Corvus Prime: Escalation

by C. Cougar Sanborn

  'Sir... I'm reading an energy build-up in that last shaft and... I'm detecting movement.'

  'On screen.'

  The screen zoomed in on the access shaft and Straus could scarcely believe what he was seeing. A giant ship was slowly emerging from the opening. It appeared to be roughly cylindrical and was about a mile in diameter. The front end was destroyed by the dimensional collapse leaving a large smoking and sparking concave surface exposing the inner workings of the massive ship.

  'The Corvan admiral is contacting us,' said Ray.

  'Put him on the comm screen.'

  'Strausser. That's the Drone mothership. We thought we destroyed it in our final battle near your asteroid belt, but apparently it escaped and found refuge here. Just one of those destroyed our home world. This one is damaged, so we may have a chance.'

  Straus looked at the emerging giant. A mile and a half of it had already emerged and it was still coming out. The section emerging now was more spherical and emitted a light blue glow. He could see gun ports running down the sides that held the same weapon emitters as a Death Blossom. There must have been forty or fifty of them covering the entire ship.

  'I'm open to suggestions Admiral. How do you fight something that big?'

  'We... don't know. That's why we lost.'

  'Admiral, what's the status of your damaged cruiser. Is there enough life left in her to ram that thing.'

  He spoke to someone off screen, turned back and said, 'Yes, what's your plan.'

  'No plan yet, but get it ready.'

  'Very well.'

  The admiral broke the connection and the second cruiser left the fleet and headed back to the drifting ship. In the meantime Straus decided to try a few things.

  'Black Hats make a run on the opening it's coming out of. Maybe we can slow it down. Vicks, BlueJay and Twinky, use your Hellfire missiles and try to collapse that shaft.'

  'On our way,' responded Tómas.

  The Black Hats made a high speed run toward the surface. When they were within twenty miles, six missiles with two kiloton nuclear warheads continued down as the squadron broke off and headed back to the fleet. There was a blinding flash as the six missiles hit. Once the dust cleared, it looked as if the strategy worked. The shaft had collapsed, and the ship was now moving slower as it was pulling itself free from the surface.

  'Mr. Keitel, take us to within a thousand miles of that thing.'

  The fleet closed in on the emerging ship which was now protruding two and a half miles from the access shaft.

  'Lock on with the forward batteries and open fire.'

  The forward batteries impacted the enemy shields and the Corvan battleship joined in with fire from it's big port side guns. There were flashes of energy on it's shields but there was no getting through them.

  'Phoenix squadron, see if you can soften up their shields with some EM plasma and missiles.'

  All three flights of Phoenix squadron moved in and opened fire. The front end of the behemoth was enveloped in green plasma and the missiles impacted moments later with little or no effect.

  'No noticeable drop in their shield levels, however they seem to be weakest at the damaged end,' reported Jenkins.

  'Status of railgun?'

  'Its ready to fire.'

  'Target the center of the damaged area and fire.'

  There was a jolt and the lights flickered as the projectile left. Thirty seconds later there was a flash on the shields but no penetration.

  'I've done some analysis,' said Darla. 'I believe that central spherical structure is the shield generator. It appears to be a hybrid static and inertial shield. Its multi-phasic properties make it immune to our EM Plasma. We won't be able to get at the ship until we get the shields down.'

  'Any ideas on that?'

  'Not yet.'

  'If we only had some more anti-DEP. Check with Allen. See if he has any ideas on how we can replicate that... that anti-collapse explosion.'

  She nodded with an expression that didn't look hopeful. They had spent the previous six months combing the asteroid belt and harvesting all of the anti-DEP that they could get their hands on. It would take months to track down more, so there would be no dimensional collapse to save them this time.

  'Wait... you said hybrid inertial shield. Does that mean something slow might make it through?'

  With a pessimistic expression she said, 'Its worth a try.'

  'Phoenix squadron, head down to that ship. See if you can ease a Galleon with it's shields down through the ship's shield up at the damaged end. If it makes it through, have it send some hellfires down to that central spherical structure.'

  'Roger. On our way. Chance out.'

  A few minutes later Straus watched as one of the squadron's Galleons eased into the shield at about a walking pace. It applied thrust as it met resistance, but even at full power it wasn't making much progress. The hull of the fighter began to superheat and in ten or twelve seconds it's hull breached and the Galleon backed off.

  'Sorry Sir. All we did was melt the nose off of the Galleon,' reported Chance.

  'Alright. All squadrons return to the fleet.'

  Just as the squadrons joined the formation the giant ship pulled free from the surface. It was three and a half miles long, and looked like it would have been closer to four if the dimensional collapse hadn't trimmed off the front end. It began to accelerate and the weapons emitters on it's lower half started to power up.

