The Icarian legacy: Brave Souls

by Kocho

  He noticed that thirty three ships were headed towards the eleven ships that admiral Jennings had under his command. His information was showing results of things that already happened. Even with the satellites that were deployed in the distance between the two star systems it still took almost forty five minutes for the images to reach him. He could get the information in a hart beat if he went to full power but on passive sensors that was the maximum at this distance. It took him just a minute to make his decision.

  “Inform governor Ivanov that we are jumping in to Proxima.”

  “Yes Admiral.”

  The Admiral inhaled.

  “Open a link with the fleet.”

  Several seconds later he got confirmation that the link was established.

  He waited a second and then addressed them.

  “As you all know the battle for Earth and Proxima is under way. Our fellow soldiers are right now fighting for everything we hold precious. We have been ordered to stay away. But we all know that if they fall we will be next. Our only chance for survival, this colony’s only chance of surviving is the victory in this battle. That is why I spoke with governor Ivanov and the provisional government and we all agreed that we should join the fight. We will give our best, we will give our all, and by god we will prevail. Good luck and Good speed.”

  He finished his speech and then after a second gave his command.

  “Jump to Proxima.”

  In several moments all ships started accelerating and opened their hyperspace windows. To an outside observer, to those that watched the fleet through telescopes it would have looked as if the ships elongated as they entered the blue vortexes. That was the result of the dilating effect of the achieving and surpassing light speed.

  The technology was new. The best that they could achieve was a speed 15 times faster than the speed of light. The only exception to that were the Alteran ships that were capable of far greater speeds. The windows to hyperspace that the fleet opened were their creation. The other ten ships locked with them in order to be able to enter and move through hyper space at that speed. It was all controlled by the AI’s who did all the needed calculations. But it could only be done at short ranges. The distance to Proxima was less than a light year. It was I distance that they would cross in a little over an hour. They all hoped that they would be there in time.

  27 June 13:57 hours

  Sol System Warp Point

  Admiral Johnson watched carefully at the disposition of the fleet. All ships reported ready and were on full alert since the moment the news reached them. Two hundred and thirty three ships most of them Los Angeles class, were waiting in formation around the warp point. Forty of the civilian ships from the Alteran fleet were also with them. They were there to house the vipers that couldn’t be placed on the ships of the fleet. They were acting like carriers and staying in the background. It was an improvised decision, considering the need for fighters and the lack of fleet carriers. The three alteran ships, the battleship and the two cruisers were leading three separate battle groups. Each had eighty ships under its command.

  The nerves of everyone were at the point of braking. It was hard to just sit and do nothing to wait.

  “Are there any news Anaya?”

  The AI turned towards her commander. Her face was serious as well.

  “Nothing new Sir, the scans are not showing any changes in the status of the warp point.”

  “Wonder why they are delaying so long. I hope Third Fleet is ok. Jennings is a good man.”

  The AI remembered the first human commander that stepped on the decks of Argus after twelve thousand cycles. She was fond of him. He was a good officer and an excellent captain.

  “I’m sure they are fine. He is an excellent officer…and a good man. You all are.”

  Johnson was surprised by the emotions he noticed in her words. He always knew she was much more than just a hologram, a computer program. She told them that the Alterans considered the AI’s sentient. All who had a chance to meet her agreed with that assessment. He thought he got to know her well in the time he served as commander of the Argus. But there were always moments like this one, moments when she would surprise him, moments when her humanity will come to the surface.

  “Thank you Anaya.”

  She smiled.

  “You are welcomed.”

  The moment was brief but it broke the spell and the nervousness he felt. It was enough to make him relax. He turned back to the screen. He had a discussion with everyone. While the battle that would happen in Proxima would probably take more planning the one here was simple.

  All ships had order to open fire the moment the Dacarian ships transition through. There was to be no waiting so there weren’t many rooms for putting plans. This was going to be a kind of battle that reminded him of the battles of the eighteenth and the nineteenth century. Tight formation that stands on the battle field without fear of the enemy, formation that fires and advances no matter what is standing before them. The only difference was that no it was ships and not soldiers. There were several meters of metal between the soldiers and the enemy rounds. The only thing that would happen that they knew for sure was that the mine field will explode as soon as the last ship transits through to this system.

  Everyone hoped that it would cause havoc among the enemy, but they prepared for the worse scenario. That is why there were ships placed in the asteroid belt and in orbit around Earth. But if the fight reaches to them he knew that neither he nor anyone else present here will see it. If the enemy reaches to that point it would mean that they are all dead. He hoped that it will not come to that. But he also knew that if it comes no one will cry or be afraid not in the fleet he commanded. They all were prepared to fight to the last, to die. In a way he felt the same as eons ago the Spartans must have felt at the battle with the Persians. This was where they were drawing the line. This was the place where the destiny of humanity will be decided.

