Chroniech! (44 page)

"What do you mean? We are already on the same ship?"

"Oh come now," Doug chided. "You don't expect to still be commanding the Dragon after this, do you? Fleet command will award you with a promotion to admiral after they see what you've brought home."

"To be honest, I really have not thought about it," Ken admitted. "There is another more pleasant option. I could retire."

"Retire! You are nuts! You would go crazy unless you had a command chair to sit in. Listen Ken, you are one of the best captains I have ever served under. Retirement would not suit you."

Tasha passed nearby and Ken reached out and grabbed her. Pulling her close he said, "But I will be the captain of a ship. I plan on settling down on Earth at my parent's old home on the lake. My dad's sailboat is still there and it's mine now. I plan on spending many quiet hours on the lake with my wife."

"As long as you are happy," Doug replied.

"And what about you?"

"Well, I was sort of hoping that when you made admiral I could count on you keeping Cheryl and I at least in the same sector of the Alliance. But, since you'll be retiring I guess I'll have to look into other alternatives. I hear fleet command is supposed to be looking into keeping married couples in duty rosters where they at least have some time to see each other."

"If I have any pull because of this mission, I'll try to make sure that you and Cheryl get assigned to some nice ground-based job together."

Later that evening, Ken wrote in his diary:

Got married today. So did Doug Scarboro. I am happy and I hope Tasha is too. The crew's tension level seems to be rising the closer to home we get. I think this is because we do not know what we will find once we get there. Have the Chroniech beaten us? Are our families still okay? How will the Alliance react to the Kyrra? Will the Kyrra actually help the Alliance? Too many question and not enough answers. My new wife waits for me as I write this. I won't keep her waiting.

25 - The Battle of Almaranus

Ken received word that the worldship would soon be within communications range of the Alliance. As previously agreed, he was transported to the worldship's central operations room. Trel'mara, who had been appointed as the official Kyrra liaison to the Alliance, was already there.

Upon seeing Ken, he said, "We are now 450 light years from the Alliance border. Sensors have picked up a number of Chroniech ships which have changed course to intercept. We plan on stopping at a distance of 100 light years and then establishing contact with Almaranus. Is this acceptable?"

"Sounds good to me. Why so far out though?"

"We did not want to alarm them by coming too close to their border without announcing our good intentions. Since we have been gone, the Alliance may have established an early warning net which would detect our approach."

"Excellent thinking!" Ken exclaimed. He was truly surprised since such thinking was unusual for the Kyrra. "Which communications method will we try first, the Hess network?"

"Yes. At 100 light years the signal will require only 18 minutes to make the trip."

"Eighteen minutes — I still don't know why the Hess could not duplicate the Chroniech communications speed. We have evidence that shows they can communicate over vast distances virtually instantaneously."

"The Chroniech may have some knowledge of hyperdimensional physics. There are certain applications of such technology which would result in an instantaneous communications system across enormous distances. The Kyrra of the past, and thus the Hess, knew little of hyperdimensional physics."

"What about the Chroniech?" Ken asked, not wanting to delve into a subject he knew nothing of. "If we stop won't they eventually intercept and attack?"

"Yes. At present, there are roughly thirteen Chroniech ships of various capabilities vectoring in on our position. There are numerous probes in this area of space that are acting as a detector web. We will allow the Chroniech to attack and expend whatever energies they desire upon our defense screen. They will be ignored."

Ken was shocked until he remembered the size of the worldship and the energies at the command of the Kyrra. Compared to those energies, the weapons of even the most powerful Chroniech ship were puny indeed.

"Why not show them what they are up against and blow them to dust?" Ken asked.

"We will not engage in the wholesale destruction of ships," Trel'mara said matter-of-factly. "The council is developing a plan for dealing with the Chroniech once we reach your space, but now is not the time. They do not pose a threat to us and we shall therefore ignore them."

