Out of the Ashes (Rise of the Empire Book 3)

by Ivan Kal

  “Are you alright child? You hit your head pretty hard.” The Father asked.

  “What have you done?” Aileen asked weakly. “They’ll kill us all for this.”

  “No child. The time when Ra’a’zani ruled over the Earth has come to an end. By this time tomorrow we will be free.”

  Aileen shook her head. “You can’t fight them. They have ships, they’ll start bombing us any moment now.” She said defeated.

  “We have ships as well. There is so much that you don’t know about your own kind. This is exactly why they managed to conquer us. If more of us remembered the past, the things would have been different.” The Father said sadly, shaking his head. “You don’t need to worry about their ship, it is being taken care of.”

  Aileen refused to believe it. She knew what Ra’a’zani were capable of. They would never allow this to go unpunished. She kept her mouth shut, looking out the window at the cloud of orange smoke out in the distance. The Ra’a’zani base had been her home, and now it was gone. She didn’t know how to feel about that.

  A few minutes later they came to a stop. The Father motioned for her to get out, and he exited the vehicle on his side. Aileen followed on her side. The man in the armored suit exited and shook the Father’s hand.

  “I’ll be seeing you around Father.”

  “God is with you son.” The Father said. Aileen thought about his words, and then something clicked in her mind. The Father was a priest. She had heard about them long ago, people that believed in a God, and dedicated their lives to him.

  The man in the armored suit, laughed, said his goodbyes and went back to his vehicle, driving away in the direction they came from. The Father motioned for Aileen to follow, and not knowing what else to do, she did. They went around a corner of a building and were met with droves of people. Aileen realized that this was where the people from the streets went to. She looked around as they passed. Some people thanked the Father, others looked happy, talking about being free. But most were silent, looking like they didn’t care.

  “Here child.” The Father said as they reached a building. “Go inside, you will find cots. Rest for a bit. I’ll come check up on you later.” With that he left her, while he went back among the crowd. Not knowing what else to do, Aileen did as she was told.

  ***

  Olympus Explorer Ship Start Gazer moved above the docking area of one of the Ra’a’zani mining facilities. The Ra’a’zani had pulled back there, to hide from the human forces that had attacked them from within. Now Star Gazer rolled, bringing its four small double railgun turrets to bear on target. Jacob’s men on this site had already closed all airlocks. And isolated the area humans were in from the ones where Ra’a’zani were. The Star Gazer opened fire. The small 90mm rounds ripping through the docks hull depressurizing it and killing every Ra’a’zani inside.

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Vit’r’an saw the human formation start to break apart, their ships slowing down and shifting. They weren’t turning away from the Blood Claw, they were arranging to meet his ship. Vit’r’an applauded the humans for their bravery, he knew some Ra’a’zani that would have turned and ran if they were faced with the same. He watched as the top of the human formation moved even further away from the three bigger ships in the middle, and spread out. The lower part of their formation doing the same. He knew what they were trying to do, as his ship passed the middle of their formation, the bottom would move behind them while the top tried to trap him from the above. He recognized the skill of the human commander. But sadly it would do her no good. Their ships couldn’t stand up to his. The human ships were in range of his weapons for a while now. But still he waited, just a bit more and he would open fire. The humans held their fire as well. That worried him, they should be firing their weapons at him, trying to get through. But they didn’t. That told him that they planed something as well.

  Then Vit’r’an decided that they were close enough.

  “Lock the Larsha’ka on the human ships one through three!” Vit’r’an ordered. Now you will see how truly outmatched you are.

  ***

  On the holo the Ra’a’zani ship drew closer and closer. Johanna kept her weapons fire silent, their lasers were ineffective and the Ra’a’zani had a way of detonating their missiles. She placed all her hopes on one last move. Then the Monarch’s scans detected a massive buildup of energy from the Ra’a’zani ship. Then the Ra’a’zani ship opened fire.

