by Aer-ki Jyr
“Well done, boyos,” he said to all the Star Force personnel linked into the massive battlemap system that had operated flawlessly. “We just won round one, but they’ve still got their big chess piece and until they lose it they have the upper hand. So don’t get cocky on me. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
3
When Mak’to’ran’s ship came out of its jump he immediately knew something was not right, for he stood in his command circle mentally linked with the Kafcha’s sensors receiving location pings from the other ships already on station and finding they were not where they were supposed to be, nor were they in formation. They were scattered on the very edge of the star and Mak’to’ran’s ship also braked to a position within the hazy stellar halo where he could feel the shields dropping slowly. To his horror he saw an I’rar’et ship pass by razor close and impact the star, quickly disappearing beneath the outer layer until the dreadnaught’s crew added enhanced sensors to Mak’to’ran’s mental vision, allowing him to see several vessels inside and climbing back towards space…
But they were not alone, for back up the jumpline slightly and out of the dangerous radiation from the star were hundreds of large contacts firing on the ships that had already arrived with Ardents. The rumors of these Zen’zat having Bra’hems had been woefully understated and he knew instantly that his ships were in trouble. Some were already attacking one of the Zen’zat ships, but from the overlapping firepower of the enemy his command had already been bloodied…and not from the contact he saw disappearing within the star, for at least one ship had not made it back out in time before its shields failed and its armor melted through to the interior.
Mak’to’ran’s Sav-enhanced mind worked quickly, and he was immensely thankful that his race had been gifted the psionic. Not even the Hjar’at had it, with it being something the long necks had held exclusively to themselves until the Era’tran had risen in prominence and they decided to bequeath it to them. Right now it was allowing him to issue orders to his crew, the other ships nearby, and to analyze the additional contacts further out along the jumpline that were responsible for their navigational woes.
He knew the significance of them as soon as the analysis came through, but it was still hard to imagine. The Zen’zat had created an IDF corridor at the end of where his fleet was attempting to brake against the star’s gravity when it was at its strongest, and denying them that had made them overshoot. Fortunately the gravity where they were now was even stronger and had allowed his ship to avoid hitting the denser stellar material, but not all his ships were so lucky and those that were coming back out from collisions with the stellar furnace were showing reduced shields at minimum, with a lot of them also carrying armor damage.
And the Zen’zat vessels were targeting the damaged ones, taking advantage of both the navigational mishap and the fact that the full V’kit’no’sat fleet wasn’t here yet. With a thought Mak’to’ran ordered the damaged ships to link up with others, drawing a pair of partially melted Hjar’at Na’shor to his command ship and extending their own shields out into a wider frontal barrier while relying on the other two ships for lateral protection. The Ardents began hitting his shields, but the dreadnaught held firm and the two Hjar’at warships began to regenerate their shields as he drew more ships to him, forming a cluster that reinforced one another and began to give the most badly damaged ships time to catch their breath all the while hundreds of Ardents were retargeting to hit the isolated ships…some of which were just dropping out of their jumps without a clue as to what was going on or why they were out of position.
Then to his continual horror he saw a Pas’cha Dak’bri battlecruiser run into another Era’tran Kafcha, with both shields popping like bubbles and the hulls denting against one another at the ‘slow’ impact speed. The Era’tran ship was pushed into the star along with the Pas’cha, and with their shields already down their hull armor began to eat away immediately.
Mak’to’ran knew it wasn’t their entry formation at fault for this, but the fact that the varying ships were decelerating at different rates due to slight differences in design and class. The Pas’cha had slightly weaker gravity drives, though almost identical to every other ship in the fleet, but that little deviation during emergency deceleration protocols when they couldn’t get sensor locks on the ships ahead of them meant they were all probably going to hit the star…and this one had dragged an Era’tran ship in with it, to both their deaths.
Mak’to’ran couldn’t lament on that, for he had to get the ships here organized and clear as much of the jumpline as he could not knowing where all of the ships were going to come out, but within a few seconds he began to get approximations based on ship class and design of those already observed. It looked like the Brat’mar were faring the best, but that also put them closest to the Zen’zat ships…which were now being updated as defense stations situated along the jumpline. The Zen’zat ships were stationed further off, out of the combat and watching the chaos ensue.
A masterful ambush, a piece of his mind thought as the rest of it was frantically at work trying to bring his fleet into some semblance of a fighting stance. Now there is no question that they must die, having bled their brothers, but at least they have acquitted themselves skillfully. We taught them well.
Mak’to’ran checked his fleet to see who was impacting the star and who wasn’t, trying to discern who the traitors in his midst were, but it appeared that all the ships arriving were doing so without proper deceleration. Either that was a deliberate ploy to conceal their part in this or the ships assigned to this mission didn’t know about the ambush they were walking into.
