Now had come the news that the Kyrra barrier was about to be breached for the final time. With a single command on his keyboard a prerecorded message was broadcast to the entire invasion fleet. Soon the Alliance would feel the power of Chroniech weapons.
Aruthra walked over to his private office and closed the door. He activated a terminal and put in a call to Captain Zatch. It took several minutes before the Captain’s face appeared on the monitor. It was immediately obvious from the state of the Captain’s fur that he had been sleeping.
“Sorry to wake you Captain but we have found the Alliance cruiser you’ve been searching for. There is a strong possibility that it has either been destroyed or heavily damaged. We are sending a battle group to investigate. I will send the details and coordinates on a sub-channel.”
“Thank you Supreme Fleet Commander. I am still unsure what I will do once I find them. Sometimes I wonder what I’m doing out here.”
Commander Aruthra knew exactly how the Captain was feeling. If the roles had been reversed he would be just as confused. “You must do what you feel is right Captain. There are times when honor demands us to do things we are uncomfortable with. But that does not mean we should abandon it.”
Captain Zatch tried to smooth out his ruffled fur as he replied, “I appreciate your understanding sir.” Glancing toward another monitor to his right he continued, “The Alliance cruiser is close to the edge of the barrier. How soon before the barrier goes down?”
“The hyperdimensional field should be down shortly. Bear in mind Captain that if the Alliance ship is still operational it is much faster than your own. I hope you can catch up to it. Good luck.”
“Thank you Fleet Commander. Zatch out.”
The transmission ended and Aruthra leaned back in his chair to think. Things were progressing very well. Within a few months the threat of dominance by the Alliance would be gone. Once again, the future of his race would be guaranteed.
* * * * *
Deep within multidimensional space, titanic forces were battling each other for dominance. The fabric of multidimensional spacetime rippled and twisted as the Chroniech field generator relentlessly fought to open a hole in the Kyrra field. Many light years away, the Kyrra field generator felt the effects.
“A breach is underway,” a Kyrra operator announced. “The force pattern is different this time. Estimate a stable breach will be formed in one hour twenty-six minutes.”
Another technician took a few minutes to query the computer then said, “Field generator shutdown should occur in one hour fifteen minutes.”
“I will broadcast a warning,” another replied and turned to the task of sending the message.
The message was recorded, compressed, and electronically duplicated. Each copy made its way to a hytrans transceiver where it was sent through multidimensional space to the specific device’s matched twin. No matter how far apart the two transceivers were located a message sent by one was instantly received by the other.
Although both the Chroniech and the Kyrra had developed the long, complex mathematical equations that described how the transceivers worked, nobody from either race could form a mental picture of how the devices did their magic. The reason for this was actually quite simple.
All life known to exist, exists within what is referred to as normal space: Three dimensions along with time. It is an impossible request to ask any three dimensional being to describe what multidimensional space looks like. Mathematics, however, does not share this limitation making it possible for three dimensional beings to comprehend and manipulate what they cannot perceive.
The warning flashed across space to the Kyrra factory ship on the surface of Mintaka. From there it was forwarded to the few hytrans devices that had been scattered across the Alliance. The message continued to spread using the slower faster than light Alliance communications network. Time had run out – war was heading their way.
* * * * *
Ken sat in his chair stunned into silence and inactivity. The Captain was dead and he was temporarily trapped inside his stateroom. He was jolted back to reality when a tone announced an incoming message. Ken accepted it and a second later was looking at the haggard face of Doug Scarboro.
“I assume you are aware of the situation?” Doug began without preamble.
“I am. How the hell did we allow an HK to get so close?”
“I don’t know and right now I don’t care. We have other issues to deal with first. Based upon the information we currently have I’m assuming that Captain Sheppard has been killed. Other than myself, you are the most senior officer on this ship. Effective immediately you are now the acting Captain of the
Dragon
.”
Stricklen was floored. “What! Why don’t you take command or Commander Tobunga? He is actually next in line as far as the chain of command is concerned.”
