Out of the Ashes (Rise of the Empire Book 3)

by Ivan Kal

  “Target their heavy ships. Fire when ready!” Vit’r’an said, and watched as his Larsha’ka cannons turned, locked and fired. Then the hull plates on the Blood Claw moved again revealing the Pasha’ka launchers. Hundreds of Pasha’ka launched out of the Blood Claw.

  “Dakar! We are getting a communication from Earth base thirteen!” An Ra’a’zani on the comms said. Vit’r’an looked at him, “I’m busy whatever they want, they can wait!”

  “But Dakar, they report that they are under attack from the humans and that they can’t reach any other base on the planet. They say that all Ra’a’zani on the ground have gone silent!”

  Vit’r’an looked at him in shock, he understood then. He should have realized it sooner, these ships were here to help liberate the system. They were in contact with the humans on Earth. Every base on the planet going silent at the same moment wasn’t coincidence. The humans had started an attack on all Ra’a’zani bases on the planet. Vit’r’an felt such rage, he looked at the human ships bearing down on his ship. He wanted to win, but knew that it was unlikely. His ship will not survive another attack from the human mass drivers. And as soon as they get in range they will fire. Vit’r’an would make them pay for it, yes, but he would die in the process. And even if he survived, somehow managed to destroy all of the human ships. The attacks on the planet had already happened. He would go back to the core in shame. The first Ra’a’zani Overlord to lose a world. He would never become Rakar. The humans had cost him too much.

  No. Vit’r’an decided, he wouldn’t live past this. But before he died, he would make the humans pay a price unlike anything they could have imagined. “Arm the Destra’ka.” Vit’r’an said viciously. His crew turned to look at them, but his expression quickly spurred them into motion.

  “Destra’ka is armed Dakar.” A Taskmaster said.

  “Target the planet. Put it on a course around the human ships.” Vit’r’an said. The Taskmaster did as Vit’r’an asked.

  “It’s done Dakar.” Taskmaster said.

  “Fire.” Vit’r’an said. He watched on his terminal, as the Destra’ka left the cargo area of his ship. Its navigation system kicked in and it started on the curved course that will bring it to the human home world. Vit’r’an knew that the humans would remember this day for all time.

  ***

  Johanna tried to keep the destruction of her ships from affecting her. But each death affected her greatly. She saw the Ra’a’zani ship fire their energy weapons at the Monarch and the battleship Claymore, and then their missiles. She didn’t need to issue any orders, the commanders of the two ships already gave the orders for evasive maneuvering and the point defense. Her ships lasers were having an effect, the Ra’a’zani were rolling and using evading maneuvering to escape her ships laser fire. Her missiles weren’t faring well, they were being detonated by whatever was the Ra’a’zani defensive system, but now they were being detonated at a much greater range, and not all at once. But one by one, her missiles disappeared.

  The Monarch and Claymore were firing their railguns creating a wall against the Ra’a’zani missiles. Then the Ra’a’zani energy weapons reached their ships. The commander of the Claymore had turned its bottom side to the enemy fire. The four energy bolts hit the Claymore’s hull mangling the entire length of the ship. But the Claymore survived. Ship master Andros Venter on the other hand, didn’t bother to spin the ship he plunged through, the energy bolts hitting the dreadnoughts doubleheaded forward section. The Monarch shrugged off the Ra’a’zani powerful weapon and kept going, losing only some forward railguns and two laser turrets.

  Johanna noticed another signature appear on her holo, but quickly Turiel concluded that it was not fired at them. And its signature was strange, having a big energy reading. She concluded that it might be an escape pod. But since it wasn’t a threat to her fleet, she put it out of her mind.

  The Ra’a’zani missiles were still speeding towards the Monarch and the Claymore. Their point defense systems trying to take down as much as possible. The Ra’a’zani missiles had great maneuverability, but the shear amount of shells that the Monarch and the Claymore sent out was overcoming their better technology. Out of the hundreds of missiles the Ra’a’zani fired, only nine went through. Three hitting the Claymore amidship, one of the missiles got lucky, it penetrated inside the hull and exploded. The explosion resulted in the Claymore losing power. Then another Ra’a’zani energy bolt struck in the same spot, and Claymore exploded.

