by Gary Caplan
CHAPTER 18
BATTLE OF
RHENDAL SECTOR
Parts of the sixth fleet had been involved in some skirmishes but had not been in any major battles in the past several days. Admiral Braddock even contacted Sheppard to discuss his perspective on the tactics, since his and Braddock’s fleets would be relatively close and might need to support each other. Braddock understood tactics, but at his core he was more of an engineer; he preferred building rather than destroying.
The Cynz had some interesting tactics in addition to using powerful energy beam weapons and torpedoes. They were not averse to using ramming as a multi-vector assault with shards or sections or occasionally their entire crystalline, diamond-hard, irregularly shaped starship hulls as an attack method. Their hulls were extremely resilient, and the Cynz crew did not injure easily. Sheppard issued a notification to the fleet. If Cynz starships were helping attack the Varlon, Alliance starships should avoid sending randomly targeted antimatter torpedoes to strike areas to flush out the difficult-to-target chameleon-cloaked Varlon starships. Alliance of Worlds starships torpedo-targeting locks could be lost when the Varlon employed their chameleon cloaks, and the torpedoes could detonate near a Cynz starcraft.
On the bridge of the Phoenix, Sheppard, Wilder, and Sherman watched as the individual starships of the various task forces popped out of hyperspace to join his group. The sixth fleet had swelled in numbers; there were now over four hundred ships, of which two hundred were Alliance of Worlds starships. The sixth fleet had most of the Alliance of Worlds classes of ships, including Waterway-class cruisers, Heroic-class heavy cruisers, Pegasus-class battlecruisers, Legendary class battlecruisers, Constellation-class heavy battlecarriers, and Galaxy-class dreadnaughts—several equipped with dual nova cannons. The rest were new additions, including various classes of Rhyn, Aharri, Hegemony, and Cynz starcraft. They were getting ready for a final hyperspace jump to a designated staging area to prepare to launch an attack on the Varlon. Fleet Admiral Peregrine was coordinating the effort, and the next phase of his plan was about to begin.
There were all kinds of starcraft types. Like all Alliance of Worlds spaceships, the Phoenix was a rhomboid-shaped spacecraft composed of reinforced trans-titanium alloy. The Aharri ships were razor sleek in design with a notably angular construction. The Rhyn had solid, more modular designs. The Hegemony ships varied by specific component; the Lyramenians made immense ships like the Rhyn; theirs were more oval and modular but less so than those of the Rhyn. The Estrian, Karratin, and Quarran starships were mostly all elongated, generally cylindrical shaped and varied as if they were grown in space. The Cynz starcraft were like massive, multi-component, and multihued aggregated crystals. They had several different classes of starships, like the Alliance of Worlds.
The Alliance of Worlds’ ships had learned to fight together, unlike the Accad and the Varlon, who were still learning to work together. Sheppard thought it would be interesting to see how the Cynz, Rhyn, and Aharri worked with the sixth fleet. In the past, the Hegemony had worked with the Alliance of Worlds on rare occasions and would probably act in a supporting role. However, after looking at and thinking about the ships the Hegemony brought, including battlecruisers, he noted that he had never seen these in Alliance logs. The Hegemony would likely take action to obtain some justice for the unprovoked attack on their medical and science ships, which had been attacked at the beginning of this conflict. He realized this was just a Hegemony expeditionary fleet and not what the Hegemony could mobilize if their planets were really in jeopardy. He had visited three of the main Hegemony home worlds once in the past. Estria, Karro, and Lyramenia all were impressive. Each had developed colonies on most of their home systems world’s including artificial planetary rings like the Zal, and he briefly saw they had notable numbers of starcraft of varying types.
Sheppard gave the order. “Execute translight jump now,” he said, watching as the order was relayed to the fleet.
“Aye, Sir,” Sherman said, as he nodded to the fleet coordination communication officer. “Order relayed, Sir.” Wilder began to give the bridge crew orders to jump to hyperspace.
“Coordinates set, Sir,” Lt. Pelori said.
“Commander O’Brien reports translight drive systems at full,” York said.