  ***

  The Ra’a’zani warship held three Larsha’ka cannons. The cannons turned and locked on the human three heavy cruisers. Then the faint green light started emanating from the inside of the turret barrels. The light grew in intensity for a few seconds, and then all three turrets released their Larsha’ka energy. Three bolts of bright green-white energy exited the turrets, moving much faster than the human missiles. But still slower than the speed of light. The human ships point defense was unable to lock on the bolts, and unopposed they reached the human ships. The first human ship received the energy bolt on its forward section, the bolt “ate” through their hull, mangling and twisting the hull before it expanded all of its energy. The second human ship got hit directly in the middle of its top section. The energy ate through the hull and reached the ship’s weapon power grid. Once the Ra’a’zani weapons fire came in contact with the grid it released the remainder of its energy overloading the power grid. The resulting backlash caused a series of secondary explosions that blew the ship apart. The last human ship was lucky, it managed to roll and showed its bottom side, where its hull was the thickest. The energy bolt struck the hull but didn’t penetrate the hull, leaving only a huge scorch/burn like mark on the heavy cruisers hull.

  ***

  Stunned Johanna watched as Ra’a’zani fire mangled her ships. The heavy cruiser Unity had blown up, the heavy cruiser Sword had sustained heavy damage, its forward section weapons were offline and the Ship Master Talis reported that they were experiencing constant power fluctuations in their power grid. The heavy cruiser Tempest on the other hand got off lightly, they got hit on the part of the ship where their hull was thickest, and sustained only light damage. But another hit like that and they could be in trouble. Johanna knew that the only ships in her fleet that could stand up to that weapon were her battleships and the Monarch. She changed her plan, sending her middle line in, while pulling the others back. A few more minutes and she would unleash the full might of the Monarch’s turrets and railguns on the Ra’a’zani ship.

  ***

  Disappointed, Vit’r’an looked at the damage his weapons had inflicted. He had intended to destroy all of them with a single shot. But the human ships proved more resilient.

  “What happened? The Larsha’ka were supposed to destroy their ships.” Vit’r’an said, the Larsha’ka was not the most powerful weapon the Ra’a’zani possessed, but it was the base of all of their ships, and the main weapon of the Blood Claw.

  “Now that we have damaged their hull, we have better scans of their ships. It looks like their hull is made out of high density metal alloys. They have a tremendous mass, Dakar. The Larsha’ka expended most of its energy just to get through so much mass.” A Taskmaster on the sensor post said.

  Vit’r’an growled again. The Larsha’ka could burn through anything, provided it had enough energy. If it needed to expand so much of its power just to get through the human hull, the Blood Claw will need to fire follow up shots for it to be effective. But they did destroy one and crippled another of their ships. That meant that some areas of their ships had less defenses than others. The terminal now showed the human middle line moving forward, their damaged ships moving behind. Looks like the humans figured out what the Larsha’ka did. If their bigger ships had thicker hull, then it would take more than a single shot to damage them enough to destroy them. Then the human middle line split again, their biggest ship going up above the Blood Claw, while the two smaller ones going below. They planned to get him between them. A good plan, but one tha
t won’t work as their weapons were ineffective against his ship.

  “Target the ships four through six, fire when ready.” Vit’r’an said.

  ***

  Andros rolled the Monarch, bringing its top side to bear against the Ra’a’zani ship. All of their railguns, and massive turrets were trained on the Ra’a’zani ship. The battleships Claymore and Sovereign were under the Ra’a’zani ship, their trajectories and weapons pointed in a way that made sure that any missed shots wouldn’t hit the Monarch, or the Monarch’s them. The light cruisers were coming in behind the Monarch, even further above. The heavy cruisers Tempest and Sword waited in front of the Ra’a’zani ship.

  Then Andros saw the Ra’a’zani ship open fire, just as the order came through.

  “Fire!” Andros said, and watched as the space filled with fast moving metal objects.

  ***

  “Firing!” Vit’r’an’s subordinate said. And all five Larsha’ka cannons on the top of the Blood Claw fired on the biggest human ship, while the four on the bottom fired two shots on the each human ship below. Vit’r’an followed his Larsha’ka bolts, just as alarms started beeping across the bridge.

  “Incoming weapons fire! It looks like Pasha’ka, thousands of them!”

  “Get their frequencies!” Vit’r’an yelled out, if they were the same ones that could multiply this could be bad.

  “The Srasah’uk can’t get a lock!” Someone yelled out. Vit’r’an looked at the incoming fire, realization coming to his mind. His eyes widened. “Evasive Maneuvering!” He yelled out. But he knew that it was too late.

