Theogony 1: Janissaries (31 page)

Bridge,
Wanton Killer
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

“Second volley away sir!” called the weapons technician. “21
missiles launched; Missile Tube 17 did not fire again. The technician is still
working on it.”

“Are those all nuclear tipped?” asked Captain Sssseth.

“Yes sir,” replied the weapons technician. “The third volley
will incorporate the new laser warheads. My intentions were to knock their shields
down with the first two volleys and then hit them with the laser warheads once
the shields were down.”

“Excellent,” remarked Captain Sssseth. “If it works, you
will be seated next to me at dinner.”

“Thank you sir!” replied the technician. To be seated next
to the Captain was a tremendous honor. The Captain was always served
first...dinner might still be moving when he got his turn.

The weapons technician refocused on his panel in time to
note, “Third volley has launched. All 22 tubes fired this time.”

“As they should,” remarked Captain Sssseth. “I will expect
the technician in charge of Missile Tube 17 to report to me after the battle.”

Dinner time would not go so well for him, the technician
thought with a shudder.

Bridge, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

The ship was buffeted by two distinct detonations. “Two
missile hits, one fore and one aft,” called the duty engineer from where he sat
next to the helmsman. He began the assessment and casualty control process. “Most
of the damage was absorbed by the shields, but there was some shock damage. I also
have radiation alarms going off between Frames 205 and 216.

“We are out of range of any further missile launches,” noted
Steropes.

“Understood,” said Captain Deutch, more focused on the damage
control. “Do we have any casualties?”

“So far, medical is reporting two crewmen with radiation
burns and one broken arm. All are being treated.”

“Shields at 40%. Third volley intercepted by
counter-missiles,” the DSO called. “Nine remaining. Engaging with lasers.” His
voice was now up almost an octave.

“
Shit!
” swore the DSO. He turned on the ship’s
intercom. “
All hands, brace for shock!
”

Calvin, already strapped into his seat, held on as tightly
as he could. This time he felt at least three explosions in close proximity to
each other, although they didn’t feel as strong. Somewhere in between the
pulses, there had also been a flash on the view screen. Calvin hoped that the
smaller detonations indicated that they were further away and better contained.

He was wrong, he saw, as the ship lurched noticeably.

“Sir!” yelled the duty engineer, “One of our engines is out,
and there is a 3’ wide hole through engineering! We’re venting!”

“Calm down,” admonished Captain Deutch. “Damage report.
Where is the hole?”

“Sir, the missiles that just hit us weren’t armed with
nuclear warheads; they had laser warheads. Their detonations fired bomb-pumped
lasers. Our shields held against the first one. The second one caused the aft
shields to fail, and it inflicted some minor damage to the ship’s armor at
Frame 157. The third one struck with full force and put a hole from one side of
the ship to the other, passing through the control room of Engine #1.”

He listened intently to the damage control network for
several seconds. “The engineering crew has stabilized the antimatter and shut
down the engine, so we are not in danger of the antimatter exploding, but the
engine is going to be down for a long time until a ton of cabling can be
re-run.”

“I estimate one month to have it operational using only my
robot techs,” said Solomon. Most of his concentration had been on guiding
missiles and lasers during the battle. “With the entire engineering section
helping and access to a repair facility, it could be done in a week.”

Captain Deutch made a wry grin as he looked at Steropes.
“Know of any repair facilities nearby?”

“None that would be willing to help us,” replied Steropes.

Captain Deutch turned to the duty engineer. “OK, so where
does that leave us?”

“With only one engine, our maximum acceleration is only
going to be about 175 G’s. Most of the other systems can be re-routed, so we
still have power, water, and air, but we may have to turn off some
non-essential equipment. The Chief Engineer is still assessing the damage.”

Deutch turned back to Steropes. “I’m guessing that halving
our acceleration means that we’re not going to beat the lizards to the
stargate, are we?”

“No sir, we’re not,” said Steropes, shaking his head. “We
could try jettisoning some of our extra mass. That might give us a little more
acceleration, but it won’t be enough. It won’t be anywhere close to enough. The
lizards are going to catch us well before the stargate.”

“We only need to jettison a few things,” said Calvin,
looking at the tactical map. “I’ve got an idea.”

* * * * *

Bridge,
Wanton Killer
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

“Got him!” shouted the weapons technician. “The last missile
hit at least one of his engines. His acceleration was dropping off as we lost
him behind the star.”

