by Gary Caplan
Vodun looked at the war displays and noticed the Karratin and Quarran ships approaching with the Pegasus class ship that was with the Quellus system.
“We are becoming surrounded, and that last blast damaged the hyperdrive we need to prepare emergency evacuation and transmat supplies to my cloaked escape frigate,” Vodun said with anxiety in his voice, as he left his command center.
* * *
“Open a coded channel to the Dreadnaught Attrigan,” Sheppard said. The Phoenix was now in position with the Attrigan to use a combined strike against the Varlon.
Commodore Helmslar’s image appeared in the view screen. “Sir, I was hoping you would come to help,” Helmslar said. “We have taken severe casualties from Vodun’s strike group, and I have lost starships in each of my task forces.”
“I have reinforcements for you, and I think it’s time to combine and dual fire the nova cannons,” Sheppard said.
“I was able to coordinate the destruction of some of the H classes and other Varlon cruisers, but I was running low on firepower after that Kadjiah class Jiyarr ship strafed my task force,” Helmslar said. Sheppard smiled encouragingly back. He had been monitoring the situation.
Helmslar was a Kyz and was much like a lion. Her starship, the Attrigan, was one of her task group’s few remaining dreadnaughts or carriers with nova weaponry. Helmslar nodded and smiled at Sheppard and Wilder’s images in the view screen and then said, “We all know that we probably get only one chance to hit, due to the time for recharging. I think Vodun has upgraded this H class’ defenses, and we will need three novas to start his flagship’s hull’s meltdown. The sheer size of the H-class allows its Spunril hull to absorb, convert, and discharge most of a single nova blast as heat and other energy.”
“Ma’am, we are about ready to fire, and the Eria reports ready as well,” a Rigezon chief weapons officer stated over the active bridge comm’s channel.
“Wait until we all get into firing position; then coordinate our nova weapon’s discharge with the Attrigan’s and the Eria’s nova weapon’s discharge,” Commodore Sheppard said.
Vodun’s H-class had successfully maneuvered so that it was not entirely surrounded by Alliance of Worlds ships. This still allowed the Varlon ships multiple weapon pods to target all of the surrounding ships. This maneuvering had occurred about the same time the nova weapons were generating a strike. Zelcalar ordered the closer ships bombarded first and fired the remaining weapons as the nova cannons were striking; it took a few seconds longer for the Varlon starship’s torpedoes to get to intended targets.
At the same time, one Oceania-class and three Legendary-class battlecruisers had engaged the remaining two Varlon ships, K-class and L-class cruisers. The Alliance of Worlds’ battlecruisers were successful in damaging the Varlon cruisers, but eventually each Alliance starship was partially disabled when struck by a nano-cloud field consisting of nanobots that entered the ship from a breach in the hull after being hit by multiple Varlon torpedo weapons. The K-class fired its particle cannons and a spread of antimatter torpedoes, and the Alliance of Worlds’ battle-cruiser’s shields failed, and explosions occurred as the hull was further breached. It was then that the reinforcements that Sheppard brought came to bear, as three additional cruisers and a battlecarrier bore down on the Varlon’s two ships with starfighter squadrons. The Varlon L-class was now engaging the other remaining cruiser, and both were taking damage. Due to the previous damage to the L-class, the two Alliance of Worlds’ battlecruisers prevailed.
Sheppard watched as the successfully timed nova cannons struck the port side of Vodun’s ship. There were other simultaneous strikes from weapons fire of the immense H class at several Alliance starcraft as the combined nova cannon fire breached its shields and then its hull. One of the port side sections of the H-shaped craft began to expand, as the nova fire entered into the hull, and then small volcanoes of molten organo-metal hull began to explode and vaporize. In less than a minute, that whole quarter of the ship sectioned off and explosively separated. The forces altered the entire ship’s course in the turbulent blast.
The view screens showed several Alliance ships getting pummeled by torpedoes or particle cannon discharged from the two H super-dreadnaughts. Then the Zeloc and the Orgnar rapidly moved supportively in to the battle area and began intercepting torpedoes, releasing countering nanomachine clouds and probes into the H class ships. Soon, weapons fire from the affected Varlon ships stopped. A few minutes later, the Hegemony vessels subdued both remaining H class as well as the last remaining Varlon cruisers.
