When the nuke melted the ice sheet on top of the Shaitan habitat, tens of thousands of tons of water poured through the openings into the underground tunnels and the habitat. It cut off the sector from the rest of the Shaitan held space much more comprehensively than any human blockade had been able to. It also caused massive floods. Although Shaitans can survive under water for hours, they do eventually drown. Thousands of Shaitans died of drowning.
The fact that the monster Shaitan nuclear missile was launched from this sector meant that it had to have been manufactured there, because there was no way it could have been transported there from another sector either through the underground tunnels, or over the surface, because there was no entry point big enough for the missiles to enter that sector. There was no point in transporting such huge missiles from one sector to another in any case. It would only make sense to transport those missiles to the space elevator for delivery to one of the Shaitan warships.
The Marine commanders realized why this sector was so isolated in the first place. This was their weapons manufacturing sector, and thus isolated for both radiation protection to the general population as well as for security reasons. Normally an enemy commander, tasked with protecting a nuclear weapons manufacturing facility, would sabotage it, if it were completely encircled by the opposing forces, and capture was imminent. It was possible, that this was exactly what the Shaitan warriors defending this sector had done, and had reserved the last missile for a retributive attack on the humans and the heretics.
On the other hand, the Shaitan commander could have made a blunder by not destroying the weapons manufacturing facility first and launching the missile in anger or desperation without taking into account the consequences on the sector itself. After all, the Shaitans on this world had committed a similar blunder by not destroying the space elevator when they had the chance. If such a blunder had been committed, then it would provide the single biggest opportunity to the humans to turn things around to their favor in the upcoming battle in space with the splinter fleet, which was just two years from reaching the system.
The Marine commanders ordered a full on frontal assault on the sector with all the human and heretic troops they had nearby. The Marines and the heretics entered the sector in their armored space suits, which worked just fine under water. Some of the levels of the sector were partially flooded, while the lower levels were completely under water for many days. The Marines and the heretics met with very little resistance. The starving, demoralized and flood ravaged Shaitans were not in a position to put up much of a fight. It was here in this sector that Charlie saw the real savagery of the heretics on their own species.
Charlie had been brought in along with a number of civilian contractors, hours after the assault had begun, literally on the heels of the advancing Marines to salvage as much as possible of the weapons factory. The heretic builders who had accompanied them were quickly able to identify the nuclear reactor space, the weapons manufacturing facility and other critical installations, some of which were flooded. The civilian contractors brought in pumps and cut additional drainage channels to drain out the water as fast as possible from these critical installations. In the end, they were able to capture the weapons factory in a remarkably well preserved state. The minor damage caused, could be quickly repaired with the knowledge of the heretics about such installations, and the civilian engineering expertise that the humans had brought in the form of privateers.
In Charlie’s mind, that happy event of the capture of the Shaitan nuclear weapons factory was marred by the river of Shaitan blood and body parts that he witnessed flowing along with the water in that sector. The heretics had not taken kindly to the fact that the Shaitans had used a nuke. Charlie was later to find out that the cause of the umbrage amongst the heretics wasn’t about their comrades dying in the nuclear blast. It was about the defilement of a world of theirs with nuclear weapons, which was a strict taboo amongst Shaitans.
There is no one who can torture a being like their own species. It wasn’t just that the heretics knew the anatomy of another Shaitan better, they knew it at a visceral level which a human could never know. They knew what really hurt another Shaitan, just like a human would know how to hurt another human. The cacophony of the screams of torture of the Shaitans by the heretics was such that even humans, who couldn’t hear most of the voice range of the Shaitans were sickened by the screams of Shaitan suffering. Every wall of the sector was splattered with the pink blood of the Shaitans and there were severed limbs lying in their thousands, littered around the corridors of the sector.
Charlie Shens worked at the reprocessing plant for the rest of the duration of the war on World #4, helping repair and refurbish the plant. The weapons factory was given the impossible target of producing one missile a day, which the heretic builders and the human engineers, working day and night could never achieve. The best output that the factory could achieve was one missile every alternate day. Every alternate day, Charlie would be part of the gang overseeing the loading of one of those monster missiles. First those missiles would be carted up a motorized ramp to the surface, where the navy had rigged a shuttle with an assembly of clamps and cables specifically for the task of transporting these missiles.
The huge missile weighing over thirty tons, hanging from the underbelly of the shuttle, made the process of piloting the shuttle very tricky. The shuttle was barely able to lift off with that massive weight. The only saving grace was that in the 80% gravity of World #4, the missile weighed only 24 tons, which made it just about at the edge of the capacity of what the shuttle could carry. The shuttle would then make the precarious journey carrying the missile hanging by its belly, to the base of the space elevator a few hours away. From there the missiles would embark one at a time on the slow week long journey up to orbital space.
