by Sid Kar
STARSHIP CONQUISTADOR
Book One: 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.
Front Cover Image(S) purchased from http://thebookcovermachine.com/ or under license from Shutterstock.com
All rights reserved
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: WAR
Chapter 2: BATTLE
Chapter 3: Analysis
Chapter 4: Protection
Chapter 5: Meeting
Chapter 6: Return
Chapter 7: Speech
Chapter 8 – Commission
Chapter 9: Beacon
Chapter 10: Starship
Chapter 11: Visitor
Chapter 12: Whisper
Chapter 13: Fight
Chapter 14: Nectar
Chapter 15: Commodore
Chapter 16: Plot
Chapter 17: Suspicion
Chapter 18: Mysterious
Chapter 19: Collision
Chapter 20: Airship
Chapter 21: Pirates Heaven
Chapter 22: Coup
Chapter 23: Silencer
Chapter 24: Conquistador
Appendix
Chapter 1: WAR
“War!”
The cry rang out from the floor of the Senate of the Nestorian Republic as the supporters of the measure yelled with joy and raised both of their hands up and down in the air.
General Bakus Ferran who was watching the proceedings from the gallery wondered if the senators knew how uncertain the outcome of the looming conflict really was. All they had to do was vote up or down, it was he who had to ensure the actual victory. They were celebrating as if they had voted to decree victory, General Bakus scoffed, what no assembly could decree even with a unanimous vote, but soldiers had to win with their own mettle.
Chancellor Augus Grave raised his right hand with his palm open and facing outward to quiet down the senate. He had to announce the vote twice to confirm it.
“The measure to authorize war passed with 36 ‘Yeses’ to 24 ‘Nos’,” Chancellor Augus spoke a second time and the senate clerk typed it on the computer.
Vice-Chancellor Remus Torus looked up at the gallery and his eyes caught sight of General Bakus who was looking right back at him. They exchanged a glance and left the senate chamber through the doors behind their backs.
Remus walked outside in the hallway and took the stairs and he met General Bakus coming down from the other side.
“That uproar there,” Bakus said, “You would think we had won the war.”
“Can’t blame them,” Remus said as he turned around and both of them walked down the stairs and turned right into an empty corridor. “Our exploration and mining spaceships have been getting attacked for years now. Nestorians have been getting abducted and to who knows what end. We have sat around twiddling our thumbs and now finally we fight back.”
“Against a mysterious enemy whose strength we do not know,” General Bakus said.
“You do not approve of the war measure?” Remus looked at him.
“I did not say that,” Bakus said, “I am just wary of a war against an alien civilization that may be considerably more technologically advanced than us.”
“Or considerably less,” Remus said, “We are not some two or three planet civilization or even a dozen planet one that is just getting its teeth into space travel. We are a spacefaring republic of 60 planets with 34 battleships in our arsenal.”
“The 34th is under construction now,” Bakus said.
“And let’s not forget the Starfire Cannon,” Remus said.
They stopped as they came to the end of the corridor.
“Will you be joining me for the battle Vice-Chancellor?” Bakus asked him.
“I have to. As per our rules there must always be a political leader present at a battle,” Remus said.
“We will inform you,” Bakus said, then turned to the door, pressed a button and the door slid open. He walked out into an open pathway outside of the building that connected to a round airpad. A squadron of soldiers circled the airpad and an aircraft was waiting to fly the general to his battleship in the orbit above.
Vice-Chancellor Remus Torus fastened his belt as his spaceship rapidly approached the planet Blackskull and the two pilots cut power to the engine to counteract the acceleration induced by the planet’s gravity. Remus looked over his pilots’ shoulders and out the front window and saw the black-gray planet staring right back at him. Two huge pools of black sludge that were a mixture of coal and assorted liquids were visible even from space. It was a bleak planet whose two ‘eyes’ of sludge seemed to laugh at any visitor foolish enough to land on it.
Their small spaceship rapidly decelerated as they entered the thin but noxious atmosphere of the planet and then slowed down to the speed of an aircraft as it flew towards the lone outpost that existed on Blackskull.
Remus saw soldiers running around in gas masks setting up laser cannons miles further from the main base. Their plane approached the runway and made its descent. When it landed the pilot pressed a button to open their roof and all three of them jumped out on the runaway. They did not need masks here because two large air-filter towers kept the air breathable for a mile around the base. The pilots walked over to the traffic control tower where the visitors reported but Remus as the vice-chancellor didn’t have to go through any formalities. Instead, his host General Bakus was on his way on foot towards him.
“Welcome Vice-Chancellor Remus,” General Bakus said, “I hope your trip wasn’t rushed.”
“I had my bags packed and ready for a month now,” Remus replied as Bakus led him to the base.
“Leave your bags in the ship, my soldiers will get them,” Bakus said.