"They're not going to like that very much," Ken replied. The humor of his statement, however, did not register with Trel'mara.

In hardly any time at all, the worldship reached the designated distance and dropped out of stardrive. "Drive system disengaged," an operator announced.

"Defense screen stable — nearest Chroniech ship: zero point six nine light years; ETA 1.9 hours," a second operator reported.

A third announced, "Communications channel ready to record."

Stricklen stood in front of the video pickup and said, "Almaranus defense control, this is Ken Stricklen of the Komodo Dragon. I am currently at a position about one-hundred light years from the Alliance border. I would like to report that my mission was a success and I am returning with the Kyrra.

"As soon as I receive confirmation that this transmission is being received I shall transmit a complete transcript of all that has happened during my mission. I request that this message be passed immediately to the sector commander. Once you have evaluated the transcript, I would like permission to enter the Almaranus control zone. Captain Stricklen aboard the Kyrra worldship standing by."

"Message encoded, compressed, and transmitted," a voice reported. Ken and Trel'mara began their wait.

Nearly an hour went by before a reply was received. Ken was beginning to wonder if the message had been picked up when the communications operator announced that an incoming message had been received. A non-Human Admiral whom Ken did not recognize appeared on the monitor.

"I am Admiral Singth in charge of the Almaranus defense zone. Your message has been received Captain Stricklen. Congratulations on your mission. However, I am afraid you are too late. We have been under Chroniech attack now for the last six days. Our outer defense perimeter has been breached. We believe that Almaranus will be under direct attack within one day. It is unsafe for you to enter the system.”

"I will grant permission for you and the Kyrra to enter Alliance space. If you will transmit your transcript, I will ensure that it is forwarded to Tollbeck which is where I suggest you set your course. The Tollbeck system is currently well defended and free from Chroniech at this time. Admiral Singth out."

"Good Lord!" Ken exclaimed. "What the hell has been happening since we left? Trel'mara, are the Kyrra willing to stop the Chroniech from attacking a populated Alliance planet?"

Trel'mara turned to a communications console and spoke for a brief moment with someone. Turning around he said, "Yes. The council has authorized the worldship to take action against the Chroniech to prevent them from attacking Almaranus."

"Good! Then proceed on course to Almaranus at best possible speed. I'm not about to sit by and let the Chroniech destroy its shipyards or wipe out its population."

Without any arguments, the worldship leapt ahead. "Stardrive engaged at maximum speed. Estimate arrival at Almaranus in nineteen hours."

Stricklen then sent another message to the Admiral. "Almaranus control this is Stricklen. We are proceeding to your assistance at maximum possible speed. ETA nineteen hours. After you review the transcript of our activities I think you will agree that we can help. I recommend pulling in all your defenses as close to Almaranus as possible until we arrive. If you can hang on until then the Kyrra will deal with the Chroniech."

After the unavoidable time delay a reply was received. "Great maker captain! If the Kyrra weapons are half as good as you believe then we will have no problems. Permission granted to enter Almaranus space and engage the enemy. Our ships will be warned of your approach. I will be sending a complete tactical report as soon as possible. Almaranus sector control out."

Ken called Doug and brought him up to date on the situation. Doug said he would inform the crew. Half an hour later, he showed up in the central operations center. "What's their status?" he asked as soon as he had found Ken who was sitting at a control console.

"The Kyrra computer has learned how to interpret the situation report after talking to the Dragon about it. They have set up a spare console for my use," Ken replied indicating the console in front of him. Several screens were active and were displaying the familiar tactical data used by the Alliance.”

"I'll summarize it for you. The Chroniech currently have a fleet of about 200 ships near Almaranus. Several of them are used to intercept any reinforcements trying to arrive thus preventing them from ever reaching the planet. The rest, including three planetary assault ships, have been attacking the Almaranus defense grid for the last week. Apparently, the Chroniech are aware of the importance of Almaranus since they have continued to attack despite loosing an estimated 210 ships. I'm glad we built the Almaranus defense system with room to spare."