  The remaining six Ra’a’zani missiles hit the forward section of Monarch. Three of the missiles hit the right axe-head of the ship, at the exact same spot that the Ra’a’zani energy weapon struck. The missiles penetrated inside, and exploded. The fire reached the forward cargo hold of the Monarch and the air inside fuelled the explosion further. Johanna felt the ship shake, as almost half of the dreadnought’s right axe-head blew up, the debris flying in all directions, a big chunk of the hull flew in the direction of the Citadel, glancing off the side leaving a huge surface gash across it. But the Monarch kept going. The bulkheads between the right axe-head and the rest of the ship coming down, cutting that part of the ship off the rest. Even after losing an entire section of the ship, the dreadnought class was operational. The rest of the ship functioning at near full capacity. Turned to Andros.

  “Ship Master, fight your ship.” She said. She had lost most of her fleet, and the rest of her ships were unable to move and help. There was no point for her to direct the combat from the c-board. It was all up to Andros and the Monarch.

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Vit’r’an watched as the big human ship advanced forward, even after losing a big chunk of its hull it still kept going. Its Tarsha’ka weapons still firing, the closer they got the more damage their beams did. Vit’r’an could read heat increases in more than half sectors of his ship. Hull integrity was almost below twenty percent, and more and more hull breaches appeared on his terminal. His ship had depleted its Pasha’ka supplies, but it was still firing the Larsha’ka at the incoming human ship. Which was shrugging them off. Its hull too thick for his weapon to inflict serious damage fast enough. The Blood Claw had ravaged the forward section of the ship. It was venting atmosphere at several hull breaches. But Vit’r’an knew that the big ship was too massive and powerful for it to die before his ship did. Then Vit’r’an saw the human ship roll and adjust its course, bringing all of its top weapons to bear. Vit’r’an knew that this were the last moments of his life.

  ***

  Ship Master Andros Venter ordered his ship to roll and adjusted the course, so that his ship would pass over the Ra’a’zani ship. All of his top weapons would be able to fire. The Monarch was sustaining serious damage, but it was still going strong. Fleet Commander Farkas was right, the dreadnought class warships were fortresses. As long as the Citadel was safe, the ship would keep going. Monarch had lost more than half of his weapons from the middle and the forward sections, Andros hoped that what he had left would be enough. He didn’t want to use the torpedoes, they didn’t know the range or even what the Ra’a’zani defense weapon was. And he didn’t want to have a nuclear weapon explode in front of his ship.

  Andros waited for his ship to enter the optimal range of his kinetic weapons, all the time his ship was assaulted by the enemy energy weapons which were eating at its hull. Then it was time.

  “Open fire!” Andros ordered. And Monarch’s railguns, turrets, and laser weapons fired on the Ra’a’zani ship.

  ***

  The human warship, the Monarch, dreadnought class, advanced above the Ra’a’zani ship Blood Claw, fire erupting from its weapons, even as air and debris flew off its hull leaving a trail of gas and metal in its wake. Thousands of 150mm shells were fired from the Monarch’s railguns, hundreds of 700mm bolts of metal were fired from the Monarch’s double-barreled turrets, three of the Monarch’s still working 600mm lens laser turrets were sending down fire on the Ra’a’zani ship. The space between them was Hell. But just as t
he human ship spew fire at the Ra’a’zani, so did they return in kind. Ra’a’zani energy weapon, the Larsha’ka cannons fired on the human ship. The energy bolts disappearing as they clashed with the incoming metal rain. Those few that passed through that Hell, reached the Monarch scorching its hull. But like an indomitable beast it just kept coming, pieces of its skin flailing about, its front opened up like a gaping wound, its life blood spewing from dozens of breaches. The Ra’a’zani ship was firing its maneuvering thrusters, its drives had been brought to the brink of what they could handle, and still it was not enough. The Monarch’s lasers seared the Ra’a’zani hull, the scale like plates of their ship melting under the immense heat.

