The third section of the warhead was a nuclear weapon that remained attached to the small missile engine while casting off the mini-Epson Drive to add to the clutter of targets for the enemy. The third warhead configuration was significantly smaller than the original missile, was stealthy, and able to maneuver to intercept their target independently with the two hundred fifty kiloton warhead. Set to proximity detonation, the warhead was meant to be the knockout punch if none of the slugs and darts in the first two warheads were able to destroy their target.
The monitors of the Chzek-kin warships speckled from less than a hundred incoming targets to an expanding cloud of hostiles with track lines as thousands of new targets popped up on sensors. No human mind was able to react to the massive number of kinetic interceptors incoming. Only the quantum computers controlling the Chzek-kin ships’ defensive systems were capable of distinguishing all of the targets and react fast enough to direct the continuous defensive laser fire.
The lasers did little to destroy solid pieces of depleted uranium, instead burning holes in them or turning them into molten slag. The ten kinetic darts following remained largely unmolested as they adjusted their course to intercept the Chzek-kin ships while the rest of the slugs spread out on their unguided courses.
Captain Groken saw the massive increase in targets on the screens as they were overwhelmed by the new contacts displayed and believed it was some kind of jamming of their sensors. He then felt the ship jerk under him through the Chzek built inertia dampeners as the ship’s automated defensive systems tried to outmaneuver the incoming warheads. For the first time in the battle, the captain experienced the common feeling of combat where he was helpless to do more and little more than a passenger.
All but two of the six ships were able to maneuver out of the way of the shotgun blasts of depleted uranium slugs. The two ships hit felt the impact of several DU slugs as they slammed into and deflected off of the Chzek-kin ship’s powerful shields; they lacked the mass and relative velocity needed to penetrate the shields.
None of the ships were able to avoid the one hundred pound guided kinetic darts hidden among the unguided DU slugs of the first warheads. The kinetic darts, with ten times the mass of their unguided cousins, impacted and tore through shields wherever they impacted square on. The kinetic darts that struck the ships at an oblique angle were deflected just enough to keep from striking the hull.
Those darts that impacted squarely overwhelmed the shields and tore into the hulls of the ships they struck; shattering armor and blowing it into the interior of the ships.
Three of the ships struck had their armor imploded into the ship’s interior; tearing into the engineering spaces and missile magazines; they were ripped apart by the subsequent explosions.
Two other of the struck ships suffered catastrophic damage to their bridges when kinetic darts blew gaping holes in their sides. Crewmembers were shredded in their combat chairs before they realized the ship was struck. Others were sucked into space; dying horrible deaths from decompression in compromised suits or slow asphyxiation as their air supplies ran out.
The bridge of the Chzek-kin warship, Conqueror’s, port side hull breached and Captain Groken was able to look out of the ship and watch as the atmosphere of the bridge evacuated into space. Only two of the crew were killed; their bodies splattered into the bulkhead with their remains sucked into space.
Those who survived were given were a second to celebrate being alive before multiple nuclear warheads proximity detonated next to their hulls. Even the ships already destroyed were further torn apart as the nuclear missiles targeting them did not deviate from their initial targeting.
Lt. Fiennes watched the main screen as large explosions impacted the Chzek-kin ships. It was a sight experienced by most of the bridge crews of Third Fleet that day. The sensors technician made the report all targets were destroyed. Whoops and shouts of victory were shouted by the crew with fists shaking above their heads. Lt. Fiennes let them have their moment of glory, still staring at the main screen sensors.
Only the shout of “Contact! Vampires!” from the sensors technician silenced them.
“Active scanning! Auto defenses active!” shouted the lieutenant, “Launch all countermeasures. Maximum starboard lateral thrust!” The three commands were instantly executed by a single preset command by the young captain himself. The ship’s defensive lasers went into action; able to destroy several of the incoming Chzek-kin nuclear warheads before they detonated. Three of thirty-six warheads were on course and able to weather the gauntlet of defensive fire. Two Chzek-kin warheads impacted the Perry and one the hull of the Perkins. The inertia shields did their work as they siphoned energy from the chemical explosives wrapped around their nuclear cores; working at a molecular level to stifle the reaction.
