Sheppard's Quest

by Gary Caplan

  York said, “At least we know the Varlon are not ready for whatever strike they are planning.”

  Wilder said, “Yes, not just yet. But that will change and probably soon, and they will go on full offensive.”

  York said, “Sir, message from Lieutenant Corwin. He says the Varlon have released some starfghters and spider ships. He thinks they are vectoring for Treeton Three.”

  Wilder said, “Notify our contacts with ground defenses they have incoming enemy forces.”

  Simultaneously ground forces were dealing with the damage from the last wave of incoming torpedoes. Lieutenant Grell had been brought in with some other remaining officers to the command bunker. He had made it there after cumulative damage rendered his grav tank unable to travel to patrol.

  Colonel Komak said, “We have been alerted that the Varlon are sending their initial spiderships and other occupying forces. It’s likely a scout force to test our remaining ground strength after their long-range torpedoes hit.”

  Grell asked, “Sir, does the Sixth Fleet have enough to repel the enemy ships?”

  Komak said, “They told us they will have the necessary forces, and we just need to hold out and not allow the Varlon a foothold on the ground. Major Tarn, take some of the remaing grav tanks and missile units and set up perimeter defense around the power facilities. Lieutenant Colonel Fisk will give the rest of you the assignments. We have to keep the enemy occupied if they do try to land an occupation force.”

  Grell got his assignment through his interlink and headed to take over the defense missile batteries guarding the western section of the capital city. When he got to his section, a report of a spider ship having landed outside the city was brought to him by his technical officer, whose minor injuries had already been restored.

  Grell said, “The Varlon starships were discovered in system. We need to prepare for the worst.”

  Dana said, “Right. Varlon’s on the ground.” Grell noticed Dana looking at her commlink.

  Grell said almost knowingly, “Call your family. I’m going to contact mine as well.”

  Meanwhile in another part of the Treeton solar system, Task Force Two was mobilizing to hold the line and defend against enemy ships. Fleet Captain Kellog was in command of Task Force Two, and he and his twelve ships—including two Galaxy-class dreadnaughts and a Constellation-class carrier, one Pegasus-class battle cruiser and four Legendary-class battle cruisers, and three Heroic-class heavy cruisers—were ready to fight back against the Accads.

  Task Force Two was now under fire from the Accads, who had somewhat longer weapons strike ranges, by a few light seconds. As the Accads approached Task Force Two, they were somehow able to skirt around or fire particle beam weapons at the Rhyn mines as they continued directly at the Alliance ships. The mines that did strike seemed to be some kind of stealth mine and did minimal damage to the Accadian hulls. The Accads continued to move toward Task Force Two, which was now patrolling near the outer planet colony. Meanwhile the Rhyn carriers’ drone hull segments began to move toward the Accads while continuing evasive maneuvers from the oncoming plasma torpedoes sent at them by the enemy.

  Defending the colonies was one of the priorities of the Alliance’s task forces here, and Task Force Two was now defending the colony at the habitable moon orbiting the gas-giant planet.

  On the bridge of the command dreadnaught Sculptor, Fleet Captain Kellog coordinated his task force. He took orders from Fleet Captain Sherman sent by Commodore Sheppard on the fleet command flagship Phoenix. Kellog’s first officer, Commander Shilda, was ordering a target lock maneuver on the Accad dreadnaught with the Sculptor’s dual spinal-mount nova cannons.

  Shilda said, “Engineering, this is bridge command. We need to set coordination on the particle load for the nova cannons.”

  Commander Walt answered, “Sir, will arrange now. Heavy particles we collected from the gas giant and placed in storage unit one are transferring along now to the two cannons.”

  Shilda said, “Weapons control, set up preliminary weapons lock.” Shilda realized it could take over a minute to charge the cannon, and that meant not being able to fire the other particle cannons.

  Shilda was a Tyrian officer and a very pragmatic person. As the countdown to firing continued, she said, “Sir, do you want a torpedo volley just before the cannon is discharged?”

