SAW 1: Stars at War

by Lee Guo

  20,000.

  10,000.

  0…Full stop.

  Roro wanted to rest for a while, but time seemed of the essence.

  Immediately, he sent another command to accelerate all ships towards one of the human's Core Worlds. If the human fleet wouldn't fight him out here, surely they would fight him in order to defend one of its precious home worlds?

  He saw all twenty ships in his fleet begin accelerating towards that destination…to sack a core world…do what he set out to do. He would cause irreparable damage to the Prey’s production assets before the Prey became ready with whatever forces it delayed battle for. He would kill as much of the prey as possible.

  Roro would wreak havoc to the Prey’s core worlds.

  First, though—he needed to feed.

  Flag Bridge, Juggernaut VSF Asterix

  Interstellar Space

  On the holotank, Prancort saw the snake fleet alter course towards one of humanity’s core worlds. He stood up. “All ships, alter course! Stick behind the enemy fleet!”

  “Yes, sir,” said the comm officer. “Alerting all other ships.”

  “Yes, sir,” helm piped in too.

  The floor of the bridge rumbled. Prancort could feel the gigantic starship shifting FTL trajectories.

  “Uh…sir?” Donovan spoke from beside him, “Won’t that tell the snake admiral we were just baiting him all along?”

  “He already knows that by now. It’s why he’s altering course in the first place. At worst, we’ll just confirm his suspicion. In either case, we can’t afford to lose track of this snake fleet.”

  After a pause, Donovan relented. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right.”

  Prancort glanced at the holotank above him, again. “He’s getting tired, this snake admiral. He’s finally understood the puzzle of our actions. He understands we’re just delaying him until we rendezvous with our missile transports and altogether strike him.”

  Donovan stood up. “Then, he’s afraid!”

  “No, I wouldn’t call it fear. More like…determined to see his plan succeed. In order to succeed, he needs to wreck enough damage to our production centers. He’s just realized that by the nature of our very actions, his plan could be in jeopardy. So, that’s why he’s so swiftly heading to sack our core worlds.”

  “Is his plan in jeopardy? Will we be ready for him when he enters a core system?”

  “It will depend on how fast or engineers have retrofitted our new missile carriers and what state they’re in with taking in missiles and heading for the frontlines.”

  “Ah,” replied Donovan.

  “All we can do now is pray. Pray for the speed and efficiency of our imperial engineers. Pray for other factors like…luck.” Prancort gazed at the holotank.

  Such small lines and dots. Yet, whole worlds depend on them…

  Star System Dalon, Core of the Viron Empire

  Orbital Stardock Prometheus II, Synchorbit, Dalon's World

  Stardock Operations Room

  Engineering General Raymond Patel glanced one last time at the converted freighter's schematics on a holopad and felt very content.

  There. It's finally finished.

  Outside, the massive converted freighter…now missile transport, sat entangled in a web of service pontoons, mending machines, and repair rails. Maintenance shuttles sped in and out of the web like insect around a diseased animal. But it was done. All five kilometers of it ready to move out system and acquire a thousand missiles from another system for which it was made to transport.

  …Only the eighth of twenty freighters his engineering team needed to convert into missile ships.

  "Alright people," Raymond spoke to the command net, almost choking, "Let's detach the service equipment and ready the spot for the next one."

  “Affirmative, general,” came back the replies.

  “You alright, sir?” a voice asked from behind him.

  Raymond turned around and stared at the figure.

  Vice General Gonzalez stared back at him.

  “Yes, I’m fine.”

  Over the next hour, he watched as the web disconnected from the vessel. First, the shuttles. Next, the rails and protruding machines. Then, entire pontoons.

  Through a computer display, he gave thumbs up to its newly assigned marine captain and saw the captain give a thumbs up back. After an hour of disconnecting the service pontoons, the vessel slowly made its way out of stardock. Then, Raymond shut off the monitors.

  He put a finger to his eyelids and almost cried. For the past two days, it’d been his baby. And now, it was going away—to battle, if and when the admiral needed it.

  He felt like that towards every engineering project he worked on, ever since he became head engineering general. Whether it a factory or a starship, he put all his energy into each work, and when it was over, he literally felt like he watched a baby go away, on its own.

  From scraps and pieces…to whole animals. Each project…truly his child.

  “Goodbye,” Raymond whispered to the slowly dwindling starship. “Do your nation good.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Star System Dalon, Core of the Viron Empire

  Arriving… Outer perimeter of the system’s gravity well

  Hiveship Roro Cro-Drignon, Fleet Command Nexus

  Four days later…

  All twenty ships in the snake war fleet emerged out of warp space on the outskirts of the human core world of Dalon.

  Inside the fleet command nexus, Roro gazed at the activity in the system through his cerebral interface. Amazing! A true human core world! Roro’s mind felt blasted by hundreds of thousands of human starships maneuvering in and out of its enormous orbital stardocks. By the great hive mother, more prey existed here than he’d ever seen!

  All of which made his next actions more important. He needed to be careful.

  Roro immediately scanned for defenses and saw three gigantic orbital fortresses surrounding each of the three inner planets. The second planet, being the main habitat world, possessed the largest orbital fortress.