Just then the Mach’nel arrived, and with a streak of horror filling him he saw it hit the star at greater speed than any other, forgoing any thoughts of the J’gar having arranged this. They would never sacrifice such a ship as a ploy, and it had just punched deep into the star, so deep that Mak’to’ran feared the impact velocities alone.
As more ships arrived he tried to cover for them, focusing on taking out the nearest of the Zen’zat stations so that the Ardent beams would be less in number so close, but in order to attack the stations with their full weaponry he had to move his ships in closer…and that brought more of the stations into range, hammering his ships and triggering many losses, but he had no choice. If he did not hold his ground here and merely fled with the surviving ships then those still to arrive would be picked apart one at a time. Only as a group could they keep some of them alive, and the less stations the Zen’zat had the less damage they could do, so fighting was their only alternative and he hated/admired the Zen’zat for forcing him into this scenario. Those who believed them to be inferior members of the V’kit’no’sat would long rue this day, just as those who had said similar things about the Rit’ko’sor up until their skillful rebellion. Arrogance had its price, and the Era’tran commander was trying to diminish it here as much as possible.
When he saw the Mach’nel punch its way back into space he was both relieved and horrified, for it had no shields and was glowing from the extensive armor damage, but he knew that the Zen’zat could not take it out even in its current condition, so he ordered it to hold position and recharge its shields while weathering the Ardent coming its way to expand upon the damage. He specifically told the J’gar not to get any closer, citing the range limitations of the other stations, though it did send some medium ranged fire at the closest ones, helping to add to the current barrage from the reassembling fleet that was carving themselves out a foothold.
Mak’to’ran didn’t have to explain further, for the single weapon on the Mach’nel that could outdistance them immediately fired on one of the Zen’zat constructs and he knew he now was in a much better position, though still losing ships constantly. He continued to hammer the closest stations to the point where his arriving ships were mostly making it through, though the Zen’zat were still focusing most of their firepower on the damaged ships…and when the Mach’nel finally regained shi
elds they wisely stopped assaulting it, thought their redirect began to kill more of the other vessels.
Mak’to’ran held his position long enough for the rest of his fleet to arrive, pushing up through more than a hundred of the Zen’zat stations at great cost as their warships finally decided to join the fight. They were small, but numerous and it wasn’t until nearly the end of his fleet’s arrival did he realize from battle damage being incurred that they were unmanned vessels.
Zen’zat did not fight in such a manner, and a quick check discovered heavy use of control signals emanating from larger ships stationed a fair distance off that had not entered the fight. They were the size of traditional V’kit’no’sat ships but of an entirely different design, somewhere between Dak’bri and Na’shor, but with huge empty chunks in their hull that apparently fit the simple block design of the attacking ships.
Mak’to’ran knew better than to stick around and fight them in the shadow of their defense stations, for there were too many targets to hit and a good portion of his ships had begun this fight weakened by their brush with the star, so once the last Lir’nen ship arrived he organized a fighting withdrawal out of the mess of attacking ships and had his fleet make a microjump around the perimeter of the star into a region that showed no enemy contacts.
It wasn’t until halfway there and the Zen’zat stopped their pursuit did he begin to recognize the reality of the situation. There were no more defense stations on the other jumplines. Only on the one that they had entered on, suggesting that the others had been moved there deliberately, but they were not the only ones in the system.
Further out around some of the planets were more, and with them numerous other stations and fleets. The blocky ships that had attacked them had many more of their kind spread out in clumps waiting for combat…and he saw many orbital constructs that would make for easy target practice, which was probably why those ships were stationed nearby them.
But as the sensor readings from across the star system continued to flow in he was aghast at how much the Zen’zat had built here. The proposed 2 millennia was a joke. This system had to have been constructed long ago to reach this level of development, for they had even heavily inhabited the unwanted worlds.
Very heavily. If these were all Zen’zat and Ter’nat, then this was a much larger affront to the V’kit’no’sat than expected, and who knew how many more of them were in other systems in this so called ‘Star Force.’ Mak’to’ran had stumbled onto something of far greater magnitude than he’d been led to believe…now he had to make sure they survived the immediate future long enough to recover his fleet’s strength so they could start working this problem from the inside out.
Fortunately the Zen’zat let them go. Had they pursued them additional losses would have ensued, but it looked like they were going to hold position near the stations and dare them to come back…and like clockwork he got a comm from the Hjar’at command ship.
“Garrtak, I am glad you survived.”
“Many others did not,” the stegosaurus said, his twin rows of spins glowing blue and spiking little tendrils of lighting in utter rage. “What is our target?”
“Information,” Mak’to’ran said, knowing that wouldn’t please the Hjar’at. “The Zen’zat set a clever ambush for us, but now that we’re here and recovering they cannot easily dispatch this fleet despite our losses. We will hold position and see if they are stupid enough to come to us while we analyze their full assets here. Our vengeance will be delayed momentarily, my friend.”
“Those defense stations need eliminated.”