  ***

  Out in space, the Ra’a’zani Larsha’ka and the human weapons fire encountered each other. A few of the humans metal shells impacted with the Larsha’ka, and those that did were devoured by it, reducing the Larsha’ka energy by a small amount. Then they passed, the Larsha’ka bolts hit their targets spot on. Five Larsha’ka bolts hit the Monarch, three hit the Citadel, and two impacted in the amidship. The top of the ship’s hull was bathed in green-white energy that swallowed anything it came in contact with, several turrets disappeared as they were consumed. The Larsha’ka savaged the Monarch’s hull, but the dreadnought ships had been created to deal out as much punishment as they got. The damage was minor.

  The two battleships each got hit by two Larsha’ka, the Claymore shrugged of the hits, losing only a couple of turrets. The Sovereign on the other hand wasn’t so lucky. One shot hit it amidship doing minor damage. The other one hit close to the ship’s drives, the Larsha’ka ate through the hull and reached a power conduit. The last part of the ship exploded, sending the Sovereign into a spin, it’s auxiliary maneuvering drives firing to try and stabilize it.

  The Ra’a’zani ship noticed the danger of the human attack almost too late. In the split seconds that its commander realized the danger, the Ra’a’zani ship fired all of its drives in one big burst of power, moving ever so slightly out of the way. That moment was enough to save them from most of the onslaught, but not all. The smaller 150mm explosive shells fired from the human ships railguns bombarded the Ra’a’zani ship creating craters on its surface. But it was their main weapons, the massive 700mm shells fired from their turrets that inflicted the most damage. The Ra’a’zani hull was strong, but the pure destructive power of the human weapons proved sufficient to devastate their hull. One 700mm shell dropped right on top of the Ra’a’zani Larsha’ka turret, breaking it apart and penetrating inside the ship, causing an enormous explosion that left a seven meter wide crater on the ship’s hull.

  And then three of the 700mm shells followed by dozens of 150mm explosive ones, hit the Ra’a’zani ships close to its drives. The effect was immediate, the hull material of the Ra’a’zani ship shattered as the shells destructive power hit them. A part of their drives exploded, but the Ra’a’zani ship was made with the best materials their kind was capable of making, most of the explosion was absorbed or deflected off the most important sections of the ship.

  ***

  Vit’r’an felt his ship shake around him, the clear sign that the internal dampeners were damaged. He wasn’t worried, his ship had many redundancies. The dampeners were probably the most important part of a space ship. His terminal showed the damage the Blood Claw was receiving. Hull breaches, loss of hull integrity, and then he heard an explosion. The light on his bridge dimmed, the lights and computers flickering, until a moment later they came back strong. Vit’r’an glanced at his terminal. He saw the damage to his ship’s drives. Their maneuvering capability had dropped to 30%.

  Vit’r’an felt his blood boil in rage. He knew what the human weapons were. Mass drivers, weapons that his people used long ago. He had heard of the devastation that those weapons could do to a ship that was foolish enough to stand in their way. And now he had experienced it firsthand. His ship’s hull was savaged, the damage wasn’t critical, surface damage only. But the integrity of their plates had dropped, they lost a Larsha’ka cannon, and the only reason for his drives still operating was that their builders built them with battle in mind, and constructed them compartmentalized. His people had stopped using mass drivers thousands of rotations ago, when their ship became maneuverable enough that there was little chance of those weapons hitting their mark.

  Vit’r’an knew that the humans had drawn him into a trap. He was holding back, waiting for an opportunity to present itself for him to disable and capture one of their ships. But now, the flow of battle had turned. His enemies knew that they had weapons that were effective against his ship. And the damage to his drives will make it impossible for him to evade all of their fire. Their ships could move around his in circles. He saw the rest of the human forces were on an intercept course, no doubt to fire their own mass drivers. While the three ships that had inflicted so much hurt were slowly turning around, coming back from his ship’s rear. Enraged Vit’r’an turned to his crew.

  “Lock on Pasha’ka on the ships seven to ten, target the ship’s one and two with Larsha’ka.” Vit’r’an ordered, “Fire when ready!” Before the human heavy ships turn, he would destroy the rest.