The Phoenix continued onward past starship debris of mostly Alliance of Worlds ships toward one of the Jiyarr ships that was assaulting another task force. The Phoenix was not alone. Sheppard gathered the damaged remains of his own and Helmslar’s task forces, as well as some of the Aharri contingent. Soon, after neutralizing other nearby Varlon, several Hegemony ships and Cynz rejoined the forces, along with a few Rhyn starcraft, including a drone carrier. Most of the new allies had fared better than the standard Alliance of Worlds ships. A Jiyarr Kadjiah class ship had recently led an attack on several task forces in the second fleet.
Sheppard had been looking at status reports as best he could. The sixth fleet’s other commodores and fleet captains had also reported being hammered, mostly by the Varlon, but the Accad were also making their deadly presence felt. Fleet Admiral Peregrine had successfully repelled a mixed Varlon and Accadian fleet but at great cost. His report mentioning the different tactics used by the Varlon and the Accad were not as complimentary, and he found some weaknesses in the lack of cohesiveness of their battle formations.
Phoenix received a general distress signal from Admiral Braddock commanding from aboard his Galaxy class starship Orion, as he and St. John, aboard the Indefatigable, along with a Rhyn contingent were now under attack from Accad in a Jiyarr ship. The Varlon and Accad had recently broken the second fleet’s defensive line and were moving to take out the Alliance’s command ships. A huge Rhyn ship, the Tuebor, had recently arrived and was helping defend Braddock’s task force.
Once again, the Phoenix was near the front of the battle lines. Sheppard knew he had to try to help his friends and comrades. He noticed that Wilder was itching to help defend the over five-kilometer-long dreadnaught, Orion. As the Phoenix and a mixed Alliance task force approached, Sheppard watched in horror as the Accad concentrated fire and shattered the battlecarrier Stenvril’s hull. Fortunately, most of its starfighter squadron’s were already out and trying to intercept Accadian Raiders or Varlon Scorpion class attack craft. Braddock had ordered his captain to fire the Orion’s recently refitted dual nova cannons at the Accad, seriously damaging one of their Keden battlecruisers that had moved ahead of the main force. The Keden then returned fire into his task force.
Onboard the Orion, damage control teams were reporting to Admiral Braddock, who had assumed direct command after a hit to the bridge section. Braddock was on the secondary bridge deeper inside the ship, issuing orders.
“All remaining particle cannons fire,” Braddock said. “Send the rest of the attack bots and the mobile attack units.” He looked on as the large automated robot attack ships launched. They were a special unit that Braddock and his engineers had designed and were not Alliance standard issue.
“Hopefully they will buy me some time to regroup,” Braddock said. He looked on a side viewer and saw the Phoenix and more ships on an approach vector. He smiled as he saw the variety of ships and spoke to the secondary bridge crew, “Damn Accad won’t be able to adapt to that mixed firepower.”
The Hegemony starcraft, including a large Lyramenian ship, fired probes that intercepted the last volley of both Varlon and Accadian torpedoes, and several Hegemony starships moved to flank the Accad, while releasing a greenish nanobot cloud into space and firing armor-piercing torpedoes at several of the Accad ship hulls, which then acted like magnets for the nanobots. Within minutes, some of the ships began to malfunction. Several Cynz vessel
s released plasma weapons fire, and a few even rammed across the Accad or Varlon ships hulls. The Aharri contingent that was attached to Sheppard’s fleet under Fleet Captain Klein Harrolid moved rapidly forward to make particle cannon and missile strikes on both Varlon and Accad. The thirty-kilometer Rhyn ship, the Tuebor, separated into ten different ships, firing torpedoes and particle cannons and releasing attack drones and mines toward their enemies.
Sheppard smiled. Finally, the different attack strategies were coming together in his multigroup force. Things were looking good, until the Jiyarr ship started to engage the fleet. Its antimatter cannon was pulsing out and slicing into ships with weakened screens, as if they had no defenses, critically damaging several ships. It released three singularity torpedoes; one took out a section of the Tuebor, another hit an Estrian vessel and blasted right to the other side, sucking pieces of hull on the way. The third moved across the path of several Alliance fighter craft, ripping them, until it struck the port section of an Aharri ship and slowly pulled large sections of the cruiser ship apart until dissipating.