  And then the rain of metal fire struck the Ra’a’zani ship. Its slow, cumbersome attempts at evasion were simply not enough to save it. The small railgun explosive shells clobbered the hull where it was intact, and punctured the hull where it was already weakened. Then, the massive 700mm bolts of metal smashed down on the Ra’a’zani ship’s hull. They cleaved through the Ra’a’zani hull, parting it like paper. Their mass and speed converted to pure destructive power. The bolts punched right through the ship. The return fire from the Ra’a’zani ship stopped, its drives exploding in small contained detonations. The ship was dead in space, nothing but a piece of debris floating in the endlessness of space. But the rain did not stop, the fire of Hell descended on the wreck smashing it further. Pieces of it flying off in hundreds of different directions, the insides of the ship opened up, its skin smashed inward. The bodies of the crew mingled amongst the pieces of their dead brethren that were sliced apart by the metal shells of the rain. The Ra’a’zani ship’s spine broke, the ship splitting in half. And still the halves were hammered by the rain, pulverized into smaller and smaller chunks. Then finally the rain stopped. Its source, the dreadnought Monarch, moving forward spent, scarred, bleeding, and mangled.

  ***

  As the Ra’a’zani ship fell apart, the weapon it deployed – The Destra’ka – continued on its path. Its curved course soon brought it in the view of its target, Earth. The Destra’ka reached the Earth’s atmosphere falling through it, its plating and an energy field keeping it safe as it burned a red streak across the sky. It passed the white clouds and then fell into the ocean. Its drives functioning perfectly even under water, pushing it further down at an amazing speed. Now going directly towards the ocean bed, the steam of evaporated water was left behind it on its path. As it drew closer to the ocean floor, the tip of the Destra’ka shone with a greenish energy. It slammed into the ground and kept going, burrowing through it on the way to its true target – the Earth’s core. Three hours later it reached its destination, and the Destra’ka detonated.

  ***

  The Star Gazer moved above the Ra’a’zani base in the asteroid belt, on the dwarf planet Ceres. Jacob felt the tears on his cheeks, but did nothing to stop them. The had won, the Earth was free, the asteroid belt was free, and there were no more Ra’a’zani warships in the Solar system. The Ra’a’zani cargo ships were on their way out of the system, going back to the Ra’a’zani space. He felt a touch of fear for the way that the single Ra’a’zani warship fought against the Olympus fleet, but his happiness and relief were too much for it to worry him now. The rest of his bridge crew were jumping around, hugging and kissing. Finally, they were free. Glancing at the screen in front of him, Jacob saw the two Olympus ships almost reach the belt. Getting his elation under control, he contacted the Earth.

  ***

  Anissa Novak sat in the CIC of the submarine Lord, crying. Her crew too was displaying their happiness in various ways. Some cried like she did, other were screaming at the top of their lungs, but all were elated. She got herself under control just as the FTL comm officer approached her, telling her that there was a communication for her. She walked over, sat at the comm station and accepted the communication. The first thing she heard was, “We did it.” Jacob said. And Anissa, her voice shaking responded, “Yes, we did.”

  ***

  The mood on the dreadnought Monarch was somber, Johanna was in torment. She had lost most of her command. Her remaining ships were wrecks, Sovereign was spinning slowly, its drives were blown off, it would never again move under its own power. The light cruiser Ajax had its entire front section disfigured, but it could move. The rest were all lost, with their entire crews. The light cruisers – Viper, Independence and Rogue, heavy cruisers – Sword, Tempest and Unity, battleship Claymore. All lost, under her command. She was in shock, the Ra’a’zani ship had almost destroyed them all. Not knowing what else to do, she ordered the rescue operations for the Sovereign, its crew would need to be transferred to the Monarch.

  Chapter Thirty

  Aileen was woken by the light of dawn, getting up from the small cot she slept on. The room around her was filled with people, some were sleeping on many cots placed in the room, other were talking softly. Aileen exited the room, and then the building. Outside people in armored suits stood around hugging and slapping each other on the shoulders, they were clearly celebrating. Aileen spotted the Father standing amongst them, she made her way to him. He noticed her and pulled her into a hug.

