The confusing mess of curves and lines, which were the hyperspace tracks, slowly began to fade, going only systems where the tracks repeatedly returned. Two possible star systems showed repeat arrivals in the last year: Novquivzon and Alok Krovi. Both were approximately 17 light years from Amethyst, two star systems away. Novquivzon lay roughly north and east of Amethyst. Alok Krovi lay to the west, above the plane of the galactic spiral.
“One iz for the Committee and the other iz for Baron Death?”
Tyler’s face flushed. “Actually, no, my Lord. Those are most likely options for the Committee of Public Safety. The analysts can’t come to a consensus as to which is the most likely base. One even stated that they are each a base.”
“Hmmm…” Verrikoth considered this. “What iz the sstatuss of the repairz on Gr’kenth and Kopesh?”
Tyler looked to the side, consulting another display. “The latest update from the engineers has the Gr’kenth ready in three days, but Kopesh will take another two weeks to get all the control problems and power issues sorted out.”
“Two weekss,” the zheen repeated slowly. That would be perfect, giving Xekxik and Vin’zyek, the two corvettes that were still on their way from Tyseus time to get here. That would give him a sizeable force to work with and with a few tweaks, he could take them all and still leave a defense for Amethyst, at least for the short term.
“Thank you, Commander,” he said, pleased. “Continue with your normal duties and the data mining.” He pressed a control and cut off the circuit. Yes, this could work out quite well.
((--[][]--))
The arrival of Xekxik and Vin’zyek proved to be ahead of schedule, but as anticipated, Kopesh was still in Hyperidon’s repair slip and stayed there until the full fourteen days elapsed. The chief of the engineers from Nemesis stood before his Warlord in the ready room, trying not to look nervous and failing.
“So the Kopesh is up and running, sir. She’s ready to go. Uh, I mean, my Lord,” the engineer stammered, blanching.
Verrikoth did not need to look up from the data pad with the report provided by this man due to his compound eyes, but he ignored the man’s gaffe. The engineer was only human, after all, prone to all those human frailties. What the chief was not prone to, however, was errors in his work. So the Warlord was willing to overlook any social faux pas the man might make… so long as he continued to deliver.
“Well done,” he said instead. “You have proven to be mosst effective, once again.”
The man looked embarrassed. “You gave my team a job, my Lord,” he said in response, as though that said it all.
The zheen regarded the man for a long moment. He seemed sincere, and it wasn’t as though Verrikoth had threatened him. That said, simply being in the Warlord’s presence, the being who decided life and death in this domain was a threat in itself. His antennae bobbed, and he moved on. “All ssystemss fully operational on the Kopesh?”
The chief nodded. “Yes, s- my Lord,” he hastily corrected. “Well, with what we’ve got on hand, anyway.”
Verrikoth’s antennae perked up and his mouthparts wriggled. “What doez that mean?” He placed a firm thread of menace into his voice, and the man’s complexion went white again.
The chief kept clenching and unclenching his big hands. Then his eyes flew open wide. “Oh, no, my Lord! What I meant was we don’t have a lot of the Republic upgrades and new gear here in Amethyst. We had the new parts in Nemesis’s inventory but almost none of the new upgrades. That’s all I meant, my Lord. Plenty of spares to fix up Kopesh, sir. And it’s all fixed up, sir; all good to go.” He was falling all over himself to get the explanation out.
Verrikoth raised a hand to stop the flood of words coming from the man. His jaw snapped shut with an audible click. “That waz what I was concerned with, thank you for ssetting my mind at eaze.” The man went rigid, but didn’t seem to calm down at all. “I just want assurance my sshipss are taken care of.”
The man gulped. “Yes, sir. Combat ready, sir.” He was pulsing with anxiety and he’d fixed his gaze on the bulkhead behind the Warlord.
“Excellent. I knew that I could count on you. That will be all.” Verrikoth waved a dismissal. The chief didn’t simply bolt, as the zheen expected. After a moment’s pause, he stiffened to attention, then, without further hesitation, brought his right hand up to rap his fist against his left breast twice. Dropping his arm, he said, “Warlord,” in a tone of respect (was that relief as well?) then spun on his heel and stepped out of the ready room.
