Honor Thy Enemy

by Doug Farren

  The battleship’s sledgehammers were incredibly powerful weapons. Even at 40% charge the soliton contained an enormous amount of energy. The sledgehammer struck the armored hull of the Texas and performed it function – destruction. Matter and antimatter came into contact with each other and added their annihilation energy to what was being released by the soliton’s magnetic field.

  The armor plating exploded both outward into space and inward into the ship. Superheated air mixed with molten steel and other materials heated to plasma temperatures roared into the interior of the ship. Bulkheads and deck plating ruptured and exploded inwards. A wave of pressure moved down the passageways causing destruction as it went. Four people died without even knowing they had died.

  The burst of radiation released from the matter/antimatter annihilation traveled a bit further. Five more people would be dead from radiation exposure in less than a day. But they did not have to wait that long. The Chroniech had noted the heavy loading on the shields of the Texas and targeted two more weapons toward it.

  Overloaded and unable to deflect any additional energy the shields leaked. The armor plating of the ship glowed red then quickly turned to white in five separate places. In rapid succession five Chroniech beams burned through the doomed ship. Secondary explosions from weapon magazines, fuel tanks, and shorted power accumulators reduced the once mighty warship to complete junk allowing the Chroniech to turn their weapons on another target.

  As the damage reports began to stream in Chomach sat in shock as the analysis of the Chroniech weapons appeared on a virtual screen. It quickly became clear that the shield penetrator’s primary purpose was to render the target ship incapable of fighting back. This effectively removed the ship from the battle allowing the Chroniech to deal with it later.

  The Chroniech had also demonstrated another unique capability of their weapons. As soon as the distance between the two opposing fleets had closed enough both fleets had opened fire with their sledgehammers. The technical name for this weapon was a particle pumped magnetic soliton vortex. Inside the throat of the weapon a quasi-stable rotating electromagnetic vortex known as a soliton was created. It was charged with counter-rotating streams of protons and anti-protons. Launched electromagnetically at nearly 15% the speed of light they were highly destructive.

  The Alliance had always considered the sledgehammer to be a weapon that could not be intercepted and the battle strategy counted on it. The Chroniech proved them wrong. The Alliance watched in utter amazement as over half of the 253 sledgehammers that had been fired were intercepted.

  The Chroniech had built smaller versions of the sledgehammers and were using them to intercept the ones fired by the Alliance. The smaller weapons did not utilize a particle stream but, instead, consisted of a bare magnetic vortex. When soliton met soliton the two magnetic fields interfered with each other resulting in the destruction of both. The accuracy and reaction time of the Chroniech targeting systems had to be phenomenal in order to pull of this feat.

  Space battles, especially those between large fleets, were normally conducted under the guidance of the fleet’s tactical computers. Targets were assigned and weapons fired with microsecond precision. Tactical decisions were evaluated and revised using complex algorithms that adjusted themselves to the battle conditions as they changed from millisecond to millisecond. The biological entities within the ships simply watched as the battle unfolded.

  Chomach watched the battle’s progress as if he was a god-like entity floating in space. The virtual reality world created by his helmet gave him the ability to see everything and be almost anywhere instantly. There was very little, however, that he could do to halt the destruction of his forces. The battle had been going on for just over five minutes and he had already lost over half his ships.

  Three Chroniech ships in particular were giving the Alliance a great deal of trouble. Prior to the battle, Chomach had noticed the presence of the three large warships. They massed 615 kilotons and had an unusual power signature. All three ships had waited until the Alliance fleet had moved a bit closer before they opened fire.

  Each of these super-heavy battleships mounted a single weapon of almost inconceivable power. When the analysis popped up in front of him Chomach’s stomach knotted up. It was a faster than light weapon powered by a matter/antimatter reactor. And it was doing an incredible amount of damage.

  Even though the new weapon could sustain a beam for only four seconds and seemed to require nearly fifteen seconds to recharge it was devastating his fleet. As he watched, a Tholtaran heavy destroyer found itself impaled by one of these beams.

  The destroyer’s shields had initially been loaded to only thirty percent. A brilliant blueish beam from hell crashed through the ship’s shield almost as if it wasn't even there. The ship’s armor barely put up a fight. It instantly glowed white then blew out into space in gigantic chunks. It took three seconds for the beam to bore clear through the ship scoring a clean hit on the shield generator.

  As the beam winked out it left behind a ship that was now tearing itself apart from the inside. Superheated air mixed with molten steel and the vaporized molecular remnants of furniture, equipment, and crew raced down passageways and through ventilation ducts. Fuel tanks exploded. Power accumulators blew up. Electrical systems shorted and caused additional fires. Two beams from another Chroniech ship finished the job turning the destroyer into scrap.

  The Alliance had not been without their own victories. Prior to the engagement, Chomach had taken what the Alliance knew of Chroniech shielding technology and increased it by twenty-five percent. He then doubled that number and used it as the minimum energy to be directed against a specific target. He programmed all this into the tactical computer and then set that computer to reevaluate the shielding abilities every five seconds and reassign targets as required.

