Being so deep in the water, we were cut off from normal radio transmission. Our only link to the base was through the omni directional sonar, since we were too deep to be in line of sight and direct sonar of our base. As you know, omni directional sonar is not the most reliable of medium for communication at the best of times. To make things worse the oceans here are as noisy as those on our world, and the irritating humans have figured out that we communicate underwater using sonar, so they keep dipping loud noise generators underwater to create constant interference with our communication channel.
As a result, it was almost an eighth of a human day before the emergency hails from our base could get through to our hunting party, informing us of an emerging emergency in space. It took our hunting party another eighth of a human day to return to our main base before I could get some understanding of the developing emergency.
We had always known that there were human straggler ships. “Ship” is the human term for Shells that they build for travel in space. It may amuse you to note that these humans, despite being land dwellers did not name their space Shells as a ‘Wagon’ or a ‘Train’, but used a marine analogue, by terming their space Shells as ‘Ship’. These humans have not yet mastered interstellar travel, but have the capability to travel distances in their space ships that would take them to various dark bodies near their Star. They have colonized a few of those dark planets that float in the interstellar space near their star, as per the records we were able to decrypt from their planet. These humans have been at conflict with the other minor prey species we had discovered in our previous stop on the neighboring star for a few rotations.
We were aware that there are human ships out in space in those dark colonies, as well as some fighting the other minor prey species that the humans call Shaitans. Given the primitive state of the human technology, we had deemed such straggler ships as no danger to the Ravenous. We were very certain that if and when such human ships entered this star system, we would be aware of it well in advance. The human ships that we had observed defending their system were all based on primitive ion plasma propulsion system, which advertises themselves decelerating into the system years in advance.
We were certain that no human ship would be able to sneak in on us. Other than the long warning, we were also confident that when such a human ship or ships arrived here, we would be able to handle them with no difficulty at all. This confidence was based on the ease with which we had handled their primitive ships that defended their home planet.
We should have spent some time searching the neighborhood of this star and flushing out the humans scattered in the dark worlds around this system. If we had done so, we would have been able to prevent this disaster that has unfolded. Instead we were much too eager to descend on to the surface of planet Earth and enjoy the bountiful hunting opportunities available there. As the Lord of the Hunt, I take full responsibility for this tactical error and lapse in judgment.
It turns out that we had not seen all human space technology after all. Though our assessment about the primitiveness of human space technology hasn’t changed much, but it seems that human space technology is slightly more advanced we had initially assumed. According to the Master of Scientific Investigations, who has scoured through human scientific research, humans had been aware of reaction less drives, and some of the basic principles driving it. There were mentions of prototype reaction less drives being built in those human scientific journals. The Master of Scientific Investigation had deemed that the human knowledge and research into reaction less drives were too primitive to be of any practical use. This along with the fact that we hadn’t encountered any records of an actual human ship built with reaction less drive, neither had we encountered one, made us confident that humans didn’t possess a ship with reaction less drives.
We should have been more circumspect. We had by no means read through all the human records. In fact, we know for certain that a lot of the human records were deliberately destroyed or hidden by the humans to prevent them from being seen by us. It was also imprudent on our part to have made assumptions about the technology of the human ships hidden in the dark periphery, based on the human ships that we had destroyed.
In the end we were surprised and ambushed by human ships with reaction less drives. They didn’t just sneak in on the Ravenous, but unleashed a brilliant tactical campaign worthy of extremely accomplished hunters, which these humans are. For today, I must admit, the humans turned the hunters and we the crew of the Ravenous turned the prey species.
Just sneaking up on us wouldn’t have gotten the humans very far given the vast chasm between the technology they possess and the technology of the Ravenous. This fact was not lost on the humans either. Being the cunning hunters that these humans are, they devised a plan accordingly. They did not try to destroy the Ravenous by brute force. The humans wouldn’t have even scratched the surface of the Ravenous with their primitive weapons, had they tried. Instead the humans went about things as a skilled hunter does – feint and deceive. Even as I am about to go on my last hunt, knowing that my life is forfeit, I feel lucky to meet my end at the hands of such skilled hunters, knowing fully well that they deserve me as a prey. I will not let Bodoni down though, and will give a good account for my death. I will hunt with joy and kill many prey before I finally become one myself.
The humans’ initial attack was with three ships not one, as was initially reported. The three human ships fitted with reaction less drives came towards us in a formation, one behind the other. Since we couldn’t detect the human ships till they were very close, owing to their reaction less drives which emit no EM radiations, our first detection of the ships was through omni directional radar. Even when we trained our focused Radar and Lidar on the approaching human ships, we could only observe the profile of one ship, since the others were hidden behind it.
At the time of detection of the approaching human ships, the Ravenous was operating with a skeleton crew. To be honest, the Ravenous has been operated by a skeleton crew for most of the duration we have been here. Every Bodar on board wants to go down to the planet to hunt. The only ones who seem to crew the Ravenous lately are those who have been punished or reprimanded for some misdemeanor or the other.