They walked towards the central building of this base and Remus looked up and saw a long, elongated black telescope like structure rising out of the round building and reaching into the sky at the 45-degree angle.
“Starfire Cannon!” Remus remarked, “How long is that?”
“The cannon is five hundred meters in length,” Bakus said, “At its base it has a diameter of 5 meters but it very gradually narrows to 2 meters in the front.”
They approached the entrance which was a large steel door and the soldiers in front of it saluted General Bakus and pulled a lever to raise the door. They entered inside and the two of them took an elevator that descended down for nearly a minute.
“Why are we going so far below?” Remus asked.
“The steel and concrete above protect the operations room below,” Bakus said.
“But the cannon is vulnerable,” Remus said.
“Unfortunately yes,” Bakus said, “That is why we have camouflaged it with the surrounding planet surface. It was originally painted red and black but we painted over the red. We can’t dig it inside the ground because we need to be able to maneuver the energy ray.”
“Couldn’t you make it mobile like put it on a train?” Remus asked.
“The Starfire Cannon needs massive supplies of power,” Bakus said as their elevator came to a stop. They exited and started walking down a corridor. “The transmission lines would break if the cannon is mobile and we can’t drag seventy power plants behind a train.”
“Seventy!” Remus stopped for a second and looked at Bakus.
“Yes, all but one dedicated solely to powering the energy ray weapon,” Bakus said, “the remaining one power
s the base. All seventy power plants are buried under the operations room one on top of the other miles below further. That is why this planet was chosen for this energy guzzling weapon. It is located near our frontier space and a large part of it is made up of coal. Our power plants simply have to mine around them to get the fuel.”
Remus and Bakus entered the donut shaped operations room. There were about two dozen soldiers and officers operating computers and electronic controls along the circular wall. In the center was the base of a giant telescope which opened on the surface and allowed the operations room to keep an eye on the activities on top around the cannon.
“You are throwing quite a lot of firepower in this battle, General,” Remus said.
“The laser cannons on the surface and space fighter planes parked on our runaways above are just for the defense of this weapon,” Bakus said.
“The six battleships hiding behind the gas giant are the real punch,” Remus said.
“You saw them?”
“I had the coordinates for their location, so I told my pilots to swing by them,” Remus said.
“I want to trap the enemy fleet in space between our battleships and this planet,” Bakus said, “The gas giant’s gravity will severely degrade their speed and ability to escape giving us time to aim and destroy them with Starfire Cannon’s energy ray.”
“And where is our flagship, your command Battleship Republic?” Remus asked.
“That was the bait,” Bakus smiled, “I had sent it out in the frontier space where our ships were being attacked by the mysterious enemy. For two months since the vote in the senate for war, it cruised in the uncharted space but to no avail. Then five days ago it was attacked by three large unidentified spaceships.”
“That’s when the chancellor received your message and sent me here,” Remus said.
“For the battle is coming, the Republic is coyly leading our enemies to us, pretending to be running scared with the aliens in hot pursuit,” Bakus said, “Their estimated time of entry in this solar system is just two days and six hours.”
Chapter 2: BATTLE
The red alert started flashing and the shrill siren blared across all the rooms and corridors of the operations center. Vice-Chancellor Remus Torus jumped in place and then quickly steadied himself. He was the highest leader here and he needed to show calm even though he felt fear inside of him. Remus was looking at the mirror at the time of the alarm and rushed to finish pressing his clothes with a handheld low-heat press that he was using to iron out the final wrinkles. He was wearing the colors of the Nestorian Republic: Green and Gold. His full-sleeve thick shirt and pants were dark green but the edges of the sleeves and the belt buckle were of gold color while his shoes were polished black. Remus looked at himself in the mirror one last time and felt his moustache and beard with his hand. He had shaved carefully today and razor cleaned all the hair on his sides while leaving a mustache and a beard on his chin. Remus had a square face and the square shape of his facial hair gave him a firm appearance.
When he stepped out of the small room that he had been assigned next to the operations room, he was surprised by the order prevalent in the base. The alarm was still ringing and he had expected soldiers and staff to be running around everywhere. He walked into the operations room where he was greeted by General Bakus Ferran who was looking crisp in his uniform, his hair shaved down to a whiz and his rectangular face displaying a slight grin.
“I hope the alarm didn’t disturb your sleep Vice-Chancellor,” Gen. Bakus said.
“I was out of the bed and getting ready,” Remus replied, “You have a well-disciplined staff here.”
“A weapon like that,” Bakus said, “we have some of our brightest recruits to operate it. But don’t be puzzled by the lack of activity. The spaceships appeared on our scanners near midnight. They just crossed the boundary of this solar system few minutes ago.”
“You have been awake since then?” Remus asked.
“You have space lag and it is early morning for you,” Bakus said, “It is evening on the surface right now.”
