by Kyle Mata
“Power is returning to all systems. The upper flight control surface got scraped pretty bad on entry, but the nano-fillers are working it now. You two can go on ahead. Point defenses should be back online in twenty-eight seconds; they can cover the ship,” came Roux’s reply. He appreciated how she was usually bubbly and excited, but now she was serious and focused. Karr knew a girl just like her back in the Vipers.
Karr gave a small wave toward Daena and the two-person team, which was supposed to be a boarding party of over one hundred, headed toward the entrance. They lined up on either side of the door and Karr prepared to open it. As he examined the unusual console, the door slid open on its own. A pair of drones, similar in appearance to large mechanical beetles, floated into the hangar. Karr cursed in Shadowri, wishing he had his knife. He slammed one down to the floor with a fist and stomped on it. Then he ducked low, allowing Daena to shoot a burst into the second one. When it dropped, he proceeded to smash that one as well.
He swept into the corridor with his rifle raised, and Daena followed. The lighting the Rae preferred was a peculiar shade of purple. When he rounded the first corner, two automated anti-personnel turrets popped out from the walls. Karr was able to hit the first one, but the second unleashed a flurry of lasers in his direction. He leapt back behind the corner before Daena had even stepped out. The torrent of bolts continued for a moment then stopped. Karr plucked a cartographer probe off his back and threw it quickly down the hallway; it beeped in surprise. While the turret turned to track the little probe, Daena rounded the corner and shot the turret down.
The carty floated in place as the internal gyros spun up, and the little machine tried to get its bearings. Karr decided to let the other two loose to map the ship for him. He set them to maximum speed and ceiling height, so they could travel the ship while avoiding the automated defenses. But he kept one with him to act as a distraction for turrets again if needed. If a simple plan works in combat, use it, and use it as often as you can. Theatrics are a great way to get killed.
While he established the carties, Daena dropped another beetle drone that seemed to be on a preprogrammed patrol.
“No Rae,” Karr stated.
“There’s no sign of life at all.” Daena added. “How does a ship this size function with no crew?”
Karr just shrugged and continued toward the front of the ship where he assumed the bridge would be. As he walked, his HUD map updated as the two carties ahead mapped the passages; one seemed to hit a dead end and headed toward the rear of the ship below the hangar where Roux was.
He continued to follow the path of the carty that carried on forward. It also mapped turret locations which made clearing the corridors a lot easier.
“This seems… simpler than I expected,” Daena said, as she reloaded a fresh magazine.
“I do not think the Rae are used to being boarded,” Karr said. “But they seem like the type to not make the same mistake twice.”
The Shadowri noticed a protrusion extending from the side of the corridors, almost like a trip wire, only a centimeter or two off the ground. Had he not been trained to notice everything, he would have never seen it. There were also odd circles cut into the floor. The circles seemed like they could have been standard décor, but that would be unusual since the walls were very stark and undecorated. He motioned for Daena to stop and kicked a destroyed drone at the protrusion. When the drone hit it, the circle in the floor vanished and the drone was sucked below violently by the activated trap. Then the circle reappeared as quickly as it had vanished. Karr and Daena exchanged looks. They noticed that the further they went, the more trap-circles there were on the floor.
“Must be close.” Karr noted. His forward carty came back to him having noted what was most likely the bridge. Karr clamped it onto his armor beside the other one. They continued forward, careful to avoid the wall protrusions that seemed to trigger the traps.
After twelve more turrets and four more drones, which Karr figured were more for maintenance than defense, they made it to what they figured was the bridge. Karr put a cutter-charge on the door and stepped back. It burned with the intensity of a far-off star as it melted through the mechanisms of the door. The door suddenly slid open and the duo charged in.
