Conquest (Rise of the Empire Book 9)

by Ivan Kal

  * * *

  Anessa’s heavy warships arrived alongside with the Song of Retribution. Her battle lines solidified and they assumed a wall formation with her Sovereign, taking position across from a group of Erasi Devastators, protecting her ships from their firepower.

  Almost immediately three Erasi Devastators focused their fire on the Song of Retribution. As she saw the Erasi warships put out a truly impressive amount of firepower into her Sovereign, she could only agree with the class name the Erasi had given to their ships. Their firepower truly was devastating.

  But this was the moment that they had been waiting for, the true moment when they could truly unleash the full power of a Sovereign. With a thought, Anessa relayed the orders to the commander of the Song of Retribution, and the space between the four ships exploded into a cascade of fire and light. The Song hammered at the Devastators, even as the three ships poured fire into it. The Song’s s-missiles flew across the Erasi line, and its particle beams took shots of opportunity, but most of its other weapons were focused on the Devastators.

  Anessa was surprised at the readings; the Song’s shields were still holding, but they wouldn’t hold out for much longer under the onslaught. The Song’s drones flew around the ship, using their weapons to take down any missile that came into their range, but still more and more were passing through. S-missiles from the rest of the Erasi force were all focused on the Song. Anessa realized that almost all of the Erasi forces in range was focused on the Song to the point where they were ignoring every other ship.

  They really want to take her out­, she thought to herself, before she gave the go ahead for the Sovereign’s main weapon to be fired, a massive molecular-disintegration cannon built into the two pillars of the ship, not at all like the tiny versions that both the Erasi and the alliances forces used. This one was larger than that, a smaller version of the Empire’s Star Guard station, with enough range and breadth to envelop and disintegrate small moons. It drew power from all of the Sovereign’s singularity cores. The Empire’s Sovereigns had a single large MD cannon running through the center of their ship. The Shara Daim had two smaller ones, with a combined power output almost twenty percent greater than that of the Empire’s.

  For a moment the fire from the Song stopped. The lights inside dimmed, even as the outside of the Song was lit up brightly by the impacts of the enemy weapons.

  The end of the pillars of the Song opened and bright light shone out of them. A moment later two beams burst out, blinding every sensor owned by both forces. One of the beams swathed through the Erasi force and the other struck right over one of the Erasi Devastators.

  As the light abated, there almost seemed to be a moment where everything stopped, when all was still. And then Anessa saw the sensors update. A large hole in the Erasi formations showed where one of the beams had pierced through. Ships that were completely engulfed were gone without trace, and those that had caught the beam only partly had entire sections of their mass disintegrated, with the rest blowing up or simply lying spinning in space, depending on the amount of damage.

  She looked at the Devastator, and was surprised that the Erasi warship had survived. It was, however, clearly critically damaged, with entire sections of it simply cleaved off, the few sections that still had shields flickering, and explosions of air bursting from the ship. It all told her that the insides were in just as bad a condition. With a thought she sent an order to the Song’s commander, and a k-turret swiveled and fired. A shell traveling at eight-tenths the speed of light smashed clean through the Erasi Devastator with enough force that the massive thirty-kilometer warship burst apart into pieces, its debris showering the surrounding ships.

  Without allowing the Erasi a moment of respite, she ordered all of her ships forward, taking the advantage of the single Devastator’s destruction. The Song focused its firepower on the remaining two, forcing them to respond. The Song’s main weapon was charging, and would need a while before being able to fire again, a fact that the Erasi most certainly realized as they intensified their attack against the Song.

  Allowing her crew to fight the Song, she started adjusting orders across her force. Adrian’s fleets were taking a hammering from the defense around the planet, but they were dishing out just as much. The Krashinar were engaged with a side element of the new Erasi force below Anessa’s forces, but the bulk of that force was occupied by Anessa. And even though they were inflicting constant losses to the Erasi, they were losing ships at almost the same rate. The six Devastators not engaged with the Song were moving across the battle lines ravaging her ships, and the other three Devastators were now moving downward below the sun’s plane toward the Krashinar forces.