Moving by to tractor his damaged subordinate’s ship from the remnant of the singularity torpedo that was dissolving and would release a burst of various high-energy gamma rays, Klein Harrolid’s ship was struck by Varlon plasma torpedoes. His ship received severe damage with some critical systems loss; however, his ship was able to return fire and engage its hyperdrive and pull his comrade’s ship away from the dissolving event horizon.
Sheppard had Wilder begin charging the nova cannon to an overload status and was attempting to time attacks, combining his attack with that of Braddock’s Orion or the Constellation class battlecarrier Majestic against the Jiyarr ship. He was hoping that a strike could be timed, while the crew of the Jiyarr starship was busy fending off the Hegemony and Cynz ships. Sheppard knew from personal experience that a single nova cannon at normal status would not cause more than light damage to a Jiyarr starcraft at best, and the Jiyarr seemed to regenerate faster than the Varlon.
“I’m going to need some help here. With the other starships present, we might all be too damaged or destroyed if the Varlon and the Accad finally get some battle coordination,” Sheppard said, using the command alcove’s communication console to contact Tairic on the Orgnar and Garfield on Zeloc.
He had both Tairic and Garfield’s image now on his view screen. “I think I need to ask for that special help now,” Sheppard said. “Perhaps now you might consider the Alliance civilization at risk and, as Star Knights, respond with some additional aid.”
“Yes, I agree, it’s time,” Tairic said. “I, too, have a singularity weapon, and it’s time to send it toward the Jiyarr ship.”
“Yes, perhaps you are right,” Garfield said. “I will use the Zeloc’s dimensional interociter. The device can shift the Zeloc to alternate dimensions or be used to send nearby external objects. We will use it to remove as many of the incoming torpedoes and missiles as we can. I will also personally attempt to telepathically interfere with the bridge controls on the Jiyarr, so their sensors are disrupted.”
“Once I set my torpedo on its course, I will assist you, Lord Garfield,” Tairic said. “I recall the Jiyarr have some psychic inhibitors or other defenses on their starcraft.”
“Good. Meanwhile, I think I will order any ships that can to discharge as many nova cannon blasts as possible,” Sheppard said. Sheppard nodded to his Star Knight comrades and then ended the comm’s channels. Within moments, he noted a few nauseating sixth fleet damage reports.
“Nova cannon overcharged and ready,” York said. Wilder looked at his tactical report and sent a message to try to link the nova cannon with another ship. The view screen showed several Alliance ships breaking apart or listing off course after being recently attacked by the Accad.
“Sir, the Orgnar has released a singularity torpedo of some kind,” Andor said. “We have little data on Quarran weapons, but it is displacing somewhat less mass than the Jiyarr ones.”
“Sir, the Zeloc has accelerated ahead of the task force,” Sharon said. “There is an unusual energy reading.”
“Incoming torpedo spread from the Accad,” Zachary said.
“Adjust our course to strike the Jiyarr ship as soon as able,” Wilder said.
“Multiple incoming torpedoes, and it appears there are three more singularity missiles from the Jiyarr ship,” Andor said.
“Sir, the torpedoes are gone from sensors,” Sharon said. “I’m not sure why, unless it’s related the energy buildup from the Zeloc.”
“It is related,” Sheppard said, coming from the command alcove to the bridge, smiling. “We are finally in position…fire the coordinated novas.”
The battlecruiser Phoenix, the battlecarrier Majestic, and the dreadnaught Orion fired nova cannons at the Jiyarr ship while releasing torpedo spreads. At about that time, the Tuebor crashed one of its sections into the Jiyarr shields. The section only partly penetrated the hull; its own hull partly splintered as it rammed against the organo-metallic Diburnium osmium alloy hull of the Jiyarr vessel. The Jiyarr’s anti-proton beam lashed out several times, striking five different starships and breaching the Alliance ships’ screens. It split their hulls with each blast, causing severe to critical damage each time and blasting sections apart. Another blast of the Jiyarr’s antimatter weapon struck a Hegemony defense cruiser and burned into its hull, leaving a great hole, but the defense cruiser was still able to return partial weapons fire.
