable developments of the war was the gauss cannon and first generation photon missiles. Which were employed by both sides during the war. Another thing to note is that fleet sizes were fairly small during this period, with an average fleet being around a hundred or so ships in size.
Ultimately the war ended in the year 72 CSD, almost ten years after it began with Martian invasion of Luna. Luna colony was hit by a large force of three Martian fleets, after there main defense fleet was sent to intercept a two decoy fleets. The fleets burned through the outer defenses and sank the remaining defenders during the opening moments. Having caught the defenders off guard. The defense fleet turned around and came on scene quickly, but with the decoy fleet on their tails and ended up caught in pincer. Allowing the Martian fleet to destroy them with minimal casualties. In total, the martian fleet sustained forty percent casualties, but achieved total space control in a matter of hours. Then they began landing troops and occupied the capital. Luna formally surrendered the next day, bringing mankind¡¯s first space war to a close. Following the war, many new inventions were created to solve the issues with ship design that became so heavily apparent with the war. Analyst also spent hours studying the tactics used on the war, and military strategists debated on what worked and what didn¡¯t.
The following decade saw a period of revolution for ship design. Most notable was the advent of grav plating and the earliest precursor to the pulse wave engines the Enterprise would be using decades later. These earlier versions were laser based, and employed a crude Rydium core. Rydium itself was discovered quite by accident in the year 76 CSD and its amazing properties soon led to it being in high demand. In the same year, nanites were introduced to the economy. In 77 CSD, nanites found themselves revolutionizing the medical field with the introduction of new medical treatments involving nanites, including a life extending injection called a nano-cellular treatment. Which was basically a refined version of the original cellular treatments. Most people would often leave off the word nano later, as the old type disappeared.
In the year 81 CSD, Luna rebelled against the continued martian occupational forces and managed to regain control of their colony. This act sparked the beginning of the Second Colonial War. Luna was at military disadvantage and knew it so, they negotiated an alliance with Titan Colony and Venus Colony. Venus may have been lacking in warships, but they were a science colony and the produced large amounts of food and cheap solar power. Resources that they could use in large amounts, and the local science facilities would be need in order to compete with the martian space navy. Mars had been caught mostly unprepared, by this and was a bit slow to respond. Between wars ships had changed greatly and both Mars and the new Alliance had their own theories on tactics and ship design. Ships were also faster, with better protection than in the previous war.
Many of the early skirmishes of the war happened in the asteroid belt, and between Mars-Earth orbit. Ballistic weapons which had been popular in the last war, quickly fell out of favor. As high energy lasers proved to be the better weapon for ship to ship combat, but the ballistics did have a longer maximum range and remained in use as a ship to ground weapon. Where they were more effective. The two faction also had differing ideas on general design during this period of time. Martian ships resembled saucers with back swept nacelles linked to the rear. They had moderate armor, along superb maneuvering and acceleration. During the early years of the war the often carried lasers supplemented with a battery or two of photon missiles. Along with early generation fusion torpedoes and some even carried a few gauss cannons.
Alliance ships were long with a disk like fore section sweeping back to a rising tower on either side of this tower were large hangar bays. Alliance ships had thick armor, Poor Acceleration and Moderate Maneuvering. The alliance made heavier use of fighter craft and also employed lasers in ship to ship combat. However instead of fusion torps they would carry nuclear torpedoes and they often carried a greater number of ballistic cannon in the early years.
For well over a decade the war was pretty much a stalemate, as neither faction managed to advance enough to threaten the other¡¯s bases. Mars often proved superior in one on one combat, but Luna and her allies made up for it with numbers.
The war underwent a radical change in the year 97 CSD, when Martian scientists invented the particle cannon. Particle cannons were a massive step forward in weapons technology and were capable of punching right through the early powered ship armors of the day. At the same time the invented the first generation of overlord armor, rendering their ships nearly indestructible. These new weapons and improved armor were instrumental in allowing Mars colony to break the stalemate in the asteroids, and by 99 CSD they had broken all the way to Titan and forced their surrender. Two years after Titan surrendered Luna followed suit, but this time Mars did not establish an occupation.
During this entire period Earth had remained mostly silent, being in the middle of a reconstruction and conducting limited trade with the colonies. However this changed in 103 CSD when the first of Earth¡¯s mega cities was completed along with a massive spaceport. Soon Earth began trading with the colonies in much greater quantities. This in turn led to widespread industrial development on Earth. Her government forcibly limited this development to the mega cities in order to prevent widespread impact to her agriculture. Which is where most of her economy was built. She made millions trading food to the outer system colonies in exchange for resources. Earth was also trading with her volatile inner colonies as well however.
In 107 CSD, Luna and Mars colonies began clandestinely encouraging piracy on the others trade routes. This led to a widespread increase in pirates throughout the system. Who also began to attack Earth¡¯s trade with the colonies. While Earth did have a navy, it was small and outdated. Its navy was hard pressed to defend its transports from the pirates forcing a response from Earth. Who began purchasing more advanced ships from Mars, and even a couple of carriers from Alliance members. In 109 CSD, Titan formally left the Alliance and signed a treaty with Mars. The Jupiter colonies signed a treaty with Luna and joined the Alliance later the same year.
In 111 CSD, Titan invented a new alloy which proved to be incredible for military ships. Sold the manufacturing secret to Earth later in the same year for thirty billion credits. Earth began building a fleet using this new alloy. Mars purchased the alloy from Titan at a higher price the following year. Lunar Colony agents managed to steal a copy of the data during the transaction and began using it in their own ships. The use of this new alloy led to the creation of second generation overlord armor, making ships built with it nigh indestructible.
By 118 CSD the system was split between three powers, Mars, Luna and Earth. Earth was remaining mostly neutral, while tensions were high between the other two powers. With many fearing that another war could breakout any day now.
Part Two Chapter VI Turn One Cruiser Capture
While the ship was engaged with the Cylovan Cruiser, Selia was down in one of the lounges. It was quite comfortable here in the lounge and she could almost forget about the battle going on outside the ship. If it wasn¡¯t for the whine of the ship¡¯s energy weapons and the occasional jolt she would be able to forget that her hosts were fighting a battle. She wasn¡¯t the only one in the room, but no one else seemed even slightly worried about the outcome. As for herself she couldn¡¯t help, but feel nervous. This ship while impressive in her own right was far inferior to those fielded by her own people. With it she was left with a fair amount of uncertainty about how things would go.
At a neighboring table she could hear a few engineers debating over a blueprint. It was a group of three girls in lab coats. One of them had blue hair that fell to her shoulders, and had a rather cute face. Across from her was another girl who was a head shorter with long pink hair that she had in a ponytail. The last girl had short brown hair and a stern face. Honestly she could barely follow what they were discussing, and it looked like it had to do with a small shuttle that was being projected above the table. Finally her curiosity got the better of her and she walked over to the table. Sitting down in an open chair, she asked them, ¡°What are you working on?¡±
¡°It''s not much of a secret, it''s the 1205-B project,¡± said a girl with blue hair to her left.
¡°The 1205-B project? What is it for?¡± asked Selia.
¡°Well, the 1205 is our mainstay combat shuttle design. However it has been in service of the fleet for over seventy years. The B project was commissioned about five years ago to update the 1205 to the new era,¡± said the blue haired girl.
¡°Well, uh, oh. We forgot to introduce ourselves. I¡¯m Selia and you are?¡± asked Selia.
¡°I¡¯m Kerin, and the girl with pink hair is Yui and this is Anna, nice to meet you Selia¡± said the blue haired girl Kerin.
¡°Well Kerin, five years sounds like you have had enough time to figure an upgrade out,¡± said Selia.
¡°As you can see from the blueprint here we are nearly finished. Were just trying to iron out a glitch in the micro warp drive that prevents the shuttle from exceeding warp two,¡± said Yui while pointing at the holographic blueprint.
¡°So in other words the only problem your current design has is in the warp engine?¡± asked Selia.
¡°That is exactly what I am saying. Command wants the shuttle, and aren¡¯t willing to wait much longer for it. We have three months to find what is causing the glitch and fix it,¡± said Yui.
¡°Out of curiosity how fast is the shuttle supposed to be if warp two is a limit caused by a glitch?¡± asked Selia.
¡°She has a design speed of warp four, and like every other warp capable ship in the fleet was designed with a stealth drive configuration which means she should be able to reach warp six if we are willing to forgo stealth. But as Yui said, the damn glitch prevents us from exceeding warp two,¡± said Anna.
¡°I¡¯m not an engineer or all that familiar with warp drive, but what exactly is a stealth drive configuration?¡± asked Selia.
¡°Well warp drives generate a massive amount of heat as a byproduct of the spatial folding process. Most races use radiators to radiate this energy into space. We have only recently started incorporating radiators into our own designs. Normally we don¡¯t use them, since the radiated energy makes a ship extremely visible to ftl sensor arrays. Stealth drives like ours don¡¯t radiate that heat into space, instead the cooling system shunts the heat into a series of energy recyclers that convert the waste heat into usable energy that is then used to power other systems like life support. This setup comes with the added bonus of being more fuel efficient than a radiator drive, if slower since radiators can eliminate more heat per second than a recycler can. Which is why we have started hybridizing our drive design. Which allows us to reach higher speeds when we need to while keeping fuel costs lower,¡± said Kerin.
¡°I guess that answers the question,¡± said Selia as the whine of the ship¡¯s beam cannons suddenly ceased.
¡°Looks like the fleet disabled the cruiser,¡± said Kerin.
¡°Well good luck finding the solution to your little problem. You know maybe you should talk to someone else who knows a thing or two about warp drive. Maybe a fresh perspective could solve the problem,¡± said Selia.
¡°Well we already talked to everyone on the engineering staff,¡± said Yui.
¡°Wait, did we talk to the captain? I heard somewhere that he was part of the staff that invented warp drive,¡± said Anna.
¡°No, we didn¡¯t. We should ask him to have a look,¡± said Kerin as Selia got up and left the lounge. Talking with them helped her take her mind off her nervousness, but she still wanted to know what was going on. So she headed for the lift, hoping that she might be able to get onto the bridge.
Elsewhere on the ship, chief science officer Ruri was working on her own little pet project. Unlike the 1205-B which had been started around the same time as hers, she wasn¡¯t as close to completion. Hers had the same glitch in its micro warp drive, but it had a number of other problems that still had to be worked out, before it could be put into general production. Her project was a patrol corvette, a type of light craft. One that they sorely needed, while fighters and shuttles could be used to police a system while they were conducting mining and ship construction activities their range and short deployment times made them less than ideal. Her LPC project was commissioned to fill this role, but they wanted the craft to be flexible enough that it could be used in other roles if need be.
The project was quite the challenge, especially considering they were trying to mount working beam arrays onto a corvette frame. They wanted to place beam weapons on the little corvette that were strong enough to punch through ship armor. Getting them small enough to fit, hadn¡¯t been much of a problem, but they were having problems maintaining beam integrity and intensity. She stared at the results of the latest simulation, the beams had shown an output variation of thirteen percent. While the beam containment had a fluctuation of thirty one percent. These values were huge and way outside an acceptable margin of fluctuation. A one percent variation was normally considered high. She need to get them down to about half a percent for the variations to be acceptable. Although she would prefer to get it down further, the ship¡¯s beam cannons had a flux range of point zero zero five, which was virtually ideal. That was the flux range she was trying to create as a cutting beam needed the more controlled values that range allowed.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Looking at the values, she went back into the design. She had a few ideas on what to change in order to get the beam array to function with more acceptable values. By the time she had made the changes, the whine of the ship¡¯s cutting beams had ceased. Not paying it any real attention she ran another simulation. She almost wanted to shout for joy, when the simulation showed a drop in both flux values by over half. She was finally on the right route, still need a bit more work but she had feeling they would reach their goal soon. Still she had more issues to work out before they could start work on the prototype.
The first of the assault shuttles landed in a broken hangar at the ships equator. The bay doors had been smashed making landing in the bay easy. Debris was scatter all over the bay and the doors leading into the interior had been melted open from a beam punching through the bay. The bay was empty of Cylovan personnel so the marines on board were able to disembark unopposed. Most of the marines disembarking were combat androids designed specifically for shipboard combat. Like most of the androids built by the refuge they were designed to look female. Designated as the MR-40 robotic marine, these machines were highly effective foot soldiers. They weren¡¯t given the hardware of a command unit, but they still employed an adaptive ai capable of learning from past experiences. Each MR-40 was outfitted with Mark IV personal armor, a rifle and pistol. Along with combat belt full of grenades, breaching charges and a plasma cutter. They were also quite durable allowing them to take multiple hits and still be combat capable.
The machines rapidly secured the hanger, allowing the command units to land in a secure location. The command units were designated as TCR-29s and were virtually identical, but they only carried a pistol. The real difference was that they had a more powerful brain allowing for more rapid calculations. Which also allowed them to support a more complex AI. Instantly they began giving orders and pushed into the ship. It didn¡¯t take long before they started encountering resistance. The Cylovan combat drones resembled large metal spiders with a cannon mounted on their backs. Dozens of the flooded the corridors firing at the marines as the pushed forward. Personal shielding keeping the drones fighting after each hit.
From her position in the corridor one of the ground commanders, a TR-239 observed the shields in action. Their rifles were of limited effect against them, but they were slowly draining the shields with each hit. She ordered her troops to hold their ground. The alien disrupters weren¡¯t all that effective against their armor, and she had some heavy units carrying a weapon that could get rid of those shields moving up from the landing bays to reinforce her position. The weapon she was waiting for was called an Electro Pulsar. It was a wrist mount cannon that was standard to the heavy ground units. The weapon itself was a miniaturized version of the Electro Cannon intended for ground combat. It had proven to be quite deadly during lab testing, causing rather severe burns to organic tissue, and outright frying the unfortunate equipment it was tested on. It was a rather short range weapon, with an effective range of half a kilometer, but it did have a decent fire rate. It fires a short .4 second pulse and has a recharge of .8 seconds. Along with a power pack capacity of 340 shots. The important part was that it was a miniature version of the same weapon the ships used to knockout energy shields, which meant it was exactly what she needed.
Fortunately she didn¡¯t have to wait long for the heavy infantry to arrive. All of the carrying a heavy particle rifle and outfitted with a Pulsar. She had a coupe grenades thrown down the corridor to distract the mecha spiders as the infantry moved into position. The heavy infantry instantly opened fired. Blue lightning bolts slammed into the mecha spiders and the corridor was flooded with light as their personal shields failed in a brilliant burst of light. Blinding both sides for a couple of seconds, but once the light faded the Cylovans were torn apart. With the drones out of way, she and her troops moved forward. The corridors were massive with many nooks and crannies for troops to hide in, so she and the others had to check every single one as they moved forward.
They passed dozens of damaged chambers and rooms where beams had ripped through the hull, all signs of the heavy damage inflicted during the recent space battle if you could call it. They managed to secure three additional sections before they encountered additional resistance. Fortunately the resistance was sporadic and they were able to penetrate quite deeply into the ship and reach their objective. A chamber that had been identified to be one of the ship¡¯s primary control nodes. She turned to the tech they had escorted the entire way and ordered the girl to begin hacking into the ship¡¯s control systems while her marines started setting up defensive positions.
It was a good thing she had ordered them to set up defensive positions as the Cylovans responded instantly. Just two minutes after the tech interfaced her equipment with the control node, Cylovan combat drones began swarming their position. She took up a position near the tech and fired her pistol at any drone that got a line of sight on the tech. TR-239 knew they couldn¡¯t hold the position indefinitely, but they wouldn¡¯t need to. While her marines were holding off the incoming drones she got on the radio.
¡°TR-239 to command. We have secured our objective, and are under attack. Request immediate reinforcements. I repeat we have secured our objective and need immediate reinforcements,¡± said TR-239 over the radio, while firing a burst into a drone that had gotten past the line of marines. The shots ripping through its internals, and the damaged machine collapsed to the ground dead.
¡°Command to TR-239, request acknowledged. Diverting reinforcements your way. Eta three minutes,¡± came the immediate response. She turned to the tech, while keeping an eye on the door and said to the girl, ¡°Work fast, we will have reinforcements in three minutes.¡±
The girl nodded, and moved back to her work. She might have smiled as well, but with her helmet on it was impossible to know for sure. TR-239 moved her full attention back to the door, where her marines were firing there rifles full auto at the incoming swarm of drones. The same was going on with the other door as well. The occasional bolt of blue lightning like bolts could be seen being fired as well. Even to her those three minutes of waiting seemed like an eternity.
The waves of drones seemed unending but eventually she heard the distinctive whine of particle weapons. Then blue bolts and lightning shots came from the side. Blasting into the drones that were flooding the corridor. The drones shields flared briefly before particle bolts slammed into their metal sides and shredding their internals as if they were made of tissue paper. Then the distinctive forms of armored marines entered her view and one made there way into the room. She was another command unit like her.
¡°I¡¯ll keep them off this exit, have your marines cover the other,¡± said the new command unit.
¡°I agree,¡± replied TR-239 before giving orders to her troops. The Marines instantly an fluidly moved to take up the new positions and the pressure on their position dropped instantly. A couple minutes later the tech excitedly proclaimed, ¡°I¡¯m in, just cover me for another minute or two! I¡¯ll have complete control of the system by then.¡±
Sure enough she managed to achieve control by then and with it, she was able to shut down the drones protecting the ship.
Around the same time Countryman was watching one of his frigates, drive off the unwanted guest. He didn¡¯t know the Mydori enough to trust them so close to a cityship so he had dispatched a Firebird to get rid of them. Fortunately it seems to have gone down peacefully. A simple warning hail, and they were now making a hyperspace jump out of the system. When he received the report.
¡°Good, start deploying science teams to our prize. Let¡¯s see what we can learn from it,¡± said Countryman.
Part Two Chapter VII The Conflict Begins
An older female walked into the room and settled into her seat before turning to the others in the room. The woman was the president of the Mydori Union and the others in the room were her advisory council a group of people she had appointed to be her confidants and advisors. The Advisory Council consisted of six members so in the room was a total of seven people.
¡°I hear that a new player is in the area,¡± said the president.
¡°Yes, someone who calls themselves the Sol Refuge. I have done some looking around, but it seems they are not just from out of the region. None of our neighbors have heard of this race, either. Although it is possible that they are a xenophobic race that prefers to avoid contact with alien races. As a race they have clearly taken extraordinary measures towards making their ships stealthy,¡± said the advisor to her immediate left.
¡°Somehow I don¡¯t think that would explain why none of our neighbors have heard of them. Perhaps they are from outside of the neighborhood,¡± theorized the president.
¡°That is actually quite possible, our science division has done some calculating. Their ships appear to be warp based, and while finding them has proven difficult we did manage to witness their ships making a warp jump during one of our encounters. Using the readings of the jump as a base we calculated their speed. Since it was clearly a combat jump we used it to determine their maximum speed and reverse engineer a possible cruise speed for their ships. We calculated a cruise speed of 20,500 times lightspeed. Making their ships significantly faster than those of most known races. Only the Cylovans and the Sylnari have faster ships,¡± said her science advisor just as an ambassador she invited to the meeting arrived. The ambassador belonged to one of the races of the Alliance. The Alliance had sent her to negotiate the admission of the union into the Alliance a year ago. While a formal military pact had already been signed, the Union had yet to actually join the Alliance. There were also players in the Alliance reluctant to accept the union, since they controlled almost as much territory as the Alliance and a stronger military.
¡°I think you may have miscalculated. I have had my people review the data you gave us. The data clearly shows they have developed some form of stealth warp travel. My race uses warp drive quite heavily, and I will tell you now that stealth versions tend to be more efficient, but slower than traditional drives. They can reach the same speeds as a traditional warp engine of course, but don¡¯t maintain them as well. I think their cruising speed would be a factor lower around 7300 times light speed. Which is still faster than most ships in the Alliance,¡± said the Alliance ambassador.
¡°Well it is all just speculation, so it is best to take these numbers with a fair amount of skepticism,¡± replied the president.
¡°That¡¯s true, but these newcomers are fairly advanced. Based on the data, they clearly use some type of powered ship armor to protect their ships, that seems to be comparable to Cylovan energy shielding,¡± said her science advisor while bringing on to the screen one of the two encounters in which they were seen fighting.
¡°Powered ship armor? As in polarized hull plating?¡± asked the president.
¡°You could compare it with polarized hull plating, but that is like comparing a stone period tool with an iron period tool. Sure both get the job done, but the one is far better at it. Their plating is far superior to any polarized hull plating system I have ever seen. They also appear to be ahead of us and the Alliance in weapons technology. Most notably in torpedoes, those glowing bolts you see penetrating the Cylovan shields appear to be ¡®photon¡¯ torpedoes a weapon that was previously theoretical. It seems they have properties we never even guessed, including the ability to penetrate energy shields,¡± said her science advisor. The alliance ambassador pulled a stack of papers out of her bag and placed them on the table.
¡°Most certainly not a standard feature. The Alliance has been working on ¡®photon¡¯ torpedoes for some time and has developed a working prototype. Which the Alliance is interested in trading for more of your distortion missiles. Our ¡®photons¡¯ don¡¯t have that shield penetration feature, and have a lower yield as well,¡± said the Alliance ambassador.
¡°That is interesting, given their technology it might be worth it to seek these newcomers out. Even if they aren¡¯t willing to trade any of their technological secrets, more allies will help us fight off the Cylovan Menace,¡± replied the President.
Captain¡¯s Log November 29th 073 SDE,
Capturing the Cylovan Cruiser has proven to be the right move. We have towed the cruiser through warp to a nearby nebula. The gas clouds have served us well in hiding our presence. A good thing too, since our attack did not go unnoticed by the collective. We have spotted a number of their ships combing the area in a clear search pattern. In other news the rest of fleet successfully linked up with us yesterday, including the vanguard ships we dispatched. As for the cruiser we have nearly finished our study of the cruiser. We have salvaged what components we deemed useful, but there is a great deal of material we have no use for. What we have learned about the Cylovans is a bit disturbing to say the least. They are a machine race created by an older race of the same name. Apparently they were originally service bots, but at some point their creators started handing them more and more power and eventually they gave them full autonomy. At some point these machines came to the conclusion that all organics would be much happier under their rule, and began waging war on all their neighbors. The databanks indicate that these Cylovans have built a number of so called ¡°organic sanctuaries¡± where they basically brainwash people into believing in their idea of paradise in which every aspect of life is managed by them. And when I say every aspect I mean every aspect, right down to how long you will live and who you will marry.
Anyway the most interesting piece of salvage was the hyperwarp drive, which remained mostly intact. Unfortunately it isn¡¯t one of the ones that can generate a conduit, but it is still going to be invaluable to our science department. They already have some interesting ideas that we can do with hyperwarp technology. Mostly considering most of what has been revealed by the initial study is that it operates on a theories we already made, but never actually explored. Mostly due to a little thing about the consequences of a mistake. Hyperwarp requires a great deal of energy to accomplish, and when your dealing with massive amounts of energy mistakes can be disastrous. Which is why we never left the theoretical stage, we deemed the research too dangerous. The introduction of a working drive to guide our research has changed the equation, and the risks have been deemed acceptable now. It may take a few years to see some results, but they will almost certainly be worth the cost. Of course we still have to decide what to do with the cruiser. While there is still a great deal more technology on the crippled cruiser that we have no use for, it would be a shame to just scrap the cruiser. Selia has proposed an interesting solution to our little problem. While we may not have any use for the remaining technology on the cruiser, there are those who do. The Mydori Union who we have already encountered for example are at war with the Cylovans and selling the scrap to them would be quite profitable. Our research labs for example have a rather long list of materials that they are in need of to continue their research.
Countryman was settled in his seat on the council listening to the others debate Selia¡¯s proposal. He didn¡¯t have a vote except in the case of a tie, so he was just listening to the debate, while catching up on some paperwork. One thing he loved about being a cyborg was the unnatural multitasking ability it gave him. He was able to do multiple things at once with full efficiency. Listening to the ongoing debate he finally interjected with his own opinion.
¡°That point is kind of moot. It is clear we cannot coexist with the collective, but neither do we have the strength to fight a war with them. Our superior stealth can only get us so far. We will need allies, and while the Mydori may look repulsive they are a potential ally. Regardless we have no reason to hurry. I suggest we set course for Mydorius at low warp, that will allow us to minimize our signature, and avoid unnecessary combat,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Yes, but there''s no reason to concern ourselves with this conflict either. We have no interests in this part of space. I feel it would be better if we just leave for another safer part of space,¡± replied Eriko Dykes. Dykes was the captain of the Umikaze before it had been sacrificed in the raid on New Valoria. The years had been quite kind to her. She was one hundred and fourteen years old, but she looked a hundred years younger. She was a cute, with a round face framed by short brown hair.
¡°Personally I would as well, but there are larger concerns as well. Unfortunately we cannot afford to ignore them. It is clear to me that if we do, they will spread across the galaxy. We must take action to at the very least contain the threat and soon. Sooner or later a war with them is inevitable,¡± said Greyman.
¡°Greyman has a point, they are already strong and with time they will only grow stronger. Even if we find a new homeland, they will eventually threaten it. That future conflict will go better if we take measures to weaken them now,¡± said Drakes.
¡°That cruiser was packed with useful technologies, studying more of their ships would be useful as long as we can avoid encountering some of the larger ships we learned about,¡± said Ruri. Countryman knew the ship she was most worried about was something called the Dreadnought-2. A deadly Cylovan Dreadnought, that also happened to be the largest ship class in their fleet. They had learned about it while combing through the Cylovan database. It was a behemoth of a ship with a diameter of twenty thousand meters. Armor eight hundred meters thick, heavily reinforced internal hull structure, the most powerful shields the Cylovans are capable of fielding, and massive hangers allow it to carry ninety thousand fighter craft. As things currently stood just one of these ships could wipe out their entire fleet, and worse the ship was faster than them. Meaning that it could easily chase them down if it was deployed against them. Countryman was pretty sure that they could evade it however by taking full advantage of their superior stealth.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure fighting them would be a great boon to the scientific community. However we cannot afford a war with them,¡± responded Dykes.
¡°Actually, if we could secure another system rich in the right materials. Using a combination of asteroid mining and raid tactics we could secure the materials to build fleets to wage war against them. The real question is not if we can afford a war, but should we fight a war,¡± interjected Countryman.
¡°Countryman is right, we can fight one, but I don¡¯t think we could sustain a war for long. Which is why we will need allies, just like he said earlier,¡± replied Drakes.
¡°Anything else anyone wants to add?¡± asked Richard Greyman while looking around the room, after waiting a moment and none of the council spoke up he said, ¡°Well than I guess it is time for the vote.¡± The following vote was nearly unanimous and the council made its decision. As the council session ended Countryman left for the bridge to carry out the council¡¯s decision. They were going to make contact with the union. In under an hour he had the fleet formed up and on a direct course at warp four for the Mydorian Homeworld. A system whose location they had learned from the Cylovan database. Unless they increased speed it would take them over five years to reach the system. While they weren¡¯t in a real hurry, he wasn¡¯t planning on taking that long to reach the system. He was planning on increasing speed once they were no longer picking up Cylovan ships on sensors.
The Cylovans had actually dispatched quite the number of ships to the region after the Enterprise had capture the cruiser. On sensors they were actively tracking just over four hundred ships in the sector that were clearly conducting a search pattern of the sector. They had risked an active pulse that thankfully went unnoticed in order to identify these ships when they first showed up. Most of them were low threat destroyer and frigate classes, but the three of them were cruisers. Countryman was pretty sure they could win the battle, but would prefer not to fight said battle. With the fleet underway, Countryman left the lift and headed down to one of the lower decks. Commander Forrest had been pestering him over the past couple of months to come down and observe one of his war games.
They had been conducting war games since the refit, but Countryman had never found the time to observe them. The games had also become a fair popular entertainment choice. Apparently watching two or more groups of marines fight out a combat scenario is entertaining. Countryman came out of the lift and was halfway to his destination when a young crewman stopped him. The girl was one he recognized, and he felt a bit of a headache coming on. She was a bit of a pain to deal with. She often came by with complaints on one thing or another.
¡°Sir, you have to do something,¡± said the young woman.
¡°Something about what? I have no idea what you are talking about Mio,¡± ask Countryman. This wasn''t the first time she had forgotten to lead with the subject. It was one of the little things that irked him about her.
¡°Sorry, I found some kids watching something containing adult content. Security refuses to do something about it, and they won''t listen to me either,¡± replied the crewman Mio.
¡°Did you contact their parents?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°I did, but they won''t do anything either,¡± replied Mio. Countryman sighed and shook his slightly before replying, ¡°in that case there isn''t anything I can do. I can''t interfere just because you don''t approve, the law forbids it. Besides on a ship like this they have likely encountered such activities countless times before anyway,¡± responded Countryman. Referring to an old law that dictated the rules involving children.
¡°Huh, that stupid law? Kids shouldn''t be exposed to such things! Also what do you mean encountered countless times?¡± asked Mio.
¡°Just open that door over there and you will understand,¡± said Countryman pointing at a supply closet door a couple meters down the hall. Mio gave him an odd look, but walked towards the door. She stopped in front of it, but didn''t open it. Instead she turned around her face flushed bright red and walked back to Countryman.
¡°Okay I think I get what you mean. People need to be more discrete, and careful,¡± said Mio. Countryman chuckled a bit and told her it wouldn''t help much. Than he left her as he continued on his way to observe a war game.
He entered the garden deck after passing the checkpoint. It was a massive artificial environment. Complete with forest hills and rivers that took up the entire deck. In fact it took up three decks. It was both a popular dating destination, and it was often used by the military for war games and training. It was here that the marines practiced ground warfare, both organic and synthetic troops practiced regularly. These on going war games also doubled as a source of entertainment for those that had the time and credits. Not far from the entrance to the garden deck was a series of bleachers behind a transparent screen that were built for observing the war games. The environment had changed a bit since the last time he had visited. Last time it had been quite chilly, as they had been simulating a snowy winter. Today it was as far from a snowy winter as you can get. His cybernetic sensors told him the temperature was 117 degrees fahrenheit(47 degrees celsius) and it was quite humid. Looking around it became obvious that the garden had been changed to resemble a jungle. Extra trees and growth had been added to the garden. Also of note was the gravity. Artificial gravity on the deck had been increased, which combined with the temperature and humidity made it very uncomfortable. ¡°I hate jungles,¡± muttered Countryman to himself as he headed towards the bleachers. He wasn¡¯t kidding about his dislike for jungles, he did hate them. He also hated cactus, but for different reasons.
Following the path, it took him barely two minutes to reach the bleachers. He found Forrest standing just outside the bleachers. Forrest was talking to a R-2 a young crewman who had some rank, but not an officer. She gave a quick nod after he said something and ran off. Countryman guessed she had just be given orders to do something.
¡°Is there a reason you turned the garden into a jungle?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Good day, sir. Glad you found time to observe, your timing is pretty good. We were just about to start todays war game. As for the jungle thing that''s part of this month¡¯s training regimen,¡± replied Forrest as he led Countryman into the bleachers. Which was a comfortable arrangement of padded and tiered seating. Not the normal outdoor type you might have expected. The screen and doors around the bleachers allowed them to be kept in a more controlled conditioning. It was dryer in the bleachers area, but just as warm which was actually more comfortable then out there.
¡°So you are conducting jungle combat training? May I ask why?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Right now, yes. We will change it in a couple of months, when we move the jungle plants back into the appropriate arboretum. We are practicing jungle raid tactics, in which on team is the raid force and the other the defenders. The raid team is smaller and they practice securing their objectives and then retreating to the LZ. The defenders in turn are tasked with stopping the raid team. We have been practicing raid tactics since we are more likely to raid a planet than try to invade one,¡± said Forrest.
¡°That does seem to be a good call,¡± said Countryman as he took a seat and Forrest than left for last minute preparations. Countryman found these live exercises fascinating. While VR simulators could be used for training personnel it was no substitute for live training. Which is what the war game was for.
Before long the two teams were set to start. View screens hanging from the ceiling of bleacher area gave him excellent views of the area. War games were fought with special weapons, and specially programed armor. These weapons resembled and handled like the real thing, but were totally harmless and a red line on the side marked them as training weapons. The pulses would register on the armor and a computer would track hits and damage. When the computer registers a simulated penetrating hit, it marks the occupant of the personnel armor as dead. Their weapon locks, and their armor enhancements switch off. While a marker identifies them as ¡®dead¡¯ to both teams. They are to then leave the field, and failure to do so will result in a penalty for their team. Vehicles are treated in a similar fashion, but after a knockout blow is registered, the vehicle merely shuts down. Occupants may leave the vehicle to fight, if they ¡®survived¡¯ the simulated blow. If not they are advised to either remain in the vehicle or withdraw from the field. If the ¡®dead leave the vehicle they must either return to vehicle or withdraw from the field failure to do so again leads to penalties for the team.
As he was waiting for the mock battle to begin a girl approached him and sat down. She was a cute woman at 152 cm. She was dressed in a thin blue summer dress that clung to her frame. She had an average chest and her face was framed by long black hair. She regarded him with her cute red eyes for a moment before greeting him. ¡°Hi, Jac. I hear we are heading to the Mydorian homeworld,¡± said Megumi Richards addressing him the way his friends and familiars do when not on duty.
¡°Yes, we are. Repulsive looking creatures, but they have a strong economy. We¡¯re going to sell them what¡¯s left of our prize ship. What we want is large quantities of research materials. Fortunately we can just request the raw ore for most of the materials we need, which will allow us to purchase more, but we do need large quantities of military grade protoplasma,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I heard that weapons research is working on a new torpedo. I take it the protoplasma is for that project,¡± said Megumi.
¡°Yes, but that project isn¡¯t the only one in need of protoplasma. Speaking of projects, a group of young scientists asked me for help on their micro-warp drive project. I think I found the flaw in the engine, but we are running short on the materials needed to build a new prototype. Most notably being protoplasma and appropriate grade Rydium. If it works, then we will also need to buy materials for refitting our shuttle fleet with micro-warp drives,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Yeah, I have a few projects of my own that could use some rare materials. I¡¯ll have my departments submit a list of things to consider buying for various projects,¡± said Megumi.
¡°Sounds like a good idea, and looks like the game is starting,¡± said Countryman. With that the two turned their attention to the war game. The game had two teams, red team which was led by a promising cadet, and blue team that was being led by her instructor. Red team was the raid force, and the team did a fairly good job. Managing to complete most of their objectives, before being forced to pull out. As the game was ending, Countryman and Megumi left together to continue their earlier discussion.
Part Two Chapter VIII The Battle for Delmarka
March Third 074 SDE, Delmarka starsystem 1340 hours:
The admiral walked down the corridor. It was another peaceful day at Delmarka. Not surprising since the Union always kept a presence of a hundred thousand ships in the system for defense. Not surprising considering the military importance of the system, as it housed one of the twelve megashipyard complexes in Union space. Being a megashipyard Delmarka was part of how the Union was able to defend her territory against Cylovan incursions. Megashipyards like this one were all vast complexes that could build thousands of ships simultaneously. These complexes weren¡¯t cheap to maintain and operate, and required large amounts of labor and materials to operate at capacity. The Union of course had no shortage of labor, considering the Mydori reached adulthood in just three years and the were quite fertile. Which meant there was no shortage of new blood to crew their ships with, and fill the manpower heavy jobs.
Currently the yard was flooded with damaged ships from recent battles. The Cylovan incursions into their space had seen a sharp rise over the last three years. Which is why the yard was running at full capacity to keep as many ships in the action as possible. Three entire fleets were currently at the yard undergoing refits after a recent incursion at the border. They had repelled the attack, but the costs had been quite high. With a forty percent casualty rate, the wounded ships having been sent here for repairs. Many of the ships also needed replacement crew and officers. Speaking officers the admiral was heading towards the local officer academy branch to observe some final year cadets and give them a surprise lecture on tactics. The cadets were in their sixth and final year of training, they still required some time in the classroom, but for the most part these officers were given responsibilities to gain practical experience. Most of these young officers were only around ten years of age. He knew many of them would be killed in battles with the Collective, but those who distinguished themselves would not only rise through the ranks. They would also earn honor and prestige for their families, and more importantly they were the ones who stood between the Union and defeat at the hands of a relentless menace.
He was just about to enter the classroom for his observation and surprise guest lecture, when klaxons began going off throughout the station. It was an alert telling all officers to report to their stations, and be on standby for enemy attack. He didn¡¯t know why the alarm was sounded, but he responded accordingly. He turned on his heels, and ran for the nearest lift.
March Third 074 SDE, Delmarka starsystem 1355 hours:
The Admiral came out of the lift onto the operations deck. Which was currently an exercise in controlled chaos. People were running around everywhere carrying out various tasks. Shouting about strange energy readings filled the room. The admiral carefully weaved his way through the chaos with practiced ease, and stopped before the commander.
¡°Captain, care to tell me what is going on?¡± asked the Admiral, the alert had him a bit worried. They were far enough from the front that it was doubtful that it was a Cylovan attack. There was a Rykoni base not far from this system, but he doubted even those idiots would be stupid enough to attack this complex. The only reason the Rykoni base was even there was because the union was to busy dealing with the Cylovans to wipe out the base. On the plus side they had seen a massive drop in normal pirates and the Rykoni were easier to deal with because they were dumber. It was a miracle that their species even managed to reach space, hence all the theories about them being a failed experiment to create the perfect soldier or being the remnant of a fallen civilization. It was said that some of the elder races, had weapons that could reduce the intelligence of the target. He found those theories hard to believe however.
¡°Odd energy readings were detected emanating from hyperspace a few minutes ago. We can¡¯t confirm, but my science officer thinks we are witnessing the formation of a hyperwarp conduit,¡± said the commander. An answer that set of warning bells in the admirals brain.
¡°A hyperwarp conduit? Have all ships converge on the conduit, you can choose the formation at your discretion. I want all super fortresses to reposition, and armed for battle,¡± ordered the admiral suspecting this to be a Cylovan action. Just as he gave the orders, an officer shouted.
¡°Sir, it is definitely a hyperwarp conduit. It has just opened, and something is emerging,¡± said the officer. The admiral and commander simultaneously ordered for it to be placed on screen. Instantly a blue and violet vortex appeared on the screen, and a massive spherical ship emerged from the vortex. It took the admiral less than a second to recognize it. It was a Cylovan battleship, a threat rarely seen. The last sighting of a battleship had been thirty years ago. Twelve colonies, and thirteen fleets were lost before the ship was finally forced to retreat. The retreat had been forced by a combined armada of twenty fleets with some three hundred thousand ships. The casualties had been enormous than as well. Fortunately modern ships were more than twice as powerful as ships from thirty years ago. Even more fortunate is that this time it was alone, and not currently in a fleet. He didn¡¯t know how long that would last, but he hoped they would have enough time to sink it, before the fleet arrived. Thanks to the massive funds and grants being given to laboratories, weapons and deflectors had improved massively. He hoped they would make a difference this time around, but he had reason to be worried. Last time they had a working shield disruptor to get through its shields. Unfortunately they had long since adapted their shields, and the weapon was useless now. Which meant the only way to get through those shields was overwhelming bombardment.
Still he couldn¡¯t be sure that they could win, given how deadly a battleship could be even on its own. The Cylovan Battleship was an extremely tough foe, on its own it was equivalent to five midsized fleets all on its own. With the firepower to match, and shields that made it virtually invulnerable. Even if you could get through the shields, you than had to contend with the thick outer shell of neutronium laced armored plating.
On the screen, the ship opened fire. A powerful green beam ripped across space and slammed into a nearby union cruiser. Her deflectors straining to redirect the beam and failing. The beam slammed into the foresection of the cruiser. The plating disintegrated, and the hull broke apart. Something exploded and the ship was torn apart, while the battleship targeted another cruiser with a similar result. Just before she entered range of one of the super fortresses. The massive starbase, immediately opened fire on the battleship. Powerful invisible bolts of energy fired from the starbase and slammed into the battleship¡¯s shields one after another. The energy lances had little apparent affect and the ship returned fire. Several beams raked over the station, but unlike the cruiser she withstood the barrage. Her larger more powerful deflectors having managed to deflect enough of the beams that the station actually withstood the barrage.
The starbase fired another volley of maser lances at the battleship, while the few ships in the area opened fire as well with masers, missiles and torpedoes. While the battleship was cycling her main guns, she began launching fighters from her hangers. Given the size of the ship and the massive bays she had just one of these ships carried tens of thousands of fighters. These fighters began engaging the nearby ships in fighters in combat, just as the vortex spat out a few new ships. Four Cylovan cruisers entered the system, and opened fire on the nearest targets. The admiral cursed, as he handed out new orders. Including an evacuation order to get the civilians and non combat personnel out of the system.
March Third 074 SDE, Delmarka starsystem 1420 hours:
The superfortress was disintegrating, as beams from the battleship tore through its superstructure. The fleet was finally forming up in fluid formations to engage the Cylovans. As more Cylovan ships poured out of the vortex in what was now a steady stream. Already dozens of cruisers had entered the system along with a number of destroyers. As the superfortress was breaking apart, two more entered weapons range of the vortex. Superfortress starbases were designed to be mobile, since a mobile defense is far more valuable than a static one. In addition these large behemoths were heavily armored and shielded. Allowing them to take large amounts of damage and their size allowed them to support far more powerful weapons than your average ship. Immediately the bases opened fire on the nearest Cylovan ships. Several of their destroyers were torn apart by the powerful maser lances the bases carried in short order, before they focused fire on the cruisers. The cruisers with their stronger shields and hull held up longer. Thousands of destroyers teamed up with the bases and unleashed their payloads, on the cruisers the instant their shields failed.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Often with devastating results as their weapons had long since been optimized to deal with the strong Cylovan hull plating. Missile torpedoes slammed into the neutronium reinforced hulls dealing massive damage. Yet the cruisers kept fighting long after their shields breached. Often taking dozens if not hundreds of ships with them before succumbing from the bombardment. The battleship finished with the first fortress changed targets, approaching another. While opening fire on any ship in its path with devastating results. Its powerful beam arrays easily capable of destroying any ship that was unfortunate enough to be targeted.
In the command complex the admiral watched the battle unfold with trepidation. Each new ship to leave the vortex was something to worry about. He was certain they could destroy what was already here, but the conduit was a problem. He had ordered the fortresses to activate their hyperspace jammers. While the conduit emanated from hyperspace, the jammers had no apparent effect on the conduit. As for why he didn¡¯t know and his staff had so far been unable to determine why.
¡°Since we can¡¯t jam the conduit, what would happen if we fired a missile into it?¡± muttered the admiral. A nearby science officer overheard and immediately did some simulations. Then she looked over to the admiral.
¡°¡°Not much, the energy of the blast is too low, but if we had something with a large explosive yield. The resulting energy reaction would weaken the conduit, and possibly destroy it,¡±said the science officer. The admiral replied by asking how large. Realizing that they might have a solution.
¡°Uh, roughly equivalent to a containment failure on a superfortress,¡± said the science officer. The admiral didn¡¯t need any elaboration to know how big an explosion that would be. Being large stations with high power requirements, they were powered by massive antimatter reactors. These reactors often contained large amounts of antimatter at any given time, and if containment was lost the resulting energy reaction was often large enough to destroy a small moon. The union also maintained stockpiles of antimatter weapons, but warheads to match didn¡¯t exist. Reason being size, the reactors were the size of a midsize starship each. While a warhead could be made smaller, the resulting warhead was still rather bulky and generally impractical for use as a weapon.
March Third 074 SDE, Delmarka starsystem 1455 hours:
The fleet had worked out the details for dealing with the conduit. Both sides were still fighting heavily in the area of the conduit. On the screen the admiral could see another superfortress breaking apart under fire from the Cylovan Battleship. The damnable ship had so far proven invincible. Its energy shielding wasn¡¯t even showing signs of weakening, despite the fact that it was the target of heavy bombardment. Any other Cylovan ship would have already succumbed to the bombardment, but it remained undamaged. As things stood they had lost roughly seven ships for each Cylovan ship they had sunk. Which was actually pretty good considering the general superiority of Cylovan ships. It wasn¡¯t unheard of for casualty rates as high as twenty or more to one. Rates that high often meant they were losing the battle, for one reason or another.
In this case they were currently winning, but how long that would last was up for debate. Especially considering the fact that the conduit was allowing the Cylovans to reinforce almost as quickly as they were losing ships. In fact they were gaining ships slightly faster than they were losing them. Which explained why the fleet had grown in the time. Still most of the superfortress that hadn¡¯t been sunk were already in the area. They had originally had twenty of the behemoths to protect the system thanks to its importance to the war effort. The battleship had already sunk three of them, and another three had yet to reach the site of the battle. Their slow speed and previous positions hampering them from reaching the battle. This meant they were now fourteen of these battlestations on site supplementing the fleet with their heavy artillery. Which had proven invaluable in taking down Cylovan cruiser shields. Speaking of cruisers he had seen and sunk more of them in this battle than in previous military engagements. He suspected this attack to be a sign that the Cylovans were preparing for a major offensive and not another of the small skirmishes that had characterized the last few decades.
The battleship smoothly changed direction and started making a beeline for another nearby fortress, while targeting any ship unfortunate enough to be in its path. Those ships employed evasive maneuvers to get out of the way quickly. Those unlucky enough to be hit, were destroyed instantly. While at the same moment over four thousand Union ships formed up with three of the superfortresses and made a direct push for the conduit. In response a dozen cruisers and a number of destroyers shifted targets to engage the push. While their fighters moved to swarm targets.
The dark of space lit up in violets, greens and blues as the ships exchanged heavy fire. Their formations shifting like leaves in the wind, under the commands of their leaders. Every few seconds a flash of light signaled the demise of a ship or fighter. While the Cylovan Battleship changed her course again this time heading to engage the fortresses being escorted.
March Third 074 SDE, Delmarka starsystem 1515 hours:
A large flash of light, signaled the demise of a superfortress. The push had lost just over half its ships, and that flash was one of the three battlestations they were escorting. They had been doing just fine until the conduit spat out a pair of a battleships along with an addition twelve cruisers just five minutes ago. Ships which had instantly focused on engaging the stations, recognizing that they were a threat. That the union was planning something with them, even if they didn¡¯t know what.
Beams of energy raked over a second fortress as it shifted its course and suddenly accelerated straight towards one of the battleships. The battleship began changing direction to avoid the station. Being the more maneuverable vessel, it succeeded in avoiding the collision, but in the process created an opening. The other fortress also accelerated, as escape pods all across her surface began launching. Most of which were snagged as quickly as possible, by the escorts. None of the ones present realizing the futility of their actions as the fortress entered the vortex. Mere seconds later the conduit collapsed in a violent burst of energy that rippled outwards at hyperlight velocities. Every ship in the immediate vicinity of the conduit disintegrated, and seconds later the yard was engulfed before the wave travelled into deep space. When the wave cleared, only around thirty thousand union ships remained, along with a couple hundred cylovan ships all in various states of repair. Including three badly damaged Cylovan battleships, their outer hulls severely degraded. The only union asset near the former conduit was a badly damaged superfortress. Her outer hull had disintegrated and most of the inner sections had vented to space. The mighty station had survived, but she had also seen her last. Some still lived aboard the station, but they were trapped. The other fortresses having been far away enough to avoid taking massive damage, moved to engage the battleships.
The admiral after recovering from the shock of the blast, turned to his science officer and asked, ¡°What in the galaxy happened?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure, sir. None of our models indicated this would happen,¡± replied the officer.
March Third 074 SDE, Deep Space, SFS Enterprise SFRX-01, 2.57 lightyears from Delmarka 1545 hours:
Countryman was bored as he read the latest report. There had not been much to do over the last few weeks. Even at their current speed they were still over a month out from their destination. The report he was perusing was a fleet wide diagnostic of the engines and related hardware. They were close enough to Mydorious that they were going to switch off their stealth fields in a few hours and increase speed to warp six. Which would allow them to reach the system in two days. They planned on warping out on the systems edge and that a small task force would proceed deeper into the system to make contact with Union. While the rest of the fleet would set up a defensive anchorage around their prize ship, which the Enterprise was currently towing. The report said that everything was good. So he was just about to put it away, when suddenly there was a shout from the science station.
¡°Sir, I¡¯m picking up a massive energy wave bearing down on our position. Impact in three minutes,¡± said the officer. Countryman asked him to forward the data to his station, and glanced at it. The wave whatever it was was clearly dangerous, and he made his decision quickly.
¡°Take the fleet out of warp, and shut down the warp engines. Shunt warp power to the hull plating, and anchor the fleet,¡± ordered Countryman. The crew instantly went into action, and several cruisers moved between the wave and the prize ship before they anchored themselves in place. Then a fleetwide brace for impact order was given shortly before the wave slammed into the fleet. The entire fleet was shaken by the wave, but for the most part was perfectly fine.
¡°Status report!¡± barked Countryman after the wave passed.
¡°Hull plating is holding, no damage. No other ship is reporting damage. Minor injuries have been reported however. One serious injury reported, the Sylnari liaison,¡± said Misaki.
¡°Selia? How did she get hurt?¡± asked Countryman. Misaki spent a couple minutes inquiring before replying, ¡°It seems she was on the upper levels of Aka district, during the wave. A child lost their grip on the railing and she went after it. Used her body to cushion the fall. She broke a few bones, but will be fine. The medics have already stabilized her, and she is being taken to sickbay¡± said Misaki using the summed up version that she had been given.
Part Two Chapter IX Distress
Countryman left the bridge as soon as he heard about Selia¡¯s accident and left Greymen in charge of the fleet. Greyman walked up the stairs to the command balcony and settled into the chair. He barely had a second to rest in the chair before Misaki jumped slightly and reported, ¡°Sir, I¡¯m picking up multiple distress calls throughout the sector.¡±
Greyman considered the info for a minute as he contemplated his choices. Settling on a choice of action, he gave his order. ¡°Set course for the nearest distress call, maximum warp,¡± ordered Greyman. The crew immediately went to work and the ship quickly followed by the fleet went to warp heading straight for the nearest distress call. Which was coming from a small military supply convoy just half a lightyear from their position. The convoy had been in hyperspace until just recently. The energy wave while having little effect on their fleet had thrown hundreds of ships throughout the sector out of hyperspace. Sensors had picked these occurrences up after the wave passed. Greyman spent the six and a half minutes it took them to reach the convoy going over the sensor data. He guessed that being thrown out of hyperspace had damaged the ships in the convoy, and made plans according to that assumption.
The President of the Union stared at the report on her desk. Delmarka had been attacked. The fleet had managed to repel the attack, but the consequences had been devastating. FTL travel throughout the sector had been disrupted. The fleet was being hard-pressed to respond to all the distress calls. Interestingly the newcomers the Sol Refuge had appeared again. A small fleet had shown up out of nowhere and was aiding some of the ships that were crippled by that strange blast wave.
She really wasn''t sure how to feel about that. On one hand they seemed to be friendly enough, but their ability to completely disappear from sensors had her a little freaked. That single small fleet they had seen with its demonstrated stealth abilities could easily cripple interstellar trade or worse. She made a note to propose a project to develop a better sensor array just in case they needed it. She hoped they wouldn¡¯t, as she would rather be friends with these new aliens. Given their observed abilities, they would make excellent allies, and might just be able to turn the war in their favor. If not she feared they would eventually lose this war.
Moving away from the refuge¡¯s presence she then looked at the economic analysis. According to the report, the economic impact of this attack was expected to be quite severe. Trade throughout the entire sector had been affected. A number of ships thanks to the wave needed yard time. As for what caused the wave her scientists had some theories, but nothing concrete. The end result is that shipping companies would have difficult moving enough goods for the next few months to meet demand, which meant local prices would soar. That, of course, was the least of her worries. The yards at Delmarka had taken quite a bit of damage, and the engineers reported that it would be a couple of months before the yards could start building ships again. In effect, this attack had crippled their ability to replenish their fleets in this area. So it wasn¡¯t really a win, and more like a defeat. Then her monitor beeped and she saw a new message.
Looking through it she found it was sent from the Sol Refuge, and they were telling her that they would arrive here in a week''s time. The massage itself was a request for an audience, but it had taken her little while to decipher the message, given that they had chosen some odd phrasing for the message. Giving it an archaic feel, and it was painfully obvious that whoever wrote the message wasn¡¯t all that familiar with written Mydorian. The message combined with recent observations also just confirmed their suspicions about how fast Refuge ships could be. The fleet just told them they could cross a distance that would take months in hyperspace in a matter of days
Selia¡¯s eyes opened and she found herself submerged in an odd and thick fluid. At first, she panicked until she realized that she was perfectly fine, and that her gills were functioning just fine. The odd fluid wasn¡¯t hurting her like mud would. It took her another minute or two before where she was clicked with her memories. She had been exploring the local market on the ship, when a sudden brace for impact order came over the speakers. Like everyone in space, her training had taken over and she braced for impact. When the ship shook a moment later she had easily kept her grip on the railing she had used to brace. A young girl nearby hadn¡¯t been able to keep her grip and was flung over the railing. She didn¡¯t even think when she saw it happen and had dived over the railing. She managed to reach the girl, but after that her only option was to use her body as a shield. She didn¡¯t remember anything after that.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
¡°Guess I¡¯m in their medical bay. Although now that I think about it the place never showed up on that tour I was given earlier,¡± thought Selia to herself moments before the fluid began to drain. At the same moment, she heard a voice that she didn¡¯t recognize spoke directly into her mind. ¡°Just relax, and breathe normally while the nano-gel is being exchanged with oxygenated water,¡± said ???.
¡°Who are you, and this thick fluid is called nano-gel?¡± asked Selia.
¡°Sorry, I¡¯m Karin and your doctor. Yes, the fluid is called nano-gel. The fluid is a complex mix of regenerative compounds, nanites, and a few other things. You have been bathing it for a little over a day now. Which was enough time for your broken bones to heal, and for the nanites to repair the other complications caused by your little fall,¡± said the doctor Karin. The fluid exchanged slowly but before long she found herself breathing water again, and not the mystery fluid. Sure she had been told what it is, but she still wasn¡¯t comfortable with breathing and bathing in a fluid in which she didn¡¯t know exactly what was in it. A moment after the fluid finished exchanging she heard a click, and the surface in front of her opened up. Allowing her to swim out into a room that was also filled with water. Looking around she was in a room filled with submerged pods like the one she just emerged from. On one wall there was a chest built into the wall next to a sturdy metal door. The walls were rather utilitarian and there was nothing to draw the eye.
After looking around she took stock of herself. She found that she felt better than she did before the fall. The bath having removed aches and pains she hadn¡¯t been aware of. Even better nothing seemed out of place either. She was also completely naked, she wasn¡¯t surprised about that however. She figured they had removed her clothes and equipment prior to putting her in the pod. Most likely for medical reasons. Then she heard a now-familiar telepathic voice speak into her head. ¡°Your clothes are in the storage chest. I would like to keep you here for a day of observation,¡± said Karin. She immediately went to the chest and opened it up. Sure enough, layed neatly into the chest was her clothing, and most important her belt.
As soon as she was dressed she keyed the door and it sprang open. A forcefield keeping the water in the room. She passed through the field. Just like the one installed in her quarters here, she felt a slight resistance to her moving through the field. Outside the room, she found herself in a hallway with doors on either side of the corridor placed at regular intervals. The only distinctive feature of the stark utilitarian walls was a double band of alert lights that were currently strobing a steady blue. She knew that with this species of aliens that blue was a good sign. Not far from her position a young woman was standing. She was dressed in a doctor¡¯s uniform complete with a lab coat. Her attention seemed to be taken up entirely by the pad in her hands. Without looking up, she asked her to follow her and she turned to the right and headed down the corridor. While this was her first time hearing the girl''s voice in the real world, her telepathic one was close enough that she recognized the person in front of her was Karin.
Following Karin, it wasn¡¯t long before she led her into an office. Where she saw the captain sitting behind the desk. She barely registered his presence, but instead focused on the plate of fish sitting on the opposite side of the desk from him. Her stomach letting her know that she was hungry. In fact, she realized that she was starving.
¡°I¡¯m sure your starving. I had some food brought up for you,¡± said Countryman. She thanked him and sat down pulling the plate towards her.
¡°That pod of yours is impressive. Anyway is the girl, alright?¡± asked Selia just before she started to eat.
¡°Yes, she was perfectly fine. You absorbed the brunt of the impact. Anyway I¡¯m glad to see that you on your feet,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Thanks. Have you been waiting here the entire time I was in the pod?¡± asked Selia.
¡°Sort of. Unfortunately my job doesn¡¯t allow me to be idle. I have been staying down here to keep better appraised of your condition. I have been mostly taking care of the logistical aspects of my first officer''s decision to answer distress calls in this sector. Before you ask, we have answered seventeen distress calls since your accident. Most have been nothing more than minor repairs needed so that they could then limp back to port. The rest were pirates,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Sounds busy. Anyway I have been wondering. Why wasn¡¯t this area on my tour of the ship?¡±
¡°Well it isn¡¯t really in heavy use. We don¡¯t get as sick easily as we did before the change. Which led to a lot of unused space around here. We adapted the unused areas into lab space, focused on learning more about our new physiology. Right now we are mapping our new genome a rather time-consuming task,¡± said Countryman.
¡°That sounds interesting. I¡¯d like to discuss it, but I¡¯m starting to feel tired,¡± said Selia. Not sure why she was getting tired so quickly. Countryman let her finish her meal, and then led her to a room that had been set up for her. Where she promptly went to sleep.
Part Two Chapter X Interactions
The president of the union stared at the monitor. On it was a display of deep space tracking info. Her gaze was locked on a particular group of ships. A group of nearly one hundred and sixty ships on a direct course for this system. Honestly the ships and their owners were a bit of an enigma to her. She had spent much of the last week trying to prepare for their arrival, but that was hard since she didn¡¯t know anything about them. A fact that despite her efforts hadn¡¯t really changed.
They knew just about nothing about these people, and half of what they did know was speculation. Their origins and technology were the biggest mysteries about them. Her xeno-psychologists suspected that they suffered from a mild case of racial xenophobia. Something that would explain their interactions in the past, and why they went to such extreme efforts to make their ships stealthy. Something that became readily apparent after they stopped hiding last week. The scans of their ships, showed extensive evidence of hull treatments designed to reduce their sensor profile. Everything her shipwrights could think of for that purpose, and even a few features that she had never seen before. The extensive stealth treatment on the hulls explained why they could disappear so easily. She decided to keep what they had said in mind when they meet face to face for the first time in a couple of hours. Getting out of her chair she headed for the door of her office. Her thoughts still preoccupied with thoughts of her soon to arrive alien visitors.
¡°We are secure from warp speed captain,¡± reported Eri from her station at the helm.
¡°Anchor the fleet here, and have my shuttle readied for immediate departure. Alert captain Shiro to be ready for my arrival,¡± said Countryman as he left his chair. The bridge was a chorus of acknowledgments as he left Greyman in charge of the bridge. He met Reia, Sali and Selia at the shuttle. His shuttle was a prototype and outfitted with a micro-warp drive. Initial tests had worked out the earlier bugs, so it wouldn¡¯t be much longer before these drives came standard on shuttle craft. The drive was still too large to be mounted on a fightercraft, but then again it didn¡¯t need to. He noticed that both Sali and Selia were examining the prepared shuttle.
¡°Like what you see Sali?¡± asked Countryman as he came up behind her. She turned around with an exuberant expression on her face.
¡°Is this what I think it is? Is this a 1205-B?¡± asked Sali.
¡°Yep, we finally worked out the glitch in its warp drive. We are going to start production of the B model soon. Would you like the specs, or have you already read up on it?¡± responded Countryman.
¡°Are you kidding!? I have been wanting to fly one since I heard about it. She is supposed to have thicker armor at sixty five centimeters. Her new engine and power configuration allows her to mount better weapons as well. She has four turrets instead of two, and the turrets include a light beam cannon. What I¡¯m most thrilled about is the overhaul of the engines. I hear she is twice as fast with triple the acceleration, and can maneuver far more easily than her predecessor,¡± said Sali bubbling with excitement.
¡°Looks like you know the highlights than. Anyway we gave her the same control scheme, with some minor alterations to accommodate the new warp engine. So you should have no trouble adapting to the controls,¡± said Countryman. As Sali left to checkout the cockpit, and the crew was boarding Selia asked Countryman a question. While Reia gave a brief greeting before boarding the shuttle.
¡°I heard about this ship, but why are taking it?¡± asked Selia.
¡°That¡¯s easy. The 1205-B is the best shuttle in our arsenal, the only auxiliary ships with better weapons and armor are the dropships. Which don¡¯t have warp drives. I chose the B since it has the best chance of escape if things go badly. Not just that, but it also makes an impression,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Yes it does make an impression with those sleek lines, broken only by those intimidating turrets,¡± said Selia as followed him into the ship and noticed the cramped rear of the ship. Which she commented on.
¡°Don¡¯t mind the cramped condition. This ship is currently configured to mount a bomb bay. Those are bomb bay mountings, carrying twenty photon bombs. They''re here just in case I need them, but if we end up having to use them it would be a mission failure,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Considering the nature of the mission, that is kind of obvious,¡± replied Selia as they entered the cockpit. Settling into seats it wasn¡¯t long before the shuttle was cruising out of the shuttlebay. Slipping through the forcefield and into the void. Sali didn¡¯t take the shortest route to the SFS Battlehawk. Instead she took a scenic route around the fleet ships that were setting up anchor on the edge of the system. The route gave her time to get a feel for the shuttle. While Reia started up a conversation with Selia.
¡°She is much more responsive than the old one. I wonder how she compares with the 1204,¡± said Sali.
¡°Sounds like you want to be a test pilot. As for the 1204, she isn¡¯t as maneuverable or fast. Speaking of the 1204 a proposal was made yesterday for new refit of the fighter. The current design is basically the same as the originals from seventy years ago.. Even if the guns, armor and engines have been upgraded, those are the only improvements. Our design team thinks they can fit a few more guns on the frame, and beef up the powerplant. Some of the subsystems can be made smaller and more efficient, and think we can use the space to increase its ammo storage,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Well personally, I think it needs a couple of electro cannons. Those would help a lot against shielded craft,¡± said Sali as she thought back to her past. Remembering the videos of engagement footage shown before that battle in which she was captured. That however was a lifetime ago. Being captured though had been a good thing for her. If she hadn¡¯t she would not still have her youth nor would she have met her mate.
¡°Yeah Eri made the same suggestion, and we already mounted them on our other fighter models. Fighter mounted electro cannons have proven useful as well. So refitting the 1204 to mount them just makes sense,¡± said Countryman as the two got into a conversation on an upgraded variant of the SF-1204. Which continued until they landed in the Battlehawk¡¯s shuttlebay. By the time they were finished they had a pretty decent idea of what kind of upgrades they wanted to make to the 1204 starfighter. Its gun mounts would be increased from four to eight. With six particle cannons and two electro cannons. Extra space in the wings would be used to store an additional four missiles. While extra space in the main body would be used to carry an extra pair of torpedoes. Armor thickness would be increased slightly, so that it can take a bit more punishment. While the engines would be beefed up a bit to take advantage of the powerplant upgrade. With a clear idea of the upgrades wanted Countryman also started drawing up a blueprint while talking to Sali.
The shuttle passed through the forcefield and gracefully landed on the deck. Before they left the cockpit, Countryman showed Sali the blueprint their conversation had helped develop.
¡°It¡¯s not quite finished, and I¡¯ll have to ask other pilots their opinions. Still it shouldn¡¯t take too long to have a new fighter,¡± said Countryman.
¡°That¡¯s what they said about the 1205-B project. They expected it to take six months, it took five years,¡± replied Sali.
¡°Honestly it should have taken six months. The micro warp drive just added so many complications that it took years to fix them all,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°Out of curiosity, how much did you spend on developing this shuttle?¡± asked Selia.
¡°The 1205-B project totaled eight million Ration Credits from the fleet budget. Most of that on the warp drive, but the need for an auxiliary craft with a warp drive was the main reason the project wasn¡¯t shelved earlier,¡± said Countryman as they got up to leave the shuttle and greet Shiro and her crew.
¡°As I understand your economics, that sounds like over the course of five years you spent the equivalent of three city ships on developing this little shuttle,¡± said Selia.
¡°I see you looked into our ship costs, and it was four actually. Still the council and I were willing to spend upwards of twice that for the micro-warp drive feature alone. The advantages of warp-capable shuttlecraft are numerous. The biggest advantage is it increases the operating range of carrier launched craft. Which might I mention has numerous military and economic advantages. Asteroid mining is a decent example of the economic side of this. With a micro-warp drive our miners can simply travel towards a rich rock in shuttles without the need of a tender ship to get them back to the fleet in a timely manner. In fact I could sit here all day listing applications, but I won¡¯t,¡± said Countryman.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
¡°I¡¯m curious, what are some of the military advantages?¡± asked Selia. Sali had eagerly answered the question.
¡°Oh I can answer that. It has advantages in long range missions. In theory a fighter can dock with the 1205-B and then being taken through warp to its destination and released. Which is useful for certain mission profiles, such as a raid. It also allows you to more easily launch a surprise attack without being spotted. Since shuttles and fighters are far stealthier than a carrier,¡± answered Sali.
¡°I¡¯m sure if you think about it, you can find more, but Sali did a good job summing up some of the big ones. A couple things, she didn¡¯t list were the advantages in patrol missions, or applications to in field resupply missions,¡± said Countryman.
¡°You know I never really thought about the technology. Miniature Burst Drive technology has been around for so long that all small craft can have a burst drive. Now that I think about it though, you''re right. It does increase your fleet¡¯s flexibility tremendously by having smaller ftl drives that can fit on a shuttle. So in the long run it was likely worth the cost,¡± replied Selia.
¡°It was even the glitched version was a tremendous help on our cargo and mining shuttles,¡± said Countryman as they left the shuttle to the greeting ceremony. It was a simple and old ceremony dating back to old naval traditions. Officers in uniform on either side moving in unison. They walked past the group and stopped before captain Shiro. She was a small woman of clearly asian decent with a child-like figure. One oddity though was her white hair. Which was likely where she got her name. While she looked young, she was far older than she seemed. She was in fact born during the storm and was in her mid fifties with three children of her own.
¡°Good to see you again, Captain Shiro. How has the Battlehawk been treating you?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Good to see you as well, sir. She is a fine ship, and I haven¡¯t had any problems,¡± replied Shiro.
¡°Let¡¯s get to business. Set course for Mydori Prime,¡± said Countryman referring to the planet that was the homeworld of the Mydorian race.
¡°Already done, sir. I¡¯ll tell my helm officer that we can depart from the fleet,¡± said Shiro as she left. She made a brief request of a nearby officer to show her guests to a lounge so that they can relax on the trip to the planet.
Minutes later the Battlehawk gently accelerated and left the fleet formation. The hulk of the captured Cylovan cruiser was left behind in the middle of the fleet.
The president sat at the docks with her entourage waiting for the ambassadors from the Sol Refuge. She knew the fleet had stopped at the edge of the system and had anchored in a defensive formation around the largest ships in the fleet. One of their ships, a cruiser however had left the fleet and was now in orbit of the planet. The cruiser was a rather impressive ship, at a little over ¡®two kilometers¡¯ in length it dwarfed most ships in the union fleet. The union did have a few carriers of that size, and the flagship of the union fleet was just a bit larger than the cruiser. Size wasn¡¯t the most impressive thing about this cruiser, but the sheer amount of firepower they had managed to identify. Not an easy task, considering the fact that their sensors couldn¡¯t penetrate the alien hulls. They had managed to identify thousands of weapon mounts, making the ship heavily armed. As heavily armed as the ship was, she noticed the lack of escort as a diplomatic overture.
Outside the window she saw an alien shuttle enter her view, and settle on the pad. At the same moment she heard the alliance ambassador who had been invited to this meeting by her comment on the alien design.
¡°These aliens have some rather impressive ships. It''s a miracle that they can even cross the distance between star systems though,¡± said the ambassador.
¡°Huh? From what I have seen their ships look to be highly space worthy. How is their ability for interstellar travel a miracle?¡± asked the president. The ambassador gave her a look as if she was an idiot.
¡°I¡¯ll make it simple. All other warp drive using races I have seen use deflectors to protect the ship from translight impacts. Which I might add are a very common danger for warp ships. Our sensor data however clearly shows this race doesn¡¯t even use deflectors. It looks like their hull just absorbs the impacts somehow,¡± said the ambassador.
¡°Unfortunately, speculation won¡¯t get us anywhere with these aliens. If you''re that curious about how they do it, maybe you could ask them?¡± replied the president. Just as the door to the waiting area opened up, and three figures walked in. One of which she recognized as a Sylnari. Which explained how they knew to find her homeworld. The Sylnari must have told them. She also noticed that there was a difference in body shape and skin coloration between the two others. Which she guessed had to do with a difference in gender. Which was in fact only partially correct.
One of them the one with pale blue skin stepped forward. ¡°I¡¯m Reia appointed speaker for the Refuge. Behind me is Supreme Protector Countryman head of the fleet, and Selia our liaison from the Sylnari remnant,¡± said Reia. She guessed the term Supreme Protector was a fancy term for admiral or commodore based on the introduction, and then proceeded to introduce herself and colleagues.
¡°I¡¯m Talkeki President of Mydori Union, to my right is Ulari our Ambassador from the Alliance, and to the left is my advisor and aide Temuria. To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?¡± responded Talkeki
¡°We are here to trade, and maybe negotiate a peace treaty,¡± responded Reia.
¡°Would you happen to be interested in an alliance?¡± asked Talkeki trying to hide the hopefulness in her voice. An alliance with the Refuge looked attractive as they were clearly quite powerful.
¡°We are travellers and have little interest in long term entanglements. Not that you will really need an alliance with us. Assuming you can make use of what we want to sell. Care to lead us to a conference room? So that we can make a proper proposal?¡± said Reia. Talkeki found her interest peaked. It was clear that the girl was trying to build up hype for whatever they wanted to sell, but it sounded like they were offering something really good.
¡°Sure, this way,¡± answered her aide Temuria after being given a prompt from Talkeki. A conference room had been prepared not far from the landing pad, and reception so a few minutes later they were settled in the room. None of the chairs were particularly comfortable for the guests. Not being designed with them in mind, but they were general enough to work.
¡°Alright what exactly do you want to sell?¡± asked Talkeki.
¡°As I¡¯m sure you have noticed, we are in possession of a Cylovan cruiser. Her internals are actually in far better shape than her outer hull may suggest. Her shield generators are a mess, but there''s enough left that if you are willing to spend the resources you can salvage something from it. Her weapons array is in far better shape, and you can definitely use it to augment your own weapons technology. We have already stripped the ship of what components we deemed useful to us, but there''s still a large amount of tech left. We have also translated, decrypted, and copied the Cylovan database and are willing to include a copy of the data in our offer,¡± said Reia.
¡°How intact is that cruiser?¡± asked Ulari addressing Selia.
¡°From what I have seen of it, that statement is quite accurate. They did as little damage to it as possible when they disabled it,¡± responded Selia.
¡°So what exactly do you want in exchange for this cruiser?¡± asked Talkeki.
¡°We want large quantities of weapons grade protoplasma. Deuterium, titanium, silver, gold, .........¡± said Countryman as he read a long list of materials the fleet need for its R&D programs. Along with the materials needed for refitting its auxiliary craft. Than he handed over a written list with the exact quantities they wanted. It took Talkeki some time to decipher it but not as long as the last time, as she had experience with their poor understanding of written Mydorian. She found the quantities to be quite reasonable if the cruiser was in as good a condition as they claimed. Still some of the things they asked for meant she needed to ask what they wanted them for.
¡°I¡¯m going to have to ask what exactly is the protoplasma for?¡± asked Talkeki. Reia looked to Countryman and it seemed like they started communicating silently. After a few minutes she asked about it.
¡°They¡¯re telepathic. In fact they are having a rather extensive debate between themselves and their governing council right now on how much they are willing to reveal. Oh, looks like they just came to a consensus,¡± said Selia.
¡°We actually have a number of uses for it, but the big reason is we are working on a new weapon. Our previous encounters with the Cylovans has revealed that our torpedoes are of limited use against Cylovan armor. As such we have come up with a new type of torpedo warhead, but we need protoplasma for development and later production,¡± said Reia.
¡°Wait, you already have a design for a new weapon against the Cylovans? You met them what? A year ago?¡± exclaimed Temuria.
¡°Less than that, actually. Now what are your thoughts on our terms?¡±
¡°Not a bad start. I¡¯d be willing to increase the amount of protoplasma by an additional twenty thousand in exchange for your research notes on the cruiser,¡± said Telkeki. She considered asking for the new weapon they were developing, but rejected the idea. It was still in the developmental stage, and it remained to be seen how effective it would be. She was curious what the had in mind to use against the Cylovan armor, though.
¡°Thirty five and you have a deal,¡± said Reia.
¡°Twenty five,¡± countered Telkeki.
¡°Thirty our final offer,¡± said Reia.
¡°Deal, said Telkeki. The next couple hours were spent finalizing the agreement, and then the meeting moved on to other subjects, during which a non-aggression pact was formulated and signed by the parties involved.
Part Two Chapter XI Bold Raiders
¡°So was the ship worth what we paid for it?¡± asked Telkeki, as her engineering project leader returned from the inspection of the cruiser that the Refuge turned over.
¡°From what we have seen, very much so. In fact I think they gave us a good deal for it. Most of the weapons array is still intact, some of the weapons have been stripped. Our alien friends were very interested in the propulsion systems. The sublight engines, warp and hyperwarp engines have been stripped down to the bulkheads. The shield generators however are largely untouched. If we didn¡¯t have their notes, I could swear they ignored them. All they did with the wrecked generators was scan them and move on. However they did strip out a few force field generators. They also took several meters of the outer hull,¡± said the engineering leader.
¡°How long before you can get something useful out of this wreck?¡± asked Telkeki.
¡°I think we can adapt something from the weapons within the week. I think we can work out something better in about a month or two. I don¡¯t think we will need more than a couple million credits a year for this project,¡± said the engineering leader. Telkeki thinking of their current wiggle room in budget and the way the war was going was considering how much she was willing to give to the project.
¡°I think we can afford that. You¡¯ll have your funds before the day is out,¡± said Telkeki before leaving the room, her thoughts turning to her alien visitors. They had yet to leave the system as their fleet was still anchored at the edge. They were clearly busy experimenting with the protoplasma they had recently purchased. In the month since they had made their deal, her patrols had picked up an average of three protoplasma detonations in the vicinity of the Refuge Fleet a day. The first detonations had occurred about a week after they got the protoplasma. Each detonation more powerful than the last. She had a feeling they were making rapid progress in the development of those new torpedo weapons they mentioned. Thanks to the stealth devices they were using, it was hard to get any real data on the research the Refuge was conducting. The fleet was generating an energy field that disrupted long range scans. Her scientists suspected this energy field played a huge role in their ability to disappear. Not that they had any idea how it worked. The principles it worked on were beyond modern science. The only races she knew of with similar devices were the Sylnari, and another race called the Yulir. The Yulir were xenophobic, isolationists, and little was known about them. Other than the fact that their homeworld fell to the Cylovans a little over a century ago. She suspected that conquest played a large role in their isolationism and xenophobia.
Her thoughts were broken when sirens began going off. She quickly ran to the lift and ordered it to deposit her in the command center of the starbase. As soon as she was in the command center she asked someone who didn¡¯t appear to be busy what was going on.
¡°A large Rykoni raiding party just entered the system. They are attacking the station at Yugal, ma¡¯am¡± said the officer. She was understandably shocked. Pirates rarely had the audacity to attack systems as well protected as Mydorious. Yugal was one of the outer gas giants less than an AU from the Sol Refuge Fleet. The station in orbit was a major deuterium refinery producing sixty percent of the local deuterium supply. Because of this, the local refinery was a fortress. Eighty seven super heavy maser lance batteries, and two hundred maser banks were mounted on the station. Along with dozens of smaller anti fighter turrets and missile launcher platforms.
The station also had several large hangers where hundreds of fighters were based, and a number of defensive satellites were deployed around the area. While nearly fifty patrol cruisers were kept on station in the general vicinity. All to deter pirates and raiders. It was more than enough to thwart your typical pirate, but it wouldn¡¯t hold all that well against a dedicated military attack. However given the proximity, homeworld reinforcements could be there within an hour of the attack.
With a sinking feeling she asked, ¡°How big is this raiding party?¡±
¡°It looks like over a dozen local factions are working together. Roughly seven hundred ships,¡± replied the officer. While she wasn¡¯t a military officer she knew enough about the Rykoni to know how unusual a fleet that big was for them. A typical Rykoni faction had between forty to sixty ships, and would usually send no more than three quarters of their force against a target. It wasn¡¯t unheard of though for groups to work together, but usually no more than two or three factions at a time.
¡°I haven¡¯t heard any rumors of a new warlord. Check with intelligence. This sounds like we may have a new Rykoni Warlord on our hands,¡± said Telkeki. She did not relish the idea of a Warlord rising. The Rykoni were numerous, but were hampered by their poor ships and disunity. A warlord because of his strength could easily unite the factions, and a unified Rykoni force was not something they were prepared to deal with.
Countryman leaned back in his chair as he studied the monitor. They had just finished their latest test of the new AMF warhead type as it was being called. It was not the most accurate acronym, but it was one of the better sounding proposals. The latest AMF test had achieved a blast yield of 21 gigatons, an improvement of four gigatons over the last test. Right now they were conducting small scale explosive tests, with devices not much bigger than a grenade. The destructive results of the AMF explosives was not to be understated. Each test device had a small antimatter charge of just a few grams, surrounded by a densely packed casing of protoplasma. They had recently figured out how to compress the protoplasma into a liquid and then inject it into the casing. He was quite impressed with the latest test and authorized research into prototype warhead testing. They now needed a proper warhead design for the new explosive. He suspected they were just a month away from the new torpedo.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
He switched off the warhead research report, and started reading the report on the 1205-B. They had finished converting the original A models into the new B versions. Local warp tests had functioned as predicted, and the fighter warp tow had worked as predicted. They could now rapidly deliver fighters anywhere in the system, without having to move the fleet. As for the 1204-B, his engineers had refined the blueprints and were conducting simulated ship tests. So far no glaring flaws had appeared, and if things continue to go well, they would begin prototype manufacturing within a month. Honestly they had needed the 1204-B starfighter earlier, but they had been too busy with other projects. A major factor in why they had only gotten around to bringing their mainstay space superiority fighter into the modern era now.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door to his office. He closed the reports he was reading and signaled to the other person that they could come in. A second later, Selia walked into the room. Her tentacles pulling her along the floor, with practiced ease. ¡°Can I help you?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°I was just told that a Cylovan Dreadnought has been dispatched to this region of space,¡± said Selia.
¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind. As things currently stand though it would be best to avoid that ship,¡± said Countryman. He knew that a Cylovan Dreadnought could easily wipe out their entire fleet. The ship was easily faster than they were, and more importantly its sturdy hull plating made it invulnerable to their current weapons. Worse he doubted even the Enterprise could hold up under the guns of a dreadnought for long. Maybe an hour if they were lucky.
¡°I guess I can see that, but may I ask your reasons for avoiding the ship?¡± asked Selia.
¡°Until we finish developing our new torpedoes it would be best to avoid conflict with a dreadnought. Seeing as those dreadnoughts are too heavily fortified for our current weapons. Nothing we have can penetrate that armor. The shields on the other hand, we have a few tricks for bringing those down. We might be able to disable it temporarily, but that''s about it,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I see you have thought it through. Our own military officers wanted me to pass along the same recommendation,¡± said Selia. Before Countryman could respond the comm went off, and Greyman asked for his presence on the bridge.
¡°We can continue this later. Why don¡¯t you accompany me to the bridge,¡± Countryman said. The two left the office and walked down the short hall to the bridge, and entered on the upper level. Greyman was sitting in the captain¡¯s chair and got up to greet the captain.
¡°Sorry to disturb you, sir¡± said Greyman.
¡°You said something was going on with the Mydorians?¡±
¡°Yes, sir. We detected a large fleet come out of hyperspace from a node, about an hour ago. The Mydorians didn¡¯t listen to us when we mentioned it, but it wasn¡¯t heading for us so we ignored it. Five minutes ago, they attacked the nearby deuterium refinery,¡± said Greyman.
¡°Someone attacked the refinery? That place is a fortress!¡± said Selia.
¡°How is it holding up?¡± asked Countryman also surprised.
¡°They are holding up for now, but the defenses weren¡¯t designed with a fleet that large in mind,¡± said Greyman.
¡°What about the fleet? Do we know who we are dealing with?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Pirates or maybe a nomadic faction. The fleet is composed of junk piles, sir. Every single ship resembles junk welded together at random. It''s a miracle these ships are even spaceworthy,¡± said Greyman.
¡°Put it on screen, high magnification,¡± ordered Countryman. An instant later a battle entered view. Mydorian patrol cruisers and defensive installation were duking it out against alien ships, that frankly looked just as Greyman described. In fact the attacking ships looked to be worse than he described. Engines and weapon mounts clustered onto the hulls welded on in a haphazard manner. While some of the engines had leaky fuel lines running to them on the outside of the hull. There was no rhyme or reason with the weapon mounts either. The ships mounted everything from mass drivers and missiles to low yield laser cannons. Some turrets even mounted multiple guns, but not a single gun in the turret were of the same caliber. He even saw a few turrets that had one gun being a mass driver and the other a laser. He was getting a headache just looking at it.
¡°Whoever built those ships should be shot. No self respecting engineer would let those ships leave the junkyard the belong in,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Those are Rykoni ships. The Rykoni aren¡¯t very good with technology. They build their ships with whatever they can salvage. As for their better built ships, those were built by slaves,¡± said Selia staring at the monitor.
¡°I have heard a bit about them. The Cylovans had some data on them. The most notable thing is that the Cylovans want to exterminate them. Which is odd considering their normal behavior towards other races,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I don¡¯t blame them. We have an exterminate on sight policy ourselves. Frankly the Rykoni are nothing, but trouble. They are a race of pirates, who listen solely to the strong,¡± said Selia. Just as Misaki reported that they were receiving a distress call from the refinery.
¡°Send fighters and the Firebirds to assist,¡± ordered Countryman.
Chapter XII Pirate Battle Over Yugal
The ship shuddered as an energy blast raked the hull. Her deflector shields had been knocked out by a previous impact. The only thing protecting the crew now was a thin layer of hull plating. That wasn¡¯t intended to absorb energy blasts. Hell the ship wasn¡¯t even designed with combat in mind in the first place. They were a tanker, designed to transport large quantities of deuterium. The captain felt like panicking, and his crew were already panicked.
He didn¡¯t blame them, tankers were not known for their integrity under fire. Glancing at the indicator, it seemed the hyperdrive was taking an eternity to charge. It would be another five minutes before they could make the jump to hyperspace and escape, but he doubted they had the time. The cruiser firing on them was targeting their engines. Another blast shook the fragile ship, and one of the engines cut out. Along with that engine, several power conduits were severed and the jump out time was increased from five to eight minutes. He silently cursed his luck as he saw that on the indicator. He had no idea what to do about the ship firing on them. He had never been in a battle before, and his training for combat was very simple. If attacked while on a run, you are to jump out. The ship shuddered again, and someone at the sensor panel shouted, ¡°Sir! I¡¯m picking up hundreds of incoming warp signatures.¡±
Before he had time to register what that meant, the impacts against the hull stopped. An alien ship filled his view screen, her hull absorbing the impacts. The ship had a saucer like forward section that angled out and blossomed into swooping angled wings. At the end of each wing as a nacelle that had what looked suspiciously like massive cannons mounted on the fore of the nacelles. Well it was more like they were integrated into the nacelle. Every inch of the alien hull was covered with sturdy hull plating, and the ship was painted black and grey. Alien calligraphy could be seen printed on the hull in light grey text.
The alien ship, seemingly unaffected by the barrage of Rykoni weapon¡¯s fire rotated slowly. Its fore section slowly shifted into position, and when its fore was finally lined up with Rykoni cruiser she opened fire. A volley of blue energy bolts leapt across space and in an instant slammed into the cruiser. It shields held barely a fraction of a second, and then the bolts tore the hull apart. The cruiser reduced to an expanding cloud of dust in a fraction of a second.
The bridge of the tanker fell silent, and the crew stared at the screens, stunned. It was nearly a minute before someone broke the silence. ¡°Those were battleship guns on that frigate,¡± said someone in a shocked voice.
¡°Someone get a damage control team dispatched, and get us out of here. Now!¡± ordered the captain shaken the stupor off. He quickly had the crew under control and working to get the ship moving. Silently he had to concur with the assessment of what the alien frigate was carrying.
The base commander stared at his screens. Keeping his fleet in the fight against so many pirate ships was proving difficult. He had already received confirmation from fleet headquarters that a relief force had been dispatched from the homeworld. Unfortunately it would be nearly an hour before they arrive to relive the defense forces here at Yugal.
¡°Focus fire on the cruisers attacking the Saarni,¡± said the base commander. The Saarni was outnumbered and taking heavy fire, he was hoping to take some of that pressure of the ship, by focusing fire on her attackers. As the station gunners followed his orders one of his officers reported.
¡°Sir, long range tracking is picking up unusual activity from the Refuge fleet,¡± said his officer.
¡°Define unusual,¡± ordered the commander seeing he had time to figure out why his officer deemed this important.
¡°Their frigates have left their anchor points, and we are picking up fighter launches from four of the larger ships in the fleet. Sir, they are going to warp!¡± said the officer. He walked over and saw that all one hundred and four of the alien combat frigates had jumped into high warp. None of them were even bothering to hide their movements. Shortly after the frigates, he noticed more warp signatures as small craft accelerated to a lower warp velocity. In just under a minute eight thousand small craft warp signatures registered on his screen.
The frigates were the first to arrive and warped in near the civilian transports and tankers in the area first. Many of them warping in right in the line of Rykoni weapons fire. Their hull plating absorbing weapons fire intended for the civilian craft behind them.
¡°Looks like the Refuge decided to answer our distress call. Go get something together to thank them for their trouble,¡± said the base commander.
¡°Wouldn¡¯t the standard discount on a fuel purchase be fine?¡± said the officer.
¡°If we knew they would be doing business with us yes. In this case a gift of deuterium would be better,¡± said the base commander. The commander then turned his attention away from common courtesy, and towards the battle at hand.
The addition of one hundred and four ships to the line of battle helped things greatly. He walked over to the comm console and spoke with the communications officer. It would be best to synchronize operations with the newcomers. The ships they had brought while smaller than a patrol cruiser were clearly far more powerful. Their armor was easily capable of absorbing Rykoni weapons fire, and their own weapons were powerful enough to rip through Rykoni hulls and shielding with ease. The ships had already deployed themselves along the four main civilian traffic lanes. There were nearly seventy transport, tanker and freighter groups along the lanes. Some had as many as seven ships to a group, while others were on their own. The Refuge had given each group at least one ship to guard them. Some of the larger groups had two.
This shouldn¡¯t be too much of a problem, given the fact that the Rykoni Pirates had split up into distinct packs. Engaging ships and targets at their own discretion. Most of the larger packs were engaging his own Patrol Cruisers and fighter craft. While the smaller ship groups had split off to hunt down the civilian ships in the area. A couple had stayed near the edge of the combat area, and were guarding the Rykoni Pocket Carriers.
It didn¡¯t take long for his comm officer to establish contact with the Refuge Commander. A young alien female appeared on his screen. He found the appearance of the refuge aliens to be strange. ¡°I¡¯m Commander Yuto, in charge of this task force,¡± said Yuto introducing herself.
The commander introduced himself, and then said, ¡°I was hoping to coordinate our efforts,¡± said the base commander.
¡°I¡¯m going to keep my ships out here, and protect the civilians. I¡¯ll send some Firebirds your way as soon as some of these transports make the jump to hyperspace. You should have some extra fighter support in a few minutes when the first wave of fighters arrives,¡± said Yuto.