“And they will be, but have you noticed how many ships they have around the system?”
Garrtak took a moment to respond as he referenced the data available to his mind through his own command circle.
“They are small, but their number is alarming. Especially if they have called for reinforcements. This ambush signals they knew we were coming.”
“It does, but none of our ships seemed to be aware of their clever navigational disruption. Not all hit the star, but we’ve all been bled here.”
“If one can betray us, they can betray their own race as well.”
“The Rit’ko’sor never did, but your point is taken. The Zen’zat may have arranged this on their own without their sponsor knowing.”
“Are we expecting to receive any ships along that jumpline?”
“No, we are not, but I do want those devices preserved for study.”
“Why?” the Hjar’at asked, clearly wanting to smash something…and probably a lot of somethings.
“Because we’ve never built anything like that. The principle is simple enough, but we’ve never made use of it.”
“Because it’s absurd. With a single scout you can determine the veracity of a jumpline before you enter.”
“We did not,” Mak’to’ran said firmly, with the deaths of his fellow V’kit’no’sat, and especially the Era’tran, foremost in his mind, “and they took advantage of our arrogance. It is clear these Zen’zat do not fight in traditional ways, so be vigilant to look for more treachery in both their strategy and equipment.”
“I will, I promise you that. But do not delay their destruction for a fact finding mission.”
“A delay is necessary. Do not think I am not angered by this, but we must move with caution else we will lose more ships.”
The Hjar’at’s mouth worked itself around as if it didn’t know whether to chew or speak, but eventually more controlled words came out.
“Your counsel is wise and we are with you, but we are eager to hit them back.”
“And we will, but first let us find out who it is that we are fighting. Are these just Zen’zat, or do you want to hit their sponsors?”
“Both.”
“And to find both we need answers.”
“How do you plan to get them? Their ships are unmanned and there is nothing near here to raid. All their constructs are guarded.”
“Not all,” Mak’to’ran said, sending Garrtak some coordinates. “There are a scattering of facilities that have been left alone.”
“If they were of value they would not be. Either they are expendable or they are another trap.”
“Indeed, they may well be. But let us take a closer look, and in the process get some data on their ships’ engines,” he said, contacting the other commanders and bringing them all into the same comm channel, seeing their now smaller holograms surrounding him.
“Continue analyzing all sensors and comm signal intercepts while we hold defensive position here, but I need scout teams sent to these locations,” he said, sending the coordinates to 13 widely spaced stations in higher orbits around the star and well away from any planet. “Expect a trap and explore carefully, but we need access to their technology and preferably their people. This is information gathering, not destruction, and if their structures are designed for Zen’zat then we will need to send Zen’zat and those who can fit in their spaces. The Ari’tar and Nak’ren will be sent with what ships you deem necessary, so long as you can contain your rage and acquit the mission per my instructions.”
“Separate targets or shared?” the Nak’ren asked, with its backward swept horns bracketing the quadruped’s wide head.
“Separate. All of us were bled today, and until I see evidence to the contrary I am assuming all in this fleet are loyal to the V’kit’no’sat even if your kin are not, so there will be no more questioning of loyalties here until we have firm evidence to the contrary. Is that understood?”
“Someone is to blame, Mak’to’ran,” the J’gar said, looking ill.
“Yes there is, and we need information to determine who it is, but do you believe they would send troops here to die in an ambush with such knowledge, or would they betray them as well to disguise their part in this?”
“Their race is still complicit regardless.”
“And what if it is your race? Should I hold you responsible?”
The J’gar’s eyes flared a
ngrily. “After the damage we sustained you should not doubt us. Half my crew are dead and some will be unrecoverable.”
“And what if your leaders sacrificed you to cover their deceit?” Mak’to’ran pressed. “I will not hold you and your crew responsible for them seeing as how you have also been betrayed, and I will do likewise for anyone else in this fleet. We are brothers here despite what has been transpiring elsewhere, and unless there is treachery enacted by those in this fleet, all ships here are immune to retribution when we discover the sponsor of these Zen’zat on my order and it will not be rescinded. We are bled now, all of us, and that will speak for the loyalties here and cleanse any that had foreknowledge of betrayal. We are pure in this fleet until one chooses to sully that clarity with present actions.”
“You are far too generous for an Era’tran,” the Hjar’at said, but approvingly, “though I concur. Those sent here were betrayed by the betrayers, and when we discover what race is behind this they will be absolved of prior complicity so long as their current actions do not negate it.”
“Then we, as V’kit’no’sat, will uncover the treason here,” Mak’to’ran said with finality. “Ari’tat, Nak’ren, secure those facilities immediately in a manner of your choosing. The rest of us will remain here and watch how the Zen’zat fleet responds. If we can bait them in to fighting us away from their defense stations then it is to our advantage, but I do not think them to be that stupid. If I am right we have time to look, listen, and discover, so make use of it and probe the depths of the treachery found here.”
4