by Gary Caplan
The nova cannon countdown ended—three, two, one—and the crew watched as the Phoenix’s internal spinal-mounted cannon discharged a one-kilometer-long blast of energy and particles. The particles spewed forth from fusion reactors connected to particle accelerators and were ejected out the front of the Phoenix. Timing it properly, the Albion discharged its own nova cannon, and the streams closed on an Accadian battlecruiser’s starboard section. The blasts struck within one second of each other into the starboard section of the starship. The crew watched as the combined energy overwhelmed the cruiser’s screens and punched into the hull. Its hull seemed to absorb some of the energy but soon began to buckle, and the tail of the streams punctured the hull and pushed out the other side. The Accadian battlecruiser was not destroyed but was severely damaged and had critical life support and power systems damage. A few smaller explosions puffed out along the hull near where the nova energy struck the ship as secondary explosive reactions occurred. As it was being struck, the Accad cruiser targeted some antimatter torpedoes and fired plasma cannons at a few ships, including the Albion and the Phoenix.
The Albion took some heavy damage, as did another Heroic class cruiser that was also targeted. Some of the torpedoes heading toward the Phoenix were struck by anti-torpedo countermeasures sent by heavy fighters or launched earlier by the Phoenix. Some detonated as a wave of energy was sent out by a nearby Karratin ship that caused the torpedoes’ heading toward the Phoenix to explode prematurely. The energy shockwave of that explosion still mildly shook the Phoenix.
“Close,” Sheppard said to Sherman, as they held to support areas while continuing to send orders to task forces to move into strike positions.
“Sir, I have a request from the Aharri, indicating that they are ready to begin their assault,” Sherman said.
“By all means, let them start,” Sheppard said. “Have Fleet Captain Pym coordinate the tactical mission with the Aharri officers, since his task force has several Aharri already assigned.”
“Aye, Sir,” Sherman replied. “It’s good that we have already integrated their ships into working members of some of the task forces.” Sheppard nodded in agreement.
The battle was progressing as ships sent out volleys of torpedoes or missiles and used particle cannons, disruptors, and plasma weapons once they got within a distance of a few light seconds of one another. Already the power of the Varlon H class super dreadnaughts was being felt along with what were called the Accadian Kadath class dreadnaughts. Individual Alliance of Worlds ships were getting pounded, many ships were severely damaged, and several ships had already been totally destroyed.
The Varlon that had survived the attacks of the fourth, seventh, eighth, and tenth fleets had regenerated during the fleet changeover. The Varlon also had called up reinforcements to support the fewer ships. A Hegemony calculation determined that the Varlon had just under a thousand fully operative starcraft in the Rhendal sector, since the Varlon were using their chameleon field stealth technology. Some Hegemony ships would directly attack the Varlon, while others would send targeting information to the nearest Alliance of Worlds ships, since they were able to better scan and locate the Varlon even with their chameleon field active.
The Cynz were more deadly than the standard Alliance ships and could go toe to toe against a Varlon, since they were able to take a severe beating from an opponent and still deliver a nasty counterstrike barrage. They would even use mass drivers to release projectiles, with an energy signature that made them somewhat able to penetrate starcraft shields and defense screens, causing a notable kinetic impact.
Sheppard was still running tactical analysis when one of the viewers showed a Cynz ship pulling up next to an Accad Kadath dreadnaught that had taken a group of four ships to defeat, including two Alliance dreadnaughts and one Alliance battlecarrier, as well as a Cynz battlecruiser. Most of the damage was dealt to the dreadnaughts and the Constellation class battlecarrier Cassiopeia. The dread-naught was dead in space, and the other was critically damaged and would be out of the battle. The Cassiopeia was farther from the battle line and was severely damaged and had fallen behind. Many starfighters were also drifting or were debris in space. The Phoenix had just arrived near the end of the battle to help. Sheppard continued to look at the tactical viewers and noticed the Cynz battlecruiser seemed to attach to the Accad starcraft.
“Call Kalst’s ship and ask what one of his captains is doing. He is too close for us to continue to fire.” Within moments, Kalst’s crystalline image appeared, and he seemed to know what had prompted the transmission.
