When word finally came of a sighting of the
Komodo Dragon
, he sprang into action. He now knew the approximate location of the ship. He set the course and engaged his stardrive. While he traveled, he scanned the star charts looking for a suitable location to set up his equipment. It didn’t take long for him to find the perfect system.
The tricky part about the entire operation would be to convince the Captain of the
Komodo Dragon
to agree to meet with him on his terms. He needed some insight into the mind of an Alliance Captain. While his ship blasted through space, he accessed the Chroniech data network and pulled up everything anyone knew about the Alliance and started to read.
Unexpected Resistance
Fleet Commander Taklet sat in his command chair brooding over the unexpected losses they had suffered. It had been a well conceived trap and he had fallen right into it. It was now painfully obvious that the Kyrra were very much involved in the affairs of the Alliance. High command had always suspected the Alliance was controlled by the Kyrra and the recent use of Kyrra technology only proved their point.
The Commander’s executive officer approached startling him out of his thoughts when he said, “Still upset about the trap the Kyrra lured us into?”
Commander Taklet looked up and growled at the XO. The toothless smile indicated that the growl was not a challenge but a confirmation. “It’s an old trick too,” he complained.
“Too old to be used with modern warships,” the XO agreed. “But the Kyrra cloaks are perfect. If they sit idle it is impossible for them to be detected.”
“Rumor has it that we are working on a solution to that problem.”
“The Kyrra were once our superiors,” the XO proudly proclaimed. “But we have risen to their challenge and are now at least their equals. They will never be able to dominate us again. I look forward to the day when we can finally say that their entire race has been eliminated.”
“That day cannot come soon enough for… ”
The Fleet Commander was interrupted by the ship’s alarm klaxon as it sounded the call to battle stations. Taklet looked up at the tactical display to find that 25 ships near the edge of their fleet had been forced out of stardrive and were now engaged in battle with the same group of Kyrra ships that had attacked them earlier. The fleet had continued on and was quickly leaving them behind.
“Reverse course! Drop to normal space as soon as we are within range and engage!” the Commander barked out orders.
Fleet Commander Taklet quickly figured out what had happened. The faster Kyrra ships had moved ahead of the fleet and had sat waiting for them to arrive. As the fleet passed, the Kyrra had forced a group of his ships to drop out of stardrive by activating several well-placed gravity mines. The rest of the fleet had quickly left them behind.
Commander Taklet looked at his XO with rage in his eyes. “Damn Kyrra are going to pick us off in small chunks.”
Learning from the previous engagement, the tactical computers aboard the Chroniech ships had chosen a different attack strategy against the Kyrra. Instead of trying to engage all the ships at once, the 25 ships split their firepower between two Kyrra warships. The combined firepower of the Chroniech weapons instantly overloaded the Kyrra shields. Within a matter of seconds the two warships exploded as a self destruct charge turned their advanced technology to dust.
The Chroniech tactical computer made careful note of the fact that the Kyrra ships appeared not to be as robust as their own. Once the shield had been penetrated the ship itself was easily defeated. The hull was not armored, the ship did not seem to be equipped with redundant backup systems, and vital internal systems were not protected by additional armor.
The remaining Kyrra made short work of the Chroniech but lost three of their own during the brief encounter. Before the main fleet managed to turn themselves around the surviving Kyrra ships engaged their stardrives and departed back into the depths of space.
* * * * *
“I got to hand it to them,” Stricklen said to the XO after the battle. “They sure learn fast.”
Commander Tobunga followed his Captain out of CIC and headed for the mess hall. As they walked they continued their conversation. “We are down three ships. We won’t be able to make much of a dent in that monster fleet before it arrives at Almaranus. To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed in the performance of the Kyrra warships. I thought they would be far stronger.”
“At least we are giving Almaranus some more time to prepare. We’ve slowed them down twice and I intend on doing so again and again until we run out of ships.”
