Serpents and Vipers

by Donald Nicklas

  “Sss. Captain Rand, there are seven invisible ships between us and the planet.”

  “Can you give me an approximate location for them, Lot?”

  The serpent pressed a few buttons that linked her console with the threat board and seven fuzzy red blips marked the approximate location of the ships. The computer indicated that they were still an hour outside of weapons range and clustered in a loose, spherical formation.

  “Order the squadron into formation iota,” Captain Rand ordered and the communication tech, nicknamed Sparks on all human ships, passed the order on. The destroyers formed a single line, with the command destroyer in the front. After the passage of fifteen minutes, all ships reported they were in position. They were now 45 minutes to weapons range. “Sound general quarters,” Rand ordered, though they were at their stations since system entry. The new call was meant to warn of impending combat. He then turned to the missile control station, “Load canister missiles and set them to detonate between 5000 and 6000 kilometers.”

  “Aye, captain,” the missile control station acknowledged as the general quarters, klaxon sounded throughout the squadron. All orders given by Captain Rand were followed by all members of the squadron who could hear them through the open battle channel. Destroyers are fast, mobile missile platforms. In their arsenal, they have many types of missile not carried by the capital ships. This gives them a versatility to adapt to all levels of threat. Captain Rand ordered canister missiles deployed in all missile tubes. These are used when confronted with fleets of small vessels and he hoped they would also work against invisible ships. The canisters were hollow nose cones on the missiles that were packed with solid titanium spheres measuring 15 centimeters in diameter. When the missiles reached their predetermined distance from the destroyer, the charge at the base of the warhead detonated and this propelled the cluster of spheres in a forward direction forming a cone that increased in diameter as it moved out. By shaping the charge forward, the missile assured that there was no danger to the destroyer that fired it. These missiles could only be used against forward enemies, since in space, there was nothing to stop or slow down the projectiles, canister could not be used in a general melee combat.

  Missile control reported ready and now there was thirty minutes to weapons range. The burn range of the missiles was close to ten thousand kilometers whereas the range of the spheres was infinite unless pulled in by a planet, moon or star. Of course, the farther the distance from detonation to target, the wider apart the spheres will be and the less will hit the target. Ideally, Rand wanted his missiles to detonate about 200 kilometers from the forward ships. Each destroyer had sixteen missile tubes, six on each side and two front and back. As opposed to a mere six cannons, two per side and one front and back. He now issued two more orders as the distance closed. “Lot, let me know when we are 6000 kilometers from the nearest ship.”

  “Sss. Yes Captain.”

  “Load all cannons for follow up shots.”

  “Yes, sir.” Weapons control reported.

  Rand could hear the gun crews loading the cannons. Cannon loading was manual to allow for tapering of the charge, but missile loading was automated with missile choice computer controlled. The reason for this was simple. If a missile tube is destroyed in combat, it is out of action, but if cannons become dismounted from their carriages, they can be remounted by the gun crew, and fired manually if needed.

  “Lot, coordinate with the serpents on the other destroyers to match our orders as regards the invisible ships.”

  “Sss. Yes captain.”

  “Attention all destroyers,” Rand said into the combat channel. “We will be in weapons range in 20 minutes. It is my intention to do a full canister saturation of the target locations, but only if they fire on us first. We are not here to start a war. Our orders from the Senate are to fire in defense only. We will act accordingly.”

  As the time passed slowly, Rand began to fidget a little in his seat. He hated waiting, but loved action. It always took so long to get to the point of action, due to the physics of the universe, but the last minutes always seemed as long as the entire trip.

  “One minute to weapons range,” the navigator reported.

  “Begin the cadence,” Rand ordered and immediately a measured drumbeat was heard throughout the fleet.

  Aboard the Longinus, the cadence was also heard and that prompted Captain Lorenzo to ask his sensor tech, “Have the destroyers engaged?”

  “No Captain. There is no indication of engagement.”

