Antares Crucible

by Warwick Gibson

  There was a unanimous nodding of heads.

  I wish Fedic was here, thought Cordez. He’s better at battle strategy than I am, but he’s needed elsewhere. He felt a pang of loss for a moment, and wondered how Fedic was faring.

  Then he shook his head free of such thoughts. They were here to plan one of the most massive assaults on an enemy position in the history of space flight on Earth, maybe even in the long history of the Sumerian empire.

  The commanders started to plan for the following day’s assault. They would need to start with the line of Buccra warships drawn up in the outer reaches of the Antares system as a first line of defense.

  The next morning, by synchronized ship’s time, Cagill joined the other commanders on his bridge once again. So, this is day two, he thought, looking around him at the assembled commanders.

  “You all know what you have to do,” he said. “Make sure everyone down to individual pilots in your chain of command knows what to do as well. We enter the Antares system as soon as all formations have confirmed readiness, and then it will be down to the decisions we make on the day.

  “You all know what you’re fighting for, and I want you to remember that the universe has a way of blessing a just cause. Make your last-minute preparations, and then stand ready.

  “Dismissed!”

  HISTORIAN’S REPORT

  It took me a long time to recover from the journey to Orouth, but it was worth it. There was my own satisfaction at seeing the world humanity had originally come from, but of much greater importance was the recovery of so many Valkrethi. I still cannot believe a sentient race foresaw this great war for possession of much of the Spiral Arm 200 thousand years ago, and prepared these giant fighting machines to help us.

  How did they know we would survive, and prosper, on the new world they had transplanted us to? How could they be sure we would have reached a technological level that would allow us to use the Valkrethi? How did they know we would be a force for good in the galaxy? Would you leave a deadly weapon for a child that might turn out to be a serial killer?

  Answering such questions will be well beyond my role as an historian, though I cannot help but think them. There are many other questions I will be able to answer. The main topic of conversation on board the Javelins is the Druanii ships.

  What will they look like? What destructive powers will they have? There are other questions too. How many of the Druanii protectorates will send ships, and will they be of any use at all in the fighting?

  I imagine we all value our lives differently. Some will fight for every last breath, while some will be glad to go. Trapped in this broken body, I think I will feel some relief when I sense my time inside it will soon be over. That is how I speak for myself, but not for my purpose, my mission, my reason for existence. For the first time I wish to live, wish it so much that it burns within me. I want to see the outcome of this great attempt to repel the predatory invaders.

  Stuck to the back wall of Cagill’s command Javelin, once again, I am willing to give up my life as soon as I have recorded this, the most important piece of history I will ever have the privilege to see, and metaphorically lay down my pen. But not a moment before!

  PART EIGHT: THE BATTLE FOR ANTARES

  CHAPTER 29

  ________________

  Kanuk took a shuttle back to his command Javelin. Once he had given the commands that would prepare his pilots for war, he looked out at his tetrarch of 120 Javelins.

  Seeing the huge formation of star ships under his command made him feel old these days. At least it did when he compared himself with his first days on Prometheus. What was that, only three years ago? But old or not, he could feel his nervous system tingling with anticipation of the battle to come.

  He, and all the Hud pilots, had been superbly trained. They were the best the Alliance could produce, and the enemy they were going up against was, in its own way, their equivalent. It was going to be the greatest test of skill and perseverance they would ever encounter.

  In his mind Kanuk started to run through the speech he would give his pilots before they went into action today. It was a pivotal moment in this war, he could feel it, and his speech needed to reflect that.

  The Alliance forces that swept into the Antares system later that day were running in tight little knots of 30 ships. They watched each other’s backs, and if one of the enemy ships got too close it was fiercely targeted by every ship along that side of the flotilla.

  Their strategy, and it proved to be successful, was to engage one of the Buccra warships in numbers when the enemy ship had few others around it. Then the Javelins surrounded the ship, and tore into it with their new, more powerful blast weapons.

