Francescan War Chronicles 1: Space Knight Denxeiter

by C. K. Pershing

  While not as powerful and heavily armed as a Hyper Battle Machine, the Alden was very capable and could be piloted by anybody with the proper training— unlike the requirement of a Space Knight pilot in a Hyper Battle Machine. It had an OS that was able to learn during combat and had various pilot assists to make it more user friendly. It was also much smaller and easier to service than a Hyper Battle Machine and could be worked on at any moderately well-equipped hangar.

  Having learned his lesson with the interference at the colony, Feln got very close to the Alden in the lead. The robot gave him a thumbs up and the pilot’s face popped up on Feln’s screen identifying him as Lt. Ikli Hoff. He was in his early twenties and was one of the first people Feln met when he arrived on the Tannhauser. The two had shared some lively conversations with both coming from the opposite ends of the same remote planet. “Lovely day, Captain!”

  “Ha, yeah…”

  “I’m only half joking. I mean, true, rather scary we can’t jump. But the admiral will figure it out. Until then, isn’t this place beautiful?” His robot’s hand indicated the lethal-looking heavy cruisers gliding along to the left, leaving long wispy trails in the gas. “Like big ships on the water in the old days, you know?”

  “True enough.” Feln’s discussion with the indomitable Zalk had already brightened his mood; Hoff’s faith in Kesh’s ability to get the fleet out of the current situation put him into an even better state of mind. The fact was this place really was amazing to look at. And while there was still that sense of eeriness deep down, Feln was starting to think it might have been Aaltskog’s worrying that made him feel that way. The Empire had overcome many obstacles in its history and Kesh was a very steady hand. Hoff was right— Kesh would get them out of this.

  “Hey Captain!” Hoff broke into Feln’s thoughts. “Check out the weird shadows some of the ships are casting. Pretty crazy how there’s enough debris and gas density for the ships to cast a shadow against.”

  Feln looked where Hoff was pointing and saw the dark shadows the ships were casting while skimming along the gas. Thanks to the distortion of the gas, the shadows formed into odd shapes. There was a jolt in Denxeiter’s sticks. Strange, did a big piece of debris manage to overcome the deflector and hit him? No…

  “What was that?” Feln absently asked Denxeiter as he continued watching the shadows cast by the ships. There was another jolt, this one heavier. Feln looked at Denxeiter’s computer read outs and noticed increased activity. “Are you doing this? What’s wrong?” Silence. He’d have to tell Aaltskog about this when he got back. Until then, Feln went back to cruising along with the rest of the patrol. He watched some destroyers coasting along, their sleek bodies making them look like fish in the gaseous “sea”. They were also casting shadows and…

  There was only one light source, the one ahead. But the destroyers were casting almost twice as many shadows as they should have been. Feln looked around. The shadows were everywhere. Only… they weren’t shadows— they were something else. Ships! Feln realized with horror that an unknown fleet had managed to use the environment to insert themselves amongst the Imperial fleet with nobody being the wiser thanks to that terrible interference. Damn!

  “Hoff, the fleet’s been compromised! We have to—“

  The shadows opened fire. Bright green beams slashed through the gas, punching holes through the stuff as they went and searing into the unsuspecting Francescans. With nobody expecting a fight, they didn’t have their defensive shields up, only the deflectors. Two destroyers exploded into balls of flame.

  “Captain? What’s happening? Was there an accident?” Hoff demanded. He was looking down where the destroyers were, but had the slightly relaxed expression that although what happened was bad, it wouldn’t affect him personally.

  “Those aren’t shadows! They’re ships! Another fleet is in here with us!” Feln yelled.

  The “shadows” behind two heavy cruisers opened fire into one of the cruisers’ aft section and the ship started to blister from internal explosions. Its engine room had obviously been hit. The cruiser moved silently along its trajectory before suddenly cracking open in the middle and exploding. Just before the explosion, Feln saw people tumbling into space. Because they weren’t expecting battle, there was no need for anybody to be wearing a spacesuit. In a way, Feln was glad the ship exploded to end their suffering quickly.

