Onslaught (Rise of the Empire Book 6) (6 page)

***

Dakar Tag’r’ron of Clan Ooruvan entered the command room in haste, the alarms still blazing throughout the headquarters. As soon as he entered, his subordinates informed him of the situation.

“A large, unidentified fleet has just appeared close to Lu’tal,” one of Tag’r’ron’s taskmasters reported. The rest were moving around the room with almost panic-like haste. But all were doing their jobs.

Tag’r’ron glanced at the large holographic display, which now showed icons representing the unidentified force. “How did it get here unnoticed?”

“We don’t know, Dakar; one moment there was nothing, and then they were there.”

“There is no transfer point there,” Tag’r’ron said. The Ra’a’zani might not have been able to use the transfer points that the devils could, but they had learned how to detect them.

“No, Dakar, and there was no indication of such a large transfer. They just appeared out of nothing,” the taskmaster said.

“Have they found us?” Tag’r’ron asked.

“Their signatures don’t match, Dakar. It is unlikely that it’s them.”

Tag’r’ron watched the holographic feed. The numbers and other data concerning the ships was still being updated, but already, deep down, he knew that this fleet was hostile. There was little reason for anyone to send so many ships, and that they had just appeared from nothing suggested that they had greater technology. Already, the five hundred ships protecting this system were moving, adjusting their positions to protect the resource processing plants in orbit of Lu’tal. The fleet had two hundred class 2 warships, which had always been the backbone of the Ra’a’zani fleets. Another thirty class 3’s and twenty class 4’s—the strongest ships they fielded—and the rest were class 1’s, the weakest of their warships, which were ordinarily used for patrolling.

“We are receiving a communication request from the unidentified fleet,” the taskmaster said, forcing Tag’r’ron to bring his attention back to him. The taskmaster then exhaled through his snout in surprise. “The communication is using our outdated codes, Dakar!”

“Open a channel,” Tag’r’ron ordered.

The holographic display in front of Tag’r’ron changed, and a being stood there watching him. “A Human?” Tag’r’ron exclaimed in surprise.

“Yes, Ra’a’zani,” the Human female said in Ra’a’zani language. “We have come to settle a debt that your kind owes. We have come for our people. I am offering you this one chance to surrender, or we will destroy you and take our people anyway. If you surrender, you have our word that you will be left in peace once we have taken all your slaves and destroyed all your military assets.”

Tag’r’ron’s first impulse was to demand the slave to bow to him, but he kept his mind. The Human world was destroyed, their people only stragglers. He knew that they had colonies outside of their homeworld, but he was having trouble believing that the force now attacking his system was Human. It didn’t make sense to him, that the race his people had conquered so long ago was now demanding things of him. Slaves did not demand from their masters.

He glanced at the holo; the preliminary scans of their ships were starting to come in, and already he could see that those ships were not like those that had taken back the Human system. These were warships like those of the devils. But Lu’tal was the only hope for his people’s survival; it was here that all the material for their shipbuilding was processed, here that they mined more than half of all of the materials they used. If Lu’tal fell, the Ra’a’zani would die; whether by the hands of these Humans or the devils, it didn’t matter.

“Ra’a’zani don’t answer to slaves,” Tag’r’ron snarled.

“Exactly the response we expected,” the human female said grimly. “Your surrender doesn’t matter in the large scheme of things. We know why you had to run away, and we know who hunts you. But your plans for rebuilding and defeating your foe will not come to fruition; the end of the Ra’a’zani starts now. You are nothing now. Your civilization will end by our hand,” she said, and closed the channel.

Tag’r’ron watched the empty space where the holo of the Human had been, his mind still not believing that this was happening. The rest of the room was quiet, no one saying anything, until suddenly the holo showing the Human fleet started flashing.

“Dakar! The Humans are opening fire!”

