Beyond the Veil

by Hamish Spiers

  “Copy that. And now that Sigma and Epsilon squadron have shown us how it’s done, we might launch a few more fighter squadrons.”

  Lord Erama nodded as he saw the two lines of cruisers moving in. “Good idea.” Although, he hadn’t needed to reply, he realized, as more fighters were pouring out of the ships before he had even got the words out. “But be careful,” he added. “We’ve already lost one cruiser and one of my Battle Titans is out of the fight.”

  “My own ships are taking quite a pounding as well.”

  Which was true, Lord Erama saw as the other cruisers moved in. The Maiden’s Virtue and some of the other ships nearby had been clearly scorched. He hoped the damage was more cosmetic than anything serious, although it looked as though some of their heavy cannons had been blown off.

  He turned his attention to the Dreadnought furthest from him, which was now attempting to meet the incoming cruisers head on. However, its size was now working against it as it was unable to match their maneuverability.

  “You’re fine there, Admiral Garam,” he said. “We’ve got a better idea of the range of the enemy’s weapons now, and while they can do a lot more damage, their range is not as good as ours.”

  “Older ships, of course,” the admiral replied as his cruisers began opening fire.

  Older ships, Lord Erama thought as his own ships joined in. That was part of it but there was more to it than that. It was as though the Levarc didn’t know how to fully utilize their own vessels.

  “Captain Ah’ness!” Laila called out. “Go wide. See if we can come up aft on their portside.”

  The feathers of the captain of the Deliverance flattened somewhat in a Tollum expression of puzzlement. “We’ll be completely exposed there. We’re better off with the main line.”

  “No, we’re not,” Laila told him, keeping her voice calm and measured. “The enemy can’t fire on all of us at once.”

  “They’ve got more than enough weapons,” Chaelak pointed out from his vantage point beside her.

  Laila smiled. “Yes, but they don’t have enough gunnery officers.”

  Chaelak’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that?”

  “I’ve been counting the blasts and the gun emplacements that are actually being used,” Laila told him.

  “But the blasts have come from all the sections of weapons clusters at various points throughout the battle.”

  “But not all at once,” Laila explained. “When they fired those barrages earlier, they were using a quarter of their available weapons, if that. This is a show. A damn good one but a show nonetheless. They’re running their ships with skeleton crews.”

  Chaelak thought it over. “I think you might be right. But the Levarc never did such a thing.”

  “Maybe they’re not Levarc then,” Laila said.

  “They’re still dangerous,” Captain Ah’ness interjected, his feathers flattened again but this time in a display of grief.

  “Have we lost another cruiser?” Laila asked him.

  “No,” Ah’ness told her. “We have lost two.”

  “Then let’s act quickly before we lose any more.”

  “Yes, Ms. Casdan,” Ah’ness replied. “Helm, take us wide and bring us up behind their portside. Comm, relay our position to Admiral Kalae and keep her informed.”

  There was an acknowledgement from the insectoid-like Ja’voreal at the helm, and another from the short avian-like Hie’shi at the communication station.

  “Comm,” Laila added. “I need the admiral to pin down their defenses as well or this will be for nothing. And I need a group of fighters to run a smokescreen. They don’t need to get in too close. They just need to distract whoever’s manning those guns so they don’t have time to figure out what we’re up to.”

  “Acknowledged,” the Hie’shi replied, tapping the controls with his predatory claws.

  She had a formidable group on the Deliverance, Laila reflected. Between a Hie’shi, a Ja’voreal and three Levarc engineering officers, any boarding party trying to take the ship would get more than they bargained for. It was a comforting, though somewhat irrelevant, thought. She turned her concentration back to the task at hand. They were nearly in position.

  “Gunnery,” she instructed, “prepare to fire on my mark. We’re targeting those weapons clusters.”

  “Captain Ah’ness,” came a familiar voice. The Hie’shi was putting Admiral Kalae over the bridge loudspeakers. “I have a squadron of fighters in position. What are you planning?”