  “Hoff, split up your squadron and have them go to the lead ship of each squad to tell them what’s happening! Tell them to shoot at the shadows. They can then relay the news down the line. Find the planes and tell them to do the same and then protect the colony and support ships. Quick! We don’t have much time!” As if to punctuate his point, the flaming wreckage of a corvette tumbled across their flight path from above. Damn damn damn! These things were everywhere!

  “Aye sir!” The squadron broke up and sped off in distant directions to various ships in the fleet. Already, the sky was being filled with laser fire. Shots were criss-crossing everywhere and ships were getting hit all around him.

  “Alright, I’ve had enough of these potshots,” Feln growled. He shot toward the two dark forms that had just destroyed the heavy cruiser. It occurred to him that due to such terrible visibility and comms, there was a very good chance that there were still parts of the fleet that didn't even know they were under attack. “Well, you got in some cheap kills, but it’s time to pay up,” Feln said as he approached the two ships.

  The other Francescan cruiser (Feln could make out the name Ketcher) had raised its shields and was coming around for a broadside. Its crew must have seen the shots that killed the nearby cruiser and so knew they were under attack. The enemy was scoring hits on the Ketcher and some of the shots were damaging, even with the shields being up.

  “Just hang on a little longer…” Feln dipped below the ships. They hadn’t fired on him, obviously putting all their attention on the cruiser. They’d pay for that mistake. Feln unholstered Denxeiter’s pistols, each as powerful as a medium cruiser’s guns, and started blasting away at the bottom of one of the ships while flying up. Just as he was about to collide with the ship, its shields broke and his shots ripped into the craft’s belly causing a gaping hole belching fire. Feln kept shooting as he flew up into the opening and blasted an exit hole out of the other side on top. Denxeiter emerged, wreathed in flame and looking like a vengeful fire spirit. At this moment, Feln certainly felt like one.

  “Xeiter…Beam!” Feln yelled and the weapon screamed to life, shooting a razor thin beam down the length of the ship. It split in half and exploded.

  The Ketcher was now in position and opened fire with a full broadside on the other ship; the laser cannon lenses running lengthwise down the cruiser’s hull dispatching 70 massive beams of red death. The enemy ship’s shields may as well have been nonexistent as the Ketcher’s beams burst the enemy’s shields and slammed into its hull. The beams hit with such speed that for a millisecond the enemy hung there looking like a toy that had been blasted with a shotgun— numerous holes allowing a view through one side of the ship and out the other— before exploding in a ball of white light. The Ketcher’s beams had barely even registered the enemy ship and sped on, destroying something lost farther away in the gas and debris. Feln hoped it was another enemy and not a friendly ship.

  Other Francescans were now starting to open fire and their red beams were in stark contrast to the green of the enemy. It was complete pandemonium since both fleets were entangled together at point blank range. Feln got the distinct impression of a street fight between two gangs locked together in a small room.

  The Ketcher was moving off to defend a group of construction ships and Feln spotted a small clutch of cargo ships huddled together and firing at approaching enemies. The cargo ships themselves were massive, but since their main purpose was to carry materials, they were poorly armed.

  Feln smashed into the top deck of one of the enemy ships, roughly the size of a destroyer, and shoved the pistols’ muzzles into
the craft’s hull and opened fire. He stayed on the deck of the ship as it started to veer out of control toward its compatriots. As he hurdled toward them, a pistol in each hand firing with abandon, Feln had a smile of grim satisfaction as his shots started to score.

  The enemies stopped shooting at the cargo ships and started firing at him. Feln holstered the guns and rammed Denxeiter’s fist into the deck of the ship he was riding. He swung down to the underside of its hull, then grabbed the bottom of the ship in Denxeiter’s hands and raised the whole thing overhead before bringing it crashing down on one of the other ships like giant club. The two ships exploded as Feln fired the Xeiter Beam at the remaining ship. As before, the almost imperceptibly thin beam sliced through its hull and Feln caught a brief glimpse of the ship in a semi cross section state before it exploded. Strangely, he hadn’t seen any crew before the ship blew up, but maybe their bodies had been seared by the heat of the Xeiter Beam.

