An original story I've cooked up...
Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 3:46 pm
ALLIES FROM ENEMIES
Location: Theritsa, Tetradonian colony system
Date: 07.09.179
The small station floated gracefully in the inky black of space. It wasn’t that important in the grand scale of things—in fact, it wasn’t all that important to the Theritsa system. But to Flank Lieutenant Haarsk Thilofil, it was the most important thing in the universe.
“Weapon status” he ordered
“Plasma and kinetic weapons are at full readiness. Point defence stations are at 75% readiness. Anti-fighter systems...that’s odd...”
“What is odd?” Thilofil demanded
“Sorry, Sir, the information wasn’t appearing on screen. AF systems are at 95% efficiency”
Thilofil grunted and turned his attention to the medium-range scans.
The station was a waystation and local anti-raider base for the asteroid belt that was only .3AU from the system secondary, a red dwarf that orbited the primary at around 9AU. It was similar to all other anti-raider bases throughout the Tetradonian Social Republic’s territories—simple, strong and armed with plasma beams, coil cannons and a couple of fighter squadrons for helping any freighter or miner being attacked by raiders.
“That’s odd...” the sensor tech reported
“I see it” Thilofil replied before the tech could elaborate on his comment “That’s a rather unusual flare from the red dwarf”
“Energy ratings are very high, almost five times larger than anything we’ve seen” the sensor tech reported “Should we alert Theritsa Prime?”
“Yes, we should. Warn them to prepare for solar flare activity, and—“
“Sir! Sensor probes 1, 3 and 4 have gone down! Sensors are picking up a large mass of plasma heading towards us!”
Thilofil’s eyes widened. That was not very good, he thought. But instead of responding how a two-year academy graduate might, he ordered himself to remain calm and spoke
“At its current velocity, how long before it hits the station?”
“Two minutes, Sir”
“Order all ships close by to evacuate. Order everyone onboard the station to report to flare bunkers”
“Sir, shouldn’t we send them to escape pods?”
Thilofil shook his head “No, that flare is too powerful. It would overwhelm an escape pod’s flare shielding. Our station’s shields might be just strong enough, but divert all emergency power to the shields—there are five hundred people onboard and I don’t want to sign their death warrants by being overconfident”
“Plasma wave impact in 60 seconds”
The sirens on the station increased in pitch, a sign that the wave was close to impacting the station. The heavy radiation doors started to close all over the station, protecting the inhabitants from any radiation seepthrough that might make it past the shields.
Yet, for all of their preparation, it wasn’t enough.
The plasma wave slammed into the small station, and the shields, powerful as they were, failed after fifteen seconds. The next second, Thilofil, the sensor tech, five hundred Tetradonians and the entire station were reduced to their constituent protons, neutrons and electrons.
###
Location: Tetradonar, Tetradonian home world
Date: 08.09.179
The Republican Council stared in shock as the footage, from a Kitell-class corvette that had been out of the way of the plasma wave, finished playing.
The Tetrarch looked at the lead scientist and asked “What is the current situation?”
The lead scientist hesitated, his Shuriden insectoid body looking positively frail amongst the massive bulks of the Hlaak-Noor and Hlaak-Fa that made up the majority of the Tetradonian population
“From what we’ve been able to gather, the red dwarf seems to be entering a more chaotic phase of its lifespan. Massive flares, radiation spikes and so on. Unfortunately, when we made our initial survey of the system twenty years ago it seemed fairly quiet and we thought that the system would be an ideal place to colonise, even if it was close to the Avtarian and Murtalian borders. However, it now seems that the system is going to be experiencing fairly major problems over the next few decades.
“Theritsa Prime itself should be safe, as it’s far enough out of range of the plasma waves, and the radiation spikes should be countered by additional colony shielding. However, Theritsa Two and the other asteroid colonies will not be, and will have to be evacuated in the next month or two before the red dwarf becomes too chaotic and dangerous. Mining efforts in the Theritsa system are going to have to cease or be taken over by Republic government mining operations which can provide the larger ships and better shielding that will be required”
The Economy Minister interrupted “It’s obvious that we need those metals and other materials from Theritsa, both to keep the economy stable and to provide more raw materials for our war machine. I’ll begin co-ordinating efforts with the Science Ministry, Mining Ministry and War Ministry to help the switchover to government-based mining of the system”
The Tetrarch nodded “That’s the mining question sorted out. How is the evacuation going to be handled?”