  “Order the capital ships to flank speed and plot a course straight for the planet while the destroyers keep the sentry ships engaged.”

  “Aye, Captain,” The navigator responded.

  The dreadnoughts and the cruisers sped up, keeping in formation, with the dreadnoughts in front abreast and the cruisers abreast in the rear. In the meantime, the destroyers crossed the weapon range line and waited for the serpents to act. They did not have to wait long.

  “Missile launches detected,” the sensor tech informed Captain Rand.

  Rand looked at the threat board; fourteen missiles were streaking into the destroyer formation, and it looked like they were all heading towards his ship. The serpents knew their stuff. Amateurs would have spread the missiles among the squadron, but by sending them all towards the lead ship, they hoped not all could be taken out by the point defenses. It took the missiles thirty seconds to reach the squadron. Rand could hear the point defense Gatling guns firing on the missiles and all but two were taken out. Those remaining two impacted on the nose of the destroyer. One glanced off and spun into space without exploding. The second one streaked past the nose and hit the rear edge of the hangar door. The missile broke apart and the warhead entered the hangar through the force field and detonated on impact with the hangar floor. There were multiple casualties among the hangar crew, two of which were fatal. Rand had enough of this game.

  “Squadron, maneuver Iota Omicron.”

  The Romani constantly practiced their maneuvers. As soon as Captain Rand gave the Iota Omicron order, they raised their battle sails that allow them to use the star wind in the system to make rapid turns. They also loaded their rear missile tubes with missiles designed to track chemical trails associated with fluids and fuels used by ships. This allows the missile to lock onto damaged ships, even if they are invisible. They know from examining Captain Artok’s ship that the serpents use the same fluids and propellants they do. As the squadron began to execute the Iota Omicron maneuver, a second set of 14 missiles was fired from the serpent ships. This time they were far more dangerous. Before the missiles came in range of the squadron, they detonated and filled the air with small bombs that were propelled in all directions along a 180-degree arch. There was no way the destroyers would be able to carry out their mission and not pass through the field of bombs. As Oskar Rand’s high school coach once told him, no pain no gain.

  Just before reaching the expanding field of bombs, Rand ordered his destroyer to fire the forward missiles and then bank hard to the right. The missiles leapt from the forward tubes as the ship began to pivot to the right using both sails and the port rockets to increase the speed of rotation. Before they could come abreast of the enemy, the bombs began to move into the squadron. Rand could feel the impact on the ship and he knew some would find openings. When they entered the battle, the ships had raised their gun ports to expose the cannons. The ports, like the hangar were separated from space by force fields that did not prevent solid objects from passing through them. The bombs started to enter the force fields of the destroyers as they moved into position. Though the bombs were small, Rand knew that enough of them or a lucky hit could do a lot of damage. They had to get rid of their missiles as soon as possible. Ten seconds and they would have their port missiles in position. Suddenly the ship was rocked by a large explosion that could be felt throughout the hull.

  “Damage report,” Rand ordered.

  The engineering tech looked up from her cons
ole. “A bomb entered the hangar and hit near several boarding sleds that then exploded. Minimal damage along with several minor injuries. Engineering reports the fires are almost out.”

  Rand nodded to the tech and put his concentration back at the combat. Communication reported several hits on some of the other destroyers. Only one was serious in that a main engine was damaged. Finally, the enemy came abreast of the port missile tubes. “Attack speed. Fire port missiles and begin rotation.” The cadence increased and the squadron sped up automatically.

  Six missiles leapt from the port missile tubes just as the forward missiles fired earlier detonated and sent their titanium spheres towards the enemy. These were now joined by missile after missile fired as the port sides of each destroyer came abreast of the enemy. Each ship then began to rotate along its long axis after firing the missiles to bring the starboard missiles in line as the port tubes were reloaded. A total of 56 missiles were fired from the destroyers before they turned away from the enemy. All of the missiles detonated, sending thousands of hard, metal spheres into the area the serpent crew reported the invisible ships were located. It did not take long for the spheres to find their targets. They were not explosive, but they had mass and speed. The combination tore into the small serpent vessels. Two of the seven broke apart almost immediately. They were closest to the squadron so the spheres were more tightly clustered when they reached them. The rest put holes in three more. Only the farthest had minimal damage.

