The Exxar Chronicles: Book 01 - The Erayan

by Neal Jones

  "It's the same for the other battle carrier as well."

  Commander McCoy reclined in his seat, propping his left ankle on his right knee as he waited for McKenna's response. They were in her ready room, and the battle had ended an hour ago. As soon as the EM pulse fried every piece of hardware on the carriers, the Jha'Drok drones had ceased their attack on the Dauntless. Benson recalled all of the Erayan drones while Zamora initiated an EM pulse from the Dauntless' forward deflector array, and then it was an easy matter for the tactical officer to fire a few shots from the ship's PDR assembly, vaporizing the entire Jha'Drok drone fleet in four seconds.

  "Damn!" McKenna muttered as she tossed the compad on her desk. "I suppose I should be grateful that we survived, but some prisoners would have been nice. If the Jha'Drok transported here from their hypergate, then someone back in their home territories could have been monitoring all this."

  "All the more reason to get the hell out of here as soon as possible," McCoy replied. "I think we've found everything here that we can."

  The captain nodded as she scrubbed a hand over her face and stifled a yawn. She leaned back in her chair as she said, "I'd still like to leave a team behind in the control cavern. As long as the planetary defense system remains intact, they'll be safe. We need to stake a claim here and monitor the hypergate. We might even get lucky and capture whatever reconnaissance team the Jha'Drok send to look for their missing assault fleet."

  McCoy nodded his agreement. "I think fifty officers should be a sufficient crew. How long before we come back for them?"

  "No more than a week, maybe two at the most. We need to alert Central Command and get a science fleet out here. But even if that takes a month, our people will have enough supplies to last them for six."

  "I volunteer myself, and I think Benson will want to stay as well."

  "Add Wolfe to your senior staff, and up your crew complement to seventy officers. That should be enough to ensure you've got personnel from all major departments. I'm certain Doctor Burke will want to remain on board the Dauntless to continue her study of Ilkara."

  "I was thinking the same thing." The first officer stood. "Anything else?"

  "No. You've got four hours to pull everything together before we depart."

  "Yes, ma'am."

  ( 6 )

  Senator Eril Koden wanted desperately to wipe away the trickle of sweat that was winding its way down his brow, but he dared not show any weakness at this particular moment. Instead, he casually clasped his hands behind his back while he waited for Erengaar's response.

  The lord emperor had been sworn into office earlier that morning, and he showed no outward sign of remorse for the deaths of his parents. Doctor Rimshar had waited until just before dawn to bring the news to Erengaar, and it had only been released to the Emperium's news services an hour ago. A much more lavish, public coronation ceremony would take place in two weeks, in the courtyard of the hexagon, and the union ceremony between Erengaar and Larewyn would be held at the same time. That latter, in fact, had been the topic of discussion between Erengaar and Larewyn when Koden had interrupted them ten minutes earlier. Larewyn had begged leave of her husband and then left the men to discuss matters of state.

  Except that Koden would have given his left arm and his right leg to be anywhere else other than Erengaar's office right now. Despite his best efforts, no one had been able to locate Senator Nejra and his wife, and the last time anyone could remember seeing them was the night of the private union ceremony. On top of that, the destruction of the shipyards, which had obliterated every last warship of the invasion fleet, had been known only to Koden until this moment. He'd received the news last night, from the first krin of one of the system patrol ships that had happened to catch a front row seat to the spectacle. The commander had delivered the report personally instead of trusting it to the military commnets, and now Koden had the unhappy task of delivering the news to the lord emperor.

  Erengaar set the compad on the desk and looked up at Koden. "How did this happen?" he asked calmly.

  The senator swallowed. "I don't know, my lord. The investigation is going to take several weeks, and I have assigned the eighth legion to that sector. Third Lovar U'ati is going to keep me updated as he learns new information, but I believe we can safely assume that this was the work of the Drigald."

  The lord emperor considered this for a moment, looking at Koden as if he were delivering nothing more than a report on the local weather. "And you don't think that Senator Nejra's disappearance had anything to do with this?"

