Francescan War Chronicles 1: Space Knight Denxeiter

by C. K. Pershing

  “Not yet,” Feln said. “We still have to scan the ships and your friend here.”

  “It’s not our friend. It’s an enemy.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Feln realized that he should have asked for Kendle’s dossier. Maybe Kendle was one of the races that only spoke in a literal way. Or didn’t really speak Wystran Standard at all and was speaking through a malfunctioning auto translator. That would explain a lot, and the more Feln thought about it, the more it made sense. Still, Kendle had a very human name, so why would he need an auto translator?

  “Captain, the ships check out for the most part. Their vital signs are low, but considering the damage to their hulls, I think it’s safe to say they’ve suffered casualties.”

  “Yes, many were killed,” Kendle’s voice agreed.

  “I’m still getting above average body temperatures. I mean, some of these readings are high enough to kill a human. But between the interference and not being sure what the various complements of surviving crew members are, some of these readings could simply be from races with higher body temperatures who are perfectly healthy.” Valisia shrugged. “It’s your call.”

  “What about the big bug?”

  “Dead as a doornail. No life signs at all.”

  “It’s a gift.” Kendle repeated.

  “Yes, we know it’s a gift.” Feln was starting to wonder if Kendle just hit his head too hard.

  Hoff’s Alden flew over to Denxeiter and pointed. Feln followed the line of the robot’s finger to see a large group of alien ships approaching.

  “There are enemies,” Kendle said.

  “What do we do?” Katashka said.

  Damn, this still stinks. But everything checks out overall, and we can’t risk losing them or that giant insect to study because I’m spooked. “Alright,” he said, “We’re taking them in. Let’s go.”

  He waved the group past and some ships in the defense line moved to make their entrance into the fleet easier. Feln and Katashka stayed behind while Valisia and the other Aldens in their group escorted the new arrivals through. The group made it inside just as the alien fleet started to shoot. Feln and Katashka ducked inside the perimeter and the Francescan ships closed ranks behind them before returning fire.

  “It looks like they’re angry at having one of their big insects carried off,” Katashka said.

  “It is a group of enemies that have followed us and killed many,” Kendle said.

  “Do you need any medical help at the ship standing by?”

  “No, we will be better when this being is with the spaceship Uhlinder.”

  Feln flipped his communications over to a private line between just him and the Nonn sisters.

  “This guy… there’s just something about him,” Feln said.

  “I agree,” Valisia said. “He just called that big bug a ‘being’. Kind of a weird choice of words. And they’ll be better when they get to ‘spaceship’ Uhlinder?”

  “Maybe he’s just committed to getting our scientists to looking at it as soon as possible,” Katashka offered. “Yes, he’s weird, but we don’t know what these people have been through.”

  “You’re not picking up any weird feelings from him, are you?” Feln asked.

  “Obviously, I would have told you if I did. But remember, I’m not a mind-reader, I just mimic strong emotions. And besides, unless they were a bunch of Space Knights, I don’t really pick up normal people anymore. The only strong emotion I’m getting from this group is they want to get to the fleet. But that’s understandable. It’s nothing like what I was getting from the enemy earlier.”

  “Maybe,” Feln said. He wished he had a full-fledged combat telepath with him right now, but neither fleet had one. He changed his communications back over to include Kendle and the rest of the group. “Did you kill this giant insect?” he asked, noticing there were no marks on its body.

  “The being was dead when we found it.” There it was again. “Being”.

  Valisia said, “I’m reading you have a functioning tractor beam. Why are you towing it with cables?”

  After a moment, Kendle said, “It was good to not use power from the tractor beam.”

  “I guess that’s not a bad idea,” Feln agreed. “If that gang back there has been chasing you all this time, you might need the power the tractor beam uses to bolster shields.”

  “Yes.”

  After a few more minutes of traveling in silence, they arrived at the Uhlinder. Lenz came on screen. “Welcome back. I assume everything checks out?”

  “As near as we can tell,” Feln said. “Our friend here is an odd conversationalist, but vitals check out for the most part and the cargo is well and truly dead.”