In the two years that the humans were able to operate the nuke factory, they were able to produce three hundred and forty odd Shaitan design nukes. That along with about sixty nukes that were captured as part of the stockpile that already existed in the factory, boosted the arsenal of the human fleet by four hundred Shaitan make nukes. It would make all the difference. MV Peerless, on which Charlie had arrived was the second civilian ship that had arrived in the system. In the intervening five years another civilian ship, MV Rising Star had arrived on a regular schedule, joining MV Supernova and MV Peerless as the three civilian ships in the system.
The civilian ships were basically modified Hercules class troop carrier ships, stripped off some of its armor, and the interior modified for civilian use, with particularly large cargo holds. The Shaitan make missiles brought up from the surface went into those cavernous cargo holds, where engineers had been working overtime to jury rig a release system that could release four hundred of those large missiles from the three ships at a moment’s notice. It was a quick and dirty system, designed to be used just once, but that would be enough. Whatever way the battle went, that release system would need to work only once, but it better work reliably that one time. That was the brief to the engineers.
World #4 was one of the larger worlds of the Shaitans and one of the oldest settled. Despite the tireless efforts of the Marines and the heretics, it was impossible for the invasion force to subdue the entire world in the five years that had been given to them. By the time the splinter fleet entered the system, there was still huge swathes of the surface controlled by the Shaitans. It was impossible to prevent transmission from the surface to the splinter fleet. The splinter fleet was well informed about the exact position and strength of the human heretic alliance in the system as well as on the surface.
The splinter fleet would be fighting with a fairly detailed knowledge of the enemy, so there was no particular point at deception. The only thing going for the human fleet was the fact that the entire crew of the splinter fleet would be relatively young and inexperienced. Every crew member who had started on those ships over a hundred years ago as part of the Hadean fleet would be dead o
r close to the end of their lives by now. The heretics had told the humans that Shaitan warships normally didn’t incubate new warriors during their inter-system journeys, unlike Shaitan migration ships which had incubation capability as part of their equipment, since the primary function of a migration ship was the settlement of a new colony. Most probably new crew would have been picked up on their stopovers at World #8 and World #5, on their way here to World #4.
The splinter fleet had two options. One, it could head for World #4 to try and liberate it from human-heretic occupation. The second option was to head towards the gas giant of World #4, which had been named Marissa by the humans and attempt to refuel, after which they could in theory proceed towards the core Shaitan worlds without engaging with the human navy. The core worlds were the ultimate destination of the splinter fleet, after all. It would have been tough for the crew of the splinter fleet to make another long journey without the opportunity to be able to resupply or rotate crew on World #4, but the heretics had assured the humans, that if the Warmaster of the splinter fleet wanted, the crew would be able to manage another long journey to the core world without a break on World #4.
Every human in the system was praying that the Warmaster of the splinter fleet would choose the second option and spare them a battle, where the human navy was outnumbered. It was a hope that was not rooted in logic. The splinter fleet had caught the USC by surprise on World #4, and had the advantage. They would be able to do the maximum damage here, and had good odds of being able to take back this system from the humans. If the splinter fleet could take back this system, then it would be possible to repair some of the war vessels that may be damaged in the battle to take World #4, and it would form the ideal launching base for attacks on the human occupation force in the core worlds, in an effort to retake the heart of the Shaitan Empire.
On the other hand, if the splinter fleet avoided battle on World #4 and proceeded towards the core worlds, then the Warmaster might be able to keep his fleet intact, but would lose the element of surprise. Human ships were far faster than the Shaitan ones, and Human navy would be fully prepared for the splinter fleet when they reached the core worlds. The Shaitan Warmaster knew that his fleet, which was the last hope of their species, would be most effective here on World #4.
The navy’s objective was fairly simple in this battle. They ordered the Marines and the Heretics to hunker down below the surface. The Marines were ordered not to bother trying to defend any of their assets still on the surface. The USC admiral left all of his space based assets to their fate as well, not bothering to try and defend any of them, including the space elevator. If the splinter fleet managed to destroy all the human assets in space other than their ships, it was fine by him. All those assets, with the exception of the space elevator, could be replenished fairly quickly. Nothing other than the space elevator was of strategic value.
Even if the space elevator was destroyed, it only made things difficult for the occupying forces, who would be forced to use shuttles for everything, which would slow down their supply lines, but in the long run it didn’t matter too much. What mattered more, was who controlled space, even if it meant that just one warship was left standing after the battle. Whichever species’ warship patrolled the orbit over World #4, effectively controlled that world.
That clarity in thought and objective allowed the hastily assembled human fleet greater options. The heterogeneous fleet consisted of eighteen warships and three civilian transport ships. Some of the ships had been in the system for over eight years, and their crew in space for over thirteen years. The crew of these ships would end up with some of the longest mission spans in USC history by the time they returned back to Earth… if they got to return back to Earth. At the other extreme were the ten battle cruisers which had arrived form the Beta Shaitan garrison. They had hardly gotten the time to acclimatize themselves with the system before they went into this battle. The civilian crew of the three cargo vessels had been relieved and sent to the surface. The vessels, seconded by the navy, were being crewed by USC personnel.