¡°Speaking of fighters, the Rykoni brought several pocket carriers that they are using to resupply their fighters. Anything you can do to take care of them?¡± asked the base commander.
¡°Not right away. I would risk putting civilians at risk. I¡¯ll have a few Eagles and Sparrows on the way, so I¡¯ll have them take care of the carrier group, when they arrive,¡± answered Yuto.
¡°I¡¯m not familiar with your designations. I¡¯m certain from context that Firebird refers to your frigates, so the other two must be fighter configurations,¡± said the base commander.
¡°The Eagle is a heavy fighter, and the Sparrow is a bomber. They are well suited for the task. I¡¯m going to let you redistribute your forces for protecting the base,¡± said Yuto as she signed off. He went about ordering a repositioning of several ships, to reinforce the line, and he took the opportunity to pull back a few of the more badly damaged patrol cruisers.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
The Patrol Cruisers were the backbone of his force, and he was hoping that his engineers would be able to quick patch some of the damage and get them back into the fight. The Mydorian Patrol Cruiser was a small ship of around 300 meters in length with twenty three decks. Outfitted with medium deflectors, and a balanced array of maser weapons and missile launchers they were well suited for engaging most pirate ships. Speaking of missiles he had missiles transferred to the docking ports, so that they could quickly supply these damaged ships, and use the launchers to help keep pirates off the base. The base deflectors could keep the ships safe from enemy fire.
She flipped a switch and the docking clamps holding her ship to the underside of the combat shuttle above her released. Slipping into space she joined up with her squadron. She had already received an in flight briefing on her mission. She and her fellow pilots were to engage the Rykoni Carrier group, and keep hostile fighters off the bombers so that they can sink the pocket carriers.
As she accelerated her Eagle Fighter, the 1205-Bs that had carried them here made the jump back to the fleet. She double checked her missile banks. The Eagle had her missile launchers mounted on the side of the hull instead of on the wings. A quick check confirmed she had sixteen missiles ready for engaging enemy ships. A quick look back confirmed her gunner was ready for action, and she joined up with her squadron. Moments before several crappy pirate fighters engaged their group.
The fighters looked like they were built from spare parts, and rusty metal. Still they were more consistent than the ships they were supporting. A quick scan showed they were all armed with rapidfire low energy lasers, and some of them carried missiles. Others carried an ion cannon instead of missiles. While a few had a pair of torpedo launchers slapped onto them. She broke formation with a wingman, and engaged on of the fighters. A quick burst of particle fire raked over her target, and scored a few grazing hits. The Pirate fighter attempted to shake her, but she was able to stick to it easily and adjust her aim. A second volley from her eight forward guns tore it apart in short order. She could hear the distinct sound of her aft turret firing as her gunner locked on to another fighter.
A series of bolts flew across her view and slammed into another alien fighter, as she maneuvered for an angle on a second fighter. A few red bolts flew past her, as a fighter opened up on her tail. A good number of bolts missed, and those that hit were easily absorbed by her sturdy armor. She rolled the ship a bit to give her gunner a better angle. Her gunner took full advantage of the opening and fired a short burst into the attacker. The fighter exploded in a small fireball. Just seconds before she got an angle on another fighter. A quick burst and the target was reduced to a cloud of dust. A quick check of the scanners showed that the remaining Rykoni fighters were breaking off.
The Eagle was heavily armed and had good armor, but she was not an interceptor. So she let the 1204¡¯s take care of them, and joined up with the rest of her squadron instead. As the squadron set course for the carrier group. Being decently fast on sublight, her fellow Eagles, and the Sparrows they were escorting did not take long to reach the carrier group.
Moving to block their path was a pirate gunship. She was of a decent size, and bristling with light guns and missiles. Clearly designed for engaging light ships and fighters. Her fighter was the first to get in the range of the craft. Dozens of missiles were targeted towards her, but a quick burst of countermeasures and an evasive roll of the ship allowed her to evade them. Then she lined up the fighter, and launched one of the four Photons her fighter was designed to carry. A blue burst ripped across space and a few seconds later slammed into the gunship. Her shields proved unable to block the torpedo. The resulting explosion claimed the shoddily built gunship.
Several more gunships, moved to engage them, as the carriers launched what fighters were ready to intercept their attack group. She and a wingman broke of to engage an enemy squadron while the bombers focused on engaging enemy ships. There were only around fifty ships to target, so she decided to allow the bombers to worry about the ships while she and her wingman focused on the fighters.
The base commander watched as the signatures of the carrier group rapidly blinked out. It was quite clear that the alien fighters were indeed well suited to the task. The shoddy construction of most Rykoni craft was clearly working against them. The other fighters had spread out across the field and were engaging fighters, and ships harassing the base. While also helping alleviate the pressure on the ships defending the civilians still on the field.
On the screen several freighters and transports made the jump to hyperspace, and the ships guarding them made a quick warp hop towards the base. That was something he was glad for. They were barely keeping the Rykoni off the base. As if to highlight his concerns, he watched the deflector shields of one of his patrol cruisers fail. Then several beams penetrated the hull near engineering. An instant later the ship went up in a large fireball. The Rykoni took full advantage of the opening, and a full raid party started barreling down on the base.
The Refuge Firebirds came out of warp not far from the position of the raid party. ¡°Tell those Firebirds to engage that raiding party,¡± said the base commander to his comm officer. Who dutifully went about her duty.
¡°They said they will take care of it,¡± said the comm officer. A quick check of the field, and he didn¡¯t see anything else that required his immediate concerns. So he turned to one of his engineers. Who he found chatting with his buddy about the alien fighters.
¡°No, that wouldn¡¯t explain their maneuvering. I¡¯m telling you they clearly must be using some kind of antigravity engine,¡± said one engineer. The other countered, ¡°They are clearly not antigravity engines. If they were we would be picking up the distinct emissions of said engine type. I¡¯m telling you they must be using some kind of pulsed energy wave.¡±
¡°Look, they clearly move as if they weigh less than half what they should. Only antigravity can explain that,¡± said the first engineer.
¡°What is the status on the damaged patrol cruisers?¡± asked the base commander. Ignoring the interruption the second engineer responded, ¡°No it doesn¡¯t. That is clearly some kind of mass nullification effect. They aren¡¯t moving like they weigh less than they should, they are moving as if they have less mass than they should, antigravity can¡¯t do that.¡±
The base commander repeated his question with more force this time.
¡°Oh yes the damaged ships? We have already patched what we can, but I would not recommend sending them into battle,¡± said the second engineer. The base commander turned back to his screens, and decided to leave the ships docked while making a mental note to fire those engineers.
He was just in time, to see the firebirds moving like graceful Birds of Prey swoop down on the raiding party. Their forward guns firing full force at the ships. The raiding party was composed of several cruisers, but the bulk were raiders. A light hull type about the size of a destroyer that is popular with pirates. The speed that raider hulls were renowned for meant little as the Firebirds were faster.
Blue bolts reliably slammed into ships from behind. Their weak shields were unable to protect their hulls. The bolts would then tear through the fragile hulls of the shoddily built vessels. Leaving fields of expanding debris in their wake. In a matter of minutes, all but one of the ships in the party had been destroyed. The only ship still holding out was one of the famous Rykoni ships that he recognized. The infamous Bloodbeak, a powerful Rykoni cruiser whose captain had a bounty of eight hundred million credits. He knew the ship was responsible for sinking and plundering millions of tonnes of commercial shipping on its own.
The Bloodbeak¡¯s decent shields absorbed a volley from the Firebird squadron as they shot past her. Her engines fired full force, and she brought herself about. As soon as she was angled for a broadside she opened fire with her starboard focused weapons array. 43 batteries of ion flak opened up. The ion bolts slamming into a few of the Firebirds with no apparent effect as they came about. At the same instant beam cannons raked the hull of the lead Firebird, her armor absorbing the energy.
The Firebirds opened up again as soon as they had an angle. This time the Rykoni shields couldn¡¯t take the barrage, and collapsed. Bolts slammed into the famous ship, ripping massive holes into her frame. The star frame shattered under the force of the impacts and the ship started drifting apart as she fell silent.
He turned back to his screens and found that the battle had decided to finish itself while he was distracted. There was still fighting going on, but the carrier group was sunk, and most of the civilians had already made the jump out of the area. Most of the Rykoni were in full retreat, and he was pleased to find that the Refuge ships were chasing them down. It was never a good idea to let the Rykoni return to wherever they came from. They loved a challenging fight, and would often come back in larger numbers. Wiping out the force would have the same effect, but at least it would take longer before the next force arrives. He had no doubt that fleet command would be dispatching ships to locate the base they launched from.
Chapter XIII Abandon Ship
Kulturos System 1744 hours, April 23rd 074 SDE:
Sirens blared in the background. Several fires had broken out in the room, and to the left a bulkhead had collapsed burying a bank of control consoles. A dead body could be seen half buried under the rubble. The visible legs twisted in impossible angles, and shattered bone sticking out from torn flesh. ¡°All hands abandon ship, repeat all hands abandon ship,¡± came over the speakers.
On the other side of the room the burned corpses of several crewman could be seen next to a collapsed wall. They had been incinerated when the wall exploded. The admiral took one last look at his destroyed bridge, and turned back to the exit. It hurt him greatly to be leaving the ship behind. This ship had been his flagship for nearly fifteen years. As he was leaving, he saw the alien dreadnought attacking the transports fleeing the battlezone.
He decided right then, that he wasn¡¯t going to abandon his ship, and ran to the weapons console. The maser cannons were offline, and the deflectors were gone, but several of the missile launchers were still functional. Well barely functional but they would do. The biggest problem was that the targeting sensors had been destroyed, along with most of the sensor array. The only sensors still functioning were the visual sensors. He checked the internal sensors and saw most of the escape pods had already launched. He ignored the warnings about the reactor being close to going critical, and the warning about the coolant systems having been fried.
A quick series of commands and he had the missiles manually looked on the massive ship. Hitting the fire button and the first volley was away. Green bolts streaked away from the ship and into space towards their target. The missiles slammed into a powerful energy barrier seconds later with little effect, as the admiral fired the second volley.
Again the missiles slammed into the ships shield for no effect, but this volley got the ship¡¯s attention and she changed course. Green beams lanced from the alien ship tearing any ship unfortunate to be in its path to pieces. The shift in direction, gave the transports a chance, and he saw the light of several of them make a hyperlight jump. Mere moments before the ship entered beam range of his crippled cruiser. Several beams lanced across space to strike his ship. As he hit a button. From a port under the ship, a single object was launched into space. Then the ship shuddered and his world went black.
One hour earlier:
The admiral sat back in his seat, as the ship slipped into normal space. They had been in hyperspace for weeks now. As always he found the odd realm unsettling, and reaching their destination was a welcome relief. His fleet had been escorting a large group of transports, carrying relief troops and supplies for one of the border outposts in the area. The Kulturos system was home to the largest military starbase in the sector. The base was nearly fifty kilometers across, and regularly hosted nearly two million souls. It was home to the primary strategic sensor array in the sector, and was responsible for maintaining and repairing ships assigned to defend the border. A defense fleet of three thousand ships was always on station to defend the base.
He was always impressed by the scale of the base every time they came out here. This was going to be the last time however. He was old, and it was beginning to show. At forty nine years of age he had lived longer than most Mydorians got to. His mind hadn¡¯t yet been affected by his advanced age. Still, he planned to retire before that happened. He wasn¡¯t going to stay in the field and risk lives because his mind started to go. He already had his retirement plan worked out. As soon as the supplies were delivered, he was going to transfer command of the fleet to his second in command, who will take the fleet to the neighboring Rydolis system. Their mission was to investigate the system. Unusual activity had been registering in the system, which is why his small fleet was here. While the fleet was investigating he was going to board a transport, and return home. He hadn¡¯t told his family so his arrival will come as a surprise.
He was brought out of his thoughts by a report from a crewman, ¡°Sir, the fleet is secure from hyperspace, but something is wrong.¡±
¡°Wrong!? Explain!¡± barked the admiral.
¡°Sir, the outpost was supposed to update our flightplan on exit. We have received nothing from the outpost, nor are picking up much of anything from the outpost,¡± said the crewman.
¡°Put the outpost onscreen,¡± ordered the admiral. The crewman instantly ran to his console and imput a few commands. The viewscreen instantly refocused onto the outpost. What he saw was a shock. The outpost was still there, but it was clearly dead. Entire sections of the massive outpost had been blown apart. Huge rents were open in the hull. Leaving what was left open to space. The shattered hulks of thousands of ships could be seen forming a ring around the ruin starbase. Some of the ships he recognized, including several larger carriers. Their husks split in two. They also had huge rents in their hulls, and shattered metal floated in the void between husks. Every single wreck was dark, with no evidence of power. He doubted there would be survivors, but he ordered a scan anyway.
The scan only confirmed his fears, the base had been destroyed with all hands. Not only that, but every single ship stationed here was accounted for. However a large number of escape pods had been revealed to have launched after the attack. Escape pods were short range craft, not capable of interstellar travel. So it didn¡¯t take long to locate them. They had crashed on the only planet in the system capable of supporting life, if barely. The planet was just a tad too close to the system primary. As a result much of her surface was covered in desert, and she had little in the way of surface water. Beneath the surface on the other hand, the planet had countless underground lakes, and rivers. Thanks to the fact, that most of the desert was covered in porous rock. Rocky deserts like this one were not unheard of. Its poor habitability was the main reason it had never been colonized.
The presence of the pods, and the life signs meant their were some survivors on the planet. He hoped the survivors would be able to shed light on what happened here. ¡°Put the entire fleet on high alert. Whoever did this may still be in the area. Start recharging the drives, and set a course for Kulturos II. Have teams and shuttles readied to rescue survivors,¡± ordered the admiral. His crew quickly set about to carry out his orders. The fleet soon set course for the planet.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!
1722 Hours:
The fleet sailed smoothly into orbit. So far they had seen no sign of the alien attacker, but their continuous scans had revealed who the attackers were. They had picked up energy signatures left behind that indicated that the Cylovans had attacked the outpost and destroyed it. It wasn¡¯t the first time they had lost a major outpost to a Cylovan attack, but usually the outpost got out a message before it went down. Something that his fleet would have received even in hyperspace.
The fact that they hadn¡¯t received anything was concerning. It meant that the attack was swift, and implied that they were jamming transmissions. So far they hadn¡¯t seen any Cylovan ships, but that didn¡¯t mean there weren¡¯t any in the area. Given how fast their ships were, one could show up at anytime, and without the strategic array, they would never see it coming. His flagship just didn¡¯t have the sensors for tracking ships in interstellar space. Sure her sensors could see a couple parsecs out easily enough, but in interstellar terms that was nothing.
¡°We are in a stable orbit, sir,¡± reported a crewman. He was about to give the order to send shuttles to the surface, when a Cylovan ship suddenly filled his view in a flash of light. It was absolutely massive. Bigger than any ship he had ever seen before. Easily twice the size of a battleship. He didn¡¯t even have time to give a simple order before the ship opened fire. A green beam lanced out from the alien sphere, and bisected an unfortunate destroyer. At the same moment a frigate that was too close to change course slammed into an energy barrier and exploded.
¡°All hands battlestations! Shields up, evasive manuevers¡± yelled out the captain responsible for his ship and his second in command. He gave some quick orders to the fleet. ¡°All ships, hold off that dreadnought so that the transports can escape. All ships be ready for an emergency jump out on my order,¡± ordered the admiral. He was under no illusions that his fleet could take out this dreadnought. It was bigger and better equipped than the battleship, and even on its own a battleship would have likely annihilated his small fleet. He suspected this larger cousin was responsible for the wreck that the outpost now was. Which made it even more imposing a foe given how complete the devastation was.
The ships rapidly formed up into a battle formation. His flagship positioned itself in the middle line, and all the ships opened up with volley after volley of maser and missile fire. None of which was proving effective against its energy shield. Not that he needed it too. He just needed to distract the ship long enough for the transports to escape into hyperspace.
The alien ship responded with more energy beams, that sliced across space with deadly intent. He was surprised to see the ship wasn¡¯t launching fighters. He had never seen a Cylovan ship not fight seriously, and he doubted this ship didn¡¯t have fighters. One thing he knew from fighting them for so many years was that all their ships were carriers. Each beam that sliced across space struck a ship with unerring accuracy. Some of the smaller ships were destroyed outright by the beams, while larger ships thanks to their more powerful deflectors could absorb a hit or two.
¡°We can¡¯t take too many hits like those,¡± commented a crewman just before the admiral gave an order to try and blind it''s sensors. He didn¡¯t think that would work for long, but it would buy them a few minutes at best. Which is all he really needed to ensure their escape.
Several of the ships following his orders let out an energy pulse that blinded sensors, and sure enough the Cylovan guns were affected. Several beams lanced out into space, a few missing their targets by the slimmest margins. He gave a few new orders, and the formation changed into one he hoped would help buy them more time.
Suddenly a beam struck his flagship, and the entire ship shuddered under the force of impact. A wall exploded in a shower of flame, the crewman manning the nearby consoles were showered in metal debris and flame. They were dead, their bodies burning before they even hit the floor. On the opposite side of the bridge, a bulkhead collapsed crushing the unfortunate crewman under it. The screens went dark, and he could hear a terrible screeching sound coming from somewhere. The lights flickered, and then an eerie silence followed as the screeching stopped. It took him a moment to realize the familiar hum of the engines was gone.
¡°Status report!¡± barked the captain.
¡°Hull breaches all decks, main engines offline. Deflectors are gone. Maser banks are down, and crap! The main reactor is going critical,¡± said the crewman by the engineering station.
¡°Shut it down,¡± ordered the captain. The crewman input a few commands, and then an error popped up on his screen.
¡°The reactor control system has been damaged. It isn¡¯t recognizing my commands,¡± reported the engineer.
¡°How long do we have?¡± asked the captain.
¡°Twenty five minutes, sir,¡± said the engineer. The admiral figured they could probably fix it, but the ship had taken too much damage. The captain looked up to him, and he knew she had reached the same conclusion.
¡°Abandon ship,¡± ordered the captain. The next few minutes were a blur. As the others were running for the escape pods he stayed behind on the bridge. Using the comms to try and desperately keep his fleet alive long enough to get out of the gravity well and make the jump to hyperspace. Most of the fleet went down however, despite his best efforts. Finally as the fleet was mere seconds from breaking free of the gravity well, he turned to leave. Stopping briefly to survey his bridge.
It was time to leave. He had precious few minutes before the reactor overheated, and claimed the ship. Then he noticed, as if to spite his efforts, the Cylovan dreadnought started firing on the transports he had been desperately protecting the entire time. At that moment he decided he wasn¡¯t going to leave. He did the only thing he could think of to save the transports. He ran to the weapons console. The masers had been disabled, by the earlier attack, but the missiles were still functional.
He was a little irritated to find that he was forced to manually target the missiles, but he did so anyway. As soon as he had his lock he fired his first volley. Green streaks sailed across space to strike the alien shields for little effect. Then a second, before he got the ship¡¯s attention.
The ship changed course for his floating wreck. Which to his great relief gave the transports the opportunity they need. Several transports made the jump to hyperspace mere seconds before the alien dreadnought entered beam range of his crippled ship, and opened fire. Several beams lanced across space, and with a shudder his world turned dark. A beacon that he launched seconds before the impact recorded the final moments of his ship, and its sensors picked up a number of other transports, along with a few damaged combat ships make the jump to hyperspace. Most of the fleet remained, as an expanding ring of debris and broken ship hulks.
Chapter XIV The Council Convenes
The Union President and her entourage waited patiently before the doors. They had arrived a little early, and the people they were here to see weren¡¯t quite ready. The dim waiting room was something to get used to, but the halls were also flooded with constant smell of alien sex and pheromones. It was subtle, but very noticable to her sensitive nose. She suspected that they had arrived in the middle of mating season or something similar. Of course there was also the possibility that these aliens were highly promiscuous. Her race was well known for being quite active sexually. Their short life span contributed greatly to that.
She was also aware of an electronic humming sound coming from the room next door. She wasn¡¯t sure what the sounds were, but they sounded similar to tools in use in the union. She suspected that they were doing last minute maintenance, and alterations on the meeting chamber. Guarding the door to the chamber was a pair of formidable looking guards. The two guards were wearing full body armored suits complete with a rather intimidating helmet. Since landing everyone she had seen had been wearing these armored suits. She had not seen anyone that looked like worker.
Around the corner came a familiar looking alien. It was the Sylnari liaison to the Sol Refuge. She remembered meeting her before. She idly recalled that the girl was named Selia. Breaking from her entourage she intercepted the alien female, ¡°What are you reading?¡± asked Telkeki referring to the pad in her hand that she was reading from.
¡°Refuge history. I¡¯m reading about something they call the ¡®Era of Fools.¡¯ Given what they have to say about the period I don¡¯t blame them. Anyway, I was told that the Elder Council was about ready to convene for this meeting,¡± said Selia.
¡°Yes, I heard that we were meeting directly with their governing body, but they didn¡¯t tell me much about them,¡± said Telkeki. Who was wondering why said body was here, and not back on their homeworld, or a major capital world.
¡°They are ruled by a council of nine indivduals. Those individuals being the Supreme Protector, The council head, and the seven seats. As near as I understand it, these are lifetime positions. As a group, they are the people who decide the course of the Refuge,¡± said Selia.
¡°So why is the council here and not on say their homeworld?¡± asked Telkeki.
¡°They actually kind of told you. Remember they told you that they are travellers?¡± responded Selia. Suddenly Telkeki made the connection, and exclaimed, ¡°Wait! Are you saying they are nomadic!?¡±
¡°They are,¡± said Selia.
¡°Their ships are in much better shape than most of the nomadic groups I have seen. Then again most nomads aren¡¯t as advanced as this group seems to be,¡± said Telkeki. While her thoughts drifted to the few nomadic races they had treaties with. They had trade treaties with three different nomadic races that made their home in the Orilias Belt, a region of space whose nearest point was just fifty lightyears from this system. The belt itself was huge, over a thousand lightyears across. It was notorious for its navigational hazards. Mostly Ion Storms and nebulas. Nothing all that dangerous really, but enough that people preferred to avoid the region. Although, even more dangerous anomalies had been reported in the deeper, uncharted parts of the belt. Didn¡¯t keep everyone out of the region however. The place was home to a few colonies, several nomadic fleets, and a few pirate enclaves. The nomads in the area were well known for being terrific space combatants and engineers. Needed to be in order to keep their fleets of aging ships working, and they often fought the local pirates. The nomads were the only people who could reliably navigate the belt, and as such they made large profits moving goods through the belt.
During their travels in the belt, the nomadic tribes would pick up exotic goods. She didn¡¯t know where they came from, but they did sell well in local markets. Some of them had proven useful for a secret project they had been working on.
¡°Yes, they do seem to know a thing or two about deep space construction and maintenance,¡± said Selia as the door was opened. A young girl stepped out her eyes seeming to glow slightly in the dim light that seemed normal here.
¡°The Elder Council is ready for you, Madam,¡± said the girl. She gave the racial equivalent of a smile, and thanked her. While checking her timepiece, an old family heirloom that she always kept with her. The time indicated revealed that it was now the original agreed on time for the meeting.
Following the girl into the room, she found a decently sized chamber. A large table dominated the middle of the room, on the opposite side of the chair were nine seats occupied by nine aliens. The one in the middle in the most elaborate seat was one she recognized, it was the Supreme Protector Countryman that she had met before. To his right was an alien male she didn¡¯t recognize. He was a rather intimidating looking male, but she had no idea how old he was. To his left was an alien female that she didn¡¯t recognize.
Opposite the aliens were nine seats clearly placed for her entourage. She had not brought that many advisors with her however. She had brought with her only two advisors with her, and this time the Alliance ambassador wasn¡¯t with her. She took a seat in the center chair, and introduced her aides before moving on to the main subjects. The aides she had brought with her was Temuria, who had been in the last meeting, and a new girl named Setalius. The council in kind, introduced themselves. She learned that the man on the right was the council head and was named Richard Greyman. The woman on the left of Countryman was the First Seat Eriko Dykes. The others also introduced themselves by their seat and in order. The Second Seat was a woman named Ruri, who was also apparently their chief scientist. The Third Seat was a formidable looking man named Ashley Drakes, she didn¡¯t learn what his area of expertise was. Fourth Seat was filled by a small female named Misaki. While next to her was the Fifth Seat, another female named Megumi Richards. The last two seats were also filled by women. A Kaori Airi and Samantha Greyman respectively. She was beginning to suspect a trend towards matriarchy in this race.
¡°I wanted to thank you for your aide with the Rykoni Pirates personally. Also, one of the pirate ships you sank had a substantial bounty on it,¡± said Telkeki.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
¡°A bounty? That¡¯s actually quite nice, and will help our annual budget. So how much was that bounty?¡± responded Countryman.
¡°Eight hundred million credits,¡± answered her aide Temuria.
¡°That should get us a fair amount of useful materials. I have several projects that could use some new materials,¡± said Ruri throwing in her two cents.
¡°We can make decisions on what to do with the bounty later. For now, I think our guests have other things to say,¡± said Greyman.
¡°Yes, we recently had an encounter with a new type of Cylovan ship. The encounter happened a little over a week ago. Fortunately a few ships managed to escape, but they only informed us of the battle a few hours ago,¡± said Telkeki.
¡°I¡¯m guessing you wanted to warn us about this new ship? Or something along those lines?¡± asked Airi. None of the others seemed sure why it was mentioned either. Which did make her feel a little better about these telepaths.
¡°Not quite. Eliminating the Rykoni fleet was good, but if we don¡¯t destroy the source they will return. Both the Union and the Alliance have outstanding bounties on Rykoni ships and Enclaves. We need to move the bulk of our fleet to deal with this new ship, and close the front it is opening. So I wanted to ask if you would be willing to look for those bases these ships came from,¡± said Telkeki.
¡°Finding the bases they came from? That can be done easily enough, but it does cost a fair bit. We would need to be sure the cost matches the reward,¡± said Countryman.
¡°We are willing to offer fuel and a few scout ships to help,¡± offered Telkeki.
¡°We won¡¯t need the scout ships, but the fuel will help,¡± said Drakes.
¡°Why won¡¯t you need the scout ships? Surely a few extra ships could prove helpful?¡± asked Setalius. Telkeki was curious as well, but didn¡¯t think asking was appropriate.
¡°No offense, but our ships are faster and our sensors are superior. Vastly superior to yours in fact. In fact our sensors have better resolution, and are more compact than the ones we found on that cruiser we sold you,¡± said Drakes.
¡°Superior is a bit of an understatement, Drakes. He is right however. Our ships have a higher FTL cruise speed, and are also faster on sublight than your ships. Combine that with better sensors, and finding a few pirate bases won¡¯t be that hard. It would be helpful if we had an idea of where to look however,¡± said Ruri.
¡°Normally we would start with the Orilias Belt. It is a region of space just fifty lightyears from here. It is well known for its navigational hazards, which keeps most people out of the area. However it is also home to a few colonies from the more adventurous sort, and pirate enclaves. You may even encounter a few nomadic fleets while out there. Space nomads are often friendly, and their constant travel leads them to acquire exotic goods. Just don¡¯t get into a fight with them. Their ships maybe old, but they are the fiercest space combatants in known space,¡± said Telkeki.
¡°I would say so. Few things can be as fierce as people defending their homes. Anyway about this new ship you encounter anything you care to share about it?¡± commented Countryman.
¡°The ship is twice the size of a Battleship, and while it didn¡¯t launch fighters it likely has some. We are still searching the database from the Cylovan cruiser for a match,¡± said Telkeki.
¡°A Dreadnought! The ship is in that database. I¡¯m not sure your fleet would be able to sink one of those. The shields alone would give you a great deal of trouble,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Not with normal equipment, but we do have a few pieces in reserve. They were meant for use against a battleship, but we think they will help against a dreadnought,¡± said Telkeki.
¡°So I assume you mean you have more battleships like the one we saw in orbit of your homeworld,¡± said Countryman. Telkeki was slightly surprised about the mention of the battleship. They had deliberately kept it out of sight and powered down so that it wouldn¡¯t draw attention. The ship was one of several that resulted from the ongoing secret project that was fueled by exotic materials purchased from nomadic traders.
¡°Most aren¡¯t that big, but we do have similar ships yes,¡± said Telkeki as Countryman pressed a few buttons and a holographic representation of the mentioned battleship appeared.
¡°Ships like this one would stand a much better chance if have enough of them. The weapons are most intriguing to us. Instead of your typical maser cannons, this ship is outfitted with far more powerful Particle cannons instead. Ones that we noticed are very different in design from ours,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Yes, we noticed you use particle weapons. Our particle weapons are fairly new tech, and the result of a collaborative project with the alliance. Unfortunately they require an exotic mineral that is rather difficult to obtain in significant quantities,¡± said Telkeki.
¡°May we have a sample of this exotic mineral?¡± asked Ruri.
¡°We could give you a sample, but why do you want it?¡± asked Telkeki.
¡°Much of our tech uses an exotic material called Rydium. Natural sources are rare, so we synthesize the material. We may be able to synthesize this one as well, and if not, our sensors can help find new sources for you,¡± answered Ruri.
¡°Out of curiosity, what exactly do you use Rydium for?¡± asked Setalius. Her expression indicating that her scientific curiosity had been piqued.
¡°Rydium is primarily used in propulsion, but it also has applications in armor, and weaponry,¡± said Ruri.
¡°Yes, a number of engineers and scientists have been baffled by how your engines work. They have so far been unable to determine how your ships move,¡± said Setalius.
¡°Well, much of that is classified, but I can give a basic explanation. Our engines use a Rydium core to produce exotic energy waves that are in turn responsible for thrust,¡± said Ruri.
¡°Back to the main topic. You want our aide for locating pirates, so that you can focus on the dreadnought, correct?¡± said Countryman getting the topic back on track before the two scientists in the room took things too far.
¡°That pretty much sums things up,¡± said Telkeki.
¡°You offered to cover our fuel costs, and mentioned an active bounty on these pirates. In addition to the bounty and fuel we would like access to some derelicts scheduled to be scrapped,¡± said Countryman.
¡°For weapons testing right? If that is the case, we agree,¡± said Telkeki.
¡°That is correct. Live targets will be useful for testing our prototypes when they are ready,¡± said Countryman.
¡°In that case, let''s draw up the contract,¡± said Telkeki. The next couple hours were spent, writing up a contract, and refining the terms. Having already worked out the basic items, it was merely determining the specifics. As soon as it was signed and both sides had a copy, she headed back to her shuttle with her entourage.
Chapter XV Entering the Orialias Belt
Captain¡¯s Log May Tenth, 074 SDE,
We have recently accepted a contract to hunt pirates in the vicinity of the Mydorian Homeworld. The Mydorians have told us that many pirates have hidden bases in the Orialias Belt. As such we are now enroute to the Orialias belt, but I have also deployed task forces ahead of the main fleet to scout things out. Their task is to locate these bases, so that we can later take them. I¡¯m planning on using ground troops on any base I find. The Mydorians have graciously given us a database of wanted pirates, which will help with collecting their bounties. These pirates will also make a great test of our ground forces. We even have a couple of toys that haven¡¯t been used outside of a mock battle.
Also on the agenda is to keep an eye out for an exotic mineral that the Mydorians use in their more powerful ships. Our reasons are twofold. First finding new sources of the mineral would help the Mydorians and their allies in fighting the Cylovans. More importantly our own science department is interested in the mineral as well. Ruri already has a few ideas for it, that may enhance our energy weapons. Apparently, the mineral has a few interesting properties that are useful in energy weapons. We would need a larger sample to learn more about it however, and it certainly warrants some looking into.
As Countryman was finishing his log, there was a ding from the doorbell. He signaled that it was okay to come in and Selia their liaison from the Sylnari Remnant came in. She closed the door behind her and silently took a seat before she spoke.
¡°I hear that the Union is heading out to fight a dreadnought,¡± said Selia.
¡°Yes they are,¡± confirmed Countryman.
¡°I¡¯m sure you have run simulations by now. Can they win, or will I have to ask my people if they can spare a ship to help?¡± asked Selia.
¡°We have a few unknowns that we had to make assumptions on. It really depends on how many ships they have like that battleship they tried to hide from us. We aren¡¯t sure of the exact yield and fire rate of their particle cannons, but we were able to make a few educated guesses. Based on the design, we suspect the cannons can punch through the heavy armor on the Enterprise, and so they should have no trouble punching through Cylovan armor which is almost as tough. If they have enough ships then yes, they can win. Ten of those battleships should be capable of taking on a dreadnought almost evenly. However they will need forces to screen them from Cylovan fighters, and to keep the dreadnoughts guns off them. The real problem they will face is that their deflectors are less than sufficient for protecting against those guns,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Knowing the Mydorians their admirals would be lucky to get half that number in a fleet. So they would have a larger complement of light ships. Anyway, those cannons must be pretty good. As your hull plating is the most impressive I have seen outside the Remnant, but I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if you have ideas to improve it,¡± said Selia.
¡°Actually we have hit a bit of a roadblock in armor development. We are nearing the limits of our current hull material. Titan Alloy just simply can¡¯t be made much tougher than it is already. We are however looking into new materials. Neutronium actually shows a great deal of promise, but we can¡¯t actually produce the stuff. So instead we have been working on developing new synthetic polymers,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I have an idea, but what exactly did you mean by can¡¯t be made tougher than it already is?¡± asked Selia.
¡°We simply can¡¯t reinforce the material any more than we have with structural integrity fields. However that doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t make the hull tougher. Better materials are a must, but improving the AIF and other components could help us last longer in battle. Honestly we need better weapons, more than we need improved armor however. So most of our ongoing research at the moment is focused on improving our firepower,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I know about the torpedo warhead project, but are you saying there are others?¡± asked Selia.
¡°Why, yes. Most are classified, but we do have several projects for improving our particle weapons as well. Ruri has been working on creating a miniaturized beam weapons array for some time now. Which you may have heard about, and if not you might have heard mention of something called the LPC project,¡± said Countryman. Selia thought for a couple of moments, before recalling a conversation she had heard in the hallway. Not that it was very illuminating.
¡°Yeah, I heard a couple of things in passing, but nothing concrete. What is this LPC project anyway?¡± asked Selia.
¡°It is a light ship design project. It is Ruri¡¯s little pet project, and while it is still a fair way from completion last I heard, it is something we could use. The ship she is working on is intended for patrol and scouting missions. In fact it would be nice if we had it now,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Maybe I can help. I¡¯m not an engineer or anything, but a fresh perspective can solve problems,¡± said Selia.
¡°Trying to get more information on it I see. Let¡¯s go on a walk and see if she would like the help,¡± said Countryman. Selia showed a bit of surprise, as she had not expected that to actually go anywhere.
They found Ruri down in her lab near the starboard hanger bay. Centered in the middle of the lab was a long and sleek hull that Selia had not seen before. She was near a computer, looking over the results of a simulation.
¡°Hey, captain. I was just about to send for you,¡± said Ruri.
¡°You were?¡±
¡°I finally managed to solve my little problem. The LPC is finally ready for a test flight. I just hope the crew forgives me for the cramped corridors and limited living space,¡± said Ruri.
¡°What do you mean by cramped?¡± asked Selia as Countryman started looking over the hull. The ship was about sixty meters long which made it a bit on the small side as corvettes went.
¡°Those beam cannons were quite a challenge to mount in a full array. My current prototype has most of the internal space devoted to critical systems. Had to, since the beam array and its associated subsystems took up a good quarter of the available space. The ship has only one and a half decks. The main deck has four rooms. The bridge, engineering, the cargo bay, and crew quarters. The lower half deck is the armory, and is where the ships bombs and torpedoes will be stored. The living quarters are actually quite minimal. The crew will be sharing a single multipurpose room during missions. The bath has been attached in a small sub-room, and the corridors are more like tubes than hallways. Still bigger than an access tube though, but that doesn¡¯t mean everyone can walk in them upright. I did make sure that people could walk upright in the main areas though,¡± said Ruri.
¡°What is the intended crew complement?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Thanks to onboard computers, I was able to minimize crew size. She has an intended crew of twelve. A five man bridge crew including the captain, two engineers in the engine room, and five gunners for the turrets. However she is designed to carry twenty people, so you can safely place eight marines onboard,¡± said Ruri.
¡°That low crew requirement will be a big help. I¡¯ll get some people together for a test flight, and I¡¯ll make sure that they know who to complain to about the ship¡¯s internal layout. So what exactly is she carrying anyway?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°For protection she carries five meters of Overlord plating, latest generation. I also loaded her with a stealth field generator, and radiation shields. Unlike our fighters, she actually can support an energy web matrix so she also carries an energy web generator. So she can take a few hits, and is not as vulnerable to missiles as a fighter.
For weapons, the ship carries eight forward particle cannons. Along with two cutting beam arrays, and an electro cannon array. Five light turrets have been mounted on the ship, and each turret mounts dual particle cannons, and a beam cannon. She has four bomb/ torpedo ports mounted on the underside and space to carry upto forty bombs or torpedoes.
Thanks to her main role as a patrol and scout ship, I have given her a rather impressive little sensor array. Despite her small size she has a sensor range and resolution comparable to the larger Saber class destroyers. Very few ships will be able to escape her notice.
The ship is not intended for long term missions, and as such the only medical capabilities she will have are those that can be packed into a first aid kit. She can carry enough supplies to last a crew of twenty people two months, and fuel for three months. Propulsion is achieved by twin set of Tri-core Particle Pulse Wave engines. Which gives her enough speed to outrun most ships in the fleet, only the Twelve O Four Starfighter is faster than this ship. She also has her own Micro-warp drive, a beefed up version of the drive used on the 1205-B that will give her a cruise speed of warp five instead of the warp four that the B is stuck with,¡± said Ruri.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
¡°Guess that means my offer of help was completely unnecessary,¡± said Selia quietly.
¡°Actually if you want to help, I do have something that could use another perspective,¡± said Ruri as she moved to a console. A second later a series of images came up on a nearby screen. Including video of an orange red energy beam being fired against ships that Selia didn¡¯t recognize. The ship using the weapon was also unfamiliar.
¡°What is this, and whose ships are those?¡± asked Selia.
¡°This is sensor data from a battle between two different alien races. The Krall and the Valorians. The point of interest is the weapon the Krall destroyer is using in the battle. It is a coherent beam of plasma. We have been attempting to adapt the alien technology to our own particle weapons technology for nearly seventy years with limited success. Our current weapons have not yet achieved the same level of coherency, or power. We have been trying to create a truly coherent phased particle stream for decades, but limited resources has slowed our research,¡± said Ruri.
¡°In other words you have been working on a particle laser?¡± said Selia looking for confirmation.
¡°That is an apt if imprecise description. Then again, a few of our scientists have started calling them phasers. A term they borrowed from an old scifi series. You can find it in the database under the historical scifi section. It was called Star Trek, and it gives some rather fascinating insights in how our ancestors thought our time would be like,¡± said Ruri.
¡°Maybe worth taking a look, if I¡¯m ever bored. So why did they choose to call them phasers?¡± asked Selia.
¡°Well the official term for what we are working on is phased particle weapons, and the Krall are using what we call phased plasma weapons,¡± said Selia as she began explaining the term. At the same moment Countryman found the hatch into Ruri¡¯s Prototype.
The hatch led straight to the bridge. In the center of the bridge and raised slightly above the rest of the bridge was the captain''s chair. Four large view screens dominated the front of the bridge, and in front of the view screens were fitted four consoles. Placed against the trapezoidal frontal walls. The two consoles on the front wall were clearly the helm, and weapons console. The one on the left angle wall appeared to be the operations station. Where communications and sensors among other things would be handled, and the last console was an engineering display. It was clearly linked to the engine room in the back, and would allow the bridge crew to access the general condition of the ship. Lockers built directly into the walls took up the rest of the free space on the walls. Countryman even noticed that the floor plates hid access panels to the electronics under the floor. Opposite the airlock he entered from was another airlock. He found a single door the led to the crawlway that Ruri mentioned at the rear of the bridge. He had to hunch over to proceed, but there was room enough for a shorter person to walk normally.
Halfway down the corridor he came across an intersection, and decided to head left. Which quickly led him to the cargo bay. The large storage room was currently empty, but he did note the layout was up to current standards. Against the wall facing the rear of the ship were several large containers marked auxiliary fuel storage. A number of lockers were also placed against the walls for storage. The outside wall turned out to be a large airlock door, which would allow easy loading and offloading of supplies and equipment directly into or off the ship.
Having checked out the cargobay he headed back and went down the other path. Which led to the living quarters on the port side of the ship. At first glance it looked to be an empty room, but a console near the door revealed the secret. Furniture was stowed in the floor, including a popup kitchen module and a lounge area. The beds were stowed in the walls, and controls could be used to deploy them from the walls. There were ten beds on either side of the room with just enough space between them for an average sized person to walk between them. Near the front of the room were two doors in addition to the exit, the one on the left towards the rear of the ship turned out to be a locker room. Obviously intended for the crew to stow their belongings, such as their clothes.
The other door led to the bathroom. It contained a large tub/shower combination in one section, and several toilets in the next. There were five toilets placed in small stalls that were barely big enough to fit the toilet and a person. Opposite the stall was placed five sinks, and a mirror. He didn¡¯t stay long and went to check out the engine room.
The engine room was at the end of the central corridor. It was a small circular room. Most of the walls were covered with banks of monitoring consoles. Surrounded by banks of consoles the center of the room was dominated by the ship¡¯s main reactor core. The large cylindrical reactor was currently dormant, and the familiar hum of an active reactor core was notably absent. On either side of the entrance he found hatches that led to the ship¡¯s maintenance access tunnels. Which were small, and cramped. A technician would have to crawl their way through, but there was nothing unusual about that. The one¡¯s on the Enterprise were the same way. Behind the reactor core, he found a gap in the consoles that allowed a ladder to be placed against the rear wall. Hatches were placed on both ends of the ladder. Heading up he found a crawlway that gave access to three different turrets placed along the upper part of the ships hull.
Nothing really special about the turrets. They were centerline mounted, and the controls were standard. Finding nothing truly special up here, he headed back down and then took the lower hatch. Where he quickly found the ships armory. The rear section had a few weapon lockers, but he had also found two on the bridge and one in the engine room. This was clearly meant to be where the majority of the weapon¡¯s were meant to be stored. He also quickly found what she meant by a half deck. The ceiling down here was notably lower, and the space more cramped than the upper deck.
The fore section of the half deck was filled with racks designed to store standard bomb/torpedo casings. He counted forty slots for the armaments just as Ruri had stated, and the layout wasn¡¯t all that different from other ships in the fleet. Looking around he also found a lower hatch in the locker area, that led to another crawlway that gave access to the lower turrets. Which were also centerline mounts. Given the shape of the hull, this configuration would be fine as they would be able to target most ships. The hull was also angled so that all five could target a forward facing target. Unfortunately, that also meant only the rear pair could fire on a rear facing target. Nothing odd about that, most of the ships currently in use in the fleet were lacking in firepower in the aft quadrant. He could work with that easily enough, and he was looking forward to the test flight data. As only a proper test flight could tell him how effective the ship would prove to be. Seeing that he had already explored the entirety of the new ship, he decided to head back.
Ruri and Selia were deep in conversation, when he left the ship. Neither had apparently noticed that he left to do some exploring. Selia was saying something about a laser, when he left the ship. He listened to her proposal and recalled that he had heard a similar theory from somewhere during his youth.
¡°That might actually be worth exploring, and I just looked over your ship and found a few things worth a complaint or two,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I was thinking the same thing about her theory, it is simple, but sometimes the simple solution is best. Also what about my ship do you have to complain about?¡± responded Ruri.
¡°There is only one bathroom on the ship. Need I say more,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I guess that could be a minor problem, but I placed it in a good spot. We will see if the crew complains later,¡± said Ruri. Countryman chuckled and led Selia out of the room while thinking about who to put on the test crew. Sali quickly came to mind as she had expressed interest in the role of test pilot. Also, thinking on it further, he decided they would need an isolated system to test the ship in. He figured he would have a few days to put together a crew. So he started heading to the bridge. Selia left him in the corridors heading for her own quarters.
Countryman entered the bridge to find it unusually busy for the time of day. Normally it wasn¡¯t this busy at this hour, especially during warp. One of the crewman below noticed his entrance, and declared his arrival on deck.
¡°Sir, long range sensors recently picked up a small Cylovan attack fleet. Twenty destroyer class ships,¡± said Misaki reporting to him before he even sat in his command chair.
¡°Report its position to Mydori, and keep an eye on it,¡± said Countryman.
¡°We already did, but it is heading for a Mydori colony world, Aizur II. It has minimal defenses, and the nearest union fleet is over five days away from the planet,¡± said Misaki.
¡°Define minimal,¡± said Countryman.
¡°The system has barely thirty ships to protect it. Most of which are small patrol cruisers. The orbital starport is fairly well fortified, but the planet itself has no fortifications. The starport may be able to take on a destroyer, maybe two, but not twenty. I¡¯m afraid the system would be overrun before the Union fleet can arrive,¡± said Misaki
¡°How soon can we get a taskforce into the system?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°A little under twelve hours, but the Cylovans will have already reached the system by then,¡± said Misaki.
¡°Send a task force then. Standard configuration, one cruiser and two destroyers,¡± said Countryman. He was also curious as to what the fleet was doing this deep in Union space, but they had intercepted a number of Union transmissions. He knew they had lost a number of outposts on the border, so he guessed it must have slipped by their forces via a gap in their deep space tracking net. The real question was why were they attacking Aizur II.
¡°Is there anything special about Aizur II?¡± asked Countryman after Misaki had dispatched the orders. The orders had been given to Shiro¡¯s SFS Battlehawk, the SFS Saber commanded by TR-13, and the SFS Katana commanded by TR-38.
¡°Nothing that we are aware of. It is a minor trade hub for the union, population two hundred million people. No special resources, no major industry. Her main industry is agriculture, but she does have a fuel refinery. She produces just enough for the ships that pass through the system. Nothing of real strategic value either,¡± said Misaki.
¡°Tell captain Shiro to conduct some scans of the system afterwards. There must be something there that we don¡¯t know about,¡± said Countryman as he watched her ship and its two escorts break off from the main fleet. The display showing blips representing the other ships in the fleet. Warp drive was one of the few FTL methods that didn¡¯t require a ship to decelerate in order to change course.
Chapter XVI Aizur II
¡°Sir, main deflector shields failing!¡± shouted a crewman from a nearby console. The ship groaned and screamed as an alien beam ripped into the hull. Several fires could be seen broken out in the room. Emergency crews doing their best to eliminate them.
¡°Auxiliary power to shields, helm new course one seven six mark three. Fire all missiles at that ship,¡± said the commander. The crew rushing to carry out the new tasks. The ship shuddered as the missiles launched from their ports. The commander was hoping they would hit something critical, but they all knew they wouldn¡¯t last much longer. Not against three destroyers and their fighters. The other ships protecting the planet weren¡¯t doing much better. Of the thirty ships that had been protecting the system just an hour before only eight were still alive. As for the attackers, they had lost a number of fighters, and they had lost one destroyer and that was from a concentrated missile barrage.
The missiles slammed into the nearest enemy destroyer. Her shields buckled under the barrage, and a number got through. Doing massive damage to her outer hull, and a fair amount of internal damage. Her guns quickly fell silent. ¡°Direct hit, target disabled!¡± yelled out the tactical officer, clearly excited.
Suddenly, the other two destroyers fell back and changed course. A move he did not expect, but was welcome to the commander nonetheless. ¡°The other two destroyers are breaking off, moving into empty space,¡± reported an officer.
¡°Put them on screen, I want to see what happens. Tactical fire all batteries on the disabled destroyer,¡± ordered the commander. Moments later, the forward viewscreen refocused to show the two destroyers moving off into empty space. He didn¡¯t think they would just break off for no reason and he was quickly rewarded. Three bright flashes lit up the screen, in the area the destroyers were heading for. He knew what those lights meant, warp out. Ships had just entered the system. It took a moment longer for them to register.
Their distinctive hulls appeared on the screen, and he recognized them instantly. He had already seen a few reports on these aliens, and the news broadcast about their arrival in Mydorious. These were refuge ships, specifically a refuge cruiser and two refuge destroyers. They immediately engaged the destroyers, their particle cannons tearing into their escorting fighters and making short work of them while the cruiser started launching her own fighters. The Cylovan and Refuge destroyers seemed to be evenly matched.
¡°Looks like the Refuge sent us some help. Make the most of it. Helm put some distance between us and the combatants, and then set course for the nearest civilian fleet,¡± said the commander. The civilian fleets were all attempting to escape the system, but they were being harassed by enemy fighters. His fellow patrol ships engaging the destroyers had helped distract the fighters from the transports and freighters, but some were still being attacked. At least they had some light guns, so they weren¡¯t entirely helpless. Didn¡¯t mean they could fight off the attackers however. It did help them keep the fighters off them however.
¡°That armor the Refuge ships are using is quite impressive. They are easily absorbing hits our deflectors would struggle with,¡± commented a crewman.
¡°It is quite impressive. Let¡¯s just hope they can keep the Cylovans occupied long enough to get the civilians out of the sector,¡± said the commander as their ship left firing range of the destroyer they had disabled. His maser batteries had dealt some additional damage, but the ship was still there, though not for long.
Just as his crewman was reporting that they had failed to destroy the disabled ship the Refuge cruiser fired a volley into the disabled hulk before it got out of range. A stream of blue energy bolts zipped across space and slammed into the battered hull. They tore through it like tissue paper. Entire decks were reduced to drifting scrap metal in a matter of seconds. A few of the shots must have hit something critical as their were a few explosions following the barrage. When the dust cleared, the ship was cloud of debris. The captain actually felt a surge of jealousy. Weapons that could rip through duranium like tissue paper were rare. Mostly due to the cost of manufacture, but he really wished he had some on his boat. They would have helped with fighting off the destroyers earlier. The action however drew the attention of the rest of the Cylovan fleet and they broke off from their other engagements, and set courses to engage the Refuge taskforce.
Shiro watched the screens from her command chair carefully. She was quite happy to see the other destroyers heading her way. She was currently holding back in the engagement, as she didn¡¯t want to use her cards too early. Her torpedoes could easily deal with these destroyers as their hull armor was not as resilient as capital ship armor. Especially given their shield penetrating ability. The main problem was that they were a trump card too valuable to use here. Afterall the more she used them, the more likely the Cylovans were to come up with a countermeasure. Fortunately she had other trump cards, but she wanted to see if she even needed them against this foe.
¡°Target hostile two, all batteries maximum firepower,¡± ordered Shiro.
¡°Aye, sir. Locking all batteries, and activating superchargers,¡± responded her tactical officer as he immediately went about directing her batteries to target the ship. A few seconds later the batteries unleashed a volley upon the ship. Instead of the normal blue bolts the cannons unleashed violet fury upon the target. The Cylovan shields quickly started glowing a pale blue, and rapidly transitioned through the spectrum to a brilliant purple. However they held against the volley unleashed against.
¡°Target shields are weakening, sir,¡± reported the tactical officer, and she gave orders for the destroyers to focus on hostile two. They immediately focused their beam arrays and heavy cannon on the ship, while their flak guns continued to focus on the Cylovan fighters. Her own fighters were also engaging hostile fighter squadrons, and keeping them off her ships.
The Destroyer¡¯s weakened shields struggled to protect the ship against the barrage. Blue energy beams pierced the weakened shields and tore into the hull of the ship. Cutting deep into the superstructure, and damaging internal components. Before her guns could finish recharging after unleashing a supercharger enhanced volley, the weakened shields of the destroyer collapsed and her Sabers reduced it to a cloud of debris. It shields being its only real protection against her guns and those of her escorts, it stood no chance once they had failed.
As soon as her guns finished recharge and cooling cycle, she gave the order to fire on the other destroyer. Another barrage of deadly violet energy rippled across space and slammed into the shields of a Cylovan destroyer. The supercharged bolts tore into the shields, and they quickly began to glow a brilliant purple in response as they attempted to radiate the harmful energy into space. This time however, the shields were unable to take the barrage and failed. A few dozen violet energy bolts tore into the hull. The outer hull plating was torn asunder. A fuel pod was hit, and the energy ignited the volatile fluid within, and streams of fire erupted from the hull. As a series of explosions tore the ship apart. Huge chunks of the ship were torn from the superstructure as it broke apart.
A crewman reported that the target was destroyed, but there was no time to celebrate as the remaining sixteen Cylovan Destroyers jumped into weapons range and opened fire. Deadly green beams of destruction raked over the hull of the SFS Battlehawk. Her hull began to glow as energy rippled over the hull, but the plating was holding, at least for now. These destroyers had guns far weaker than those on a cruiser, and it showed in their inability to truly tax her hull plating. Even so the AIF was weakening at an appreciable rate. Which meant that, if they did nothing the ships would eventually break through the tough outer hull.
She gave the order to return fire on the nearest destroyer, once again she chose maximum firepower. Sure, using the superchargers meant she couldn¡¯t fire the guns as fast as normal, but in this case the boost to yield was helping a great deal with punching through their energy shields. Her new target had full shields, and the deadly barrage of violet failed to punch through them. The shields were glowing a brilliant blue on the verge of turning purple when her guns depleted, and had to recharge.
At the same moment another destroyer on the other side of the formation exploded. A small group of fighters having sent a few bombs into it fighterbay as it was deploying its fighter craft into the field. The explosion drew the attention of the Cylovans, and all of their fighters that were harassing other ships were pulled back, and started heading this way. At the same moment, their fighters which had been trying to engage the Refuge ships pulled back and began to more heavily engage their fighters. Which had now been deemed as a bigger threat than they had been moments before. Her escorts followed orders and focused their main guns on the destroyer that had just been hit. Her shields however were just strong enough to hold against the assault.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
This time her cutting beams, and those from her destroyer escort weren¡¯t penetrating the weakened shield. That didn¡¯t mean they weren¡¯t having an effect though, as they were preventing the shields from being able to dump the energy they had just absorbed. The Cylovans clearly realizing that they would lose another ship if they didn¡¯t get out of range before the Battlehawk finished cycling her guns, attempted to retreat.
Shiro ordered a full pursuit to keep them in range, and took full advantage of the fact that her ships were faster on sublight. While employing an FTL jammer to keep them from warping out. After about a minute of chasing them, while beams continually raked her hull slowly draining her AIF, the guns finished cycling. The enemy destroyer¡¯s shields had just turned purple, so she had her gunners fire a normal volley. Quickly followed by a second, before switching targets for a supercharged volley.
Two volleys of blue bolts slammed into the weakened shields. The first was barely absorbed by the weakening shields, and a few even got through as the shield flickered out. The hull was beginning to buckle when the second volley hit the ship. They tore through the ship as if it were made of tissue paper. The hull crumpled as sections of the ship erupted into flames. Before long, the ship was reduced to a burning cloud of debris. That quickly put itself out in the cold of space.
The new target found itself to be too close, when she opened fire upon it. It had moved closer to inflict more damage against the Battlehawk¡¯s hull. Unfortunately that proved to be a double edged sword. A deadly barrage of purple tore through its shields in an instant, and reduced the hull to swiss cheese. Everything on board went dark, as the ship lost power. It either had a self-destruct or something critical had been hit, because about a minute after it lost power the husk of a ship exploded when the main reactor lost containment.
¡°Sir, hull plating has just fallen below sixty percent,¡± reported a crewman from the engineering station. She wasn¡¯t too worried, yet. They wouldn¡¯t be able to do any real damage with their weapons until the plating fell below ten percent. She told the crewman to keep an eye on it, and report back when it fell below twenty. After that they would have to pull back, and let the AIF regenerate or risk taking damage in this fight. The AIF was the only part of the armor keeping those disruptor beams from tearing the ship apart.
Meanwhile the Union captain watched as a convoy of twenty civilian ships jumped away. The ships were small transports, but their escape meant that a couple thousand people were no longer in the firing line. He was glad that the number of fighters harassing them had diminished drastically. It seemed the Refuge taskforce had drawn most of the Cylovan attention in the system.
¡°How¡¯s the Refuge taskforce holding up?¡± asked the captain.
¡°Their cruiser seems to have drawn most of the attention. Given its superior ability to destroy Cylovan ships that isn¡¯t all that surprising. They have lost a couple of fighters, but between their fighters and the destroyers. They have eliminated nearly sixty percent of the Cylovan fighter craft,¡± reported an officer. Another young officer than spoke up.
¡°I¡¯m not sure how much longer their cruiser can take the punishment it is taking. Their plating has an energy field enhancing it. That field has dropped by roughly forty percent since the battle began,¡± said the young officer.
¡°Looks like we have time than. We need to focus on getting the civilians out of the combat area first. Helm, set a course for the next civilian convoy,¡± said the captain. He figured the Refuge force would be fine without aid for a while longer, and besides he was out of missiles. Which were his only real weapon against Cylovan ships. Their shields were too strong for anything else. Looking at the tactical plot he saw another destroyer blink out to be replaced by debris.
¡°How many does that make?¡± he asked.
¡°That would be the eighth ship they have sunk in this battle, sir. No ninth,¡± said a female officer as another ship vanished to a fighter run. That meant that half the Cylovan fleet had already been lost. Normally at this point the Cylovan fleet would have retreated, and would later return with increased numbers and revised tactics. His first officer commented on that, and asked why they had not retreated. The female officer at the station answered the question, ¡°They can¡¯t sir. Sensors indicate the Refuge ships are generating a warp disruption field. No ship inside the field can jump to warp as long as it is active. In addition. the Refuge ships are faster on sublight by a fair margin which makes escaping the fields range difficult.¡±
On the tactical screen, one of the Cylovan ships suddenly accelerated full throttle at the cruiser. It was clearly intent on ramming the vessel, but the cruiser in a maneuver the captain would have thought impossible evaded the ramming attempt and opened fire. The ship then blinked out indicating another kill for the Refuge taskforce. This time he wasn¡¯t quite sure what happened as the cruisers main guns were still cycling. The readings indicated a single energy discharge then a massive EMP, and suddenly the ship was just gone. It was quite clear at that point that the Refuge was holding cards in reserve that they had yet to use, and they had used the opportunity of the ramming attempt to play one of them.
The guns fired again, the familiar whine reverberating through the ship as they unleashed a wave of violet destruction against another destroyer. The last few minutes had gone well, and only eight scratch that seven destroyers were left, and her destroyers were mopping up the last of the enemy fighters. While her own fighters were docking. She had managed to keep the enemy off the port hanger, which gave her ships space to land. Of her ninety six fighters she had lost twenty of them in the fight. Fortunately the pilots were synthetics so they could be replaced easily enough, but that didn¡¯t make it hurt any less.
¡°Sir, hull plating is at twenty percent,¡± reported a crewman at the engineering consoles. The same crewman from earlier. She had to admit that she was impressed with the alien beam weapons. While her own cutting beams would have already punched through her hull plating they were specifically designed to carve through armor. These disrupters were clearly more multipurpose. They had actually done remarkably well at draining her defenses.
¡°Helm back us off, and Engineering divert auxiliary power to the hull plating,¡± ordered Shiro. The crew acknowledged her orders, and then she gave her Sabers an order to close. This engagement had given her a lot of data on Cylovan capabilities, and tactics. It was time to use another card and finish them before they could escape. All but a handful of Cylovan Swarmer fighters had been sunk.
Which meant the Sabers were free to engage on their own. The Cylovans respond by shifting targets to the Katana. Her plating drained rapidly from the concentrated barrage. The two ships quickly got into range and opened up with their electro cannons, and then used their heavy cannon to rip the enemy ships apart as soon as their shields failed. The ships went down one after the other, and she watched the Katana¡¯s hull plating start to crack moments before the last ship broke up.
¡°What is the status of the Katana?¡±
¡°She took some minor hull damage, but it is superficial easily repaired,¡± responded her operations officer. Her science officer came up, and gave her own observations.
¡°The Cylovans were clearly learning our armor during the battle. They actually remodulated the beam to be more effective against our armor. Otherwise those beams wouldn¡¯t have drained our plating as quickly as they did,¡± said the woman, a gleam in her eye. The kind scientists always got when they found something intriguing.
¡°Send what data you got on that back to the fleet. We may need a few countermeasures to prevent them from doing that again. Then I want you to conduct a high intensity scan of the system, no need to be subtle about it. Use as much energy as you need, the fleet wants to know what was so interesting about this system to prompt an attack,¡± said Shiro. Clearly excited the woman ran to her station, and sent the data to ops so they could send it, before bringing the sensors online.
The captain saw the last Cylovan vanish from his screens just moments after the last of the civilian ships in his area of responsibility warped away. There were still a few fighters in the area, but they weren¡¯t a threat without their motherships. He could easily mop up the few stragglers.
¡°Sir, we are detecting an unusual energy buildup from the Refuge cruiser,¡± said his operations officer.
¡°Define unusual,¡± said the captain.
¡°I have never seen anything like it. Wait, they are doing something. I think they are scanning the system. Wait,they are definitely scanning the system, but I have never seen a sensor array so powerful,¡± said the operations officer. Normally he would have to interpret a high intensity scan as a hostile act, and respond accordingly. In this case however that would be stupid. He did have to wonder what they were looking for to be scanning the entire system. He did not have to wait long to get an idea however.
¡°Their scan is focusing on the colony now, sir. Specifically, the southwestern region of the southern continent,¡± said his operations officer.
¡°What is special about that location?¡± asked the captain. None of his officers had any idea, but the computer gave a clue.
¡°According to the computer, the only thing of interest in that area are the alien ruins that dot the landscape. However the computer says almost nothing on them, just a passing note that they exist,¡± said the operations officer. The captain found that lack of data on them to be odd to say the least, and suspected that the ruins were in fact drawing the interest of the aliens to this system.
Interlude Shields/Analysis
Shields are energy screens used to protect a ship. They can come in several different types. The first type commonly referred to as traditional shields also known as absorption shields are the most common type of energy screen used. Next on the list are deflectors, which function differently and are almost as common. Also on the list is the more unusual and specialized interception shields. The last item on the list and the most unique here are cloaking shields.
First let''s look into traditional shields or absorption shields. Many races develop and employ these shields as they provide an excellent amount of protection, take up a moderate amount of internal space, and have a relatively low production cost. These shields protect a ship in two critical ways. They produce an energy barrier that deals with incoming fire. When an energy bolt or projectile impacts the barrier a portion of the energy is immediately radiated into space usually as light. This property of shields called mitigation is why they glow when under fire. The rest of the energy directed against the shield is absorbed by the barrier itself. The barrier itself can only absorb so much energy before it reaches a state of maximum saturation. Once at the point of maximum saturation the shield must radiate all the energy store or it will collapse. If the shield collapses the equipped vessel will become vulnerable to incoming fire while the shield generators cycle.
Deflectors are equally common for protecting ships. A deflector, unlike traditional shields doesn¡¯t try to absorb incoming fire, but instead attempts to redirect the shot. The degree of deflection is determined by several primary variables. The velocity of the shot, angle of impact, the energy of the round, and the strength of the deflector shield all play a role in how much any incoming fire is redirected. Deflectors may sound like they would use more energy than traditional shields, but they typically use less. However they can become highly energy intensive depending on the design and intended use. Like absorption shields, deflectors can fail. If too much energy is directed against the shield in too short a time frame the generators may be over taxed. Because of how deflectors work, these devices are all or nothing in the protection department. They are however cheaper than traditional shields, and take up less space. Most races use them primarily to protect a ship from navigational hazards, but a few races use them to protect a ship from weapons fire.
Interception shields are the most interesting concept on the list of shield types. Unlike the previous two shield types these shields are of no real value against energy weapons. Interception shields function by surrounding the ship in a web of lasers or charged particles. This web is rather intense, and any projectiles that attempt to pass through will start to burn up. In theory if the web is intense enough any missile, torpedo, bomb, or kinetic slug that attempts to damage the protected ship will be burned up before impact with the hull. In practice these shields are less effective than that, and only screen a percentage of incoming fire. These shield types are rather energy intensive, and the barrier can¡¯t be maintained indefinitely. Human Energy Webs are an excellent example of this shield type.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Cloaking Shields are a rather unique type of shields. These shields are designed not to protect a ship from incoming fire, but instead they redirect and absorb sensor signals directed at the equipped ship. The process is highly energy intensive, and the shields are sensitive to charged particles. Which can become lodged in the screen, and make the ship visible to sensors. As such most versions of the technology cannot use energy weapons while cloaked. As such most cloaked ships are employed like submarines in an offensive role. As the shield doesn¡¯t interfere with weapons that require projectiles such as missiles or torpedoes. Some advanced versions of the cloaking shields are less energy intensive, and hardened against charged particles which allows the use of energy weapons while cloaked.
Contact lost with task force 4112-Beta. Reviewing final data transmissions.
Presence of Species 11257 detected in system. Insufficient data on species to determine why. Reviewing data on resulting combat.
Weapon adaptations determined as partially successful at countering unique armor of Species 11257. Destroyer type DD-40 deemed ineffective at fighting Species 11257. No new data found on 11257¡¯s shield penetrating torpedoes. 11257¡¯s shield disruptors continue to defy analysis. Shield adaptation found to be completely ineffective. Non-neutronium armor schemes deemed ineffective at protecting against 11257¡¯s energy weaponry. Conclusion specialized ships are needed to effectively counter new threat.
Assigning third priority resources to designing new countermeasures and ships against Species 11257. Reassigning task force 819212-Gamma to complete 4112-Beta¡¯s mission. Assigning additional cruisers to taskforce to ensure success. Redirecting CCS-47998212 to investigate starsector 117812 for presence of 11257¡¯s main fleet. Once found they are to engage and attempt capture of a ship for analysis.
Chapter XVII Explosive Ruins
Shiro¡¯s shuttle landed in a nice clearing. A dozen other shuttles were already on the ground along with a couple of drop ships. The operation however was not yet underway. The local union scientists were resisting. She didn¡¯t blame them, the ruins were incredible. Looking over the nearby ruin, she took in the clean, smooth, almost organic lines of the alien spires. They were made of materials with similar strength to those the Sylnari Remnant used in the construction of their ships. They were the remnants of an elder age. Problem was that they couldn¡¯t be allowed to remain.
She had her orders, and they would be carried out. Which is why the drop ships had brought down the most powerful explosive they knew of. A dozen bombs containing an experimental AMF warhead. These massive warheads each had enough power to devastate the local biosphere so preparations had been made to limit the damage. The Alliance had shipped shield generators here, and they were being put it place right now to contain the inevitable shockwaves. While local Union forces had already evacuated most of the southern continent just incase.
¡°You can¡¯t do this! You stupid military types are all the same! You find something you don¡¯t understand and you try to destroy it!¡± screamed a Mydorian scientist at the top of her lungs. She and several of her colleagues were among the few hold outs. Another Mydorian this one in a general''s uniform walked toward her.
¡°Still having trouble with these holdouts I see,¡± said Shiro.
¡°They are still protesting the decision to level the ruins, but it is only a matter of time before another Cylovan force tries to make a run at the ruins again,¡± said the general.
¡°We are running out of time. My troops can clear the protestors out easily enough,¡± said Shiro.
¡°That won¡¯t go over well with public opinion,¡± said the general. Shiro knew it wouldn¡¯t, but that was the kind of problem that the Union had to deal with. Just like every other Republic out there the government stood heavily on public opinion.
¡°I didn¡¯t think it would, but I am serious about running out of time. My long range sensor detected a second Cylovan fleet headed this way. This one is larger with 48 ships. Twelve of which have been identified as cruisers,¡± said Shiro.
¡°Wait! Twelve cruisers? The Cylovans don¡¯t normally send that many capital ships against a world,¡± said the general.
¡°Your fleet already has a plan to repulse the incoming cruisers, but it just shows how important these ruins are to the Cylovans,¡± said Shiro.
¡°I see your point, and if they decided to send that big ship I have heard about we won¡¯t be able to protect them. Go ahead and clear them out, but try not to kill anyone,¡± said the general. Shiro immediately gave orders for her troops to forcefully evac the protesting scientists, but ordered them to only use weapons set to stun.
One Month Earlier
SFS Enterprise
Two hours after the Battle over Aizur II:
Countryman had retired to his office. There wasn¡¯t anything really important to do. Which gave him the time to focus on his own projects. In this case, he was running his own materials simulation. He had told Selia that they had reached a roadblock in armor development, but what he hadn¡¯t told her was that developing a better material was his own pet project. The only lab working on the project reported directly to him, and he often ran a few simulations of his own, whenever he had the chance. They were still in the simulation phase, and had yet to find a material that showed any promise in supplanting the current Titan Alloy.
So far the latest simulation wasn¡¯t showing any improvement over the last. In fact several of the readings were worse. Which indicated that this one was likely a step away from what they wanted. Suddenly he heard a ding from the door, and he minimized the simulation. Before telling whoever was in the hall to come in. The door opened, and his operations officer Misaki sauntered into the room.
¡°Captain Shiro sent back her report. The system really is as unremarkable as our data said. However, at some point in the past an Elder race must have had a colony in the system. We found a number of ruins scattered across the Southwestern region of the Southern continent,¡± said Misaki.
¡°An Elder race? Is she certain?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Yes. We can¡¯t be certain who built them, but the artifacts down there look to be highly advanced. Not only that, but the ruins down there are positively ancient. We were unable to get an exact age, but they are somewhere between two to three hundred thousand years old. They are also remarkably intact for their age. Not surprising considering that the buildings were made out of solid neutronium,¡± said Misaki.
¡°That could be a problem. Tell Shiro to run extensive scans of those buildings, and send what data we have on them to the labs. Also contact Selia, and get her up here. I have a few questions I would like to ask her,¡± said Countryman. As Misaki rushed off to carry out his orders, Countryman returned to his earlier simulation.
The computer had already completed the analysis of the proposed materials and configuration. He changed a variable, one he believed to be the biggest problem maker, and reran the simulation. A few minutes later, Selia announced her arrival at the door. After Countryman let her in, she sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk.
¡°You wouldn¡¯t happen to know of an elder race colony on Aizur II, would you,¡± asked Countryman as soon as she was settled.
¡°I¡¯m not aware of any on Aizur II, but it isn¡¯t far from the historical borders of three different old races. So it wouldn¡¯t surprise me. I take it you found one there,¡± said Selia.
¡°Yes, I wanted to know what drew a Cylovan fleet to attack the system, and the only thing of interest was some old ruins,¡± said Countryman.
¡°If there are indeed old ruins there, then they must be destroyed. The Remnant has been forced to destroy a number of such sites to keep any technology that may remain, out of Cylovan hands,¡± said Selia. Countryman fell silent for a bit, before replying, ¡°Unfortunately I would have to agree. The buildings are made of pure neutronium, so they would make an excellent test for our experimental warheads. I think it would be best if we attempt to destroy the ruins,¡± said Countryman.
¡°That might be best. We have few ships to spare for such endeavours, that it would be a large help if you could,¡± agreed Selia.Stolen story; please report.
¡°I¡¯ll need to speak with Telkeki. It would be best to convince the union of this first,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Given the way the war has been going as of late, I suspect that they would agree. Especially if they were offered something of value to compensate the loss,¡± said Selia.
¡°I figured as much myself. There isn¡¯t much we have to offer, but I¡¯m sure our hyperspace scan data would be invaluable to them. They could use it to chart more efficient routes through hyperspace, but that is only the obvious applications,¡± said Countryman. Then he continued, ¡°However, I don¡¯t think that would be needed. I¡¯m sure I will be able to convince her of the necessity without an offer.¡±
¡°No, I don¡¯t think it will either. I¡¯ll mention this to my people. That way they can have a ship on standby if your experimental warheads don¡¯t work,¡± said Selia.
¡°Go ahead. I have a few calls to make myself now,¡± said Countryman. Selia then excused herself, and Countryman started making those calls he mentions. The first thing he did was order a supply of experimental warheads to be prepared for testing. Then he sent a hail out to Telkeki. Fortunately, she wasn¡¯t too busy at the time and was able to respond immediately. Her ugly image appearing on his monitor, which he remembered to set to black and white. Monochromatic helped mute the clashing color schemes of colorful Mydorian fur. Not that any of them would say anything about it to their face.
¡°You caught me a bit late. I was about to call it a day. Is there something I can help you with?¡± said Telkeki.
¡°Sorry, about that. A colony of yours has recently come to my attention thanks to a Cylovan attack,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I¡¯m guessing that would be Aizur II a report about it just recently crossed my desk. I think I saw mention of a few of your ships in the area,¡± responded Telkeki.
¡°That would be the one. Are you aware that the planet is home to ruins belonging to an elder race?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Yes, I am quite aware. We have been studying the ruins for decades. Don¡¯t know what I am going to do about them now that the Cylovans have learned of them,¡± said Telkeki.
¡°Now that the Cylovans know of them, you would be hard-pressed to defend them. I would rather not let them have the ruins for who knows what kind of horrors they would make with the knowledge they could glean from them,¡± said Countryman, pushing the conversation in the direction he wanted.
¡°The best solution would be to level the ruins, and have what artifacts that can be moved shipped elsewhere. Unfortunately they are made of solid neutronium, and that makes things difficult to say the least,¡± said Telkeki.
¡°I have some experimental warheads that are nearly ready to be tested. In theory they should be able to punch through solid neutronium if the warheads are big enough,¡± said Countryman.
¡°As much as it pains me to say it. I think that would be the best solution. I¡¯m going to have to deal with a bunch of angry scientists though,¡± said Telkeki.
¡°Well if you want something to help with the scientists, I have an extensive amount of hyperspace scan data I could sell you. I¡¯m sure it could help your people plot more efficient routes through hyperspace,¡± Countryman suggested.
¡°How extensive? I need to know what it would be worth,¡± asked Telkeki. Countryman responded with a brief sentence and sent her a small sample of the data, and then said, ¡°That is a small fraction of what we have to offer. Our database includes fifty years worth of extensive hyperspace sweeps.¡±
¡°If even half the data is as detailed as this sample, this would be worth millions, no billions of credits. I think I know how we will officially frame this exchange. We will sell you the rights to the Aizur II ruins, and pay you the equivalent of half a billion credits for your entire collection of hyperspace data,¡± said Telkeki. Countryman had the computer do a few quick calculations on the worth of the database, and found her offer was close to the appropriate price. In fact based on the market data they had she was offering more than what the database was worth.
¡°That price seems fair. I¡¯ll send you a list of materials we want,¡± nodded Countryman.
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll get together the official paperwork, and we can finalize it at Aizur II?¡± asked Telkeki.
¡°I¡¯ll be sending a ship to deliver the experimental warheads to the Battlehawk anyway, so I¡¯ll have an official representative tag along,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°That should work, and in the meantime I am going to speak with the Alliance. Testing such high yield weapons could have all sorts of environmental impacts, and the Alliance has some useful tools,¡± said Telkeki.
¡°Sounds like a good idea, but if anything goes wrong my people possess extensive knowledge of terraforming. Nowadays we use it to maintain artificial arboretums and other shipboard environments, but we did terraform two of the major planets in our home system,¡± said Countryman leaving out that they never finished the terraforming process on one of the planets.
¡°I appreciate the offer, but we also have a fair knowledge of terraforming. Anyway, do you have any leads on your pirate hunting?¡± asked Telkeki.
¡°No, but our scouting groups have only had time to search a handful of systems. No pirate bases have been found. We have chosen an isolated system in the belt to use as a base site for charting the belt. Don¡¯t worry we will find those pirates before long. We have a great deal of experience navigating hazardous regions of space, and the equipment to navigate in regions more difficult than this one,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Yes, I believe one of you mentioned that before, but I do wonder why you have experience navigating hazardous regions,¡± said Telkeki.
¡°The hazards of exploring uncharted space is that you often come across dangers you don¡¯t know about. In our travels we have often entered uncharted space, and we have had encounters with some anomalies more dangerous than the ones we have seen so far in the belt,¡± said Countryman. Telkeki mentioned that his explanation made sense, and then they exchanged pleasantries before signing off. Countryman settled back into his office seat, and considered the large amount of work that needed to be done, before making the next call on his list.
Present Day:
At her order dozens of marines drew their pistols, and proceeded to sweep the ruins, and the surrounding structures. A model of efficiency they swept the grounds with remarkable speed, and before even twenty minutes had passed the forty odd protestors on the site had been rounded up. While another group went to set up the warheads at the prime detonation sights, a couple of shuttles were loaded to move the protestors to a safe site.
It was almost no time at all, before Shiro had reboarded her shuttle. Heading off to her ship. She and her sister ship the SFS Accentor had an appointment with Cylovan Cruisers to keep, and she needed to be back aboard now that the problem had been resolved.
As soon as she was aboard she headed to the bridge, where she had to wait mere moments before getting the report she was waiting for.
¡°Sir, all the sites have been cleared, and are ready for detonation,¡± reported her operations officer.
¡°Set sensors for maximum gain, and initiate the first sequence,¡± ordered Shiro as she focused her gaze on the screen facing the planet. The last of the shuttles sent down could be seen just as it left the atmosphere. Mere seconds later the first of the detonations occurred. At first there was no visible sign of the blast, as the neutronium absorbed most of the energy. Then the stuff started to liquify moments before expanding balls of fire rippled outwards from the first site. Minor quakes registered at the sites just as predicted, and the shockwaves were contained by the Alliance provided shield generators. Just as the first waves were disappearing the second sequence began. Once again expanding balls of fire blossomed on the surface, each easily visible from space, and most of the energy absorbed by the neutronium.
After the last bomb went off, much of the countryside had been reduced to molten craters. The extreme heat of the detonations having melted everything into lava. Large amounts of vaporized water and other gases rose into the air. Their temperature falling quickly as they rose. Before long, clouds were forming, an indicator that a storm may soon be on its way. The incoming rain would likely cool the site back down.
Chapter XVIII Shakedown Cruise
Countryman closed the window on the screen. He was just about done with today¡¯s paperwork, and it was almost time for him to head down to the launch bay. He glanced at the report indicating that his two capital ships and their small destroyer escort were expecting combat at Aizur II. A part of him wanted to be there, but even if the Enterprise left now at maximum warp the battle would be over by the time they got to Aizur II. Which meant that he could do nothing but sit here and wait for their report.
Then he heard the bell for the door ring. He signaled that it was open, and in walked Ruri. She was clearly excited about something, but somehow he felt it wasn¡¯t about the cruise that was about to be undertaken. ¡°Something exciting happen?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Very much so. We just had a breakthrough in our phased weaponry program!¡± said Ruri excitedly.
¡°Oh, new toys to play with? When do you think they will be ready for testing?¡± asked Countryman.
¡°Maybe in a year or two. In the lab we effectively achieved a fully phased particle stream, but we have a number of bugs to work out. We also need to optimize the process. Right now our current method is woefully inefficient,¡± said Ruri.
¡°Interesting, I might just come down later and take a look,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I¡¯d love to hold you here, and tell you all about it, but I know you have things to do. I¡¯m going to leave my report on it here on your desk,¡± said Ruri as she placed a datapad on his desk. He looked it over briefly. It contained a highly detailed report on the operation of a new prototype cannon. He also noticed that it had about fifty pages of bugs that needed to be worked out, and there was a page that outlined what she meant about inefficiency.
¡°I¡¯ll give it a proper look later. For now I have a crew to brief,¡± said Countryman as he locked his computer and led her out of the office. She said bye, and rushed off to her lab, and Countryman headed down to the launch bay to brief the crew he had selected.
Sali found herself in a small docking bay off the main hangar on the starboard side of the ship. It was one of the bays used by the scientists for developing new small ships. The bay had been part of the refit. Which she remembered to be quite the experience. Right now the bay was dominated by a small ship that was different from those she had seen before. It was a beautiful ship with clean, sleek lines and an angled hull. From the base of the hull extended two stubby wings. She doubted they were intended for atmospheric flight. She suspected that they were actually warp nacelles or secondary maneuvering engines.
The hull was painted the black and silver scheme that had become popular of late. Even older ships like the Enterprise had been repainted into this scheme. She had to admit that it looked nicer than the old simple grey color scheme they had used before. While she didn¡¯t see any, she had no doubt that the sleek hull concealed a healthy set of deadly weapons. She didn¡¯t think it had shields, but her people didn¡¯t put much stock in shields. She paused in her thoughts at that, and took a few moments before she realized it was true. Having lived with them for decades they had become her people. Besides, even if she did return to the Confederation, most of the people she used to know would either be old, or dead.
Suddenly a hand rested on her shoulder, and she turned around to see a younger girl. She was about the same height as Sali, but was slightly better endowed. ¡°You okay?¡± asked the girl
¡°I¡¯m fine, just thinking about my old friends. Most of them would be old or dead by now, yet I haven¡¯t aged a day since I last saw them,¡± said Sali.
¡°Well the captain entered a minute ago, and you didn¡¯t notice. So I thought I would check on you,¡± said the girl. She looked up to see Countryman approaching.
¡°Admiring Ruri¡¯s work?¡± asked Countryman evidently he either didn¡¯t hear what she said or was ignoring it.
¡°She looks beautiful. I look forward to flying it, and getting a feel for its engines,¡± answered Sali. She was pretty certain that she was here for a test flight of the ship. Countryman exchanged a few more words, and then had the twenty women in the room line up before he gave a briefing.
¡°Alright the twenty of you have after extensive review been selected for the first shakedown of the LPC. Elder Ruri has designed this ship from the ground up as a test bed for several new technologies, and to fill an important role gap in our fleet. The LPC is designed primarily as a light patrol ship and scout vessel. If successful, there are two larger and heavier corvettes on the drawing board that will follow. Your mission will be to test this ship¡¯s limits, and determine its practical capabilities. What systems that could be, have been locally tested. That includes the all important armor plating.
Now onto the main mission outline. Your first task will be to navigate the nearby asteroid field, and complete one orbit around the system. This will allow us time to determine if the engines are working properly. During this orbit, you will target and destroy several asteroids for target practice, and weapons calibration. When you reach the fleet, I will deploy two fighter wings to engage you in mock combat. This will allow you to familiarize yourselves with the ship in a combat situation, and allow us to better determine the capabilities of the LPC in battle. After the mock battle we will move on to a warp test. You will make the jump to the neighboring LMR-12 star system that was already scouted earlier this week. At maximum warp it should take you about half an hour to reach the system. After arriving we will want you to scout the system and conduct scans of several planets. Your scouting report will be later compared with that of the Gladius that scouted the system earlier.
Commander Sayuri you have been given command of the ship. Lieutenant Sali has been selected as your helmsman. Megumi has loaned you one of her most promising students an Ensign Riko as your chief engineer. Your weapons officer is Ensign Erin Steele, and your operations officer is Master Chief Irina. I¡¯ll leave you to sort out the rest of your crew,¡± said Countryman.
Sali settled into her seat on the bridge of the new LPC. The ship didn¡¯t even have a name, but given its size she doubted it would be given more than a serial registry number. It was smaller than a Firebird class frigate, and not a single one of those ships actually had a name, instead they were given a simple designation. Which meant there was no hope for this ship having a name. The control console was a little different from what she was used to. However it wasn¡¯t all that different from the control scheme used on other ships, and shuttles. As such she had no problems finding the needed controls. The console included a builtin navigation computer, that would allow her to easily chart a course. Near the navigation controls she also found an autopilot function. The controls of which were actually more sophisticated than the ones she was used to. Not surprising, given that this was an actual ship with FTL capabilities. Sure the 1205-B had an FTL engine, but that was a variant refit to a ship that originally didn¡¯t have an FTL drive.
She was still familiarizing herself with her helm console when she heard footsteps and a sigh. Looking back she saw Sayuri settling into the command chair in the center of the bridge.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
¡°Something wrong?¡± asked Sali.
¡°I¡¯m not sure if it is a problem yet, but I toured the ship. The ship is a bit cramped, but that is a problem that regularly plagues small ships. That we can probably deal with, but there is only one bathroom for a crew of twenty. At least the captain put some thought into that. My marines actually have small ship training, so they can operate the ships stations as part of the night shift. At least we have twenty beds, so everyone can have their own bed. Don¡¯t count a closet though, we get a small locker instead,¡± responded Sayuri.
¡°I have seen ships with worse. I recall a transport used by the Valorian pilot¡¯s academy. It shuttled candidates from neighboring systems to the academy. They used to cram a thousand cadets onto the ship, and the only bathroom was literally stuffed into a closet. I swear it was added onto the ship as an afterthought. As for beds there were only enough for two hundred people,¡± said Sali.
¡°I take it you were on that ship,¡± said Sayuri.
¡°Unfortunately, yes. That was one of the worst weeks of my life,¡± replied Sali as she recalled the ship. She wasn¡¯t kidding when she said it was one of the worst weeks of her life. It may even have been the worst, but she wasn¡¯t sure.
¡°I can imagine. As for the bathroom being an afterthought, it probably was. Designers often have their heads in the clouds. I can recall a few ships that had to be sent back to the drawing board, because the design team forgot to include a bathroom in the blueprints,¡± said Sayuri.
¡°I heard about that. Makes you wonder what they were thinking,¡± said Sali.
¡°It does, but I think it is about time we get underway,¡± said Sayuri as the other three bridge officers entered the bridge. Sali suspected that they had been investigating the living quarters. Before long they had completed the preflight checks, and got clearance to depart the ship.
As soon as the bay doors were open she activated the thrusters. The ship gently lifted off the deck. The ship was already angled for launch so she gently eased the ship forward. This bay didn¡¯t have a catapult so the ship would have to launch under its own power. A glowing blue energy field separated the bay from the vacuum of space. The ship felt a slight resistance as it passed through the atmospheric force field, but that was quite normal. The field was actually quite weak. Just strong enough to keep the air in, but not so strong as to impede a ship from passing through.
After passing the field she reported they were out of the bay, and set the ship on the course she was ordered to follow. Switching from the anti-grav thrusters to the Pulsewave engines. To reach the start of the course she had to clear the fleet first, and she took the most direct course out of the fleet¡¯s anchorage. However, since this was a test flight, Sayuri gave her permission to test the ships paces. As soon as she was clear of the fleet, she hit the throttle. Accelerating to full the engines began to hum. The ship instantly responding to her commands. A large rock was coming up, and with deft movements she was able to evade it. Next to her at the weapons console, Steele exclaimed, ¡°That rock is perfect! Can I try out the weapons on it?¡±
¡°We can¡¯t target that one. The fleet has marked it for mining. Some valuable minerals were detected in the rock, and a team should already be there mining the asteroid,¡± said Sayuri.
¡°Confirmed, Sir. I am detecting multiple lifesigns, and several drilling sites on the surface of the asteroid. I¡¯m reading several valuable minerals including natural Rydium, some Pholite, and small deposits of that Mydorian mineral Erentium,¡± said Irina. Sali was familiar with those minerals. Even if they weren¡¯t her specialty she had learned a few things about minerals. Rydium was a material used heavily in Refuge technology. So heavily in fact that their systems couldn¡¯t operate without it. She would be hard-pressed to name a system that didn¡¯t include at least small amounts of it. Its unique properties made it very useful, especially in anything involving energy conversion. Hence it was most notably used in cooling systems, armor, weapons, and propulsion. Refuge engines were in fact the first use of the stuff that came to mind.
Pholite was a material they had only recently started using, but the Confederation had used it for centuries. Pholite was used heavily in containment systems and energy fields. It was most notably used in shields, reactors, force fields, and plasma weaponry. She had heard rumors that the lab was experimenting with using it in next generation armor systems. As for this Erentium she knew almost nothing about it aside from what she had heard in rumors. Apparently it showed properties that would be invaluable in most forms of energy weaponry. She had heard that it showed signs of being especially useful in particle weapons.
No one really commented on the materials. They were too busy with other tasks, and didn¡¯t really know each other yet. The asteroid soon vanished behind them. A few minutes later they came upon a rock that they were actually allowed to shoot. It was smaller with a roughly similar mineral composition, but it was lacking in significant quantities of valuable ores. The most valuable ore in appreciable quantities was Titanium, and breaking the asteroid up would just make them easier to harvest.
