When a Tholtaran juggernaut spoke it did so with a loud, commanding voice. Because of its relationship to the Chroniech fleet the
Rin’Bak
could only deploy 75% of its available weaponry. Five enemy ships were targeted. Under the terrific onslaught of the
Rin’Bak’s
weapons their shields held for less than a second. Fifteen seconds later the Chroniech fleet had been reduced by six ships including one of the new master battleships.
Taking notice of the new menace, the Chroniech tactical computer redirected all available firepower against the juggernaut. Due to its size it was impossible to attack the entire ship. Instead, the Chroniech targeted two of the weapon spires. The
Rin’Bak’s
shields put up a valiant fight but in the end were defeated.
The Chroniech weapons bored through the armor and into the machinery spaces of each spire. They encountered fusion reactors, fuel tanks, beam generators, and eventually power accumulators. The stored energy contained within the power accumulators was instantly released and they detonated with the force of a nuclear bomb. Two gigantic explosions rocked the mass of the juggernaut as the two spires practically vaporized themselves. Due to the fact that the juggernaut was mostly automated nobody lost their lives.
As if in retaliation for the wound, the juggernaut quickly eliminated three more Chroniech warships. Chomach also initiated a roll in order to bring the other weapon spires into the battle. For three minutes the entire Chroniech fleet battled the juggernaut to the exclusion of all other Alliance ships. Spire by spire the juggernaut was rendered helpless.
After the juggernaut had been rendered ineffective the remaining ten ships of the Chroniech fleet made short work of the equal number of Alliance ships. In the process two more Chroniech ships were destroyed. The eight survivors methodically beamed the wreckage until nothing living remained. The
Rin’Bak
ended its existence in the brilliant flash of three simultaneous 600 megaton thermonuclear explosions.
Aboard his command ship the Chroniech Fleet Commander reviewed the results of the engagement. Despite the loss of nearly his entire fleet they had dealt a serious blow to the Alliance. They had managed to destroy one of their mobile weapons platforms. The Commander ordered his fleet to hold position and conduct as many repairs as possible until the second fleet that had made it into Alliance space could reach them. Then they would move on to their target.
* * * * *
Captain Zatch Batack watched as the fleet completed the task of eliminating the Alliance ships that had engaged them. During the battle he had kept a close eye out for the distinctive shape of the one Alliance ship he was most interested in. Surprisingly, he found himself relieved that it had not appeared. If it had, he was unsure of what he would have done.
As the guns cooled and repairs were made the Captain sat in silence trying to decipher the conflicting emotions battling it out inside his head. Honor and tradition were in direct conflict with loyalty to his race. He had noted that the Alliance Fleet Commander had broadcast a request to negotiate. Chroniech thoughts concerning this common practice was that it was a tactic to lure them into a trap. Zatch found himself wondering if, perhaps, the Alliance request was genuine.
Captain Zatch had done some research and had run across the odd story of two people who claimed to have spent some time with the Kyrra along with several of their friends whom they refused to name. The persons making the claim had been ridiculed and forced to move to an undisclosed location. The Captain had located a more in-depth report from an organization that was against the long-standing policy of eliminating all intelligent races. They promoted the idea of peaceful coexistence between different species specifically citing the Alliance as an example that such relationships were indeed possible.
Batack had read most of the propaganda posted on the organization’s information node. All his training and upbringing cried out in denial of what the organization stood for. Yet, the undeniable fact that an Alliance warship had rendered assistance to a Chroniech ship said that there might be some truth to what they were promoting.
Coming to a decision, the Captain called the operations officer and asked him to report to the Captain’s stateroom. A few minutes later, behind closed doors, Captain Zatch made a request he would never have thought he could possibly have made.
“I have never asked you to ask your brother for a favor,” the nervous Captain began. “But this situation concerning my wife needs to be addressed.”
“I cannot guarantee anything,” Chazataktak replied. “But whatever it is you are about to ask I will pass it on to my brother.”
