by Sid Kar
MEGASHIP MAVERICK
Book Three: Conquest of Stars Saga
SID KAR
Copyright © 2016 Sid Kar
This story is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, events, persons are fictional and product of author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places and events is purely coincidental.
Book Cover Designed by Duong Covers
All rights reserved
Sid Kar’s Books
1. Starship Conquistador (Conquest of Stars Book 1)
2. Battleship Avenger (Conquest of Stars Book 2)
3. The Storm Maker
4. War Machine
5. One Man Army
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Megaship
Chapter 2: Mission
Chapter 3: Interrogation
Chapter 4: Admiralstad
Chapter 5: Betrayal
Chapter 6: Conspirators
Chapter 7: Hunt
Chapter 8: Ambush
Chapter 9: Rescue
Chapter 10: Attack
Chapter 11: Investigation
Chapter 12: Escalation
Chapter 13: Operation
Chapter 14: Silent Member
Chapter 15: Redemption
Chapter 16: Maverick Gambit
Appendix
Chapter 1: Megaship
“Grand Admiral,” the officer crisply saluted the senior commander, “We will be visible on Nestorian scanners in one hour.”
“Prepare for battle,” the admiral replied and turned away from the star field visible across the transparent shield.
“Yes sir,” the junior officer saluted him again and returned.
It begins again. Grand Admiral Valorun Lynam sighed as he walked back to the busy floor of the command room. The conversations hushed up and the officers refocused all the attention on their stations while the Admiral made his way to the slightly raised, central section with a row of computers and terminals and a large, single seat for the commanding officer of the spaceship. Admiral Valorun took his seat and quickly scanned the data on his terminal.
“Capitan Tolan,” Admiral Valorun called upon the officer who had fetched him earlier, “mark our time of visibility on the enemy scanner to half an hour.”
“Yes sir,” Tolan Hal, the spaceship’s senior gravitron scanner officer replied, “are we going to accelerate, sir?”
“We are,” Valorun replied, “Capitan Rols, bring us out from behind the gas giant at 3,000 light speed and accelerating.”
“Yes grand admiral,” Rols Vars, the senior flight officer said.
“And Rols,” Valorun said, “Admiral will do.”
“Yes admiral,” Rols said while he directed the flight section to increase power to their engines.
“What are you thinking Admiral? At that speed we won’t be able to engage the Nestorian battleship if it stays put in the planet’s orbit,” Vice-Admiral Lewyn Mal asked as he walked in along with the remainder of the crew whose break was cut short by the battle preparation orders sent throughout the spaceship.
“He will run,” Valorun said turning his chair to face his second-in-command, “He has won the battle but has taken a beating from both a battleship and a planetary defense system. I want to catch him before he makes out of Whitefog’s solar system. We are not familiar with the deep space beyond and he could evade us there.”
“I hope he is not able to escape, I definitely want a battle,” Lewyn said.
“Don’t be so eager, Vice-Admiral,” Valorun said, “Even lopsided victories have imposed heavy casualties on many a victors.”
Lewyn did not say anything. He quietly walked over to the Vice-Admiral’s section which was up and front, right in the thick of officers sections’, and started watching his computer screens. In his mind, he was more than ready; he was yearning for his first battle.
“I want to test out our new, experimental superweapon, the SuperCorrosive Sphere,” Valorun said, “Capitan Mylan, start the catalytic process to prepare the weaponized sphere for attack.”
“Yes admiral,” Mylan replied. He was the head of the chemical weapons section and he quickly got to work with his small team of chemists to initiate the reactions in the chamber in which this weapon was presently stored.
“Admiral, fifteen minutes to clear past the gas giant and appear on enemy’s scanner,” capitan Rols said.
Here we go. A flood of memories from his past battles rushed into Valorun’s mind.
Colonel Kartar Ryft of Starfire and Capitan Agnosis Wornus of Nestor proudly walked into the command room of Battleship Avenger with a triumphant yet reserved smile on the face of Colonel Kartar and a wide grin stretched across the face of Capitan Agnosis.
General Bakus was examining the data on the damage sustained in the recent battle on his terminals and he turned around when he saw the entire room applaud the new arrivals. Kartar and Agnosis walked up to General Bakus and his second-in-command Major Joules and crisply saluted them.
“That was the wildest stunt I have ever seen any fighter pilots pull off,” Bakus said.
“Craziest antic I have seen any soldiers do,” Joules said.
“Oh definitely,” Bakus said, “But that is the biggest reason we are alive and standing victorious while our enemy is vanquished and has become specks of scrap floating in the space.”
“It was your capitan Agnosis’ idea,” Kartar said, “or I should say instinct. I just followed him into the enemy battleship and a second later cursed myself to high heavens for doing it.”
All of them let out a burst of laughter.
“Col, where are your Starfirian fighters now?” Gen. Bakus asked.
“Just holding steady in space,” Kartar replied.
“Would they like to get rest and refreshments abroad my Battleship Avenger?” Bakus asked.