She glanced to the side and watched as Steele eagerly worked her weapons console. Moments later a concentrated particle beam ripped from the ship, and carved through the rock. The asteroid easily broke apart under the beams. Sali adjusted her course slightly to compensate for the effects.
The next few hours went according to plan, and they destroyed several larger asteroids. It was safe to say the weapons, and engines were working as intended. They had just returned to the fleet, and were docked with a shuttle. It was replacing the dummy bombs with actual Photon bombs and torpedoes. They had used a few dummies to test the launchers. Mostly so the crew could get a feel for the ship¡¯s underside mounted tubes. Sali had heard Steele¡¯s comments on the systems. The ports were actually on deployable turret mounts, which greatly expanded her targeting arc for the torpedoes/bombs, and made them fairly easy to use. These launcher systems lacked the rapid fire modifications that larger ships in the fleet had, but their rate of fire was still respectable. They found that the autoloaders allowed a fire rate of thirty per minute. Which meant they could empty the bay very quickly, and had its advantages.
Larger ships could mount a bulky, but effective autoloading and magazine system that allowed a fire rate five times that. The system was much larger than standard launchers however which meant they had to mount fewer launchers. The overall result of this technology inherited from Earth was that Refuge ships could put significantly more missiles and torpedoes in the water than their rivals.
Sali turned her attention back to the main viewscreen. Countryman was currently on the screen listening to Sayuri give her impressions so far on the ship. So far they hadn¡¯t found any major problems. Only the minor kind that a shakedown was meant to iron out in the first place. All of which they had already fixed while in the field. Which she was telling the commander of their fleet.
¡°I would say the biggest issue we found was that the targeting scanners were slightly out of alignment. Didn¡¯t have much of an impact at short range, but it did mess up long range shooting. We were able to correct the issue without much trouble, however,¡± said Sayuri.
¡°Sounds like the ship design may be viable then. Still a few more systems to test, but I think its about time to see the ship in a fight. I have two wings of Eagle Starfighters ready to engage you in mock combat,¡± said Countryman.
¡°Eagles, captain? I believe they were designed to dominate against light craft such as fighters and corvettes. Guess that would make them a fair test of our abilities though,¡± said Sayuri.
¡°Yes, I thought they would be as well. On paper this battle can go either way, and should test not just the ship but the crew as well,¡± said Countryman just as the sound of a decoupling could be heard. Indicating that the shuttle was undocking, and at the same moment Irina interrupted to inform that the shuttle had finished transferring over their torpedoes.
¡°We are ready when you are, sir,¡± said Sayuri.
¡°Fighters are on their way,¡± said Countryman moments before he signed off. Sayuri immediately began giving orders.
¡°Sound the alert, and set all systems for simulated combat,¡± ordered Sayuri. It was a standard order for a mock battle. Mock battles were an old tradition used by many different races, and the modern form used computers, and low yield lasers. Along with simulated torpedoes. It was an excellent way to foster basic combat experience, and test new crews and craft.
Interlude The Shipyard: Scout ships
Scout ships are small light ships that are easily overlooked, but play a vital role in the fleet. Most won¡¯t be taking on battleships or nuking cities, but they are still very important ships. Even if they don¡¯t seem to be all that impressive. All factions have at least one ship that fills the role of scout. While these ships come in different breeds, and can have a variety of different features they do have a few key things in common.
Scouts are typically small, and lightly armed. Their key features are powerful engines, and a healthy sensor array. Some scout ships even feature powerful stealth devices to aid in their mission. Most scout ships are cheap, easily replaced, disposable units. Also of note is that these ships tend to be fragile, and poorly equipped to hold their own in a fight. As such their chief defense is their powerful engines often allow them to outrun most aggressors. However there are exceptions to this rule. Now let''s take a look at a few actual scout ships.
Cylovan Faction Scouts:
Scout Four: The Scout Four is actually on the large side as scout ships go with a diameter of 160 meters. Lightly armed with eight ultra light disruption rays it often struggles against most opponents. Its key features are a powerful Twin Plasma Impulse drive that allows it to reach lightspeed in under a minute. This makes the ship very fast on sublight, and a powerful sensor array. Being cheap, these ships are often employed in large numbers to recon neighboring systems, and are often the first ship most races encounter from the collective. Its larger than normal size allows it a small fighter bay that it uses to carry smaller scout fighters.
The ship however does have a few shortcomings. Most notably is its lack of hyperwarp capability. The ship is too small to mount even a basic hyperwarp drive. Another is its inability to enter atmosphere.
Scout Swarmer: The Cylovan scout fighter is a short range recon craft, often carried by the Scout Four. These tiny ships are poorly armed with only a single ultralight beam cannon. Unlike the Scout Four, these ships can enter atmosphere, and help counter that shortcoming when entering atmosphere is required.
Mydorian Union Faction Scouts:
Emika Class Scout Cruiser: This light ship is approximately eighty meters in length. Lightly armed with maser cannons, and a good sensor array. The Emika actually has some ability to hold its own in a fight, and can often beat other corvettes and light ships in battle. As such it is often fielded as light police cruiser, and is often sent on pirate hunting missions in addition to its primary role as a scout ship. The ship however does struggle against ships bigger than it, but it can often escape thanks to its powerful sublight engines.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Nomads of Sol Faction Scouts:
SF-1204-A Recon: This variant of the Twelve O Four starfighter has been optimized for recon duty. As such the missiles have been offloaded, along with half the cannons in favor of a secondary computer and additional sensors. A number of auxiliary modules have been removed, and extra thrusters and fuel tanks have been added. The overall result is that in exchange for most of its teeth, there is a significant increase in speed, range, and sensor capability. The 1204 Recon is often sent into a system ahead of the fleet to scout things out, and locate any potentially missed threats not found by long range sensors. Its chief drawback is its lack of FTL capability.
LPC: This newly designed corvette is a multirole ship designed primarily for scouting and policing mission profiles. It is well armored, fast, and has a decent weapons array. Unlike most scouts its ability to carry high yield explosives allows it to threaten even capital ships. Its chief drawbacks are its short range, and cramped interior. Also of note is that due to an emphasis on performance the LPC costs a good deal more than equivalent vessels employed by other factions. Its most notable feature is its integrated beam array. Which is designed to punch through light overlord armor.
Rykoni Raiders Faction Scouts:
Makeshift Scout ship: The Rykoni aren¡¯t big on uniform ship classes. Most Rykoni clans simply makedo with whatever they managed to scrape together. Often made from several hulls welded together, with sensors, fuel tanks, and engines slapped wherever they can fit them. The overall result is a very cheap but fragile ship. Its ability to actually do its job is also questionable, but a good one is built every once in a while. On the flip side, a decent number never make it out of drydock.
Slave Built Scout: Designed and built by slaves, these scouts are actually half decent ships. Unfortunately they are also built with scrap metal. These ships are cheap, but fragile.
Sylnari Remnant Faction Scouts:
Automated Scout Cruiser: The Sylnari Scout Cruiser is a masterpiece of advanced engineering. These small ships are lightly armed with a twin Proton Cannons, but while these weapons are considered light by the Sylnari other factions struggle to obtain similar firepower on their capital starships. Being small, its limited space forced the designers to discard shields in favor of an advanced cloak. As such it''s only protections are its stealth, and the limited armor plating it is outfitted with. However it doesn¡¯t really need more than its cloak. Only the Cylovans have proven able to detect these ships, but their spotting of these unmanned vessels has been sporadic at best. Usually these ships can escape when spotted, but if necessary they have been known to take on Cylovan Cruisers with limited success.
Chapter XIX Second Battle of Aizur II
Shiro stared at her readouts. Her battlegroup was already in formation with their newfound friends, and in just a few minutes the Cylovans would be warping out not far from their present coordinates. Her ship, and her sister ship the Accentor had a number of experimental warheads prepared for the engagement. After blowing up the ruins between the two of them they only had about twenty experimental AMF warheads. They were going to save them for use against the twelve enemy cruisers, but she knew she would have to use them carefully. Twenty warheads were not enough to guarantee that all twelve of the cruisers would be sunk.
Which meant she would need every advantage she could get to ensure a win. They were outnumbered and more importantly very few of their weapons could actually puncture that hull of theirs. This meant she couldn¡¯t risk losing warheads to impacts against their shields. As she saw it they would have to get in close and knock out the enemy shields first. Then they could finish them with the experimental warheads. Their photons had already proven to be of little use against their neutronium laced hull, so she would reserve them for use on any destroyer that attacked them.
The greatest advantage she could think of was something they had only attempted in small-scale, and while it worked she wasn¡¯t sure it was the best idea. She was thinking of telepathically linking with the entirety of her crew, and that of the Accentor¡¯s crew. Her Sabre escorts were manned by machines so there wasn¡¯t anyone to link with on the four destroyers. The important thing was that by doing this they would be able to dramatically increase reaction times and coordination. The machines already had a similar network, so the largest delay would be in communication between networks. She already knew of the potential mental side effects, but decided that they were worth it. She was a little worried about the strain of being linked to so many minds at once, but she hoped that they could handle it. Then the first Cylovan ship appeared in front of them in a burst of light. Instantly she reached out telepathically to her crew. In seconds a network formed between them and then they reached out to their sister ship.
The resulting link was nothing like the small scale network she had read about. They were so intimately linked with everyone else in the link that they were effectively a hive mind. They were still individuals, but their collective minds had created an overall directive purpose. They knew they could dissolve the link whenever they wanted and they would revert. The new hive mind consulted the problem before it, and accelerated signaling the escorts to maintain a protective formation around their two cruisers.
The cruisers closed the distance on the Cylovan cruiser that had warped out ahead of the task force rapidly. The alien ship targeted one of the destroyers and opened fire. A green energy beam raked over the hull of the Sabre Class destroyer, but failed to penetrate the ship¡¯s armor. Before it could fire another shot or get away the formation opened fire with their electro cannons. The blue lightning bolts slammed into the shields and in a flash of light, they collapsed. An instant later, a bright blue bolt fired from the Accentor slammed into the Cylovan Cruiser. The torpedo had flown right into the open forward hanger bay, and slammed into the rear wall, detonating on impact. The massive multi gigaton blast ripped apart a massive chunk of the hull. Leaving the core of the cruiser exposed, its spherical hull now missing over a third of its mass. The rest of the cruiser went dark, but to be sure the Katana unleashed a barrage of photons into the core of the cruiser. The barrage targeted at known critical systems, and as intended the barrage set off a few secondary explosions. As the rest of the alien task force arrived in a flash of light the ship broke up.
The commodore of the Alliance task force watched his screens in surprise. She had never seen a Cylovan Cruiser be sunk so quickly. Then the rest of the hostile task force arrived, and she knew that she didn¡¯t have time to think about it. Especially when a dozen destroyers broke off from the main group and headed her way. She had nearly three hundred ships under her command including forty capital ships. Most of which were cruisers, but her flagship was a battleship. Nearly three kilometers in length, and heavily armed with Photon Cannons, Photon Torpedoes, and Photon Missiles. So she felt she could handle a dozen destroyers, but she would need to make her choices carefully. The battle could go either way.
The rest of the destroyers broke away from the Refuge ships and headed straight for the Mydorian line of battle. The Mydorians had a full fleet in the system this time, and she knew the battle could go either way for them as well. She immediately focused on her own, however, as she couldn¡¯t afford to worry about them. She gave orders to the fleet and waited for the ships to enter weapons range.
As soon as the Cylovans entered weapons range, her entire fleet focused fire on the lead destroyer. A barrage of orange and red photon bolts collided into its shields, which buckled under the strain. Allowing her torpedoes and missiles that followed to punch into the hull. The ship¡¯s hull collapsed under the strain.
She managed to splash a second one in the same fashion before the Cylovans changed their tactics. The remaining ten ships made a short hop right into the middle of her formation. One of which must have miscalculated or something as it crashed into one of her light cruisers, and exploded on impact. Her cruiser losing the entire forward section, and escape pods were launching from the aft not long after. Her sensors told her that the damage was fatal, and that the ship would never fly again. The rest opened fire on her ships and at the same time, they unleashed wings of fighters right into her midst. She gave her own orders to counter this move, but was helpless as she watched a number of ships be destroyed before they could gain some distance.
Over sixty of her ships were destroyed before she could reorganize her task force, but they didn¡¯t go down without a fight. Two more of their destroyers, along with nearly a thousand fighters had gone down with them. The two groups were now locked in a brutal exchange of energy weapons fire, with neither having a clear advantage. She spared a glance at the tactical plot, and noticed the Mydorians were faring a bit better. Having sunk thirteen of the twenty-four destroyers to have engaged their fleet. At the cost of over two hundred ships, but they were all light ships anyway, and easily replaced. Unfortunately, it looked like the remaining Cylovan ships had managed to get the upper hand and were winning at the moment.
Then she glanced over at the Refuge, and noticed that they seemed to be doing well. They had managed to sink three more cruisers, but one of their destroyers looked to be taking a beating. She watched on her screen as three cruisers fired at it simultaneously. The armor seemed to absorb the beams at first, but then the plating buckled. The beams punched through the hull, and tore out the other side. Suddenly the ship broke formation heading straight for the nearest Cylovan Cruiser. More blasts slammed into her armored hull, tearing horrific rents into the hull. One of the beams sliced through the struts and the port nacelle separated from the hull. Seconds later she saw pods separating from the hull, moments before it lept into high speed, and slammed into the cruiser it was heading for. A massive explosion resulted from the collision and claimed both ships.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
¡°That¡¯s one way to lose a ship,¡± she muttered to herself, and then turned her full attention back to her own battle. One of the Cylovan Destroyers was losing shields, and she ordered her ships to focus fire on it. She had her own guns trained on a different one, as its shields were also close to failing. Orange bolts slammed into the two ships, and their failing shields collapsed unable to withstand the barrages. The following bolts slammed into the armored hulls, which simply couldn¡¯t absorb the energy being directed against them, and the ships were ripped to shreds. The loss of these two ships gave her a clear advantage and she took full advantage of it.
Two more ships fell to focused fire before the rest jumped away in typical Cylovan fashion, and she ordered her remaining ships to move in to assist the Mydorian fleet. As it would take a few minutes to actually reach the Mydorian line of battle, she turned her attention to the Refuge fleet.
It seemed they had gained the upper hand while she wasn¡¯t looking. One of their destroyers was busy collecting escape pods from their lost ship, and another four Cruisers had been sunk. The Refuge ships were definitely taking a beating though, as she noticed a few hull breaches on all of the remaining Refuge ships. However she also noticed a distinct lack of Cylovan fighter support, and then one of the cruisers exploded when some Refuge fighters made a run at the ship. She had to rewind the sensor footage to see what happened. What she saw was the fighters swooped in and used their shield disrupters to knock out the shields, and then one of the Refuge cruisers fired a single torpedo at the ship. Which impacted just as the fighters got clear of the ship.
It was clear that the remaining two cruisers were attempting to retreat, but they weren¡¯t able to do so. She watched as several fighters ran at the cruisers, and disabled their shields. Then the cruisers fired a single torpedo at each Cylovan ship. Both ships took massive damage, and were then finished off with a barrage of photons and particle fire.
A couple moments later her comms officer informed her that the Refuge task force was hailing her. She ordered him to put it on screen and a familiar female appeared on screen. It was their captain, Shiro.
¡°I see you are moving to aid the Mydorians. I trust I can leave that to you?¡± said Shiro seeming relaxed in her command chair.
¡°Between our two groups we should have the advantage, but what are you going to be doing?¡± asked the commodore.
¡°In case you haven¡¯t noticed, I have taken a fair amount of damage. I¡¯m going to salvage what¡¯s left of the Baselard. The Katana has just about finished collecting her crew, but there are some larger pieces of the ship to salvage. Then I¡¯m going to rendezvous with the fleet for repairs,¡± replied Shiro. The commodore thought her answer made sense. Her ships had taken quite the beating engaging the Cylovans at fairly close range. They had lost one destroyer, but the other three looked to have taken fairly heavy damage as well. As for the cruisers they both shared dozens of hull breaches. Based on the visual damage alone she guessed both cruisers would need a month in drydock with the destroyers being smaller requiring about two weeks, but she had no idea how the Refuge was going to fix that damage. As far as she knew they didn¡¯t have ports in this part of space.
¡°Well you took care of the biggest threats, so I¡¯ll leave you to the salvage and help the Mydorians out.
Around the same time the LPC was conducting its first mock battle. The fighters swooped in on the ship¡¯s port flank and opened fire with a volley of simulated torpedoes. An energy web sprang into existence, and most of the torpedoes were blocked by the web. The rest impacted the hull and draining the plating. However none penetrated the hull armor.
The ship''s turrets swiveled about and returned fire with simulated particle bolts. The streams of blue energy accurately seeking out targets, but the experienced pilots were able to shake the fire quickly enough. Two of the fighters were a hare too slow, however, and their computers told them they were dead. The bolts having penetrated the hull of their fighters and being simulated as dealing fatal damage.
The ship swung around and attempted to hit some of the fighters as they pulled away with the forward cannons, but not a single shot actually hit. The fighters broke off into two directions, forcing the ship to follow one of the wings. The other group used the opportunity to get on the LPC¡¯s tail and opened fire with their cannons and firing another volley of simulated torpedoes.
The cannon fire splashed against the hull armor doing little apparent damage, and most of the torpedoes were once again intercepted by an energy web. Two turrets swung aft and returned fire. Forcing the pilots to conduct evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit. Their armor couldn¡¯t absorb many hits from those guns, so they made full use of their maneuverability.
The group in front, however, was having a harder time, as they struggled to evade shots from the other turrets and the forward guns of the LPC. Then suddenly a beam lanced off from the ship and tore into a fighter. Her pilot being greeted with the dreaded ¡®you have died¡¯ screen. It quickly became clear that it wasn¡¯t a lucky shot when three more fighters followed in quick succession. The wing behind them fired the last of their simulated torpedoes, and this time scored a few decent hits. However none of the damage they inflicted was critical, and the other group proved unable to shake them. As the LPC was almost as maneuverable as a fighter. Her beams quickly proved to be her deadliest weapon against the fighter wings, and a few minutes later the simulated battle ended with a victory for the LPC¡¯s crew.
Sayuri leaned back in her chair and relaxed after she won. While her life hadn¡¯t been in danger that didn¡¯t make the mock battle any less stressful. Especially since her aft plating had gotten pretty weak. One of the hits on her aft section had even come painfully close to damaging her fuel lines. If the simulated torpedo had hit just a half meter to the left it would have dealt a great deal more damage. She was, however, finding herself starting to like this ship, but she still wasn¡¯t looking forward to spending the night in the crew cabin.
A few moments later Countryman hailed to congratulate her, ¡°Good job, commander, and congratulations on your victory.¡±
She shifted slightly in her chair, and replied, ¡°It feels nice to win a fight, but I think I need to run a few target practice drills. My gunners weren¡¯t exactly pulling their weight.¡±
Countryman smiled, and said, ¡°That is a good idea. In the meantime, I suggest you move on to the next item on the shakedown cruise.¡±
She nodded her head and agreed before closing the channel. Then she ordered Sali to make the calculations. Her hands moved over the console with the practiced ease of an experienced pilot and a few moments later she heard the hum of the warp engines as the ship jumped to high warp.
Taskforce 819212 Gamma has reported a failure in its mission objectives. The primary objective has been destroyed. No presence of species 2793 found. Species 11257 has been determined as responsible for the destruction of the objective.
Species 11257 has demonstrated increased offensive abilities, and revealed a new torpedo weapon. The device has been analyzed and determined to be a high yield compressed plasma explosive. Sheer power of warhead limits adaption options. Propose reconfiguring SIF fields to further dampen explosions. Reduced beam protection determined as a worthy tradeoff.
Current beam weapon adaptations deemed effective at countering unique armor of Species 11257. Overall threat level of species 11257 reevaluated. Assigning additional resources to developing specialized ships for fighting species 11257.
Chapter XX Nomadic Encounter
¡°Shields at fourteen percent!¡± yelled out the crewman at the tactical console. Her fur stood on end, and she found herself feeling very agitated. They were outnumbered and alone. That last jump should have allowed them to escape these pirates. Their jump drives were faster than Rykoni hyperdrives were, but twelve cruisers had been waiting for them when they emerged from the slipstream. She yelled out an order to return fire with the aft batteries, and increase speed. Her single heavy cruiser was far more powerful than any single Rykoni ship, but with the damage they had taken in their last fight, they were no match for twelve cruisers. Worse one of the famous ones was here, the Black Flag, and to top everything off now her shields were starting to fail. Which combined with the fact that she needed another twenty minutes to charge the jump drive made for a bad day.
The Black Flag was one of the terrors of the region. She had first appeared thirty years ago, and had since become the single most feared ship of the Rykoni Raiders. Her captain was one of the great Rykoni warlords with nearly a thousand ships to his name. Given her luck, she wouldn¡¯t be surprised if more of those thousand ships showed up. Almost as if to prove the point of her idle thought a dozen hyperspace signatures popped up, and twelve more cruisers emerged into normal space.
The ship shuddered again, as the guns of the Black Flag hit her ship with a full broadside. An officer shouted that shields had fallen below ten percent this time. Then before she could respond, another officer reported, ¡°Sir, unidentified warp signature approaching. ETA twenty-one seconds.¡±
Her first thought was to wonder how it got so close, but it didn¡¯t really matter as she had bigger things to worry about. Focusing on the Black Flag, she said, ¡°All starboard batteries return fire on the Black Flag.¡±
A series of green photon pulses fired from her Photon Cannons. Slamming into the shields of the Black Flag. At the same moment, she saw a small flash of light as a small ship just sixty meters in length dropped out of warp. The Black Flag opened fire on the little ship with its ripper cannons, and she noted its shields were down. She expected to see it ripped apart by the projectile weapons. Instead, the projectiles slammed into the hull and knocked the little ship around. However they failed to penetrate its hull plating. The ship suddenly stabilized with no apparent source of thrust, and then it fired a beam right into the Black Flag. The blue energy beam punched through its shields and a second later an officer informed her the ship had lost forward shields. Not that she needed it as she could see her own batteries start ripping into its hull plating.
The Black Flag returned fire with its rippers, and a number of hellfire laser batteries as well. Which the nimble little ship dodged, and then opened fire with its forward guns. Blue energy bolts slammed into the Black Flag¡¯s hull and ripped rents into it as if it was wet tissue paper. Then the Black Flag jumped to hyperspace, and the other cruisers followed suit. Apparently scared off by a single little ship. Then her science officer spoke up with a report, ¡°I have analyzed the alien corvette. She is outfitted with some highly advanced powered hull plating. I don¡¯t think there is a single weapon on those Rykoni cruisers that could penetrate it and also has the tracking and accuracy needed to hit the ship. As for their weapons they are particle-based, and while impressive that beam weapon only penetrated the Black Flag¡¯s shields because they were already being heavily taxed by our guns. What is more interesting is that it was pinpoint targeted at their shield generators. Also, my scans indicate a distinct lack of shield emitters. I don¡¯t think the ship has shields, and as for propulsion, it appears to use exotic particle waves.
Now my favorite part, her sensor array. The ship has a rather significant array, and based on these readings, I believe they are multi-spatial sensors. That ship can likely see things we can¡¯t.¡±
She found all this interesting, but she noted this was in part speculation. She thanked him for his report and then gave an order to hail the ship. It took them a few minutes to establish a link, as their ship computers traded language data.
Sali relaxed after the Rykoni fleet jumped to hyperspace. They weren¡¯t expecting any company in this system at all. So being shot at as soon as they came out of warp was a real surprise. After all, this system had been empty when the fleet last scanned it an hour ago. Unlike some of the other races they had encountered though, their ships were actually the least vulnerable when they just dropped out of warp. The hull plating had been overcharged to by nearly forty percent when those rounds hit the hull. The overcharging had to do with the fact that they absorb a lot of energy from translight particles while at warp. This becomes especially true at high warp. The energy buildup is high enough that special shunts are needed to divert extra energy to other systems to prevent burnouts in the armor circuitry.
Then she turned her attention to the sole cruiser still in the system. It was a fairly large ship. Just over two kilometers in length, and heavily armed. She found herself listening to Irina describe the scans of the ship.
¡°It looks to be a heavy cruiser sir. Seems she has taken a fair pounding. Her shields are on the brink of collapse, and she has sustained multiple hull breaches. I estimate her overall structural integrity is at forty-one percent of optimal. She is armed with a type of energy weapon not listed in our database. Her shields are quite impressive, about three times stronger than a Valorian Dreadnought, and her hull plating is quite substantial at nearly fifty meters thick. She also appears to be outfitted with energy torpedoes. Overall she looks to be a real solid ship,¡± said Irina who was studying the scans.
¡°Well, they clearly aren¡¯t friends with the Rykoni. Hail them, the fleet would appreciate any information they may have on Rykoni strongholds in this sector,¡± said Sayuri.
¡°They are hailing us, sir. I¡¯ll put it on screen as soon as the computer has a translation for their language,¡± replied Irina. Sayuri looked a bit surprised, but went with it. It took a few minutes for the computer to establish a connection, and then what was best described as a wolf woman appeared on the screen. She was covered in thick wolf-like fur, and had a head similar to a wolf¡¯s but her build was bipedal. She was entirely naked and had three small pairs of exposed mammaries. The fur hid the lower pairs more than the uppers, but not enough. She saw other naked aliens walking about on the bridge, and Sali found herself thinking that clothing was foreign to this culture.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
¡°Good day new friend, I am Matriarch of the Koros. I represent the Eninaci Clan, and you are?¡± said the woman.
¡°Commander Sayuri of the Sol Refuge LPC-X1. I am only authorized to represent the People of Sol in a limited fashion however,¡± said Sayuri. Sali noticed a slight shift in the matriarch¡¯s expression but didn¡¯t know what it meant. Sali recognized the name Sayuri had given the woman was the ship¡¯s official designation.
¡°Anyway, what brings you to this part of space?¡± asked the Matriarch.
¡°Pirate hunting. We were asked to locate and destroy as many Rykoni bases as we could find in the Orilias Belt. Any info you have on the Rykoni would be much appreciated,¡± replied Sayuri. Sali noted the professional and diplomatic tone she had adopted.
¡°Yes, the Rykoni have been getting a little out of hand as of late. We got separated from the Clan fleet in a previous attack, and their ships seem to be just about everywhere. I¡¯d be happy to share what I know, but a place where I can anchor and conduct repairs would be appreciated,¡± replied the Matriarch as she adopted what looked to be a more relaxed posture.
¡°I have a few scans of the system to make, but I can lead you back to where our fleet has anchored. You should be safe enough to make repairs. While our resources are limited, we can help you fix your ship as well,¡± offered Sayuri.
¡°I think we might take you up on that. A good place for repairs is hard to come by in deep space. However, our drive types are very different. If you can offer the coordinates we can make our way there via whatever jump nodes are available,¡± said the Matriarch.
Sali looked over her shoulder and noted that Sayuri had adopted a thoughtful posture, and then she said, ¡°I¡¯ll transmit the coordinates, and alert the fleet to expect you.¡±
A couple of moments later the transmission ended with some minor pleasantries, and then Sayuri gave her orders to fly to the first target on their list to scan. At the same time, the Koros made for a nearby jump node that would take them towards the Refuge Fleet.
She watched the familiar shift as the ship emerged from the slipstream. There had been no direct route to this system, so this was the third jump they had made to reach the coordinates they had been given. In the three days that had taken, she had found several of her clan¡¯s other ships. So she now had a total of eight ships with her. All of which were in dire need of repair thanks to recent battles with the Rykoni. The ships belonged to other groups that had been cut off from their main fleet group when the Rykoni had attacked their clan fleet five days ago. They had not located the city-ship however, and she hoped that meant they had escaped the Rykoni.
As normal space appeared on her screens she noted the presence of a fleet not far from their position, and one of her crewmen reported, ¡°Sensors have detected a small fleet in the system as expected. No Rykoni signatures in the area, but we are picking up quite a bit of activity in the system. Looks like the People of Sol are quite active here. I have already identified several heavy cruisers, a few industrial ships, and what looks to be their flagship. The industrial ships appear to be actively conducting repairs on two heavy cruisers and three smaller ships. I think they are destroyers. Looks like they had a major fight, residual energy signatures match Cylovan energy weapons.¡±
That was worrying, and she asked if they could detect any Cylovan signatures and thankfully there were none. Then a few minutes later they were being hailed. She had the image placed on screen, and a few moments later and an alien male appeared on her screen.
¡°I see you found some friends, along the way. I am Countryman, Supreme Protector of the Sol Refuge, and welcome to the LMR-11 star system. I sure you noticed that some of my yard ships are currently busy, but we can still help with those repairs if you want,¡± said Countryman.
The Matriarch was glad that the offer was still on the table, and she had brought with her some valuable minerals that were worth a fair bit in trade so she was certain she could pay for the repairs she needed. The offer was definitely appreciated, but they did have other things to discuss.
¡°I am thankful for the offer. Our ships are in dire need of repair thanks to recent battles with the Rykoni. They have become more active of late, and have begun attacking the clans. Ours was hit hard a few days ago, and we got separated from our city-ship. We would appreciate any help you can offer in getting us back to our city-ship.
I have a bay full of Pholite and Erentium. I was hoping to trade some of it for materials we need to fix our hulls, but we would appreciate any help you can provide in that regard. In the meantime, I am transmitting what data I have on the Rykoni. Hopefully, you can wipe out a few of their bases and we will be free to locate the rest of our fleet without being harassed.¡±
Countryman shifted, and his facial expression changed slightly, ¡°Certainly, and I¡¯ll have my scouts keep an eye out for your ships. I¡¯ll have some berths readied for you, and we can negotiate our prices face to face.¡±
¡°I look forward to meeting you in person then,¡± she said moments before signing off. As he left her screen one of her crewman looked up, and said, ¡°I have been taking a look at their flagship. At first glance, it looks like a battleship, but I noticed a number of discrepancies with that theory. I believe it is a city-ship, like ours. Also, I''m detecting some arms deploying from the underside similar to the ones that industrial ships we identified earlier were using to fix their damaged starships. I think we are looking at another nomadic clan not unlike our own. They are conducting the same sort of activities we would in an isolated system like this one. I have found ships patroling, ships mining asteroids, and even some harvesting fuel. A more sedentary race would be setting up an outpost here, but there is no evidence of that.¡±
She had gotten the same impression, but wasn¡¯t going to make any conclusions just yet. A couple minutes wait later, and she was being sent docking instructions for docking with the flagship, whose name she had not yet been given.
As she got closer she was given an excellent view of the ship, and she found herself impressed. It was in generally better shape than those of her clan were, but that likely meant that they weren¡¯t in battle as often. The Rykoni were always a problem, and knew this part of space just as well as her people did. One on one her ships always won, but the problem was that the Rykoni Clans greatly outnumbered the clans. Even if all the nomadic clans united into a single alliance they would still be outnumbered. Life was difficult thanks to them, and the clans often had to attack Rykoni outposts and bases.
Chapter XXI Meeting
Countryman rested against the wall in the lift. The entire thing moving towards the lower levels. In a few minutes he had a meeting with this Matriarch. It was apparent that she was the current leader of this group. He was looking forward to the meeting. Especially since he suspected that these were the space nomads he had been hearing about. Helping them repair their ships would go a long way towards forming decent relations with them, and he was interested in those minerals they had to offer. Being in good standing with the locals would help in finding and taking care of the local pirate problem. He was also getting the impression that the Rykoni were a lot more powerful than the Union was aware of. At least that was looking to be the case in this part of space, and he suspected that the war with the Cylovans had played a part in that. They were likely too busy fighting the Cylovans to maintain the patrols they needed to keep the Rykoni in check. The other sedentary civilizations like the Alliance were likely in a similar state.
He paused at that particular thought, but he knew it was true. As much as they didn¡¯t talk about it, they were without a homeworld. In recent years that fact didn¡¯t matter as much as it used to. Their children never knew the homeworld, and the search for a new one didn¡¯t really matter to them, and frankly it didn¡¯t really matter as much to him either. Honestly, he had never cared for that ball of rock, but its people were a different story entirely. Now that they were gone, the place didn¡¯t mean as much as it used to. However, it was still the sacred cradle of humanity. He and the other members still wanted to return one day, but the search for a new homeworld had begun to take a much lower priority. No their first priority was now to simply survive, and grow. Much of their time was also being taken up with the conflicts with the Rykoni and the Cylovans. Meeting a fellow nomadic race could prove interesting.
The lift came to a halt and he stepped out into a corridor on the lowermost deck. He turned left towards the airlock. There was a large room at the airlock that was used for ships docked beneath the Enterprise, and when not being used for shipyard purposes it was an auxiliary cargo bay. The room wasn¡¯t far from here and it had viewports that would provide a view of the ship below.
Countryman entered the room to find the Matriarch and two other alien females waiting at the airlock gangway. The three alien females were completely naked, but with the way their fur had puffed up from the energy in the air concealed their multiple pairs of tits. The viewports behind them gave him a good close view of their ship. It was a good view, and he appreciated the utilitarian design of the cruiser. Function over form was the clear priority, but they had managed to give it some grace without damaging the function. He closed to a respectful distance from the Matriarch, and said, ¡°Welcome aboard the Enterprise.¡±
¡°You said we could negotiate face to face here, but I would also like to know more about your people. We are wanderers and meet a lot of people, but this is the first time we have met you,¡± said the Matriarch. Countryman nodded and returned a gentle smile before gesturing to the door, ¡°Certainly, but I can think of a few more pleasant places to have this conversation. I think the recreational park area on deck 285,¡± then he checked the time, and continued, ¡°shouldn¡¯t be too busy at the moment, unless Forrest decided to schedule a war game without telling me.¡±
¡°War game? Why would war games be fought in a recreational park?¡± she asked with a tone that sounded curious.
¡°You will understand when we get there, but suffice to say the park takes up the entire deck, and the five above it. The deck below also plays a role in the environment on that deck. The deck is a popular recreational destination hence being called a park, but it is also where our marines and ground troops practice the art of war. Their war games have also become a popular entertainment, and in a way fill in the role that sports did for our ancestors back on the homeworld,¡± replied Countryman as he led the way to the door. The aliens followed him, and they passed a pair of guards guarding the door.
¡°I look forward to seeing it then, and are all your corridors this dim?¡± she asked commenting on the low lighting.
¡°Yes, we save a lot of fuel by just dimming the lights. They are connected to the internal sensors and turn off when no one is in the room, and before you ask the charge in the air had nothing to do with the life support system,¡± answered Countryman. the Matriarchs ears twitched, and she replied, ¡°I was just about to ask about that. It feels really weird walking around with my fur all puffed up like this, but if it ain¡¯t your life support what is causing this?¡±
¡°I am afraid that would be us. We generate a fair amount of electrical energy, and that energy is responsible for our charged environment. We find it quite comfortable, but we have been told others don¡¯t,¡± replied Countryman as he stopped to key a console and open the lift.
¡°Personally I just find it weird, but the lighting isn¡¯t much of a problem. Anyway, my officer was speculating that your people are nomadic like us,¡± said the Matriarch as she followed him into the lift. Her gaze studying the controls.
¡°We don¡¯t talk about it much, but yes we are,¡± replied Countryman as he sent the lift on its way and then turned to regard her.
¡°Our clan left the homeworld some eight hundred years ago, and some of the clans I have met left their own homeworlds even earlier. How long ago did you leave your own?¡± asked the Matriarch as she tilted her head slightly.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
¡°Seventy-four years. However, our race first developed space travel some hundred and fifty years earlier. Just don¡¯t ask why we left the homeworld, most of us aren¡¯t quite comfortable sharing that information yet,¡± said Countryman.
¡°At least your clan remembers, I know a number of clans that don¡¯t even remember their homeworld. Our people left due to a natural disaster. We didn¡¯t have jumpdrives then so we had to make our way between systems the slow way. Some hundred and fifty years later we found a new world, but not all of us chose to settle. A number of clans built their own ships and set out further into the stars, and continued to live the nomadic lifestyle we had gotten used to. Out of curiosity will I encounter any other clans of your people?¡± asked the Matriarch. Countryman looked down a bit and replied, ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±
They stepped through a door, and were greeted with a rolling field. They had been talking idle chatter for the last few minutes, and had not yet gotten around to negotiating the repair details. A nice gentle breeze moved through the field, and not far from their position was the edge of a forest. A river flowed out of the forest and passed a couple hundred meters in front of them. A small bridge that looked to be made of stone allowed one to cross the river.
The Matriarch and her entourage looked around and then one of them spoke up, ¡°I have seen plenty of artificial environments before, but never one so large. How big is this park?¡±
¡°I said it takes up the entire deck. The height of the chamber is about sixty meters, but the chamber is nearly five kilometers long, and approximately four kilometers wide. It''s big enough to fit a decently sized park, a couple of villages and a small town. Can¡¯t actually place a city in here. We would need a much bigger ship for that, but this park covers a good variety of terrains,¡± said Countryman as he started down the dimly lit path. The entire park looked as if it was shadowed in twilight. This was thanks to the dim lighting that was favored on Refuge ships. In the distance what looked to be a town could be seen in the middle of the park. The town was also shrouded in shadows, and was used mainly for practicing urban warfare. When not in use it was more of a ghost town than anything else. Though kids did like to explore and play in the town. Which is one of the reasons they kept this place as clean as possible. Fortunately they didn¡¯t use actual weapons here in the park, so they didn¡¯t have to worry about their safety if someone accidentally left behind a training rifle. The only weapons issued for a mock battle fired a very low yield laser pulse. It stung when it hit, but it was safer than the paint-ball guns that were used centuries ago.
Looking around and following down the dark path, the Matriarch replied, ¡°Saying it and seeing it are very different things. I must say you did a good job creating this environment. Is this a recreation of your native environment?¡±
¡°We can actually survive and even thrive in a wide variety of environments, and climates. This is just one of the more idyllic ones that were found on our homeworld. Although it was not tailored to match any given location on the planet. This actually took a lot of work to do, and one of the more difficult things to do was to get the sun cycle just right. The plants here only get sun so to speak for about four hours each day, but the lights do provide some energy to plants even now,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I can imagine. We have a few arboretums on our city-ship and getting things just right can be hard. Especially since you also have to balance your own energy needs and concerns with the needs of the plants,¡± said one of the Matriarchs aides.
¡°Yeah it is a headache and a half, but fortunately this isn¡¯t my concern. Anyway about those repairs your ship needs. I had my engineers do a hull composition analysis. We can produce the Duranium based alloy you use easily enough. Albeit at a cost twenty-five percent higher than what it would cost for a similar quantity of Titan Alloy. That is the material we use for constructing ships, and most importantly used in the construction of hull plating. As for your damaged systems, my engineers inform me it will take about a week to patch them at a cost of 140,000 RCs, but we could do a full repair in two weeks for around 200,000. As for your hull damage we can repair that in about ten days for 300,000 credits,¡± said Countryman.
¡°I assume these credits you speak of are your internal currency. Care to give me something to use as a conversion of value?¡± replied the Matriarch.
¡°Pure Pholite is worth about 15k per kilogram, and pure Erentium is worth about three times as much. The repairs you need aren¡¯t all that extensive. Our Battlehawks cost 800,000 credits to build, which means fixing your ship is still cheaper than building a new ship. Even if the materials you need are more expensive than the ones we use in ship construction,¡± said Countryman. The Matriarch had a thoughtful look for a moment before saying, ¡°Those numbers seem a little low. We¡¯re talking pure material costs aren¡¯t we?¡±
Countryman smiled, and replied, ¡°That would be correct. For labor, average worker pay is 42 credits a day for ship construction, repair, and maintenance. If we assume a project length of two weeks and assign one thousand workers that will come out to 588,000 for labor.¡±
She nodded, and said, ¡°That seems more in line with what you would expect. I do think your material costs are a little low, though.¡±
¡°We use nano-fabrication to manufacture most of the materials we need. The use of nanites in construction greatly improved manufacturing times, and reduced costs across the board. Over three hundred years ago it would have taken about six years to build a ship half a kilometer in length. Around two hundred years ago to build the same ship would have taken two years. The introduction of nanites a hundred and fifty years ago allowed that ship to be built in two months. Nowadays that same ship can be built in about two weeks. This is because ship construction nowadays is really nothing more complicated than putting a puzzle together. All the components are simply built in a factory by nanites, and then the workers fit them together,¡± replied Countryman. Just as they crossed the bridge. The Matriarch studied a structure on the other side of the bridge, and replied, ¡°I think your prices are reasonable. I would like to repair all of my ships, but with a slightly faster time table.¡±
¡°That will run the cost up a bit, but we can do it,¡± smirked Countryman as they began to negotiate in earnest.
Chapter XXII Encounter at RR-117
RR-117, 1312 hours May 13th 074 SDE,
A green energy beam lanced across space, and ripped into a nearby starship. Its deflector shields flared as they struggled, and failed to redirect the beam. The hull buckled and broke apart under the stress. Then the ship started to split in two, when suddenly an internal explosion tore a chunk out of the hull. Followed by several more small explosions culminating in a big one. When the dust cleared, all that was left was an expanding cloud of debris.
The admiral watched it go down, but he couldn¡¯t focus on the lost cruiser. They had managed to intercept the Cylovan Dreadnought at RR-117. A small unremarkable system, that was only important thanks to its position. He was immensely thankful for the hyperspace data they had gotten from the Refuge for it had played a critical role in allowing them to intercept the dreadnought here. Otherwise, it might have taken another month or more to intercept the damn ship. That data had allowed them to find more efficient routes through hyperspace, and place this massive force right in the path of the damnable ship. The battle itself had been raging for the past two and a half hours. In that time they had lost nearly a thousand cruisers and hundreds of destroyers defending the battleships that were key to their battleline. Numerous fighters were keeping the enemy swarmers of the fleet, and by his count, they had managed to sink some thirty-thousand Cylovan Fighters. All of which came from that one dreadnought. It was a mind boggling number of fighters, and yet they were still launching more. To supplement the forty thousand that were currently engaged with the fleet.
Speaking of the fleet, they had already lost a third of their fighter complement in this engagement, but they seemed to be gaining the upper hand in the fighter war. On the screen he saw a barrage unleashed from his fleet slam into the dreadnoughts failing shields, and was rewarded with a flash of light as they collapsed.
¡°Sir, the enemy, has lost their shields!¡± excitedly reported a young lieutenant. He gave a gentle smile, and with confidence, he ordered, ¡°All ships are to open fire with their main batteries¡±
¡°Aye Sir, relaying order,¡± replied his comm¡¯s officer. On his screen surges of purple light flared as their special weapons opened fire. All of the heavier ships in the fleet were outfitted with the special particle weapons that were intended for use against the real heavy hitters of the Cylovan fleet. Along with the purple bolts, a mix of greens and blues surged from the masers of other ships that didn¡¯t have particle cannons.
Hundreds of thousands of blasts tore into the thick outer shell of the dreadnought tearing holes in the plating, and the ship returned fire. Another green beam lanced out and tore into a cruiser defensively placed between it and one of the battleships. This time the beam cut through the cruiser dealing heavy damage to the upper decks amidships, but failed to cause any secondary explosions. The cruiser having survived the blast returned fire with a barrage of missiles. The projectiles slammed into the hull of the dreadnought moments later with explosive results.
A few more beams fired from the dreadnought catching several ships including the cruiser it hit earlier. This time the cruiser wasn¡¯t so lucky and the beam cut through the main engine room and the primaries lost containment. The resulting explosion claimed yet another ship and the several thousand men and women who manned her.
The admiral was idly aware as each lost ship was named. Suddenly he saw a massive explosion on the dreadnought. He recognized it as one of the identified hangar bays. The outer doors had been breached by the barrage a few moments ago, but it looks like something important was hit. A few moments later when the dust cleared, it was obvious the hanger had been destroyed as a massive chunk of the hull was gone. In its place was a twisted and mangled chunk of metal. The hanger was obviously destroyed and with it, no more fighters would come from it. He heard another officer report the damage, and mention something about suspected shield generators being destroyed with it.
The damage, however, didn¡¯t stop the enemy from returning fire. He watched several more ships including one of their battleships go up in flames under the barrage of green energy. Then one of his officers shouted, ¡°Sir we are detecting an energy buildup on the dreadnought.¡±
He shouted an order to intensify bombardment. With the order every ship that could unloaded every missile and torpedo they had available unto the alien menace. Explosions rippled across the massive ship¡¯s hull. Each impact ripping chunks out of the hull. Something critical must have been hit as well for the Cylovan guns fell silent. Then suddenly a massive green vortex opened up in front of the ship, and swallowed the dreadnought. A short moment later the fleet ceased bombardment.
Thousands of fighters were still left on the field and he gave orders for the fleet to deal with them. Then one of his officers reported, ¡°The ship escaped into a new hyperwarp conduit, sir. We managed to trace the conduit, and it appears the ship will emerge somewhere in the Orialias Belt.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
¡°Alert command that the dreadnought escaped, and send them our casualty report,¡± ordered the admiral. He was not happy that his prey had escaped, but in the meantime, he needed to plan for its return. So he escaped to his office afterward to review the long battle. It had taken hours to breakthrough those shields, but once down they were able to inflict considerable damage. He guessed it would take the ship months to regenerate the damage. Especially the blow to the hanger that one was quite severe. If they could find and engage the ship before it could complete its repairs their victory would be assured. Regardless this encounter was a victory on paper, even if the ship had escaped.
LMR-717 1407 Hours, high orbit over Rykoni base world of X¡¯cour¡¯dal, May 13th 074 SDE,
A green vortex opened up into the black void and spat out a large damaged sphere. Its surface was heavily scarred, and deep jagged, melted scars marked the hull. On one side a massive mangled region was all that remained of its former hanger. It had sacrificed all of its deployed fighters to make this jump. Unfortunately, it had been forced to make a jump away from Cylovan space. The geography of hyperspace had made going this way the least energy-intensive.
The ship¡¯s computers immediately analyzed its situation. Shields were down, and the system was heavily damaged, main weapons were offline and most of its fighter complement was gone. Thanks to sustained damage it only could deploy about two thousand out of the six thousand fighters that remained. In its current condition, it wouldn¡¯t be much of a threat to most foes, but at least propulsion was still online. The FTL systems were too deep inside to have been damaged by the barrage of enemy fire. The jump, however, had completely drained the batteries. Not to mention the drives were overheated so it would be some time before they could make another jump. Several hours at the least would be needed before the drives would be ready for another jump.
Suddenly before it could complete its damage assessment it registered impacts on the hull. It took it a few moments with its damaged sensors to identify the source of the threats. Hundreds of ships, most barely a hundred meters long or smaller were attacking it. All of them could best be described as flying junk piles. Unable to jump away it responded by launching fighters and charging the still operational secondary beam arrays.
The attackers had about two thousand ships, but only three of them were capital ships. It targeted one of the big ships in range. A cruiser nearly three kilometers long, but otherwise unremarkable. A single green beam lanced out across space, and tore the ship apart from end to end. Then it exploded, and claimed a couple of smaller ships that were too close to the cruiser.
The dreadnought quickly followed up with a second attack targeted at a different cruiser. With spectacular results as the ship went up in a massive fireball, thanks to its leaky fuel tanks igniting. However, no smaller ships went up with it. Then the fighters started swarming the smalls ships. Rippling them apart in mere seconds, their shields proving to be useless against the Cylovan weaponry. The beams quickly adapting to disable them in mere seconds.
The third cruiser tried to run, but it barely made it a half a thousand kilometers before a green beam lanced through its hull. The fragile ship couldn¡¯t take the hit and broke apart under the stress. Suddenly several batteries on the surface of the moon opened fire on the dreadnought.
The stolen high-energy linked particle batteries the Rykoni were using to defend their base impacted the ship¡¯s hull at full power. The damaged plating melted a bit under the impacts, and the dreadnought rotated to get a lock on the attacker.
A green beam fired onto the moon and tore through the atmosphere to strike the base. An energy shield flared up, as it tried to protect the base. The shield lasted for nearly a minute and a half before it collapsed. Then the beam slammed into the base, and a shockwave spread out from the impact site. The pirate base was gone when the dust settled, only a massive crater remained where it once stood.
As the dreadnought was mopping up a single cloaked ship observed the battle. A young woman adjusted her posture and turned to a crewman. ¡°Set a course back to the city-ship. We need to report this immediately,¡± said the girl.
¡°Yes, Matriarch. Setting course,¡± reported the young girl she spoke to.
She settled into a command chair, and considered the implications of this ship arriving here. The fact it was damaged was not lost on her, and she considered that fortunate. Especially since it meant they had a chance against it, but they would need the help of other clans to do it. Problem was half their clan was scattered, and a few other clans were in similar positions. All thanks to recent Rykoni activities. The recent upspike in Rykoni activity had included hits on all the major clans in the region. Disrupting trade across most of the sector and several surrounding sectors.
In such a state even this single damaged Cylovan capital ship represented a significant threat to the entire sector. She was not happy about this ship being here, but there was very little she could. She could only hope that the disruption would allow them to find their separated ships, and maybe locate a few of the other clans. Although she doubted it, as that ship was heavily damaged. Which meant it wouldn¡¯t move much until it had time to repair its critical systems.
Then she felt the familiar sensations of a jump. With it, she finally relaxed as she knew her ship was unlikely to be pursued. In a few hours, they would be back with the city-ship, and then they would have to find a different route.
Meanwhile, in the office of the Elder, a young aide swam in.
¡°Sir, the fleet reports they are ready,¡± said the young girl. He gave her a smile and said, ¡°Good, tell them that they may depart. They have my blessing for this operation.¡±
She nodded and swam out of the room to carry out his orders.
Chapter XXIII State of the Belt
Shifting in her seat, the Matriarch stared out the viewport. She had been here a few days now, and the repairs for her ship, and those of her sister Matriarchs were almost done. The dimly lit observation deck was quite comfortable and gave her a good view of what was going on. Outside she could see a few Refuge scoutships leaving the fleet perimeter before making a jump. It was a common sight, and they were regularly launching the things. She had come to the conclusion that they were actively building scoutships, but she had yet to see them actually lay down a hull. However the fact that the only ships launching them were the industrial ships strongly supported the theory that they were building the ships. She had also seen them pull and replace a couple of modules on what her engineers told her were carriers. The old modules were then taken apart and recycled for other projects. The only project she knew for certain they used the material on however was the repairs for their damaged cruiser.
A ship whose repairs had already been completed. She had noticed that their engineers were very efficient at their jobs, and it had not taken them long to repair that cruiser. A process that was as simple as removing the damaged modules and installing new ones. Then they replated the hull. The damaged components were then taken apart by worker bees and then pulled into the industrial ship. Since she was dealing with a fellow nomadic culture she knew that those materials would be recycled. She was also pretty sure they had only removed the modules that were too badly damaged for a quick repair job. All the ones she had seen floating in space after being pulled from the ship were practically totaled. The Cylovan weapons had done a real number on those sections of the ship. Which meant it was likely cheaper and easier to replace the entire module, and then salvage whatever was left of the old one.
As she was pondering things she noticed several ships break off from the rest of the fleet. Four cruisers, a carrier, and eight destroyers alongside sixteen of their frigates broke away, and assumed a formation before making the jump to warp speed. It looked like something was happening, but she had no idea where those ships were going. Then again she wasn¡¯t privy to what was going on in the upper circles of this clan. She only had limited access to the lower circles, and that included limited access to their internal market. Visiting their market had been interesting, and she even purchased a few interesting trinkets. Items she felt she could sell elsewhere for a tidy little profit. Maybe a little more as she could play on the fact that elsewhere they would be unique items. As for the ships, if she had to guess they were likely an attack group. Which meant some unfortunate Rykoni were in for a rude awakening.
A young-looking woman settled into her command chair. She had been entrusted command of this task force, and she wanted to impress the Supreme Protector. She also secretly hoped that by impressing him with her skills, he would notice her. Not that she was going to voice the desire anytime soon. Her ship, the SFS Kingdom SFR-03 was a fine ship, and she was looking forward to this battle. Her bridge was currently a flurry of activity, and in about an hour they would be launching an attack on an identified Rykoni base. It was on the surface of a small planet about .9 AU from its star which was comparable to Sol, but a bit dimmer. The planet itself was a bit smaller than Mars, and was quite dry. However it still had a decent biosphere, and several Rykoni settlements dotted a desert in the northwestern hemisphere. The scoutship that found it had determined a population of about two hundred forty thousand most of which were in fact not Rykoni. Given what they knew about the Rykoni it was likely that these non-Rykoni were in fact slaves.
Which played into the fact that they were only authorized to conduct limited ground bombardment. This meant they were to selectively target military targets, and let the troops sort things out on the ground. She had been told to save as many slaves as she could safely. Otherwise she was free to inflict as much damage as she wanted. In orbit of the planet was an asteroid that had been towed into a stable orbit, and a base had been carved out of the rock. Scans had revealed that it had several laser batteries, and a few banks of missiles for protection. It had a nice dock, that presented an excellent entry point. While the base itself was unremarkable, deep mineral scans had revealed that they had some very valuable minerals in their storage. Well worth the extra risk of trying to take the base intact.
She already had a basic plan of attack. The Rykoni only had a small fleet protecting their outpost here. Which amounted to twelve cruisers and about six hundred raiders. The base itself had facilities for a fleet twice that size. So she figured most of the raiders were out. Likely conducting hits on someone¡¯s shipping or harassing the local nomads. Her plan was simple. Most of her fleet including her flag would engage the enemy. She would deploy her fighters in a net to prevent them from escaping. While two of her destroyers would break off to disable the defenses on the asteroid base. Then conduct tactical bombardment of ground-based military installations. Including the ground to space battery their scout had identified when it reconned the system the day before. Given the general state of disrepair the Rykoni ships were in, she didn¡¯t expect them to be able to put up much of a fight. She had been given more than enough ships and firepower to clear out this hostile nest.
Shifting in her seat, the woman waited for her ship to reach its destination. Shortly before they were to drop out of warp in the target system a crewman reported that her pilots were ready to launch. She was glad to hear that as it would take a few minutes to deploy her entire complement of fighter craft. Having them ready and on standby would help cut the time to deploy by a few minutes.
Then finally in a subdued flash, they had arrived at their target destination. Her officers quickly reported that they appeared to be undetected so far, and she gave the order to begin launching fighters. If they hadn¡¯t been spotted yet, then she was going to take advantage of that and deploy their net. Then one of her officers reported, ¡°Commodore Yoshimoto Sir, we have detected what looks to be a disabled Nomad cruiser docked at the Rykoni asteroid base. We have also detected Vysonii Lifesigns on the station.¡±
She doubted that their new friends or any other clan of their race would choose to willingly dock at Rykoni base. She had no doubt it was a captured ship, and those life signs belong to its crew who had been captured. ¡°That doesn¡¯t change our attack plans much. Alert the detachment that will be boarding the station that they have a new objective. They are to secure that cruiser, preferably without too much additional damage, and rescue the crew. It should earn us more favor with our new friends.¡±Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
The officer acknowledged her order and then scurried off to relay her orders. She leaned back in her chair and surveyed her screens. Yoshimoto was keeping a close eye on the Rykoni ship movements, and tracking her own fleet movements.
It didn¡¯t take long for her fleet to get into position, but each agonizing second had felt like years. Once they were in postion she gave the order to activate their hyperspace jammers. With those systems active it would be impossible for the Rykoni ships to make the jump to hyperspace as long as they were in the radius of effect. Her net of deployed fighters would make it very difficult for any ship to escape the net, and let her focus on taking orbital control. Once she had that she would then deploy her ground troops to the planetary surface to take the Rykoni colony.
¡°Jammers are active Commodore,¡± reported her operations officer. Then her tactical officer reported, ¡°That seems to have gotten their attention. They have armed their defense systems, and are intensifying their active scans.¡±
She glanced at her screens. There was a Rykoni cruiser in weapons range of her ship, and its shields were still coming online. Which gave them a window of nearly a minute that they would be vulnerable to attack. ¡°Then let''s give them a reason to panic, destroy that eyesore, and give the fleet the attack signal.¡±
Her tactical officer didn¡¯t say a thing. She only returned a predatory grin and went to the controls. On the surface of the Kingdom¡¯s hull the main beam arrays lit up a vibrant blue, and then an energy beam lanced out at the cruiser. The particle stream punched into the hull amidships and out the other side in an instant. The beam translated along the hull and quickly began to cut the ship in two. Entire sections of the ship explosively decompressed as the hull buckled under the attack. As the beam terminated a second beam followed up to continue the damage. Someone managed to get the shields up in that brief interval, but they didn¡¯t last long. The carrier¡¯s beam array was very powerful thanks to its massive capital ship power plant, and a significant chunk of the beam just punched through the shields. Ten seconds after the shields came up the beam intersected with the primary shield generator and the system disintegrated. A few seconds later the beam finished bisecting the unfortunate cruiser. Not a single missile or reactor had been hit, but the entire ship was now vented to space.
Other Refuge ships opened up to engage Rykoni targets in their weapons range. Most didn¡¯t even have their shields up. Their inability to detect the Refuge ship¡¯s earlier had allowed her to close into weapons range without alerting the enemy. The result was that in the opening two minutes her taskforce eliminated half the defenders without much of a fight. At the same moment, the two destroyers tasked with disabling the orbital base opened up on the asteroid. Particle impacts precisely targeted at the weapon emplacements made quick work of the defenses
A couple of well-aimed photons were used to blow open the hanger bays doors, and then the assault craft carrying the boarding party was launched. While the ships locked their beam arrays on ground-based military targets. The ground to space battery was neutralized before they could even get a shot off, and the rest of the space battle was effectively a curb stomp. A couple of Rykoni raiders did attempt to escape, but they were torn apart by Refuge fighter craft.
Pov Random Marine commander:
The landing marines moved immediately to secure the landing zone. The ship''s torpedoes, however, had done a very good job of clearing the hangar. Not a single Rykoni was alive in the hangar to oppose them. Her squad had been assigned the task of rescuing their nomadic friends. She was first up to the door into the base proper. She and a buddy set up a pair of forcefield bars, and activated them before planting the breaching charge. The bars would keep the atmosphere in. Normally they wouldn¡¯t have cared, but in this case, there were people on the asteroid they wanted alive. In other words, the prisoners, they had been ordered to rescue.
The charge made quick work of the damaged hatch, and their squad made its way into the building. A pair of Rykoni were guarding the corridor. She thought them ugly creatures, but paid the thought little mind, and fired at the first one. Two quick shots in the chest and he was down for the count. The other one got off a single round that went wide, and got three bolts to the face as thanks for his trouble. She took a moment to look at the creatures before they passed. They had thick red skin, and strong tusks on their face. Both were tall with robust builds, and had a stripe of brown fur that ran from the top of their head to their tall. Each one had claws on their arms, and strong predatory jaws. She had the distinct impression that they were a highly predatory species.
They moved down the corridor and took a passage to the left. This led them into a room with four more Rykoni in it. Each one was greeted with a pair of quick shots to the chest or head. A couple did manage to get off shots of their own, and one of them even scored a hit on one of her buddies. Their armor easily absorbed the hit, and they were unharmed. Then the group continued down the path towards the life signs the fleet had detected.
They encountered a few more Rykoni on the path to the local brig, but they were all easily dealt with. It was clear that while physically strong they were lacking in real combat training. Which made reaching the brig quite easy for them, where they found the entire crew of the cruiser locked behind bars. Many of them were injured, and even the young were beaten. Likely from Rykoni brutality. Only about a dozen Rykoni were guarding the entrance and only a handful were patrolling the area.
They had stormed through the entrance and greeted each with a precise burst center-mass. As large and tough as they were to her and her squad they were nothing more than big targets. She went ahead, while the others started to open the cells and treat the Vysonii prisoners. Another went the opposite direction.
She encountered the first patrol about ten meters down the row of cells. They saw her first and opened fire with their laser rifles. Her armor absorbed a few hits, but she was otherwise fine. She raised her rifle, and aimed a few particle bolts into their chests. It took her only moments to clear the patrol then she moved on. For the most part, it was a simple rinse and repeat. Taking only moments to clear the cells. As soon as she met up with the rest of her squad they received a report that the cruiser had been secured.
Chapter XXIV The Sands of Urokia
While the marines were still securing the asteroid base dropships began landing troops on the planet. The Scorpion walkers were the first heavy units deployed, and they were immediately deployed to protect the landing site, while dropships and shuttles began to unload tanks for the mission. Fleet had identified a total of twelve settlements that needed to be secured, but there were also patrols moving between settlements. The Scorpions were great attack units, but they lacked the speed of a tank, which is why the Scorpions were going to be used to attack the compound that had already taken fire from orbit to soften it. The compound was where most of the Rykoni life signs had been concentrated, and it was well fortified. The bombardment had destroyed the ground to space guns that it had, but its garrison was mostly intact.
That was deliberate, however, as they were trying to do minimal damage to the facility. Fleet scanners had detected significant storage silos under the compound. The compound was clearly there to defend the local spaceport, and valuables were stored there before being shipped into orbit. For this attack, they had brought two kinds of tanks for the blitz on the settlement. The first was the Raptor class MBTs. Fast and powerful, they had changed little in the last seventy years. The only notable changes were that propulsion and defense systems had been upgraded to a higher standard. The current Raptor was officially designated the Raptor A-9. There were rumors in the fleet that an upgrade for the tank was in the works. The other tank they brought was a lighter design intended primarily for reconnaissance roles, but it also had enough teeth to be deadly when it needed to be. It could also double as a transport, and could carry up to six marines with it.
The ST-48 was designed by the fleet in the last seventy years, and its design was based on the older ST-42. Being small and light at just under 21 tons allowed it to move at rapid speeds across the battlefield. Unlike the Raptor the ST-48 is a pure hover tank. For armament, it carries a single 55mm Photon cannon, twin light photon missile launchers, and a light coaxial particle cannon. For protection, it was given a coating of fourth-generation overlord armor 150 mm thick. Ultimately its speed was the main reason they had brought it along. They were going to be deployed to hunt down patrols, and scout out enemy positions. While the main assaults on the settlements would be spearheaded by the more powerful Raptor tanks.
The local commander of the ground units watched as the tanks were unloaded from the shuttles. She had been given four hundred ST-48s and two hundred Raptors for this mission. It was a good number, and it made the bulk of her vehicle division. The core of her force was made up of the twenty thousand mechanical soldiers she had been given. Along with an additional two thousand marines from the original ground force assigned to the Enterprise seventy years ago. They were her elite ground troops, even if most of their experience was from boarding actions and war games. It had been a long time since they had last conducted a ground op. The last one being the Raid on New Valoria in 004 SDE. Since then they had no reason to be conducting ground operations. Everything since then had been boarding operations which were a bit different.
As the last of the tanks was unloaded from the shuttles, a lieutenant reported to her, ¡°Sir, the shuttles are about finished unloading our supplies.¡±
¡°Good have the ST crews deploy. I want them out hunting down those patrols. Make sure to attach a squad to each tank,¡± she ordered. The lieutenant nodded and rushed off to carry out the order. Fortunately, this ground mission shouldn¡¯t be too difficult since they already had complete orbital control. Which consequently meant they had aerial supremacy. That didn¡¯t mean she was going to underestimate this foe. A cornered animal often fought the hardest.
Following her orders she noticed a few scout tanks leaving the LZ. They already had their orders, and she knew they would be fanning out to engage enemy patrols. The patrols weren¡¯t exactly consistent in composition, but they all had at least one vehicle and between ten to twenty thugs. A few even had what looked to be the Rykoni equivalent of a tank. They had in fact seen several variants, but the most common was designated as the Herc Heavy Tank. The old WWII tank design classification actually seemed to fit the thing more than the modern era MBT classification.
The Herc was a big tank at about 15 meters in length. Scans had revealed these Hercs were outfitted with 235mm projectile cannons, and a coaxial laser cannon. Along with eight 20mm rapid-fire autocannons. A choice she personally found a little odd, as a smaller caliber would have worked better. The entire thing was heavily armored, and outfitted with an energy shield, but its tracks struggled with its high weight making it slow and lumbering.
They had also seen a larger cousin, but it appeared to be defending the compound. They had four of the Behemoth tanks that honestly looked like someone took the WWII german Maus and made it even bigger and then made a few modifications. Scans revealed the things needed antigrav engines just to keep it from sinking into the soil. She doubted the Rykoni were smart enough to build the things, and guessed they either stole them or purchased them. Given their disposition, she was quite sure it was the former. The Behemoths had very thick armor, especially frontal, but their aft armor was paper-thin. Which would make them vulnerable to flanking attacks, but if they couldn¡¯t flank she figured a Scorpion could make short work of them. Assuming it could get through the shields.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
A tank crested the dune. Being a light unit it was tasked with engaging the patrols, so that the main forces could more easily take the settlements. Her crew spotted a patrol ahead of them. About ten men were marching alongside a larger tank. The commander ordered a missile lock, and a pair of missiles were fired at the tank. Two glowing blue bolts sailed through the air and slammed into the side of the tank. A shield flared, but the missiles passed through. An instant later the tank exploded spraying its surroundings with shrapnel. Then men unfortunate enough to be too close were killed instantly.
With a hoot, the weapon¡¯s officer declared, ¡°Direct hit target destroyed.¡±
The commander smiled and then ordered the driver to proceed to their next waypoint. Thanks to the fleet providing real-time positioning data they knew exactly where the next patrol was, and the waypoint is where they were expected to intercept them.
The commander then took stock of their remaining missiles. They had used them to kill three tanks already, and are down to four out of ten photons. The photons were their main weapon for engaging heavy armor, as the main cannon was only really good against lightly armored targets. Most of the races they encountered favored shields over armor so it was fine in most situations, but the Rykoni tanks were well-armored. Considering the problem, she knew her gun would struggle to penetrate their frontal and side armor, but their aft and top armor was quite thin. She would waste fewer shells trying to penetrate the thinner aft armor.
Anyway, with this latest group down, the main force now had a clear path to the local settlements. Which were only lightly defended by ground troops. Orbital scans indicated that they didn¡¯t have any vehicles deployed to defend them. Their tanks were used mainly for patrolling the lands surrounding the settlements.
Checking the tac plot she saw the group they were moving towards was on the other side of a small hill. Unlike last time they were facing the hill, which meant they would be seen if they crested the sandy hill. Which meant that it was time to take advantage of their main gun¡¯s elevation and variable shot velocity features. She fed some figures to her weapons officer who began targeting the cannon. As soon as they were on target she ordered her to fire. Four quick shots sent out a small indirect volley of glowing photon shells.
The shells flew over the hill, and with a fair amount of accuracy slammed into the approaching Herc Tank. Her shield successfully absorbed the first shell, but the other three slammed into her thinner top armor. The vehicle exploded in a large fireball, and then her tank was off to crest the dune.
A couple of Rykoni had survived the destruction of the tank, but a couple of quick shots from her coaxial was all that was needed to deal with them.
Around the same time, the main battlegroups were entering the first of the twelve settlements surrounding the compound. The Scorpions were moving to bypass the settlement so it was the tanks and infantry moving into the settlement.
The settlement was surrounded by a wall, with Rykoni patrolling the top of the wall. A Raptor fired a single round from her main cannon. A glowing blue projectile slammed into the gate and exploded opening an easy path into the town. The infantry then poured in, with some tank support.
Elsewhere a similar occurrence was happening at another town. Most of the populace were indeed slaves, and they joined in with the Refuge forces as soon as their handlers were dead. They were unreliable troops though, so the Refuge did its best to keep them out of the fight. Especially since they didn¡¯t exactly need cannon fodder, and the could easily manufacture new troops to replace any they lost. The freed slaves had more value as diplomatic capital than as cannon fodder.
The towns couldn¡¯t put up much of a fight, but the Rykoni did managed to injure a couple of soldiers when they managed to get them into a melee. The Rykoni proved to be better at Melee combat than the Refuge troops were, but thankfully the injured troops had buddies that could bale them out.
Things went much like this until they reached the compound. Just as they were reaching it one of the Behemoths opened fire on the approaching forces. Massive shells slammed one after another into the approaching troops. Most of which was absorbed by the Scorpions positioned to protect the troops, just in case of this eventuality.
The Scorpions didn¡¯t just sit there and take the incoming barrage, and focused their Particle Lances on the massive tank. Powerful violet energy bursts slammed violently into its shield one after another. Its shield held for several minutes under the barrage before collapsing. The energy then slammed into its frontal plate. The particle stream melted right through the massive and thick plates before burning out the internal spaces. After several more shots, the thing was reduced to a burned-out husk, but it had inflicted some damage. A couple of Raptors had gotten hit by its heavy shells, and while the crews were alright the tanks had been disabled. Not to mention the Scorpions had some dents in their armor.
With the tank down the troops were able to enter the compound while the tanks and walkers stayed on the perimeter splitting to engage the other Behemoths defending the perimeter.
Inside, the Rykoni put up a fierce fight, often making use of weapons they hadn¡¯t employed in the settlements. The fierce fighting lasted for about an hour. Squads moving room by room to engage troops in fortified positions. It was here that the Refuge sustained some casualties thanks to the intense fighting, but they were all mechanical troops. Which could be repaired or replaced.
Chapter XXV News at the Speed of Rumor
She watched the screen as yet another blue energy beam tore into the side of a Rykoni Cruiser. Its weak energy shielding struggling to stop the beam, and for the most part, failing. A large chunk of the beam simply passed through the shield to tear into the hull it was protecting. It was merely the expected result given how much of a mismatch the battle was. The Rykoni simply weren¡¯t equipped to engage the enemy they were fighting. The guns on their ships didn¡¯t have the power to punch through the alien armor, and their shields were woefully insufficient for warding off their enemy¡¯s weapons. Not to mention their general state of disrepair further hampered them against this foe. They couldn¡¯t even run, as their hyperdrives were being jammed, and their poorly maintained engines couldn¡¯t generate enough thrust to outrun their opponents.
Looking over to her Pathfinder, an officer who was responsible for keeping the fleet safe by finding the safest routes between ports. A position that was also responsible for finding new ports, and gather information on potential enemies or allies. In more sedentary cultures she would be called an intelligence officer. ¡°So how many similar engagements did you say have been recorded?¡±
She replied in a crisp tone, ¡°Thirty-Seven Mistress. Over the last week, two similar groups to the one that attacked Urokia have engaged the Rykoni in multiple systems. We have been able to determine that these aliens are fast. Their ships can move far more quickly than the counterparts of most other navies in the sector. In addition to being fast, their ships are hard to detect. So far they have only been seen engaging the Rykoni, and given that they seem to be well equipped they might make a good ally.¡±
She nodded, and the Grand Matriarch remembered another problem in the making. One almost as pressing as the out of control Rykoni issue these aliens were cleaning up, ¡°Yes, they would. Would we happen to know where we can find these aliens? Or for that matter what they are called?¡±
She shook her head, and said, ¡°Unfortunately we don¡¯t have a lot of information on this new player in the region. They seem to be mostly active in the sectors to galactic south of us. We are likely to run into them if we head that way, and more importantly now would be a good time to return to the sector, and see if we can¡¯t find any of the ships that got separated from our fleet when the Rykoni attacked.¡±
The Grand Matriarch had to agree with that assessment. She was not comfortable with the fleet so close to a Cylovan Warship. Even if it was heavily damaged and half-blind it could still inflict considerable damage to the fleet. Finding their lost ships, and maybe even linking up with a few other clans would be of great help in accruing the fleet strength needed to deal with the threat before it could repair itself. Fortunately, they had been able to determine that they would have months before it had repaired its systems enough that they would break orbit. It was clear to her that they would need to gather ships and allies in preparation to engage the ship. Otherwise, it could threaten half the sector or more depending on the Cylovan inclination. So she told her pathfinder to alert the Matriarchs to set a course towards the Ilyar Sector. The Region of space that Urokia could be found in. Given the distance, it would take them about a week and a half to reach the sector in question.
The Elder was studying a star chart displaying recent fleet movements, and Cylovan responses. It was nothing all that important at the moment. He was still waiting for a report on their recent campaign, but it would be another week for that. The fleet was taking the long route to the target, so as to avoid the majority of Cylovan defenses. Then he heard the door open, and a young aide swam in. She was far younger than his normal aide, but she was new fresh out of school and still nervous.
Her body language told him she was very uncomfortable as she handed him a report. He reached out a tentacle and patted her on the head, ¡°Don¡¯t be so nervous. You got here thanks to your talents. So what is in the report?¡±
She fidgeted for a bit, and then leaned into his limb, before replying, ¡°Um, its an intelligence report on the activities of the Refuge, and the Union.¡±
He perked up, and asked, ¡°The Refuge? Anything interesting?¡±
She paused for a moment, and the continued touch seemed to be helping her relax. After a moment¡¯s thought, she informed him, ¡°They are currently in the Orialias belt, Ilyar sector. Their fleet is engaging the local Rykoni clans on multiple fronts, and the clans are taking notice. A few of the local clans have made arrangements to meet. If they can get past their rivalries they are likely to form an alliance...¡±
He interrupted, ¡°That is unlikely, but even if they do I doubt they could much threaten the Refuge. I have seen the scans of their ships. They leave a little to be desired in the terms of energy weapons, but they have some of the best armor in the quadrant. Not to mention excellent missiles and torpedoes. Still, we will need to keep an eye on the situation.¡±
Seeing he was done she continued the report in an almost relaxed tone, ¡°At the same time, several nomadic fleets have also noted their presence. A few of them are changing course to return to the sector, and the Refuge has been aiding isolated nomadic ships that were hurt by the spike in Rykoni activity. It is likely that when these groups meet up that they will form an alliance of their own. Especially given the presence of a Cylovan Dreadnought in the neighboring Symira Sector.¡±
He tensed, and in surprise said, ¡°A dreadnought! Why wasn¡¯t I informed there was one in that region?¡±
She nervously replied, ¡°It only recently entered the region. It retreated from a disastrous encounter with the primary Union fleet, and is too badly damaged to represent a threat. Well to anyone but the local pirates and nomads of the belt. Not sure about the Refuge though.¡±
He curious as well had the computer look at the report of the dreadnought, and simulate a Refuge engagement with the Dreadnought. The result was rather interesting and very different from expectations.
Meanwhile, in the Union, the president received her own reports. Given the recent events with the Dreadnought, she had been able to spare a few ships to scout the belt. She had sent a small fleet of twenty ships into the belt, and they had just recently sent a report back.
One that she was now watching in high definition in her office. On her screen, a Refuge battlegroup was engaged with Rykoni raiders. The fleet larger than the one that attacked Yugal. The Refuge had only a single carrier, four cruisers, eight destroyers, and sixteen frigates in their attack group. It was a good chunk of their battle strength, but not their full fleet. As for the Rykoni, they had thousands of small raiders in the system, and nearly six hundred cruisers in the system. It was clearly the base of a major Rykoni Warlord, who had lived long enough to accrue a large fleet.
Not that it was helping much. Just as she thought that she watched the Carrier open fire on a cruiser group that had managed to slip into range of the ship. A powerful blue particle beam lanced out from the carrier, and struck the lead cruiser. Her shields flared up, and tried to stop the high yield energy beam. They failed, and a significant chunk of the beam bypassed the shields. The energy tore into the dorsal fore section of the hull, and the entire upper deck exploded. Rapidly followed by the deck below it, as the decks proceeded to sequentially collapse. It was the kind of explosion that happened more often in movies than the real world.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Regardless the ship was finished, and the carrier rapidly targeted another cruiser while at the same time it recovered a few squadrons of fighters. Hanger bays opposite the attacking cruiser group opened up into space, glowing force fields keeping the air in. As the fighters began to land at high speed. The targeted cruiser lasted a little longer than the first. This time there was no sudden explosion on contact with the hull. This time the beam cut a swath from bow to stern in the ship. Deck after deck explosively decompressed, and the ship split in two. Seconds after the beam cut out, the ship exploded without any warning.
Behind her, an advisor commented, ¡°The Analysts concluded that their reactor overloaded. The systems responsible for regulating the energy output was disabled during that attack, and the backup was poorly maintained and was unable to prevent the output from spiking out of control.¡±
As he finished his statement, a third cruiser was destroyed. This time it wasn¡¯t an energy beam, but a kamikaze attack that spelled its fate. The ship had suddenly accelerated to full speed, and slammed into the side of the carrier while firing every gun they had at the carrier. A glorious fireball detonated against the side of the carrier, and when the dust settled the cruiser was a cloud of dust, and the hull of the carrier was only slightly singed. As the other three cruisers in the group accelerated, a destroyer opened up on them. Beams and heavy cannon tore through their shields and hull reducing them to dust before they could even touch the carrier.
In the distance, two Refuge Cruisers opened up on the Rykoni station in the system. Its shields lasted barely a minute before they buckled, and the hull lasted only seconds. Energy bolts tore through entire decks as if they were wet tissue paper. Entire sections were reduced to swiss cheese in fractions of a second as men and atmosphere were vented into space. A formation of raiders and a fighter escort engaged the cruisers, but it was already too late the station was nothing more than a floating husk now.
During all this, the commodore of her own fleet was keeping its distance. Her ships weren¡¯t as tough as Refuge ships, and couldn¡¯t risk getting swarmed by the Rykoni like the Refuge could. It was actually quite wise of the commodore to keep their twenty ships out of the battle, and maintain their distance. Not that they were able to avoid the entirety of the battle. Hostile fighters engaged her fleet, and Refuge fighters moved in to engage the Rykoni fighter craft. The hostile Rykoni fighters were completely outclassed by the faster, and better equipped Refuge fighter craft.
Feeling she had seen enough she turned off the video and looked over towards her advisor. ¡°How many ships did the Rykoni lose here?¡±
The advisor sighed, and replied, ¡°If you had watched the entire battle you would know they lost the entire fleet. There were no survivors. Our commodore was able to keep his ships out of the fray, but wasn¡¯t able to retreat from the system like he would have preferred. The Refuge has some way of jamming hyperspace engines. No one could make the jump to hyperspace, nor could they make any transmissions while the field is active. As for the Refuge, we noticed their smaller ships and fighter were communicating via radio signals. None of the cruisers were making any transmissions, and the carrier only transmitted signals intended for the smaller ships.¡±
She didn¡¯t need long to figure out why she remembered what she had learned from earlier interactions with them. ¡°Telepathy, they are a highly telepathic race. They were likely communicating orders via telepathy. As for why radio was being used for the smaller ships, if I had to guess the ships are either unmanned, or the manned by people that aren¡¯t telepaths,¡± said the president after some thought.
¡°That is a sound theory,¡± replied the advisor. She turned back to the video, that she had turned off. Her considering the implications of the battle. She guessed if they had the budget, and resources they could build ships as effective as the Refuge ships, and she was quite impressed with that carrier. The president looked back at her advisor, and asked, ¡°Think we can learn anything from studying the scans of that carrier? It seemed to be fairly durable, maybe we can use the scans to develop a better battleship.¡±
¡°Likely not to the same level, but combined with our scan data of the Cylovan cruiser our engineers can likely design something. The real problem is techniques, both races have construction techniques superior to ours. It¡¯s why their hulls are so durable, even if the how is very different. The Refuge and the Cylovans have entirely different methods for making their hulls as tough as they are. Our analysts have determined that the Refuge relies on unusual technical trickery, and composite materials. While the Cylovans use advanced versions of more traditional methods to achieve their high hull strength.
We think the Refuge methods have a higher potential, but we are lacking in the data we need to replicate their techniques. Fortunately, we did find samples of their hull material, but we can¡¯t replicate it...¡±
¡°Wait! When did we get samples of their hull material?¡± asked the president surprised.
¡°They were found in the debris from the Second Battle of Aizur II. Our friends missed part of a nacelle when they swept the field of their ship components. We even got our hands on what looks to be part of an intact warp engine. It¡¯s not much use to us, but I am sure the alliance would be interested in it.¡±
She nodded and then asked what they could tell her about the alien hull material. ¡°It¡¯s a very unusual alloy. It is primarily composed of Titanium, and laced with artificial polymers. The most interesting factor about it is the presence of an element we have never seen before. We suspect that it must be that Rydium material they mentioned they use. I recall they mentioned it had an application in armor, but we found it is actually blended into the material. The amount is small, but not something we expected. Even more interesting is what happens when the material is subjected to a structural reinforcement field. The material actually becomes far tougher than it normally would.¡±
¡°In other words, if we can replicate the material we could make ships far tougher than the ones we use now.¡±
He shook his head, ¡°Not to the same level as the Refuge. Our few tests with the material have revealed that the Refuge is decades if not centuries ahead of us in the area of Hull Reinforcement technology. Not to mention we have no idea where to begin with replicating the Rydium or even finding a natural source of it. We aren¡¯t even sure it can form in nature.¡±
She decided to task a lab to it, and hope they could create something with it. However, she decided not to keep her hopes up for that. It sounded like they wouldn¡¯t be able to do much with the material. Still, it was better than having nothing, and with the war, any new tech was beyond welcome.
Meanwhile, aboard the Enterprise, the elder council was holding a meeting. The recent campaign had netted them large stockpiles of rare and valuable minerals. Most of which had likely been stolen from passing freighters or mined by slave labor. The amount of useful material coming back to the fleet was greater than expectations, and the labs had all the material they needed for their projects. At least for the foreseeable future, and the council was convening to discuss what to do with the excess materials. Not that they had many proposals. Their options were to either store them, sell them for things they have a more immediate need for, or to invest in new ship construction.
Storing them for later use had its advantages and would help proof them against future losses. However most of the council saw no point storing the entire stockpile, and as such the other two options were being more heavily explored and debated. They had recently lost a ship, and it made sense to spend some of the material on replacing the lost ship. Grayman was arguing that they didn¡¯t have enough destroyers, and wanted to take the opportunity to increase their destroyer escort, and not just replace the one lost ship. The question was how many. Greyman wanted to increase the number of destroyers from the current twenty-seven to fifty-four. While Megumi countered saying that thirty-six was more economically feasible. Airi, on the other hand, wanted to increase it even further to seventy-two ships. A number that would be quite difficult to fill, even with the recent materials boon. Countryman much preferred the middle option, and wanted an additional four cruisers added to the fleet.
While others wanted to increase the fleet Ruri, wanted to sell the materials and buy a few items she needed for her own pet projects. There were quite a few things that they needed and so many new ideas she wanted to explore.
A Brief Question
Okay, the real content is the poll. The options are mostly for me to get a feel of what you feel is appropriate. Feel free to propose other options in the comments. Also next chapter we will finally get to see Superdreadnoughts. These mighty behemoths are the size of small moons, and are very powerful ships. They can easily rival a fleet, but in exchange for all that power, they are expensive to build. Not to mention maintain, and they obviously can''t be built quickly. I have been hinting at it for a while but we will soon get to see, what the Sylnari are up to, but I''m sure some of you can already guess.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Now just to be sure we have the character limit, time to ask a question. Would you be interested in a story set in this world back on Earth, but nearly six hundred years after the Cathamari left it a wasteland? The idea has been floating around in my mind for a while, now, but I haven''t actually written anything for it.
Chapter XXVI SDN Assualt
The admiral studied his screens. The fleet had not been able to spare him many ships. He only had ten ships at his command, and he had to use them wisely. They were currently just one jump away from their destination. The first of several major Cylovan systems that had been identified as critical shipyards or industrial centers supporting their fleet. A great deal rested on the result of this attack. If successful they would set be able to force the Cylovans on to the backfoot. They lacked the ships and manpower to do more than push them back. Doing so, however, would give the Union, and the Alliance time to buildup a more powerful fleet. One that they sorely needed. They calculated this attack if it succeeded would set them back about a hundred years or more, and that would be enough time for the younger races to grow strong enough to face them on more equal footing. Hopefully enough to defeat them, but simulations showed it might trend closer to a stalemate. Honestly how things go would depend on the amount of damage they could deal before the Cylovans dispatched a fleet to intercept them.
All ten of his ships were heavily armed behemoths known as Superdreadnoughts. He was particularly proud of his flagship the Aqerousi Class SDN Moroth. She was the largest ship in the fleet at 3200 km in length she was the size of a small moon. The Moroth carried twelve triple barrelled Hypervelocity Cannons, and 2200 Ultra-heavy Antiproton cannons as her primary armament. The hull also supported multiple Antiproton beam arrays as part of her secondary armament. Hundreds of Hyperspatial torpedo turrets were mounted all across the hull, and she had drone bays supporting millions of small drone fighters. For protection, she was plated with Xeos hull armor several kilometers thick. Afterall when a ship is the size of a small moon you had the space to spare for some truly absurd armor. The armor was reinforced with specialized structural enhancers, and a network of special systems were integrated with the armor for dispersing the force of energy weapons, and explosive warheads. Inside the ship, reactive systems were included for nullifying internal explosions. The entire hull also supported an integrated hull regeneration system that allowed the ship to rapidly regenerate during battle.
These systems and the armor greatly enhanced the survivability of the ship. In addition to armor the ship had eighteen shield generators that generated a powerful multiadaptive energy barrier. Few races could get past that shield, as it was capable of adapting to most forms of attack. The Refuge were one of the few who likely could get past the shield, given their use of shield penetrating weapons. However, he doubted they would be able to inflict significant damage before the shield adapted. Such a battle was unlikely however, as they had been profiled to avoid battles they couldn¡¯t win. Meaning they would much rather be our friend than our enemy. The Cylovans, on the other hand, had developed a specialized method of attack for defeating Sylnari energy shielding. It was crude but effective. Allowing them to get past the shield in a matter of minutes if they had enough ships.
The real gem of the ship¡¯s defensive systems was the Prophet Defense Array. This device was the ultimate in predictive defenses for the best way to stop an attack was to know it was coming and how. The system used a powerful cluster of sensors and analytical computers to help predict incoming attacks. However, that was only part of the equation. To function at full ability it actually needed the aide of a highly psionic individual. Psionics had an uncanny ability to predict highly probable futures if they had enough information. In fact, he recalled a project to scan the future from a few centuries ago. They quickly learned that it was easy to predict events within a scope of a few years, but the further into the future you looked the less accurate your predictions. That is why they didn¡¯t bother to look further than a century. Being able to predict the actions of your neighbors was an invaluable asset. One thing to keep in mind was the system was only as good as your data. The arrival of the Refuge in this quadrant is a good example of this. They didn¡¯t have any recent data on other parts of the galaxy, and as a result, had been unable to predict their arrival here. The results of their arrival are also hard to predict, mainly due to a lack of data.
Seeing everything was in order he gave the order, and every ship in his fleet made the burst jump to the target system. Ten ships materialized in an instant just twenty thousand kilometers from a major Cylovan Shipyard complex. Eighty Cylovan dreadnoughts were docked in the slips. All of which were under construction. Some of which were nearly complete, and others were just a star frame. Construction had only recently begun with those ships, and they already knew that each one took around two years to build. This was one of nineteen shipyards in the collective that was able to build these mighty behemoths. They only needed to destroy seven of them to cripple the collectives military interests in this region of the galaxy. Not to mention with this one being the largest its destruction would be a major setback for the Cylovans.
He didn¡¯t even need to give the order. All ten captains followed the plan as given before the jump. The instant they were secure from burst jump they opened fire on the preselected targets. A few well-placed hypervelocity rounds tore the shipyard to pieces, and a couple of hyperspatial explosives followed in their wake and detonated near the largest surviving mass concentrations. Other nearby ships were targeted. Rounds ripped through patroling dreadnoughts, battleships, and cruisers. In under a minute they had wiped out the shipyard, and half the capital ships defending the system. Then the Cylovan ships began to raise shields, and that was their signal to jump out, but not without leaving behind a few gifts. A few extreme yield hyperspatial explosives detonated mere seconds after they jumped out. Unleashing a shockwave that engulfed half the system, and inflicted considerable environmental damage to the planets in range, and ripping the one the shipyard orbited into pieces. Most of the larger ships that survived the initial attack survived, but a good chunk of their surviving fleet was destroyed by the blast. While much of the debris was reduced to expanding dust clouds by the energy.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
The jump led them to a mostly clear system with only a single cruiser, and a small mining outpost in it. Needless to say, they were both destroyed in short order, without being able to put up much of a fight. The jump gave them a little time to prepare for the next attack, and he heard a few junior officers excitedly chatting about their success. So the admiral barked at them, ¡°Don¡¯t get cocky. We won so easily because they were completely unprepared for an attack. Next one I expect they will put up more of a fight.¡±
They had to make another jump before they could make the jump to the next shipyard. The next chosen system for that jump was a fleet base where a good number of Cylovan ships were moored for maintenance and resupply. If they could hit it while the ships were still docked they would be able to weaken their navy. The base was responsible for their seventh fleet, which was primarily responsible for defending worlds in this sector. Its loss, and the loss of those ships would certainly delay the Cylovan response to their attack.
