First Contact: Spider Wars: Book 1

by Randy Dyess

  “Ten mini-divisions,” the weapons officer replied. “All missile tubes have been loaded.”

  “I want a spread fired as soon as we get into missile range: one Grydyd to each attack ship. We need to find out what they can do.”

  “Commander, fifty Freack attack ships have broken away from the main formation and are headed our way,” the tactical officer interrupted.

  “New contact time.”

  “Five mini-divisions,” the weapons officer replied.

  “Inform the squad to get ready. Fire all missiles as the Freack attack ships come into range. I want borer missiles and spread lasers ready as soon as the Gyrdyds have left our tubes.”

  “Yes, Commander,” the weapons officer replied as he bent over his station and sent the commands to the other two ships.

  “Attack formation, Quantum One,” Qugnyt commanded his helm officer.

  “Weapons range in one mini-division,” the weapons officer reported. “All ships report status ready.”

  The next mini-division seemed like the longest in Commander Qugnyt’s life as his squad came within contact range with the Freack.

  *****

  A cheer erupted on the bridge of the Druggette as thirty Freack attack ships were torn apart from the Grydyd missiles. “Thirty attack ships destroyed,” the tactical officer reported.

  “Any evidence of defensive weapons or shields?” Commander Qugnyt asked.

  “No sensor data shows any defensive weapons fire or shields. The Freack didn’t even try to evade our missiles—they just let them slam into their ships.”

  “Which means they either underestimated our weapons or simply didn’t care,” Commander Qugnyt said.

  “Do you think they’re callous enough to let thirty of their ships get destroyed without even trying to survive?” the first officer questioned.

  “It appears so.”

  “Freack returning fire. Plasma balls launched from remaining Freack ships,” the tactical officer called out.

  “Spread lasers—and I want borer missiles launched,” Commander Qugnyt said. “Who’s the closest?”

  “The Clus. Three mini-divisions.”

  “The Clus is increasing her shield strength. She’s using all reserve power,” the tactical officer said.

  “Spread lasers have no effect on Freack weapons,” the weapons officer said.

  “Did you get good readings?” Commander Qugnyt asked. He had hoped the spread lasers would disrupt the technology the Freack used to contain the plasma ball. “Keep firing and target all spread lasers on one plasma ball. Try to spread them in a pattern around the ball—maybe it’s something we’re not seeing that controls those things.”

  “Yes, Commander.”

  “Clus is getting hit,” the tactical officer shouted. “Shields are holding!”

  Commander Qugnyt looked at the main viewer. The Clus’ shields flared and the ship exploded.

  “Clus is down,” said the tactical officer. “Good readings on the shields: they held for two mini-divisions before flaring out.”

  “Borer missiles making contact. All twenty Freack ships have been damaged.”

  “Reload with our last Gyrdyds. I want to make a run at one of the larger ships,” Qugnyt commanded his weapons officer.

  “Commander, thirty Freack launch ships breaking off and heading our way.”

  “Form up with the Weog. Let’s see how the Gyrdyds do against them.” The Freack attack ships had been the same size as the Quant patrol vessels, but the launch ships were much larger at over twenty times the size and mass of the Druggette. Commander Qugnyt expected them, at least, to have defensive weapons or shields.

  “Launch ships in weapons range in three mini-rotations,” the tactical officer reported.

  “Launch ships are firing! Fifty plasma balls are heading our way… and they are huge!”

  “Specifics,” Commander Qugnyt said.

  “Each plasma ball is the size of our ship—fifteen times the size of the attack ship’s weapons.”

  “Helm, break formation and dive under the Freack formation. Have the Weog go over. Let’s see if we can ditch the plasma balls. Weapons, fire when we are in range.”

  “Yes, Commander,” the helm officer reported.

  “Firing now.”

  “Commander, plasma balls are changing course. My calculations show the degree of change will not be enough to match our change,” the tactical officer shouted.

  “Keep on course. Are the Freack changing course to match us?”

  “No, Commander, they are still on same heading.”

  “Plasma balls have dissipated. Freack are changing course.”

  “Do you think they can’t change course once they fire?” Sub-Commander Merq asked. As second officer, it was her job to analyze the Freack formations and report on possible counter-attack patterns.

  “Maybe,” Commander Qugnyt responded. “The next time they fire, I want you to change course again. Let’s see what they do in response.”

  “Yes, Commander.”

  “Gyrdyds on target now,” the weapons officer shouted.

  “Twenty direct hits,” the tactical officer said. “Ten launch ships are venting, but still coming our way. Another ten are dropping out of formation!”

  Another cheer went up along the bridge crew; they now knew their weapons could be used against the larger Freack ships. If they had more missiles targeted on each launch ship, they might have taken all twenty out of action.

  “Borer missiles launched. Spread lasers still have no effect.”

  “Shut them down—no use in wasting energy reserves on them.”

  “Freack firing! Plasma balls are coming at three times the speed as the previous launch.”

  “Execute new formation,” Sub-Commander Merq told the helm. The Druggette and Weog both changed course, so they would cross the Freack formation at a ninety-degree angle.