  As Feln surveyed the area to determine where he could next be of the most help, he saw a group of…things…fly below him. They didn’t notice as he dropped in behind them, and as he got closer he noted they looked like giant insects with dark green glistening exoskeletons. In fact, their bodies looked a lot like the same material the ships were made out of. The Empire had fought bioweaponry before, but Feln had never done so himself.

  Maybe these things just appeared to be insects but were actually a type of robot… He fired the beam cannons above Denxeiter’s wrists and lit the things up. They exploded into balls of guts and broken shell. Okay, so they were organisms. If the ships were like this too, that would explain the lack of crew.

  He tried to locate the Tannhauser to report his findings and eventually came upon the carrier surrounded by a defensive screen of destroyers firing on a steady wave of approaching enemy insects. With the the amount of anti-aircraft fire the destroyers were able to throw into the air, he had to be extra careful as he threaded through the fusillade of lasers and landed on the Tannhauser’s upper deck.

  “Admiral.”

  “Yes Captain,” Kesh appeared onscreen. “I’m glad you’re safe. An already troubling situation has gotten much worse.”

  “Yes, Admiral. Sir, as you’ve no doubt seen from the targets you’re fighting here, these…insects are alive.”

  “Yes.”

  “Sir, I believe their ships are the same. I’ve cut a couple open and no crew. They don’t seem to have the kind of internal organs the insects have, but they’re getting around somehow.”

  “Hmm, thanks for the intel. We’ll pass it on down the line to not take any supposed weak points for granted. As with some insects, these ships may have a type of nervous system that allows them to function for a while even after losing their ‘head’ so to speak. In this case, their command center. If they even have a command center.”

  “My thoughts exactly.” Feln looked up and saw that the Tannhauser’s immediate area seemed free of enemies for the moment. “Sir, are you good here? I’d like to get back to supporting the fleet.”

  “Absolutely Captain. Our little group here,” Kesh indicated the destroyers, “is very capable.”

  “Roger that, sir.” Feln saluted and launched back into the air, shooting toward the rear of the fleet in case anyone had been stranded.

  As he flew past many isolated battles, he saw ships in various states of integrity. Some were practically burning hulks, but still firing bravely. Others didn’t seem very damaged but were just drifting through space silently. What happened to them? Some kind of new weapon? He would check on them when he got back if the other local ships hadn’t.

  Despite the carnage, from what he could see, the Francescans had the edge in armor and firepower. The enemy seemed almost to be made of tissue in comparison, but they had numbers. If the Imperial ships could just get some time to catch their breath, they’d win the day. But time might have been another commodity possessed by the enemy, not the Francescans. Feln happened across one of the missile ships, the Artemis, as its guns finished off a corvette-sized enemy.

  “Attention Artemis, how are your missile stores?” he asked, pulling up to the small ship.

  “Fully loaded,” came the shocked response from the Artemis’ commander, a young woman named Achren. Among the day’s other surprises, clearly she wasn’t expecting to be dealing with the fleet’s resident Space Knight. “Since the attack came, we’ve only had to face ships our guns could take out. We’ve been saving the missiles in case anything really tough appears.”

  “That time may have arrived,” Feln said. “Follow me.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  As he got farther back in the fleet, the struggle had died down slightly. There was definitely still fighting, but here it somehow seemed more subdued. Enemy ships slowly crisscrossed with Francescan, each side firing at the other as they passed. Feln reckoned it was simply because here there was more room to maneuver and have an almost “proper” fight instead of what was going on ahead with two fleets at each other’s throats. He had to end this and get whatever ships remained here joined back up with the rest of the fleet.

  Feln slammed into one of the enemies’ ships, buckling its hull with the impact. He fired the Xeiter beam down the length of the ship and to the side, cutting it in two, before turning on a cruiser-sized ship coming toward him. He fired the forearm cannons and could see some of the hits scoring, but the big ship’s shields held. He’d have to get in closer and use something with more punch.