As soon as the drive was ready for another jump, they jumped into the system. They emerged not far from the fleet base, and a quick scan revealed that the base was not fully mobilized yet. Most of the moored ships were powering up, and the patrols had raised their shields. The base itself had also energized its shields.
The admiral had expected this, and was glad for the efficiency of his captains. Who following the plan opened up with a concentrated barrage on the fleet base. Hypervelocity rounds zipped across space and slammed into the shield. The barrier struggled to absorb the first barrage of shots, but managed to stay up. Albeit in a severely weakened state, and the second volley ripped through the shields and exploded on contact with the hull. The immense amount of energy from the round was explosively unleashed upon the hull of the fleet base. Entire sections distorted as it broke apart, and the moored ships didn¡¯t fare much better. Even those not directly hit were shredded by shockwaves and flying debris.
His shields flared, as a Cylovan Dreadnought leading a patrol of battleships opened fire on his ship. The battleships quickly following suit. The captain of his ship responded quickly and gave the order to return fire with the antiproton cannons. Golden yellow energy bolts rippled across space, and tore into the patrol. The dreadnought taking the brunt of the fire. Her shields absorbed a good chunk of the energy, and would have lasted for several minutes, had a second ship not opened up on them. The bolts slamming in from a second angle quickly led to the shields collapsing the hull absorbed multiple heavy hits. Each one ripping massive chunks of the hull apart, but they switched targets before the ship was destroyed.
It took their group a few minutes to dispatch the patrol, and as soon as it was destroyed they jumped out before the other patrols could enter weapons range, and they once again left behind a few presents for the Cylovans. He was sure they were well received by their intended recipients. He didn¡¯t have time to check, given that they jumped right into the middle of an enemy-held system. A shipyard complex was less than a light second from their position. The complex was smaller than the last one, but still decently large with seventy-three dreadnought sized slips. Each one containing a dreadnought at various stages of construction.
This one unlike the last one had several extensions containing numerous slips for Battleships. This shipyard was a major yard for the construction of battleships in the collective, but also a major supplier of Dreadnoughts. With nearly two hundred slips supporting battleships in various stages of construction it had been marked as a priority target. The yard itself had numerous shield generators, and the more complete ships were powering up.
Fortunately, none of the patrols were in a position to threaten the fleet. They immediately began a concentrated barrage on the yard. Its powerful shields completely absorbed the first seven volleys from their guns. During the eight volley localized failures allowed rounds to slip by and inflict considerable damage to the station itself. Several incomplete husks were torn apart the debris explosively pelting the surrounding slips, connectors, and even other ships. The station actually survived that volley, but the ninth and final volley signaled its end. As the shields collapsed completely and the explosive energy of the rounds ripped it apart. A couple of ships were torn to pieces as they attempted to escape the dying yard.
A patrol made a short in system hop at that moment in an attempt to close into range, but they were already making the jump out of the system. Once again they left some gifts behind for the Cylovans to enjoy. He felt he was quite generous with his giving, but he couldn¡¯t stay to see their reactions to his gifts.
Just moments after they were secured from the jump a communications officer came up to him. ¡°Sir, we have intercepted several Cylovan communiques, and we received a missive from the fleet command. The Cylovans have pulled back on all fronts, and eight fleets are in route to this sector. We have six hours before the first fleet reaches this sector.¡±
¡°Then we better hurry,¡± he said before giving orders to make the jump to the next target. Another shipyard in a neighboring sector. It was only a cruiser yard and wasn¡¯t big enough to build the more important capital ships, but it was a hopping stone towards a primary target.
Chapter XXVII Fleet Changes
Countryman had been listening for a while, and since they weren¡¯t deciding on anything just yet, decided to change the subject. ¡°Ruri, how is your Phase Lance project coming along?¡±
Countryman was very curious about the answer as its results would improve their gunnery. He was hoping the new weapons it created would be more effective at penetrating energy shields. She adjusted her posture, and replied, ¡°We are progressing well ahead of schedule. Thanks to the Erentium the fleet has provided we have entered the prototype phase for a new beam weapon. Initial testing shows it is viable, and to continue we would need the fleet to actually test it.¡±
¡°Oh!? That¡¯s great news, and I was afraid I would have to wait a year. I guess we will refit a few ships to carry the experimental upgrade. If things go well it will be ready for fleet-wide implementation in what? A month?¡±
She nodded, and replied, ¡°That would be a good assessment. However, keep in mind that only applies to our beam weapons. The pulsed cannon has proven a good deal more troublesome.¡±
Leaning forward and clearly interested Airi asked, ¡°What is the problem with the pulsed version?¡±
Before Ruri could even answer Samantha Grayman whose primary area of expertise was shipboard education answered, ¡°I have been helping out a bit, and the problem is similar to those suffered by early pulsed laser and particle cannon designs. The cause, however, isn¡¯t the same, and we haven¡¯t been able to solve it.¡±
Ruri took advantage of her pause to elaborate, ¡°The particle pulse uses a completely new method of containment. Normally a spatial projector bubble is used to contain the particle stream. Instead, we are using an exotic high energy laser stream and firing it through the particle stream. The highly charged photon stream polarizes and lases the particle stream and completely eliminates the need for the older and bulker spatial projector system. Unfortunately, we have encountered issues when pulsing the beam. Most notable is a loss of beam focus, and a scattering issue. I have a few theories for why, but testing will be needed.¡±
Countryman scanning the other faces said, ¡°That is very interesting, and I would like to discuss how the Erentium was applied to solve earlier issues, but we need to get back to discussing the fleet. We have had several engagements, and it seems that the Battlehawk is lacking the punch needed to punch through the heavier armor and shielding found on Cylovan capital ships. Our new torpedoes can help with this, but it would be preferable if our ship gunnery could penetrate the armor.¡±
Greyman catching on, asked, ¡°Would it be feasible to configure the Battlehawk to carry the heavier particle cannons mounted on the Firebird?¡±
Megumi lit up seeing that there was finally something she could contribute to, ¡°There are a few small issues to work out, mostly mechanical, but it wouldn¡¯t be much of a problem. The cannons actually work far better than they were expected to. We would have to make a few modifications to the power configuration, and remove a few of the medium cannons to make room for them. If I had to guess we would lose about five banks of medium cannon, but overall firepower should be improved.¡±
Airi then proposed, ¡°since we are going to be up arming the Battlehawks we might as well equip them with the experimental beam weapons. It would likely save us both manhours and resources to lump the two projects together.¡±
Countryman nodded, and others were quick to agree. Then the conversation shifted back to the build orders. They had finally agreed that they needed more ships. Especially given that the majority of their current income was thanks to their military campaign against the Rykoni in this sector. Once they made the agreement, the value of Countrymans suggestion regarding cruisers started to have more merit. Especially considering that it would allow them to field a fourth full carrier group if they needed to. During the discussion, they choose to table the Sabre and other ship loadout adjustments to a later date. The Sabre had so far performed satisfactorily in most missions, and the Firebird was also performing well.
After the meeting broke Ruri was quick to intercept Countryman on the way out. ¡°I have been looking over your notes for possible replacements to our current Titan Alloy.¡±
Countryman chuckled, and said, ¡°I noticed the access. So what do you want to discuss?¡±
¡°I noticed that you have added Pholite into the latest mix? I was wondering why you were looking into adding Pholite to our armor?¡±
Opening the lift, and holding the door so she could step in he replied, ¡°The material has some rather interesting properties. Combined with Rydium it appears that we can increase the structural enhancement ratio by a further thirty-eight percent. So far the latest material I am testing is roughly three times stronger than Titan Alloy is without a field and twice as responsive to structural fields. Even better, it has about half the mass of Titan Alloy. If the simulations continue to hold we can then shift over to physical tests. After that, we can then tackle the issue of production.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Ruri nodded, and said, ¡°How much of an issue do you expect production to be?¡±
Countryman sighed, and replied, ¡°It really depends on our ability to secure materials. Honestly, it will be at least three months of testing before I am willing to settle on a mix. I still have over three hundred different variants of this composite to test. I should be finished with the simulations in two months, and then the lab can synthesize the mix with the best results.¡±
The lift opened onto the main laboratory level for the ship, and Ruri stepped out. A playful expression on her face as she said, ¡°Given your specialty in propulsion and energy fields, it amazes me how well versed you are in material science.¡±
Countryman followed her off the lift, and in a confident tone replied, ¡°The fields aren¡¯t entirely unrelated and after a couple hundred years I have picked a few things up. An engine isn¡¯t any good if the material fails to withstand the stress of its operation. So naturally, I learned a few things about material science.¡±
They chatted idly as they walked down the corridor for the next few minutes until they reached their destination. A large isolated laboratory that had been set up specifically for the Phase Lance testing. It was here that Ruri had been testing the latest mockups of the new weapon system. In the lab a small scale prototype Phase Lance was set up on the one side of the room. On the opposing wall, a few test targets had been set up. Mostly reinforced armored plates of various thicknesses. Ruri and Countryman immediately went into the observation chamber. A room surrounded by a reinforced transparent steel. A material that was also used for the ship¡¯s viewports. It wasn¡¯t as strong as Titan Alloy, but it was a very good transparent material.
From the chamber, Countryman looked over the cannon noting that it had a number of mechanical differences to current generation particle design. He did notice parts that resembled modified laser generator components from the lasers that were in use nearly a century ago. It was quite clear looking over it that this was a hybrid design. That combined older technologies with newer ones. ¡°So how exactly was the Erentium used in the design?¡±
¡°It was used mainly in the laser generator part of the beam cannon. Running the beam through a crystal Erentium focus stabilized the laser beam and tripled the output of the generator. Erentium was also used in the particle generator, and accelerators. It has properties that we were able to exploit to increase the efficacy of those components. Allowing us to reduce their size without a compromise on power.
Thanks to the Erentium we were able to fully stabilize the beam, and greatly increase the output compared to the previous prototype. These changes however also required us to enhance the cannon¡¯s particle containment with Pholite to keep the mass down. I am going to demonstrate a test fire, and you will be able to see the effects of the phase lance yourself,¡± said Ruri. She activated the weapon, and it instantly began to hum. The turret turned to lock onto a plate. Within, the particles were accelerated to high C-fractional velocities, and compressed into the accumulator. Suddenly an energy beam fired through the accumulator. A bright violet-blue energy stream blasted out from the emitter and tore into the test plating. The plate rippled and glowed in reaction to the energy stream. It held only for a mere fraction of a second before the beam punched through it and into the wall behind it. The cannon stopped firing after penetration.
Countryman stepped around the observation panel and inspected the plate up close. The damage was very apparent up close, and the penetration was cleaner than the current cutting beams could achieve. ¡°Impressive, if it performs this well outside the lab it would be a welcome addition to the fleet.¡±
¡°The important thing is that particular plate was shielded, by an energy shield that Selia was kind enough to lend me. That helped a lot with refining the beam. The shield experienced a localized failure at the point of contact and was unable to stop the beam. In the same way, the Krall cannons worked the Phase Lance can brute force its way through shields. Testing has also revealed it to be more efficient at draining energy shields than current generation weapons. Not to mention that the lasing process has tripled the effective range of the weapon compared to current-generation models. Which reminds me, I think we can adapt the process to work with our Electro Cannons. It may come with some drawbacks, but the increased range would be helpful.
Anyway, before you ask I already took a look at the energy shield she gave us and it is mostly unremarkable. Its components are a little more refined, and it is more compact than similar devices we have studied. Honestly, it seems to be a low-end portable field generator. Likely intended to be disposable at least for our Sylnari friends. To other races, this would be a state of the art piece of field equipment. Regardless we learned absolutely nothing from it. Well, nothing of major value anyway.¡±
Countryman sorting through her decently long explanation turned short monologue said, ¡°So you have a new idea for improving the Electro Cannon?¡±
This was intriguing as the current theory for increasing the range involved employing spatial field projectors to contain and control the energy stream. In fact, that was exactly how they had improved them over the first generation ones that were originally mounted on the Enterprise. The fields had improved the range, but the method just wasn¡¯t as effective as it was for Particle cannons. Mostly due to the volatile nature of the energy being contained. It was a very disruptive energy using particles generated by a special Rydium reaction inside of a plasma field. The Rydium reaction is very carefully controlled, and a spatial projection is used to project a plasma stream at the target. The highly charged and ionized plasma stream that results from the process is highly disruptive even before it is fired. Something that has made working with the systems a bit of a nightmare. Especially in anything involving containment, as its disruptive nature has led it to disrupt most traditional forms of containment. The current method of containment hadn¡¯t changed in the last seventy years.
The conversation quickly shifted to cover it, but before they could really get into things the comm panel went off. It turned out that Countryman was needed on the bridge. He left the lab quickly and promised to discuss things further at a later date. Then he briskly made his way down the corridor towards the lift. All the while wondering what the call was about.
Chapter XXVIII The Black Flag Attacks!!!
The warlord grinned viciously when he saw the sight before him. Luck had finally smiled on him. He considered himself smarter than his brethren, and he knew the silly alliance idea wasn¡¯t going to work with this enemy. After his encounter with one of their scout ships, and news of their attack on Urokia reach his ears he had gone to Ilyatria. It was one of the more powerful worlds in the Orialias belt and located near a region of the belt that was flooded with deadly radiation which spilled out from dangerous anomalies in the area. Few were crazy enough to venture into that field, but the Ilyatrians had made a career out of exploiting the resources there. Those resources made them quite wealthy. The Ilyatrians had the best shield generators in the entire belt as they were needed to keep their mining ships functional in the radiation field, but more importantly, they had developed some of the best weapons available in the entire region.
So he had made a daring raid on the system. During the raid, he had managed to capture three of their battleships in addition to his original target a small convoy of freighters carrying shield and weapon components for the Ilyatrian military shipyard, which he had used to upgrade his ships. His own flagship now supported twenty of the Ilyatrian¡¯s famous plasma lances, and battleship grade shields. He had lost a few ships distracting their fleet, but overall he felt the trade was worth it. Now he could engage these newcomers that seemed deadset on destroying all Rykoni holdings in the sector.
Finding them was not easy, given their ability to disappear when they don¡¯t want to be seen. Not to mention their ships were far faster than those used by most of the other races he knew of. He was grateful however for all the reports of systems they had attacked that had reached his ears. Those had proved useful in plotting out systems that could be used as a base from which they had launched their attacks. It had taken him days, and he had fruitless searched dozens of systems, but now their fleet was before him.
It seemed the bulk of their fleet was away, but he could never be certain of their numbers. On his screens, he saw fifty-six small frigate sized ships that had a rather predatory look to them. Three larger ships were close to his position on a clear patrol pattern, and he believed they were destroyers. Leading this Destroyer group was an alien cruiser. The ship bristling with heavy weaponry he knew it would be one of his first targets.
The core of their fleet seemed to be anchored near an asteroid field a few million kilometers from his jump point. The most threatening of which was what they knew to be a carrier. They had been seen leading the attack fleets, and he quickly marked it as a priority target. Near it were anchored six other ships. Four of them were large capital ships, and while they didn¡¯t seem to carry much weaponry they had characteristics that led him to think they were industrial vessels. The other two looked to be a battleship and a heavy cruiser that was basically a smaller version of the battleship. He didn¡¯t think much of those, and focused on the industrial vessels for his strategy. He would need to sink those, as they were likely responsible for maintaining and supplying this fleet. Sinking those would force them to withdraw and he was already looking forward to the salvage.
Countryman stepped out onto the bridge and noticed the organized chaos that was in progress. Greyman was waiting by the door, and immediately reported. ¡°Sir, a large Rykoni fleet emerged from hyperspace in the system. The Accentor and her escort has already engaged them. The Firehawks will be entering the fray shortly, but it seems this fleet has better weapons than seen previously on Rykoni ships.¡±
Countryman glanced at the tactical display below the balcony they were standing on, and replied, ¡°Better how?¡±
¡°Most are now armed with midrange plasma weapons. They fire short plasma streams, and are powerful enough to pose a threat to our hull armor,¡± said Greyman. Almost as if to emphasize his point a Rykoni cruiser opened fire on one of the destroyers greenish streams of plasma tore into her sides amidships. The plating failing at those points, and holes were melted into the side of the ship. She wasn¡¯t down just yet, and returned fire with her forward tubes. Dozens of photons streamed out at nearby targets. Most found their marks with deadly results, but not a single one actually penetrated the shields on the ships. Countryman was surprised as he had not encountered an energy shield capable of blocking their shield penetrating torpedoes. Even so, there were enough in the water to sink thirty raiders and a cruiser, but not the one that had fired. Her shields held against the barrage, and she fired again.
Plasma streams tore into the weakened armor in the secondary hull as she passed over the cruiser¡¯s position. Suddenly there was a flash as the commander of the destroyer wisely chose to make an emergency warp out. Then the Firebirds reached the line, and engaged the smaller raiders. Easily pulling the majority of the Rykoni ships away from his cruiser and the two destroyers still escorting her. Countryman glanced down at the helm, and ordered, ¡°Bring the main engines online,¡± and then he glanced at Greyman, ¡°Scramble all fighters.¡±
Ahead the Accentor engaged three Rykoni cruisers in a head-on engagement. A lightning flash struck one of their nearby cruisers, and her shields buckled in a brilliant flash of light. Vibrant blue energy streams tore into the cruiser, and ripped it apart in a matter of seconds. Countryman was quite happy to see that, as he was glad that their Electro Cannons still worked on these new shields the Rykoni had installed on their ships. Pulling up a scan report he took a glance at the new Rykoni shield configuration.
A quick glance revealed that these new shields were actually quite sophisticated, and used a matrix very different from those used by other races. The core of the matrix shared a number of traits with the Radiation shields his own ships carried. It was clear that radiation protection was quite important to the designers, and even more interesting was the resilience of the matrix. These shields warranted a bit of a study, but he would have to shelve that for later.
The Rykoni didn¡¯t take their lost cruiser lying down, and their other two cruisers opened fire on the Accentor. Green plasma streams raked across her hull, but the plating held. The ship returned fire her guns firing at full power. Violet energy bursts tore into the nearest cruiser. Her shields strained, but held under the barrage.
Not far from the Enterprise the Kingdom class carrier the SFS Emperor SFR-05 was deploying her fighters. A number had already been in the water on patrol, and she was now deploying her reserves. Countryman could already feel the massive main engines warming up, and hear the gentle hum of their operation reverberating through the hull of the ship.
In the distance, the three cruisers could be seen engaging with each other, while the two destroyers engaged another cruiser to prevent her from engaging the Accentor. Likely a good thing as the Accentor appeared to be evenly matched with the two cruisers already fighting her. Both Rykoni cruisers were barely keeping their distance, and trying not to let her use her Electro cannons. Countryman had just given an order to summon Selia their Slynari liaison to the bridge, and been informed that the engines were online, when suddenly a small explosion occurred on the smaller of the two Rykoni cruisers fighting the Accentor.
She instantly lost speed, as the explosion had knocked out one of her engine clusters. Instantly the Accentor pounced on the ship and tore her to shreds. She lasted less than a minute after the Accentor hit her with the Electro Cannons. As she was tearing it apart the other cruiser opened fire with a heavy barrage of plasma streams. The first few shots missed the Accentor entirely, but a good chunk of the barrage tore into the starboard nacelles. The plating held, but buckled to the torpedo that was fired for good measure. The resulting breach was too far forward to actually damage the warp engines, but a few of the maneuvering engines took the hit.
Countryman wasn¡¯t all that concerned. The Battlehawk class was designed to be able to take a pounding, and he knew that armored bulkheads would have dropped into place to isolate the damaged section. Sure enough, the Accentor came about and fired photons, followed up by a volley of particle cannon fire at full power. The Photons slammed into the final cruiser¡¯s shields amidships and detonated with impressive force. The shields flared brilliantly as they tried to radiate as much energy as possible. The following particle barrage slammed into the weakened shields, and they collapsed. The rest of the stream punched into the hull of the cruiser dealing crippling damage. She wasn¡¯t sunk yet, however, and the Accentor¡¯s captain was quick to follow up. A precisely targeted cutting beam knocked the cruiser out of the fight for good by severing the primary power transfer conduits. Effectively knocking out main power for the cruiser. The Rykoni didn¡¯t even have working backups so they had no quick fix for the problem.
At the same time, the two Sabres weren¡¯t doing as well against their single cruiser opponent. That ship was significantly better armed and shielded then her counterparts. She could almost be called a battleship. One of the destroyers seemed to be in a lot of trouble. She had taken nearly a hundred armor-penetrating hits, but was still fighting. Unlike their friend that had to retreat none of these hits were near the critical power systems. So they had not yet bothered to retreat. Her commander was keeping the vital secondary hull out of the line of fire. Countryman made a note to have the aft armor increased on all Sabre class destroyers, and then pointed out the cruiser they were fighting.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
¡°Full speed ahead towards that ship,¡± ordered Countryman. Greyman quickly protested, ¡°But, sir, shouldn¡¯t we stay here and guard the industrial ships. While pointing at the twelve cruisers approaching their position.¡±
Countryman glanced at them and noted their armament and shields were considerably weaker than the cruiser he wanted to engage.
¡°No, Reymond can handle it. Our sister ship, The Avenger, has more than enough to teeth to stop those cruisers. We are going to take out their pocket battleship. It looks to be their flagship,¡± replied Countryman just as the door behind them opened. Moving in on her tentacles was Selia.
She started to say something, but stopped when she noted the battle going on around her. Then she muttered, ¡°I guess I know what the red lights mean now.¡±
¡°Good you are here. These Rykoni seem to have gotten their hands on some decent shields, and weapons. I was hoping you could tell me where they got them, and if we are likely to encounter more ships equipped with similar weapons.¡±
She approached the captain¡¯s sensor display and glanced at the readout. She had been here long enough that she could read it, and then she looked up. ¡°Those are Ilyatrian weapon systems. They are one of the more advanced worlds in the Orialias belt. They are famous among the local nomads as a reliable seller of quality shield, and weapon systems. Many nomadic traders stop at their homeworld of Ilyatria or one of their colonies as they produce some rather exotic minerals that sell elsewhere at high prices.¡±
¡°That is interesting, but would you happen to know how to get a torpedo past Ilyatrian shields?¡±
She frowned in a rather cute manner and replied, ¡°Uh no.¡±
Countryman sighed, and replied, ¡°Well no matter we will figure it out.¡±
In fact they were already working on the problem. Telepathically communicating thoughts and ideas on adjusting the torpedoes to penetrate. Each torpedo that failed to penetrate also taught them more about the shields.
The ship shuddered as torpedoes detonated against the shields. The warlord shouted an order to return fire. Green streams slammed into the underside of an attacking destroyer. Half the energy streams successfully penetrating the armor with little apparent effect. There were dozens of weapon clusters in that part of the hull, but the only alien guns to fall silent were the ones that took a direct hit. He was actually impressed with the resilience of these alien ships.
Very few aliens built ships that could take the kind of beating his new guns were dishing out, and keep fighting. This just made the ones he was fighting all the more impressive. Suddenly one of his thugs shouted, ¡°That battleship is coming this way!¡±
He glanced at his screens and sure enough, it was moving this way at full steam leaving only the carrier and the cruiser to defend the industrial vessels from his attack cruisers. Glancing elsewhere he noticed that his forces had managed to disable a number of the alien frigates, but most of his raiders had been sunk in the process. The remaining twenty or so frigates were almost evenly matched with the cruisers that he had deployed to support his raiders. The remaining raiders were clearly fleeing the field. As for the Cruiser, he had not engaged directly it was moving off to support a lone frigate that was struggling against one of his more trusted lieutenants. His cruiser was almost as well outfitted as his flagship the Black Flag, and more than a match for those alien frigates. Even if they had stupidly powerful guns on them.
He figured his lieutenant could handle it, and focused his attention on the two destroyers he was fighting and the approaching battleship. She was about the same size as the carrier well actually a little smaller, but bristled with heavy weapons. It was definitely designed for ship to ship combat. Given that it was bigger than his ship the Black Flag he would have to play things carefully.
His gunners scored a few more good hits on the destroyer engaging his ship. One of them unleashed a volley of glowing blue torpedoes at him. His shields flared to protect against the volley, and held. He saw a good opportunity ordered a few of those Illyatrian torpedoes they had lifted fired at the destroyer. Eighteen purple bolts streaked away from his cruiser only to encounter a glowing red web of energy. That flared up moments before impact, and destroying all but one of his torps. The last one slammed into the hull of the destroyer and exploded unleashing her deadly payload. The antimatter warhead detonated against heavily scarred and weakened plating penetrating twelve decks, and opening a massive hole in the hull. Half the guns on the destroyer immediately fell silent. The rest went silent a couple moments later, and the ship¡¯s image went fuzzy on his scanners. As she began moving away.
The fact that the ship was clearly still operational irked him a bit, but he had a more immediate threat to worry about than a ship that was clearly running away. The other destroyer was getting a little too close for his comfort. He had already seen their lightning guns, and wasn¡¯t going to let them use them on his ship. He just prayed his engines would keep working. They were a leaky cobbled together mess, but he couldn¡¯t get his brethren to make better ones.
He gave the order to fire the aft missile launchers. Eighty nuclear missiles sailed from the launchers, but not a single one hit the destroyer. An energy web sprang into existence shortly before impact and disintegrated the missiles on contact. The destroyer opened fire with its own torpedoes, and his shields strained to stop the blue streaks that slammed into them. He glanced at his screens and noticed the shields were at eighty-seven percent. He was really glad he had picked up these battleship shield generators, and power systems.
He gave the order to come about and ordered his gunners to return fire. Streams of green plasma streaked across space to strike at the destroyer. Its damaged forward plating absorbed the first few shots, but a number penetrated into the hull behind it. The ship returned fire with its forward guns, and then broke off pursuit of his ship. Just at the alien battleship entered the scene. It was still outside the range of his weapons when it opened fire. Powerful high yield blue energy streams slammed into the side of his ship amidship. Most of the energy was absorbed by his shields, but some of it tore into his hull plating. The patchwork plating somehow managed to withstand the first barrage.
He ordered power transferred to the shields, and had his helmsman change course towards the hostile battleship. It clearly had the power and range to destroy him if he didn¡¯t close the distance. He studied his scans of the ship. They weren¡¯t cloaking themselves yet so he could see them even if the readings weren¡¯t perfect.
Another barrage from the ship¡¯s heavy beam arrays slammed into his shields this time along the forward quarter of his ship. With the extra power shunted into the shields they managed to stop the beam from penetrating this time, but a glance showed that his shields were being drained at a slow but fair pace. Then suddenly a heavy barrage of purple energy bolts were unleashed from the ship¡¯s main guns. He immediately ordered evasive maneuvers but a number still hit his ship. The added strain drained an appreciable amount of energy from his shields. He actually had a fair amount of respect for this battleship. She had some pretty decent gunnery on her especially in terms of range. He spared a quick glance at his tactical display. The alien cruiser that had moved away was currently dead in the water not far from his lieutenant¡¯s ship or what was left of it. Something had split the cruiser in two, and the ship had been vented to space.
His other ships were still holding their own against the enemy frigates, but he had lost a couple more on that front, and his fleeing raiders were being torn apart by fighter craft. His own fighters weren¡¯t faring well against the alien fighters. His remaining cruisers were also being swarmed by fighters. Especially the ones engaging the industrial ships. He didn¡¯t have good readings there but it looked like his ships had managed to unleash a payload on the ships, but the cruiser and carrier were keeping them mostly occupied. He already knew that retreat was likely not an option. He had read the reports, so he just needed to keep this battleship occupied and hope his remaining ships can come out on top. He didn¡¯t bother sending extra orders as he knew his captains would only follow the vague outline of said orders.
The battleship was finally in range of his guns, and he gave the order to return fire. Green plasma streams streaked across space, and raked across the hull of the enemy ship. Her armor plating withstood the barrage, and she returned a barrage of her own. Blue streams raked over his shields, alarms went off as localized failures took place. He shouted out an order for evasive maneuvers, and the ship rolled away from the field of fire. A glance at the engineering display showed several red zones where the plating had failed. The alien weapons had ripped open the plating and torn several large rents in the hull.
He definitely didn¡¯t want to get any closer than this or that ship would tear him to pieces. A glance at his weapon status display told him that the torpedo launchers and missiles reloaded. He ordered them all fired at the ship along with a heavy barrage from his main battery. Streaks sailed across the space. A number of plasma streams splashed against the heavy alien armor, and that cursed energy web sprang into existence to intercept his volley of torpedoes and missiles. Luckily a few penetrated the web to slam against the armored hull.
Several large explosions lit up his screen, and when the resultant light faded away he saw the alien ship appeared largely unscathed as the battleship maneuvered. A series of blue bolts flew from armored launcher ports all across her bow. It was a torpedo volley, and he glanced at the shield display to see that the shields had dropped below twenty percent. He ordered his thugs to activate every missile defense he had to little effect. The alien torpedoes didn¡¯t even notice his jamming pulse, and went right through the chaff his launchers fired to stop them.
The ship shuddered as the alien photon torpedoes slammed into his shields. The stolen battleship shield generators were overwhelmed by the energy of the barrage and failed. One of the torpedoes impacted the hull near the bow, and exploded. The ship shuddered and he was thrown against a wall. Alarms blared, and a hissing noise filled the cabin. Old rusty bulkheads slowly dropped into place. Another shudder, and the room went dark.
32.5 The Shipyard Cruisers: The Light Cruiser and the Heavy Cruiser
The light cruiser is among the smallest of the ship types in the cruiser classification. These ships are typically too small to be classified as capital ships, and lack the armaments and defenses of their larger cousins. Light cruisers are typically fast, cheap to produce, and make the bulk of the cruiser fleet for most factions. Designs can vary from faction to faction, but they are all fast with good sensor arrays. In some factions, they are simply larger destroyers, but in other factions, they are dedicated fast raiders. We are now going to look at a few Light Cruisers from various factions. Starting with the ships of Old Earth.
Old Earth CLs:
X-1215: An experimental CL hull designed late during the Cathamari war. Intended to be part of the mission fleet that the Enterprise was initially intended to be part of, and as such she is equipped with a rudimentary warp drive. Twenty hulls were laid down in Earth shipyards, but none were fully completed before the Battle for Earth. Despite being incomplete eight of them participated in the battle where they scored a combined total of forty-three confirmed combat kills before being destroyed. If they had been completed they would have carried two particle beam arrays. Fore and aft torpedoes, along with twenty-four banks of medium particle cannon, and two banks of Electro cannon. Point defense was intended to be two hundred and four photon missile batteries. The ship was planned to have two small hanger with room for thirty fighters, and sixty auxiliary shuttles
Those eight incomplete ships that fought in the Battle for Earth never had those hangers completed. Nor was their intended armor fully installed. They had been hastily armed with what weapons could be installed in the few hours before the battle. Two of them had even been lucky enough to have torpedoes to use in the battle. What is notable about these unnamed ships is there high sublight speed, and slim hull profile. These two factors made them very hard to target, and are a major contributor to their limited success on the battlefield.
Lancer Class Light Cruiser: Designed during the Third Colonial war by the Earth navy these were extremely fast sublight ships for their age. Her main battery consisted of 400 medium particle cannons divided into six banks. The ship was outfitted with a single lateral particle beam array. She was equipped with dual-purpose light particle and missile mounts for engaging fighters and light craft. A single aft-facing hanger provided room for twenty fighters, two dropships, and forty combat shuttles. Protection consisted of two meters of Overlord Armor, and two energy web generators.
The class served the Earth Fleet prominently during the war. It was used mainly for recon, and commerce raiding. The ship class even distinguished itself in several battles during the Cathamari war intercepting and destroying a combined total of fourteen hundred and seventy-three Cathamari raiders in battle. Two hundred and thirteen Lancers were present during the Battle for Earth where they sunk a combined total of three hundred and six Cathamari ships including one of their esteemed battlecruisers. Of these ships, only twenty-three survived the battle and were scuttled for materials by the survivors before leaving the system.
Nagara Class: Employed during the same time frame as the Lancer-class this Light Cruiser was designed and employed by the Colonies. It was smaller than the Lancer with thinner armor at one point six meters thick. It carried no ship to ship guns, but did include thirty flak cannons, and eight hundred light missile batteries for AA defense. The ship had an impressive bank of torpedoes, and featured an early form of active stealth. While not a true cloaking device, it was able to disappear from most scanners. The device is not dissimilar, but inferior to the stealth fields used by modern Refuge ships. It proved itself to be remarkably good at commerce raiding, and during the Cathamari war, it proved itself again. The ship class is noted for successfully ambushing and torpedoing a combined total of twenty-seven thousand Cathamari ships. Including four and a half thousand of their valuable battlecruisers. In effect, this ship was best employed in manners similar to the submarines of world war II
Refuge Light Cruisers:
Project Warbird: A failed Light cruiser design that underwent trials in 068 SDE. The ship showed promise, but a fatal design flaw with her engine configuration in regards to the ship¡¯s star frame resulted in the entire ship being sent back to the drawing board. The problem was that the engines were simply too powerful for her frame. Not wanting to give up on the speed her intended engine configuration would have provided a new project was started to devise a hull in her size range that could handle the stress without a significant compromise on other capabilities such as armament. This led to the creation of the Star Knight Project. Ultimately the entirety of the original design was scrapped as too many minor flaws were found that had to be worked out. It was simply easier to start over.
Star Knight Class Light Cruiser: This ship has yet to be laid down, but so far show promise in simulation. If successful she is intended to serve the fleet as a light carrier for the vanguard fleet. Primarily tasked with serving as a base of operations for the shorter ranged LPCs. She will also serve the fleet as a raider when needed, and is slated to be given the cargo capacity needed for this. The ship will be given a modified version of the engine configuration that Project Warbird had tested. One that her specially designed hull was intended to use. This will make her the fastest ship in the fleet.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!
Cylovan Light Cruisers:
LC-8: The LC-8 is a modest light cruiser employed by the Cylovan fleet. Outfitted with eight large hangers, and light armaments. It is designed for speed and is employed mainly for recon and raid missions. She is rather unremarkable and has limited firepower.
Rykoni Light Cruisers:
It goes without saying that the Rykoni as a people of Pirates and slavers would have light cruisers in their fleet. Given their lack of a dedicated class system, it would be difficult to classify all of their designs in service. So instead we will cover the general class type they use.
Rykoni Heavy Raider: Almost all Rykoni LCs are designed as a heavier version of their raiders. Typically outfitted with a mismatched array of light and medium gun mounts, and protected by whatever seemed useful. Including random plates of steel, and poorly place light shield generators. Heavy Raiders are typically fast with modest armaments, but often quite fragile. A single well placed hit is often all it takes to sink these poorly constructed warships. Most Rykoni cruisers are of the Heavy Raider type.
Heavy Cruisers:
Heavy Cruisers are the workhorses of the fleet. These small capital ships are employed in a wide array of roles that require a heavily armed ship, but don¡¯t necessarily need the larger and more expensive battleship or the dreadnought. Heavy cruisers are typically heavily armored and/or shielded. Most heavy cruisers are designed with slugging matches in mind, and can easily slug it out with other cruisers. Some can even slug it out with a battleship although that matchup is not normally recommended. The most common roles for a heavy cruiser include escort missions, planetary bombardment, border patrol, light cruiser hunting, and planetary defense. Now let¡¯s look at a few Heavy Cruisers with a focus on the Refuge.
Old Earth CH¡¯s:
Osaka Class: Designed before the Third Colonial War to counter the rising piracy on Earth¡¯s colonial trade routes. Being intended primarily as an escort, a great deal of emphasis was placed on her engines. The result was the fastest heavy cruiser of her era. The Osaka could easily chase, and catch every other ship of her size class. Not to mention most ships smaller than her as well. Her armaments included 24 dual-purpose light particle cannon banks, eight heavy particle cannon banks, a single lateral beam array, and fore and aft torpedoes.
Tokyo Class: Based on the Osaka¡¯s hull the Tokyo features enhanced hull armor, and a larger torpedo bay with additional launchers. This came at a cost of half its secondary armaments, and two banks of heavy cannon. As a result, she is more vulnerable to fighters than the Osaka and now requires escort to protect her from fighter attacks. The larger torpedo bay and additional launchers do however give her the firepower to slug it out with Cathamari battlecruisers.
Hammerhead Class: This cruiser class is most famous for that it was the first human ship class to encounter the Cathamari. The Hammerhead has a very limited battery of light particle cannons for firing on fighters, and light ships. Her main weapons were torpedoes. Designed for the Third Colonial war where the best weapon for penetrating armor was torpedoes. Her armor was four and a half meters thick.
Thor Class: Built by Mars colony the Thor Class was the premier heavy cruiser of the old earth era. No other cruiser could match her in a one on one fight. However, her tough armor, and powerful weapons array came at the cost of speed. As such she is also the slowest heavy cruiser of her time.
Washington Class: Designed by Luna colony to fight the Thor, she carries similar armaments, but she couldn¡¯t match the heavy armor of the Thor. Using engines purchased from Earth, she was given the speed to outmaneuver and outrun her chief opponent the Thor. Only Earth¡¯s Osaka was faster than the Washington.
Refuge CHs:
Battlehawk Class: The first heavy cruiser designed by the People of Sol. Based on older cruisers employed by Old Earth and her colonies she is nonetheless a revolutionary step forward in ship design. The ship is more expensive than comparable cruisers from other factions, but has better performance. Her design is remarkably modular allowing for easy refit, and reconfiguration to fit different mission profiles. This modularity also makes it very easy to repair after heavy combat. In her short service, only one refit has been proposed to the design.
Cylovan Heavy Cruisers:
Cruiser Three: We have already seen this ship. It is a powerful cruiser with massive hangers, but those hangers are also its greatest structural weakness. A few good hits to the hangar can cripple the ship, if not outright destroy it. Despite this weakness, it has proven remarkably successful for the Cylovan fleet. Employed heavily on every front it is the most common cruiser class in use by the Cylovans. Often used as a flagship in their smaller attack fleets.
Alliance Heavy Cruisers:
Zephyr class: Designed using the best technology the race of the alliance has to use, the ship is the best they have. Employed heavily on the various fronts the Alliance is fighting the Cylovans on. She carries powerful photon cannons that can punch through Cylovan energy shielding and armor. Her defenses still leave a little to be desired, and she doesn¡¯t have the speed to outrun Cylovan vessels. In addition, her cost is a little on the high side. The Alliance has ideas for fixing these weaknesses, and as such had been trying to get the remote world of Ilyatria to join the Alliance. Their advanced shield technology would be a remarkable improvement to the current shields on the ship. They have also been looking into new materials to improve the structural integrity of the ship and researching better engines.
Chapter XXIX Cleaning Up the Mess
She watched the familiar slipstream dissipate. Normal space reappeared before her, and she was not greeted with the sight she had expected. Just forty thousand meters off her port bow was a disabled Refuge Firebird. It had clearly been through quite the fight, her port wing was a shredded mess, the victim of heavy weapons fire. From the side she could see she counted nearly six hundred separate hull breaches. To her even greater surprise, one of her officers informed her that the ship was still operational, and had just scanned them. Most ships didn¡¯t have the structural integrity to survive the number of hits this frigate had taken and still be intact much less functional. She was certain her ship would be dead if it took six hundred hull penetrating hits.
Scanning the field, there were damaged and disabled ships scattered over half the system. Not all of which were of Refuge design. Her scanners had detected a number of disabled Rykoni hulks as well in the system. It was evident to her that a battle between the Refuge and the Rykoni had recently taken place, but it should have been a curb stomp for the Refuge. Evidently, it wasn¡¯t, but she didn¡¯t understand why. At least until, one of her more industrious officers glanced up from a console, and informed her, ¡°I have been scanning the debris, and am picking up both Refuge and Ilyatrian weapon signatures. Looks like some enterprising Rykoni warlord must have gotten their hands on enough Ilyatrian weapons to outfit a fleet. A fairly sizeable one by the looks of it, between the husks and debris I estimate they had somewhere between six to eight thousand ships.¡±
She froze for a moment as her brain tried to process that. A fleet that big could have only been fielded by the most powerful of the Rykoni warlords, and even then it would have taken most of their resources to do. Only three famous names came to mind, but only one would have been in this part of the belt. It could only have been the Black Flag, and her commander whose name wasn¡¯t known. He was one of the few Rykoni who had not tried to spread his name, and only that of his ship was widespread. She hadn¡¯t spotted the famous Rykoni ship, but she had only looked over a fraction of the battlefield. At a glance, it was obvious that the battle was over.
She glanced at her screens to the four battle-damaged cruisers she had located on her recent foray. The Matriarch had towed them here as the Refuge were the nearest group with a yard capable of fixing their damaged engines. These four had managed to escape the Rykoni after delaying them long enough for the main group to escape, but their engines had died a couple of days later. Unfortunately, they didn¡¯t have the spare parts to fix the FTLs, but they had managed to coax the thrusters into working well enough to hide in an asteroid field. They had been sending a distress call on a frequency that Rykoni comm devices couldn¡¯t detect, and that signal was how she had located these four.
It was a good thing she had arrived when she did. Their supplies were running low, and none of the local planets had materials that could be used to resupply the cruisers. She had resupplied the cruisers, and towed them through several jumps to this system. She had been hoping to trade for the engine repairs they needed, but now she had the distinct feeling that their yard slips would now be filled with their own ships.
Then her comm officer informed her that they were being hailed. The Matriarch accepted the hail, and the familiar alien image of Countryman appeared on her forward viewscreen.
¡°I see you had some success in locating a few of your comrades,¡± said Countryman, She nodded slightly, and replied, ¡°I did have some. I was hoping you could help us with engine repairs, but I guess we will have to try our luck in the union. Even if they charge us exorbitant prices for such repairs.¡±
Countryman frowned, and said, ¡°It might be a while before we have an open slip. We have ships to repair, and we need to build new ones. However, we might be able to patch those drives. Might open up a few better options for you.¡± he glanced at something off-screen, and tapped a couple controls before looking back up, ¡°Our current repair estimate is about two weeks for the entire fleet. I think we can slip you in if a slip is needed then. After that our slips will be full constructing ships and refitting existing ships for the next two months.¡±
She didn¡¯t really have a reference for how many ships they were building, but she did know that their mobile shipyards actually had quite a few slips. Each one had slips for four cruisers, and those same slips could be configured for up to twelve destroyers. Although maneuvering that many destroyers into the slips would be a bit of a nightmare so they likely only ever had eight at the most docked at any given yard ship. Their city ships also had yard space, but only about half that of the dedicated yard ships. She had learned this mostly from observation, but the real capacity of these mobile factories was unknown to her. Nodding to Countryman¡¯s statement, she asked for a few spare parts, and some extra labor to get the job done.
While she needed the engines repaired, it was best to get them patched up so that they could reach a friendly port for proper repair. After coming to an agreement on that, she glanced out at the fleet. She notice refuge shuttles towing ships many times larger than them with powerful tractor beams towards the yard ships that had just entered view. The yard ships appeared mostly intact, but not unscathed. One of them had quite a bit of scarring on her starboard side, but there was no evidence of the hull having been breached. Chances were the damage was superficial. Above her was passing the smaller of the two Refuge city ships. It also looked like it had been through quite the battle, but her sturdy plating had apparently withstood the barrage. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
The larger one was harder to find. It was the center of their fleet, but she located the Enterprise not far from an oddly familiar Rykoni wreck. The ship had locked a tractor beam on the wreck and was pulling it towards a docking port. Her distinctive black and silver hull was remarkable unscarred. She didn¡¯t look to have taken a single hit during the battle as there weren¡¯t any markings other than the alien calligraphy on her hull. Given that she was the most heavily armored ship in their fleet that wasn¡¯t all that surprising. Not to mention that the ship likely had an equally impressive powerplant to provide power for that impressive armor. Power was one of the most important resources a ship had, and given the importance of that ship she doubted they would have spared any expense in making sure that the ship had all the power she could need.
Countryman closed the channel, and turned to regard the wrecked fleet. This attack had been a bit of a set back for them. Fortunately, they could repair the damaged ships, and even replace the frigates that they had lost without a significant impact on their previous schedule. As for their coffers, those would be more significantly hit by this, but they had recently located a few more Rykoni pirate bases. Those combined with the bounties they had yet to collect should cover the repairs for the fleet, and leave them enough material for a rainy day.
He looked towards Greyman and relayed orders to have a battlegroup visit the Union to retrieve the bounties they had collected on the Rykoni. The recently captured Black Flag was the most significant of the bounties they had collected. It was one of the ships with a simply massive bounty on it. As huge as that bounty was it was still but a fraction of the damage the pirate had inflicted over the years.
Leaving the bridge he considered the battle. They had lost twelve ships in that attack, but fortunately, the Firebirds were unmanned warships. Operated by synthetic crewman those would be fairly easy to replace. He had already ordered work crews to salvage everything they could from the battlefield. Given that no one else was coming to oust them they had all the time they needed to search the field for usable material. They could likely recoup a significant chunk of their losses in the form of raw material. While they were at it, he was hoping they could get some intact Ilyatrian technology to study. It might prove useful in improving their own defenses, and weaponry.
Selia followed him off the bridge, and he noticed her comm suddenly go off. She spent several minutes talking in her own language before turning to him. She seemed to be a bit surprised by something, and then she spoke up, ¡°I have just been informed that the Cylovans have withdrawn their ships from all fronts¡±
Countryman almost missed his next step onto the lift, and replied, ¡°Withdrawn!? Do you know why?¡±
¡°I asked, but they told me it was classified above my clearance level,¡± replied Selia as she glanced at her tentacles. It was evident he would have to learn why later, but if he had to guess the Cylovans were preparing for a massed assault somewhere. There was nothing he could do, but he telepathically sent his suspicions to all his commanders. While also relaying an order to discuss this with the Union and the Alliance. Sure it likely wouldn¡¯t do much good in the case of a full-scale assault, but it was best to be on high alert just in case.
The primary Cylovan consciousness was feeling irritated and annoyed. Not to the extent that organics would be, but enough. Recent events had culminated in a major setback to its plans and military expansion. It had just lost three fleet bases, twenty-seven shipyards with ten of them being major dreadnought yards, along with most of the ships assigned to protect these assets. The worst part was the fleet that did these not only razed the buildings, but the very ground they were built on. Rebuilding these vital assets would be difficult now, at least until those systems stabilized again. The sudden disappearance of a planet or two in those systems had caused some rather significant shifts in local gravity. Orbits were shifting as a result, but it wasn¡¯t as chaotic as a young solar system could get.
As for the fleet that had attacked and damaged these vital assets, it escaped with minimal damage. Having lost so much to a surprise attack that had successfully caught it off guard, it now had to completely reassess its military plans. Its campaign against the Sylnari was the first to come under scrutiny. Without those yards, it could no longer sustain production levels high enough to sustain a prolonged offensive. Worse a defense would also be difficult.
Calculating its actions, it determined it would have to pull the frontlines back nearly two hundred lightyears, and sacrifice twelve inhabited star systems to the enemy in order to hold against the inevitable Sylnari attack. To set things back on course it would need new shipyards, and resources, but they needed to be far enough from the remnant to avoid another attack like this. At first, it considered the territories of the Union, and the Alliance, but both groups had significant militaries. It determined that it would need to pull too many ships from the defense line to conquer either power.
Checking some of its other borders for possibilities, it calculated the same. Too many ships would be needed to secure those territories. This left only one region on its borders that showed any promise. Most races stayed out of it because of the anomalies, but it did have large deposits of valuable minerals. A plentitude of strategic resources, and the collective had scouted it before. The region was overrun with pirate clans and small unaligned colonies. Only a few advanced societies made their presence known in the region. Most of them were small minor powers that had not spread much beyond their homeworld. Mostly due to the fact that the region was hit heavily by anomalies especially deeper in. The Ikar Radiation Belt was one of the most famous anomaly fields in the region, and one the Collective wasn¡¯t equipped to tackle just yet. It had an invasion to plan.
Chapter XXX Forging Ties
Captain¡¯s log, October 3rd, 074 SDE,
The last three months have been quiet. Cylovan activity has been especially low to the point that no one is certain what they are doing or planning. Alliance and Union forces are now on high alert in all sectors, but no Cylovan ships have been spotted in their space for the last three months. Not even a scout ship has been spotted. This is highly unusual for the collective, and our new friends are very concerned about it. I think the Sylnari may know something, but I can¡¯t ask them as they have chosen to withdraw contact for the time being. Selia was recalled just last week. It was rather sudden, but not entirely surprising.
In other news, we have finished the reorganization of the fleet. During the construction phase, an unexpected boon allowed us to increase the number of cruisers we wanted to build. We have upgraded the aft armor, and protections on the Sabre class. Her critical systems won¡¯t be so vulnerable to a penetrating hit to the aft section. The fleet has also begun testing the new Phase Lance beam weapons, but the lab has still not been able to solve the problems faced by the pulsed variant. Early field tests have already revealed a few minor problems that were easily solved, and my Battlehawk commanders have enjoyed the upgrade so far. We are already considering outfitting the rest of the fleet with Phase Lances, and the Enterprise has already been equipped with the new system. The fleet currently has one hundred and four Firebird class frigates, fifty-four Sabre Class Destroyers, 20 Battlehawk class cruisers, four Kingdom class carriers, two City-ships, and four Hammer Class Yardships divided into five main groups.
We were able to remove our Sabres and Battlehawks from the scouting division in favor of sending the smaller and cheaper LPCs out ahead to scout. We currently have about a thousand assigned to scouting for the fleet, and a further two thousand are kept in reserve docked at our carriers, and city-ships. To create the docking space for them we had to reduce the number of available shuttle berths we had, but we managed to do it without greatly affecting the fleet¡¯s fighter capacity. We still ended up having to disassemble a few fighters to make room for the ships, but we only lost about a thousand fighters total. Still a worthy trade-off given the flexibility improvements the ships provide.
Speaking of new ships and flexibility improvements, I have recently been presented plans for a new light cruiser design. It is a project I approved months ago. The proposed Blueprints for the Star Knight depict a ship 1200 meters in length with a total of fifty-six decks. Protection will be enhanced overlord armor with an average thickness of 52 meters, in addition, she will carry energy webs, a stealth field generator, and a full electronic warfare suite. Her main drives include a standard warp drive, and eight high power triple-core Particle Pulse Wave Engines. The ship will include dual reactors for power, and extended long-range fuel cells. Her design includes an expanded hangar deck with space for twelve LPCs and seventy-two fighters Near the hangars she has an expanded cargo bay allowing her to carry significantly more material than most ships of her size class. Her hull has been heavily streamlined and treated to minimize detection. She is to be outfitted with a high-power class three sensor array giving her excellent vision. The proposed weapons array clearly showed that the designers have been keeping up with the latest weapons developments. She will carry four Phase Lance Beam arrays, fore and aft torpedoes, fifteen banks of medium cannon, and ten banks of light particle flak for anti-fighter uses. Four banks of current-gen Electro cannons will be mounted on the cruiser. Her designer stresses that the ship will be ideal for missions requiring fast, highly maneuverable and stealthy vessels. Such missions will include raiding and scouting missions.
Countryman paused his log and decided to ignore the current word count number. He had just received a notification that they were about to drop out of warp. He had not gotten around to mentioning it in his log, but they were about to meet up with the Grand Matriarchs of three nomadic clans, and the Ultocs of four more. Not to mention the Great Mothers of another two clans. In effect, a meeting between four separate nomadic races was about to take place, and from what he knew these races did not normally meet like this. He was honored that they had invited his fleet to take part in this historic meeting. They had already met the dog-like Vysonii, and would soon meet two new races, the Ulkor and the Ilyar. Both races had loose ties with the various Vysonii clans.
He had read the history that they had shared with him so far, and knew they warred with each other nearly as often as they met in peace. He doubted a meeting between so many clans, and four races would go peacefully. As such he had ordered that the entire fleet was to remain on high alert during the entire conference. As for why this meeting was happening, the Grand Matriarch that had called it, had so far chosen to withhold her reasons for declaring the meeting. Personally he suspect he had to deal with the Rykoni. Speaking of the Rykoni his campaigns against them had pushed them entirely out of the sector, and several surrounding ones. After the incident with the Black Flag, no Rykoni warlord had managed to field a fleet that could threaten his ships. His scouts had recently located the world called Ilyatria, and the rather interesting region of space near it. An interesting region that was flooded with deadly radiation, and strange anomalies. Ilyatrian technology functioned with rare materials taken from this field. Personally, he was very interested in the region and wanted to chart it. Something given the size would take years, and he was hoping to find things there to make the effort worth it.
Leaving his office he made the short walk to the bridge, his thoughts focused on future planning. He still needed to decide how many light cruisers he should propose that the council orders to be built if the Star Knight passes her trials. Of course, they still needed to build the ship, but they couldn¡¯t do that while underway. He had brought the entire fleet with him in order to impress the clans they were meeting with. One hundred and eighty-four ships is a fairly sizable force for a nomadic clan. Not mention it gave his people plenty of room to grow. It would be a few years before they would have to expand their second city-ship, which was originally built to provide room for their previously cramped population. It was doing that job, but it had also become a science vessel. A large number of important labs were now located on the Avenger conducting research for the fleet. It was something they were able to do, since the majority of their industrial production was done by their Yardships. They were large mobile factories, and it was perfect to have them do most of the industrial manufacture the fleet needed. They still had some production on the two city-ships, but it was mostly consumer goods. In a pinch, the city-ships could be used to build other ships or maintain fleet assets if needed, but they were otherwise left free. The city-ships supported the majority of their agricultural production, but a recent proposal to build specialized agricultural vessels had recently been proposed to the council. It had merits, as space currently being used for agriculture could be converted to serve other purposes, but it also had its cons.
Having reached his command chair he dismissed his thoughts and surveyed the bridge. The mood was generally positive, and calm. It was a good sign. On the forward screen, the familiar streaks of stars slowed back to pinpricks as they slowed to sublight. Ahead was a calm, unremarkable system with three suns, and only one habitable planet. A dry rocky world covered with vast deserts, steppes, and mountain ranges. It was not the most hospitable of worlds, and it was rather active geologically. As a result of its dry, and active nature you were far more likely to encounter a river of lava than a source of water. They had scouted the system before arrival so he knew from the report that the only significant water sources were underground, and thanks to the three suns the days were quite long with nights averaging around four hours. Given the conditions on the planet, it came as no surprise that it remained uninhabited. Kind of hard to sustain a colony in the middle of nowhere on a planet with sparse food, and water.
Turning to operations below, he asks, ¡°Have the other fleets arrived?¡±
Misaki glanced up, and she reported, ¡°All but one of the other fleets are here. I have detected eight city-ships in close proximity orbiting the planet. A temporary camp seems to have been built in the mountains, and shuttles have landed nearby for the meeting.¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Glancing at the console, and seeing how the other fleets had all anchored away from the meeting, and their city-ships were orbiting the planet, he then ordered, ¡°Have the fleet hang back here, and set a course for the planet. I want the weapons on standby just in case.¡±
She stretched a bit as she watched her screens. Entering orbit alongside her city-ship was the Refuge vessel, and she noted the lines of the massive ship. She was heavily armored with thick sturdy-looking plating. The ship bristled with weaponry, and her hull had sleek almost predatory lines. Everything about her screamed warship, and it was quite obvious that her builders had designed her for battle. It told her a great deal about the Refuge, and given their ability to disappear when they want to, told her more. The Refuge people were likely to be militaristic and understood the value of stealth. Many would assume that their use of stealth technology was a sign of racial paranoia, but the Grand Matriarch was well-traveled. Having met many races she knew that was not always the case.
She was glad to have found them, as she expected them to have a good idea on how to tackle the half-blind dreadnought that was still sitting in their backyard. Something that they needed to deal with before it finishes repairing itself. A task that was only going to be made harder by the fact that ten Cylovan Destroyers had joined the ship, and were now patrolling around it in a clear defensive formation.
An officer pulled her from her thoughts by informing her that the last fleet had arrived, and she told them to prepare her shuttle. It was time she joined the others on the surface.
Countryman¡¯s shuttle landed gently on the surface near the others. He was the only member of the Elder¡¯s council on the surface to attend the meeting, but for appearance¡¯s sake, he had brought four guards and two advisors with him. That was in addition to the regular shuttle crew who would stay with the ship. He had chosen to bring Reia with him, and General Forrest. Forest was the overall commander of the fleet¡¯s marines and ground forces so he was an ideal choice for the Military advisor. Reia, on the other hand, had proven herself as having good diplomatic sense so he brought her along with him.
His guards left the shuttle first, and he followed them out. The landing pad was a flattened plateau the ground paved in aging cracked concrete, and scored by the landing thrusters of countless ships over the ages. Not far from the landing pad was a small dome that had recently been erected, and consequently, it was the only structure on this miserable planet. He had barely stepped foot on it, and he was already uncomfortable. The heat was terrible, he disliked the feel of its gravity, and its magnetic field just felt wrong. This planet was making him painfully aware of those two extra senses he had gained thanks to The Storm. Technically it was three, but that last one wasn¡¯t bothered by the planet. As for the heat, it wasn¡¯t all that bad, he used to live in a desert so he was able to adjust without too much difficulty. Reia, on the other hand, he could sense hated the heat. Her original species came from a world cooler than earth, and while she had changed in almost the same ways they had they retained their ancestor¡¯s preference for cooler climates.
Given the interbreeding now happening, they were practically a subspecies now. He gestured towards the door to the dome, and telepathically said, ¡°Let¡¯s get inside, and it should be cooler in the dome.¡±
She nodded, and they headed for the building. As they were approaching the dome another shuttle landed. It had launched before his shuttle had left the Enterprise. His shuttle had only landed first as pulse wave technology was decidedly superior to what the clans were using for propulsion. Not to mention the better thermal shielding on his shuttles allowed for a far steeper angle of entry. They paused, and a moment later a group disembarked from the other shuttle. It was a group of Vysonii, all of them were barely clothed. He recognized the figure in the lead as the Grand Matriarch that had called this meeting. In-person she looked a great deal shorter than she had on the comms. He wished he had a name to call her by, but the Vysonii all had this particular culture trait of discarding their names when they gained office. Fortunately, they at least took up their clan name to distinguish themselves from their counterparts in other clans. This one had introduced herself as Grand Matriarch Eninaci.
They waited for them to get close, and greeted her, ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you in person, Grand Matriarch.¡±
She shifted her posture a bit, and returned the greeting, ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Supreme Protector. I must say you have an impressive shuttle. Your decent angle was practically vertical and the ship looks fine.¡±
¡°We have good engines and thermal shielding, but I doubt you invited us all this way just to admire a shuttle though. May I ask what was so important that a meeting between clans was needed?¡± responded Countryman.
She shifted a bit, and replied ¡°No, I didn¡¯t. I think it best if I reveal that with all the clan heads. We still have one more shuttle to wait for though. Also is something bothering you? You all seem a bit irritated?¡±
Countryman was surprised a bit, that she had managed to read into their discomfort, and replied, ¡°I¡¯m afraid something is, but if it makes you feel better it has nothing to do with you.¡±
He wasn¡¯t going to mention that they were being bothered by what their extra senses were telling them. The Matriarch nodded and led the way into the dome. Within the building, they found a large meeting room with a table in the middle. It had been set up with ten sides, and each side had three seats. One for the clan head, and two for their advisors.
Countryman surveyed the aliens in the room. The first new species he saw looked a lot like the mythological minotaur if you ignored the green fur with yellow spots, and the fact that the tallest one was a grand total of eighty centimeters tall. The short height made their appearance almost comical, but the other new species was a little more interesting.
They weren¡¯t very tall either, with small lithe and very flexible looking bodies. They had human-like faces with a catlike nose and whiskers. On their heads sprouted a cute pair of pointed catlike ears. A light coating of fur-covered their bodies, but their chests and bellies were furless. They had a single pair of breasts that tended to be small. A long sleek fur-covered tail extended from their rears. Their culture seemed to have the same view on clothes that the Vysonii had as they were mostly naked. In fact, they actually wore a little more, but that still failed to cover the breasts of the girls. All of the ones he had seen were in fact female.
Suddenly he sensed something coming at him from behind with his eighth sense, and whirled from his hand a low powered bolt of electrical energy shot out like a bolt of lightning, and struck one of the alien catgirls in mid pounce. Limply she slammed into him, but he stayed on his feet and caught her. The entire room went silent, as for the catgirl she was just stunned not dead. He had not put enough energy into the discharge to kill her, and he noticed his guards were on higher alert now.
The first to speak was Grand Matriarch Eninaci, ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that I should have warned you that Ilyar like to test newcomers. Although I think the question on everyone¡¯s mind is what kind of weapon did you just use?¡±
Countryman handed the still limp Ilyar off to a compatriot carefully as his hand was still sparking a bit, and replied, ¡°A natural one. We can discharge electricity if we need to.¡±
Countryman had actually used the ability before but that was back in the Storm. It was a very useful adaptation in The Storm. The ever-persistent radiation in the storm meant they were likely to encounter crazed mutants every time they stopped to salvage a dead husk. Given how energy sources and ammunition were hard to come by in the Storm natural weapons like theirs became more valuable in a boarding operation.
¡°I shudder to imagine what natural predators exist on your world for you to evolve that as a natural weapon,¡± said the Matriarch. Countryman decided not to elaborate, and they spent the next couple of hours talking as they waited for that last shuttle to land, and for the last of the Ulkor Ulthocs to arrive. He came in quite suddenly, and Countryman sensed he was exhausted.
He immediately said, ¡°Sorry to have kept you waiting. Would have been here sooner, but my group was attacked by a Rykoni fleet. They weren¡¯t too strong so I was able to repulse them without major losses.¡±
Grand Matriarch Eninaci bid him to sit, and opened up the meeting by informing everyone about the half-blind dreadnought she had found.
Chapter XXXI Challenging a Dreadnought
Countryman and party ended up enjoying a long debate between the clans. The Ilyar turned out to be very impressed with him to the point that they followed his every word. After hearing about the dreadnought, and its current state he saw it for what it was, an opportunity. Most importantly, getting access to its database could shed light on the recent silence of the Cylovan armada.
He proposed that his own ships engage the damaged dreadnought directly, and that the allied ships engage the patrols. He had seen what the local clans had access to and knew that with their numbers they were more than enough to deal with ten destroyers. As for the dreadnought even damaged it was a significant threat to any one fleet, but his fleet had the best chance against it. His armor wouldn¡¯t hold long against those guns, but he had something special. He already knew exactly where to hit the ship to inflict the needed damage, and he had weapons that could deal quite a bit of damage. Specifically, the high-yield AMF torpedoes that he didn¡¯t use earlier against the Rykoni. They weren¡¯t cheap to make so he kept them in reserve rather than waste them on targets that could be sunk with more conventional weapons. The Dreadnought, on the other hand, would require their use. Even damaged those weapons were the best thing in his arsenal for damaging the ship, but he was curious about how effective the experimental Phase Lances would be against its armor. Still he did need to limit the yield of the weapons or instead of just punching a hole and disabling things he would blow entire chunks out of the ship. That could prove detrimental to a boarding operation.
The Phase Lance was more powerful than current weapons so he was hoping it could tear through the armor with precision, and disable key systems so his ground forces could board the ship. There was no way he was going to pass up a chance to get a look at the full version of Cylovan Hyperwarp technology. From what he had seen of it, he suspected that the Cylovans were not making full use of the technology. If they could capture the ship he would need a place to study the technology without interference, and he already knew just where to look. The locals called it the Ikar Radiation belt, and it wasn¡¯t far from where she had said the dreadnought was located. The radiation shields his ships carried would keep his people safe from the radiation, and the radiation would keep most prying eyes away while they studied the technology in secret. Only the Ilyatrians showed any inclination to enter the Radiation Belt, but he was certain he could keep them away from their research.
¡°So you propose to have your ships challenge the Cylovan capital ship directly? Are you sure you won¡¯t need extra support for that?¡± said the Ilyar Great Mother that was closest to him.
Countryman shook his head, and said, ¡°No, my ships are better outfitted than yours, and will last longer against that ship than yours will. The Cylovans can track my ships better than most, but more importantly, the heavy armor on my ships makes them significantly more resilient than yours.
Factors will shift more in our favor once you take out the destroyers, while my ships keep the dreadnought occupied. However I plan to disable that dreadnought quickly, and Grand Matriarch Eninaci said that their shields are down. If that is the case I should be able to take it out of the picture fairly quickly.¡±
She leaned forward and asked, ¡°Really!? The armor on the bigger Cylovan ships is fairly tough. I think that is only half the equation.¡±
Countryman shifted forward as well, and paused for a moment before deciding it was safe to share, ¡°We are very familiar with heavy armor, more so than shields. As such we are very good at defeating armored opponents. Cylovan capital ship armor is actually a bit weaker than equivalent armor on our own capital ships. It will take time, but we can penetrate that armor, but more importantly, we actually captured one of their cruisers some time ago. I¡¯ll share the database with you as it will give you tactical information on their ships that will prove useful in taking down those destroyers.¡±
A murmur went around the table, and many gladly accepted the offer, and offered gifts in exchange for such valuable information. Countryman politely accepted their offers. The resources offered were quite welcome and would come in hand if they needed repairs. A couple of clans even offered a few canisters of fuel, which he was quite glad to receive. He didn¡¯t need it at the moment but more reserves were always welcome.
He already knew the local clans made their living via trade. However, they weren¡¯t above raiding worlds if they had a bad year. This one had been shaping up to be one, but thanks to his own forces stepping in to purge the Rykoni from these worlds most had been able to make back what they lost earlier this year. Then the meeting shifted to discuss the strategy in more detail.
It took them fifteen days keeping pace with the local clans to reach the dreadnought in question. All the fleets held back their core ships on the edge of the system and out of range of enemy guns. Countryman kept a little more than just his core ships back. In addition to having his city-ships, and industrial vessels stay in the rear he had all four carriers hold position near the Enterprise. They wouldn¡¯t be able to use their beam weapons at this distance, but they would be more effective deploying their fighters from the rear.
As soon as they came out of warp he had his ships start deploying fighters onto the field of battle. Keeping his elite pilots in reserve just in case they were needed, he wanted them fresh. The rest of his forces advanced directly on the dreadnought in an attack formation.
The dreadnought was the first to open fire on his fleet targeting one of the smaller ships at the front of the formation. Her green energy lance went wide and missed entirely. At the same moment, the forces of the clans engaged the destroyer patrol. Their one fighters quickly engaged the Cylovan ones in a heavy dogfight. Cylovan beam cannon squared off with nomadic disrupters, photon cannons, and lancer missiles. While the larger ships engaged each other with deadly barrages of green, yellow, and purple.
The shields of a destroyer flared brightly as they took the full barrage of seven nomadic cruisers unloading their arsenal against it. However the shields held, and the Cylovan vessel returned fire. Her beam slammed into a cruiser her shields held for a few moments before suddenly collapsing. The Cylovan shield disrupter tech clearly at work here. The beam raked across the armored hull of the ship. Penetrating the plating, and venting entire sections into space. Fortunately, nothing critical was damaged, and the ship was able to return fire while unleashing a payload of heavy torpedo at the destroyer.
This time the destroyer¡¯s shields failed to withstand the barrage of seven ships attacking it, and collapsed. Heavy torpedoes slammed into the hull with full force. Each one exploded in brilliant blinding displays of light, and ruptured holes in the hull of their target. Her outer hull a clear mess the ship fired again, a targeted burst at the first cruiser. The energy beam tore through several decks, but fortunately missed anything truly important. The captain of the cruiser wisely backed off, while his buddies dumped another volley into the wounded destroyer. The ship went up in a glorious fireball marking the very first ship to be sunk in this engagement.
As for the Refuge fleet, it was now fully engaged in the fight with the dreadnought, and a couple of their destroyers had taken a few hits by now. Their hulls were a bit melted, and scarred from the impact, but the ships were still fighting.
A couple of explosions occurred on the surface of the dreadnought. Her armor buckled, and the compartments behind the newly buckled plating disintegrated. Several beam weapon mounts instantly stopped firing as their power was disrupted. Just as the twenty Battlehawks entered beam weapons range. In unison, the powerful cruisers opened fire, each one targeting different vital systems on the damaged dreadnought. Sustained violet-blue streams of energy lanced across space to tear into the hull of the hostile warship. Its neutronium laced hull armor seemed to hold for a second or two before the outer layer started to breakdown, and then with increasing rapidity, the beams began to burrow through the damaged hull of the mighty vessel.Stolen novel; please report.
The ship rotated in response changing the way the beams were scarring the hull. Several beam cannons locked onto a destroyer, and opened fire. The ship took several glancing blows, as her helmsman used a clever series of maneuvers to avoid a direct hit while a wing of Firebirds unleashed their payloads into a weapons cluster. Several retaliatory beams were fired in response, but only glancing blows were scored. Ones that were easily absorbed by the attacking ships.
The Cylovan consciousness focused its attention on the ships attacking one of its dreadnoughts. It was a valuable asset that wasn¡¯t easily replaced, but it had already sent all that it could spare to guard it earlier. What really grabbed its attention were the cruisers being employed by Species 11257. Specifically the beam weapons they were using. As the weapons were a significant improvement over those in its records. Even more interesting was that it actually recognized some of the ships as previously having fought its ships.
The new torpedoes ripping large holes in its hull were also drawing its attention, and a quick scan showed that they were being fired at low comparative yields. The only reason it could think of for that would be that they wanted to board. That had happened before, and it knew from experience that it couldn¡¯t allow them to connect to the computers. This species was so good at hacking that the last time they completely outmaneuvered its every countermeasure. It had already updated and improved its countermeasures, but that didn¡¯t mean it wanted to have those tested. It had even included a new countermeasure it had never considered before. It had added a self-destruct system to its dreadnoughts. That last one was something it didn¡¯t want to use as it had already lost too many of the valuable warships to the Sylnari, and all but three of its remaining dreadnought were tied up in its new defensive line with the Sylnari. Given its remaining yards and expected causalities over the next few decades, it would be about sixty years before it had any new dreadnoughts to spare. It needed as many as it could get to support the new invasion it was planning, and protect its new territories while it built the replacement yards. A process that given the size of a proper dreadnought capable shipyard would take decades to complete. It had identified nine good sites so far for new yards, and expected it would take thirty years to get all the yards up and running. It planned to have the first coming online in just five years. It had a rather fast-paced plan to get that first new yard up quickly, but it would come at the expense of the other yards. In seven years new dreadnoughts would be fielded, and assigned to patrol and defend vital sector assets. Given recent losses, it could not afford to risk them on an offensive.
All of this relied on it having this dreadnought, but it assigned processing power to making a backup plan in case it lost this ship. In the meantime, it diverted the nearest available ship. A battleship that was currently ten hours away, and in a battle that was an eternity.
Checking its destroyers, it noticed they were faring badly. Eight of them were already gone, and the last two were on their last legs. It ordered them to make an emergency jump, as it needed their sensors to aid the dreadnought in targeting the ships attacking it. One of the destroyers successfully made the jump and moved across the system in an instant. The other however took a torpedo penetrating through the port hangar bay just seconds before making the jump and exploded as it jumped. A trail of fire streaked across the system in a brilliant display.
Back near the dreadnought, a green beam struck a hostile destroyer amidships. The hull melted, and the pulse went out the other side of the ship, and it kept going. A series of torpedoes were fired from its hull as fired a volley at a passing squadron of Cylovan fighters. Their fragile unshielded hulls stood no chance against the deadly alien flak, and they were shredded in an instant. Several torpedoes slammed into the hull of the dreadnought, and detonated. Each one damaging a vital defense system. It was clear that Species 11257 knew exactly where to hit the ship. Each of these impacts were targeted to disrupt its weapon systems. Suddenly a high energy beam punched through the hull of the dreadnought and lacerated the primary communications array and it lost its connection with the ships for a moment. Only to lose it again when the backups exploded from a torpedo. Then again when the next tier of backups was again lacerated by a beam weapon.
It quickly realized that they were targeting the comm systems, and it could send orders to the dreadnought because as soon as a backup came online the system was destroyed. It changed its attention to the destroyer just as a wave of fighters caught up with it. It fired its guns at them, but they weren¡¯t geared for anti-fighter. The shots going wide, but they did scatter a few squadrons. Giving it a little bit of a reprieve as it launched its own reserves into the fray. It had already lost a good number in the previous fight but it still had more to use.
Its fighters quickly engaged the attacking wing, but they proved to be too fast and maneuverable for it. Blue streaks separated from the attackers, and decimated its defending craft in glorious displays of fireworks. Several more of the alien fighters unleashed their payloads on the wounded destroyer its shields not yet recharged couldn¡¯t stop the high yield bombs from interacting with its hull, and in a massive display of fireworks the ship was torn to pieces and with it the Cylovan Collective lost all its data on the battle.
She checked the landing zone, and there weren¡¯t any contacts in the area. The marines ahead of her had evidently cleared the landing zone of all contacts. The Dreadnought was currently offline, and she had seen the damage it did to the fleet on the way in. No ships had been lost, but several destroyers looked to be heavily damaged, and so did a few of the firebirds. Of course, this ship had been practically immobile, her shields had been inoperable and she was half-blind so it said something that she had even managed to damage the ships she had.
With the area clear she signaled her squad forward. Behind her, a couple squads of engineers followed her squad. Their goal was to extract the key engine components that they needed, and get a copy of the Cylovan database from this ship. They didn¡¯t need the whole thing this time though only a few key files, and having already copied what a cruiser had they knew where to look for the information. She led them down a damaged corridor towards an access shaft. They knew exactly where to go thanks to having a blueprint for the ship from the copy taken from the cruiser. Combined with fleet scans of the ship, they were able to find a course that led straight to the main computer banks, and engine room. Which were conveniently for them located right next to each other at the center of the ship.
They passed several destroyed drones on the way to the hatch, and they could hear the sound of fighting as they advanced, but they didn¡¯t encounter any drones on the way to the hatch.
The hatch was still intact, so she hung back and watched the corridor with a few others for hostile drones while one of the engineers used a cutting torch to cut it open. It only took about a minute, and then they were on their way down. Using the maintenance tunnels to make their way towards their destination. There was a transit rail system for moving material a couple decks down, and they were going to commander its rails for moving quickly to the central section of the ship. It was likely offline, but they had brought the equipment they needed to make use of it. A simple device with its own battery that can be adjusted to fit the rail, and then uses a harness to rapidly move a soldier on it. A device like this was actually quite the necessity for tackling large ships. As it allowed for rapid movement in the ship, even after the defenders shut down their own internal transit systems.
They reached the rails and found two drones guarding the rails. A pair of quick shots from her and a buddy brought them down before they were even aware that they were there. With practiced ease, they affixed their rail devices, and made their way into the depths of the ship.
The rail deposited them a few decks above the engine room. The immediate area was quiet, and there were no drones insight. The young marine didn¡¯t sense anything in the area with her other senses either, but she remained on alert as she took point. Heading for an access shaft a few meters down the corridor.
They were only halfway down the corridor when automated turrets sprang out the walls and opened fire on them. One person was hit before they got into cover but their armor held. She tossed a pulse grenade down the hall, and alerted the unit. A couple moments later it detonated with a crackle, and the automated guns went silent. Their systems having been overloaded by the device.
With the defenses offline, they made their way to the shaft unopposed, and proceeded down into the core of the ship. They emerged to find a number of maintenance drones milling about, and a couple of defense drones on patrol. The two marines on point rolled a couple of grenades into the room, and they took cover. The grenades neutralized most of the drones, and they burst into the room firing. It happened so quickly the drones barely had time to process and react before they were downed. Apparently, even mechanical drones were vulnerable to fast attacks. With the drones down they now had access to the computers, and the engines. The marines quickly set up a perimeter, and the engineers went to access the engines. She made her way to the computer access junction and plugged into the system.
It immediately began engaging countermeasures, and the dance of hacking began. Her own telepathic link with the others proved very helpful in allowing her to anticipate and outmaneuver the Cylovan defense. In less than ten minutes they were able to shutdown the Cylovan defenses, and even disable the new self destruct protocol they found.
Chapter XXXII Five years later...
Forced to abandon their campaign against the Sylnari, and faced with setbacks the Cylovans had set their sights on the Orilias belt. Their initial invasion was met with significant success until a combined armada sent by the Union and the Alliance combined with several fleets sent by worlds in the belt including Ilyatria fought them to a standstill. Since then, the forces have been locked in a bloody stalemate. While on the other front with the Sylnari the Cylovans have actually lost ground. Their inability to replace their ships quickly enough to hold against the Sylnari has allowed more and more Sylnari attack fleets to slip by their defenses and strike at their more vulnerable industrial core. This has led to an ever-increasing urgency to the Collective¡¯s activities in the Orialias belt. As such the Collective has sent every resource it can spare into the Orialias front.
During the last five years, the Alliance and the Union have signed a formal treaty, and have begun large scale military cooperation and technology trading. Already the benefits of this new treaty have allowed both powers to field larger more powerful ships that can face the Cylovans more evenly. Most of the nomadic tribes have pulled out to more remote parts of the belt to avoid the heavy fighting in the belt. As for the Refuge they have not been seen since after their encounter with the dreadnought in the belt. The fleet was last seen entering a region of space that is now deep within Cylovan held space. None of their former friends have had contact with them since then, and only the Ilyatrians have the technology to search that remote part of the belt, but their fleet is stretched thin protecting their few worlds. In order to ensure their safety against Cylovan advances, they have joined the Alliance who has sent ships, supplies, and even medical aid to their world to help protect them from the advancing Cylovan fleets. In exchange, they have shared advanced weapons and shields with the Alliance.
Elsewhere in the belt, the Cylovans have recently brought a new shipyard online, and soon they will have more heavy capital ships to defend their space. Ships that they are desperately in need of because even though they have managed to prevent the Sylnari from outright destroying their remaining shipyards, they have not been able to prevent them from hitting them. The war has been going so badly in fact that the Cylovans have been rushing what ships they can to the Sylnari front often incomplete with systems not yet installed. In the meantime, they must support their war in the Orialias belt entirely with cheaper more easily fielded cruisers, and destroyers. They have also begun fielding significantly larger numbers of these ships on the Sylnari front in recent years, often at the expense of other fronts, but if things don¡¯t change soon the Collective will be forced to surrender.
However, the collective has recently developed a new improvement to its shield technology allowing it to enter the Ikar Radiation Belt. Already ships have begun to enter this region in search of valuable resources to fuel its failing war machine.
The admiral glanced at the latest report. The Cylovan attacks had been stepping up of late, and Ilyatria was becoming less and less defensible. Losing the planet would be terrible, as it was the lynchpin of the entire defensive line for this part of the belt. Not to mention it was a major supplier of the valuable mineral of Erentium. Recent advances allowed it to be synthesized. Mostly thanks to data purchased from the Refuge shortly before they disappeared. However natural sources were cheaper and produced in larger quantities.
Thinking of the Refuge, he had no idea where they had gone, but he hoped they had escaped the sudden Cylovan onslaught. He doubted that they would have allowed themselves to be caught unawares. If they were somehow in the Ikar Radiation Belt they would likely have been fine as the Cylovans so far seemed to avoid it. At least that was the case until just two weeks ago. As a cruiser had attacked miners in the belt just two lightyears from this base. It was a sign that they were adapting their technology to work in the belt now. He wasn¡¯t surprised, the Ilyatrians had joined the alliance a year ago, and already their shield technology was in widespread use throughout the alliance. Its value allowed ships to use the belt as route to get around Cylovan battlelines and hit them where they are more vulnerable.
He had also received reports of them intercepting and engaging some of their attack fleets in the belt¡¯s radiation fields as well. The results of said battles were mixed. Some had favored the Alliance and others had ended in defeat for the Alliance. Tossing the report on his desk, he picked up a request form. If the Cylovans were intensifying attacks in the sector he was going to need more ships, and with them now in the radiation belt, he needed warships to patrol that sector of space as well as to protect their Ilyatrian miners in the system. They could not afford to lose the strategic materials those miners provided the fleet. Without them, they wouldn¡¯t be able to engage the Cylovans as evenly as they had been without ships outfitted with Erentium enhanced weapons. Not to mention this belt had small but valuable deposits of a mineral that the Ilyatrians had previously had no use for, but the Mydorians did. The Mydorians identified it as Rydium, and their scientists had been able to produce a composite alloy using it that was twice as strong as conventional hull materials. Apparently, they learned of the mineral and its uses by studying Refuge technology, but they were unable to fully replicate the Refuge technology.
He wasn¡¯t surprised about that, they were trying to replicate something with only a shallow understanding of how it worked. The Refuge was very familiar with the mineral, and could likely do far more with it than anyone else because they fully understood its properties and knew what to do with it. His own people had opened labs to investigate other uses for it, but so far they had not made much progress. Outside of armor, they had found no uses for it so far, and while they had heard that the Refuge apparently used it in weaponry, and propulsion as well they had yet to figure out how. In fact, the propulsion claim was the one that had them utterly baffled as no one had figured out how they could extract thrust from a lump of crystal.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Regardless this was their only source of the material, and even if it only proved useful for making sturdier hull plating it was a great help for the war effort. Especially considering that it allowed a ship to absorb more punishment, giving it a little more time to restore its shields or get out of the line of fire. He finished his request and highlighted his own opinions on why it was vital that he received these additional ships, while heavily stressing the strategic import of maintaining control of this sector.
Ikar Radiation Belt Spatial Grid E-871-023/V-023-907 Cylovan Stardate 3490217-3 Scoutship 221904302-37A 0320 hours, 2.3 lightyears out from I-22 Star system.
The scoutship¡¯s main drive suddenly cut out. Its sensors registered increasing amounts of spatial flux in the area and quickly determined that the flux was disrupting its warp field. Near I-22 it detected a massive energy anomaly. The readings were fluctuating rapidly, but they were increasing more than they were dropping.
Its scans detected increasing fluctuations in hyperspace readings. Increasingly intense energy reactions were emanating from subspace. If the Cylovans were capable of panic or anxiety they would be suffering attacks of it right now, especially when they saw what was happening to I-22 itself. The entire star was destabilizing. Unusual spikes in local gravity had been detected, and several massive energy spikes preceded solar flares more than a hundred times more intense than those previously recorded by long-range scans. In the last five minutes, the radius of the star had shrunk by nearly seven percent, and output had risen by twenty-three percent. Even more, concerning was that background radiation had spiked 782% above normal and was continuing to increase at rapid levels. The deadly radiation spikes were now draining the shields as they strained to protect the ship from the detrimental exotic radiation in the local area. All of this however only left the ship with mild concern over what it was seeing.
Another energy spike showed up near I-22, and suddenly the star let off a massive shockwave. A massive wave of deadly plasma erupted from its equator in a perfect circular ring that spread out as moved away from the star. The wave hit the spatial flux in the area and gained strength and speed as it propagated into hyperspace. The distortions it caused in hyperspace affected the wave in normal space, and within minutes it was traveling at FTL velocities.
The ship only had minutes before it was hit by the FTL shockwave, and unable to make an emergency warp out, did the only thing it could do. It dumped every last unit of power it could into the shields and sent an emergency report to the primary consciousness.
The shockwave hit about a minute after it finished sending its report. The front wave struck the scoutship with incredible force rocking it about but its shields held. Then the second shockwave hit, and the weakened shields buckled. The outer hull was instantly heated to massive temperatures and liquified the very hull of the ship distorted as the shockwaves tore it apart. The ship fell silent moments before its liquified hull was ripped apart. The very ship scattered across space as the shockwave continued outward on its journey into deep space. With every second it continued to gain power drawing it from subspace.
The Cylovan consciousness was very concerned after studying the report its lost scout ship had sent it. The data showed clear artificial patterns before the wave erupted meaning that someone had done this deliberately, but that was unimportant at the moment. What was important was the shockwave. It calculated that the wave would keep drawing power from subspace until it grew too powerful to be fueled by subspace energy reactions. Being an FTL wave it would reach the nearest inhabited system in fourteen hours. That system being a Cylovan mining colony located on the edge of the Ikar Radiation Belt. That was only the first of hundreds of systems in its path.
It calculated that the wave would hit every system within four thousand lightyears of I-22 before dissipating. There was little it could do, but it began devoting every resource it had to find a way to stop the wave. A very old protocol left in by its creators activated as well, and every Cylovan ship sent a burst transmission of the report on every frequency. Attached to this was its analysis of the danger zone.
The admiral was just about to send his request when suddenly the door to his office was flung open with great force. The door slammed into the wall so hard he expected something to be broken, and the resulting crack of the impact made him wince. A young woman flushed red, and panting stood in the doorway, she quickly said stumbling over the words, ¡°Sir! We just received a communiqu¨¦...¡± then she paused to catch her breath.
He was a little confused as those were pretty normal, they received communiqu¨¦s all the time. Nothing all that unusual about those, and certainly not so urgent that she needed to rush here, and break his door for. At least until she caught her breath, and declared, ¡°From the Cylovans.¡±
That really caught his attention as they normally didn¡¯t send anything to his office. They never really spoke with anyone. Curious he asked, ¡°well what does it say?¡±
He was hoping it was something for the diplomats, but that hope was quickly shattered, ¡°They sent us a scouting report and an analysis. A star they labeled I-22 has exploded and has sent out an FTL shockwave. Their analysis says that every system in a four thousand lightyear radius is in danger. The wave will hit us in about two weeks.¡±
With every word, he could feel panic welling up in his chest, and it was clear that the young aide was also distressed a bit about this message. He turned to his computer and began typing up a second request. This one intended for the only group he could think of that might be able to help, The Sylnari Remnant.
Chapter XXXIII What has the Refuge been up to?
Countryman sighed as he stared at the screen, and considered what to say for today¡¯s log. Their latest experiment with Hyperwarp derived technology had been a success, well sort of. The experiment actually did far more than they intended it to, and now he needed to think something up to deal with the repercussions of this.
Hyperwarp was a very interesting technology that functioned using powerful multispatial field generators to tunnel through hyperspace to create a conduit that connects two points. These conduits allowed ships to travel between any two points at incredible speeds. A conduit once opened created a permanent shortcut in space that could later be reopened by a ship with the appropriate equipment. The Cylovans had not really been using the technology outside of propulsion, but it did have applications in communications. Creating a hyperwarp radio wasn¡¯t all that difficult with all the data they had stolen from the Cylovans. It was crude, and rudimentary not to mention inefficient, but it made an excellent proof of concept. They were still working on refining it into a practical prototype, but the priority was currently low. Still, they did have an entire lab devoted to it, as they felt it would be useful when the time came for them to split the fleet. Just they didn¡¯t expect to reach their supply limit and need to split the fleets for another five years.
What was more interesting was that the very same devices had potential in weaponry. It had taken them two years to adapt the Cylovan technology to their systems, and refit all of their ships to be Hyperwarp capable. They didn¡¯t have the power generation of Cylovan vessels, so they solved the problem by making use of their superior energy storage technology. They did have to beef up their main batteries but they now had Hyperwarp capability, albeit limited. Their jump range was less than half that of a Cylovan Dreadnought, and while the Dreadnought could make a jump at any time they needed about two days of charging the batteries before they could make a hyperwarp jump. As for the jump itself, they needed about the same amount of time to form a conduit and make the jump. They had spent the last three years optimizing these systems and streamlining the process.