Chapter Seven

As soon as Aileen closed the link, Johanna ordered the fleet to fire. While Aileen had talked with the Ra’a’zani, she had assigned targets to her fleet. Her ships opened fire with their missiles and long-range energy weapons, and the Ra’a’zani ships and defense platforms started dying.

“How much do you think before they are ready to talk again?” Johanna asked.

Aileen grimaced. “They might not, but if they come to their senses, it will be after we take the orbit.”

Johanna nodded. That had always been a possibility. “You should get ready; we will move to the surface and the next stage after we clear their defenses.”

Aileen nodded, a bit shaken, and walked out of the command center. Johanna leaned her head to the back of her chair, and the access points on the back of her neck made connection with the Watchtower interface in her chair. Her vision changed as she suddenly found herself in space looking at her fleet. With a thought, she started sending orders to her ships.

***

Force Leader Andros Venter sat in the command chair of his ship—the dreadnought Risen—and watched the holo in front of him attentively. Orders from the Fleet Commander came through the holo and Andros acknowledged them. His ship was in the front line of the fleet, leading the assault on the Ra’a’zani fleet. Half of the Ra’a’zani fleet was composed of their class 1 ships, the same class that Andros had fought at Sol, 450-meter-long patrol ships. The second most was their class 2 with 200 ships, which were about a kilometer long and equivalent to the Empire’s cruisers. Lastly, there were 30 and 20 of their largest ships, classes 3 and 4, respectively. Their class 3 fell somewhere between the Empire’s cruisers and battleships at 1750 meters in length, and their class 4 was larger than the Empire’s battleship at 2500 meters in length, but still smaller than the Empire’s dreadnoughts. All Ra’a’zani ships followed the same design, that of squashed, irregular boxes covered in small, scale-like plates.

As Andros watched the battle and the Ra’a’zani class 1 ships dying at range, he saw their larger classes moving from the back to shield them. One of their class 4 ships moved in front of the Ra’a’zani formation, just outside of the range of Andros’s ship.

“Move us into position and target that ship’s drives, Weapons Handler. Full spread proton beams, three seconds cycle. Prepare k-turrets one and three for fire,” Andros ordered as he highlighted the ship in question on his c-board.

The 3000-meter-long arrowhead-shaped dreadnought moved out of the fleet’s formation, its laser point defense striking down any missile that drew close enough to the ship.

“I have a lock,” the Weapons Handler said.

“Fire,” Andros ordered.

“Firing.”

The new Empire ships were much different than those before them; they had sacrificed the sheer amount of kinetic weapons tonnage for more power. The dreadnoughts still had a much larger arsenal than the other classes, but gone were the times where they could cover the space with countless kinetic shells; there was no need for it.

The dreadnought class possessed twenty-two heavy proton beam emitters, an upgrade of their particle beam weapons. A simple frequency shift and a particle discovered in the data from the sphere had increased the power of their weapons by 900 percent, and one side effect was that the beam was now visible to the naked eye. Each emitter was capable of holding the destructive beam for five seconds before needing to cool off.

The dreadnought’s weapons swiveled and targeted the Ra’a’zani ship; a single beam of dark green energy struck the Ra’a’zani ship, impacting its shimmering field. The shimmering field tech was an amazing discovery, a field that dissipated any energy hitting it. It was a tech that the Empire had stolen and improved on. The current Ra’a’zani field tech was now leagues behind that of the Empire.

The field held for barely two seconds before collapsing, allowing the green energy beam to strike the ship’s hull. The beam burned away into the hull, arcs of crackling energy jumping out of the impact point to scorch and damage the surrounding areas. In one second, the beam had already done significant damage. Then, just before the beam shut off, another took its place, burning into the hull for another three seconds before yet another took its place, allowing for constant damage to the Ra’a’zani ship and enough cooldown time for the proton beams.

The Ra’a’zani ship tried to roll, tried to bring to bear an area where their shimmering field still worked, but they were too slow. The beam blew through their drives, leaving them without maneuvering. But even with that, the massive ship was still a threat, still firing its weapons at the Empire’s ships.

