There were also non-humans present. They were the reptilian aliens called serpents by the Romani and it was thought their language could never be mastered by humans. For three hundred years, this was the case, until Tavia Marshal, as a teenager, took the time to work with them and was able to learn it. She and her husband now spend their spare time with cross species language classes. By a fluke of circumstances, Tavia Marshal spent the better part of a day as the World Mother of the serpents and was thus the ruler of all serpents throughout the galaxy. Because of this, serpents will always stop and salute her whenever they see her. A close friend of Tavia Marshal is a serpent named Sly, who is the current World Mother of the serpents. Tavia’s constant companion is a serpent she calls Hatch. She had saved Sly and Hatch from an assassin and had their undying gratitude, and that of their entire species. All of this despite her young age of twenty-three. Her husband Bill was the leader of a rapid deployment force assigned to the new battleship. The Romani civilization was based on the old Earth Roman Republic and it used its military arrangement. The battleship carried a legion of 6000 troops divided into ten cohorts of 600 each, which in turn were divided into six centuries of one hundred each. Each century was commanded by a centurion. The centurion of the first century of each cohort, commanded the cohort. The primary centurion of the first cohort was the combat commander of the entire legion. This was Bill Marshal’s rank. He was the combat commander of the newly formed LEG CELERI legion, a mixed human and serpent force. Because of his past service, he was now the youngest Legionary commander in the Romani military.
The rest of the dinner party consisted of the friends of the Slones, who were also the bridge crew of the new battleship. They were Tom and Diana Gardner, who lived in a wing of the lake house and, their son was less than a year older than the Slone’s daughter was. They were sitting with Roger Umgabe, who was sitting with his fiancée. She was a legionary of the tenth legion, who was then transferred to the LEG CELERI. The last of the friends present was Paul McMann. He was a social loner, by choice. He preferred the company of the celestial spheres to that of planets and cities. Alaya Slone just felt he hadn’t met the right person yet. The Slones and their friends were the only survivors of an incident that happened a decade before and resulted in the death of Christopher Slone’s entire crew and the destruction of the Star Cruiser SS Hayden of the Sinclair Corporation. Alaya was the stepdaughter of Horatio Sinclair and her stepfather, whom she adored, was willing to sacrifice her life for a business deal. The resultant measures he used to cover up his actions, drove him mad and he died alone and miserable a few years ago. Many may not believe it, however, at the dinner table in the large home of Christopher and Alaya Slone sat some of the most powerful humans and non-humans in the galaxy.
Sadly, there was another person in the room. She was a frail, young woman who looked sad all the time. She used to harbor an inner joy and love of life that had been drained from her. Ann Stout was in her late twenties and knew Alaya in her old life as part of the Sinclair family. Ann’s father was a trusted vice president and confidant of Horatio Sinclair. When Ann and her husband confronted her father with Horatio’s sins, rather than being appalled, he knew about them. When they threatened to make those sins public, Ann’s own father shot her and her husband, Greg. The Romani were able to save Ann, but not the love of her life. Between the betrayal from her father and the death of Greg, all that was bright about Ann was drained from her. She lived with Alaya now, who takes care of all her needs, but the friend she knew may never return to her.
The final member of the group was new to the halls of power on Nova Romae. His name was Jack Dalton and his cover was that of a gambler. In reality, he was an agent of the Lagarde Corporation and brokered a trade agreement and non-aggression pact between his corporation and the Romani. At the request of the Romani, he became the Lagarde ambassador to Nova Romae and had become a friend of the Slones. He was also spending a lot of time with Larisa Teplov, whom he had fought next to during the capture of the Rising Star. As the dinner continued with much talk about adventures past, a discovery from the distant past was heading to Nova Romae, which would influence the future of the Romani and all humanity...
Chapter 1 – Testing and Analysis
As the dinner ended, the Consul Strabo said to his daughter, “Alaya, I have tickets to the latest rendition of Hamlet. I thought you and Christopher might like to join me in the Consular box.”
“Dad, I would love to, but I can tell you, Christopher would rather go to the dentist.” They both had a good laugh at that one. “I will make sure he joins us, he owes me some cultural time.”
“He may enjoy it,” Then Consul Strabo became more serious. “How is your friend Ann doing? She doesn’t seem much better to me.”
“I am hopeful. I do see some progress, but she just doesn’t seem interested in living. Greg was the love of her life, and to have her own father kill him, something in her just snapped. I have the military psychiatrists giving her intensive therapy, and she is slowly coming out of her shell. Nevertheless, the last few years have been touch and go.”
“I know how much she means to you,” Consul Strabo said to his daughter. “I did as you requested and put in her request for her inheritance with proof of her father’s death, after we retrieved his body and matched his DNA. Sinclair Corp sent the cash value of her estate to Petrovia, since they have no idea where Nova Romae is. I sent an escort to bring it here. I do hope she recovers. She is a very wealthy young woman. The total of her estate came to four and three quarter tons of gold.”
Christopher Slone had come back from chatting with some of the Petrovians in time to hear the size of the estate and let out a low whistle, “That is a lot of gold. She is one of the wealthiest people on Nova Romae. I do hope she recovers so she can enjoy it.”