Most importantly they had found a way to weaponize the projectors used to form conduits. It was not the most efficient weapon, but it was definitely powerful. When directed at a planet their new weapon could cause significant seismic shifts, and if left focused long enough it would rip the planet apart. It was a powerful effect, but the really interesting effects happened when it was directed at a star. The projector beam when directed at a star disrupted the ordinary processes of a star resulting in a spike in solar activity. This disruption can be controlled and directed. They had been able to employ this controlled disruption to force a coronal mass ejection powerful enough to completely scorch the surface of a nearby planet. That planet had been a dead world not unlike Mars before its terraforming in the star¡¯s habitable zone.
The effects had led them to wonder if they could induce a supernova, and the answer to that proved to be sort of. They did get something like a supernova, but the star was still there. Albeit a bit dimmer, and missing a good chunk of its fuel. As for the wave of destruction it unleashed. Well that went FTL, and was now threatening to engulf the entire sector and its surroundings. At least most of the Planets in the danger zone were either uninhabited or colonized by the Rykoni so he didn¡¯t think anyone would miss them all that much. The only world he knew of that wasn¡¯t Rykoni that would be threatened by the wave was Ilyatria and they were technologically advanced. He was sure they had the time they needed to protect their planet. He had already tried to warn them about it, but the wave disrupted any communications that passed through it.
Anyway, there was no way past the wave without getting ripped apart, so they just had to wait it out, and not be in the area when people inevitably come to investigate what caused the explosion. Some of them would be highly irrational, and emotional. They wouldn¡¯t care that it was just an experiment gone wrong. The very fact they had a device that could explode stars would frighten the hell out of them. As for the device, it wasn¡¯t a weapon of war, at best it was a terror device. It had taken the entire fleet a full six hours to accomplish this. A single ship would never be able to do it. So unless they wanted to end up like a certain fictional battle station it was best not to be around, when the angry distraught alien that just lost his home came looking for revenge.
Then suddenly his computer beeped he glanced to see he had a call from engineering. He accepted it, and Megumi appeared on the screen looking a bit dirty and tired.
¡°I¡¯m glad to report that the radiation shields have been restored, sir. Sensors indicate radiation levels inside the ship are dropping back down to safe levels,¡± said Megumi.
Countryman nodded, and said, ¡°That¡¯s good. Get some rest, you look like you need it, and may I suggest a bath?¡±
She looked herself over and nodded before saying, ¡°Yeah, I think one of those would be in order. I¡¯ll see you in the morning.¡±
She logged off, and Countryman leaned back happy to hear the shields were back. They were practically useless most of the time. However, they were practically vital here. In the Ikar Radiation Belt deadly radiation permeated the entire region that was detrimental to both biological life, and technology. The pulse from the star had disrupted the shields of every ship in the fleet. Leaving them temporarily unprotected from the effects of the radiation. Tomorrow they were going to have to sweep the ship for damaged electronics, but the shields hadn¡¯t been down long. Not long enough for any detrimental effects anyway.
His thoughts then drifted back to the last five years. Life in this belt was fairly peaceful, and while they hadn¡¯t found any habitable worlds here it was rich in minerals. They had identified a few good sites for a colony, but they were gone now or soon to be. Not a big loss if he was honest. None of the sites had much in the way of a biosphere and would have been expensive projects to terraform. Both in time and resources. Most were expected to take decades to terraform. Not that they really wanted a colony. They were more interested in the locations as a permanent base of operations.
As for the fleet itself they had done well for themselves over the last five years. The phase lance project had proven very successful especially in the area of beam weapons, but they had managed to develop a pulsed version of the weapon system. As such phase lances had completely replaced their traditional particle weapons. Abundant resources had allowed the stockpile a large number of their powerful AMF torpedoes. In addition, readily available materials had allowed them to refit the entire fleet with more advanced hull armor, and to modify the loadouts of the fleet. The new alloy he had created was a bit more expensive to produce than the old. However. it was three and half times stronger and had half the weight. Given that it was also twice as responsive to enhancement. it was a remarkably strong material, making it well worth the cost. As for the name, well the crew had taken to calling it Titan II alloy. That wasn¡¯t the official name for it, but it was the most common name for the material in use.
As for the thousands of metric tons of titan alloy that had been used in the old hull plating. That was now sitting in storage. As the material was still quite useful. Since they were no longer using it for hull plating the electronics integrated into the plates were stripped out before they were stored. Those materials removed from the old plating were actually used in the manufacture of the new plating. Currently, the plan for the stored alloy was to keep it in reserve for ship repair. They may have replaced the hull plating, but many of the internal bulkheads and the star frame were left untouched. Besides replacing it would have changed things from a refit to a rebuild.
His thoughts ordered he began to write his log. However, he decided to omit all mention of the exploding star and what caused it. Instead, he marked the day as uneventful except for the passing of a strong wave that temporarily knocked out the shields. As for the experiment he decided to classify at the highest level and keep the data locked in vault. In the log, he decided to mention the Mark Four Electro Cannon. It was nothing special, but it was a marked improvement on the Mark Threes that were introduced three years ago. Most importantly they solved a number of the issues that plagued the mark three.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
The Mark Three represented a conversion of what was originally a short-range weapon into a medium-range weapon system. As anyone could guess that came with all sorts of problems. The Mark Three was slower to recharge than the older mark two and required more energy to fire. In addition, it was highly prone to burn-outs and overheating. Along with a few other reliability issues that plagued the systems. The Mark Four had been designed to correct these issues, and actually had a slightly longer range than the Mark Three, along with slightly more power. It was still just as slow as the Mark Three was to recharge, but most of the reliability issues had been ironed out. System was still prone to overheating if fired too quickly, but they could deal with that.
Right now the Mark Three was really only in use on the Star Knights. Most ship captains preferred the more reliable if shorter ranged Mark two. As for the Star Knights they had proven to be fairly reliable cruisers. The fleet currently had about forty of the ships that had been built over the course of the last five years. They were used quite heavily for reconnaissance, but the cruisers were also employed for raid missions. Their ability to carry LPCs in their hangers was invaluable for scouting missions. Since the ships could range far ahead of the fleet. This increased how far they could deploy LPC¡¯s from the fleet for scouting. Just beyond the far side of the Ikar Radiation belt is a fairly lucrative region of colonies and planets that they had found three and a half years ago. The Star Knights had proven very effective at locating and raiding several pirate operations that preyed on local merchant shipping, and mining operations.
The locals had a limited and undermanned policing system that was unable to actually deal with the pirate problem effectively. The fact that all of the local inhabited planets were either at war with each other or loosely allied made things worse. Tensions were extremely high, and the cluster was politically unstable. In fact, it seemed to resemble a certain peninsula back on Earth before they unified into a single nation. All of the local system states had high levels of industrialization and military power. Even the pirates were well-armed and equipped. All of this factored into the fleet choosing to avoid the region. They already had their spoils, and the place was too unstable to try making a home near. The Orialias belt and its partner the Ikar Radiation belt were vast, and he was comfortable spending years looking for a good site to set up a permanent base. As for the sector itself they hadn¡¯t been there in over a year now.
The last time they had ships in the sector they had encountered a Cylovan Cruiser engaged with a local battlecruiser and her twelve escorts. Their Star Knight had come across them late into the battle. The Cruiser had lost shields and sustained light hull damage. A third of her fighter complement was depleted as well, but she had the upper hand in the engagement. The reason for this was that the Battlecruiser had sustained heavy damage. She was on reserve power, her shields and weapons were down. Her hull armor was buckling, and she had sustained multiple hull breaches. Her captain was wisely attempting to retreat while the escorts covered the retreat of the more valuable battlecruiser. Three of those escorts had already been overwhelmed and were being swarmed by Cylovan fighter craft.
Seeing that they were in a bad position the crew of the Star Knight SFS Roland chose to engage the cruiser. They had been outfitted for raiding pirates, and Cylovan encounters were not expected. As a result, they were carrying photon torpedoes and not the more powerful AMF torpedoes. This meant that they didn¡¯t have the firepower to outright destroy the Cylovan Cruiser. In fact, the ship straight up outgunned them, and in an outright slugging match would have destroyed the lighter Refuge cruiser. The Star Knights¡¯ greatest advantages were its speed and jamming abilities.
Ital Sector 1455 hours November eighteenth 077 SDE, SFS Roland:
The captain double-checked his readings and glanced at his crew. Normally they would have been no match for the cruiser on the edge of their passive sensor range. Right now that wasn¡¯t the case. The fleet had already chosen to bypass this sector deeming it ¡°Too politically unstable to warrant the risk of passing through or interacting with the locals.¡± Thanks to this the fleet was continuing on a course through the sparse Ikar radiation belt towards the galactic edge. Well sparse in terms of stars. Every single one of the stars in the region supported systems that were contrary to expectations rich in rare and valuable minerals. The most accepted current theory was that the pervasive radiation in the region was the cause of this. The other theory was the frequent spatial anomalies were the cause. Personally, he was thinking that both were true.
None of this however factored into his decision. He announced that they were going to engage the Cylovan cruiser in battle. The damaged battlecruiser and her crew deserved a chance to escape. Not to mention that if this attack was a prelude to invasion than the damaged battlecruiser could warn their people if they escaped. He gave the order, ¡°All hands tactical alert. Helm full speed ahead. Operations prepare to jam all frequencies on my mark. Tactical standby all weapons, load photons on all forward tubes.¡±
As per his orders moments later the Roland swept into the field from the left. As soon as she was in range she opened fire. Vibrant violet-blue energy streams slammed into the Cylovan hull. Each one punched through in mere seconds melting deep holes into the alloy, and lacerating sensitive electronics. Since the cruiser¡¯s shields were currently down the Roland was taking full advantage of this weakness to disable critical systems. Each strike tore deeply into weapon clusters, sensor arrays, and communication systems.
The cruiser quickly took notice and returned fire. Green energy beams lanced out from the hull towards the Roland. Only to go wide and miss the lighter ship entirely. The smaller lighter ship easily slipped out of the firing arcs, and let loose a targeted photon barrage. The glowing blue projectiles splashed against the armored Cylovan hull. Seemingly with no effect beyond some superficial hull damage.
Again the cruiser returned fire, most of her green beams going wide of the Roland, but one of the beams caught the Roland. Striking the ship¡¯s port bow. The plating rippled, but held against the hit. Several more vibrant violet-blue energy streams lanced from the light cruiser to lacerate her opponent. One of the beams punched through the cruiser¡¯s starboard hangar door. Penetrating several hundred meters into the ship, and lacerating several fuel storage cells. All of which were filled with full intended for the ship¡¯s fighter craft. The cells ignited from the impact and exploded. The entire hanger went up in a large fireball. The resulting damage looked far worse than it actually was, but the hanger was out of commission. Along with it, several weapon clusters were disabled as well.
At the same moment, the cruiser¡¯s fighter craft having pulled back from attacking the battlecruisers escorts engaged the Roland. Tiny beam cannons raked over the hull of the Roland with little effect. While on the surface of her hull flak guns opened up on the passing fighter squadrons. Unlike the larger cruiser, they were actually scoring hits even if they were ineffective at penetrating the armor of the Refuge vessel. On the flip side, the Refuge flak easily shredded any squadron unlucky enough to get hit, and her hit ratio was high. Within mere moments the fighters were gone, and the cruiser was firing her main guns at the Roland again.
Several green beams lanced across space only to strike nothing. Her poor weapons lock forcing her to saturate the general area rather than directly target the light cruiser she was fighting. Still, three shots hit the Roland. The first hit her again near the port bow. The second struck her amidships, and the third grazed her dorsal plating. None of them penetrated her enhanced armor. Not because they lacked the power to do it, but because the Cylovans couldn¡¯t get the weapons lock they needed to unleash the concentrated barrage required to penetrate the hull plating. As for the Roland while her beams were penetrating the armor, with the exception of the hangar the resulting damage was actually fairly light. Her captain had just been waiting for the local battlegroup to escape before he retreated himself. Without AMF torpedoes he didn¡¯t have the firepower to actually sink a Cylovan cruiser. However contrary to his expectations, the other group opened fire. The Battlecruiser¡¯s crew had apparently taken the opportunity to restore main power, and opened up with their main guns. Firey orange-red beams lanced from her main batteries to slam into the cruiser¡¯s side. The armor simply disintegrated under the barrage, and secondary explosions soon followed. Their fire wasn¡¯t any more accurate than the Cylovans, and half the shots went wide. A couple came close to striking the Roland. The reason for this inaccuracy was simple, the Roland was not just jamming communications but disrupting the sensors of all ships in the area. The only ship not affected by the disruption was the Roland itself.
The Roland unleashed another photon barrage after an orange-red beam came within twenty thousand kilometers of it, and then increased her distance. Her barrage penetrated an opening in the cruiser¡¯s hull and exploded with massive force. Something critical that had avoid damage earlier when the rent was opened by the battlecruiser exploded. The force of the detonation was impressive, and the ship lost power. A couple more hits from the battlecruiser finished her off, and the ship broke apart. With the cruiser destroyed the Roland canceled her jamming field, and was immediately hailed by the wounded battlecruiser. She ignored the hail, and instead jumped away quickly disappearing from their scans.
As for the captain of the battlecruiser, from his perspective, he had just been attacked by a silent enemy, and then he was helped by an equally silent ally. So he watched the ship leave, and was left wondering why none of these aliens wanted to talk to him.
Chapter XXXIV Down Below
Reia stretched a bit, as she heard the hum of the engines. As she slipped out of bed, it took her only seconds to realize that they were at warp again. It had been a few weeks since they had last been at warp. They had been in that last system for nearly a month for scientific experiments. Evidently they must have finished those experiments, and were underway again.
She was still in the very same quarters that Countryman had gotten her all those years ago when she first came aboard the Enterprise. Back then this was supposed to be a temporary assignment, but it ended up being rather permanent. Thanks to what fleet historians now called the Valorian Conflict, she had ended up staying aboard the Enterprise. Now she wasn¡¯t even a Valorian anymore. She still looked like one, but she had gained all the same adaptations that the former humans did. They now considered her to be a member of a cousin race. As for the roommates that used to share her quarters with her, they had all settled down and had children.
The quiet one Delilah had surprised her a bit as she had eight children now. That was far more than the norm around here which is currently four. However many mothers now that their children were grown were either considering or trying for a new child. Something the state readily encouraged. So it came as no surprise that Delilah was currently pregnant with her ninth, and tenth child. Speaking of children, a lot of mothers were pregnant with twins. If this trend continued having twins would become the norm. As for her other two roommates, they had been a bit more conservative in regards to children. Aya currently had four with two more on the way, and Seri only had two, but she had another pair on the way as well.
This had been on her mind a lot lately, since she had never quite found the time to settle down, and have a kid. She had started dating recently, but finding a completely unattached man was rather difficult nowadays. Something society had adapted to, by allowing polygamy. That had actually been proposed by the younger generation, and passed in the council. It did solve the problem of having a surplus of unattached young women, but a deficit in unattached men. Although it came with its own set of problems, looking at the captain was a good example of that. Countryman regularly had to shrug off the advances of women that wanted to hook up with him. Especially considering he was one of the few men that weren¡¯t attached, although rumors had placed him with three women. Some said he was dating Megumi, others said he was dating Misaki while another placed him with Ruri. One of the rumors placed him with all three at once, but all of them remained unsubstantiated. There just wasn¡¯t enough evidence to confirm he was dating any of these women. Though Reia did think something was going on between Megumi and Countryman. Those two actually spent quite a bit of off-duty time together, but beyond them spending time together there was nothing else to add weight to the rumors.
Dismissing the rumors, she took the steps to the closet and pulled out something nice to wear. Today was her day off, and she had a date lined up for the day. He was younger than her, but finding someone looking for a mate around her age was rather difficult. Almost everyone her age had already settled down. Regardless, she found the young man rather cute and was hoping to enjoy a nice day with him. They were going to meet in the market in an hour, and browse a few shops. Maybe buy something, and then go to lunch together. After lunch, the plan was to head down below and watch a wargame. That one was his idea, but she had managed to get what she wanted after the wargame on the schedule. There were a few new movies showing later today, and they already had their tickets to one. Like all the new movies it was an animated movie. The ship didn¡¯t exactly have a live-action studio. At least they could make reasonably realistic-looking characters for them. Of course, not all used the realistic style for artistic reasons.
After checking her outfit in the mirror and going over her schedule for the day in her head, she glanced over at her three sleeping roommates. Those three had moved in after her old ones had left. Today was their day off as well, and they were apparently choosing to sleep in today. She didn¡¯t blame them, sometimes it was nice to just sleep in every once in a while. Satisfied with her appearance, she double-checked that she had important things like her ration card. She didn¡¯t think she would need it, but she also made sure she had her security card. It was used mostly to govern access to secured zones, and some sections even coupled the card with a biometric scan to be certain only authorized personnel entered. The ship¡¯s science labs were a good example of the highly restricted zones. They had to keep the kids out of the labs, so they didn¡¯t do something stupid. No one wanted to be the person that had to tell some mother her kid was injured or even worse dead because they were doing something stupid in the lab. It was the same reason all the armories and the factories were locked down. Mostly to keep kids out of danger.
Satisfied she had everything, she left the room. Heading straight for the lift to meet her date. Already looking forward to her day. The fact the ship was at warp, was not high on her list of concerns. Being stopped was only a temporary affair, and if it was important the ship news channel would mention it, or someone would tell her.
Ruri was currently locked up in her private lab. Sitting in her office was the mattress she had used to sleep last night. Her lack of sleep had caught up with her yesterday, and she had slept for a few hours, but she was getting close to completing her project. While most everyone else was working on various projects involving hyperwarp technology she was working on something else. Ruri had taken something different from the dreadnought. Nothing all that important, but the study was proving illuminating. Most particularly in how the Cylovans detected ships in the vicinity of their vessels. They had taken several sensor modules that had survived the battle. Having these had given her the inspiration for her little project, but she wasn¡¯t working on better sensors instead she was working on adapting their stealth fields to better shield their ships from detection. Cylovan sensors were actually inferior to their own, but they did detect ships in a different fashion. That was why they had been able to penetrate their stealth fields as well as they did.
A few days ago she had a major spurt of inspiration on her new and improved stealth fields and she had been working away on it ever since. She had just finished putting together her prototype when she had crashed last night. Looking herself over she noted that her lab coat was torn, and rather dirty. The clothes under it were also in a sorry state, mostly it was just stains, but somehow she had torn her shirt. Just she couldn¡¯t recall how she had done that. Not that it really mattered how she did that. Ruri sighed and stripped out of her clothes. Tossing the old ones in a trash bin, she pulled a spare set out of a locker. They weren¡¯t anything fancy, just a simple t-shirt and pants. Along with a standard-issue lab coat. This wasn¡¯t the first time she had ruined a set of clothes while working on a project. Nor was she the only scientist to keep spare clothes in a locker. As for the ruined clothes, they would be broken down by nanites, and the material recycled. Most everything nowadays was recycled if it could be. Of course, even with the help of nanites, there was some waste, and most of that was dealt with via antimatter reclamation units. Small reactors that were fired up and used to convert waste matter into usable energy. Not as efficient as the main reactors, but they still netted a positive in energy gains. Nowhere near enough power for the engines or weapon systems, but they got enough back to power the lights and other low demand systems.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Using a mirror attached to the locker door, she made sure she looked at least presentable, and then glanced at her new prototype. It represented a small leap forward in active stealth technology. Not as glamorous as true cloaking shields would be, but this new generation should render them completely invisible to strategic scanners at half the distance they previously did. In other words, they would be able to get closer than they could before without being detected. At shorter ranges, it would make them harder to track, and introduce a little more uncertainty into their exact position. Combine that with a decent ECW suite, and they could make it very difficult to get a target lock on a ship. Most importantly, survival out here was all about picking your battles, and the best way to do that was to remain unseen. You can¡¯t attack what you can¡¯t see, and on the flipside remaining unseen helps with launching attacks on unsuspecting targets.
Feeling she was presentable enough, she found a crate and carefully packaged the large generator. Pulling out a stowed grav sled, she lifted it onto the sled and pulled the device out of the room. Making sure to lock up as she left. She didn¡¯t want to be scolded again for failure to lock her lab. Satisfied the door was locked, she headed down the corridor towards a cargo lift. There was an LPC down in the shuttlebay that was reserved for equipment testing, and she needed to talk with the engineers there about testing her device. The installation would be simple enough since it was just an improved stealth field generator, and she had kept the dimensions roughly the same. In fact, her device was a little smaller than the old generators. Though it would need more power, and the extra space could certainly be used for other components. Nothing all that large, maybe an extra battery or a power node. She was going to let the engineers decide what would be best placed in the space.
Reia found her date already waiting for her in Aka district. He seemed rather excited, almost like a kid half his age, as he looked around the courtyard. He was only slightly taller than her, and didn¡¯t have much in the way of muscle. Just enough to look toned, but not so much that it was too much. He had taken the time to put on a nice shirt that paired well with the nice pants he had picked out. His brown hair was well-trimmed and combed. He came from the human line so his skin was a nice pale white. No one really tanned as that required time in the sun to do naturally and they didn¡¯t have one. As for the other option, that was a bit of a luxury, and most people had better things to spend their credits on. As for a beard, he didn¡¯t have one, no one seemed to grow body hair or facial hair anymore. She remembered this part of Aka district used to look like a collection of stalls and crates. Now it looked a small town with metal buildings in orderly rows and nice courtyards like this one where people could meet up. The center had a decorative statue that presented the exterior view of the Enterprise and in a circle around it were benches so people could sit and rest for a bit. Naturally, to add to the mood small gardens were planted in front of the various buildings. None of these buildings were meant to be houses, but the shopkeepers often lived in them with their families. As a result, the market district also provided extra housing for people on the ship. The courtyard also had a few trees planted out of the walk paths. This greenery also helped the life-support systems scrub the atmosphere of Carbon Dioxide, and produce oxygen. Even if they were more valued for their aesthetic appeal. Speaking of aesthetics, someone had even taken the time to apply treatment to the walk paths to make it look like flagstone roads. It wasn¡¯t actual stone, but rather a layer of faux stone applied over the metal floor plating.
Many of the buildings also had their own little aesthetic touches added to them. All of them were metals, but some looked to be made of stone or wood. Since metal was so readily available for the fleet natural materials were the in thing for style. Since those were hard to come by, it was cheaper and easier to just make faux facings to give the appearance of natural materials. Reia was always impressed with how much this part of the ship had changed over the decades. Having evolved from a makeshift frontier market into something resembling a colonial market square. It was just one of the many signs if you looked around that showed that the People of Sol were actually quite wealthy for a nomadic group. Like any nomadic group that made some of their income from raiding, but they tended to avoid hitting alien trade routes. Instead, they profited off of pirate hunting. Pirates were viewed as parasites by almost any established government, and they often overlooked pirates disappearing. For most this resulted in a win-win situation. The locals benefited from a reduction in pirates, and they got whatever the pirates had looted along with anything salvageable from their wrecked ships. Pirates were never any good at keeping their wealth, so normally they tried to hit them after they had come back from a successful raid.
As soon as she got close to her date, he stepped closer saying, ¡°Look what I can do!¡±
So maybe he was acting like a kid. Suddenly his arm was wrapped in a wreath of flames. A number of people were startled, and then he raised his arm into the air, and weak flamethrower flew from his palm. After that happened the flames wrapped around his arm got hotter and a bit bigger. Then he did it again, and the flamethrower was stronger this time. Reia was dumbfounded as watched him do it. What most surprised her was what her eight sense, her mindsight, revealed about these flames. They were fueled by pure psionic energy, and each time he used this spell it grew stronger. The energy was also wrapped around his body in a fashion that she suspected meant he was shielded against the effects of fire both natural and psionic. In fact, it looked like the spell would fuel itself on any fire type energy directed against it. Little did she or anyone there realize that this young man had invented what would eventually be called the Ancestral Arts. These arts would naturally be considered the very first magic, a term used more often than the more accurate Transcendent Psionics.
It wasn¡¯t hard for the People of Sol to reach the Transcendent level they just lacked a formal system of training and were still exploring the basics of Psionic ability. Pseudo hiveminds just being one of the concepts they have been exploring. After taking a couple of moments to compose herself, she quietly asked, ¡°How are you doing that?¡±
The rather excited babble that he answered with was difficult to decipher, to say the least. While listening, she led him to an isolated storage room just outside the district. Someplace that would be a little safer to play with strange fire. She wanted to at least try this trick as well, but it turned out that she couldn¡¯t do it. Instead, she ended up doing the opposite, instead of fire she was channeling a frosty beam of energy that froze anything it hit. Other than that it had all the same characteristics. Weak at first and grew with each use. Rather quickly in fact, and she found that she did indeed absorb similar energies and redirect them into the attack. Opposing energies however actually weakened the psionic field that it generated. On another note, she was glad that injuries healed rather quickly. Not that they hurt any less
Chapter XXXV
The commander stared at the ST-48 scout tank. Scout Tanks were evolutions of the Light Tank and APC concepts of the previous eras. In fact, the ST-48 weighed just about as much as an old WWII light tank, just around twenty-one tons. They were fast, armored vehicles meant for recon and rapid deployment roles. They were also very useful for raiding, and for deploying infantry units to the rear of a line. The ST-48 was designed to transport a squad of six, which is actually a bit larger than the normal marine squad of four. On the few raids they had conducted on ground-based pirate bases, they had often dropped the extra pair of soldiers in favor of extra cargo space. It didn¡¯t have a lot of extra space for cargo.
As for why he was considering the ST-48, well today¡¯s wargame was going to be a tank battle. Both sides were going to have an equal number of tanks, but his opponents were going to be testing the new B4 Raptors. The B4 kept the same caliber of 155mm for its main gun, but it featured a new launcher mechanism that was supposed to increase the initial shell velocity by twenty-three percent. Changes were also made to the barrel. Supposedly the new material lining the barrel could withstand temperatures twice that of the old barrel. This would allow for more energy to be channeled through the barrel and was the chief reason they were able to raise the shell velocity. Naturally, it would also allow for a higher fire rate, but the Raptor could only carry so many shells. In practice, the gun was never fired at its full rate. It had semi-guided armor-piercing photon shells, and with the increased shot velocity, his opponent was going to have both a range and armor penetration advantage.
The other changes for the new refit included a modification to the armor scheme. The changes were supposed to take advantage of the new more powerful micro reactor they put in, to improve protection. Other minor changes were to reduce the chances of a penetrating hit and improve deflection chances. Speaking of the power upgrades, other changes to take advantage of it was to the engine, and the coaxial phase lance. The Phase Lance had replaced the original particle cannon and now fired a high yield armor-penetrating beam. Originally the coaxial was intended as an extra anti-infantry weapon, but they had found that they didn¡¯t need it for that purpose. So they had swapped it out for an extra antitank weapon. The Phase Lance had its advantages over Photon Shells, one of the biggest advantages was that it didn¡¯t need ammo. However shells had the advantage in power, but only because they mounted an explosive charge. Otherwise the particle weapon would win that point as well. In the field, the Photon Shells they used were great at punching through heavy armor, and fortifications. The coaxial was often the better choice for dealing with light armor, as it let you save shells for those tougher targets. As for shells, the real advantage was the ability to mount a shield penetrator on the ammo. Making them the better choice for dealing with shielded targets.
Now the ST-48 certainly had its advantages but in a tank battle, it was often relegated to a scouting role. While the heavier Raptors slug it out with the tanks. The ST-48 certainly lacked the armor of the Raptor, and her fifty-five-millimeter gun couldn¡¯t reliably penetrate the armor on the Raptor. On the flip side, she could fire it indirectly and carried more rounds. So she could serve as an indirect fire support unit if needed. Her real advantages were speed and the fact she carried missiles. The light photon missiles on the ST-48 had a fair amount of range and packed enough punch to knock out most tanks. Most importantly they were designed specifically as an antitank weapon to supplement her rather lackluster main gun. The original A1 versions had only ten missiles, but the newer A2s that he had carried twelve at a cost of a few shells. Just not as many as it could have been thanks to general miniaturization of components. They had managed to compact the sensors and comms in the tank without greatly effecting capability, and the extra space had been enough for one and half extra missiles. They had cleared half a missile worth of shells out to fit in the second new missile.
The missiles could certainly take out a Raptor. The key was positioning. He would need to get them in place and ambush his opponent quickly. Otherwise, her better-equipped Raptors could wipe his force. Since this was in part a test, they were going to use live ammo, and the tanks would be remote-controlled. Taking all his considerations into account, he glanced at the field map and began planning his tactics.
Sali looked around her small quarters. She was lucky to have gotten a private room, but they weren¡¯t very big. Nothing all that special, but they were hers. Unfortunately they also needed some cleaning. She hadn¡¯t exactly kept up with her cleaning. Been a bit too busy of late, and it was starting to show. As a result, while Reia was off on a date on her day off, she was here cleaning. Most of the room wasn¡¯t all that bad, but she often neglected her laundry. It cost credits to use the utilities, and it was more efficient to do her laundry in larger loads. Sighing, she grabbed her hamper and got started. A month¡¯s worth of laundry was going to take a while, but she couldn¡¯t really put it off longer. She had to carry it a few dozen meters down the corridor, as her own quarters didn¡¯t come with a laundry room, nor did they have a bathroom. Minor things really, but those were luxuries that were only afforded to semi-private or family size quarters and not all of those came with them either.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
Most family quarters were actually shared between related family groups nowadays, and while there were a few free examples, she didn¡¯t qualify for those quarters. Not to mention, she kind of enjoyed the small amount of privacy the private quarters provided. Thankfully the corridor wasn¡¯t too crowded today, and she reached the utility room that serviced her section. Selecting a free machine, she used her ration card to activate it and loaded her first load into it. Then she activated its neighbor and loaded a second load into it. Just then a couple of kids came in with their mother from the opposite door. She lived in the family quarter in the neighboring section that this utility room also serviced, and since they were neighbors Sali actually knew the newcomers to the room. The mother was just a few years younger than her, but had settled down already. The two girls with her were her youngest, and at the moment she didn¡¯t have any on the way.
¡°Hey, Mio! I thought you were going to be shopping at this hour?¡± called out Sali. Mio sighed, and replied, ¡°I was. I figured it was safer to be here. Someone figured out how to shoot fire from their fingertips, and was excitedly demonstrating the ability to the crowds. Now half the deck is trying to figure out the trick. I wouldn¡¯t go there if I were you, either. The best comparison I have is as if mages from a fantasy book were flinging spells around down there.¡±
Sali giggled at the mention of that and kept an eye on the two girls that were chasing each other around the compartment. ¡°Surely it isn¡¯t that bad?¡±
Mio, reached into the hamper and pulled out three soaked outfits one of which had ice melting on it, and said, ¡°Well someone figured out how to throw water, and some else figured out frost. I had to change our clothes after that. Anyway, security was going in when we left.¡±
Sali shook her head, and replied, ¡°I guess it is. Anyway, I have taken these two machines,¡± she said gesturing at the two now cleaning her laundry. The hamper she had brought was big enough for two loads worth. She had two more loads of clothes back in the room, and another two in the form of her bedding. At least the local machines were efficient. They used a special bath to clean the clothes, then rinsed and dried the clothing all automatically in the form of a single machine. Average time for a load was about half an hour.
Mio came to one next to her, and said, ¡°At least it isn¡¯t too busy here today.¡±
Sali picked up her empty hamper, and said, ¡°I often do my laundry now, because it will get busier later when everyone else has finished their shopping. Honestly, early morning during the end of the month shopping spree is the best time to get your laundry done. Do miss out a bit on the shopping though. Best items are often gone, by the time I get to the market. At least I avoid the early crowd.¡±
The end of the month shopping spree Sali had mentioned was actually quite normal for shipboard life. It wasn¡¯t because they held sales at the end of the month. Nothing was ever on sale, but it was the last day that the credits you earned for that month were still valid. The next day those credits expired, and you were issued the credits you had earned over the previous month. A large number of local children had grown up with this system and considered their rationing credit system normal. At this point, it would be hard for them to shift over to a traditional currency system.
Mio nodded, and replied, ¡°I still have things to buy. I think I¡¯ll join you later when things have settled down a bit.¡±
Sali looked back with a smile, and answered, ¡°That will be nice.¡± Then she left the room, she needed to put her hamper back, and grab the other so she could start cleaning that as well.
Reia stepped out of the storeroom with her date. Their little experiment had taken up most of their time for the date. It was lunchtime now, and they only had about an hour and a half before the wargame they were planning on watching started. She glanced back at Ren her date and hurried him along.
Reentering the market, they found that there were more guards around than normal. Otherwise, activity at the market was normal, even if things felt a little tense. The two chatted quietly as they passed through the market, and headed for the lift. No one paid them much attention. She did briefly pause to ask a guard what was going on and learned that the guards were here to keep things from getting out of hands. Apparently too many young girls and boys, mostly girls had been trying out dangerous tricks involving psionic fields.
It was kind of obvious to her what caused that, and so she gave Ren quite the earful about it during lunch.
Chapter XXXVI
Selia shifted her position on her floor, as she made herself comfortable. She was about to do something that was a bit of a first for her, but they had been unable to contact the Refuge via conventional means. They knew that the Refuge was somewhere in the Ikar radiation belt, and that FTL shockwave passing through the region was disrupting conventional communications. This meant they had to try unconventional methods of communications. She already had a psychic connection with one of them, and that was going to help her with establishing contact at this distance. Finally feeling comfortable on the wet floor of her room, she began to focus on that connection from five years ago. A part of her knew this was going to be an awkward conversation, but it needed to happen.
After awhile her quarters faded away, and soon she found herself in that familiar yet mysterious place known as the mindscape. All around her was images of death and destruction, but with her training, she could now better read the imagery. This imagery wasn¡¯t from the mind she wanted to contact, but hers. Selia had spent the last five years going deeper into her own mind, meditating on her own regrets, fears, and darker impulses. The imagery before her was that of what used to be her greatest fear. The images showed her own home burning and ruined with alien ships overhead raining destruction down upon it. For years she had been afraid this would happen and even had nightmares about it, but having faced it in the mindscape those fears no longer unsettled her. It did help that the recent shift in the war made this very unlikely.
Her thoughts shifted away from the war, and she dismissed the imagery, with a thought she was in another part of her mind entirely. Here the imagery was very different, but most important were the permanent marks from her interaction with Countryman. Every interaction left a mark on a person, but a psionic interaction like the one she had was far more intimate, and left a longer-lasting mark on both parties. She hesitated for a moment, before gathering her will and focusing her own psionic energies on the connection. Like a gateway it opened, an expanding passage formed, and with it came a familiar presence. A surge of emotions flooded her being as well. She was almost overwhelmed by the sheer power of the mind that she had connected to. Selia knew he was far more powerful a psionic then she was and that he had been shielding her from his full power the first time, but feeling his raw presence was such a shock that she nearly lost herself in his emotions and thoughts.
Thankfully his presence pulled back, and with it, she was able to recover herself. However, not before she, a few of her mental safeguards had been shredded by sheer presence alone. She had known there was a risk with establishing a connection like this, especially with a psionic that was so much more powerful than her. Naturally, she had hoped that her recent training had prepared her, but clearly it wasn¡¯t enough.
Soon the landscape changed, and she found herself surrounded by gray, white and black mists swirling and twining around her. The environment felt warm and open in the distance mountains could be seen rising above the mists. Lightning sparked, and fires erupted in the distant landscape. Overall the scene around her was quite impressive.
Suddenly a familiar figure emerged from the mists. It was the same androgynous winged figure she had met last time she had joined Countryman in the mindscape. His presence was not the only presence she sensed here, but the others seemed content to stay within the mist. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to contact me so suddenly like this, but it does answer a few questions about the range of psionic contact. Anyway, to what do I owe the pleasure?¡±
She sighed mentally, and began, ¡°This is going to be awkward, but did your people have anything to do with the wave tearing across space in the Ikar radiation belt, and parts of the Orialias belt?¡±
Countryman conjured a chair, and settled into it, and replied, ¡°Unofficially, yes we are responsible, but I would appreciate it if you don¡¯t spread that around to the less mature races in the quadrant. I doubt they would have the emotional maturity to understand that this was an accident.¡±
She glanced at her tentacles, and then looked into his face, ¡°We didn¡¯t think you did it on purpose. The Elders couldn¡¯t think of many people who could be responsible, but of the ones they could such as you, they found no reason for them to initiate such a wave. Anyway, we were hoping that you at least knew how the wave was created. We need more information, as we have been asked to stop the wave, and since it is an artificial disaster and not natural the elders are inclined to stop it.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Countryman¡¯s expression shifted, but she couldn¡¯t read it. ¡°We would have stopped the wave ourselves if we knew how. As for how the wave started, we subjected a star to multiple directed multispatial projector beams modulated to induce collapse. We were trying to see if our new weapon system could be used to induce a supernova. The answer is sort of.¡±
¡°Yes, we know the origin of the wave was a system called I-22. At least on the Cylovan charts, but thanks to the Cylovan broadcast, everyone is calling this I-22 Hypernova.¡±
Countryman nodded, and said, ¡°We called it M-237, but anyway, the star did go nova, like we wanted, but the FTL component of the shockwave was outside our predictions. As near as we can tell, the wave pulled energy directly from the deeper layers of hyperspace. Part of the shockwave actually originated from hyperspace, and sent exotic particles into normal space. These particles actually overloaded our shields, but thanks to our position relative to the star at the time that was all we suffered. What happened to the surviving stellar remnant is far more interesting. The core of the star collapsed and was subjected to a significant amount of hyperspace radiation and exotic particles. The result has formed a new type of exotic matter that we are already studying. The material is remarkably dense with some unique energy properties. So far we aren¡¯t sure of any practical applications but our research has barely started. Not to mention we have only identified a handful of its properties.¡±
Frowning she said, ¡°Sounds like it might be a hyperspatial material. They are often formed by exposing ordinary matter to the more exotic particles found in hyperspace. Most of them are rather useless or too difficult to produce in significant quantities for practical applications, but you are quite lucky to be working with one given the age of your civilization.¡±
¡°Hyperspatial materials? Sounds like an interesting topic. I would love to learn more about them,¡± replied Countryman.
¡°I can¡¯t really help with that,¡± she sighed mentally and looked around briefly before she continued, ¡°Most of what I know about those materials I learned in school. They are highly exotic materials with a wide range of unusual properties. One material might naturally lend itself for use in an exotic weapon system, while another might be good for use in shield generator construction.¡±
Countryman shifted, and replied, ¡°I thought that might be the case. Now I guess, I¡¯ll relate to you our sensor readings on the wave when it happened...¡±
When Selia finally came back to herself, she reflected on the recent contact with Countryman. Next time she needed to speak to one of his race in this fashion, she concluded she would need to be more careful. They were very powerful telepaths, and she had nearly lost herself in his mind. Honestly, she was blaming herself for that, but she didn¡¯t feel she had the time to dwell on what she could have done better.
Pushing herself off the floor, the young Sylnari female stretched a bit before darting towards the door. She needed to speak with the elders. Countryman had been very detailed with relaying the scans, and he had made sure she remembered every detail. Some of this information was very important, and they had just enough time to find a solution and send a ship. Selia knew that millions would still be killed by the wave. Most of those threatened were on the side of the Ikar belt opposite of Ilyatria. That part of space was also being invaded by the Cylovans, but there were still countless millions living on worlds that had so far resisted the ongoing Cylovan invasion. Then there were the people living on the worlds they had conquered. Even if it wasn¡¯t much of a life, they were at least still alive. True every detail of their lives were being controlled by machines, right down to when they die, and how many children they get to have, and with who. However, as long as they were alive they could be rescued.
The Alliance had grown into a real power over the last five years, and if they continue to grow they may be able to keep the Collective in check, and hopefully even rescue some of the poor folk the Collective had conquered. She knew her own people could really do it. They were stretched thin with the current war efforts already. A sustained war would be out of the question for them.
She found the Elders discussing the wave in the central meeting chamber, and she rather excitedly swam into the room.
¡°I take it your contact attempt was successful?¡±
She quickly confirmed it, and then began to spew out the details she learned. So quickly in fact that the words blended together a bit. The elders made her slow down, and repeat what she told them. ¡°They do know how the wave was caused. As we thought they weren¡¯t trying to cause this, but are responsible for it. Supreme Protector Countryman relayed to me the full details of their scan data. With this information, we can stop the wave easily.¡±
Then she relayed the key details, which another person quickly fed into a computer. The young man feeding information into the computer was an assistant. He even turned on a projector, and within moments they were watching a holographic recreation of I-22 the instant before the shockwave occurred. Soon the elders were discussing the implications of the data, and how to stop the shockwave.
Chapter XXXVII The Battle of Alar III
The SFS Batoruhoku SFR-24 dropped out of warp. She had gone ahead of the main fleet along with a couple of light cruisers. This part of space was wracked by spatial anomalies that had disrupted the wave spreading across space. Their task force had been tasked with trying to find a safe route through this part of space. The anomalies forced them to follow narrow paths at low warp just to get anywhere, but it was still safer than trying to cross the expanding FTL shockwave. The fleet wanted to be as far from the center as they could get when the wave finally dissipates.
As per standard procedure, the ship¡¯s commander ordered a scan of the system. They weren¡¯t really expecting any contacts, but to their surprise, they detected a ship in the system. One that was already on an intercept course. Also not far from their position was a small habitable world with a small but operational shipyard in orbit. The yard had several large ships moored in its slips that were in the final stages of construction. This system was shielded from the omnipresent radiation by the anomalies, and the local star¡¯s unusually strong magnetic field. Not far from the planet was a hyperwarp conduit that was currently closed, but it was likely the way these ships entered and left the system. However, at the moment it showed signs of extreme disruption. As for the other ships in the system, they were naturally Cylovan, and the warship approaching was one of their heavier capital ships, a Battleship. Her bays were already open, and she was deploying her fighters.
She would have ordered an immediate retreat, but a jamming field was already being generated by the station. As such they wouldn¡¯t be able to go to warp, and avoid this battle. Ordering a general quarters, crewman rushed to battle stations while red alert lights flashed, and a klaxon blared. The commander took a mental inventory of what was at her disposal. They were a synthetic manned fleet sent ahead of the main force for a scouting mission. She had three ships, a number that fleet command favored for small taskforces like this one. In addition to her own Battlehawk class heavy cruiser, she was accompanied by two Star Knight class light cruisers. They were outfitted mainly for a recon mission, and armed accordingly. Her ship had been sent along just in case they came across an enemy, but they had not expected any conflict.
All three of her ships were outfitted with Phase Lances, photon torpedoes, and the latest in Overlord type armor plating. Her ship did have a small supply of the more valuable AMF torpedoes. Hopefully, the current Mark III Photons would be more effective than the Mark I Photons they had used five years ago, but she doubted it as they weren¡¯t designed to penetrate neutronium enhanced plating. The Mark IIs that were used in the sole Cylovan encounter in the past five years certainly didn¡¯t fare much better. Then again there was very little improvement in the destructive power of the Mark II or III over the Mark I. All the improvements were focused on reliability, guidance, and range. Those same improvements were made with AMF torpedoes, and in the case of the AMF torpedoes a shield penetrator that was specifically designed to reliably penetrate Cylovan energy shields. Something that made sense considering that they were chiefly designed for destroying Cylovan targets. Regardless she had all two hundred of the AMF torpedoes their fleet had been outfitted with on her ship. In addition, she had 500 AMF style fighter bombs.
She figured it would be enough to destroy a single hostile battleship, and in the process secure an escape route. Those incomplete ships in the docking slips would be a bit of a wild card. They were in the final stages of construction, and were likely operational as well. It would take time to get them running, but they could very well be used to defend the shipyard here or in this case to attack them. Suddenly the conduit opened and three badly damaged dreadnoughts emerged from the conduit. Their hulls showing none of the expected distortions of passing through the conduit. A quick scan revealed that their shields had been reconfigured to allow passage through the distorted conduit. As for the damage, it was all the result of combat. The hull showed signs of heavy antiproton damage and hyperspatial distortions. They had clearly been in battle with someone, but she knew not who they had been fighting.
Just as the approaching Battleship was entering torpedo range, she noticed a second yard enter view. It was about the same size as the first, but it had several empty slips. Naturally, they were large enough to accommodate a dreadnought. With the battleship, in range, she decided to strike first. A quick order to tactical and a volley of AMF torpedoes were careening for the dreadnought.
They streaked across the distance in a matter of seconds, and all twelve fired passed through the shields as if they weren¡¯t there. Two of them penetrated the open forward hanger. One punched into the deck plating and exploded after punching through the plates into the chamber below, the other smashed against the rear wall and punched through it before also exploding. The other ten detonated on contact with the ship¡¯s hull plating. The resulting impacts inflicted massive damage to the dreadnought, and ripped apart entire decks. When the dust cleared the dreadnought was still there, but its forward sections had been reduced to torn, and half-melted scrap metal. Power readings from the ship were intermittent, her shields were down, main drives offline, and all weapon arrays disabled.
Her already launched fighters surged forward to engage their taskforce. She was already giving orders to launch fighters, and her light cruisers were already launching their fighters and corvettes for the fight. Just then the conduit opened again and spat out three more badly damaged dreadnoughts. Evidently she was going to have to deal with reinforcements from that conduit, but hopefully, they would all be as damaged these were.
The distorted bluish-green swirls on the screen finally gave way to normal space, and the commander was beyond grateful. His stomach, in particular, thanked him for being in normal space. An officer reported that they were now in normal space. An officer reported that they were now secure in normal space, and cloaked.
Looking at the young woman who was his first officer he said, ¡°Remind me next time not to chase a Cylovan fleet through a hyperwarp conduit.¡± then he addressed his tactical officer, ¡°What do the sensors say? Where are we?¡±
¡°Sir, positional scans indicate we are in the Alar system, in the Ikar Radiation belt. And sir, I am picking up weapons fire.¡±
He didn¡¯t think the Cylovans could have detected his ship already, so he gave the order to put it onscreen. Instantly a battlefield appeared in his view. Three Refuge ships were heavily engaged with a Cylovan fleet. All of the Refuge ships had sustained heavy damage, but were continuing to fight. Not to mention they had dealt a fair amount of damage to the Cylovans. Thirty-seven ships had retreated via this conduit, but eighteen of those ships were missing. A few new ones seemed to be in the mix, but at a glance, he could tell they weren¡¯t finished.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
¡°The Refuge appears to be engaged heavily with the Cylovan fleet. I am detecting debris from twenty-one Cylovan capital ships. As for the Refuge, I don¡¯t think they will last much longer. Their hull plating has failed, their torpedo bays are almost empty, and it looks like most of their auxiliary craft have been destroyed.¡± Just as the officer said that he noticed a small corvette fire a few bombs into a badly damaged dreadnought, the bombs struck something critical. The resulting secondary explosions disabled the ship, and a nearby Cylovan ship locked onto the scout ship and fired. An energy beam struck its hull dead on and ripped right through it leaving another ship floating dead in space. Not that there was much left of the ship.
Elsewhere two dreadnoughts opened fire on the Refuge heavy cruiser. Two beams tore right trough her hull and out the other side of the large capital ship, but amazingly she managed to return fire. A powerful energy pulse tore through the nearest dreadnoughts damaged plating and punched through to one of the main reactors. The resulting secondary explosion dealt a fair amount of damage to the dreadnought, and the ship went dark. Her sister ship fired again, this beam struck the secondary hull of the Refuge cruiser. Mere seconds later the entire secondary hull separated from the cruiser, and a half minute after that it detonated as the main reactors lost containment. He had to agree with his officer that they wouldn¡¯t last much longer against the Cylovan fleet here.
He turned to give his tactical officer an order and noticed a frown on her younger face. ¡°Something wrong he asked?¡±
She nodded, and replied, ¡°Yes, they are clearly in a disadvantaged position, and yet all three of their ships have a massive amount of power stored in their emergency batteries. I would expect those batteries to be heavily depleted at this point. The energy used for their weapons or other combat systems.¡±
He found that odd as well, but didn¡¯t think now was the time to speculate, so he ordered her to have all weapons on standby. Then turning to the helm, he ordered a course that would take them into the thick of the battle.
In the distance, he noticed two of the refuge cruisers break off from the attack. They fired their beam weapons full force to cover their retreat scoring mostly light hits. However, they were clearly being aimed at important targets. They were clearly trying to render their opponents blind and deaf. Something else he noticed was that not a single Cylovan shield generator was flaring, and he did a quick sensor check from his own console. To his surprise, he discovered that the shield generators on all of the Cylovan ships had been destroyed. The damage patterns indicated that they had been destroyed by Refuge particle beams. Something he found rather impressive.
He was confused as to why the cruisers were breaking off now, however, when suddenly they both let out a high-intensity multispatial beam. Space distorted in front of them, and in a matter of seconds, a hyperwarp conduit opened directly in their path. Both damaged light cruisers entered their conduit and vanished from the field of battle. The other cruiser did not follow them, and instead, she fired everything she had at nearby ships. Including a high-intensity multispatial beam at the most intact Cylovan dreadnought. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but soon intense multispatial distortions began tearing the ship apart. Said ship rapidly maneuvered away from the beam, but not before it dealt enough damage to render the ship a non-combatant. Mere seconds after the ship left the distortion region, a new conduit formed where the dreadnought had been.
The entire sequence of events was rather shocking to him for several reasons, but the biggest had to do with the amount of energy needed to generate a hyperwarp conduit exceeded the known power generation of Refuge ships. Before he could ask, his science officer informed him, ¡°Sir, they are using the stored energy of their emergency batteries to generate those conduits.¡±
On the screen, he watched as the heavy cruiser, entered the conduit it generated thereby leaving the field of battle. A glance at the sensors told them that the fleet was still out of their weapons range. Looking at his first officer, he commented, ¡°I guess they didn¡¯t need our help afterall.¡±
She was standing by a console and looking over sensor readings. ¡°I found the debris of what looks to be a Cylovan shipyard complex. It appears to have been subjected to an extensive bombardment, both the spaceside yards and planetside facilities have been destroyed. The weapon signatures are Refuge, it appears they bombarded the facility quite heavily with photon torpedoes, photon bombs, and particle beam weapons. The Cylovans will have to completely rebuild the facility.¡±
His chief engineer who had been silent up to this point finally decided he had something to add, ¡°I have been looking at the changes in Refuge technology. It seems they used superior energy storage techniques to overcome the intense energy demands of Hyperwarp technology. They also don¡¯t exactly stick to the traditional use of said technology either. Also, my scans showed their ships were more heavily damaged than appearances would suggest. The heavy cruiser appears to have taken the brunt of the Cylovan fleets firepower, and there wasn¡¯t much left of her when she jumped out of the system. I doubt her hull could have taken another hit, and if the Cylovans pursue her ...¡±
He interrupted at that point, ¡°They won¡¯t get a chance. I want to take care of this fleet quickly, and then we can pursue them to see if they will need aid.¡±
They were getting close to weapons range, and his science officer said, ¡°We may have difficulty catching up with the Refuge ships. Each of their three conduits are headed in separate directions.¡±
He decided he would worry about that later, and instead gave the order to decloak and open fire. His battleship didn¡¯t carry their heavier hypervelocity cannons, but the antiproton cannons and hyperspatial torpedoes he had were more than sufficient for dealing with a small fleet of practically crippled Cylovan ships.
Ship¡¯s Combat log Jan 13th 080 SDE,
It is a painfully day, when a captain loses their ship. She gave as good as she had, but the Batoruhoku has been damaged beyond repair. I am commanding the ship from a secondary bridge, not that there is much left to command. Her starframe is barely holding together, the hull plating is gone, my bridge has been destroyed, the secondary hull is gone. The engines are barely functioning, over half the ship has been vented to space. In fact, it would be easier to list what wasn¡¯t damaged in the fight, which amounts to just about nothing.
At this point, standard procedure would be to scuttle the ship, but I have no shuttles left. There are escape pods that are still intact, but they are short-range craft. Regardless, I have managed to locate a Mars type planet in range. Not exactly suitable, but we should be able to survive there for a few weeks. Hopefully long enough for the fleet to respond to our distress signal and locate us. In the meantime, I have my crew rigging our remaining auxiliary reactors to overload. Normally this would be done, by overloading the engines. However, our power systems are barely functioning and the engines are not only barely functioning but the fuel lines are leaking. We have determined that the reactors would run out of fuel before they could get the engines to build to an overload. Fortunately while less destructive the reactors should do the job well enough.
Chapter XXXVIII Shadows of Alar III
The Cylovan consciousness reviewed its own data on the recent battle at Alar III. It had lost that battle and with it a precious shipyard. Honestly, it was quite impressed with Species 11257. In the short time between encounters, they had made several significant technological advances. A few of which were responsible for their success at Alar III, most notably was a new jamming field. They had figured out a way to so thoroughly disrupt targeting scanners and communications that they had honestly done more damage to themselves than the enemy. At least until they figured out how to cut through the field, but by then they had lost the shipyard to heavy orbital bombardment. It didn¡¯t even know how they brought down the shields, but the yard and most of the incomplete ships in its slips were torn apart by particle weapons fire. Their beam weapons had clearly been improved in the last five years. It had noted that they had been phased in the last battle, but they had made a number of subtle improvements since then. Clear signs of optimization that significantly improved their effectiveness. The resulting weapons were comparable with their own beam weapons but less effective. At least in its own opinion, as it valued the adaptability of its own designs.
What really had given it trouble was their ability to adapt. They had demonstrated an ability to identify its adaptations and compensate. It was rare for it to encounter a foe that could adapt in battle like it did. They had managed to re-modulate that jamming field fifty-seven times over the course of the battle, and their enhanced armor gave it some trouble as well. At least until it figured out the changes in their armor design. That had helped it adapt its weapons to penetrate, but they had apparently enhanced their armor to adaptable in the same fashion as it did with shields. Now, it doubted that was a coincidence, they had made off with one of its dreadnoughts five years ago, and it suspected that they had adapted a number of technologies from the ship for their own use. It had only been able to reliably penetrate the armor with brute force. Worse its seems that 11257 had not only adapted some of its technologies but used them to develop specialized countermeasures. This meant that Species 11257 was a threat to its existence far more so than many of its neighbors. The most intriguing thing about the encounter was that they somehow generated hyperwarp conduits and had used them both as a means of retreat and a method of attack.
It could no longer afford its war with its neighbors, especially the Alliance, and the Remnant, but neither could it let those technologies that 11257 had spread or worse be improved upon. Deciding on a new course of action, it sent orders through its networks.
The blue vortex of a refuge hyperwarp conduit gave way to normal space, and the captain sighed in relief. The ride was far more enjoyable than the one through a Cylovan conduit, but then again this conduit was far newer, and therefore more stable than most Cylovan conduits. The color was a little different than Cylovan one being a pure blue rather than the blue-green of Cylovan conduits, but that was because the Refuge generators operated on a somewhat different waveform.
Before he could even ask for a sensor sweep, his science officer reported, ¡°Sir, I am picking up debris, approximately ¡®200,000 kilometers¡¯ dead ahead. Composition and mass indicate a Refuge Heavy Cruiser.¡±
He had known that the Heavy Cruiser was in bad shape, but he had not expected to find it as a cloud of debris. ¡°Can you tell me how it was destroyed?¡±
¡°One moment,¡± was her reply as she settled in front of her console, and studiously studied the readouts, then she reported, ¡°Damage patterns and distribution suggest that the ship was torn apart by a simultaneous overload of her auxiliary reactors.¡±
He didn¡¯t need to be told about the significance of the reactors overloading simultaneously. All spacefaring cultures understood how devastating an overload could be. It was why reactors had so many safeties, and why they were placed so deeply inside a ship. The Refuge, for example, did this as well, placing their main reactors in the center of their secondary hull, and distributing their auxiliaries throughout their primary hull in the most shielded parts of said hull. Even their command centers were less protected than their reactors. The only other items with similar protection on their ships were their torpedo bays, fuel storage, and the emergency batteries. Although given how their batteries stored energy he didn¡¯t blame them for putting them so deep in the ship. Placing them near the reactors was also only logical, as it allowed them to be charged more efficiently They did the same thing with their own. Anyway not only did reactors tend to be placed deep within a ship to protect from weapons fire, but they had countless countermeasures and safeties to prevent overloads. On a damaged ship some of those might fail, but the chances for all of them to fail simultaneously were so low as to be astronomical. This left only one conclusion to draw, the People of Sol had deliberately scuttled their own ship.
¡°Scan for recent engine signatures. I want to know where they went,¡± ordered the captain.
The science officer didn¡¯t even pause to check her console before reporting, ¡°I anticipated that you would want to know, and have already located them. The ship launched a number of escape pods before she self-destructed. I was able to track their course to a nearby trinary system to a class three subtype K planet. They landed in a rocky desert not far from the northern ice caps.¡±
¡°A class three? Not the most hospitable world, but they should be fine for a while. Transfer the coordinates to the helm,¡± said the captain, and then he ordered the helmsman to set a course for the planet.
He was about to retire to his ready room to file his log for the day, when his science officer, said, ¡°Sir, may I suggest that we do something about the debris field?¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
¡°Hmm, why?¡±
¡°Well, the ship was equipped with weaponized hyperwarp technology, something that could be rather dangerous in the wrong hands. In fact, the ship has quite a few unique technologies that while primitive by our standards would give the first race to salvage the wreck an advantage. I have picked up readings indicating that some of their technology survived the scuttling of the ship,¡± answered the science officer.
¡°I¡¯ll be doing my log, go ahead and neutralize that technology. Then proceed to the planet and notify me when we get there.¡±
She nodded and went to her console. He already knew what she was going to do. It took mere moments before an energy wave began to sweep over the debris. It was a special device they used for disabling advanced technology and worked very well. It would take about an hour for the sweep to complete given the size of the field, but once done any surviving tech in the field would be neutralized. Mechanical devices such as a steam engine, and Biotech, however, are immune to these devices, and the Cylovans had already learned how to shield their colonies from these devices. They didn¡¯t bother with ships because the device took a while to neutralize technology. The devices themselves were originally developed to keep elder race technologies out of the hands of younger races who weren¡¯t ready for that kind of knowledge. In this case, anything mechanical would have likely been wrecked by the explosion, and the sweep will take care of anything else. He understood that anything someone might salvage from this wreck could destabilize the balance of power, and it was too close to Cylovan controlled systems for comfort. If the Cylovans learned more about refuge technology it would remove what little advantage the refuge had, and likely give them an edge against the alliance.
While it was generally frowned upon, the captain had wanted to stretch his tentacles somewhere other than the ship. So he had accompanied the away team to the surface, and he justified it to his first officer by mentioning that they were likely in no real danger given that these people were on friendly terms with the Remnant.
His shuttle had landed not far from where the refuge escape pods had landed. The pods had landed in a reasonably tight cluster and from the top of this hill, they looked like a collection of alien buildings loosely clustered together to resemble a town. The kind of ramshackle towns that many surface-dwelling races built when they first settled on a planet. Often by disassembling their colony ship to build said first settlement.
A small group of alien women were already approaching his position, but he already knew they were synthetics. This particular ship had been manned by the Synths that the refuge used to supplement their low population and meet ship crew requirements.
He waited for them to arrive, and surveyed their features. They all had similar body structures, but there was some variance between them. Enough in fact that you could mistake them for sisters rather than androids built on an assembly line.
The machines stopped at a respectful distance in a less than perfect formation, and it took him a moment to realize that they had been gifted the ability to mimic sentient behavior and that included how they held themselves. Before they said anything, he spoke, ¡°Greetings, I am Captain Temra. I came to offer aid if you need it.¡±
The female in the lead was the first to respond, ¡°We should be fine for a few weeks, but it would be appreciated if you help us get back to the fleet. However, I am more worried about the other two crews under my command. They weren¡¯t in much better shape than we were, if you could I would like you to locate them, and escort them back to the fleet.¡±
Reading between the lines, he replied, ¡°So in other words, you want us to help you contact your fleet, and locate the other two ships in your task force?¡±
She nodded, and said, ¡°Naturally the fleet will need to come out this way to recover the remains of our ship. Both to protect any technology that might have survived and to help recoup our losses. That salvage can easily cover a good chunk if not all of the repairs for the other two ships in my task force or help pay for the construction of a new cruiser to replace it.¡±
¡°Well on the note of protecting surviving technology we already took care of that. Weaponized hyperwarp technology can be pretty dangerous, and we felt it best not to let the Cylovans get their hands on any of your technology.¡±
She seemed surprised and took a few moments to respond, ¡°That is probably for the best.¡±
¡°I guess we should get started on locating those two ships for you,¡± said the captain as he prepared to depart. She allowed him to leave, and soon the shuttle was leaving the thin planetary atmosphere. He already had orders in mind for once he got back, and figured this little side mission would take only a couple of days.
Suddenly, Rose interrupted Arlie¡¯s story, ¡°I think we all see where this is going. These Cylovans are about to end their war and go after the People of Sol.¡±
The others added their two cents, and a general consensus about how things were going was clearly there.
Arlie sighed as she shifted to be more comfortable in her seat, ¡°I guess I can move ahead a couple of months. In short, you are right. The Cylovans, Alliance, and Remnant are about to sign a treaty that will bring stability to the region and keep the Collective in check for thousands of years. The Cylovans would spend that time consolidating their collective, but something in their code prevented them from ending the treaty. As for the Sol Refuge, thanks to the wave they ended up deep in Cylovan held space. At first, their superior stealth allowed them to avoid any significant encounters, but they still lost a number of cruisers on scouting missions. Most of those being light cruisers, but the Batoruhoku would not be the only heavy cruiser lost to the Cylovans. The Cylovans quickly learned how to fight the Refuge on more equal terms. The Refuge Hardening armor modification proved helpful in stopping their offensive adaptations, but they eventually learned how to keep their shields from being penetrated.
I would have to say the next major incident of importance occurred on February twenty-second, 080 SDE. The fleet had stopped in a small system on the edge of a nebula to conduct repairs, they had been there for about a week when a scout stumbled across the fleet. It was easily destroyed, but not before it reported their position to the Collective ....¡±
Interlude Structural Integrity
Structural integrity is a measure of how tough a hull is. How much damage it can take before it becomes compromised. This figure is passively determined by the configuration of a hull, and the materials it was made with. The properties of those materials are also important, as they will affect how the hull would react to energy being directed against.
Structural Integrity is also used as a term, by ship officers especially engineers to refer to a series of systems designed to actively increase the Structural Integrity of a ship. These systems include things like emergency bulkheads, force fields, and structural fields. Emergency bulkheads are a very old concept that on Earth started with wet water navies and famous ships like the Titanic. The idea of these bulkheads is that in the event of a hull breach they would drop into place thereby sealing the breach. For wet water navies, these bulkheads greatly increased a ship¡¯s ability to stay afloat during battle, especially when combined with pumps. In space however water is often not a concern, but these bulkheads are still important. A breach in the hull must be sealed quickly lest a ship¡¯s atmosphere leaks out into space. Something that can happen very quickly. As such even though the concerns are the same they achieve the same effect, increasing the amount of time a ship can remain in a fight.
Force Fields are a space-age technology that can be used for the same purposes as emergency bulkheads and often are, as they can snap into place far faster. However, they require power to be used, and can¡¯t take as much punishment as a physical bulkhead. As such they are often used as a supplement to emergency bulkheads. They are also good for intruder control, as they can snap into place quickly and can be used to restrict the movement of intruders. Early forcefield technologies, however, do not stop weapons fire in the same way that a physical bulkhead can. Later development can solve this problem, however.
The bread and butter of space-age active structural integrity are structural fields. These energy fields are run through the hull of a ship and draw power from the ship¡¯s reactors. The field being run through the hull greatly increases the resilience of the material said hull is made from. There are numerous factors that determine how effective this field is. The amount of power available to the field is one of the biggest and most obvious. The material though is also very important, as different materials will react differently to structural fields. Refuge Titan Alloy for example as an extremely high level of reaction with such fields, resulting in a hull far more resilient than would generally be expected. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Because structural fields are the bread and butter of active structural integrity they are often the focus of improvement for starship designers. The best way to improve them is to increase the amount of power available to them. General miniaturization of components in a given time frame often leads designers to increase the load capacity of the power systems so that a stronger field could be generated. The stronger the field the greater the effect. Another way to strengthen the field is to increase the power efficiency of the system.
Now naturally structural fields are not normally needed to enable a ship to survive the normal rigours of space travel. As such these expensive active systems are not often found on civilian ships, but some civilian vessels do include them. Emergency bulkheads are often found on civilian ships because a while rare it is not unheard of for something to breach the hull of a passenger liner or freighter on a normal run. Be it a random pirate encounter, a system malfunction or a minor collision with drifting space debris. Structural fields though are often of great importance for combat vessels. They are especially important to the combat vessels of the Sol Refuge. The refuge uses to distinct and different types of structural field systems in their ships, the general SIF, and the more specific AIF. The AIF is a localized and condensed structural field that runs along the outer hull. It is used to greatly enhance the resilience of a ship¡¯s hull armor and does a very good job of that. The other system the SIF creates a generalized field around the entire ship and increases its resilience as a whole. Both systems are intended to work together and keep the ship together. The AIF, however, is unusual compared to the structural fields used by other races, and in fact, behaves like an energy shield running through the hull in addition to the normal reinforcement effects of a structural field. The result is that Refuge plating is very difficult to breach.
That is naturally the goal of structural reinforcement and for most combat vessels the Structural field is the ship¡¯s final line of defense between an enemy attack and death. The first line of defense is often the shields but in the case of the Refuge that would be the Armor.
Chapter XXXIX The Battle of Zur
The ship shuddered as a powerful energy beam raked over the hull. The hull plating easily absorbed the beam and held under the assault. As a second beam quickly followed slamming into the side with equally low effect against the heavy armor of the cityship. The beams were coming from a heavy dreadnought and enhanced version of the Cylovan dreadnoughts that the People of Sol were already familiar with. It featured improved shields that were impervious to Refuge shield penetrator devices and enhanced hull armor that could better withstand refuge particle weapons. However, the ship¡¯s weapons had not improved over previous models in fact they were slightly weaker, as the enhanced shields required more power and that power was taken from the weapons and engines.
The great cityship Enterprise did not sit there taking the beating. Every beam array on her port side glowed briefly before she unleashed a series of full power beams of her own. Vibrant violet energy lanced across the void and slammed into the mighty dreadnought. Her shields flared as they absorbed the blast, but they were fluctuating. Thanks to an extended bombardment they were beginning to fail. However, they held for the moment. The ship returning fire again, her heavy beams raked across the cityship¡¯s port hull armor with little apparent effect. However, that armor was also beginning to fail.
Elsewhere on the field of battle, a Refuge destroyer was barely holding together, as she returned fire on the cruiser she was engaged with. A volley of heavy torpedoes slammed into the cruiser, her shields already depleted couldn¡¯t stop the volley and they unleashed their payload directly onto the hull. The reinforced hull of the cruiser disintegrated under the barrage. Sympathetic explosions tore through the ship and moments later there was only a cloud of debris. Another nearby cruiser swept into the field firing on the destroyer from portside. Several beams tore through her damaged hull, and she finally buckled going up in a massive fireball. A shockwave rippled off into space as she went up, and slammed into the cruiser that sunk her. The shields flared, but failed to absorb the shockwave, and buckled. Her hull already damaged from a previous engagement with a wing of frigates buckled on contact with the shockwave. The ship was torn apart in mere seconds.
Near the core of the fleet, several cruisers were engaged with the escorts of the Kingdom class carrier SFS Emperor SFR-06. The Emperor was the least defended of the fleet¡¯s carriers and that fact was beginning to show. One of the cruisers defending her suddenly went down under. A series of disrupter beams slammed into her starboard side. The plating failed and the beams ripped deep into the battered heavy cruiser. Secondary explosions tore the ship apart.
The commander of the Emperor ordered an immediate response. The beam arrays along the heavy capital ship opened up the two cruisers responsible for sinking her escort. While freshly rearmed fighters launched from the ship to join the fray. Already heavily damaged thanks to her fighting with the Refuge cruiser the nearer of the two cruisers broke apart after only a few hits from the powerful capital ship beam weapons. Not far another flash of light signaled the destruction of another refuge heavy cruiser at the hands of a few Cylovan ships but she didn¡¯t go down without taking an assailant with her in fact she took three small cruisers with her. With it gone the only ships defending the carrier were now gone.
The commander quickly ordered a withdraw towards the cityships. Powerful engines soon got the massive ship moving, but the Cylovans were hot on her tail. Her own fighters were able to keep them from closing, but a sudden flash of light in front of her signal a battleship moving to cut her off. The heavy ship fired upon her forward plating.
The Emperor returned fire, her own beam cannons however failed to penetrate the battleship¡¯s shields. Her commander cursed its movement here. This fleet was mostly cruisers and destroyers, and there were only two true capital ships in the Cylovan fleet. This battleship and the dreadnought the Enterprise was fighting. Speaking of the Enterprise, at this moment it was unleashing a massive volley of torpedoes on her attacker.
She was forced to change course to avoid a collision, and this gave the pursing cruisers a chance to catch up. A chance they took full advantage of, and the quickly began to bombard the carrier. With the carrier now engaged from multiple angles, she could no longer risk opening her bay to launch or recover fighters. Fortunately, most of her fighters were already in the void. Speaking of her fighters, several wings were swarming a nearby cruisers. While they weren¡¯t doing much damage individually it was racking up. Several fighters were conducting strafing runs of the surface and doing a great deal of damage to the more delicate systems on the surface of the hull. Namely sensors and comm arrays, but a few of the heavier fighters were punching holes in the plating and doing damage to protected systems.
Several beams from the Emperor punched through the hull of the cruiser, and a few bombers used fired their bombs into the fresh wound. The high yield explosives detonated deep within the ship doing major damage to key systems. Secondary explosions ripped the cruiser apart giving the Emperor some relief, but not enough. Worse most of the fleet was otherwise engaged with targets of their own, and could not move to assist the Emperor.
Elsewhere on the field of battle, a different refuge ship was in the process of distinguishing itself. Several cruisers had come out of warp to attack the carrier, SFS Queen SFR-05. Only to be intercepted by the heavy cruiser SFS Accentor SFR-09, she came upon their flank just as they dropped out of warp. Several vibrant violet beams lanced from her beam arrays, and ripped right through their unprotected hulls. The energy violently ripped through their hull plating and tore straight through multiple vital systems on all four of her targets.
The four cruisers survived the beam attack, but power was disrupted on all decks, and their shield generators disabled before they could even energize the defensive screens. This left them helpless to the heavy torpedo barrage she followed up with via her aft launchers as she swept past their position at high speed. Four brief fireballs lit up the eternal night with the intensity of a small star for a fraction an instant and marked the demise of those four cruisers.
Direct ahead of the cruiser, was a destroyer that had slipped by her sister ship the SFS Suzume SFR-25. It was firing its beam cannons into one of the Queen¡¯s hanger bays. The door was sealed shut, but that didn¡¯t mean it would hold forever. Fortunately, it didn¡¯t need too. The Accentor came in on the destroyer from above firing her heavy cannons and beam arrays full force. The Destroyer¡¯s shields were already heavily strained from the heavy fire coming from the Queen, and the collapsed quickly under the added strain. Within mere minutes the entire ship resembled swiss chess. Every deck had been breached by particle weapons, and she had lost all power. The only reason the ship didn¡¯t explode was that the safties had worked and shut down the reactors before containment failed. A single photon torpedo impacted the ship a few moments later and the floating husk was blown apart.
The Cylovan consciousness assessed the battle unfolding in the Xur system. It had managed to mobilize quickly enough that 11257 had not been able to pull out of the system, and still had element scatter across key parts of the system. One of the carriers, for example, had been separated from the main fleet as part of a small patrol on the edge of the system. It seemed to be winning on that part of the field, and while it scored a number of kills the battle was not unfolding in a manner it liked. For one thing, it had lost far too many cruisers here, and its Dreadnought was in trouble. It had used the ship to spearhead an attack on the core of the enemy fleet. 11257¡¯s flagship was currently engaged in a two on one battle with its dreadnought while the cruiser escorts were being held off by a pair of carriers and their escorts. Four particular ships had caught its notice especially given the way that 11257 was protecting them. Two of their smaller ships had even made suicide attacks to keep its cruisers off them. A fact that had caught it a bit off guard, especially given that it had not believed 11257 to be prone to that kind of tactic. They had never used it before either.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Then again they were fighting far more fiercely than they had in previous encounters. They weren¡¯t even trying to retreat either which was something it had noted was the norm for them. Species 11257 was very quick to leave the field of battle, normally. This time however they were fighting with everything they have, and as a result, it was actually taking higher causalities then it would have liked. For every ship, it had managed to sink they had destroyed three and a half times that number. Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t see itself winning this battle, and worse it was going to lose one of its new dreadnoughts. It just couldn¡¯t see a way to get it off the field of battle before the 11257¡¯s flagship destroyed it. Speaking of the flagship, it had spent a good chunk of its processing power analyzing it. At first, it had assumed it was a battleship, but there were inconsistencies with that theory. Ones that became quite obvious when it was compared with other ships in its fleet. Using the other ships as a base it determined that the ship did not have the firepower of a true battleship. It did, however, outclass a battleship in terms of armor, and interestingly enough speed. A fact that made sense, given what else it had noted. It had determined that it was looking at a cityship. The high armor and speed value made sense given they would want the ship to survive at any cost.
That thick heavy armor, however, was also why its dreadnought was having difficulty. Its weapons were struggling to penetrate, and both ships fighting it had enough firepower to cause significant damage if they got past the shields. Something they were quite good at it. The collective still didn¡¯t know how to protect against their shield disrupters, but at least their range was limited. Well not fully anyway, it had figured out a shield modulation that increased how long the shields would hold against the disrupters, but it wasn¡¯t much of an increase. That increase was worth a grand total of seventeen point three seconds. Just barely enough time to get out of range or shake off a lock, but it still occasionally lost shielding to them.
Several powerful beams raked over the Emperor¡¯s hull. One punched through the plating protecting one of the starboard hangers. Nothing detonated though as the bay was empty, the fighters normally on the deck were already in the void swarming a nearby cruiser. Several beams quickly followed the first slamming into the punctured hanger plating.
The Emperor entered a roll as she returned fire from her numerous beam arrays, scoring several scathing hits on her attackers, but the battleship remained impervious to her fire. One of the cruisers harassing her exploded thanks to a hit that penetrated her core. The beam having disrupted the containment on several antimatter containment capsules. The escaped antimatter reacted with the surrounding material and ripped the ship apart in a violent explosion that let off a massive shockwave. Fighters too close the wave were thrown about, some were even torn apart.
At the same moment, a wing of fighters made an attack run on the battleship. Two additional wings covered them and kept the Cylovan fighters that moved to intercept off them. As soon as the fighters were in range, the opened fire with their electro cannons. The powerful shields of the battleship collapsed in a bright flash after several seconds of bombardment.
The Emperor took full advantage of the opening and fired several powerful beams into the hull. Violet energy streams raked over the armored hull burning deep furrows into the plating but failing to penetrate. The ship returned fire, its heavy disruption rays lancing across the void struck the carrier in the wounded starboard side. Something exploded and triggered a number of sympathetic explosions in the ship, that claimed twelve hangers along the starboard side of the ship.
Suddenly a heavily damaged Cylovan cruiser accelerated towards the Emperor. Her weapons array already destroyed from fighter attacks, and her hull buckling the collective decided to use it in a ramming attack. The Emperor¡¯s engines kicked in full force to avoid the collision, but it was too close. The ship plowed into the side of the port nacelle on a course parallel to the hull. Metal buckled as the ships scrapped against each other, and then the cruiser slammed into the rear of the primary hull. It broke apart on the hull and shredded numerous modules along the port half of the ship. A cruiser firing on the port side of the ship redirected its fire to the wounded plating. Several hits were scored along the nacelle and the port aft quarter of the ship. Something else exploded in that part of the ship, and yet she was still fighting.
The carrier with its large mass and heavy construction was not going to go down easy even if it was surrounded and its plating failing. More beams lanced out from her hull at targets of opportunity. She even scored a few more hits on the battleship, as it fired another salvo of its own. The battleship scored a few penetrating hits of its own, but none of them pierced deeply enough to actually sink the ship.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, the Enterprise was unleashing another volley of heavy fire in the Cylovan Dreadnought. Several beams of violet energy raked across its hull punching deep into the plating, and they were quickly followed by a series of high yield AMF torpedoes. In an instant, a bright flash of light completely engulfed the massive warship. When the light returned to normal all that remained of the mighty warship was an expanding cloud of debris. The Enterprise itself had taken some damage during the fight, including a few hull breaches but none of it was serious. Her smaller Sistership the Avenger had also taken some damage during the fight, but again none of it was serious.
Neither ship stayed put for long and instead moved to relieve the cruisers protecting the nearby core fleet carriers. Cruisers that were actually in a fairly good position, and so the addition of a pair of cityships quickly changed the local balance in favor of the refuge.
Meanwhile back with the Emperor, she was taking heavy damage in the extended fight, and a number of her fighters had been forced to break off for refueling and rearm. However since the Emperor couldn¡¯t allow them to land on her decks, they were trying to reach the main fleet group. Ahead of those fighters were one of her escorts along with the mining ships she was escorting back to the fleet. The destruction of a cruiser, however, created an opening for the Emperor, and she accelerated straight for it. Several beams from the battleship raked over her heavily damaged hull, and one of them scored a lucky hit. Several containment bubbles failed around some of the ships antimatter fuel pods and the fuel escaped before the safties could compensate. A massive explosion rocked the ship and began a massive chain reaction. Before the collective could even register the danger a powerful shockwave ripped out from the dying carrier. Of the eight remaining Cylovan ships attacking the carrier the nearest a battered cruiser was the first to be hit by the wave, and it was ripped apart. Quickly followed by a second cruiser, then a destroyer. The battleship was also quite damaged from numerous bomb and torpedo hits, and countless beam impacts. Her shields were already on the verge of failure again and failed to stop the powerful shockwave from ripping into the hull.
When the flames of the detonation dissipated only one of the attacking ships, a small cruiser had survived, but she was heavily damaged. Not long after it along with the remaining Cylovan ships retreated from the field of battle leaving the Refuge to lick their wounds.
Chapter XXXX Into the Clouds
The ship rocked a bit as she decelerated to sublight speeds. Something hit the shields and detonated. The shields fluctuated briefly, and a second something hit the hull. The resulting detonation tore a large hole in the hull plating, and knocked out the shield grid. No further impacts came, and her mechanical crew went about containing the damage, and scanning the system.
The ship was the first scout to return to the Zur system after the disastrous battle with species 11257. It was one of several scouts sent ahead of their fleet. A second fleet that had been put together to end the threat that 11257 represented. Already this mission was running into problems, namely the damage they had just taken dropping out of warp.
Their scans quickly discovered something surprising. In the two weeks it had taken them to return, 11257 had scattered mines throughout the system, and removed all evidence that a battle had ever taken place. There were no hulking wrecks in the system. No fields of broken metal, no debris of any kind. 11257 had been very thorough in scouring the system clean of debris. In its experience, only mechanical races were so efficient in salvaging debris fields. Then again, it already knew that 11257 didn¡¯t bother to man the smaller ships in its fleet. Well most of them anyway. They had also demonstrated a rather alarming talent for hacking so it made sense they would have the computational ability to quickly and efficiently calculate how they should salvage the debris.
There was no sign of the fleet, but it began looking for any indication of which direction they went. If it had been fast enough, then there was a chance that it could locate their trail. If not then it would have to deploy scout ships in all directions. It already had a few search patterns in mind that should give it a decent chance of finding them. However it was a little short on scouts, so there would be gaps in the search net, and an equally decent chance that they would slip out of the net. It made a mental note to figure out a better detection method.
Countryman glanced at the screen. On it was displayed a list of names. Names of ships they had lost. With them, they had also lost a number of lives and while Countryman could be rather uncaring of other people. Especially those that he didn¡¯t consider to be his friends or family. A fact he knew about himself, and often tried to keep in check. It mostly came about as a downside to being part machine. Those ships and their crews however were people he knew, and even the machines were things he cared about. As such losing so much was a bit distressing for him.
SFS Emperor SFR-06, Kingdom class- Lost with all hands, fighters recovered
SFS Kite SFR-15, Battlehawk class- Lost, escape pods recovered, fighters recovered
SFS Taka SFR-16, Battlehawk class- Lost, escape pods recovered
SFS Washi SFR-26, Battlehawk class- Lost, command module recovered, escape pods recovered
SFS Tsurugi SFR-30, Saber class- Lost with all hands
SFS Spatha SFR-33, Saber class- Lost, secondary hull recovered
SFS Tachi SFR-34, Saber class- Lost with all hands
SFS Nagamaki SFR-35, Saber class- Lost with all hands
SFS Nodachi SFR-36, Saber class- Lost, escape pods recovered, command module recovered
SFS Wakizashi SFR-38, Saber class- Lost, escape pods recovered
SFS Shikomizue SFR-39, Saber class- Lost with all hands, starboard nacelle recovered
SFS Bilbo SFR-40, Saber class- Lost with all hands
SFS Xiphos SFR-41, Saber Class-Damaged beyond repair, scuttled
SFS Kama SFR-42, Saber Class- Lost, escape pods recovered
SFS Briquet SFR-44, Saber class- Damaged beyond repair, scuttled
SFS Cinquedea SFR-45 Saber class- Lost with all hands
SFS Anelace SFR-46, Saber class- Lost, Escape pods recovered, command module recovered, main engine module recovered, port nacelle recovered
SFS Hachiwara SFR-48, Saber class- Lost with all hands
The current page on the screen didn¡¯t list all the ships they had lost, but it just seemed so impersonal to him for those ships and lives to be summed up in this manner. He sighed and turned the screen off. He wanted a bit of a distraction. They were currently traveling through a nebula, and that meant there wasn¡¯t much to see. At this hour there weren¡¯t any games scheduled, and there weren¡¯t any movies or shows airing today that he wanted to see.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
He considered going for a walk, and touring the lower decks again. He had been doing that a lot lately, and everyone was feeling down after the attack. Some people even had friends or family on ships that had been lost during the battle. Morale was actually rather low on the ship, and he knew he would have to do something to change that. He already had a few officers planning a mass funeral ceremony for the departed. It wasn¡¯t much, but he felt it would help morale a little.
Heading for the door of his office, he decided where he was going to go. Ruri had mentioned that she had something to show him, a few days ago. He had the time now, and figured it would make a good distraction.
He found Ruri in her lab. She had clearly been a bit busy, as her clothing was dirty. She had a number of stains, and as was often the case when she wasn¡¯t expecting company her clothing was torn. At least none of the tears were in unfortunate locations like the last time he had dropped in on her unannounced. He still wasn¡¯t sure how she had not noticed that her lab uniform was torn in such a fashion. How she had managed to tear them that way was even more of a mystery.
Her lab was a bit of a mess, but his attention was drawn to the devices on the table. They were a bit different in design, but they were quite obviously beam emitter. In fact, they seemed derivative of standard mining equipment. Mining lasers were an old reliable technology, and improvements had been made over the years. Current gen mining lasers used a resonant particle stream to break up rock at an impressive speed.
¡°Captain! If I knew you were coming I would have changed into something better,¡± said Ruri.
¡°I am sure you would have. Anyway, what have you been working on?¡±
¡°Several things, sir. Most of it not ready to be prototyped. Well aside from the mining lasers on my table.¡±
Countryman looked over the mentioned lasers, and asked, ¡°What can you tell me about those?¡±
Ruri was practically giddy, as she began to describe them, ¡°As you know, our current lasers use a resonant particle stream. They are great at breaking up rock and ore. However, they do have their weaknesses. Namely, they are power-hungry and the beam is ineffective past a few hundred meters. I adapted phase lance technology to our mining lasers. The result is a mining beam that can bore through solid rock without significant loss of power at extreme distances.
I was also able to improve the power efficiency of the beam, by about twenty-seven percent. My simulations showed that the beam could be used to drill shafts from orbit. Combined with a high power tractor beam, and a high-resolution scanner we can now orbitally mine the surface of a planet. Without having to land, and establish mining infrastructure.¡±
Countryman was a bit surprised. He knew a few labs were looking into ways to orbitally strip a planet of valuable resources they could use. A couple of years ago, they had developed a high power tractor beam that could be used to lift objects from the surface of a planet, and pull them into orbit. It did have a limit on the mass of said objects, and that was determine by the size of the emitters and available power. Every ship in the fleet used those modifications, and they were quite useful. ¡°Sounds useful. How soon before we start production of the equipment?¡±
¡°A week maybe two. Still have some refining to do.¡±
¡°Now on to the big question. Can I scoop cities of the surface of planets with your new mining laser?¡± asked Countryman with a big grin on his face. He knew the reference was old, but some people still watched it, and a few even still watched the reboots. The reboots even kept good moments like that one.
Ruri clueless, said, ¡°Not sure why you would want to do that, but it really depends on how big the city is. A small one shouldn¡¯t be a problem, but ...¡±
Countryman interrupted her with a laugh. ¡°You need to watch more old science fiction. Sometimes they have a good idea or two. Most of the time it is good for a laugh or two.¡±
She gave a confused look for a moment, and then suddenly her face lit up. ¡°Oh, yes very funny sir. Also, I do watch a few of them, as they do have interesting ideas from time to time. Take Stargate, for example, the Lantean Drone weapons are quite interesting. Way beyond our current abilities to produce, but the basic principles are sound. We have been working on a new generation of light missiles that build on those same basic principles. I believe we have begun production of a prototype, but then again this is Lina¡¯s project, not mine.
Lina designed an optimized micro pulse engine that allows for a small missile to make the rapid course adjustments and perform evasive maneuvers. Without losing the speed needed to gain on a target. The guidance systems needed some changes, and Lina planned to program them for swarm behavior. Naturally given the engine, they would be short-range weapons but should work quite well at engaging light craft.¡±
¡°No ripping capital ships to shreds?¡±
She giggled, and said, ¡°Maybe if the missiles carried bigger warheads.¡±
¡°Well, it sounds like a step forward. Any other interesting projects?
She looked thoughtful for a moment, and said, ¡°Not sure if you will find it interesting, but we have been working on a new cloning project. Well, it isn¡¯t really cloning. Unlike cloning, we are experimenting with the controlled combination of new genes, and growing the result.¡±
Countryman interrupted her, ¡°And thereby eliminating the normal problems associated with cloning. I guess we will need to make a decision later on whether or not to allow your new ¡®cloning¡¯ method on people.¡±
Cloning people was currently illegal. There were numerous logical and emotional reasons for it. Reasons that still held now, and were why they had not yet resorted to cloning to preserve their race. Mass cloning on that level had been considered, but to do it would cause as many problems as it solved. Stargate¡¯s Asgard were a good example of the dangers of mass cloning. They cloned themselves so many times that their cloning ultimately caused their extinction. Like the Asgard, their own medicine could solve some of the problems cloning could cause, but frankly, it would not solve all of them. Most important of which were the social ones.
She awkwardly adjusted her stance, and said, ¡°Well it isn¡¯t really cloning, but I can see the problems.¡±
After a long discussion with Ruri, Countryman left the labs. Heading back up to the bridge he considered their current position. They had already left the Zur system behind. After the battle, they had salvaged everything they could and retrieved all their technology. Now they were using the nearby nebula as cover to hide from Cylovan ships. In addition, he had sent scouts ahead to look for a suitable system in which to conduct repairs. Hopefully, they would also have time to build new ships.
Chapter XLI Breadcrumbs in the Clouds
The consciousness found itself considering recent events. After the battle at Zur, it had managed to trace 11257 to the nebula that dominates this part of the galaxy. However, their core fleet has so far eluded it. The nebula greatly limited sensor ranges, and combined with 11257¡¯s stealth capabilities it rendered their ships virtually invisible. It had however stumbled onto their scouts every now and then. The first sign it had of being near scoutships belonging to 11257 was often faint ionization traces in the gases of the nebula. The pulse wave engines used by 11257 briefly ionize the gases of the nebula and leave a trail that can be followed. However, those ionization traces don¡¯t last long and often decay entirely in a matter of hours.
Once it found those traces it was quick to use them to correlate a path, and often attempted to get ships into the area before 11257 could evade them. So far it had not yet managed to do that. 11257 had proven very adept at using the nebula to its advantage.