  Before Ah’ness could reply, Laila stepped over to the comm. “Admiral, I need those fighters to feign attacks. Go in and pull out. Make it look as though they’re just working up their nerves for a strafing run but tell them to keep out of range. We’ve already lost a few ships. Let’s see if we can avoid losing any more.”

  “How long do you need?”

  “A minute. Maybe two,” Laila guessed. “You’ll know when we’re done.”

  “Copy that. Good luck.”

  “Helm?” Laila asked once the transmission had ended.

  “We’re nearly in position,” the Ja’voreal replied. “They’re firing at the fighters.” However, even as he said it, everyone on the bridge got a clear view of the proceedings as they were now coming up behind the Dreadnought.

  “It looks like they’re ignoring us for the moment,” Ah’ness observed, watching as Kalae’s fighters flew in towards the weapons emplacements, pulled out and repeated the maneuvers while the Dreadnought’s cannons fired repeatedly.

  “They know what our fighters can do,” Laila pointed out. “Thanks to Sigma and Epsilon squadron.”

  “But they were using Corteks,” Ah’ness pointed out.

  “Yes,” Laila replied. “But they wouldn’t appreciate the difference.”

  Ah’ness nodded. “I see. But once we move in, they’ll turn their attention to us quickly enough.”

  Laila smiled. “We’ll just have to quicker. Helm, accelerate. Fly along its length and keep going straight. This is a basic strafing run. Just in a cruiser, that’s all.”

  “Attack speed now,” the helmsman reported as the Dreadnought rushed up to meet them. For another moment, the massive weapons emplacements they were about to fly over were still concentrating their fire on the small group of fighters that were harassing the larger ship. Then someone on the Dreadnought must have seen them and shots started coming their way instead.

  Laila concentrated. They would only get one chance at this and if it didn’t work, they’d be torn to shreds. “Gunnery, cannon salvos then torpedoes. Fire!”

  The blasts went off in rapid succession and as they soared over the Dreadnought, Laila saw billowing clouds of explosions as the torpedoes punched through the weakened shields underneath them.

  Then, just as soon as their attack had begun, it was over and they raced over the prow of the Dreadnought and behind the lines of the Felariam defenses.

  Laila nodded to the comm officer and he resumed transmitting to Admiral Kalae.

  “Admiral,” Laila said. “You can call the fighters back and carry on with your attack.”

  “Copy that,” Kalae answered. “Commander Vach. Bring your squad back. We’ll take over from here.”

  “Copy that,” came the fighter commander’s reply.

  “Good job, Laila,” Kalae added. “This Dreadnought’s almost out of the fight. Take the Deliverance back behind the main line and we’ll finish it off.”

  Laila smiled. “Copy that, Admiral. Over and out.”

  General Kellahav watched the exchange of cannons closely. They were up against three ships, each of them comparable to the Annihilator in size and firepower. However, the Annihilator was a newer ship and it showed. While the enemy was pouring out barrages of blasts, none of them were reaching them. The blasts from the Annihilator however were hitting their targets dead on, weakening the enemy’s shields and tearing away weapons emplacements. At this range, they could hold the enemy indefinitely and their Dreadnoughts wouldn’t be able to
scratch them but the enemy was moving in fast.

  “All ships. Come in.”

  The captains of the three Class-A cruisers acknowledged the request more or less at once.

  “Take your ships wide,” Kellahav instructed them. “Take the Adjudicator and the Resilient portside. Captain Nmenwe, take the Charioteer starboard. Try to gain some distance between you and the enemy and see if you can fire on them from behind. You have observed the range of their guns. I believe we can use that to our advantage. And if they break up to try to track you, see if you can encourage them to drift apart a little more.”

  “Yes, sir,” three captains replied simultaneously.

  “What about enemy fighters?” Captain Kalyias of the Resilient asked. “They haven’t launched any yet but should we launch a few of our own squads just in case?”

  “No, Captain,” Kellahav replied. “They can remain where they are. The enemy won’t launch any fighters. Levarc Dreadnoughts never carried any.”

  Captain Merrick straightened his back. “We’re coming up on the Felarias system, Admiral. ETA ten minutes.”

  “Very good, Captain,” Roth replied.