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Ship Master Andros Venter commanded his ship, the Monarch had acquired light damage. The Fleet Commander’s gambit paid off, their attack had damaged the seemingly indestructible Ra’a’zani ship. Even though the Ra’a’zani realized the danger of the attack in time to evade most of the weapons fire, the attack has crippled their drives. Their ability to evade the next attack had been diminished. Andros saw Johanna give out orders to the four light cruisers and the two remaining heavy cruisers to surround the Ra’a’zani ship from the top and bottom. The light cruisers adjusted their course so that they come parallel with the Ra’a’zani, while the heavy cruisers will go for a single pass. The Monarch and the battleship Claymore were turning around get to the Ra’a’zani ship from behind. Andros received orders from Johanna for all ships to open fire with all weapons. Perhaps their attack disabled some of the Ra’a’zani defenses. Just as he was about to order his ship to target the enemy ship with missiles and lasers, his screen started getting updates, and Sensor Handler yelled out,

  “The enemy ship is firing missiles, and their primary weapon!”

  Andros was about to order his ship to evade when he realized that none of the Ra’a’zani fire was pointed at his ship.

  “Damn! All power to the drives, get us on them! Target all remaining missiles and lock on with lasers. Fire lasers as they get in range!” Andros ordered. But he knew that no matter what he did, he couldn’t stop the attack now heading towards the cruisers.

  ***

  The Ra’a’zani warship, Blood Claw, released hundreds of missiles – the Pasha’ka – at the human light cruisers. Their Larsha’ka targeted the two heavy cruisers. Firing three bolts at each. The light cruisers were in a spread out formation, able to use their point defense to cover each other. Soon the space between the Ra’a’zani ship and the human light cruisers was filled with shells. The huma
n ships created a wall of fire between them. But the Ra’a’zani Pasha’ka were advanced, maneuverable, and fast. The human fire wall was taking down Pasha’ka rapidly but the light cruiser crews could see that they wouldn’t get them all. Seventeen missiles passed through to the light cruisers. Light cruiser Rogue got hit with four missiles, two struck the forward section of the ship, with the remaining two hitting the middle. The blasts of the Pasha’ka blew holes in the ship, and a moment later it exploded. The light cruiser Viper was hit by five missiles, its fate was the same. The light cruiser Independence was struck with seven missiles, the first two hit the ship in the middle, breaking it in half, the last five slammed into the two parts of the ships that were drifting apart from each other, obliterating them. The light cruiser Ajax was hit with only one missile, the resulting explosion blowing off almost half of the ships forward section. But the ship survived.

  The heavy cruisers Sword and Tempest knew that they had no way of surviving the Ra’a’zani Larsha’ka. The heavy cruiser Sword was too damaged to try to evade or turn its bottom side to the incoming fire. The Larsha’ka hit the Sword in the back end of the ship, the second hitting the already damaged forward section. The Larsha’ka breached the Sword’s hull, the atmosphere started leaking out, and the energy discharged into the Sword’s already fluctuating power grid feedback to its reactors, the countermeasures failed just before the third Larsha’ka hit, but the ship was already doomed, it exploded in a flash of white fire.

  The Tempest attempted to evade the Ra’a’zani fire, moving out of the way of the first bolt, but the second hit its hull, destroying their right side missile launch tubes, which exploded in a violent blast, then another bolt slammed into Tempest, finishing the wounded ship off.

  ***

  Vit’r’an watched as his attack destroyed five out of the six ships the Blood Claw attacked. Again, some of the humans managed to survive. He was about to order another attack when an alert sounded. The two heavy human ships were firing their Pasha’ka and Tarsha’ka. The salvo of the Pasha’ka was less than what it was the last time when they managed to get four of them through, but Vit’r’an wasn’t taking any chances he ordered the Srasah’uk used as soon as a frequency was locked. The human Tarsha’ka on the other hand were becoming troublesome, with the Blood Claw’s hull integrity compromised they will start incurring damage. Vit’r’an ordered the ship in a roll to dissipate and spread out the heat, and then ordered his ships maneuvering into an evading pattern. Although he knew that with their lowered maneuverability they couldn’t escape the Tarsha’ka beams. And soon the two heavy ships would turn and reach him, their mass driver could very well destroy his ship. Vit’r’an almost snarled, he wasn’t going to let that happen.