“Captain, another transmission from the admiral. He is sending over repair crews to help with the damage and also orders the captains of both remaining ships to come to the largest of the vessels for a meeting.”
“Acknowledge and notify engineering they will be getting help. Also have my shuttle readied.”
“Yes, sir.”
Morel left the bridge and worked his way down to the hanger deck. The ships were still an hour’s travel apart, so he would be able to clear the deck to make room for the incoming repair shuttles. He also had a lot of questions, like where did Highline Corp get a monster of a ship like the one that came here with the admiral? As his shuttle left the ship he looked over the pilots’ shoulder. He could see the vessel in the distance. As they approached, the true size of the vessel became evident. Even the shuttle pilots could not get over the enormity of it. As they were watching, shuttles departed the behemoth and headed to both the Bentley and the Calhoun. The ship also had twelve turreted guns of some kind in two sets, six along the top and six along the bottom of the ship. He had no idea where the cannons were or if she even had them. His observation was interrupted by a message from the giant ship.
“Attention Calhoun shuttle. You are cleared to land in the forward hangar bay of the NR Tempestas. Once through the force field, please follow the directions from the deck crew.”
“Acknowledge receipt and follow their directions,” Morel said. He continued to observe their approached and noticed that the ship also carried smaller vessels on an open flight deck behind the bridge. As they moved to the bow they could see the name and below the name were the letters ‘LEG I CELERI’. This meant nothing to them but they knew this was not a Highline Ship. The shuttle pulled into the largest hangar they had ever seen on any vessel and were directed to an area of the deck free of other shuttles. Morel could see Admiral Holt standing with a group of officers. What was shocking was the presence of some kind of animal with the group and more of the animals moving around in the hangar. Captain Morel exited the shuttle and looked around. The ship was immaculate and there was a large military formation drilling in another area of the hangar deck. Again, to his surprise, there were animals drilling with the human troops, side by side. This was all becoming a little surreal. He walked over to where the admiral was standing and snapped to attention with a brisk salute that was returned by the admiral.
Admiral Holt then introduced the officers with him. “Captain Morel, I would like you to meet Captain Slone. He is in command of this magnificent vessel.”
Slone extended his hand and Captain Morel clasped it and began to shake. The Highline captain could not seem to take his eyes off of Slone. Finally, as the handshake ended, he said, “Captain Slone, is by any chance your first name Christopher?”
Slone was not sure where this was going, since he had never actually been in Highline space in any military capacity. “Yes it is, why do you ask?”
Suddenly, recognition came into Christopher Morel’s face, “Dad?”
As soon as Morel said the word, Slone recognized the adult version of a son he had not seen since he was 11 years old. “Chris, is that you?”
“Captain Morel, do you know Captain Slone?”
Before Morel could respond, Slone spoke up. “Admiral Holt, I would like to introduce my son, formerly known as Christopher Slone, Jr. before being adopted by his stepfather. It is a small galaxy indeed.”
“Ahem,” Alaya Slone cleared her throat. She was standing next to her husband and was looking for an introduction to a stepson she had never met. Slone took the hint.
“Captain Morel, I would like to introduce you to my wife, Alaya Slone. If your stepfather had not adopted you, she would be your stepmother.”
Alaya extended her hand and Captain Morel took it, “We were told my father was dead, yet here he is with a ship and a wife. How is this possible?”
“I will let Chris fill you in when he has time.”
Slone now continued the introductions, “This is Captain Artok of the dreadnought NR Avenging Talon. Captain Artok, this is Captain Morel.”
Morel was not sure what to make of this last introduction. For some reason he believed they had animals working with them. It never dawned on him that this may be a sentient race.
“Sss. Welcome aboard, Captain Morel,” Captain Artok said and extended her hand.
To his credit, Morel took it, “Are you an alien?” That was all he could think to say.
“Sss. To humans we are aliens, to us we are not.”
To his credit, Morel had to smile at this answer. Slone then asked him a question which had been on his mind since he first recognized him. “Captain Morel, how is your mother doing? I have not seen her for a very long time.”
