The Exxar Chronicles: Book 01 - The Erayan

by Neal Jones

  Decev nodded. "Yes, I've heard the same thing."

  But then Ilkara's smile faded as she continued. "This Jha'Drok Emperium that you and your captain mentioned ... they're a good example of why I say that I am going to be cautious with the knowledge that I dispense. They have already used Erayan technology to bring harm to others, and I have requested Captain McKenna to return to Exxar-One as soon as possible. I must learn the truth of this matter, and, if possible, correct the mistake."

  "I'm sure that we'll be departing soon," Decev said, "if we haven't already done so. Now that you're awake, there's not much else for us to find on this planet."

  Ilkara nodded her agreement and was about to say more, but the distant blare of the red alert siren cut her off.

  ( 2 )

  Captain McKenna barreled out of her ready room, charging for the command chair as she barked, "Sit-Rep!"

  Commander McCoy relinquished the seat. "Two Jha'Drok battle carriers and two destroyers just emerged from the hypergate. They're ignoring our hails, and their offnets are up."

  "Ours is up as well," Zamora said. "Alpha, Beta and Charlie squadrons are standing by for launch. Four minutes until weapons range."

  "Mister Voorhees, move us into a lower orbit, and turn us so we're facing the enemy," McKenna ordered as she sat and activated her safety harness. "Mister Juarez, are the Jha'Drok jamming our transmissions?"

  "Not yet, ma'am."

  The captain was startled by that response, and from the look on her first officer's face, so was he. "In that case, Ensign, open a channel to Commander Benson." Karri was on the surface, in the brain room. "Tell her I want a dozen drones up here ASAP."

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "How the hell did they find out we were here?" McCoy muttered.

  "I was wondering the same thing." McKenna chewed a corner of her lower lip as she watched the poisonous soup of the atmosphere cloud the starscape on the forward viewscreen. "They must have stumbled onto the Erayan technology the same way we did. They have a hypergate of their own, and they finally learned how to dial our number."

  "Message received," Juarez crowed. "Drones are on their way." A readout popped up on one of his screens. "Now they're jamming our transmissions."

  "Mister Voorhees," McKenna said, "are we low enough in the atmosphere to use one of those radiation pockets to our advantage?"

  "Almost, ma'am. But the Jha'Drok aren't taking the bait. All four ships are holding position in high orbit."

  "Good enough. Let them wonder what we're up to."

  "The Jha'Drok EW is going to interfere with our control of the drones," Zamora reported.

  "Then let's hope that Commander Benson programmed them with a predetermined target before she launched them." McKenna tugged at her shoulder straps to loosen them just a bit.

  "They're hailing us."

  McKenna deactivated her safety harness and stood to face the holo-comm. "Put 'em on, ensign."

  Juarez obeyed. "It'll be fuzzy from radiation interference."

  The platform glowed, and the holo-image of a Jha'Drok man wearing the rank of First Krin appeared. Flashes of static popped here and there in the image, but the smug expression on the enemy commander's face was clear and crisp. "This is First Krin L'urad, commanding officer of the Imperial Battle Carrier Gyon. Stand down your defenses and surrender your ship and crew to my command."

  McKenna's face was a mask of cool professionalism as she regarded L'urad. "This is Captain Kathryne McKenna of the Interstellar Federation starship ECS Dauntless. You are presumptuous, first krin. In a few minutes your fleet is going to be surrounded with a dozen weapons drones, and I'm fairly certain that you do not have the firepower to match theirs. If you do not surrender in the next five minutes, I will destroy your squadron, and the Emperium will have to send another fleet to find out what happened to yours. Of course, by that time, we'll be long gone, and I'm sure that my superiors back home in Central Command will be very interested to know how the Jha'Drok came in possession of these alien hypergates and their advanced technology." The captain crossed her arms, and her expression turned bemused as she cocked her head and looked at the first krin as though he were no more nuisance than a gnat. "End transmission."

  Juarez pressed the button, and L'urad disappeared. It was McKenna's turn to look smug as she walked back to her seat.

