Nova

by Lora E. Rasmussen

  “I am Captain Cyan Ner’kai of the TS Watcher, representative of the Eternal Imperium. Our intentions, Commander Perez, are to take your ship into custody for wandering into Karukai controlled territory. Surrender immediately or we will open fire.”

  “This is Black Space, Captain Ner’kai, and as such, the Arkaia System is not a part of the Karukai Imperium. I suggest we keep peace between our two peoples and go our separate ways, for as soon as our Quorum directed search and rescue efforts are complete, we will leave this system.” Marcus responded, voice clear–cut but deliberately not adversarial in nature, his reference to both the Quorum and search and rescue meant to make the Karukai Captain rethink her aggressive position.

  The Captain smiled slightly at his assertion, then replied with a sense of absolute certainty and prerogative, “The Eternal Imperium has claimed the Dantis System while we complete our own investigations. As a Karukai vessel was destroyed in this system, you will surrender your vessel and all crew immediately for interrogation or be destroyed.”

  Attempting to keep his temper in check, Marcus responded “We had no part in the destruction of any…”

  “I have already given you the only terms you shall receive, Commander Perez.” Ner’kai cut in pugnaciously, then abruptly, her image disappeared as the open channel was cut.

  “The Watcher is five minutes out of firing range, Commander.” Chopa stated.

  “Understood.” Perez responded, feeling at once both heavy and light as choice was removed to one, and he internally came to terms with the reality of what lay before them.

  I will find a way, and Avara and I will share a drink and laugh as we swap stories in some dive of a pub while on leave.

  “Very well then. Lieutenant Commander Adeline, please inform Ghost Squadron to initiate Alpha Strike Protocol.”

  “At once, Commander.”

  “Lieutenant Naxos, raise shields and prepare all weapons systems. Hold drones readied and in reserve for my mark.”

  “Yes, Sir.” Belgrum responded, voice an eager growl.

  “Adeline, issue the At–Ready Alert. It’s time to go hunting.” Perez announced, activating his station’s safety–harness. He felt stirrings of anger, determination, and anticipation mold into one as the Karukai battlecruiser closed distance.

  CHAPTER 25

  “Ghost Squadron is now within range for Alpha Strike Protocol; Watcher is two minutes out.” Diana reported, mind racing as she calculated and recalculated applicable scenarios.

  “Very good, Lieutenant Commander. Execute Alpha Strike.” Marcus Perez commanded from the Captain’s chair, posture set into a deliberately relaxed position as he stared at his station’s holo–display, broad jaw cupped in left palm. Diana simply knew him too well not to catch that his confidence was a mask presented for the benefit of the team. Not that he was filled with doubt or uncertainty regarding the crew; only that he knew exactly what it was that they faced.

  “Order for execution sent and received, Commander.” Adeline replied.

  “Enhance view, Lieutenant Chopa.” Perez commanded, golden–brown eyes shifting from his display to the view.

  As the holographic projection of the TS Watcher suddenly seemed to leap forward and the faintly space–scoured hull came fully into view, Diana fought to control the vibration of expectance. Everything, every life aboard the QS Excalibur and in all probability, the outbreak of full–scale war between the Karukai Imperium and the Quorum Aligned Systems, rested on the next several minutes.

  God, I wish Avara was bloody–well here now.

  Without a flash of impending outcome, and with no murmur in the sound eating vacuum of space, five royal–blue and black trimmed silver, Astra Striker Class starfighters rippled into being immediately after twenty missiles exploded into two separate, specific sectors of the Karukai battlecruiser. With their stealth–status exorcised by the attack, a heartbeat later, a second and then a third followed by a fourth and final payload of kobalt tipped warheads streaked towards the battlecruiser, all released from the now fully visible starfighters, ten to a target for each of the last strikes.

  “Commander, sensors read that the Watcher’s primary Weapons Systems and FTL Drives have been disabled!” Lieutenant Chopa reported, his voice half–shaking with excitement. A whoop of exultation carried across the Bridge and into the CIC at the Nav Officer’s news, Diana’s voice no less exuberant than her fellows.

