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Chapter Eight
KS Buer-Sai (Divine Wrath)
Sector Twenty-One, Hiigaran Defense Sphere, Deep Space
14:54 New Daiamid AHL 05.25.21

The Buer-Sai’s commander, Spire Master Rhee Luran, was leading commodore Edson and Captain Saborn on a tour of the Kadesh vessel. Currently, they were in the docking bay of the ship.

“As you can see here, our Swarmers dock by flying through a ring shaped docking hatch, then fly backwards into the multileveled hanger bay. This prevents incoming enemy fire from hitting Swarmers that are docked inside for repairs or refueling. While this does make launching and retrieving the ships more difficult, our Swarmers have automated landing sequences programmed into their flight computers.”

“Um, about your Swarmers. During our, um, visit to the Gardens; we noticed that your Swarmers were geared towards attacking capital ships and not other fighters. No offense, but our fighter corps was able to decimate your Swarmer fighters without considerable loss. But our capital ships took a heavy pounding,” said Commodore Edson

“No offense taken. Yes, our Swarmers were made to attack capital ships. We noticed during the first few intrusions into the Garden that the enemy always had a large fleet of Capital ships and not many fighters or, the anti-fighter vessels-I think you call them corvettes. Our entire fleet was made to destroy capital ships. When you came along, we were surprised, because you had many specialized anti-fighter vessels. Our pilots simply were not trained for extensive fighter-to-fighter combat. Since then, of course, we have begun much more vigorous anti-fighter training. And your corvettes were the bane of our Swarmers. There was one variety, with two turrets mounted on the bottom, which had some sort of fragmentation weapon. Four of those vessels destroyed nine Swarmers with one volley of the fragmentation weapon.”

“You refer to the Heavy Corvette, or Hammer. It was designed early in the Homeworld War, when we first met the Turanic Raiders. The fragmentation weapon, as you call it, was made to break up massive fighter formations. It is a round with a shell casing that is that is essentially high explosives sandwiched between two metal sheets, along with a relatively small explosive core. The core explodes at a predetermined range. When it does, the explosives break the shell casing apart, which is lined with explosive material. Your Swarmers fared better against it than some of the other fighters we encountered, because your Swarmers are faster and more heavily armored. Because of this, most of the shots fired were normal armor-piercing ammunition. The current version of the fragmentation weapon is fitted with a proximity fuse and an IFF transceiver so it doesn’t explode among our own fighters.”

The three officers were walking towards the hanger’s exit when the lights suddenly changed color from bluish white to red. Alarms sounded throughout the ship, and the ship’s loudspeakers blared.

“Defiled ships have entered the region. Defiled ships have entered the region. All hands to battle stations. All hands to battle stations.”

“Well, I guess that cuts my tour short. We will leave for our ship,” said Commodore Edson.

“Good. We will place ourselves under your command,” replied Ship Master Luran with a smile.

Commodore Edson and Captain Saborn ran for their shuttle. The pilot had already begun the pre-flight sequence, and when the two officers climbed aboard, the engines flared to life. The door closed behind Captain Saborn, and the shuttle climbed up towards the opening, turned around, and blasted out of the hanger bay’s opening.

Commodore Edson’s comm unit popped. “Sir, this is Captain Niesun. I’m aboard my ship, and an Imp fleet just dropped out of hyperspace about sixty klicks away from here. They are launching fighters and headed this way. Wait, there are three Support Frigates coming out right on top of us! Their fighters are launching and are performing strafing runs on the research vessels!”

“All research vessels form up around the Kadesh needleship. Stay in that location. Buer-Sai, provide covering fire for the research vessels.”

As Commodore Edson looked out of a view port to get himself a better view of the skirmish, the research ships were under attack by thirty Imperialist Interceptors and twelve Heavy Corvettes. One of the research ships vessels was venting flames and gasses. Then, an Interceptor ceased its attack on its target and headed towards Commodore Edson’s shuttle.

