by Ivan Kal
“How did it go?” Sumia’s message said.
“About as I expected it to.” Isani said. “We will fight separately, there is not enough time for us to learn to fight together.”
About a minute later came Sumia’s response, “What about the planet?”
“They have brought five hundred soldiers. The Fleet Commander said that he will have all of them on the planet by the end of the day. They will coordinate with our people down there to help should Sowir land.” Isani sent.
“Will their weapons be able to harm the Sowir?”
“Humans believe that they will, their weapons are alien to us and I have no time to go down to the planet and see them fired. We will have to trust them, and hope that no dropship reach the planet.”
“I shouldn’t have let you convince me to go with the refugee ships. I belong on Nuva.”
“Our people will need you Sumia. They are going into unknown with people they have just met. They need someone like you to look out for them.”
“I know, but I don’t need to like it.” Sumia’s final message said.
***
Leviathan
Adrian watched on his command board as the Leviathan’s shuttle left on its last trip to the planet to deliver Olympus soldiers. Company Commanders Okoro, Hughes, and Mao will be in charge of the land battle, if Sowir manage to land anything on the planet, but Adrian was not going to make it easy on them. He understood why they needed to keep the Sowir occupied, to give Sanctuary enough time to grow, to become strong enough to protect itself against any threat. Adrian turned to Ship Master Isaacs.
“Anything from the Sowir?” He asked. They had been sending a continuous laser communication to all Sowir ships for the past five hours.
“Nothing.” Paul said.
Adrian looked at his board, there was no change with the Sowir ships, not even when they saw Adrian’s ships. They still kept coming, no change in speed or course. Fleet thought that there was no way for these ships to have any information about Voyager. That incident happened eight light years from here. Unless they had FTL comms there was no way for them to know, but that was unlikely, the Consortium didn’t.
“Halt the communications.” Adrian said.
“You knew that it was very likely that they wouldn’t respond.” Iris said.
“Yes, but I don’t understand why? They must know that we aren’t from the Consortium. We told them so in the message. And they must see that we outnumber them now, why keep coming when the chance of defeat is much greater?” Adrian said, frustrated, he kept hoping that the Sowir would turn away. That is why he came to Nuva without trying to hide, he gave them time to detect and study his ships.
“Perhaps they don’t think so. Perhaps they believe that they will win.” Iris said.
Adrian shook his head. Olympus knew the capabilities of the Sowir, and he knew that his ships were more than a match.
“Get some rest Paul, tomorrow will be a long day.” Adrian said, tomorrow the battle for Nuva will start, until then there was nothing else he could do.
Chapter Twenty Seven
February 2170 – Battleship Valor
Isani sat on the bridge of his ship, after one more meeting Isani and Fleet Commander Farkas decide to intercept the Sowir fleet. Close enough so to be able to respond should any ship get past them, but far enough to spare the planet of any accidental damage. Looking at the far wall at the viewer, Isani watched as human ships accelerated and joined his own ships keeping up with them. If they kept this acceleration they would reach maximum effective missile range in an hour, at least for Nel ships. And then the battle would start in earnest. Isani had told Fleet Commander Farkas that their priority should be the three Sowir battleships, they posed the greatest danger to their ships. The two forces would operate independently, but try to cover one another. That meant that they will need to keep close enough to provide aid should it be required. The Sowir ships still kept the same course and speed, although they should see the light from human and Isani’s ships in a couple of minutes. Isani kept a corner of his eye on the viewer on his left that showed the Sowir fleet, waiting for them to make a move. And then five minutes later there was a change. Sowir ships started to slow down and change their formation. Isani felt excitement, as he always did when he knew a battle was imminent. He gave command of the ship to his third in command, and went to catch a few more minutes of sleep. There was still time yet before the two forces drew close enough for the battle to start in truth.
***
Traveler
Ship Master Kisaragi Hana watched her holo as her ship and the ten refugee ships passed the hyperspace barrier. The Traveler left Nuva when the First Fleet arrived in the system. Out of the refugee ships that were following the Traveler, one merchant ship was filed by representatives of Guxcacul that were on Nuva and few Mtural families that called Nuva home. Hana didn’t have the chance to meet them in person, there was little time. The other nine ships were filled with Nel, women and children. Nuva’s leaders held a lottery of sorts, to decide who got a place on one of the ships. In the end a lot more were left on the planet, waiting to see how the human and Nel ships would fare against the Sowir.
“We are ready to enter hyperspace Ship Master.” High Prime Rolland Ricks said.
“Comm the Nel ships, and start the countdown.” Ship Master Kisaragi said.
“Entering hyperspace in sixty seconds.” Ship Handler Jorge Nunez said.
As Hana watched the countdown she couldn’t help but be amazed by the Nel. They were following the Traveler not knowing where they were going, but that just went to show how desperate they were, they had no hope before the Traveler arrived. Their ships could travel through hyperspace faster than the Traveler, but would follow at Travelers speed. For the Traveler the trip would usually take 9 months, but they would take a detour to limit the chance of anyone finding Sanctuary, which meant instead of 9 it would take a bit more than 10 months.
