Each was armed with sixteen, triple 21-gigawatt main battery turrets, spread out in four rows of four, three rows facing forward and one row facing aft, placed around the circumference of the asteroid. These were augmented by a similar arrangement of 14-gigwatt turrets, taken off destroyed battlecruisers, arranged in rows between the big 21-gigawatt main batteries. Additional placements of 11-gigawatt and 8-gigawatt batteries from smaller cruiser types augmented those, with each also bristling with over 250 twin 5-gigwatt turrets. Dozens of massive reactors dedicated solely to providing power to that mind-boggling array of energy weapons had been installed, with multiple crossovers allowing for almost an infinite number of configurations, to ensure the crews could route power to wherever it needed to be.
Because of their incredible mass, the great beasts could only manage about 125c in hyperspace, but in January, 3866, all three finally entered service with the Confederate Fleet and began their shakedown operations and crew training.
* * * *
The Rak Planet Klista
January, 3866
Region-Master Raan was relieved when he saw Region-Master Drix debarking from his personal spaceliner with his own eyes. He had feared that news of the disaster at Golgathal might have somehow missed getting to Drix, before he attempted to return there. It took Raan several sub-turns to bring Drix up to date on everything they knew of the disaster and were just settling down to discuss what options they had left to them.
“How can we fight against weapons and warships such as these humans posses?” asked Raan.
“We cannot. That was the message of the prophecy,” replied Drix. “The prophecy implied that we would be helpless against them, and that certainly seems to be the case.”
“Then, how do we avoid being slaughtered, as our fleets at Golgathal were?”
“We don’t. That, too, was in the prophecy,” said Drix. “Millions or even billions of our people may die, before fear amongst those who are left reaches levels where desperation might lead them to considering, what cannot be considered now.”
Raan shook his head. “Must it be so? Are our people are so terribly rigid, that so many must die before they can even consider another way?”
“Our struggle is less against these aliens, than against the very nature of our being,” answered Drix. “The aliens are only a tool that Dol uses to get our race’s attention and open their minds, to begin thinking the unthinkable. We are a savage race, who must be savaged ourselves, before we finally become willing to expose belly and throat. It is dominance combat we are ordained to lose, but it is essential. Only those who have learned to submit, be it physically, mentally or even in humility of soul, are truly fit to lead in the future.”
“But what if our people can never bring themselves to expose belly and throat to these aliens?”
“A dominance combat to the death… our death. In that case, the aliens will exterminate us. That too, was in the prophecy.”
“The humans will attack again, you know. As soon as they locate other worlds of ours, they will strike again,” observed Raan.
“Yes, I would be very surprised if they do not attack us again, very soon.”
“You think they have already located more of our planets, then?”
“These aliens are responsive beings,” said Drix. “They plan ahead. They think in the long term. We are more reactive beings, usually only planning our next step after having completed the previous one. The humans rarely find themselves in dead ends, from which they must backtrack, as we often do. They would not have attacked at Golgathal, unless they had already discovered the locations of other targets to go after in the future.”
“Where?”
“It could be almost anywhere,” answered Drix. “The humans must have developed a way by which they can sneak into our star systems and observe us undetected. That’s the only logical explanation for how their attack on Golgathal was accomplished with such complete and utter surprise. We’ve seen how their technology is often superior to our own, as they were never under an imperial injunction to maintain equality in their warships, which so stunted our continued technological innovation for hundreds of cycles. Who knows what they can do, or what they cannot?”
“Chilling,” said Raan. “Fear of the unknown can often lead people into manufacturing fantastic products of pure imagination, often worse than the actual problem being faced.”
“Yes, word of this must be spread as far and fast as possible, so that the eventual panic sets in as early as possible. The sooner our people despair of victory, the fewer of them that will have to die.”
“It feels traitorous to be purposely infecting our people with fear and panic, but I agree that it’s the only way to reduce the bloodshed,” observed Raan. “But our efforts to guide this transformation of thought amongst our people may all be for naught, if we ourselves become victims of these ultimate predators. As we stand between these aliens and the heart of the empire, how then do we ensure our own survival?”
“We must distract the humans, by offering them alternative targets.”
“Where?”
“Blug,” said Drix.
“How?”
“We must make falsified star charts, omitting the locations of our worlds in Regions 5, 6 and 7, while plainly detailing Blug’s worlds in Region-4, and then make sure they get into human paws.”
* * * *
The Rak Planet Peran
January, 3866
“You cannot possibly be serious!” shrieked N’raal, daughter of Region-Master Harf, of Region-2, after being told of her arranged betrothal to Region-Master Drix, of Region-7.
“Oh, but I am, N’raal. Quite serious indeed,” responded her sire.
“But why would he even want me?” wailed N’raal.
“He liked your teeth.”
N’raal shrieked again at her father’s comment, and of the memory of when that detestable creature had literally laid paws upon her, and forcefully inspected her teeth like she was a brood-mare he was considering for purchase.
“He physically assaulted me, right in front of you, and then you have the audacity to betroth me to that monster?”
