:: 16.10.2003 ::
Chapter Six
Three of the most powerful ships ever built by the Hiigaran Navy broke out of hyperspace.
All three ships were the pride of kiith Soban's engineering; truly, the Duress-class Mortar Cruisers were a true testament to the ferocity of the "kiith of Spirit." Almost three times the length of the Avatar-class Heavy Cruisers, the ships sported not only some of the thickest hulls in the galaxy, but eight fully articulated dual-plasma bomb launchers. The enhanced weapons allowed the ships to assault any capital ship within its sphere of influence, with minimal escort necessary apart from drawing off almost insignificant starfighter assaults.
Such ships had been petitioned by the Council to be banned as warships-as it were, kiith Soban was merely forced to have less than twenty such ships in its hands-because of their potent secondary weapons. Extended on each flank like oversized engine nacelles were state-of-the-art Siege Cannons, allowing the captain of such a ship to obliterate even a Super-Capital class warship and its escorts with the push of a button.
Which, of course, was exactly the intent of the captain of the lead vessel, the ironically-named Subtlety. General Bermin Soban hadn't liked the fact that his strike force was taking orders from Intelligence instead of their own kiith (of them all, kiith Soban was the most hostile towards other kiith, maintaining that, without their help, the Hiigaran populace would have no real warriors) but had been quickly soothed by the promise of destroying Imperialist battleships en masse.
Bermin called over to his tactical officer, "Lieutenant, just how many ships are out there?" He pointed at the viewscreen, which, though they were at a considerable distance from the elusive Imperial Admiral's fleet, displayed a rather imposing image of dozens of frigates and Destroyers in a classic Wall formation.
"Let's see…sir, I count 128 vessels out there."
May Sajuuk have mercy…, Bermin thought. "Maximum magnification."
When the magnified view came up he couldn't help but laugh. The lieutenant hadn't lied about the number of ships, and that was still cause for concern, but every one of the ships were so…ancient. He could even spot second-gen Sajuuk Cor-class Ion Beam frigates, and those hadn't been in use since the Beast Wars. He supposed that all of the ships were at least a hundred years old.
He shrugged amusedly. Well, at least it showed how desperate the Imperialists were becoming. General Bermin Soban had little doubt that their second-century weapons could fry the enemy fleet like Popsicles on a skillet.
Nevertheless, he hadn't survived for as long as he had for letting pride cloud his military judgements. He signaled the tactical officer again and ordered, "Deploy the shields."
Six tiny ports opened up on the ship's exterior, and 72 small craft flew out, arranging themselves to surround the Subtlety, with the other two ships in the formation following suit. Once the tiny Robo-Sentinels formed a perfect sphere around the ship, they activated their energy lasers, linking up to create an almost impenetrable energy shield around the Mortar Cruisers that produced an initial reddish glare, but which soon faded into transparency.
Bermin was now pleased; though the cost of researching the new technology, evolved from the original concept that the Somtaaw had thought up, was considerably pricey, kiith Soban had found the cost more than reasonable to arm every one of their Mortar Cruisers with additional storage for these small probes, allowing supreme protection under enemy fire which-as the probes were autonomous from the ship-could be maintained even during a power failure.
"General," the tactical officer reported, "the Robo-Sentinels are deployed and operational."
Bermin nodded, "Good. Now, begin charging the Siege Cannons, and order the Mace and Mallet to comply."
The orders were sent out, and a few short seconds afterwards there came a resonating tone through the ship's comm. Bermin turned to his communications tech, who said, "It's the captain of the Mallet, sir. He says he has some interesting news about the enemy fleet."
"Put him through," he replied, confused.
The battle-hardened voice of the other captain rang through the bridge. "General Bermin, I just wanted to bring to your attention the fact that that fleet hasn't moved at all since we arrived. Don't you find that a bit odd?"
Raising an eyebrow, he turned to his sensors officer. The young Ensign nodded somberly. "He's right, sir. I haven't recorded any movement from them in the last several minutes, not a centimeter."