Christopher Morel’s mood now turned somber. “She, my adopted father and my little sister were all killed when Brandenburger Corp attacked us by destroying the station on which they were working.”
Slone also became somber, “I am so sorry to hear that. Just know that you still have a family with us.”
“Thank you.”
As this discussion was going on, the shuttle carrying the captain of the Bentley arrived. After Captain Alfred Hurst landed, the introductions from earlier were repeated with the usual explanation about the serpents. Slowly humans were starting to get the message that they were no longer alone in the universe. The group moved into the conference room and Slone sat at the head of the table with the great golden eagle seal of Nova Romae behind him. When all were seated and refreshments were served, Slone began the meeting. He first called on Diana Gardner to report on the progress of repairs.
Diana stood up to give her report. “The engineering teams are reporting good progress with repairs to the Highline ships. The one dreadnought is a total loss and has been abandoned. We found a few people still alive in sealed compartments and were able to rescue them before the air ran out. Unfortunately, we only found just fewer than one hundred alive. Most of the crew was killed. The ship itself can be brought back to operation, but only parts of it can be re-pressurized. We are planning to seal the minimum areas needed to operate the ship and get it back to its base. The Bentley and the Calhoun will be fully operational in about thirty hours.”
“Thank you for the report, Commander Gardner,” Slone acknowledge the work of his chief engineer and her techs.
“On behalf of the Highline Corporation, I would also like to extend our gratitude for your help,” Admiral Holt said.
“Admiral, I realize the corporations don’t trust each other, but this is a threat that is well beyond the capabilities of any one corporation to deal with. We either stand together or we will fall separately. Just know that the Romani stand ready to fight whether the corporations do or not,” Slone explained.
“I doubt if any of us have a choice in fighting,” the admiral admitted, “I am just not certain if those corporations, who have not yet felt the attacks of the Saltic, will join us. How do we convince them of the danger they have not yet seen?”
“That is a good question, admiral. It will be up to us to make them listen, or we will all be slaves to a bunch of worms.”
As Slone finished this statement, the communication station built into the conference table activated and the bridge called into the conference room. “Captain Slone, multiple ships are entering the system from the coreward inbound slipstream.”
The officers at the table all looked at each other. Slone activated the console to respond, “Any indication what is coming through and how old is the information.” That last question was asked to find out how far away the ships were.
“Some of the ships are out of the slipstream now and transponders indicate a mix of Coreward Industries and Brandenburger Corporation ships. All are either freighters or private yachts. They are transmitting in the open requesting help for the large number of refugees aboard.”
“Order them to form up with us and we will evaluate their needs,” Slone commanded. “Admiral, we need to find out wha
t is happening coreward, and also what the Brandenburger ships are doing with those from Coreward Industries. If Brandenburger is also under attack, then this invasion is happening over a very broad front.”
“Captain Slone, I will need to get back to the Saint John system as soon as we have information about what is happening out there,” Admiral Holt said. “I am also concerned about this system, since it is a gateway to our core worlds.”
“Admiral, with the wormhole drives, they can skip gateway systems.”
“I realize that, Captain, yet they purposely came into this system expecting to find a fleet here. There must be a reason for that.”
Slone thought about this and had to admit, the admiral was right. Why did they stop in this system? His thoughts were interrupted by the general quarter’s klaxon and the computer calling everyone to battle stations. “Captain to the bridge,” was the next thing heard over the internal com systems. Slone invited the guests to join him on the bridge, since they had no battle station and they had to find out what was happening before they could return to their vessels. The bridge crew entered along with Captain Slone and the captains of the Highline ships. Captain Artok returned to her ship, since the Avenging Talon was very near the Tempestas.
As the various stations reported ready, Slone took his seat in the captain’s chair and the children assigned as runners stood nearby. He could see there was some confusion on the faces of his guests as they saw the runners, but there was no time to explain. “Give me a report, what’s going on?”