  The battle was not going as well as she had expected. The Devastators were clearly a huge threat. Adrian’s forces were taking a beating even though his Sovereign was smashing through the Erasi defenders. But there lay the weakness of the Sovereigns: for all of their power, they could not be everywhere. And while the battle where the Sovereigns were went in their gain, the rest of the line floundered. Soon enough, the alliance’s formations crumbled, ships from both sides were forced out of positions, unable to properly cover one another. Anessa knew that they had to do something, or risk losing the battle.

  The Erasi Devastators keeping the Song occupied faltered as her superior firepower crashed through their shields. The Erasi super-battleships surrounding the Devastators moved to try and cover them as they tried to escape, but the Song’s commander gave them no chance. Kinetic shells rained down on them, breaking the massive ships apart. With that, the line seemed to ripple, and the Erasi started drawing back. Anessa immediately jumped on the opportunity, sending her ships forward.

  The Erasi response was to send more Devastators against the Song. Six more Devastators closed in on the Song and opened coordinated fire. Anessa was surprised to see that they were not keeping their distance, but were actually closing it. She frowned at that; she knew that they must be aware that that would put them in range of the rest of the Sovereign’s weapons.

  And as they closed the distance, the Song started firing its plasma and xa’nan turrets, bathing their shields. Then, bright white lances of energy exploded out of the Erasi warships and struck at the Song. Anessa felt the Sovereign shudder and her eyes widened. She glanced aside to the Song’s control board and saw sections of the ship reporting damage–which should be impossible, as the shields were still active. Through the interface she digested the information as quickly as it was available. As soon as the Song’s crew knew what had happened, she did as well.

  The damage was relatively minor: a shallow breach in one section, and hull damage in most of the others. The Erasi weapon had passed clean through the shield, however, and was incredibly powerful. The only reason why it hadn’t done more damage was because all of the Sovereigns had both energy shields and shimmering fields as their defenses were active all the time. The shimmering fields hadn’t stopped the weapons, but they had spread the weapons’ energies across the large swath of the Song’s hull, effectively spreading the damage.

  Upon seeing the Song suffer this damage, her commander responded in kind, focusing fire on a single Devastator in a storm of fire that smashed through its shields and disintegrated the ship in moments. That focus allowed the rest of the Devastators clear shots at the Song, but while their weapon did sting, it would take a lot more to actually harm a Sovereign–enough that it wouldn’t be able to respond.

  But the fact remained that the alliance’s forces’ position was terrible. They had been forced to split their attention to two sides–they were wedged between two hostile forces and caught in crossfire. The Erasi were losing an insane amount of ships with every minute that passed, but the alliance’s forces did as well, and the two Sovereigns were too occupied and positioned too badly to actually help the rest of the ships. The ships had never truly been devised to work with fleets, but rather to be fleets themselves.

  Adrian rejoined the command system, and
she saw that his force was not faring all that well. He had managed to damage or destroy most of the Erasi warships hiding behind the defenses, but he was still taking a beating from their s-missiles, the stations and platforms could carry far larger volleys than his ships, and he was unable to fire his own s-missiles. They would just encounter their skim-canceling fields and drop out far enough away from their targets that they would just be picked out by the Erasi defenses. He was faring better than she was overall, but he did not have to worry about the Erasi Devastators.

  “We need to retreat,” Adrian said.

  “We can take the system,” Anessa said. She checked the flow of the battle–she knew that she was right.

  “Yes, but we would lose over half of our ships if we stay. The battle has turned too chaotic, too unpredictable. We don’t need to break ourselves to take this system. There are other options.”

  Anessa looked grimly at the battle map, seeing that he was right. They could win, but they would lose far too much. The old Dai Sha Anessa would’ve argued for them to remain, to never retreat; but the Kar Daim Anessa had become knew the value of preserving life.