  Two gas giants existed in system with some indication that it possessed significant production assets to warrant an attack. Roro’s main attention centered on the second planet, a solid world where most of the electromagnetic radiation in the system, indicative of life, originated.

  The second planet is the main world. This would be the one he needed to sack first.

  Through his thought link, he gave orders to every ship in his command net. “All ships, proceed to the second planet. Protective formation. Be ready for missile waves. Proceed!”

  He waited for all the acknowledgements to reply back before ordering his ship to commence the inward dive into the system. Once his ship began accelerating, he issued another order, “All capital ships, prepare to kinetic bomb all civilian centers. Wait three hours for speed to pick up, and then fire all railguns. Designated targets will be assigned, now!”

  “Yes, commander,” came the replies through his neural net.

  For a moment, Roro thought about the scale of destructivity he was about to wreak onto the system’s inhabitants. Even his own species imbued a sense of morality, but compared to the collective wellbeing of his own species, it would be an obvious choice to kinetic bomb the system’s planets. Roro estimated there were about a billion beings living in the system. If he could kill just twenty percent, it would be a great victory for his people. By denying the enemy resources derived from a strong healthy population, Roro would accomplish what he set out to do…wreak irreparable damage to the humans.

  Now, if he could only do all this before the human fleet chasing him arrived…Roro’s mandibles clicked. The human fleet behind him were too weak to prevent his plans, but what if the humans held a surprise advantage? Were the humans ready with whatever they planned which made them delay battle in the first place?

  Roro realized he may be falling into a trap. Nonetheless, he wasn’t too afraid. Roro, too, held his own su
rprises…

  Three hours later….

  The fleet finally attained relativistic velocity. Roro’s mandibles clicked. Now is the time! “All ships, fire relativistic kinetic kill slugs at your assigned targets!”

  “Yes, commander!” all ship commanders replied.

  Throughout the snake fleet, gravity enhanced rail guns launched kinetic bombardment slugs at every population center within the system. The slaughter of millions had begun.

  Star System Dalon, Core of the Viron Empire

  Second Planet, Dalon’s World

  City Beta Aquatine, Northern Continent

  “Enemy hostiles detected. All civilians head to bomb shelters. Bombardment imminent. Emergency hostile protocols activated. All civilians to bomb shelters. All government officials, connect to Emergency Net Channel A2…”

  The school’s loudspeakers hurt Elle’s head. Hundreds of other cadets crowded the halls between Building E and Building D. Through a window, Elle glanced outside and saw thousands of young students like her running towards that entrance leading to the school’s bomb shelters.

  She would soon join them. First, though, she needed to get out of Building D.

  “Hey Snake,” said a familiar voice from behind her. “What are you doing?”

  Elle turned around and saw Goldie Phearson, the school’s jock. “Um—trying to get underground. You?”

  “Same,” said Goldie. Goldie looked big for a boy of Elle’s age. Tall and handsome and the object of Elle's major crush. “So Snake, think we’ll make it?”

  “The bomb shelter? Hmm…Yeah! Will life ever be the same after the surface gets glassed? Nope!”

  Snake became Elle’s nickname because she was smart. So smart, people thought she might be an alien, perpetrating a human. So, they called her all sorts of alienating nicknames. In recent years, Snake stuck, because that’s what everyone was fighting. Everyone had the snakes on their mind.

  The two of them ran out into the courtyard.

  “I don’t think any of the buildings on the planet will make it,” Elle surmised, “Every surface structure will be destroyed. The question is, how will the government feed all these people in the years to come when there is no crop harvests?”

  “Hydroponic labs probably,” said Goldie the jock. “My uncle owns several in Watercity Rhodes.”

  “I feel bad for you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because probably no water city will survive a direct kinetic bombardment!”

  Goldie paused. “Really? Then, I gotta warn my uncle!” He opened up his phone.

  “It’s too late,” Elle glanced upward at the clear blue sky. The entrance to the underground shelters lay ten meters ahead of her. So long, sky—it’ll be a long time before I see you with that color, considering all the atmospheric ash that will go up once the kinetic strikes land.

  “Elle, why did you stop moving? Hurry up. Let’s get inside," Goldie called, while talking to his uncle through his net-phone.

  Elle took one last glance at the blue sky and white clouds. She breathed in last bit of fresh air and said, “Ok.”

  In they went.

  The underground shelters were a vast array of tunnels leading to civilian quarters as far down as a kilometer below the surface. Equipped with power generators; air, water and food. Along with supplies and waste recyclers, people could live there for months. The only thing Elle regretted…she wasn’t in the same shelter as her parents, but it would okay, because the city internet allowed her to communicate with her parents any time, provided her parents survived the strikes, of course.

  Suddenly, Elle worried about her parents. “I hope they’re ok.”

  “Who?” Goldie asked, as they descended through tunnels lit with occasional light fixtures.

  “My parents.”

  “I’m sure they’ll be fine. They got a bomb shelter where they work, don’t they?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m more worried about my uncle.”

  After hours of climbing down through long passageways, they finally entered the residential quarters. The smell of recycled oxygen and a dampness filled the air. An army officer assigned them to their bunks.