  As he was looking he noticed Anaya stir.

  “They are coming.”

  It was a statement. He noticed the readings of the warp point. Something was happening although there was nothing there yet. The readings were of the scale. It was obvious that something big was close to coming though.

  “Give me a link to all ships. And be prepared to send the signal to activate the warheads.”

  “Yes admiral.”

  The link was established and he took a second to gather his thoughts.

  “This is Admiral Johnson. You all know what is coming through that point. We all know what they want. And we all know our duty.

  Long time ago at a moment similar to these three hundred Spartans stood against an army of a million men. They were the last line of defense. We all know what happened to them. We all know the legend that was born at that moment. All history, all legends start just like this. There are always some brave few, that no matter what happens will never back down, never retreat, that are prepared to die for what they believe in, to die for their home.

  As I look at you now I see those brave men standing here today. We all heard the president’s speech…we all know what is behind us. We all know that this is where we draw the line. That today is the moment when we say enough, the day when we stay stop. We are the last defense, the last thing that stands before the night.

  Today we are the Spartans and I say they will not pass!!!”

  He turned towards Anaya. She was waiting for him.

  “So it begins.”

  “Yes so it does.”

  As the admiral finished his speech all ships powered up their weapons and shields. And then they waited.

  The warp point shimmered for several moments and then it suddenly expanded. It all took just a second.

  Where there was nothing before suddenly hundreds ships started transitioning simultaneously. It was an unbelievable site. A site that was both beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

  “Do we have the numbers Anaya?”

  “Yes admiral c
ounting five hundred and sixty one ships.”

  As the ships transitioned and moved away from the warp point, an eerie silence settled for a second.

  “Holy mother of God…Look at the size of the bastards.”

  Johnson knew that they had a minute until the Dacarians settled and all their systems started functioning again. He gave the order.

  “Activate the mine field.”

  Anaya send the signal before he even spoke the words. She more than anyone else knew the real power of the fleet that was arrayed outside. There was no time to waste.

  And at the same time all ships started firing with the long range weapons. Hundreds of MAC rounds flew towards the still unsuspecting enemy.

  Vokar watched as the fleet came out. He always hated these moments. The warp points always impacted the ships systems and interfered with the sensors. The ships were literally blind and deaf for almost an arn. It was the time that was needed for the systems to come back on line.

  He expected the call from the scout fleet as soon as they came out. He was surprised that there was nothing.

  “Begin scanning and launch the air wings.”

  “Yes admiral.”

  He knew that the results would be incomplete thanks to the interference but he wanted to be sure that there was nothing out there.

  “I want the…”-but he never managed to finish the sentence.

  When they planned the mission they were acting arrogant, sure in their superiority, in the power of their technology, they never prepared for an eventuality that the warp point would be guarded. A warp point was always dangerous to cross and the battles that were fought in order to take control of the other side if it was defended always demanded enormous sacrifices. The fact that he never prepared for that came to his mind the moment that all the alarms started screaming, the moment when the legionary manning the sensors literally screamed.

  “We have Radiological alarm!!! Detecting thousands signals!!!”

  “Raise shields!!!”

  But the order came much too late. And as he noticed the readings of the energy, he knew that even if they were up they would only prolong the agony.

  Some of the ships that transitioned first managed to do that in time. They were the lucky ones. They also started firing almost at once. But then the second nightmare came as they detected the signals of almost three hundred ships that opened fire on them.

  As the shields of the Ahairna started to come on line outside for a brief moment a new star was born as two thousand four hundred and eighty nuclear warheads detonated simultaneously. They released power of millions of megatons, power that would have devastated a planet if it was released on one.

  The six miles long dreadnought had huge amounts of armor. It was fully capable of fighting even without its shields. It had forty meters of Trilik a metal alloy that was the strongest the Dacarians knew and it was composed of materials the humans never saw before. It had small traces of the metal they knew as titanium and also carbon and several other lighter elements.

  But not even that armor could withstand the huge amount of power that was released against it. It melted in seconds.

  The ship rocked and shacked and it slowly fell apart. Voran and his crew didn’t feel a thing. Their death was quick as the dreadnought found itself on top of one of the ten warheads that had a power yield of one gigaton. As it detonated it literally tore the ship apart.

  As the blast hit the fleet the first ones to go were the ten fuel ships. They had weaker armor plates and even though they had their shields up they were drained away immediately after the explosions as debris and the power of several nuclear warheads that were near hit them. The fuel they carried ignited and only increased the power of the explosion. They all exploded within seconds. The transport ships that were near them were hit by debris from them huge pieces that tore through their shields and cut deep in to their skin. Armor plates evaporated and the heat stroke deep inside. In just second’s sixty million legionaries, a number that was enough to conquer several worlds over, a loss that was unheard off, died.