  “Excellent, we’ll get a team on it right away. Lieutenant Commander Kendle, I admire your dedication to getting your fellow Francescans back to the fleet safely, and with such a valuable prize as well.”

  “Yes, it is good. Thanks.”

  At this strange bit of speech, Lenz glanced at Feln. Feln could only shrug. Focusing back on Kendle, Lenz said, “We already have medical shuttles on standby to bring your wounded to our sick bay and to the hospitals on the colony for anything too tough to handle on our ship.”

  “Yes, it is good,” Kendle repeated.

  Moments later, groups of small white medical ships left the Uhlinder and started to dock with the newly arrived ships. Feln turned away to look toward the rim where the alien fleet had arrived and was still trading shots with the Francescan line. Because of the hazy conditions, he could only barely make out the beams flying back and forth between combatants.

  “Once these guys are offloaded, we should go help,” he said.

  “‘Yes, it is good’,” Valisia said with a grin and Katashka nodded. Feln rolled his eyes and tried to watch the distant battle.

  Chapter Thirteen

  As they waited for the all-clear, Feln absently listened to the first medical crew entering the Bohcroo. “Nobody here to greet us, but it’s pretty rough in here. They might be busy holding the ship together. Heading to the bridge.”

  After a few minutes of mostly commentary on the sad state of the ship, the medical officer said, “Okay we’re at the bridge and are going in.” A few moments later, “Lieutenant Commander Kendle? Hello, sir, I’m…oh… What happened to you? Let me see. What’s… Oh…ohnononono.“

  Feln’s ears were suddenly filled with screams. “Dammit, I knew it!” he growled.

  “What’s happening in there?” Lenz demanded.

  “Sir, you’re going to have to send marines onboard to perform a rescue,” Feln said. If only we blasted them when we had the chance. Now they have potential hostages and—

  “Something’s happening with the Bohcroo!” Valisia said.

  Feln looked at his gauges and saw energy building up inside the ship. “What are they doing?” In a flash, the energy suddenly released and shot down the tow cable from the ship to the giant insect.

  “Oh shit, it was just in some kind of really deep sleep that fooled our sensors and only seemed dead. They’re reviving it!” Feln said. His fear was confirmed when the massive creature began to stir.

  “Quick, we have to kill it before it can—” While concentrating on the Bohcroo and insect, Feln had forgotten about the other ships in the group and especially about the Aldens. That is until Hoff’s Alden suddenly slammed into Denxeiter’s head and exploded. Feln was thrown back into his seat as Denxeiter reeled from the assault. He fought to regain control.

  “Feln? Feln, are you alright?” He heard Katashka’s voice but couldn’t see anything. All of Denxeiter’s screens were out. Damn, that attack even took Denxeiter by surprise— I didn’t even get a warning.

  Katashka’s voice grew more urgent. “Feln, watch out, the bug is—” Feln was thrown forward in his seat as something else hit Denxeiter hard. He heard a low sound come from somewhere deep inside the robot.

  “Are you hurt?” he asked Denxeiter. “Come on, you’ve gotta help me. Give me a visual.�
�� Denxeiter’s screens came on. Except for a portion of screen on the left. “Alright, that’s good enough to work with,” Feln said.

  He saw the back of Ganxeiter and Valisia’s Alden standing in front of him, protecting him. “What’s going on?” Feln asked. He glanced at the damage report starting to show up on his screen. Xeiter Beam was out, thanks to the head crest being damaged… and there was something wedged in Denxeiter’s left eye.

  Of its own accord, Denxeiter reached up and tore the thing from its eye with a gut wrenching screech of metal. Various fluids of oils and other materials spilled out from the hole left behind. There was another low sound from deep inside. Denxeiter was definitely in pain. Feln looked in Denxeiter’s hand to see what the robot had torn out. It was holding a large green spike that had obviously come from the insect. Denxeiter’s protective face mask was also there, torn off with the spike.

  “Feln, answer me, dammit!” Katashka yelled. “We’re going to need your help.”