“A ssalute?” Verrikoth said. The man was clearly terrified, yet he’d come to attention and saluted without and traces of his previous apprehension.
Verrikoth tried to reconcile the completely contradictory attitudes out of that one man, found that he couldn’t so he mentally pushed it aside. His small fleet needed tending to and orders needed issuing.
((--[][]--))
“I have gone over the data from the captured data corez and I have decided I will not allow their insolence to sstand.” The zheen Warlord looked out at the assembled officers, gathered in the officers’ wardroom aboard the heavy cruiser. Jensen Tyler was there, of course, as were Flayl and Kipris, V’ka’sith Ka’zh from Gawilghur and the two human captains from the two new corvettes from Tyseus. The wardroom seemed full as two other leaders, the heads of both cruisers’ boarding party detachments entered the compartment and found seats around the rapidly filling table.
“You are all here because we will disscuss how I will respond to the pirate gangz who sseem to think they can sshoot up my sstar ssysstem,” he stated with no preamble. There were feral grins and looks of agreement amongst all the assembled. “Commander Tyler’s analysts, confirmed by those on the station, have discovered the two most likely locations for their bases.”
More excited looks. “Which factions, my Lord?” V’ka’sith asked.
“The Committee for Public Ssaftey,” Verrikoth replied, his voice hissing with scorn. “We do not have firm data on their basez, whether thiss iz one base or two. However, I do not wish to ssquander ssuch an opportunity.”
“Which will we hit first?” Flayl asked. Her confidence levels had risen considerably in recent weeks even as her training sims grew ever more intense. She’d managed to fight her way through dozens of simulations, sometimes as many as six missions in a day. Flayl would be humming with fatigue and anxiety at the end of each one, but holding herself up tall, triumphant. Kopesh had performed well, defeating heavy odds and only dying three times in total. Even when the odds were all but stacked against them, the destroyer and the corvette against a host of enemies, Flayl managed to maintain her cool.
Verrikoth’s antennae curled, then straightened. “We will hit them ssimultaneoussly. I want to overawe them by hitting both placez at once. They won’t know we’re doing it, of course, but once the word getss out, other groupss will know what we did and they can expect.” The others nodded again at the logic.
“What if one of those places turns out to be empty?” V’ka’sith asked.
“That’s unlikely,” Tyler interjected. “The records from the Committee database indicate that several ships have come to and left both systems over a dozen times in the last year. Dreyvis, the freighter we captured, visited both places in the last year alone.”
“I will be dividing the flotilla into three parts,” Verrikoth said and all eyes turned back to him. “Dreyviss will remain here, but Kopesh and Gr’kenth will come with uss.” Flayl and Kipris looked both shocked and pleased by the news. “I will not leave Hyperidon defenseless, however, sso I will be detaching sseveral gunboatss from the cruizerz. Half of Nemessiss’z contingent and two from Gawilghur. With ssix of the gunboatss, that sshould give adequate protection and sstill give uss a decent amount of firepower in the field.”
The others did not comment. It seemed a reasonable precaution, not to mention that by leaving half the gunboats behind there would be a corresponding savings in fuel for the cruisers; not that many of the a
ssembled officers would concern themselves with that. No, they wouldn’t care at all about fuel, well, not much anyway, not with the prospect of battle looming.
“The other two groups will be based around the cruisers,” he went on, to no one’s surprise. “V’ka’sith will command the first flotilla from Gawilghur accompanied by Vin’zyek, Gr’kenth, and Xekxik. A light cruiser, three corvettes, two gunboats and three of the Sparhawk fighters aboard the cruiser.”
V’ka’sith waggled his antennae. “A formidable strike force, my Lord.” He nodded soberly, but his unable to hide the excited movements of his antennae, excitement over an independent command.