  Kellog replied, “Yes, and follow that with a disruptor-cannon barrage after the torpedoes lock target; we need to get our strikes out. If the Cynz and the Rhyn ships weren’t here, this task force would lose against those four Accad ships. One of those Kadath dreadnaughts has been up against five of our dreadnaughts—and it won.”

  Shilda looked surprised. “I read the reports, but are those ships really that powerful?”

  “Commander Shilda, you have been with the Tyrian defense and have gone up against Varlon and perhaps the Meiosian in the past, but these Accad are very dangerous—somewhat more than even the Varlon.”

  “I understand, sir,” replied Shilda. “Target torpedo barrage on incoming Accad starships and fire.”

  Kellog said, “If we don’t strike first or early enough, they will decimate this force. Each of their cruisers is as powerful as four of ours, and that dreadnaught is roughly as deadly as five of our standard dreadnaughts. The good news at least is that the nova cannons we had installed last year can help with increasing our firepower and give us a better edge.”

  Looking at the power display, Shilda said, “Nova cannon ready to fire, and our starfighters are traveling with torpedoes along a parallel path to intercept the Accad raiders and marauders, as you requested earlier, sir.”

  “Good, then fire first cannon and then second cannon immediately along the same targeted impact path,” replied Kellog.

  The nova cannon flared from the fore of the starship out of the spinal mount. The particles being released from within the Sculptor all along the four-kilometer length of the conical device hurtled at the Accad dreadnaught at about half the speed of light. The Accad ship altered course while releasing some torpedoes of its own, but it was so huge the nova struck it with scathing impact. The dreadnaught’s impressive shields took away some of the deadly effect, and the organo-metallic hull absorbed most of the rest. The hull area glowed as the beam weapon’s energy poured over it. If the second cannon shot hadn’t been right after, only light damage would have been done. But the second nova cannon blast carried into part of the already-reduced defense shield and then tore at the already-damaged hull. As the ship moved, new areas on the hull were blasted, but to a lesser degree than the area previously hit. The result was a two-kilometer-wide crater in the hull of the fifteen-kilometer Accad starship. The forceful impact of the blast altered the Accad dreadnaught’s course.

  Unfortunately, the Accadian Kadath-class dreadnaught had fired weapons of its own.

  Onboard the Sculptor they watched as Kellog ordered, “Evasive maneuver delta five.” He looked at the energy readings from the sensors of those huge plasma torpedoes headed for them.

  Shilda said, “Sir, the dreadnaught’s particle beam cannons scoured over some of the emitters of the nova cannon, and the enemy particle beam struck one of the internal generators and destroyed a section.”

  Lieutenant Croaun, the tactical officer, said, “That would take extremely precise timing to hit as we moved broadsides.”

  Shilda said, “Those particle beams cut into decks eight and nine, and we are venting plasma from the starboard sublight drive.”

  “Damn,” said Kellog. “Auxiliary power to shields.” Then he saw on the tactical view screen that some of those plasma torpedoes would hit even so. “Brace for impact!”

  The dreadnaught shook, and alarms went off.

  Shilda said, “Hanger two has severe hull breaches, also breaches on decks three and four.” A panel overloaded next to Shilda, and she tried to leap out of the way.

  Croaun said, “Their torpedoes are packing a lot of energy, sir—antimatter torpedo inbound—oh, it�
��s registering as a heavy torpedo.” Croaun looked at Kellog and then the shock wave hit the Sculptor and pushed through the already-plasma-weakened defense screens and diverted the course of the ship as it crushed some hull sections and blasted away others.

  Chapter 11

  Battle Onward

  Squadron Commander Shar watched from his starfighter at what he believed to be a safe distance. He moved toward the battle cautiously. He noticed that the Accadian ships could take a beating, their weapons were far superior to the Alliance of Words starships, and they blasted and severely damaged or almost destroyed every ship in Kellog’s task force. The other Galaxy-class dreadnaught in Task Force Two had previously released eight squadrons of starfighters, and with the other ships there were several hundred starfighters in action. Shar watched as his huge starfighter contingent was attacked by the oncoming Accadian marauders and raiders. He began to worry, noting the casualties, and sent his report to Fleet Captain Kellog and another to the Phoenix. The dreadnaught Coleus wasn’t able to fire its single nova cannon before the Accad cruiser used intensely powerful particle beams to cut into the hull near main engineering and disable the collectors and chargers. The only good news was that the Accad did not seem to be doing as well against the Cynz cruisers, who had joined the battle after intercepting and taking only minor damage from Varlon long range torpedo weapon. At least the damage to two of the Accad’s cruisers was mounting.

