Alutia Rising, Anniversary Edition (Alutia Rising Series, Book 1) (38 page)

“I am glad to hear that, My Lord. Your plan
to fool everyone in the TSB into thinking this entire matter had to
do with the Noble-Killer Quinn, by lying about the Earthling Trent
attacking your honor, and not the recovery of the Alutia Duchy, was
a work of brilliance,” Commander Guo's matching smirk vanished as
Sir Simwa stormed to his feet, snarling in his direction. Trent
froze his anger.

“Commander Gou,” he growled, “as I’ve
explained to you countless times before, I would keep that
particular piece of information to yourself,” he stormed around the
desk, dragging Gou to his feat by his collar. “This is not over and
that is privileged information I would rather not have fall into
the hands of my enemies,” he paused, releasing the cowering
Commander Guo, “I'd hate to have to remove you after all you have
done for my cause, Commander Guo,” the menace in Sir Simwa’s words
made even Trent’s skin shiver. Guo, apparently adept at begging for
his life, collapsed to his knees.

“I'm sorry, My Lord, I will watch my tongue
from now on,” he trembled with fear.

“That would be very wise,” Sir Simwa placed a
boot on Guo’s shoulder, kicking him over. “Go monitor that incoming
shuttle; I want to know the instant when it will arrive.
Understand?” stated Sir Simwa.

“Of course, thank you for kindness, My Lord,”
Guo rose to his feet, continuously bowing while he backed towards
the door.

Trent, having regained control of his anger,
completed the message to Taku, verifying that he did actually
transcribe the entire conversation correctly, before sending. While
he waited for the response, he started to go over his plan for
storming out of the access port to take down Sir Simwa.

It’s all about timing,
he knew. He
would be clearly visible when he exited, so he needed to wait until
Sir Simwa either retired for the night or his concentration turned
elsewhere.

Taku's response came quicker then Trent would
have expected. It stated that the incoming shuttle was top
priority, and Trent was the only one in position to rescue whoever
was onboard. He needed to move to personal shuttle bay one and
await its arrival. Then, he needed to escort the passenger, by any
means necessary, to the medical bay. From what Trent could gather
from the brief message, Taku had a means to convince the Program
responsible for the docking system to force the shuttle to land in
personal shuttle bay one while reporting a different bay to docking
control.

Trent stared at the projection of Sir Simwa,
“Damn,” cursing under his breath. It would take him almost an hour
to reach what he figured was personal shuttle bay one, located
immediately after the hanger bay. Holding his frustration in check,
swearing he would, in the end, get his revenge, he started
shuffling back in the direction from which he came, prepared to
greet this new arrival.

“Helm, increase speed by 12.4 mps and keep an
eye on Mars One, they're adjusting speed before informing the
battle group...and you know I don’t like falling behind!” Daniel
glanced over his shoulder at Captain Aysi, who paced just behind
him as she circled the bridge, arms crossed, staring intently at
the battle space being projected above the CID. The fleets were a
little under ten minutes from max weapons range of one million
kilometers.

The HZBF invasion fleet had not been idle as
the TSB fleet made its move, adjusting their formation and speed in
an attempt to counter the TSB’s plan for a passing engagement.
They’d maneuvered from the standard “wall” formation, to a
“piercing”, or single file formation while decelerating to 1000
mps. The TSB fleet had, in direct response, maneuvered into an
enveloping, or circular formation, while increasing speed to
100,000 kps.

The revised plan was devised by the Commander
of the Alutia Battle Fleet, a Knight Admiral Bhool, who'd been
recovered from the destroyed ABF Princess One. Her plan was simple.
By adjusting to an “envelop” formation the TSB fleet would be able
to alter their angle on their plane of momentum to allow the full
firepower of each starship to be brought to bear while limiting
target opportunities for the enemy. On the other hand, the HZBF
invasion fleet would be required to split their firepower amongst
the TSB starships on all sides, or concentrate on only a tiny
portion, which was unlikely, given the TSB EW frigates ability to
mask their numbers and true locations. They were, however, still
outnumbered two to one, but the odds were actually much worse,
since the majority of the TSB starships were the smaller cruisers,
frigates, and corvettes, while the HZBF starships consisted of not
only cruisers, frigates, corvettes, battleships, and dreadnaughts,
but also seven, 40 kilometer super-capital ships, and fourteen, 10
kilometer capital ships. For reference, one super-capital ship had
1600 large LPAs, while the entire TSB fleet of 304 starships, had
only 548 large LPAs at their disposal.