  “I’m okay. Sorry. I was trying to get things under control here. Denxeiter’s not doing so well.”

  “That big bug shot a spike at you while you were recovering from the Alden exploding.”

  “Yeah I noticed.”

  Ganxeiter looked over its shoulder at Denxeiter and Katashka said, “Can you still see?”

  “Mostly.”

  “Good, but Denxeiter’s face is exposed.” Then, “Watch out!”

  Feln looked past Ganxeiter and saw the insect coming at them. It looked big before it woke up, but now that it was moving and attacking, it seemed even more massive.

  Feln and the two sisters broke and shot off in three different directions. The insect followed Feln. Why does this thing want me? Is it just being methodical and trying to finish me or is it something else?”

  His thoughts were interrupted by a warning klaxon sounding danger behind him. He turned to see some more of the Aldens from the group getting ready to shoot him in the back. He quickly drew Denxeiter’s pistols and squeezed off a series of quick shots at the robots. They all exploded just as Feln narrowly missed one of the insect’s giant claws reaching for him from the front.

  He rotated Denxeiter to sidestep and shoved both pistol barrels up against the ligament that made up the joint between the exoskeleton of the insect’s forearm. He pulled the triggers and blasted chunks of flesh and muscle out of the area and was satisfied to see the claw break loose.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Aldens from the Tannhauser and Uhlinder fighting against the traitor Aldens. Not that he thought the pilots themselves were traitors— like the Bohcroo and other the other ships, the Aldens had obviously been captured to use in this trick attack.

  He holstered the guns and fired the Booster Punch from both arms. The forearms flew forward and bashed against the head of the still-pursuing insect but bounced off harmlessly. He retargeted them at the insects large yellow multifaceted eyes and was glad to see it had some small effect when a few facets shattered. But it still wasn’t enough.

  “Katashka where are you?” he asked.

  “I was following you and shooting the insect from behind, but the damn thing’s shell is much too hard on its back. I’m coming up on its right side cloaked and I’ll try to—ugh!”

  One of the insect’s right arms suddenly shot out to the side and had apparently hit Ganxeiter with a lucky shot since it was cloaked and invisible. Did the bug intercept their communications to know when to strike or had it somehow sensed Katashka’s approach?

  While the insect’s arm was still outstretched, Feln hurriedly launched the drones from Denxeiter’s back. He targeted them on the arm’s ligament. The insect tried to swat the drones away and smashed one. But the others were too quick and fired their beam guns. Nine beams sliced the forearm from the insect.

  “That’s two down.” He sent the drones on another attack run, but a beam suddenly erupted from a hole in the insect’s chest that neatly sliced through the three drones, causing them to burst into flame and explode.

  “Ah, that’s no good,” Feln said as he flew around in hectic maneuvers to stay out of the beam that was still chasing him around. It’s similar to the Xeiter Beam. Now I know what it’s like to be on the receiving end!

  He skirted sideways and the beam went by, striking a Francescan destroyer in the side and slicing it open. It was no good fighting this thing in here with the rest of the fleet where their weapons worked at such long ranges. If the ships in the fleet tried to help by shooting and missed the insect, they could possibly hit a friendly ship behind it.

  I’ve gotta get it contained back with the ships it came in with. Feln shot downward and skirted just under the insect as the claws on its feet clamped at him. He shot up at the underside of its body but didn't cause any damage. Far ahead, he saw the group of traitor ships, Aldens from both sides were still buzzing around them. There were also the small gray assault ships marines used to send boarding parties on to hostile ships.

  Suddenly the traitor ships opened fire with their main guns and atomized the assault ships. It was bad enough having to fight against the weaker weapons of the aliens in close quarters, but now the Francescans had to contend with their own weaponry mounted on the light cruiser Bohcroo, three destroyers, and two corvettes. A group of friendly corvettes that was nearby along with a few Aldens also got hit in the barrage and exploded.

  “Attention, all ships, you have permission to destroy the ships that are currently firing on the fleet,” Lenz’s voice said over Feln’s speaker. “While we may still have people on board those ships, the survival of the fleet is paramount.”