“Tobunga doesn’t have the experience to handle a situation like this and my place is elsewhere. This is a command decision that I am legally allowed to make and as far as I'm you are the only logical choice Ken.”
Doug’s logic was sound and Ken could not come up with an argument against it. “Very well, but I don't want an exec who is upset about being passed up for command. I want his concurrence on this.”
“We will take care of the details later,” Doug replied.
“Where are you?”
“On the bridge. Damage control teams are in your area now. The hull breach should be repaired in about a half hour. I’m keeping the ship at battle stations for now. I’m sure the Chroniech are aware of our presence and could be sending a battle group this way.”
“I agree. I’ll see you as soon as I can get out of here.”
Scarboro’s face vanished and the screen returned to showing the damage control summary. Ken remained in his chair trying to wrap his brain around what had just happened. After fifteen years of retirement he was now back in command of the
Komodo Dragon
. Part of him hoped that it would be permanent but the circumstances surrounding his unexpected appointment caused him to wish it was only temporary.
Forty minutes later, the door chime sounded. Still lost in thought Ken jerked and spun his head toward the door. The door controls indicated that the seals had been released and the air pressure was normal. Ken unsealed his suit and removed his helmet. “Enter!” he yelled.
A crewman dressed in a vacuum work suit with the faceplate raised stuck his head inside as soon as the door slid aside and said, “It’s all clear sir. You can leave any time you want.”
“Thank you crewman,” Ken replied standing and starting to remove the rest of the emergency suit. A few minutes later he appeared on the bridge.
Scarboro glanced over his shoulder. Seeing Ken he got up from the command chair. The eyes of the two old friends met. So well did the two know each other that Ken realized Doug had received confirmation of Captain Sheppard’s death. Almost telepathically Doug noted Ken’s reaction and nodded his head in confirmation.
“She never had a chance,” Doug explained. “A piece of shrapnel from the HK had penetrated the hull. It nearly cut her in half. She died instantly.”
Ken bowed his head and stood behind the command chair placing his right hand on the headrest. “I wanted a command,” he said. “But not like this. She and I had become friends.”
Doug put a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder. “The crew will follow you wherever you lead them. I’ve already spoken to Commander Tobunga and he is in full agreement with my decision. The ship is yours Ken.”
Ken looked at the chair. He took a deep breath then held his head high and sat down. Loud enough for the entire bridge to hear him he said, “I accept command of the
Komodo Dragon
. Ship’s computer, do you acknowledge the change of command?”
The voice of the
Dragon’s
master computer replied, “A log entry has been made. Captaincy of the
Komodo Dragon
has been transferred to Captain Ken Stricklen.”
Turning to Doug, Ken said, “Status?”
“We are still at general quarters. Repairs are ongoing. The ship is fully combat ready. There is, however, one more bit of bad news.”
Ken was in the process of punching up the ship’s status summary on his console. He stopped and looked at Doug. “More bad news? What now?”
“We received word about fifteen minutes ago that the Chroniech breach generator had been activated. The Kyrra will be dropping the hyperdimensional field in about an hour.”
“We knew it was going to happen,” Ken replied turned back to his console. “Might I recommend that we take you back to Almaranus?”
Despite all that had happened Doug managed to smile. “I was about to make that an order.”
“Helm, set course for Almaranus. Adjust our speed to keep us clear of the barrier until after it is down then punch it. Tactical, report all contacts.”
“No hostile contacts in range,” the tactical station reported.
“Very well, secure from general quarters. Coms, get me one of the Kyrra.”
Moments later a Kyrra appeared on Ken’s main monitor. “Captain Stricklen – How may I help you?”
“I would like to know how your ships, and mine for that matter, managed to miss detecting a Chroniech hunter killer until it had gotten close enough to nearly destroy us.”