  “I’ll send the orders. This will not be a clean retreat,” Anessa warned. Most of her ships would be unable to enter skim and get away for fear of collisions. They would need to organize a staggered retreat, and that meant a force would need to hold off the Erasi long enough for their fleets to get in positions.

  “I’ll move my forces back and get the Herald in formation with the Song. Together we can hold them off while the rest of our fleets retreat,” Adrian said, and disconnected.

  Anessa returned her attention to the fighting across her battle lines, and noticed the Song pummel one more Devastator, with its shields collapsing and its comrades moving in to cover its retreat. But the Erasi warships were inflicting damage upon the Song as well. A section of the Sovereign’s shields had collapsed and the Erasi fleets and Devastators were pouring as much fire as they could into the opening.

  Soon the alliance’s forces started moving, following Adrian’s retreat plans. Amidst all the chaos, Adrian somehow managed to create a small opening between his and her forces, and in an instant the Herald of War skimmed the relatively short distance to join the Song of Retribution. Anessa was fairly impressed with the skills that the maneuver took to execute as well as with Adrian’s planning that had created the opportunity. Almost as soon as the Herald passed through the hole, it was filled with ships moving toward positions above her battle line.

  The Erasi realized what was happening, and their force attempted to circumvent her line and strike at the retreating ships. However, the Sovereigns and fleets of dreadnaughts and battleships struck at any ship attempting to interfere. Then drone ships from the Empire’s fleets joined her line, taking over the line for her other ships and allowing her battleships to slowly retreat.

  But the Erasi did not want to let them get away, and the remaining Devastator warships joined their lines to strike at her ships. The Krashinar beasts started disengaging from the side element of the Erasi forces around the same time and started climbing upward behind her line, but the remaining eight Devastator warships were making problems, as they and the Erasi fleets tried to break through the Sovereigns’ line. They were having limited success; from time to time, they would manage to maneuver enough to take shots at the ships behind the line. Several times they sacrificed their own escorts to soak in the damage from the Sovereigns and allow their Devastators to fire at the alliance forces. And, soon enough, even the Sovereigns started to feel the resultant damage.

  The Sovereigns were following as best as they could, but their bulk made them slightly slower in maneuvering, allowing the Erasi greater windows for action.

  And then the Erasi commander managed to trick them. They drew the Sovereigns sufficiently out of position that three of their Devastators and their escorts managed to drop and engage the retreating Krashinar forces.

  Anessa watched as they opened fire on the Krashinar, their new weapon systems burning through the Krashinar beasts’ shields and hide. The Herald of War reversed course almost immediately, but Anessa could see that it wouldn’t close the distance in time. The Erasi would ravage the Krashinar forces before the Sovereign would arrive.

  And then a massive vessel charged from the Krashinar line–Anessa recognized it immediately. The Krashinar flag beast, the beast Araxi. It closed the distance with seemingly no care for the Erasi fire, soaking it all in, its hide strangely resistant to the new Erasi weapon. Its own weapons unleashing out was an impressive sight. Its weapons hammered at the Erasi, and Anessa realized that Araxi was on a collision course with one of the Devastators. The Erasi probably realized it about the same time, as their formation slipped and they moved away, probably attempting to allow Araxi to pass through, surrounded by Erasi Devastators and ships.

  It did not go as well as they had planned. Araxi lashed out with its close-range weapons collapsing the shields of one of the Devastators, and then the Song’s sensors registered a massive gravity event, and Anessa felt a shudder pass through the Sha.

  Anessa watched in awe as Araxi grabbed the Devastator with the collapsed shields and changed course, pulling the Devastator toward it. The two vessels were on courses to just pass each other, but the core of Araxi’s body opened up and tentacle-like manipulators reached out and grabbed hold of the Devastator. Araxi was a massive beast, almost two-thirds the size of a Sovereign and just as massive. It wrenched the Devastator toward itself. The Song’s sensors screamed as gravity bent and the Erasi ship’s spine broke in half against Araxi’s hide.