  "My lord, Senator Nejra's loyalty is to the Emperium. He would never have sabotaged his own project."

  "Hhhmmmm." Erengaar pursed his lips as he stood. "I fail to see how the destruction of this project could have been done from the outside. I think it's very likely that Jolan was persuaded to join the Drigald at some point, and they convinced him to sabotage his own work." He cocked his head. "Which makes me question your loyalties, senator, since you and Jolan were such close companions." The lord emperor pressed a button on his terminal, and the door to his office opened. A pair of guards entered, weapons drawn.

  Koden's entire brow was now covered in a sheen of sweat, and he realized somewhere in the back of his brain that he would not see his wife again. In fact, she would be lucky if she remained alive. So would he, for that matter. "My-my lord, I -"

  Erengaar raised his hand, cutting off the senator's protest and then addressed the soldiers. "Take this traitor out of my sight. I want him interrogated. If he confesses his sins, I might decide to merciful."

  "Yes, lord."

  After the door closed, Erengaar sighed as he sat down and his gaze fell upon the compad. His mouth curled in rage, and he smashed the device against the corner of his desk. A piece of shrapnel sliced his palm, and he made a fist as he watched the blood drops stain the gray carpet. With his other hand he tapped a key on his comm panel. "Mister Shial."

  "Yes, lord?"

  "Please convene an emergency session of the senate. Three days from now."

  "Yes, lord."

  Chapter 24

  ____________________

  ( 1 )

  The Haal'Chai fleet arrived at Exxar-One just as beta shift was coming off and delta shift was taking their place. While not a particularly stressful day, it had had its moments. Commodore Gabriel had just discharged Lieutenant Commander Garrett and Petty Officer Second Class LaMarche from his office. The latter had been brought to captain's mast for insubordination and dereliction of duty, and he would be spending the next thirty days in the brig, followed by thirty days of extra duty and a loss of three months' half pay. From the expression on LaMarche's face after hearing Gabriel's verdict it was clear he thought that the punishment was too severe, but he had wisely chosen to keep his mouth shut.

  Gabriel sighed as he glanced at his chrono, and he decided it was close enough to nineteen hundred to call it a day. He would finish his report on the petty officer's sentencing tomorrow and enter it in the log. Same for the rest of today's paperwork. The commodore had yet to read Navarr and Sikandra's mission report, which they had only just turned in to him that morning, and his plans to read it during lunch had been interrupted by the demands of Father Everett. There'd been another incident of vandalism against the Holy Church of God's Witness the night before, and Everett had decided it was time to go over Krael Zar's head. That incident was the third in two weeks, and while it was only a few choice words spray painted across the front doors - expletives that could be easily removed with a special cleaner - the Father felt that Zar and his staff were not taking promenade security seriously. It was almost an hour before the commodore could successfully reassure the reverend that yes, he and Zar did take these incidents seriously, and yes, he would discuss the situation with Exxar-One's chief of security before the end of the day.

  As Gabriel stepped onto the command deck, he wondered if he could put off his meeting with Zar until first thing tomorrow. He'd been planning to have din
ner at Grax's, and he was going to invite the security chief, but now, all Gabriel wanted was the solitude of his quarters and a hot shower. Maybe he could order a pizza from the food processor and invite the DrayH'M to his place for dinner. Maybe they could even share a kaanu joint -

  "Goodnight, commodore."

  The words chopped through Gabriel's thoughts, and he blinked as he nodded to Commander Hiller. "Goodnight, commander."

  With the exception of Major Saveck, the rest of beta shift was already gone. The Chrisarii XO was conversing with Lieutenant Ranoss, Sikandra's replacement at tactical.

  Gabriel started walking to the PTL.

  "What the hell?"

  The exclamation came from Ranoss, and Gabriel thought for a moment that it was directed at Saveck. But the tac officer's gaze was riveted to her screens as an alarm suddenly blared from her console. She began inputting commands, and like the chain reaction of a reactor core breach, various alarms began to sound their warnings from other OCC posts as well. "Commander - I mean, commodore - I have multiple stardrive signatures! All Chrisarii. A fleet has de-cloaked, and they've surrounded the station. Their offnets are hot and their defenses are at full capacity."