They all nodded and then the rest of the dinner party came over and the discussion moved on. The evening was filled with merry making and enjoyment. Even the serpents had a good time. The party finally broke up in the wee hours of the night and all went home or to bed at the lake house. Before he left, the Consul Lorenzo came over to the Slones. As usual, he was dressed flamboyantly in bright colors and had his wide brimmed purple hat with the long feather, in his hands. That combined with his mustache and goatee and he had the look of an old Earth pirate. Juan Lorenzo leaned over to the Slones and said, “Come and see me aboard the Longinus tomorrow where we can talk privately.”
The Slones looked at each other and Alaya responded, “That sounds ominous. Anything we should be worried about?”
Lorenzo was quick to allay their concerns, “No, my friends, I think it will be more as a surprise.”
“Then we look forward to being surprised.”
After everyone left, the staff cleaned up and the live-in nurse took Ann back to her room. Alaya was always sad to see how the light of joy went out of Ann’s body and left her only a shell. She vowed to do what she could to get her friend back. After all was quiet and Olivia was long ago put to bed, the Slones finally turned in themselves.
The next morning they boarded their private shuttle and flew up to the military space dock. After receiving clearance, they entered the force field into the pressurized docking area. They were cleared to enter the hangar of the docked dreadnought Longinus. Most of the crew was on shore leave and there was only a skeleton crew aboard the vessel. Alaya brought the shuttle down and landed on the spot assigned by the deck crew. They exited the shuttle and asked the deck chief to notify Captain Lorenzo that they were onboard. They were quickly told to go to the Captain’s private quarters. They took the lift up to the top deck and went to Juan Lorenzo’s quarters. They requested entrance, which was granted, and Juan said, “Come in, my friends. Have a seat. I took the liberty of opening a fine bottle of red wine.”
The Slones looked at each other, “Well, Juan, now you have tickled our curiosity. To what do we owe this invitation?” Christopher asked.
“Have some wine then I will tel
l you what is happening.”
They got comfortable and had some of the excellent wine Juan Lorenzo had in his cellar, part of which he always kept on his flagship. When they had their first glass and he poured a second for each, he began, “Alaya, do you recall the crystals you brought to us from that methane moon in New Wales space?”
“Hard to forget it. I had to replace the table in the Mary Rose’s conference room. I hope we have been mining it.”
Lorenzo continued, “We have not only been mining it but we have also tested its capabilities. The good news is, we can build an energy weapon the size of a Gatling gun with the punch of a ship’s cannon.”
“Wow, that is impressive and no need for ammunition.” Alaya commented.
“Well, that is the bad part. Sinclair wanted the crystals to get ahead of the other corporations. Problem is that cannons are still better. The crystals are hard to mine and they do not work well with large size energy weapons. So far, the largest we can build is the size of a Gatling gun. It fires pulses of energy rapidly that hit and penetrate with the force of a cannon shell, but does not explode. So far, our tests show that they are devastating due to their penetration of the hull. However, the area of penetration is small and the weapon relies on rapid fire punches.”
This time Christopher interrupted, “Ok, you have my attention, so why are cannons still better?”
“Well, first their shells can detonate in the target. Second, they can fire as long as you have cannon shells available.”
This time Alaya interrupted, “So the energy weapons can fire as long as we have light to shine through the crystals.”
“No they can’t and I doubt even Sinclair got to the point of finding that out. We have discovered that to focus the crystals, they have to be packed into a metal cylinder that is placed in the breech of a gun with a light source behind the cylinder. The crystals will then focus the light into an intense energy pulse. Each time that happens, the crystals deteriorate a little. They are good for approximately one hundred bursts and then they are degraded below useful level. The cylinder must then be replaced, which means dismantling the breech of the gun and replacing them. In a combat situation, that can take about fifteen minutes. Add to that the fact that it is very hard to mine these crystals on that methane moon. The conditions there are atrocious. As you can see, my friends, Horatio Sinclair killed all of those people for nothing. Cannons will still be the primary ship weapons.” Lorenzo let that sink in then continued. “However, a small ship with turreted weapons could benefit from such a weapon. Therefore, Alaya, I would like to mount the prototypes in the turret of the Mary Rose in place of your cannons. How does that sound?”
Alaya gave it a moment then said, “I like it. She has only small cannons now. I think a ship like the corvette could hold up much better in a fight with a rapid fire gun that packs the punch of a ship cannon.”
“Excellent, I will have the techs mount them and you can test them. You will have as many crystal cartridges as we can make with our supply. Yours will be the only ship to get the weapons until we know their true capabilities.”
“Thank you, Juan. I and my crew will be honored.”
The rest of the visit was filled with small talk and the Slones left for home as the shipyard techs dismounted the cannons on the Mary Rose and replaced them with the first human energy weapons. Alaya’s scout ship would have the honor of testing the weapons. When the guns were mounted, the newly rebuilt NR Tempestas, the former Rising Star was ready for her shakedown cruise. It was decided to kill two birds with one stone and combine the missions. For the shakedown cruise, the Consul Lorenzo would be accompanying them as an observer aboard the Tempestas.