“Aw, shit! Sir, an enemy fighter is coming our way! Strap yourselves in, its going to be a rough ride,” said the pilot.

“Damn, there aren’t even any guns on this thing. What’s their ETA?” asked Commodore Edson.

“They’ll be in firing range in thirty seconds. We can get to Liberator forty seconds after that.”

“Brilliant. I’ll place a call into the Halo and ask for fighter cover.”

As the shuttle pilot increased the throttle, Commodore Edson brought out his comm unit again.

“Halo, this is Edson. We’ve got a bandit on our six and need cover.”

Captain Niesun’s voice came back immediately. “We noticed your troubles on our sensors. Wraith Flight One will launch in ten seconds. Head towards us.”

“Acknowledged.” Edson switched off the comm unit. “Alright, take us towards the Halo.”

Commodore Edson exchanged a worried glance with Captain Saborn, and looked out the view port again. The Imperialist Interceptor had almost closed within firing range. Commodore Edson decided to move his head away from the window. The fighter continued to close, but suddenly the shuttle bucked wildly as the pilot began evasive maneuvers. A hail of energy cannon rounds from the Interceptor detonated in close proximity to the shuttle, a near miss that shattered equipment inside of the shuttle. Then, a tremendous bang and a scream cut short came from the cockpit. Commodore Edson and Captain Saborn got out of their seats and ran to the cockpit door. They opened the door.

A horrific sight greeted them. The shuttle’s pilot and copilot were both dead. The pilot, on the right, had half a dozen large shrapnel wounds to his torso, and the remains of his gastrointestinal tract were spilled out across his lap. Blood had soaked his uniform and the seat, and his stomach acid was attacking his cloths, emitting a faint smoke. The copilot had a hole in his throat, and another one in his head. Pink tissue and blood was smeared along the back of the seat and the wall behind it. The armored window was starred, with the parts of the inner layer spread throughout the cockpit. Captain Saborn held her hand to her mouth.

“Kate, you take the copilot’s station. I’ll fly,” said Commodore Edson as he removed the restraints from the dead pilot. Captain Saborn followed suit.

“You know how to fly this thing?” asked Captain Saborn.

“Uh, sort of. It’s a long story,” Commodore Edson said as he sat into the chair.

Captain Saborn sat down into the co-pilot’s seat. “That’s so reassuring.”

As Commodore Edson resumed the shuttle’s evasive maneuvers, the Interceptor fired off a salvo into the shuttle’s rear. Commodore Edson saw it flash past the shuttle, preparing to loop around for another pass.

“What’s our status?” asked Commodore Edson.

Captain Saborn glanced at her instruments. “Looks like we have moderate damage to the drives. Comm systems and life support are ok. Hull integrity is iffy.”

“Damn. Alright, see if there’s a patch kit or something that will keep the window from blowing out if we get a near miss again,” said Commodore Edson.

“You mean the repair kits they keep under their seats? Yeah, I’m on it.” Captain Saborn reached under her seat, and pulled out a fair sized box. She removed a thin, strong ceramic sheet and held it against the window, then applied it into place with adhesive strips. Then, the Interceptor began its third attack run, this time doing a head on pass.

A burst of energy cannon fire streamed from the two guns on the Interceptor. Commodore Edson sent the shuttle into a wild spin, but it was too late. The energy cannon rounds flashed all around the cockpit area, hitting the larger passenger compartment. Air was explosively vented from multiple hull breaches, but the airtight door that led to the cockpit was already closed. The last round missed, but exploded below and to the right of the cockpit, crumpling the hull. Shrapnel was ejected, and one piece and hit Captain Saborn in her right pectoral, tearing through her tunic and into her body. Red blood began to flow from the wound. A grimace of pain crossed Captain Saborn’s face before she passed unconscious

“Damn! What the-oh, shit.” Commodore Edson took his left hand off the controls and applied pressure to the wound in an attempt to stop the blood flow. Her blood soaked his hand and the end of sleeve. Commodore Edson flinched and jerked the shuttle into a split-s as two vehicles passed into sight.