Remus walked over to the general and looked at the large display of digital grids on a flat panel hanging on the wall. He saw a green blip from their battleship chased by three blue blips that represented the heretofore mysterious enemy. This was the picture from the Gravitron Scanners placed on the surface. Because all four spaceships were traveling at faster than light speed only the gravitron scanners could locate them in real time as they were based on gravity readings which changed near instantaneously at relatively short distances in space. Radio, Electromagnetic, Infrared and other scanners were broadcasting a delayed picture and while the computers used the spaceships velocities to forecast their most likely future location, this data was slightly delayed and errors crept up from time to time.
“Any early deductions?” Remus asked.
“Many,” Gen. Bakus said, “The enemy appears more powerful than we had thought. We have the readings on their length and mass. Two of them are ten miles long on their longest axis and the third one is twelve miles long. Our biggest, my flagship, is six miles long. These aliens appear to be a technologically advanced spacefaring power just like us.”
“Does that mean they possess more firepower than our ships?” Remus asked.
“Not necessarily,” Bakus said, “They may be clumsy at miniaturization and construction.”
Remus hoped this was true and not just wishful thinking on the general’s part.
“We will be concentrating Starfire Cannon on their largest spaceship,” General Bakus said.
Remus did not say anything but watched the movement on the display screen. The blue blips kept following the green blip at a constant speed. The green blip slowly turned towards the gas giant which was displayed as a large green sphere on the display.
In space, near the gas giant, the six battleships that were in hiding sprung their trap and appeared in front of the Battleship Republic and let loose a volley of faster than light speed rockets aimed at the three intruders. In the gravity field of the gas giant all of their speeds had been degraded below light speed and the three alien battleships maneuvered to escape the sudden rocket onslaught. It was to no avail as the rockets skirted past their own flagship and multiple rockets rocked the alien spaceships with large explosions. But their shields were sturdy and all three of them survived the initial attack.
Meanwhile, Battleship Republic had made a roll in space and was now rapidly approaching the three startled enemy ships. It opened fire with its lasers on all three of them and the lasers splattered against their hulls taking off chunks of metal from the points of contact.
But the alien spaceships were not completely caught off guards and they recovered in time to shoot their own rockets at Republic which flew past them and dived into the gas giant to throw off the rockets.
Most of the rockets flew past the battleship and disappeared into the depths of the thick gas but a couple caught up with the spaceship and exploded into its rear. The explosions ripped apart large chunks of the metal from the rear and pummeled the battleship head first into the planet. The ship drastically cut the power to its engine to avoid getting sucked in and flew over the planet finally stabilizing in the orbit. It made a full orbit and came out from the other side and this time it let loose its entire contingent of spacefighters at the enemy. Spacefighters from the six Nestorian and the three Alien battleships had already been launched and a laser against laser dogfight had broken out in space.
“I should have been up there commanding the Republic,” General Bakus curled his fist and remarked after he read the damage report flashed on a screen that was beamed directly from his battleship, “What was Pontus thinking charging across the alien spaceships like that without having a clue about their potential.” Pontus was his second-in-command and today was captaining Bakus’ battleship in his absence.
“Perhaps eager to prove his mettle as a commander,” Remus said, “I hear there is quite a bit of
jockeying amongst the second-in-commands in our space fleet to receive a commission as the commander of the 34th battleship under construction.”
“Nah…Pontus is not that reckless,” Bakus said, “Looking at the first reports I would have made the same mistake. The initial rocket impacts did far less damage than the same force would have on our battleships.”
So these aliens were actually more advanced than them, Remus caressed his chin.
“I am going to fire the Starfire Cannon,” Bakus spoke out loud, “I had wanted to let the battle be settled by our battleships and save this weapon for later, but they are taking a beating out there.”
The staff in the operations room looked at him. They were all here to operate this weapon and were simply watching the battle taking place up in space on their scanners. A few were reporting results to the General but that wasn’t their primary task.
“Mark the longest enemy battleship: Mysterious One.”
“Marked as Mysterious One,” the assistant plotting officer replied.
“Aim at Mysterious One,” Bakus said, “Aim and Lock.”
“Aimed and Locked on Mysterious One,” plotting officer replied ten seconds later when the weapon’s own gravitron scanner locked in on the target.
“Alright, all power points online. Go.”
The power plant operator started flicking switches on his panel and reported after a couple of minutes, “All power plants standing by. Electricity generation in T minus 50 seconds.”
“Target Lock Status?” Bakus asked
“Target Lock holding steady,” plotting officer replied.
“Switch on Superconducting transmission,” Bakus said.
“Superconducting transmission on,” the transmission technician replied after turning a knob.
“Electricity generation in T minus 25 seconds,”
“Prepare to fire,” General Bakus handed a metallic card with firing authorization code to the assistant firing officer seated next to him who inserted it in a slot.