The Prodigal Emperor (The Shadow Space Chronicles Book 3)

by Kal Spriggs

  It was the part of the plan that he and Valens had most discussed, yet they could not avoid the fact that the Chxor had come here to kill the Nova Roma Emperor... and nothing else would force them to commit like the opportunity to kill him.

  As the Chxor formation piled up to face not just the inbound missile salvo but also the Nova Roma Fleet, their flank became thinner. Like an armored beast, they could not have thick armor in every direction... that strength had to come from somewhere.

  At the rear, outward section of their formation, they were the thinnest. There, only a relative handful of cruisers screened the entire formation's rear arc... and that was where Lucius's forces were positioned to hit them. The problem, though, was that they needed to hit those cruisers hard enough that they couldn't be reinforced or replaced fast enough to close the gap.

  “Commodore Pierce, you're up,” Lucius said.

  The War Dogs' three dreadnoughts opened fire first. The three dreadnoughts had lain quiescent as the Chxor force drew ever closer. Their greatest advantage was not their firepower or their armor... it was the fact that they were so old that the Chxor wouldn't recognize them as a threat. They wouldn't even be in the database.

  Those three dreadnoughts opened fire with their railguns at only a thousand kilometers range, close enough that the cruisers never even knew they were under fire before steel penetrators were shattering armor and tearing their ships to pieces.

  In that moment, Lucius's Second Fleet brought up their drives. After the engagement with Force Bravo, Lucius had positioned them along the Chxor axis of advance. He had detached the two Archer-class destroyers, since it would take them another hour to reload their external launch racks and they possessed no real armament besides that.

  Lucius's force hit while the fighter missile strike was still ten thousand kilometers out from the head of the formation. The human built ships focused on the Chxor vessels closest to them, dealing with threats as they came up, while the Achilles, Hector, and Hermes engaged other targets. He felt the entire ship vibrate as the main battery charged and as it fired, the Hector finally seemed to come alive. All three ships had aimed at a single dreadnought, one that they had identified as being the subcommander's flagship for the central section of the Chxor formation.

  The Hector dumped energy into a quantum matrix which then projected the energy instantly, letting it take form within the target, bypassing armor, defense screens, and hitting out to a range of twenty thousand kilometers instantly, with no delay.

  The enemy dreadnought died before it knew what had even hit it. For one moment it was there, the next it vanished in thermonuclear fire as all four of its fusion reactors failed critically. Well, Lucius thought, that was a bit of overkill.

  “Yeehaw!” Ensign Forrest Perkins shouted. “Get some!”

  Lucius grinned at the other man, “Hardly professional, Ensign, but I'll agree with the sentiment.” He updated his target parameters, “Legend squadron, go to dispersal targets.” Clearly they had no need to mass their firepower, not with the raw destruction that they had unleashed on just one dreadnought. “War Dogs, you are clear to engage priority alpha. Avenger squadron, take over guidance of the missile flight.”

  He heard them acknowledge his orders, but his gaze went to the massive missile salvo from the fighters, even as Second Fleet launched some additional missiles of their own.

  The enemy formation's head had shifted as Lucius's force hit it. Part had shifted back in an effort to close the wound, but the ships from Second Fleet were already within the enemy formation, while the War Dogs continued to chew their way through any cruiser that tried to close the gap. The big dreadnoughts were killing enemy cruisers fast enough that they had time to shift fire onto the nearest of the Chxor dreadnoughts.

  The relatively light railguns couldn't penetrate the heaviest armor of the Chxor vessels, but they could shred engine pods, sensor clusters, and even light weapons turrets. The dreadnoughts that they targeted staggered away, blind and slow... easy fodder for Lucius's Second Fleet.

  Boris Kaminsky's Roosevelt Forest moved among the damaged dreadnoughts like a panther attacking panicked sheep. The battlecruiser's heavy guns ripped through the dreadnoughts' armor at close range and everywhere it went, a trail of debris and gas strung out behind Chxor dreadnoughts, like wounded animals trailing their intestines.

