<< Back to Chapter Index <<

Chapter One
HNS Avatar Mk II Liberator
Cal-Senbu System
14:38 New Daiamid AHL 3.14.21

Fleet Captain Wesley Soban Edson sat in the command chair of the newly commissioned Liberator. The bridge crew was busy calculating hyperspace coordinates, analyzing sensor readings, and calibrating fire control systems. His gray eyes stared out into hyperspace as he and his crew took the Liberator through her shakedown cruise. Captain Edson snorted; as his ship was still not yet considered combat ready, he had to drag around a bunch of engineers and technicians that were busying themselves by scampering around his ship and interfering with his crew's activities. He noticed one of them inspecting a hatch, and silently laughed as a cook bearing a tray full of coffee tripped on the hunched over technician, splattering brown liquid and containers all over the technician. He ignored the fact that a few drops had landed on his brown hair. The tech stood up, a look of scorn and betrayal on his face.

Having been briefed on his new command's capabilities months before, when the Liberator was still in pieces being assembled inside one of the many orbital construction facilities around Hiigara, Captain Edson was very content. The Liberator was part of the Avatar Mk II class, meaning that she was far more multi-purposed than the original heavy cruiser design. Engineers had taken pointers from the Somtaaw Archangel and Deacon class ships, mounting a missile battery on the ventral and dorsal sides. This made the Liberator capable of devastating a massed strike craft attack. An upgraded drive system afforded the Liberator a top combat speed of two hundred ninety meters per second.

Captain Edson had risen through the ranks fairly quickly, attaining his current rank at the age of thirty-nine. Demonstrating impressive command skills and a keen tactical mind had been a primary factor in High Command’s decision to appoint him command of the Liberator. The fact that he had attained command of such a prestigious vessel while many officers of his age were either second in commands or commanding lesser vessels was a point of heated debate among several of his fellow captains. But High Command was composed of mainly of captains and commanders from the Homeworld War, and not many of the new generation were willing to argue with their decision.

Captain Edson was thinking of the current Hiigaran political situation as a way to relieve the boredom of the hyperspace journey. Only a few months ago, the various Kiith-Sas announced that they were modifying the ancient multi-kiith system. They had retained the New Daiamid, but it was a more powerful worldwide government in charge of all of Hiigara. Each continent had a governor, and the kiiths on each continent reported to the governor. A new office had been created, the Kushan-Sa, but it was as of yet still unoccupied, with elections being conducted all over Hiigara. Various protests to the new system had arisen from a few small kiiths. Captain Edson thought that this was perfectly reasonable. He took his mind off of politics; this was not his area of expertise.

The Liberator lurched slightly as it dropped out of hyperspace, but the artificial gravity and the inertial dampers made the deceleration withstand able. A few moments later, the crew in the sensors pit went into a riot of activity. At this time his executive officer, Captain Katharine Naabal Saborn, ran up to him from the crew area, her short black ponytail swaying. Only one year younger than Captain Edson, Captain Saborn had been involved with the Avatar Mk II project long before Captain Edson even knew of its existence.

"Captain, we detect a Republican convoy, with escorts within our immediate vicinity. They are hailing us and we have identified ourselves as friendly," she said.

"Good. Then what’s the trouble?" he asked.

Her blue eyes hardened into an expression of contempt. "We detect unknown incoming vessels, possibly Turanic Raider, heading on an intercept course with the convoy. They have not responded to our hails, and we are flagging them as hostile."

Captain Edson gave her a quizzical look. "Why haven't they jumped out?"

Captain Saborn shook her head. "They say that one of their vessels has a hyperdrive malfunction. They think that they can repair it before the Raiders are upon them."

"Alright. Be prepared to offer assistance. Sound general quarters. Go to orange alert."

"Yes sir." Captain Saborn sounded general quarters, and within a minute the ship was combat ready, though not at red alert due to the fact that there was no solid evidence that any shots would be fired, yet. Captain Edson was satisfied of his crew's performance. He had a few worries, as his ship had no escorts, as this had not been planned as a combat action, but now was not the time to worry about such things.

"Sensors, what’s ETA of unknowns to the Republican convoy?"

"ETA is one minute, eleven seconds. They still haven't responded to ours nor the Republican's hails," the sensor team's chief said.