  "I have an incoming transmission!" This was from Lieutenant Greene.

  It took a few moments for Gabriel to snap his exhausted brain into focus, and he strode to the ops console where Commander Hiller stood aside. "Put it on, lieutenant."

  The image of a tall, lean Chrisarii colonel appeared on the holo-comm, and the scarring of his visage, as well as the eye patch and his bald scalp, gave him a distinct appearance of one who has seen his share of battlefields and emerged victorious every time. The controlled fury that radiated from his good eye gave Gabriel a chill that slithered along his spine, and he successfully repressed a shiver. He was not easily intimidated, and he smoothly slid a calm veneer into place as he prepared to greet the commandant of the enemy fleet.

  "I'm Commodore Marcus - "

  "- Gabriel. Yes, I know who you are. I am Colonel Serehl of the Haal'Chai, and I am here to receive your unconditional surrender." His tone was almost conversational, as though he and Gabriel were sitting across from one another at a table, playing a game of poker and sipping summer wine. "I only offer it once, and if you refuse, you and all those under your command will not be spared when we destroy your outpost. You have one galactic standard hour to reply."

  The connection was terminated and Serehl vanished.

  Gabriel didn't need an hour to make his decision. "Red alert! All hands to battle stations! Place all fighter squadrons on standby to launch, and bring up our offnet. Deflectors at full strength, and initiate auto rotation of harmonics. All non-military personnel to emergency shelters, and send a warning to any incoming traffic. How many ships are currently docked?"

  Lieutenant Santiago, the docking coordinator, glanced from his station on the lowest tier of the command deck. "Eight, sir. All of them civilian. Five merchants, a medical courier, and two quartermasters."

  "Tell them we have an emergency situation, and that they're stuck with us for now. They can do whatever's necessary to defend their ships, but we can't allow them to depart the station. Serehl won't let them go."

  "They'll be his first targets, no matter what we do," Saveck growled as he turned to Santiago. "Lieutenant, tell the captains of those ships to evacuate their crews to the station."

  Santiago spared a glance in Gabriel's direction, and the commodore nodded. Saveck had a good point, and those ships' officers could be put to good use on Krael Zar's staff in case the station was boarded. While the docking coordinator began amending his initial message, Gabriel turned to Lieutenant Greene. "How bad are they jamming our transmissions?"

  The young woman shook her head, her mouth drawn into a line that was so taut it made her lips appear almost white. When she spoke, she had to fight to control the panic and fear in her voice. "Their EW is blinding us completely, sir. I can't get anything through, and the way they've positioned their ships means that they'll intercept anything we launch before it can get far enough to do any good."

  Gabriel nodded, grimacing, and pulled up a tactical readout on the closest screen to his position at the ops console. Greene was right. Serehl only had fifteen ships, and when placed against the sheer size of Exxar-One, it didn't seem like a large number. Very small, in fact. But Serehl knew where the launch ports were located, particularly the ones that held the comm buoys and sensor probes, and he had a ship placed within easy striking distance of each of them. He also had a ship near the primary and secondary shuttledocks, and two were close enough to snag any hornets. The commodore's scowl turned darker as he transferred the display to the console's holo-emitter so Saveck and Hiller could examine it and weigh in with their opinion.

  "Talk to me, gentlemen. Give me some options."

  "He doesn't have enough ships to surround us completely," Hiller observed. "Look at the size of the holes here and here."

  "He'll take care of those soon enough," Saveck replied. "He'll use at least half of his total raider complement to cover these quadrants." The major pressed a command that highlighted the largest quartet of holes in Serehl's offensive deployment.

  "What about an escape pod?" Hiller suggested. "Once the battle begins, there'll be so much interference from EW and weapons fire that we might get one or two escape pods through. Or a stinger, for that matter. Neither of them would have to travel very far to transmit a wide-band distress call."

