Since the failure of the ships at Bascom to detect the black ships in hyperspace, the Lakiams had seeded their systems with small satellites armed with numerous high-definition space cameras that could spot an anomaly in their vicinity. The cameras continuously videoed the area of space around them to see if any stars were occluded or if a black ship was visible.
“How many ships?” Captain Belson was deeply concerned. He only had a light task group, consisting of thirty-five battlecruisers. They had not been expecting an attack in this region of space.
“Two motherships and 407 cruisers,” reported Sensor Operator Darma. “All available camera satellites have been focused on that area.”
“Contact Lakiam, and inform Fleet Commodore Dreen what’s happening.” Belson was in trouble. His fleet wasn’t strong enough to stop the black ships.
“All hyperspace frequencies are blocked,” Communications Operator Marlon replied. “I can’t get any message through.”
Captain Belson had expected that. It was one of the reasons all Lakiam worlds, colonies, and scientific outposts were now broadcasting a continuous hyperspace signal toward Lakiam. If any signal abruptly stopped, then the home system would know something was wrong. Belson just hoped help arrived before the black fleet could reach Holdez. If not, then the inhabited moon was doomed.
“Orbital defenses are coming fully online,” Tactical Officer Ardlee reported. Twenty Class Two Orbital Defense Platforms were above the moon plus a Class Two Command and Control Station. In addition, two hundred defensive energy cannon satellites were in orbit.
“Alarms are sounding on Holdez,” Communications Operator Marlon added. “People have been told to go to their shelters.”
Captain Belson nodded. For 99 percent of the population, there was no safe place to go.
“Black fleet is moving in our direction,” Darma reported. “Estimated contact in twelve minutes.”
Captain Belson took in a sharp breath. Twelve minutes was not nearly enough time for reinforcements to arrive. “We will move the fleet back to the defensive grid. Perhaps, by adding its firepower to ours, we can delay the black ships until help arrives.”
He was met with silence from his other officers. The battle would be long over before more Lakiam vessels could reach the system.
-
Fleet Commodore Dreen was in his quarters, thinking about his recent conversations with various council members, when the ship’s alarms sounded. The communications device on his desk also began buzzing, and, reaching out, he activated it. “Report.”
“Contact with the Holdez System has been lost. Their hyperspace beacon ceased broadcasting six minutes ago,” Alborg’s voice reported over the comm.
Commodore Dreen stood up. “Prepare the fleet to enter hyperspace immediately.”
“Commodore, we can’t take all the ships and leave Lakiam undefended,” pointed out Alborg. “This could be a feint to draw us away.”
Commodore Dreen paused, realizing his second officer was right. “We’ll take only the fleet assigned to the Basera,” he ordered. That was still nearly five hundred vessels. “Inform the council we’re responding to a possible attack at Holdez.”
As he made his way to the Command Center, Dreen felt a change in the ship. A slight vibration indicated the subspace drive had been activated, and they were moving away from the planet. A normal person could not detect the subtle change in the ship, but someone who was used to how the ship operated would notice immediately. Holdez was over eighty light-years distant. Even at top speed they might not make it there in time.
-
Captain Belson watched the ship’s tactical display intently. His fleet had made it safely to the defensive grid and now waited for the approaching black ships to reach engagement range. His ships had a full complement of dark matter missiles, and all the defensive platforms had at least a few each.
“All ships, stand by to fire,” he ordered over the ship-to-ship comm. “We will target ten black ships with our first missile barrage. Once those ships have been destroyed, we will switch to the second group of ten.” From previous battles, twelve to fifteen dark matter warheads should overload the enemy’s shields. He intended to hit each of the targeted black ships with forty. If he could destroy enough of them quick enough, perhaps they would pull back. He wouldn’t expend the energy or the time firing other weapons. The best strategy was to focus all the fleet’s dark matter missiles on the enemy’s defensive screens, inflicting as much damage as possible. If he only had more ships, he would make an attempt to take out the two inbound motherships. However, too many of the spindle-shaped cruisers were protecting them to make it feasible with his current fleet.
In the background he could hear the governor of Holdez, begging to be taken off the planet. “Turn off that comm!” he ordered. He was sadly disappointed in the governor. The Lakiam race was supposedly well on their way toward Enlightenment. However, the arrival of the Destroyers of Worlds had demonstrated the Lakiams still had a long way to go, much further than expected.
“Engagement range in two minutes,” Darma reported in a calm voice.
The tactical screen was updating continuously. Hundreds of red threat icons were approaching the defensive grid and the Lakiam fleet.
“All hyperspace-capable noncombat ships are jumping from the system.”
On the tactical screen, dozens of friendly green icons vanished as the ships entered the safety of hyperspace. For several long moments this continued, and then the only green icons remaining around Holdez were fleet units. Far out in the system, mining ships and other commercial vehicles powered down in the hope the black ships would not detect them. As they did, their green icons faded away on the long-distance sensor screen.
“Engagement range!”
“Fire!” ordered Captain Belson.