There was a silence
Eventually the Economy Minister looked up “At the current time our mercantile fleet is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Most of our long-range ships are in transit between the homeworld and Valargis with food and ores. We can shuffle around the disembarking orders to try and free up as many ships as possible, but even if everything goes to plan, we’re only going to be able to evacuate ten million of the fifteen million colonists that will have to be moved. Plus, we need to find a place for them to be loaded off, as Theritsa Prime is close to its maximum population levels as it is and would require more infrastructure build-up to take them. We could move the five million that can’t be picked up by long-range ships to Theritsa Prime with local traffic and locate the colonists we can pick up to the Gradril system, but it’s going to be awfully tight. Military vessels could also be used, but they’re not going to be enough”
The Tetrarch finally said “So, what options do we have?”
“The first option is to strip all cargo ships and other vessels in range and send them to Theritsa. The advantage is that we’d be able to pick up all the colonists. The disadvantage is that the economy and war machine would be thrown into complete disarray and would take ages first to strip the ships down and move them into the system, and in fact might mean that they would get there too late. We could prioritise, but it’s going to be a balancing act and if we get it wrong...”
The Minister’s voice trailed off, leaving the sentence to finish itself
“The second option is to ask for help”
The chamber erupted into uproar. Five minutes later, calm was finally restored. The Tetrarch stared at the Minister again and asked “What did you say?”
“I said we could ask for help”
The Tetrarch laughed a single bark of laughter “And who should we ask? The Zolrinans? They cower behind their borders and never come out. The Avtarians? They’re more likely to respond with a carrier battle group than an evacuation convoy. And the Murtalians and we have been in a state of distrust for ten years! The minor races will not be able to help or will not bother, seeing as they view us as the worst thing this side of Avtarian space. No-one will help us. No” he shook his head “No, we must do this ourselves”
###
Location: Murtalia, Murtalian Confederacy homeworld
Date: 09.09.179
The Council of Thirty-Seven, the Confederacy ruling council, were in debate. The one hundred and eleven individuals in the chambers were in a state of discussion that had not been sensed by the majority of the population since the Avtarian War twenty-two years before. The Triumvir Council itself was in debate too. All that the average Manu, Marti or Guardi knew was that a disaster had occurred beyond the borders of the Confederacy. Normal triumvirs themselves knew little, but reached out and calmed the rest of the population, their telepathic voices relaxing the Guardi’s anxiety and Manu’s restlessness and calming the Marti’s desire to protect their fellow Murtalians. The Thirty-Seven would make themselves clear later, they said. All throughout the Confederacy, the same words could be heard.
Three hours after the debate started, the Thirty-Seven made their decision, and the Triumvir Council agreed.
One hour after the decision was made, thirty vessels altered their course from the system of Minorkhan. Their destination: Theritsa
Location: Theritsa
Date: 13.09.179
Frontal Captain Hruthi Koorst snarled at the two junior officers facing him
“I don’t care if the colonists of Theritsa Omicra don’t want to leave their factory plants behind—we are trying to get as many colonists out of the system as possible! If they don’t like it, let them know that they can be the last ones out of the system. We need every cubic metre of space to carry colonists and essential supplies”
The junior officers nodded mutely.
As they hurried away, Koorst looked out of the viewscreen of the observation deck of the Pyramidalia-class war cruiser he commanded. The entire orbital plane of Theritsa Prime was a hive of activity, the hulking long-range freighters in-system dwarfing the smaller independent cargo haulers that were being drafted into government service. Around them, hundreds of small shuttles danced an intricate dance, moving colonists already evacuated to the surface or onboard the longer-ranged vessels, moving out of the system.
But around them were positioned the Republican Ninth Fleet. Raiders and small empires who were not above a little light piracy themselves would not hesitate to try and capture freighters laden with Tetradonians for ransom, or simply to kill some of their hated enemies. Plus, it always helped to have some military around to help supervise the evacuation process.
So the Ninth Fleet, one of the smaller formations in the fleet, was drafted to help. Four Pyramidalias, eight Sphelak destroyers, eight Kitells plus even a Cylandrik exploration cruiser that was passing through the Gradril system just as word of the disaster struck. The war cruisers, more used to embarking a marine division, now found themselves embarking more colonists that couldn’t squeeze aboard the freighters. The colonists who found themselves onboard such vessels often found the quarters slightly cramped, but the protection of finding themselves in a full-fledged cruiser of the Republic made up for that. And with the Tetradonians always in need of new recruits, the colonists onboard such craft typically were younger, more impressionable Hlaak-Fa who would enjoy being taken for a tour of the weapons and fighter bays.
A communication chime sounded, and Koorst activated it
“Yes?”
