The Fleet Commodore looked up Masan, he had good esteem of the Captain. “Over hundred old fighters from our orbital space station are already in combat range with the enemy. Our mission is to give them more fire power and to defend the station at all cost,” Toldax bent his head and touched his eyes. “Many of you will die today but remember this is our world! We got red dust in our blood! Let’s make it worth to be a Martian!”
Cheers and jubilation sparkled all over the place with pilots holding their helmets and shouting.
Masan remained quiet. He knew the Draconian were a confederation of many clans and factions, the most powerful ones were always fighting against the Lyrans and other humanoid races in a far sector of the galaxy, but the Thubans were scavengers, preying against defenceless worlds to obtain a quick reward; slaves and minerals. They never found an enemy that stood up to them in this part of the galaxy, closer to their homeworld. Masan’s people found Terra by mistake. They were looking for a suitable world after their home planet Atlantea, where their culture had prospered for over five-thousand years at peace in the Helix System, was destroyed because its sun entered in a supernova phase. Atlanteans were still investigating the cause of that catastrophe as the Helix star shouldn’t become a supernova for the next three or four billion years. The only clue they had it was a huge black sphere spotted by a solar satellite. It did look artificial, but the size of that object was a quarter of the star. Then, they thought it had to be a neutron star or errant dark matter object that impacted the sun. It was a catastrophe with no warning. Just a few hundred thousand people were evacuated, most of them fleet personnel. The fleet then joined a Lyran tactical group that heard the SOS transmissions. The Lyrans were investigating if the Draconian were settled in some worlds of this spiral arm of the galaxy. They found Terra and the planet had sentient hominids, star seeds of the ancient race that seeded the Lyrans and all other humanoid races of the galaxy, perhaps of the universe.
“Let’s do this,” Masan said with conviction, knowing he might be facing his dead.
Act immediately, everyone began boarding their aircraft, some with real worrisome in their faces, others saying, “Yeah, let’s kill those goddamn salamanders!”
It was a mix of feelings. No one had been in real combat before. This was their first time, and perhaps their last.
◆◆◆
Taloo was in his fighter doing some routine patrol over the ocean between Poseidonia, Atlantis and the eastern peninsula. Even knowing that Atlanteans have no enemies in this colony world for few centuries now, some exercises were done to maintain the practice in the military arts, but enemies were in every corner of the galaxy and more specially the Thubans, or Anunnaki as the Terran knew them, whom were driven out of Solaris after a brief battle. His mission was to determine how humans’ settlements could be impacted in the coastal area of the east continents as ice caps are retreating slowly by taking some scans and photos. He was thinking what to do when he returned home with his wife and son. Taloo was looking forward for those few days off from service he had after his duty today.
Suddenly, red flashing lights went on as the alarm of his console activated when a voice began speaking through communications.
“Command Control to all units, I repeat, Command Control to all units, enemy detected in Solaris System, I repeat, enemy inbound.”
“Here Captain Taloo, what enemy?” replied concerned.
“Thubans, Captain,” replied Command Control with a worried voice.
“They are back,” said Captain Taloo in a low voice, trying to hide his concern. He has never been in combat before, just few combat simulations and hundreds of hours on the air. Now the enemy was back, and they would do everything to gain control over the planet. “What are my orders, Command Control,” replied while reducing speed until the fighter remained still over the blue ocean.
“Remain in the air and wait. Instructions are to be sent promptly.”
CHAPTER FIVE
High Commander Enki of the Thuban Clan, minor clan of the Draconian Empire, stood in the Command and Control Center of his Battleship, Thuban Executor, looking at his view screen the blue-white globe that he had to reconquer. It was a spine nailed in his cold heart and he needed to heal it. It was a great dishonor to lose that planet in the past on hands of a Starhuman.
Draconians believed that humans were inferior beings and that it was the way it needed to be. He also had plans for some reptilian species of that planet to become part of his clan with some genetic engineering. He had studied the planet’s past to discover that truly enormous reptilians were walking on the surface of this world, some of them in the path of intelligence. One of those species, a raptor one, could communicate with the other of its group and set up traps or ambushes. Mysteriously they abruptly disappeared over sixty-five million years in the past, according to his scientist caste, by an asteroid.