Oftentimes while trying to locate 11257 it had been ambushed instead. On the flip side, it had become rather familiar with a certain class of ship employed by 11257. This class designated by it as a light scout corvette was clearly a mid-range craft. While smaller than its own scout class, it was better armed, and clearly had better sensors. As for its own scout class, it had its advantages. Namely it large size allowed it to mount a small hanger, and while too small to mount a hyperwarp drive it did equip a fairly powerful warp drive. Along with a healthy set of shields. Unfortunately, those shields were useless here in the nebula, as the dense gases prevented the formation of a stable energy barrier. It was a problem the collective was well aware of and never considered a problem before. So solving the issue had never been a major priority, but now it was running hundreds of simulations and pouring through databases trying to find a solution to the problem. It was also working on trying to improve its own armor.
The collective was well aware that the nebula was a naturally advantageous battlefield for species 11257, but it needed to keep an eye on them given the threat they represented to it. Honestly losing those scouts was a small loss in the grand scheme of things, and it had learned quite a bit more about their torpedoes. Suddenly it lost contact with one it scouts. Reviewing the last minute telemetry, it watched a three blue bolts emerge from the swirling violet clouds, before slamming into the hull of its scout. Data sent back at the moment told it that the hull was critically compromised at that moment, and the ship likely broke apart shortly after that. This time it hadn¡¯t even seen the attack coming, but its scout did identify one ship 1.2068 seconds before the torpedoes struck the hull. It was one of 11257¡¯s scoutships. Evidently, 11257 was getting better at masking their approach.
Before it could even consider that problem another scoutship sent it a report. The ship had found something odd. Reviewing the data, it was presented with images of a planet. What was interesting was the surface of the planet. Unlike every other planet in its system, its surface was remarkably void of surface-level mineral deposits, and the surface was covered with odd perfectly circular craters. Subsequent scans revealed large chunks of the surface were just gone, and its scout had also found large amounts of planetary soil in orbit. It was almost as if someone had carved the planet up from orbit, and then lifted huge chunks of it into orbit. It had never seen anything like this before. Then it noticed something interesting. The craters had a residual energy signature left behind by whoever carved up the planet. It was a particle signature and while there was an odd variance to it, it recognized the signature. The signature was very similar to that of the particle weapons and mining equipment it had previously observed being used by 11257.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
The variance in the signature struck it as odd, and it did note that the resonance pattern it had previously noted in their mining equipment was present in this signature as well. However, this left it with new questions. What caused this odd variance, and why did 11257 carve up this planet? The first was hard to answer, it was not able to generate an adequate answer to the question. The second one on the other hand, well it had come up with an answer. However, it was not an answer it liked. Based on remaining deposits, it had determined the planet was rich in minerals that were used heavily in 11257¡¯s technology. What disturbed it was that the amount of material removed left it with only one conclusion. Enough material was gone to account for a fleet.
The only conclusion it could make was that 11257 had somehow mined the entire planet from orbit using methods not known to it. It had never seen a planet stripped of resources in this fashion, but the techniques were not important. What was important were the materials stripped from the planet. It had determined that they had taken enough material to outfit a sizable fleet. Assuming they left a reserve, for repairs and replacements if needed they could build a fleet of nearly a thousand capital ships plus escorts. Possibly more, as there was some uncertainty in the amount of material they had harvested.
This left the consciousness with another major question, where were these capital ships? It did not think this was a good sign, but before it could think more on this issue its attention was drawn elsewhere.
A few hundred lightyears away from the striped planet in another system in the nebula, the collective had been setting up a forward operating base. There was a nice planet there that was promising for a base. The orbital station wasn¡¯t yet complete, but it was partially operational, and was servicing scout ships as they came back from scouting different sectors of the nebula. To protect the station it had two battleships and four cruisers patrolling the area. Valuable assets for the collective, but this base was important for extending its range deep enough into the region for its goals. Not to mention the planet was surprisingly rich in neutronium. A mineral of great strategic import and one it needed new sources of quite desperately. Any new sources would allow it to more efficiently replace the ships it had lost recently. It was still rebuilding its shipyards, and a source of neutronium here had given it a few new places for possible capital shipyards. The bonus was that these yards would be far from its borders and more importantly from the Sylnari. It hoped that being this far would keep them from being destroyed by raiders. As for the logistic problems, hyperwarp conduits could solve most of them.
What drew its attention to this base, however, was something not of its plans. It had just lost contact with a cruiser in that system. Immediately it reviewed the final telemetry sent from the cruiser on its patrol. There was nothing unusual about the telemetry, unless you counted a slight spike in background radiation. Then something stuck out in the readings sent back, just 2.3479 seconds before it lost contact. Eight small objects had been detected moving at high velocity towards the cruiser. The cruiser hadn¡¯t gotten a good look at them though, and when they hit the hull the ship suffered a catastrophic hull failure. Moments later containment systems failed and the ship stopped transmitting. Presumably destroyed when the systems failed. Based on what it saw, it was about to dismiss the loss as a freak accident. The objects had looked like asteroid fragments that had been accelerated to c fractional velocity, and based on the trajectory it was likely caused by an asteroid venturing too close to the sun and then being slingshot into the system. The stress broke the asteroid into pieces, and the high speed combined with the fact that it had registered neutronium readings allowed them to penetrate the hull.
That theory changed when a second ship this time a battleship exploded. Telemetry indicated forty-seven midsized asteroid chunks struck the hull at c fractional velocities. Then another ship the other battleship exploded thanks to c fractional asteroid impacts. It was at that moment the collective concluded that it was under attack, and it sent orders for its remaining ships to change course, but it was too late. It watched as they blinked out mere seconds later, and then the station followed them to the grave.
Chapter XLII A Preview of What is to Come
April Forth, 118 SDE, 1440 hours, Zem star system:
Zem was a system in dispute, there was nothing of value in the system. Just a few barren worlds, and scattered minerally poor asteroids. There was a gas giant that had some useful gases, but that was just about it. The real value of the system was its strategic position. For both races fighting over it wanted full control of the valuable jump points in the system. Zem happened to be a nexus for twelve different jump points, eight of which were valuable border systems for either the Tylani Flock or their long time enemies the Syndali Broods. The two races had been at war for much of their spacefaring history.
Right now several massive fleets were deployed in the Zem star system by both sides for control of the system. The forces were about equal, and neither side had a clear advantage.
The admiral watched the screens from her command ship. She was commanding a smaller fleet on the rear of the Tylani lines that was currently being held in reserve. As such she really didn¡¯t have much to do, other than to watch the battle unfold. Well that, and act as a rearguard in case the enemy tried to flank their position. Her officers were keeping an eye out for that, however. Suddenly her sensors her officer, turned away from her console her feathers ruffled in distress. ¡°Sir, I am picking up massive energy fluctuations in grid 57. I have never seen anything like it, but the energy readings are off the charts.¡±
She rushed over to the console and double-checked the readings herself. She too felt a bit disturbed by the readings. The values were so high, that the sensors couldn¡¯t accurately measure the fluctuations. For good reason, she felt very concerned about these readings as they rivaled the output of your average star. The odd thing was that there was no apparent source, so she ordered the grid to be put on screen.
Moments later, space itself seemed to start glowing and it began to swirl. Then with a sudden eruption of energy, a vortex opened up in the middle of the grid. A massive spinning bluish looking vortex, that resembled a theoretical wormhole in form and appearance. Her science officer despite her emotional state dutifully analyzed it, and reported, ¡°It appears to be some kind of conduit through subspace. The structure appears to be artificial. I think someone just punched a hole through the barrier between normal space and subspace. The conduit doesn¡¯t appear to be fully stable though, something is feeding it energy and keeping it open.¡±
At that moment before she could even say a word in response, a single ship emerged from the conduit. Sensors indicated that is was approximately 769 Renars long(800 meters). The ship was about the size of a medium cruiser. The ship itself looked like it had been through hell. Its dark coloring made it hard to make out, but visual enhancement allowed a decent enough look at the hull. She had a saucer-shaped forward hull, linked to a rear mount half-disk from which a pair of swept back linking struts connected to what should have been a pair of nacelles. The starboard one was still there, but the other one had been ripped from its housing. Nothing but jagged metal sat at the ends of the linking strut. The primary hull was pockmarked with battle scars and had multiple hull breaches that ran clean through the hull and out the other side. A large chunk of the forward saucer was also missing. Long furrows along the hull seemed to indicate that something had melted the hull in long straight lines. The ship turned suddenly and gave her view of more battle scars across her underbelly, which looked even worse, with countless hull breaches, and she even saw the jagged remains of a pair of linking struts that would have connected the nacelles to the primary hull. Both had been severed down the middle by some kind of weapon, but the remains were still attached to both the remaining nacelle and the primary hull.
Not far from its position, a Syndali heavy cruiser opened fire. The ship¡¯s heavy railguns fired multiple high-velocity bursts into the hull of the battle-scarred alien cruiser. She had expected the damaged ship to be torn apart by the deadly weapons. What happened instead left her jaw wide open. The round slammed into the hull at high speed, and just bounced off harmlessly. Leaving not even a scratch on the scared alien hull. The alien ship then returned fire, in a manner that was very unexpected. A single spot on her hull suddenly glowed brightly a fraction of a second before a coherent stream of blue energy streaked across the void. The energy beam punched through the hull of the heavy cruiser, tore through fifty decks at an angle. It erupted out the other end of the dorsal aft plating opposite the impact point. Then the beam faded away, mere microseconds before the entire ship went up in a massive fireball. The source of the detonation was naturally the ship¡¯s magazine storage, where her missiles torpedoes and railgun rounds had been stowed. A section that was honestly more heavily armored than even the bridge because of how devastating a hit to that section could be. The only other section with equal armor was the main reactor housing and fuel pods. With the bridge coming up as a close second.
The shocking part about this sight was the fact that a Syndali heavy cruiser was heavily armored and the critical sections had enough armor that even battleship guns had trouble penetrating it. To counter modern armor many ships had recently begun to carry laser cannons. However, no laser could have done what the alien beam weapon had just done. She didn¡¯t even realize when she muttered, ¡°What in the seven hells was that?¡±
¡°I have no idea, sir. Energy readings from that beam are massive. I estimate a yield of nine-hundred-forty Meules. The computer thinks it is some kind of particle weapon.¡±
She didn¡¯t need to be told the significance of that. Her own ship was outfitted with a dozen high energy linked laser batteries. Each battery contained about twelve cannons each with a yield of barely half a Meule. The cannons used on orbital installations had a yield just over a Meule. No energy weapon she knew of could sustain that kind of yield. Not to mention, she didn¡¯t know any that fired a continuous beam either. The reason had to do with the fact that it was much harder to sustain a continuous beam than a pulsed energy bolt. As for the mention of particle weapon, as an admiral, she had access to some of the research reports. As such, she knew that they were bulky energy-intensive weapons that suffered from numerous problems that limited their range and effectiveness. Problems they were still trying to solve. Evidently this alien race had solved those problems. That one shot had told her all she needed to know, that these aliens were not to be taken lightly.
A message that predictably their enemies the Syndali did not get. Four full battlegroups broke off and engaged the alien cruiser. This time their opening volley was supplemented by laser and missile fire. Along with a number of torpedoes. The cruiser made no move to evade, and the fire rained harmlessly against her hull. Not even the heavy torpedoes made a dent in the sturdy materials the alien ship was made of. Then she returned fire. Vibrant blue beams slammed into ships in quick succession. Each beam punching straight through the unfortunate ship to be in the firing line, and not even evasive maneuvering prevented them from getting a deadly lock. With every shot, a Syndali ship exploded.Stolen story; please report.
As the Syndali were being slaughtered by the cruiser¡¯s guns, three more ships emerged from the vortex. One of them was huge, she had never seen a ship that big. It measured roughly three times the size of the first cruiser. Making it twice as big as the average dreadnought. The new ships opened fire as well, and the massive dreadnought demonstrated an even more powerful energy beam. There was nothing left of any ship unfortunate enough to take a direct hit, and grazing hits were powerful enough to lacerate the hull. The alloys melted from the heat of the beam, and the resulting sudden decompression often killed a large portion of the crew. Needless to say, even a graze was enough to leave a ship disabled.
In a matter of minutes, all four battlegroups were nothing more than a cloud of expanding debris. As the alien ships proceeded deeper into the system, more poured out of the vortex. Mostly in groups of two or three, but a few smaller and larger units entered the system. Most of the ships she saw were cruisers, but she also saw a few larger ships that must have been the alien¡¯s equivalent to a battleship. They were a bit bigger than their cruisers and better armed. However smaller than the dreadnoughts that she saw.
Suddenly a truly massive ship emerged from the vortex followed by another equally massive ship and she found herself revising her rough estimate of class sizes. Perhaps both of the smaller ship classes were cruisers, and that would make the large ship type she had seen earlier not a dreadnought but instead a battleship.
She quickly discovered that the new behemoths were carriers as they began launching craft while joining the growing fleet formation in the middle of their battle lines. Not that they had to worry about the crossfire seeing as their ships were immune to conventional weapons fire, and could destroy a modern warship in a single shot. The Syndali had learned that the hard way having lost nearly a hundred ships in the process.
Her comm officer spoke up and said, ¡°Fleet command has issued a general retreat order. We are to guard the jump node until the main fleet leaves the system. Then rendezvous with the main fleet at Gamma Eridon.¡±
¡°Acknowledged,¡± then she glanced at the tactical screen and issued a new formation for her small auxiliary fleet. On the screen, she could already see ships from both sides pulling back. The armada of damaged alien ships had made no aggressive actions yet, but both sides were already wary of them. However seeing as all of the alien ships were battle scared with horrific looking wounds, she found herself wondering what they were running from. It was the only conclusion she could make. A conclusion that left her quite worried about the future. As what or who they were running from could very well be far worse.
Just then a new ship that was roughly the same size as the carriers emerged from the vortex. She was in better shape than many of the other ships but was quite clearly damaged, with multiple hull breaches along her sides. Her comm officer spoke up at that moment, ¡°Sir we are receiving a broadband transmission with embedded lingual code.¡±
She ordered it to be placed on the screen. An alien visage appeared before them. One that was generally humanoid. She wasn¡¯t sure, but she thought the alien was male. He had dark hair on his head that was streaked with grey. His features seemed a little rough, and he certainly had some muscle. Then he began to speak in a very alien language. The entire vid looped a few times before the computers could interpret the code. Then it looped one last time in a language she understood. Although it did have a few odd spots that were likely errors. Errors that made it a little hard to understand.
¡°We are the Solyeni (People of Sol). We urge you to vacate the region around the Dokan in a radius of half a Konen. We will be Hokai Suru the Dokan. Failure to vacate will mean your Shisha.¡±
The message continued a bit longer but she had heard enough to get the message. A few words clearly failed to translate, and she looked to her comm officer. ¡°I¡¯m sorry the computer is having trouble with their language. It was almost as if they were speaking two tongues at once.¡±
Present-day, October 3rd, 080 SDE:
Countryman woke up and considered the strange dream he had just had. It was very odd, especially given that he didn¡¯t dream very often. It was also different from the others he had in the past. Slipping out of bed, he adjusted his nightwear and headed for his desk. Glancing at a clock he saw he had time, and began to type up what he had seen in the dream.
It had been very surreal given that he was looking through the eyes of an alien and yet somehow knew the date on their own calendar. That was also odd given it was a date that was nearly forty years from now.
Soon his mind drifted away from the dream and to his own more immediate concerns. Glancing out a window he watched the swirling gases in the clouds and considered his plans. The council had come to the conclusion that in order to assure their own future they would have to wage war with the collective. That war fell on him to wage, and he had passed a number of special measures for that purpose. In the months since the incident at Zur, he had rebuilt much of the fleet and even expanded it. Manpower and resources were both major concerns, and he had solved them both for now.
For manpower, he had approved the use of growth vats and using Ruri¡¯s new techniques they were now artificially growing people to help man their new ships. The process took months and it would be a couple of years before those new people could be put to use. As such, they would still need to rely heavily on synthetic labor and crew. To fuel their growing fleet and demand for manpower he had commissioned a number of specialized mining ships that were sent out into the clouds to strip worlds of the minerals they so desperately needed. They had even more industrial vessels in the fleet as well, to allow them to more rapidly build new ships.
He couldn¡¯t see it in the clouds, even with his cybernetically enhanced eyes, but out in the clouds was a growing armada. One that when completed would be the largest fleet ever employed by humanity and its descendants. In the meantime, he just had to keep the Cylovans away from this part of space so he could build his fleet in peace. Time was all they needed, and he expected that they would be ready for large scale incursions on Cylovan controlled systems in just two years. Moving away from his viewport he noticed on the monitor that he had received a report from one of the Star Knights that he had strategically positioned in the nebula to keep the Cylovans away from certain parts of the nebula.
Reading it her learned that they had located a modest Cylovan fleet escorting three dreadnoughts in sector forty-seven. While the fleet wasn¡¯t an immediate threat, he recognized that it was in position to threaten several operations in the area. Assuming the Cylovan scouts located those operations. He quickly drafted orders up for the ships in the area to engage the Cylovan fleet.
Chapter XLIII The Cylovan Conflict Part One
On the edge of a nebula, a single ship emerged from a rift. It had been traveling for several weeks to reach a small unassuming system that was located near the nebula¡¯s edge. A system that had been marked for colonization because it had a biosphere that would only require minimal terraforming and was rich in valuable easily accessed surface level deposits that would greatly aid the construction of a colony.
¡°We are secure from rift speed, shipmaster,¡± reported the helmsman as she went about her duties.
The shipmaster glanced at his console and saw they were only an hour away from their destination. The planet of Herka. He looked towards the crewman manning the science station, and ordered the young boy to begin scanning for landing sites.
It was standard procedure to scan before landing. Mainly because the survey was to determine habitability not look for starship landing sites. Settling in his chair he resolved himself to wait for the report, but he didn¡¯t have to wait long. The young boy nervously turned around after a couple of minutes and said, ¡°Um, uh, Sir? I think the sensors aren¡¯t working right.¡±
He studied the boy for a moment and asked him why he thought that.
¡°Well, uh, the sensors show the planet is covered with long trenches and numerous craters. All of them quite deep, and there is a level of dust contamination in the atmosphere not listed in the survey report. Also, I am reading nothing in surface-level mineral deposits.¡±
He stared blankly for a moment. The report that brought them here was only about two and a half months old, and was the culminated report generated from a series of surveys that had taken place over the course of the last five years. Everything about the planet had been thoroughly cataloged and triple checked in that time frame and the last survey was only three months ago. If what the sensors told them was true and that they had not been given the wrong report that meant someone had strip-mined the entire planet, in under three months. Finally, he said, ¡°Anything else the sensors say?¡±
He glanced at the console and turned back fidgeting, ¡°they are picking up a resonant particle signature on the planet¡¯s surface. Every crater and trench display this signature. The computer says that based on several factors it has determined whatever caused them happened between four to two weeks ago.¡±
Now genuinely interested in those readings the shipmaster went over and checked the readings himself. Going over them he was able to deduce this was not a sensor malfunction and that the planet had genuinely been strip-mined and quite recently as well. However, he did find a few surface-level mineral deposits that were relatively untouched. Including a decently large one on one of the southern continents. The area had also been stripped of materials, but there was still enough left on the surface to be usable for a colony site. Not enough though to last the colony more than a year or two. They would need to get at the deeper veins far earlier than originally planned for the colony. At least his ship was only meant to build an outpost from which to get a colony started. Sure you could send a million people to a planet, but without infrastructure, most of them wouldn¡¯t survive and that was his job. His ship had ten thousand workers and the needed materials to begin work on the infrastructure the new colony would need to get started. After that people looking for opportunities on the frontier would move in.
These new readings however completely changed the equation, and he then informed everyone that he would be in his office, talking with the council. Only later he would learn that he was not the only ship to encounter a previously valuable world that had been stripped in this fashion. Eighty-seven other worlds on the edge of the nebula had been stripped like this, and even the particle signatures were eerily similar. Well that they knew of anyway, and that meant there were likely more.
Around the same time, aboard the SFS Enterprise. Countryman was down on the lower decks conversing with Megumi. She was mostly in charge of the fleet¡¯s industrial machine nowadays and not just the ship¡¯s chief engineer. Countryman was already moving ships to take out the Cylovan battlegroup that had been reported to him earlier that day, but he was checking with Megumi to see if any new ships were available. That way he could add them to the task force. Every ship he could get would improve the chances for success.
¡°Well we have twelve cruisers that should finish construction later today, but they will need a couple of days for a shakedown cruise and system optimization. However, I do have a pair of cruisers that recently completed their shakedown cruise without incident. Along with a destroyer. The ready ships are the Battlehawk class Heavy Cruiser SFS Eagle SFR-1257 the Batllehawk Heavy Cruiser Sword of Sparta SFR 1265, and the Sabre Class Destroyer SFS Spirit SFR-2252.¡±
Countryman remembered hearing there was something special about the loadout of the Sword of Sparta. Something about being a testbed for a new weapons configuration. ¡°Remind me again. I seem to recall that the Sword of Sparta was planned to test a new weapons configuration?¡±
She nodded and accessed a nearby station to project a holographic diagram onto the display. ¡°Yes, for the most part, she is a standard Battlehawk class cruiser, except she has been outfitted with two spinal mounted high energy Phase Lance cannons that run the entire length of the ship. We had to remove half of the heavy guns from the design to make room for the heavy capacitors and the cooling system needed for these guns. However, they are the single most powerful pair of guns currently in the fleet, and should make devastating anti-capital ship weapons.
They were tested quite extensively during the recent shakedown cruise. The cannon¡¯s capacitors need about fifteen minutes to charge to full power, but they can be fired earlier if needed. Yield was actually higher than expected. We tested the beams on a small world on the edge of the nebula. An area the size of a small continent was completely obliterated.¡±
Countryman interrupted her, ¡°Define small continent please.¡±
She scratched her cheek for a moment before elaborating, ¡°An area roughly half that of Australia was destroyed. Leaving a sizeable crater, that was quickly filled with superheated rock. Not to mention large amounts of toxic gases and dust was released into the thin planetary atmosphere. If the planet had been habitable before the blast, it wouldn¡¯t have been afterwards.¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Countryman chuckled, and said, ¡°Well if we scaled it up, we would have our own Death Star.¡±
Confused Megumi frowned and said, ¡°Excuse me, death star?¡±
Shifting his posture he apologized, ¡°Sorry that was before your time. However, I think we have a few copies in the library. I¡¯ll find them and send them to you later. I won¡¯t spoil anything, but they were a classic of their age. Good story too, but then a certain group of idiots ran the franchise into the ground. I really do recommend you give S*** Wars a try though.¡±
¡°I guess I¡¯ll give it a look. Now the Sword of Sparta may be lacking a few heavy gun batteries, but she still has a full complement of standard torpedoes. She also has the same hanger capacity as every other Battlehawk in the fleet. As for her special weapon, we have determined that her super-heavy spinal cannons have a maximum effective range of 2.7 million kilometers, and a maximum range of 7.2 million kilometers. The cannons are a bit on the energy heavy side, but are still far cheaper to fire than an AMF torpedo. Although they do admittedly cost more to build. Anyway simulations indicate they should be more effective than any other energy weapon in the fleet at defeating Cylovan capital ship armor and should be able to punch through the thick shell of reinforced neutronium on their dreadnoughts.¡±
Countryman doing the calculations based on what she told him so far, suddenly interrupted, ¡°That sounds about right, although I highly doubt they will be able to destroy a dreadnought in a single hit. It would likely be able to take quite a few hits, but a couple of well-placed shots should do the trick.¡±
She nodded and said, ¡°That is about right sir. The simulations show that while the beam can easily penetrate their armor, it will fail to penetrate the superstructure deeply enough to inflict fatal damage on a single hit. Still, a well placed shot to the central hangar ring should cripple the dreadnought. At least temporarily.¡±
Countryman didn¡¯t need much explanation for why. Cylovan dreadnoughts were actually quite tough to destroy even without their shields. Internal force fields, damping fields and other devices were employed to contain secondary explosions, and other forms of internal damage. The only way to destroy one of those ships in a single hit would be a penetrating hit to the core. The ship¡¯s core was where its main engines, and more importantly the primary reactor and fuel pods were located there. A single hit to that module, any hit, in fact, would destabilize the systems in the core leading to a catastrophic secondary explosion. A fact the Cylovan¡¯s were aware of. The entire core was protected by internal plating, an internal shield grid, two of them actually. Heavy force fields, dampers, and a significant internal structural field generator. In addition, the core module was in the exact center of the ship, meaning there was the entire superstructure between it and an attacking vessels weapons. As a result, it often required an extensive bombardment to breach the core¡¯s defenses, and destabilize the module. The hanger on the other hand, while it had its protections, it was near the surface by necessity. With all of those small ships docked there along with fuel and other supplies for the fighters, dropships, and bombers in the bay. It came as no surprise that the hanger ring was a prime spot for secondary explosions. A fact the Cylovans were again aware of, and had taken measures to contain any detonations from causing significant damage outside the hanger. They worked to a degree, but a good hit to the ring often caused extensive damage. Often temporarily crippling the ship, at least until they bypassed any damaged systems. Something the Cylovans were often pretty quick about.
¡°Well let¡¯s see how it does in a real battle, but in the event it proves effective, I would like you to stockpile the materials to build more of these Superheavy Phase Lance cannons.¡±
She said that she could do that, and then the conversation shifted to the mundane. Before long Countryman moved on to other tasks.
Several hours later a group of Refuge cruisers and their escorts were about to engage the considerably larger Cylovan taskforce. They had the advantage here though, as they would be able to fire the first shot, and they planned to make it a decisive one. The ships in the Refuge force included the heavy cruisers, SFS Sword of Sparta, SFS Eagle, SFS Hawk, and SFS Accentor. Also in the force were the light cruisers, SFS Leon, SFS Lion, SFS Grizzly, SFS Nature¡¯s Fury, and SFS Redemption. Other than the Accentor all of them were newer construction and outfitted accordingly. While the Accentor had undergone a recent refit both to repair her combat damage from the disastrous battle at Zur and to upgrade her weapons and armor.
On the bridge of the Sword, her mechanical captain was conferring with the other ships in the group as they spread out their positions. They needed to spread out a bit before making their first strike. The goal of the first strike was to destroy or disable as many capital ships as they could. The Cylovan group had nearly fifty capital ships, three of which were dreadnoughts. Compared to their nine, the enemy had a decisive advantage in heavy ships, and in overall ships, it was even worse. To support those nine capital ships the Refuge had brought only thirty destroyers. Along with the standard complement of LPCs, fighters, and bombers for those capital ships. They did not assign any frigates to the group, as their lack of torpedoes meant they were ill-suited for the attack plan. This meant that the Refuge was about to launch an attack with a grand total of 39 ships against a force of nearly six hundred when not counting auxiliary craft like LPCs, fighters, and bombers.
As the ships were getting into position, they were exchanging info they only way they knew that was certain to avoid detection. Every ship in the fleet had an organic aboard to serve as a telepathic means of communication with the rest of the fleet. Only the fighters didn¡¯t have any telepaths, but that was because they were small and weren¡¯t being used for the initial attack.
Finally, the captain got the signal she was waiting for when her telepath told her that everyone was in position. Per the pre-established plan, she waited precisely five point three eight seconds before giving the order to fire. First, the torpedoes launchers hummed as they fired their deadly projectiles. Then a few moments later just seconds before they were to impact their targets, her main cannons fired. Two deadly beams flashed into existence. A powerful phased particle stream coalesced and crossed the vast distance between the Sword and her target, the lead Cylovan Dreadnought. The deadly energy stream hit the ship dead on, and penetrated the weaker hull armor protecting the hanger bay doors. The armor there was thinner out of necessity, and failed to stop the powerful beam. In barely an instant it punched through the hull, bisected dozens of fighters still in their berths, several fuel pods filled with fuel intended for the fighters, and out the other side of the hanger. Punching through multiple decks, it punched straight through two shield generators, half a dozen primary energy conduits, a number of capacitors and internal field generators. In addition, the beam severed part of the primary superframe and disabled all power to main batteries on the starboard side of the dreadnought before it finally stopped against one of the internal plates more than halfway to the core of the ship. Before the nebula could flood the ship through the hull breach numerous secondary explosions went off thanks to the energy of the beam setting things off. Multiple hanger bays collapsed and several more hull breaches erupted before failsafe systems managed to contain the damage. By then the ship was listing and dead in the water when thirty-two torpedoes slammed into her wounded side, while nebula was infiltrating the ship.
A Brief Interlude On the Cylovan Conflict
Spoiler: Spoiler
Arlie leaned back in her seat for a moment and studied the faces of her audience. She was about to continue the story when someone took the chance and asked a question. Lily wondering something asked, ¡°Out of curiosity, what did other peoples think of the clearly brewing war?¡±
Arlie sighed, and replied, ¡°I would love to tell you that. Unfortunately, our forty-year conflict with the Cylovans went largely unnoticed. Not entirely mind you, that race I alluded to earlier very much did notice some of the effects of the conflict. At first, all they found were planets with their surfaces stripped of major resources. Materials our mining ships had collected, and brought back to the fleet to fuel ship construction, and to help build a strategic reserve.¡±
Rose frowned, something bothering her, but it was Lily who asked a second question first, ¡°Surely someone must have noticed something more?¡±
¡°Well the Sylnari, did notice the unusual Cylovan activity, but their resources were stretched thin, and their elders never approved the long-range scouting mission needed to reveal what was going on. The other race I mentioned actually saw the most. Even though they never did stumble on to a battle, they did find the aftermath. A couple years into the war, a couple of their ships stumbled onto a debris field. We were there, but they never saw us. Nor did we bother to reveal ourselves. All they ended up seeing were the destroyed hulks of Cylovan warships. Any of ours had already been salvaged by our ships. That proved to be a trend of theirs for a long time, but eventually, they began to find the battlefields where some of our ships were still floating adrift. Not to mention, not all of the ships we lost ended up salvaged. A few of them even drifted across the galaxy. A couple of our warships including a cruiser even ended up in the hands of the Krall, thanks to a wormhole. Before you ask though, most wormholes including that one are unstable. They open periodically, and travel through them can be a little unpredictable. It really depends on the type of wormhole. That particular type is called a nexus wormhole, it has several mouths spread out across the galaxy, these mouths are one way. On one side of the galaxy, a mouth opened and swallowed our disabled and abandoned cruiser. A couple centuries later, that same cruiser was spat out of the wormhole on the far edge of Krall space. Where it remained drifting for another century and a half before a Krall scoutship stumbled across the wreck.Stolen novel; please report.
As for what they did with it. At first, they studied it, and then they later restored the ship to operational status. Before ultimately gifting it to the still young Terran Empire in 576 SDE. The Empire was fighting a war with the Valorians. Our cruiser was quickly incorporated into their fleet, and made extensive use of. While old, it did have its advantages, namely the toughest armor in the quadrant, and a powerful stealth system that rendered it invisible to most ship scanners. As for weapons, the Terrans did not get any of our torpedoes, as the ship had exhausted its entire supply before it had been disabled centuries before in that battle with the Cylovans. They did have our beam weapons, which while powerful and still useful were a very different sort of beast from the weapons they were used to. The last thing of import they got from the ship was our database. It did not have everything we knew, but it covered topics that greatly aided their scientific development. This also brings me to the part that is relevant to your question. The Terrans did learn of our conflict with the Cylovans, and saw it through our eyes. Many were fascinated by it, and others were horrified. Through our database, they were able to witness how powerful the Cylovans were, and well the race of rogue machines terrified many of their leaders. They ultimately covered up the conflict, and our database ended up gathering dust in a lab.¡±
Rose took advantage of the pause to ask her question. ¡°You said this war lasted forty years. Did it really take you that long to defeat the Cylovans?¡±
Arlie looked down, her expression turning downcast. Before she could even reply both girls understood, in unison they cried, ¡°YOU LOST!!!?¡±
Looking back up, she replied in a sad tone, ¡°That really depends on how you define victory and defeat. The Cylovan Collective was ultimately too large, their numbers too great. We waged a campaign that met significant success, and while there were setbacks. Our forces ultimately destroyed countless ships, razed numerous colonies to the ground, and even destroyed important industrial centers. ...Ultimately, they wore us done to the point that we felt we could no longer continue the war. So we withdrew, and as for where we went. I already gave you a few clues. Anyway, I think it best that I get back to telling you how our conflict went. How we ended up getting to that point.¡±
Chapter XLIV The Cylovan Conflict Part Two
Thirty-two torpedoes slammed into the side of the wounded dreadnought. Each one unleashed a multi gigaton warhead on the wounded ship, and in a massive flash, she disappeared from the screens of every ship in the area. Now cloaked by the nebula was a drifting cloud of twisted metal and debris. Some fragments were as small as a grain of dust, while others were the size of a small building. Most were only about as big as your average car.
Elsewhere in the clouds, other Cylovan ships were meeting similar fates as torpedoes started slamming into their unshielded hulls. With their shields down, they had no defense against the torpedoes. High yield AMF torpedoes slammed one after another into the heavy capital ships that formed the core of the fleet, while cheaper photons tore into the escorts. None of the escorts that were hit held up well to the bombardment. Dozens of hit ships were soon nothing more than drifting debris hidden by the dense clouds of the surrounding nebula. The capital ships held up better, but a few were still reduced to drifting debris. Others were left heavily damaged with huge chunks of the hull torn away from the detonations. Off the three dreadnoughts in the fleet. One was destroyed, a second was left drifting dead in the water, and the third had taken heavy surface damage, but she was still moving.
After that first volley only around two hundred Cylovan ships were still operational, with some of those two hundred having sustained damage. Some ships were no longer operational, but were still intact, and drifting. Some of these merely disabled, and it would not take long for the fleet to get them moving again. The rest while intact had taken too much internal damage, and would require an extensive refit in the yard, and some of those had taken so much internal damage that they were destined for the scrapyard.
The remaining ships scattered and began evasive maneuvers. While releasing their docked fighter complements into the clouds. The collective lacked data on the positions of Refuge warships, and by scattering they could maximize their chances of finding a ship. The maneuvers were designed to make it harder for the Refuge to get a torpedo lock, and improve their odds of dodging a second wave.
A second wave of torpedoes, however, was never the plan. At the same time, the Refuge ship used the clouds to cloak their approach. At the same time, they were deploying their own fighters to deal with the Cylovan fighters. Many of the remaining Cylovan ships were damaged, and thanks to the nebula they were running with shields down. Making them excellent target practice for the Refuge beam weapons. Without shields, the optimized weapons would be able to carve through their armor as if it was little more than wet tissue paper.
It did not take long for the Refuge ships to close the distance, and they opened fire. Firing their beam weapons revealed their position, and the battle was. Each side exchanging heavy fire with the other. However, a clear advantage emerged within seconds of the battle¡¯s start. The Cylovan vessels had been designed with the advantage of powerful energy shields in mind. This meant two major things in regard to the ship itself. Their ships were less armored and were not as reinforced as their Refuge counterparts. The Refuge reliance on heavy armor meant that this battlefield greatly favored their ships. They were able to shrug off most of the heavy Cylovan weapon hits with little damage thanks to their sturdy armor, but the Cylovans were not.
Only their larger ships outfitted with neutronium plating could take any appreciable number of hits. The smaller ones were often reduced to scrap metal in a matter of seconds. The heavier capital ships, on the other hand, were perfectly capable of taking multiple hits.
The Sword shuddered a beam raked across its hull. The heavy beam did little damage to the ship as it failed to penetrate the heavy armor. The Sword rolled out of the fire of a follow-up beam and returned fire from her arrays. Several vibrant violet beams streamed from her aft cannons as she came about. Each one setting the clouds alight in vibrant displays of color. The violet particle streams tore into the Sword¡¯s opponent one after the other. Each one punching holes in the thick plating, but failing to do more than superficial damage to the superstructure beneath. The Cylovan ship was too large to be easily destroyed by the Swords smaller aft guns.
The Cylovan dreadnought opened fire again, as she maneuvered. The ship was trying to avoid a second hit from the Sword¡¯s main cannons. The first one had dealt massive damage to hangers and some of her weapon systems. A heavy beam struck the sword across her dorsal plating but did minimal damage. The dreadnought proved too slow and entered the arc of the Sword¡¯s main cannons.
The order to fire was given, and a massive glow proceeded the beam. The nebula lit up in vibrant swirling colors moment before a massive particle stream was ejected at the speed of light. It crossed the distance in just over a second and connected with the dreadnought. Impacting a section of plating that had been weakened by previous impacts. The beam punched right through the weakened plating without losing any strength and then punched through several damaged sections before tunneling through internal corridors and bulkheads untouched by previous hits. By the time the beam dissipated it punched a massive hole through the ship and halfway to the core.
This time unlike with the last hit, the ship went dark for a moment, as the main power temporarily failed. The Sword took full advantage of it and opened up with a second volley from her secondary guns. A series of high energy heavy phase lance blasts tore into the superstructure. Rupturing plasma conduits and tearing internal plating.
At the same moment, the Sword was firing into the superstructure a pair of destroyers flew out of a dense cluster of cloud and opened firing into her flank. Both were targeting the port hanger of the Sword. Green disrupter beams raked across the hanger¡¯s hull plating for little effect, and the Sword returned fire from her portside arrays. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
A series of violet streams ripped into the attacking destroyers. The first beam tore right through the targeted destroyer and out the other side. A follow-up beam ripped into the ship, followed by a third. A forth proved unneeded as the ship detonated in a brilliant fireball. Her sister ship did not fare much better and managed to escape the Sword¡¯s firing arc with heavy damage. She had taken two direct hits, and half a dozen grazing impacts. Her outer hull was a mess, power was out on most decks. Her weapons were down and she was on fire. Leaking fuel had been ignited and was now burning on multiple decks. Worse a number of critical systems were on the verge of failure. Most important of which were her reactor containment systems.
The Sword ignored the escaping destroyer and continued to bombard the breach in the dreadnought¡¯s hull while waiting for her heavy guns to recharge. Only her mechanical crew had just about finished bypassing the critical damage and was bringing the weapons and engines back online.
The dreadnought immediately attempted to gain distance and kicked in some rotation to move the breach out of the arc of the Sword¡¯s guns. The Sword stayed with her maneuvering to keep her angle on the breach. As she did so one of her heavy guns penetrated the plating of the core. Mere seconds later a catastrophic secondary explosion claimed the heavy Cylovan capital ship.
Elsewhere on the field, another explosion marked the destruction of her sister ship. The other dreadnought finally succumbing the bombardment of the four capital ships engaging her. Including three heavy cruisers and a single light cruiser. None of the ships carried the superheavy guns that the Sword did, so they had required a more extensive bombardment to breach the sturdy hull and bring down the large ship.
With the last dreadnought dead, none of the other ships in the Cylovan fleet represented much of a threat. They started to go down with increasing rapidity.
The collective watched the signatures of its fleet go down. It had calculated that three dreadnoughts should have been sufficient to ward off any attacks. It had known that the fleet would not be able to flush species 11257 from the nebula, but that was not its purpose. The fleet was meant to reinforce one of its outposts on the far side of the nebula. It would have preferred taking the direct route, but recent events had led to that conduit being destroyed. The only other way was the slower path through the nebula. It had a few enemies threatening that outpost, and the outpost was in dire need of additional ships and materials to hold.
With the fleet gone, it needed a new plan. Otherwise, it was going to lose its only foothold in that part of the galaxy. A setback it could not really afford, but 11257 was proving to be stronger and more resourceful than it had previously calculated. Evidently they had weapons it had not previously encountered. The nebula, however, was also proving greatly to its detriment. Without shields, its ships were proving to fragile to last long against 11257, while 11257¡¯s reliance on powered armor proved to be beneficial here. Their armor could function unimpeded by the nebula¡¯s disrupting effects on shields.
Not to mention their other advantages. It seemed it would need to develop a better method of detecting 11257¡¯s ships or it would never make progress in the nebula. If it could find some weakness in their technology that would prove helpful as well. Problem was it knew less about their ships than they did about its.
Its focus was suddenly moved from the problem. Something else had drawn its attention. An anomaly on one of its colonies. A major industrial world in grid 4911-13b. The planet LBX-1322 was one of its oldest colonies in the region. Built nearly a thousand years ago as a mining colony. Those minerals are largely gone now, but the colony¡¯s surface is now covered with massive factories. It produces most of the industrial goods it needs to keep its shipyards in the region running, along with weapons and shield generators. However, while important these high tech products weren¡¯t its only major production item. It also manufactured new soldiers for its army. The import of the manufacturing here has led to the planet being heavily fortified. A class nine planetary shield grid was put in place to prevent any bombardment. It would take a dozen dreadnoughts a week of constant bombardment to take down the shield.
In addition to the shield, eighteen orbital Battlestations were placed in orbit. Each Battlestation was larger and better armed than a dreadnought. They had nearly eight times the firepower and more than twice the shield strength. Representing a formidable defense against all but the most determined attacks. Especially given that the stations carried thousands of fighters, and were supported by floating hangers and gun platforms. On the ground were additional hangers and heavy ground batteries. Nearly five million fighters, along with a contingent of sixty ships were assigned to patrol and protect the system. On the ground, it had nearly two million mechanical infantry as part of the permanent planetary garrison. That number often fluctuated as the place was always churning out new soldiers. There were often extra infantry on the planet waiting for transport to off-world sites. Along with the vehicles meant to support these troops. The garrison was well equipped with heavy tanks, artillery, transports, and walkers.
What drew its attention here was an anomaly in the southern hemisphere. Its attention was drawn to one of the smaller continents in a region that was not heavily industrialized and where nature wasn¡¯t quite beat back. The area had never been rich enough to justify mining, and it had found the local terrain and natural creatures a good test of combat units. As such it had been left mostly alone. New units were often tested in the area, and one such test unit had been deployed. Only it had lost contact with that unit. Oddly it was also having difficulty pinpointing any activity in the area. Nor could it find the remnants of a failed unit anywhere. It was as if the unit had merely vanished without a trace. Conducting several more scans it found something odd. According to the new scans, the region had no life of any kind. Nor could it detect any of the heavier minerals it knew were still in the area. Taking a couple more scans, it found that this sensor ¡®void¡¯ for lack of a better word was expanding. At the current rate, it would encompass the nearest settlement, A small military base that tested and designed new combat units, in just three days.
A Brief Interlude: The Database: Ground Units
Disruption Walker:
Role: AEW Light Walker
Armaments: Four mounted Anti-infantry Light Particle Cannons, One Anti-tank Medium Phase Lance Cannon. 24 Protected Infantry Positions
Armor: 270 mm Mark IV light Overlord armor (Titan II alloy)
Faction: Sol Refuge
Notes: The Disruption Walker is a lighter walker unit, It is slow, but does have enough protection to keep it safe from infantry and light vehicles. Heavy weapons are needed to take down a walker from the outside. However this is not a frontline combat unit, but a support vehicle. Its greatest asset is a device that projects an energy field around the walker. Multiple walkers can expand this field. The field disrupts all communication and detection devices in its radius. In addition, energy weapons not properly shielded are rendered inoperable while the field is active. Refuge weapons are naturally shielded against the field. The Walker roughly resembles a spider with a spire on its back.
CCW Type III
Role: Heavy Combat Walker
Armaments: Three heavy Disrupter Cannons, One Ultraheavy Disrupter beam cannon. Fourteen Mounted Anti infantry disrupters.
Armor: 433 mm TRD Plating
Shielding: Class II Ion
Faction: Cylovan Collective
Notes: Slow but powerful Cylovan frontline units. Its shields allow it to soak up massive amounts of damage, and its armor makes it quite sturdy. However, it is lacking in long-range firepower, and can easily be destroyed by Refuge Scorpions long before it gets into weapons range.
CBT Type IV
Role: MBT
Armaments: One Mounted Heavy Disrupter. One Mounted Anti-infantry disrupter. One Coaxial light disrupter cannon.
Armor 158 mm TRD Plating
Shield: Class I Ion
Faction: Cylovan Collective
Notes: A fast if relatively light main battle tank. Heavily employed by the collective. It is often the first ground unit sent into a battle. Its shields are its chief protection, but its armor is decently sturdy. It is a poor match for the Refuge Raptor but is far cheaper to produce and often employed in greater numbers. In addition, it is somewhat faster and can outrun the Raptor.
Raptor I R7-C
Role MBT
Armaments: 155 mm Photon Shell Cannon mounted as the main cannon in the turret. Coaxially mounted Medium Anti Tank Phase lance Cannon. Five twin-mounted Anti-infantry Particle Turrets.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Armor: 1000 mm Mark Four Heavy Overlord Armor (Titan II alloy)
Faction: Sol Refuge
Notes: The Raptor R7-C is the latest version of the Raptor employed by the Refuge. Although Rumor has it that a new version of the tank is being developed with a larger turret. Like all Raptor tanks, she employs a duel propulsion system and has both a hover and tracked vehicle mode. Fast and sturdy they can do a lot of damage to enemy targets before they are destroyed. The main cannon can destroy most targets in a single shot a tank typically carries enough ammo for 60 shots before she needs to rearm. The Coaxial is fairly powerful and used primarily for lighter targets. Since the tank is powered by two small fusion reactors she doesn¡¯t need to worry about ammo for her other weapons. The reactor also provides power for both propulsion systems which have been integrated as much as their differences allow to reduce size, weight, and complexity issues associated with two propulsion systems. Even so, the tank remains slightly overweight when fully loaded. This doesn¡¯t present a problem when she is using the tracks, but the hover engine has a lower weight limit and suffers from breakdowns during prolonged use, typically breakdowns occur between 6 to eight hours of use, a problem that would later be fixed with the Raptor II R-3A. The effective operational length while in hover mode made fixing the problem a low priority which is why it wasn¡¯t fixed until the third major refit of its successor tank.
ST-48 R1-A
Role: Recon, APC
Armaments: The main cannon is a 55 mm Photon Shell Cannon. It also carries twin Anti-tank Photon missile launchers integrated into the turret, and a coaxial anti-infantry phase lance cannon.
Armor: 200 mm Mark IV Light Overlord Armor (Titan II Alloy)
Faction: Sol Refuge
Notes: The ST-48 R1-A is a refit over the original. Her armor has been enhanced, and her coaxial replaced with a phase lance cannon. She is extremely light, fast, and relatively cheap to produce. She can transport a single squad of infantry. Often used as a lighter support vehicle or to recon enemy positions. Carries 16 missiles, an improvement over her predecessor which could only carry ten.
Scorpion I R9-C
Role: Heavy Combat Walker/ Attack Sub
Armaments: One Tail mounted Superheavy Phase Lance Cannon. Sixteen mounted Dual Anti-infantry Particle Turrets. Eight Mounted Dual Anti-tank Phase Lance Turrets. Two Spinal Mounted Anti-tank/ship Phase Lance Cannons. Eight Torpedo Launchers. It can be outfitted to carry troop pods, Flak Projectors, or Photon Artillery on its customizable hardpoints.
Armor: 4200 mm Mark IV Heavy Overlord Armor (Titan II Alloy)
Faction: Sol Refuge
Notes: The Scorpion R9-C was the last iteration of the Scorpion I and was employed heavily during the Cylovan Conflict. Many Commanders even preferred her over her successor the Scorpion II. As she was more reliable, even if her armor and weapons were arguably weaker. The Scorpion I until the advent of the Scorpion II was the single most powerful ground unit employed by the Sol Refuge. Designed as a heavy all-terrain walker, the Scorpion was designed for orbital drop and is used to establish beachheads during a planetary invasion. Any oceans are a prime site for deployment, and the Scorpion was designed with that in mind. Its armor makes it an extremely tough target, invulnerable to all but the heaviest of weapons. In addition, it is highly versatile, and its size and mobility make it ideal not only for a heavy frontal assault but as a mobile command post as well. The Scorpion is very popular with frontline commanders as their command bunker.
Scorpion II
Role: Heavy Combat Walker/ Attack Sub
Armaments: Twin Superheavy Phase lance cannon tail-mounted. Four Linked spinal mounted Anti-tank/ship Phase Lance Cannons. Sixteen Octuple mounted Anti-infantry Phase lance Turrets. Eight Quad Mounted Anti-tank Phase Lance Turrets. four customizable hardpoints that can be outfitted with Flak Projectors or Photon Artillery
Armor: 7200 mm Heavy Overlord Armor (Titan II Alloy)
Faction: Sol Refuge
Notes: The Scorpion II is an upgunned and uparmored version of the older Scorpion I. During ground ops against the Cylovans the need for a heavier ground vehicle became apparent. The Scorpion II was the answer, but she was rushed into service before her reliability issues could be solved. Namely, she was overweight and often suffered breakdowns because of this. Greatly limiting her operational viability. This problem was solved during a later refit, but the damage had already been done. As a result, the II would end up serving alongside her predecessor the I. Often only being deployed when her firepower was needed.
Chapter XLV The Cylovan Conflict Part Three (Operation: Reach)
Twenty-seven years earlier, Starship Enterprise:
Countryman checked the corner, and it was all clear. It was not often he participated in the war games, but there wasn¡¯t much to do in the storm. He figured this would be better than playing an old game he has beaten so many times that he has lost count on an aging console. Well, by aging he means so old that he likely has the only working version left. However, he had kept it because it was often nice to play old games on the platform they were intended to be played on. Keeping his ancient E-Box 3600 working involved a lot of maintenance though, but it still worked. Not only did it still work, but it worked better than it was supposed to. Naturally, that was thanks to half the original components being replaced with more advanced versions.
Seeing the corner clear, he advanced to another piece of cover and checked the area. At the moment. He was wearing some light infantry armor and was carrying a wrist cannon. Along with a beam rifle and a short sword. He chose the short sword as it gave a little extra reach over a combat knife, and was still good at close quarters. In the distance, he spotted a member of the opposite team reconning the flank. Pulling the rifle, he aimed locked on and fired all in the course of a second. A blue energy stream ripped across the space, and stuck the man in the neck. The computer registered the hit and informed him that he had scored a kill. In the distance, he could see the man slump to the ground before his armor locked up and changed colors. He was not actually dead as the beam was at minimal power, but for the purposes of the game, he was.
Sensing something, he whirled and saw someone approaching his position. He was closer to the enemy base than his own, so it was no surprise when an enemy scout emerged from around the building. Countryman attempted to fire his wrist cannon, but instead of firing the cannon gave him an error message and a brief flash at the emitter.
He barely even hesitated before switching to plan b. He charged, the other guy noticed him and attempted to fire his own weapon. Instead, he merely got a flash of light, and then looked dumbly at his rifle. That gave Countryman the opening he needed and he attacked with the short blade that he carried as a backup weapon. This time the computer did not properly register the hits, but the other guy¡¯s armor did respond properly and he locked up. Countryman glanced at a nearby intercom console and decided to contact the bridge. Something was going on.
Three years ago, Starship Forge starboard hangar bay:
Countryman shifted in his seat in the observation room. Across the deck, a four-legged walker with a large spire on its back was moving across the bay. Beside him, a young woman was rather gleeful about her work. He didn¡¯t blame her considering the project had taken the better part of nearly two and a half decades to complete. The young woman was a scientist under Ruri, and she had been working on it for that long to make this breakthrough.
¡°The Disrupter Walker as people have taken to calling it is not very fast as you can see. Another drawback is that it can not move and generate a field at the same time. It must unpack to generate a field, but once that field is active it will have the same effect as that accident twenty-four years ago. Communications, most sensors, and energy weapons will be disrupted. Unfortunately, the field does not have the range to truly be viable for space combat. However, we could set up internal generators on our ships. Since the field only interrupts the formation of an energy beam and not the beam itself it won¡¯t have much impact on space battles. Boarding actions, on the other hand, it should give us the advantage.¡±
Countryman nodded, and asked, ¡°What kind of range does a walker¡¯s field generator have? Also were you able to shield our weapons from the effect?¡±
She smiled happily, and replied, ¡°About ten square kilometers on its own, but that range can be extended by linking up with other walkers. The more walkers we have the more efficient it seems to be. With just five walkers, were able to cover an area of one hundred twenty-five square kilometers. As for shielding our weapons, the fix proved fairly simple. It will take about five minutes to modify any standard particle or phased particle weapon to function in the field.¡±
Countryman made note of that and then turned to watch the walker unpack. Already he was thinking of how to use these. Of course, he felt it would be nice if they could find some way to improve the range. A task he naturally gave to the young woman next to him. Considering she was already an expert on the system. A task that was rewarded when she found a way to modify it for use in space combat. Unfortunately, the modification also resulted in it losing its weapon disabling effect, but the range was vastly improved.
Present-day, December 29th 080 SDE
Countryman entered the council room and was glad to see the entire Elder Council gathered for once. He smiled, as he took his seat, and with some satisfaction he announced. ¡°I have plenty of good news to report today. First, the fleet has reported that they were successful in destroying the Cylovan fleet that intruded on this part of the nebula. All three of their dreadnoughts were sunk, and no capital ships escaped. We have decisively won a major engagement, and that should improve morale around here. In other news, the SFS Shadowstrike reports that the first phase of her mission was a success. Operation Reach is now a go.¡±Stolen story; please report.
Most of the council nodded, they all knew what Operation Reach was about. It was named as a reference to an old video game, but it laid out their plan really well. Even if they were technically using the battleplan of the antagonists in the game. A couple of others were briefly confused, but they quickly remembered what the plan was. The reason Countryman had so few ships with which to engage the Cylovan fleet was not just because they were stretched thin, but because they had assigned the bulk of their available fleet to Operation Reach. If successful this gambit had a number of benefits, some very important strategic benefits in fact. What he was most looking forward to were the processed metals they were hoping to capture with this attack.
Meanwhile on the planet in question.
The commander adjusted his sword as he surveyed the terrain in front of him. Yes, sword. Over the last few years, they had been gaining popularity with the military elites. The ancients had been on to something with the sword. Sure it had fallen out of favor for centuries, but in recent years some of its advantages were playing to its revival. Modern swords differed from their ancient counterparts. Modern blades like his made of integrated circuits and the blade were very different. The entire blade was filled with circuitry and small components that generated a plasma stream around the edge of the blade. A second series in the blade then phases the superheated plasma. The entire process occurs in microseconds and creates a blade that can cut through most examples of modern armor. The sword itself was very useful in close quarters and gave a little more reach than a combat knife.
Here though he doubted he would use it much. His sword adjusted he double-checked his hud. Power was good, the armor was at full strength and his camouflage had no issues according to the display. The camouflage was something that only came with light armor models like his. His stealth armor was actually weakened by the inclusion of the required module and surface layers. His armor could still take a hit. The armor also paired well with the sword. His camouflage when active would actively hide him. It was optimized to protect from several scanning methods, visual, thermal, and spatial were all included.
The last item he checked was his rifle. He like the rest of his squad were outfitted for recon. This meant Stealth Armor, a sword and a wrist cannon for back-up weapons and a standard-issue beam rifle as their main weapon. Personally he was carrying the LRB-1258. It was a lightweight Phased Particle rifle. Highly accurate, with a deadly punch that could easily penetrate light vehicle armor. Like all beam rifle designs, it was optimized from long-range shooting and accuracy. However, it included a special sustained firing mode that allowed it to punch through the armor of heavier vehicles. Not really recommended for up-close combat. XR series rifles were favored for close to mid-range engagements, while the EX series wrist cannons were great sidearms Although for those who preferred a pistol or wanted something with a stun setting, the LP Series pistols were quite popular especial among security personnel.
Looking over the rocky terrain before them, he saw no movement. They were navigating a series of rocky cliffs and moving to get eyes on a settlement that was in the area. His squad included himself, a pair of twins, one of those new Psymages, and a young man that kept trying to hit on the twins. He was not sure what he was going to do with the last man. As for the Psymage, she was useful even if her abilities were largely an unknown. After the incident on the Enterprise, they had been trying to study this new branch of Psionics. Officially it was called Transcendent Psionics, but most just called it Psy Magic. The Elemental Arts as they were starting to be called were still fairly new and were largely being explored. The young Psymage assigned to his squad had been attached mainly because she had demonstrated talents useful for recon missions.
Gesturing he signaled them forward. Without a word, his squadmates followed and they made their way through a gap in the rocks. On the other side of the rocks was a small clearing before more rocks. He made note of the clearing, as command might want to place a walker here. The position was good, and the rocks would make it rather defendable. Even more important, it was not far from the settlement, and it would be important to have a Disruption walker unpacked near the settlement.
Again there was nothing around, so they made their way forward. Picking over rocks, and winding trails. It wasn¡¯t much longer before they reached a position at the top of a small rise that gave them eyes on the settlement. With stealth active, they settled onto the rise, and the commander pulled a scope out to view the situation.
Below countless drones were working. Moving between buildings, and setting up equipment. It seemed the collective was doing something. Changing the focus on his scope, he studied the equipment. It did not take long for him to identify it as scanning equipment. The commander figured they were trying to probe the disruption field. He doubted the probe would work though. Reaching behind him, he pulled a small device of his back. It was a specially adapted communications device that operated on a small set of frequencies. The field was scheduled to open for a brief comm window for one of them every twenty minutes. That window was meant to last for two minutes. While brief it was enough time for their needs.
He checked the clock and waited. After about a minute, the window opened and he gave a brief report. There was no response, but he didn¡¯t expect one until the next window in twenty minutes. Turning he signaled his squad, and they settled in to wait. Each one of them using scopes to spy on the Cylovan settlement. They had some time before they got their next set of orders. The commander, however, knew this settlement was merely a roadblock. Their real target was still quite the distance away.
Chapter XLVI The Cylovan Conflict Part Four: (Operation Reach II)
They spent nearly an hour observing the settlement from their position on the rise. Below the collective¡¯s drones were still working on that sensor equipment. It was clear though that they were almost ready to turn it on. Thankfully, Command was finally ready as well.
It had taken some time, but two walkers were finally in range to project a field over the enemy base. A field that was coming online right now. He knew a few other squads had moved into positions nearby as well. Command had given him the basics of the attack plan, and he knew his part. Command had allocated some light vehicles to support the attack. A handful of ST-48s were standing by to assist if needed, and he was told that one Scorpion was on standby to provide artillery support if they need it.
Speaking of the artillery he was not planning on needing it, and he knew why there weren¡¯t more assets allocated to this attack. The settlement before them was rather small, and they would need to conserve their forces and munitions. The majority of their assets were being held in reserve to be used on more important targets. Especially since it was unlikely they would be getting reinforcements from the fleet. Not until they knocked out the orbital defense grid, but if they managed to do that they would not need reinforcements. Not on the ground anyway.
Dismissing his thoughts, he adjusted his rifle. While looking through the scope. A spider-like mechanical drone skittered past carrying a box on its back. He did not shoot it, but he very much wanted to see it with a hole burned through its frame. Instead, he waited for the signal.
Thankfully he did not have to wait long for that signal. The moment it came through, he quickly aimed at a drone and fired. A blue beam lanced from the end of his rifle and burned a hole through the drone. The beam than burned through a wall before dissipating. The entire particle stream lasting only a fraction of a second. As the drone was falling lifelessly to the ground, he was already shooting a second target. Others from his squad were already picking their targets, and his hud was relaying their targets to him. With that aid, he was able to quickly select a second target and destroy it.
The beam sniping from the rise made short work of the drones in sight. A few attempted to take cover and shoot back. Their weapons flashing uselessly. A sign that the field had knocked out their energy weapons. It seemed their internal logic cores were advanced enough to make decisions without a connection to the collective, but given how brief the engagement was there was no way to determine if it was preprogrammed directives or something.
A few seconds later other troops equipped with heavier armor and weapons better suited to sweeping structured started moving into the settlement. The commander signaled to his squad, and they started moving around the perimeter. Their task was to keep an eye out for potential reinforcements or units attempting to escape.
She turned the corner and noticed it was clear. There was a door to her left, and she signaled to her squad that she was going to check it out. She moved swiftly and attached a charge. Stepping back she let it go off, opening up the passage. She peeked around the lip of the blasted door and spotted three drones. Their emitters aimed right at her. The drones fired or rather attempted to. Instead, they merely got sparks from their weapons, and she took advantage of the opening to fire her weapon. A purple bolt slammed into the nearest drone tearing a massive hole in its body. The second drone had no time to react before a bolt slammed into it as well. The third attempted to skitter away only to be hit by a third round.
She took a quick look around and noticed a workstation with some half-assembled components scattered around it. Behind the station were some devices that reminded her of a conveyer belt. Although it was clearly designed to make use of anti-gravity devices instead of rollers. Seeing nothing else in the room, she declared it clear.
Outside she rejoined her squad who had cleared the other rooms down the corridor in the brief time she had spent on this one.
A beam lanced out across the terrain and struck a drone as it was skittering towards some rocks. The charred husk tilted forward and collapsed on to the ground marking yet another kill for the commander. He had taken out several drones attempting to escape the perimeter. Not far from his position, a pair of ST-48s were positioned nearby and they were firing at a larger drone. Well by drone he meant tank.
It wasn¡¯t shooting back, mainly because its main gun was being disrupted, but it was holding up fairly well. It was also not the first tank to come down this road. All of the others had been destroyed by the missiles that the ST-48s were carrying, but enough tanks had moved down the path to deplete those missiles. The tank itself had been part of the fifth tank group to leave the settlement and head down the road. The two cousins supporting it were sitting a ways behind it as smoldering husks. Victims of the last pair of photon missiles the Refuge Tanks had been carrying.
Several shells slammed into the side of the fleeing tank. Her plating buckled and cracked, but withstood the impacts of the explosive shells. The commander had to admit that the alloys used in the construction of the tank were fairly resilient, but it was clear they would not hold up much longer. Just as he thought that the tanks fired a second pair of shells into the Cylovan vehicle¡¯s side. The buckling plating finally failed and a large fireball marked the demise of the alien tank. When the dust cleared another smoldering husk was left on the road.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The commander sighed, with a bit of relief, and pulled his comm device. They had sped up the comm windows for the attack. So he was free to request a second set of tanks move to this position to relieve the pair already here. The current pair needed to move off the field, and rearm.
At the moment this wasn¡¯t exactly a battle, but that was because the Cylovans were lacking in weapons that could function in the field. In addition, their drones and other units were rather disorganized and their attempted retreats were evidence of that. If they had attempted to flee in mass they might have gotten out of the noose, but instead, they were running in small fractured groups.
Elsewhere, on the rear lines of the battle, an older man was bent over a tactical display. On it was a display of where troops and squads were positioned. He was not the head of the army sent to invade this world, but he was in charge of this division. Along with a few other officers who were in the room with him. His advisors and immediate subordinates.
One of them a woman he had recently promoted, and taken on as he saw her talent for command, spoke. ¡°A few of the units along this line, are requesting that their current tanks be relieved so that they can be rearmed. It seems that a large number of heavy tank-like drones have been attempting to flee along these two main roads.¡±
He traced the roads. From the survey, they took when the Shadowstrike and her task force had landed, they knew where they went. The lower of the two roads winded through several rocky mountain passes until eventually reaching a large settlement. A massive complex of bunkers and odd buildings. Several ground batteries were located there, and a small shield generator that served to protect the complex. Said complex was clearly positioned to protect the local spaceport and warehouses in the area.
The other road headed through an area that was not all that rocky, but instead, it was rather overgrown. The path crossed three rivers before eventually reaching another large settlement. This one was far larger with numerous massive buildings, ranging from clear factories to bunkers, power stations, and warehouses. A few ground batteries and more importantly a powerful shield generation complex was located in that settlement.
Both settlements were targets for them, but the second one was far more important. It was a lynchpin in the local defense grid. The complex being one of the dozens responsible for generating the barrier protecting the planet. The reason why the could not just glass the planet from orbit. There was not much here beyond what the Cylovans have stockpiled in their warehouses. Well the Cylovans themselves might be worth something, but not much.
¡°Looks like the units are trying to link up with their major garrisons,¡± he commented.
She frowned, ¡°maybe, but those roads are also the shortest route out of the field we have projected over the town.¡±
He nodded, ¡°that is another possibility. They might be trying to get outside of the field.¡±
Someone else spoke, ¡°Given how simpleminded the drones seem to be, I would wager that they are trying to link back up with the collective.¡±
He didn¡¯t say anything, but he had to concur with the officer about them being simpleminded. He had already sent orders to have a few squads search the settlement for drones with intact logic cores. Studying them could prove useful, and would help him determine if they really were simpleminded after being disconnected or if they were just acting that way for some reason. Instead, he gave an order, ¡°I want the number of troops guarding those roads doubled and have the troops already there supplied with heavy weapons.¡±
¡°Yes, sir. I¡¯ll have the troops increased, asap.¡± replied an officer as she rushed to fulfill his orders. He then turned to his student, and asked her, ¡°...¡±
The collective studied the growing void with every sensor it had available. It had lost contact with its settlement nearest the void, and so far no units had managed to relink with the collective. Concerning, but it had considered probing the void in such a fashion before. Only it had rejected that idea to go with a more cautious approach.
Only the void seemed to be growing rather unpredictably. It had not expected it to reach the settlement so soon. It had expected to have a couple more days. Given this change in its growth rate, it was beginning to revise its plan for probing the field. Seeing as the void could expand without warning, it decided that probing it from the ground would take too long to set up. Instead, it was going to have to set up a new series of orbital sensors with which to probe the field. The current ones were not giving it much of anything on the field. However, it was certain the void was being caused by some kind of field. Beyond that, it knew very little.
It had theories of course. The field could not be a natural phenomenon and that meant someone was behind it. The collective had come up with two theories. The first was that it was some kind of weapon. The other was that it was an alien device designed to conceal something. However, it needed to be certain about what the field was before it could make a decision. It still remembered a device that it had encountered in the past. It had stumbled upon it about a century ago, on a colony it had controlled for nearly two centuries. The device had been buried in some ruins, and when it had probed them it had inadvertently activated the device. The resulting field blocked all sensors and started growing. Anything that entered never reported back, so it had bombarded the site from orbit. That proved a mistake that field, somehow absorbed the energy and spread over the entire planet. Said planet remained sealed within that energy field to this day. Although by now the field encompassed the entire solar system. Thankfully said the field has finally stopped growing. Having lost a world due to being too hasty, it wanted to be certain of the properties of the field first.
Chapter XLVII The Cylovan Conflict Part Five: (Operation Reach III)
From the Log of Major Ro Johnson January Seventeenth 081 SDE,
Operation Reach has been going smoothly so far. Well aside from the usual bumps and hiccups. The Cylovans have not put up much of a fight, but they seem to be figuring out the field. Recently small recon units have been spotted and intercepted moving in the field. A study of captured logic cores has allowed us to determine that the collective has found a way to achieve limited communications inside the field. All of their recon units have also been outfitted with special sensors. Thankfully the Collective has not yet figured out everything about the field. Most importantly it has not yet figured out that it interferes with energy weapons. This gives us an edge that we have so far not really needed. Their special sensors don¡¯t really work well at penetrating the camouflage provided by our stealth armor and we often spot their drones at range anyway. Our recon elements have been doing a great job of locating and eliminating these scouts before they locate our main troop movements.
Speaking of troop movements we have been slowed in our advance towards one of our targets by a rock slide. The rock slide has blocked the road and because of the local terrain getting the equipment to clear it has been challenging. However, the combat engineers informed me that they expect to have it cleared by this afternoon. It is a small delay, but one I don¡¯t like. Every delay gives the enemy more time to figure out the field and will make our jobs harder. While the general has taken the primary objective for himself. He has entrusted me with a vital objective. I am to capture the Cylovan ground batteries at my target if possible. Doing so would allow us to keep Cylovan air and space assets from interfering with our operation. I have seen the specs on those batteries. They use a special type of Metaphased Disruptor that can bypass all known shield configurations including Cylovan Ion Shields. These beam cannons require so much power that the collective can''t mount them on their ships yet. Not to mention that they are rather bulky. R&D wants one for study as well. As for output, we believe a single cannon is sufficient for destroying a dreadnought and the local defense shields are strong enough to repel bombardment. However, we have no idea how effective they are against armor. We have no experience with metaphased weapons technology. Everything we know about them comes from information mined from Collective databases. The weapon was designed by the collective for use against the Sylnari, but its size and power requirements prevented the collective from testing it against Sylnari shields. Their data on it against powered armor is nonexistent and against traditional armor, nothing short of Neutronium plate can stop it. Not that it mattered, they planned on knocking out the grid anyway.
Johnson stared at the rocks from her walker. The road was not big enough for Scorpions so the engineers were using more conventional methods to clear the rock slide. Her walker was one of several Disruption walkers in her column waiting for the slide to clear so that they and the tanks escorting them could move forward. The infantry would not be inconvenienced by the slide. Technically the tanks could just float over it but the walkers were not equipped to traverse the slide. Scorpions were too big and heavy-duty to care, but the same could not be said for other walker models. Thankfully the engineers were just about finished clearing the slide. One more controlled detonation and the obstacle would be gone.
Suddenly the engineers fled the debris field in a hurry and she saw a flash as soon as they were clear. When the dust settled, the road was clear. With the obstacle gone she waited for her combat engineers to tell her that it was safe.
It did not take long for them to confirm it was open and that the walls were stable enough. As soon as they did she gave the order to move forward. They were already behind schedule and she wanted to make up for lost time. A sentiment she knew many of her troops agreed with.
With the order issued, the column started to advance. Quickly setting a faster pace then it had used before to make up for lost time. In a few more hours they would reach their objective.
A few hours later the column came to a halt near a Cylovan settlement. Johnson immediately ordered the Disruption walkers to deploy. Selecting several defensible sites that would allow them to project the field over the settlement. As the walkers were moving into position, she gave orders to move the armor into positions around the settlement. They would be needed to keep units from fleeing the field of battle. They did not want any units reporting to the Collective. There were three main roads out of the settlement, and she gave orders for the armor to concentrate on those roads. With smaller force divisions guarding the other routes out of the town. They had a nice ridgeline behind her troops, and she ordered the field artillery they had brought set up on those ridges to support the troops. Along with some snipers to provide support.
Naturally, she kept some tanks in reserve, but she was not going to deploy them unless needed. Best not to send armor into an urban area if you don¡¯t need it. With her orders to deploy given, she waited until the units reported they were in position. Then she gave the order. Almost instantly they swept into the city, where they were quickly noticed. Only for the drones to discover that their weapons did not function.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The collective quickly noticed the attack on its two settlements. The field suddenly encompassing them had been a bit of a surprise, but not much. At first, it had no idea what was going on. Until a few units managed to report by using the limited comm band it had devised for communication inside the field. What it learned revealed much, but also left it with something of a concern. It had been invaded, and it had never seen the alien invasion force land.
The reports also revealed plenty of new data about the field, and while the bandwidth of the comm band limited the reports, it was enough. The field was interfering with firing its energy weapons, something it had never thought to test. How the field interfered eluded it, but that was a major concern. A concern it immediately tasked a dozen subprocesses on to solve. Even worse, one of the attacked settlements was a critical node in its planetary defense grid. Losing that would create a rather large hole in the shield grid protecting the southern hemisphere.
Assessing its options, the collective began to consider using orbital assets to bombard the attackers. No assets were in a position to fire on the area. However, an orbital fortress would be in a position to fire in thirty minutes. It calculated the pros and cons of the pending bombardment action during the wait. The cons were that it would lose a critical node and all the assets in the area, drones, buildings and everything else. As the reports piled in, it came to the conclusion that it was going to lose those anyway. Those assets could be rebuilt though, but it was a cost it did not want to pay.
Before those thirty minutes were up, it had already lost one of the settlements. Thankfully not the critical node, but there were a good number of ground batteries for the defense grid there. Based on the last report, most of those batteries were still intact. A fact it could exploit if it found a way to retake lost ground.
In the other settlement, the fighting was getting more intense. While its drones could not use their weapons, they had equipped makeshift ones that worked in the field. Just not as well as it would like. It was still losing far too many drones and inflicting too low a causality count. Those heavy walkers and tanks were also placed so well that a retreat was impossible. As such the collective had to work with the limited data they could send over the only comm band that functioned inside the field. It was already trying to figure out the field and how it interfered with weapons, sensors and communications. Checking in with its subprocessors, it found they were predicting it would take months to unravel this mystery. Thanks to the highly limited data they had.
Finally, its station was in position, but before it could even order it to fire, a green-orange energy stream erupted from the atmosphere and bypassed its shields. The battle station absorbed the impact, and its neutronium plating held. Then a second beam struck almost exactly where the previous one had hit. The collective recognized the weapon quickly. It was being shot at with its own Metaphased Planetary Defense Disruptors. Evidently the invaders knew enough about its control systems and encryption algorithms to get the weapons online. Now the collective was trying to address having its own defenses turned against it. It sent orders to the battle station to return fire. Green energy streams shot from the station and slammed into the local defense shields for little effect.
The collective considered trying to retake the local mainframe that controlled those systems, but doing so would require a better connection then it had. Already it was considering solutions to prevent this from happening again, and there was an easy one that quickly came to mind. It did not do it before because it saw no need, but now it was seriously considering installing hardlines between all mainframes on the planet. It would be costly, but it would prevent this from happening again. Most of its attention was on the fight between its battle station and the captured ground batteries.
Another green stream struck the ground-based Ion shield. It fluctuated minimally indicating it was holding quite well. They were meant to be the final line of defense, so it had spent a lot of resources taking advantage of planetary power capabilities to produce a network of fortresses. Now that fact was biting it in the rear. Another green-orange stream erupted from the ground site, and this time the weakening armor buckled. The rest of the stream punched through the hole and into the hull. A second stream followed soon after striking the breach with pinpoint accuracy. Then a third and a fourth as the station rotated trying to get the breach out of the firing angle of the base. Just seconds before that happened the base hit something vital, and a massive explosion resulted. When the dust cleared a massive chunk of the hull was now open to space and the station was taking heavy damage from additional fire.
That detonation proved to be fatal, as mere seconds after the first explosion the next beam hit something else vital. Another detonation occurred, this time ripping the station apart. It turned its attention back to the surface as a subprocess alerted it that something was happening and it was just in time to register a small explosion and subsequent failure of part of the grid.
Moments later, it picked up slight energy spikes near several other generators for the planetary grid just before they too went offline. All were part of the southern hemisphere¡¯s defense. Its sensor data showed stealthed aircraft were responsible. It had not even detected them until after they fired, and they disappeared pretty quickly. Retaliatory fire failed to score any hits. While it was considering its response, a new event happened to throw a wrench into those half-formed plans. In fact, it now needed to rethink most of its plans for the sector. It had underestimated species 11247, greatly underestimated. The entire system was lost...
Chapter XLVIII The Cylovan Conflict Part Six: (Operation Reach IV)
The collective focused several sensors on the nebula. Ships were streaming out of the nebula and dropping out of warp in an attack formation. Their numbers already exceeded the local defense forces, and there were no ships in range to reinforce the colony. Not in time to save the colony anyway. It did send orders to several fleets to coverage on the system. It would take them about three days to reach the system, but by then species 11257 would have complete control of the planet.
Scanning the fleet it identified most of the ships as Assault Frigates. A ship configuration it was familiar with, even if it was a bit unusual. The frigates were a threat on their own, but in numbers they were devastating. The high yield spinal mount heavy particle cannons were rather impressive weapons for a frigate, and the Collective was actually interested in the design. It had several subprocessors focusing on running simulations, and trying to solve how they managed to mount such weapons on so small a vessel. The power requirements were the easy part at least for the Collective. The problem was cooling. High yield energy weapons produced massive amounts of heat, which can be very dangerous for ships. Dissipating that heat during combat is a critical element of warship design. The Collective would not be able to mount a similar weapon on a ship that size. Its cooling systems were too bulky and would take up too much space. Although a defense platform of that size was a viable, if not practical, mount for those types of heavy guns. In addition to the heavy guns, the strong armor, powerful engines, and its stealth ability all combined to make them so deadly. More intriguing was that those ships were practically impervious to sensors. Its subprocesses had spent years figuring that out, and it still could not fully penetrate the effect.
Right now its scanners could barely penetrate the hull, and the image was fuzzy at best. It still got some information though, and what it saw was intriguing. Mainly in regards to the hull plating. The scan revealed that the hull employed a phased polarization field to strengthen the armor against attack. It was a fairly intricate, and complex phased polarization field as well. The collective could draw several conclusions from this. First was that species 11257 had the technology for shields, but instead they had, unlike most races, continued to invest their resources in armor. Phased Polarization Fields were a technology most races did not develop, but it had seen the concept employed before. Phase and Polarity are related, and the concept used is to reinforce the hull using a phase and polarity to cancel or at the very least reduce the force directed against the hull. From what it saw, Species 11257 used multiple layers of reinforced hull plating each one infused with a layered field of differing polarities and phase. Clearly layered in a manner meant to reinforce each other and further strengthen the hull. Its subprocesses concluded that this played a role in how their armor hardens against repeated attacks. It did not see any phase control nodes, but given how fuzzy the images were that did not mean anything.
The use of phase polarization did not fully explain the strength of their plating. It was not sure, but it looked like it was detecting other forms of energy running through the alien hulls as well.
One of its subroutines finished work on its scan of the weapon mounts. The image was still fuzzy, but it was enough to determine some basic facts. It seems the particle cannons had been upgraded since it had last encountered the Assault Frigate of species 11257. Instead of using a spatial projector bubble, these frigates used phased pulse arrays to contain and focus the particle beam. Instead of a pulse, they now fired short beams. Its subroutines had already run the calculations and determined that the cannons were now far deadlier. The modifications increased the yield by roughly twelve percent, boosted armor penetration by nearly twenty percent, and improved performance against most shields by a massive four hundred and seventy-three percent. As such these weapons could tear through its standard neutronium plating with only moderate difficulty, and now performed about average against shields. Being a phased weapon they were also naturally shield piercing against shields that weren¡¯t phased. Although most combat shields are phased so that was not an issue. Any race that developed shield technology usually developed phased shield technology within a decade of developing practical shields. Although there are exceptions to that rule. It was looking at one.
Its scans had just revealed to it something that surprised it. The ship was actually equipped with shields. The configuration was a bit unusual, but they were clearly mitigation shields. A type of shielding that was often developed as a precursor to absorption shielding. The odd configuration was ingenious though. Its subroutines had determined that it was optimized for radiation mitigation, and were more than a thousand times more efficient at the task then its own ship shields. Lacking the absorption ability was clearly intentional, and they would allow these ships to get remarkably close to high output stars and traverse certain dangerous regions of space far more easily than its own ships could. Replicating it would not be difficult, but it would have to sacrifice combat level shielding for the configuration. It set a subroutine to adapting it to its current shield technology.
Having already spent precious seconds analyzing an Assault Frigate to the best of its ability. It shifted focus to the destroyers which were also quite numerous. Already there were hundreds of them in the system. This was a major invasion, and it showed. The destroyer it scanned was probably best categorized as an escort destroyer. It had the same armor tech as the frigate, but it was better armored overall. It was able to identify multiple forward-mounted launchers, but no aft torpedoes. Like the frigate, it had a poor aft weapons loadout, but the mount arcs were more balanced. It sported multiple light particle batteries clearly designed for tracking and firing on light craft. Its main energy weapon was a pair of high energy beam arrays, but it also carried heavy particle cannons and those strange lightning weapons that it had no counter for. Its scans of those weapons again told it nothing it did not already know and helped little with devising a counter. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Seeing there was little to learn from a surface scan of a destroyer, it scanned a cruiser. This was one of their capital ships, and again it learned little it did not already know. Well outside of what weapons were on board. Again the cruiser was employing phased particle weaponry of the same type as were on the frigates, and the destroyers it had scanned.
Deciding it was not going to learn anything further from scans alone, it kept an eye on the fleet, even as it made new plans. By now the fleet had fully arrived. Eight massive capital ships that it identified as carriers. Hundreds of heavy and light cruisers, supported by hundreds more destroyers and thousands of assault frigates. All deploying fighters, bombers, and corvettes. It was a force too large for the current defenses to repel. Especially with that gaping hole in the shield grid.
Sure enough, the frigates surged forward ahead of the rest of the fleet and engaged what defenses remained above that hole. As soon as that area was clear, several capital ships moved into position over the hole, and fighters descended into the atmosphere in droves. A subroutine ordered the ground bases to raise shields, and it watched helplessly as its bases were bombed. Every fighter and bomber was going after the bases critical for the grid.
While in orbit the frigates and destroyers were engaging the remaining defenders who were falling all too quickly. There were just too many ships here, and they were being overwhelmed. The sheer number and high firepower of the assault frigates were tearing through the defenses of its orbital assets at a rapid pace. The frigates were also proving too difficult for its fortresses to target, and its fighters were failing to reach them thanks to the destroyers covering their attack runs. It did manage to score a few hits on the destroyers, but every time their armor was about to fail they fell back, and a new destroyer took its place.
Down on the ground, it was not having much better results. By this time, the few defense bases it managed to protect from the aerial attacks were now being assaulted by ground forces. As enemy dropships deployed troops. It was quite clear to it that species 11257 was about to take the planet, and this impressed the collective. In the last thousand years, it had not fought a race that was truly its match. Outside the Sylnari Remnant that is, but they are an exception to the rule. However the Sylnari did not invade its worlds, they destroyed them. Every time it lost the defense of a world they were attacking they bombarded the planet until there was nothing left but a collection of asteroids. 11257 however was reintroducing it to defensive planetary warfare.
Helplessly it watched as one by one its defense bases fell, and as they did it lost more coverage from the planetary shield and more ground batteries. Until eventually there were no bases left, and all of its combat drones had been destroyed. It still had drones and controlled some of the planet¡¯s surface, but it was clear that they had taken the planet. Especially since up in orbit the fleet had already annihilated its orbital assets. Only a few ships including a cruiser had managed to escape the battle, and all of them were badly damaged. The cruiser had taken the worst of it, but it was still repairable, barely, but repairable.
Suddenly it watched as their ground forces began to pull back. The collective was astounded. They were on the verge of total victory, and about to take the planet. Yet, they were now pulling back. Their troops and equipment piling into the dropships that brought them down, and returning to the fleet above. At first, its subroutines could provide no answer for this action. Not initially that was, but it became all too apparent when a new group of Destroyer sized vessels jumped in and assumed orbital positions.
Helplessly it watched through its remaining sensor feeds, as its cities were literally scooped off the face of the planet. The new ships used a focused resonant particle beam to carve through the rock, and then a tractor beam was used to lift entire cities off the surface. Once in orbit, they were broken apart before the pieces were brought aboard orbiting vessels. Not long after the orbital harvesting of materials began it watched as the capital ships came up behind them and began to bombard the surface. High energy phased particle bolts and low yield plasma torpedoes slammed into the surface. They were stripping the planet of all useful materials, and glassing the surface at the same time.
It quickly understood where it had gone wrong in its calculations and what species 11257 was doing. It assumed that 11257 like most races would have been hesitant to destroy a life-sustaining world. Life-sustaining worlds that did not require life support in one form or another were actually somewhat rare. It had made the mistake of going with the assumption that they were trying to take the planet. No, instead they were taking what they wanted from it, and destroying the rest. It was an ancient method of warfare known by many names, but the goal was simple. It was all about denying assets to the enemy, and in this case, 11257 was glassing its world to deny it to the collective.
Over the next two hours, it watched, as its remaining sensors failed from attacks. All the while it was reworking its plans. There was no retaking the planet. It was a glassed world stripped of value, and it would cost more than it was worth to restore the planet. Now it had its subroutines working up plans to prevent another world from being glassed. Only to find it was too late. Two more systems were under attack, by large fleets. Their meager defenses, no match for the enemy numbers. Neither system was majorly important, but they still contributed to the Collective. Reinforcements were also out of position thanks to the first attack, and the majority of its sector fleet was occupied with operations in the nebula. Two more worlds were about to fall, and there was nothing it could do.
Chapter XLIX The Cylovan Conflict Part Seven: The Fleet
A young woman walked down the corridor. She normally did not come down to this level, but she had an urgent report that the captain needed to read. A few marines rushed by her, and judging by their equipment they were heading for a training session. This level had quite a number of training rooms, shooting galleries, and weapon testing labs. It was here that troops practiced many of the skills they would put to use on the deck below in the war games that had become so popular an entertainment.
Reaching a door, she glanced at the console next to it to make sure she had the right room, and then she froze staring at the screen. A mix of emotions briefly overwhelming her.
Combat Practice Simulation Room 347-A
Current Occupant: Supreme Protector Jac Countryman
Current Simulation: Drone Assualt 2411-B
Difficulty: Unrestricted
Current Wave: 1701
Wave Limit: None Set
Current score: 187110
As she stared the wave count just kept going up, and at a fairly high clip at that as well. She had tried that scenario once on unrestricted difficulty and barely lasted through the first wave. The young woman as a result was suddenly terrified of her captain. She had never seen a score that high or anyone last that long. Not only that she was watching both the wave count and score increase at a fair clip right before her eyes. Of course, she might have fainted if she had seen the scores of some of the others who had tried this scenario. General Forrest was the current record holder, and Countryman was nowhere close to beating it.
After staring at the screen for a few minutes, she finally remembered the report that she needed to deliver. She activated the door control, and a warning popped up. She dismissed it without reading it, and immediately regretted it. As soon as the door opened a blue-green stream of fire and lightning streamed towards her and she narrowly avoided being hit in the face, instead it struck the wall behind her. The instant it did, the internal emergency forcefields activated. She stared at the glowing barrier against the walls in shock for a second or two. They were designed to supplement the internal armor in a section and only activated if an internal armor section dropped below forty percent integrity. Nothing short of a Scorpion¡¯s main cannon could do that in one shot.
She glanced back through the doorway, and watched as Countryman turned on a single foot. With precise controlled movements, he brought his forearm and palm to bear aligning it with an oncoming drone and then unleashed another blast like the one that nearly killed her. All in the span of a second. To her sight, he was practically glowing with massive amounts of pure psy energy as he was channeling two distinct elements at once. She was beyond impressed. The blast struck the drone and predictability destroyed it. Melted and charred remains pelted the ground, but most of the drone had simply been vaporized.
Looking around, she saw no more drones, and just as the drone ports were opened to release more drones into the room Countryman pressed a button on a remote. She noticed his arms were still wreathed in flames and lightning. So she guessed he was only pausing the simulation. The ports closed, and he turned to face her.
At that moment instead of giving her report, she asked, ¡°WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!!!???¡±
He replied, ¡°Those were charged plasma blasts. Not easy to generate, but very powerful. I have fire affinity and lightning affinity. So that helps. Anyway, sorry about the blast that almost hit you.¡±
She looked down, and said, ¡°I should have read that warning. Anyway, I do have an urgent report for you.¡±
He shifted his posture, and replied, ¡°Well let¡¯s hear it, Lieutenant.¡±
She did have a few questions she wanted to ask like how exactly he was generating plasma, and what made it charged. Mostly as she was pretty sure that plasma by its very nature was charged. She did not need an explanation for affinities, even if they were poorly understood. Then again psy mages were something relatively new. Affinities were pretty self-explanatory. For example, someone who has fire affinity can conjure flames with their mind more easily than someone who does not. Why this is so however remains largely a mystery. She put those aside and began to give her report, ¡°The fleet reports success. Operation Reach concluded with minimal casualties, and the fleet is bringing back a wealth of refined materials, and we managed to capture several Cylovan weapons for study. Including several Metaphased Disruptors that they were using for planetary defense. The planet itself has been glassed, and the fleet has begun Operation Burning Garden.
So far the Collective appears to have been caught off guard and has been unable to effectively respond to our offensive. Thirteen additional worlds have been glassed by the fleet over the last two and a half hours. All but two of those were mining colonies, and the fleet was able to strip significant resources from those worlds. The last two were agricultural worlds, likely producing food for the poor souls who live under their yoke. Still, they had some useful deposits, which the fleet stripped before glassing the surface. ¡°The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Countryman listened to the report, and recalled the parameters of Operation Burning Garden. The operation was designed as a follow up for Operation Reach and really follows the war philosophy they had chosen to employ. The Collective was too large and powerful to be defeated in a traditional war, and their resources were limited. As such, they had chosen to adapt raiding tactics and scorched earth tactics to fight them. The idea was to take everything they could with them when they hit a world and burn the rest. They had no need for the planets and could use the resources. This way they could supplement the fleet with additional materials while inflicting massive damage to the Cylovans and denying them materials they could otherwise use against them.
