by Gary Caplan
Traveling on another of the starcraft in this stealth mission, a Zal ship, was a Star Knight master Sheppard knew named Natarris; he was also the captain of the Legendary class battlecruiser Pelonus in the Alliance of Worlds fleet. He would be part of the strike force to assault the Varlon long-range torpedo base. He had worked with Natarris a few years ago when they were both the same Star Knight rank. Like all Zal, he had bluish skin and was generally humanoid. From Sheppard’s perspective, the Zal had a slightly birdlike or vaguely reptilian appearance. Natarris had focused on developing his Star Knight skills, enhancing his psi ranking, and had progressed to master level relatively recently. Tairic mentioned that the Zal Star Knight would be in Sheppard’s strike unit. He had also heard that his father, Allan Sheppard, was assisting with an assault on another of the Varlon’s torpedo bases in a different star system. Allan Sheppard had once served as a fleet captain in the Alliance of Worlds and was a senior master Star Knight. Robert thought about his father and wished him good luck; he realized his father’s skills would get him through. Even though genetically, his father would likely not rise to a grandmaster skill status, he nonetheless had mastered many Star Knight disciplines, was skilled in the use of many weapons, and was unusually lucky as a Star Knight.
The ground attack on the Varlon base would commence once the three ships in the stealth mission landed in a clearing about twenty kilometers away from the primary launching center. The gravity was close to Alliance standard, the temperature was on the cool side but tolerable for humanoids, and the atmosphere contained copious amounts of methane—a gas usual to Varlon worlds. From Sheppard’s point of view, there was only about 7 percent oxygen, or roughly one-third of what he would normally have present on an Earth-like world for breathing. Before they exited the ship, he and most of the others obtained an oxygen mask and filter with an additional air supply and appropriate clothing that had been fabricated on the way to the destination world. They also equipped themselves with several hand weapons and scanning devices.
The Star Knights gathered from the three ships after landing, and Tairic made a quick assessment. “We will separate into strike units with at least one grandmaster in each group,” he said. “I have given the squad leaders targets at which to place explosives. Also, an Accadian Bm’ Kroth is near the base and will need to be targeted; my squad and squad three will deal with that after the explosives are planted. Once that is completed, the rest of you can return to this area to re-board the ships. These anti-grav tanks are expendable; if you must leave them and head back on foot, then do so.” They separated into eight groups of six members. Then each boarded what Sheppard likened to stealth anti-grav tanks.
Sheppard discovered that both Tairic and Natarris linked an integrated augmented reality interface to their retina to enhance visual information to the brain. They had decided to have an implantation for that enhancement. He knew that both the Karratins and the Quarran had especially sharp natural vision, even though not all of them had such implants. It had become more commonplace in the past two centuries in the Alliance of Worlds to use various types of implants or devices to enhance one’s senses. Star Knights had certain disciplines and abilities to, among other things, enhance senses; thus, the use of devices did not make that much of a difference, unless the device added other information. The augmented reality implants did add some information, since they were linked to computer systems and remote scanning systems. The problem, from Sheppard’s point of view, was that such systems could potentially be hacked, and even though Sheppard had used an augmented reality system in the past, he did not presently use one for that reason: his cybernetic implant had been partially hacked about fifteen years ago during a starfighter mission. Luckily, his Star Knight skills saved him some loss of face and possible mission failure. After that episode, he had the implant removed and used hand-held or eyewear comlinks and communication devices.
The transport vehicle moved across the terrain and toward one of the entrances that Tairic had previously determined from approach scans before landing. Since all the Star Knights were well-trained, experienced veterans, Tairic had arranged to have target locations and vector maps for the placement of the explosive devices sent to each group of Star Knights’ transport vehicles so they could plan individual assaults on their particular launching facility. All the Star Knights had some form of clairsentient abilities and remote sensing abilities and were using them to avoid Varlon patrols; at least one in each group could detect chameleon-cloaked defenses. Most grandmasters, like Tairic and Garfield, could use such skills to detect precise things, even at great distances.
The first Varlon patrol craft they came across was a Spider ship class. These Spider ships had weaponry, including particle and plasma cannons that were measurable to few hundred million joules of energy. Each ship contained several Varlon, and they could attack ground or orbiting targets; a few Varlon soldiers usually supported the attack unit when the ship used its walking legs instead of the anti-grav engines. Walking mode allowed them to channel more energy into the weapon systems.
Sheppard also sensed the Varlon spider ship with his mentallic skills. He watched as Tairic used his strong telekinetic powers to close an exhaust vent and twist the metal leg awkwardly, causing it to come down on a rock outcropping rather than in a clearer space. He also disrupted the Spider ship’s physical sensors. “That will keep them occupied,” Tairic stated, “and they will have to get repairs, and I made it seem like excessive wear and tear.”
Sheppard knew Garfield tried not to hurt others if he could help it when he employed the greater telekinesis or alterative psionic manipulations. Sheppard recalled an event the year before when saboteurs on Star One had attempted to make the maglev train he was traveling on crash. Garfield was the first who telekinetically decelerated the three-compartment train safely and telekinetically pried open the compartments’ locked doors to allow Sheppard and the other passengers out. Sheppard recalled that he was only able to muster temporary slowing and had been going to try to pry the doors open when Garfield stopped the maglev and forced opened the fused doors.