“This is not easy for me. But, I would like to take a leave of absence from this command. I must locate the Alliance ship that saved my wife before it is destroyed. I must know why they did what they did. It is a matter of honor.”
“Does honor apply to the enemy?”
“They saved the lives of my family!” the Captain shot back in a voice louder than necessary. “If they had been Chroniech, honor, tradition, and in some places law demand I take certain actions. No, they are not Chroniech – yet, I cannot deny what they did. Despite who they are I cannot, in good conscience, allow them to be destroyed without first learning why they saved my family. Will you help me?”
The Commander paused for a moment to consider the request. “Part of me wants to refuse,” he admitted. “If I help you there is a good chance the Alliance will kill you. I would feel partially responsible for your death.”
The Captain started to argue his point but the Commander interrupted him and continued, “But, on the other hand, I understand your situation. To be perfectly honest, I do not know what I would do if it had been my family aboard that ship. Each of us must follow our own feelings when it comes to honor. I will pass on your request on to my brother.”
Getting up and opening the door the Captain said, “Thank you Chazataktak. I am in your debt.”
“Considering what you are about to do, I do not think I will have the opportunity to collect,” Chazataktak replied as he stepped into the passageway.
The reply from fleet command came much faster than the Captain had thought possible. Less than an hour later orders were received granting the Captain’s request. The executive officer would be assuming command of the ship during his absence. What was even more amazing was the fleet-wide order that also went out ordering all ships to contact Captain Zatch if the Alliance ship was located and not to engage it unless absolutely necessary.
A personal message from Supreme Fleet Commander Aruthra was also sent to Batack. As he packed a few belongings for what could be a long trip, Batack listened to it, “Captain, those few of us who know the entire truth concerning your family wish you luck. We all admit that we would not want to be faced with the same problem and nobody is quite sure how to handle this. We are, however, all in agreement on one thing – honor demands that you at least determine the reason behind the enemies actions. Take as much time as you need. Good luck.”
Every large Chroniech warship carried at least one high-speed vessel. These could be used to ferry material or personnel to and from the ship instead of the warship having to make the trip itself. The craft were very fast, heavily shielded, and were equipped with a very effective cloak. It was armed with light weapons and not meant for combat.
Captain Zatch had ordered one of the three ships his heavy destroyer carried to be prepped for immediate departure. He had also ordered extra food and supplies to be loaded thinking that this could be a very long trip. The last known location of the Alliance ship he sought was deep within Chroniech space. The Captain climbed into the control seat and a few minutes later had left the fleet far behind.
Proqindabo
“I count 280 individual ships on approach,” the
Oranachi’s
tactical station reported. The
Oranachi
was a Lamaltan dreadnought and was acting as the central command for the Proquindabo defense force that had been quickly assembled. The fleet waited for the arrival of the approaching Chroniech fleet.
Proquindabo was an odd planet but it had all the necessary conditions to allow the unique Lamaltan race to live openly upon its surface. Orbiting far from its sun, the planet’s atmosphere consisted of a heavy mixture of frigid ammonia and methane. An unprotected oxygen breather would last little more than a few seconds in such an atmosphere. But to the Lamaltans this planet was practically a paradise.
Five point six billion Lamaltans called Proquindabo home. It was one of only five planets other than their home world where the Lamaltans could live openly. It was well defended by both a fleet of warships and several hundred large manned defense stations.
“I’m surprised they have attacked with so few ships,” Fleet Admiral Liquith Y-Matera commented to nobody in particular. His fleet of 223 ships had recently been reinforced with another 130 Alliance ships. Combined with the firepower of the mobile defense stations they should have no problem repelling the attack.
“Perhaps they are only testing our defenses,” the tactical station replied. “They have been gone for fifteen years and lack information concerning our technological progress. They are most likely gathering intelligence by challenging our defenses.”