“Yes,” Verrikoth replied, watching the other zheen for a moment. That flotilla he will command is a significant threat to anyone here in Argos. I shall have to watch V’ka’sith closely before we leave. I don’t want him just flying off and taking my ships. “Kopesh,” he went on, “will come with Nemesiss. We will go to Alok Krovi while Gawilghur will hit Novquizon.” The found it strange that he, the commander in this group with the greatest amount of combat experience as well as in commanding multiple ships, would be leading the smaller force. But he had no intention of transferring his flag from Nemesis and this would serve as a good test of V’ka’sith’s command abilities. Though he couldn’t help wishing that Hestian and Ganges were here in their place.
He paused for a moment to let the officers absorb the information before he went on. “The sso-called Committee of Public Ssafety iz an annoyance that has nipped at ssome of the less defended of my worldz and I want them exterminated. In a month’ss time, I want them dead, captured or otherwize gone from my area of influence.”
V’ka’sith gave a soft hiss. “What are your orders concerning prisoners, my Lord?”
Verrikoth considered this for a moment, actually giving it real thought. He nodded. “An excellent question, Kapitan. I don’t want to deal with large numberz of prizonerz. Eliminate the most belligerent, keep anyone who haz any sseriouss technical sskill or might be valuable for ssale. Kill the rest,” he reiterated.
Excitement bubbled with hunger this time as the Warlord’s kill order came down. Verrikoth was not known for his merciful nature, but he was known for being practical. This order wasn’t out of line with the way he did business.
“Once you hit Novquizon you will sspend no more than one-week ssearching for their base, sshould it be hidden. We will make ssure all relevant data iz uploaded to Gawilghur before you depart. But I want you back here az ssoon az possible.” He watched as the other’s antennae twitched and the other officers shuffled a bit, but he didn’t waver. “Ssend one of your hyper-capable sshipss back here with newz if there are other developmentz.”
V’ka’sith nodded. “Of course, my Lord. Do we know what kind of ships the Committee has?”
“Less than they had before,” Commander Tyler put in with the barest of smiles on his lips. The others chuckled. Verrikoth gestured to his flag commander, and the man sobered slightly. “A small group of armed merchant ships, larger than the Dreyvis. Medium to heavy freighters with varying armament from what we’ve been able to glean from the captured data. At least one cutter, which has only one or two light lasers, but then there’s their flagship: a bulk cruiser.”
V’ka’sith sat and waited, expecting that to be a joke. “A bulk freighter? Loaded with missiles?”
The man shook his head. “No. Starfighters.” He frowned, touching his fingers to his chin. “Unfortunately, Dreyvis’s data banks only indicate two ‘squadrons’ of fighters, but no details as to what kinds of ships, or how many.”
The zheen clacked his mandibles. “That seems like a critical piece of information to be lacking, Commander.”
Tyler tipped his head to the side then nodded, acknowledging the point. “You’re right, it is, but that’s all we have. At least this way, we have some idea what we’re facing.”
“Make ssure all your sshipss practice anti-sstarfighter and point defense drillz in addition to regular attack and gunnery, Kapitan,” Verrikoth told him.
“Of course, my Lord,” V’ka’sith replied, taking out his datapad and making several notes.
“We don’t have access to a He3 fuel here in Amethyst, so I will need you to make sure you all have sufficient supply before we depart. The rest of the tanks will have to be filled with deuterium from the station’s fuel bunkers.” The Warlord eyed them all for a moment before continuing. “Now, for munitions…”
((--[][]--))
Yokusk watched the two groups of warships as they raced away from Hyperidon station on divergent courses. Normal operations resumed now that the fleet was gone and his engineers were back to work on Dreyvis as well as the new construction of the station.
For years, Amethyst was devoid of any serious military presence, only two warships for defense and that was always adequate. Then multiple ships from different pirate gangs all showed up and once and decided to ignore the long-standing rules and settle their scores. Yokusk’s security forces and then later the defense forces had repelled them and then chased them off, but this was the first truly serious incident he’d experienced. A serious incident that included any kind of warships.