  The lighter ships fared almost as well, the savage Kukri-class destroyers had incredibly powerful short range energy weapons and their captains maneuvered almost into contact with the dreadnoughts defense screens before they fired. Lucius saw turrets blasted of the Chxor dreadnoughts from the close range, precise fire.

  And then, as the entire Chxor formation shuddered and tried to adjust to this new threat, the missile wave struck.

  Lucius's second fleet had taken over control of those missiles, which meant that they weren't blinded by the Chxor jamming. Instead, they swept under and over the formation before they dove down in, directed past the screening cruisers and into the heart of the formation.

  It didn't work perfectly. Over seven hundred of the missiles from Admiral Collae's Patriots were too blinded by the Chxor jamming to hear the commands from Lucius's Fleet. Those seven hundred missiles went in against the Chxor screening cruisers and the dreadnoughts that were supposed to protect them.

  Yet those dreadnoughts suddenly had two hundred missiles from Admiral Collae's fighters and another five hundred missiles from Captain Naeveus's Harrasser wing and his two wings of Canis bombers on approach from above and below... and ignoring their cruiser screen.

  The seven hundred missiles dove in among the Chxor dreadnoughts. To give them credit, they engaged those missiles with everything they had. The lead squadrons, a total of fifty dreadnoughts, engaged with main and secondary batteries at range and their interceptor laser batteries again as the missiles entered attack range, but they didn't have time to cover both in front as well as above and below.

  They killed almost two thirds of those missiles, even so. They killed almost all of Admiral Collae's missiles, either because they had poor guidance or because they didn't have as much maneuverability, Lucius didn't know which. They also killed two hundred and fifty of Liberation Wing's missiles, which still left two hundred and forty of them, spread fairly evenly over the lead fifty dreadnoughts.

  The seven hundred missiles from Admiral Collae went in almost entirely unopposed against the Chxor screening cruisers at the fore. More than a third of them were so blinded by the Chxor's firefly systems that they either went past their targets or simply failed to detonate. But, even so, almost four hundred of them detonated among the lead cruisers.

  The staggered chain of explosions lasted almost three seconds... and Lucius winced as the glare cleared to show that the entire head of the formation was simply gone. “Adapt to that, you bastard.”

  ***

  Chapter XVI

  Periclum Debris Cloud, Nova Roma System

  (Contested)

  May 22, 2404

  High Commander Chxarals wiped at a smear of green blood that had run down in his eye from where his head had struck one of his monitors. Perhaps some of the criticisms that stated the monitors should be padded like on human vessels was not entirely out of line, he noted.

  His flagship had taken multiple hits as his formation opened up from behind. He didn't think that the enemy knew his location, else he was certain they would have focused fire to kill him as they had Fleet Commander Fxark, his second in command.

  Still, he was still alive, so he should take charge and crush the enemy. Ship Commander Thrxill had confirmed that some of the intercepted communications were from Baron Giovanni, the head of the United Colonies. Chxarals didn't know why the human had sent such a small force, but he was resolved to destroy the human and crush his fleet.

  “Forward element, roll formation...” he trailed off as he realized that his forward element was simply gone. A half dozen cruisers near the edges of the fore drifted, battered into wrecks,
but the central formation of fifty dreadnoughts and four hundred cruisers had been reduced to clouds of ionized gas. “Rear element,” he said, “shift along vector three four seven.” That would allow them to flank the force at his rear, though it would cost him firepower that he would rather focus on the Nova Roma forces.

  The enemy dreadnoughts to his rear were immaterial, he could see. They must be ancient, possibly hulks that the Nova Romans had retrofitted with some basic weapons. They would take significant firepower to reduce, but they could be ignored until the other threats were dealt with.

  “Your priority targets are the Chinwan vessels and the enemy battlecruiser,” he said. “Engage the enemy light craft after that, and only then the three obsolescent dreadnoughts.”

  “Acknowledged,” Fleet Commander Jxush said. Always a professional, Chxarals thought, even as he turned his attention to his center... and the main body of the Nova Roman Fleet.