“This is the Bridge, Sir. Sensors have picked up thirty hyperspace portals at long-range. Tentative mass readings suggest ten are very large indeed. The others are smaller, but a few of them match mass readings for Murtalian cruisers of the Visharin class”
Koorst’s blood ran cold. He never expected much of the Murtalians, but running down helpless civilians?
“Power up weapons and shields, order fighter crews to their stations and order the corvettes into screening positions. Make sure we give those Murtalians a bloody nose before they over-run the system”
Koorst de-activated the comm., and walked out of the observation deck.
###
Twenty minutes later
Koorst stood stock-still, his instincts pumping the Hlaak-Noor equivalent of adrenaline into his bloodstream. The fleet had moved into intercept positions, and fighters were already in the sky, but Koorst didn’t expect much.
In the last skirmish, over the Murtalian system of Minorkhan, a full war squadron of eight Pyramidalias and eight Kitells, the former the largest vessel in Tetradonian naval service, had encountered one Sherkorin dreadnought and three Visharin heavy cruisers with an escort of four Intalin escort carriers.
The Murtalians destroyed them.
No, not simply ‘destroyed’ them—they’d made sure that no vessel escaped. That was what was so scary about those damned Murtalians—they were hard to provoke (their actions in the first war had proved that), yet when they decided to stop you, you stopped.
And approaching his nineteen vessels was a force fifty percent larger than his, with ten vessels almost certain to be the next level of Murtalian war engineering—a Bavoralkin superdreadnought.
Scans had more positively identified the fleet. There were two Sherkorins, four Visharins and four Vishalin light fleet carriers. That was a potent fleet. Military Intelligence hadn’t yet pegged the remaining hulls, but the ten Bavoralkins and the other ten hulls—maybe a new type of assault cruiser?—were almost certainly a war fleet.
His thoughts were interrupted by the communications officer
“Picking up a signal from the lead Sherkorin”
Koorst didn’t give any outward signal that he’d heard the report, but he was thinking very hard indeed. Just as the comms officer was about to repeat her report, he waved his hand
“Audio only”
The voice came through, distorted slightly by the translation system in place
“This is Triumvir Captain Loriki Housma of the Confederacy Naval Vessel Thres-da-Nahak. We understand you are conducting an evacuation and we’re here to provide assistance, if necessary”
Location: Theritsa, Tetradonian colony system
Date: 07.09.179
The small station floated gracefully in the inky black of space. It wasn’t that important in the grand scale of things—in fact, it wasn’t all that important to the Theritsa system. But to Flank Lieutenant Haarsk Thilofil, it was the most important thing in the universe.
“Weapon status” he ordered
“Plasma and kinetic weapons are at full readiness. Point defence stations are at 75% readiness. Anti-fighter systems...that’s odd...”
“What is odd?” Thilofil demanded
“Sorry, Sir, the information wasn’t appearing on screen. AF systems are at 95% efficiency”
Thilofil grunted and turned his attention to the medium-range scans.
The station was a waystation and local anti-raider base for the asteroid belt that was only .3AU from the system secondary, a red dwarf that orbited the primary at around 9AU. It was similar to all other anti-raider bases throughout the Tetradonian Social Republic’s territories—simple, strong and armed with plasma beams, coil cannons and a couple of fighter squadrons for helping any freighter or miner being attacked by raiders.
“That’s odd...” the sensor tech reported
“I see it” Thilofil replied before the tech could elaborate on his comment “That’s a rather unusual flare from the red dwarf”
“Energy ratings are very high, almost five times larger than anything we’ve seen” the sensor tech reported “Should we alert Theritsa Prime?”
“Yes, we should. Warn them to prepare for solar flare activity, and—“
“Sir! Sensor probes 1, 3 and 4 have gone down! Sensors are picking up a large mass of plasma heading towards us!”
Thilofil’s eyes widened. That was not very good, he thought. But instead of responding how a two-year academy graduate might, he ordered himself to remain calm and spoke
“At its current velocity, how long before it hits the station?”
“Two minutes, Sir”
“Order all ships close by to evacuate. Order everyone onboard the station to report to flare bunkers”
“Sir, shouldn’t we send them to escape pods?”
Thilofil shook his head “No, that flare is too powerful. It would overwhelm an escape pod’s flare shielding. Our station’s shields might be just strong enough, but divert all emergency power to the shields—there are five hundred people onboard and I don’t want to sign their death warrants by being overconfident”
“Plasma wave impact in 60 seconds”
The sirens on the station increased in pitch, a sign that the wave was close to impacting the station. The heavy radiation doors started to close all over the station, protecting the inhabitants from any radiation seepthrough that might make it past the shields.
