The ship lurched, pulling Blazer away from his investigations. The lights within the hangar blinked on and off, the ship’s power-grid failing. “That’s our cue to leave,” Arion called. “Tadeh Qudas and the others just killed the last turret.”
“Alpha Claw, Monstero Nach Lead, you are cleared in hot,” Tadeh Qudas called as his flight group sped past the rear opening of the flight deck.
“Copy that Monstero Nach Lead. Get your people clear.”
“Already on our way out,” Blazer called. A few pushes to his stick and puffs of his thrusters pointed his fighter down the flight deck and he gunned the throttle. “Four, Six, we’ve overstayed our welcome. Let’s move.”
The trio raced out of the carrier without comment. There was little the carrier could do at this point. Defenseless, it accelerated away, but it could never outrun the bombers. Checking to ensure he was out of the line of fire; Blazer spun their fighter about to let it drift and watch.
Torpedo after torpedo raced in unmolested by defensive fire. The first four drove into the carrier’s twin engine nacelles. The anti-matter warheads detonated, shattering them in a blast of nuclear fire. More ripped into the hull of the ship. Great swathes of the ship disappeared, annihilated by the anti-matter. The ship rocked, new avenues into the flight deck appeared, the atmosphere vented and the crew went with it.
To the crew’s credit, they did their best to save their crippled ship before escape pods began to rocket free. Blazer shook his head. Jumping into an escape pod in enemy territory was riskier than staying aboard one’s own ship. If the power core remained intact, the ship could keep a crew alive far longer. If not, and it could be vented, the ship would still be more hospitable than a cramped escape module. In enemy space, the only reason to abandon ship would be if the ship faced imminent structural collapse.
Tracking one of the escape pods, he spotted the rest of the convoy in the distance. Running lights and drive flares from the Wolfsbane’s fighter wing lit up the sky. A few freighters’ running lights flashed out rescue beacons, but that was all. The battle was over. “Arion, what’s the status?”
“The freighters have all been disabled or have surrendered. The crews are probably scragging their nav computers as we speak. Frigate one is disabled and falling into the gas giant.”
Blazer looked over his shoulder. Arion was right, the hull of the black and grey saucer-shaped craft had already begun to glow from friction as it fell out of orbit. A few escape pods rocketed away.
“Frigate Two is attempting to run but the destroyers are on it. Recall order just came in, the fight’s over.”
“Good, clean sweep then.” Before Blazer could say more, the lights on the carrier blinked. A heartbeat later, plasma fires burst through the seams. The reactor had breached into the ship. The resulting plasma fountain ripped through the ship’s interior, multiple geysers tearing the ship in half before they subsided. “Life signs?” Blazer asked, his skin prickling.
Arion’s response sounded numb. “None, dear god.”
“All Units, Lead, return to base.”
Blazer felt as cold as Tadeh Qudas’ tone.
Bridge, UCSBS-Wolfsbane
Captain Sardenon looked out upon the crippled convoy with pride. Though it was not the ultimate prize he’d wished to destroy, it had sated his appetite and could provide clues to lead him to it. His own fighters were still out there; escorting shuttles, dropships and workpods as the marines secured the ships and their crews.
At her Tactical Station, Sia seemed particularly happy. Her advice and tactical deployments had made the difference. The captain decided not to dampen that mood by pointing out how lopsided the battle had been. Beside her, the lead Post Battle Forensic Analyst stood, reading through her displays. His was the report the Captain most wanted to hear.
“Sir,” Homi called from the communications station across the upper bridge. “Sir, report on the decoy group coming in.” The captain waved the Drashig officer to continue. “The Captain of the Archen apologizes. One freighter managed to slip through. They arrayed the rest around to shield it and the escorting frigate was primarily firing scattering beams. The frigate itself has escaped but is still in the system.”
The captain pondered that for a moment. “Send out recon flights to try and root out that ship. I want immediate reports on any findings.”
“Yes sir,” Officer Mioshay called from the Ops Station and set to work relaying the order.