  A small number of Sumerian warships, working with each group of Javelins, joined in, and poured their energy weapons into the damaged areas. They were attempting to stop the Buccra warships from repairing themselves. Then a dozen Valkrethi dropped into the fight, diving into the gaps in the Buccra hulls and tearing the ships apart from the inside.

  As they engaged the Buccra, the new strategy began to prove its effectiveness. The Alliance lost ships in the process, but a growing number of enemy warships were left as drifting hulks across the battlefield.

  Elsewhere, groups of motherships formed deadly islands upon which the Buccra foundered. Protected by solid walls of Javelins, carefully targeting the lethal Buccra missiles in mid-flight, the motherships sent out shimmering blue lances to cut apart any warships foolish enough to get within range.

  Both of the new approaches were successful, and they proved they worked time and again. Alliance ships were lost in the process, but when Cagill called his forces off late in the morning, the Alliance was ahead in the deadly game of counting losses. It was a promising start, and the afternoon sorties proved to be just as interesting.

  Kanuk looked out from the bridge of his Javelin at the ships of his tetrarch, spread out in orderly rows around him. He reflected that the precision they were currently displaying would only last until the attack was joined. Then mayhem, as always, would prevail.

  This time, he wanted to get deeper into the Antares system, closer to the Invardii city. He wanted to push harder at the defending forces. He wanted to get them rattled, and cut into their confidence. Morale was an important thing in any war

  Ignoring the first line of warships, Kanuk led his pilots straight into the depths of the Buccra position. The second tetrarch would peel off and engage the forward line, and the third tetrarch was preparing to deal with the Reaper ships that would turn up from the city, Cagill was sure, to support the Buccra.

  His tetrarch, though, was going to push the main Buccra force hard.

  Lines of incoming fire began to show up on the overhead screens. The enemy ships were lost in the vastness of space, only pinpointed as the starting point, and sometimes the ending point, of the flashes of light that increasingly ripped across the battlefield.

  Kanuk closed down his visuals. This was going to be an instruments only fight. It would be an interpretation of events from screens, electronic eyes on space that showed a mass of moving dots – some enemies, some friends – and the slow fading of those who had been knocked out of the fight.

  Kanuk’s screen showed him the enemy warships nearest to his ship. One of these now turned toward him, and his sensors picked up the tiny electromagnetic discharge that preceded an energy blast. Without even thinking, Kanuk flicked his Javelin over and down, and the enemy blast cut through the position he had just left.

  His senses were singing. They were being boosted by adrenaline in his blood stream at many times the normal level, and the sudden release of sophisticated neurotransmitters in his brain. He checked his timing meter. He was about quarter of the way into his current accelerated cycle, and then he would have to pull out of the fight and let his system reset itself.

  He saw an opportunity as a foolhardy Buccra warship drove home its attack against one of the Javelins in a neighboring group, and became i
solated from its fellows in the process. The Javelins in his group turned as one, and concentrated their fire on the warship.

  They ripped pieces out of the long arches that connected the bridge at the front and the engine room at the rear. The Sumerian warships joined in, and then the Valkrethi arrived. The warship was soon broken into its component pieces, and Kanuk’s group of 30 Javelins peeled off and headed deeper into the fray.

  A wave of Buccra ships confronted them, seeking revenge for the destruction of many of their own. Two of the lead Javelins came under intense fire. The Alliance group fought back, but the Buccra were not to be driven off. The overhead screen on Kanuk’s bridge came to life as one of the hard pressed Javelins called for help.

  Kanuk could see and hear the chaos on the other Javelin’s bridge. There was an intense flash of light, and half the bridge disappeared. Kanuk watched, frozen, as bodies tumbled into space. A moment later the Javelin disintegrated, and the picture was lost.