“If we exterminate the humans and mammals once and forever of this planet, we could bring back some extinguished species that once inhabited this planet. We could adopt some of their characteristics to our own species to become the most powerful one in the galaxy,” Second Commander Marduk said in excitement. “We do not need slaves from this world as we have others. We must exterminate every single human to set up an example.”
“Perhaps you are right,” answered Enki. “The fossils we found were truly amazing and adapting those characteristics to our race would be wise and prudent. Remember, for the Ciakans, we are just a minor clan and dispensable. They won’t hesitate to exterminate us if we keep disappointing them,” Enki said with a fearful look. He could already see what future was awaiting ahead of him if they could do all the plans he’s got in mind.
“That’s true, though, we may exploit every resource and spoil every survivor before we begin with our plan,” Marduk added.
“Yes,” commented Enki. “We will take all valuables and humans off the planet first. We may even settle them in one of our slaves off-worlds to keep having enough fluency of food and labour. Also, the Grays are interested in trade with us some humans for unknown reasons.”
“I hate the Grays. They are always so reserved,” muttered Marduk.
The Grays were another big player in galaxy affairs. They barely entered combat with anyone, but they would certainly do it if necessary, with devastating effects. For eons, Draconians were filing up complaints against the Grays for their meddling in Draconian space to conduct abductions of their slaves.
“High Commander, we may have a problem,” added Sensor Officer Okyd.
“What now!” Enki shouted when Okyd made all his future plans vanished off his mind.
“Four Vegans Destroyers are advancing toward us. Sensor scan says they are heavily armed,” reported Okyd.
Second Officer Ynnie rose his head from his view screen and asked. “What are your orders High Commander? If we let them attack first, we may suffer a lot of damage.”
“Get into combat range and annihilate those damn primates,” Enki grunted angrily.
◆◆◆
On board of the six-hundred meters long Atlantean destroyer Blaze of Glory, Admiral Evea was sat in her command chair at the center of the Command Center. She was in her fifties, but that age for an Atlantean woman was the twenties of a Terran one. She was over six feet tall with tanned skin, dark hair and very dark eyes. Her father, Consul Atlas, ordered her to attack and destroy the Thuban fleet. A hard task but the only hope to retain the control of Solaris. The other part of the fleet was in a nearby system, Sirius A, assisting the Syrians as some pirates had plundered the planet. Pirates were a constant in the civilized galactic regions of space. Sometimes, as in this case, the pirates were humanoid.
“Status of the enemy forces,” Evea asked. She was worried but her face showed nothing more than confidence. It was her job to look serene and confident in victory. It was the way of every Admiral in the fleet.
“Enemy forces formed two battle fleets. One is heading to us and the smaller one to
Mars. Primary fleet consists in three battleships, seven battlecruisers, one battlecarrier and seven light escort cruisers. Second fleet over Mars consists in one battlecruiser, one battlecarrier and three light escort cruisers,” reported Captain Gadom, XO of the Blaze of Glory. They were badly outnumbered, and this fleet was in fire power, comparable to one of the major Draconian clans.
A cold chill sensation ran all over Evea’s body. They couldn’t stand a chance with that numbers. Her strategy was simple; test the enemy’s weapons and energy screens, if they possessed one, and return to the small defense grid around the planet. There were a few assets waiting for the Thubans. “Sensors?” She asked.
“We are almost in combat range, Admiral. Two more minutes for long-range weapons to be in efficient combat range,” Sensor Officer Solux informed. “Energy shields are up and everyone ready in their battlestations.”
“Prepare hyper-missiles. Target the battlecarrier and light cruisers. If we take them down first, we may be able to push them to retreat,” Evea ordered. There was a small chance of that to happen. The Draconian rarely retreated in combat as it was a great dishonor for them, but again, these were the scavengers Thubans; the lower clan in the Empire.
“Targets locked, firing hyper-missiles in twenty seconds,” informed Tactical Officer Coram while pressing some icons in his tactical display.