  “Adeline, please convey my compliments to Wing–Commander King and the rest of Ghost Squadron. Have them return immediately to take up position just beyond our drones.” Marcus commanded, baritone vibrating with cautious relief. “Dane, open a channel.”

  He coolly stated over the Comm “KS Watcher and Captain Ner’kai, this is Commander Perez of the Excalibur. I invite you and the Watcher to partake in a peaceful parting of the ways. We will desist our defensive attack if you agree to repair your FTL Drives under our supervision and then depart the system. Any Weapons repair will be viewed as an act of hostility.”

  Diana could tell that just like she, Marcus held out little hope that the Karukai would accept the offer, but it was worth the effort to avoid expenditure of blood and life. She could feel her heart racing and forced herself to take several mouthfuls of oxygen to calm her nerves and maintain her focus.

  Other than the murmur of systems and the ever–present low hum of the ship’s engines, the Bridge might as well have been a tomb buried under tons of rock and sediment, for all the sound that carried across its interior.

  “Nothing, Sir.” Dane finally reported.

  “Commander! Reading the launch of several squadrons of Karukai Starfighters.” Naxos and Chopa reported a moment later, one on top of the other.

  “Eclipse Scorpions in class.” Diana added, data resolving into useful ID a breath later.

  “It seems we have our answer. Now, let’s follow–up before she regains her balance.” Perez remarked, tone grim. “Lieutenant Chopa, set course for striking distance, above our Drones and their Ring Formation… destination Quadrant Three, fifteen point four X, nine point one Y, full FTL.”

  “Aye, Commander; setting course for Q3, 15.4X, 9.1Y, at full speed.” Chopa confirmed, toffee–colored fingers rapidly keying the commands into his board.

  With a fluid motion that was gentled by the ship’s dampeners and gravitational modulation nodes, the Excalibur suddenly shot forward through the black towards the Karukai vessel. The looming battlecruiser glinted like blood captured in glaciated ice in the cool star light.

  Unsurprised yet certainly anything but pleased by her readings, Diana turned her head in Marcus’s direction and reported “Karukai fighters closing, Commander. I read thirty in total. They will be within striking distance of the Excalibur in three minutes.”

  “Understood, Lieutenant Commander. Belgrum, position Drones… five miles below our projected coordinates; maintain formation.”

  “Immediately.” Naxos answered, tongue flicking.

  “Lieutenant Chopa?” Marcus queried, as Diana watched him switch his focus to their tactical set up.

  Releasing the lip he’d been worrying, Claudius answered “One minute and fifteen seconds until we reach our coordinates. They’re using sub–light drives in an attempt to shift orientation, and block us from targeting their Weapons and FTL Drives again.”

  Anticipating Marcus’s command as he assessed the tactical lay–out, Diana turned towards the brown haired Navigation Officer. “Compensate and maintain relative position, Claudius.”

  “Aye, Lieutenant Commander. Compensating. Ninety seconds until coordinates.”

  “Lieutenant Naxos, ready a full missile and cannon barrage, three second delay between the two. Target the Weapon’s Systems Control alone; I want to keep ancillary casualties to a minimum.” Perez commanded, finishing his calculations.

  Nodding slightly to herself, Diana considered the logic of Marcus’s strategy. If Excalibur was successful, minimizing the Karukai fatalities may play favorably to avo
id a declaration of war in the aftermath of this engagement. It was risky during the here and now of unpredictable battle, but in the bigger picture, a wise course.

  “Aye, Sir. Readying Missile Batteries and Quad Cannon for full barrage, target Deck 17, Weapons Systems Control.”

  “Two minutes until fighters reach firing range.” Lieutenant Claudius Chopa reported a few seconds later. “Destination Q3, 15.4X, 9.1Y reached.”

  Just as Diana thought she was going to bite straight through her lower lip from pounding tension, Marcus cracked: “Lieutenant Naxos, fire all missiles and cannons!”

  “Firing!” The Braxien’s cry snapped like a whip against the back of an ox yoked to a lumbering cart, jarring the animal forward at a suddenly break–neck pace.

  In the main view screen, Diana watched as forty–eight kobalt packed missiles cut through the black that separated the two starships, blue lines trailing like glowing kite strings.