  “Sparks, open a non-encrypted channel to the enemy fleet. Lot, send your message to the serpents.”

  Lot spoke in the strange serpent language and a response came from the enemy. Two of their ships were out of commission but the remaining five still had fight in them. Suddenly the sensor tech shouted, “Incoming rail shots.”

  One of the heavily damaged ships fired its rail guns and the shot slammed into the last ship in the destroyer line. All three shots penetrated the hull and did some internal damage. Three crewpersons were killed. The rest of the ships took courage from their stricken partner and all fired their rail guns. The shots all hit home and penetrated. Though the rail shots were small in comparison to a cannon shot, they came in with tremendous kinetic energy. The destroyers took more damage with more casualties. One took an engine hit and lost power. Rand had enough. These serpents did not want to surrender.

  “All ships lock tracking missiles on assigned targets and fire.”

  Eight missiles leapt from the rear tubes of the destroyers and streaked towards the enemy. Each destroyer had programmed their missiles to follow the damage trails of the nearest enemy ship, visible or not. The missiles tracked right into their targets. Since all but one ship was leaking fluids, the missiles had no trouble finding a chemical trail. Captain Rand was gratified to see six of the ships come apart with a few escape pods seen leaving the wreckage. The seventh ship became visible and surrendered. Rand ordered the crew to abandon ship and left the abandoned hull drifting for later pickup.

  “Sss. Captain Rand, Captain Artok’s ship is asking permission to dock with us. There is only the cloaking tech aboard.”

  “I’m not sure we can fit them. Sparks, see if the Invicta can pick them up.”

  After a few seconds, Sparks reported that the Invicta contacted the Cold Death and they will get them as they pass by.

  “Send a tight beam message to Captain Lorenzo. Tell him he is free to move to the planet, the sentry ships have been neutralized,” Rand ordered. “Also have the squadron report damage and status.”

  A few minutes passed and all destroyers reported they were ready for action, though one of the Invicta escorts needed to stop for thirty minutes to check engine damage to make sure no fuel was leaking. This was reported to the fleet and Captain Lorenzo ordered the three destroyers with undamaged engines to follow the fleet in. The damaged destroyer was ordered to keep station near the slipstream to monitor incoming ships. After all of the dispositions were made, the fleet came together with the three destroyers forming the vanguard. They were still three hours out from the planet. The destroyers would arrive first and assess planetary defenses, in case Captain Artok failed in her mission. Lorenzo ordered all captains to come aboard the Longinus for the final strategy meeting. Paul McMann was there as were the captains of the cruisers and destroyers. Tavia MacDougal was also asked to be present as was the Legatus Edmonton and the primary centurions of the first and eighth cohorts. When all were assembled in the conference room, Juan Lorenzo began the meeting.

  “We are less than three hours out, and have had no word from Captain Artok. That does not bode well unless it is just a communications glitch. I will remain hopeful that is the reason. However, we must be ready for anything. Captain Rand, you are to take your remaining destroyer squadron and be ready to release the ‘shotgun’ missiles and keep sending them into the sphere cloud if their defense missiles should be active.”

  “Yes, sir,” Captain Rand replied. “We will attempt to cut a wide track through the cloud. However, some spheres will still remain.”

  “A risk we will have to take,” Lorenzo continued. “After we have gone through the planetary defenses we will orbit the planet in formation Epsilon 7.” All present nodded at this.

  “As soon as we are in orbit, the cohorts will deploy to the island and secure the hatchery.” Lorenzo then turned to Victoria Edmonton. “Legatus Edmonton, have your troops in the drop ships and ready to deploy an hour before we arrive in orbit.”