“We don’t have a lot of time,” Tobunga pointed out. “They will be at Almaranus in four days.
“We will do what we can,” Stricklen said. “Every ship we take out now is one less the Almaranus fleet has to worry about.”
* * * * *
Supreme Fleet Commander Aruthra Manetgu took his place at the head of the conference table. The meeting had been called to address the recent developments in the plan to destroy the Alliance.
“Let me summarize the details of the recent developments,” he said without preamble. “The Kyrra are apparently supplying the Alliance with a limited supply of advanced weapons. A few ships have been encountered with Kyrra built weapons and shields. So far the number is small but appears to be increasing as time passes.”
Manetgu looked around the room to gauge the response then continued, “The Kyrra have also entered the war directly and appear to have fielded at least one battle group. This group is currently engaged in operations against fleet S18. The
Komodo Dragon
appears to be working with this group of ships.”
“We have also recently received a report that the Kyrra super ship has left our space and is heading into Alliance territory at extremely high speed. Its destination is currently unknown. It is avoiding all contact with our forces at this time. We have no explanation for why it is doing this.”
“Fleet F11 has suffered the loss of a considerable number of ships due to the sudden arrival of a large number of defense stations practically within the bounds of their fleet. The method by which these stations were moved or hidden is still being debated but it seems as if the Kyrra are once again involved. Fleet F12 is being diverted to reinforce F11 so they may continue with their mission. Comments?”
One of the very rare female military commanders spoke up and said, “If the Kyrra areips. supplying the Alliance with weapons and shields, they must be doing so from within the Alliance. Based on the limited use of such weapons I would surmise that they are doing so from a single location. I propose we attempt to locate this base of Kyrra operations and eliminate it.”
The Fleet Commander was impressed and allowed himself to show it by producing a low growl from deep within his throat. Others, apparently feeling the same way also made the same noise. Fighting was usually the place of the male of the species yet there were the rare females who preferred the challenge of a military career. It was not that they were smaller nor any weaker than the males, but their brains were usually wired for child rearing and caring for a family instead of fighting.
“An excellent suggestion,” the Fleet Commander replied. “Do we have any ideas concerning where this base might be located?”
The senior battle tactician nodded his head and said, “During our first encounter with the Alliance a small task force destroyed the mining facilities on a planet near the outer regions of the Alliance. Since the planet did not seem to possess any significant military or civilian significance at that time it has not been included in the list of top priority targets. There is evidence to suggest that this planet may now be some sort of military supply center.”
“Details?”
The officer entered a command into his computer interface before continuing. “Our probes have tracked a large number of ship movements into and out of this particular system. There is a strong correlation between the ships that have left the system and the ships known to possess Kyrra weapons. We have been unable to get any probes into the system to determine the type of facility that might exist there.”
Glancing at his master battle display the Fleet Commander said, “Recon group R2 is available. Have them proceed to that planet and investigate. They are to avoid engaging the enemy.”
Aruthra paused for a moment to look around the room. So far the battle had been progressing well but there were indications that the Alliance war machine, with the help of the Kyrra, was making some small progress toward improving their ability to fight back.
The original plan had called for a massive invasion with nearly two-thirds of all available ships. The war fleets would sweep into the Alliance destroying everything along the way irregardless of the target's military importance. The theory was that the Alliance would be forced to move their fleets into defensive positions allowing them to be eliminated as the war progressed.
Losses so far had been higher than expected due to the unexpected assistance provided by the Kyrra. Based upon this new information, Aruthra considered slightly altering the original plans.
“I would like the second wave of the invasion force to concentrate on taking out key Alliance military targets. Once their ability to defend themselves has been reduced we should be able to continue our campaign as originally planned. Comments?”
“I agree with the Supreme Fleet Commander's recommendation,” the senior tactical advisor said. The others in the room nodded their heads in agreement.
The meeting continued for another hour then broke up. Orders were given, fleets moved, and the battle continued.
