The Dark Star War (Codex Regius Book 3)

by Chris Kennedy

  “We have made it into a number of heavily guarded systems,” Captain Sheppard said, “including this one. I’m sure it can be done if we put our heads together and work something out. That is, of course, if you’d like to join us in the effort.”

  The Odin looked at his council members and saw four nodding heads. “We are in agreement that we will put aside our present conflict with you and will join in your assault on the Dark Star.”

  “And after that?”

  “We will see how the war against the Shaitans goes and make our determination.”

  “Speaking of our betrayers,” Captain Magnusson said, “why don’t we get together tomorrow on my ship to discuss our plans for how best to betray them in turn?”

  Passageway, Jotunn Ship Falcon, Jotunheimr System, December 27, 2021

  One of the giants waited for the Terrans as they came on board the Jotunn vessel. The planning group was led by Captain Sheppard and consisted of Calvin, Night and Lieutenant O’Leary. Captain Sheppard had decided to keep the group small and eliminate as many sources of contention as possible on the visit; despite his desire to attend the meeting for Calvin’s safety, Farhome had been left on the Gulf.

  “If you will follow me,” the giant waiting for them said, “I will take you to Captain Magnusson’s conference room where he is holding the planning session.”

  Without waiting for an answer, the Jotnar turned and began striding down the passageway. To Calvin, the enormity of the ship made the corridor seem to stretch into infinity, and the Terrans were quickly left behind.

  “Hey!” Night yelled at the Jotnar’s rapidly shrinking back, “Could you slow it down a bit?”

  The giant retraced his steps. “What is the problem?” he asked.

  “Uh, this,” Night said, pointing at the coaming around the bottom of the hatch he was going through. About 12 inches high on a Terran vessel, the coamings on the Falcon were three-foot-high obstacles; to traverse them, the Terrans were forced to pause and belly-roll over each of them in turn.

  “Want me to carry you?” the giant asked.

  “No, that’s all right,” Captain Sheppard replied. “Just slow down.”

  The procession started off again, slightly slower this time. Lieutenant O’Leary led the group of Terrans, his eyes constantly in motion.

  “They aren’t going to attack us here,” Calvin whispered after watching O’Leary slow down at the third intersection in a row as if expecting an ambush. “They gave us their word.”

  “You weren’t onboard the Gulf when they attacked,” Lieutenant O’Leary replied. “With all due respect, sir, you wouldn’t understand the depths of their treachery.”

  “Well you didn’t have to come if you’re so worried about it.”

  “They invited us for a planning conference. I wouldn’t have wanted to let them come aboard the Gulf, but that doesn’t mean I have to like being here. Besides, I couldn’t let you put together a plan without my input. You may have been in charge of the platoon for a couple of years now, but, no offense, you still think like an aviator, not a soldier. And, if I’m here, maybe I can help get you and the Skipper out when this situation turns to shit, which I’m sure it will.”

  The conversation ended as their guide stopped in front of a hatch. He knocked then held the hatch open for the Terrans to enter.

  Calvin found himself in the same conference room where he had watched Captain Magnusson negotiate with the Shaitans. Although it was furnished much the same as it was when Calvin had viewed it from above, the new perspective posed several problems. If there was a map on the table, he couldn’t see it as the table was seven feet high. The height of the table also precluded him from seeing the three Jotunn on the other side of the table—although he had a great view of their legs. At six feet high, the seats of the chairs were too high to climb into gracefully, and there were no bars across the legs to use as a ladder; he would need a boost to get up to the seat.

  Before he could ask Night for a lift, one of the giants walked down the Terran side of the table and lifted the four humans into their chairs.

  Captain Magnusson cleared his throat. “Thank you for coming,” he said. “I know you said you want to see the home of the Shaitans before you decide on your course of action. I don’t understand it, but I suppose it is due to your tiny stature that you are unable to make bigger plans than that. However, with that in mind, there are many issues you need to be aware of, or your mission will fail spectacularly.”

  “Ha!” Lieutenant O’Leary said, “You almost make it sound like you want us to succeed.”

  “Oh, but we do,” the Jotnar said. “We want you to succeed in bringing them to heel. If you do not, then I will have to fight them. That is a problem as I can’t get into their universe.”

  “But if we win,” O’Leary said, “you still have to deal with us, and we can jump to the other universe too.”

  “That’s true,” Captain Magnusson said, “but there is a big difference between your nations, besides the fact they betrayed us.” He smiled, but his face held no warmth. “You are a life form of this universe. You have to come back here periodically, or you will die. Your home planet is also in this universe, so you can only run for so long. If we threaten your world, you will have to come back and honor the threat. If nowhere else, we can draw you into battle there.”

  “That’s pretty cold-blooded,” Captain Sheppard noted.

  The giant shrugged. “You have to look out for the future of your civilization,” he said; “I have to look out for mine.”

  “Getting back to your original point,” Captain Sheppard said, “what are the issues you said we need to know?”

  “The first obstacle to your plan is that the Shaitans keep a large concentration of their ships at the stargate into the Dark Star system in our universe. You will have to fight to get past them.”

