by G J Moses
Everyone on the bridge waited in angst for a signal response. It usually took a few minutes to get a response, but after several minutes passed with no response, dread has now replaced their angst.
“eeeoooeeeooo bip bip eeeoooeeeooo” suddenly blared out repeatedly.
Without looking up from his station, Caspian, excitedly informed Zeke “Sir, I am registering four incoming missiles targeting Lucky Strike. ETA to contact is three plus a quarter minute.”
Zeke jerked around to look at Lieutenant William Farren. “What the hell?”
Raising his head, Will peered over his shoulder at Zeke before continuing. “We still have time to evade and re-enter the slipstream.”
Tempted to stand up, Zeke knew that everyone was looking to him for calm and resisted the impulse.
“Well Mr. Farren, it seems our hail has supplied our location to whomever was waiting for us. We cannot leave without attempting to find out what happened. From what we can tell, the station and planets have been attacked. We need to assist any possible survivors.”
“With that in mind, what are your countermeasure solution recommendations? Any thoughts on who may be responsible, Irracans? This does not fit in their customary routine.”
Head bent over his console, Will responded in his heavy Jasmain accent, “One moment… still getting data on the missiles. Hmm… that is odd… strange… never seen any like these…”
“Come on Will, I need something here. What’s the problem? What models are they?” Zeke was not used to seeing Will take so long to get a fix and make recommendations.
Standing up to respond, it was obvious Will was puzzled by what he had seen.
“Sir, the type of missile is of an unidentified origin. Sensor data show a size, configuration unlike any I have seen. Nothing like this shows up in our database. Neither I, nor the ships AI, can identify them. Based on that, I recommend a full counter measure broadside with a second to follow up to make sure we get all four. I cannot tell what type of detonation nor range they carry.”
Knowing Will, and trusting his judgment, Zeke was about to concur, but something about this smelled wrong. Why only four missiles? Anyone familiar with RGN warships would know the Lucky Strike was a cruiser and should be able to handle four missiles easily enough in normal circumstances.
Using the controls on his chair, he brought up the map to show the location of the nearby star systems. Could it be hardware from one of the other three alien races they knew of? Will though, should still have been able to identify the schematics of any of the four races. Strange….
Missile type unknown… ships hidden… no communication… why the surprise attack in the first place? What occurred at the planets and orbital space stations? Only four missiles. He had an itch in the middle of his back and that usually meant his intuition was picking something up his conscious mind did not fully understand yet. That itch was getting worse as the missiles got closer…
“Put together a solution Will with the very minimum you believe is required. I have a feeling this set of missiles are not the real threat, but a test of what our defenses are without giving away anything on the aggressor’s actual strength. I do not want to let them know our full capabilities either, not yet.”
“Caspian, can you track back to where the missiles originated from?”
With determination, Caspian nodded while working the sensors. “I know where they first became visible and I can track their flight path back to where they were most likely launched from using the timing of Isolde’s message as a guide, but as of yet I am not able to detect any ship or platform in the area.”
With a thankful nod and smile to Caspian, Isolde continued with: “Captain, you think this could be someone not familiar with a ship of our size? We are a good bit larger than the older cruisers. Would make sense.”
Gesturing towards Hawke, their ships Sorath Intergalactic Representative officer, Zeke asked “Hawke, your thoughts?”
Hawke was a nickname given to him by Zeke as his real name was too difficult to say with the human larynx. It was a good nickname considering that even though he was close to human in features and stature, he stood close to seven feet tall, had two fully functional wings attached to his back with the appendage running from his hip to his shoulder blades. Each wing when fully deployed opened to a full six-foot wingspan. Of course, besides the wings, the feathery skin was another giveaway that he was not human.
Standing in front of a specifically designed workstation for his race, with his wings slightly opened, Hawke replied in perfect Galactic through the translator embedded in his thorax.
“Captain, I have been examining the missiles closely. These are not of my race. Could be the Irracans we were chasing though, they may have something new. The missiles are twice the size of one of our main missiles, but not as fast. Something about the propulsion, though, strikes a familiar chord with me. Something I have seen or read like this before. Maybe it is an older missile version they had been working on.”
Rolling his fingers over his control station to review additional data prior to continuing, Hawke concluded with. “But no matter what, watching how they update their trajectories and speed, I do not believe they are something that our countermeasures cannot handle. The Lucky Strike and Jackal have the latest defensive hardware and software available to both our races.”
Zeke turned toward Isolde. “Send out a message requesting contact and immediate destruction of the incoming missiles. Continuous repeat of the message until we get a reply.”
Zeke stood up where he pulled his uniform jacket tight. Locking hands behind his back and rocking on the balls of his feet, he continued with his instructions to Isolde.
“Send a ship to ship secure message to Jackal notifying Lance to continue cloaked and silent. No matter what happens, unless instructed otherwise by me, they are not to make themselves known. We do not know what or who is out here. But based on the little we can see of this system and the planets therein; they must be substantial. The Jackal’s mission, for the moment, is to get back to sector command to report. We are expendable, they are not. Make sure Lance understands that this is an order. Send all the information we have along with the message.”