The Captain almost jumped as the Post Battle Forensic Analyst appeared beside him. Dressed in full environment suit, with an interior atmosphere that would kill everyone on the bridge if the armored suit breached, the eight limbed Bewnik was one of the top analysts in the fleet. That he could move with such silence had always bothered the captain. At least the suit prevented him from having to look at the multi-jawed maw that it called a head. Instead one of its appendages rose, an eyestalk tipping it along with an external speaker. “Captain Sardenon, my team has completed its initial analysis. Your crew has been most helpful, as always.”
The Bewnik did not speak Confed Standard, their vocal cords unable to produce the sounds. That left the translators as their sole means of communication. I wonder how much of the formality in their speech is from the AI in the synthesizers, and how much is real? “Thank you Sovereign Krale. What are your findings thus far?”
“Initial sensor scans proved correct,” Sovereign Krale began, waving another appendage towards the upper bridge’s central hologram. “The freighters were travelling light. The liquid and gaseous consumables tankers were only half-filled. Two freighters were acting as garbage scows, and the rest had less than twenty-five percent of their cargo bays filled. I would speculate that they were not consolidated into single ships due to specific storage requirements.”
“Such as?”
“Munitions, food, precision spares, medical supplies, personnel…”
The Captain had to fight down a wave of anger. They’d been too late, the convoy had already resupplied the Barker and her battlegroup. But something felt off. He studied the hologram. “Why take anything back other than damaged equipment and crew cycling out?”
“They weren’t.”
“What?” the Captain asked, perplexed.
“Sir, it would make no sense for a convoy of that size to traverse this system if they were on a return journey to Federation space. Free-navigation would have made more sense in that case.” The hologram shifted again to show the jump point they’d been headed towards. “The jump point to which the convoy was traveling maintains close proximity to that of Vortain and QRG-678, and at the moment, to Drobile…”
“Drobile - you’re sure?”
“Yes sir, but it is not normally in close proximity.”
That got the Captain’s mind grinding away. Reports were coming in from across the Confederation that the Galactic Federation had somehow been able to anticipate jump point drift to a degree that the Confederation had never come close to. Sometimes jump points deep into Confederation territory would drift within close proximity to those of Galactic Federation worlds. Even if it was only for a few hects, the Geffers somehow knew, and would pounce. The Captain turned to the Navigator Olza. “Nav, how long will the jump point to Drobile remain in close proximity?”
Olza stared at his screen for several moments, pulling up the current local hyperspace charts. “Less than a cycle sir is our best guess,” he replied after a moment. “It’s the innermost jump point into the system. That’s the most erratic one into hyperspace.”
Sov Krale highlighted gun-camera footage from Monstero Nach 03. “That is an interesting finding sir. These craft here, they bear corrosion consistent with the atmospheric makeup of Drobile Six. A class Delt gas giant.”
Saliva began to pool in Captain Sardenon’s mouth, his eyes narrowing as he stared off at nothing. “Given the amount of cargo we found, could it have been enough to resupply a single Barker Class carrier?”
“Yes Sir. Though there were
no fighters and few pilots aboard any of the transports. While the crews are not talking at this time, the condition of their uniforms and gear would seem to indicate that they were heading towards a ship, not away.”
“The freighters that headed straight to the jump point. Do we have an analysis of their cargo yet?”
“No sir.”
“I’d bet a tridec’s pay that they were carrying spares for the fighters we just engaged. They were getting ready to hot-swap the crew. How long will it be until we can hand these ships over to the Confed authorities?”
Sia looked up from the tactical station, her docked ears lowering in concentration. “Not for at least another cycle, sir.”
The Captain flicked at his nose, looked back at Sov Krale. “I want your full report on my desk before the end of the cycle.” He turned to Sia. “Send word to the Archen and the Blake. They are to head directly to Drobile, right now and pursue that freighter. I want a Marine Recon In Force on Drobiles Six, Eight and Nine, the outer gas giants.”