  When the Alliance first engaged the Chroniech the master tactical computer, using the parameters set by Chomach, had determined that it was able to attack ten enemy ships. The plan called for a massive, concentrated attack on each target lasting only long enough to destroy that ship’s ability to return fire. Since all long range beam weapons were externally mounted devices this tactic should have worked.

  After five seconds of fire, the master tactical computer altered its strategy based on the newly discovered Chroniech anti-sledgehammer tactics and the fact that the Chroniech were eliminating Alliance weapons at an alarming rate. Weapons were redirected and seven ships were targeted. The shields of the selected targets leaked and soon seven Chroniech warships were without external weapons.

  It had taken forty-five seconds to render seven Chroniech ships ineffective. In the meantime, the Chroniech had destroyed or disabled twelve Alliance ships and had reduced the effectiveness of several others. The master tactical computer made the appropriate calculations, selected four more targets, and almost as one the Alliance guns fired again.

  By this time the Rin’Bak had joined the battle. Newly built and armed with the most advanced weapons possible the juggernaut was an impressive ship. It would barely fit inside a sphere fifteen kilometers in diameter. Juggernauts were built to bring the power and devastation of planetary scale weapons to anywhere they might be needed.

  When the Tholtaran’s had decided to replace the juggernauts that had been lost they also took it as an opportunity to improve upon its design. The Rin’Bak was built in the form of a stellated dodecahedron. At the tip of each of the twelve points was a massive energy cannon backed by the full power output of six dedicated 4 gigawatt fusion reactors. Two super-sledgehammers and two secondary antimatter enhanced 1.5 gigawatt proton particle beam cannons were mounted farther down each spire.

  All this massive firepower, however, came at a price. Juggernaut’s were slow both in normal space and under stardrive. It also meant that the Tholtarans had had to develop a revolutionary method of shielding a ship. A single shield generator would have been gigantic and would not have adequately protected the ship. The
Tholtarans came up with the Alliance’s only multi-generator shielding system. In operation the shields were designed to interfere with each other.

  When a Tholtaran juggernaut spoke it did so with a loud, commanding voice. Because of its relationship to the Chroniech fleet the Rin’Bak could only deploy 75% of its available weaponry. Five enemy ships were targeted. Under the terrific onslaught of the Rin’Bak’s weapons their shields held for less than a second. Fifteen seconds later the Chroniech fleet had been reduced by six ships including one of the new master battleships.

  Taking notice of the new menace, the Chroniech tactical computer redirected all available firepower against the juggernaut. Due to its size it was impossible to attack the entire ship. Instead, the Chroniech targeted two of the weapon spires. The Rin’Bak’s shields put up a valiant fight but in the end were defeated.

  The Chroniech weapons bored through the armor and into the machinery spaces of each spire. They encountered fusion reactors, fuel tanks, beam generators, and eventually power accumulators. The stored energy contained within the power accumulators was instantly released and they detonated with the force of a nuclear bomb. Two gigantic explosions rocked the mass of the juggernaut as the two spires practically vaporized themselves. Due to the fact that the juggernaut was mostly automated nobody lost their lives.

  As if in retaliation for the wound, the juggernaut quickly eliminated three more Chroniech warships. Chomach also initiated a roll in order to bring the other weapon spires into the battle. For three minutes the entire Chroniech fleet battled the juggernaut to the exclusion of all other Alliance ships. Spire by spire the juggernaut was rendered helpless.

  After the juggernaut had been rendered ineffective the remaining ten ships of the Chroniech fleet made short work of the equal number of Alliance ships. In the process two more Chroniech ships were destroyed. The eight survivors methodically beamed the wreckage until nothing living remained. The Rin’Bak ended its existence in the brilliant flash of three simultaneous 600 megaton thermonuclear explosions.

  Aboard his command ship the Chroniech Fleet Commander reviewed the results of the engagement. Despite the loss of nearly his entire fleet they had dealt a serious blow to the Alliance. They had managed to destroy one of their mobile weapons platforms. The Commander ordered his fleet to hold position and conduct as many repairs as possible until the second fleet that had made it into Alliance space could reach them. Then they would move on to their target.

  * * * * *

  Captain Zatch Batack watched as the fleet completed the task of eliminating the Alliance ships that had engaged them. During the battle he had kept a close eye out for the distinctive shape of the one Alliance ship he was most interested in. Surprisingly, he found himself relieved that it had not appeared. If it had, he was unsure of what he would have done.

  As the guns cooled and repairs were made the Captain sat in silence trying to decipher the conflicting emotions battling it out inside his head. Honor and tradition were in direct conflict with loyalty to his race. He had noted that the Alliance Fleet Commander had broadcast a request to negotiate. Chroniech thoughts concerning this common practice was that it was a tactic to lure them into a trap. Zatch found himself wondering if, perhaps, the Alliance request was genuine.

  Captain Zatch had done some research and had run across the odd story of two people who claimed to have spent some time with the Kyrra along with several of their friends whom they refused to name. The persons making the claim had been ridiculed and forced to move to an undisclosed location. The Captain had located a more in-depth report from an organization that was against the long-standing policy of eliminating all intelligent races. They promoted the idea of peaceful coexistence between different species specifically citing the Alliance as an example that such relationships were indeed possible.

