Out of the Ashes (Rise of the Empire Book 3) (16 page)

Chapter Nineteen

November 2171 – Second Fleet

The Second Fleet dropped out of yet another trans-lane. Now only a hundred light years from the Solar system. They were close enough now that messages to Earth would take only a couple of days there and back. And so they could contact them while they were traveling to the next trans-station. Johanna was eager to hear about the Resistance’s plans. As they drew closer she felt apprehension, knowing that soon she would be in a battle for the first time. She had kept scenarios running throughout the fleet for their entire trip. And she had studied both battles that Fleet Commander Farkas fought, in Sol and at Nuva, but also the Voyager’s encounter with the Sowir. Each battle was so different than the other, and in each their commanders acted in ways that differed from what she would have done. But nevertheless, Johanna studied their tactics, and planned her strategy. She knew that it wouldn’t survive the first encounter with the enemy, but her goals were clear. Liberate Earth using any means necessary.

“Turiel, send the first message to the resistance.” Johanna said.

“Right away, Fleet Commander.” Turiel, the ship’s Ai responded.

Then Johanna stood up and relinquished control of the CC to her Ship Master. Andros accepted, and started ordering the fleet towards the next trans-station. Johanna left it to him. They had done this dozens of times by now, it had lost some of the excitement it had before. As she walked the corridors of her ship, she could feel the same from her crew. Before things would stop each time they entered or exited a trans-lane, everyone watching the view outside on the ship’s many view screens that showed images from the outside. Now, no one did, they walked around at a brisk pace, in a hurry to do their jobs. Stopping only for a moment to acknowledge Johanna’s presence with a quick salute.

As she walked, she glanced to the view screens seeing the fleet moving there alongside the Monarch. As she walked by she caught her own reflection in one of the screens. She studied herself for a moment, her short brown hair, a young pretty face, and a slim figure. She did not look like someone who commanded an entire fleet. At least not to her. But then she was old enough to remember what someone aged looked like. On Earth her job in the Concordis military, and later Olympus security, took her to almost every part of the world. In the undeveloped countries she saw people who couldn’t afford to buy life extension treatments. In Concordis and the League they were free, Olympus made them so. But in other countries, those that refuse to let Olympus in, they were expensive and only rich and powerful could afford them. Now that was a thing of the past, every child born now, would stop aging after their 25th year. Staying forever young. Johanna still didn’t quite understand what it meant to have a truly infinite lifespan, she thought that no one did. At least not yet. But it will hit people, in a hundred years or a couple of decades for some. Then they would truly see what this amazing discovery has done to them.

Shaking herself from her deep thoughts, Johanna continued walking. She visited every part of her ship, delighting in seeing everything working smoothly. She loved that part, the everyday command of a ship. She has delegated a lot of that work to Andros now that she was in charge of the entire fleet, but she still kept herself involved. The Monarch felt like a part of her, she loved this ship. She knew what it was capable of, and relished in the knowledge that soon she would be able to let her ship loose on the enemy. Just as she felt trepidation at the fact that many of the people under her command would not make it through it, perhaps even she and her ship. But it was what she chose to do, just like her people chose. Their job was to liberate Earth, and that was what they would do.

***

Solar system – OES Star Gazer

Mathias entered Jacob’s ready room on the Star Gazer. Jacob was sitting behind the desk a couple of holographic displays were open, showing various information. As Mathias approached Jacob raised his head and looked at him.

“What is it?” Jacob asked.

“Olympus fleet sent a message.” Mathias said.

Jacob immediately stood up, “Where are they?”

“They are about one hundred light years away, they requested that we start updating them about our plans.” Mathias said.

Jacob walked out from behind his desk, “How big is the communication lag?” Jacob asked.

“Five days.” Mathias said, “we need to send the message in the next three days, after that they will enter another trans-lane.”

