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Homeworld Return - blackjack
:: 05/05/01 ::
Chapter 9
The Somtaaw'sa slammed his hand down on the podium forcefully, shocking the various Kiith'sa who were chattering noisily amongst themselves. All stopped immediately and turned to him as he yelled as loud as he could across the Council chamber.
"Stop!", he cried. "Have none of you any regard for order and discipline? I think not, from the way dat you jabber like small children. Kiith'sa," he spit. "You are not Kiith'sa. You are petty worriers, ones who cannot stay calm and quiet while we listen to what we were called here for! Now I say silence, and silence now!" Several of the Kiith'sa looked down, away from the angry glare of the Somtaaw'sa as he simmered in fury, waiting for a challenge. When none came, he appeared to calm himself quietly and paused before beginning.
"Now," he started, forcing himself to be calm. "I think dat we all understand de situation. The situation of our fleet is not good - with de tragic loss of our primary Nabaal/Paktu battle fleet we now have remaining pitifully few assets in the face of this new, advanced enemy. However, I have called in several experts to inform us better and help advise us upon a course of action. Hopefully we will be able to calmly-" at the stressing of this word, several Kiith'sa looked down, still remembering the Somtaaw leader's rage "-reach an agreement of de course of action we wish to take in order to counteract dis threat.
"Derefore, I first give de stand to de esteemed Aatesh Soban, leader of de Kiith Soban fleet," the Somtaaw'sa finished, and stepped down from the podium, raising a hand to signal the young, dark man up onto the stand.
Aatesh calmly took the step up and hit a small control on a pad that he carried tucked into his left palm, lighting a screen embedded into the chamber wall. "Thank you, honorable Somtaaw'sa," he said loudly. "And thank you for allowing me here, Kiith'sa," he said with a slight bow.
Switching over visibly from charm to business, he gestured to the screen, tapping more controls on his tiny remote controller and causing a galactic map to appear on the screen. "I have had a combined team of S'jet and Sobanii analysts going over this data for over five days now, and so far we have come to several conclusions, regarding the enemy's ship technology, weaponry, apparent course of action, fleet size, ecetera. First, though, I feel that it is important for us to understand the apparent conclusions that we can draw from the enemy's path through our defensive influence, derived from data given to us from stealth reconnaissance as well as a few Bentusi contacts." A murmur ran though the chamber at that, but quickly settled when Aatesh paused expectantly. Clearing his throat, he continued.
"Now, keep in mind, Kiith'sa, that we have no concrete evidence to support this conclusion - it is drawn entirely from correlation made by a S'jet researcher who will remain unnamed." He pointed to the screen, discreetly tapping his controller again. One by one, a set of points overlaid themselves onto the screen, connecting with solid lines once the points were complete. Then, small lettering appeared on the screen, designating both Kharak and Hiigara.
"This is the path of the Mothership during the return. The dots are points where she appeared in normal space, while the lines are hyperspace jump paths." Aatesh paused again, allowing the Kiith leaders to absorb the information. "And this," he added, pressing a small button on his tiny control again, causing a single solid line to appear, connecting Kharak and Hiigara directly, "is the apparent path of our invaders."
The room grew silent. Every Kiith'sa's eyes were affixed to the screen, at that single solid line that they thought must be a lie, a hoax - impossible.
The Paktu'sa was the first to speak. "Impossible," she said quietly, inciting a murmured wave from the rest of the Kiith leaders that stopped when the Somtaaw'sa stood and glared down at his comrades.
"No, I'm afraid not," Aatesh Soban spoke down from his podium. "We have no idea how they're following the course of the Return so precisely, but there it is. We have encountered the enemy forces - who call themselves the Ytterbians - either remotely or in conflicts at each one of these points," he continued, as a new set of red dots appeared at various points along and just to the sides of the line. "Each battle we have engaged them in we have lost, from single-craft duels to large fleet engagements. However, the mirror Somtaaw analyst team has noted a few tactics that seem to be more effective against the Ytterbian forces. To present them, I give the stand over to the leader of the Somtaaw military forces, Hjihad Somtaaw."
Hjihad stood from his bench and strode to the podium, accepting the stand with an outstretched arm from Aatesh. "Thank you," he said, the tiny microphone implanted into the surface of the podium picking up his voice and amplifying it to be heard by all of the gathered Kiith'sa. "As Aatesh Soban said, I have been assigned to lead a Somtaaw science and research team anagalous to the combined kiith effort studying the data gathered from confrontations with the Ytterbian forces. We have concentrated our efforts primarily on the tactical conclusions that can be made from such raw data, and as such we've devised several combat maneuvers and stratagems that should aid us in fighting this new threat. First, though, I'd like to give you a breakdown of the various ship classes that we have spotted so far.
"The largest and most dangerous ship," Hjihad said, clicking a button on a handheld control identical to Aatesh's, "is the Behemoth-class Carrier-Cruiser." A collage of combat snapshots and a set of studied blueprints for the craft came up on the screen, along with size and armament indicators. Hjihad paused before continuing. "This is the largest and overall most dangerous of any Ytterbian craft. It is roughly the size of the Turanic Raider Lord-class carrier, but it is far deadlier. As you'll note, it appears at first glance to be an oversized, modified variant of our own Avatar-class Heavy Cruiser, but it carries even more weaponry and combines the combat capabilities of the Avatar with that of the Imperator-class carrier - hence the double designation, given to the ship by our late Somtaaw Third Fleet's commander, Raahald Somtaaw. This ship has been at the core of every major Ytterbian offensive - with its apparent capability to construct ships of up to frigate-class and carry dozens of fighters and corvettes, it serves as a Carrier, and with its huge arsenal as a Cruiser. The weaponry carried consists of around a full dozen heavy pulse ion cannons - the main complement of Ytterbian capital ships. We have also detected signatures reminiscent of hyperspace inhibitor generators, gravity well generators, cloak generators, and holographic mimic technology on a grand scale being emitted from Carrier-Cruisers, but these vary from ship to ship." Hjihad leaned heavily on the podium and allowed the Kiith'sa to absorb the information.