  "A distress call to whom?" Saveck punched in another series of commands and the holo-image of Exxar-One and the Haal'Chai fleet was replaced by a schematic of the Tiralan sector. "The closest fleet is a DrayH'M battle group conducting training exercises in the Karravac system. By the time an escape pod or a stinger got within transmission range, the battle would be over."

  "But what about something that does have FTL capability?" the commander shot back. "Something like a shuttle, or one of the Endeavor ships?"

  "Yes," Gabriel agreed. "Get a crew aboard the Challenger and have them standby for your command to launch." He turned to Saveck. "Contact Lieutenant Commander Garrett. I want an overview of every system upgrade that his people have made in the last seven weeks." The commodore checked the chrono in the lower corner of the holo-display and then raised his voice so everyone on the command deck could hear him. "We have fifty-two minutes to come up with a tactical strategy, people. Let's get busy!"

  ( 2 )

  Major Ri'Lmor stood at his assigned post just below Serehl's command station. For the moment, all was quiet on the Tl'Keth bridge, save for the occasional report from one of the officers. Exxar-One's offnet and deflector screens had just come on line, and Commodore Gabriel had probably given the order to have his entire hornet squadron standby for launch as well. Ri'Lmor was puzzled as to why Serehl hadn't deployed the raiders, but he had served under the colonel long enough to know better than to question him. He would give the order when he was ready and not a moment sooner.

  While Serehl hadn't said out loud to the major that he was planning a different operation than the one Vi'Sar had assigned him, Ri'Lmor knew instinctively that the colonel wasn't following orders. The fact that he'd just given Exxar-One's crew an hour to respond to his demand for surrender was the first piece of evidence. The second was Serehl's demeanor. The major had served under him for almost ten years, having been reassigned to the twenty-sixth battle group just after the signing of the treaty. He could read the colonel well enough by now to know what that gleam in his good eye meant. He was looking forward to more than just a massacre, which is what this "battle" was actually going to be. Exxar-One was outmatched by a very wide margin, and no matter what desperate plan Gabriel was reaching for, he knew he was doomed, no matter what.

  And that was what worried Tl'Keth's first officer. Serehl was either planning to prolong the battle, inflicting as much damage as possible the station and its crew before finally obliterating them, or he was going to inflict as little damage as possible
and take the outpost intact, with its crew becoming prisoners of war. The latter option was what worried Ri'Lmor the most. There wasn't enough soldiers and officers in the Haal'Chai battle group to successfully hold an outpost the size of Exxar-One. The station's crew complement was approximately three hundred thousand. The battle group's complement wasn't even a tenth of that. It was possible, of course, that Vi'Sar was sending reinforcements, or that the Jha'Drok had already dispatched a squadron of their enhanced warships, but the major doubted it. Serehl would have informed him if that were the case.

  Ri'Lmor struggled to calm his internal conflict, reminding himself of the many campaigns that Serehl had won during the war. He knew what he was doing, and the first officer had faith in his commanding officer. He glanced at the chrono display in the upper corner of his console screen.

  Forty-six minutes remaining.

  ( 3 )

  "Get me everyone from alpha and gamma shifts!" Krael Zar barked the order to Commander West as he was handed a compad by a Murdohn noncom. The security chief glanced at the report and then shook his head. "No, this isn't enough people to hold that section. Tell Watkins to pull two more squadrons from alpha shift." He placed his thumbprint on the report and handed it back to the soldier, who promptly scurried out of the security office.

  Commander West was CO of delta shift security, and he finished speaking to his subordinate via the commlink just as Zar turned his full attention back to him. "Lieutenant Sommers is sounding the wakeup call, sir. All emergency shelter staff have reported in."

  "Good." Zar plopped into his chair and began typing on his terminal keypad. He frowned at the readout that appeared on his screen, typed some more, and then downloaded the results to a compad, which he promptly handed to West. "I want Beta shift deployed to all the level one security stations." Level one stations were key areas of Exxar-One that the enemy could use to severely cripple and/or destroy the starbase. The engineering sector, for example, or the command deck. "Beyond that, you may disperse alpha and gamma shifts as you see fit. And make sure that everyone is shooting to kill. We're defending this outpost, not taking prisoners, is that clear?"