“How will the battle group dying miserably help you?” asked the XO as Bullig pulled a struggling hatchling out of the bowl by one of its hind feet. It screamed as he let it dangle. He let it sway in front of his face for a couple of seconds so that the hatchling could see what was coming.
Born self-aware, the hatchling knew it was about to die, and it screamed harder, eliciting a smile from Bullig. He threw it into his mouth and bit down, sucking its blood through his hollow incisors. One week was about the right age, Bullig thought. Any older and they had a tendency to bite you back. He chewed up the husk and swallowed it.
“If they die miserably,” Bullig said, “that will mean that not only did they find us a new race to conquer, but they also found one that would put up a fight. The race that built this ship surrendered every time we came into a system where they were. Where is the fun in that?”
“It isn’t much fun fighting a race that won’t fight back,” agreed the XO. “They were, however, quite tasty.”
“Indeed, they were,” said a calmer Bullig as he sucked on a second hatchling.
“The battle group is entering the stargate,” said the communicator. “They passed on a message for you sir, but I don’t think you want to hear it.”
“No, I probably don’t,” said Bullig. The commanding officer of the Destroyer had been a hatchling with Bullig. He never missed a chance to let Bullig know that he was ‘going places’ while Bullig sat behind watching the stargate. “Tell him that I said to find a new wife and kids while he’s on patrol,” ordered Bullig, “because I’m going to kill and eat the ones he left back home.”
“Sorry, sir, his ship has already gone through the stargate,” said the communicator.
“It doesn’t matter,” replied Bullig. He smiled at the XO. “I’ll still do it, of course.”
“I hope they find some more of those short humanoids,” said the XO, looking at the tactical display. “You know, the ones that opened the gateway for us to come into this universe. They didn’t fight very well, either, but they also tasted good.”
“Psi-something, I think they called themselves,” said Bullig, who had been given one of them as a present. As it was one of the last ones the Drakuls had, he had played with it for a while before finally eating it. “Psilons or Psiclants or something like that. You are right; it would be nice to find a few more of them.”
Bullig reflected on his civilization’s progress in this universe and wondered if they’d find any more of the...Psiclopes...that’s what they were. The gods definitely had a sense of humor. The Drakul race in this universe had been wiped out, but a Psiclopes scientist trying to link collapsed black holes into stargates had opened up a dimensional doorway to the Drakuls’ home world in a parallel universe. As luck would have it, the doorway opened at a Drakul military base and over 2,000 soldiers and sailors came through the gate before it closed. The Drakuls captured a nearby spaceport and the two cruisers that were there...and then feasted on the sailors that previously crewed them.
He was only a new recruit then. After they found out their race had been annihilated in this universe, the High Command decided to go slowly. They flew the two captured cruisers to a nearby navy yard of a felinoid race and captured the battleship there. They had then taken the battleship and the navy base’s Class 6 replicator and had run to the end of civilized space, where they began building up their power.
20 years ago, the High Command finally decided it was ready to go on the offensive. The first three systems were easy. Two were inhabited by the caterpillar race and easily subdued; the other was inhabited by the Psiclopes. No challenge to any of them. Although the Psiclopes were technologically advanced, their defenses were minimal, and there were barely eight million of them on the planet. The XO was right; at least they tasted good.
The fourth planet they attacked was inhabited by a race of winged humanoids. Three easy conquests made the Drakuls overconfident, and the High Command only sent a battle group made up of four battlecruisers, because that was all it had taken to subdue the first three systems.
When the battlecruisers didn’t return, the High Command sent a full squadron of eight battlecruisers. Those ships also didn’t return, so the High Command sent a fleet of eight battleships, accompanied by two squadrons of battlecruisers and two squadrons of cruisers. This fleet successfully captured the system; however, it was like putting a stick into an anthill, and the winged humanoids returned in force with a fleet of their own. The Drakuls were forced to withdraw from the system, and each race heavily reinforced its side of the stargate. The two fleets probed each other, but neither side was able to fight its way back through the stargate. A long stalemate followed.
Having grown tired of the standstill, the Overlord had recently killed the High Command and promoted a new one. Rather than follow the failed policies of their predecessors, they came up with a new plan; they decided to open up a second theater of war. By sending ships through a different stargate, they hoped to find another way around that would let them come from behind the winged humans and take them by surprise.
While they built the ships required to fight a two-front war, the High Command sent a destroyer down this stargate chain to explore it, but the destroyer hadn’t returned. The battle group that just left was supposed to scout down the chain of stargates and find out where it went.
“I’ve got gate activation,” called the defensive systems technician, or defender. “Based on mass, it looks like one of the battlecruisers is back already.”
“Which battlecruiser is it?” asked Bullig. If it was the Destroyer, it would be his classmate, coming back to let him know that they found and enslaved a new civilization. He hoped it was the Destroyer...even though he hoped it wasn’t.
“It’s the...no, it’s not either of the battlecruisers,” said the defender, “although it has about the same mass as one of them. It’s weird sir. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that the radar image looked like the back half of the battleship. It only appears to have one engine working and that one is at full power. The ship is spinning around in circles and is in danger of running back into the stargate again.”