  “You really think those Levarc Dreadnoughts will be there, sir?”

  Roth smiled. “I’m certain of it. Our opponents think I believe they’re heading for Felarias. They expect that I will pursue them, no doubt thinking to myself how clever I am, while, in the meantime, they set a trap there for me, thinking how clever they are. Except, if my reading of the Phalamkian people is correct, and of Maia and her adopted father Lord Erama in particular, our opponent will find that they will not be able to set up their trap as easily as they thought.”

  “After their role in fighting Corinthe, you put the Phalamkians in the firing line?” Merrick asked in disbelief. “Against Levarc Dreadnoughts?”

  “There are people on Felarias, Captain,” Roth told him. “Survivors whose world was almost destroyed before their eyes but who managed to rebuild and carry on. Would you rather leave these people to face Levarc Dreadnoughts alone?”

  Merrick sighed. “No, sir.”

  “Nor would I, Captain,” Roth said, checking the chronometer on the arm of his command chair. “Nine minutes then?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. Ready the Sentinel for battle, and flag to the Titan and the Magnanimous.”

  General Kellahav watched the fighting, trying to pick apart weak points in the enemy’s defenses. It was clear there was a varying degree of skill between the crews of the enemy ships. The one on the Annihilator’s starboard side at one o’clock, for instance, had a far more imaginative crew than the others.

  “Captain Nmenwe, it’s rolling again. Watch it.”

  The rolling maneuver was lethally effective, Kellahav knew, because of the girdle of weapons emplacements around the hull of the ship. By rolling, the crew of the Dreadnought were able to present Captain Nmenwe and the Charioteer with a constant face of undamaged, fully charged weapons. Every time the Charioteer took out a few weapons emplacements, the ship would roll and bring up some new ones.

  “Go aft and take a wide turn,” Kellahav said, changing his mind about the Charioteer’s present tactic. If it stayed were it was, it would be torn to shreds. “See if you can take out its engines. Then maybe, we can pummel it safely from this range.”

  He switched channels. “Lord Admiral Arathea. How are your ships holding up?”

  “So far, they are performing admirably. Fortune still smiles upon us.”

  Kellahav winced. There was a time for poetic expression and the middle of a battle was not it. “Yes. Now how maneuverable are they? They’re relatively small cruisers so do you think they could get behind the enemy ships before they could turn around?”

  “What about the defense line?”

  “It’s served its purpose,” Kellahav told him, trying to keep a hold on his temper. These were good people, he knew. They were just unaccustomed to war. “It’s time for a new tactic. Anyway, could they?”

  “I think so,” Arathea replied, sounding hesitant.

  “Then go wide, keep out of range of the enemy if you can and see if you can come in behind them. I want to take out the enemy’s engines. And Lord Admiral? Be careful.”

  “I understand,” Arathea said, smartening up. Perhaps he had recognized the urgency in Kellahav’s voice. Whatever the reason though, his cruisers responded faster than Kellahav expected. Maybe he’d make a proper fleet out of them yet.

  Then one of the Dreadnoughts fired a concentrated volley of blasts at one of the Minstrahn patrol cruisers, disintegrating it, and another Dreadnought obliterated a second cruiser with the same apparent ease.

  “Arathea!” he shouted over the comm as he realized what had gone wrong. “Your cruisers are going in too close. Keep them wide.”

  “I’m relaying the order now,” Arathea said, no longer using the eloquent but overly formal speech of his people.

  “Good. And if the fighting gets too heavy, abandon that strategy, pull your ships back and reform the defensive line.”

  “Understood.”

  Just then, there was some excitement at the comm station. “General. It’s Captain Teráji.”

  “Put him through,” Kellahav instructed.

  “General,” came Teráji’s voice a moment later.

  “What is it, Captain?”

  “We’ve got fighters coming in from the outer system. Several squadrons, sir.”

  “Are they Levarc in design?” Kellahav asked. “The enemy might have carriers after all.”

  “No, sir. Wait. They’re Harskan Corteks. And behind them, there’s a large task force of unidentified cruisers.”