“Message sent and acknowledged. Data transmission in progress.”
“Well, why don’t we see what’s out there. Will, reply to their greeting in kind. Send four MK-XIIs out to where you believe they originated from. Wide displacement with proximity fuses. I want to light up the area.”
“Yes Sir, well, I can try anyway. Just need a few more seconds to get the coordinates loaded.”
This was followed by a deep silence as all eyes monitored their systems closely. Shortly, after just a little more than a minute, the ship rocked gently while the bridge echoed to a muted noise. “MK-XIIs away.”
“Caspian, are you getting any additional information?” asked Zeke.
While busily entering data through his interface, Caspian replied. “Not much. But I am currently programming the sensors to track the small meteor and asteroid trails in the area where I believe the hostiles are potentially located. If they have their force fields up like we do… one may change direction, it may pinpoint the hostiles general location. If I get anything, I will send that over to Will.”
A full minute passed by in silence until Caspian jerked his head up. “Ah hah, there’s one… got you! I think I have the general area. Will, all yours.”
“Thanks Caspian, data received. Making the adjustments… MK-XIIs targeting systems have been updated. They look to be in an area directly between us and the largest planet. I would say they were waiting for us.”
Hawke looked up at Zeke with a crooked smile on his face. “This should be interesting.”
Watching the countdown, Zeke also watched the flight path of both sets of missiles. The incoming missiles looked to have reached their maximum speed. They were not as fast as their own missiles, but pretty fast, nonetheless. Their MK-XIIs were a bit faster, but even s
o, their missiles would not reach their target first.
Concern on the incoming missiles unknown firepower briefly crossed Zeke’s features, but as they used to say in the ancient city of Rome on the home planet, “Alea iacta EST” or “The die was cast”. There was nothing additional they could do but wait.
“Ladies and gentlemen, all personnel are to remain strapped in. No idea what we are encountering here.” ordered Zeke while sitting down and strapping in.
Everyone patiently waited another few moments before the missiles would reach them. The distance to the enemy was at extreme range and they could have avoided the missiles easily enough by returning the way they came, but only if they had turned around once the missiles had been detected. But then, that would leave the populations on the two planets at the mercy of this unknown force. Leaving never entered anyone’s mind on the Lucky Strike as an option.
The Lucky Strikes countermeasures started firing off. These included both interceptors and ECM missiles that contained electronic measures to interfere with the guidance systems. Will was doing some updates on the fly to the ECM’s based on what he learned as they got closer to the incoming missiles. Following Zeke’s command, he was not going to use their AI controlled fusion laser point defense, which made up the main part of their missile defense.
With thirty seconds to go, Zeke notified the ship to brace for impact. No visible movement of the crew on the Bridge but then again, he would have been surprised if there had been. Most here had been in battles together before.
Two of the four incoming missiles were knocked out by the first set of interceptors and one was drawn off due to an ECM. The last missile exploded well outside their red zone. The single blast was a bit larger than Will had expected, but nothing their new shields and armor could not handle.
Zeke knew that they were lucky. If those missiles had been faster and able to elude their interceptors, they would have taken some damage. But he was happy to see that the missile had only carried one warhead, whereas theirs…
Just a few seconds later, their MK-XIIs arrived at their destination. Each of the MK-XIIs carried a dozen multiple warheads. One MK-XII disappeared from tracking with no trace, one was destroyed, but the other two managed to eject all their warheads. Most of the warheads were intercepted, but not all. The remaining warheads went to their designated positions and detonated with a bright flash.
As part of the standard operating procedure when firing missiles, several probes were sent with them to get data on how effective they were.
What showed up had everyone gasping in surprise. The big screen showed red icons representing a half dozen ships of an unknown design. Two were in the size of the Earth cruisers, three destroyers sized and one behemoth slightly larger than that of a battleship. One of the smaller icons was flashing. The AI could not match the ships against any in the database.
As more information came in from the probes now able to pinpoint the ships due to the energy from their shields, the screen now displayed more of their physical characteristics. Where the ship design of the humans and other known races were all similar in that the engines were located at the rear of a ship, these ships had their engines on struts extruding from the body just aft of the middle section.
One small ship, identified by a flashing icon, looked to have damage near the midsection. But it could not be from their missiles. The Planets?
No question, now, they knew they were facing a different technology. Where had the Irracans acquired this?
It was then that Isolde notified Zeke that they were picking up a communications request. Zeke signaled to put it up on the main screen.
The image that appeared surprised them all. The display centered on a large scaled reptilian looking individual standing in what Zeke presumed was their bridge.
Before Zeke could say anything, he heard Hawke curse vehemently and mutter “the Lakhey, they’re back”.