The Star Knights exited the vehicle in a secluded area, and Tairic used a discipline to create concealment. Sheppard noted how Tairic caused the area to blend around the anti-grav tank. It was an advanced skill that Sheppard had not yet mastered. “Mark this place in your minds so you can return,” Tairic said to the others.
Tairic’s group of six Star Knights got into position to enter the mostly underground facility. Scanners revealed that there was a large patrol of approaching Varlon armed with plasma weapons. Outside, some were performing various tasks, while others assumed a sentry stance. While concentrating earlier, Sheppard had previously sensed the life presences and general direction of Varlon. He also sensed stronger presences. He sensed Tairic was telepathically conversing with Garfield, but he was not in on that mind link.
They made their way toward an entrance point. The Varlon buildings had a partially organic nature in their construction. The visible upper area of the buildings was composed of layered rings and was orange-brown in color.
“There are several hundred Varlon in the facility,” Garfield said. “I sensed higher psionic presences as well.”
“I sensed some of their Slortan officers. Did they detect you?” Tairic asked.
“No, I don’t believe so; I have been masking our team from them as well,” Garfield replied. “I sense four in the general area, and they are not presently close to us.”
“What? There are some Varlon psi-ops officers here now,” Natarris stated. Sheppard knew that the Slortan were not quite like Star Knights, but they had psionic ability, such as telepathy and telekinesis.
“You need not worry too much,” Tairic said, “because they are not at my or Lord Garfield’s ability.”
“They were likely sent here after they discovered the Star Knights acted to preserve other civilizations and destroyed their torpedo facility on Golmeth,” said Rhentun, a Tyrian, mas
ter-level Star Knight. “I believe them no more powerful than a master. They may have a senior present; however, without deeply sensing, I cannot be sure.”
Sheppard knew this Varlon facility was not the first that had been neutralized by the Star Knights, and if the Varlon were using special forces who were almost the equivalent of Star Knights to reinforce the defenses, that made this a challenge. Along with other weapons, Sheppard had taken several small explosive devices that he could rapidly, telekinetically place. After the assassination attempt on his life several months ago, he had trained some with Garfield and could now generate a temporary inertial barrier or telekinetic shield for himself if necessary.
Joran, another human and the other more junior Star Knight of the group, was at adept level like Sheppard and looked mildly concerned. He was not an officer in the Alliance of Worlds fleet; he had completed his training a few years ago with his order. He had been working for the Star Knights as he continued training to be a master.
To avoid having their communication devices picked up by Varlon scanners, they had all formed a small mind link with one another for communication purposes. The occasional odd thought from aliens working together in a low-level telepathic link was only slightly distracting for Sheppard. He had experience with it but had not done it that often. The advantage was seamless execution of actions; if one became distracted because of stress and forgot to do something, the person’s companions would politely remind him or her. It was almost like having a temporary hive mind to draw from.
“Well, it appears that with so many Varlon, someone will see us entering,” said Natarris as they got closer. “In any case, the Varlon will never know what hit them.” Sheppard sensed that Natarris was concentrating in preparation to release his psychokinetic energy, just in case.
The main entrance was well guarded, and although they could breach it, they took a maintenance door entry. They rendered the guards helpless through various telepathic or psionic effects, causing temporary vision loss, a fit of sneezing, or passing out long enough to allow six people to pass them. At one point, Garfield simply held four Varlon in a corridor by having them become so engrossed in their own conversation that they missed the Star Knights’ passing, and each believed he had merely imagined something passing by.
They entered as far as they could, avoiding contact to allow themselves time to place the explosives in secure places where they would not easily be detected. They had placed most of the explosive charges when a patrol robot saw them and signaled its base. Tairic caused the robot to shatter and explode. Sheppard noted that was quite a feat, as the thing was partly made of Spunril. Rhentun was looking at his device, a passive sensor, and thought-sent, I think the robot was able to notify its station that something was out of order, and an alarm has been triggered.
“And we spent all that time trying to avoid alarms and sentries,” Joran said, as he readied some of the small grenades he had brought. Sheppard mentally laughed, as did most of the others.
“That is not all. Our manipulations have finally given concern to one of the Slortan officers, and he is moving toward his companions,” Garfield said.
They moved rapidly to position the last of the explosives as the Varlon troops moved to locate them. Sheppard noticed that Tairic was not quite as lenient as Garfield with the Varlon. As the Varlon warriors and security forces moved to assault them with plasma cannons, Tairic telekinetically batted them down the hall, causing the spray of plasma to inadvertently hit the walls and sometimes other Varlon. Tairic even used telekinetic crushing on the Varlon. Sheppard noticed it severely injured the arthropods, but the hardy Varlon and their resilient exoskeletons were able to take more damage than a human could.