The hyper-missiles were a new development in weaponry. The missiles had a small FTL drive and once they were fired, they entered hyperspace in a tremendous speed just to exploded in their targets microseconds after being fired.
“Fleet in combat range and in Combat Condition,” said Captain Gadom.
“Hyper-missiles loaded and ready to be fired,” reported Tactical Officer Coram.
“Fire them,” Admiral Evea said with an evil grin on her face.
The battle for Solaris has begun.
◆◆◆
Destroyers Valorous and Courageous rapidly closed formation and their missiles tubes slid, firing their deadly payload on their targets, the Thuban battlecarrier. Eight hyper-missiles fired and vanished in hyperspace to reappear a microsecond after, targeting the reptilian vessel. Huge explosions suddenly lighted up space. Once the energy dispersed, the battlecarrier still held its position but it was visible that it had suffered damaged by the explosion. One or perhaps two more well placed missiles, and the ship could have vanished.
From the Destroyer Blaze of Glory missiles tubes slid opened and four hyper-missiles exited them just to vanish in hyperspace. Microseconds after, the fifty megaton antimatter missiles impacted their targets, two of the escort cruisers. Nova-like explosions were visible in the enemy cruisers. The enemy’s energy screen seemed to glow because of the huge amount of energy released by the deadly missiles. In a moment, the screens seemed to hold, but the two of the seven light cruisers suddenly exploded, sending debris in all directions.
The destroyer Adventurer closed position with an enemy cruiser in a daring manoeuvre and fired its deadly missiles. The enemy cruiser turned the ship to avoid impact, but they couldn’t see the inbound missiles till they exploded against the energy shield, making it glow in a fire ball of anti-matter fire. The screen couldn’t resist the amount of energy released against it and seemed to flicker. The antimatter fire found a weakness in the screen, penetrating the hull and tearing it apart, cutting through the rear bulkhead of the vessel. A moment after the Thuban escort cruiser exploded, leaving behind a ball of glowing gas.
◆◆◆
“Three light cruisers down. Battlecarrier still operative but severe damaged,” reported excited Sensor Officer Solux.
“Twenty seconds for the next barrage of hyper-missiles,” Tactical Officer Coram informed.
“Target locks and fire energy beams and lasers,” Admiral Evea ordered. She had a first success, but all enemy’s battleships and battle cruisers kept moving forward.
◆◆◆
The six hundred meters long destroyer Adventurer opened fired its cannon beams and energy projectors against an enemy battleship. It was a daring manoeuvre as the battleship could easily destroy the Atlantean ship, but it seemed the Thubans were in shock after the hyper-missiles attack. Energy beams and energy projectors impacted the battleship. Energy screens seemed to hold when a second barrage of hyper-missiles left the tubes of the destroyer. Moments after, the missiles impacted when more energy beams and projectors were fired in the same location of the missiles. Antimatter energy glowed in a ferocious fire ball, like a supernova, when the beams penetrated the thick hull of the battleship. Once the antimatter energy dissipated, the Thuban battleship began drifting powerless in space. Seconds later, more energy beams and projectors teared apart the ship, exploding. A debris field impacted the Thuban flagship, the Thuban Executor.
◆◆◆
The Thuban Executor shook violently after the sudden explosions around the ship. High Commander Enki was almost thrown from his command chair. It was a wise decision to sit instead of remaining stood as he often did. “What was that?” he asked in shock.
“A type of missiles with antimatter warheads, High Commander,” Second Commander Marduk reported.
“Antimatter?” Enki replied in disbelief.
The Vegans had never shown such weapons in the past. It was a dangerous development. Draconians had such weapons but not his clan. They were very expensive and the High Draconian Council, neither the Empress, allowed such massive destruction weapons to lesser clans, to avoid civil conflicts in the empire. Every clan wanted more power and Enki knew everything about that. His plan was for his clan to become the ruling one and him named as Emperor.