Others in the background could be seen sitting on chairs performing different tasks. The image on the screen was a bipedal covered in dark green scales, a wide mouth filled with sharp incisors, and lidded eyes. The individual looked to be very tall with a large build, but it was hard to tell without a true reference. Clothing was opulent with flowing golden robes crossed over by several large leather belts across his large chest, topped off by over the knee leather boots.
Ineligible noise was coming across the speakers while the computer worked on interpreting what was being said. They started getting a translation several moments later in the middle of a sentence. “…surrender or be destroyed. We will not repeat the offer. You have an hour to make your decision.” The transmission ended abruptly, and the screen went back to the display of the enemy ships and details.
Isolde ran the full message back now that the computer could interpret the full message. The important details from the message were that the new race called themselves the Chohish and that they had returned to finish where they left off. There were only two options offered, surrender or die. No offer for any further communications.
“Get Lance on a secure ship to ship communications channel. I do not want any leakage so to be very careful, no video. Patch it through the ship speakers. This is going to be something that everyone needs to be in the know. I have a feeling we are going to be involved in a system wide event. Let me know when Lance is on.” Zeke turned to Hawke and waved him over.
Signaling one moment, Hawke stared at an item he had pulled up on his workstation. Once done, he moved to stand by Zeke. As he was about to speak, Zeke raised his hand. Isolde signaled with hand gestures that the connection was made when Lance’s voice came through the speakers.
“Hello Zeke, what the hell have we got into? This does not look good does it?”
“No, my friend, it does not. I think we need Hawke to give us an idea who our guests are.” Turning to look at Hawke “You seem to have information that could enlighten us as to what we are facing. What can you tell us?”
Pausing a moment to focus his thoughts before replying, “Yes, I do have knowledge of this race. I was just reviewing any record I have of them in my personal computer files. It is not as much as I would like, but my people know them well, very well indeed. Thousands of years ago, we met these Chohish. We were lucky to survive. At the time we had colonized a dozen worlds without meeting another race.”
It was obvious to all that Hawke was struggling to continue. “We were colonizing a new planet, Anveter, where we had dispatched a colony ship with over three thousand families on it. Men, women and children. Four destroyers were there for protection and assistance. What occurred is something that we never expected, never in our wildest nightmare. Nor something any of my race will ever forget.”
With the detail of what he just pulled up fresh in his mind, Hawke with a snarl continued.
“A Chohish fleet of a dozen ships arrived in a manner like the slipstream we use. The colonists were excited as we knew someday, we would meet another race, but for this to occur just when they were also about to start a new life, was almost too good to be true. It was. The colonists were celebrating on meeting a new race when it happened.”
Turning to stare up at the image of the Chohish that was now on the main screen, Hawke continued in a ragged voice.
“The Chohish never responded to any call for contact but, without warning, fired upon all the ships. The colony ship never stood a chance. The ship and all aboard were gone within just a few moments. Two of the destroyers followed in short order. They were no match even though they had their shields up. One of the two destroyers left, sustained engine damage and could not run. But it gave a good accounting for itself prior to being destroyed. One of the Chohish smaller ships, we believe they were the equivalent to our destroyers, was destroyed along with damage to one of the larger ships.”
Taking a deep breath while he shook his wings with the pain showing on his face for all to see. “The last destroyer had been surveying the system and a good distance away from the visit
ors when they arrived. They were the only ones able to get away. But not before they witnessed and recorded what happened next. All the Chohish ships, except for one cruiser sized ship who chased after the destroyer, orbited the planet. Without any delay, they bombarded the colony site. Thousands upon thousands of engineers and their dependents were massacred. They had no warning, nor weapons to defend themselves.”
“To keep this short, we lost many hundreds of millions of lives before they just disappeared. One of our planets had to be abandoned and was only just reclaimed a few hundred years ago. But we have not heard from them in thousands of years and assumed they had come upon someone tougher. We hoped we would never see or hear from them again.”
“The few communication contacts we had with them is no less than what you encountered. Surrender or die. I do not recommend anyone surrender. One of our passenger liners surrendered, at the beginning of the war, and all the people were spaced. Surrender does not mean surviving, just death in another manner. The Chohish have no mercy and should not be given any. They are ruthless and do not care for casualties.”
Standing up, Zeke walked over to lay his hand on Hawke’s shoulder. “Now I need your help once more my friend. Thoughts on what we should do.”
Without hesitation, Hawke looked straight at Zeke, with his eyes showing the stress, along with something else, hatred. “Run, get help!”.
Walked around to the back of the command chair, Zeke leaned forward to rest his forearms on the chair. Looking around the room, then at the screen showing the ships of the Chohish, Zeke contemplated on what he, no, make that, what they all must do. Many lives rested on his decision. Putting his head on his arms, he took a few seconds to gather his thoughts.
Having made up his mind, he raised his head while he addressed both ships. “Ladies and gentlemen, our job is simple to understand. Protect and assist the citizens of our Galactic Empire and their allies. Everyone who joins the Royal Galactic Navy knows the dangers that come with that. With that in mind, I can only come up with one plan of action.”