  “Plasma balls changing course. I estimate that we are safe, but the Weog is not moving fast enough—they’re going to get hit.”

  The bridge crew of the Druggette watched as a ship-sized plasma ball washed over the Weog. The shields did not hold, and the ship melted as the plasma expanded over her.

  “Weog’s shields were at maximum,” the tactical officer reported.

  “Borer missiles making contact,” the weapons officer reported. “Little to no damage on all ten launch ships.”

  “Do we have any more Gyrdyds?” Commander Qugnyt asked.

  “Three. Loading now.”

  “Hold them,” he said. “Merq, I want an attack course plotted against one of the mother ships. Fire all three remaining Gyrdyds at the same location—let’s see what damage they can do.”

  “Commander, analysis of the launch ship coming in. No defensive fire, no shields, and they did not alter course to evade our attack. I have been able to track the plasma balls fired from the damaged ships: they dissipated as the Freack ships were damaged.”

  “Good. Looks like they have to maintain course after they fire,” Commander Qugnyt said as he smiled. Now they would be able to create attack formations to counter Freack weapons fire.

  “Commander, thirty launch ships and one hundred attack ships have picked up speed and are heading toward Quantum. I estimate they will arrive in twenty mini-divisions.”

  “Are we in contact with the colony?”

  “No, Commander. No one is answering our hails.”

  “Contact fleet and ask them if the colony has had time to get to the shelters.”

  “Commander, three damaged Freack launch ships are dropping out of the formation chasing us. The rest have picked up speed.”

  “Merq, time to weapons range on the mothership?” Commander Qugnyt asked.

  “It’s going to be close, but I think we’ll make it before those launch ships come into range.”

  “As soon as the missiles clear the tubes, alter course thirty degrees, up twenty. Let’s see if we can outrun them.”

  “Commander, fleet
is commanding us to break off the attack. Sixty percent of the researchers are in the shelters and the others are too far out to make it. We’ve bought them enough time, and fleet command has enough data.”

  “Understood,” he responded. “I would have liked to have had a shot at that mothership, though.”

  “Maybe next time,” Sub-Commander Merq said. “Let’s see if we can get out of here in one piece.”

  “Do what you can.”

  “Commander, twenty attack ships have doubled back on us and have us pinned against the chasing launch ships,” Sub-Commander Merq said.

  “Merq?”

  “Sorry, Commander—the launch ships blocked our view of them.”

  “Options?”

  “I don’t see any—they have us trapped. We might be able to use the remaining Gyrdyds and borers to escape, but, it’ll take everything we’ve got, and there won’t be any second chances.”

  “Turn off shields and put all power into the drives. Make a sprint at that mothership. If we go down, I want data on how our missiles do against one of those monsters.”

  “Commander,” the tactical officer shouted, “Freack ships have created a cone formation and have fired. I estimate four mini-divisions until contact. They fired in a pattern, this time, and we can only go forward.”

  “Are we going to be able to fire?”

  “Yes, Commander, we should be able to last long enough to fire, but I don’t think we’ll be able to record the damage.”

  “Drop a probe and have it record for us.”

  “Commander, the mothership has fired five plasma balls thirty times our size. I don’t think we have a chance against them.”

  “Time to contact?”

  “Estimate two minutes to contact.”

  “Fire all Gyrdyds.”

  “We’re still one mini-division out.”

  “I don’t care; fire now for maximum range. All power to shields,” Commander Qugnyt responded before switching his comm unit to ship-wide. “All hands, it has been an honor.”

  Commander Qugnyt’s last words had barely reached everyone’s ears when the Freack weapons contacted the Druggette. The ship’s shields didn’t have any effect on the massive plasma balls, and no evidence of the Druggette remained—not even a single atom.

  Its last probe recorded the ship’s demise, remaining long enough to see two Grydyd missiles slam into the Freack mothership. Two large craters appeared, but the massive mothership shrugged them off and continued toward its destination. The probe also recorded the third Grydyd changing course and impacting a small object directly behind one of the plasma balls fired by the mothership. The destruction of the object caused the plasma ball to dissipate before it had a chance to contact the Druggette.

  Chapter 2

  Quant Head Researcher Entiray Pavonub reached over and entered the newly discovered command into the interface. After decades of exhausting work researching every Quant data bank he could find about the Feebie computer systems his work was starting to pay off. Thirty cycles ago, he had discovered the long-lost address of the Quant home world and now he was the head researcher leading hundreds of his people in an expedition trying to learn everything they could about their ancestors. “Oh,” escaped Entiray’s lips as he opened a new section of files. The technology described would jump Quant ship drive design ahead by hundreds of cycles. “Well, after we figure out how to make the thing,” Entiray muttered. He had spent hundreds of divisions alone in the Feebie data center and had developed a habit of talking to himself.