“Phoenix to jump as per the established queue,” Wilder said.
Sheppard and the others continued to look at the main view as starships initiated jump drives. Never before had so many Hegemony ships arrived to work with any Alliance of Worlds’ joint missions. Sheppard noticed that Tairic’s ship, the Orgnar, was relatively close by, as was the Zeloc. The hyperspace jump window appeared almost like a whirlpool of light. Some ships, such as the Orgnar and the Zeloc, could access higher hyperspace corridors. Sheppard felt the Phoenix engage the translight jump engines, and a short, visible distortion of space-time occurred as the Phoenix jumped into the whirling space. He knew the Hegemony and Cynz starcraft would arrive before the Alliance of Worlds starships, even if they tried to slow down somewhat. They had much more efficient drive systems.
As the Phoenix entered hyperspace, a short tunnellike distortion temporarily connected the ship to normal space. The journey for the Phoenix would be a few hours; the Hegemony and Cynz slowed their star-drives’ capacity, or they would have arrived in minutes. The Aharri would arrive at about the same time as the Alliance of Worlds’ starships, and the Rhyn somewhat sooner, although they indicated they would try to match speeds to arrive closer to the main fleet.
* * *
Strike Marshal Vodun had brought a large fleet and was one of three strike marshals commanding Varlon Fleets in the region. He was equivalent in rank to a grand admiral. Vodun had been coordinating various fleets and had finished securing a few planets in the Rhendal sector over the past several weeks. He and his adjutant, Zelcalar, were observing enemy ship signals when they noted that the ships they had defeated in the Quellus system were part of the enemy attack force. Zelcalar, who had been promoted since the encounter at QB7, was now a strike captain commander, or the equivalent of a vice admiral. He said, “Sir, It seems we have found some recent enemies.”
The Varlon scanned the ships, and the sensor operator was in mild shock at seeing those particular ships from a relatively recent battle. He reported his findings to his superior, Zelcalar.
“We destroyed those particular ships in the Quellus system,” said Zelcalar.
“Yes, it appears those starships were restored,” Vodun said. “Our own ships that returned from the Quellus sector restored to us are still under evaluation.”
“The enemy commander of that battle was tenacious. It will be difficult to defeat them with their larger fleet numbers,” Zelcalar replied.
“We will do our duty as before,” Vodun said. “This treaty with the Accad may prove to be a problem someday. However, this time we will not be turning over the planet to the Accad, and they will be sending starships here to support us.”
Vodun’s super dreadnaught flagship was an H-shaped rhomboid in structure and over fifteen thousand meters across at its largest diameter. It moved toward the Alliance of Worlds’ fleets. It was far larger than the Alliance of Worlds Galaxy or Constellation-class starships, yet just as maneuverable. It took five Alliance of Worlds’ dreadnaughts or an equally powerful wolf-pack tactic just to battle an H class.
As usual, Zelcalar had the force split into two attack groups, four K class cruiser starships with the J class heavy battlecruiser leading, and the other two J class cruisers with his heavy dreadnaught. “Order an oscillating course and release the nanotech cloud, supplemented with directed nanotech torpedoes for ship neutralization,” Vodun said.
“It shall be arranged,” Zelcalar replied. “I will order the commanders to set the nanotech field for systems disruption instead of for overwriting and control, since the systems disruption is the more rapid option.”
“If enough nanobots are successfully transferred,” Vodun said, “you can tran
smit codes to take over ship control.”
Even though the Alliance of Worlds’ starships outnumbered the Varlon starships, it usually took three Alliance of Worlds’ starships to match an equivalent class of Varlon starcraft. This was due to the Varlon’s technical advantage in their defensive systems, including their defense screens and organo-metallic armor. In addition, their chameleon defense field caused many weapons to lose their targeting lock, resulting in missed targets. The Varlon Spunril armor hulls were also more effective in dissipating and absorbing energy and more flexible against physical strikes than the reinforced trans-titanium alloy used by the Alliance of Worlds.