“Their drives are down, Force Leader,” Andros’s subordinate reported.

“Lock k-turrets one and three, one shot each,” Andros ordered.

While the Empire had downgraded the number of their kinetic weapons on their ships, they had not removed them from their arsenal. In fact, they had upgraded them significantly with the help of the knowledge they had received from the sphere.

Two kinetic slabs of ri-steel exploded from the Risen’s turrets, traveling not at a scant fraction of the speed of light, but at one third. White streaks of light slammed into the unmoving Ra’a’zani ship, ignoring their shimmering fields completely. Two shots blew the largest class of ship that Ra’a’zani fielded to pieces.

“Nice shooting, Weapons Master,” Andros said. “Keep up the missile fire on the enemy’s smaller ships. Let’s see if we can find some more of their class 4 ships to destroy.”

***

Johanna watched as the Ra’a’zani ships and their defense platforms exploded under the fire from her ships. The Ra’a’zani field defense tech was no match for the firepower of her fleet. Their missiles were slower and weaker than her own, and the combined point defense of her fleet didn’t allow a single one of the Ra’a’zani missiles to pass through—and even if they had, Johanna was certain that the energy shields on her ships would’ve held.

The Ra’a’zani were trying to disable her fleet’s missiles using their defense, the same they had used in her last battle with them. But now the Empire knew what it was, and their missiles were shielded against it. It was ingenious, really. The Ra’a’zani system locked on to the frequencies that the missiles oscillated at. Everything in the universe had a unique frequency—everything vibrated. By sending a vibration on the same frequency as the missile through sub-space, the Ra’a’zani were able to produce a reaction and the missiles exploded. But now her missiles were shielded, their frequencies almost impossible to lock on to, their defense useless.

A few of their class 3 and 4 ships braved the missile fire and closed the range, firing their main weapons. Bolts of white-green energy flew towards her drone ships. The crew remotely controlling them tried to evade but were unable to move the 760-meter-long drones in time. Three bolts of energy struck one drone’s shields, briefly making the shields visible in the area of impact. The Ra’a’zani weapon was something that they hadn’t been able to identify until they’d gained access to the sphere and its knowledge. The weapon utilized what the People had called Xa-nan, named so after the woman who had discovered it, Xa Gannan. It was a type of plasma-like substance that could literally break down solid matter, as long as it had energy.

The three consecutive impacts on the energy shields did nothing, as the weapon was completely useless against shields. Its only strength was against solid matter. The drones fired their main weapon, high-intensity lasers, which the Ra’a’zani field’s dissipated but not completely; a small portion of the lasers’ destructive energy was transferring to the hull, scorching and melting it. The Ra’a’zani ships found themselves surrounded by drones, and hammered by intense beams of light and heat. Johanna sent the order for a couple of her battleships to change targets and finish the Ra’a’zani warships with their more powerful weapons.

Her fleet’s missiles were hammering the Ra’a’zani ships, kinetic weapons blew their defensive platforms to pieces, and proton beams destroyed their ships. The Ra’a’zani were outmatched in every possible way, and soon the fighting drew to a halt as the last Ra’a’zani ship died. She had lost three drones, and had one lightly damaged cruiser; the Ra’a’zani had lost everything.

Johanna disengaged the Watchtower interface, and started giving orders for the fleet to take up positions in the high orbit of the planet while the drones destroyed all the Ra’a’zani orbitals—their stations and processing plants—while her cruisers handled the planetary defenses and covered the fleet. Her larger ships were on their way to deal with the Ra’a’zani presence on the two moons and the rest of the system. It was time for stage two.

***

Anessa was brought to the command room of Adrian’s ship escorted by six guards. She could see that all inside the room were engrossed in their stations. Orders were sent and relayed much like they were on a Legion warship. In the center stood her captor. Leaning on a railing, he gazed at the holographic display in front of him. His two beasts sat on their haunches, attentively watching Anessa as she approached. As she stepped close enough, he turned to look at her, then gestured to the display.