  His cruiser screen had cracked and the Nova Romans had taken advantage of that. An inbound wave of missiles had centered on the gaps in his formation. “Ships 10997 and 10756, tighten formation.” That should, he thought, close off two of the larger sets of gaps.

  He was proven wrong a moment later as the Emperor Romulus fired through the jamming screen. The huge superdreadnought's main batteries ripped a pair of dreadnoughts apart. A moment later, the other Nova Roma ships fired, and these shots, too penetrated the gaps in his screen to strike deep into his formation. His dreadnoughts had returned fire, but the enemy continued to close, their evasive maneuvers combined with the chaos of the attack at their rear meant many of his ships missed.

  His ship lurched again under multiple impacts. The ambush force is providing them with targeting data to bypass our jamming, he thought. “Message to all screening cruisers, shift jamming pattern to seven-jinn.” He waited a moment and noticed an immediate difference as the coordinated shots became far less accurate. Let us see how well you shoot when you cannot communicate, he thought.

  ***

  Nova Roma

  (Contested)

  May 22, 2404

  Sub Officer Galt coughed up green blood and leaned against the barricade. Nearby he saw that Hrak and Txinal were down. Both of them were riddled with bullets, their body armor stained green with their blood.

  Yet we have held station command, he thought absently. He had thought that a team of Chxor were supposed to relieve him, yet he had heard nothing over the net about reinforcements, not since the counterattack.

  Perhaps we have already lost, he thought with regret. If that were the case, then he wished he had more time to enjoy emotions, particularly humor.

  As he thought that, a pair of Chxor in ground force uniforms swept around the barricade. They saw him and froze, yet as he made no move to attack them, they leveled their weapons. “You are a traitor to your kind,” the lead one said.

  Galt gave a laugh and he could see them both flinch back from the sound. To them, it was alien and wrong, to him, it felt good to finally live openly. If they couldn't see the humor, then the joke was all the funnier. “I am a patriot of our people. Too long we have been slaves to the Benevolence Council. I will die free, slaves.”

  The one raised his riot gun and Galt closed his eyes.

  He heard a pair of shots, yet he felt no pain. He opened his eyes to find a human stood over him, an assault rifle in his hands. “You're Galt?” the human asked, his face filled with distaste.

  “I am,” Galt said. “Thank you for your timely arrival.”

  The human shrugged, “I promised Demetrius I'd secure the command section and save any of your team that survived. Trust me, if it was up to me I'd have sat back and watched while some Chxor killed each other.”

  “Ah, very practical of you,” Galt tossed his head back and began to laugh. The human stared at him for a long moment before he began to laugh too.

  It was good to share a joke with someone who could recognize it.

  ***

  Periclum Debris Cloud, Nova Roma System

  (Contested)

  May 22, 2404

  Valens grimaced as they lost the targeting data feed from Lucius's ship. A moment later they lost communications with them as the enemy firefly systems shifted to a broad spectrum communications jamming pattern. “Damn it,” he snapped, “get me a target!”

  It isn't fair, he thought, Lucius is getting to have all the fun.

  He wasn't certain exactly what he had, as the War Shrike shuddered from another impact, but he wouldn't exactly call it fun.

  “I've got a gap in sector three two,” Ensign Brunnetti said quickly. “Data coming up!”

  Valens grinned as he saw that data on his screen. The Ensign had dropped a probe in behind the missile flight, with a directional laser link that the enemy couldn't jam. “Excellent work,” he said, “All elements, new target data coming online, engage!”

  The relatively tiny gap was still wide enough for his entire force to fire through, in an inverted cone. The War Shrike's HEP cannons engaged one of the Chxor dreadnoughts through the gap and he growled as he saw the enemy ship's bow shatter. A moment later, his missiles shot through the gap and detonated almost in contact with the dreadnought's hull.

  The painful glare cleared a moment later, and Valens could see that the focused fire from the Fleet had ripped a huge hole in the enemy formation. “All elements,” he said, “This is Admiral Valens Balventia. Forward into the gap, engage at will.”