  Batack had read most of the propaganda posted on the organization’s information node. All his training and upbringing cried out in denial of what the organization stood for. Yet, the undeniable fact that an Alliance warship had rendered assistance to a Chroniech ship said that there might be some truth to what they were promoting.

  Coming to a decision, the Captain called the operations officer and asked him to report to the Captain’s stateroom. A few minutes later, behind closed doors, Captain Zatch made a request he would never have thought he could possibly have made.

  “I have never asked you to ask your brother for a favor,” the nervous Captain began. “But this situation concerning my wife needs to be addressed.”

  “I cannot guarantee anything,” Chazataktak replied. “But whatever it is you are about to ask I will pass it on to my brother.”

  “This is not easy for me. But, I would like to take a leave of absence from this command. I must locate the Alliance ship that saved my wife before it is destroyed. I must know why they did what they did. It is a matter of honor.”

  “Does honor apply to the enemy?”

  “They saved the lives of my family!” the Captain shot back in a voice louder than necessary. “If they had been Chroniech, honor, tradition, and in some places law demand I take certain actions. No, they are not Chroniech – yet, I cannot deny what they did. Despite who they are I cannot, in good conscience, allow them to be destroyed without first learning why they saved my family. Will you help me?”

  The Commander paused for a moment to consider the request. “Part of me wants to refuse,” he admitted. “If I help you there is a good chance the Alliance will kill you. I would feel partially responsible for your death.”

  The Captain started to argue his point but the Commander interrupted him and continued, “But, on the other hand, I understand your situation. To be perfectly honest, I do not know what I would do if it had been my family aboard that ship. Each of us must follow our own feelings when it comes to honor. I will pass on your request on to my brother.”

  Getting up and opening the door the Captain said, “Thank you Chazataktak. I am in your debt.”

  “Considering what you are about to do, I do not think I will have the opportunity to collect,” Chazataktak replied as he stepped into the passageway.

  The reply from fleet command came much faster than the Captain had thought possible. Less than an hour later orders were received granting the Captain’s request. The executive officer would be assuming command of the ship during his absence. What was even more amazing was the fleet-wide order that also went out ordering all ships to contact Captain Zatch if the Alliance ship was located and not to engage it unless absolutely necessary.

  A personal message from Supreme Fleet Commander Aruthra was also sent to Batack. As he packed a few belongings for what could be a long trip, Batack listened to it, “Captain, those few of us who know the entire truth concerning your family wish you luck. We all admit that we would not want to be faced with the same problem and nobody is quite sure how to handle this. We are, however, all in agreement on one thing – honor demands that you at least determine the reason behind the enemies actions. Take as much time as you need. Good luck.”

  Every large Chroniech warship carried at least one high-speed vessel. These could be used to ferry material or personnel to and from the ship instead of the warship having to make the trip itself. The craft were very fast, heavily shielded, and were equipped with a very effective cloak. It was armed with light weapons and not meant for combat.

  Captain Zatch had ordered one of the three ships his heavy destroyer carried to be prepped for immediate departure. He had also ordered extra food and supplies to be loaded thinking that this could be a very long trip. The last known location of the Alliance ship he sought was deep within Chroniech space. The Captain climbed into the control seat and a few minutes later had left the fleet far behind.

  Proqindabo

  “I count 280 individual ships on approach,” the Oranachi’s tactical station reported. The Oranachi was a Lamaltan dreadnought and was acting as the central command for the Proquindabo defense force that had been quickly assemble
d. The fleet waited for the arrival of the approaching Chroniech fleet.

  Proquindabo was an odd planet but it had all the necessary conditions to allow the unique Lamaltan race to live openly upon its surface. Orbiting far from its sun, the planet’s atmosphere consisted of a heavy mixture of frigid ammonia and methane. An unprotected oxygen breather would last little more than a few seconds in such an atmosphere. But to the Lamaltans this planet was practically a paradise.

  Five point six billion Lamaltans called Proquindabo home. It was one of only five planets other than their home world where the Lamaltans could live openly. It was well defended by both a fleet of warships and several hundred large manned defense stations.

  “I’m surprised they have attacked with so few ships,” Fleet Admiral Liquith Y-Matera commented to nobody in particular. His fleet of 223 ships had recently been reinforced with another 130 Alliance ships. Combined with the firepower of the mobile defense stations they should have no problem repelling the attack.

  “Perhaps they are only testing our defenses,” the tactical station replied. “They have been gone for fifteen years and lack information concerning our technological progress. They are most likely gathering intelligence by challenging our defenses.”

  Four days had passed since the hyperdimensional field had been reestablished. Nearly all of the Chroniech ships that had crossed into Alliance space had gathered for this assault. Unknown to the Alliance, several others were cruising the depths of space gathering information.

  The Chroniech fleet had arranged themselves into 14 groups of anywhere between 15 and 25 ships. The individual ships in each group flew in very close formation while the groups themselves were separated by several hundred kilometers. The Chroniech fleet dropped out of stardrive 1.2 million kilometers from the Alliance fleet and immediately began applying full acceleration.