Moments later, a Cynz starship was hit by that same deadly weapon, and when the blast struck the Cynz dreadnaught’s hull, the hull’s concentrated matter reacted with the antimatter; a reactive explosion blew a huge section of the front of the starship away and sent the dreadnaught careening toward an Alliance battlecarrier, barely missing it. The Cynz dreadnaught was able to fire something like a nova blast, weakening a section of the Jiyarr’s defense screens and allowing some of the Cynz fighter attack craft to use torpedoes to make dents in the enemy’s hull before they were damaged or destroyed by the Jiyarr point defense weapons.
Tairic’s singularity torpedo struck near the antimatter weapons’ discharge port. Orgnar also fired a high-intensity particle cannon, targeting the shields directly over torpedo weapons ports. By then, the nova blasts traveled the intervening space in a few seconds and struck. The Phoenix had coordinated its weapons fire with that of the Majestic; dread-naught Orion had used its dual novas to strike the forward section, while Phoenix and Majestic struck from port side. The result was moderate-level damage to both areas, neutralizing some of the weapons bays from that side. The Zeloc had also released probes that homed in on the Jiyarr fighters and attached to the hulls, interfering with their movement and allowing Alliance fighters to eventually take them out after seriously pummeling them with weapons.
Tairic’s weapon continued to do damage and eventually emerged on the opposite side of the starship from its entry. The Jiyarr ships’ antimatter weapon was down, and it seemed the hull went greyer in several areas. There were what appeared to be a few internal explosions. Over that same course, at least forty mixed torpedoes struck the Jiyarr ship; the first ones did minimal damage, but some found entry past its defense screens in the weakened greyer section, causing multiple hull explosions.
“Sir, the Lyramenian dreadnaught and the Estrian defense cruiser have moved forward and are firing weapons…it looks like they are firing all of their weapons,” Sharon said in surprise.
“They want to send a message,” Sheppard said, “a message of solidarity against extragalactic invaders.”
The Jiyarr Kadjiah class began to expand, and then it exploded. The shock wave pushed a few ships off course and strongly shook the Phoenix. The other remaining Accad cruisers in the immediate area took that as an ominous sign and opened hyperspace gateways and left.
“This was a tough battle, but we pulled together and won this round,” Sheppard said. Let them report their failure. We need to repair; even our Hegemony and Cynz contingents ne
ed to repair or withdraw due to excess damage.”
“Sir, I just received a status report from Fleet Admiral Peregrine,” Sherman said. “You need to see this.”
Fleet Admiral Peregrine, whose tactical plans had been working, until the Jiyarr ships became involved, now sent an order to Sheppard and the sixth fleet, as well as to Admiral Braddock, to what he could gather of the second fleet, and to its alien allies, to rendezvous to support the remains of his task forces. They had outnumbered the enemy by over four to one but were now barely holding the line against a combined Varlon and Accadian force.
CHAPTER 19
THE STAR CITY
ARRIVES
Peregrine, aboard the battlecarrier H’jum’pta, was attempting to deal with the Jiyarr as well. It seemed the Accad had determined somehow where the highest comms’ density was organized and from where most of the Alliance of Worlds’ fleets were getting their main orders.
Onboard the Kadjiah, Mor’ag had determined that one of the Alliance’s task forces ahead was the one that was probably issuing fleet-coordinating orders. He had left comms monitoring probes, and his security team had broken a few of the Alliance codes. Once he determined the likely central command ship, he gave that information to his cousin, Supreme Governor Kra’ag.
“I think I have found the main leader; he has been coordinating strikes and giving us difficulty,” Mor’ag said, as he strode toward Kra’ag.
“Good, let us go. I’m bored. Perhaps one of their better commanders will provide me with some activity,” Kra’ag said. “Set the Kadjiah’s course to intercept them.”
“Yes, Lord Kra’ag, it will be done,” Mor’ag replied.
“Admiral Kensya looked at a status report, my Lord, and he said that one of our Jiyarr ships was destroyed.”
“What!” Kra’ag exclaimed. “How could this happen?” They began looking at the reports. “So the Hegemony and the Cynz do have some teeth after all.” Supreme Governor Kra’ag smiled a toothy grin.