“Good,” replied Captain Sssseth. “In that case, it is only a
matter of getting the ship turned around and running them down.” He looked
pointedly at the helmsman, who had been late slowing the ship.

“We are almost stopped,” the helmsman said. “We will begin
accelerating to chase the Terrans in less than five segments.

“Good,” repeated Sssseth. “I want to see what these Terrans
taste like.”

Bridge, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

“
OK, the lizards have cleared the star,
” commed
Steropes. “
Cut it loose.
”

“
All right
,” said Night, “
unhook your tie-downs.
”
28 members of the platoon unclasped tie-down points on the replicator. “
On
three,
” ordered Night. “
One...two...three!
” All 28 lifted as one,
and the replicator began to separate from the
Vella Gulf
. Although it
didn’t have weight, it still had mass; it took all of their suit-aided muscle
power to get it moving, but once it started separating from the ship, it kept
going.

“
Good job,
” complemented Night. “
Now, let’s get
below so we can try and outrun these lizard bitches.
”

“
Dayam,
” said Corporal Jimmy ‘Colonel’ Sanders in his
southern drawl, “
We jus got this pig up har an’ now we’re kickin’ it loose? Ain’t
that sum shit?
”

Bridge,
Wanton Killer
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

“I’ve got them,” said the sensor technician. “It looks like
they were going to try to hide behind one of the smaller planets. Wait, what’s
that? It looks like they just jettisoned something...something big...it looks
like they just dumped the replicator that they stole from the research
facility!”

“Do you want me to match up with it so we can pick it up?”
asked the helmsman.

Captain Sssseth gave the helmsman a scornful look. “No, not
while we’re going into combat. What if a lucky shot hit it and destroyed it?
Would you like to explain to the Admirality how it got broken? I don’t. No,
just mark its coordinates, and we’ll pick it up once we’re done with the
Terrans.”

“Why would they just dump it after they expended so much
effort in getting it?” asked the helmsman.

“They are obviously trying to coax more acceleration out of
their damaged ship,” replied Sssseth. “It won’t work, though. We already have a
higher velocity than they do and more acceleration capability as well. There is
no escape for them.”

* * * * *

Bridge, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

“They are rapidly catching up to us,” said Steropes. “They
have about 300 G’s more acceleration than we do, so that is to be expected.”

“Do we have any mines left?” asked Captain Deutch.

“Yes sir,” said the offensive systems officer. “But we only
have about 200. Without some sort of confined area, they will not be very
useful.”

“I am aware of that,” said the CO. “Load them into some of
the counter-missiles and launch them in front of the lizard ship. I want them
to see the mines launching and know that they’re there. Maybe we can get them
to slow down so that we can make it to the gate. And maybe we’ll get lucky, and
they’ll run over one. Either way, I don’t want them onboard when they start
shooting at us again.”

Bridge,
Wanton Killer
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

“Sir! The Terran ship is launching missiles!” called the
sensor technician.

“What? What are they doing? We can’t be within their
range...” Captain Sssseth mused. “Shields to front!” he ordered. “Prepare to
launch counter-missiles!”

“That’s weird,” said the sensor technician, “the missiles
only travelled about two million miles, and then they blew up.”

“How big a detonation did they have?” asked Sssseth.

“That’s also weird,” replied the technician. “The force of
the explosion was smaller than what it should have been.”

“That’s because they weren’t trying to blow anything up,”
hissed Sssseth. “They were scattering more mines in our path. Helmsman, alter
course to starboard to stay clear of the minefield.”

“Yes sir!” replied the helmsman.

Bridge, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

“Sorry Captain,” said the defensive systems officer, “but
the lizard ship altered course and avoided the mines. It didn’t work.”

“What do you mean ‘it didn’t work?’” asked Captain Deutch.

“They didn’t slow down, and they didn’t hit any of them,”
answered the DSO.

“That’s ok,” replied the CO, “I never really expected them
to destroy the ship; I’m just trying to buy us some more time.”

“The lizards are at fifteen million miles and are beginning
to slow down,” said Steropes.

“Why would they do that?” asked the helmsman.

“Obviously, they don’t want to go flying past us,” replied
Captain Deutch. “This way they can stay within weapons range longer, or maybe
even board us. In a stand-up fight, they win.”

Bridge,
Wanton Killer
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

“Ten million miles,” called the weapons technician. “We’re
in missile range.”

“I’d like to get a little closer,” replied Captain Sssseth.
“I’ve never seen an Eldive cruiser before, and it’s unlikely I ever will again.
I want to play with this one a little. Besides, I don’t want to kill the ship;
I just want to knock down its defenses so we can board them. Close to 500,000
miles. We’ll take them with lasers.”