  Now that the mothership was out, Straus could see that it looked like a large fountain pen, tapered on both ends, with that spherical shield generator in the middle. He didn't see any engines, and wondered how it propelled itself. At that point the Corvan cruiser returned to the side of the battleship and the Admiral contacted them.

  'We're ready,' reported Balroot.

  'Send it in. Aim for the damaged end.'

  'Jenkins, target the railgun on that central structure and fire as soon as the cruiser hits.'

  'Aye Sir.'

  There was a streak and a bright flash as the cruiser impacted into the top end of the giant ship. The cruiser disintegrated into a cloud of debris. The larger pieces began to fall toward the planets surface. As the scene cleared it became apparent that the shields had held and that the mothership was not damaged.

  'Unbelievable. We didn't even nudge it off course. Jenkins, did you fire?'

  'Yes Sir. No effect. However, I did register a twenty percent drop in it's shield power. Sir, it's preparing to fire.'

  'Emergency power to shields. Evasive action. All ships break formation.'

  At that moment the five Death Blossom-like emitters that were pointed in their direction fired. Two of the blue-white energy beams were aimed at the battleship, one at the cruiser and two at the Suzaku. The carrier was rocked by the barrage and the lights flickered.

  'The shields held but are down to thirty percent. We can't take another hit like that!' said Jenkins.

  The shields on the Corvan battleship held, and the cruiser took evasive action and narrowly avoided being hit.

  'It looks as if the weapons emitters on the front end are not operational. Probably because of the damage on that end. If we can stay ahead of it, we'll be in it's blind spot,' said Darla.

  The Drone mothership was gaining altitude and heading for orbit, and Straus said, 'Captain Keitel get us out in front of it and keep us there.'

  'Its charging for another shot,' said Jenkins.

  'Colorado, return to the rallying point, and keep your head down,' ordered Straus.

  The Colorado pivoted and just as it began to pull away the mothership fired another volley. Two beams hit the battleship and one made it through and knocked out one of it's big guns. Two beams hit the Suzaku knocking down it's shields and blasting into the hull. The ship was rocked by the attack and warning alarms sounded. The last beam vaporized the Colorado before it had a chance to get away.

  'Shields down but firming up,' said Jenkins.

  'We have a hull breach in the pilots q
uarters. The emergency bulkheads are holding. I don't think anyone was in there at the time. Sending a crew in there to seal off the inner hull rupture,' said Lassiter.

  'All fighters move in close and buzz that thing. It won't be able to target you. Mr. Keitel once we're out in front of it, turn us around and bring our railgun to bear. Close to within ten miles. Mr. Jenkins lock onto the front end and fire as soon as we're in position. Ray, get me the admiral.'

  The image of the admiral came onto the comm screen. He had the same calm expression as before, except that this time his pupils were obviously more dilated.

  'Admiral, you might as well get clear. We're not able to touch this thing and we're running out of options.'

  'We're prepared to see this to the end Strausser. We noticed a power drop in the enemy shields when our cruiser hit. Perhaps our battleship will be enough to overwhelm their shields.'

  'A suicide run? Out of the question.'

  'You said it yourself. We're out of options. Your people gave us a chance to get away and re-establish our race. If we fail to stop this thing, your world will be destroyed, and with it your entire race. We can't let that happen.'

  'There's got to be something more we can do before it comes to that.'

  The Suzaku had moved into position and the railgun fired. Instantly there was a bright flash as the projectile vaporized on the forward shields to no effect. Straus looked to Jenkins, and he just shook his head.

  'Its locking onto the Corvan ships and preparing to fire.'

  The cruiser moved into position to cover the battleship. Three of the beams hit it, knocking down it's shields again, and ripping into it's hull. The cruiser lost power and began to tumble. Two beams hit the battleship, knocking down it's port shields and taking out another of it's big guns.

  'We have to do this now before we loose power. I suggest you pull away to a safe distance. Its been a pleasure Commodore,' said the Admiral as he cut the connection.

  'Son of a… Mr. Keitel, full reverse, back us off to a thousand miles. All squadrons, head for high orbit.'

  The big battleship pivoted onto an intercept course and put all of it's shield power to the forward shields. The squadrons streaked out of sight, and the Suzaku was slowing into position having reached a safe distance.

  'The battleship is spooling up it's engines, 60%... 75%... 90%...'

  At that moment a dozen warships of various sizes warped into the area. In an instant they were pounding the mothership with brilliant yellow-white energy beams.

  'Those are not Corvan ships,' said Darla.

  The ships ranged in size from cruiser-class to larger than the Corvan battleship. All of the ships had smooth lines and rounded edges. They had a sort of art deco look to them and reminded Straus of seashells. They were made of a gunmetal blue-black material and near the ends were large yellow markings. There were many roundish protrusions on the hulls, and the weapons fire was proceeding from where panels had slid open.