Jacob nodded as he went for the doors, Mathias followed. With the new developments in Sol it their odd have turned for the better. The Ra’a’zani have sent all their warships back to their space with the last convoy, leaving only one warship in Earth orbit. The job for the Olympus fleet just got easier. Before, their plans were for the fleet to draw out all Ra’a’zani ships to the belt. Now they didn’t need to do that, they only had to take out the single ship in the Earth’s orbit. The Resistance still didn’t know the reason why they sent the ships away. They have been trying to get that information, but it looked like only the Overlord knew the reason. But what really stumped them was that they also gathered up all the breading camps, and have loaded all the materials that they had stored. If Jacob didn’t know better he would have thought that they planned on leaving.

They reached the bridge of the ship. There were two people there waiting. More precisely one human and one Ai. The hologram of the ships Ai was projected on the holo-platform, he looked like a human dressed in standard black Olympus fleet uniform. The other person was Tamara Grace, Jacob’s second in command. Jacob entered, followed by Mathias.

“What do we have?” Jacob asked.

“The message just came through, they request an update.” Tamara responded.

Jacob approached her chair, “Alright, let’s send them the update on the situation in the system.” Jacob said.

“Should we tell them about the new Ra’a’zani ships?” Tamara asked. Jacob paused, most of the Resistance was of the opinion that they should withhold the information about the three Ra’a’zani warships. The ships could be a game changer, and while Olympus had the right to know, it might not be the right moment.

Jacob shook his head, “No. The situation has changed, Olympus’ chances have improved greatly. There is no need to worry them with something that is no longer a problem.”

Tamara turned back to her screen preparing to send the message.

“Asumy,” Jacob turned to the hologram, he knew that he didn’t need to turn to the hologram to speak with the Ai, but it had become a habit. “What do you think?”

“I agree with your decision. The Ra’a’zani warships are not an immediate danger.” Asumy said.

Jacob turned back to Tamara, “Send it.”

Tamara entered the commands and sent the message.

***

Three days later Jacob was in a planning session on board the Star Gazer. There were five people present including Jacob. He had been with these people for years, and trusted them with his life.

“We finished fabricating all the weapons we need to take over the mining installations.” Tamara said.

“The plans are already in place. Once the Olympus fleet arrives, our people among the miners will rise up and take control.” Edward Riggs said.

“Are we sure that we can smuggle the equipment on the sites?” Olivia Sanders asked.

“Yes. With the stealth ship and the Ra’a’zani shuttle we can get everything in place.” Jacob answered.

“Are we going to use the Star Gazer?” Mathias asked. He has been training on the piloting the ship since he found it.

Jacob looked thoughtful, he hadn’t really thought about it. Up until recently they had a Ra’a’zani warship patrolling the mining sites, now they had no such obstacle, “Asumy?” Jacob asked.

The holo on the desk in the room turned on, and a miniature version of the Ai’s human form appeared.

“The Star Gazer has limited weapons, but without the threat of the Ra’a’zani warship the danger to the ship is minimal, while its addition to the assault increases the chances of success significantly.” Asumy said.

“Well, then we need to adjust our plans with the Star Gazer in mind.” Jacob said.

“Most of the Ra’a’zani are usually in the facilities on the surface of the asteroids.” Edward started thoughtfully, “We might not need to take fight them directly, we can use the Star Gazer to take out the surface facilities.”

“Perhaps… We need to plan this carefully, and make sure that human loss of life is minimal.” Tamara said.

“Are we going to take some of the Ra’a’zani prisoner?” Olivia asked.

“I don’t think that we have the capability nor the resources to hold any prisoners.” Jacob said, “Nor do I think that any of our people would want to. Better that we kill them quickly than to have vengeful people get hold of them afterwards. We all know what humans are capable of, and I doubt that we could keep them safely. And what would we even do with them later? Perhaps if we manage to capture some of the higher up’s in the belt, for questioning… But it shouldn’t be a priority.” Everyone around the room nodded grimly, they all understood the need to keep their people under control.