  “You’re right,” the CO said; “that’s a problem. Even if we use stealth, there’s still going to be some time where we’re visible when we come through the stargate. They’re going to know we’re there.”

  “Second,” the giant continued, “there are defenses around the planet in their universe once you jump to it. There are either three small moons or large asteroids which orbit the planet. The Shaitans use these bodies as defensive bases.”

  “Stealth would work against them,” Calvin noted.

  “Up to a point,” Captain Magnusson replied. “The asteroids are also used to project a defensive energy shield around the planet. I do not know if it will cancel your stealth, but I suspect it will.”

  “I take it the projectors are defended,” Night said.

  “Yes. There are bases on each of the asteroids, which guard the projectors.”

  “Could we shoot a missile at one of the projectors?” Lieutenant O’Leary asked. “Maybe we could make it look like a piece of space junk or something?”

  “Perhaps,” the giant replied, “although I’m told they are well defended.”

  “Well, you’ve certainly given us a lot to think about,” the CO said. “Can you tell us anything about the surface of the planet?”

  “I don’t know much about the planet as I haven’t been to the surface, but I can tell you enough.”

  “What does that mean?” Lieutenant O’Leary asked.

  “It means there isn’t anything on the surface of the planet,” Captain Magnusson replied. “The Shaitans evolved underground, and all of their cities, their civilization…everything… is underground.”

  “So how do you get to where their ruler is?”

  “How do you get to where their high lord is?” Captain Magnusson asked. “It’s easy. You don’t.”

  CO’s Conference Room, Jotunn Ship Falcon, Jotunheimr System, December 27, 2021

  “You seem to know an awful lot about the Dark Star system,” Captain Sheppard noted.

  “I have been to the Dark Star system in this universe on two occasions,” Captain Magnusson replied. “Since we do not have the ability to
transit to the other universe, my knowledge of what the planet looks like there is based on what the ambassador who returned from the other universe told me.”

  “The ambassador? I would have thought you’d been allies for longer than the time it would take for one ambassador to go and return. Can you stay in the other universe for long periods of time without experiencing health problems?”

  “No. We cannot stay there for more than about 50 days without our health degrading. And yes, we have been ‘allies’ with the Shaitans for much longer than that. Unfortunately, their high lord has a penchant for killing our ambassadors for slights he feels they have given him. Whether real or perceived, it does not matter; he kills anyone he feels has damaged his honor or not done as they have been told.”

  “And you put up with this?” Night asked.

  “Sometimes the honor and safety of your race cause you to endure things you would otherwise not put up with. We needed them to help us defeat the Aesir. Their ability to jump back and forth to the other universe makes them very difficult to kill. Even our biggest ships were unable to defeat their ships when we first came upon them. If our battleships weren’t as large as they are, or able to absorb as much damage as they can, we would never have survived first contact with the Shaitans. Once they saw they couldn’t destroy our ships, they finally tried communicating with us. It took a long time to establish communications, but we ultimately prevailed.”

  Captain Magnusson shook his head. “I was a mid-grade officer on one of the battleships at the time, and trying to speak with them was the most frustrating thing I have ever done. We still don’t understand their language very well; most times they use our language, which they can speak better than we can speak theirs.”

  “Their language is very difficult,” Captain Sheppard said; “it uses frequencies higher than we can hear, in addition to ones we can.”

  “That would explain why we were never able to communicate with them very well in their language,” the giant admitted. “Once we figured out how to communicate with them, we learned they were already at war with the Ssselipsssiss. The war had started out well for the Shaitans, but the Ssselipsssiss were adapting to their attacks, and the Shaitan high lord was furious. Our ship’s captain talked with their high lord and worked out an alliance with them. Although our civilizations are very different, the alliance worked well for both of us, at least until your ship arrived. The addition of the Shaitan ships helped us surprise the Aesir, and the addition of our fleet units allowed the Shaitans to roll through the Ssselipsssiss with little resistance. They began to adapt toward the end, but by then there weren’t enough of them left to make a difference.”

  “So you went to the Dark Star system at the start of the war,” Captain Sheppard said. “You said you’d been there twice; when was the other time?”

  “I was there about a year ago when I was chosen to take the new ambassador to the Shaitans and bring Uncle Loki home. He was just completing his time there and was our only ambassador to actually survive being stationed there. Apparently Loki got into trouble several times, but he was always able to talk his way out of it by tricking the high lord into believing it was someone else’s fault.”

  “Did you cross into the Shaitan’s universe?”

  “No, but I spoke to my uncle several times about what he had seen and done there. Loki hated the Shaitans and wanted nothing more than to steal their technology so we could end the alliance with them and crush them. He found them to be disgusting creatures with no honor.”

  “That’s what I don’t get,” Calvin said. “Your civilization is based on honor, yet you let the Shaitans do things that lack honor. How is genocide honorable?”

  “It is not,” Captain Magnusson stated; “however, the war was going well, and we had just announced the commencement of Ragnarok when we learned of their genocidal tendencies. It was easier to look the other way than it was to break the alliance when we needed them most.”