  “Hey Goldie! We’re bunkmates!”

  “We sure are.” Goldie smiled.

  It made sense. The shelters weren’t organized, so people were pre-assigned to bunks. The shelters were just there in case there were a large amount of people to fill it.

  “I’m hungry.” Elle’s stomach rumbled. “Where do we go to eat?”

  An announcer’s voice blasted through the room’s speakers. “All civilians, please remain in your assigned bunks. If you have medical needs, please speak with the medical officer of your section. In addition, emergency food packets will be distributed every five hours. Community bathrooms are evenly spread out in between sections. Thank you.”

  “That answers it.” Elle stared at Goldie and he stared back. She liked his wavy blond hair.. She couldn’t imagine any other person she’d rather spend a day or a week while cramped inside an emergency bunker.

  So…the wait began…

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Star System Dalon, Core of the Viron Empire

  Flag Bridge, Juggernaut VSF Asterix

  Arriving… Outer perimeter of the system’s gravity well

  The atmosphere inside the flag bridge seemed very edgy. All the junior officers looked so nervous. Prancort’s entire fleet just left warp space. Sensor pings showed enemy contacts already in system, accelerating away from them. Worse, their gravity waves showed kinetic particles being launched. Prancort could see it on the holotank.

  “Shit, Admiral. We’re too late!” Captain Donovan exclaimed, standing beside him.

  Prancort nodded. He felt sad, but at the same time… “There’s nothing we could have done to prevent it.”

  “But all those people…We’re talking about at least five million people dead from kinetic kill bombardment.”

  “I know, but think of the greater gain. We’ve finally trapped the snakes.”

  “Yes—sir.” Captain Donovan visibly winced.

  Prancort patted Donovan’s back. The padding both of them wore made a dull sound. “We’ve got them right where we want them. It’s only a matter of time.”

  “I hope you’re right, Admiral.”

  “I am.” Prancort gazed at the holotank. It couldn’t be more perfect. The snakes were accelerating inward at the system’s second planet. True, they launched kinetic bombs at the planet, but Prancort had the snakes right where he wanted them. Also, with their current velocity, it would be impossible for the snake ships to escape the missile trap.

  Prancort raised his mic and spoke to the fleet through the command net, “All hidden missile ships, release your missiles! Position the missiles at the assigned coordinates for their attack runs!”

  Fifteen human missile carriers, sporadically placed on the outskirts of human space, suddenly cracked open. Each missile carrier looked like a stacked egg carton. Upon opening up, missiles ejected out of all holding spots and using grav technology, they sped towards their destinations in preparation for a concentrated strike on the snake fleet.

  Hiveship Roro Cro-Drignon, Fleet Command Nexus

  Diving inward…

  15,497 miniature grav signatures appeared on Roro’s sensors.

  Roro immediately knew what they were. Missiles! Gut instinct told him they were indeed missiles. This is the human missile trap, the humans had delayed for all along.

  The missile squadrons surrounded his fleet from all sides. They were like locusts, ready to swarm into Roro’s twenty-ship fleet.

  Nearby, in the command nexus, one of the sensor techs crawled into a ball out of fear. Surrounding Roro, other centipedes looked like they would give up at their stations.

  “Do not be afraid!” Roro shouted into the spherical room. “We have the perfect solution!”

  They gaped at their master in awe. “What is the solution, commander?” one ask
ed.

  “It is this!” Roro spoke into the command link, “All fighter carriers, launch all fighters! Targets and destinations will be designated, now!”

  Using the gel interface, Roro immediately began assigning human missile squadrons for his fighters to shoot.

  Flag Bridge, Juggernaut VSF Asterix

  On Prancort’s holotank, 17200 miniature snake grav dots appeared.

  “Holy stars!” Donovan gasped. “What are they? Missiles or fighters?”

  It was impossible to tell what they were. Light from the new grav dots wouldn’t arrive for another hour. Only the grav signatures themselves, detected instantaneously could be seen.

  They were too small for warships. Then, as Prancort gazed at their velocities, he realized all 17200 snake dots were moving to intercept his 15497 missiles!

  Holy stars, those aren’t missile freighters, they’re fighter carriers! Prancort slammed his fist onto his armrest.

  Nearby, lower ranking officers stared at the holotank in shock.

  “They’re actually snake fighters! Not missiles! They have to be in order to be intercepting our missiles like that. Damn it! The snake commander knew I set this trap all along!”

  Nearby, lower ranking officers murmured to each other. “What do we do?” said one woman in uniform.

  Prancort remained silent for a long time. “I don’t know.”

  The bridge officers all glanced at each other in surprise. Their commanding officer—and he didn’t know? They were doomed, they must have thought.

  Were they doomed?

  “Is there a way to abort the missile attack? Before our missiles get taken out by their fighters?” Donovan asked.

  “No,” answered Prancort, “I can’t order the missiles to return to the missile ships. It would take a long time for them to pack together meticulously into each missile ship. By the time that happens, all our missiles would be taken out by the snake fighters. No, we must attack using our missiles right now…even while we know most of those missiles will never reach their target.”