The Captain stood back to watch as the remains of the decimated Mitchell class carrier began to lick the upper atmosphere. Memories he’d long buried came flooding back - the death of his first carrier. It had met a similar fate. Half the crew were unable to escape before the UCSBS-Tragle, an Ormu-Balhet class carrier, had reached crush depth in the atmosphere of Drobile Nine. He made his way to the ladderwell down to the main bridge and looked to the primary tactical hologram. His XO stood there, guiding the rescue and capture efforts. “Commander Vetter!”
The Drashig officer looked up. “Sir?”
The Captain started down the ladderwell. “The bridge is yours. As soon as the salvage crews are finished, I need you get us on the most expeditious course you can to Drobile.”
“Sir?” the Commander asked. “That’s outside of our patrol zone.”
“I’m well aware of that Commander,” he replied as he reached the lower level. “I’ll be in my ready room.” Before anyone even had the chance to reply, the captain stormed towards the door at the back of the bridge. He waited there for a moment as it disappeared into the wall and looked back at the Mitchell. The gas giant’s gravity had dragged it deeper into the clouds, flames ripping at its hull. “I’ll get you this time you bastard!”
UCSB Date: 1005.191
Stellar Cartography, UCSBS-Wolfsbane, Neshid System
By necessity, few spaces on any ship could be described as large and open without being composed of multiple compartments. Even the hangars and onboard factories of the Wolfsbane were designed to have sections closed off in case of decompression or disaster conditions. What was even more unusual to find were large spaces that weren’t filled with equipment or personnel. The sheer openness of this massive spherical room space was something that Tadeh Qudas would never be able to get used to.
Held to the deck solely by the magnetic locks in his boots on the platform at its heart, he looked down the narrow walkway to the hatch. It slid away into the holographic map that surrounded them. In all his annura with the Confederation, he’d been in many such spaces, but most were far smaller. Holographic technology could make the room seem larger. But the Wolfsbane was an older, larger ship: not only did it harken back to a time when this amount of space was necessary, but had had the room to spare.
Captain Sardenon strode in through the open hatch. His footfalls echoed heavily as the maglocks in his boots over-accelerated each step. Behind him marched the ship’s Chief Navigation Officer, Teblic. Tadeh Qudas stood fast at the control console. The fear wafting off the shaking technician beside him spiked every time he drew near.
The Captain eyed them both as he approached and walked straight to the young technician, laying a reassuring hand on his shoulder. That made the whisker roots in Tadeh Qudas’ nose twitch in amusement, though no one else could see outside his death helm. The Lycan captain was far more likely to turn and kill the tech than the calmer Telshin. He’d done nothing to cross Tadeh Qudas after all. “I see you’ve arrived early Tadeh Qudas, thank you.”
Tadeh Qudas nodded. “When bidden, I come.”
“Of course,” the Captain replied and nodded to the technician. The room darkened and the stars around the room brightened as a hologram of the Neshid system coalesced around them. At the heart of the chamber, the console acted as the local sun. “As you know, three cycles ago we intercepted a Galactic Federation convoy traversing this system.” A highlighted course appeared, illustrating the motion of all the ships involved, before highlighting a single jump point. The hologram zoomed in on it. “In the course of the battle, one of the transports managed to escape via this jump point. While we managed to destroy or disable the other transports, their escorting Corsicaa Class Frigate held off the Archen and Blake.”
Tadeh Qudas scratched at an old scar on his shoulder and took a step towards the holographic jump point. “The destroyers gave chase?”
“They did once I gave the order. The transport had already gone to ground however, but the destroyers confirmed that it had entered the Drobile System.”
Tadeh Qudas remained stock still, as if unimpressed. Under his helmet however, he could feel his skin prickle. Drobile was not a system he had any desire to visit. “What of the frigate? The reports I read indicated that it had escaped?”
“It managed to slipstream away, but was heavily damaged. Earlier this cycle, the frigate escaped into hyperspace, possibly to return to the Barker’s battlegroup. I launched deep recon Ferals with sniffers aboard to try and track it down. We’ve yet to receive any updates.”