“Not sure we have food and facilities abroad that Starfirians would need,” Joules said, “This spaceship is only configured and stocked for Nestorians.”
“That is alright, Major,” Col. Kartar replied, “We should be getting back to our own Starship Conquistador now.”
Bakus was slightly puzzled by this. “Aren’t you interested in collecting data on this Mercurian planet and learning more about the Mercurians themselves?”
“Not my place to say. I have my orders. Commodore Raptor wants us to return promptly,” Kartar replied.
“We appreciate your help in winning this battle,” Bakus said.
“Ummm…General, I had a personal request,” Agnosis started to speak.
“What is it?”
“I would like to accompany Col. Kartar and his spacefighters back to his starship,” Agnosis said, “Just to see them off. On the way we can also share tactics and what we learned fighting these Mercurians.”
“There are two Mercurian Battleships still out there somewhere,” Bakus said, “You will be returning alone.”
“If I spot them on my gravitron scanner, I can send you an early warning,” Agnosis said.
“That’s an excellent idea,” Major Joules said.
“Go then,” Bakus said, “But unless Commodore Raptor has destroyed both the Mercurian battleships; I am leaving as soon as even one of them appears on our scanners. Then you will have to make your way back to Nestor in your spacefighter and that won’t be very comfortable.”
“Understood, General,” Agnosis saluted him once again and walked out of the command room along with Colonel Kartar.
“Joules, do you think there is a benefit to us from sending Agnosis alone to Com. Raptor?” Bakus asked him when they were gone.
“I know you are worried that Agnosi
s may rub Raptor off the wrong way,” Joules said, “But now their own Col. Kartar will vouch and watch for him.”
“Let’s hope,” Bakus said then called out his Shuttle and Bay Staff officer, “Capitan Tolus, is the bay staff finished loading the sensors and robots on the shuttles for planetary inspection?”
“Almost general,” Tolus replied, “There is some wiring reconfiguration still underway as you had ordered all the shuttles to be unmanned and remotely controlled from our battleship.”
“That’s right; we don’t know what microbes on that planet may do to us Nestorians, nor the effects of its atmospheric chemical composition on our people’s biology,” Bakus said, “but I am more worried about an ambush. The planet has officially surrendered but there may be hard headed elements within their military who would see an opportunity to strike at our shuttles. The Mercurian battleships could return as early as two and a half days and we won’t have time to look for our prisoners. I don’t want to risk leaving any of ours behind in the custody of an alien race we know absolutely nothing about.”
“We will have to return with greater force in the future,” Major Joules said, “Chancellor Solus wanted to strike back immediately as payback for their attack on Nestor. He also got you away from the republic, but now you return as a war hero and you can set the matters right in the Senate.”
“Be careful there major,” Bakus said, “You are talking political action there. I remind everyone our duty is to follow the orders of our political leaders.”
“Fine, general,” Joules said, “But I sure would like to see our new Chancellor’s face when the public greets your return with great celebrati…”
“General Bakus, Major, sorry to interrupt,” capitan Tagg, the scanner officer spoke in one breath, “We are picking up a Mercurian Battleship on our gravitron scanner.”
“Returned already?” Joules twisted his face in contortions.
“One of their battleships must have broken off pursuit of Conquistador rather quickly and turned around,” Bakus said, “Porus, are the Starfirians still abroad?” He asked his fighter combat officer.
“No, general,” Porus replied, “They have all launched off along with our Capitan Agnosis.”
“I would have liked to send our shuttles with sensors into their planet’s atmosphere, but I won’t risk another fight,” Bakus said, “If enemy’s second battleship arrives unexpectedly too, we will get trapped.”
“I agree, General,” Joules said, “we also need time for repairs.”
“Tolus, cancel the shuttle operations,” Bakus said, “Porus, retrieve all of our fighters from space right away. Prepare the ship for immediate departure.”
Battleship Avenger rapidly left the planet behind and headed backed on the way it had come from. General Bakus had achieved his primary mission of exacting payback on the Mercurians for their attack and the damage they had inflicted on Nestor. He had to return to bolster the support for VC Remus in the coming elections that were not too far away. If Remus became the new chancellor, they could rebuild their fleet properly and prepare to meet this alien enemy head on in space. However, nothing much could be expected from Chancellor Solus who preferred to use the treasury to buy votes. Bakus had to maintain outward loyalty but in the privacy of his mind he could curse the chancellor and he did so liberally.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden and loud gasp from his scanner officer.
“Genera Bakus,” Capitan Tagg spoke nervously, “This Mercurian battleship is even bigger than Starship Conquistador.”
“How is that possible?” Bakus said and Major Joules got up from his station and walked over to the gravitron scanner display terminals.
“He is right,” Joules said, “Don’t have an exact read, but must be a few miles longer than even Conquistador based on its gravity signature.”
“Then it’s not one of the two battleships guarding the planet earlier,” Bakus said.
“No general,” Tagg said, “We have their signatures in our database and our computer’s comparison shows clearly that they are very different.”
“What is our speed?” Bakus asked.