Commander Jensen’s voice came through the comm. “Whoa there, Commodore. Is your pilot drunk or something? We’re friendlies. Hang on.” Commodore Edson watched with detached interest as Commander Jensen and his wingman maneuvered behind the Imperialist Interceptor, though he almost smiled when it exploded into a ball of fire. Commodore Edson brought the shuttle to full speed towards the Halo and set the shuttle to autopilot.

“Nice to see you finally decided to join the party. Oh, and I’m flying with one hand, so shut up about that. What took you?” asked Commodore Edson.

“Sorry ‘bout that, sir. We had a failure in the power transference array for the launch system. What happened to you?”

“Both pilots were killed. We stormed the cockpit and took over. Captain Saborn’s wounded. The bleeding’s slowed down a bit now, but I think she’s in shock.”

“This is Captain Niesun. We’re preparing a medical team, and another shuttle to get you back to Liberator.”

“Good to hear that. What about the Imp fleet?” asked Commodore Edson.

“We’ve taken care of the skirmish force. The main fleet just started to move in. It’s uncanny. It as if they new exactly where to come in and hit us.”

“That is unsettling. Hang on, I’m going to try to dock.”

Commodore Edson reduced the shuttle’s speed, an easy process made rather difficult, as he had to take his hand off of the side stick control and reach across to the throttle. By now, his left hand was stiff and aching from constantly holding it in one position, and his sleeve was soaked in blood. Still, he managed to bring the shuttle into the side launch bays of the Halo. When he touched down inside the landing bay, he opened the hatch and a medical team stormed in. They put Captain Saborn on a stretcher, and Commodore watched as the medics carried her away.

Commodore Edson stepped out of the shuttle behind the medics, and Captain Niesun gave him a grave nod. Niesun gestured towards another shuttle, sitting on the far side of the landing bay. Commodore Edson nodded and ran up its boarding ramp. As the shuttle lifted off, Commodore Edson brought out his comm unit.

“Lightning Fleet and other combat vessels will intercept the Imperials. Swarmer pilots, assemble into two groups of equal size. Group one will attack first. When you run low on fuel, withdraw and have group two take over. Keep the fuel pods away from the battle; they’re too easy of a target. Have the Needleship plow straight into the battle and have the Swarmers dock with it. Kadesh Multi-Beam Frigates, attack the largest enemy combat vessel.”

The ships in Lightning Fleet and the Kadesh vessels began to bank and turn, forming into groups and heading off for their assigned targets. The Liberator was starting a turn to port as it grew in the cockpit’s window. The pilot was undaunted, and deftly docked with the port airlock as the Liberator was still turning. Commodore Edson scrambled out of the hatch and ran towards the bridge. The shuttle’s pilot resealed the hatch and took off again, this time towards the Halo’s docking bay. The petty officer that opened the airlock for Commodore Edson was shocked to see half dried blood on his uniform’s left sleeve. Commodore Edson shook his head at the young man and ran towards the bridge.

When Commodore Edson stormed through the door to the bridge, the leading elements of the Imperialist fleet were already in sight. A large swarm of Fiirkans and Triikors were racing towards Lightning Fleet’s capital ships. The Kadesh Swarmers and Advanced Swarmers looped under their formation from the left, unleashing their powerful mass drivers into the undersides of the enemy fighters. Many fighters exploded outright, with others being cleaved in half or having large holes punched through them. The Swarmers roared through the weakened enemy formation, breaking it up into individual dogfights.

As the enemy fighters pursued them, the Swarmers retreated. The enemy fighters gave chase, and energy cannon fire turned several Swarmers into fireballs. The Swarmers led the Imperialist fighters straight into the teeth of the oncoming Blade Mk VI, Acolyte, and Crusader fighters. The Hiigaran fighters had broken up into two formations, and they hit the Imperialist fighters from both left and right, launching their missiles into the group. More Imperial fighters were turned into fireballs and debris. Then, the fighter groups fell upon each other, performing the deadly waltz of fighter-to-fighter combat.