  “We will be ready.”

  There was further discussion about the actual logistics of the deployment and the meeting broke up with two hours to orbit. The Legatus asked Tavia to stay with her and deploy with the first cohort. She had originally trained with these troops and they were more than happy to welcome her back. She had shown great courage in the liberation of her home planet, New Wales, and she was accepted as a legionary, despite being underage. In truth, Tavia had seen more combat in her young life than most of the legionaries of the cohort. This time Tavia would be landing in the command drop ship with the Legatus and her Praetorian Guard. The Legatus liked Tavia and knew she had a rare courage and intelligence for one so young. She was also the only human who had ever mastered the serpent language. When they reached the hanger deck where the cohort was waiting, there was Hatch, the small serpent who was Tavia’s constant companion. By this time, the entire legion had heard how Tavia saved the serpent Sly from an assassin with a single sword thrust. One hour before planetfall, the cohorts were in their drop ships. Each cohort consisted of six hundred legionaries divided into six centuries of one hundred legionaries. Each drop ship held one century along with support personnel and carried a hover tank and an antiaircraft gun. After the tank and antiaircraft gun split from the drop ship, the remaining portion became a gunship with a turreted Gatling gun and two missile launchers. This allowed each cohort to deploy with an air wing and mechanized forces.

  As Captain Rand sat on the bridge of his destroyer, the squadron passed the one-hour mark. According to Captain Artok, the planetary defenses would activate the missile shield when this point was reached. The line was crossed and sensors did not register any missile launches on the planet. Rand waited another fifteen minutes before he contacted the Longinus. Once communication was established, Captain Rand reported, “Captain Lorenzo, we are now forty-five minutes from orbit and there is no activity from the surface. I can only assume Captain Artok was successful. We are preparing to enter orbit momentarily.”

  Lorenzo responded, “That is indeed good news. I will order the fleet to increase speed and we will be in orbit with you shortly.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  An hour and a half later, the fleet was in orbit. The sentry destroyer near the inbound slipstream reported no activity. Sensors indicated the second inbound slipstream near the opposite side of the system was also quiet. So far, everything was going well. As soon as all ships were in orbit, Captain Lorenzo cleared the cohorts to deploy. Almost immediately twelve legionary drop
ships, six from each dreadnought, left the hanger bays for the surface. With them was the Legatus’ command ship containing herself and her staff, thirty elite Praetorian bodyguards and Tavia MacDougal with Hatch at her side. Tavia had seen the Praetorians before from a distance but now, standing next to them, she realized that each man and woman of the guard was a perfect physical specimen encased in purple armor with red markings designating them as Praetorians. The term was an old one from old earth Rome and was first applied to the guards of the Roman treasury, which was overseen by the Praetor. They also became the bodyguard of the Praetor. This changed later to be the guard of the Roman emperors. The Romani designation was based on the Republican model. The Legatus was not just a military leader, but also a political leader. The political rank of a Legatus is Praetor and those with the rank of Praetor are the leaders of their planetary system. The rank is also a stepping-stone to the rank of Consul. It is from the political rank of Praetor that the guard unit gets its name.

  The drop ships breached the outer atmosphere and activated their repulsors to slow down the descent. The drop coordinates were for the top of the volcano containing the hatchery. They knew from Captain Artok that the attack came from the city plaza in front of the ground level entrance. The captain had also given them the coordinates for the hidden entrance to the hangar of the volcano. This entrance was on the side away from the front. As the drop ships continued their descent, the first cohort went to the front and the eighth cohort came up behind. The eighth would enter the hangar and secure the hatchery along with whatever defenders were left. The first was preparing to come down in the plaza and drive back the attackers. Once the hatchery was secured and all resistance in the volcano was neutralized, they would pass through the mountain and join up with the first cohort in the plaza.