“Thousand light speed and accelerating,” Joules replied.
“But the enemy is catching up fast,” Tagg said.
“If the Mercurians have a spaceship like that, we are in big trouble,” Bakus shook his head, “It would take out multiple ships in any space battle and we don’t have many to spare.”
“General, we must evade,” Joules said.
“I agree,” Bakus said, “Take us to the outermost rocky planet of this star system. We will use the small window of invisibility provided by the planet’s gravity to try to escape into deep space.”
Bakus looked at the approaching planet on his own terminal and the pursuing spaceship which was rapidly closing distance. All depended on whether they could get to the other side of the planet before the enemy caught up with them. There the gravitational penumbra of the planet would allow them to veer off course into any direction without being detected by the Mercurian spaceship till it had cleared the planet too. Hopefully at that point, their gravitational signature would be faint and mixed in with those from asteroids and comets.
Few tense minutes passed and the command room was silent. They were already accelerating with full power nearing the ship’s max-speed and there was nothing to do except watch and pray.
“Rocket launch! Rocket launch!” an excited Capitan Xanus, the senior rocket officer exclaimed.
“Relax Cap. Xanus, how many and how fast?” Bakus asked. He had to project calmness as the commander to keep the discipline and morale of his crew intact even though he too was feeling jittery nerves and sweat was rolling down his sleeves.
“300 rockets, time to impact T-minus 4 minutes,” Xanus said looking incredulously at the screen.
“That’s a lot of rockets, they are throwing everything in the first attack,” Joules said.
“Or they just have a lot in their arsenal,” Bakus said but didn’t like the implications of his own words. “Tagg, what is the time to the planet?”
“Slightly more than 7 minutes,” Tagg replied rubbing his own forehead.
“We are 2,000 light speed and accelerating but that ship is still closing distance,” Joules shook his head.
“Unbelievable, they have reached 4,000 light speed and still accelerating, at their size, what type of engines they must possess?” Tagg wondered.
“Time to impact T-minus 3 minutes,” Xanus said looking at Bakus.
“Hold steady,” Bakus said but everyone’s nerves were fraying as the rockets closed distance.
“Time to impact T-minus 2 minutes,” Xanus said and almost jumped in his seat.
“Launch 400 counter-rockets,” Bakus said.
“400 counter-rockets launched, out and away,” Xanus licked his lips while twisting in his chair.
“I am putting laser defenses on full auto,” Bakus said punching in a few commands on his computer, “Joules I am going to need your experience,” he said to his second-in-command, “switch power to shields if any rockets get through for a few seconds then switch it back to engines.”
“Will do,” Joules replied tersely.
“Counter Rockets picking and striking enemy targets,” Xanus said, “50 destroyed, 75, 150… we have destroyed over 240.”
“Not good,” Bakus said, “We won’t survive a hit from even half of them.”
Rockets dashed in fast but luckily for Bakus and crew the laser defenses destroyed 51 of the remaining and Major Joules dexterously switched a lot of power to the shields three seconds before the first strike. Only 9 hit the hull and while their explosions rocked the entire battleship and sent tremors through the internal structure, the hull was not cracked or breached at even one point of impact.
“Power back to engines,” Bakus had to think of speed before damage so long as they had survived.
“Already done,” Joules smiled.
“What is that?” Xa
nus yelled staring at his terminal.
“A large, spherical rocket is rushing fast at us, we must have missed it,” Tagg said.
“If it’s spherical, it’s not a rocket. How the hell did we miss it?” Xanus said.
Bakus and Joules looked at each other in puzzlement for a moment then looked at their respective displays.
“They must have accelerated it right out of their spaceship using some type of atomic catapult,” Tagg said, “It is almost as fast as rockets but its gravitational signature is so faint that it cannot be metal or even solid.”
“But what the hell is the time to impact?” Bakus asked.
“A minute and a half,” Xanus replied.
“A liquid sphere?” Bakus twisted his wrist and fingers and wondered, “A chemical weapon of some type?”
“They must think very lowly of our civilization to launch a chemical attack on our battleship,” Joules chuckled, “It is elementary to make the hull resistant to all corrosive chemicals.”
“Let’s not take chances,” Bakus said.
“45 seconds to impact,” Xanus and Tagg said simultaneously and looked at each other.
“I am going to concentrate laser fire on it,” Bakus still had direct operational command of the laser system. He switched all power then available to the laser defense system to one particular laser cannon, aimed and fired a concentrated laser beam.
“25 seconds to impact,” Xanus said.
Out in the space the intense laser beam burned a clean hole of half-meter through the blue-green liquid sphere that was hundred meters in diameters. But the remaining liquid stayed glued together and it kept coming even as the laser beam’s heat slowly increased the size of the hole to a meter just before the impact.
Then it splattered on the hull of Battleship Avenger.
“Splash!” Xanus yelled.
“No breach,” shields officer Korkus spoke for the first time.
“Clearing the planet now,” Tagg said, “Should go off their gravitron scanners for fifty seconds...starting just about now.”