The second wave of Swarmers hurled themselves into the fray, eager to have their share of combat. The Swarmers targeted enemy fighters that were pursuing friendly ones, firing their mass drivers in diving attacks. By now, the enemy fighter force had been reduced in size by nearly half due to the ambush.

The Hiigaran corvettes joined the battle, forming into large groups and plowing through the furball. The Tempests were particularly successful in shooting down enemy fighters, as the Hammers could not use their burst attack in a friendly laden area. Droves of Imperialist fighters fell to the onslaught, and many of the survivors retreated.

The Imperialist corvettes had arrived by now, and both sides were engaged in duels. The Imperialists had a slight edge, with more Heavy Corvettes than the Hiigarans. But the Hiigaran Blades and Acolytes launched their remaining missiles at the Imperialist corvettes and retreated before they could respond. Several corvettes exploded, with others being heavily damaged by near misses. Then the Valiant, Dervishes, and Vengeances came in, and decimated the Imperialist Corvette ranks. Heavy energy cannon and ion cannon fire crippled numerous corvettes, burned out and blackened hulls drifting through space, the crews killed by explosive decompression as the cockpits were breached.

Twenty Kaarks swooped in, launching plasma bombs at a two Dervishes. The first lost two turrets, as well as sustaining several hull breaches. The second was hit in the drives, and was disabled. The Hiigaran corvettes turned on the Kaarks, and promptly destroyed them within ten seconds after they opened fire. Hiigaran Repair Corvettes arrived to repair the damage inflicted on the Dervishes.

The main battle fleets sighted each other, and four Imperialist Skaal-Tels lumbered forward. The Liberator, Justice, and destroyers of Lightning Fleet exchanged the first blows with the Imperialists. The Firelances moved to the left of the Imperialist fleet in a flanking maneuver. The Victory, Undertaker, and Justice launched a salvo at the first Imperialist destroyer, while the Liberator, Conqueror, and Leopard fired at another one. The Firelances of Lightning Fleet began to fire at the remaining two destroyers’ sides. The Destroyers’ return fire proved no less deadly to Lightning Fleet. All four fired on the Liberator, causing several hull breaches and the loss of the ventral missile battery.

The six Kadesh Multi Beam Frigates advanced on the four Skaal-Tels. They fired their ion beams that raked the sides. Fire blackened armor vaporized into balls of gas and condensed into little pellets just as quickly in the cold of space, while internal bulkheads melted into slag. Three Multi Beam Frigates and the Liberator targeted one destroyer. Sixteen blue ion beams cut into its hull at the same point, cutting through it and severing the ship. The others fell in short order.

Six Imperial Ion Frigates, four Assault Frigates, and two Heavy Cruisers lumbered into the debris field created by the destruction of the destroyers. All of Lightning Fleet’s fighters fired at the first Heavy Cruiser, with rearmed Blades and Acolytes launching missiles. Eighty-four missiles were launched, with explosions shattering the hull and blowing out armor plates. The Thunderbolts of Lightning Fleet plunged into the firefight, and destroyed the cruiser by severing the remaining connections between the bow and the stern with a volley of plasma bombs. The rear end of the cruiser exploded when several plasma bombs found their way into the reactor space.

The other Heavy Cruiser fared no better, with all of the capital ships firing at it. It had deep holes burned into the side by ion cannons, while energy cannons tore chunks out of the innards left exposed by ion cannon fire. Soon, the cruiser had lost all of its weapons mounted on the port side, and several drives were disabled. The Multi Beam Frigates finished it off by firing their ion cannons into the bridge area, killing the bridge crew immediately.