“Alright, let’s go over the plans again and see how we can include the Star Gazer.” Jacob said. They spent the next couple of hours going over everything and modifying their plans to include the Olympus ship.

Chapter Twenty

December 2171 – Leviathan; First Fleet

Adrian ducked and rolled under a roundhouse kick aimed to his head, he came out of his roll rising and turning back towards his opponent who was already moving into position to unleash another attack. Seeing a chance, Adrian rushed forward closing the distance and entering his opponents range. Before his opponent could start his attack, Adrian struck quickly with his fists, hitting the pressure points on his opponents shoulder hip and thigh. Then he dropped quickly and swept his opponent’s legs. Sahib dropped to the floor, hitting with his back so hard that Adrian heard Sahibs breath leaving his lungs. Then Sahib released a painful groan.

“That hurts like hell.” Sahib said after he recovered enough to talk. Adrian dropped to the floor, making himself comfortable in a cross legged position. He waited until Sahib raised himself up into a sitting position.

“You are going to need to do much better than that if you plan on beating me.” Adrian said. Sahib rolled his eyes at him.

“Aren’t you supposed to be up on the Command Center by now?” Sahib asked.

“There are still a few hours left. I have plenty of time to kick your ass a few more times, get showered, maybe take a little nap, and then go threaten some aliens.” Adrian said, grinningly.

Sahib dropped down to the floor, “Nah, I think that I am done with getting my ass kicked today. And I would much prefer you be well rested before you threaten some aliens.” Sahib said.

Adrian laughed out loud and got to his feet, “Right. I’ll see catch you later then.” With that Adrian left him there laying on the floor. He went to the changing room took his kimono off and went to take a quick shower. Afterwards he dressed and went to his quarters. He fed Sora and Akash, and took a four hour nap, waking up just in time to get to the bridge twenty minutes before they exited the trans-lane. He arrived just as the shift change occurred, the third shift moving off while the first took their place. Paul was taking his place at the Ship Masters chair just as Adrian entered the CC.

“Ship Master.” Adrian said while walking towards his chair, behind him like always followed Sora and Akash.

“Good morning Fleet Commander. A big day ahead of us.” Paul said grinning. Adrian returned Paul’s grin, but just for an instant. As he approached his chair, he felt himself go into his command mode, what Iris called his battle persona. His face grew expressionless, and all the things that occupied his mind outside of his command chair faded into the background.

“A big day indeed.” Adrian replied coldly as he took his seat. Immediately he turned on the c-board with his implant. Holographic displays sprung up in a 180° around him, the middle was reserved for his fleet and the command interface. One side showed the status of every ship in the fleet, while the other held a quick comm system. Allowing him to get in contact with each ship commander instantly, if he needed to speak with them outside of the commands he would be issuing over the c-board. Above the command interface was where most of the data would be shown, distances, timers and such, now that space was empty, as they hadn’t yet reached their destination.

“Are you ready?”
Adrian asked.

“Of course Adrian.”
Iris responded. The two of them took the time before they arrived, to run a last minute check on the c-board.

“Entering Tarsas system in one minute!” Navigation Handler yelled out.

Adrian finished his tests, and leaned back in his chair and waited. A minute later the Nav. Handler announced their arrival into the Tarsas system. Immediately Adrian’s c-board made connection with the fleet using it’s upgraded FTL comm hardware. The FTL comm didn’t work in trans-space. Both the holo in the middle of the CC that served the crew, and the smaller one on Adrian’s c-board started updating. They have entered the system close to their target, the shipbuilding facilities in the orbit of the second planet. As soon as they got a full picture of their target and their immediate surroundings Adrian ordered the fleet forward towards the shipyards. The shipyard that also served as a station, dwarfed the ships around it. The thing was massive, at least ten kilometers long and half that wide and tall. By now the Sowir should be aware of their presence. This time, Adrian had no Nel ships accompanying him, although Retsar Isani did offer. Adrian felt that the message would be more impactful if it came solely from human ships, so he declined the offer. And in any case those ships needed to be at Nuva, just in case that another Sowir task force comes by while Adrian’s ships were away. With the new station and defense platforms they should be able to defend Nuva.