“Chroniech cloaking technology has been steadily improving and has reached a point where their probes, when they are quiescent, are nearly impossible to detect even with the best of our sensors. In a few more years they will most likely develop a cloak for their ships that is as efficient as ours. Even our sensors cannot detect one of our cloaked vessels if the propulsion system is not in use.”
“Thank you. We are setting course for Almaranus. Please have your ships follow.”
As the connection closed Ken turned to Doug and said, “That reminds me – have you decided what to do with this little fleet of ours?”
“I’ve been going over the possibilities in my head now for several days,” Doug replied. “Their ships are not integrated with our tactical command network. That limits their ability to effectively interact with our fleets, especially during combat situations. They could operate as a separate unit but, again, it would be difficult to coordinate their actions during complex battle situations.”
“They’re Kyrra warships,” Ken replied as he scanned the repair status on one of his monitors. “I’ll bet they pack some pretty impressive weaponry. How about turning them loose and let them operate independently, sort of like a wolf pack.”
“Wolf pack?”
“An old term coming from Earth’s history,” Ken replied. “I forget you weren’t born on Earth. During Earth's world war two, German submarines operated in groups called wolf packs to sink Allied ships. They were quite effective. A wolf, by the way, is a pack animal native to Earth.”
Doug’s brow furled as he tried to dredge up any memories he might have had concerning this. He came up blank. “Never heard of the term before – sorry. That option is one I hadn’t considered. It might work too. With their speed and cloaking technology they could scout out an enemy fleet, run ahead of them, then sit and wait to ambush them. I like it.”
“Well then, I will leave you to the details.”
“It’s your idea,” Doug smiled. “I’m putting you in charge. The
Dragon
is the only ship in the Alliance that even remotely comes close to matching the capabilities of the Kyrra warships especially in the speed department. You’ve just become pack leader.”
Later that evening, Ken had the sad duty of conducting the funeral services for the late Captain Sheppard. Her will stated that her remains be given to the depths of space. The fleet dropped out of stardrive long enough to carry out her last command then resumed their course towards Almaranus.
Tortanathut
Tortanathut was the first planet to be hit by the Chroniech. Militarily it was of little importance but it did have a large population of 6.3 billion. It had originally been settled by the Omel 63 years ago. Orbiting a quiet, single star and possessing a single, large moon the planet seemed to be ideally suited for life. The ecosystem was teaming with hundreds of thousands of different life forms. None were intelligent.
Tortanathut boasted a mild climate with nearly indistinguishable seasons. Plant life was abundant. The surface was nearly equally divided between land and water with the land divided up into many small continents. Within a few years of its discovery, Tortanathut had become one of the most popular vacation spots in the Alliance as well as one of the most sought after places to live.
Because of its large civilian population, the Alliance had constructed a fairly large space-based defense system. Even though the Alliance had been at peace for decades, the military never forgot the horrors that war could bring to civilian planets. When the Chroniech first appeared, Tortanathut had been low on their priority list since it had little military significance.
During their first invasion, the Chroniech’s goal was to quickly disrupt the Alliance military machine and then go after the civilian targets. Even though Tortanathut would have been an easy target, it had been spared because of its non-military importance. After the Kyrra had erected the hyperdimensional barrier, the Alliance realized just how close the planet had come to being a target due to its location to Chroniech space. The defenses were improved.
Tortanathut, being a self-governed world, had also financed the construction and deployment of a well-armed fleet of warships. Since the planet was primarily a world dedicated to pleasurable activities the ships had been built off-world. The military maintained a small base on the moon which acted as the system’s central defense command post. This defense force had been recently reinforced by the arrival of 115 additional military vessels. More were on the way.
Following the guidelines recently received from Alliance Fleet Command, Base Commander Gwe Forstiba had ordered the defense force to position themselves at a distance of ten million kilometers from the planet. Commander Forstiba was an Omel born and raised on Tortanathut and therefore felt a close connection to the planet’s population. Although originally settled by the Omel, Tortanathut was populated by a very diverse mixture of sentient races from all across the Alliance.