Bridge, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

“I don’t get it,” said the helmsman. “They’re in range. Why
don’t they fire?”

“They’re playing with us,” said Captain Deutch. “They could
send out a full missile launch any time they wanted, and it would overwhelm our
defenses.”

“Why would they do that?” asked the engineer.

“Either because I pissed them off, and they’re trying to
make this last as long as they can,” said the CO, “or they don’t want to
destroy us for some reason and are closing to laser range, hoping to disable
us. Either way, it’s not because they feel sorry for us.”

“Seven million miles,” noted Steropes.

“Fire all missiles,” said the CO.

Bridge,
Wanton Killer
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

“
They’re firing!
” yelled the sensor technician.

“Did you think they would just let us come up and board
them?” asked Sssseth. “Of course they’re firing.
Shoot them down!
”

* * * * *

Viper 01
, Tau Ceti ‘b’, May 25, 2019

This really sucks, thought Calvin. Along with the other four
Vipers, he was sitting on Tau Ceti’s second planet with his ship powered down
to only the bare minimum needed to maintain life support and a minimal amount
of cooling. Not enough cooling, he thought, as the sweat rolled down his face
and into the recycling system somewhere lower. The temperature outside was 518
degrees Celsius. It didn’t seem much cooler inside. And this was the night side
of the planet.

“Warm enough?” he asked his WSO, Captain Imagawa ‘Samurai’
Sadayo, as he looked over at him. Captain Imagawa flipped up his face mask,
gave him a wan smile and said,

“
Burning like fireflies

On a pitch black summer night

Flying, flying

Instead they’re stars just like Earth’s sun

Lighting the skies of new worlds.
”

“Only you could think of poetry at a time like this,”
commented Calvin.

“It focuses the mind wonderfully,” Samurai said. “All things
considered, though, I think that I have seen enough of this planet and am ready
to leave for battle.”

“Me, too,” said Calvin. “I don’t think...”

He was interrupted as the ship received a unidirectional
radio pulse from the
Vella Gulf
. It was time to go, and the Terrans
brought their systems back online. The extra air conditioning was a blessing sent
straight from heaven.

Calvin set his radio to its lowest power setting and
transmitted, “
Terra
.” He received a ‘
03,
’
‘04,
’ ‘
05,
’
and ‘
06
’ as the other Vipers checked in.

The Vipers lifted from the planet. Calvin forced himself not
to use too much power going through the atmosphere, which would have
highlighted the Vipers before they were ready. As they reached space, they
started accelerating, going around the planet the long way to build up speed
while they were still invisible to the sensors on the
Wanton Killer
.
Steropes believed that the aft sensors on the lizard ship had been burned out
when the mine hit it; their entire plan relied on that premise.

Calvin was pressed back into his seat as he kept
accelerating to the point where the inertial dampers were unable to keep up
with the mounting G forces. Damn, Calvin thought, I forgot how much pulling
high G’s sucked. His body hurt everywhere as the G forces pushed the blood from
his brain, threatening to make him black out. He saw
Viper 04
starting
to wobble, and he eased off the acceleration until they were only accelerating
at 650 G’s, which the compensators were able to handle.
Viper 04
stabilized
as the blood flowed back into Captain Phillip Price’s brain.

As the fighters came around the planet, Samurai began
scanning the space ahead of him. He made contact with the Vella Gulf and was
passed the targeting data on the enemy ship. Knowing where to look, he found
the enemy battlecruiser and synched up all five of the fighters’ targeting
systems on it. The ship had neither turned nor fired at him. He thanked his
ancestors for watching over him as he watched the display count down to the optimal
launch position ...5...4...3...2...1... “
Fox 3,
” he commed as their missiles
began launching.

Bridge,
Vella Gulf
, Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019

The damage control crews had fixed the shields, and the
first enemy shot was absorbed by it. The lights seemed to burn a little
brighter as extra energy was added to the ship’s systems. Both ships began
trading fire at the space equivalent of knife-fight distance.

As Steropes had warned, it wasn’t even close to a fair
fight. The
Vella Gulf
had been unable to break through the
battlecruiser’s defenses as it continued its approach to laser range. Its
missiles had been shot down or allowed to waste themselves on the
Wanton
Killer’s
shields. They had caused only minimal damage to the battlecruiser,
which had yet to fire a shot in return.

Until now.