“Thirty seconds.” Ship Handler said.
Hana wondered whether the First Fleet met the Sowir in the battle yet. A part of her wanted to stay, to help, but she knew that her ship wasn’t made for war.
“Ten seconds… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Entering hyperspace.” Ship Handler said. A moment later, eleven ships disappeared in a flash.
***
Leviathan
Adrian took his seat in the Command Center, as soon as he sat down the command board came online, a holographic representation of his and Retsar Isani’s ships was shown in front of him. In a few minutes they would enter the maximum firing range of his fleet. Looking at the Sowir fleet, and seeing that they were still coming in the same formation they formed an hour ago. Going through the mental list of his opening moves, he took a deep breath, “Here we go.” Adrian said to Iris, and then he started manipulating the command board. He assigned orders, but didn’t execute them just yet, he opened a channel to Retsar Isani from the list on the left side of his command board. A window opened in front of him with Retsar Isani looking out of it.
“Fleet Commander, what can I do for you?”
“I wanted to tell you that my ships would be starting this engagement soon.” Adrian said.
He could see a flash of surprise on the Retsar Isani’s face, but it was quickly masked. “With this much distance there is little chance that any missile will pass through their defenses.”
“I know. I’m going to try something, if it fails, we give them knowledge of my ships maximum range and we lose some missiles, if we succeed, we might trim their numbers a bit or at least hurt them.” Adrian said.
Retsar Isani gestured with his hand, turning it in a circular motion. “As you wish Fleet Commander.”
Adrian nodded and closed the channel.
“Ready?” Adrian asked.
“Always Adrian.” Iris responded.
Reaching to his right Adrian executed the orders, the first in this battle. He knew they wouldn’t be the last.
***
T
he two forces grew closer at an astonishing speed, but still there was a lot more ground to cover. Until suddenly fire erupted from one side. Missile launches from the human First Fleet, by the time they stopped firing 3000 missiles were speeding towards the Sowir fleet. Before the light from those missile launches even reached the Sowir ships, Leviathan forward torpedo tubes opened, and six torpedoes got on their way. As they distanced themselves from the fleet Iris took direct control of them, and they started spreading out in a formation. A minute later she detonated all six torpedoes simultaneously, a blinding flash of nuclear fire expanded in front of the incoming human ships that lasted for 6 seconds. In that time the human First Fleet opened fire with all of their kinetic weapons, sending hundreds of metal slugs on an intercept course with the Sowir force. The light of their fire hidden by the blast of six torpedoes.
***
Isani watched as the human ships fired their missiles, their rate of fire was better than what his ships could achieve, but he knew that 3000 missiles weren’t going to be enough to breach Sowir defenses at this distance. And the Leviathan fired six much larger missiles. The missiles chased those fired before them until they put a significant distance from the human ships, and then they detonated.
“Maseera!” Hosar Tassat exclaimed from the sensor station, “Those missiles were nuclear!”
Surprised and horrified Isani turned, “Any danger of radiation?” He asked quickly.
“No Retsar. We will pass through the radiation field too fast, and our hulls will protect us. But I wouldn’t recommend any of our ships to stay in the area for extended periods of time.” Hosar Tassat said.
“What were they doing? Why did they detonate early?” Isani asked. It was insanity, the Consortium of course knew about nuclear weapons. The Mtural were the ones that first discovered and built one. But as soon as the Consortium realized the dangers, they put a ban on nuclear research. With extreme punishment for anyone disobeying.
“I don’t know Retsar. Perhaps it was a malfunction… No, they all detonated at the same time…” Hosar Tassat was saying when he was interrupted by Hosar Ovar from the auxiliary sensor station.
“They fired something else during the explosions from the nuclear missiles Retsar.” Hosar Ovar said.
Looking at his screens he saw nothing that indicated any weapons fire. “There is nothing on our scans.”
“Our auxiliary scanners picked it up, there were flashes of light coming from the human ships during the interval of missile explosions. They definitely fired something, our sensors just don’t recognize it as weapons fire.” Hosar Ovar said.
Isani turned to Hosar Tassat, “Find whatever it is they fired, I want to know what the hell it was and why they detonated six nuclear missiles before they fired it.”
“Yes Retsar.”
Isani spent the next few minutes trying to figure out what it was that they fired as he watched his screen and the 3000 missiles speeding towards the Sowir ships. And then Hosar Ovar yelled out. “I think that I got it!” He said, “Out secondary sensors have been following a fast moving objects in space, from the moment of the explosions. Our main sensors are calibrated to look for missiles heat signatures, that’s why we it doesn’t show on our main sensors.”
“Can you tell what it is?” Isani asked.
“Whatever it is, it is cold. Very cold, I have no idea what it is.” Hosar Ovar said.
Isani watched his screen, it now showed the projected track of the human cold weapons. As he looked at it and their tracks that were on the intercept course with the Sowir ships something clicked in his mind.
“Kinetic weapons.” Isani whispered.
“Retsar?” Hosar Inra asked from the weapons station.