  The Corvan battleship pivoted and engaged it's engines. It streaked forward and joined the Suzaku out ahead of the action.

  'The Admiral is contacting us,' said Ray. Strauss nodded.

  'No need to be concerned Commodore, these are allies of ours. I wasn't sure if they were coming or not, so I didn't mention it. They come from OPF857, a system in the constellation you call Orion. I believe you know it as 13 Orionis.'

  The drone mothership locked ten of it's emitters onto the newcomers and opened fire. All of the shots hit, but the energy was dissipated across their hulls with no obvious damage.

  'Sir, I'm not reading any shields on those ships.'

  'Your readings are correct,' said the Admiral. 'They use a self-regenerating ablative armor. It seems to be more effective than our shield technology.'

  'The enemy shields are down to fifty percent and dropping.'

  The Orion warships continued the barrage on the mothership. The mothership fired another volley and again the energy was dissipated over the hulls of the warships. The Corvan cruiser re-established power and limped away to join the battleship.

  'Mr. Keitel, move us into position to target their shield generator.'

  'Mr. Jenkins, as soon as it's shields are down, fire the railgun, then lock on with forward batteries and open fire.'

  'Admiral, perhaps you could suggest to the Orions that they should move off to a safe distance.'

  'Certainly,' said the admiral who then cut the connection.

  After a few minutes the Orions began to back away. It wasn't long before the enemy's shields finally collapsed and the Orion powerbeams started slicing into the giant ship. The lights flickered aboard the Suzaku and there was a slight lurch as the projectile left. The forward turbo-blasters began peppering the enemy's weapon emitters and the Corvan battleship joined in.

  '30 seconds to impact,' said Jenkins.

  It was the longest thirty seconds of Straus's life, but finally the projectile hit and penetrated the side of the behemoth. There was a huge flash as bright as the sun, and when the light faded they could see two halves of the giant ship slowly tumbling toward the surface. All of the ships stopped firing and everyone watched the tumbling pieces as they headed for impact on the surface.

  Jenkins spoke up and said, 'Showing no power emanations. I think it's dead.'

  They continued in silence for another five minutes until the two sections impacted, creating two elongated craters on the surface of Planet X.

  Chapter 15

  AND BABY MAKES THREE

  Straus stretched as he woke up. When he opened his eyes he saw Darla was there looking down at him, not with a smile, but with a concerned expression. After blinking a couple of times, he realized he wasn't in his bed, but in the ship's medical section.

  'What... how did I get here?'

  'You passed out on the bridge. Your concussion finally got the better of you. They brought you to medical and you spent an hour in the nanobiotics chamber.'

  'How long have I been out of commission?'

  'Just over two hours. We're still in orbit around Planet X. The Adamant and transports have joined us, and the Corvans and Orions are standing by. With help from the Corvans we've expanded our translation matrix to accommodate the Orion's language. The admiral would like to make the introduction as soon as you're up to it.'

  'Am I up to it?'

  'Dr. Wright said as soon as you woke up, you could leave.'

  'Great,' said Straus as he threw off the covers and proceeded to get dressed.

  On his way out he spotted Lt. Riley. She had spent several hours in the nanobiotic tank as well, but was now resting comfortably. She was also recruited from the R.A.F. and had been good friends with Juliet. In a sense she was Straus's last living connection with Jules, and he was glad to see that she survived.

  'Chips, glad to see you're still in one piece. What did the doc say?'

  'They've tended to the burns and injuries from the crash. She has me under observation. Said I'd be out in a day or two.'

  'Good. We're through the worst of it now, so you just rest easy.'

  'Thank you, Sir.'

  Straus headed back to the bridge. He checked in with each of the duty stations to get their current status. He started to relax when he heard that there was no sign of the drones, and that the squadrons had been recalled. The pilots were getting some well-deserved rest.

  'Sir, the admiral would like you to contact him,' said Ray.

  'Very well. Make the call,' said Straus.

  After a few moments, the admiral's face appeared on the comm screen. It looked much as it always did, but perhaps a bit more relaxed, and with something approaching a slight smile.

  'Ah, Commodore. I had no idea you were injured. I'm glad to see that you have recovered.'

  'Thank you Admiral and thanks to your nanobiotic technology.'

  'We need to discuss where we go from here. I'd like to include the Orions as well.'

  'Of course.'

  The image on the comm screen split wi
th the Admiral on the left and the Orion commander on the right. Straus wasn't sure if he was looking at the Orion, or perhaps his space suit and helmet. He came across looking like a humanoid shaped crab with a dark red and black exoskeleton covered with spiky protrusions from short nubs to some a few inches long. He had two coal-black eyes that were on short stalks, set into sockets. His mouth was a complex arrangement of vertical and horizontal plates flanked by a pair of small appendages. Straus guessed they were there to help him eat, but they came across as a sort of strange animated mustache.