A communications channel opened on a private line. “Greetings, Sheppard. The captain of the ship in question is trying to crystallize the Accad starship’s hull as a trophy. It’s an old custom; when we tell of our lives, sometimes we Cynz like to feel the substance. We have done it to a few Varlon starships already, but we do not have Accad.”
Sheppard raised an eyebrow. “Well, all right, but we might need to study one, too, to determine weakness,” he replied. “I’m guessing that if the Cynz ship had not helped us, the ships taking our dreadnaught on would be much more damaged.”
Kalst hummed and said, “Good collecting,” as he ended transmission.
“I’m wondering why we have not been hit more,” O’ Brien commented, as he came up to the tactical station. “We seem to be in the thick of it, so to speak.”
“It seems that the Zeloc and the Orgnar have begun taking turns deflecting several waves of Varlon torpedoes with some kind of probes that were sent toward Task Force One,” Sheppard replied, “especially since the sixth has already lost a few ships.”
O’Brien nodded. “Those sentient ships, right. Well, anyway, we are all ready for damage control, and repair teams are still at the ready.”
“If I know Garfield, he is probably discussing defense theory with Tairic right now, while their ships passively defend,” Sheppard said. O’Brien smiled knowingly. He had been a student of Garfield’s as well.
“Reports are showing that we are starting to take a beating, Sir,” Sherman noted. “I mean the other fleets. A few of the Jiyarr starships have recently entered the battle area.”
Sherman pulled it up on a view screen as one of the Kadjiah ships fired its spinal weapon and shattered an Alliance battlecarrier in half. Sheppard briefly recalled how one of those ships had blasted all eleven of his remaining task force apart while taking only light to moderate damage.
“Looks like they have brought out the big guns,” O’Brien said. “I’d better check on energy transfer systems.”
“The Accad are fielding several of their small attack ships. The Alliance had dubbed them Raiders and larger ones Marauders,” Wilder said from the bridge. Sheppard recalled from one of Peregrine’s earlier reports that they were all tough and agile attack craft and more deadly than anything the Alliance of Worlds had. A group of Marauders was capable of taking down a light cruiser.
“They are probably sending them out to look at our ships firsthand and locate weak points to attack,” Commander Zachary said from the helm post.
“The good news is that I see a task force of Betellian starcraft including Admiral Viess’ flagship are moving to intercept the Jiyarr ships,” Sherman said. After a time, several fields of particles had been released by the Betellians, which seemed to temporarily affect the Jiyarr engines’ effectiveness.
“Sensors indicate that the Betellians used some kind of nano-particle attack, and an energy dampening field against the few Jiyarr ships,” Sharon Taylor said. “They also seem to be able to either predict or dodge several of the antiparticle cannons’ strikes.”
“That will keep them occupied while I get into the final battle position sent to me by Admiral Peregrine,” Sheppard said.
As the battle progressed, not one but four Varlon H class ships and several smaller Varlon ships headed toward the sixth fleets’ Task Force One and their Hegemony support. The Varlon force was on the periphery, but tactical reviewers determined
that if those starships maintained their present course heading, they would intercept Task Force One in less than ten minutes. The group had already punched through a task force from Braddock’s second fleet, leaving over twelve ships in various shattered conditions.
“Sir, there are—” Sherman started.
“I see them,” Sheppard said. “I think that is part of the group Commodore Helmslar wants to deal with. Let her know that we found Strike Marshal Vodun’s ships.”
“Aye, Sir,” Sherman replied. “I think she has three full task forces at her disposal and has had replacements already.”
“Yes, oh—and inform our Rhyn allies that we may need some help against the Varlon,” Sheppard said. “Also inform Commodore St. John, and see if he is available to assist, since he has some Rhyn in his group.”
Sheppard continued to watch the tactical data and the viewers. Part of him was frustrated and wanted to get to the battlefront, but he had to strategize now. He saw some possible encounters, and all of them looked bad for the Alliance, especially now that the Jiyarr ships had begun to enter the battle more notably, and some of the Kadath dreadnaughts had been equipped with primary antimatter cannons similar to the Jiyarr weapons.