  Thousands others followed them as ship after ship exploded. It took for just a minute for the explosion to clear. In that time three hundred and sixty ships were totally destroyed. Half of those that managed to survive suffered huge damages. The thousands of seraphines that were launched never really had a chance. They were blasted to atoms. And so were their mother ships, the carriers.

  Of fifty four dreadnoughts only ten remained and they all had huge damages. The luckiest ships were the cruisers and the destroyers. By sheer luck they found themselves protected by other ships.

  Of the two hundred and one ships that managed to survive ten were dreadnoughts, eighty three were cruisers of both classes, thirty eight were destroyers, forty nine were frigates and twenty one were corvettes. All ships showed huge damages.

  Pieces of hull were torn apart, on most places the armor was totally stripped leaving exposed inner bulkheads, weapons systems were wrecked. And even as they survived the first attack the second arrived in the form of MAC rounds and rail gun rounds. And those that still had functioning sensors noticed thousands of fighters approaching and a fleet of ships as well.

  Jongar pushed the legionary that was trying to help him to stand up, away. His ship managed to raise the shields in time, but it still suffered huge damage.

  “Give me the status of the fleet. I want to know who survived!”

  It took just moments but as he read the results he paled. Only two hundred ships survived and only ten were dreadnoughts. And they all had huge amounts of damage.

  “Inform the fleet that I’m taking command. And try to give me a link to V’las. His squadrons suffered least casualties. “

  “Yes admiral.”

  In one arn the face of the younger captain appeared on the screen. It was bloody and the video showed a bridge that had huge damages. It was obvious that the cruiser suffered terrible damage. Bodies were laying everywhere. As he turned he knew that his bridge looks the same.

  “Jongar.”

  “V’las. How many hips do you have capable of fighting?”

  “About sixty I believe. The readings I have are showing that we have hundred and thirty seven functioning ships. The rest are dead in space.”

  “My results are the same. And as you know we have a fleet of almost three hundred ships closing in.”

  “Yes. We were arrogant and we paid the price.”

  “What we need to do now is retreat and regroup V’las. “

  “We are surrounded. And we can’t travel through the warp point. They are there to a drone just passed with information’s that Kerak is under attack.”

  Jongar kicked one piece of metal that was nearby.

  “Curse the gods. How could this happen?”

  “Don’t shout at the gods Jongar. They are not at fault we are. We forgot who we were fighting.”

  “And now we will pay the price.”

  “We have to go through them.”

  The younger captain looked at him.

  “I agree. We need to destroy this fleet and this world.”

  “Do you submit to my command?”

  “Yes my lord. I relinquish my command to you. I already ordered the most damaged ships to be placed in front to take the brute of the enemy attack. The rest of the ships are forming behind them. I suggest that your dreadnoughts do the same. “

  “Thank you V’las. The dreadnoughts will take the center of the formation.”

  The link went dead. The dacarian surviving ships arrayed for battle. They were damaged, but they were powerful ships. The sixty four damaged ships took most of the MAC rounds in to their hulls. They died one by one but they gave the time the rest of the fleet needed to prepare. Then the Dacarians opened fire. And as their shots found their targets humans began to die as well.

  27 June 14:45 hours

  Proxima Centaury

  Kerak watched as the unknown ships stopped. His fighters moved well ahead of the fleet
searching for any remaining nuclear mines like the ones that wrecked the first fleet. As he watched them move the screens showed hundred and sixty fighters moving to intercept them. The sight made him laugh. The seraphines were unmatched in their class in space combat. They were superior or equal to every space fighter of the known races. And they outnumbered their opponents three and a half to one. He was sure that they would massacre the small fighters that raced towards them.

  As he watched the officer operating the sensors turned.

  “What is it?”

  “We just registered twelve more ships. They just exited hyperspace and are racing towards us.”

  This was complicating things.

  “How long do we have until the two fleets meet?

  “They will meet in forty arns. We will be in firing range in thirty three my lord.”

  “It seems that they were attracted to these star systems. They probably have a colony on some of the worlds. As I recall there was a habitable world in the other star system.”

  “Yes my lord.”

  “Good. Once we finish with these ships we will have something to destroy. And a place where we can find out who they are. They are worthy adversaries.”

  Smiles appeared on the faces of the legionaries at his words. They knew that the fleet suffered a heavy blow in the first engagement but a trap like that was a trap they would fall only once. They were confident in their victory.

  Jennings watched as the fighter squadrons closed in.

  “Sir we have new contacts on the edge of the system coming from the point to Alpha Centaury.”

  As soon as he heard that he knew that Peck jumped in system. He knew that it was against orders but he was glad he was here. He needed all the help he could get.

  “Contact him and tell him to come as fast as he can. And move us back a little. Let the Dacarians come to us but not before we have Peck’s ships here.”