“He did not actually hurt you, N’raal. It was only your insufferable pride that may have been bruised a little,” said Harf to his daughter.
“HOW COULD YOU?” wailed N’raal. “Do you really want me gone from here so badly, that you’d really give me away to some stranger who just walked in your door?”
“I warned you, daughter,” said Harf. “I told you that I was through putting up with your constant petulance, and that I’d accept the first offer I received for your paw. Look on the bright side. At least Drix is not some stoneless Raknaa.”
“AGH! I won’t go. You can’t make me go!”
“On the contrary, my daughter. You forget who I am, just as I forgot who I am. Your combative nature exhausted me. You wore down my will. It was easier to attempt to placate your incorrigible behavior. than to fight with you. But I did you no favors, with my leniency. I was the one who empowered you to become the termagant that you have become. It was Drix who reminded me of exactly who, and what I am — master, not only of this house, but also over this entire region.”
“I… will… NOT… GO!” N’raal screamed.
“Drix will be good to you, and good for you, N’raal. But hear me now daughter — Drix is a true alpha. He will not put up with your pugnacious behavior, the way that I have.”
“I am NOT some brood-mare that you can simply give away to some monster to satiate his lust and birth more monsters, just like him.” N’raal wept.
“Actually, you might very well become exactly that, N’raal,” said her father. “You can submit and behave as a proper mate to Drix, or you can become nothing more than a repository for his seed. The choice is entirely yours.”
* * * *
February, 3866
It wasn’t until late February that the last of the six Raknii planets, which Kalis had sent his fleets to
attack, finally exposed belly and throat in submission. Casualties had again been incredibly light for the allies, and again, horrifically heavy for the defending Raknii. A few warships and transports escaped to spread the news of these defeats and spread panic throughout the Rak Empire. This was all to the good… for both sides, but few on the Raknii side perceived it as such.
On the last Rak planet to finally surrender, star-charts showing the locations of Raknii planets by the dozens had been captured and were being sent back to Admiral Kalis at Kitty Litter. Those charts showed suspiciously large volumes of space that supposedly contained no inhabited planets. It was possible, of course. Habitable planets were relatively few in number and dispersed randomly throughout the galaxy. Large volumes of space,, called life-voids, where no life-sustaining planets existed, weren’t all that uncommon in the overall scheme of things, so when the captured Raknii star charts showing similar voids initially raised a few eyebrows amongst allied fleet officers, there was not enough evidence to the contrary to exert the exploratory effort to prove or disprove them. Those captured Raknii charts would, however, provide excellent blueprints for the allies’ next phase of the war.
* * * *
April, 3866
With Drix away conferring with other high-level Raknii masters deeper within the empire, news of the losses of seven Raknii planets to the humans was understandably not received at all well by the Sector-Masters and Planet-Masters of the forward bases in Region-7. Forces had been gathering there in preparation for future attacks against other human planets that had been located. Enraged at the human’s effrontery of attacking and actually capturing Rak worlds, Quadrant-Master Nrat ordered immediate attacks on all of the known human worlds, with all the Rak forces available to him... without awaiting prior approval of higher Rak authority.
While Drix was as yet unaware that his plan to funnel future human attacks towards Blug’s greens in Region-4 had been successful, events in Region-7 were beginning to spiral totally out of control.
* * * *
The Alliance Plant Massa, City of Bostin
May, 3866
Noreen finally got her wish to meet Hal in person. On a Friday afternoon, after she got off work and returned to the spaceliner, where she’d been living with Diet for the past several months, she’d found the two of them drinking coffee in the living room together. She’d initially been startled... seeing them together like that. Hal and Diet really were just like two peas in a pod. Except for Diet’s beard, they were virtually identical... identical twins, obviously — after being belatedly informed that Hal was not only Diet’s roommate, but also his brother.
“And neither of you deemed it important to mention that the two of you were brothers?” asked Noreen incredulously. “Not even an ‘oh, by the way’ thrown in, as a bone for me?”
Diet and Hal looked at each other with sheepish grins, looking all the world like two little boys caught doing something naughty.
“I’m sorry, honey,” said Diet. “With the business we’re in, we normally don’t share much about our personal lives with people as a general rule. In the beginning, it was business as usual, but later when things got to heating up between you and me, and you starting interacting with Hal over the comm, the subject just never came up, and we kind of forgot that you didn’t already know.”
“Eh, heh... You BOTH owe me big-time for that particular little oversight, gentlemen. If I’m going to be a part of this family, Momma has got to know what’s going on!”
While remarkably identical, there were notable differences, other than just Diet’s beard, between the two. While Diet was obviously healthy and robust, Hal appeared surprisingly emaciated in his physique — probably 50-70 pounds lighter in weight than his older brother. Hal’s movements were not nearly as fluid and graceful as Diet’s, but more deliberate and halting... almost like he had to think about what he was doing, as he did it. The two areas the brothers shared totally were their sparkling blue eyes and their deep, baritone voices.