* * *
The Accad starships had a somewhat organic appearance and were partly cylindrical and partly rhomboid; they seemed almost shark-like and moved with a predatory grace. Mor’ag and Admiral Kensya had arranged for the other Kad’jiah class ships that Kra’ag had originally brought to the Milky Way or that had recently arrived in the past month to support the battle. Supreme Governor Kra’ag was still waiting for the ships the Archon had granted for the Quellien crystals. Mor’ag had recalled the ships commanded by Admirals M’agh and Rhiss on orders from Kra’ag after their completion of various missions for the Accad.
Supreme Governor Kra’ag looked out over the battle display in his command center. He could view the entire warfront by merely selecting zones to view; imaging displays would create temporary, small, three-dimensional displays that he could move around. He enjoyed being in the center of the action. As he had a senior Varlon envoy on the Kad’jiah’s bridge as an observer, he enjoyed impressing him with the Jiyarr’s technologic might that he had inherited.
The Varlon expected the Accad support, since they had turned over several planets to them. The Kad’jiah class was the Jiyarr version of a class of super dreadnaught, or baseship. Kra’ag had been given several of the older but highly advanced Jiyarr ships by the Archon as a reward for his services to them. In addition, he received as an honor the first built ship in that class, the Kad’jiah, as his own flagship. Each ship in the class was an elongated, ovoid vessel over twenty-three kilometers long and seven at its widest. It gracefully moved into an attack position.
“It’s time. I’m bored of watching. Let’s enter the battle,” Kra’ag stated, looking at Mor’ag, his local governor.
“Yes, you’re right, my Lord. It is time,” Mor’ag replied. “I will have Admirals M’agh’s and Rhiss’ task groups join the strike group. I will also have the rest of the Kadath ships I had equipped with anti-particle weapons advance forward.”
Kra’ag grinned, anticipating the coming battle as he continued to figuratively walk through the battle via his simulator.
“Those Alliance of Worlds ships in that task force,” said Kra’ag, who had begun to select targets, “were the ones we destroyed when we obtained the Quellien crystals from that world. How did they reconstruct them so rapidly?”
“Their construction technology is not as rapid as ours, and their starships possess no regenerative capacity,” Admiral Kensya stated. “The sensors indicate that the twelve or so ships in the targets available are altered in some way, my Lord. It will require further study.”
Kra’ag nodded. “It may not matter, since eventually they will all be destroyed.”
The Accadians smiled. They knew that the Kadjiah class starships were far more advanced than any of the Alliance of Worlds ships and were even advanced compared to those of their recent allies, the Hegemony or Cynz; as warships, they were technologically similar to the Betellian’s but the Jiyarr starcraft were more deadly than the Betellian starcraft.
* * *
Sheppard continued to monitor the various skirmishes and battles, and as time passed, he noticed that even with Peregrine’s plan and the new allies’ presence, the destructive activity of the Jiyarr ships had become too much…the combined fleet was faltering. The Accad Marauder ships with the support of the Raiders were tough enough to take on even Waterway class cruisers. They were able to severely damage even the Heroic class cruisers, if enough joined the assault.
O’Brien was reporting to Wilder. “Sir, we have finally repaired the damage we sustained from the torpedoes that those Marauders that punched through our defenses launched at us.” Wilder nodded and checked power readings.
“So, that means the breach in some of the power systems to the nova cannon are now operational,” Wilder said.
“That’s right. We can use the nova cannon at full or overload if necessary,” O’Brien replied.
Doctor Grey came up to stand by Sheppard. He would have been off duty if the Red Alert were not still active. As fleet medical officer, he came up to the command alcove to more easily access the casualty reports from the rest of the sixth fleet. “Robert, the marines are taking huge casualties trying to take back Caltha Three. I understand the sixth fleets’ remaining marine transports are en route to support Peregrine’s attack force.”
“Yes, we sent them not long ago,” Sheppard replied tiredly. “Things are not going quite as planned, especially now with these Accad with their ruthless battle style.”