  Thirty thousand cycles ago, the Freack attacked and destroyed the Quant society. The Quant remnants hid in distant parts of Quant territory spending all their resources trying to survive. Each time the Quants would reestablish their society and begin to recover, the Freack would show up again and take it all away. Like clockwork, the Freack would sweep back into the Quant territory and destroy their ships and colonies, setting their society back thousands of cycles. It wasn’t until Entiray discovered the key to opening the Feebie files on the Quant’s main library system that the Quant begin to jump ahead. Knowledge of their home world and the technology to get there became available to the Quants once again. Medicines and technology long thought lost were now being manufactured bringing Entiray’s people back to their pre-Freack level. Entiray prayed his team would be able to obtain the secrets of the Feebies quick enough to allow them to protect themselves during the next Freack attack.

  After Entiray’s discovery, years were spent building new ships that could travel to other star systems. Once on Quantum, another year was spent clearing the tons of debris covering the collapsed data center. Even after all this time, Entiray could still remember the feeling he had when he walked down the data center stairs the first time and hit the generators power button. The hope coursing through his veins that something would power up. He smiled at the memory of the entire computer system powered up. He still marveled at the level of technology that would still work after being buried under debris on an abandoned planet for thirty thousand cycles.

  Entiray had just opened a whole new string of files describing weapon systems that would defend entire planets when he heard a low series of beeps. He jerked his head up and looked around the empty room. Nothing, he thought as he turned back to his work. The beeping returned, but louder this time. Entiray stood up and scanned the room again. “What is that beeping?” he asked. He didn’t see any lights on the computer systems surrounding him pulsing with alarm. “Must be hearing things,” he chuckled as he sat back down and reached for the computer interface.

  Beep! Beep! Beep! filled the room and startled Entiray. “Crap!” he laughed as he saw the lights going off on his AI unit. He had promised his daughter he would take her to see the fire sky. His AI unit knew this and had been trying to get his attention for half a division. He spent a few mini-divisions saving his notes and shutting down the systems. He loved the fire sky as much as his daughter and didn’t want to miss them either.

  At certain times of the planet’s rotation around its red sun, the planet, its moon, and the sun would align causing the sun to become active and expel large ejections of red plasma towards the planet. These plasma ejections, along with the positioning of the moon, would cause fire red auroras to cover the night sky. The sky would look like a blanket of fire. Quants had marveled at this phenomenon since they had first crawled out of the swamps and looked at the heavens. For hundreds of thousands of cycles, the Quants had witnessed this spectacle and worshipped the fire gods they thought were dancing across the night sky. Entiray no longer believed in the fire gods, but he had fallen in love with the sight from the first moment he had witnessed them. He had read about the fire sky and thought he understood them, but reading and studying them could not even come close to seeing them with your own eyes. Since arriving on Quantum, Entiray and his family had never missed a fire sky, no matter what he was working on.

  *****

  What? Entiray thought as his AI unit started flashing. Looking down at his unit, Entiray couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His AI unit was telling him that a Freack attack was imminent. “But the Freack are not due for another 1,000 cycles,” he muttered. “What’s going on?”

  Two mini-divisions later, Entiray could hear the main alarms sounding throughout the data center. “It’s real!” he shouted as he raced back to his terminal. They’re actually here early. I’m not going to let them ruin my life’s work. They’re not going to do this to us again,” he thought as he went through menus on the Feebie computer trying to shut the unit down so the Freack would not see any power consumption. Entiray hoped that they would ignore the data center if it still looked abandoned.

  Five mini-divisions later, he had finished backing up and saving his life’s work. If he didn’t live through this harvest, the next Quant scientist entering the data center wouldn’t have to spend dozens of cycles redoing his work. Standing up to leave the data center for the shelters, Entiray stopped and sat back down. Looking at
his terminal, he knew what he had to do. The Freack had never stopped to take technology from the Quants before, but he couldn’t risk it. What if this was a raid because the Freack and their masters had found out about his research and the technology contained in the Feebie data banks.

  “You have to do it,” he muttered. “You know you have to. You can’t let them get ahold of this information.” He sighed before sitting back down and opened a secret compartment he had built into his workstation. Inside of the compartment was a small unit he had designed and installed many cycles ago. The unit’s sole purpose was to activate a small routine which would overload the fusion generator installed in the data center. If any species other than a Quant entered the room, the routine would activate and destroy the data banks. If the Quants couldn’t make use of the treasures within the Feebie systems, none of their enemies would either.

  Sighing as he finished his task, Entiray stood back up and started heading towards the data center’s door. He had to get to the shelters with his family before the Freack landed and started their harvest. He only made it two steps before the power went off. He gasped, the Freack had already started their attack by firing off their energy pulse weapon. He knew the weapon wouldn’t harm Feebie technology, but he still had not discovered how to protect Quant technology from the weapon. He also knew, based on prior harvests, the Freack would start their landing soon. Power or not, Entiray knew he needed to hurry or he wouldn’t make it to the shelters on time.

  The data center was pitch black, but he had spent so much time in it, he knew exactly where the door and stairs were. Rushing through the darkness, Entiray made his way out of the data center and up the stairs to the main door. They’re already here, he thought as he saw the Freack plasma balls streaking through the atmosphere. Fear coursed through his body as he thought of his family waiting for him in the dorms and not going to the shelter. I wish they would have just come here. We could have made this place into a shelter. It would have been closer for the researchers and might have given us the time to save more of our research, he thought as he continued out the door.