  Starfighter Commander Shar became enraged, and he released a deep-throated grumble as he saw his comrades in other starfighters taken out. He was a Kyz, and his five crew in a T-200—the largest class of Alliance starfighter—had now rapidly joined the forefront of a starfighter wing strike against the Accad cruiser that was closest to the dreadnaught Sculptor. They had just barely avoided an antimatter shock wave from a torpedo that struck the Sculptor. Commander Shar ordered a torpedo strike against the cruiser while trying to penetrate the outer screens of the cruiser with his T-200. They successfully avoided the enemy’s point defense cannon—barely. It was bumpy, but once partially through the defense screens, he launched his torpedo to strike the far end as the T-200 moved away just outside the antimatter explosion shock wave.

  “Shar to Sculptor, strike successful. Two torpedoes detonated under their outer shields.” Static came back on the intercom from the Sculptor. Shar set up for another round as he saw that the Rhyn drone ships and the Rhyn starfighters had finally arrived to aid. The Rhyn ships started to erode the Accads’ shields.

  The Cynz had moved into a tactical position and began to use simpler but effective weapons: a penetrating mass driver that hurled spears of crystalline material at over half the speed of light at the Accad cruisers and a few at the Kadath dreadnaught once they were in range. These crystalline spears had some armor-piercing qualities, but not all the spears penetrated the hull. Some were deflected by the combination of the powerful shields and the hull lattice. Some with the necessary energy did penetrate and put craters in the hull. One had gone through an open area or hanger bay for launching the Accad raiders and marauders across a thinner hull section as it burst out laterally. Those that did strike released the crystalline nanotechnology that began to fight the living organo-metallic mesh of the Accadian ship’s hull on the microscale. The Cynz also used particle-beam cannons and antimatter torpedoes to strike with effectiveness against the Accadian cruisers.

  Task Force Two had taken some hard hits, and several starships had taken heavy damage, with loss of critical systems from the Accadian cruisers and the dreadnaught. Some heavy plasma torpedoes struck, and a few Alliance of Worlds ships had been blasted badly. Those starships with destroyed engine sections would not be leaving the area.

  Commander Shar and the crews of the other starfighters fought small battles around the larger ships. They zigged and zagged in arcs to avoid being hit by torpedoes. Shar looked over at the remaining starfighters; he had less than half of what he started with. His own T-200 had just been hit by marauder weapons fire; the panels near where the disruptor fire struck were still sparking.

  Shar said, “Form up squadron members with active weapons.” This order was his last attempt, as most starfighters would have expended their ordnance of missiles and torpedoes. “After this run we return to usable hangers.” The greater numbers of Alliance of Worlds starfighters provided some good damage results initially. However, with the firepower of the Accads, they had needed only a few blasts to penetrate and destroy or disable any of the Alliance of Worlds starfighters. Shar was sad, as the losses of pilots and starfighters was high. The Accad marauders and raiders were very deadly and could even got close inside the point defense perimeter to attack the larger starships’ hanger bays with their own carried torpedoes.

  Eventually the Rhyn drone ships had intercepted the Accad ships, and as the Alliance had seen them do against the Varlon in the past, the Rhyn drones sacrificed the ship sections against the Accads. The Accad weapons and torpedo fire tore into the frontal drones, destroying them. Then the next wave of drone segments were partially blasted. The third and final wave, close behind, were able to get into weapons range and fire. One segment crashed with impressive impact into one of the cruisers close to the engine sections. That cruiser halted and drifted. The one other section in a third wave of ramming drones struck the side of the dreadnaught, but the Kadath was much larger. By combining some weapons fire, it was able to destroy part of the drone, so it only took some moderate damage when the Rhyn drone segment crashed into the hull and then exploded.

