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Chapter Seven
Somewhere in Hyperspace
HNS Liberator
18:17 New Daiamid AHL 05.12.21

Commodore Edson was in his quarters, putting the finishing touches on the after action report of the defeat at the Chorax Asteroid Field. It was a tedious and strenuous task that no officer looked forward to, especially after a battle where friends and colleagues had been lost, but there was no avoiding it. He finished, and transmitted it via hypercomm to High Command. Commodore Edson left his room to have his dinner.

When he was walking through a corridor, a jolt shook the ship. Commodore Edson knew what that meant, and raced for the bridge. He ran through the doorway just as the scene transitioned from hyperspace to real space. When the transition was completed, a needle shaped vessel, around two-dozen frigates, and more than a hundred fighters surrounded Lightning Fleet and the transports from the Chorax Asteroid Field Base. Commodore Edson only needed one look out the bridge window to know which race the vessels belonged to.

“The needle shaped vessel is hailing us. They are using voice only. They wish to speak to you, sir,” said the comm. officer.

“What the? I have to hear this. Put it on the speaker,” replied Commodore Edson.

A near-Hiigaran voice rang out across the speaker. “We are the Sojourn Clan. We have no desire for conflict. Our ships are damaged and we are running out of resources. We request an audience with you on your ‘cruiser’ vessel.”

“I must consult my officers. Please wait,” replied Commodore Edson.

After a few minutes of deliberation, Commodore Edson had his reply. “I’m no diplomat, so I’ll be blunt with you. I’m in an irritable mood because you pulled me out of hyperspace, so listen up. If you try anything funny, I’ll have my fleet blow yours out of space. You may come aboard with up to two other members of your crew if you wish. You will come aboard my ship with no weapons. Marines stationed aboard my vessel will escort you at all times. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, you do. Thank you for granting our audience. We will come aboard using a shuttle. Where will we dock?” came the reply.

“Starboard air lock. Out.”

Commodore Edson was sweating, and his bridge crew had noticed. They also looked uneasy, and with good reason. Commodore Edson issued orders to his fleet.

“Tell our ships to remain at battle stations. Launch our fighters. Have all ships stand by. If any of the Kadesh vessels does anything hostile, destroy them, but limit fire to hostile vessels only. Transmit a warning to the Kadesh fleet, just in case their leader conveniently forgot to tell them that we mean business.” There were a few weak smiles at that, and the orders were relayed to the rest of Lightning Fleet.

When the Kadesh representatives arrived through the air lock, they stared at a squad of marines with guns at the ready. The squad leader told the Kadesh leader to follow him, and led them into a large conference room where Commodore Edson, Captain Saborn, and another squad of marines were waiting. The first squad left, and the remaining marines arrayed themselves around the room.

“Thank you, sir, for-“ began the Kadesh leader.

“Wait. Other officers in my fleet are coming,” replied Commodore Edson. Five minutes later, Captain Niesun and Commander Jensen entered the room.

“All right. Now, please start,” said Commodore Edson.

“Very well. As you know, we belong to the Sojourn Clan of the Kadesh. Twenty-one years ago, your Kushan fleet entered our Garden. A Spire was sent to intercept you, and present you with the choices to either join or be destroyed. You forced that Spire to leave, and also destroyed three Spires when they ambushed you. But what caused the upheaval after you left was the information that we shared a common ancestor,” said the Kadesh leader.

“The High Priestess received word of our fleet’s destruction when on of our Providers hyperspaced to inform her that the battle was going badly. This was after you destroyed three of our Spires. The High Priestess had a vision that day, and informed the rest of our fleet that the latest intruders were also our cousins. She suggested that we attempt to locate you and join you in your quest to destroy the Great Evil.

“Then, something terrible happened. The Fleet Leaders and many of the Priestesses refused to leave the Garden. They believed the Holy Scripts, which stated that if we attempted to destroy the Great Evil, it would destroy us. So, there was a revolution. Some leaders believed that we could destroy the Great Evil, but most were not willing to risk the destruction that was prophesized. There was no war, with the High Priestess and her followers surrendering without a battle. The High Priestess was removed from power, and the Fleet Leaders took over.

“The High Priestess had several visions nineteen years after you arrived in our Garden. She informed the Fleet Leaders that you had defeated the Great Evil, many years before. Several Fleet Leaders believed her. This caused a new revolution. The High Priestess’s followers managed several victories, but the Fleet Leaders crushed them in one decisive battle. They retained their ships but were exiled from the Garden.

“After the exile, the High Priestess’s followers broke up into two distinct clans. There is the Predator Clan, which opted to stay near the Garden. The Sojourn Clan, which I belong to, wanted to go to your Homeworld. Because we were already low on resources and ships, we decided to part ways without bloodshed. This happened mere months ago.

“We of the Sojourn clan managed to reconstruct your course, and followed it towards the Galactic Core. We encountered the species calling themselves the Taiidan Imperialists in a skirmish, and we defeated them. We managed to obtain the coordinates of your Homeworld from one of their vessels that we captured. But another Taiidan Imperialist fleet ambushed us, and our fleet was devastated. Our Spire’s hyperdrive failed on our final jump towards your Homeworld. So, we activated our inhibitor field and waited for a vessel to drop out of hyperspace, which turned out to be you.”