The sensor tech reported, since she was the one who had called the ship to battle stations. “Captain, as we were monitoring the incoming ships, we detected eight Coreward Industries vessels, all freighters, and five Brandenburger ships. What we thought were larger freighters, were sending erroneous identifiers. They are actually five Brandenburger dreadnoughts and they are just inside weapons range of the Coreward Industries’ ships. I called general quarters because we are picking up weapons fire coming from the Brandenburger vessels.”
“Put up a tactical plot. Diana, what is the status of the Highline vessels?”
“They are capable of defending themselves but not able to maneuver in battle. They will be of little use to us.”
“Captain, one of the freighters has been hit and is trailing fluids and debris. She is maintaining speed on momentum. One engine seems to be out,” the sensor tech reported.
Slone knew there was no time to waste. “Helm, take us towards the Brandenburger ships and order Captain Artok to form up with us. Tom, send a message in the open to the Brandenburger dreadnoughts to stand down or risk destruction.”
Admiral Holt looked around the bridge and saw only efficiency. He also saw that the bridge had a small force of marines as well as some of the reptilian serpents forming part of the guard. The ship moved quickly, much faster than the admiral would have thought. When it seemed there was a lull in the activity, Admiral Holt asked the question foremost on his mind, “Captain Slone, is it your intention to go up against five dreadnoughts with this ship and a dreadnought?”
“Indeed admiral that is my intention. I cannot in all good conscience allow them to destroy freighters full of refugees.”
“Going against five dreadnoughts with only two ships is suicide.”
“Admiral, there is still time for you to return to one of the Highline ships if you wish, but we are going to deal with this problem. I can shuttle you and Captain Hurst over to the Highline dreadnought. The Calhoun is still too damaged to be more than a stationary weapons platform and I am hoping the Brandenburger ships don’t get that close.”
The captain of the Bentley took his shuttle back to the dreadnought but the admiral and Captain Morel decided to stay aboard the battleship to see how the Romani handled themselves. So far the Admiral was impressed with the precision and training of the Romani and they did well against the alien attack on Saint John. However, now they were going up against five corporate dreadnoughts with only the ship they called a battleship and a standard dreadnaught. No matter how powerful this ship was, the Brandenburger ships out gunned them.
“Paul, how long to the refugees and to the enemy ships?”
Paul McMann did some quick calculations. “We will reach the refugee freighters in two hours and the dreadnoughts a half hour later. It appears the Brandenburger ships have slowed and are forming up into a battle line.”
“I will assume then they got our message and have chosen not to retreat,” Slone said. “Tom, open the battle channel.”
“Channel open, Captain.”
Slone spoke over the battle channel. “Romani, we are about to engage five dreadnoughts belonging to the Brandenburger Corporation. It is their intention to destroy defenseless freighters carrying refugees. It is my intention to change their minds about that. We will make contact in just over two hours.”
A half hour before contact, the Romani ships passed the incoming freighters. It was clear there was some damage but their momentum carried them past and tactical showed the enemy in a battle line ahead of the battleship. Since the Romani ships were already at battle stations, Slone only had to give the orders for the final preparations.
“Roll out the guns and raise the system sails, battle configuration.” The gun port covers rolled down and the force fields covering the gun ports came up. All of the gunners on both ships were serpents, since they had a natural talent for aiming and servicing cannons. Serpent controlled cannons were extremely accurate. Since this looked like it was going to be a standard corporate ship battle, Slone decided to use the serpent ships on the flight deck against the enemy cannons. He now issued the final orders before contact, “Serpent ships go invisible and harass the enemy cannons.”
As soon as these orders were received, the twenty serpent ships aboard the Tempestas went invisible and flew out of the flight deck, which Slone then ordered sealed along with the bridge. The armor went up on both areas and the remainder of the battle would be fought using the tactical plot and external camera feeds. As they approached the enemy, there was a slight lull which Captain Morel used to ask a question.
“Captain Slone, how many cannons does this vessel carry?”
“She has a total of 84 guns, 36 per side and six front with the same number aft.”