Then for a few weeks, more warships than he’d ever seen gathered in one place to protect his station arrived. Well, it was the Warlord’s station; Yokusk just ran it, and those ships technically weren’t here to defend the station. This was more of a waypoint on a further journey, but if any threats showed up, he was sure that those ships would fight their hardest to protect the place. No, this was more of a staging area before all those warships took off on their mission. He hadn’t needed nor wanted a large military presence here before, and now that all he had was the barest bones of a defense force, the ravaged zheen found himself desperately wishing he could call them back.
Chapter 3
Novquizon was a system no one in their right mind would want to go to. The star was belching huge pulses of lethal radiation throughout the star system, and the system itself boasted little in the way of celestial real estate. The system had one small (in planetary terms) gas giant, surrounded by dust rings, one frozen rock barely large enough to be classified as a planet in a far orbit, and one molten rock of a planet extremely close to the star.
“A thoroughly unpleazzant star system,” V’ka’sith noted in a tone of wonder. The Committee for Public Safety is braver than I’d have thought if they’re willing to set up shop in this place. Then he straightened, pulling up a status display showing the tactical net for the rest of the flotilla. Shields were active on all vessels, at levels above what was considered standard for solar radiation. They didn’t need to be up at full power; that was just a waste of energy. The zheen Kapitan knew that staying in this system too long would be lethal on its own, without even factoring in a battle.
“Sensors, report,” the Kapitan ordered.
Djarok, the turtle-like reptile at the sensor station immediately snapped to action, quick despite the notorious lassitude of his species. “Scopes are clear of outside contacts, Kapitan. But radiation in this system is seventeen points above standard. Not enough to degrade sensors much, but anyone caught outside the hull or the shields is going to have a bad day in short order.”
“Understood,” the zheen replied, noting that. “Any signs of activity?”
“Nothing within five hundred thousand klicks,” the domak told him. “Continuing scans.”
“Helm, set a course in system,” V’ka’sith ordered, checking his own display. “Set course for the inner system, specifically that outer planetary body. Let’s be methodical about this.”
The flotilla accelerated forward, moving on a long, curving vector from the hyper limit to that outer planet. V’ka’sith saw the timer counting down, indicating thirty-three hours and change until the flotilla would reach the small planet with its two moons.
The time passed quickly, much to the zheen Kapitan’s surprise. Shorthanded as Gawilghur was, there were always tasks to perform
and after what seemed like only a few hours, he was back on the bridge with less than an hour until they were within weapons range of the planet. He had no intention of shooting at an inoffensive rock, but it paid to be prepared.
V’ka’sith checked the tactical net display. The other ships were maintaining the diamond formation, though more loosely than the computer models called for, it was close enough. Gawilghur was leading the formation, with the three corvettes evenly spaced in a triangle behind, with one up above the light cruiser’s aft end and the other two below. All of them had their shields active, all but Gr’kenth were running at the minimum necessary to ward off radiation.
He noticed some chatter on the tactical net as the captains of the other ships talked with one another. Checking in on them, text scrolled on his display, showing the various conversations. His antennae curled a bit as he quickly scanned through it. Most of it was excitement about the upcoming fight, or the fight they all assumed was coming.
The captain of the corvette Gr’kenth, however, was putting forth a litany of complaints about the radiation, which would explain why his ship’s shields were at half strength while the rest of the flotilla was operating at one quarter. V’ka’sith could have called him out on it, ordered him to clap his mandibles shut, but decided instead that so long as it remained only grumbling, he wouldn’t say anything about it. Kipris clearly had gotten too used to the comforts of star system patrol. It would do him good to have to rough it a bit out in the black. And if he couldn’t hack it, V’ka’sith would have him dealt with. Lord Verrikoth had placed him in command of this flotilla with simple orders: deal with the Committee forces here in Novquizon. He made no mention of giving special favor to any of the other leaders in the flotilla.
The Warlord's Path: Samair in Argos: Book 6 Page 8