  “Durandal!” Feln called and the sword materialized in Denxeiter’s open palm with a boom followed by the usual shockwave when Denxeiter grasped the sword. He shot straight ahead on a collision course with the ship, dodging its attempts to shoot him down. I haven’t even needed the Den Aegis against these clods, he suddenly realized.

  At the last moment before he would have collided with the ship, he feinted left and ducked right. As he sped down the length of the the enemy, he jammed Durandal into the ship’s side. The sword easily went through the craft’s shields and sliced into the skin of its hull like an overripe melon, leaving a steadily widening gash behind it as Feln continued onward. He got to the end of the ship just as searing flame erupted out of the gash. Making sure to watch carefully as the ship exploded, Feln did note a green blood-like substance coming out before the ship was engulfed in flame. He nodded, his curiosity satisfied.

  As he neared what must have been the end of the fleet, Feln flew over to a small group of ships that had collected together during his fight with the enemy. “Alright everybody, stay together. I’m taking you back to the fleet. Did any of you see any other stragglers?”

  A small planetary scout ship replied, “Yes sir. We’re the rear of the fleet and there’s a medical ship back there. We lost him and were going back when that bunch you just killed showed up.”

  “Okay, stay here and everybody cover each other. There’s strength in numbers and its easy to get lost out here. Artemis, you’re with me. I’ll be back.”

  Feln took off with the Artemis following. They soon came up on the medical ship, which because of its mission parameters and being lightly armed had already been damaged. The enemy seemed to be trying to capture the ship because a group of insects was moving to surround it, but they weren’t shooting.

  “Wave Slash!” With this vocal command from Feln, Denxeiter swung Durandal in a wide sweep, releasing a blue arc of light and a shockwave. It got larger and faster as it flew past the medical ship and slammed into the insects, cutting them in two and then vaporizing them in the shockwave. There didn’t seem to be any more enemies, so Feln approached the ship.

  “Hello? Are you okay?” he hailed as he got closer.

  “Yes, we’re good here overall, but there’ve been some casualties. We’ve also lost some systems and all engine power. We’ll need a tow,” a young voice came over sound-only, underscoring the loss of systems.

  “Okay, we’ve got it covered,” Feln said. He launched Denxeiter’s drones. The small triangular weapons
left their docking ports on Denxeiter’s back where they normally gave the robot the appearance of wings. Although they were mainly used for combat, the drones also had some utility functions and rescue towing was one. This made Denxeiter’s overall service abilities more well-rounded.

  The drones surrounded the medical ship and activated their tractor beams. They waited expectantly for Feln. He was studying the area behind them.

  “Sir?” The Artemis had appeared next to him. Achren’s face appeared in his window. Now that he had a chance to see her more clearly, he noticed she was actually a Nymph, most likely a Nether Naiad due to her hair color and the fact she was in the Star Navy. For some reason, Nether Naiads had always felt a deep longing to live in space despite the fact that space travel was a relatively recent development in their history. Achren was undoubtedly beautiful, with silver hair tied into rings on ether side of her head and a small build. She actually looked only slightly older than Aaltskog. But it was the Jammer that gave her away.

  Just peeking out past her uniform’s collar was a band of black metal that would jam the glamor that Nymphs gave off. Nymphs were another race indigenous to Wystra and their magic nature gave them a magic they had no control over that would make humans fall in love with them. While some nymphs enjoyed this ability, many found it a nuisance. And for obvious reasons, if any Nymphs decided to join any branch of military service they were required to wear a Jammer. To keep any “accidents” from happening, the Jammer could only be removed by someone of Rear Admiral rank or higher, or by a medical officer’s override.

  Feln had to admit that even with the Jammer there was something engaging in Achren’s bright green eyes… Nymphs were one of the Sylvan people and very flexible and strong despite their lithe appearance… Feln could probably do whatever he wanted with her and she’d—