Adrian watched on the c-board as his twenty one ships accelerated steadily towards their target. There were no communications from the Adrian’s side, there was no point. Sowir refused to communicate every time they tried. And they were not here to plead with them, they wouldn’t initiate communications with them. They were here to intimidate
them
into opening communications.

New information highlighted information started appearing on his c-board, Iris was anticipating Adrian’s needs and used the c-board to get him info faster than he could have looked it up himself. He looked at the holo of the shipyard and a few seconds later he started to see movement from their warships. The shipyard had three light cruisers, two heavy cruisers and a battleship guarding it. There were also at least two dozen ships in various stages of construction at the shipyard itself. If the projection about Sowir shipbuilding output was right, then the lack of defenses here suggested that the people back home were right, the Sowir were engaged elsewhere. Perhaps some of the Consortium still survived, and were even now fighting them.

Adrian studied the Sowir movements. The ships were clearly trying to move in front of the shipyard, to protect it. According to Nel intel, the shipyard defenses were poor at best. Pouute used it to build civilian ships, and had no real need for defenses. And after the Sowir took it they didn’t add any.

Then Adrian saw that his fleet had entered the maximum firing range of their missiles. The missiles that his ships now carried were not the same as what they had during the battle of Nuva. New upgraded versions were designed to fight the Sowir superior defenses. Adrian highlighted all of the ships on his c-board, preparing to order them to fire on the shipyard. Now came the most difficult part, according to the records from the Consortium, when the Sowir realized that they had no chance of winning against the Consortium military, they for the first time since their contact opened communications. In order for this plan to work, Adrian needed to make it completely clear to the Sowir that his fleet could wipe out their ships and shipyard, without actually destroying them. The Sowir had the records of the battle of Nuva, they knew what Adrian’s ships were capable of. He needed to convince them that humans were a threat that they can’t match yet.

Adrian sent the order to the fleet. The amount of missiles they would fire should be enough that a significant amount would pass their defenses and inflict damage but not enough that they will destroy them.

A few seconds later, Adrian watched as hundreds of missile signatures appeared on his board, headed for the Sowir shipyard. The new Swarm Mk1 missiles were almost 50% larger than the previous missile type and sped towards their target at a 20% faster speed than their predecessors, from a 30% greater range. After fifteen seconds of firing, six hundred missiles were on the way to their target.

***

Sowir ships saw the incoming missiles, and managed to get into position in front of the shipyard in time to meet them. As the human missiles entered Sowir range, they opened fire with their laser point defense. Within the first few seconds of laser fire, the eight Sowir ships managed to take down ninety three missiles. Then the computers on the missiles figured out what was happening, they engaged the evasion protocols, which slowed down the rate of their destruction significantly. Another fifteen seconds later the Sowir ships managed to take down one hundred and forty five missiles. Then the missiles reached the optimum range for their secondary protocol. Each Swarm Mk1 missile separated into three missiles that engaged their smaller but more powerful drives, doubling their speed. The sudden increase of speed and the sudden appearance of more targets confused the Sowir computers. 1086 missiles sped past the Sowir ships ignoring them completely, the Sowir ships managed to take down another two hundred missiles as they went past them. Then the missiles came in the range of the shipyards defenses, another one hundred and ten missiles were taken down, but the rest smashed right through, finding their target. Half of the missiles exploded before they reached the shipyards surface by design, the other impacted with the hull. The damage that the missiles did was minor when one took into consideration the size of the shipyard, but its hull was clearly scarred. Craters lined the shipyards surface, with a few places clearly venting atmosphere. The first salvo from the human forces succeeded in its intention.