However, this time, as Vodun looked closely at his tactical view screen, he noticed not just Alliance of Worlds ships but starships from more formidable civilizations. There were Betellian and Hegemony and Cynz ships, and against those ships, the Varlon did not have the advantage. Vodun moved his adroit tentacles across his command panels to issue tactical orders. He knew it would be difficult, but the Varlon still had numerical advantage along with their Accad allies.
Zelcalar voiced an opinion. “It will be a deadly battle against our more equal foes, such as the Lyramenians, Karratins, Estrians, and Quarran of the Hegemony. I do not recall having ever personally fought them; they have mostly stayed out of the fighting.”
Vodun responded, “You are right, my old friend. We will have to be cautious. I fought the Hegemony when I was a youngling officer. They defeated our fleet then, mostly because our chameleon defense system was not especially effective against them, and our weapons and hulls were of similar stature. As for the Karratins, sometimes they just shift dimensions, and then we cannot target them.”
“It’s good we have sufficient ships here and have continued to upgrade our weapons systems in the past few years,” Zelcalar said. Vodun nodded and continued to look at the images of the enemy forces and their placements. Vodun’s tentacles moved nervously over the controls of his imaging system, placing the plots and courses and images on the large, room-sized displays that surrounded him.
“I see a pattern,” Vodun said. “They are mobilizing a huge force composed of several of their fleets. It seems they are gathering near what they believe to be a strategic series of points along a battle line.”
The Varlon moved cautiously this time to meet the oncoming fleets; their starships were larger and about as maneuverable as the Alliance of Worlds’ ships two size classes smaller. Their defenses, including the organic-crystalline Spunril armor and the chameleon defense field’s stealth cloak ability, when added together, made the fewer ships present more formidable. However, against the few other older civilization ships, such as the Hegemony and the Cynz, those defenses were not as impressive or effective.
* * *
Sherman and Sheppard watched the tactical displays and would occasionally look up as a flash occurred on the main view screen, representing a torpedo explosion or destruction of a ship. The Varlon had struck the forward lines of battle with more precision than they wanted to see. Sheppard’s forces had joined the battle relatively late, and the Alliances forces had taken a beating. Sheppard noticed there were also several Accadian ships involved, and they, too, were blasting the smaller Waterway class cruisers apart. To offset the Varlon, some of the Rhyn had begun to move forward. They watched on the view screen as another huge Rhyn ship separated multiple drone hulls from the main ship’s body and moved rapidly toward the Varlon starships, some exploding with damaging effect close to the Varlon cruisers.
Sheppard knew that Admiral Peregrine had been coordinating active strikes in several systems, while Admiral Pendragon was coordinating ongoing supply and recapture missions or the retreat of civilians from beleaguered planets and civilian starcraft. He realized the sixth fleet’s turn was coming up, along with that of the second fleet. Peregrine was rotating ships and using undamaged ships and rested crews against the Varlon and the Accad. That plan was slowly wearing the enemy down. Unfortunately, the Alliance of Worlds was losing many starships and crews.
As Sheppard was walking back to his office and entering the command alcove area, Sharon came around and gave him a worried look. She followed him toward his office, grabbed his arm to slow him, and then gave him a kiss. “I hope this is not like last time when sensors have detected some of those Jiyarr ships, but they are mostly holding position.”
Sheppard smiled at her. “They are probably waiting for the Betellians, Hegemony, or more of the Cynz to get involved. Our ships are not much of a challenge for them.” She nodded with a worried look.
“I recognize that H class,” Wilder said from the bridge. “It has the same markings as the one that took out the last of our fleet at QB7 and blasted Commodore Helmslar’s Galaxy class dreadnaught, the Attrigan.”
“That must be why she wants to talk with me,” Sheppard replied. “I just got a message that she wants to intercept some Varlon. It might be time to coordinate an offensive. I have approval from Peregrine to move to attack coordinates.”
“We also have the mandate to defend Alliance worlds under our protection,” Sherman said. “Close by is the planet Weethalle and a substantial Alliance colony world. The Varlon are likely heading there to occupy the planet.”