Four days had passed since the hyperdimensional field had been reestablished. Nearly all of the Chroniech ships that had crossed into Alliance space had gathered for this assault. Unknown to the Alliance, several others were cruising the depths of space gathering information.
The Chroniech fleet had arranged themselves into 14 groups of anywhere between 15 and 25 ships. The individual ships in each group flew in very close formation while the groups themselves were separated by several hundred kilometers. The Chroniech fleet dropped out of stardrive 1.2 million kilometers from the Alliance fleet and immediately began applying full acceleration.
Admiral Y-Matera had donned his virtual reality headset giving him an almost limitless ability to see anywhere he so desired. He could tap into the integrated combat network to extract any information it had gathered. A steady stream of tactical data poured into a virtual screen that kept itself available at all times within the virtual reality world.
Even though the Chroniech were accelerating at 330 gravities it would still take them 45 minutes to reach weapons range. This gave the Admiral plenty of time to observe the composition of their fleet and devise a defense plan. That plan, however, was based upon the assumption that the Chroniech intended to engage his own fleet.
After twenty minutes it became clear that the Chroniech were up to something else. Instead of slowing down, the fleet was continuing to accelerate. If they continued to apply the same acceleration the enemy ships would be traveling at a relative velocity of nearly 900 kilometers per second by the time they came within weapons range.
Being the type of person who liked to keep his fleet captains informed, the Admiral keyed the fleet-wide broadcast and said, “Attention all fleet vessels. It appears as if the Chroniech are going to attempt to break through the fleet and attack the planet.”
The Admiral then spoke a few commands into the helmet. The massive defense stations slowly began to maneuver placing themselves between the approaching enemy ships and the planet. By now, the Chroniech fleet was moving so fast that a course correction would be very difficult. At a distance of 230,000 kilometers, the Admiral issued another command.
The master tactical computer responded to the command and took control over the fleet’s entire compliment of missile launchers. Missile after missile left the launch tubes speeding out into space at nearly 900 Gs of acceleration. Prior to launch, each missile had been assigned a specific target.
After two minutes nearly 23,000 missiles, everything in the fleet’s magazines, had been launched. Each one carried a single, armored, 250 kiloton thermonuclear warhead. During the time the missiles were being launched the gap between the two fleets had rapidly decreased. Before the first missile had reached its target, both fleets opened fire on each other with their energy cannons.
It now became clear why the Chroniech had arranged their ships into groups. Each group coordinated their weapons to target a single Alliance ship. If the targeting systems in use had been based on light-speed limited technology a battle such as this would be nearly impossible to fight not only because of the distances involved but also because of the relative speed between the two opposing forces. This, however, was not the case.
Each of the 14 groups contained a super-heavy battleship. Each was armed with the Chroniech super weapon. Admiral Y-Matera watched in helpless horror as the Chroniech obliterated 14 of his heaviest ships with ease. Bluish beams of faster than light energy backed by the power of a 200 gigawatt matter/antimatter reactor blew through the strongest Alliance shield as if it wasn’t there.
Even though it had been weakened during its passage through the shield, the super beam chewed through the armored hull like a laser through tin foil. Once through the hull, the beam’s progress slowed slightly as it burned its way through bulkheads, machinery, and people. The vaporized remains acted to reduce the power of the beam as it penetrated deeper and deeper into the ship.
The target, as always, was the shield generator nestled as close as possible to the center of the ship. Once the generator was hit the ship was doomed. The super beam, however, did not always require a direct hit to the shield generator. Secondary explosions caused by the beam’s passage could ravage the interior of the ship rendering it incapable of fighting.
Superheated air traveling at near supersonic speed rushed down passageways and through ventilation ducts creating havoc as it went. Hatches designed to maintain the ship’s atmospheric integrity blew off their hinges. Where the hatches held, the bulkheads often gave out. Vital equipment was damaged or destroyed by the shockwave and heat.