  "The drones are moving into position," Zamora reported. "Commander Benson has uplinked the underground cavern's tactical database to my console. I have full control of the drones."

  "Good." McKenna perched herself on the edge of her seat in her hawk stance. "Mister Voorhees, take us back out of the atmosphere and move us away from the planet. Position us between that squadron and the hypergate."

  "Yes, ma'am."

  McKenna glanced sideways to see McCoy looking at her with a half-smile. "Yes, commander?"

  "You have a definite flair for the dramatic that Gabriel never had."

  "The enemy ships have not dropped their defenses, nor have they deactivated their offnets." Zamora sounded almost gleeful as he delivered his statement. "The drones are moving into a tactical position around the fleet."

  "Mister Juarez, please open a channel to First Krin L'urad." McKenna stood once more and walked to her customary point behind Voorhees' chair, but the holo-comm remained offline. After a few seconds, the captain turned in Juarez's direction.

  The ensign shook his head. "They're receiving our hail but not responding."

  "Very well then." McKenna returned to her seat and activated the safety harness.

  "We're now holding position at eight-hundred-and-twelve kilometers," Voorhees stated. "We're as close to the gate's event horizon as I can get without activating the vortex."

  "The drones are opening fire!"

  The dozen weapons spheres unleashed a hailstorm of phased disruptor energy upon the Jha'Drok warships, lashing at them from all sides. The four ships maneuvered into a tighter formation, pointing their noses out and returning fire from all available ports. But they were outgunned three to one, and although the battle carriers succeeded in launching six squads of attack wings, the destroyers' deflector screens buckled ten minutes into the battle. And unlike the battle with the Dauntless, the drones didn't ignore the attack wings. They picked them off with only single shots, swatting them like mosquitoes, and the halo of miniature explosions blended with the pair of fireballs that were the destroyers.

  Zamora frowned at the data from the readout which popped up on his central screen. "The carriers' defenses are behaving in the same manner as the Haal'Chai raiders. Their deflectors are withstanding the onslaught."

  "They can't hold out indefinitely," Lieutenant Ross said. "Not with that many drones at once." Ross had taken Benson's place at sciences.

  Zamora nodded as he said, "No, not indefinitely, but it's an even match, despite the number of drones."

  "Can we bring up more?" Juarez asked. "How many are in store down there?"

  "I believe Commander Benson's last count was four hundred and eighty-seven," Ross replied.

  McKenna absorbed the comments and reports of her officers and then arrived at a decision. "Ensign, can we get a signal to Commander Benson yet?"

  "I believe so. It looks like the drones are emitting some EW of their own, and it's clearing the airwaves for us."

  "Good. Tell her to cease fire. If she does not receive another signal from us in three minutes, she is to resume the assault. Then open a channel to the Gyon. Let's see if the Jha'Drok are ready to listen to reason." McKenna decided to remain sitting for this conversation.

  "Message received," Juarez announced after a few moments.

  "The drones have ceased fire." Zamora perused his readouts and nodded with satisfaction. "They appear to be caught flat-footed for the moment."

  "Opening a channel to the Gyon."

  "This is Captain McKenna. Are you prepared to accept my terms of surrender, First Krin L'urad?"

  The Jha'Drok commander's image appeared on the holo-co
mm, and he appeared as smug as ever. The loss of his destroyers had apparently done nothing to diminish his determination and confidence. "Now you're the one being presumptuous, captain. The battle has only just begun."

  "I have four hundred and fifty other drones at my command, first krin. We can keep this up as long as you like, but I doubt that your two warships can withstand a force rating of that magnitude."

  "Perhaps not, captain. But the Emperium has had a little more than a galactic standard century to study this Erayan technology. We have succeeded in developing drones of our own." He made a motion to one of his officers who was out of view of the holo-comm's pickup. "Let's begin the second round, shall we?" He smiled as his image vanished and the link was terminated.

  Zamora was rapidly inputting commands and pulling up readouts. "Both ships have launched drones. Twenty-seven total, and they're headed straight for us."