Daniel's heartbeat matched the seconds as
they continued to tick away, the inevitable approaching. His
display flashed, zooming in on the lead HZBF battle group as he
began receiving target sector priorities. He quickly assigned each
of the TSB Ero’Cia LPA groups a target, while assisting the
automated targeting system in identifying the false gravity, solar,
and interstellar anomalies not swept clean by the defensive EW
systems.

“Ma'am, two minutes till max weapons range,
holding steady at 100,004.12 kps,” informed Commander Rew’Da in a
voice so calm that Daniel knew it forced.

“Thank you, helm. Angle us 45 by negative 45,
and maintain velocity with maneuvering thrusters,” Captain Aysi
ordered. A moment later the variable maneuvering thrusters lining
the edges of the starship activated, angling them down and to the
right while maintaining the same trajectory on their momentum. They
would rotate continuously once they reached weapon’s range,
allowing all the LPAs circling the hull to fire uninterrupted,
during the 20.2 seconds they would be within weapon’s range.

Unknown anomalies and false starship
signatures multiplied faster than Daniel could verify, born of both
enemy and friendly EW. The secondary tactical officer station
within the combat system station, or CSS, linked in, but was of
little help, “Though I can’t really blame her, can I?” Daniel
whispered, knowing Nora was still a recruit in the officer academy,
having been a last minute substitute for the injured primary
tactical officer, Lieutenant Taku, with little experience in EW
recognition. A third station tied in a moment later, and the false
EW signatures began to vanish at an unbelievable speed. Daniel
glanced to his right, and as he expected, XO Geoff's station
displayed tactical. He cursed himself for needing the help of the
XO, before turning his attention back to the anomalies.

“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,” the countdown
to contact originated from the helm, “five, four, three, two...” a
sudden calm swept over Daniel’s mind during the fleeting seconds
between the finished countdown and the order of Captain Aysi he
knew was to come.

“Fire all LPAs!” the captain’s booming shout
broke the silent calm. Daniel punched the fire icon, ordering all
his LPAs to enter auto-fire mode on their selected target.

The first salvo of LPA beams streaked between
the dueling starships at the speed of light. A few found targets,
the kinetic energy of the densely packed neutrons being absorbed by
the energy shields, or ESSs, while the trailing actual energy was
vectored away. As predicted, the HZBF split its fire between the
TSB fleet’s entire “envelop” formation, not concentrating on any
single battle group or “false” battle group signatures being
created by the TSB EW frigates.

Two unlucky EW frigates blew as their fake
battle group signatures pulled fire away from the real battle
groups. Ten screening HZBF frigates vanished in unison, while two
corvettes flickered then blew, their NSD's pierced as their ESS’s
failed. An HZBF cruiser suddenly spun out of formation, propulsion
system damaged, causing its fellows to maneuver frantically out of
its path.

LPAs continued sweeping across the TSB fleet.
A few wayward beams striking the Ero'Cia, but being easily brushed
aside by their ESS. The majority of TSB starships avoided damage,
only a few small LPAs breaking through weakened shields. Any damage
caused to the hull was immediately repaired as the reserve supply
of liquid tilitium programmable matter that every starship held
filled the holes. The process was similar to how a body would heal
a wound, with the liquid programmable matter “clotting” wherever a
“wound” was detected, but significantly faster.

The small and medium LPAs continued to pour
almost continuous fire between the fleets as the large LPAs
charged, weakening ESSs, but rarely providing enough punch to
inflict catastrophic damage. The large LPAs finished their charging
phase sent a second salvo of death speeding across the darkness of
space.

“Fire plasma cannon!” Captain Aysi shouted
the moment the range to contact ticked below 500,000 km. Daniel
slammed the flashing icon, releasing the twirling beam of purple
plasma that formed on the
nose
of the
starship, to intermingle with the plasma beams erupting from the
rest of the TSB fleet, on a direct course for the NHA Super-Capital
HZBF Relus, whose screening support had scattered when the cruiser
spun out of control seconds before.