Unfortunately for both ships, the kinetic force of the heavy nuclear material was far greater than the warheads impacting Oklahoma due to their higher relative velocity between missile and ship at impact. The combined velocity of the human ships and Chzek-kin ships along with the massive acceleration of the fired missiles increased the kinetic impact by an order of magnitude.
UES Perry was ripped apart from stem to stern as one of the two nuclear cores tore through the centerline of the ship, vaporizing the inside of the ship and blowing it apart. The second nuclear core, off-center, but still traveling down the length of the ship, had little to do except drill through the already destroyed guts of the ship.
The Perkins was more fortunate. The warhead impacted the ship down the upper starboard side and peeled as much as crushed the hull and pushed it into the Number Two engine. Seven EGG Habitats had their sides ripped off; its occupants instantly boiled by the massive energy transferred from the impact into the Oxi-Flo fluid the crew lived in. On the bridge, Lt. Fiennes felt the jarring impact in the core of his body even through the immersion of his mind into the ship’s systems. The virtual bridge disappeared and he found his mind returned to his physical body in the EGG Habitat; the captain knew his ship was in trouble.
Opening an emergency panel on the side of his EGG, the captain grabbed one of the oldest ship communications systems ever created: a set of sound powered phones whose origins dated to the twentieth century. The devices, although improved upon, were much the same as their original design. He put on the headset and pressed the mouthpiece against his lips, “Damage Control, report,” he called. There was no response. “Damage Control! Report!” he shouted, speaking through the liquid using a small voice box synthesizer.
It seemed an eternity before the captain heard sounds of someone struggling with another set of sound powered phones. “Who is on the line?” he asked.
“Captain? Is that you?” came the reply.
“Yeah, it’s me. Who is this?”
“Engineer Albertson, Sir. Damage Control.”
What’s your status, Alberston?”
“I’m deploying the repair bots to check the damage to the ship.” Repairs aboard all UEAF ships were performed by repair bots controlled by the ship’s technicians remotely from their EGG Habitats. Suiting up and doing a spacewalk to conduct repairs was deemed impractical and extremely hazardous on ships with EGG Habitats.
“Excellent. Prioritize restoring power and life support. Then I need a narrow beam communications channel. We’re going to need a tow,” he said, trying to keep it light. The damage controlman was well aware the ship was in trouble, but it would not do to show panic when the kid was trying to maintain control for the situation they were in.
“Yes, Sir. Working on it.” Fiennes heard the treble of fear in the young engineer’s voice, but it came out strong.
“Chris, stay calm,” he encouraged, “We got this.” The captain’s reassuring tone calmed the young crewman. Over the next several minutes more crewmembers came on the emergency sound powered phone system and the effort to save their ship was underway.
Similar encounters happened several more times in the fleet. In each case, the Human s
hips were able to detect the Chzek-kin ships using backscatter analysis, but they were largely unable to prevent counter-fire along their flight paths or were themselves detected prior to destroying the enemy ships. The end result was same.
The humans launched their missiles first and attempted to evade or avoid discovery while the enemy detected the incoming missiles or ships as they approached and counter-fired. Both sides suffered heavy losses. The Humans had the advantage with early detection and more effective missiles while the Chzek-kin were more experienced in warfare and their reactions in combat.
The bridge crew of the XSS Cousteau watched the carnage as the two fleets devastated each other. Aside from the lopsided exchange that wiped out the main body and trailing force, every other engagement was a case of mutual destruction. Only six ships that engaged the enemy fleet and won came out of their engagements unscathed.