Yet, for all of their preparation, it wasn’t enough.
The plasma wave slammed into the small station, and the shields, powerful as they were, failed after fifteen seconds. The next second, Thilofil, the sensor tech, five hundred Tetradonians and the entire station were reduced to their constituent protons, neutrons and electrons.
###
Location: Tetradonar, Tetradonian home world
Date: 08.09.179
The Republican Council stared in shock as the footage, from a Kitell-class corvette that had been out of the way of the plasma wave, finished playing.
The Tetrarch looked at the lead scientist and asked “What is the current situation?”
The lead scientist hesitated, his Shuriden insectoid body looking positively frail amongst the massive bulks of the Hlaak-Noor and Hlaak-Fa that made up the majority of the Tetradonian population
“From what we’ve been able to gather, the red dwarf seems to be entering a more chaotic phase of its lifespan. Massive flares, radiation spikes and so on. Unfortunately, when we made our initial survey of the system twenty years ago it seemed fairly quiet and we thought that the system would be an ideal place to colonise, even if it was close to the Avtarian and Murtalian borders. However, it now seems that the system is going to be experiencing fairly major problems over the next few decades.
“Theritsa Prime itself should be safe, as it’s far enough out of range of the plasma waves, and the radiation spikes should be countered by additional colony shielding. However, Theritsa Two and the other asteroid colonies will not be, and will have to be evacuated in the next month or two before the red dwarf becomes too chaotic and dangerous. Mining efforts in the Theritsa system are going to have to cease or be taken over by Republic government mining operations which can provide the larger ships and better shielding that will be required”
The Economy Minister interrupted “It’s obvious that we need those metals and other materials from Theritsa, both to keep the economy stable and to provide more raw materials for our war machine. I’ll begin co-ordinating efforts with the Science Ministry, Mining Ministry and War Ministry to help the switchover to government-based mining of the system”
The Tetrarch nodded “That’s the mining question sorted out. How is the evacuation going to be handled?”
There was a silence
Eventually the Economy Minister looked up “At the current time our mercantile fleet is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Most of our long-range ships are in transit between the homeworld and Valargis with food and ores. We can shuffle around the disembarking orders to try and free up as many ships as possible, but even if everything goes to plan, we’re only going to be able to evacuate ten million of the fifteen million colonists that will have to be moved. Plus, we need to find a place for them to be loaded off, as Theritsa Prime is close to its maximum population levels as it is and would require more infrastructure build-up to take them. We could move the five million that can’t be picked up by long-range ships to Theritsa Prime with local traffic and locate the colonists we can pick up to the Gradril system, but it’s going to be awfully tight. Military vessels could also be used, but they’re not going to be enough”
The Tetrarch finally said “So, what options do we have?”
“The first option is to strip all cargo ships and other vessels in range and send them to Theritsa. The advantage is that we’d be able to pick up all the colonists. The disadvantage is that the economy and war machine would be thrown into complete disarray and would take ages first to strip the ships down and move them into the system, and in fact might mean that they would get there too late. We could prioritise, but it’s going to be a balancing act and if we get it wrong...”
The Minister’s voice trailed off, leaving the sentence to finish itself
“The second option is to ask for help”
The chamber erupted into uproar. Five minutes later, calm was finally restored. The Tetrarch stared at the Minister again and asked “What did you say?”
“I said we could ask for help”
The Tetrarch laughed a single bark of laughter “And who should we ask? The Zolrinans? They cower behind their borders and never come out. The Avtarians? They’re more likely to respond with a carrier battle group than an evacuation convoy. And the Murtalians and we have been in a state of distrust for ten years! The minor races will not be able to help or will not bother, seeing as they view us as the worst thing this side of Avtarian space. No-one will help us. No” he shook his head “No, we must do this ourselves”
###
Location: Murtalia, Murtalian Confederacy homeworld
Date: 09.09.179
The Council of Thirty-Seven, the Confederacy ruling council, were in debate. The one hundred and eleven individuals in the chambers were in a state of discussion that had not been sensed by the majority of the population since the Avtarian War twenty-two years before. The Triumvir Council itself was in debate too. All that the average Manu, Marti or Guardi knew was that a disaster had occurred beyond the borders of the Confederacy. Normal triumvirs themselves knew little, but reached out and calmed the rest of the population, their telepathic voices relaxing the Guardi’s anxiety and Manu’s restlessness and calming the Marti’s desire to protect their fellow Murtalians. The Thirty-Seven would make themselves clear later, they said. All throughout the Confederacy, the same words could be heard.