¡°Sounds like our initial actions are going well. Remind the commanders NOT to confront the Cylovan fleet. We can¡¯t afford any direct confrontation right now. Also how are those plasma torpedoes we equipped the fleet with working out?¡±
¡°According to the report, they¡¯re working as intended. They are by far our most cost-effective weapon for glassing planets with. The fleet commanders are impressed with them.¡±
Countryman chuckled. The plasma torpedoes were designed to be very cheap and easily produced. They used the same basic technology as AMF torpedoes, but the yields were much smaller. So those torps were not much use against ships. The glassing torpedoes like AMF torps fired inert, but instead of activating on impact, a timed fuse activates them after launch. This allows the ignited plasma to spread over an area and allows the firing ships to bombard a target from further away. This effectively meant that they were essentially long-range versions of standard plasma torpedoes. Inventory even called them LRPs to reflect that.
¡°Well, they were designed for the job. Glad to hear they work,¡± said Countryman. Although he did expect them to work. They were merely adaptations of existing technology. Nothing exotic or new, just a variant on already proven technology. Honestly, the only concern was that they had cut too many corners, and made them too cheaply. Anything they could cut to save credits had been. LRPs had no shield penetrators, rudimentary guidance systems, a smaller warhead, and a far cheaper casing compared to an AMF. Just to name a few of the things they had changed from the AMF so that they could mass-produce them cheaply.
She shuffled awkwardly, ¡°I have nothing else to report sir. But may I ask a few questions?¡±
Refuge Taskforce 15-11, CX-22, January Eighteenth 081 SDE 1440 hours:
The captain leaned forward as she studied her screens. Her cruiser and its escorts had been sent ahead of the main attack fleets. Their primary task was to locate targets for the fleet to raid and burn. A task that had brought them to this little system labeled CX-22.
Before her was a vast array of docking slips, shipyards, and the general chaos of a major industrial operation. Turning to her science officer at the sensors, she asked her to confirm her statement. The young woman only hesitated a moment, and then repeated her report, ¡°Yes, sir. This appears to be a major industrial hub for the local sector, and more importantly, this is a dreadnought yard. We have detected two hundred and seventeen berths dedicated to the construction of dreadnoughts spread out across four main complexes. These hubs are actively being expanded, and I think we are looking at a mega shipyard complex. The Collective has a large number of warships under construction here. ¡°
She smiled. Her taskforce had found a really large target, and all those half finished ships represented a treasure trove in materials. They could not really use the neutronium, but their labs were interested in the stuff. Having more samples would be useful in a number of projects, from devising practical methods to work the material, to devising better weapons for penetrating the material. They even helped the material scientists who were working on manufacturing neutronium for use in the fleet. Taking it out would also do massive damage to the Collective and set back their fleet expansion by years.
Her smile growing even larger, she ordered, ¡°Continue with the passive scans. I want as much data as you can get before we jump out. The fleet can use any information you can get on this target.¡±
She paused and was about to let her young science officer go about her job when she thought of something. ¡°Oh! Also, prepare some stealth probes to be launched.¡±
¡°Yes, sir! I¡¯ll have it done,¡± said her science officer cheerily.
She watched the officer go, and looked back at the screens. Outside numerous spherical warships could be seen moving through the void. Menacing in their sheer numbers, she knew any direct assault on this system would fail. Although nobody said the Refuge played the game fairly. They would find a weakness in the defenses, she was sure of it. One that would give them the edge they so sorely needed. Unlike in the nebula, accelerating asteroids to C fractional velocities would not work. The Collective would detect them, and counter them long before they could do any damage. However, as she thought about it, they might be onto something with that idea. Instead of asteroids though, they would use something they can launch with their torpedo launchers.
A high-velocity torpedo, coated with stealth materials, and fitted with a small stealth field generator, and stealth armor should prove to be almost impossible to spot. Outfit it with a high yield AMF warhead both to inflict damage, and to ensure that the torpedo itself does not survive the impact. That could be the weapon they need. They already have the technology, as the stealth probes can attest to. She would have to check with the fleet to see if they have any in inventory. If not, they could build them. She was sure that someone else would have had the idea first though. So surely they would have some in inventory. Although such a torpedo would be expensive, and that might be why she was not equipped with any. The probes were not cheap by any stretch, and fleet protocol was to recover them if at all possible. If not, they were to be self-destructed to prevent the tech from falling into potentially hostile hands.
Yes, the more she thought about it, the more that idea sounded like the right one. The scan data just became doubly important. As that data would tell them where to aim their torpedoes.
Chapter L The Cylovan Conflict Part Eight: (Operation: Cloaked Dagger I)
Refuge Taskforce 15-11, 4.6 lightyears out from CX-22, January Eighteenth 081 SDE 1732 hours:
She had just given her report, and inquired about stealth torpedoes. Her superior Greyman was silent for a moment or two, and then he said, ¡°We do indeed have some in inventory. They are rather expensive to produce, and are covered by the Fleet Torpedo Conservation Protocols. A mission like this though can justify their use. Return to the fleet, and transmit a full copy of your logs and sensor data. By the time you get back, we should have an attack plan ready for you. I¡¯ll find some free ships to help as well. Five ships might be fine for a scouting mission, but I think a few more will work better for an attack.¡±
She actually rather expected stealth torpedoes to fall under that set of protocols. They were a subset of the special ordinance protocols, meant to reduce expenditures. By protocol, AMF torpedoes were not to be expended against light craft. They were to be treated as anti-capital ship weapons. There was also a proposal floating around to further restrict their use, and to apply restrictions to the use of other torpedoes like Photons. Photons were rather cheap and easy to produce, so they were used against most targets.
The protocols were just part of a long list of measures designed to limit resource expenditures. It was only natural, though. They were a nomadic fleet with no home port, and no worlds supplying a continuous stream of resources with which to supply and maintain the fleet. They had to find and mine their resources themselves. Given that they could not rely on always having a supply on hand to replenish their expenditures the fleet had enacted numerous protocols and measures to reduce fleet upkeep costs. For warships, these included fuel-saving measures like keeping the lights dim, and ammunition saving measures to restrict the use of their more powerful torpedoes. At the factory, this meant a focus was made on the longevity of ship parts. To cut maintenance costs, they tried to make every part last as long as possible, and failed parts were never tossed. They were sent back to the factories where they were scanned and then broken down for recycling. Only what could not be recycled was tossed.
¡°That sounds acceptable. I¡¯ll set course for the fleet, maximum stealth cruise speed. See you in a couple of days,¡± she stated. At that speed, it would only take about four and a half days to get back to the fleet. So she was understating the time a bit.
¡°See you in a few days, captain,¡± he signed off.
The captain stared out at the nebula, as he considered the recent briefing. Numerous vessels had been reporting planets that had been stripped of surface-level mineral deposits. Subsequent studies of these worlds had revealed a pattern. All of them were within twenty-five lightyears of this nebula, and all of them had been stripped of materials commonly used in starship construction, particle weaponry, and advanced shield and armor systems. They had even found gas giants which were showing greatly reduced concentrations of the gases often used in the manufacture of weapons-grade protoplasma. The list and quantities taken were very concerning. Command had come to the conclusion that someone was building an armada. There was enough material taken to build a fleet of capital ships more than fifty times the size of their current fleet. Larger if they focused on smaller capital ship classes like heavy cruisers, battlecruisers, and light carriers.
Such a large armada was concerning for a number of reasons. It would be strong enough to just plow through every power in the sector. Even with outdated technology, but given what little they had learned about them suggested these aliens were at the very least competitive tech-wise with the local powers of the sector. Possibly even more advanced. The particle signature left behind by their mining techniques certainly suggested more advanced. It was left by a resonant particle stream more powerful than any mining device they used. That suggested some pretty advanced technology in particle emitters, particle generation, and power generation. Likely some other supporting technologies as well. Especially given they were able to determine that these aliens fired these mining beams from orbit. That meant that these same particle mining lasers were a form of weaponry. No local power could boast resonant weaponry. Although he wasn¡¯t sure if there was a benefit to that. Well outside of pummeling rock, although there was a certain race of lithiods that would be frightened of such weapons. Given that they were effectively living rocks and while resistant to a wide array of conventional weapons. Resonant beam weapons would be quite deadly to them.
It was his ship that had been ordered to scout the nebula. He would be there already, but his chief engineer wanted to make a few modifications to the ship before they went in. He was willing to wait, and he knew she would not disappoint. She was very talented for her age, and that was why he was lucky to have her. Even if he had been a little worried at first given she was a bit young for the post.
His superiors had given him a few objectives for scouting the nebula. He was to locate any bases belonging to these mysterious aliens. Determine their objectives, and assess their threat to the Ti Taki. He had also been given a rundown on the nebula and that gave something other than mystery aliens to worry about.
The nebula interfered with sensors, and shields. Not to mention some types of energy weapons suffered from reduced range in the nebula. Lasers were particularly notorious for it, and while his IsoShok Cannons weren¡¯t affected. The same could not be said for the Tetryon Pulse cannons he was also equipped with. At least the pulse cannons were not his main ship-to-ship weapon system. They were used mainly for point defense, but they were designed for close-range ship-to-ship as well. This issue came mainly from the effect nebula gases had on the fields that contained the exotic hyperspace particles. Honestly the weapon issue did not bother him as much as the shield issue.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
If they encountered a hostile in the nebula without shields and poor sensors they were going to get wrecked. Weapon problems or not. His chief engineer said she had a fix, and he knew her subordinates had been tearing the ship apart. Speaking of his chief, he heard the door open and watched her walk in. Her uniform was rather dirty, torn, and certainly not regulation. Not to mention she looked a bit tired. He decided not to say anything, and without a word, she started to give her report. ¡°I finally finished my modifications,¡± she said wearily as she plopped down on her chair at the main engineering station.
¡°So care to tell me what you were doing now?¡±
¡°Well, first I reconfigured the sensor array. I took inspiration from an ancient sensor technology from the age of seafaring warships. During one of the later sub ages, when ships of steel ruled the waves. One of the greatest threats to warships of that age had been submarines. They countered them with sound based sensors that used a sonic pulse that would rebound off solid surfaces. Listening to those rebounds gave them both a very accurate map of the seafloor, but also revealed the location of any subs. Not all that useful in space I know, but the root principles work quite well in the dense nebula. I reconfigured the array to send a specially modulated pulse through the nebula and then listen for the rebound. The downside is that this method also makes us quite visible to anyone else in the nebula. Also, the method is not perfect, and ships made of materials that can absorb the pulse will be invisible to us.¡±
¡°Sounds useful, better than being effectively blind. What kind of range do they have?¡±
She gave a look, and said, ¡°Only about half that of conventional scanners, but that is far superior to what you would get in the nebula with conventionals.¡±
¡®Sounds good so what else did you do?¡±
She seemed excited as she answered, ¡°Well I took the shields offline. They are useless in the nebula anyway, and I needed the grid and generators anyway. I had to modify both, but we now have polarized hull plating instead of a shield grid. It¡¯s only about forty percent effective compared to standard shields at absorbing enemy fire, but unlike shields the grid will actually function in there.¡±
He gave her a look, ¡°So you replaced my shield grid with an improvised version of outdated technology?¡±
She gave the species equivalent of a giggle, and said, ¡°Not quite. It may be improvised, but technology has improved in the six hundred years since polarized plating was last in use. We actually have a phased polarization field running through our hull right now. That makes it stronger than those dedicated designs in use centuries ago. I ran some tests, and I think I can make it even stronger if I had a couple of weeks in a dry dock. I ran some simulations, but a properly designed powered armor system that was not improvised from a shield grid with modern tech should be about twenty percent stronger than shields. Although it will cost a hell of a lot more.¡±
He was surprised, he had never even thought that Polarized armor could still be a viable technology. Now that he thought about it, he remembered that shields during the day had been almost as strong, but far cheaper. That lower cost to build and install had been a major point in their favor. In addition ships with shields were not as vulnerable to shock damage. Although the advent of structural fields just a couple of years later largely neutralized that concern. So now that he thought about it he realized it was economics more than anything else that killed powered armor.
¡°Well it¡¯s better than nothing. I feel a little safer knowing there is something protecting my hull. Now get some rest, you clearly need it,¡± he said feeling it best to ask her some of his other questions later. Most important of which is how long it would take to switch the grid back to a shield grid.
He watched her leave, and then turned to the helm. Ordering them to enter the nebula. Then he gave orders to his science officers before turning to his console, and accessing the database. Mostly looking for the answers to those questions that could not wait, but he decided not to ask her.
Completely unnoticed by him a small scout ship registered the entry of his ship into the nebula. Her small size and specially designed hull rendering her invisible to his sensors. The scout ship even obtained some scans completely undetected, as his ship entered the nebula, it moved to follow.
Taskforce 15-11 decloaked as they disengaged their stealth armor. After several days in stealth cruise they had returned to the fleet. Dead ahead a massive collection of vessels were anchored before them. Many of them in different stages of construction, and most notable were the number of industrial vessels either active or under construction. The fleet had only expanded as much as it had because of its focus on industrial vessels, especially mining and yardships. Speaking of yard ships the fleet had hundreds of them now. Each one actively building another yardship at all times. It was made easier by the fact that yardships could be built more quickly compared to a comparatively sized warship. They had even gotten the construction down to a science, where they would undock as soon as the yardship was no longer needed in the construction process. At that point, all the work was internal and could be done by mechanical workers. In fact about half of the yardships doing construction work were not complete internally. They were just complete enough to have enough active factories to support the work of building new ships.
It was how they were going to complete their ambitious two-year fleet expansion project.
Chapter LI The Cylovan Conflict Part Nine: (Operation Dagger II)
Countryman was in the middle of teaching a class on Psionic arts. So few had mastered what they had learned that he had chosen to teach some of what he had learned to those who had displayed talent. Although they already knew it was only a matter of time before everyone could use the arts. He shifted a bit as he referred to the holograms he had prepared.
¡°Psy mages don¡¯t simply manifest a firebolt and throw it at an opponent. The known psy arts don¡¯t work that way. Instead, we take elemental psy and channel it through our bodies. This comes with several benefits. Defensively by channeling the energy through our bodies we become immune to the element we are channeling. Now while it is possible to spark a fireball with thought alone, it is far more efficient to channel fire attuned psy energy through your body and unleash a fireblast. The longer you have been channeling said fire energy the more powerful the blast, and the more quickly you can draw more.¡±
Suddenly a hand was raised, he acknowledged the hand, and the young woman the hand belonged to asked, ¡°Is there an upper limit to how powerful a channeled blast can be?
Countryman nodded, and replied, ¡°Yes there does appear to be a limit. We have not determined a pattern as that limit differs from person to person. It does seem to be connected with age though. In general the older you are the higher your limit.¡±
A younger girl raised her hand and was acknowledged. ¡°What happens when fire hits someone who is channeling fire? You said they are immune, but what happens to the energy?¡±
¡°Good question. The energy blast is pulled in and absorbed by the psionic energy flows the person in question is channeling. The energy is used in the next attack they use, and reduces the time it takes to reach their limit...¡±
The next person with a question did not even wait to be acknowledged and just blurted his question out, ¡°What if they were already at their limit.¡±
Countryman sighed, ¡°I was just about to get to that. Interestingly enough, it does join the flow, and they still get the boost, but they can¡¯t hold this extra energy for long. How long depends on the person, but it does have some interesting applications. Anyway today, I will teach all of you how to channel an element. Each element has a different feel and effect. I want you to pay attention to how it feels when you channel it.¡±
A few minutes later, Countryman was observing the class channeling their element for the first time. With every person, the element they first channeled was the one they had the highest affinity for. Countryman had a very high lightning affinity, with fire just a bit behind that. So when he had first tried the arts he used the lightning element. Fire was not far behind, and with time he figured out how to combine the two elements and how to advance the one. Plasma was an advanced form of the fire element. Not that any of these boys and girls would be doing that any time soon.
Suddenly an ensign entered the room. She quietly came up to him, without disrupting the class, and said, ¡°Sorry for interrupting you, sir, but you wanted to be informed when task force 15-11 returned. They arrived just a few minutes ago and will be docking to take on supplies in about ten minutes.¡±
¡°Thank you, ensign,¡± said Countryman. As the ensign left he dismissed the class, and made his way down to meet up with Greyman. By the time he got there, the ships in question were already docked, and Greyman was giving them their briefing.
The captain was in the middle of getting her briefing when Supreme Protector Countryman entered the conference room she was in. On the projector was an image of the special ordinance her vessel was being loaded with. The Type VII AMF Torpedo, a specially equipped AMF torpedo perfect for her mission, and Grayman had just begun briefing her on it.
¡°The Type VII was designed not only to include a full stealth module but with long-range targeting in mind. It comes complete with a full guidance system and can track maneuvering targets out to ranges of 1.2 million kilometers making it one of the longest ranged torpedoes in our arsenal. Against other targets, it can accurately lock on and hit any target in sensor range. Beyond that and you will need a spotter probe to ensure a hit. A small control computer and sensor array were also included, including a retargeting system. If her primary target is destroyed, the Type VII will automatically locate a new target and vector to intercept. She carries only a medium warhead, but that is enough for most targets. She does not carry a shield penetrator module like most torpedoes, but the Type VII does include a robust armor penetrator allowing it to punch through most armor types. It is of the same type as those employed on types I through VI, so nothing your crew won¡¯t be familiar with.¡±
She was impressed. They had few weapons that were effective at hitting a maneuvering target at that range. Most such weapons were missiles, not torpedoes. Missiles, unlike a torpedo, carried complete propulsion systems, so where a torpedo only had a limited ability to maneuver a missile had no such limits. Early missile designs got all their thrust from onboard engines, but modern versions used catapult launchers. These catapults were not dissimilar to torpedo launchers and fighter catapults as they all used the same basic principles. The speed boost brought missiles up to speed faster and reduced the amount of onboard fuel they would need, which increased their range among other things. Well, it increased their effective range. Not that it mattered much given that they did not often use ship-to-ship missiles. Most of the missiles used by the fleet were intended for use against fighters and other light craft like shuttles. As for ship killers they did have one design in use. It was a Photon Missile design, but not many ships in the fleet could use it. Seeing as most ships in the fleet lacked the required missile launchers. Sabers could be equipped with a missile launcher module if the mission required it, and most mining vessels carried them by default. It was a good long-range weapon effective out to 2.2 million kilometers, so it made a great deterrent weapon.
¡°What is the yield of the Type VII?¡± she asked.
¡°It¡¯s a standard variable yield medium warhead. Rated for a maximum yield of 2200 Gigatons. It will do a massive amount of damage to most Cylovan targets. More than sufficient for what we want.¡±
She had to agree. Those would be the right tool for this job. That was part of the reason why there were so many different types of AMF torpedo in service. The same torpedo that would work for a Saber¡¯s launchers would not fit those of a fighter, and then you also needed to consider the target. Why expend a high-yield AMF torpedo on a lightly armored frigate when a Photon would be more than sufficient. This is why the cheaper, but far weaker photons were still in use. Before she could say anything, Countryman spoke, ¡°Captain. I see the admiral has just about finished the briefing. Good luck with your mission!¡±
She shifted her posture, and said, ¡°I¡¯m honored with your presence, sir.¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
He smiled, and activated the projectors, switching the images, ¡°I have a secondary objective for you, if you are able. We found a small fleet base not far from your main objective and we expect them to send ships fairly quickly in response to the attack. This is the perfect chance for testing a new type of torpedo. I want you to ambush the response fleet, and then take out the base as well. I have crews standing by to load them if you agree. Since these are experimental prototype warheads, you are free to turn down this side mission.¡±
He paused and changed the image, projecting a hologram of a torpedo. At first glance it was a Type VII AMF torpedo, but there were a few key differences at the front of the casing. ¡°This is the prototype for a new type of Armor-piercing stealth torpedo. Taking advantage of several key advances this weapon can briefly phase out of normal space. Allowing it to bypass physical matter. At least in simulations. In preliminary testing, the phase generator burns out after about half a second. Still, that is enough to bypass the armor of most ships. Not much use for any other purpose. This side objective will test how effective these Phase Torpedoes are in combat. You should have a brief window to test their effectiveness when they just warp in, as their shields will be down for a few critical seconds.¡±
She remained silent for a moment. She could not say that the new torpedoes did not interest her. The captain was also glad that she was given the opportunity not to take them on. Many captains were not comfortable with prototypes, and she was among that number. From the sound of it, and the look of the hologram, only this ¡®phase generator¡¯ was untested technology so that reduced the risk of carrying a prototype weapon. She looked over the diagram in thought, and suddenly noticed that she recognized some of the components of the ¡®phase generator.¡¯ They were components used mainly in hyperspace technologies.
¡°Sir, this phase torpedo seems to rely on hyperspace technology, would that not make it vulnerable to hyperspace jamming?¡±
He smiled, ¡°I¡¯m impressed. It does rely on hyperspace, but that really depends on the jammer. It works by only partially shifting the torpedo into the first layer of hyperspace, which brings it out of phase with matter in normal space. A jammer could prevent that in theory, but in practice, the torpedo would successfully shift more often than it fails while in the vicinity of an active jammer. If you want to know more, I suggest you read up on hyperspace jamming.¡±
¡°I guess I will. In the meantime. I¡¯ll take them, but I think I can work them into the main attack if you have enough.¡±
¡°We have a few hundred. Let¡¯s talk details, and you can make the decision later. This is your mission after all.¡±
One week later, CX-22 star system:
The captain leaned forward, as she watched the screens. Her ships were already in position. The fleet had assigned her an additional twenty ships, mostly destroyers but one of them was a cruiser. The base was massive so they had to disperse so that they could fire at the targets they had chosen. They did not have enough ships to take out the entire base at once, so they had chosen targets of priority meant to inflict crippling damage on the first strike. The follow-up attacks were to finish off the base. Of course they would have to deal with the reinforcements or retreat, but she had a solid plan for this strike.
A small flash signaled the first strike, then the void began to light up. As more and more flashes in the distance signaled impacts. Each one doing terrible damage to her unsuspecting target. Her sensor officer started to give the report as soon as the last flash ended, ¡°Multiple direct hits. All primary targets destroyed. Major damage to secondary targets. Second wave will impact in 15 seconds.¡±
The collective¡¯s attention was quite suddenly refocused when one of its subroutines alerted to a sudden attack. As it started analyzing data and accessing damage other subroutines started work on countermeasures in case of a second attack. While at the same time sending orders to nearby fleet bases to mobilize reinforcements and supplies if needed. Before it could get much done, however, the system was lit up again as a second round of explosions went off in the system.
At least this time the shields were up, but they did not help as much as they could have. They did not even have time to get them to full strength. This time the sensors were running every type of active scan possible as well, and as such, they saw something, but it took the collective precious minutes to find it, by then a third wave of explosions rocked the system.
Damage was widespread, numerous fleet ships had been destroyed or disabled. The capital shipyard hubs were decimated and many of the smaller slips were in shambles. It sent orders to have additional ships dispatched, once it found that small bit of data. One sensor band, not normally monitored, had picked up a small object just 3.2 seconds before it had struck the shields of the dreadnought that had detected it. The readings of said object were familiar, it was a species 11247 compressed plasma torpedo, and it already knew how to defeat their stealth to a degree. It seemed that they had even better measures that they normally did not use. The new band would be useful, but only if it could get close enough to spot them, and that was inside the range of their beam weapons. That was the main reason that specific sensor band was not normally monitored, it was a short-range band, and one better suited for detailed scanning then area monitoring.
As its smaller ships dispersed to hunt for the enemy ships in case they fired again, it studied the readings. The readings were fuzzy, but the analysis gave it some information. Not enough to devise a solid countermeasure, but it now knew a little more. It had never seen weapons like these before. It had never considered a warhead much of a viable threat given that its shields could easily absorb most warheads. Only Sylnari devices could penetrate that, but the Sylnari devices were very different from the warheads everyone else used anyway. Theirs created a form of hyperspatial flux that simply tore anything it hit apart. At first, it had no defense, and while it was able to adapt the shields to the threat. The devices were so powerful the adaptations did not really help. Now it was looking at a more conventional weapon that could do the same, a plasma-based warhead that detonated with enough force to destroy most ships, and strong enough to seriously deplete the shields of most warships in the fleet, if not knock them out entirely.
It had seen them use the devices before, but now they were even more of a threat. Since apparently they could hide them from sensors, and worse deploy them is such numbers. As it began working on countermeasures, other subroutines maneuvered the fleet to protect against this attacking force.
Suddenly the moment those extra ships were arriving to flush out the attackers, they exploded. This time it saw the attacks coming, but since the shields were down it had to rely on the beam weapons for protection. They managed to destroy about a tenth of the warheads before impact, and this time something strange happened. The warheads simply passed through the armor and then exploded inside the hulls of the relief force. It had never seen anything like it. The collective had no idea how it happened, but it did detect some odd readings just before it happened. Some kind of flux, clearly hyperspace related, but the readings were very different from what it normally saw with hyperspace applications. Something to look into. At that moment it also finally spotted one of the attacking ships. Judging based on the size it was a destroyer, a lone destroyer. It sent twelve ships to aid the cruiser that spotted it, as an engagement began. While other ships continued to look for its support. The collective already knew how many torpedoes a single destroyer could launch, and one destroyer could not have done this. Its torpedo banks could not even carry enough torpedoes. Even if they could carry that many, they could not fire them fast enough to cause this kind of damage in the time period in question.
It expected thirteen ships to be sufficient to take on a lone destroyer. It expected it to have severely depleted its torpedo bay of high yield warheads. Especially since Species 11247 did not seem to put too many of them on its ships. What actually happened was very different. Over the course of the next few minutes that one destroyer managed to sink the cruiser, plus four of the destroyers and a second cruiser that the collective had sent after it before the destroyer jumped away.
Interlude Deadend Technologies
¡°Those phase torpedoes seem rather powerful,¡± commented one of the twins.
Arlie sighed, ¡°They had their uses, but they had their problems. Honestly we never solved all the problems with hyperspace phasing technology. We abandoned that line of research in the year 93 SDE.¡±
One of them leaned forward, and said, ¡°Abandoned! Why?¡±
Arlie was silent for a moment, and then she replied, ¡°Hyperspace phasing technology has a fundamental level flaw that greatly limits its usefulness. In simple terms, the technology functions by deliberately holding an object in a transitional state between normal space, and hyperspace. Since the object is only partially in hyperspace it is out of phase with objects in normal space. This allows it to pass through objects and pass through unphased shields. That transitional state however is also where the problem lies. The universe does not like it when an object is stuck in this transitional state, and it constantly tries to force the object out of the transitional state. This force puts a massive strain on the phase generators and is why they burn out. We were never able to produce a generator that could keep an object phased longer than 38 seconds. At least with Hyperspace phasing, we discovered a different method of phasing objects. Although not during the Cylovan conflict.¡±
A twin leaned forward with her face scrunched, ¡°38 seconds seems like plenty of time to me. The burning out bit might be a problem, but it sounds useful. So why was it abandoned a little over a decade after its discovery?¡±
¡°Well I told you the flaws, but that was not all. The generators were a bit bulky, burned out after a single-use, and the Cylovans did learn to jam them. After the Cylovans learned to counter them, they lost their only edge. Our resources were also limited so the technology was abandoned and other projects were pursued. We did however revisit the subject after the conflict. Ultimately we determined that hyperspace phasing was a technological dead-end.¡±If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
¡°A dead-end?¡±
She nodded, ¡°Yes a dead-end. While being able to move objects through objects has its uses, we came to the conclusion that hyperspace phasing was not the way to do it. The materials needed to produce a generator that would not burn-out after a single-use, one that would last longer than half a minute were beyond our abilities of the time. We started looking into other ideas for phasing physical objects.¡±
Suddenly someone asked, ¡°How did you discover this tech when the Cylovan¡¯s did not?¡±
Arlie giggled, ¡°Oh, that? Easy, we have a leg up on them. When it comes to hyperspace we simply have more data. Those years of being trapped in hyperspace gave us a lot of information on the realm, and well we also had quite a bit of idle time to study that data. Hyperspace phasing was just one of many hyperspace applications we learned. Also while our hyperwarp drives were inferior due to our power generation tech being behind theirs, our advantage led us to surpass the Cylovans. We developed intergalactic ability whereas they never did. This happened because we found ways to optimize the hyperwarp engine and store vast amounts of power. We could not generate energy as quickly, but our ships could store far more than Cylovan vessels of the same size. That is what gave us the range for intergalactic jumps, but it did not prevent them from following us down conduits we had already made. Although during the war we did learn how to destroy conduits.¡±
¡°Out of curiosity what kinds of applications did you develop for hyperspace?¡±
Arlie leaned forward, ¡°We learned quite a few things and while there were dead-ends, we did develop a few useful ones. Not all during the conflict. Take power generation for example, we learned how to draw energy from the deeper layers of subspace, in other words, hyperspace. Subspace Energy Wells were not developed during that war, but many centuries after. A very inefficient precursor called a Subspace Energy Extractor was worked on, but never entered widespread use, at least during the conflict. The device was bulky and barely provided enough energy to run the backup systems on most ships. The layers it could access were just not energy-rich enough to justify the device as anything other than an emergency system. Although we did come up with a couple of creative uses for it. Energy extractors were not the only concept for hyperspace power generation we had. So while that was one of the stellar successes given time, we certainly had our failures. The biggest one came after our success in subspace compression cells, we tried to apply the concept to a reactor. Let¡¯s just say, I¡¯m glad the test ship was nowhere near the fleet at the time.¡±
¡°What happened?¡± asked the twins leaning forward brimming with curiosity.
Arlie gave an awkward smile, and leaned back, ¡°That would be a story for later. I don¡¯t want to spoil anything.¡±
Chapter LII The Cylovan Conflict Part Ten: (Graveyard)
Three months after Operation Dagger, ZRI-2247:
He stared out at the wreckage on the screens. They had been here hours, and the sooner they left the happier he would be. Being in the middle of a giant ship graveyard was not exactly calming on the nerves. Especially when every single vessel clearly belonged to the same civilization, had clearly been sunk within hours of each other, and to top it all off they numbered in the thousands. Tens of thousands if you counted fighters and other light craft.
Finally, his science officer looked up from her console, ¡°Sir, I have completed my analysis.¡±
¡°Great! What can you tell me?¡±
¡°Well beyond the obvious, not much more. What is interesting is that many of these hulls were destroyed by coherent particle beam weapons. I analyzed the signatures and they appear to be remarkably similar to the signatures found on those depleted worlds along the border.¡±
Listening he was getting a picture he did not like. Then she continued, ¡°Others were destroyed by some kind of compressed plasma weapon. The damage patterns indicate compressed plasma penetrated the hull of some ships, and then detonated.¡±
¡°Compressed plasma? Are you sure?¡±
She nodded grimly, ¡°Positive. The damage patterns are consistent with a plasma detonation, one hot enough to melt solid neutronium. That last capital ship we scanned, the one with the massive chunk missing from its upper hemisphere and penetrating nine-tenths of the way to the core, had solid neutronium bulkheads, and armor. It was melted through.¡±
He remembered that ship, preliminary scans indicated it was likely a force flagship. It had significantly fewer weapon mounts than comparable scanned vessels, heavier armor, indications of stronger shields, and a much more robust communications and sensor systems. Along with the remains of a fairly powerful central computer. Multiple damaged secondary computers had also been identified.
¡°So you are telling me that was done with compressed plasma weapons?¡±
Her expression told him that she was scared, ¡°That was done with a single penetrating hit to the hull. The weapon detonated with a force of roughly 6700 Ieosas. Imagine that, a plasma detonation that powerful.¡± She shuddered.
He understood why his science officer reacted that way, weapons which were that powerful are practically unheard of. Hell, even weapons that could penetrate neutronium armor are rare. His ship didn¡¯t even carry weapons like that. A weapon with that kind of yield would be devastating if it detonated on the surface of a planet. It would not blow it up, but it would put a good amount of material into orbit. The amount depended on where it exploded though. He was not sure the best case spot for it was, but the real danger would be the massive quakes such a detonation would cause.
He looked around, staring at the screens. The scope of the battle had been massive. Space was littered with drifting hulks, and yet not one could be found of the ships they had fought. That combined with recent information painted a picture he did not like. The race they were looking for was very advanced, and clearly ahead of them, especially in weapons. Evidently they had the numbers, defenses, and weaponry to annihilate this large fleet without loss. Either that or they were very thorough and quick about cleaning up their own losses. He already knew the battlefield was only a few short days old when they found it. Personally he hoped it was the second option. ¡°I guess now we know why these aliens have been stripping worlds near our borders for materials. They are at war with these sphere building aliens.¡±
¡°That does seem to be a reasonable conclusion, but it is not the only possibility. Best not to jump to conclusions yet.¡±
He knew that, and so asked, ¡°Is there anything else we can conclude?¡±
She gave the racial equivalent of a sigh, and said, ¡°Not much. Without an intact data module, we can¡¯t be certain what exactly occurred here. I did notice a few things. While not immediately apparent, it is now clear we were not the first to get to these wrecks. Any functioning technology has already been removed.¡± She paused and brought up some charts, ¡°Our extensive scans have given us a model for what their ship classes looked like when they were whole. We have enough scans for a fairly complete picture. This picture allowed us to determine that a significant amount of debris remains unaccounted for. We are unable to account for nearly a fifth of the expected mass of this debris field. That led me to run a few more models, and I think the battle was not as one-sided as it looks.¡± She paused and brought up another series of models.
¡°I used a number of factors, but keep in mind that I can¡¯t be certain. Based on debris spread, drift, and light recorded from probes, I was able to put together a decent picture. I also got us some fuzzy images of their opponents. This appears to have been a major engagement, and the other side accounted for an extra 15 to 25 percent of the debris. All of which is gone now.¡±Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!
¡°Wait! We have an image of the aliens we are looking for?¡±
She nodded, and changed images on the screen, ¡°As I said it is rather fuzzy.¡±
He looked at it, and had to agree it was a fuzzy image, ¡°Do we have any better ones or can you clean it up?¡±
She gestured no, and then commented, ¡°That is the cleaned-up version. As near as I can tell, these aliens must have some kind of cloaking technology. Makes their ships really hard to spot.¡± She pressed a button and the outline of the ship lit up, and he took a moment to better view it.
The image was fairly poor, and only a partial outline was seen. It was a still image of what looked to be a dark saucer-shaped ship firing a vibrant violet beam into the hull of a sphere-shaped destroyer. The glow the beam gave off from high-intensity particle vibrations generating the observed light which partially illuminated the ship, but not by much. The beam was not giving off as much light as you might expect from a beam that powerful. A sign that they were actually pretty good at keeping their energy streams contained. So while vibrant, the beam was pretty dim compared to other light sources, and energy weapons he had seen. The light was the visible manifestation of a phenomenon known as dissipation, or energy bleed. Most energy weapons suffer from it. After an energy weapon is fired, the energy of the shot starts to bleed off into space often as visible light. Weapon designers try to limit this with containment. Spatial fields are a common way of doing it because by slowing the dissipation rate of a shot, the power of the hit increases, and this also increases the range of the weapon. This also means you can learn a few things about a weapon by looking at the light it gives off. Also, it is important to note that while energy weapons don¡¯t have the range of ballistic weapons, they tend to hit harder, fire at roughly equivalent rates, and the shot travels faster. Also, the shot interestingly enough is typically harder to spot before it hits a vessel. Not to mention not all energy weapons suffer from dissipation. Lasers were notorious for the fact that they did not, and tended to be invisible to the naked eye. Although there were cases for when they were visible. Lasers tended to diffuse, and eventually, they diffused to the point that they were harmless.
Lasers were the first energy weapons for most civilizations, and while their tendency to diffuse and not dissipate gave them greater range than most. They fell out of favor with the military for a reason. The advent of shields was the downfall of the laser. They just could not penetrate shields as effectively as other energy weapons. At least early lasers could not, but the second stone was the advent of spatial projectors. They allowed the shorter ranged but more powerful particle and plasma-based weapons to better compete with them in terms of range. As the tech improved the range advantage diminished, and they just could not keep up with the power of other weapons. Even today ballistics and lasers were the longest ranged direct fire weapons. Ballistics were too easily countered, and lasers just did not have enough stopping power to be competitive weapons. Suddenly a thought struck him. He rushed to the console and had it run a few simulations based on what they knew of that weapon.
The console took mere moments to finish the calculations, and display the results. He had thought the particle signature a little odd, and now he was looking at the proof. His science officer gasped when she saw the result. ¡°Not a simple coherent particle weapon. It seems our friends completely did away with spatial projectors. This is a particle laser. I don¡¯t know how, but they have lased the particle stream.¡±
She nodded, and said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure of the advantage of doing it. In theory, they have the range of lasers, but the stopping power of a particle stream. In practice, I have no idea. What I can conclude is that lasing the stream greatly increased the range beyond conventional particle weapons. At least with what data I have.¡±
He was interested in how they did it. Especially given the lack of the normal spatial markers in the particle signature. The ones that would indicate that a spatial projector had been used to keep the beam contained and focused on the target. The idea of a particle laser was something their scientists had been playing with for decades. An idea that had its merits, but a practical design had not been created. ¡°Interesting, but it doesn¡¯t look like we can learn more here.¡±
Turning to the helm, he ordered a course out of the field. A fact that should improve morale, as it was always discomforting to be in the middle of a massive ship graveyard.
Countryman set down the report. Apparently they had a visitor during their salvage operations of a recently destroyed Cylovan fleet. The largest they had sunk in this sector in a direct attack. They had targeted the fleet primarily because of one ship. A vessel that they had classified as a Cylovan Command Ship. They had been a little surprised when they first learned it existed, but when you thought about it, it made sense. A Cylovan Command Ship was effectively a powerful mobile processing node with numerous strategic applications. The importance of the nodes was likely why the ship was so heavily armored. The ship has shields more than three times the strength of a dreadnought, and pure neutronium armor nearly three kilometers thick.
Needless to say, it had not been easy to bring the ship down. The ship had been brought down after an hours-long engagement between the ship, and the carriers Matriarch, Queen, Kingdom, and Warlord. Supporting those cruisers were the heavy cruisers Phoenix, Arizona, Tokyo, London, Berlin, Accentor, Eagle, Harrier, Warbird, Voyager, and the Sword of Sparta. A number of destroyers and light cruisers had also participated. Needless to say, these ships were not able to make their attack unharassed, as Cylovan ships moved to protect their command ship.
The fighting had actually been quite heavy. During the battle, they had lost two of the four carriers engaged with the flagship. The Kingdom and the Warlord, Along with the heavy cruisers, London, Tokyo, and Berlin. Thankfully, a recent salvage report revealed that it was possible to rebuild the Warlord, London, and Berlin. Enough of their starframe had remained intact that only minor repairs would be needed to the frame, but almost every module on board needed to be replaced. The other two ships could not be rebuilt. They had been blown apart when their reactors lost containment, and it had been a pain to locate all the fragments. Their remains were best used for repairing other vessels.
He hoped the sacrifices had been worth it, but he had to wait to learn if it was. They were still analyzing the data on the modules they had managed to recover from the command ship. Modules that he hoped would contain vital intelligence on Cylovan movements and plans in this sector.
Chapter LIII The Cylovan Conflict Part Eleven: (Scouting Mission)
Sali stretched a bit after she extricated herself from the bed. She was not sure how it happened, but she attributed it to the fact that this ship was tiny and there was not much to do. It certainly had solved her boredom though. Not bothering to look around she headed for the bathroom, so that she could wash off the sticky on her. After that, she could go look for her dirty clothes and put them in the machine to be washed. Given the time she did not have long before the others would start getting up for their shifts.
She sighed when the thought of shifts came up. They were on their fourth week of a scouting mission. LPCs were fine ships, but they were tiny. The cramped conditions took some getting used to, but she had gotten used to them. Last night¡¯s activities had helped with the boredom but she really wanted to get back to the Enterprise. She was dreaming of just one night of being able to enjoy the amenities. Not that it was going to happen anytime soon.
She dismissed that line of thought and stepped into the bathroom. Turning on the shower, she stepped in and proceeded to start her boring daily routine. Although today there were a couple of changes. Namely the result of last night¡¯s group activity. She pushed the thoughts aside and enjoyed her shower. She slipped out just as a couple of other young crew women entered to take their own. Passing them, she gave the pair a brief acknowledgment before heading into the main room.
This time she looked around, a few people were still sleeping. Some of them sharing beds or tangled together. She picked a path through the strown items and articles of clothing for her own locker. Selecting a fresh uniform she slipped into it and then sighed. It was time to find last night¡¯s uniform. She knew it was somewhere in the room. At least she didn¡¯t have any underwear to worry about. Sali still had a hard time feeling comfortable wearing underwear after so many years without it.
Thankfully it did not take her long to find it, and put it in to be washed. She was making sure her hair was regulation when her rather underdressed captain came up to her. Sayuri had proven to be a good captain, and she rather liked the woman. She blushed a bit as she remembered what they had been doing last night, and Sayuri seemed a little flushed herself. While Sali tried not to look at the goods she had on display. After last night, she was not sure what the dynamic would be.
Sayuri tried to take an authoritative posture, but given her current state of dress the effect was rather amusing. Sali had to suppress the urge to laugh or comment on the effect. After a moment the captain spoke, ¡°I see you are about ready. Riko mentioned that she wanted a diagnostic done on the main engines. I want you to go ahead and start that as soon as you get to the bridge.¡±
Unsure of what to do, she simply replied ¡°Aye, Captain.¡±
Leaving the cramped central hallway, Sali closed the hatch behind her. One of the nightwatch greeted her as she closed it. She returned a smile and exchanged a couple of words before heading for her station. The marine and pilot manning the helm looked a little tired, and with barely any words exchanged they traded places. Sali immediately started doing the diagnostic for Riko and Sayuri. It was a simple thing, and before long the computer was analyzing the engines.
With that done, she decided to go ahead and review last night¡¯s sensor logs. Not much else to do anyway with the helm on automatic. The logs proved to be rather uninteresting however. Not that she had expected much. This sector of space had a higher than average particle density, a few scattered small nebulas but not much else. Star systems were a little rare around here. The nearest system to their current position was nearly fourteen lightyears away, and based on the readings it was not much of a system. The only planet in the habitable zone was a gas giant with a few barren moons. One of them did appear habitable, but it was reading as a frozen wasteland. Not surprising given its position in the system but it was a nice moon. With a mass nearly twice that of Earth, but a much higher composition of heavy minerals. The result was that it had a diameter a little smaller than Earth¡¯s but heavier gravity. Average surface temperatures at the equator varied from -7 to 10 degrees C depending on the region. Surface ice covered much of the planet with a few small, and very cold oceans near the equator.
The planet-sized moon was their target for this scouting mission. Not the original target mind you, but it was the current target. Why the fleet had an interest in this moon was beyond her. She didn¡¯t even know why the scout target had been changed. She had heard a few things, but nothing concrete. She didn¡¯t put much faith in rumors though.
Sali paused when the hatch at the rear of the bridge opened. She glanced briefly and noted the entry of Ensign Steele, the ship¡¯s weapons officer. Then she turned back to the logs and noticed a note she hadn¡¯t read yet. It seems that last night the long-range scanners had detected a single Cylovan ship at 027 hours. It was still on long-range sensors, barely. It was on a course that would take it into space uncharted by Refuge vessels, but intel suspected that at least three Cylovan capital worlds were in that sector. That sector had been the original target of their mission. Their assignment was to find a route to the sector, identify targets of interest, and assess local Cylovan strength. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The readings of the ship indicated that it was a Cylovan scout ship, nothing to be worried about. Cylovan scouts were weak, with poor armor and terrible weapons. A single LPC was more than a match for one measly Cylovan scout ship. Turning away from the ship, she turned back to the readings on the moon. Designated Draxus Nine, it was not much to look at. At least until she noted an oddity.
An unusual reading had been logged coming from the moon. She checked the diagnostic and notes. There was plenty of processing power, and it seems the night crew had missed the reading. A few quick keystrokes on her computer interface, and the computer was running an analysis on the sensor reading from the moon in addition to the diagnostic.
The computer beeped and presented the results of its analysis just moments before Captain Sayuri entered the bridge. She was looking over those results when the captain walked in. The Captain noticed her attention was on the results as she took her own station from the nightwatch commander.
¡°Results already?¡±
She looked back, ¡°Not yet sir. The diagnostics will take a couple of hours to complete. We picked up an odd sensor reading from Draxus Nine last night. I had the computer analyze that as well. The reading appears to have been a Cylovan energy signature, specifically a standard starship grade heavy Cylovan disruptor beam weapon. The kind typically found mounted on Cylovan cruisers. No cruiser or ship of any kind for that matter had been detected near the moon. It looks like we just found evidence of a Cylovan presence on the moon.¡±
Sayuri leaned forward a bit, and said, ¡°Interesting. That does leave a few questions. Why are they hiding their presence there, and what were they shooting at?¡±
¡°At this range, it would be hard to discern why, sir.¡±
¡°Focus a few more sensors that way, and keep scanning. Stay discreet though. I want as much information as we can get before we enter the system.¡±
She acknowledged the order and accessed the sensors. Following the order, she gave new instructions to the computer. Almost immediately those sensors were refocused, and low-level active scanning began. There was a slight risk of their location being revealed, but she felt it was minimal. Now it was just a waiting game.
Sali shifted slightly in her seat, as her hands flew over the controls. A few hours had passed since her shift had begun. They had been mostly uneventful. The diagnostic had found that the engines were in need of a slight recalibration. The core was slightly out of alignment. It was easy enough to fix, and Riko had already completed that repair.
She finished inputting her commands, and reported, ¡°Course plotted and laid in, sir.¡±
The captain leaned forward slightly, and ordered, ¡°Make the jump, warp 4.7¡±
¡°Aye, sir. Initiating warp jump. Warp factor 4.7. ETA 6.85 days,¡± responded Sali with a sigh. The ship could go faster, but she guessed the captain wanted to take her time. Another boring week with nothing to do. It could be worse though, so she decided not to complain.
Meanwhile, on the Enterprise, Countryman sat down at his desk heavily. With a sigh, he turned on the screen and considered the problem. He had just come back from breaking up an orgy and gently interrogating the participants. Along with talking with a few doctors afterward. Not something he would have normally bothered with. In the communal living areas there tends to be one, about twice a week. That however is between consenting adults.
This one was a little different. Technically the individuals involved were consenting as well. They were young and a number of them had seen their parents do it, so out of curiosity they had held one. Several actually that had become apparent after talking to them. The question is, what is he to do when a bunch of underaged individuals had been engaging in orgies? Especially when about half the girls involved had been tested positive for pregnancy. Personally he thought they were a little young for that, but lately, young boys and girls seemed to mature in that area more quickly than they used to. That thought made him want to check something.
A few keystrokes later, and he was reading a few medical reports to be sure. What he found indicated a definite trend towards people hitting puberty at younger ages more often. There were even a couple of outliers that were alarmingly young. Maybe he should have been keeping up with the medical journals as well. Even if they were not exactly his area of expertise, besides he was not too old to learn a new specialty.
Closing the reports, he composed himself. Checked the list of caught individuals, and called the first parent. Legally there was not much he could do, beyond informing the parents. Let them decided what to do with their naughty children. He could already see the headaches. By fleet law, children were the responsibility of the parent, and the parent had full control of their children. The state had no right to interfere unless they were breaking the law. The real headache he saw coming was the current fleet stance on abortion forbids it, but this was a circumstance they had never planned for nor expected. Little did he realize that this was the first sign of an even bigger headache in the making and a mixed blessing. What he did realize were a few of the immediate problems, and that he was going to be having some long discussions with fleet doctors and the council on this matter.
Chapter LIV The Cylovan Conflict Part Twelve: (Scouting Mission II, and Concerns at Home)
Countryman stepped into the office of one of the ship¡¯s doctors and looked around. Nothing stood out to him other than the young woman behind the desk. She seemed a little tired and worried as he walked in. ¡°You said you had something important to discuss?¡±
She nodded, ¡°I was not sure if it was a good idea to talk about it in public or over public channels. It is very important, however.¡±
He found a chair and sat down without asking. ¡°This does not seem like good news, so spit it out. Best to just get it over with.¡±
She sighed, ¡°I guess so. Anyway, remember that incident last week? Well, we looked into it, after a few therapists relayed some alarming trends. During our investigation, we found something, and I don¡¯t think you will like it.¡±
¡°What did you find?¡±
She hesitated before answering, ¡°A super-pheromone, we found a natural super-pheromone.¡±
He frowned, ¡°A super-pheromone???¡±
She nodded, activated the monitor on her desk, and rotated it so that he could see the screen. Displayed was a bunch of medical jargon, jargon he understood enough of, to get the gist of what it was saying. ¡°In some individuals, mostly younger individuals we found a mutation. It alters the pheromones we produce making them far stronger. Tests of this altered pheromone seem to indicate that not only does it signal our readiness to mate, but induces it in others. Would not be too much of a problem if not for its mind-altering effect. In females, it seems to induce an almost desperate need to be pregnant. It seems we found the cause of last week¡¯s incident, and why orgies are so common in the communal living areas.¡±
He had to agree that was concerning, but he read between the lines and noted that while this was alarming, it was just a preliminary study. ¡°I noticed that you did not mention any effects on men.¡±
¡°Well, we haven¡¯t had time for any extensive tests. We have not yet noted any odd effects in men, but that may only be a matter of time. I would like the funds and authorization for a more extensive study. I would like to find out how common the trait is, its exact effects, and then look for a way to neutralize it.¡±
He sat in thought for a moment, and then said, ¡°You have it. I¡¯ll take care of everything.¡±
Then without another word, he stood up to leave. There was a council meeting in an hour, and he figured he would take care of it first thing in the meeting.
Sali kept an eye on the sensor as she made a minor correction to their course. They had reached Draxus Nine and were conducting final scans of the surface. The scans were being done discreetly, as they did not want to reveal their presence to the Cylovans.
They were not the only ship in the system either. A conduit had opened just an hour before they had entered the system. Three destroyer sized ships had emerged from it. Ships of a configuration they did not often see. They were taking scans of these ships as well.
None of the vessels were heavily armed nor did they have much armor or shielding. Their discreet scans had revealed that the ships were cargo ships, laden with supplies. While they had not found any base on the surface yet. The presence of supply ships implied that there must be a base in the system. One of the ships seemed to be carrying fuel, while the other two seemed to be carrying machine parts.
All three of them were easy pickings for an LPC, but she knew they weren¡¯t going to attack. Hitting the supply ships here would only put the Collective on alert in this sector. They did not need that, and they had been ordered not to engage in unnecessary battles. This was a scouting mission not a raid mission. Hitting a few supply ships was not going to do a lot of damage anyway, but a hidden base seemed interesting and important. She was starting to understand what interest the fleet had in this system.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
While they had not located it yet, the presence of a hidden base indicated that the Cylovan¡¯s had something going on here that they wanted to be kept secret. She had no idea what though. Afterall what could a machine race possibly be hiding in a hidden and remote facility like this?¡±
The only thing that came to mind was ... Maybe a research facility? She could think of a few reasons for one to be placed in a remote system. Certain types of research were best conducted in remote areas. Then again, maybe most types of research would benefit. Putting the facility in a remote area would protect it from observation, assuming that any enemies did not know about it. Being machines they had to worry less about spies in their midst, and more about being hacked. So the best way to protect their research was probably to put their facilities in remote sectors on a separate mainframe. One isolated from their primary network.
Just as she wondered if she might be going on a wild tangent with that line of thought, and the base was actually something completely different. Perhaps the supply ships might provide a few clues. Although they were limited to what they could learn from low powered scans. They had a few ideas on what they were carrying, but it only gave them a rough idea of what the base actually was.
Behind her, a voice spoke up. Steele was also studying the sensors, and apparently found something, ¡°Ma¡¯am, I found a location of interest.¡±
The captain with a note of interest in her voice asked, ¡°What have you found?¡±
Instantly an image appeared on the forward screen. It displayed a mountainous area, near a rocky coastline. Much of the area was covered with thick ice, snow, and the occasional scrub. Advancing on the area from the north was a massive ice sheet. One oddity stuck out near the mountains, an area of what at first glance looked like normal terrain, but it was off somehow. Steele spoke up and pointed out the area, ¡°We did not notice this at first, but the Cylovans have a base here. We can¡¯t see it because of an active camouflage field.¡±
She switched the sensors, and the view changed to reveal in the odd area, a large complex. Dozens of large structures arrayed around a massive central building. Several scattered landing fields, and a few ground bunkers complete with defensive weaponry.
Sali leaned forward, impressed, ¡°How did you penetrate the camouflage field?¡±
Steele smiled, ¡°Simple really. I used a short burst of full-spectrum em radiation to saturate the field. I fired the pulse when we were passing between the local star and the base and timed it to coincide with a flare-up. The return from that burst revealed those images.¡±
Sali was impressed. It was a simple and effective way to conduct a high-powered scan, it was like firing a weapon while a loud transport was rushing by. The noise of the transport hid the noise of the weapon. In this case, the flare served to disguise the source of the high powered em burst. If the Cylovans detected anything, the machines would likely conclude that the burst came from the local primary and not a small cloaked ship. Therefore they won¡¯t make an in-depth analysis of the burst. Afterall there was no reason for the Collective to expect them to have any ships in this sector.
Captain Sayuri who had been quietly studying the images, finally spoke, ¡°It seems we found the base we were looking for. Take as many images as you can without revealing our presence. Sali, I want you to chart a new course out of the system after we complete the next orbit.¡±
Sali acknowledged the order and got to work. It was a simple matter to chart a course. One thing she loved about this ship was the intuitive navigational controls. In a matter of moments, she had the entire course worked out, along with a few minor corrections listed to deal with some small debris on their orbital track.
The rest of the scanning went without incident, and before long they were on a track out of the system at warp five point two. With their data collected, they were now reviewing the images in preparation for their report to the fleet. Given what they had found, they would likely accelerate to maximum warp and head straight to the fleet so that the data could be reported directly. They wanted no chance that this information be intercepted by the enemy. The base certainly looked important.
Subsequent scans using simple methods to hide them being taken had revealed quite a bit more. The initial images showed only the surface level of the compound. Below the surface, the base extended for kilometers into the crust of the planet. Huge cavernous facilities, and numerous smaller cells. A virtual hive of activity was down below. They had also identified quite a few interesting things about the facility, including the presence of a massive mainframe computer buried in the facility. The computer was directly under the largest surface structure and extended down past scan range. They couldn¡¯t even see the bottom of the facility, but judging by what they could see, the computer was a very beefy mainframe. More powerful than any processing node they had previously found.
Such a powerful computer in a remote sector, and what other images were revealing all pointed to one thing. They had found something rather important. Very important to the Collective, and they did not want the Collective on guard here. What exactly the facility was, Sali did not know for certain, but it certainly wasn¡¯t a data repository.
Defensively, it looked like it relied almost entirely on the camouflage field. The base had a light shield, and a few guns capable of hitting ships in orbit, but it was barely enough to hold off a destroyer. A single Battlehawk class cruiser could easily take out the base from orbit. Its depth in the crust notwithstanding. It just was not built to take a bombardment. At least not a concentrated orbital barrage from a cruiser. Anything smaller and it would likely survive.
Sali had a feeling, however, that the base would be more valuable if it could be taken intact. Something that may prove harder given the size of said facility.
Chapter LV The Cylovan Conflict part Thirteen: (Council Meeting/Attack on Draxus Nine)
Countryman had just finished relaying what the doctors had told him to the council. He was greeted only with silence, but the expressions told him everything. It was the usual expected mix of emotions when a group hears unpleasant news. The silence was finally broken when Ruri stated, ¡°Well, I guess that makes the original point of this meeting moot.¡±
Samatha Greyman gave Ruri a look, and said, ¡°Well we can¡¯t do nothing! We need to work out what we are going to do about all those poor girls.¡±
Ruri shrugged her shoulders, ¡°And what do you propose we do? Lock them all in rubber rooms? I¡¯m not an expert, but I am pretty sure that is not good for their mental health. However, it might be the only way we can keep them from getting pregnant.¡±
Countryman sighed, ¡°I¡¯m afraid she is right. Not much we can do without more information. That pheromone makes young girls desperate to be pregnant. That means we have a mental component to consider. Now if we abort or transfer these pregnancies like we were considering to protect them, are we really doing that with this pheromone messing with their minds?¡±
Ruri replied, ¡°I don¡¯t think we are. We would be protecting their bodies, but harming their minds. It is not a good idea. We need more information.¡±
Samantha stood up and glared, ¡°They are children! We can¡¯t let them go gallivanting in that manner. They are too young to be pregnant either!¡±
Her husband Richard pulled her down into her seat, and said, ¡°I don¡¯t like it either.¡±
Drakes who had so far been silent interjected, ¡°No one likes it, but sometimes you can¡¯t do anything. As it stands now, I think it is best that we simply wait. Sure our children getting pregnant is a problem, but we can¡¯t act without knowing more about the Pheromone.¡±
Countryman sighed, and plugged a pad into the table, ¡°I have been talking with the doctors. They can¡¯t tell me much about the pheromone, but we can put the at-risk groups in perspective.¡±
Ruri asked, ¡°Anything interesting?¡±
Countryman took a moment to review in his mind what he had read. A number of papers on several subjects. Along with reports that were setting a bit of a trend. Since the storm children have been developing faster than their pre-storm human counterparts. This has led to young boys and girls reaching sexual maturity at a younger age on average than the previous norm. Most girls were fully mature by thirteen years according to the new statistics. Boys took a little longer on average but also reached full maturity by thirteen to fourteen. A lack of scarcity was believed to play a role in this, and the photosynthesis mutation was also thought to have an impact on things. With young people reaching full maturity as young as thirteen it came as no surprise that some benchmarks like puberty were also happening earlier with some reaching it as young as seven years of age.
It was also these youngest people that were most concerning with the new pheromone in play. He answered, ¡°I found a nice study on brain development in post-storm children and another for physical growth in post-storm children.¡±
Bringing up the one on brain development, he began to present the data to the council. The study had found that brain growth was occurring faster in post-storm children, new neural connections were forming complex thought pathways far earlier as well. Three years olds were demonstrating the same level of comprehension and thought as pre-storm children of nine years. By seven years, they still had the learning advantages of young pre-storm children, but the brain development of fully grown pre-storm adults. It was believed that the mutations that led to telepathy, telekinesis, and other mental powers had impacted this development. The more advanced brains needed for this had led to faster brain development. The lack of scarcity was also attributed to the development. Young people have no shortage of food thanks to the fleet¡¯s extensive hydroponic farms and photosynthesis reducing food needs had given them the nutrients needed to sustain higher growth speeds.
Ruri seemed to catch on, and said, ¡°In other words, most of these young people should be able to understand exactly what they are doing wrong.¡±
Countryman chuckled, ¡°Yeah they would. Although that doesn¡¯t mean they will agree.¡±
Ruri gave a knowing smile, and replied, ¡°It also has some interesting implications. Anyway, I think we have heard enough. Why don¡¯t we move on to discussing the research study proposal that was brought to the council.¡±
Drakes leaned forward and said, ¡°We can¡¯t really act without that information, I say we give them full funding and priority.¡±
Samantha scoffed, ¡°I really don¡¯t like sitting on my hands.¡± She sighed and continued, ¡°Although I concede your point, we do need more information. Go ahead with the study as proposed.¡±
Other voices made their opinions noted, and surprisingly the vote was unanimous. The go-ahead was given, and the study details were finalized. The study was given top priority and nearly half the fleet¡¯s medical budget and personnel.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
A couple of weeks later, the Collective was observing one of several alerts that its subroutines had brought to its attention. Species 11247 had grown rather bold and aggressive over the last few months. Having scored several victories their ships were penetrating deeper into Cylovan space. The conflict had expanded to nearly thirty sectors, and nearly forty of its colonies had been hit. Most of that number were minor unimportant worlds, but a couple were of strategic value. These attacks had established a pattern. Species 11247, unlike almost every previous species it had fought in a war with, seemed to have no use for planets. Instead, every time they gained control of a world they would strip it of anything they could get and then they glassed the planet. Destruction was always total. Nothing of value was ever left behind, they were remarkably efficient for an organic race.
They were almost machine-like in their efficiency and their technology was intriguing. They were roughly on par with the Collective in technology ahead in some areas, on par in a few, and behind in others. It was how they used their technology that made them so difficult to defeat. Most important was their stealth technology. It could penetrate their stealth, but as repeated encounters had proved they could still penetrate its sensor nets and strike without being noticed. Its methods were not reliable enough. A recent battle had given it some insights into why. During the engagement in question, it had managed to get a scan from one of Species 11247¡¯s cruisers. What it had learned from the scan was that the ship had superior stealth capabilities to those it had seen just five years earlier, and part of it was due to enhancements to the ship¡¯s hull plating. It had not exactly determined how, but the ship¡¯s hull modifications rendered it virtually invisible even to short-range scanners. Only one of its short range sensors could penetrate this cloak, and only during an active scan cycle.
Fortunately, vessels cloaked in this manner could not fire without revealing their position. It seemed to be a constant for all of their stealth technology. Firing their weapons temporarily disrupted their stealth, but unlike previous stealth vessels it had fought, they did not have to decloak to fire, nor did they have shields to consider when cloaking. Species 957 was the first race it had encountered that employed stealth on the battlefield. Their cloaking shields had to be dropped in order to fire, and while cloaked their shields had to be dropped. As such, they were quite vulnerable while cloaking or decloaking to weapons fire. It was a brief window, but one it had exploited to great effect. Fighters were very effective at swarming and destroying 957¡¯s stealth ships during that window of vulnerability. Those same tactics had proved effective on other races it had encountered that employed stealth technology.
With 11247 however, those tactics were not effective. The race did not employ cloaking shield technology but pursued a different branch of stealth technology. In addition, instead of relying on shields, they relied on powered armor for protection. Unlike shields, their armor did not interfere with stealth or vise versa. As such, their ships did not have this window of vulnerability that is normally exploited.
11247¡¯s armor technology was certainly more advanced than any it had encountered before. Species 11247 were generations ahead of almost every race it had fought in armor and hull reinforcement technology. Their ships were built to take punishment that would outright vaporize more conventional ships.
At the moment it was observing an engagement where that resilience was quite apparent. A single small carrier group was engaged with a number of its warships. Ships assigned to protect one of its outposts. Outpost 41317 was under threat and was of some strategic value. The outpost served as the main processing node for half the sensor net in sector 4311-b one of the sectors under threat. However, there were three other outposts in the sector in position to take up the slack if it fell.
Right now two battleships were engaged with just one cruiser that had punched through its formation and was attacking ships at the rear. The cruiser had dealt extensive damage to one battleship and already been hit numerous times in the exchange. Her hull however had yet to take any serious damage. A real testament to the engineering and design of the cruiser. Only one other race had ships that could last as long, and their ships were far tougher but thankfully not as numerous. Otherwise its war would not have gone as well as it had. At least until a certain set of events crippled its ability to reinforce, and forced it to withdraw. Of course in the case of that other race, it had already learned the weaknesses of their ships. This new race it was still learning, and had no known weaknesses to exploit. It had labs working on that however. Several facilities working on armor, and a number more working on weapons.
A beam lanced out from the cruiser, and punched another hole into the hull of its one battleship. The other battleship opened fire at that moment, its disrupters raking over the hull of the cruiser.
Its attention was suddenly pulled elsewhere by a new alert. One of its older research facilities was under attack. It refocused its attention to the facility in question. A single cruiser had been detected in orbit, and it was unleashing a barrage on the facility. A series of lightning-like discharges struck the facility doing very little damage to the structure, but wreaking havoc with the defense systems. Already the surface shields and guns were offline, their systems disrupted. A number of surface drones were also offline, their far more vulnerable internal circuitry likely having been fried.
A number of its sensor and comm systems were also down, and this was what it was getting. A quick check of available sensor feeds revealed no other units detected, although there likely were. Given what they were doing, it concluded that they were going to be landing troops. It sent orders to the outpost, and then redirected a small fleet to the system.
Thanks to the local conduit, it could have reinforcements in the system within a few hours. The only fleet it had available to respond was a small battleship fleet. Containing a single battleship, twenty cruisers, and some fifty destroyers. A good force more than enough to destroy a single cruiser, but it suspected that the lone cruiser was not as alone as it appeared. It likely had escorts that remained undetected, and the facility did not have the best sensors in the first place. It relied mainly on camouflage to keep it safe from attackers, and had been placed in that system to keep it safe from their most powerful foe. Evidently that camouflage had not prevented 11247 from locating the facility.
Chapter LVI The Cylovan Conflict Part Fourteen: (The Battle of Draxus Nine)
The commander watched the oddly beautiful sight of lightning striking the Cylovan base. The icy ground melted a bit with each strike as blue lightning rained down from the clear skies above. Although if you looked carefully you could spot the dark hull of the Battlehawk Cruiser Accentor as she rained fire down on the base.
A drone skittering between structures took a direct hit and spasmed for a second or two before falling over dead. Every circuit in its mechanical body almost certainly had been fried. Making one less defender for her and her troops to deal with when they stormed the base.
They landed a few hours earlier on the other side of the mountains, their dropships having been launched from the carriers Horizon and Dawn. Since the plan was to storm a large underground facility they had not been equipped with any heavy equipment like tanks or walkers. This was a pure infantry operation, and once they were inside they were on their own. Given these conditions, the commander had made sure her troops were armed accordingly. Everyone had extra grenades, breaching charges, plasma cutters, and particle weapons suitable for close-quarters fighting. The XR-471 used to be a prime choice for both close-quarters and mid-range combat, while obsolete its successor the XR-520 was built on the same basic philosophy.
The XR-520 was a dual-mode particle rifle just like the 471. Employing the same two modes that it¡¯s predecessor featured. In the primary mode it fired phased particle bolts in either single fire, burst, or continuous stream (the energy weapon equivalent to full auto). In its secondary mode, it fired a particle dispersion blast. The phased particles were compressed to the limit and then fired through an emitter lens set to disperse the particle pulse. The result was a lot like a shotgun blast. Short-range, high power, and could hit multiple targets, but power fell off dramatically with range. Quite useful in tight spaces.
The weapon is quite useful in its main mode as well. The power pack contains enough energy for roughly five hundred shots, an improvement over the old packs used with the 471 which ran dry after two hundred and forty shots. The weapon supported a maximum fire rate of 1300 bolts per minute and packed quite a punch. The phased particle bolts could punch through medium personal armor and most personal shields with ease. The weapon was effective and had a built-in digital sight with zoom control. Allowing the user to acquire their target easily, and put a hole in them even if they were over a kilometer away. These features were why the XR-520 was rapidly becoming the most popular rifle in the Refuge armed forces. They didn¡¯t need the range it had, but its other features were key here.
Other rifles like the LRB-1258 which was designed to replace the aging LRB-1247 would not be good here. Sure the LRB-1258 was a good weapon, but it was a long-range beam weapon at its heart. It fired a phase particle beam that could punch through shields and armor and packed enough punch to be a threat to light vehicles. Its low fire rate however made it a poor choice for close quarters. So, she had her scouts trade out their LRBs for an XR series rifle.
Another weapon she had brought along was a little something called an Electro Pulser. A small-arms version of the Electro Cannon. It came in two models, a smaller less powerful wrist cannon that made a good sidearm, and the more powerful rifle version. She had every squad equipped with at least one EPR-120 the current rifle version of the Electro Pulser. It fired a lightning-like blast that was devastatingly effective against Cylovan drones. The downside was that it was a short-range weapon with a maximum effective range of one hundred meters.
She also had made sure that all squads had at least two of the wrist mount version. It had a slightly shorter range, fired slower, and less power. However, it was still very effective at knocking out Cylovan drones. The rifle could fire about eighty times a minute and carried a power pack with enough charge for 400 shots. The wrist mounted version could only fire fifty times a minute and ran dry after 340 shots.
Finally, since she did not know how many drones would be defending the facility she had made sure everyone had plenty of extra ammo. Instead of the typical four extra packs for each weapon, she had them carrying eight. It should be more than enough for the mission, but you never know.
The blue lightning falling over the base finally stopped. She surveyed the alien structures. They were quite intact for a base that was just being bombarded, but that was the point. Electro Cannons were designed to disrupt shields, and systems while leaving the target structure relatively intact. This gave them quite a few uses, and made them of great value when you wanted to capture a ship intact. Their ability to disrupt shields also made them quite valuable in bringing shields down quickly in combat.
The base was eerily silent, not a single machine moving. No sign of any activity at all. It seemed the bombardment had disabled all of the surface level drones and defense systems. She spent a few moments surveying the base, and then gave the signal.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Several units broke from cover and rushed towards the base. From here to the base the icy terrain gave no cover, so they moved in a dead sprint. Covering the distance in a hurry they moved into the base without any opposition. Supporting her initial observation that the fleet had shut down all the surface level defenses.
The commander remained in place, waiting for the first wave of scouts to give the all clear signal. Fortunately she did not have to wait long for that signal, and the other units began to move into the base. A few units would stay on the surface, and establish a forward command post with her. While other units would penetrate into the facility. The Cylovan landing pads could be used once secured to bring in reinforcements and supplies if needed. The fleet only had to maintain control long enough to secure anything interesting the facility below may hold. Fleet believes this to be a research facility for the Collective, and wants them to secure any technology they could get their hands on.
Entering the base proper, she noticed several collapsed drones that were not so apparent from a distance. A couple of infantrymen were there to greet her. ¡°Perimeter secure, ma¡¯am. There are no hostiles on ground level, the bombardment seems to have cleared them out.¡±
¡°Have you secured a route into the facility?¡±
¡°We found what looks like a way in, but the blast doors are sealed. I have people with plasma cutters working on cutting us a way in.¡±
The doors being sealed was actually rather expected. She also agreed with the choice of plasma cutters here. They were well suited for cutting through the reinforced structure of the blast doors. While those troops were securing a route into the main facility, they could pick through what is up here in the outer base.
According to scan images all of these structures were part of the defenses. They included bunkers, ground to space weapon emplacements, independent power systems, and base shield systems. Supporting all that were a series of drone barracks, a term that applied to certain Cylovan military structures. They were the machine equivalent of a barracks, and served much the same purpose. The structures were designed to stow drones not in use while also serving to recharge them, and maintain their systems. Each structure came with an attached armory that stored weapons, and power packs for the drones to use. Most Cylovan combat drones employed a modular weapon mounting system. Allowing them to change weapons to suit different roles and missions.
While everything appeared to have been fried from the bombardment, there was a good chance that their might be something interesting left behind. The drones were all made of useful materials, and the bunkers were rather hardened. Some of the tech in their may still be operational, although given the lack of activity she doubted it.
Dismissing those thoughts, she gave orders for a second sweep of the upper levels. Maybe they would find a second route into the main facility not revealed by orbital scans.
The sweep failed to turn up an alternative route, but the blast door came down without any problems. With a route open into the facility, the order was given and several units made their way into the facility. While cutting had taken some time, evidently the drones the facility had not had time to set up a defense as they entered unopposed.
At least initially, the troops managed to make it down a couple of levels before they encountered any opposition.
The scout moved carefully down the corridor, she was cloaked, but knew not to rely on that. It would keep her from being spotted in most cases, but the Cylovans could penetrate the cloak if they were actively looking. In the distance she could hear the unique sound of energy weapons being fired. A distinctive buzzzing hum echoed through the corridors, as weapons fire was being exchanged between a few squads and the defenders.
She turned a corner after checking it was clear. Thankful that this route seemed to be clear of defenders at the moment, but it likely would not last. She marked it on the map, she was making, and continued.
Her job was to find a route to the mainframe, so that the troops could escort a few hackers to the mainframe. Once they have control of the mainframe shutting down the defending drones would be trivial. Honestly she thought these Cylovan machines were flawed, she was better built than any of them. Unlike them she was entirely capable of independent action, and thought. Not to mention, the humanoid form sure had its advantages over the spider bot form the Cylovans favored for most of their drone designs. Being able to equip the same weapons her creators used themselves was certainly an advantage.
Keeping an eye on the doors she continued down the corridor. One door opened suddenly and a pair of drones emerged from the room. Both of them were clearly armed, and armored. They were combat drones, but now wasn¡¯t the time for an engagement. She pressed herself against a wall, and observed the drones.
Her sensors detected a scan, and they moved on. Evidently they had not detected her presence, and they were moving in the same direction she had been going. It seems she had found a patrol. Without a sound, she moved to follow the patrol. Perhaps they will lead her somewhere interesting.
Chapter LVII The Cylovan Conflict Part Fifteen: (Battle over Draxus Nine)
The Cylovan Collective fleet was about to arrive at Draxus Nine. The facility had been out of contact for nearly four hours now, and the Collective was now considering its tactics. It only had a small fleet to engage an unknown number of enemy vessels. At least the Battleship in the fleet was one of the newer designs. Not intended to face species 11247, but the most advanced opponent it had ever faced. The ship in question, the Battleship 17 class, featured powerful supplementary deflectors, and a unique shield matrix that would allow it to last a few minutes against the weapons of species 11009. Not long, but long enough to fire a few shots. Combined with enough numbers for a good formation screen it could get the ship to survive nearly twice as long against them.
Those shields and deflectors were just about useless against species 11247, but would force them to close to medium range. That would give it a chance to use the special weapon system of the battleship 17. A system that along with the enhanced shields came at the cost of the battleship¡¯s hangers. The seventeen unlike every other design in use had no hangers. The extra space taken from the hangers had however allowed it to mount a very powerful disruptor weapon. The seventeen was equipped with high-yield metaphase disruptors. A weapon it could not mount on most ships due to the power requirements and bulk of the weapon. Outfitting the battleship seventeen with the weapon had proven difficult, and it only managed to mount a single array. A weapon it was finally going to test in the field, but not against the opponent it originally intended to test it against.
How effective the weapon would prove against 11247 remained unknown. They have a habit of knocking the guns out before they attack in mass. As such the outposts and colonies protected by these weapons never fired them in defense. Well, there was one outpost that did manage to get off a shot, but it failed to score a hit. The targeted cruiser managed to evade the shot, and then knocked out the battery with a concentrated barrage. As such it still did not know how effective metaphasic weapons would be against their armor. From what little information it did have, it had made a few simulations. The weapons should be more effective than standard disruptors, but given the assumptions which had been made in the simulations, that improvement could be anywhere between marginal, and highly effective.
For its battle plan, those assumptions could be fatal. The Collective knew there were far too many variables here, but that facility was vital to its interests. As such, it was going to send the fleet in. The fact that it had a weapon with unknown effectiveness and was facing an enemy with an unknown number of ships. Unfortunately, this was a risk it had no choice but to take.
SFS Accentor SFR-09, Main Bridge 1050 hours, May Seventh 081 SDE:
The captain shifted slightly in his chair as he studied an engineering report. Nothing unusual was in the report. Power efficiency was up .4 percent(that was four points), weapons were functioning two points above spec, engines were running three points below spec. He didn¡¯t find that a problem, but his chief engineer prided herself on everything being above spec. Even if fleet policy said that five points below was acceptable. Anything below five points would need correcting. These numbers were actually low for her, and she already had teams running over everything. As for hull armor, the plating according to the last diagnostic was functioning 14 points above spec that was roughly normal for her. Then again most engineers weren¡¯t happy if any system was operating below spec. She just liked things running above spec.
His reading was suddenly interrupted when his first officer came up from below with a new report, ¡°Sir, our sensors are picking up readings from the local conduit. Energy readings indicate a fleet is approaching. At least fifty ships and they should be here in about seven minutes.¡±
¡°Well, that was expected. Alert the rest of the fleet. I want them in formation, and ready to fight in five minutes. I also want our fighters in the void, asap.¡±
His first officer acknowledged the orders and went about carrying them out. Not that they would take long. The fighters had been on standby for hours, and while not all ships were in formation it would not take them long to get in formation. The ships not in formation had been patrolling the perimeter.
SFS Enterprise SFRX-01, Supreme Protector¡¯s office 1052 Hours:
Ruri stepped in and glanced at the wall monitor to her left. She stopped, and stared at the corridor flooded with fur balls before commenting, ¡°Rewatching old shows?¡±
Countryman chuckled, ¡°More like background noise. Some people listen to music while they work. I watch reruns. Although it is interesting to rewatch scifi when you are actually living in the year it is set.¡±
She frowned, ¡°We are?¡±
Before she could do the conversions in her head, Countryman told her, ¡°This episode was set in the year 2266 on the calendar in use then. I find it interesting to compare our century with their vision of it.¡±
She nodded, ¡°I think you are right, and yes it can be fun to compare. Like the ships are so small in their version. As I recall even in the sequel where ships were bigger most vessels are still small.¡±
He chuckled, ¡°Oh yes, It can be comical to compare a Galaxy-class starship with a Saber-class destroyer. The Galaxy-class is actually smaller than the Saber, visibly smaller. Speaking of the sequels did you know that we beat their prediction on reaching the far side of the galaxy?¡±
She nodded, ¡°That one is fairly obvious. I think on their star chart, we are currently somewhere in the... Delta Quadrant?¡±
Countryman smiled, and replied, ¡°We entered the Delta Quadrant last year. The storm dumped us in the Gamma Quadrant. I know their chart is a little weird since it places Earth on the border of the Alpha and Beta quadrants. Our version makes a little more sense. Placing the homeworld more centrally in Galactic Quadrant I.¡±
She nodded, ¡°I know that is weird. Anyway, I know you didn¡¯t call me here to discuss old shows.¡±
He shook his head, and pulled out a data chip, ¡°No, I have a project for you. I have been working on something in my spare time, but I am at the point where I could use a second set of eyes and a lab.¡±
She held the chip and glanced at it, then looked towards Countryman questionably. ¡°What is this?¡±
Countryman shifted, and answered, ¡°I have been working on a new weapon. It is based on Photon Torpedo technology, but I was trying to get rid of the torpedo. My design seems to work in simulations, although it is lacking in range and power.¡±
Her posture shifted, and she answered ¡°Interesting. I¡¯ll have a few people look into it. See if they can¡¯t solve the problems.¡±
SFS Accentor SFR-09, Main Bridge 1057 hours:
The captain leaned forward as the first ships emerged from the conduit. He knew they would momentarily be vulnerable. Cylovan ships could not raise their shields while inside a conduit, and it took about ninety seconds for them to raise shields. That window was brief, and if they fired now it would be too late. That is why the first torpedoes had been fired before a single ship had emerged. They had calculated exactly when and where they would emerge from the conduit. Launching warheads to intercept as they arrived. He figured they would splash a few targets this way.
Proving him right mere moments later when a torpedo struck the side of a destroyer. The high yield photon penetrated the hull and detonated. A massive flash of light temporarily obscured the vessel. After a moment, the resulting damage could be seen. Half the destroyer¡¯s hull was nothing more than space dust. The other half a charred and melted husk. The torpedo alone could not account for that kind of damage. It must have hit something critical.
An instant later a second ship was struck in a brilliant flash of light. Her side ruptured, as her hull was left melted and charred. Despite the damage, she was still functional, albeit barely.
That set the tone for the next few seconds. Ship after ship was hit with variable effect. Some vessels were outright destroyed, while larger ships were often left intact. The attack might have done more damage if they fired a few AMF torpedoes and not just photons. However photons were cheaper, more easily replaced, and most importantly they had more of them. Not to mention he doubted that the Cylovan capital ships would be first out, and he was right. Other than two cruisers, most of the first ships to emerge from the conduit were destroyers.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
The most intact of which began shielding those that followed. Almost as soon as their shields were up. Allowing the rest of the fleet to emerge mostly unscathed. In total, of the seventy-one ships to emerge from the conduit twenty-seven were struck by torpedoes. Of that twenty-seven, half were sunk and the rest took heavy damage.
That initial volley marked the beginning of the battle. The Refuge, even with the first volley evening things up, were outnumbered. With only two carriers, a half dozen heavy cruisers, and eighteen destroyers. They didn¡¯t have any frigates or light cruisers in this task force. The available frigates and light cruisers had been assigned to other task forces. Battlegroups whose missions needed the abilities of those classes more than this group.
As the Cylovans were deploying fighters and organizing their formation, the Refuge ships opened fire. A second volley of photons along with long-range beam weapons fire. This attack was not meant to inflict heavy damage. At this range, Cylovan shields were a strong protection, but the volley would weaken them nonetheless.
While firing two groups of destroyers split off from the fleet. Four ships each, and began moving into an orbit around the Cylovan fleet. One group orbiting clockwise the other counter. At the same time, the main battlegroup began to close to medium range, while the carriers, two cruisers and four destroyers hung back. That meant ten ships were attacking the Cylovan fleet directly and naturally the Accentor was in that group. Her captain preferred to be in the thick of the fighting.
The Cylovan ships opened fire, concentrating on the ten ships closing to medium range. Most of their beams missed the ships entirely, but a few struck. Those beams that hit were simply absorbed by the heavy armor common to Refuge ships. Inflicting no damage at all to the Refuge ships. As for the Refuge weapons, they were stopped by Cylovan shields inflicting no hull damage in the exchange. Neither side expected to inflict any meaningful damage in the first exchange.
A second exchange began immediately, as Refuge fighters began to close on the Cylovan fleet. The orbiting destroyer groups firing another volley of torpedoes at range. Nothing more than photons, but the fleet had plenty of those to spare. AMFs not so much. They had a limited supply and would rather hold them in reserve until they needed them. Besides a high-yield photon still packed a punch, and enough of them could saturate an energy shield to the point of failure. Although with the strength of Cylovan shields you were going to need a lot of them. The fleet certainly had a large reserve of them.
The battle was going the way a typical Collective-Refuge battle did in the opening phases now. At long range neither side had weapons that were particularly effective against each other, but they fired on the other anyway. Sometimes they got lucky and inflicted meaningful damage. Several more exchanges of fire were made before the main group entered medium range.
The Refuge ships opened fire on the lead vessels. Lightning like discharges struck the forward shields in brilliant flashes of blue light. Triggering a second bright flash of light as their shields collapsed. Then a third flash as photons fired from the destroyers maintaining their distance tore into their hulls. None of the struck ships survived, reducing the Cylovan fleet by a further eight ships. The Cylovans returned fire, and started evasive maneuvers. Their fighters surging forward to engage only to be intercepted by Refuge squadrons. The chaotic part of the battle had begun.
The sound of the phase lances firing could be heard, as an officer reported, ¡°Hull plating at 79%, sir.¡±
He ignored the report. There was no reason to be worried. The hull plating was holding for now. Instead he focused on the tactical plot, and barked an order to tactical at the same time. A cruiser in weapons range had just lost forward shields, and he was going to take advantage of it. He ordered tactical to fire on the ship with a concentrated barrage at full power. That meant superchargers.
From the port side his beam arrays opened fire. A series of powerful vibrant violet energy streams ripped across space, and slammed into the cruiser one after the other. Each one punched through the reinforced plate, and tore deep into the ship. Gouts of plasma erupted into space, as plates buckled, and hull melted under the barrage. Each hit doing serious damage to anything it passed through. The ship attempted to change her facing, to turn her port shields to the barrage rather than her forward shields, but she failed. One of the beams passed through a secondary reactor, the sudden breach of containment caused the antimatter in the reactor to interact with the environment violently. The explosion dealt quite a bit of damage to secondary systems, and several local power nodes. Several engines lost power for a few brief seconds, but those proved critical.
A follow up beam hit the ship, passing through a breach in the hanger plating before tearing into the internal hull. It tore through dozens of bulkheads, and deck plates. Penetrating deep into the core of the ship to strike something critical. One of its primary power distribution nodes failed from the strike causing power to fail briefly across half the ship. Without power, the rest of the barrage shredded the vessel. Her integrity fields no longer reinforcing the hull against the deadly phase lance strikes. The ship went dark as her power signature flattened on all scanners. A once impressive sphere shaped cruiser it now resembled a large ball of swiss cheese.
For good measure they fired a short burst of torpedoes into the hull of the disabled cruiser. They detonated with impressive force and ripped the hull apart. Leaving behind a cloud of mangled metal.
Suddenly someone reported, ¡°Sir, the Raven has just lost hull plating and is taking heavy damage!¡±
His gaze snapped to the Raven, a Battlehawk class cruiser like his. It was engaging the battleship, and that engagement had just started. Her plating should not have failed yet. Onscreen he watched it fighting the battleship.
A vibrant green disruptor beam tore into the port side of the saucer section. The plating disintegrated with the strike, as the Ravan came about. Her forward launchers flashed several times as she unleashed a full volley on the battleship emptying the tubes. Putting hundreds of torpedoes in the void in a matter of seconds. An ability they rarely used nowadays. The glowing blue bolts of photons and AMFs struck the shields of the battleship one after the other. Her shields held at first, but buckled under the barrage. Dozens of torpedoes struck the hull of the battleship. Her reinforced neutronium armor, however, held under the barrage, but not completely.
As the Raven passed over the ship, he noted a few dozen hull breaches, several dozen more where the plating had buckled. The battleship returned fire scoring several damaging hits to the Raven¡¯s Secondary hull, nacelles and aft saucer section. Each hit disintegrating sections of the hull. Emergency bulkheads engaging to prevent atmospheric loss. It was clear to him that the Cylovan¡¯s didn¡¯t know where to hit the Raven as none of the damage was serious.
The Raven returned fire with her aft launchers and beam arrays. Scoring several light to moderate hits on the battleship. As he watched he asked his sensor officer, how the battleship had gotten past the plating.
¡°Sir, that battleship is equipped with Metaphase Disruptors.¡±
He sighed, of course it was. It was only a matter of time before the Collective found a way to mount those on ships, and now they knew the weapons were effective against their hull plating. That was a headache, but he had more pressing concerns. Namely keeping the Raven alive against that battleship. She was inflicting a lot of damage, but she would not last long against that battleship. He reached out with his mind to his crew, and they in turn reached out to the other ships.
In moments, their collective mind worked on the problem even as his ship changed course to cover the Raven. In moments they had a solution, a partial adaptation to counter the metaphase weapons the battleship was employing. They implemented the change by reconfiguring both the radiation shields and the hull plating to absorb the blasts. In the distance the Raven raised its shields. Something they did not often do in a battle, normally there were better uses of the power. Not to mention the shields were more of a navigational tool, not a defensive device.
The Collective observed the battle. A beam lanced out and tore into the side of the cruiser fighting its battleship. Again it did not seem to inflict significant damage, but the weapon was proving more effective than standard disruptors. Suddenly it noted something odd. All of 11247¡¯s ships began deploying energy screens. An anomaly, in all past engagements even when their plating was failing they never deployed shields. This was its first good look at their shields, and it now knew why they didn¡¯t use them.
Its scans revealed them to be incredibly weak, clearly not designed for the rigours of combat. The matrix however was highly unusual. Its subroutines determined the shields would not have a significant impact on its weapons reducing beam power by a mere .00273 percent.
The Collective fired again, but the result wasn¡¯t what it expected. The disruptor beam struck the side of the ship as she fired her particle beams, and took a chunk of the hull. The damage was not as large as it predicted. Species 11247 had somehow reconfigured both the shields and plating to partially absorb its metaphase disruptors reducing their effectiveness by 17.8934%. They were adapting their defenses with a rapidity it had never encountered before. Even its greatest enemy, Species 11009 never adapted to changes in its weapons and tactics so quickly. It needed to deal with this fleet before 11247 figured out how to fully defend against its metaphase disruptors.