  Just before the missiles made contact and flowered into dark blue–fire blossoms of destruction against the Watcher’s hull, the Excalibur’s cannons ripped open. A salvo of over two yard long projectiles streaked along the missile wake to strike the exact same marks.

  Frantically casting her eyes over and interpreting data, Diana snapped out “Redirected shields negated half the payload, Commander.”

  “Damn them! Fire again, Belgrum; three more barrages!” Perez growled.

  “Yes, Commander. Firing now… one… two… three!”

  What had been blossoms before now reached volcanic proportions as gouts of destructive, blue–tinged flame licked in and out of existence, tearing into Watcher like a cyclone on holiday. Glittering spirals of debris blasted from the Karukai vessel at a speed faster than bullet fire, streams of garnet and onyx fanning through the vacuum like sheets of hail.

  “Two–thirds full impact!” Diana called out, feeling like someone had puttied her eyelids in place, so intent was her focus. “The Watcher’s Shields are faltering… Shields are down! Reading significant damage to Decks 15 through 18. Deck 17 has been blown entirely. Fighters twenty–seconds away from firing range.”

  “Excellent! Lieutenant Chopa, drop her within the Drone Ring. Rygel, issue a call for their fighters to stand down. Inform them that they have ten seconds to comply.” Perez ordered briskly.

  At the two Officers’ confirmation, Commander Perez absently tugged on his left earlobe as he added, “Lieutenant Naxos, ready the Drones.”

  Diana marked the countdown against the rhythm of her thudding heart as the entire crew held at the ready.

  “Not responding, Sir.” Dane finally reported, the given time allotment spent.

  “Belgrum, initiate Assault Drone attack.” The Executive Officer ordered, not missing a beat. “Decoys to maintain protective formation.”

  “Yes, Commander. Initiating Drone attack.” The Braxien Tactical Officer responded, aquamarine eyes bright with intensity as he visually speared his panel and directed the Drones.

  Diana rapidly switched her view back and forth between her station’s board and the view screen, as space was once more ripped open and cluttered. Immediately after releasing their dual missile payloads, two–dozen formally stealthed Assault Drones suddenly appeared in the path before and to the periphery of the oncoming Karukai fighters.

  The Ops and Intel Officer watched spellbound as with minimal preamble, nine Karukai starfighters shook and then exploded with missile impact. Two other crimson–painted vessels actually careened into each other in an instinctual effort to avoid the chasing missiles, causing one to spin out of control in the gravity–free realm of space, and the other to crack and then burst apart like a clay pot loaded with gun–power lit aflame.

  “Eleven out of thirty fighters down, Commander.” Naxos reported, figures Adeline could read from her own panel.

  Having recovered from the sneak attack, the Karukai pilots now trained their attention on the Assault Drones; Drones that had no more missiles and only single cannons remaining. Very quickly, the tables began to be turn as one, two, three, and then four Assault Drones were taken out of play by expert Karukai marksmanship.

  Diana raptly noted that the Karukai were deliberately refraining from employing their own missiles. She didn’t need to be privy to their orders to understand that the Scorpions were saving their missiles for their much more critical target, the Excalibur herself. Their strategy would be to knock out weapons and engines just as the Quorum sanctioned ship had done to their own Watcher, then work for outright capture or destruction.

  Given the state of their Juggernaut, Diana would lay odds that the latter attack option would be the winner. Diana knew gambling was entirely applicable to what the next few minutes would signify: the survival or destruction of Excalibur based on whether the Karukai Scorpions landed enough successful missile strikes.

  *

  “Karukai Starfighters are now within range, Commander.” Diana reported, nerves almost painfully humming with tension.

  “Adeline, order Ghost Squadron to engage; hit and run only.” Marcus directed, not wanting to destroy the Drones and the Excalibur’s remaining secret advantage, both the hidden Assault models and the defensive Decoys. Diana understood that Marcus had just made the difficult yet realistically, only choice he could: to not have Excalibur fire her weapons again but rather, switch the star–battle to up close and personal.

  “Yes Commander.” Diana responded, instantly issuing the command code.