Bermin mulled this new information over. Clearly, if this ragtag group of starships older than his grandparents could face them down, they must be amazingly confident. Which implied a trap of some sort…
"Ensign," he addressed the sensors officer, "scan the surrounding 50 kilometers with every possible routine we have in the manual. Then make a long-range scan stretching out for five light-years. Any other ships out there, friendly or otherwise?"
The report was not promising. "Sorry, General. No other ships out there. Not any that we can see, anyway."
Well, Bermin conceded, if there was no verified back-up, then there was no use wasting time. If they still were in a trap, he would feel a lot better if he'd gotten rid of those hundred-odd ships to start with. "All hands," he ordered through the intercom, "we see no back-up, so we'd better destroy this fleet while they're still docile. As soon as the Siege Cannons are armed, we're giving all of it to them, so brace for the shockwave."
That last sentence was only a routine warning; he knew they were far from within the blast radius of the massive plasma discharges. Nevertheless, he felt the floor of the bridge shake violently as both Siege Cannons fired up, ready to expulse their hellish volleys.
Six massive energy burst escaped the fleet; four were directed at the corners of the wall of ships, the other two intended to lance right through the center of the formation. Such a targeting solution would prove positively inescapable for the doomed Imperialists. Bermin's mouth went dry as the energy blasts closed in on the fleet of Taiidan. They breached the hundred-meter distance from them…the eighty-meter…the forty…the ten…
The six balls of fire detonated in space, and though not a sound was heard from the explosion they produced such an intense brightness that everyone on the bridge had to shield their eyes for several seconds. When the light show dissipated, everyone began rubbing away the spots clouding their eyes. Bermin looked out the viewscreen, grinning stupidly in anticipation, and laid his eyes on…
Nothing.
No fleet, but no debris either. No a noticeable speck in space.
"Run a scan for hyperspace signatures now!" Bermin shouted angrily.
"Sir, there aren't any," the sensors manager said. "My sensors are a bit clouded from all the radiation coming from those blasts, but I can't even find the slightest nuances of a waveform event."
Bermin stared into space incredulously. "That's impossible…our Siege Cannons couldn't have just vaporized those ships…not even if we'd aimed perfectly. There would have to be some hulks floating out there."
The sensors officer concurred, "Yes, sir. I am picking up some trace elements of debris out there, but hardly anything. And my sensors aren't picking up any polymers used in capital-ship hulls, either; titanium is the toughest thing floating out there. You'd have thought we were nuking a squadron of starfighters, or…"
The officer paused in mid-sentence, increasing Bermin's curiosity tenfold. "Ensign," he commanded warily, "what exactly have you found?"
"Um…a navigation beacon, sir. One of the ships survived, but from these readings its power signature is far from what you'd expect a Frigate to generate."
Bermin was galvanized. "Onscreen."
As ordered, the officer brought up a new image on the viewscreen. A blackened hull of a ship, streaking through space, almost completely untraceable save for the shower of sparks emitting from its navigation lights. Bermin pointed at it, slack-jawed. "What is that, Ensign?"
"It's…uh…it's a probe. Some kind of buoy, only apparently modified to carry…holo-emitters."
Even before the alarms sounded, and the bridge bathed in angry red light, and the ship's central computer began to declare, "Warning! Several Imperialist starships de-cloaking 180 degrees to port," Bermin realized what they'd fallen into. A cold lump of solid nitrogen began to form in his belly as he ordered the sensors officer to scan for the amount of ships behind him.
"Captain, I'm counting…"
"…139 Ion Frigates ready, weapons locked on the Subtlety."
Terr'niet grinned at this information coming from his tactical officer. Poor Hiigarans…if they'd been raised with stories about wraiths, they would never have fallen for such an obvious decoy. That was why the mystical creatures of his nightmares always prevailed…all they had to do to trap these fools was to place several holographic probes right where the Hiigarans had expected them to be, and hide all their ships with the new cloak generators the Admiral had had installed on every ship in his fleet.