  If it weren’t for the Cynz holding the other cruisers at bay, and the arrival of the Rhyn drone ships as they finally caught up to help deal with the Accads, Task Force Two would have been worse off. The Kadath’s organo-metallic hull was beginning to heal the severe damage in its port side. The Kadath and one moderately damaged cruiser changed course and headed past the damaged ships and toward the outer colony on the moon of the gas giant planet. It would not take them long to arrive at targeting range at the gas giant.

  Captain Edo was looking out the viewport seeing flashes of energy in the distance. Then two of the objects began to hurtle toward the gas giant. They would be out of view for a few minutes, likely using the gas giant to accelerate and slingshot toward the main colony.

  Edo said, “Astro-telemetry, tell me about the approaching ships.” Edo was command officer for this small starbase, designated Treefort two, and his executive officer, Commander Lars, had just returned from the shuttle bay, having overseen the launches of the starfighter squadrons.

  Lieutenant Quinn said, “Sir, they are Accad ships. One is a Kadath-class dreadnaught that has been damaged, and there’s a cruiser class of unknown type, also damaged, but the damage readings are fluctuating.” Edo nodded as Lars got to his station.

  Lars said, “We have the firepower of a heavy cruiser, but if they decided to take us out, from what I have heard about the Accad, they can.”

  Captain Edo said, “They may just be using the gas giant to accelerate and save power on the way to the inner system, or they may be on the way to deal with this base.”

  Lars said, “We should ask Fleet Captain Kellog if he can send aid.”

  The comms officer said, “Sir, I cannot get a clear channel to the Sculptor.”

  Edo, looking more closely at the sensor reading, said, “I think the Sculptor is severely damaged. Send the request to Commodore Sheppard for some aid.”

  Lieutenant Quinn said, “Sir, several enemy starfighters have cleared the gas giant, and some have veered off toward our direction.”

  Edo said, “Have two of our four starfighter squadrons engage them.” He watched the sensor displays.

  “Aye, sir,” replied Quinn.

  After just a few minutes, Lars said, “Oh my god—they are taking out our starfighters.”

  Edo exhaled slowly, trying to calm himself, and said, “Bring the other two squadrons closer to this starbase. We can use the base’s point defense weapons and antistarfighter defenses to wor
k with our remaining starfighters to increase proximity defenses.”

  They all watched as the enemy marauders and raiders approached, and a strafing battle ensued. Treefort’s cannons damaged the enemy starfighters. Edo watched the explosions of the enemy as well as the fall of his own starfighters. The crew felt the reverberating echoes of the enemy weapons fire as it hit and punctured the hull.

  Lars said, “Sir, the two Accad ships have cleared the gas giant.” For a second he breathed a sigh of relief. Then an area near his console exploded, and he flew backward. The enemy starfighters made a critical system strike. The starbase’s rotation shifted, and the base vectored away from its stable location. Then the gravity shifted, but Edo had held on and watched. He activated his mag boots for additional support. He saw Lars was injured and unconscious.

  Quinn had held on when the gravity shifted. He said, “Sir, they damaged the engineering section’s maneuvering control as well as some of the main thrusters and also over time weakened the defense screens.”

  As they moved the Accad dreadnaught launched some kind of torpedoes and continued toward the inner planets. Once the explosion stopped and a small fire was put out, Edo said, “The main ships are moving away from us. What are those flashes? Is it weapons fire? My console is not working.”

  Quinn said, “Sir, sensors say it’s plasma torpedoes. The energy levels are…above what our defense shields can handle.”

  As he looked out into space, Edo saw the few remaining enemy starfighters vectoring away, back toward their own. He said, “Order evacuation for those who can, and the rest hunker down in the armored areas.” Klaxons sounded to evacuate. Edo watched as the torpedoes grew closer. Then the energy envelope released, and the plasma wave looked like a tsunami heading right at him.

  Quinn said, fear in his voice, “They know we are no threat.”

  Edo said, “Get to the escape pod, Quinn, and the rest of you who can.”