I hadn’t intervened to change that situation because I perceived no threat emanating from space that the Ravenous couldn’t handle, even with a skeleton crew. I did not want to deprive my crew of the just reward that awaited them down below on the planet, after having sacrificed so much to serve on board the Ravenous.
Now with hindsight, I realize that not only was the Ravenous under-crewed at the time of the attack, but it was crewed by the least competent crew possible. Most of the crew who were on board the Ravenous at that time were there because of some act of incompetence or indiscipline on their part. It is too late now, but I do realize my mistake in letting the crew rotation discipline slip on Ravenous.
The acting Master of Watch of the Ravenous determined the vector of the approaching ship, and realized that it was coming head on towards Earth and hence towards the Ravenous. Although the Radar and Lidar profile of the approaching ship was subtly different from the ships that we had encountered when we first arrived here, the approaching ship appeared to have similar mass and composition as the earlier human ships we had encountered.
The Master of the Watch was supremely confident that she would be able handle the situation by herself. I can’t blame her. A single human ship approaching us hardly looked like a challenge at that point of time. This overconfidence resulted in the Master of Watch committing two mistakes.
First, she sent a routine dispatch down below to the planet, rather than an emergency signal as now we realize the situation warranted. This meant that none of the other Masters of the Hunt or I, the Lord of the Hunt were immediately informed. I was out on a hunt, but my second in command was at that time in a habitat and could have responded quickly enough to get back to the Ravenous in time. I think if my second in comma
nd had been able make it in time back to the Ravenous, she would have handled the situation far more competently. We might even have prevented this disaster.
The second and more serious mistake made by the Master of Watch, was her decision not to dispatch combat ships up ahead to encounter the approaching human ship. This could have prevented a lot of the disaster that was to follow. The logic of the Master of Watch was that the human ship was headed towards the Ravenous and posed no known threat to it. So why send out combat ships to meet the enemy, when the enemy was coming towards you anyway?
I also understand the Master of Watch’s reluctance because there were no certified combat ship operators on board at that time. She would have to send untrained pilots or drones to do the job. Given those circumstances and the fact that she didn’t perceive any threat, she took the decision to let the human ship approach the Ravenous.
The first surprise thrown was when the approaching human ships entered the antimatter beam range of the Ravenous. These human ships had a defense against the antimatter beam, unlike any other human ship we had encountered before. Where other human ships’ flimsy hulls had disintegrated in a matter of moments, this ship was completely unaffected by the antimatter beam, at least initially!
The Master of Scientific Investigation, who is still stuck down on the planet, has seen the data and has a theory about how the humans are countering our antimatter beam. According to him, it is related to an ineffective drone attack we had encountered a few years ago, which had also come from the outskirts of this star system, from one of the colonies in the dark worlds settled by the humans.
When the Master of Watch observed the ineffectiveness of our antimatter beam, she seemed to have been paralyzed into inaction or indecision. This is where the competence of a Master of Watch comes into picture, and where the Master of Watch failed miserably. Basic scientific knowledge required of every senior commander, should have told her that countermeasures to antimatter beam were eminently possible.
Even if her scientific knowledge failed her, she should have known from our own history of combat that we have encountered many species who had possessed defense against antimatter beam. Just because we had assumed that the humans don’t possess such technology doesn’t mean that the humans didn’t actually have it, or couldn’t have developed it. She should have immediately followed the copy-book and moved to the next weapon in our repertoire. This is exactly the reason why we have so many different weapons in the arsenal of the Ravenous.
Even before launching any new weapon, the Master of Watch should have immediately launched the combat ships, even if they would have to be operated by drones. Launching the combat ships belatedly would have at least ensured that the first encounter happened as far away from the Ravenous as possible. Since the distance to the enemy ship had reduced drastically by then, the combat ships could have been operated remotely in real time, light speed being not an issue at that distance.
The Master of Watch did none of these things. Instead for a long time, she tried the same tactic repeatedly with variations. Initially she suspected that some of the antimatter banks were faulty, and ordered that antimatter from alternate banks be routed to the antimatter beam guns. When that didn’t work, she suspected that the guns themselves were faulty, and ordered the Ravenous be turned on its axis to bear a different set of guns facing the other side of the Ravenous.
It was only when that didn’t work either, that she started suspecting that the human ship may have some form of defense against antimatter beams. Even then she didn’t order the launch of the combat ships, which lay secured in their hangars throughout the entire period of the battle! If the Master of Watch hadn’t died already, I would have ordered her shell cracked and slowly crushed and suffocated as a punishment for such incompetence!