Christopher Slone had been keeping track of the rebuilding of his command. The battleship had evolved from a Q-Ship, meant to fool an enemy as it masqueraded as a cruise ship, into a complete ship of war. In its previous incarnation, the upper portion of the ship was dedicated to the illusion that it was a peaceful starliner, taking people on adventure cruises. Below this area were three gun decks and the combat portion of the ship. The new and improved battleship was now armored top and bottom. The bridge was still sitting on top of the bow with a 360-degree view. It had been rebuilt as an ellipse rather than the original circle. This allowed for a bridge twice the size of the original. The rear of the bridge led to a downward ramp into the officer’s quarters. Part of the upper decks now formed the officer’s quarters and some of the naval personnel barracks. The top part of the ship extending from the frill sail behind the bridge to the first amidships frill sail, had been cut away and fitted with retractable armored sides behind which were force fields. When the sides were retracted, the area could launch 20 serpent ships and the Mary Rose, which were all stationed on the ship. Deep in the center of the three gun decks was the heavily armored sickbay and children’s section. The lower portion of the ship held the rapid deployment legion of mixed humans and serpents. The original rear hangar deck was removed and turned into living and storage space. The forward hangar was enlarged and now held all of the ships needed by the legion for boarding or planetary landings. Since the ship held an entire legion, which meant there had to be space for 60 landing shuttles and 60 boarding shuttles as well as all of the craft needed for support. This meant the deck areas around the hangar were all given over to shuttle storage. A third generator room was also added between engineering and the forward generator. This was felt to be necessary to main life support at all costs. The final design was predominantly due to the work of Diana Gardner and her design would be used on the four additional battleships under construction. She was now back, with her husband, as part of the bridge crew of the Tempestas.
Slone stepped onto the bridge of his new command. His regular bridge crew and techs were all at their stations. They snapped to attention and when the Consul Lorenzo entered, they stood even straighter.
“As you were,” Slone said as he sat in the captain’s chair. His wife and the Consul stood together against the back wall of the bridge. “Paul, ask for clearance and move us clear of the shipping lanes, one quarter speed.” Slone said this to his navigator, Paul McMann.
“Yes, captain,” Paul responded and requested clearance, which was given. Slowly the massive battleship was pushed out of the docking area by repulsor tugs, whose job it was to push the larger vessels out of the docking area and to the force field separating the pressurized portion of the docks from outside space. Once the battleship was pushed through the force field, the tugs moved away and Slone could feel the vibrations as the engines came on. Just over 30 minutes later, they were clear of the shipping lanes and on their way to an outbound slipstream to an uninhabited system. That is where the test would take place.
“Paul, what is our transit time to the slipstream?” Slone asked.
“8 hours 13 minutes, captain.”
“Ok set the transit watch and let me know when we are an hour from the slipstream,” Slone now pressed the communication button on his console and contacted Diana Gardner in engineering. “Commander Gardner, how are we doing down there?”
The response was quick in coming, “Captain, the engines are running smooth and nominal. They’re not laboring in the least.”
“How are your improvements holding up?”
“So far so good, sir. I won’t really know until we open her up and run through some combat maneuvers.”
“Carry on, commander.”
Slone then turned to his wife and Consul Lorenzo. “I know from commanding this ship during the Petrovia campaign that she feels right and is running well. So far the modifications have not affected the engines.”
“Then I will be anxious to see how she does under stress,” Juan Lorenzo said.
Slone stayed on the bridge during the transit to get the feel of his new command. Even though he had commanded the ship in battle during its previous life, the rebuilt battleship was so modified; it was a new vessel. One of the most critical elements in ship design was balance of all
the components when under stress. In space, the enemy of movement was inertia, since there was no resistance from the environment. Design drawing and blueprints could tell you how the ship was built. Scale models could be stressed in a simulated reality. Nothing takes the place of testing the finished product under real world stresses and that was what they would do. They reached the outbound slipstream and deployed the sails. Slone looked out the rear bridge bubble and watched the masts form three circular collars around the ship, one behind the bridge, one a third of the way aft and the third two thirds of the distance aft. A push sail shaped like an inverted umbrella with the point resting on the ship came out of the stern. The sails then rose up on the masts and when the order was given to polarize, they began to develop a light blue, glowing aura over their surface. She smoothly accelerated to light speed and reached a maximum speed of 1.85 light years per hour. Time to the designated testing system was 7.5 hours. As the ship moved seamlessly through the slipstream, Slone, Alaya and Juan Lorenzo rested in their quarters until the klaxon sounded to indicate system insertion was one hour out. Everyone was on the bridge for the end of the slipstream, Slone gave the order to depolarize the sails, the Tempestas dropped out of the slipstream, and the system came into view. The system was uninhabited with a large number of asteroids that would be used for the testing. They still had to be careful, since there was through traffic to inhabited systems beyond, but ships had been warned that there would be military exercises and given specific assigned routes. The system had several clusters of asteroids, one of which was located near the slipstream they had just exited. The ship only had the naval crew and the crew of Alaya’s ship aboard. If there were a defect, they would make sure casualties were at a minimum.
The Sakkara Page 2