Three hours after the debate started, the Thirty-Seven made their decision, and the Triumvir Council agreed.
One hour after the decision was made, thirty vessels altered their course from the system of Minorkhan. Their destination: Theritsa
Location: Theritsa
Date: 13.09.179
Frontal Captain Hruthi Koorst snarled at the two junior officers facing him
“I don’t care if the colonists of Theritsa Omicra don’t want to leave their factory plants behind—we are trying to get as many colonists out of the system as possible! If they don’t like it, let them know that they can be the last ones out of the system. We need every cubic metre of space to carry colonists and essential supplies”
The junior officers nodded mutely.
As they hurried away, Koorst looked out of the viewscreen of the observation deck of the Pyramidalia-class war cruiser he commanded. The entire orbital plane of Theritsa Prime was a hive of activity, the hulking long-range freighters in-system dwarfing the smaller independent cargo haulers that were being drafted into government service. Around them, hundreds of small shuttles danced an intricate dance, moving colonists already evacuated to the surface or onboard the longer-ranged vessels, moving out of the system.
But around them were positioned the Republican Ninth Fleet. Raiders and small empires who were not above a little light piracy themselves would not hesitate to try and capture freighters laden with Tetradonians for ransom, or simply to kill some of their hated enemies. Plus, it always helped to have some military around to help supervise the evacuation process.
So the Ninth Fleet, one of the smaller formations in the fleet, was drafted to help. Four Pyramidalias, eight Sphelak destroyers, eight Kitells plus even a Cylandrik exploration cruiser that was passing through the Gradril system just as word of the disaster struck. The war cruisers, more used to embarking a marine division, now found themselves embarking more colonists that couldn’t squeeze aboard the freighters. The colonists who found themselves onboard such vessels often found the quarters slightly cramped, but the protection of finding themselves in a full-fledged cruiser of the Republic made up for that. And with the Tetradonians always in need of new recruits, the colonists onboard such craft typically were younger, more impressionable Hlaak-Fa who would enjoy being taken for a tour of the weapons and fighter bays.
A communication chime sounded, and Koorst activated it
“Yes?”
“This is the Bridge, Sir. Sensors have picked up thirty hyperspace portals at long-range. Tentative mass readings suggest ten are very large indeed. The others are smaller, but a few of them match mass readings for Murtalian cruisers of the Visharin class”
Koorst’s blood ran cold. He never expected much of the Murtalians, but running down helpless civilians?
“Power up weapons and shields, order fighter crews to their stations and order the corvettes into screening positions. Make sure we give those Murtalians a bloody nose before they over-run the system”
Koorst de-activated the comm., and walked out of the observation deck.
###
Twenty minutes later
Koorst stood stock-still, his instincts pumping the Hlaak-Noor equivalent of adrenaline into his bloodstream. The fleet had moved into intercept positions, and fighters were already in the sky, but Koorst didn’t expect much.
In the last skirmish, over the Murtalian system of Minorkhan, a full war squadron of eight Pyramidalias and eight Kitells, the former the largest vessel in Tetradonian naval service, had encountered one Sherkorin dreadnought and three Visharin heavy cruisers with an escort of four Intalin escort carriers.
The Murtalians destroyed them.
No, not simply ‘destroyed’ them—they’d made sure that no vessel escaped. That was what was so scary about those damned Murtalians—they were hard to provoke (their actions in the first war had proved that), yet when they decided to stop you, you stopped.
And approaching his nineteen vessels was a force fifty percent larger than his, with ten vessels almost certain to be the next level of Murtalian war engineering—a Bavoralkin superdreadnought.
Scans had more positively identified the fleet. There were two Sherkorins, four Visharins and four Vishalin light fleet carriers. That was a potent fleet. Military Intelligence hadn’t yet pegged the remaining hulls, but the ten Bavoralkins and the other ten hulls—maybe a new type of assault cruiser?—were almost certainly a war fleet.
His thoughts were interrupted by the communications officer
“Picking up a signal from the lead Sherkorin”
Koorst didn’t give any outward signal that he’d heard the report, but he was thinking very hard indeed. Just as the comms officer was about to repeat her report, he waved his hand
“Audio only”
The voice came through, distorted slightly by the translation system in place
“This is Triumvir Captain Loriki Housma of the Confederacy Naval Vessel Thres-da-Nahak. We understand you are conducting an evacuation and we’re here to provide assistance, if necessary”