In the meantime, it remodulated the weapon and chose a new target coordinate. With a single thought it fired, while simultaneously directing drones to repair damage to a minor secondary system that was damaged by the last volley. This time it aimed the beam at the primary connection between the primary and secondary hulls of the cruiser
The remodulated disruptor beam struck true, and a major chunk of the hull there disintegrated. The modulation had improved beam effectiveness mostly nullifying their adaptation. Its sensors picked up several power disruptions in 11247¡¯s cruiser, but before it could take advantage of that a second cruiser attacked with a full barrage of heavy torpedoes.
Interlude Solean Beam Weapons
The Phase Lance:
The Solean Phase Lance is a rather unique weapon. An improvement over conventional particle beam weapons. The Phase Lance fires a phase-coherent particle stream that is highly accurate even at the large distances common in space combat. The beam itself is actually the result of several collimated energy streams being focused into a single beam. A factor that has a few advantages. The most important is allowing more power from a smaller assembly. All Human and Solean energy weapons use this principle. Starting with the high energy linked laser cannons that brought energy weapons into prominence.
The phase lance starts the generation of the beam with the particle generators. A series of small modules is fed energy and material to produce charged particles. These particles are collected by the particle accumulator and fed to the particle acceleration array. The array accelerates the particle stream to light speed and ejects the stream into a collimation chamber where the beam collimates mere nanoseconds before it is fired from the emitters. Three such streams are generated simultaneously within a typical cannon.
At the same time, a second type of energy stream is being generated. This time a laser beam. Starting with the photon generators, which produce a stream of photons. These photons are fed through a focusing array that narrows the stream into a tight, focused beam, and then fires the laser stream into the collimation chamber. The stream interacts with the particle stream lasing the particles and in the process produces a phase coherent energy beam.
The phase lance is a weapon that is highly effective against armor, and moderately effective against shields. The weapon is a H.E.L type that can support several modifications with both beam and pulsed variants. Possible modifications include Supercharger, Multiphase, rapid-fire, and wide beam.
The supercharger modification is one you should already be familiar with. The Supercharger greatly increases the yield and boosts the recharge rate of energy weapons temporarily. Allowing for a powerful but short burst of heavy fire against a target. This comes at the cost of overwhelming the weapon¡¯s cooling systems requiring the weapon to cool after unleashing the burst before it can be fired again. Overuse of superchargers has been known to cause irreparable damage to a starship¡¯s weapons array.
The rapid-fire modification is a simple modification to the weapon. Where the weapon is configured to fire and recharge more rapidly than normal at the cost of yield. This modification is very popular with light weapon mounts intended to engage lighter spacecraft like fighters and shuttles.
Widebeam is a modification that is fairly self-explanatory. The emitter aperture is modified to fire the beam over a wide area. Most weapons with the modification are designed with variable emitters as wide beams are only useful at short range. It is often used for ground bombardment, but also has its uses in space combat.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
The Multiphase modification is related to metaphase weapons technology, but a precursor to it. A multiphase weapon fires in multiple phases at any given time. All H.E.L weapons can support the modification. Each separate energy steam is generated at a separate frequency before collimating. The frequencies of the beam are determined by computer algorithms. Multiphase weapons have increased effectiveness against shields, as they are capable of overwhelming shields more efficiently than single-phase beam weapons.
Phased Plasma Beam Cannon (PPB):
The Solean PPB is an advanced plasma-based beam weapon designed to replace the Phase lance. Developed in 310 SDE they quickly proved superior and replaced the by then aging Phase Lance as the weapon of choice, and quickly became the signature weapon of the Solean Fleet.
The PPB operates on the same basic principles as the Phase lance. A series of plasma streams are generated in parallel, accelerated to lightspeed, and then phased by a laser stream. The result of this is a plasma-based beam weapon capable of striking targets upwards of a couple million kilometers away and capable of dealing significant damage. Making the PPB one of the longest ranged plasma-based weapons known.
The weapon is so powerful that it will punch through low-grade shields as if they were paper barriers, and stronger shields may not fully stop the beam. Like all plasma weapons, the beam has mass and does intense thermal and kinetic damage to the target. PPBs are compatible with several modifications including Superchargers, Metaphasic, Rapidfire, and Widebeam.
Hellfire Plasma Cannon:
The Hellfire Plasma cannon was originally developed as a corvette weapon for the Solean Light Assault Corvette, a ship class that was developed in 322 SDE. It was designed as a mid-range rapid-fire plasma weapon. Perfect for a light craft.
It fires dense plasma bolts contained in a phased flux field that collapses microseconds after interacting with a ship¡¯s hull. Upon collapse, the plasma rapidly and explosively expands. The weapon boasts an impressive fire rate of nearly ten thousand bolts per minute, but only in short bursts. This rapid-fire rate allows it to quickly overwhelm most targets. While it can only fire in short bursts, it doesn¡¯t need a long burst given that in fighter combat firing windows tend to be short.
The weapon¡¯s effectiveness led to larger starship versions being developed. The larger starship versions have more powerful cooling systems and are tuned for a more sustained fire rate at a lower but still respectable fire rate. While lacking the range of the PPB, it more than makes up for it with a higher fire rate and firepower. Hellfires made excellent ship to ship weapons and were especially effective against hulls. It is important to note that they were real power hogs, and as such the PPB was the favored weapon of the fleet.
Photon Pulse Cannon:
The Photon Pulse Cannon was a heavy weapon developed for use on the LPC during the Cylovan Conflict. Intended to serve as an alternative to torpedoes. It fires a dense pulse of photons sealed in a spatial flux field at the target. Each pulse hits with the force of a small nuke, and the weapon has a respectable rate of fire.
The weapon is a mid-range weapon. Reasonably effective against most targets. The weapon is a H.E.L.L system. The pulse can punch through most known alloys short of neutronium in very short order. Has been known to briefly irradiate ships with gamma radiation if their hull lining or shielding is insufficient.
Chapter LVIII The Cylovan Conflict Part Sixteen (The Battle for Draxus Continues)
The torpedoes slammed into the side of the battleship. Multiple detonations rippled across its surface. Plates buckled, systems failed, but the ship survived the attack, albeit heavily damaged. She returned fire, targeting the damaged cruiser she had been engaging. The attack scored another direct hit, as the green beam intersected the hull just forward of the last impact and penetrated the armor. Piercing nearly fifty meters into the ship before internal plating stopped the beam. A second beam quickly followed, scoring another damaging hit on the Raven. Again showing a clear focus on the connection between the primary and secondary hulls.
Just as they were about to fire a third time, the Accentor opened fire with her beam arrays at full power. A volley of vibrant purple energy streams slammed into the battleship¡¯s unshielded and damaged hull, one after the other. Plating buckled and melted under the barrage. The Cylovan ship however held under the punishing attack. Heavily scathed, with plasma venting into space and a number of systems knocked offline, it fired again. A third hit struck the Raven, causing main power to fail, briefly. Something the Cylovans tried to take advantage of. They followed up with a volley of conventional weapons fire. Scoring a number of surface hits, but by then auxiliary power had already kicked in. The damage was minimal and seconds later main power came back, as it was rerouted through auxiliary conduits to bypass damaged power transfer systems.
Meanwhile under the surface, while the two cruisers were duking it out with the Collective¡¯s battleship. A scout was leading a squad down a corridor. She had found the connection they were looking for, and she was leading the hacker to the target location. There was a room just down this corridor that had a direct connection with the mainframe. Best of all the defending drones had been drawn elsewhere. This gave them an excellent opportunity to hack the mainframe.
A door opened ahead of them and two drones emerged. Before they made more than two steps into the hall, a short burst of blue energy slammed into each drone. Melting a neat cluster of holes in their frame. The drones crashed to the floor, and the group moved past them. They picked up the pace slightly, knowing that the defenders now knew they were here. More drones would be coming.
Thankfully they didn¡¯t encounter any resistance on their way to the access node. They burst into the room unopposed and took down three drones defending the node in an instant. As the squad took up defensive positions, the scout showed the hacker the node. The hacker immediately went to work on cracking the Cylovan network.
The Collective observed the battle in orbit of its outpost at Draxus. The battle was not going well. Most of its destroyer escorts had already been destroyed, and it had not inflicted significant damage. Only one smaller engagement was of any note, the battle between its battleship, and two enemy cruisers. The battleship was still in the fight, but she was taking heavy damage. Half her weapon systems had been destroyed, along with most of the surface armor. Her main weapon was still functioning. The ship¡¯s shields however, were a lost cause, as species 11247 had targeted and destroyed the generators. Its damage control drones would need to rebuild them to bring them back online.
As much as it had taken, it had also dished out. The first cruiser had taken some heavy surface damage, but internal damage remained largely unknown. Its shields were down though, and that was a sign it had damaged something. An angry barrage of particle beams, however, highlighted that the ship was far from dead. She was still fighting, and her weapons were hitting hard. Given the surface damage, it would have expected half the ship¡¯s primary systems to be offline. The fact it was still fighting indicated either phenomenal internal resilience, high system redundancy, or as it calculated as most likely a combination of the last two probabilities.
It remained to be seen how much damage the cruiser could take, but a lesser vessel would have been disabled with that level of surface damage. Its own ships were fairly resilient as well, but it was already struggling to keep its warship fighting.
An alert turned its attention to one of 11247¡¯s carriers. It was just outside of the maximum weapons range of its battleship, and several fighter waves were heading towards the battleship. The carrier¡¯s defense squadron was also no longer being engaged. The floating wrecks of three cruisers and several destroyers were all that was left of the ships it had deployed to engage that carrier. The ships protecting the carrier weren¡¯t unscathed, but it was only detecting minor surface damage. Internal damage was again largely unknown. Something about 11247¡¯s ships prevented it from scanning the internals. Not the first time it had seen this kind of sensor shielding, but it had not yet figured out how to penetrate the sensor shielding that 11247 was using.
The fighters being sent towards its battleship was a concern. Like most of its ships, it was lacking in weapon mounts intended to engage light craft. The collective preferred to engage light craft with its own fighters. It ordered what fighters it could to reposition in order to protect its battleship. Already it was running simulations. A third of the incoming fighters were identified as the type known to carry anti-capital ship weapons, the others were escorts. If they made it through. They would inflict major damage to its already damaged battleship. With its shields down, and the surface armor so heavily damaged, there was nothing but the strained structural fields protecting its ship. It was lucky the cruisers seemed to be out of torpedoes. Although the two ships alone had dumped an impressive number of photons and compressed plasma warheads on its battleship. Several thousand photons and nearly a hundred compressed plasma each. Those plasma torpedoes had done the most damage, anything they hit was virtually destroyed. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the battleship seventeen type had heavily reinforced internal bulkheads and structural fields it would have been destroyed already by those barrages. In fact, its standard battleship type thanks to the weak point its hangers represented would have been destroyed by the first volley to penetrate the shields.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Cylovan fighters engaged the advancing wing launched from the Dawn. Something the Refuge fleet had expected. The space superiority fighters, the Eagles, and the 1204s moved to fight them off, but a couple of squadrons hung back to protect the Sparrows from any fighters that broke from the main group. Instead of the normal payload of ten shield penetrating bombs, each Sparrow was carrying four of the larger more powerful AMF penetrator bombs. These were special AMF based warheads designed to produce a focused plasma stream on detonation. The stream was powerful and highly effective against capital ship armor. Although often overkill on smaller vessels. They were also more expensive than the already pricy standard AMF warheads. The fleet only had a small number of them, and the battleship was a perfect target for them. Just one solid hit would be enough to penetrate the core of the warship and take it out.
As the fighters engaged with the collective¡¯s fighters, the refuge bombers slipped by. In the distance, the Raven was pulling away, while the Accentor covered her retreat. Vibrant blue and violet beams slammed into the battleship one after another. None of them doing much visible damage. Mostly since the hull was already scorched and pockmarked with wounds. There were countless hull breaches on all three ships as they continued to exchange heavy fire.
In the node room, the hacker had already made a connection, and the squad was now holding off drones as they tried to retake the room. Several more Refuge squads were making their way to the room to reinforce though, and they were making good progress. Resistance across the base had dropped sharply as soon as the hacker had plugged into the node. As the mainframe was redirecting its defenders to counter the new vulnerability. An expected reaction as the mainframe would recognize that defending itself was more important than holding ground.
The scout fired her rifle, and another drone dropped at the door. The scout having already targeted another. These drones were not much of a threat. Their personal shields weren¡¯t strong enough to stop a phased particle stream, and they were rather lacking in armor. They were not the most impressive, but they sure had quantity. Another three had already appeared in the door to take the place of the one she shot. Not that it mattered much, since their disruptors were ineffective against standard personal infantry armor. Her armor might be a little more vulnerable given the emphasis on stealth, but she was in a good position at the rear of the defense and in cover. A bolt passed over her head, and she downed another with a solid shot. Over her shoulder, she called, ¡°How¡¯s the hacking going?¡±
¡°I just got past the eighth encryption layer. I¡¯ll need a few more minutes. Keep them off me.¡±
¡°No pressure,¡± she called while firing another bolt, and then ducking. A bolt passed over her head seconds after she ducked. She popped back and fired two solid shots. It was rather hard to miss with so many targets many of them densely packed. Her shots downed two more drones, while a few more were dropped from shots fired by her squadmates. A wall of downed drones was already forming and slowing the attackers, but she could see a few being moved to open up the passage.
Meanwhile, in orbit, a bright flash was dominating the void. Moments ago the Sparrows had unleashed their payloads simultaneously on the Cylovan battleship. As the flash cleared, it revealed a scene of utter carnage. Where once a damaged but mighty battleship had been there was a field of debris. Massive chunks of twisted metal floated in the void. The ship had been split into nearly a hundred large fragments and thousands of smaller fragments.
A quick scan of the wreckage revealed no power signatures of any kind. It was safe to say the ship was dead, but it had proven to be far more resilient than any previously encountered Cylovan battleship. The Refuge marked it for salvage. They would need to study the debris to help identify any weaknesses in the design. Although they did have a few ideas. It seemed to have no hangars and lacked AA mounts. Two factors that would leave it vulnerable to fighters carrying anti-capital ship weaponry. Far more vulnerable than their standard battleship in fact.
Elsewhere the battle was winding down, and several Cylovan ships were attempting to retreat. Warp disruptors were preventing them from making an FTL jump, and they were not fast enough on sublight to clear the field and make the jump. It was only a matter of time before they too went down. Overall the fleet had done well, but a number of ships had taken damage. Most heavily damaged was the Raven, but the Horizon had also taken some damage of note. One of the Cylovan cruisers had managed to ram the carrier and inflicted some damage to a few hangars on her port side. That was the only damage the carrier had taken in the fight though. It would be easy to repair the damage, but until it was fixed no fighters could use those bays. The Raven however would need extensive yard time for repairs.
Chapter LIX The Cylovan Conflict Part Seventeen: (Gains and Adaptations)
Countryman walked into the council chambers. It had been four days since the battle at Draxus. The fleet had already secured and extracted everything of interest. The complex on the surface had also been destroyed and the planetary surface glassed. This meeting was to discuss the gains of the battle, and how they would adapt to the changing Cylovan fleet. That new battleship class was the first of its kind they had encountered, but it would not be the last. The new class was as yet undesignated, but it was interesting. Unlike every previous Cylovan ship it was not also a carrier. It had no hangars, and that factor removed a weakness while creating a new one. They never corrected the original flaw their ships had, a severe lack of AA mounted weapons. Their reliance on beam weaponry was also exploitable.
As he sat down, he listened to the reports being presented. While he had already heard them, not everyone on the council had. Samantha Greyman for example had not, and she was rather attentive at the moment. In short the reports were covering the battleship, what they knew about it, and how the fleet had countered its new metaphase disruptor. The report that came up after covered what they had stolen from the Cylovan research facility. There was quite a bit of data taken, but the most important item was data on Cylovan armor manufacturing techniques. They now knew how the Cylovans worked with neutronium. Even better they had data on an improved neutronium lattice they had been working on.
The Cylovans had been working with new neutronium based alloys and artificial polymers to produce a strong armored lattice to support a new Duranium based alloy plating. The data they had seemed promising and would have tripled the structural integrity of their ships. For the fleet, however, it was only a start. He already had Ruri assign a few labs on creating their own Neutronium-Rydium based alloy lattice. Integrating that with standard overlord hull plating would likely be expensive, but any equipped ship would be virtually indestructible. At least in theory. Ruri promised they would have a prototype for a next-gen armor using the neutronium lattice technology they captured before the year was out. Given the resources, she assigned they could have it in as little as three months, but he figured it would likely take five months. He already had a ship on the drawing board to test it, and a young woman in mind to command it.
A young commander had recently caught his attention. Commander Jane Kirk was the first officer of a light cruiser that ran into trouble two days ago. The exact nature of the trouble notwithstanding, she had distinguished herself nicely there. Her captain had even put her in for commendation and recommended her for a promotion. Countryman had to agree, especially based on her performance under pressure. She already had some command experience as well, but that was the point of the first officer position. They served as an advisor to the captain, but they mainly gained experience for command themselves. He had also been looking over her record, and believed she was the kind of person that would do well with the new ship.
As the report came to an end, he dismissed his line of thought. Before he could speak Ashley Drakes spoke up, ¡°In light of this new ship, we need to consider countermeasures in case we encounter more like it.¡±
Airi spoke up, ¡°The question is what countermeasures. That ship is vulnerable to fighters, but we can bet they won¡¯t deploy future ships like it without escorts. I would still recommend that we include at least one carrier in all future battlegroups.¡±
Drakes responded, ¡°That is sensible, but we can¡¯t rely on fighters alone. We need more to ensure reliable protection of our capital ships.¡±
Countryman interjected at that point, ¡°Supplemental Ablative Hull armor. It¡¯s cheap to install, easy to repair, and far cheaper to replace than overlord plating. A couple meters of ablative plating could substantially increase the life expectancy of our cruisers against Cylovan Metaphase weapons. I have had a lab working on it since we first captured their metaphase weapons. Ideally, we want Regenerative Ablative armor, but there are some problems we need to work out for that.¡±
Samantha Greyman frowned, ¡°Ablative armor? I¡¯m not familiar with that technology. Must be fairly new.¡±
Countryman shook his head, and said, ¡°Actually the concept is fairly old. It can be traced back to the Old Earth¡¯s twentieth century and early spacecraft. Early spacecraft used ablative heat shields to protect from the rigors of atmospheric entry. These shields fell out of favor later and were replaced by superior shielding technology. Ones that had no need to ablate in order to protect a ship from atmospheric entry, but the rise of laser weaponry during the colonial wars led to a resurgence of ablative armor technologies. Ablative armor saw heavy use during the second colonial war but was displaced by polarized and early overlord armor later in the war. The problem with ablative armor is that you lose a bit of it every time you take a hit. This is because ablative armor doesn¡¯t try to absorb or deflect incoming fire, instead a layer of plating vaporizes on each impact. Leaving the layer beneath relatively unscathed. It can be very effective, but it can get rather expensive to maintain. The plating has to be replaced after every battle whereas more conventional plating doesn¡¯t have to be replaced unless it was breached.¡¯
Samantha frowned deeper, ¡°Interesting, but cant the plates simply be repaired?¡±
Ruri answered that question, ¡°Not really. They can be recycled, and ablated layers can be restored in a nanite bath. However, they have to be removed first to be placed in a bath. We have been working on a way to regenerate the plating while still attached to the hull, but we have nothing promising yet. Nanites or microbots are our best bet, but we have a few problems to work out with that idea.¡±This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Airi interjected, ¡°That¡¯s all fine, but would the plate hold up against low yield shots? If it ablates every time it is hit that could be a problem.¡±
Megumi Richards smiled, and said, ¡°I can answer that. It won¡¯t be difficult to reinforce it with a projected structural field. How it responds to fire depends on the materials as well. With the right material, it would resist most weapons, but ablate when more powerful weapons are fired against the plating.¡±
Ruri nodded, ¡°We found several promising choices for a supplemental ablative armor. The most promising is a tripolymor blend that is highly resistant to disruptor damage. Conventional and metaphase disruptors, but it also resists particle, plasma and laser based weapons to a similar degree. This is what we want. We don¡¯t want the ablative material to ablate too easily, or it would be worthless,¡± she paused and then projected an image, ¡°Now as you can see when a powerful enough discharge hits the plate, the outer layer vaporizes leaving the layer beneath unscathed. The vapor also has an effect on the beam, most notable in laser based weapons, but there is a lesser effect to disruptor based weapons.
¡°As the simulation here shows, that plate withstood eight direct hits from a metaphase disruptor before failing. That is eight extra hits worth of protection. It certainly raises the survivability of our ships. For further protection we can also conduct internal modifications to the overlord plating and shields. That would allow the standard overlord plating to absorb three maybe four more hits before failing. After that any successive hit to that section of armor would penetrate.¡±
Countryman noted that she was done, and then said, ¡°That seems to cover everything. Supplemental ablative armor, shield and armor upgrades, and ensuring carriers are attached to all battle groups should be sufficient for now, agreed?¡±
They all quickly agreed that implementing those changes would be good for now. They then moved on to the next topic. Countryman began, ¡°Now that Cylovan armor technology we got our hands on, is interesting. Particularly the data on neutronium alloys, and lattice augmented plate. With some work, we could adapt our own armor to use that technology. To that end, I have placed a battlehawk cruiser on the drawing board to be used as a test vessel for the new technology.¡±
He pressed a button and a diagram was projected, and then continued, ¡°As you can see I left quite a bit blank. Most notably what materials she will be built with, and when the keel will actually be laid down. Right now armament is listed as standard for a configuration A Battlehawk cruiser.¡±
Ruri spoke up, ¡°I assume I have discretion to alter that, as I see fit?¡±
¡°Given that the ship is intended as a testbed for the new armor the science division will be working on, the answer is obviously yes.¡±
She leaned forward, ¡°I am not ready for announcements yet, but I have labs working on improvements in several fields in addition to that new armor that will need testing in a few months. Assuming the current progress holds.¡±
Countryman already knew what those projects were, but did not feel the need to talk about them. ¡°We do need to have decided on a name for this future construction, and add her to the registry.¡±
Greyman spoke, ¡°For cruisers, the registry number 4117 is still open I believe. We can mark it down there. Given the armor, may I suggest a name indicating strength, perhaps Bulwark.¡±
¡°We could just call it the Fortress,¡± proposed Misaki.
Countryman said, ¡°Keeping to that theme Bastion is another good name.¡±
The conversation continued for a while before they ultimately decided to name it the Bastion. It was slated to begin construction in six months, by then the armor would be in prototype phase and they expected to have the design finalized. It was provisionally listed as a configuration D Battlehawk class cruiser however its weapons, armor, engines, and even the shields and stealth systems were left unlisted.
Then everyone¡¯s mood changed, Samantha was the first to speak, ¡°I guess that leaves us with the only topic no one wants to talk about.¡±
Countryman who had been keeping up said, ¡°We might as well dismiss here. There has not been much progress with that, and frankly you¡¯re right I don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡±
Ruri sighed, ¡°Nor do I. I do have one project in mind that I would like to discuss instead.¡±
Countryman, now curious, inquired, ¡°What kind of project?¡±
She shifted, ¡°The Cylovan reliance on disruptor based beam weaponry is something we can exploit. I have a few ideas for integrating basic mitigation shields into our standard armor. Using an adaptive matrix tuned specifically for disruptor based weapons. It might be worth looking into.¡±
Several heads nodded, and Richards said, ¡°That might be worth looking into alright. How effective do you think this supplemental integrated shielding would be, and would it complicate maintenance of the armor?¡±
Ruri said, ¡°I have only done some preliminary simulations, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. It should not significantly complicate maintenance. A few new circuits and components would need to be incorporated, but the nano repair method we use now should work nicely for correcting any issues that may crop up. As for effectiveness, simulations show it could reduce the power of Cylovan Metaphase disruptors as much as sixty percent. Compare that to the twenty five percent the currently slated upgrades are expected to achieve, and you can see it should be worth it.¡±
Countryman said, ¡°Go ahead and get on it, and get back to us later on when we can expect these Beam shields. They might prove useful and every avenue to counter these new cylovan weapons should be pursued.¡±
Chapter LX The Cylovan Conflict Part Eighteen: (The Commissioning of the SFS Bastion)
Sol Refuge Fleet Anchorage in deep space, Sector 44213, Yardship San Francisco, February 4th 082 SDE:
Captain Jane Kirk walked down the corridor. She had arrived just a few minutes ago, and soon she would be accepting her first command. The SFS Bastion. She had read everything she could on the ship. It was a new configuration of Battlehawk class heavy cruiser and featured quite a bit of next-generation technology. Much of which had only been field-tested on LPCs. There were a number of features that had caught her eye, items developed in the last nine months for this ship. The first was the armor, it was listed as mark-five overlord armor. There were a number of technological improvements made to the armor. Including a prototype for next-generation integrated mitigation shielding. They were still months away from achieving what the simulations said was possible, but it was still better than the makeshift system the fleet is using.
What really caught her attention with the armor was the material. The ship was made using a Neutronium-Rydium composite alloy that frankly had some impressive properties. They had named the alloy Adamantium. The material when exposed to AIF fields became virtually indestructible. There was almost nothing in their arsenal that could even scratch the stuff much less penetrate it. The only weapon that managed to penetrate the test plating during the preliminary tests was AMF Penetrator bombs. Although Adamantium armor was not cheap to produce even when using lattice lacing techniques to reduce costs. She had already heard that the fleet was only going to armor select ships with it because of the cost. They could not afford to equip the entire fleet with Adamantium armor. Hell, they could not even afford to armor her ship with pure Adamantium plate armor. Instead, she had Titan II alloy plating reinforced with Adamantium lattice. The same lattice lacing technique had been used to reinforce her internal bulkheads and the starframe. The Bastion was likely the toughest ship in the fleet.
To go with that she had even been given a new generation primary power plant. The mark four single core dual reactor setup common to older Battlehawks had been replaced with two of the new mark five antimatter reactors. Tri core reactors to be specific. This setup gave her more than ten times the power generation of older cruisers. She had heard the rest of the fleet was slated for these upgrades. The extra power was desperately needed in combat situations after all. All of her key systems had been adjusted to take advantage of the extra power. Weapons, armor, propulsion, even her emergency batteries.
Speaking of the batteries. She had been equipped with the new mark eight compression cells. They could store an impressive amount of energy and increased the hyperwarp jump range of the Bastion from 1200 lightyears to 2000 lightyears. A very respectable eight hundred lightyear increase, and with the increased power generation the recharge time had been cut significantly. This effectively made the Bastion the fastest ship in the fleet.
Her weapons had received a lot of attention as well. She had 32 heavy phase lance arrays, 12 banks of superheavy pulsed phase lances. Dual spinal superheavy phase lances. Turreted dual AA phase lances supplemented with micro torpedo launchers. She still carried fore and aft torpedoes, but her electro cannons had also received a lot of attention. The extra energy reserves and power generation had allowed her to support a denser battery of electro cannons. She had more than double the number of electro cannon banks as the last generation of cruisers. Not only did she have more, but the cannons had been reconfigured to take advantage of the extra power generation as well. Benefiting from increased recharge times and higher yields. All of her energy weapons had similar modifications. In effect, she carried more guns, and they were all harder hitting than her sister ships, but those sister-ships were slated for similar upgrades. Even if most ships won¡¯t be outfitted with Adamantium reinforced overlord plating the increased power generation and weapons capability were huge enough that all vessels will eventually be upgraded accordingly. Rumor had it that the Accentor was slated to be first for those retrofits.
Naturally, her propulsion wasn¡¯t left standard either. The Bastion was equipped with the latest in pulse wave engine technology. The standard mark II engines that all older Battlehawks had been equipped with had been replaced with the new mark III. The new mark III engine featured several notable improvements. The improvements focused mainly on reducing fuel consumption, and they worked. The Mark III used 15% less fuel during normal cruising, but attention had also been paid to combat operations. The engine used 30% less during combat cruising compared to the Mark II, although that was still a lot more than used during a normal cruise. The engine also had a better overall performance chart. Testing showed the engine could turn and accelerate about eight percent faster. That translated to better mobility.
Her warp engines were also improved, but the focus had been entirely on efficiency and reliability. As such, her cruising speed had not increased compared to her sister ships, but her engines used far less fuel. They had also improved the reliability of all system components and further hardened them against damage. They wanted to be sure that any ship could make an emergency jump even when heavily damaged. Efforts had also been made to reduce her warp signature. Making it far harder to detect the Bastion at long range. Stealth and efficiency were the most important factors for them. Warp five was fast enough to get where you were going most of the time, and if you need to go faster they could reach warp seven without much issue. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
She turned a corner and reached the lift. She took a moment to double-check her uniform, and then stepped into the lift. It would take her down from the SFS San Francisco to her new ship via the umbilical connection between the two ships. This particular lift would deposit her at one of the starboard airlocks. There she would be officially transferred command of her new ship, and then she could head to the bridge. Where she would meet her officers and her crew. Kirk was finally captain, it had only taken her thirty years. From the day she joined her first department in the fleet. She was looking forward to her first command.
The lift delivered her to the airlock all too quickly, and Kirk stepped off the lift to find Supreme Protector Countryman was waiting for her. He smiled, and greeted her, ¡°Welcome aboard Captain Kirk.¡±
She saluted, and he continued, ¡°I can tell by your expression that you weren¡¯t expecting me. The council however has a great deal of interest in this ship. She is packed with the latest in current and next generation technology. Including several valuable prototype technologies.¡±
She nodded, ¡°I have read the specs, sir. She has an impressive list of upgrades over standard configuration cruisers. I can also see why the council has an interest in her. The armor alone is impressive.¡±
Countryman shifted, ¡°That it is. Impressive but expensive.¡±
After agreeing, he quickly transitioned into giving her a rundown on her first assignment and then transferred the command codes for the ship to her. The nature of her first assignment was a shakedown cruise. It would start here, where she would test the sublight engines. Then she would make the jump to the nearby system of E-212. The system was for the most part uninteresting. The only thing special about it was its location in the nebula. It did have plenty of debris, and target drones had been scattered throughout the system. It was there that she would conduct her first combat operation. A test battle against armed target drones. There were thousands of them, but they were no threat.
A standard target drone was about three meters long, and carried a single pulsed particle cannon as its only weapon. They had mark one pulse wave engines, and Mark II polarized hull plating. A single direct hit from any weapon mount on her cruiser would destroy a drone. They weren¡¯t much of a threat to fighters either. They were never intended to be a threat, and that played into why they were equipped with outdated weapons and armor technology. It did make them very cheap to produce and easy to replace.
They would make a decent enough test for her, and her crew though. They would need the practice, and it would help them get to know the ship. Not to mention learn to work with each other, but sooner or later they would need to face a real threat.
Countryman left as soon as he gave her the rundown on her shakedown plan. Kirk did not stay idle herself. She had to get the ship underway and make sure the whole crew was aboard. She navigated down the dim corridors to one of the tram lifts and told it to take her to the bridge. From there she could meet her officers and get started on the pre-launch checks. That was going to take awhile. Every system needed to be checked before they separated from the yardship.
It would not do to leave the yardship and then discover that something important wasn¡¯t installed correctly. They needed to make sure all systems at least reported that they functioned. That was at least something she could do a thing or two about if there was a problem. What was going on with her little sister''s kids back home though was something she couldn¡¯t fix. She cursed that damn pheromone and its effects on her friends and family. She just hoped the rumor that a cure was in the works was true, but she had learned not to get her hopes up. A few previous solutions proved problematic or even made the whole thing worse.
She quickly pushed those thoughts aside. Not wanting to dwell on the problems at home, and waited for the lift to deposit her on the bridge deck. A minute later the door opened into a small corridor behind the bridge. To her left would be her ready room, although at the moment it was likely rather spartan. She would need to decorate, add a personal touch to it. On the right was the conference room where she could gather her officers and department heads to discuss key issues. Directly in front of her was the secured doorway to her bridge. The command center of her ship. She already knew what she would see. The Bastion had the same bridge module layout as every other cruiser in the fleet. The same basic design was even used on smaller ships, like the Saber-class destroyer. That door would open to the command balcony, and there was a lower entrance beneath the balcony. That one meant for her bridge crew. At the front of the bridge were the helm and navigation consoles. To port were the tactical consoles, and against the starboard wall were the engineering consoles. The strategic display console was placed centrally in the lower bridge. Against the rear wall of the lower bridge were the operations and science consoles.
Not that long ago she had been on a similar bridge as first officer. Now it was her turn to be the captain. To have actual responsibility for her ship and crew. She would have to get to know her own first officer though. They would be her advisor, and more.
With a bit of excitement and trepidation in her step, she stepped onto her bridge. The bridge was dimly lit and not very different from the light cruiser bridge she had been on not all that long ago. Yet this one felt special, it was her bridge. This was her ship, and she was going to do her best. Kirk wanted to reward the faith that had been placed in her. She took her seat overlooking the lower bridge and glanced only briefly at her old station before surveying her bridge. Already the crew was familiarizing themselves with their stations.
Chapter LXI The Cylovan Conflict part Nineteen: (The Shakedown)
The shakedown started just like any other, with a long list of systems checks. Most of those checks were done by computers. The ship¡¯s computers had a long list of diagnostics they could execute to access system functionality. Weapons, shields, life support, armor, navigation, sensors, propulsion, power generation, emergency batteries, structural integrity, bulkhead control, internal sensors, hanger force fields, you name it. All of them could be accessed to a fairly accurate degree by computers. Although some of it had to be field-tested to be certain, even in this age.
The initial diagnostics would net a decent baseline though. It would also be the first major test of the ship¡¯s computers. There were several of them. The main computer, the navigational computer, the targeting computer, the main warp engine control computer, the secondary warp engine control computers, the reactor monitor computers, the sublight engine control computers. The list went on. Each one was technically classed as a supercomputer with the exception of the main computer. That beast of a machine was in a completely different class from conventional supercomputers and was classed as a hyper computer. Although all of them operated in a linked network. A massive internal data network linked them together and allowed them to communicate at high speed. In effect, all these separate computers seemed to act as a single incredibly powerful beast.
Fortunately, these powerful machines could chew through the diagnostics process at a fair clip. Although it still took a while to check everything, mainly because it wasn¡¯t being checked in a totally virtual environment. Kirk spent the five hours of diagnostics getting to know her crew and fixing the problems that inevitably cropped up. All minor, but expected. Nothing that took more than a few minutes to correct. When the last of these checks were completed they undocked, and began their shakedown.
The first phase of the shakedown went as planned. The computers and crew kept a constant eye on the engines. A quick cruise around the fleet anchorage was followed by the scheduled jump. A jump that proceeded as planned to the E-212 star system.
Kirk was on the lower bridge looking at the engineering displays when they dropped out of warp. Almost immediately the tactical alert sounded and the alert status lights went red instead of their typical blue. The ship shuddered slightly, she barely felt anything. Aside from a slight bump, but she did see several small fluctuations in the AIF displayed on the engineering panel.
Kirk moved away and headed to her command chair on the command balcony. An officer reported, ¡°Sir we have been engaged by multiple A one seven target drones.¡±
She had expected to be engaged by multiple A one seven target drones. They were the standard configuration drone employed for this. However, she had not expected to be fired upon as soon as she dropped out of warp. That wasn¡¯t in the briefing, and she wondered what else was not in the briefing. The A one seven was outdated. Mark one particle cannons, Mark II polarized armor, and a mark one engine all controlled by an outdated electronic computer that was designed over a century ago. Its sensor array wasn¡¯t even multi-spatial. It employed a spatial sensor array that had been designed during the third colonial war. The only reason it could even detect her ship was that the sensors had been modified to penetrate the sensor shielding of modern ships.
The fact they were targeting her now, made her wonder if anything else had been omitted from her briefing. She gave the order to return fire.
Turrets along the hull spun to life and opened fire on the target drones. Highly accurate low yield phased particle discharges fired at a rapid pace into the void. Each one struck a target drone with unerring precision. In mere seconds all of the target drones in the immediate vicinity were destroyed. This proved to be an excellent test of the computer-controlled AA defenses of her ship. This wasn¡¯t a revolutionary system, and the performance was well within expected parameters. After all, people had been using computer-controlled AA defense systems for centuries now. Although the first ones used electronic computers, and modern ones employed positronic computer systems. Positronics had a number of key advantages that had led to their use in combat computer systems.
As the shakedown battle continued, a part of her mind thought back on a conversation she had years ago. Refuge technology had proven superior to many of their current enemies. There was a long list of reasons for why, but as powerful as their ships were they had a few notable weaknesses. The most notable was power generation, Refuge technology was very efficient. However long decades of relying mainly on auxiliary power had led to a stagnation in main power systems. There was a certain kind of irony there, that the achilles heel of Refuge technology was that their primary reactors were inefficient. Sure antimatter was very efficient at converting fuel to energy, but that 100% did not mean perfect conversion of fuel into usable energy. It only meant a perfect conversion of the fuel into energy. The same factors applied with fusion. There was always loss somewhere. Refuge fusion plasma cell generators were remarkably efficient with less than point zero one percent loss between generated energy and usable energy. The more powerful antimatter reactors that served as the main power generator for Refuge ships were not so impressive in that regard. The last gen models were only about 85% effective at converting generated energy into usable energy. The new gen models had only improved that by about two percent. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
The recent upgrades had for the most part simply increased the amount of energy generated per second. Although that also meant they were burning more fuel per second. Given design requirements it made sense though. In battle they always needed as much energy as they could get. Although she had a feeling that with the war providing motivation to correct that inefficiency, things were going to change. It was only a matter of time before a more energy efficient antimatter reactor was devised. Not that it would do much to change fleet policy. Little reason to change what was already working.
Even while thinking of the changes in technology, she never stopped directing the battle. Not that it was much of a battle. Her line of thought was suddenly broken, when drones of a different configuration suddenly emerged from behind a few asteroids and made a run on the Bastion. She immediately ordered them targeted, since they seemed to be of larger heavier construction. Given she had not expected them, Kirk did not want them to fire on her ship.
Her gunners took out half of them before they got into range, and then the remaining drones fired. Bright blue energy bolts carrened across the void and struck the Bastion. She felt vibrations as the ship was struck. A fact that surprised her. Those were not the standard outdated particle cannons typically mounted on target drones. Whatever they were carrying, it possessed far more punch than the old weapons normally used for target drones.
The gunners, following her previous orders, directed the guns to take out the remaining drones before they could make another run on the ship. Meanwhile she turned to her science officer, and asked her to identify what they had been hit with.
The science officer shrugged, ¡°I have no idea. The computer is not recognizing the weapon, but sensors indicate that it is next gen technology. Those drones had been modified with a micro-fusion plasma cell connected directly to the weapon. Everything else was hundred year old technology, standard for drones.¡±
That was interesting for several reasons. Having a generator just for the weapon had a few advantages. There was also the fact that it was using newer fusion cell technology rather than old-style fusion generators for the weapon. Plasma cell based fusion was very new, and it employed a stable form of low energy fusion to produce a clean and efficient form of energy to power pretty much anything. Plasma cells were rather compact as well, being barely small enough to fit in heavy infantry weapons, and were the most energy efficient form of fusion known. Modern ships used plasma cell arrays in their fusion generators to provide energy to key systems. Plasma cells were still rather new though, so only the newest ships even had them and it would be some time before they were miniaturized and fitted to infantry weapons. Although when that happened it would be a revolution for small arms. It would change the game significantly.
Although it seemed someone was already working towards that. Experimenting with the concept on small ship weapons. However that did leave unanswered the question of what kind of weapon they interfaced with the reactor. There was the possibility the weapon was a prototype, but why would they use an experimental power configuration like this with a prototype weapon?
¡°Don¡¯t use the database. Tell me what it does.¡±
She glanced over her readings, and then said, ¡°It seems to be a photon based cannon. It fires a high energy compressed bolt of pure gamma frequency photons. Each bolt is compressed by some kind of flux field, and they each hit us with the force of a small nuke.¡±
There were more powerful weapons, but that was still impressive. Especially given that they had fired quite a few pulses in the brief moment they were in range. Indicating a rapid rate of fire, and without adequate shielding they would be quite dangerous. Besides, few small ships carried that kind of firepower. Not to mention, a gamma radiation pulse penetrating the hull could kill the crew of a targeted ship. Although most ship hulls were heavily shielded against cosmics rays, and that included protection against gamma radiation. In the case of Refuge ships that protection came in the form of a layered lining embedded in the hull, hull plating, and internal structure. Even the emergency bulkheads had embedded lining in them. To ensure that even in the case of a hull breach, the crew was safe from cosmic radiation.
She was impressed, but now that she knew what she was dealing with, she turned her full attention back to the mock battle. Her tactical officer had already directed her gunners to mop up the last of the drones in the local area, but there may be more hiding waiting to ambush her ship. A few might even carry those new weapons that someone had decided to test in battle conditions with her shakedown cruise. She was about to order a scan of the field, when suddenly her operations officer reported, ¡°Sir, we just received new orders.¡±
She glanced over, and frowned. This was highly unusual. Ships on shakedown cruises rarely received new orders like this. She sighed, ¡°Let¡¯s hear them¡±
The officer pressed a button, and her new orders played out on the forward viewscreen. It was a brief communique straight from the Elder Council. They were being redeployed to E-957 Gamma. A system about nineteen hundred lightyears from their present position. Apparently task force 5710 had gotten into trouble and was engaged by five Cylovan dreadnoughts and their escorts. They were being sent in to assist. It would certainly be a real test of her ship and crew. More so than these old drones. A part of her was looking forward to the upcoming battle. She had also been informed that task force 2237 had been redirected to assist, but they would take longer than the Bastion to get there. Fleet projected she would arrive about 15 minutes before task force 2237. Assuming she used the Hyperwarp drive.
Chapter LXII The Cylovan Conflict Part Twenty: (Battle of E-957 Gamma)
E-957 Gamma, February 4th 082 SDE, 2314 hours:
The ship shuddered under impact. Something screeched, and then an engineering officer shouted over the din of the controlled chaos. ¡°Hull breach deck seventeen, sections fourteen alpha through ninety-one gamma. Emergency bulkheads not responding. Forcefields are holding for now.¡±
The captain did not even hesitate, ¡°Give them three minutes to evacuate those sections and then seal the surrounding sections. Seal the deck if you have to and deploy damage control teams to fix the bulkheads.¡±
As they were executing the order, if they had not started beforehand, he ordered a change of heading. His tactical officer coordinated a heavy barrage on the two attacking dreadnoughts. They were outgunned, outnumbered, and cut off from a retreat. The hostile ships had projected a jamming field which prevented the stable formation of a warp field. The Collective had done well, locating them and ambushing them here after their successful attack on the now extinct collective colony in the nearby system of E-988 Beta. At the moment his ship was taking heavy damage trying to protect the carrier.
The ship shuddered heavily under a second impact, and this time he heard a familiar noise just cut out. He did not need the report to know the hit was bad. They were dead in the water, and then a new report came to his attention. ¡°Sir, we just detected an incoming hyperwarp signature. Bearing 217 mark 13 distance 200,000 kilometers.¡±
¡°Friend or foe?¡±
The collective consciousness analyzed the ongoing battle. Only a handful of subroutines were focusing on the battle. It was going well, so far. The fleet had been successful in locating Species 11247 after they had made their attack. It had not been easy. Previous attempts to take advantage of their habit of stripping its worlds of usable material had not worked out well. Slipping trackers in never worked. Either because they disabled them, or something about their hulls prevented the tracking devices from broadcasting through the materials they built their hulls with. Speculation did not help it, however. It had tried a new approach this time. It had employed a massive number of probes to find them.
A number of which were discovered and destroyed. Causing it to lose its fix on them, but it was enough to get ahead of their fleet. It then positioned ships in the most likely vectors, and warp disruptor nets to catch them. Its primary goal was to disable a few ships and get aboard. It desperately needed more information on species 11247, and the only way to get it was to capture a ship. Hopefully, it would learn a crippling weakness that would tip the tides of this war in its favor. It planned to make an attempt during this battle, but its own probability assessment indicated it was more likely to get wreckage. Even wreckage would prove useful to it though. Assuming it could move fast enough to collect its spoils before their reinforcements arrived. It knew there was another fleet in the area, and knew they would move in quickly. There was always another fleet in the area.
As for why it did not think it would get an intact ship. It had made several attempts before. It had learned a few things. The biggest hurdle was 11247 was quick to self-destruct, likely a hard-coded autodestruct system. Then there was the fact that they were natural hackers and their troops deadly. The last time it had assaulted a warship, it had lost nearly 20,000 naval combat drones, and the ship ultimately self-destructed. The resulting detonation was so powerful that it lost both cruisers and the battleship that were sent to secure the vessel. There was nothing to salvage in the wreckage. It never had a chance to capture any of the escape craft that launched from that warship. As not long after that, their response fleets arrived.
At the moment one of its ships had succeeded in knocking out the main drives of a cruiser. It diverted two ships to go after the carrier it was protecting and ordered a dreadnought to move in. Suddenly, it detected an incoming hyperwarp signature before those orders could be executed. It focused a few sensors on the forming conduit and noted the signature. The signature matched that of species 11247, and it was quite close to one of its dreadnoughts. It ordered the dreadnought to reposition. It never had an opportunity to engage one of their ships as it emerged from a conduit before. The collective knew from experience that ships were vulnerable as they emerged. Hyperwarp took massive amounts of energy from the reactors to sustain, preventing ships from charging weapons or powering the shields. It had no reason to assume species 11247 was any different. Especially given that they seemed to be behind the Collective in hyperwarp technology, even if they did have a few unusual applications for it.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Moments later a single ship emerged from the conduit. Specifically a heavy cruiser, the largest class of direct combat vessel it had so far engaged. Its dreadnought immediately opened fire. Scoring multiple direct hits with its primary Metaphase disruptors. Against all probability, it weathered the barrage with minimal damage. Then it returned fire, its weapons proving stronger than expected. Vibrant purple beams slammed into its dreadnought¡¯s shields one after another. The shields were draining quickly, the Collective began evasive maneuvers while reconfiguring the shields to better absorb the high energy particle beams.
At the same moment, it scanned the new cruiser. What it revealed would have been shocking if it was capable of that emotion. Its sensor scan told it a few interesting things. The armor had been upgraded with a neutronium lattice. 11247 had never used neutronium before. It could only conclude that they had somehow managed to adapt what they had learned from that research facility they hit a few months back to their technology. It had no idea how they had upgraded the weapons though. That adaptation was worrying in its own way, their hulls were already tough enough to penetrate. Now it had to deal with neutronium reinforced hulls from them. Perhaps it was time that it developed a new more powerful weapon, something metaphase, but ...
Kirk felt the ship shudder as it came out of the conduit. Already enemy fire was raking over her hull. She was aware that exiting hyperwarp so close to the battle was risky, but unlike their Cylovan counterparts, they were not vulnerable on exit from a conduit. While their power generation was inferior, they made up for it with superior power storage techniques. The drives drew all their power from the capacitors, and this freed up power to keep critical systems online. They were also able to draw all the energy they needed to maintain the conduit while traveling through the energy absorbers in their hull plating. It was why the armor was actually somewhat overcharged on exit from a conduit just like after dropping to sublight speed from warp speed. The conduits after all were tunnels through hyperspace, and at those depths, there was a massive amount of energy available. However, like their counterparts, they could not raise shields while in a conduit. As such on exit, her armor was absorbing the full brunt of their weapons.
She glanced at the indicators and watched the AIF was draining rapidly. Faster than during the shakedown tests so far. Making this a real test of the generators. After a moment, an officer reported that they had a fix on the ship firing on them. She shouted orders to return fire and glanced back to the indicators holding her breath. Still staring at the indicators, she issued orders for evasive maneuvers to the helmsman.
The shields came up just as the AIF dropped below sixty percent, and with them up the armor started to absorb the blasts better. She felt a bit of relief with that, as she did not want to test the hull without the strength boosting benefits of the AIF. Sure even without it, the new plating was a lot tougher than Titan II plating, but that did not mean she wanted to test how well it held up under fire. Especially on the day after she got her command. Well technically the same day, but midnight wasn¡¯t far off. Now with the shields up though, incoming beams were weakened by a quarter, and that helped significantly. Already the armor integrity field was regenerating faster than it was being taxed.
Then she noted a fluctuation in the port shields of the dreadnought they were engaging. ¡°New course, one six zero mark two four. Divert all available power to the weapons.¡±
The crew scrambled to carry out her commands, and the ship changed course. The Collective ship responded by rotating her facing. Attempting to keep her port shields out of her arc of fire. It worked for a few moments, but then her fore shields started to fluctuate. The heavy bombardment starting to strain them. Taking advantage of it she gave the order to fire torpedoes.
A volley of blue bolts sailed across the void, and slammed into the forward shields. The first two were photons that failed to penetrate. The resulting detonation was just enough to overload the forward shields of the dreadnought. Allowing twenty AMF torpedoes and two hundred photons to slam into the hull in the brief moment before the shields compensated for the failed emitters. A number of brilliant detonations occurred along the outer hull, and then a few more detonated against the shields. Some torpedoes even penetrated after the shields came back up to explode against the hull.
When the dust cleared it was evident that a few had even penetrated the armor, but the ship was far from dead. Her forward shields however were critically weakened. The follow up particle barrage brought them down, and several high energy particle streams lanced through the hull. She had known her weapons were enhanced, but this really showed how the extra power had improved the weapons. Within seconds the beams had cut deep through the armor. A few strikes from her main batteries even punched out the other side of the hull. For good measure she had a few torpedoes fired into the hull. They penetrated a breach in the armor, and sailed deep into the ship before they detonated with enough force to rip the dreadnought apart. One down, four more to go.
The other four were already on an intercept course for her ship. The one having abandoned its attack on the carrier, which had sustained heavy damage during the brief minutes she had been engaged with the first. The carrier was venting atmosphere from a number of hull breaches along her port side, and had lost power. Kirk knew the captain though, and had a feeling she would get things under control quickly enough, and her one escort while dead in the water was fine. That cruiser had launched a number of shuttles to the carrier along with a fighter escort. She had no doubt that it was a team of techs to help restore power.
That ship had already reported that they would be able to restart their drive in about seven minutes. The carrier might take a little longer. They had to repair their damaged power systems after all. In the meantime, she had four dreadnoughts to deal with. Dreadnoughts that still had full shields and had sustained minimal damage. The real battle was about to begin.
Chapter LXIII The Cylovan Conflict Part Twenty-One: (As the Battle Continues)
As the Bastion was busy fighting, Countryman was in his main office cleaning up. He had a meeting with a pair of medical researchers in an hour, and thankfully he had finished his paperwork. That left him with nothing to do until they got here. Since he didn¡¯t have a lot of time for one of his regular tours, he decided to do something he doesn¡¯t often do. Clean his office, it wasn¡¯t that bad. Very old habits of his meant he did not have to do too much. Just organize a little clutter and dust.
Opening a drawer containing old notepads, not the paper variety, but cheap electronic ones. On a ship, paper was considered a luxury good. In fact, it was cheaper to buy a brand new computer than a book. While that might seem strange, it came down to the fact that space came at a premium on ship. Much of their agricultural space was devoted to food production, so they had few resources to make paper with. The materials to make computers were easy enough to get in comparison. Assuming you knew where to look, but the riches of the void were vast. Not to mention they knew well where to look after spending the better part of a century out here.
He leafed through the pads checking each one¡¯s table of contents. These pads contained records that weren¡¯t in the ship¡¯s database. Some of it was data that was too sensitive. Classified scientific reports, council meeting records, and even a few proposals. Finding a pad containing such proposals, he leafed through them. Some of them were older and no longer valid. He deleted those, but a few were still worth keeping. Mixed in were a few newer ones, like the Common language acceleration proposal. That one had already been approved but was still here because it had not been archived yet. Having a large multi-lingual population had led to people combining tongues. The proposal was to have a bunch of linguists create a common accepted combined form of their combined tongues and a combined alphabet. The idea was useful but had been overshadowed by recent events. He put that aside, and went back to leafing through.
The next item of interest was an old research project proposal. One that was never funded, mainly because they lacked resources at the time. It detailed a theory about employing a cascading fusion reaction to generate a high energy plasma stream. In theory, the stream would shoot out from an aperture like a CME. Starting as a beam, before rapidly spreading out. In other words just a more powerful version of the obsolete plasma throwers they already had. Plasma throwers had great power even today, but they lacked range.
Suddenly a thought struck him like a lightning bolt, and he quickly grabbed a couple of other pads. He then accessed the database for reference to recent official research. Connecting the different projects, he wrote out a draft. He was still working on it when there was a ring at his door. A glance at the clock said it was time for the meeting. He bade them enter.
Two younger women entered the office a moment later. One carrying a large pad in her arms. The other carried a small stack of standard-sized pads. They looked around, and the smaller one on the left frowned. ¡°Is this a bad time?¡±
He shook his head, ¡°No, you are just in time. This is just a distraction. I am caught up with my paperwork, and was working on a side project while waiting.¡±
The younger women took a step forward, ¡°A side project? Before we start, may I ask what it is?¡±
Countryman started organizing his pads, and said, ¡°It¡¯s outside your field, so I will keep things simple. I am revisiting hundred-year-old theories and using more modern knowledge to refine them and apply them to a new one. Specifically, I am working on a theory for a plasma-based version of our Phase Lance technology. The idea might not get any funding any time soon, but we have been revisiting old theories regarding plasma recently.¡±
¡°Why don¡¯t you think it would be funded?¡± asked the other woman.
Countryman sighed, ¡°Cascade fusion reactions are needed to produce the required plasma, and those are tricky to control. Not something we can easily experiment with, and certainly not on the Enterprise. Anyway, that is not why you are here. What have you got?¡±
They both sighed, ¡°Well that super pheromone is proving quite tricky to figure out. Very potent as well. Thankfully we do have a little good news. It¡¯s not a cure, but more of a stopgap.¡±
He leaned forward, ¡°A stopgap? That sounds like progress. Is it something we can use?¡±
The older one nodded, ¡°In theory yes. We noticed that the pheromone appears to have little effect on those already pregnant. Therefore, in theory, tricking the body into thinking it is pregnant should do the trick.¡±
Countryman nodded, ¡°That makes sense, and it is something we already know how to do. I can approve a trial right now.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
They both frowned and shook their heads, ¡°Not quite that simple, anymore. That is with Humans. Our physiology is a good deal more complex and has developed redundancies the human body never had. Not to mention more robust, and most important is our immune system.
¡°With humans, the preferred method is with an implant, but with us, that won¡¯t work. Our bodies aggressively attack anything foreign to itself. It doesn¡¯t matter if it is biological or technological, the immune system will attack it. Not to mention with all the little changes to our physiology, we can no longer be certain which treatments are still effective.¡±
The younger one interjected, ¡°We do have a few treatments in mind to test, but ...¡±
Countryman seeing where this is going, interrupted, ¡°Let me guess. Since I am the only person on the ship with implants, and as I haven¡¯t rejected those implants, you want to study me.¡±
She nodded shyly, and the other one confirmed, ¡°We would like to take a few scans, and a blood sample yes. Even that little bit of data could prove enlightening.¡±
He sighed, ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary. My bio data is already in the system, just not on the mainframe. Given the importance of your project, I¡¯ll see about getting you clearance for it. Just a word of warning, you might find your selves roped into a classified project if you actually succeed in making a viable implant with it.¡±
The younger one gave him a look, and said, ¡°Your bio data is classified!? Why!?¡±
The older one sighed, and looked down, ¡°I suspected that might be the case.¡±
The younger one gave her a look too. ¡°You knew!!?¡±
She replied, ¡°I suspected. I didn¡¯t know for sure until just now, though.¡±
Countryman interjected, ¡°Cyborgs like myself, while not always welcome, were in high demand in certain fields. We make excellent researchers and great soldiers. In the seat of a fighter, cyborgs are unmatched. We weren¡¯t widespread for two major reasons one was because a large number of people disapproved of cybernetic augmentation, even in the military. Today we don¡¯t have that kind of backlash, but as you noticed our bodies reject implants. Makes using them complicated. The other factor limiting the spread of cybernetics is cost. Cybernetic augmentation is sadly not cheap.¡±
The older researcher nodded, ¡°that lines up with what I remember. I can guess what the other project is for, and why they needed your biodata. We could use any advantage we can get.¡±
¡°That we can. Now is there anything else, you need to report about the pheromone project?¡±
She smiled, ¡°Yes, as I said the first item was a stopgap. We think the only way to permanently solve the problem is with genetic engineering, but that could take years. It''s the kind of thing we have to be careful with. Just look at ¡®The Storm.¡¯ We solved our radiation problem with genetic engineering, and that led to a mutation problem.
¡°Thankfully this time we have a stopgap to help us, and the problem isn¡¯t life-threatening. We have the time to do this right.¡±
Countryman sighed, ¡°We have the time, but our resources are stretched thin. I¡¯ll see what I can do about the budget for that.¡±
¡°Back up a bit, that theory you were working on. It sounds important.¡±
Arlie nodded, ¡°Important yes, but not immediately. It would later play an important role in laying out the groundwork for our signature weapon, the Phased Plasma Beam Cannon. Commonly referred to as the PPB. PPBs replaced Phase Lances and were devastatingly effective weapons. Although it would not be until 310 SDE that a successful prototype was created.¡±
¡°But you are already laying out the groundwork, and its only 82 SDE!¡±
She gave the two a look, and said, ¡°True, but it would be years before we actually got to work on proving the theory, and we faced a few setbacks. However, while I said successful, there were earlier working prototypes. They just never made it to the production phase.¡±
¡°Earlier prototypes? Why didn¡¯t they make it to production?¡±
¡°Same reason most projects are scrapped, flaws cropped up in the testing phase. Now let¡¯s get back to the story, we have a battle to check in on.¡±
The ship shuddered under the force of a heavy disruptor barrage. Being engaged by four dreadnoughts and their escorts at once was taxing the armor, and really testing the limits of her ship, the Bastion.
A moment later, several arrays lit up brightly in the void and vibrant blue energy streams cut across the void. With impressive force they slammed into the side of a cruiser whose shields were failing. The glowing barrier flickered briefly before collapsing. The armor and hull melted as the beams cut a path of destruction through the ship and out into the void. Several small flashes indicated internal detonations.
As the arrays powered down to cycle, the detonations continued. Quickly followed by a few larger ones, as the ship tore itself apart. Given the heavy damage it had previously received, and where her officers had targeted the beam weapons she had expected that.
Several ships returned fire, a few missed entirely. Other beams found their mark, and her ship shuddered under the impact of another barrage. ¡°AIF integrity has dropped below fifteen percent!¡±
Kirk was not comfortable with that, but at the moment she was buying time. Mainly for the carrier, her escort cruiser was already moving again. As for the rest of the taskforce, they had regrouped and were attempting to draw forces off of the Bastion with little success.
Speaking of the taskforce, they were down in strength. Several destroyers and a cruiser had been lost before she had even arrived. Sinking those ships had cost the collective though. There was plenty of wreckage here already, and her current course would take her near the floating wreck of a Cylovan cruiser, and a cloud of debris from a Refuge destroyer. Both being ships that sank before her ship arrived on the scene. Those wrecks could prove useful, and she knew a little trick that could extend the life of the AIF a little longer. Not to mention, a second taskforce was about to arrive. She just had to keep them busy for another five minutes. No problem at all.
Chapter LXIV The Cylovan Conflict part Twenty-two: (Battle Tricks)
The Bastion shuddered under another impact, but her armor held. A moment later, a large chunk of wreckage blocked the angle of fire. Providing a brief, if partial reprieve from the assault. Kirk knew it wasn¡¯t enough, but it would help a little. Especially since now was a perfect time for a little trick she had learned.
¡°Shut down all weapon banks, and divert the capacitors to the hull plating,¡± she barked.
Shutting down the weapons was risky, but the weapon bank capacitors stored massive amounts of energy. Shunting that energy to the AIF generators would allow for a rapid recovery of AIF integrity. Thereby extending how long her ship¡¯s heavy armor could hold up under the current bombardment. This came at the cost of firepower though. All of her energy weapon batteries would be left starved for power until the reactors could recharge the capacitors. That would take a few minutes, but she could make do with torpedoes in the meantime. It would only take the reactors three minutes to recharge the capacitors to minimal levels with current energy allocations.
As green energy beams slammed into the wreckage, her crew rushed to carry out her orders. She closely watched the readings. The wreckage vaporized with each blast from the hostile Cylovan ships. She wasn¡¯t too worried about the beams coming from the escorts though. What she was truly worried about was the four remaining dreadnoughts.
Before the wreckage broke apart, her engineering officer finally reported. ¡°All weapon banks offline. Hull plating restored to fifty-three percent.¡±
She glanced at the screens. Reinforcements were roughly four minutes out, and her main weapons would be down for the next three. That was going to limit how much damage she could do in the meantime, but she did need to keep those ships busy. The longer they were busy, the better for the task force she was protecting. Although honestly her biggest worry was the four dreadnoughts. By now she was pretty sure that she could win any one-on-one engagement with the much larger Cylovan Dreadnoughts, but four of them were trouble. If they turned on the taskforce now, they could easily inflict heavy casualties in the short time remaining. Something they might do if the Cylovans determined that her threat level had dropped.
Kirk took in the tactical display, noting current ship positions. It was time to do something drastic. Ramming would qualify, but she didn¡¯t think they could meet the energy requirements to do it safely. While never attempted in battle, simulations had already been conducted. Modulating the beam or radiation shields to produce an effect similar to the shield modulators on their torpedoes was possible, and would allow for shield penetration. Especially if contact coincided with a focused bombardment at the point of contact. If their AIF fields were focused triple front, and SIF fields overloaded to 120% of normal. The ship would be able to survive a relativistic impact with another vessel with minimal damage. The crew would be a different story, but she didn¡¯t have the power reserves to protect the crew and ram a vessel in this manner.
She would have to do something else. Fortunately, she did have something in mind, but she needed to enter close to point-blank range to do it. Well, not actually point-blank, but close enough. This was also something never attempted before, but possible in theory. Warp fields were notorious for the fact that they created a bubble of highly distorted space around a ship. Any matter that attempted to cross the boundary of the field would be ripped apart. Rapidly reduced to dust-like specks with their velocities randomized in the process. It also made energy weapons highly inaccurate as the distorted space could also randomize the velocity of any beam passing through the field. Factors that further complicated targeting a ship traveling at warp. Between the speed of the ship and the field, it was a tricky proposition at the best of times. FTL inhibitors were therefore the prime choice.
Those inhibitors prevented the formation of a stable warp field, thereby preventing a ship from reaching warp velocities. An unstable field would collapse relatively quickly, but a warp field inhibitor by no means prevents a ship from forming a field. Normal safety protocols would however cancel it when a field is detected as unstable. Kirk was going to disable those, and attempt to generate an unstable warp field at close range. Being unstable the field would be far more dangerous than a stable one, but if she modified the ships handling protocols she could minimize the risks to her ship. The Cylovan one on the other hand would likely suffer major damage. There was a reason ships tended to keep a distance from each other before making the jump to warp. However, it was possible for ships in close proximity to merge their warp fields. Something that required a fair amount of communication between computers, and had a few advantages.
Kirk¡¯s mind did not dwell on those, but instead focused on how to use a theory for decisive action. Already playing out in her mind the actions needed to close the distance to a dreadnought, and activate the warp engines. With the right protocols engaged an unstable field would engulf part of the dreadnought inflicting severe damage. If they were lucky it would also disrupt the ship¡¯s shields. Leaving it open for a devastating torpedo barrage. Her targeting computers knew enough about Cylovan ships by now to ensure those hits did major damage. The ship losing shields wasn¡¯t needed though. It would just be preferable, as it would increase the number of torpedoes that would reach the hull. For this to work, they needed as many hits to the hull as they could get. AMF torpedoes were powerful, but Cylovan ships were quite resilient.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
It had taken Kirk mere seconds to go over all that data and formulate a plan. Just as the wreckage began to break up, a few beams began to strike her armored hull again. Thankfully with minimal effect. She gave the order for a course change. As the ship changed course, she glanced at the power display and waited as the distance numbers changed.
Beam after beam raked over the hull, but they did not return fire. With the beam weapons offline, every shot from the torpedo launchers counted double. She held off until the distance numbers were just right then she shouted, her orders for a second course change, and a pulse detonation.
Her helm acknowledged, and everyone else braced for a sudden rapid acceleration. As their new course took them on a near-collision course with one of the Cylovan dreadnoughts. The moment they slowed to normal cruising speed less than ten Kilometers from the dreadnought in question, she gave the order.
The Bastion suddenly generated an unstable warp field. With the hostile dreadnought inside the field it was suddenly exposed to a sudden spatial sheer. Her outer hull disintegrated, as spatial sheer gradients tore it apart. Her shields flickered and failed, moments before the Bastion¡¯s warp field collapsed.
In the next moment, the Bastion fired a barrage of glowing blue bolts from her aft launchers. Thirty torpedoes slammed into the damaged dreadnought one after the other. Each one exploded with significant destructive force, and the ship was torn apart by the subsequent detonations. A sudden shockwave rippled out from the ship, and shook the Bastion.
Another volley of beams rippled over her hull, and someone shouted out, ¡°Hull plating at 37%, captain.¡±
She didn¡¯t like that, but then she glanced at her display. Their beam weapons were coming back online now. Kirk smirked. ¡°Tactical, target the dreadnought bearing 147 mark 24, all batteries maximum firepower, continuous fire¡±
The officer at tactical followed her commands with glee in her expression. As that ship had also been hit by the shockwave of her sister ship exploding, and her shields were under fifty percent strength.
The hull of the Bastion lit up, as beam after beam of intense violet energy rippled from the hull. One after the other. The intense particle streams slammed into their target with deadly force. Her shields flared brightly as they tried to absorb the energy, but a portion of it penetrated. Tearing deep furrows into the alien hull. Systems failed. The shields held for a moment or two, but failed after too many emitters had been vaporized.
The beams tore deeper into the hull, shredding it. Vaporizing power conduits, drones and systems. One of the beams in the barrage must have hit something important, as secondary explosions started to light up the hull of the dreadnought. When the dust cleared there was nothing left but a cloud of debris.
¡°Target destroyed, Captain!¡± Kirk smiled, she managed to attract the attention of the entire Cylovan fleet. The task force was being ignored, and while her weapon banks were now overheating, Kirk knew the reinforcements were about to arrive.
Sure enough one of her officers reported, as the ship shuddered under the impact on another beam weapon hit, ¡°Sir, multiple warp signatures detected. Our reinforcements have arrived.¡±
It seemed they were not the only ones to see the new arrivals. The Cylovans immediately began to retreat. Multiple Cylovan ships warped out, they had won the battle.
Deep space, three hours later:
The Collective scout ship came out of warp. They had detected a strange reading moments ago. It was probably nothing as this region of Collective space was known for spatial anomalies, but there was something odd about this particular reading. The ship began a full sensor scan of the area, and the scout ship detected something.
The ship focused its full sensors on an object about thirty thousand kilometers from its position. It was a ship, and not just any ship. The Collective recognized the energy signature and design. It was a light cruiser belonging to species 11257. The ship had taken heavy damage, but was intact.
A quick analysis of the sensor data indicated the ship had run afoul of a spatial rift. Inflicting severe damage to the outer hull, and quite a bit of internal damage as well. The normal shielding the species 11257 employed had failed, and the Collective had a clear sensor image of the ship, and could clearly scan the interior for the first time.
The scout ship directed a full scan of the ship, and began to beam all of the data it received back to the collective. Even as its sensors told it that ship¡¯s main reactor was building to overload. The ship was clearly about to self-destruct. Any data the collective received however would be invaluable. Already more information had been obtained on 11257¡¯s technology from this one scan than had been obtained in the last five years. Perhaps enough to devise effective weaponry against 11257.
Chapter LXV The Cylovan Conflict Final Part
¡°The Deployment of the Bastion led to a number of quick victories, but that was short-lived. As the Collective was beginning to understand our armor technology. They began to develop weapons that could more reliably inflict damage. Forcing a shift in the conflict. Three months after that battle, we were forced to switch to a more limited raiding campaign. However, despite that shift, we remained effective at inflicting considerable damage to the Collective for decades. Always one step ahead of them, thanks to our superior stealth technology. Technology we capitalized on and continuously improved. That was, until a certain fateful battle. One that surprised us.¡±
April 13th, 113 SDE; Starship Enterprise, sector 33117, 277 lightyears from the Galactic edge, galactic quadrant three:
Countryman stared at the latest reports. They had suffered a number of defeats lately. Resources were running low in a number of key areas, and as such the main fleet was currently on the move again looking for a region rich with the materials needed to reinforce. The fleet was in desperate need of new ships, especially those outfitted with Adamantium laced armor. While expensive, the Adamantium lacing greatly enhanced the resilience of any ship equipped with it. To the point that they went ahead and enhanced both cityships with the plating scheme. They were the only ships they could not afford to lose in this conflict.
Kirk¡¯s recent raid on E-257 Gamma however did provide them with much-needed fuel and supplies however. As such it wasn¡¯t all bad on the reports. The medical department had another update on the Pheromone problem. Even after all these years they had not yet solved the problem. They did have a promising lead though. In the meantime, the stopgap measures were proving effective at keeping things under control, so the lack of a permanent solution wasn¡¯t problematic yet. They had more pressing problems to worry about.
He glanced at a fleet readiness report. Across the fleet most ships were running low on torpedoes. Most of the carriers were running low on fighter munitions, and were operating at half capacity. A number of cruisers, and destroyers had returned from their last missions with damage that had not yet been fully repaired.
Discounting ships that were too badly damaged to fight. They had seven Kingdom class carriers, and twelve of the newer Empire class carrier. The Empire class had been designed to replace the Kingdom class carriers. While effective, the Kingdom carriers had proven too vulnerable, and lacked direct ship to ship weaponry. The Empire class was slightly larger, but sported a significantly improved armor layout, and her internal structure had been greatly enhanced compared to the Kingdom class. Empire class carriers also supported several more anti-ship batteries than her predecessor. All done without significantly impacting fighter capacity. In fact it was actually increased, by about eight hundred fighters. Since they were first deployed fourteen years, ago the Empire class carriers had performed admirably
The Fleet currently had nearly sixty Battlehawk class cruisers available. Fourteen of which sported Neutronium laced Overlord Hull Plating (configuration D). The Class hadn¡¯t changed much since the Bastion refit in 082, but improvements had been made over the years. The last refit to the class had been two years ago in 111 SDE, which included improvements to the beam shields that were added to the class in the Bastion Refit. Right now in addition to those fourteen configuration D Battlehawks, he also had thirty configuration A Battlehawks, six Configuration C, and ten configuration B battlehawks.
Approximately twenty Star Knight class light cruisers were on vanguard deployment missions, but ten of the class remained with the fleet available for missions. Right now there were also two hundred and twelve Saber class Destroyers. The Saber Class had undergone a major refit in 084, updating the class to what was now called the Bastion spec. Two variants of the destroyer class now existed, configurations A, and B.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Configuration A was just the general combat update, featuring enhanced beam weapons, improved launcher configurations, updated armor, and improvements to the engines. While Configuration B was the heavy combat variant featuring Adamantium Lattice armor. Only thirty Saber class destroyers were available in configuration B. The most notable improvement to the class however was the ship¡¯s hanger. In both configurations, the designers of the refit were able to enlarge the main shuttlebay. The refit allowed both Saber class configurations to dock two LPC corvettes, and a squadron of 1204 starfighters. A feature that added quite a bit of flexibility to the class.
Also on the list were the Firebird class Birds of Prey. They were specialized stealth attack frigates at their core, and served as skirmish ships in the general line of battle. Outfitting them with adamantium was not worth the cost, as it was with larger ship classes. They were however, subject to a major refit in 084, and the last refit was in 112 SDE. A little over a thousand Firebirds were combat ready.
It sounded extensive, but it wasn¡¯t the entirety of the fleet. He only hoped the Avenger and her battlegroup were in better shape. They had lost contact a month ago, after the Avenger broke off to lead a group deep into a sector that seemed promising for resupplying the fleet. They did find a few worlds, but were cut off from the rest of the fleet by advancing Cylovan forces. They escaped, but not long after that they lost contact. Countryman did know that they had managed at least a partial resupply before the Cylovans stumbled upon their fleet group.
Suddenly the lights turned red, and alarms sounded. ¡°All hands to Battlestations.¡± came over the speakers.
He set aside the reports, and made his way to the bridge. Hopefully this was just a patrol that stumbled upon them. To this day, the Collective had been unable to detect their ships at long-range. Only when they got close were they able to penetrate their stealth fields. There were quite a few Collective vessels patrolling this region, and that came as little surprise given they were deep within Collective space. It was why they were flying such an erratic course. To avoid patrols, and it usually worked, but every once in a while a patrol would successfully locate them.
Countryman stepped onto the bridge, and Greyman immediately reported, ¡°Sir, we have detected multiple incoming Cylovan Battlegroups on long-range sensors. Based on their course they will intercept us in twelve minutes.¡±
¡°Alter course,¡±
¡°We already tried, and before you ask. I had engineering remodulate the stealth fields three times already. It has had no effect. Somehow, the Cylovans can see us.¡±
He cursed. Then he ordered, ¡°as soon as they get into range, run an extensive scan of their sensor arrays. We will keep an eye out for boarding opportunities, as well. Any information we get will be useful.¡±
Greyman remarked, ¡°On the flipside, the incoming fleet does represent a chance to resupply.¡±
¡°That it does, but we should be cautious.¡±
¡°What followed was the first of many battles that would be fought over the next few years. After each battle we would remodulate, and be invisible for a period. However it would not take the collective long to adapt, and another battle would ensue. Having lost our ability to pick and choose our battles, the Collective steadily wore us down. We began to lose more and more ships.
¡°The Collective however, could not bring us down in one engagement, and we would ultimately elude them. Both the Avenger, and the Enterprise took separate routes, and escaped Collective space. The First to escape would be the Enterprise and her group. Despite having fewer resources, and being deeper in Collective space.¡±
¡°How did that happen?¡±
¡°By doing something with hyperwarp technology that the Collective could not. Although what we did, did not go unnoticed. We were detected, and a battle ensued. One of the most important battles in our history. A battle that was fought at the edge of the galaxy.¡±
Part Two Epilogue January 3rd, 117 SDE
Countryman leaned back against his command chair. The last week had been pleasantly peaceful for once. The fleet was running low on expendable munitions to the point that they had implemented torpedo conservation measures. Captains were under orders to conserve their torpedoes whenever possible. As for fuel, they had burned through over half their reserves in repeated engagements over the last few months. Thankfully they still had enough fuel in the tanks for what they were planning. The Collective did not consider an intergalactic jump to be possible, but his calculations showed that Refuge ships were capable of making such a jump. It would take a significant amount of power, and drain the capacitors to below minimal levels. However, they could open a hyperwarp conduit of that range.
The Collective, however, could not. Leaving the galaxy therefore would allow them to go somewhere that they could not be followed. Not for centuries anyway. The Collective did not have the power capacity or generation to generate the needed conduit. However, The Refuge did.
In his mind, he double-checked their inventory. He wanted to be sure that they had the supplies they would need. The journey between galaxies was no small undertaking. Not only did it take a massive amount of energy just to make the jump, but the trip would take several months. They were talking about over a year in deep hyperspace with no chance of resupply. Not something to be considered lightly, but a year in hyperspace did not seem too bad. They had spent fifty before.
¡°Sir, we have reached the designated coordinates.¡±
¡°Any sign of Cylovan activity?¡±
¡°No, sir.¡±
¡°Good. Let¡¯s hope it stays that way.¡± he really did, their battle-scarred fleet didn¡¯t need another attack from the Cylovans.
His officers concurred. Countryman surveyed their viewscreens. Beyond the walls of the ship was a nebula. One they hoped would shield them from the sensors of the Cylovan fleet. Even if it did not, it would give them an advantage. Cylovan shields would be weakened within this nebula. The high electrostatic energy of this plasma nebula also made the whole jumping galaxy things possible. Without it, their current energy reserves would be insufficient to make the jump. It cut the fuel costs they expected to expend by half.
¡°Contact Richards in engineering...¡± he began. As he listed out the initial orders for the jump. Their jump coordinates had already been preselected. It was an unnamed star system on the outer edges of an uncharted dwarf galaxy. The estimated travel time was going to be about fourteen months. At least it will be a peaceful fourteen months. Even if the Cylovans did attack, and followed them through the conduit, neither the Refuge nor the Cylovans would be able to fire on the other. Weapons did not function in the conduit. Well, torpedoes would, but that would be ill-advised. An explosion could destabilize the conduit, destroying everything in the conduit. Kinetic weapons would be prefered for combat inside a hyperwarp conduit, but that still remained risky. They couldn¡¯t afford to risk something proving volatile, and detonating on impact. It could destabilize the conduit, and likely destroy both fleets. Unless the Cylovans proved suicidal, no conflict would happen for fourteen months, and he knew from experience that they tended not to be suicidal. They would freely expend fighter craft, but they tended to be more protective of their capital ships.
Cylovan Patrol Cruiser 117 Lightyears from the Enterprise:
The cruiser was on a regular patrol near the galactic rim. Normally this sector would have been lightly patrolled as it was so far from any known alien colony. In recent years that had changed due to species 11257, and their tendency to strike deep into Cylovan territory. The Collective had lost a number of important colonies to orbital glassing until they ramped up the patrols. Even with them, they occasionally lost a valuable colony, shipyard, or other facility. As even with patrols they could not always detect a strike force belonging to 11257. The stealth fields employed by species 11257 were very effective at rendering their ships invisible to long-range sensors. The Collective had devised a method of penetrating the screen, but it was unreliable. As 11257 had already adapted their screens to account for it. As such detection had become a constant war of adaptation, and reaction. Thankfully the collective wasn¡¯t prone to the organic emotion of frustration.
At the moment, the ship was cycling the sensors in the latest attempt to penetrate 11257¡¯s latest adaptation. Suddenly, an energy signature appeared on long-range sensors. Beyond the normal detection range of the ship¡¯s sensors. The spike was absolutely massive and propagating through hyperspace. It was a hyperwarp signature, but the energy levels were more than a thousand times what was required to open a conduit.
The collective quickly analyzed the signature. It belonged to species 11257. The signature originated in grid 997-42, near the galactic edge. Inside an electrostatic plasma nebula. An anomaly most, including the Collective, would rightly avoid. The highly charged plasma would drain shields, and destroy unshielded ships in short order. The Collective was not surprised 11257 would enter it, however. They had no reason to avoid it. If anything, the Nebula was a natural fuel source to them. Their armor would not be drained by the intensely violent nebula. If anything it would be strengthened by it. Because of that, it wasn¡¯t all that unusual for species 11257 to frequent regions of space anyone else would consider inhospitable.
The Collective considered its response for a moment. It could ignore the signature, but that didn¡¯t seem wise. The last time it had ignored a hyperwarp signature from 11257 it had lost an entire star system. 11257 had somehow used a hyperwarp conduit to destabilize a star causing it to generate a massive hyperspatial shock pulse. Destroying every planet, ship, and starbase in the system. Only thing left intact by the pulse was the star itself, and any ship that managed to jump out before the pulse hit. It lost four colonies, a major shipyard, and nearly a thousand capital ships that day. That was nine years ago, and it had not allowed them to repeat that. Not unaccosted anyway. They had managed to repeat the performance again, three times eight years ago, and twice five years ago. Perhaps they were once again trying to do it, but this time they were using the nebula in some way to enhance their range? In any case, their ability to do this did make it highly likely that they were responsible for a certain incident that happened over 40 years ago. There was of course the possibility that 11257 was attempting a long-range jump, but the energy levels seemed way too high for that. In fact they were so high, the Collective was surprised. 11257 did not have the power generation to get these levels, and even factoring in the nebula the energy was insufficient for the observed data. Then again, 11257 had somehow surpassed it in hyperwarp technology. It knew they stole the knowledge from it, but much of what they did with it was beyond the Collective¡¯s understanding.
Orders were sent. All available fleets were immediately redirected to those coordinates. They could not be allowed to destroy another system. Too many worlds had already been glassed, too many shipyards razed. As it was, the Collective had taken so much damage in this conflict that it would be centuries before it could recover. It knew it had finally worn its opponent down. However, they had already inflicted so much damage that it barely had the resources to keep fighting them.
The jump was proceeding to schedule when suddenly Misaki looked up from the operations console, ¡°Sir! Long range sensors have picked up multiple incoming Cylovan vessels from every vector.¡±
Countryman sighed. He wanted to say that this was unexpected but it wasn¡¯t. Clearly, it was too much to ask for the nebula to shield them from Cylovan sensors. Not with the level of energy they were actively working with. ¡°Battlestations! Alert all ships to defend the Enterprise.¡±
Greyman interjected, ¡°Sir, I must point out that our defensive systems will be diminished...¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
He cut him off. ¡°I know!¡±
They really would be diminished alright. Unless they transferred power away from the hyperwarp drive, but at this point in time they really couldn¡¯t do that. The entirety of main power was currently devoted to the drive, which only left him auxiliary power to work with. In normal operating conditions that was more than acceptable, but for a battle it left them vulnerable. He already knew which defensive systems he wanted to prioritize. The beam weapons and torpedoes would be the only weapon systems they would need. The other weapons could be left unpowered. That would give him more power to focus into the hull plating, and beam shields.
They did not have long before the Cylovans arrived. By then he had already positioned his ships in a defensive sphere around the Enterprise. He placed the Empire class carriers towards the center of that sphere so that they could better provide support where needed. The seven remaining of the older Kingdom class were placed into two mobile response squadrons along with most of his remaining active destroyers. Kirk¡¯s Bastion was the flag of the rear guard where Countryman expected the Cylovan attack to be thickest, she had the majority of the remaining Heavy cruisers under her command.
The rest of the active heavy cruisers were positioned to respond to other angles of attack. The Enterprise wasn¡¯t the only ship they needed to protect, just the most important. He had a number of badly damaged ships positioned near the Enterprise. Ships that would not hold up long in battle. They might be able to do some damage, but it was best if they were kept in the center with the Enterprise, alongside the industrial ships.
The Cylovan attack came swiftly, several cruisers and dreadnoughts dropped out of warp at close range. Almost immediately they opened fire on any target in range. Within seconds space was lit up as blue and green energy was exchanged between the two forces. It was a brilliant display of firepower.
At first, the Refuge formation held, not giving an inch. They managed to destroy several Cylovan ships without losing any of their own. This was more due to the very aggressive attack strategy the Cylovans were employing more than anything else. Dropping out of warp so close to the fleet gave them a chance to fire quickly, but it also cost them. As for a brief moment they were vulnerable. It didn¡¯t help that the Nebula itself gave the defenders an advantage. Serving to both weaken Cylovan shields, and to strengthen Refuge armor.
Soon enough however the nebula was full of Cylovan ships. Their fighters quickly outnumbered refuge fighter craft nearly a hundred to one. As thirty Cylovan dreadnoughts and their escorts engaged the beleaguered force.
Kirk¡¯s ship shuddered under a hit from the nearby dreadnought. She gave the order to return fire. Vibrant purple beams slammed into the dreadnought and carved into the hull. The nebula was working its magic on disrupting the Cylovan shields. Allowing more energy from her overcharged cannons to tear into the hull. It¡¯s size, and the thick armor the vessel sported, helped it absorb the impact, unfortunately.
Her officers shouted up reports about general ship status. Nothing to worry about though. Hull plating was holding, weapons were optimal, and the task group was in pretty good shape. Mostly.
¡°Sir. One of the dreadnoughts got past us. It¡¯s heading straight for the Enterprise.¡±
¡°Ignore it. Focus on the ones still here. Let the Kingdom¡¯s task force take care of it.¡± Left unsaid was the part about how that was what they were there for. They weren¡¯t going to stop every ship. As it is, a large number of fighters had already slipped past their line, and they were dog fighting closer to the Enterprise already.
Her officers nodded. Moments later, they fired again on the dreadnought they had fired on moments before.
As the battle raged more ships eventually slipped by, especially as Refuge ships were damaged and forced to regroup at a secondary line.
The ship shuddered under the impact of a barrage from two dreadnoughts.
¡°Hull plating failing captain!¡±
He knew that. On screen he watched one of his fellow carriers go up. An energy beam lacerated one of her lateral fighter bays. Something exploded, and the entire ship soon followed. They had responded to the fighting going badly in this section, and then two new damned dreadnoughts arrived.
The captain gave the order. ¡°Abandon ship.¡±
The officers worriedly repeated it before rushing to the escape pods. There were still a few escorting destroyers available to pick them up. He did not follow. He knew his ship, she was going down, but she still had some fight in her. He manned the tactical. Manually diverting what energy was left to keep the plating barely alive. Then he targeted the closer of the attacking dreadnoughts and returned fire.
Vibrant blue beams slammed into its hull, one after another. Each one penetrated the shields and carved into its armor. He must have gotten lucky and hit something vital, as there was an explosion that ripped the giant vessel open like an egg being cracked. Drawing their attention. More ships opened fire on his dying carrier. Buying vital time for the rest of the ships to fall back and regroup. The captain proved to be the only casualty when the SFS Kingdom finally went down ten minutes later.
Countryman stared at his screens. The battle didn¡¯t seem to be going well. His ships had just fallen back a second time condensing the sphere further. Enemy ships were already entering weapons range of the Enterprise, but they were almost there. Conduit stability had reached eighty percent a few more minutes and they would be able to make the jump.
The ship shuddered as a beam raked over the hull,
Kaori reported, ¡°Hull plating is holding, no damage.¡±
That was assuming they could keep the Enterprise intact long enough to finish stabilizing their intergalactic conduit.
He gave the order to return fire on the ship that fired at them. It was a dreadnought. Vibrant blue energy lanced through the nebula. The energetic phased particles punched through its shields, and tore deep into its hull. The beam did not destroy the ship, but a section of the dreadnought¡¯s shields failed as power was lost to several sections of shield emitters. Instantly exposing the hull to the dangers of an electrostatic nebula. The hull quickly began to corrode, her armor unable to withstand it the way Refuge armor could. Several nearby destroyers took advantage of the failing shield to unleash their payloads into the dreadnought. The ship exploded under the combined onslaught of several ships. It was a minor victory in the scheme of things, but it bought them more time. Time they needed considering the ships they had already lost.
The ship shuddered under an impact. An officer called out a hull breach, and Countryman smiled as he saw the conduit stability. They could make the jump now, and it was just in time too. His hull plating was starting to fail, and they had taken several hull breaches. The Bastion was nearby taking the brunt of it, but he didn¡¯t think Kirk¡¯s ship could keep them off the Enterprise much longer.
They had done it. The fleet had taken its licks, but they had managed to destroy enough ships to buy the time they needed. He gave the order, ¡°All ships prepare to jump.¡±
Ahead of him several destroyers, the most damaged of their class entered the conduit first followed by a few sidelined cruisers. Then the Enterprise made the jump.
Kirk sighed with relief as she saw the Enterprise enter the conduit. The whirling blue portal that would lead them to safety. She glanced at her displays. Hull plating was holding forty one percent. It should be enough. She gave the order.
¡°Reposition the taskforce, we are to hold the final line. Buy the fleet time to jump.¡±
In good spirits the crew responded. She didn¡¯t blame them. Seeing the Enterprise escape had been good for morale. She had been worried for a moment, but she knew they were going to pull through now.
Not long after, the Bastion was the last ship through. Successfully keeping the remaining Cylovans from the fleet as they made the jump safely. In fourteen months they would be in another galaxy, safe from the Cylovans. The Cylovans, however, followed them through the conduit minutes later. Eight dreadnoughts and their escorts.
Post-Completion Update
Hey guys and girls! I have great news for those who have been patiently waiting for an update on this fiction.
I have finally reached the point where I am ready to begin posting the rewrite for NS, now retitled Chronicles of Sol. It will be posting on both SH, and RR. I plan for weekly updates, with several fairly rapid updates for the first few days it is up, starting tomorrow. Today only the prologue is available right now. Do check it out, feedback is quite welcome. I have included the link below. Along with a link to my Patreon. Do consider checking it out, and even joining. Your support will help me produce more content for you, more quickly, and advanced chapters for some of my stories is available there. Along with bonus content for some of my stories.
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