The S'jet'sa spoke after a moment. "Excuse my intrusion, Hjihad Somtaaw, but might I ask what a pulse ion cannon is?"
Hjihad cleared his throat. "Certainly, S'jet'sa. I have no visual aid prepared, but a pulse ion cannon is an ion accelerator that fires short pulses of ions, several dozen times a second. It's an ingenious weapon design, actually, because the interspersed ion fire allows the weapon to cool off enough for nearly infinite firing time as well as allowing diffusive debris at the target's hull to thin out between pulses in order to cut into an enemy's hull more effectively. The short pulses and continuous fire create the illusion of a solid beam, making them even more demoralizing, but in actuality they are only slightly more effective than our own ion beams would be with a constant fire time."
The S'jet'sa nodded, and Hjihad continued with his briefing. "The next largest vessel in our current lineup of Ytterbian craft is the Fury-class Destroyer. Roughly similar to our own Destroyer, but with a greater armament and a small fighter bay. The ship seems only to be capable of carrying fighters and corvettes, not constructing them, but nevertheless they add a significant component to this ship's functionality. It features eight pulse beams, as well as readings indicating either mimic, cloak, gravwell, or inhibitor fields, but as before these vary among individual vessels.
"Our next ship is a craft that we have dubbed the Gunboat-Frigate. There are actually three classes of Gunboat - the Cyclone, the Hurricane, and the Typhoon - which are designed around the same basic frame but carry different armaments. The Cyclone, or Multi-Beam Gunboat-Frigate, is armed with a full dozen medium pulse beams, which are ideal for slicing up fighter squadrons. It's roughly equivalent to the Somtaaw Dervish MBF, although more powerful and more effective against capital ships. The Typhoon is what we call a Missile Frigate, carrying four missile bays in addition to its complement of eight medium beams - useful against any opposition. Finally, the Hurricane is also known as the Minelayer Frigate. It carries four heavy beam cannons as well as four mine deployment tubes, making it exceedingly effective against capital ships."
Hjihad paused and turned away from the screen for a moment. "As you see, Kiith'sa, we are fighting against a very advanced enemy. I do not wish to cloud things with technical details, but these are important in this briefing. We are coming to the more important material, but for now I would like to continue with the technical briefing." Several Kiith'sa nodded, including his own. Satisfied, Hjihad turned back to the screen and tapped several more controls on his pad.
"There are two subdivisions of the corvette classifications of the Ytterbian forces - combat and non-combat corvettes. Both of these classifications include corvettes that are all designed around the same plan, a smaller more maneuverable frame for the combat vessels and a larger more functional one that the non-combat ships are based upon. Combat corvettes consist of the Missile, Minelayer, and Multi-beam Corvettes - classified as the Lancer, Bushwacker, and Rampage respectively - while non-combat ships are the Repair, Salvage, and Harvester Corvettes. The Lancer carries a pair of missile banks as well as a pair of turreted non-pulse ion beams, and the Bushwacker replaces the missile tubes with a pair of mine droppers. The Rampage carries half a dozen lighter beams, making it the equivalent of an 'ion multi-gun corvette'.
"As for fighters, the Ytterbians have some of the most advanced fighter technology that we have ever seen, aside from the Bentusi. They have three distinct fighters, all designed for specific purposes and around very different chassis.
"The first in our lineup is the Saber interceptor. This appears to be the main Ytterbian combat fighter, being in effect a more dangerous version of our Blade and Acolyte fighter designs. In fact, the Saber is nearly identical to the Bentusi Super-Acolyte in every aspect but design. It carries only a single ion beam cannon, but the beam is powerful and has a fast rate of fire, so the Saber is quite effective at destroying other fighters.
"The next ship is possibly the most advanced and dangerous. We call it the Multi-Beam Fighter, classified as Torrent-class. It features three ion beam ports that call all fire simultaneously. While it's slow and unmaneuverable, it's armor and excellent coverage makes it the perfect anti-fighter platform.
"Finally, the last ship that we have identified - the Longblow Assault Bomber. This ship features a pair of heavy fighter ion beams, making it an excellent anti-capital ship unit. It's much more heavily armored than our own Attack Bomber, and much more effective than any fighter-bomber currently in service."
Hjihad sighed and leaned heavily on the podium once more. "So you see, Kiith'sa, in terms of technology the odds against us are not good. In terms of numbers the odds against us are not good; after the loss of the combined Naabal/Paktu fleet their respective Kiith fleets have been reduced in strength over forty percent, and nearly every other military kiith's forces have been reduced at least fifteen percent. In terms of tactics and combat strategies, the odds against us are not good; the Ytterbians utilize exactly what methods are the most effective against our fleets.
"But, Kiith'sa," he continued, gripping the edges of the podium more strongly, "we do have one great asset. Only one, but a great one. We have Hiigara, and we have home. We have our kiithid, we have our race, and we have a cause to fight for - our salvation." Nearly yelling now, he continued, stirring up the Kiith'sa and propelling them toward a common goal. "Divided we will fall, Kiith'sa," he spoke with an epic tone, "but united we will stand!"
The Kiith'sa applauded loudly, and when the commotion died down and order was restored, Hjihad leaned forward conspiratorially, as if to impart a secret to the gathered Kiith'sa. "Now," he said more quietly, "this is what we must do."
They remained in the chamber, planning, until daybreak.
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