While Lightning Fleet was busy destroying the cruisers, the Imperialist frigates had not been quiet. The ion frigates’ had fired repeated blasts into the Orion, a Deacon destroyer, which was now venting flames in many areas, despite several repair corvettes and a Support Frigate repairing it. The Imperialist Assault Frigates had concentrated their fire on the Victory, with heavy damage to the drives, leaving her to drift without power.

Free of the two cruisers, Lightning Fleet turned its attention to the two frigate groups. Plasma bombs and energy cannons from the strike craft in Lightning Fleet chewed away at the frigates’ armor, blowing holes through the hull and into the frigates’ innards. Weapons from capital ships punched large, jagged holes through the ships’ armor. Many crewmen were killed, mutilated, or burned by the repeated weapons strikes as they desperately tried to fight off Lightning Fleet.

Lightning Fleet advanced on the Imperialist carriers, which had only a small guard force of two Kudaarks and a squadron of Triikors. The Triikors were simply overwhelmed with the eight to one odds that they faced, and were annihilated. The Kudaarks were destroyed in a similar fashion. The massive swarm of strike craft and the lumbering battle group of Lightning Fleet destroyed the three Imperialist carriers in a minute.

The Imperialists had exacted a hefty toll before being destroyed. The Orion had been destroyed, along with two Multi Beam Frigates, two Dervishes, two Firelances, and a Vengeance. Another Firelance and the Victory were lying dead in space. Fortunately, most of the crewmembers of the destroyed ships had been able to climb into escape pods and eject before their ships detonated, but the Kadesh Multi Beam Frigates did not have escape pods. Five squadrons of assorted fighters and corvettes had been lost.

HNS Halo
Sector Twenty-One, Hiigaran Defense Sphere, Deep Space
09:54 New Daiamid AHL 05.26.21

Commodore Edson walked into one of the many rooms in the Halo’s medical facilities. He carried a bag, which he set down at a table near the head of the bed. The patient sat up.

“Hey, that smells good. What is it?” asked Captain Saborn.

Commodore Edson smiled. “It’s a bunch of pastries and some hot coffee. Medical geeks have tendency to put their patients on a starvation diet.”

Captain Saborn laughed. “Actually, I haven’t eaten anything since I got here. So hand that bag over, or I’ll charge you with cruel and unusual treatment of subordinate officers.”

“I’m not sure that charge even exists, but anyway, here you go.” Commodore Edson handed the bag over to Captain Saborn, who eagerly opened it. She selected a pastry and began to devour it. As she was chewing, she took out the thermos containing coffee and opened it. Commodore Edson poured a cup for her, and one for himself. They drank in silence.

Finally, Captain Saborn spoke up. “Yesterday, when we went into that cockpit, that was the worst thing I’ve seen in my life. I mean, I’ve seen people die before, but not like that. It was just so-”

Captain Saborn couldn’t say anything further, and buried her face in her hands. She began to sob quietly. Commodore Edson knelt down besides the bed and pat her back. She looked up, and wrapped her arms around him. Surprised, Commodore Edson almost broke away, but thought better of it. Instead, he returned the embrace.

HNS Liberator
Sector Twenty-One, Hiigaran Defense Sphere, Deep Space
19:45 New Daiamid AHL 6.15.21

After the bloody battle, which was being dubbed the Battle of Sector Twenty-One, replacement crewmembers had arrived to replace the losses. But there was an acute shortage of ships, and frontline basses under heavy attack had precedence over Lightning Fleet.

The research ships had managed to make several breakthroughs in combining Kadesh technology with Hiigaran technology. The easiest was modifying the Kadesh ion cannon to Hiigaran Navy standards. Engineers had condensed the ions in the beam to reduce the fire time, while keeping the small size and firepower. The charge time of the cannon was also reduced. The result was that when the design was scaled up, it produced an ion cannon that was twice as powerful as the one currently used. There were also plans to use a scaled down version of the Kadesh ion cannon in the Dervish frigate to increase its firepower.