“I’m doing my best to coordinate medical resources. Some of our own supplies for the sixth fleet are being depleted, since we have many ships that are severely damaged and have crew with serious injuries, as well,” Grey reported.
“Just keep doing what you can about juggling medical resources even if we have to use the transmat or transfer them via shuttle,” Sheppard replied. Grey nodded somberly and then sat down at one of the fleet command alcove’s interface stations to continue with coordination.
Meanwhile, several task forces under Commodore Helmslar—totaling over fifty starships—was now engaging four H class and seven other Varlon cruiser starships. The task force included Waterway-class cruisers, Heroic-class heavy cruisers, Pegasus-class battlecruisers, Legendary-class battlecruisers, and Constellation-class heavy battlecarriers; in addition, half were Galaxy-class dreadnaughts. The Varlon were starting to lose, as Helmslar had over a three-to-one numerical edge against the Varlon, until a Jiyarr ship arrived and brutally struck, using its antimatter weapon to obliterate some of Helmslar’s ships before moving off to cause havoc to a task force from the eleventh fleet.
Strike Marshal Vodun, onboard his heavy dreadnaught, gave orders to repel the Alliance of Worlds’ task forces. “I want the plasma torpedoes fully charged. Release reserve assault starfighters from the hold, and move to defense configuration beta.” Zelcalar’s usual preference was to have the force split into two attack groups. But they were getting surrounded by the Alliance of Worlds ships.
“Order an oscillating course, and release the nanotech cloud, supplemented with directed nanotech torpedoes for ship neutralization,” Vodun stated.
“It shall be arranged,” Zelcalar replied.
Strike Marshal Vodun watched as the enemy again used its upgraded weapon, which the Alliance of Worlds called a nova cannon. It seemed to be an effective spinal mount weapon system, but looking at the scan log of the power distribution, the weapon drew so much of the ship’s energy that it rendered them unable to use many other primary weapons. That still left their missiles and torpedoes, of which only their heavy torpedoes had the ability to cause any serious damage to his dreadnaughts.
Zelcalar stood and gave orders. “Helm, set course to strike the five nearest Alliance cruisers with plasma cannons.” The energy released by
the H-class plasma weapons was similar to that of the nova weapon, but it was discharged over a wider strike zone and appeared as a globular blast, not a stream. The cruisers that were targeted, two to port and three to starboard, were battered and took critical systems damage. The smallest one, designated a Waterway-class by the Alliance of Worlds, shattered into several large pieces, with a portion of its hull melted. The others, two Heroic-class ships, drifted to the side, with the hulls severely damaged and engines and weapons power failing. The last two were Legendary class cruisers; with their greater defense, they took effectively moderate damage and returned fire.
“We can easily afford to divert power, Zelcalar. Launch heavy torpedoes toward that dreadnaught to starboard,” Vodun said. “That ship is now at a distance of twenty five light-seconds. Detonate the first wave prematurely at twenty-four light-seconds; then the shock wave will damage or remove many of their starfighters and allow our second wave of torpedoes relatively unhindered movement. We don’t need our antimatter torpedoes chased by the Alliance of Worlds’ anti-torpedo missiles.”
Several seconds passed, as the long-range weaponry from both sides detonated. The Varlon torpedoes that got through caused severe damage to the dreadnaught. Then Zelcalar noted, “We are not in their shorter optimal firing radius yet, but they have launched long-distance heavy antimatter torpedoes toward us from that dreadnaught we just struck.”
“Our chameleon field should render their weapon’s lock inoperative,” Vodun replied. The huge ship shook for a moment. “It seems they have yet again settled for some near detonations,” Vodun continued with a laugh.
Zelcalar turned to one of his weapons officers and said, “Release a nanotech cloud at the enemy cruiser; it is close enough. Then continue on.” The battle continued as the Alliance of Worlds ships continued to try to surround the Varlon, now that the Varlon had lost four of their seven cruisers and two of the H super dreadnaughts. One had retreated; the other had detonated after being hit by several nova cannons.