  Two more drones shattered the dark of space before Ghost Squadron had engaged the Karukai. Moving in what Diana recognized as a Helix 4 flight pattern, the five Astra constructed fighters were able to immediately lock–on and destroy two of the Karukai fighters, but then the tables were turned. In the face of such numerical disparity, only too quickly, the Excalibur fighter pilots found themselves switched from offensive to desperately defensive maneuvers.

  Since it was her job as Operations Officer to monitor and direct starfighter activity, Diana transferred the majority of her attention to the small ship to ship combat unfolding within the space between the battlecruiser and much smaller frigate.

  Striving to maintain the necessary modicum of detachment, Diana watched, mesmerized, as the blood–red and royal–blue and silver starfighters wove to and fro in a frenetic yet strangely beautiful pattern of give and take, life and death. Tumbles, turns, climbs, drops, and spirals were all executed with balletic grace and agility as the best of the Karukai and of the Quorum tested each other’s limits in deadly appraisal.

  With a dizzying dual–flip and reverse, another crimson Karukai fighter met a grizzly end delivered by none other than Major Maren King in Ghost 1. Yet the cost did not even out.

  Seconds later, Ghost 4 was pinioned by the full cannon–discharges of three separate Karukai fighters, ripping through the Human piloted snub–ship like pebbles shot with a hand–sling at a taught sheet of rice–paper.

  “Excalibur, this is Ghost 1; we’ve lost Ensign Smithson.” King’s voice cut into the Bridge’s open Comm channel a moment later, her tone carefully blank.

  “Understood, Major.” Diana replied, forcing her own voice to maintain its steady cadence. “Sending Assault Drones in for another strike.”

  “Negative, negative, Ops. The Vamps are splitting off to strike home!” King’s smoky–toned voice shot off over the Comm even as Diana watched her execute a climb, roll, and thruster boost to avoid the three Karukai fighters trailing her Striker.

  The Excalibur’s third in command recognized Major King’s claim as truth a moment later. Nine of the remaining seventeen Karukai Scorpions peeled away from their comrades to make straight for the Quorum frigate.

  “Lieutenant Naxos, ready the Assault Drones for another run; target between our fighters and theirs.” Diana Adeline ordered a heartbeat later, decision made as she reviewed probable outcome scenarios.

  “Yes, Lieutenant Commander; initiating Assault Drone Attack.” Belgrum promptly responded.

  “Ma
jor, it’s too hot for Ghost Squadron. Break away attack and reform within Decoy Drone perimeter, astern of Excalibur.”

  “But Lieutenant Commander,” King started.

  “That’s an order, Major.” Adeline cracked out, knowing that every second wasted was precious and only too likely to be paid for in lives.

  “Yes, Sir. Ghost withdrawing and moving to new position.” The Wing–Commander answered. Adeline could hear King’s frustration, but her better sense won out over the impulse to argue her orders.

  Diana and the rest of the Bridge and CIC crew watched with weighted breath as the Excalibur’s Assault drones interposed themselves between the remaining four starfighters of Ghost Squadron, and the eight avidly pursuing Karukai fighters. Eight became seven then six as the Drones did the work they were designed for, yet the price was the entire lot of deployed V.I. operated assault craft. Still, the strategy was a success in the sense that the remaining four of Excalibur’s starfighters made it to safety, at least temporarily.

  The action was also abetted by the fact that after a minute’s pursuit, it was clear that the six Karukai Scorpions had been given the order to withdraw as they tore away from the chase to regroup with their fellows who were closing directly in on the frigate.

  “Karukai fighters are firing!” Lieutenant Chopa called out.

  Sure enough, over two score of kobalt powered thruster trails streaked behind Karukai missiles towards the QS Excalibur.

  Like a heat–fever induced mirage, twenty Decoy Drones, much smaller than their combat oriented cousins, shimmered into view as they intercepted the Karukai missile fire. Each decoy captured the navigation and targeting software of the racing enemy projectiles, individually convincing the warheads to lock onto a drone as being the Excalibur itself. Missiles and drones alike shattered at impact, creating a fire–work like cavalcade of detonation and shooting debris. The ploy had caused the Scorpions to spend half of their entire missile load.

  Yet the maneuver’s success had not been complete.