The
Vella Gulf’s
shields failed with a flash and a
smell of ozone that permeated the bridge. Traditional weapon’s theory said that
the ship’s captain had three choices at this point: try to run, surrender or
continue firing as fast as you could in the hopes of damaging something vital
on your enemy’s ship, which would put it out of commission. Captain Deutch had
never been one to run from a fight, and now didn’t seem like a good time to
start. Even if he could have run, running would only have led the Ssselipsssiss
battlecruiser toward home, and that was
not
an option. And he had the
slower ship, so it wouldn’t have worked anyway. Similarly, he was not going to
surrender and give them information about where Earth was. Without the
Vella
Gulf
to defend it, the Earth was defenseless. He didn’t particularly feel
like getting eaten, either.

That left fighting to the end, but he had one last trick.
“Roll the ship,” he told the helmsman.

“Aye aye, sir,” the helmsman replied and began rolling the
ship along its longitudinal axis.

Steropes looked confused. “Captain Deutch, this is not part
of the standard way to fight this class of ship. By spinning it, you are making
our weapons tracking systems less accurate and are spinning them out of the
line-of-sight where they will be able to fire on the Ssselipsssiss ship.”

“That’s right,” replied Captain Deutch. “It may not be
standard, but I need to give the fighters a little longer, and this is how
we’re going to do it.” He paused and then asked, “Think about it. How does a
laser work?”

“A laser works by using pulses of light that are strong enough
to sublimate the area of the ship that it hits, turning a portion of the ship’s
hull into gas. A pause is necessary before the next shot occurs so that the
resulting cloud of vaporized metal can disperse, that way it does not scatter
the energy of the next shot. The attacker must wait a few microseconds, or a
large portion of the energy of its next shot will be wasted.”

“Exactly,” said Captain Deutch. “The most difficult part of
weaponizing light is developing a tracking system that can keep up with the
movement of the target in between laser pulses and keep hitting it in the same
spot long enough to drill a hole through it. If we spin the ship, it will hopefully
keep them from hitting the same place twice.”

“Vampire! Vampire!
Missiles inbound!
” shouted the defensive
systems officer. He looked down to see that all of the counter-missile
batteries and close-in laser clusters were firing. Except for Laser 8 and CM
Battery 14, which had been destroyed in the last volley.

“I see,” said Steropes. “In effect, you are trading extreme
damage in a localized area for a lesser amount of damage to a greater portion
of the ship’s hull, hoping that it will not be breached in a number of places
simultaneously, all in an effort to delay our inevitable destruction.”

“We’re still not getting through,” called the offensive
systems officer. “They’ve shifted all of their shields to their front to block
our fire!”

Captain Deutch maintained his outward calm as he answered Steropes.
“You’re right about the first part of that, although I take issue with the part
about our inevitable destruction. I intend to hold us together long enough for
the fighters to do their job and destroy the battlecruiser first.”

Another broadside of lasers impacted the
Vella Gulf
,
and at least two more of the Ssselipsssiss missiles detonated alongside. More
lights turned red on the duty engineer’s panel. “We’ve got venting in the
galley and at Frame 27 portside,” he announced. “We just lost Graser 3 and
Missile 5, and I have radiation warnings from Frame 5 to Frame 40.”

Captain Deutch nodded his head. “Acknowledged,” he replied.
“Keep the spin on,” he said to the helmsman. He looked at the defensive systems
officer. “Any word yet from the Vipers?”

“No sir, not yet,” replied the DSO. “
Wait!
Contact!
”
yelled the DSO. “The fighters have unmasked from behind the planet and are
inbound from behind the Ssselipsssiss ship. They’re pouring it on! They’re
accelerating at over 700 G’s, and their fighters are only rated for 650 G’s.
They can’t hold that for long! Wait...separation! They’re launching! 2...8...20
missiles inbound to the enemy vessel!”

“Well,” said Deutch turning back to Steropes, “we’ll see how
well this works. Hopefully, you’re right about their blind zone.”

Bridge,
Wanton Killer
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

“They have begun spinning their ship,” said the weapons technician,
tapping a claw on his console in annoyance. “Their shields are down, so they
are only delaying the inevitable. I will kill the rest of their propulsion
system momentarily, and then we can send over boarders to restock our kitchen.”