“Antimatter in the fifty-megaton range, but the missiles are so fast we can’t stop them before they hit us,” replied Marduk with a frighten voice. Enki has never seen Marduk afraid of anything, except of upsetting him. As Second Commander, he couldn’t upset or disappoint a High Commander, because the consequences of doing that were severe, including the death penalty.
“Loses?” Enki asked in fear.
Marduk checked the tactical display, just to feel an icy chill sensation across his body. “We lost three escort cruisers and the battleship Starbutcher. The battlecarrier Blood Fury is severe damaged but operative.”
Enki’s gaze turned pale. “Fire everything we’ve got upon them!” he ordered in desperation.
It was vital to destroy those few Vegan ships as fast as possible. If the Vegans placed a few of those missiles in his battleships, the result could be devastating as the Starbutcher was identical as the Thuban Executor in weapons and shields.
◆◆◆
From the Draconian fleet, missiles tubes slid opened and fifty-megaton nuclear warheads left in high speed toward the enemy destroyers. Dozens of missiles were visible when Vegan railguns opened fire intercepting most of them. Just over ten missiles impacted their targets. Nova-like explosion appeared in two of the Vegan destroyers. One destroyer, the Courageous, after the nuclear fire dispersed, remained intact and continuing its advance while, the Adventurer, the closest in combat to the reptilian fleet, in a brilliant flash of light, blew apart sending debris in all directions.
The battleship Thuban Executor and the Dog of War with combined fire with the rest of battlecruisers, opened fire their cannon beams, energy projectors and ion beams and particle beams seeking any breach in the Vegans energy screens.
◆◆◆
In the Command Center of the Atlantean destroyer Blaze of Glory, Admiral Evea was in shock as she saw the Adventurer to blow apart. It was very clear before even the battle begun that they would die today. She has known most of the crew of that ship for years. Now, they were all gone. At least they knew they could beat a Thuban battleship.
“Destroyer Adventurer down!” Sensor Officer Solux reported with a frighten voice. Sweat was running down his face as he turned pale. “Enemy is firing more energy weapons! Impact in five seconds!”
“Energy screens holding at seventy-five percent,” Captain Gadom added with a
frantic voice, knowing they had only a few seconds of life.
“Move us out of here!” Admiral Evea ordered with a frighten voice.
◆◆◆
In space, white, bright orange and dark blue beams were inbound the remaining Vegan fleet. This one, in a move of desperation, changed course but it was too late. Beam after beam impacted the destroyers’ energy screens violently. Destroyer Valorous and Courageous couldn’t resist the huge amount of energy fired upon them after the first barrage of nuclear power, when an energy beam penetrated the screen of the Valorous tearing apart the engineering deck. Huge holes in the hull of the ship were visible as other energy and ion beams penetrated the vessel’s thick armour. In that moment the Valorous blew apart as the antimatter reactor overloaded and exploded. A brilliant nova, like a miniature sun appeared just to disappear moments after, leaving a glowing ball of gas and wreckage behind.
The Courageous held for a few more seconds, drifting powerless in space, when particle beams fired from every major Thuban vessel teared apart with dozens of impacts everywhere in its hull. Moments later, it blew also apart.
Only the Blaze of Glory was spared, but heavily damaged.
◆◆◆
Admiral Evea was semi unconscious on top of her destroyed tactical display. The last attack heavily damaged most of the compartments of the vessel. In the Command Center, a few bodies were lifeless in their combat stations. Most of the tactical displays and viewscreens were damaged. Small fires propagated on top of every station rapidly. Evea opened her eyes just to realize that she was alive, but not for long.
“Status?” asked the Admiral with a low and painful voice. She was coughing as the ventilation system seemed to stop working and smoke was rapidly covering the whole place. No one replied her question. She turned her face in a painful movement and she saw Captain Gadom sitting on his chair. He was dead. His face was completely disfigured, and blood was increasingly growing in a big puddle under his chair. Evea suddenly erupted in tears as she saw besides Captain Gadom, her Sensor Officer, laying on the metallic deck’s floor still. Solux had a bit piece of metal cut across his chest. She wished he died fast and didn’t feel anything.
Solaris Fall: A Behemoth Ascending Novella Page 4