Then, before the Master of the Watch could switch to another weapon, the human ships sprung a second surprise. The human ships had sprung their first surprise earlier. What we had considered as a single human ship initially split into three ships. The tactical AI analyzed later that we weren’t dealing with a single human ship to begin with. There were three human ships behind one another. The three human ships had opened primitive chemical thrusters. The ship to the fore made a mad dash ahead towards the Ravenous.
In the meanwhile, the ships behind which were hitherto invisible to us made a mad dash at a ninety-degree lateral angle with the objective of avoiding the Ravenous at any cost. That mad dash away from the line of approach of the Ravenous wouldn’t have helped the ship because their momentum would still carry them well within our weapons range. There would however be more surprises from the human, and the second one sprung by them would be the salvation of the rear human ship.
Just as it seemed that our antimatter beams were completely ineffective, the human ship in the fore exploded spectacularly and disintegrated! Initially it seemed to the Master of the Watch that our antimatter beams had caused the human ship to explode. This bolstered the Master of the Watch’s confidence in the antimatter beams once more. It would turn out to be otherwise. It would be many moments later that our tactical computers would flag that the human ship’s explosion was unlikely to have been caused by antimatter beams. In fact, it was in a way strange sort of non-explosion. It had been more like a controlled low violence explosion, that had neatly broken the human ship into regularly sized few thousand parts, each still hurtling towards the Ravenous due to their previous momentum.
Unfortunately, this analysis was done too late even though the AI had flagged the destruction of the human ship as anomalous almost immediately. This was another example of the Master of the Watch’s incompetence. Having come to the wrong conclusion about how the human ship had been destroyed, the Master of the Watch continued with her attack with antimatter beams on the other two human ships, which then managed to escape.
The controlled explosion theory was further confirmed when many of the pieces of the exploded ship started venting thrust in seemingly random directions. This venting of thrust by hundreds of random pieces of the destroyed human ship had one immediate effect. The Master of the Watch was forced to target these pieces with antimatter beams as something that represented immediate danger. This allowed the other two human ship to escape.
The Master of the Watch assumed that the human ship at the front had sacrificed itself to let the human ship at the rear make an escape. It was a logical assumption to make given the evidence. However, it was not the only purpose of the human ship at the front. There was a far more sinister design for those pieces of flying debris of the human ship, and one which we failed to anticipate at the cost of our own peril.
It is the classic hunting strategy of the deep sea Horeonts that we all learn as young hatchlings in our home planet, where a single individual sacrifices itself to save the herd by splitting itself into multiple pieces and those individual small pieces are too small for a large predator to stop from attaching to their body, where those individual pieces inject their body fluids as venom in an act of ultimate sacrifice, disabling or even killing the large predator and thus saving the herd.
The only added flavor that the humans added was deception, which as we have all learnt is their specialty. These pieces of debris floated as dead fragments of a destroyed ship, to which the Master of the Watch paid no attention. Most of the debris would pass the Ravenous harmlessly anyway, and a few that did strike the Ravenous wouldn’t even be able to scratch the surface; or so the Master of the Watch thought.
Unfortunately for us, hidden inside those floating debris were human specialized hunters, whom the humans call soldiers. There were not just any soldiers though. These were a special class of soldiers that we have rarely seen on Earth. These soldiers are just as cunning as the rest of the humans, but a lot stronger.
That in itself wouldn’t have caused any damage, because the humans possess no weapon that could allow them to force their way into the Ravenous. Through a series of stupid decisions though, the Master of the Watch ma
de it possible for them to enter our Hunting Shell and devastate it with a primitive but very effective nuclear weapon. Initially the humans managed to get entry into the third compartment of the Ravenous.
The Master of the Watch thankfully had the sense to have put the basic defense protocol in place, so each compartment was hermetically sealed and isolated. That slowed the humans down, but they eventually found the only weakness in the barrier that seals each of the compartment and isolates it from the others… the central power and life support axis that runs along the entire length of the Ravenous. It may be too small for a Bodar to slip through that narrow hole, but a human is small enough to easily slip through it.
Many humans managed to slip through that hole and survive the radiation laden tube before intrusion alarms were raised in the central power and propulsion compartment. It was another manifestation of our unpreparedness for repulsing a boarding party, that we hadn’t placed any of our hunters to guard the central power and utilities axis. The Master of the watch didn’t anticipate the humans entering the central compartment through this axis. She had placed all the guards behind the solid iron hatches connecting the compartments, just in case the humans somehow managed to break through those.
The humans never even attempted to breach those impossible to breach solid iron hatches. A competent Master of the Watch should have known when the enemy does not try to breach from the obvious entry points, then they must be trying an unconventional entry, and should have been on the lookout. To be fair to her though, this is the first boarding attack that a Bodar shell has faced in space in so many generations, that none of us have any real experience of it. All our response to this boarding has been from what we have learnt in theoretical exercises and from history.
Game Reserve: Earth (Shaitan Wars Book 5) Page 39