“Yes, time for watching is over. Let me finish with Commodore Helmslar, and then we can coordinate with our affiliates,” Sheppard said. He continued to his office. He could have taken the communication over his hand commlink or at the comm station in the command alcove, but Helmslar was a feline Kyz. To not offend her and also because she was the most experienced in fighting the Varlon, he decided to make the conversation more private. In the background, Sheppard played classical music to help him relax.
“Sela, it’s good you want to take the offensive to them. It’s not like you were entirely defeated by the Varlon at QB7. They did retreat.”
“Robert, I recognize the officers’ insignia on the H class; it is the same Varlon, Strike Marshal Vodun. I owe him some coordinated nova cannon fire,” she said with a slight snarl. “Especially now that I finally have the process set.”
Sheppard knew she was the officer to originally set the procedure for coordinating nova cannon fire from more than one ship. “Alright, once we get closer, you may take your task forces in, and maybe Captain Tairic will help you with Orgnar, or perhaps some of the Aharri,” Sheppard replied. “This has been Peregrine’s first major ongoing offensive in Rhendal. I’m sure you will get your rematch eventually. And remember, Vodun’s ship is presently not damaged, and even with some coordinated firepower, he and the forces he commands are still very dangerous.”
“It’s good for the Alliance that they were finally supported by some long-time watchers like the Hegemony and the Betellians,” Helmslar said. “Maybe now we can bash the Varlon back to where they came from.”
Sheppard smiled. “That’s what I’m hoping too, Sela. See you on the line. My staff and I will coordinate task force operations from the Phoenix. Vodun is a good target. I will see if I can get some special forces to join you,” he said slyly. “Sheppard out.”
The Phoenix was accompanied by several task forces and was heading to the forward positions to engage the enemy fleet. Admiral Peregrine had modified some of the battle plans to allow the sixth and second fleets with their contingents of Aharri, Rhyn, Hegemony, and Cynz ships to move up to replace the battered fourth, seventh, eighth, and tenth fleets. Sheppard walked onto the bridge and noticed that Sharon had a communiqué from her father. Admiral Taylor had commanded the fourth fleet for some time now, and Sheppard could see the relief on Sharon’s face as she talked with her father. Taylor had survived the skirmishes on the battle line, but his fleet of two hundred, fifty starships would all need repairs, and over half were too damaged and had to be evacuated or were destroyed. The reports were the same for the other fleets in other parts of the vast Rhendal sector. Sheppard knew the firepower and abilities of the contingent of new allies, and old affiliates would make these replacement forces
very difficult for the Varlon and the Accad to deal with.
Elements of several Alliance of Worlds fleets, including the sixth fleet under Sheppard, the second under Braddock, and the third under Peregrine, had eventually maneuvered into the battle positions that Fleet Admiral Peregrine had organized for the next segment of his battle plan. The remaining fleets that had already begun their attack—including the first, fifth, ninth, and eleventh fleets—were working on the other segments of Peregrine’s overall plan to retake some of the colonies that the Varlon had occupied. Approximately three thousand Alliance of Worlds cruisers and several hundred support ships, including space marine transport starcraft, were now involved—not to mention over five hundred newly allied ships from the Hegemony, the Cynz, and the Rhyn. It was the largest military effort the Alliance of Worlds had assembled to date. There had already been some skirmishes along the battle lines.
Sheppard watched from the bridge as the Phoenix entered the combat zone. Several ships of the sixth fleet were already engaged in combat and were being monitored. Sheppard moved to the command alcove and looked at the task forces’ tactical display. The allied alien ships that had been attached to the sixth fleet had icons representing the races’ credentials.
Sheppard watched as icons representing his cruisers flared on the imager and one faded. “Galaxy class dread-naught Sculptor has taken damage. Heavy cruiser Brelor was just destroyed by an Accadian ship,” Sherman said, as he looked toward Sheppard. He did not like watching bad things happen to his people. He wanted to be out there fighting. In the background, he heard Wilder give orders to support another Pegasus class cruiser named Albion. It, too, was equipped with a nova cannon and wanted to use the dual firing positions that Commodore Helmslar had worked out.