  They were close enough now that his entire formation was able to lunge for the enemy's throat. This was where fast vessels like the War Shrike came into their own... and the Emperor Romulus was almost as fast, a massive black wedge that drove into the enemy force right behind its smaller brethren.

  Yet the fight was not as one-sided as Valens would like. He saw the battlecruiser Amerigo shatter as it caught a full broadside from a Chxor dreadnought. The ship, either through direction or happenstance, spun over on a collision course with its killer... and both ships vanished in an eye-searing ball of fusion detonations a moment later.

  The War Shrike shuddered again, and then a second time as the enemy focused on the old battleship. Alarms wailed and Valens coughed as smoke filled the bridge. He heard Captain Bentucci direct fire on the dreadnought that had hit him, but Valens' focus was on the entire fight and he bit his lip until he tasted blood as he saw the rear element of the formation had shifted. I should be worried about what will happen to me if this fails, he thought, but all I can do is worry about what Lucius will do to me if I let the Chxor destroy his precious War Shrike.

  ***

  “I won't forgive him if he lets them blow up my ship,” Lucius said to himself as he watched the enemy pound the Nova Roma Imperial Fleet in general and one Valens Balventia in particular.

  “What's that, sir?” Ensign Miller asked.

  Lucius shook his head, the Hector fired again at one of the enemy dreadnoughts, and again the destroyer's powerful weapon ripped a dreadnought apart.

  Yet the small ship's shield system flared again as an enemy dreadnought fired on them, and Lucius hadn't missed the destruction of the Machete and Gurkali, or the numerous damage icons throughout the remainder of Second Fleet. The enemy's rear element was coming into the fight, another hundred and fifty dreadnoughts who had yet to take any damage.

  Captain Naeveus and his fighter squadrons should have finished reloading soon, he knew. Yet it would still be several minutes before they would return.

  Lucius spared a glance for the larger battle as a whole. The relays from Tommy King showed that the fight with Force Charlie was still under way. The enemy dreadnoughts had begun to withdraw but they left a trail of wrecks and damaged vessels along the way as his light, swift vessels savaged them. He could see that a number of the pirate ships as well as some of the ships from Halcyon were gone, too, though, and it looked as if some of Admiral Collae's ships had taken enough damage to knock them out of the fight.

  “Have we got any data on Chxaral
s' flagship?” Lucius asked.

  The destroyer lurched as a dreadnought's secondary battery raked them. For a moment, the shields flared bright enough to overwhelm their sensors. The helmsman sent them on an evasive course even as Lucius queued it up.

  “No, sir,” Ensign Miller said. “He's using multiple ships as relays, we've taken out about half of them, but we still aren't sure which one is his.”

  Lucius grimaced at that. He felt certain that the Chxor formation would fall apart without High Commander Chxarals' direction, yet the Chxor commander had dispersed his communications through relay ships, it seemed to prevent against just that.

  Lucius brought up a diagram of the enemy ships and he felt the deck shudder under him as they took another set of hits. This one caused the lights to flicker and he absently wondered how much more the destroyer could take.

  “Here,” he said and highlighted a set of ships at the center of the Chxor formation. He transferred the data to Lieutenant Shaw at the weapons. “These five ships, order the Achilles and the Hermes to engage these five vessels.” It was a hunch, but it looked as if those five vessels were more protected by the other ships of the central formation, almost as if the Chxor had maneuvered to make them safer.

  The Hector fired and a moment later, so did the Achilles and the Hermes.

  For just an instant, the entire Chxor formation froze, yet the instant passed. A mass of enemy fire seemed to fill the space that the three ships occupied. “Evasive maneuvers!” Lucius barked.

  A relay blew out and a jet of flame lanced across the bridge. Lucius heard a garbled, panicked shout from Rory on the ship's intercom, even as the helmsman dove the ship into a cluster of enemy dreadnoughts.

  The evasive maneuver took them close enough that Lucius could make out the welding lines on the Chxor hull as they flashed past, yet it shook off the enemy fire for a moment.