The Warmaster of the splinter fleet was surprised when he reached close to World #4. There was no sign of the human fleet, which he knew was there somewhere in this system. He was wary of an ambush, but at the same time there was nowhere to hide and ambush on the way to World #4. The Shaitans on the surface had informed him that the last observed human ships in orbit had departed just prior to the arrival of the fleet near World #4, but couldn’t give any more information. The space observation capabilities of the Shaitans on the surface had been severely degraded over the years. Not a single observatory or dish antenna was left standing on the surface. Whatever space observation that the surface Shaitans could do was possible only through mobile equipment, which could be popped out from below the surface and then quickly stowed back underground.
The Shaitan Warmaster now faced a dilemma. He had approached the moon in battle formation, fully ready and geared for war. He hadn’t encountered any opposition, and the enemy was nowhere to be seen. He could stay in this enhanced state of battle readiness and wait for the enemy to show up. Or, he could send scouts around the system to search of the enemy. Lastly, he could simply go about the business of liberating the moon from human occupation, get relief crew and supplies from the surface, as well as send his ships to the gas giant for refueling. Each option had a unique set of danger associated with it.
How long should he wait for the enemy to show up? How long can his weary crew hold that kind of battle readiness after such a long journey, and yet be effective? Was this the enemy tactic to wear them down and attack when the effectiveness of the splinter fleet crew was degraded? All the time that the splinter fleet waited, his beings would continue being slaughtered on World #4. The last report from the surface was that the situation down there was getting increasingly dire. The humans, with the active collusion of the eternally damned heretics, were slowly winning the fight on the surface. The only thing that could save the beings on the surface from an extermination was the intervention and help by the splinter fleet.
The Warmaster decided that waiting would serve no purpose. It would only play into the hands of the enemy, who wanted to keep the splinter fleet in a state of suspense by disappearing. He decided against sending scout ships to search for the missing human fleet as well. The gas giant Marissa may have a large prodigal satellite moon in the form of World #4, but was otherwise surprisingly barren. Compared to similar gas giants, Marissa had very few moons and rocks orbiting it. There were very few places to hide or stage an ambush from. World #4 was fairly far from the gas giant Marissa, so of the human fleet was hiding in low orbit around the gas giant (which was the only place in the system where active scanners may not be able to detect the fleet), the Shaitan fleet would get ample warning to get into battle formation, as long as they stayed in standby alert.
So the splinter fleet went about their business of liberating World #4. They took the abandoned space elevator without any resistance. Actively communicated with the beings on the surface and bombarded any coordinates requested by the Shaitan warriors on the surface, and defended their surface installations. The Shaitan fleet methodically went about the task of retaking the world, and the results showed.
Within three months of the arrival of the splinter fleet, the humans and their heretic allies had been pushed out of a majority of the sectors they had taken in the last five years. The human-heretic alliance on the surface had not engaged in a single offensive maneuver in those three months. They had only been engaged in defense, slowly withdrawing from sector after sector. The death toll of the human-heretic alliance kept mounting steadily.
After witnessing such massive reversal of fortune and toll on the human side, the Warmaster was slowly getting convinced that the withdrawal of the human fleet was not a feint. No commander could tolerate such losses of lives merely for the sake of deception. He was starting to believe that his wildest fantasy had really come true. That the human fleet had
abandoned the invasion army on the surface and fled, when they were faced with a fleet with overwhelmingly superior numbers. It was not just the Warmaster, who had started believing this. The master of all the war vessels, their crew and even the Shaitans on the surface had started believing it as well.
Unfortunately for all of them, they hadn’t seen the extent that humans could go in terms of sacrifice both willing as well as unwilling, in order to get to their objectives. It was a lesson, species after alien species would learn. It would be one of those attributes in humans which both friend and foe alike in the galaxy would come to loathe and at the same time admire. It was one of those attributes which would take one of the youngest species in the galaxy, right to the top of its food chain.
The USC fleet had started their engines in a random direction north of the plane of the system, gathered enough speed to ensure that the fleet would be undetectable by the splinter fleet when they reached World #4 by the most aggressive of scanning, and then simply switched off their engines, drifting in space for three months. There had been no attempts at communication with the humans on the surface of World #4. The USC fleet had put a stone on their chest and maintained strict radio silence, despite knowing what the Marines, civilians and the heretics were going through back on World #4.
Then, after three months, the fleet had turned around, opened up their harvesters, and put their engines on maximum thrust to make a headlong dash back towards World #4. The umbrella like harvesters which were close to twenty kilometers in diameter, although gossamer thin, hadn’t been opened up to collect hydrogen fuel, which was their primary purpose. Even though the ion plasma engine emissions of the human ships was pointed the other way from World #4, the ion plasma interacted with floating gas molecules and atoms in space and left a faint halo behind the ship, which was observable with sensitive enough equipment from a distance. Any vigilant Shaitan warship, with omnidirectional computer scanning turned on, would be able to spot it fairly quickly. The huge umbrella like structure of the harvester masked that halo to a great extent, reducing the range at which it could be observed.
Triumph & Defeat (Shaitan Wars Book 4) Page 45