-
In space, the thirty-five 1,700-meter-long battlecruisers emptied their missile tubes, sending 420 dark matter missiles flashing into hyperspace to smash into the energy shields of ten black ships. Each dark matter warhead had an explosive force of five hundred megatons. Space lit up with the brilliance of the explosions as the raw energy washed across the defensive screens of the enemy. All ten collapsed as the amount of energy they could absorb was quickly exceeded. The ten screens released their pent-up energy in one horrendous flash. The black ships beneath the screens died instantly as they were turned into glowing space dust. For a moment the ten areas of space burned like a supernova, then the light faded away.
The Lakiam ships fired again and then again. Twenty more black ships succumbed to the deadly dark matter energy. The Class Two Orbital Defense Platforms began launching their missiles. Eight more black ships died as the platforms fired off their missiles in sprint mode.
Then the black ship returned fire with their black antimatter beams. Lakiam battlecruisers blew apart, one after another. The beams easily penetrated the Lakiam’s powerful energy screens, cutting deep inside the ships. Missile fire on the black ships rapidly decreased as Lakiam ships and launchers were destroyed.
-
Captain Belson grimaced as he watched his fleet being systematically annihilated.
“How many have we destroyed?” The dark matter missiles were effective. Computer analyses indicated the enemy screens burst between the fourteenth and eighteenth warhead detonation.
“Forty-two,” reported Darma. “We’ve damaged another eighteen.”
“Keep firing missiles,” ordered Captain Belson. He still had a slight hope the enemy would pull back.
“Enemy is continuing to fire their black antimatter energy beams,” Darma informed the captain. “Our energy screens are not stopping the beams.” Then in a louder and more concerned voice, he said, “Enemy ships are launching their black spheres.”
This was the end. “All ships and defensive platforms, fire every missile you can before the spheres attach themselves to your energy screens,” ordered Belson.” Once the spheres reached the screens, the black o
rbs would siphon off the energy powering the screens and then the ships themselves. Shortly after that, the ships and defensive platforms would not be able to launch any more missiles.
“Missiles launching in sprint mode,” confirmed the tactical officer. “We won’t get all of them launched.”
Captain Belson looked at the viewscreens. Bright explosions were pummeling four of the black ships. With satisfaction, he saw their screens vanish, and then brilliant explosions of light marked the death of the four enemy vessels. At least his fleet was taking a few of the deadly enemy with them.
Then his flagship shook violently. Warning alarms sounded on the damage control console.
“We’ve been hit by two black antimatter beams,” the damage control officer reported. “We have major sections of our hull open to space, and we’ve lost four of our missile tubes.”
“Keep firing,” ordered Belson, as his ship shook uncontrollably. On one of the viewscreens, he saw a Class Two Orbital Defense Platform blow apart.
The battle was lost. He could not save Holdez.
-
The black ships continued to advance as the black antimatter spheres reached the defending ships and the defensive platforms. The spheres attached themselves to the screens, rapidly draining them of energy. Then they floated down to the hulls, spreading out. In just a few minutes all the power had been drained, leaving the ships and platforms helpless. Black ship antimatter missiles arrived, leaving only glowing wreckage behind.
-
Above Holdez, its shattered defenders died in bright blasts of light. Across the inhabited moon, people rushed to find shelters before the Destroyers of Worlds’ motherships went into orbit. Any who remained on the surface were doomed. But there was nowhere to go as the shelters were overflowing, leaving 99 percent of the population trapped on the surface.
-
The black motherships went into orbit, and, from each, fourteen beams of black light flashed down. In a matter of minutes, millions of Lakiams were turned into a black ashy substance that the tractor beams, embedded in the black rays, carried back to the motherships. On board the two motherships, the tractor beams brought the organic substance inside, where it was fed into the converters. The converters classified the different organic substances and then changed them into appropriate food for each of the three castes of the Vorn race.
-
A few hours later Fleet Commodore Dreen waited anxiously as the Basera dropped from hyperspace, two million kilometers from Holdez. Alarms rang loudly as the fleet went to full alert.
“All ships are in battle formation,” reported Sensors Operator Laylem.
“All weapons are online,” added Alborg from Tactical.
“I’m not receiving any broadcast stations from Holdez,” said Sheera Keenol from Communications, with deep concern in her voice. “The entire system is silent.”
“What about the black ships? Any signs of them?”
Laylem spent a few minutes working on his console and then turned toward the commodore. “No, none of our ships are picking up anything on their viewscreens. I’ve also accessed the camera satellites in the system, and I can confirm the black ships left the system forty-six minutes ago.”
Commodore Dreen looked at one of the viewscreens, showing Holdez. The atmosphere of the planet seemed filled with dust. He had seen this before. With a sickening feeling, he knew he had arrived too late.
“Take us in, and keep an eye on the viewscreens. There’s always the possibility a few black ships might be lurking about. Communications, broadcast an all clear and identify us. I imagine the mining operations and some ships are powered down.”
Dreen intended to go into orbit and then send shuttles to the surface. A few deep shelters were on this moon, and he was hoping for some survivors. He intended to take videos of the destruction wrought by the black ships and then share them with the council. Perhaps, once the council members all saw what the Destroyers of Worlds were capable of doing to a Lakiam world, they would see the wisdom of forming alliances with other Protector World civilizations.