HNS Liberator
Sector Twenty-One, Hiigaran Defense Sphere, Deep Space
18:43 New Daiamid AHL 05.18.21

“So,” said Commodore Edson, “what do you want us to do?”

“We wish you to help us repair our hyperdrive module, and bring us to your Homeworld,” replied the Kadesh representative.

Commodore Edson looked around the table, and got nods from every Hiigaran officer. “I suppose that there is no reason for us not to do that.”

“What is the name of your Homeworld?” asked the Kadesh representative.

“Our Homeworld’s name is Hiigara. I have one question. Who are you?”

“I am the High Priestess.”

“Oh, yes, uh, Your Highness. Um, ah, I apologize if we were a little, um, ah-“

The High Priestess cut him off. “No need to apologize. The previous contact between our two species resulted in the loss of many on both sides. It was only natural for you to be wary.”

“Yes, Your Highness. If you will excuse me, I need to issue new orders to my fleet. Marines, escort the High Priestess and her aides to their shuttle,” said Commodore Edson.

HNS Liberator
Sector 21, Hiigaran Defense Sphere, Deep Space
19:53 New Daiamid 05.23.21

Lightning Fleet had sent a transmission to High Command, informing them of a peaceful contact with the Kadesh, along with a requisition of support vessels. High Command had been skeptic, so Commodore Edson had to spend half an hour explaining what had happened. After he had received rebukes and praise from half a dozen officers of increasing rank, a small flotilla of support and research vessels, as well as a small group of frigates centered around the Deacon destroyer Orion, were sent to rendezvous with Lightning Fleet and the Kadesh ships. High Command had assigned the Kadesh Operation, as it was called, under the command of Commodore Edson.

Currently, the support vessels were repairing the Spire’s hyperdrive and other systems, along with many of the other vessels. The research vessels were hastily examining the Kadesh Multi Beam Frigates and Swarmer fighters. The Kadesh High Priestess had given her permission for the Hiigaran scientists to study their vessels, and use whatever technology they gained to help defeat the ‘Great Evil’. With some consultation and review of records, it was determined that the ‘Great Evil’ was most likely the Taiidan. Some Kadesh technicians and engineers were assisting the scientists, who were astounded at what they saw.

Commodore Edson, other Hiigaran officers, and the head scientist were in the Liberator’s conference room. The head scientist was standing at a makeshift podium at the front of the room. He was giving an overview of what his scientists had gleaned from the Kadesh during the past few days.

“Sir, from our preliminary examinations of the Kadesh Multi Beam Frigate, which they refer to as the ‘Guras’, which was a mythical weapon during ancient times. Their legends say that one of their early protectors of the Garden had a sword made of light, and-“

“Please, dispense with the historical reference. We are here to be briefed on the capabilities of the Kadesh ships, not their legends and folktales,” said Commodore Edson.

“Yes, sir. Anyway, the Multi Beam Frigate has an incredibly small and powerful ion cannon system, as we discovered during the Homeworld War. Their ion cannon has a more advanced form of the particle acceleration matrix used in the Somtaaw Multi Beam Frigate. The coil is longer, and is straighter. But what gives these cannons their power is the immense density of the ions. It is almost twice as dense as our ion cannons. Coupled with the fact that the ions are also more negatively charged, these cannons are arguably the best in the galaxy, short of the Bentusi and the Galactic Council’s cannons. But they charge their cannons for a longer time, thus achieving a longer fire time.”

“The Swarmer design is very interesting, as it trades crew space for speed, armor, weapons, and fuel capacity. The cockpit is cramped, about thirty percent smaller than ours is. The fuel tanks are ten percent larger than the ones mounted on the Blade Mk V. But the Swarmer’s power plant is very large, nearly Corvette class in size, and has a double afterburning system that is always on. It is also less efficient even without the afterburning system. This consumes an incredible amount of fuel, making the large supply run out very quickly in battle. But the rest of the Swarmer vessel is very deadly. It has extremely thick armor for a fighter, and the guns are as powerful as the ones mounted on a corvette, with a much better fire rate.”

Commander Jensen spoke up. “So, how do we incorporate the ion cannon and Swarmer design features into our ships? I won’t mind going at 1500 m/s and having corvette guns on my fighter.”

“That is an interesting point, Captain. We can easily modify our frigates to carry scaled up and more powerful versions of the Kadesh ion cannon. It would not be difficult, in my assessment, to reduce the charge time and fire time of the ion cannon. As for the Swarmer, we need to find a way to incorporate the efficiency of the Acolyte drive into the Swarmer engines. If we can do that, then we would have the fastest fighter that does not need to refuel.”

“How long would this take, to incorporate the best of the Kadesh technology with our technology?” asked Commodore Edson.

“Anywhere from two weeks to two months, with the research capabilities we have here,” replied the scientist.

“At the current rate, the Imps would burn Hiigara in two months. All right, here’s the plan. You make the research go as fast as possible. If you need to cut some corners, fine. But don’t make weapons that blow up when fired or fighters that have their engines die mid battle. Captain Niesun and Commander Jensen, you two will join the scientists to help them with the military aspect of their work. As for me, I’m going to ask, beg, bribe and blackmail High Command to have all the available research vessels sent here, in order to speed up the research.”

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