The cruisers, UES Warlock and UES Warrior, used the same tactic as the admiral when they hid behind Veil Missiles after they fired their volley of missiles at the enemy. Once they fired their missiles and launched a pattern of Veil Missiles, they moved in close behind the veils to prevent enemy missile locks. This was a risky tactic as they were unable to use their defensive systems, but the gamble worked in the end. The veils prevented targeting by the incoming missiles and none came near the two ships. By the time the enemy missiles passed harmlessly through the veils, their firing ships were destroyed.
The other ships to survive were destroyer pairs that, instead of slowing their approach to gain separation, accelerated at maximum thrust perpendicular to the enemy’s approach. They used their Epson Drives to create as much lateral separation as possible from the Chzek-kin ships and forced the alien’s missiles to pursue. This added the time needed for the ship’s defensive systems to destroy the incoming missiles. The crew of the Cousteau watched it happen, either through their own sensor suites or from sensor data transmissions sent by fleet ships in real time.
“Captain, we’re receiving a fleet message from the admiral,” announced the communications technician on watch aboard the Cousteau.
“Put it on screen.”
[FLEET UPDATE ENEMY FLEET ROUTED AND ATTEMPTING TO FLEE ALL SHIPS ARE TO CONTINUE SEARCH FOR HOSTILES AND ENGAGE AT WILL MAINTAIN EMCON ALPHA WHEN POSSIBLE END TRANSMISSION]
Third Fleet continued the hunt for Chzek-kin ships in the system for another six days. It took the ambassador’s suggestion the enemy was no longer present in the system before the admiral called off the hunt. Afterwards, the hospital ship, St. Elsa, was deployed with a cruiser escort to rescue the crew of the UES Perkins, which managed to restore power and life support and send out a mayday, but could do nothing else with the heavily damaged engines. No other ships unaccounted for issued distress signals and were presumed lost.
Sitting in the admiral’s virtual living space, which resembled a two thousand square foot man-cave, Admiral Nelson and Captain Simms sat in a pair of large, overstuffed chairs in front of a huge holovid. Playing on a grid of screens on the wall was battle footage from several ships in the fleet.
“We lost nineteen ships. Nine cruisers and ten destroyers. Over eight hundred men and women,” said the admiral. He was not taking the loss of so many ships well and was feeling as much defeat as victory in the battle’s outcome.
“Yes, Sir. I never expected humanity’s first losses in a conflict with an alien race to be this big. I always thought the first ship we lost would be an exploration ship getting wacked when it strayed into someone else’s system. Instead, it turns out the exploration ships are probably the safest ships in the fleet. They’re the first to see other ships, and they don’t get detected. Turns out that is a far better defense than an inertia dampening shield,” replied the Atlanta’s captain. Although he felt the loss of ships to the fleet, they were not his losses. His ship was intact and, aside from the loss of the Oklahoma he witnessed, he was feeling much better about the fleet’s victory over the Chzek-kin than was the admiral.
“How many ships do you think they lost?” asked the admiral, already knowing the estimates made by his staff.
Taking a moment to think about it, the captain gave his own estimate, “Well, all the sensor data shows their ships operate in three ship groupings. Every one of our pairs was engaged, with several engaging two groups before being destroyed. That is at least forty ships, which matches the detonations detected by the Cousteau. Their main body looks to have been completely destroyed. We don’t know how many were in the trailing force, but we detected twelve nuclear detonations. Best estimate, sixty-three Chzek-kin ships destroyed and an unknown number damaged.”
“That’s a victory any way you slice it,” said the admiral, “I’m not feeling it, though.” He stared into his glass of single malt scotch, not bothering to drink the virtual beverage that only served to remind him of sitting in his den back home. A den that looked identical to the one they were sitting in. “How long until we enter orbit? It’s time the Rheas signed that damn agreement,” he finished, downing the remainder of his drink.
Chapter 13: Rayquiem, Rheas Capital City, Rheas Homeworld
“Ambassador Dek, will Admiral Nelson be joining us?” The Rheas Prime Minister was becoming visibly agitated, even to the unfamiliar eye of Admiral Nelson who was observing the negotiation conducted by Ambassador Dek through a sensor suite attached to the ambassador’s shuttle.