-
Two hours later Fleet Commodore Dreen stood near the center of what was once the capital city of Holdez. He was in an environmental protection suit, due to all the smoke in the air and the fires burning in the destroyed city. Whatever weapon the Destroyers of Worlds used had practically leveled every building higher than a few stories. What buildings remained had their walls caved in and were clearly unsafe to enter.
“The entire moon is like this,” reported Thomal Lorrn, a climate specialist. “Nearly one thousand locations on Holdez were destroyed like the capital.”
Several other Lakiams accompanied the commodore as well as six of the large eight-foot-tall combat robots. The robots were equipped with heavy stunners as well as a small energy beam cannon.
“What about the search for survivors?”
“Not many,” replied one of the military officers in charge of the combat robots. “Reports indicate that a number of the deep shelters were blasted open. Early estimates seem to indicate less than thirty thousand people survived. We’re continuing to search.”
Commodore Dreen clasped his hands behind his back as he thought over the ramifications of what had occurred. Over two hundred million Lakiams, plus the defending fleet, had been wiped out. He shuddered, thinking of the fate of the inhabitants. They were now food for the Destroyers of Worlds.
-
Prince Brollen was pleased when the transport ship exited hyperspace into the system where they had established their primary base for operations in Galaxy X241. Gazing at the large tactical display through his multifaceted eyes, he saw hundreds of green icons, representing Vorn motherships, collector ships, and cruisers. Even a few transport ships were in orbit above the system’s sole planet. The planet was a dead husk without an atmosphere or even a single moon.
You have returned, a voice spoke in Prince Brollen’s head. Brollen recognized Prince Ortumad, who was in command of the system. Brollen also thought he detected surprise in Ortumad’s communication.
Yes, Queen Alithe has chosen me as a future consort.
Ortumad went silent for a long moment. I accept your higher position in the Royal Court. What are your orders?
We will continue to harvest the more lightly defended worlds, sent Brollen. However, we can’t allow the others to join their forces against us. There are planets that possess weapons dangerous to our ships. Those planets must be harvested.
You speak of the ones with the dark matter missiles.
Yes, we will continue the harvest, but shortly we must destroy those who can be a danger to us.
By your command, answered Prince Ortumad.
-
Fleet Commodore Dreen was once more in the Lakiam home system, which comprised fourteen worlds. The fourth planet was Earth-like with planets number three and five having been terraformed. All three held large populations. Scattered across the system were large domed cities on numerous moons and asteroids. The Lakiams’ pride and joy were the 215 massive orbital habitats which circled the three inhabited planets. In all, the Lakiam home system had a population in excess of sixteen billion.
“Ship is in stationary orbit,” reported Jalad from the Helm.
Commodore Dreen nodded. He had been silent for most of the trip home. He still felt the effects of the disaster that had wiped out the population of Holdez. Over two hundred million Lakiams turned into food for the Destroyers of Worlds. On the entire moon of Holdez less than forty thousand survivors had been found in the deep bunkers. They had emerged in shock, terrified by the destruction that surrounded them.
Other vessels had arrived from various Lakiam planets, bringing aid. Already a massive tent city had been constructed for the survivors. Commodore Dreen had left 110 of his battlecruisers in orbit to defend the shattered world from another attack, though he doubted if the Destroyers of Worlds would return.
“What now?” asked Alborg from his tactical station. “W
hat happens if they attack another of our worlds?”
“Our fleets are dispersed across too many Enlightened Worlds,” Laylem said, turning from his sensor console to speak to the commodore. “If we don’t do something, they will pick us off fleet by fleet until we no longer have the ships to resist them.”
Commodore Dreen listened to his command crew. He had a lot of respect for them and their opinions. If these attacks continued, the Lakiam worlds would eventually fall. He could not allow this to happen.
“Do you have the computer files loaded?” he asked, focusing on Laylem.
“Yes, Commodore. I’ve created 250 copies, as you requested.”
Copies of the devastation they had found on Holdez. The destroyed cities, the videos of the stunned people exiting the few remaining shelters, and the ship ruins in orbit. Perhaps now he could convince the council to take appropriate action. He intended to give each council member a copy, as well as the largest news media stations on the planet. It would be a risk, but he must somehow force the council to allow him to make the necessary alliances with other Protector World civilizations before it was too late.
-
Two days later Fleet Commodore Dreen was summoned to the Lakiam Council chambers. As he entered the massive structure housing the government for all Lakiam worlds, he couldn’t help but wonder what awaited him inside. For two days he had heard nothing from any council member. However, the news media had been full of charges and countercharges about the inability of the fleet to defend Holdez from the Destroyers of Worlds. Some of the people were demanding all Lakiam warships be pulled back from Enlightened World space to protect Lakiam worlds. What use was it to work toward Enlightenment if they were all doomed to die? The videos of the carnage on Holdez were replayed over and over again. Lakiam and other nearby Lakiam worlds demanded the government do something to protect them from suffering the same fate.
When he reached the ornate doors behind which the council met, he presented his credentials to the heavily armed guards. Lakiam had little crime, and the guards were a traditional post.
The Star Cross: Galaxy in Peril Page 9