Noreen made a mental note to ask Diet about Hal’s obvious physical delicacy at some point in the future, when they were alone, as to spare Hal any potential embarrassment about his condition. Noreen was just concerned for Hal’s health and was determined to stuff him with heavy-duty calories at every opportunity. She also made a mental note that Hal doctored his coffee with cream and sugar, while Diet preferred his black.
* * * *
Chapter-7
I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury. -- Groucho Marx
The Rak Planet Vnayrk
June, 3866
After the loss of his previous headquarters on Golgathal, Drix established his new headquarters on the frontier planet Vnayrk, deep within Region-7. Vnayrk was located near the border with Raan’s Region-6, and while still on the major shipping lanes being utilized in supplying the war zone, it was sufficiently behind the lines to hopefully escape notice by the humans — especially if they took the bait leading them towards targets in Region-4, which Drix had planted for them to find on one of the planets lost to the aliens four sub-cycles earlier.
As N’raal’s next impending heat cycle approached, according to the prearranged betrothal agreement, Region-Master Harf personally delivered his daughter N’raal to Drix’ new headquarters aboard his personal spaceliner. To attend the bonding ceremony, Harf brought all of his immediate family, a significant number of household servants and a surprising number of Raknaa guards, six of whom, it was rumored, had been required to physically carry a wildly struggling N’raal aboard Harf’s spaceplane. While news that the infamous N’raal was going to be bonded was met throughout the empire with astonishment and misgivings, N’raal herself had been busy adding to her legend as the most reluctant bride in Rak history. Having to be bodily carried, kicking and screaming from her father’s spaceliner on their arrival at Vnayrk, merely added another chapter.
As a newly opened frontier planet, the amenities available on Vnayrk were minimal, at best, and non-existent at worst. While Harf and his family lodged in comparative luxury aboard his spaceliner, his servant staff made do with living in a sub-divided Raknaa barracks, whose normal occupants were in the field on training maneuvers. They put N’raal into a barren, makeshift sleeping chamber having a newly-welded steel door with a keyed lock, to help reduce the probability of having to conduct future searches for her in the surrounding forest. Being locked into a room, lacking what N’raal considered even minimal amenities, provided her with a vast plethora of subjects about which, she loudly offered a wide variety of creative, indignant complaints. From the luxury afforded by Harf’s spaceliner, his family generally considered the frontier experience an exotic adventure, while his servant staff merely considered it all a pain under the tail.
That pain became even more pronounced when preparing N’raal for the bonding ceremony itself became a trial. The bride emphatically refused to cooperate to the slightest degree. This necessitated bringing in four large Raknaa females from a mining site on the opposite side of the planet, just to get her bathed and dressed properly. Getting N’raal to the makeshift Dolrak temple was another exercise in creative, wriggling-body handling, as care had to be taken as to not soil or wrinkle her magnificent, golden bonding-dress.
Solemn Dolrak priestesses intoned the traditional chants, imploring Dol to bless the bonding with long life (in a war zone, debatable), prosperity (as Drix was a region-master, a forgone conclusion), happiness (with N’raal involved, probably impossible) and many healthy cubs (again, with N’raal involved, highly unlikely). N’raal was being held firmly in place by ankle shackles and a massive Raknaa guard holding to each arm. A cloth had been wadded and stuck between her teeth, as she emphatically insisted on screeching and screaming for her release, whenever it was removed.
Drix answered in the affirmative when the Dolrak priestess officiating the ceremony asked if he accepted N’raal as his mate… yada, yada, yada. When N’raal was asked if she accepted Drix as her mate, the gag
was removed from between her teeth. N’raal spat threads and shouted, “I certainly do NOT! Someone help… mpf!”
N’raal’s father, standing beside her, hastily shoved the cloth back between her teeth and answered cheerfully in her stead, “she does,” after the gag had been restored. The normally solemn and dour Dolrak priestess officiating gave just a hint of a smile, just before she declared Drix and N’raal mates for life.
N’raal, for her part, wriggled even harder and did her best to scream indignities around the gag. Later, N’raal’s continued vexatious behavior required that she spend the majority of her bonding ceremony feast locked away in her room, as to avoid having everyone else’s day ruined as well. So with half of the newly-bonded couple missing, Drix and Harf officiated at the modest affair, which constituted the largest celebration yet seen in this region of space.
* * * *
The Planet Bavara, Germanic Empire
June, 3866
Noreen thought that she was only taking a vacation, when Diet and Hal first suggested whisking her off to the planet Bavara, within the Germanic Empire. Initially Noreen had balked, citing the incredible backlog of work at BioCom, but Diet reminded her that she’d already agreed to leaving BioCom, to assume a paid position as his personal assistant as he traveled around on the baron’s business, so why not use up her accumulated vacation time beforehand?
What the hell? You only live once, Noreen.
She’d also been hesitant to assume that it was all right with Baron Guderian, if they borrowed his magnificent jumbo spaceliner just to jaunt off on vacation. But Diet and Hal both assured her it would be not be a problem. As they had both worked for the baron longer, and in much closer proximity to him than she had, she finally acquiesced and off they flew to Germany.
Wrath of an Angry God: A Military Space Opera (The Sentience Trilogy Book 3) Page 7