  Despite the best efforts of the Alliance group, the other Javelin shared the same fate, exploding in a flash of fire moments later. Incensed, the Javelins tore one of the leading Buccra ships to a lifeless hulk, and started on another. Finding the cost too high, the enemy warships drew off, and Kanuk was at last able to lead his group of Javelins into the very center of the enemy forces, the rest of his tetrarch close behind.

  The fighting became even more intense, and in the confusion Kanuk struggled to find an enemy target close to his group of ships. Then he led them toward an enemy warship that was fighting on its own.

  As he did so, the symbol for the warship vanished from his screen. Puzzled, he turned the group and led it toward a group of Buccra warships, to take some of the intense pressure off the Javelins already there. Then one of the enemy symbols disappeared from his screen, followed by another.

  Switching quickly to a smaller screen, he set it to give him a visual link with the action ahead of him.

  An extraordinarily long, gnarled ship, made it seemed of disjoint pieces that didn’t fit anywhere together, burst forth from a group of suddenly appearing concentric rings. It hit two of the Buccra warships with something like a pale violet pulse, and destroyed them completely. Then it vanished into a similar group of rings. Another of the long, misshapen vessels appeared, and Kanuk realized the ships, whatever they were, had arrived in force.

  He pulled his group of Javelins around to take advantage of the confusion among the Buccra. Their warships had lost their focus, and the Hud pilots quickly dispatched another warship. On the overhead screen of the wider engagement, Kanuk could see enemy symbols fading from the screen all over the battlefield. The Hud pilots were making the most of the situation, helped by the mysteriously appearing and disappearing newcomers.

  Leading his group toward another target, Kanuk watched in amazement as a great slab of a ship sailed by. It was barely more than an odd-shaped cube, and it seemed to welcome the attention of the Buccra warships. As each massive energy blast struck home, a layer of shielding peeled off the ship where it had been hit. Again and again, more thin layers were ripped from the hull.

  Kanuk had to grin at the cheekiness of the idea – the ship was one solid heat shield, and it must be good for hundreds of hits. He guessed by the time the heat shields were exhausted it was either victorious against its enemies, or well away from the battlefield.

  Kanuk could see a shadowy opening in the back of the ship, and now, as it continued to sail serenely forward, it laid mines in its wake. Drawn by some sort of homing system, they veered toward the surrounding Buccra ships, and clumped together in one spot on each hull. Then they detonated, ripping holes in the enemy warships.

  Seizing the opportunity the mines offered, Kanuk lead his group of Javelins in behind the new arrivals, and pounced on the Buccra ships as they tried to regenerate from the damage caused by the mines. An exhilaration filled Kanuk. The tide of battle was turning in favor of the Alliance.

  A solid phalanx of Reaper ships lay directly ahead of Kanuk’s group of Javelins. Realizing the squat ships were impervious to their fire, they were targeting the mines with dense patterns of plasma arcs.

  Very few mines were now getting through, and more Buccra warships were arriving to block the Alliance advance. As the forward momentum of the attack began to stall, Kanuk noticed a long skein of large, gray bubbles drift past him and down onto Reaper ship and Buccra warship alike.

  Plasma arcs, and weapons blasts, destroyed dozens of them, but the numbers around the enemy craft continued to increase. The one in front of Kanuk finally disappeared under a sea of bubbles – and there was a sudden implosion, like a giant crushing a toy. When the bubbles drifted apart, joining the attack on the next enemy craft, they left behind the crushed and mangled body of a warship.

  More accumulations of bubbles reached a critical mass around other enemy ships, and equally suddenly imploded. They moved on to leave shattered vessels in their wake.

  Another of the long, misshapen craft he had first noticed appeared behind Kanuk, took out a Reaper ship ahead of him with a pale violet pulse, and disappeared again.

  The defense of the Antares system quickly turned into a route. The Alliance, with their new allies joining them, quickly crushed all resistance in the outer part of the system. From there they followed a retreating force of Reaper ships and Buccra toward the red, turbulent body of the Antares sun.