The second salvo of large LPAs struck the TSB
lines and Daniel cringed as he realized this time they wouldn’t be
so lucky. The flagship of the 2
^nd
TSB battle group, in
which the TSB Ero’Cia was assigned, the NHA Battleship TSB Mars One
split apart in an instant, its ESS overwhelmed by hundreds of
simultaneous large LPA strikes. Small and medium LPA’s followed, a
single beam piercing its NSD core.

Daniel braced himself as a gravitational
shockwave was set loose. Shearing waves of gravity, like a massive
invisible tornado tearing through space, struck the starships of
the 2
^nd
TSB battle group. The TSB Ero'Cia shook
violently as the GM field was unable to fully compensate for the
disruptive forces. The moment the starship felt as if it would
break apart, lights flashing and stations going dim, the Mars One’s
NSD core’s unstable singularity containment collapsed around the
exposed, artificial neutron star. The lights steadied, and his
station returned, but the battle group targeting feed was dead,
battle group command having died in the violent collapse of the
Mar’s One’s NSD core.

He didn't think, just acted, falling into his
training, picking targets at will. Two more TSB battleships blew,
along with a number of cruisers, corvettes, and frigates, many
caught in the subsequent violent gravitational shockwaves.
Screening frigates and corvettes from the HZBF battle groups
continued to vanish one after the other as the TSB LPAs reached
their targets, breaking holes in the tight formation to provide
clear shots at the juicier targets within. A newly unprotected HZBF
battleship blew while a dreadnaught and three cruisers were forced
to fall out of formation, spewing clouds of atmosphere and
debris.

Then, the plasma beams struck.

Daniel joined a round of cheers as the NHA
Super-Capital HZBF Relus flickered, its enormous ESS trying
desperately to absorb the gigantic amount of kinetic and actual
energy contained within the 40 plasma beams that struck home. For a
moment, it appeared the massive shield would hold, bending inward
in a valiant attempt to defy its inevitable demise.

But it was not enough.

A single plasma beam broke through, the ESS
vanishing, allowing the rest to tear through the starship’s 50
meter thick tilitium hull like it didn’t exist. One beam passed
through starships rear, piercing the 8 km high NSD core. A moment
later it vanished in a sudden flash, a massive gravitational
shockwave erupting that sheered the flanking HZBF starships. A
capital ship, two dreadnaughts, and four battleships, flickered,
then vanished as the unstable singularity containment collapsed
around the exposed, artificial neutron star. The smaller screening
vessels that survived unscathed, tried desperately to regain
formation with the only remaining capital ship within the lead
battle group.

“One down...six to go...” Daniel whispered as
he noticed a considerable drop in EW anomalies as the
super-capitals containment field finished collapsing, both the
recondiverse and standard space stabilizing.

The HZBF’s plasma beams swirled well off
target, the majority being pulled towards the “false” TSB battle
groups being created by the EW frigates. Two more TSB cruisers
suddenly vanished, LPAs slicing through unshielded armor when their
ESS’s failed, while two corvettes blinked, spewing oxygen and
crewmen into space, before breaking apart and vanishing from his
screen.

The third salvo of large LPAs fired. Two HZBF
dreadnaughts, struck in the lightly shielded rear, flickered then
vanished, while a multitude of frigates and corvettes blew on all
sides, protecting the larger starships from the deadly fire.

“Brace for impact!” Captain Aysi shouted as a
super-capital targeted their battle group, pouring hundreds of
large LPA beams their way. The NHA Battleship TSB Jupiter Two,
which had taken command of the battle group when the TSB Mars One
was destroyed, absorbed the brunt of the attack, breaking in two
after its ESS failed to withstand the hundred of simultaneous
strikes.

Daniel's head slammed into the tactical PDU
as the TSB Ero'Cia bucked wildly from connecting enemy LPA beams.
An explosion racked the bridge, throwing Daniel from his station to
tumble across the floor, bouncing painfully to a stop on his side
as stars filled his vision and smoke assailed his nostrils.