The defender paused. “It is the Slayer sir,” he said finally. “Or, at least it’s what’s left of her. I’m getting emergency beacons that identify the ship as the Slayer.”
“Communications!” called Captain Bullig, “are you able to reach anyone aboard the ship?”
“No sir,” said the communicator, “I have not been able to reach anyone.”
“Nor will you,” said the defender. “Its artificial gravity is out, and it’s making a 30 G turn. Anyone that’s still on that ship is probably plastered onto one of the walls.”
“What about the artificial intelligence (AI) onboard?” asked Bullig. “Can you reach it?”
“He won’t be able to,” replied the defender. “The part that came through the stargate is from aft of the bridge. All of the processors for the ship’s AI are in the front half of the ship, wherever that is.”
“It looks like you got your wish,” noted the XO.
“Yes,” said Bullig with a smile, “it looks like I did.”
* * * * *
Chapter Two
Asp 01, Stargate #1, Solar System, December 8, 2020
“Damn, Supidi, it looks like we missed it,” said Calvin. They had been orbiting in the vicinity of the stargate for two hours, but nothing else had come through it.
“Do you suppose they learned their lesson this time?” asked the Japanese officer. “First the destroyer and now this? Having only half of a battleship come back has got to be bad for morale.”
“Who knows how Drakuls think?” asked Calvin. “For all I know, they’ll look at that as competition and think that attacking us is fun.” He thought about it a few seconds and added, “I’m not challenging them, mind you. I hope they stay on their side of the stargate for at least another couple of years. Now that we have a replicator and can build our own ships, if they’d j
ust give us a chance, we could be ready to give them a lot of fun by then.”
Bridge, Drakul Ship Mangler, Ross 154, December 8, 2020
“Finally, some competition,” noted Captain Bullig with satisfaction as the shuttle returned with a couple of survivors from the battleship. The other shuttle had already returned with a full load of dead bodies. No sense letting that much fresh food go to waste, he thought. “Let’s go take a look and see what’s there.”
“But Captain,” said Commander Chark, “the forces on the other side of the stargate just destroyed two battlecruisers and a battleship. Whatever is there will likely destroy us as well! Our duty is to report to the Overlord.” He looked around the bridge for support. No one met his eyes.
He never saw the blow from Captain Bullig that hit him in the side of the head, knocking him to the deck. “You are new on the crew,” said Captain Bullig, leaning over him, “so I will tell you this once. This is my ship. I am the Captain. My word is law.” He looked down at the XO. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“No, Captain Bullig,” groveled Commander Chark. “I don’t have a problem at all. Whatever you say is good with me.”
“Excellent,” said Captain Bullig. “Remember that.” He turned to the helmsman. “Begin acceleration toward the stargate. Full speed ahead.”
The XO crawled to the back of the bridge, where he stood back up next to the communications station. “Madness,” he said under his breath. “The Overlord will flay us alive for violating orders.”
“No,” said the communicator in the same low whisper; “madness is contradicting the Captain on the bridge of his ship. How do you think you got your position? He killed the last two XOs for the same thing. The only thing that saved you was the low ceiling. He couldn’t use his killing punch. The Overlord is a long way away, and who knows if we’ll ever make it back home. The Captain is here. It’s best you remember that. Besides, he usually knows what he’s doing; he has gotten us out of many bad situations.”
“If he’s such a good Captain,” said Commander Chark, “why is he on this ship and not one of the ships that just went through the gate?”
“Simple,” said the communicator. “He didn’t know his last XO was a second cousin of the Overlord. Being on this ship is his punishment for killing him.”
Asp 01, Stargate #1, Solar System, December 8, 2020
“Asp 01, this is the Vella Gulf,” the radio blared. “All ships are to return to the Vella Gulf for refueling.”
“Roger that, Vella Gulf,” replied Supidi over the radio. “We are returning to the ship.” He switched to the tactical frequency used by the squadron. “All Spacehawks, we are to return to the ship for refueling. Join up on us.” The squadron gathered together and headed back to the ship with feelings of both disappointment and relief. Although they were disappointed that they missed out on the action, they were even more relieved that a bigger force hadn’t come through. With a good portion of the system’s defenses depleted, most decided it was better that way.
Bridge, Drakul Ship Mangler, Ross 154, December 8, 2020
“Five minutes to stargate,” said the helmsman.
“Battle stations!” ordered Captain Bullig. “Cease the drive. Rotate ship. Engines to full after rotation!”
“Rotating ship,” said the helmsman. “Engines coming to full.”
“Initiating battle stations,” added the defender. A blue light began flashing, and a horn began to wail.
“You’re going to go through the stargate...backwards?” asked the XO.
“Of course,” said Captain Bullig with a laugh. “We might get trapped there and destroyed if we didn’t. That might make the Overlord unhappy, and we definitely wouldn’t want that.” He gave another laugh and then was serious again. “Open all weapons’ hatches and extend all laser mounts.”