Tadeh Qudas looked at the next highlighted jump point. It had been lightly defended, but even he could see that the corvettes guarding it had allowed the escape. He smiled in approval, not that anyone else would see. The Captain was a skilled hunter, allowing the injured member of the herd to lead them back to the rest. His reliance on sniffers however, while well founded, might not pan out. The hyperspace-birthed telepaths were remarkable in their ability to track ships through hyperspace, but even so they offered no guarantees. “I’ve seen well-trained sniffer teams track many ships through hyperspace. But I would have attached a tracking beacon as well.”
Captain Sardenon eyed Tadeh Qudas with a cool glare, his emotions unreadable. “We attempted to do so as well,” he replied, his voice calm. The hologram shifted to reveal the other side of the jump point and the relative positions of other points in hyperspace. “The blockade was unable to get a hard hit however. And, since there were no nearby jump points in hyperspace at the time of the escape, we must assume that the frigate is free-navigating.”
Chief Teblic stepped up. “Based on the after-action reports however, we do not feel that the convoy was free-navigating to reach this system. Jump buoy logs show that they jumped in-system shortly before their discovery. But we do not know what system they jumped in from. At that time there were at least a dozen jump points in the two to fifteen hect free-navigation range.”
“What are you basing that hyperspace duration on?” Tadeh Qudas asked.
The Captain stepped up and a hologram of one of the transports appeared. “Several of the transports were in rough shape before they’d arrived according to our analysis. Anything more than a cycle and at least three of them would have seen hyperspace shield failure.”
Tadeh Qudas considered that and turned away from the hologram. “So, we don’t know where they came from, or where the frigate has headed, but we do know the system that they were headed towards.”
The Captain nodded and the map shifted again to reveal the Drobile system. It was an unremarkable system for the most part. Two rocky worlds hung well inside the habitable band, two within that zone, one of which hung almost dead in the middle. Several massive gas giants orbited beyond. “That’s right, and it’s why I called you here. Given your history, with and before your service in the UCSB, I figure you’ve amassed quite a lot of data on the Drobile Phantom.”
Just how much do you know about me Sardenon? Tadeh Qudas tur
ned to the technician. “Move away from the console.” The young man did as instructed, shaking the whole time. Weaving in with his micomm, Tadeh Qudas accessed his private files. It took a moment but he found the relevant stitch and pulled it up.
Red dots began to appear throughout the space. Spread throughout the system, the dots concentrated around the super gas giant that now dominated the chamber. All eyes on him, Tadeh Qudas deactivated his maglocks and leapt towards the gas giant. Slowing beside it, he highlighted a single dot on one of the numerous moons. “On 974.208 UCSB Academy 22 went dark,” Tadeh Qudas began, stabbing the moon with an outstretched finger. “There was no indication that an attack was imminent and only reports of a disruption in local trade traffic afterwards revealed what had happened.”
Tadeh Qudas brought up a fuzzy image of a Barker Class carrier. “An unknown Barker had launched a surprise attack into the system. There was no indication at all that it had even arrived. Multiple missions were launched to try and track down the phantom carrier, but none could. Most were destroyed outright with only a single data buoy giving any indication of what happened.
“Confed stepped up protection in the system, which was a major trade hub at the time, but the Phantom remained hidden. This hampered the war effort for several annura and mandated altering all traffic around Drobile. The system has eight jump points, all of which provide easy access to deep Confed systems. After the first few annura however, only sporadic attacks occurred. Still, no ship that ventured near the super gas giant and two of the outer gas giants ever returned.”
Chief Teblic bristled visibly on the platform. “Why have I never heard of this?”
Tadeh Qudas would have pitied the man for not seeing what was too obvious. “It was covered up,” he replied, cool as ice. “High Command didn’t want to admit that a Geffer carrier battlegroup was operating unmolested deep in Confed territory, or that we couldn’t find it.”
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