***

Adrian watched as his missiles went pass the Sowir ships and reached the shipyard. The Sowir must have realized that this was nothing compared to what his ships could unleash. Especially now that he had three dreadnoughts in his fleet. There was still no communication from them, and Adrian watched as Sowir ships started moving away from the shipyard and towards his ships. He knew that it was futile, they stood no chance against the First Fleet. But Adrian needed to make sure to get his point across. Soon the Sowir battleship would enter its particle beam range, and Adrian remembered the power of that weapon, and knew that he couldn’t allow his fleet to lose any ships or drones. He needed to end this soon. Adrian gave the order.

***

Suddenly the space between the two forces was filled with invisible beams as the human ships opened fire with their laser cannons. The Sowir ships started rolling trying to dissipate the heat of the weapons, just as they tried to bring their own laser weapons to bear. But before they had a chance human ships released one more salvo of missiles. Two thousand missiles left the human ships, and the Sowir knew that there was no chance of them surviving them. The human lasers kept firing even as their missiles sped towards their target. One Sowir light cruiser came under the attack from six different beams from three drones, their combined firepower melting the ship’s hull cutting inside, the air inside the ship caught fire and the resulting explosion blew the ship apart. The Sowir ships focused on the incoming missiles, their defenses striking out at them. Now and then a laser beam would reach out to the human fleet, but the coating on their hull dissipated almost all of the Sowir fire. The Sowir lasers barely scratched the human ships.

Then the human missiles engaged their secondary protocol. One thousand and seven hundred missiles that survived the Sowir defensive fire, became three times that number. They sped forward through the Sowir point defense. It was overkill. Each Sowir ship disappeared into a ball of orange fire that lasted for a second as the air inside them burned out. Once the fire cleared, there was nothing remaining of the Sowir ships.

***

Adrian heard the crew of the Leviathan cheer in elation at the destruction of the Sowir ships. But he kept his mind focused on the c-board. There was still no communication from the Sowir, he would give them one more chance, then if they still don’t try to communicate he would destroy their shipyard and proceed to destroy any other asset they had in the system. The people back on Sanctuary already considered that they were at war with the Sowir Dominion. And while they had no resources to fight such a war, they would do everything in their power to make the Sowir think otherwise. Buying themselves at least some time. Adrian highlighted the three dreadnoughts on his c-board, sending out orders to the commanders of the Prideful, Salahuddin and his own Leviathan.

***

The massive turrets on the three dreadnoughts swiveled around to face the Sowir shipyard, and within a single minute opened fire. Massive metal rounds exploded out of the human turrets sent towards the Sowir shipyard at a fraction of the speed of light. The human weapon was devastating, when it hit their target. The mass and speed of the rounds giving them amazing destructive power. But the downside of these weapons was that once they were fired their trajectory couldn’t be changed. If the enemy knew their trajectory it was an easy thing for them to move out of the way, which meant that their most effective range was short, when the enemy ship had less time to move out of the way. But unlike a ship, the Sowir shipyard was relatively stationary, and even thought the distance between the human ships and the shipyard was considerable, it could not move out of the way. The Sowir had no choice but to watch as the human rounds drew closer.

***

The command board showed the trajectories of his ships fire, and Adrian calmly watched. Then a couple of minutes later the weapons fire reached the Sowir shipyard. Adrian’s target was not the shipyard main body, but rather three of the docks that held unfinished battleships. A few moments later a holographic display appeared in front of Adrian showing the visual of the destruction. The metal rounds smashed into the unfinished ships and the docks surrounding them, ripping through the ship hull, the docks fell apart as the explosions from the ships and the metal rounds smashed them apart. The resulting destruction caused a series of secondary explosions that spread to another two docks adjacent to the ones he targeted.  The destruction was massive but didn’t threaten the integrity of the station itself, it was big enough that it could survive.