A Rae with a crocodile head charged at them with a stylized sword. They each stepped sideways, in opposite directions, firing as they went. The Rae glowed as a personal shield easily absorbed the incoming rounds. The Rae chose to attack Karr, as he seemed to be the largest threat. In one fluid motion Karr attached his rifle to his back via mag-latch and drew his Tirium katana, the blade glowing a dim silver light as he charged it. He deflected the incoming blade strike and punched the Rae in the nose. It growled angrily, so Karr punched it again. The Rae grabbed his arm; Karr tried to yank free but couldn’t. The Rae kneed him repeatedly in the stomach, causing the Shadowri’s HUD to blink and beep angrily with a damage alarm. Daena ran up and butted the Rae in the back with her rifle. The crocodile Rae dropped Karr and turned to bat aside Daena. She flew into the wall. It raised its sword to finish the girl, when there was a flash of silver and the golden arm clutching the weapon fell free from its owner. Before the alien could react to its loss, the Tirium katana pierced its torso. Daena got back to her feet and looked into the cold black eyes of the Crocodile Rae as it fell over dead. She attached her rifle to her back plate and pried the sword out of the severed arm’s grip. She grasped it with two hands and tested the weight and balance of the sword.
The inside of the bridge was surprising. The entire room was a dome with absolutely nothing on the walls. In the middle of the room were three sophisticated monitoring stations in a triangle formation, two of which were occupied by Rae. The Rae in the front had an eagle head, while the one in the back middle had the head of an Earth lion. The Rae moved very little, only occasional minor twitches, but their eyes were open and darted back and forth quickly, as though watching something far away.
“Karr, look.” Daena pointed to the back of the lion-headed Rae’s neck, where a thick cable seemed to be plugged directly into the Rae’s spinal cord. “They must control the ship with a direct cerebral connection, or whatever they have going on in their heads. But only three of them control all of the workings of a capital ship?”
“The one who got out to fight us must have been monitoring internal defenses,” Karr said, examining the remaining Rae who seemed oblivious to the intruder’s presence.
“So, now what?”
“Which one do you suspect is the leader?” Karr asked.
“Probably the Earth lion.”
“Kill the other,” Karr nodded toward the eagle Rae. Daena hesitated for a second before she stabbed the Rae where it sat with her new sword. She flinched as the blade slid cleanly through the back of the seat and through the gold armor, thinking that stabbing was a little too personal for her. Karr then held his katana across the neck of the lion Rae and prepared to yank the cord out of the back of its neck.
“Bring all available frigates above the forward enemy ships. Get the Tiger Lily to move below—that should get the Atlas a clear line of fire at that battlecruiser,” Majex commanded.
The Nyrotsi fleet was surrounded on three sides, at their back was the struggling Coalition fleet. While the Coalition were unprepared and outnumbered, they at least made sure Majex could focus on three fronts rather than four.
Three Nyrotsi frigates, and two corvettes, moved above the Rae cruiser. Majex always made it a point to utilize every dimension in a battle. Too many commanders looked at a strategic display as front, back, left, and right, like an original chess board. But in space, there are many more angles to be seized.
A Rae cruiser focused on the frigates, and the Nyrotsi Sentinel-class Battlecruiser Tiger Lily moved below, raking her strongest weapons along the Rae ship’s belly. Before the Rae cruiser could refocus fire, two shots from the Atlas’s driver-cannons ripped it into pieces.
Two Rae ships opened fire on the frigates above their
destroyed ally. Purple lasers peppered the frigates; once their shields were overwhelmed, the lasers pierced their hulls like paper. Two frigates exploded, and the third was sliced in half by a laser lance from the far Rae flank. The Tiger Lily moved to intercept the incoming fire headed for the fleeing corvettes. The Lily directed her main cannons at the Rae cruiser with the laser lance, but the cruiser redirected fire at the battlecruiser, allowing the corvettes to regroup with the bulk of the Nyrotsi fleet. Majex noted it was time for Cait Mandayya, the captain of the Tiger Lily, to get a promotion.
“Focus fire on the laser lance. What’s the status of that wave weapon?” Majex asked his radar officer.
“It’s still dormant, sir. Perhaps it’s recharging.” The Dreadnaught shuttered as the four mass-driver cannons unleashed a salvo toward the flat elongated Rae vessel equipped with the laser lance. Just before the massive iridosmium alloy rounds impacted the vessel, it’s laser lance sprung forth one last time, slicing apart two corvettes that happened to be too close.