“Hatches opening,” called both the attacker and the defender simultaneously. “Mounts moving.” Both of the technicians had missiles and lasers; the defender was responsible for the ship’s counter-missile lasers and missiles, while the attacker ran the Mangler’s anti-ship missiles and lasers.
“Transit in five,” said the helmsman. “Four...three...two...one...mark!”
TSS Vella Gulf, Stargate #1, Solar System, December 8, 2020
“I heard a piece of the battleship made it back through the stargate,” said Calvin. All of the crews had swapped out when the space fighters came back to refuel, and fresh crews were now manning them. “Is that true?”
“Yes, it did,” said Captain James Sheppard, the commanding officer (CO) of the Terran spaceship Vella Gulf. “Skywatch said that the back half of the ship made it through.” Skywatch was the Strategic Command’s Joint Functional Component Command for Space. Located at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Skywatch’s Space Operations Center was responsible for the system’s defenses until the newly-formed Terran Space Force was able to take over that function.
“We’ve got to go through and get it,” said Calvin. “If one of their ships comes along and sees it, they will know that we’re on the other side of the stargate.”
“I said the same thing,” said Captain Sheppard. “Skywatch is worried about what happens if we go through the stargate and find out that there are Drakuls waiting for us. We are the only Terran ship in the system right now, and they don’t want to lose us.”
“Lose us?” asked Calvin. “We’re going to lose our anonymity if we don’t go get it.”
“They said—” Captain Sheppard answered.
“Skywatch reports another gate activation!” interrupted the communications officer. “They have a single transit inbound. It’s a small ship, cruiser-sized or smaller.”
“Launch the alert fighters!” ordered Captain Sheppard. He looked over to the offensive systems officer (OSO) seated at the operations station. “Let me know when you have a firing solution!”
The Vella Gulf was positioned 7.5 million miles from the stargate, just inside the 8 million mile range of its missiles. It took light and radar 40 seconds to cross that distance. Skywatch had a radar station next to the gate that used a faster than light radio system to transmit what it was sensing, so the Vella Gulf’s crew was aware that the intruder had entered the system almost 30 seconds before it was able to see it with the ship’s sensors.
“VAMPIRE!” called the defensive systems officer (DSO), using the codeword for enemy missiles. “I’ve got missiles being launched!” The intruder wasn’t so handicapped; the Vella Gulf would be visible to the enemy’s optical sensors upon entry. A good crew entering a new system could often fire a volley or two of missiles before the defenders were able to reply, even with the time it took for the systems (and personnel) to settle out after a stargate transit.
The intruder obviously had a good crew.
Bridge, Drakul Ship Mangler, Solar System, December 8, 2020
“Minefield!” yelled the defender as the Mangler entered the system stern-first. “Minefield defenses on automatic!” With the flip of the switch, the ship’s counter-missile batteries and counter-missile lasers began firing autonomously, as fast as their targeting systems could find and identify the mines.
“We should be OK for a few minutes,” said Captain Bullig. “Look for ships and try to get their identification. Helmsman, stand by for emergency thrust.”
“How are we OK if we’re in a minefield!” screamed Commander Chark. “We’ve got to go! Helm, emergency thrust, now!”
“Belay that order!” roared Captain Bullig. “They won’t have mines next to the stargate. The mines will be further away, so that the defenders have time to identify any intruders prior to activating their minefield. Besides, the enemy wouldn’t want their mines to accidentally fall into the stargate. We are in no danger from mines.”
“Contact!” called the attacker. “Optical systems show a ship located to starboard!”
“Fire all starboard batteries on that line of bearing,” said Captain Bullig. “Get as much information on it as
you can.” He looked at the helmsman. “Emergency thrust, now!” he said. “Take us back through the stargate!”
The helmsman pushed the button that his claw had been hovering over, and the ship shuddered as its inertial compensators tried to keep up with the thrust of the emergency power setting.
Missiles roared away from the ship on the bearing of the enemy ship. Without radar or laser targeting, the missiles would have to find the ship using their onboard systems. They wouldn’t have their normal range, thought Bullig, but maybe they’d get lucky.
The screens flashed as the first mine intercepted them, but the force of its explosion was absorbed by the shields. A second volley of missiles left the ship.
“Transit in three,” called the helmsman, “two...one...mark!”
The Mangler was gone. It had only been in the Solar System for 56 seconds.
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Stargate #1, Solar System, December 8, 2020
“Missiles inbound!” called the DSO. “I have 10 vampires inbound!”
“Defend the ship, DSO,” said Captain Sheppard. “You are cleared to engage.”
“Cleared to engage, aye,” replied the defensive systems officer. “Missile hatches open. Laser hatches open; mounts extending.” The ship’s lasers were normally stored inside the hull to prevent damage to them during transit and were physically extended when needed. “Standing by to launch counter-missiles.” He watched his screen as the missiles continued inbound. “6 million miles...5 million miles...launching counter missiles.” He pushed a button. 27 missiles leapt from their tubes and raced to meet the incoming missiles at over 100,000 G’s.
“All fighters launched and proceeding on mission,” reported Calvin, getting the word from his operations officer via his implant.
Theogony 3: Terra Stands Alone Page 2