"Three planetary assault ships? How can their defenses stand up against such firepower?"

"It hasn't been easy," Ken replied bringing up a list of Alliance ships on his screen. "We have lost nearly 600 warships including two Tholtaran juggernauts. All that stands between Almaranus and the Chroniech now are the automated defense stations."

Scarboro was thunderstruck. He read down the list of ships that had been either destroyed or rendered incapable of further action. Many were large heavily armed ships. A knot of pure hatred seemed to twist at his stomach.

Finally finding his voice he said, "Two juggernauts and what looks like most of the entire Alliance space force in this area of space — all destroyed. The bastards. How the hell did they get to Almaranus so fast?"

Ken cleared the depressing list of out of commission ships and once again displayed the current tactical data. "From what I've been able to determine, it looks like the Chroniech punched their way through every defense we could mount against them. As soon as they determined the military importance of Almaranus they gathered their forces and made a beeline for it."

"So what's left to defend Almaranus?"

"Because of its military importance, Almaranus is the most heavily defended planetary system in the Alliance. There are, or rather were, four complete shells of automated defense stations completely englobing the system. Many of the larger asteroids and every planet and moon mounted weapon systems and robot attack ships.

"I believe there used to be a total of over 24,000 automated defense stations within the Almaranus system. If the data we've been getting is correct, there are fewer than 2,000 stations left meaning that before long there will be some pretty large gaps in our defense grid."

Doug's eye had been scanning the other consoles while Stricklen talked. After a moment he said, "That's about to change."

* * * * *

"We are within sensor range," one of the operators calmly announced. Ken had been dozing at his console but quickly came awake when he heard the announcement. Ken scanned his various screens which now showed live data. He was appalled at what he saw.

The once mighty Almaranus defense perimeter had been pushed to within 200,000 kilometers of the heavily defended planet. The three planetary assault craft were relentlessly pounding away at the defenses trying to punch their way through. They were dangerously close.

As the two Alliance officers watched, four of the powerful defense stations fell almost as one and suddenly there was a clear, unobstructed path to the planet. "Oh no!" Doug muttered. The surrounding defenders moved to close the gap but the damage had already been done. The planetary assault ships were now moving at top speed toward Almaranus and its precious space-construction yards.

"How much longer until we are within weapons range?" Ken asked.

"Ten minutes twenty seconds," one of the Kyrra replied.

"They should have spotted us by now," Doug announced.

Ken's military mind was working at high speed trying to come up with a solution. Fifteen precious seconds went by before an idea popped into his head. "Trel'mara, can your computer translate your language into that of the old slavers?"

Trel'mara forwarded the question to the computer and replied, "Yes, the translation algorithm has not been used for thousands of years but it is still available."

"Excellent! Here's my idea. The Chroniech may still remember your race, whether it be part of their actual history or legend does not matter. What does matter is that we get their attention long enough for us to get within weapons range. Talk to them Trel'mara. Threaten them, berate them, mock their past, anything to draw their attention away from Almaranus toward us."

"It may work. I will try," Trel'mara replied. He then turned and requested that communications set up to broadcast a broad-band signal in three languages: Kyrra, Alliance standard, and old Chroniech.

As soon as he received word that the channel was open, Trel'mara stepped in front of the active video pickup so his image would be transmitted and said, "Attention Chroniech warships. The Alliance has requested our assistance in ending this conflict between the you and the Alliance.

"Our ship should now be visible on your sensors. You will note that it is considerably larger than any of your own. You should also be aware that it is correspondingly more powerful. All Chroniech warships will immediately cease their hostile actions and return to their own space or they shall be disabled."

* * * * *

The council sat in stunned silence. Not knowing whether the council had heard him, the fleet commander in charge of destroying Almaranus repeated himself, "The Kyrra claim to be assisting the Alliance. How is this possible? What are your orders?"