“The humans told us that those turrets on their ships fired kinetic weapons. That’s what that is. They must be made out of metals. Just metal missiles, with no explosives, no maneuvering.” Isani said, amazed at the human ingenuity.
“I don’t understand Retsar, what purpose do they serve then?” Hosar Inra asked.
“Those weapons don’t rely on explosive energy, but rather kinetic. Their speed amplified by their mass. And they are made out of metal. If they hit they will transfer all that energy.”
“But what is the point if they can’t maneuver? Sowir will just shoot them down or move out of the way.” Hosar Inra said.
“Only if they can see them. Their sensors are similar to ours, and we only saw them because we witnessed their launch. That was what those nuclear detonations were for. To hide their launch, even those missiles they fired, they are all a distraction. The real danger are those kinetic missiles.” Isani said, the human ships had started to slow down, so Isani ordered his ships to do likewise. They would wait for Sowir to reach them. The humans were dangerous, very dangerous. Isani was very much relieved that they were on his side.
***
In the darkness of space 3000 missiles speed towards their target closing in with each passing second. Behind them hundreds of metal slugs followed in their wake, obscured by the missiles leading. The Sowir ships opened with defensive laser fire, and as soon as the first human missile exploded all others entered evasion mode, but even then the Sowir fire started cutting their numbers down. The more ground the missiles covered on the path to their targets more of them were destroyed. Until finally just a couple thousand of kilometers away the last human missile exploded harmlessly, not reaching its target. The Sowir ships kept on the same course, unbothered. Then there was a change, quickly, seemingly in a panic, the Sowir ships started to spread out, but by then it was too late. Hundreds of metal slugs moving at the fraction of the speed of light slammed into their formation. A lot of them missed as Sowir ships spread out, but more than a third hit, and more than half of those that hit were glancing blows, barely scratching the hull of their targets. But those few that hit, were devastating. The Sowir used a ceramic composite as a base of their ship’s hull, just as the rest of Consortium did, it was great for withstanding laser fire, absorbing explosives, preventing missile penetration and deflecting small grain like particle that moved in space. But the human weapons were made out of metal, a material they had long since abandoned in their building because of its weight and mass, and now it was that mass that worked against them. The metal slugs shredded through the ceramic, inflicting heavy damage to areas they hit. They hit only a few ships and none of the damage was critical, as all Sowir ships had redundant systems. But one Sowir light cruiser, two heavy cruisers and one battleship bore the scars of their first encounter with the human warships.
***
Adrian looked at his c-board, looking at the results of his little opening move. The damage his ships inflicted looked much worse that it really was. None of the Sowir ships were critically damaged, they detected the fire early enough to escape the brunt of it, but it must have hurt their pride. If Sowir even had such emotions. The enemy fleet had altered their course, now they were coming on an arch that would take them to the right of the Nel fleet, using it as a shield against Adrian’s fleet. Both Adrian and Isani were forced to make adjustments as well. Now altering their course to bring them parallel to that of the Sowir. Eventually this arched course would bring them back towards Nuva. Adrian and Isani formed their ships into two “walls” one above the other, with Adrian’s fleet taking the top and Isani’s the bottom. After they adjust their course they would be travelling parallel to the Sowir, until eventually both forces smashed into one another. The two forces entered laser range, and almost simultaneously all three commanders ordered their ships to fire.
***
Invisible beams reached out of the human and Nel ships to strike the Sowir, just as theirs reached out to strike back. Missiles joined the battle, thousands of missiles were fired on both sides, and the space between the two opposing forces became bathed in explosions, with only a few managing to get through. The Sowir laser defenses proved more efficient than the human ones in the sense that their targeting was better, but the sheer amoun
t of defensive shells that the human ships fired provided the difference. The entire space between them was blanketed in cover fire, in a random pattern that Sowir missiles were hard pressed to evade. The bulk of Sowir missiles were targeted at Nel ships, with the human ships using most of their defensive fire to cover for them. The laser beams started inflicting more and more damage on the Nel ships as the two forces drew closer, while human resistant hulls managed to dissipate most of it. On the other side the Sowir ships were soaking in a lot of damage from the human ships. The Leivathan’s heavy lasers were hitting the Sowir battleships hard as they moved out to cover their other ships. The battle was more or less even, until the Sowir opened up with their particle beams.
Chapter Twenty Eight
Leviathan
Adrian watched his command board, the battle was very even, which frustrated Adrian. He had thought that faced with weapons they have never seen before Sowir would slip up, but they had adapted extremely well. The few volleys of railgun fire he sent their way they evaded easily, making small adjustments to their course. And his ships just didn’t have enough shells to blast the entire area in which they were maneuvering. Very few of his missiles managed to pass through, which again frustrated Adrian. The data they got from Voyager indicated that they managed to hit the attacking Sowir ships with two missiles, and that was with not even a hundred missiles fired. Perhaps it was luck, or there was some other factor that Adrian just couldn’t see. But now he had barely 20 verified hits on the enemy ships, all dealing light damage. He needed to get them through or he would soon exhaust his missile supply. The closer his ships were to the Sowir the more effective his railguns would be. His laser weapons were inflicting moderate damage, but still not enough to take a ship out.