"Alright. Communications, send word to the Republicans that we are moving in to assist. XO, sound red alert. Helm, plot a course that will take us right into the convoy when the unknowns hit them." He heard acknowledgements from the respective parties. This was good. His crew was newly formed, but they had a solid core of veterans, and the crew was functioning well.

Half a minute later, the Republican convoy was within visual range. The unknowns were indeed Turanic Raiders. The convoy's escorts were holding up against them, but the heaviest warships they had were four Assault Frigates. The Raider fleet could easily overpower the convoy's escorts, with eight Ion Array Frigates. Raider and Republican strike craft were conducting their deadly dance among the stars. Just then, a Republican Assault Frigate succumbed to the Ion Array Frigates' fire, managing to fire off a few escape pods before it detonated. Captain Edson noticed that the convoy was rather small for having such a large escort, with only three cargo vessels.

"Bring us right into those Ion Array Frigates. Whichever one the Republicans are shooting at, we shoot at as well. Have the missile launchers fire at the Raider strike craft."

As the Republicans were valiantly struggling against the Raider vessels, the Liberator arrived on scene. As the Ion Array Frigates fired off another salvo of ion beams, the Liberator fired off her first shots. Her linked ion cannons and energy cannon rounds tore through one of the Ion Array Frigate's starboard energy panels, having enough energy left over to cause some hull damage. As the Raiders realized this new threat, the sent four of the Ion Array Frigates, including the damaged one, over to combat the Liberator. Captain Edson grimaced; this was going to be a slugging match, and at the moment the enemy had more firepower. He decided to revise his previous order.

"Weapons, concentrate all fire on the damaged frigate's bridge. When it falls, immediately target the one right to starboard of it. Helm; move us into position slightly above and in front of the Republican frigates. Keep on maneuvering use into the enemy's line of fire; we can take a lot more damage than the Assaults can."

His crew immediately responded. The Liberator's concentrated fire quickly tore through the armor surrounding the bridge of the damaged Ion Array Frigate, causing it to lose all command. Return fire from the three remaining frigates charred the hull and turrets, causing the Liberator to shudder, but did not breach the armor plating. Her gunners graduated to the next frigate, taking out the bridge as well with blue ion beams shearing through the hull armor like a knife. One lucky shot from the Liberator's energy cannons managed to penetrate the hole created by the ion cannons, and exploded inside the Ion Array Frigate, causing significant damage within it. Captain Edson nearly smiled with grim satisfaction: his gambit was working. As his gunners targeted and destroyed the enemy frigates' bridges, that would deprive them of effective command for a while, depending on how well trained the crew was, which would buy the Liberator and the convoy some valuable time. But at the same time, the enemy might catch on to his tactic, which then they would probably emulate it. The two Ion Array Frigates that still had combat capability decided to target the Liberator's drives. Their two ion beams cut through an access panel, and destroyed a power generator. The lights in the bridge flickered.

"Damage Control, report," Captain Edson said.

"It looks like they managed to hit one of our generators. We are at 80% power, with minor fluctuations in the plasma ducts. Some shrapnel from the explosion managed to cut one of them open, and that has caused some more damage to our drives. I have crews working on it now," the officer said.

"Have some of the engineers assist. It looks like they aren't that useless after all," Captain Edson replied with a grin, getting one in return.

The Liberator's return shot cut through the hull plating surrounding the enemy Ion Array Frigate's acceleration ladder. It was unclear on whether the ion cannon itself was damaged. The next salvo from the Liberator was targeted at the hole made by the previous one, punching through the hull and the other side. Having a gap in the ion cannon, the volatile gasses that formed the ion beam mixed together, then a spark from cut wires and detonated them. The resulting fireball was enough to consume the entire vessel. With their effective combat strength cut down by nearly half, the Raiders decided to bring their carrier into the fray.

"Sensors, report," said Captain Edson.

"The Republican Assaults have been heavily damaged, but the Raider IAFs are uncoordinated, not concentrating their fire as the Republicans are. The Republicans have two Assaults in combat, with a third in the rear area undergoing repairs. The Raiders have lost three IAFs, wait, there goes another one. The Republican strike craft have defeated the Raider ones, with the survivors in full retreat. The Republican fighters and corvettes are now performing strafing runs on the IAFs fighting the Assaults," the sensors officer replied.