  “That answers the question of how you know so much about the Dark Star system,” Captain Sheppard said. “Knowing what you know, what is the best way for us to get into the system?”

  “By yourself? It can’t be done; not without the Shaitans knowing you’re there. If you are trying to spy on them stealthily…”

  “We are.”

  “Then you are going to need help.”

  “We cannot go to the Dark Star system,” Commander Sturl Halson, the Falcon’s XO warned. “We left the Shaitan war against the lizards without the high lord’s permission. He’s probably already put out a death warrant on you. If the rest of us are lucky, it’s only on you; however, it’s far more likely he has condemned the entire ship and crew of the Falcon to death.”

  The giant CO shrugged. “It is not without some danger,” he agreed. “Certainly for me and probably for you. Still, do you want to live forever? There is sure to be battle if we assist the Terrans; what could be better than betraying the betrayers? How many of us have died at the hands of the Shaitans? If I am going to die, I would rather do it in battle…and I would rather die killing the Shaitans.”

  “Well then, why do it by half?” the Falcon’s XO asked. “Let’s muster the entire fleet and go crush the Shaitan fleet!”

  “If we bring a big fleet into the Dark Star system,” Captain Magnusson replied, “the Shaitans are going to know we are there to betray them and will all transit back to their universe. We won’t be able to get at them, and the Vella Gulf will be tremendously outnumbered in their universe. No matter how well they fight, the Terrans will be overwhelmed, and the entire mission will be for naught. Then, once the Vella Gulf has been destroyed, the Shaitans will transit back to fire their missiles at us, and we will be overwhelmed.”

  Captain Magnusson shook his head. “No, this is a mission for one ship, or two if you count the Terran ship. We will get the Terrans into the Dark Star system and let them be about their business. Then, we will defend ourselves until they have accomplished what they are going to do. We will kill as many of the Shaitans as we can, providing a distraction for the Terrans, and when they are done, we will leave with them. There is one thing I must mention. As the XO noted, we may not be welcome in the Dark Star system. Under no circumstances will I put myself or my ship under Shaitan control. If that happens, we will be forced to fight. We will wait for you as long as we can, but we will have to withdraw at that point.”

  “How are you going to get us into the Dark Star system unnoticed?” Captain Sheppard asked.

  “As you may have noticed, your ship is somewhat smaller than ours. I intend to use that to our advantage.”

  CO’s Conference Room, TSS Vella Gulf, Jotunheimr System, December 27, 2021

  “So that’s how we’re going to get into the Dark Star system,” Captain Sheppard concluded. “That is probably the easiest part of the journey. The hard part is going to be once we’re in the other universe. Since the Falcon can’t make the jump, we are going to be on our own there. At some point, odds are we’re going to need to fight the Shaitans. We’ve already seen what their technology can do. Some of it’s good; most of it is less so. The one thing that continues to worry me, though, are their jumping missiles.”

  “Yes sir,” the DSO replied, “they are the greatest threat. Our anti-missile missiles (AMMs) can’t catch them because they jump, and our lasers are ineffective against them for some reason.”

  “Have we figured out why that is yet?” the CO asked. “Lieutenant Bradford, do you have any ideas?”

  “No sir,” he replied. “I’d really like to get my hands on a few of them so I can take a look, though.”

  “No doubt. We’ll pick some up the next chance we get. Failing that, does anyone else have any ideas for defeating their missiles?”

  “I do,” Calvin said. “The Ssselipsssiss have a really low-tech way of defeating them. They put poles with a large mass on the bows of their ships. When a Shaitan fires on them, they turn into the missile and let it hit the mass on the end of the pole.
The mass disappears, but there is surprisingly little damage to the bow of the ship. Obviously, it only works once, but if you rigged a couple and only extended them one at a time, it would let you take a hit or two before you started losing pieces of your ship.”

  “That makes sense,” the CO said. “Ops, take a look at that for implementation, please. What else does anyone have?”

  “I don’t know how well they track in their native universe,” the DSO said, “but we could try jumping there to escape them. Maybe if we go to the other universe, make a course change and jump back, it won’t be able to keep up with us.”

  “Also worth trying,” the CO acknowledged.

  “And maybe if we have some extra unobtanium lying around, we could try putting jump modules on some of the AMMs like we have with the ASMs,” the DSO added. “Maybe if they could follow the Shaitan missiles as they jump back and forth, we could get some hits with them.”

  “That sounds plausible,” Captain Sheppard said. “What else?”

  “You weren’t there when we went over to fight on the Shaitan ship,” Night said, “but you should have seen what silver and gold rounds do to their ships and structures. The rounds cut right through them. If we could get some of that onto the Shaitan’s ships, they would have a damage control nightmare on their hands. It’s darn near impossible to put out the silver and gold fires, as they make their own oxygen.”

  “So are you saying we should put silver and gold on our missiles?” asked the operations officer.

  “I’m saying that we ought to collect every last bit of it on this ship and spray it all over the Shaitans whenever we get the chance,” Night replied. “Until I can get close enough to do it myself, putting it on our missiles is a great start.”