Garfield used an advanced ability to generate energy pulses to neutralize some of the Varlon’s weapons or create a barrier that blocked their attacks. Natarris and Rhentun used abilities to stun and disorient the Varlon. Sheppard and Joram threw grenades to block the hallways or used telekinetic strikes to temporarily stun the Varlon. They all used various Star Knight abilities to move and react rapidly, sometimes having to sense the likely strike area of the Varlon’s particle or plasma weapons and lunge or dodge to get out of the way.
* * *
Meanwhile, as Sheppard and the other Star Knights were working to eliminate the Varlon’s long-range torpedo bases, parts of the sixth fleet continued to patrol, using evasive maneuvers in case they were targeted. The task force was waiting for the signal that the torpedo launching facilities were not operational before any starships hyperspace jumped to the system and bombarded the other Varlon defense facilities and garrisons. Eventually, the Varlon would detect the Alliance ships, but probably after the Star Knights destroyed the torpedo-launching facility. After that, the sixth fleet would face the orbiting Varlon defense ships.
There had been a series of starship battles for control of subsectors of the Rhendal sector. Unfortunately, the Alliance of Worlds’ plan was not moving quickly enough for many of the council members. The Varlon were already entrenched in a few of the systems they had taken. The risk was that the Varlon might try to strike an undefended area of the Alliance of Worlds’ space, since now almost one-third of the entire Alliance of Worlds’ fleet was in the Rhendal sector and either preparing to strike or in the process of battling Varlon star cruisers.
Commodore Helmslar was in command of the strike force that was to conduct the support attack, once Sheppard and the other Star Knights disabled the torpedo-launching facility. She was Sheppard’s senior-most experienced officer and had recently been successful in holding back the Varlon at QB7 before the Jiyarr dreadnaught ship had arrived, operated by the Accad. Commodore Helmslar, one of the feline Kyz officers, initially determined a linking process for the nova cannon. The process that she was able to eventually implement was one that Sheppard had earlier theorized should work. The Alliance of Worlds’ ships had problems with the powerful Varlon super dreadnaughts called the H class. Her team had worked out a plan to fire the nova cannons from two ships to strike it almost simultaneously at the Varlon’s Spunril hull, and that was enough to breach that ship’s impressive defenses.
* * *
As soon as the last explosives were set and Sheppard and his group had exited the facility, Tairic looked back, paused a few moments, and then activated the signal that detonated the explosives. They realized the Varlon would have found the explosive devices and deactivated them if they had not worked quickly. Sheppard looked back at the torpedo-launching complex and saw that the ground below quaked and heaved with small explosions and gouts of fire spewing from most of the open tunnels or doors as well as some ventilation shafts. As the explosions continued, Sheppard and the other Star Knights ran toward their hidden vehicle, and after a few moments, Tairic started the vehicle on its course back to the stealth ships. As Sheppard ran, he thought of beautiful Sharon Taylor and hoped to see her again soon.
Back in their stealth transport vehicle, as Sheppard and his group traveled away from the damaged Varlon base area, they noticed a Bm’ Kroth, which was essentially a mobile Accadian assault platform. It had dangerous Accadian weapons and would need to be disabled before they left, or it would launch and surely attack one of their stealth ships now that it was probably looking for cloaking signals. Observing the Bm’ Kroth, Sheppard originally thought it was more of a behemoth because of its size—almost 1.5 kilometers long, with the front three hundred meters able to bend upward to close to 70 degrees or into line with the main body. While on planet QB7, Sheppard had dubbed an identical craft a Behemoth ship, and he preferred to use that more reflective and pronounceable name designation. On the planetary surface, the craft acted like a super tank, not a spaceship. He knew from observation and previous scans that the Behemoth was heavily armed and capable of subsurface, surface, and orbital movement, and was equipped with anti-gravity technology.
By now, all the teams would have set explosives and would be heading back to the rendezvous area. Tairic and his
team headed toward the behemoth, realizing that Spider ships or other units would be mobilized to look for them. As they traveled, a coded signal arrived from another team to let them know that the Behemoth was somehow targeting them. They decided to begin evasive maneuvers while continuing to use the vehicle’s cloaking and anti-detection systems to get close to the Behemoth and try to damage it. Sheppard and his group were also traveling with cloaking systems active and were approaching the Behemoth. Sheppard knew through the mind link that they would be trying to enter the Accad battle platform to place explosives inside. He heard the mind whispers of Tairic and Garfield and Rhentun as they thought about breaching one of the Behemoth’s access doors.
CHAPTER 16
SMALL VICTORIES
Meanwhile, the Rhyn and the Alliance of Worlds’ forces in the Tashar sector counterstruck to gain an opening for the Rhyn against the Varlon. Rhyn space spanned several subsectors bordering the Rhendal sector toward Varlon territory. The strike took place near the periphery of the galactic arm where the star systems were situated. Commodore St. John’s task forces were trying to complete repairs after an assault by Varlon.
“Sir, the Varlon are veering off after the explosions from the Rhyn drone ships,” Meftir said.
St. John looked at the tactical display. “They have some ships in reserve and could still attempt to block the Rhyn and our escape route.”
“I just got the initial damage report, Sir. I have sent it to your command terminal,” Captain Kestral said.