  “We won, oh thank God we won.” He was saying.

  “What happened?” She asked.

  “We’ve won child. The Olympus fleet had defeated the Ra’a’zani warship, and our people had taken the ground. We are free.” He said. Aileen looked at him blankly, she didn’t know what being free meant. She was about to ask him, what that meant, when she felt the ground shake. It was not like the shaking last night, when the Resistance destroyed the base. No, this seemed to be somehow deeper, primal.

  “Father?” Aileen asked hesitantly.

  He looked at her, and she saw fear in his eyes. Then a roaring sound blast reached them, and there in the distance to the south, Aileen saw a huge mushroom of gray/black smoke rising from the earth.

  ***

  “I am detecting a lot of seismic activity from the ocean bed.” Anissa heard her sensor officer say.

  “An earthquake?” Anissa asked.

  “It looks like it, but it is rising in intensity steadily.”

  Anissa looked at her crew and said, “Get us to the surface.”

  ***

  “Jacob! We are getting distress calls from the Earth!” Tamara yelled out, cutting in the celebration.

  “Where from? Did some of the assaults fail?” Jacob asked.

  “No, there are reports of… Earthquakes and volcanoes erupting.” She said, and slowly fear started to seep into her face.

  “Where?” Jacob asked.

  “All over the planet.” Tamara said.

  “Contact Olympus.”

  ***

  Monarch’s shuttles have just returned carrying the last survivors from the Sovereign, when they got a communication from the Resistance. Johanna listened to the message, and felt paralyzing fear. She immediately ordered both her remaining ships to Earth. In a couple of minutes they reached the visual range of Earth. Johanna ordered the viewer turned on. The first thing she noticed was the visual state of the Monarch, the missing right axe-head gave the ship a lopsided look, and the rest of the ship was filled with scars, mangled, twisted. But what truly chilled her blood was the sight past her ship. All across the Earth’s surface she saw enormous globes of smoke and ash, volcanos were preparing to erupt everywhere, some already did, she saw the southern hemisphere of the planet glowing red.

  “What is happening?” Johanna asked.

  “I’m detecting massive tectonic shifts, Fleet Master. And volcanic activity across the planet.” The Sensor Handler said.

  “Why now? What happened?” Johanna demanded. The Sensor Officer worked furiously,

  “I-I don’t know, Fleet Commander.”

  Remembering Johanna, reached with her imp to the record of the battle, she found the trajectory of the object that exited the Ra’a’zani ship during battle. She saw it had been on the way to Earth.

  “Fleet
Commander! We need to warn the people on the ground, there are massive tsunamis headed for the land!” The Sensor Officer called out.

  “Where are they headed?” Johanna asked.

  “Everywhere! They’ll hit in a few hours.”

  Johanna felt her face drain of blood.

  “Contact the Resistance warn them to get to the higher ground.” Johanna said to the Comm Handler, then turned back to the Sensor Handler, “What will be the impact of this? I need to know everything.”

  Sensor Handler swallowed hard, she looked down at her screen then back up, she opened her mouth and then closed it, she tried again but still no sound came out. Then Turiel’s voice sounded in the CC.

  “Fleet Commander, I have studied the data that your ship collected, and coupled with the communications that the Star Gazer got from the first hand reports, I believe that I can answer your question.” Turiel said.

  “Go ahead.”

  “All of the currently active volcanoes on Earth had erupted at nearly the same time, and most of the dormant ones are preparing to erupt. According to the Star Gazer, the super volcano Yellowstone had erupted on the North American continent, it is on the other side of the Earth, further confirming that this calamity is global. The Earth’s tectonic plates are shifting, causing massive earthquakes below the oceans, which in turn caused massive tsunamis. Every coast on the planet will be hit within hours. And this will not stop soon, according to my calculations, whatever has happened will continue for decades, if not more. The smoke and ash from the volcanic eruptions will block out the sun within weeks. And by the end of the one month period, super storms will wreak havoc across the planet, and Earth will stop being able to support life. Fleet Commander, I am afraid that this was intentional. The most likely answer is that it was the Ra’a’zani that caused this. People on Earth will not survive.”