Anessa turned her gaze and studied the holo. She didn’t understand any of the markings or data, but she knew that what was in front of her eyes was an aftermath of a battle. She recognized pieces of Ra’a’zani warships, and knew that the Humans had done what she couldn’t—they had found Ra’a’zani territory. Empire ships had besieged the planet on the holo, and many were lowering themselves to the ground. It was an invasion.

Immediately, she felt anger. It was supposed to be her Legion that was destroying the Daksinn—the Ra’a’zani. She turned her eyes to Adrian, seeing him studying her.

“I wanted you to see this,” Adrian said.

“Why? Do you think that if I see you defeating these weaklings that I will change my mind, counsel my Elders not to attack you?” she said harshly. She couldn’t contain herself; this was her blood call. And she was seeing it fulfilled by another.

Adrian gave a sad shake of his head. “You told me that this was important to you, to see the Ra’a’zani dead for massacring your people.”

“I thought that your Empire doesn’t wipe out weaker civilizations. Does that cover only those races that didn’t have the chance to harm you? Are you perfectly fine with killing others when it is out of revenge?” Anessa asked sarcastically.

“You think that you know everything, that you know what my people are ready to do,” Adrian said as he turned towards her, his expression harsh. “We don’t wipe out entire civilizations when there is another option. You think that that makes us weak; I assure you it does not. The end of Ra’a’zani civilization begins now, not because we are vengeful, but because they are a blight on the universe. They made a conscious choice to enslave others with full knowledge of what they were doing, and they cannot change. Their culture, their economy, and their industry all rely on slaves. We gave them several chances to surrender. They refused.” He calmed down a bit, taking a deep breath.

He turned to look at the planet on the holo. “What we are about to do, we do with full understanding of what the consequences will be, and with a heavy heart. But taking a life of a sentient being should never be easy.” He turned to look at her. “You would’ve bombed this planet and wiped out all life on it, with no regard for those that the Ra’a’zani had enslaved, thinking that they are weak. But they are not; they just haven’t had the opportunity to become strong. We are going to give that to them, but the choice of using that chance is ultimately theirs. If they squander the chance we give them, they will remain weak and we will let the universe decide their fate.”

Anessa grimaced. Everything he said went against all that she knew. “And how will you end their civilization without bombing their worlds? Will you become like them and enslave them?” she asked. The Shara Daim abhorred slavery, both the slaves and the slavers. It was a weakness.

A hurt expression came over his face for just a moment, and Anessa realized that her believing he would allow such a thing hurt him. But quickly his emotions disappeared behind a blank mask. “No, we will not enslave them. We will kill them all, because they are too far gone to be saved. We have devised a pathogen that will make all of them infertile. They will not be able to reproduce; this will be their last generation. We will leave them on their worlds with no means to reach space, to die of old age. Their race will not end with a loud bang of a planetary destruction; it will end in a soft exhale of the last Ra’a’zani’s dying breath.”

Anessa looked at him, shocked. To create such a thing was an amazing achievement, one that her people would’ve never attempted, partly because they didn’t have the knowledge, and partly because they preferred to fight and grow stronger from the battles against the weaker races. But to end a race like that, it was a fate far crueler than what she had believed this Empire capable of. She couldn’t imagine living with the knowledge that her people would die, and that there was nothing that she or anyone else could do about it.

“So,” Anessa said, giving him a level look, “you will wipe out an entire sentient species from the universe, and yet you frown on the actions and beliefs of my people.”

“You still don’t understand,” he said slowly, pityingly. “The Ra’a’zani will be gone, but something new will be born out of their ashes. It was never your actions that bothered us; what you are doing is the rule of the Universe, the strong survive and the weak perish—we understand that. It is your core beliefs that we take issue with, those that say that you are better than everyone else, that you are destined to rule. You don’t fight against other races because they have harmed you first; you do it because they are in your way.”