  Feln dodged another swipe from the insect’s claws behind him. “How can you move so fast?” he demanded of the thing.

  “Feln, duck!” Katashka’s voice said suddenly and he obeyed. A tornado of energy from the Ion Twister shot over Denxeiter’s head and crashed into the insect’s chest, stopping it cold. The hole in its chest ruptured and something exploded inside when the insect tried to fire its beam. The explosion rocked the insect’s body and sent it tumbling backwards as a group of destroyers closed around it and opened fire at point-blank range now that their target couldn’t move and endanger the fleet with missed shots.

  Even at such a close range, though, the destroyers didn’t have quite enough power in their guns to pierce the enemy’s thick exoskeleton. It lashed out at them, tearing into the bodies and causing them to crash into each other and explode.

  “I’m really getting sick of this damn bug,” Feln said. He activated Durandal. “Let’s take this bastard out,” he said to Katashka.

  “Right,” she answered as they plunged downward toward the insect.

  I hope she’s synched up with me, he thought. The insect reached forward with its two topmost arms and opened its claws to grab both Hyper Battle Machines. Feln aimed Durandal directly at the small amount of ligament that joined the claw’s pincers and shot forward. The blade plunged into the ligament bursting it apart as Feln drove on, all the way down the insect’s arm. The effect was like a metal spike splitting a log as the insect’s arm splintered and shattered into chunks of exoskeleton all the way up to its body. Feln glanced over long enough see that Katashka was synched with him and had performed the exact same maneuver on the insect’s other arm using Ganxeiter’s rapier.

  They met at the insect’s body and plunged their swords into the shattered sockets where its arms used to connect at its shoulders. Both swords ratcheted upwards as the insect flailed its remaining arms, trying to fight them off.

  With a satisfying crunch, the two swords burst upward through the insect’s neck and ripped its head of its shoulders. The head went tumbling as the body kept flailing, its top section now split wide open. Feln deactivated Durandal and poured heavy beam fire from Denxeiter’s forearm guns inside the opened shell, roasting the insides. Katashka followed suit, shooting with Ganxeiter’s repeating beam rifle. The limbs stopped flailing and soon all that was left of the insect’s body was a smoki
ng hollow shell.

  Katashka flew over and grabbed the head that was floating through space and tucked it under Ganxeiter’s arm. The formerly blazing yellow eyes were now dead and dull again.

  “Maybe our scientists can do something with this,” she said.

  “Some insects’ heads can live a long time without a body,” Feln said.

  “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Maybe this thing can be interrogated,” she said. “Besides, it’s not like it can do anything without a body.”

  “Good point. But we have to get back. Those ships are still over there shooting and despite Lenz’s order, I’m not sure everybody is so quick to write off any of our people that might still be inside.”

  “Right, let’s go.”

  As they got near the group of traitor ships, Feln could see them concentrating their fire on the Uhlinder as other ships in the fleet moved to protect the carrier. The two traitor corvettes had been destroyed and one drifted in front of Denxeiter. Feln reached out and grabbed the dead ship in Denxeiter’s hand and pried open the hull after confirming there were no vitals. He sucked in a breath of air when he saw what was inside.

  The Francescan crew was still there, but were now twisted into grotesque monsters. Long scaly tentacles had erupted from beneath their skin and their heads were tilted back with mouths wide open. Their eyes had burst from their sockets from the inside and more tentacles dangled from the open holes. Worst of all, disgusting green stalks with eyes on the tips were jutting out of the mouths.

  “Oh my God,” Katashka breathed. “This…this…is… Just…oh my God.”

  “Look,” Feln pointed, “The medical crew sent to this ship. It happened to them too. Whatever it is, it’s fast and can penetrate spacesuits.” Medical crews always had on spacesuits when first boarding a ship in case there were any diseases or other dangers. Apparently the spacesuits hadn’t helped here.

  “So it’s safe to say that none of our people are still alive on the other ships if they even did this to the medical crew that just showed up.”