  The two other Devastators attempted to aid their comrade, but it was too late–Araxi had crushed the Erasi vessel, and its sights then turned to the other two. The Erasi fired at Araxi and it fired back.

  Then the Herald arrived.

  Anessa saw the energy readings of the Sovereign spike, and its forward point opened and a bright light shone from the Herald of War’s depths. A moment later it fired its main weapon, hitting the two Devastators and obliterating one outright along with several of the Erasi super-battleships and other smaller escorts, while the other Devastator somehow managed to survive, though heavily damaged.

  The Krashinar saw the chance, and Araxi poured all of its firepower into the damaged Devastator, punching holes in its hull until it exploded, showering debris in every direction.

  And just like that, the rhythm of the battle changed again. The remaining Erasi Devastators pulled back along with all of their remaining forces, allowing the alliance to retreat.

  Chapter Seven

  Gena system – Erasi capital

  “This victory is the turning point in our war against the invaders. From this point on, the Erasi will show to all that we are superior, that we are without match!” The end of the speech was followed by a thunderous cheer from all the O’fa present.

  Vorash forced himself to remain quiet and let the cheering die out on its own. Valanaru stood and basked in the aftermath of her speech. Her words might fool the others, but Vorash knew better. She cared only for furthering her agenda; twisting facts were the least of her transgressions.

  Finally the cheering died down, and Vorash stood.

  “We,” he started loudly, “should take much care before we announce our victory. O’fa Valanaru steps dangerously close to arrogance, and that was what got my brother killed,” Vorash said, feeling a pinch of disgust at his own words–but if he had to use his brother as an example to get his point across, he was more than willing.

  “At most, the battle for Jerthath was a stalemate,” Vorash continued. “We might’ve succeeded in defending the system, but we lost almost a third of the force O’fa Valanaru sent. Not to mention the fact that we lost seven of our newest Devastator-class warships, and one was so damaged that it might as well be scrap.” He cast his gaze around the room, meeting the eyes of every O’fa, leaving the Weaver for the last. He saw her struggle to remain quiet, and the smoldering rage in her
eyes directed at him. Vorash struggled not to smile–he needed her enraged, off balance.

  “We defended an important system. Beat back the invaders’ attack,” Valanaru said with barely contained anger.

  Vorash crossed both sets of his arms over his torso and stared at her. “Yes, we defended a system. And at the same time we lost seven other system across our territory.”

  Valanaru waved her hand away. “Seven outer systems, that are of little value. They are insignificant.”

  “There is no insignificant Erasi system,” Vorash said firmly, slamming his lower set of arms on the table in front of him. “And your blatant disregard for the value of Erasi lives is very disconcerting.”

  Valanaru opened her mouth to speak, but Vorash cut her off. “You have been given the privilege of being an O’fa so that you may use your significant skills and experience to aid and protect the Erasi!” he growled. “Do not attempt to make a single half-victory more than it truly is. We will lose this war, do not pretend otherwise. Our Devastators barely even scratched the alliance’s Sovereigns and we lost more than half of the force we sent, against two of their fleet killers. Twelve Devastator warships supported by eighty fleets and we didn’t even manage to destroy one of them!”

  Valanaru twitched. “This battle has given us a lot of data. We are currently developing better strategies for taking their Sovereigns. And the rest of our core fleets will be in the outer territories in a months’ time.”

  “You forget that they have more of those ships, that their invasion force used just two. Do you truly think that they won’t use more? Especially now when you have tipped your hand and showed them that we can harm them?” He shook his head. “We might have more Devastator-class warships than they Sovereigns, but they will matter little when they are so outmatched. And that is not even counting in the Krashin and their new class of vessels. One of their great beasts crushed a Devastator almost effortlessly.