* * * * *
Deep in Alliance space, on the planet known as Centralis, a similar meeting had taken place. Alliance Fleet Admiral Hikondi Mocburan took his seat and called the meeting to order. There was a brief shuttling of chairs and the quick ending of several sideline conversations then silence.
“Our forces at Shavact have engaged the Chroniech and, for the moment, it seems as if we have won. However, the fleet has been wiped out and all jump drive defense stations have been destroyed. All that stands between the planet and Chroniech are the original defense stations and the ground-based planetary weapons.”
“What about reinforcements?” someone at the table asked.
“Two battle groups are en route but it is unknown if they will arrive before the Chroniech reinforce the original fleet and return for another attack.”
“How many more jump drive equipped defense stations do we have available?” another voice asked.
“Six. More are being outfitted as fast as we can build and deliver the drive units. Shavact, however, is but one battle. We are losing ships and planets at an alarming rate. Our intelligence indicates that the Chroniech have more ships at their disposal than we do and unless production can be drastically increased we will be outgunned in every battle as well.”
The Admiral entered a command on his keyboard and the room’s main display came to life showing the depressing statistics. So far eight major population centers had fallen along with seventeen military bases. Over 2,000 ships had been lost – nearly a fifth of the Alliance’s available space force.
“We cannot continue much longer at this rate. The inner planets will be stripped of all defenses, the space force will be destroyed, and we will lay helpless before the Chroniech. The weapons we have been receiving from the Kyrra have helped but they are not enough.”
“Can’t they supply us with some of their warships? What about the worldship?” This came from the Tholtaran High Admiral.
The holographic image of the Kyrra representative (who was physically on the worldship) responded. “We have given you one half of all the warships we have at our disposal. Giving you the rest would make little difference in this war. The worldship is on its way to your space but it will not engage in battle.”
“Why not?” the Tholtaran Admiral demanded. “You didn’t have any problems defending Almaranus fifteen years ago. The worldship’s weapons could very well turn the tide of this battle.”
“The worldship is not a warship,” the Kyrra explained. “It is our home. All Kyrra live here. We defended Almaranus because the risk to the worldship was minimal at the time. The Chroniech have significantly advanced their weapons technology since then and the worldship’s defenses could conceivably be breached with the weapons now at their disposal. This point is non-negotiable – the worldship will not engage in battle.”
Alliance Fleet Admiral Mocburan nodded his head in acknowledgment then said, “Then we have little choice but to deploy the Crossbow weapon. Are the Kyrra still willing to supply us with the warhead as per our specifications?”
“We have already agreed to build the warheads subject to our approval of the specific targets.”
“Then it is agreed,” the Admiral replied. “Construction of the first delivery system is complete and the others will be ready soon. We can install and launch the first warhead upon your arrival.”
“The worldship will be at Almaranus in two days. The warhead will be ready for delivery the moment we arrive.”
“You do realize there is a large Chroniech fleet heading for Almaranus. Are you sure you want the worldship to be there when they arrive?”
“We will deliver the warhead to Almaranus as originally agreed. We have also been building several automated defense stations of our own design to assist in the defense of that system. We cannot build many but they will be of great help. All we ask in return is that you use the Crossbow weapon with great care and only in an attempt to quickly bring an end to this war.”
“The Alliance extends our utmost thanks to you,” the Admiral replied. Turning to the entire group he continued, “I regret that we have to resort to the use of this weapon. But, the Chroniech leave us no choice. Unless we do something to halt this war, and halt it quickly, billions and billions of lives will be lost. The entire Alliance is counting on this weapon to end the war.”
The Kyrra representative seemed to scan the physically present individuals seated at the table. “This has not been an easy decision for us to make,” he explained. “The destruction of the Alliance at the hands of the Chroniech is not something we Kyrra can allow. But, the loss of billions of Chroniech lives is also repugnant to us. That is why we have agreed to supply the warheads under very strict conditions.”