  “Thank you, Captain.” Shaking his head and hoping this wasn’t a turn for the worst, Kellahav set up a hailing signal. “Incoming vessels. This is General Kellahav of the Federation Navy, acting in joint command with Lord Admiral Arathea of the Minstrah Defense Fleet. Please state your intentions.”

  The viewscreen came alive with an image of a female Harskan on board what appeared to be the bridge of one of the incoming cruisers.

  “General Kellahav,” she said. “This is Lady Araujion of the Harskan Regional Fleet. On the behalf of my people, I offer my assistance to you and the Minstrahn.”

  It was about the very last thing Kellahav could have expected. The Harskans, famed for centuries of isolation and showing no visible interest in any society beyond their borders, sending a task force to assist in a situation that as far as Kellahav could see, they couldn’t possibly have known about. However, he wasn’t going to waste time wondering how it was this group came to be out here. These people had designed the Harskan Corteks, possibly the most capable deep-space single pilot fighter ever built. They had driven the Levarc out of their sector well before the Federation had managed to push the enemy back. And now they were offering their help.

  Why they were doing so could wait.

  “Then on the behalf of the Federation and the Minstrahn Empire, I accept,” he replied with a slight bow of his head.

  “Very well,” Lady Araujion replied. “Keep your cruisers clear. We know how to deal with these ships.”

  As Kellahav watched, the Harskan Corteks swooped over the massive weapons emplacements of the Levarc Dreadnoughts in two waves. The first wave lay down a volley of heavy fire, weakening the enemy’s shields, while the second wave - riding right behind the first - fired a series of torpedoes into the hulls.

  The crews of the Dreadnoughts appeared torn between turning to face this new threat and attempting to deal with Kellahav’s line and the Harskans at the same time.

  Kellahav smiled as what he had suspected all along was confirmed by the pitiful display in front of him. These were not Levarc. And while they might have been able to overwhelm the Annihilator and the rest of Minstrah’s defense forces eventually, they were badly positioned to meet the new threat from behind. And the Harskans were not about to give them any time to maneuver into a better position.

&
nbsp; Already, the blade-like weapon clusters were tearing away and flames spewed from gashes down the lengths of the Dreadnoughts’ hulls. Again and again, the Corteks strafed the enemy ships, while the Harskan cruisers pummeled them from behind and Kellahav’s task force maintained their attack from the front and the sides.

  Somewhere along the line, it stopped being a battle and became a demolition job.

  In the outer reaches of the Felarias system, the running lights of the last Dreadnought winked out and Lord Erama breathed a sigh of relief. They had done it.

  “The electron shockwave charges worked,” Chief Commander Cyraes said, although he wasn’t celebrating. They had lost four cruisers and a number of fighters during the battle.

  “They did,” Lord Erama said at last.

  “The single layered shields used by the Levarc are very powerful,” Cyraes explained, “but the shockwave charges can get through them once they’ve been weakened or breached in just a few sections as they were here. However, the charges won’t get through the dual layered shields used by modern Federation and Frontier ships unless they’ve been completely stripped away.”

  “Yes,” Lord Erama agreed. “For all the strength it sacrifices, the dual layered shield is more adaptive to a wider array of weapons. It replenishes more quickly than the single layer shield as well.”

  “Although you weren’t taking any chances with the fighters when you set the charges off,” Cyraes observed.

  “Better safe than sorry, right?”

  Cyraes nodded. “True.”

  “So,” Lord Erama said, “your people really did design these weapons with Levarc warships in mind.”

  “We did.”

  “Well, they did what they were supposed to do then. However, once we get back to Felarias, I think we ought to remove the weaponry. It’s effective but it’s a little cumbersome.”

  Cyraes smiled. “Yes, but for a ground-to-space weaponry conversion, it performed rather well.”

  “It performed admirably,” Lord Erama replied.

  Just then, there was a short series of electronic sounds from the radar, indicating approaching ships. Lord Erama looked at the viewscreen and saw there were three of them. He was just about to turn to the radar officer to ask him what they were when they came into focus. Federation Class-A Cruisers.