Morel was stunned. Never had anyone heard of that much firepower in a single vessel. However, it was still five against two with a 44 cannon advantage on the enemy side. What confused Slone was the attack against the freighters. Why was Brandenburger Corporation wasting time and ships to attack freighters filled with refugees. It was also obvious from the damage to the freighters that the enemy was shooting to disable and not destroy. That brings up the question as to what is aboard those ships that the enemy wants. Slone would have to deal with that later; they would soon be in weapons range.
“Begin the cadence, attack speed. Order the Avenging Talon to go to flank speed and take position above us for targets of opportunity.”
Suddenly the drum beat that the Romani use to convey orders in battle started at a double time beat. Admiral Holt and Captain Morel looked at each other when the cadence began, but said nothing since they all knew Captain Slone needed to concentrate on the business at hand. Tom Gardner reported from the communications station, “Captain, there is an incoming message from the Brandenburger vessels.”
“Put it on speaker.”
“Attention Highline Corporation vessels,” the message began. “This is Captain Neumann of the Brandenburger dreadnought BC Graf von Moltke. We can avoid hostilities if you simply hand over the freighters we are pursuing.”
Slone responded on the open frequency the enemy was using. “This is Captain Slone of the Nova Romae battleship, NR Tempestas. The refugees you are chasing are not from Brandenburger Corporation, but rather from Coreward Industries. We will only release them to you if they so desire. The fact that they are running from you suggests that they do not want the go with you. Why do you want them, since they are not your peopl
e?”
After a short lag, the response came back. “Why we want them is not your concern. We claim them as spoils of war.”
“The war you had with Highline Corporation has been settled. As per normal corporate protocol, if the inhabitants of the systems ceded to you do not want to remain, they are free to go with safe passage. Are you telling me you will not abide by this precedent?”
“The freighters that came to retrieve these refugees were from Coreward Industries and they violated our space by taking away a whole colony of workers and their families. If these people wanted to stay in Coreward or Highline space, they should have left when the war was first settled, not months later.”
“Nonetheless, you have violated the sovereign space of Highline Corporation. At this point you have two options. Either you return to your space and submit the issue to arbitration, or risk destruction for committing a blatant act of aggression in Highline Corporation territory. We await your answer.”
Captain Neumann stood on the bridge of his dreadnought contemplating the situation he found himself in. Almost a decade ago, at the request and with the assistance of Sinclair Corporation, the Brandenburger Corporation started a war with Highline Corporation. No one was sure why Sinclair wanted the war, but they paid well for its prosecution. Then suddenly, old man Sinclair died and the new leader had no desire to continue the war. The only problem lay in the fact that Highline was not willing to stop. The war became very costly and seemed never ending, when suddenly, Highline sued for peace and it was gladly granted with the annexation of several mining systems. No one knew why Highline wanted to end a war they were winning, but Brandenburger took what was offered and was glad for the end of it. Then, without warning, strange ships began appearing in the area. There was almost total conquest of Coreward Industries and they crossed the border into Highline space. The problem was they also attacked the most coreward systems of Brandenburger territory. After a few contacts with this new enemy, a ship entered the home system and wanted to parley. It was then that the Brandenburger leaders discovered they were dealing with worm-like aliens with advanced technology that they said they were willing to share if Brandenburger would ally with them against the other corporations. The Brandenburger CEO could hardly say yes fast enough and now all Brandenburger ships had an alien aboard with a translation device and the humans were expected to do what the aliens wanted. Captain Neumann was not comfortable with this and he did not trust anything that looked like a worm. Now they were after freighters full of refugees from Coreward Industries. The aliens wanted live humans but no one knew for what purpose, nor did the corporation care. All the Brandenburger CEO cared about was expansion of territory and conquest of other corporations. The worms promised them they would be the most powerful corporation in the galaxy and that was all the bosses cared about. They violated Highline space and caught up with the freighters. Now he and his fleet of dreadnoughts were confronted by a very large human ship and a dreadnought. He had no fears his small fleet would lose the battle, but at what cost. They had also committed an act of war by entering Highline space with military vessels. He had just received the ultimatum to retreat or do battle with the Highline fleet. All of these thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the translation device around his neck. The worm aboard was talking to him, making squeaking noises with its mouth parts.
Invasion Page 10