Majex cursed under his breath. This tipped him over the edge. He had lost more than half of his fleet. The battle had been going downhill since the capital ship fired that catastrophic wave weapon, demolishing one of his carriers. He had made contact with the Coalition Admiral, her fleet, which was far less equipped to handle the Rae and was about to warp-jump with her remaining ships.
Majex ran a quick roster. He still had one battlecruiser, one carrier, three frigates, six corvettes, nine gunboats, and, of course, the Dawn’s Grip remaining. But even the Dreadnaught herself would leave this fight limping, if it left at all. He suffered even worse losses in his fighter and bomber squadrons. The Rae fighters outmatched all but his very best pilots, and as the fighter umbrella became weaker and weaker, the larger ships became more and more vulnerable.
He was proud of his crew and fleet. They had done an outstanding job given the situation and took a nice bite out of the Rae fleet, proving that the Rae were not invincible and that humanity would not go down without a fight. But it was time to retreat. His hand hovered over the fleet command orders console (COC). Only one seat in the whole fleet had a COC, and it was his. It had two buttons on it, attack and retreat, because only he could authorize either order. He entered the code to activate it, and it lit up. His finger then hovered over the retreat button. He had retreated before; there was nothing cowardly about salvaging a lost battle to fight another day. Still, he had lost so many and he knew this enemy would not allow rescue teams to return for survivors. Anyone who did not retreat now would certainly be lost forever, and that weighed heavy on Aidmen.
“Sir! The Rae capital ship is charging the wave weapon again!”
“Use destroyed ships for cover. Maintain established separation,” Majex called out. He watched the capital ship on the strategic display; the entire starboard side of the vessel began to glow. He held his breath. Intuitively, he knew where it was aimed. It was aimed directly at the Dawn’s Grip.
Majex looked around at his crew solemnly. They knew, too.
“Sir! The Rae capital ship just went… dark,” Ensign Bly said with a hint of both surprise and relief in her voice.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just floating, dead in space. As though someone just… pulled the power. The Rae fleet is falling back to defensive positions around it.”
“Sir, we should press the attack, hit them as they flee,” Kroper said. Majex examined the strategic display and chewed over his thoughts.
“Dispatch search and rescue teams. Bring all survivors aboard and fall back to rendezvous point alpha.” Majex ordered. He deactivated the COC and it went dark once more. The remaining Rae fleet was still twice the size of his fleet when it was at full strength. They could press their advantage at any moment. Now, there was at least an opportunity to rescue the escape pods.
“Have the Cloak of Atlas, Gunbuddy, Son of Caine and the Rapier of Soloman, set up a defensive screen between the Rae and the rescue teams.” The officers on the bridge got to work dispatching orders.
“Sir, the Cloak of Atlas is hailing you.” Ensign Hevey reported.
“Put him through to my console, if you would please, Hevey,” Admiral Majex said, sitting down heavily. Thomas’s face popped up on the small screen in front of Majex.
“Admiral, my—team is on board the capital ship.” Thomas hesitated, not knowing what to call the band he roamed with.
“Well, they are doing incredible work, apparently,” The Admiral said. He could have sworn he watched the entire boarding party get wiped out by the wave weapon, but he must have missed something.
“I intend to see their safe return, in one way or another.” Thomas said cryptically.
“What are you asking, Captain?”
“Admiral, with your permission, I would like to stay behind as the fleet falls back. I can cover the retreat, as well as give my team some extra time to return.”
“You have communications with them?”
“No sir, I actually thought they were dead, until the ship was immobilized.”
“Permission granted, Captain. The Cloak of Atlas will remain to cover our exit. I shall send you what fighter squadrons I can to reinforce your garrison. We do owe your team, after all,” Majex said with a nod.
“Thank you, sir.”
“But Thomas, I expect to see my carrier at jump point bravo.”
“You will, sir. Have I ever let you down?”