“Indeed,” said Captain Sssseth, “it will be good to have
fresh meat again, and those creatures looked soft and tasty.” He paused and
looked at the main viewing screen where the prey’s ship continued to roll under
the lash of his lasers. Two missiles detonated near the bow of the ship where
there used to be something sticking out...hmm...something was different with
the ship. “Am I mistaken, or has their ship changed configuration? Didn’t they
have some objects attached to the front of it? Are our sensors showing any
mines?” He hated when prey laid explosives in his path. As if he’d be dumb
enough to run over them again. “Keep our shields focused to the front,” he
continued. “That way, none of their shots will get through, and we will be
protected from any nasty surprises they may have left for us.”

“All shields deployed to front,” said the defensive systems technician.

“I do not see any mines in our path,” said the sensor technician.
He consulted his display. “You are correct. The ship’s mass is now 70,000 tons
less than when we first engaged them. They may have jettisoned something else
in addition to the replicator. I will see if I can determine where it went.” He
fired two omni-directional sensors out of their launch ports. They immediately
began sending him data.

Sssseth continued to deliberate. “If they dropped off
something, it must have been when they went behind the planet. Either they left
something behind that they didn’t want us to see or...or it was...”

“
Fighters
!
Fighters at our six o’clock!
”
yelled the sensor technician.

The bridge went dark as the ship’s engines and the entire
aft end of the ship was vaporized by the 20 anti-ship missiles that exploded behind
it, nearly as one.

Viper 01
, Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019

“
Take that you fuckers!”
someone yelled over the
radio as the anti-ship missiles impacted on the Ssselipsssiss ship and exploded
in a ripple of antimatter explosions. “
That’s for MOSA!
” Calvin’s screen
showed that his squadron had vaporized at least the back quarter of the battlecruiser.
There’s no good kill like a good overkill, he thought. It didn’t appear that
the ship’s shields had stopped any of the missiles. For that matter, it didn’t
appear that the ship had even been using its aft shields.

With the destruction of its engines, the battlecruiser was
without power and would only have residual life support augmented by whatever
emergency systems it had in the forward portion of the ship. There were also
massive vents of air and fluids down the sides of the ship where its seams had
split from the shock of the missile attack. Calvin didn’t see how it could have
any offensive capabilities left; there was no reason to waste any further
ammunition on it.

“Vella Gulf, Viper 01,” he radioed the ship. “
We’re done
here and are returning to the ship.
”

“
Roger that,
Viper 01,” replied the
Vella Gulf’s
controller.
“
The skipper would like you to leave two fighters close by in case they have
backup weapons systems. We’re sending a shuttle over to take off any survivors.
”

“
Wilco,
” Calvin answered, meaning ‘will comply.’ He
switched to the squadron frequency. “
Cuz and Blue, you’ve got guard duty.
Stay here and cover the ship. If it activates any weapon systems, blast it. The
rest of us will go back and rearm in case something else shows up.
” Calvin
led
Viper 03
and
Viper 04
back to the
Vella Gulf
while
Viper
05
and
Viper 06
took up positions covering the enemy vessel.

Bridge,
Wanton Killer
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

The air was already getting stale, and he could only see
through one eye. Half of the bridge crew was dead, their broken bodies wrapped
around, and sometimes through, pieces of their consoles. The other half
stumbled around in a daze, stunned by the enormity of the explosions. Sssseth
knew he didn’t have much longer. His sensors destroyed, he had no idea what the
prey was doing. If their places were reversed, he would be organizing a
boarding party to harvest all of the food he could. Sssseth was not going to be
food for the prey; he would take the Warrior’s Way. “Execute self destruct
sequence 2597841,” he said into the only operational console.

Bridge, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

“The enemy ship just blew up!” the defensive systems officer
said. “Oh my god! Both Vipers are
gone
!”

Viper 01
, Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019

Out of the corner of his eye, Calvin saw the giant flash,
followed by a hysterical radio call of “Viper 01,
they just blew themselves
up!
” He spun his fighter back toward the Ssselipsssiss ship, with the other
two fighters in trail, only to find that the enemy starship was now just a ball
of expanding plasma. Whatever had blown up in the ship had detonated with such
a force that the only pieces left were small and unrecognizable. Maintaining
station in close proximity to it, both of the Vipers he left behind were
shredded by the pieces of the exploding battlecruiser; he couldn’t find any
signs of life from either of them.
Viper 05
was lost with Captain Duncan
‘Blue 11’ Hughes, RCAF, and Captain Howard ‘Tank’ Toncha, USAF.
Viper 06
was similarly destroyed with Captain Larry ‘Cuz’ Gage, USAF, and Captain
Jennifer ‘Sweet Jen’ Chapman, RAAF. What a waste.