  At the head of the advancing forces, Kanuk led his tetrarch against the fierce rearguard action put up by the retreating warships. He didn’t think of stopping and consolidating the gains they had made. If the Alliance gave them time to regroup the Invardii might find a way to turn the situation, and regain the upper hand.

  That could not be allowed. All the pressure the Alliance could muster would have to be applied for as long as it took to defeat the Invardii city.

  CHAPTER 30

  ________________

  The endless sea of warships, attacking and defending alike, moved steadily toward the outermost layers of the Antares sun. Reaper ships poured out of the ruddy murk of the outer layers, where they had been on patrol around the city itself.

  The Alliance ships labored under the intense heat of the red, super giant sun. The Reaper ships, though, were in their element. A sudden flare from the sun reduced the effectiveness of Kanuk’s sensors and weapons systems. Yet still the Alliance pressed home their advantage, and drew closer to the Invardii city, still hidden in the outer layers of the Antares sun.

  Kanuk’s group of Javelins forced their way slowly through a line of Reaper ships, and were engaged by a group of Buccra ships determined to stop them. The fight dragged on, no quarter given or expected.

  One of the squat cube ships sailed into the middle of the battleground, drawing Buccra fire off Kanuk’s group of Javelins. Then it laid trails of mines which veered toward the enemy vessels. One of the long ships appeared overhead, and took out a Buccra warship on Kanuk’s right.

  The gray bubbles had had a marked effect on the engagement when they first arrived, but now they retreated from the front line. They didn’t have, it seemed, any defense against the heat, and solar flares, of the Antares sun.

  A line of Invardii flagships emerged from the surface of the red giant sun, and Kanuk’s jaw tightened. The Alliance had hoped that all but a few of the giant flagships had been destroyed, but it appeared this was not so. These must have been provided by other Invardii cells, somewhere in the core. The flagships would make it that much harder to finish what they had come here to do.

  More than a dozen flagships approached the Javelin position. Snakes of orange fire coiled out from them, and tried to latch onto the Javelins in Kanuk’s group. It took every bit of their speed and agility to stay clear of the ropes of fire.

  A river of compressed plasma surged past on Kanuk’s left, striking a number of Javelins and knocking them out of action. More of the plasma bolts struck along the front line, savaging Alliance ships, and Kanuk suddenly realized what was happening.
The Invardii city had joined the fray. It was able to use the plasma all around it to build the bolts it was firing at the Alliance forces.

  This close to the sun, and the city, the balance of power quickly swung back in favor of the Invardii. As Kanuk planned the best way to get his people out of the engagement, Cagill’s voice came over the comms system.

  “Cagill speaking,” he began, the strong voice of the Air Marshall unmistakable. “Disengage. Repeat, disengage and fall back. Set a rearguard and watch for counter-attacks, but hurry!”

  He paused. “Fall back to previously prepared positions, and stay out of range of the city’s plasma cannons.

  “And well done,” he added, “to all of you.”

  Then the transmission ended.

  When a new front line had been established, further out in the Antares system, Cordez called a tactical meeting on Cagill’s command Javelin. The commanders of each of the military formations were there, and Cordez, with Finch, was present via a sub space link.

  “The long ships were the Druanii contingent,” said Cagill, and the commanders immediately knew which ships he meant.

  “There were close to a hundred of them initially,” he continued, “and probably one Druanii to each ship.”

  Cordez nodded. It was hard to imagine more than one of the long, solitary, dragon-like shapes to each ship, regardless of how big the ship was.

  “They made a real dent in the Buccra numbers,” continued Cagill, “though they didn’t seem to bother with the Reaper ships. That may be something to do with the endless treaties between the three primary races.

  “Unfortunately, the Buccra also seemed to know exactly how to deal with the Druanii ships. Even though they were only visible for seconds at a time, the Buccra managed to destroy around half of their ships by the end of the day.”