Majex chuckled lightly, something he did not think would happen at a time such as this. “Jump point bravo, Captain.” Majex closed the communication.
Majex turned his attention toward the strategic display map and watched as combat search and rescue (CSAR) ships expertly navigated through the battlefield to gather every escape pod. While Majex was happy to see so many made it to pods, he was distraught over the thought of how many did not make it. He had never suffered such heavy losses before. He looked away from the map and out the forward viewscreen; the wreckage of so many of his ships would forever be burned into his memory, and the weight of those who died today would sit on his conscience with those who had been lost before them.
“Sir, all escape pods have been recovered, final sweep has been completed and confirmed. Rescue teams are all onboard,” Kroper reported.
But there are still those living, and you need to take care of them, too.
“All ships, this is Admiral Majex. Get to a safe warp entry point and rendezvous at jump point alpha.” Standard procedure for any Nyrotsi fleet was to jump to three points, alpha, bravo, and omega, before they proceeded to their final location to prevent being followed. The jump points were chosen at random and synced by the tactical onboard computer and band jumped billions of times per millisecond when transmitted to the rest of the fleet for added encryption. This technique was called a meandered return, and, thanks to it, no Nyrotsi fleet has ever been tracked successfully.
Majex watched on the strategic display as the remainder of the first fleet, save the Dawn’s Grip and the Cloak of Atlas, warp-jumped to safety.
“Can you piece together a full fighter squadron to send to the Atlas?” Majex asked his fighter commander, while looking over the largely vacant ship listing himself. They both knew it was a very costly battle. The fighter commander dispatched orders and, within minutes, twenty-two fighters zipped away from the Dawn’s Grip and fell into formation with the combat air patrols around the Cloak of Atlas. Once Majex had seen that his parting gift had been received, he ordered the ship to get to a safe warp-jump location.
“Ready for warp-jump, sir,” The pilot, Commander Fei Ashida, updated.
“Clear to jump, Commander Ashida,” Majex said. The forward viewscreen was filled with the familiar glow of the warp.
CHAPTER 18
THE PRISONERS DILEMMA
The lion Rae roared in anger as it was suddenly ripped out of control-stasis. One minute it was charging the obliterator wave weapon, the next it found itself back on the bridge.
&
nbsp; Karr tried speaking to the Rae, using his armor to output a harsh translation based upon what it had deciphered while eavesdropping back on Scorpion.
“Where did you come from?” Karr asked as his armor translated. Karr’s armor output sounded simple and naive. The Rae looked at a large armored human standing in front of the ship seat, noting the small female beside it.
The lion Rae snickered. He moved to swat the human out of his sight but found that his arms, legs, and full torso had been bound to the chair by a strong cord.
“You pathetic humans have no idea who you are dealing with,” The Rae replied in perfect human. Karr and Daena exchanged glances, surprised to hear the human language coming out of the snout of an Earth lion.
“What do you want with the humans?” Daena asked.
“A new work force. We seem to have used up the last few.” The Rae snickered again. Karr got tired of hearing the bizarre snickers and punched him in the head. The Rae barely flinched at the blow. “How adorable you both are, so simple minded, having only a few basic senses and instincts. We’ve enslaved more advanced races with an even smaller fleet. How many senses do you have again, only twenty-one?”
Karr ignored the Rae and opened comms with Roux. While he made a plan for exfiltration and she warned him about incoming craft—likely Rae reinforcements—Daena couldn’t help but be curious about what the Rae had said.
“Basic senses?” Daena looked puzzled.
“Ah ha! You have no idea quite what aura or fornlen are, do you?” The lion laughed again, as though he were comfortable in this situation. “Aura tells me you are quite confused, and a little afraid, and your mating hormones are quite high around the large one. But the large one… he is calm, fierce, harder to sense. Most humans are simply stupid, scared, and lost. And fornlen…” the Rae licked its lips with a long tongue, “There is no way to describe fornlen. Imagine trying to describe sight, or color, to a species that has no eyes. You humans do not have an organ to perceive fornlen.” The Rae laughed again. “So simple. I will enjoy enslaving you all.”