Terr'niet pointed at the lead ship, its aft bulkheads and engines facing the Taiidan fleet. "Fire on that one first, all ships simultaneously."
The 139 Ion Frigates surrounding the Ruthless Punisher stabbed out with their antiquated albeit fully operational Ion Cannons, and the stress of such an onslaught overpowered the small Sentinels' shield lasers. Twelve of the small ships short-circuited, blowing out their energy matrices, leaving the engines naked to an assault. The second volley lanced out at the engines, and their combined energy was far more than enough to overwhelm the Subtlety's hull integrity to the point of a breach.
The ship exploded, illuminating the other two Mortar Cruisers who were desperately pushing their weak maneuvering thrusters to face the implacable Taiidan. They valiantly tried to fire their plasma torpedoes back at the formation, but did much too little damage before the Ion Cannons had charged up again.
Ten minutes later, the virtually unscathed taskforce entered hyperspace, its job complete, for now.
Terr'niet did not gloat over this victory; the ships he'd deftly wiped out were terribly valuable to the Soban, but the stress of the mission on his resources had been so small as to erase any pleasure from the deed. All he'd done was wipe away some toys, nothing more.
He realized, though, that time was beginning to run out. His spies had already reported that the Hiigaran Intelligence network itself was working on a project to force Unbound on its own fleet, so without Jai'mar returning successfully from his mission there was little hope of achieving his dream…
Ah yes, he remembered, Jai'mar should have reached that Bentusi starship by now. I wonder how he's coping…
The ripple in hyperspace was tiny, almost imperceptibly small…but the Bentusi could still feel it.
Accustomed to Frigates and larger vessels traveling through hyperspace, their sizes and shapes affecting the tone they produced for the song of hyperspace, the Bentusi were taken aback by this newcomer. The subtle note it created through its flight was beautiful…
However, their guard did not fall down as a result.
We feel the new ship.
Yes. It is not one of ours.
Nor is it of any friendly race.
It is a Corporation starfighter.
True…but it has been altered. How else could it travel through hyperspace and create such a beautiful tone?
Our sensors show a Turanic life sign onboard.
They are not an enemy race either; not anymore.
Perhaps, but the whole does not always affect the one. This one is hostile.
We feel it. It is drawing closer at a fantastic rate. It seems to be…on a collision course for the hangar!
We must act now! Can our Ion Cannons pick it up?
No, it is in our blind spot, at the back of the ship.
But then…we must alert the Acolytes.
Yes, it must be considered dangerous, and destroyed at any cost.
Deploy the Acolytes.
The hangar doors in the aft bow of the ship slowly separated as the Corporate starfighter careened towards it. Super Acolytes, always prepared for battle as their pilots were fused into their cockpits, began to activate their engines and fire up weapons. Still as fierce a hundred and thirty years after the Beast Wars, their quick shooting Ion Cannons (which, considered far too dangerous for Bound races to exploit, were quickly surrendered by the Somtaaw after the end of the Beast confrontation,) a weapon that was second to none in starfighter combat.
The doors had fully opened when the starfighter was only fifty meters away. Two Super Acolytes had turned to face the speeding threat, and both fired their Ion Cannons. Too hastily, unfortunately, for both beams missed the Corporation fighter by ten meters on either side.
And there were no other shots fired.
Immediately after the first volley of Ion Beams, the small ship, as it was programmed to do, detonated the fifty kiloton EMP missile crammed inside the cockpit, which had previously been generating a false life sign to emulate a real pilot. The electrical discharge that was produced swept over the Bentusi Tradeship in an instant. Giving credit to their marvelously designed hull, the discharge did not penetrate the actual vessel, but the starfighters, in direct line-of-sight with the explosion now that the hangar doors had opened, fell victim to the wave. All of the Super Acolytes, considered a most dangerous albeit rarely used combat force, were disabled harmlessly in mere seconds.
Which meant that when the real Jai'mar arrived with his ship, barely a minute after the ruse had been complete, the Tradeship was ripe for the picking.