  "Let me see 'em," McKenna ordered.

  Half of the forward viewscreen shifted to display tactical data, and a sensor schematic of the new drones appeared. "They're a little bigger than an attack wing," Zamora narrated, "but if they pack the same punch as the Haal'Chai raiders, then we have a problem. First Krin L'urad has just leveled the playing field by a considerable margin."

  "Maintain our position, Mister Voorhees," the captain instructed. "We are not letting them back through that gateway under any circumstances. Launch Alpha, Beta and Charlie squadrons. Status of the Jha'Drok EW?"

  The ensign scowled at his readouts. "The Jha'Drok have deployed one hell of a scattering field, ma'am, much more advanced than what they were using earlier. It looks like their offnet and defenses weren't the only systems to be enhanced by the Erayan technology."

  "He's right," Zamora chimed in. "Those drones are already moving into an attack formation that will destroy anything we attempt to launch, including comm buoys." An alarm sounded, and he slammed a finger on his console to silence it. "They're now in weapons range. Brace for impact!"

  The tactical officer was only half correct. The Jha'Drok drones were only putting out a third of the force rating that the Haal'Chai raiders had managed, but because there was twenty-seven of them, they were able to make up the difference. It was the mosquitoes' turn to fight back, and they assailed the Dauntless as if it was the only living animal in a thousand light years, lashing at all sides with persistent fury.

  "Deflector strength at eighty-nine percent!" Zamora gripped the edge of his console just in time to keep from being thrown by the violent lurching of the deck. No matter how advanced the internal gravitic stabilizers a starship possessed, there was always the feeling during a battle that one was aboard an old fashioned sea faring vessel being tossed about in a storm. "The drones aren't ignoring the hornets either! We've already lost eight stingers!"

  "What about our drones?" McKenna demanded.

  "They've opened fire, but I don't see that it will change anything at this point! We need at least three dozen more of them!"

  ( 3 )

  Lieutenant Commander Benson was, at that exact moment, bent over a computer screen that was part of a portable bank of consoles that had been set up on the ground floor of the control cavern. All command functions of the entire cavern were routed through that bank, and Karri was exhaling through her teeth at the tactical readouts that were pouring across her screen. Petty Officer Third Class Wardell was close by, bent over his own station, assimilating and cataloguing the influx of sensor data from the planetary satellite network, which was recording every moment of the grisly battle.

  "Launch another dozen drones!" Benson snapped. "Target the Jha'Drok drones, and fire at will!"

  While Wardell scrambled to obey, PO1 Kristofferson, who was on the other side of Benson, was scouring the cavern's database, searching for other options. Now she gave an excited "Aha!" and Benson turned in her direction.

  "I've think I've found something that will end this battle now, commander, but there's a catch. It'll cripple our own ship along with the Jha'Drok battle carriers."

  Benson swiveled Kristofferson's screen so she could see the readout, and her frown turned into a scowl. "The Erayans really knew how to defend their planet. And you're right about crippling our own ship, but I think we can minimize the damage if we concentrate the pulse on the Jha'Drok and keep the power settings within a reasonable limit. There's enough distance between them and the Dauntless that our ship should only suffer some minor aftereffects, if that."

  "It'll take a couple minutes to reconfigure the satellite network, and I'll have to redeploy some of them. Not only that, the loss of all computer function means that there's a good chance the carriers' reactors are going to suffer imbalances in their cores and destroy both ships."

  "An acceptable risk. At this point, it's more important to end the battle than take prisoners. Get on it."

  "The new drones are in the air," Wardell reported. "They'll reach the Dauntless in six minutes."

  ( 4 )

  First Krin L'urad gripped the arms of his command seat as his gaze swept over the tactical readouts that were being relayed to his screen. One of the many benefits of the Erayan technology was better gravitic stabilizers, and thus there was only slight tremors in the deck plating as each disruptor bolt from the drones struck the carrier's deflector screens. Even under an assault of this magnitude, the bridge officers of the Gyon had no trouble remaining at their posts, and the first krin smiled to himself. The enhanced defenses were holding strong, and at this rate the battle would last for another six hours, at least. And thanks to their own supply weapons drones - of which they had another thirty on standby - they could probably destroy the Dauntless in half that time.