"What is the status of that enemy carrier?"

"It seems to be heading on an intercept course with us. The remain IAF that we're fighting is pulling back towards the carrier, with the two other damaged ones just floating dead in space."

"Helm, move us towards the enemy carrier."

"Yes sir!" came the reply.

"Sir, I detect hyperspace signatures! They are coming in right behind us! I detect seven frigate class ships and four super-capital ships! I haven't been able to identify them yet," said the sensors officer.

He, however, was spared the trouble. As soon as the fleet completed the transition from hyperspace, they opened fire on the Turanic Raiders. Captain Edson watched as the five Ion Frigates, two Assault Frigates, two Destroyers, a Missile Destroyer, and a Heavy Cruiser from the Republican fleet routed the remaining Turanic Raiders. Blue ion beams laced across enemy Ion Array Frigates, cutting holes through the hull plating. Three of the five Ion Array Frigates that remained detonated, hurling pieces of ship throughout space. The two remaining frigates still had not recovered from the loss of their bridges, and the Raider carrier began to retreat. The Republicans and the Liberator gave chase, firing off salvos that hammered into the launch bays and drives. Soon, the rear of the carrier was ablaze with multiple hull breaches and fires raging inside the ship. The Republicans hailed the carrier, demanding its surrender, but the captain would not cooperate, and decided to self-detonate. The carrier started to shudder, and then bright yellow glowing lines appeared in the seams where the pieces of armor plating joined. Then, in one final flash of light, the carrier exploded into a fireball of burning gas and debris.

After capturing the two remaining Ion Array Frigates, Captain Edson paid a visit to the flagship of the Republican task force that had defeated the Turanic Raiders, the heavy cruiser RNS Dragon. He discovered that the commander was an old friend of his, Vice Admiral Huljard Selquet, an aging, grizzled veteran of many campaigns, including the Homeworld War. He had served as a sensor’s officer on the bridge of an Assault Frigate that had been placed under the command of the Kushan Navy during the Battle of Hiigara. Unfortunately for him, a damaged Taiidan Empire Attack Bomber had inadvertently slammed into the bridge. In the resulting destruction he had lost his right arm, which was now a mechanical limb.

"Permission to come aboard sir," Captain Edson said, leading his party of officers towards the gathered Republican officers.

"Granted. Welcome, Fleet Captain Edson. Congratulations on the promotion," Admiral Selquet replied.

"Thank you, sir."

"Drop the formalities now, would you, Wes?"

"Yes sir."

After Captain Edson and Admiral Selquet introduced their senior officers to each other, they headed off to the small bar maintained in a corner of the galley. Soon the two officers were engaged in conversation and nursing their drinks.

"I see that you are aggressive as ever, Wes. And am I correct when I say that it was not part of your mission profile to offer assistance to our convoy?"

"Well, I was getting bored of dragging a bunch of techno weenies around," he replied with a grin. "When we dropped out of hyperspace, your convoy was conveniently located nearby. The Raiders came, and we went in. After holding them off for a while, you decided to come and play with us. Can I ask what the convoy was doing there?"

"Sorry. That’s classified information. But I can tell you it has to do with the Beast, as your people discovered it. I am bending the rules greatly here, so do not tell anyone."

Captain Edson whistled. "That explains why such as small convoy had such a large escort. How would the Raiders know of this convoy, anyway? And why would they want whatever it is that you had in there?"

"Those are questions that my intelligence officers are asking. By the way, you do have my thanks for the assist."

"It was nothing. I was itching for a fight. I was getting sick of cruising around in a combat ship with nothing out there to confront." Just as he finished his sentence Captain Saborn walked into the bar. Hearing what he had just said her face broke into a failed attempt to hide a smile.

"Ah, Kate, there you are. Admiral, you were introduced to her in the docking bay. She is the best XO I've ever had the privilege of commanding,” Captain Edson said.

"Are you sure you've only had the privilege of being her CO?" Admiral Selquet asked with a smirk.

"Its a strictly professional relationship, admiral," Captain Edson replied.

>> Chapter 2 >>