“No, Prime Minister. The admiral has given his valuable time as much as he is able. I will be completing the agreement between Humans and Rheas to establish the Rheas entry into the Seventh Consortium as a protectorate of Humanity.” The Rool ambassador was two feet taller than the Prime Minister and was intentionally standing inside the personal space Rheas culture called for between people who were not closely acquainted.
“But these new terms you require are quite severe,” complained the Rheas leader, “We cannot hope to provide twenty percent of our gross production to this consortium. Our economy will collapse!”
“Prime Minister, Admiral Nelson is quite busy with the Human fleet that is protecting the Rheas Homeworld and has just fought a major engagement with the Chzek-kin to protect you from enslavement. He does not have time to spend negotiating with a species determined to self-destruction. Admiral Nelson made it clear – if you wish to be enslaved, humanity is only too happy to become your overlords. The Chzek-kin will not be permitted to take this system.” Handing a package to the Rheas Prime Minister, Ambassador Dek continued, “Here are the terms upon which the Rheas civilization will be required to serve humanity. You will now commit the Rheas to abiding by these terms. Failure to follow these terms shall result in severe penalties and loss of life.” With that Ambassador Dek turned and began to walk back to his shuttle.
It only took a few moments for the Rheas to realize the aliens were done negotiating. “Wait! Wait!” he shouted to the back of the departing ambassador, “We will agree to Admiral Nelson’s original proposal!” The new terms would be a nightmare for the Rheas to meet, but the Prime Minister knew he overplayed his hand and needed to repair the damage as best he could.
Stopping and turning, Ambassador Dek told the prime minister, “That relationship is no longer available to the Rheas.”
“No! No! Contact Admiral Nelson! Please! We accept the terms of his original proposal!”
Holding up his hand, fingers spread in what the Rheas consider a rude method of interrupting another person, the ambassador cut him off, “Prime Minister. Desist. In light of your willingness to accept a mutually beneficial relationship with the humans, I am willing to request the admiral reconsider the nature of your membership into the Seventh Consortium.” Holding his hand up to his ear, the ambassador mocked a silent communication for several seconds then addressed the Rheas Prime Minister again, “Prime Minister, Admiral Nelson has graciously agreed to your request to become a vassal civilization to the human race.” Drawing out a different package, the ambassador passed it to the Prime Minister and retrieved t
he agreement that would effectively enslave its people. “Here are the terms of the relationship and responsibilities of each party. Be warned, failure by the Rheas to live up to the terms of the agreement will have consequences and may lead to an adjustment in the nature of the relationship.”
Accepting the package with a mixture of relief and dread, the Rheas Prime Minister bowed his head in submission, “I understand, Ambassador. We will honor our commitment.”
Having received the appropriate acceptance as required by Seventh Consortium Law, the ambassador gave a reassurance that Rheas Prime Minister made the right decision, “Prime Minister, my race is familiar with the Chzek civilization. I have also worked closely with the humans for four hundred twenty-six of your years. You have made the correct decision in aligning the Rheas with the humans.”
“As you say, Ambassador Dek. May it be so,” conceded the obviously defeated alien.
“Ambassador Dek. I would like to thank you on behalf of Humanity for your help these last several months and for negotiating the agreement with the Rheas.”
“You are quite welcome, Admiral Nelson. I too am pleased with the performance of you and your fleet and the decisions by your leadership. Although there is much left to do to secure the Rheas System, you are now well placed to secure threats to both Humanity and the Vrene in this region of space.”
Acknowledging the ambassador’s praise, which was the first he knew of in the history of Earth’s relationship with the Rool, the admiral nodded in acknowledgment.
Continuing, Ambassador Dek said, “I have word from United Earth Government. Your First Fleet is en route to Black Rock Three Base where it will resupply and proceed to the Rheas System to relieve Third Fleet. I have transmitted your orders to your communications officer.”
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