The Kadesh drive technology, dubbed Swarmer Drive by veterans of the Homeworld War, was harder to implement. This was due to the fact that most of the scientists assigned to the project had tried to implement the Hiigaran drive technology into the Swarmer’s drive system. This had proved impossible until one scientist had suggested reversing the concept. Instead of applying the ultra efficient fusion reaction to the Swarmer drive, he suggested that the Swarmer’s advanced cooling systems and double afterburning system be applied to the Hiigaran fighter engine. Computer tests had shown that the cooling system alone increased the power of the engine by ten percent by allowing more reaction mass to be used at any time. The afterburning system was implemented by adding a second row of ejection nozzles behind the set that already existed. When mounted on Hiigaran fighters converted into test beds, their performance increased by twenty percent.

The Swarmer’s armor material was analyzed, and it was discovered that it had a denser crystal polymer layer than the one used by the Hiigarans, as well as having a depleted uranium/tungsten allow layered with a synthetic diamond compound behind the crystal polymer composite. This also gave testimony to the theory that the Kadesh had very similar armor materials as the Hiigarans.

All of these advancements were combined into Hiigaran ship designs, and resulted in faster, more powerful, and more survivable ships. The Firelance Ion Cannon Frigate had its firepower doubled, while retaining the same speed as before. Other ion cannon armed vessels such as the Revelation and Avatar saw significant increases in their overall firepower.

The Hiigaran fighter designs had been updated to accommodate the slightly enlarged engine, and were now much faster than before. The Blade Mk VI, which had an original top speed of nine hundred meters per second, could now travel at one thousand meters per second. The Thunderbolt was capable of eight hundred fifty, the Acolyte nine hundred seventy-five, the Defenders at four hundred eighty, and the Crusader one thousand twenty five without turbo boosting. Now, all Blade Mk VIs, Acolytes, and Crusaders had turbo boosters, which increased their speeds to one thousand one hundred eighty, one thousand one hundred fifty, and one thousand four hundred meters per second respectively.

The new armor material had added extra weight to the ship designs, which that merely slowed down acceleration. Unmanned target frigates, which were essentially metal plates welded to a low cost engine, had a layer of the new armor material added. Test firings showed that it was far more resistant to kinetic and explosive weapons, such as energy cannons, missiles, and mines than the old system, while resistance against ion weapons was slightly increased.

Commodore Edson had transmitted the research teams’ findings to High Command, and recommended that all vessels be upgraded accordingly. High Command had responded with orders to commence upgrading his vessels at once, which Commodore Edson had already done.

On the bridge, Commodore Edson and the crew had little to do, as they were in a non-combat zone. Imperialist forces were pushing ever closer to Hiigara, but Commodore Edson was unable to do anything about it. That was the one fact of guarding the research vessels that he resented. Then, Commodore Edson’s communications officer spoke up.

“Sir, we have communication from High Command! They say that several of the hyperspace inhibitors around Hiigara have been destroyed.”

“Do they want us to counterattack?” asked Commodore Edson.

“No sir, several Home Guard fleets with plenty of gravwells are currently engaged in battle and are having some success. But they are outnumbered, and cannot sustain the fight for much longer. High Command wants us to report immediately to Hiigara.”

“It seems that the Home Guard fleets deployed are simply buying time for the rest of the fleets to assemble. Have all resource vessels collect one final load of resources. Have construction teams complete as many new frigates as possible, and have the remaining crewmen in cryo storage crew them. I want us out of here within the hour. Ask the Kadesh to send their fleet, we’ll need all the help we can get,” ordered Commodore Edson.

Minutes later, an image of the Kadesh High Priestess appeared on the main screen in the Liberator’s bridge.

“We have received word that Hiigara will be attacked. We will gladly place ourselves under your command to vanquish the evil that threatens our Homeworld.”

“Thank you, High Priestess,” replied Commodore Edson. “We ship out within the hour.”

“Understood.”

>> Chapter 9>>