  First Krin Elyn Nejra had stumbled onto a colony world very much like this one a hundred and thirty years ago, and it had taken a decade to uncover every last secret of that ancient treasure trove. Now First Krin L'urad was reaping the benefits of that discovery, for he had many more tricks up his sleeve. Weapons drones were just the beginning. The scattering field that was being projected by the EW array was ten times more powerful than anything the Federation had, and an engineering crew was already at work modifying the array so that an EM burst could be sent. In theory, it would be powerful enough to knock out the Erayan drones entirely, and then a second burst would cripple the ones defending the Dauntless. A third and final burst would render the EarthCorps ship immobile and utterly defenseless, if not completely destroy her. That was the one flaw with this new weapon. But if that was the case, so be it. The two carriers would stand guard over this world until a new squadron could be reassigned here, and then an engineering team could pick up where the Federation left off. This planet would be one more conquest for the Emperium.

  Had L'urad known about the plan that Commander Benson had just initiated, he would have appreciated the irony. As it was, he sat back in his chair and sipped his bbim juice, making sure to keep a tight grip on the handle so as not to lose the cup as the deck lurched slightly beneath his feet. I should have requested two more carriers, he mused silently. The terse verbal reports being exchanged between his officers as they coordinated offense and defense of the ship was mere background hum to L'urad's thoughts. D'raal probably would have given them to me, but I suppose it doesn't matter now. Who knew that the EarthCorps crew would be so adept at assimilating this alien technology so quickly?

  Just as he lifted the cup to his lips for one last sip, the bridge lighting flickered and then died completely. Computer screens suddenly went dark as well, and the cacophony of alarms that had served as part of the soundtrack to the battle fell abruptly silent. L'urad set down his cup and saucer and stood, looking to his first officer. Second Krin F'rane was just as baffled as the battalion commander, and the rest of the bridge crew was also looking at one another in confusion and surprise. The emergency systems didn't kick in, and L'urad suddenly became aware of another sound that was no longer audible - the air recyclers.

  During standard ship operations, the recyclers emitted a low
hum that could only be heard when one was near a CO2 scrubber pack. There was one such pack on the far side of the bridge, next to the life support backup console. The lack of sound from the scrubber pack meant that life support was offline. Without those recyclers, the atmosphere aboard the Gyon was going to start quickly filling with CO2, and, in about twelve hours or less, the entire crew would suffocate.

  "Remain at your posts," First Krin L'urad ordered. "Victory is life."

  "Honor unto death," echoed the crew.

  Second Krin F'rane stepped forward and saluted his commander. "Sir, we await your order."

  L'urad silently cursed himself for his lack of foresight. Then he cursed the Imperial Senate, for if they had not dragged their feet about sending a reconnaissance squadron to investigate the Dauntless' find, the Gyon could have arrived here several days ago. They might even have prevented the enemy crew from finding the underground control cavern. And he should have pressed D'raal for at least two more battle carriers, and at least one wing carrier as well.

  But all of that was irrelevant now. There was nothing to do except deprive the enemy of that which they sought most. "The order is given, second krin." L'urad turned to the rest of his crew and raised his voice. "We shall walk into the Fields of Glory, for we have fought honorably today. It is the will of the Gods that we have not succeeded in our efforts to stop the enemy, and all that can be asked of us is that we serve their will and theirs alone. Victory is life!" That last statement was a crack of thunder.

  "Honor unto death!" Another clap of thunder echoed back.

  The first krin reached into the inner pocket of his uniform jacket and extracted a tiny case. Inside was a pair of capsules, and he swallowed them. The rest of his soldiers followed suit, and the same scenario was being played out all over the ship. Section commanders were ordering their subordinates to swallow the pills, and by the time the EarthCorps boarding parties swarmed through the airlocks, every last Jha'Drok soldier was dead.

  ( 5 )