The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3) (44 page)

“No V’las the plan remains the same. I know that it is in a way boring considering that we have no fleet to contest us. They have some military satellites and a space station in orbit but that is all. Their nuclear warheads will be dangerous but considering that we will hold the orbital’s they will be easy to deal with.”

V’las nodded and smiled.

“Yes admiral.”

“We all know our duty. You all know why we are here. The fleets main job will be to deliver the legions on the ground and destroy as much of the resistance as possible before they land.”

“I’m not sorry to say that Consul Mokal’s troops will have most of the fun on this mission. We are just the delivery boys on this one. But don’t be fooled by our superiority. We all know the Alterans. We have all heard the stories about the great wars of the past. And we know the humans as their descendants call them self now.”

“Yes admiral. The ones that the Lacarian Alliance freed caused us much grief in that war. And they are still causing us. And I believe that not only the legions suffered from them but the fleet as well.”

“Yes Mokal you are right. And we all know the rebellions and how hard it is to break them. We have to act with caution, as we always do.”

“Is there any report from the scout force?”

“No Jongar. They should contact us in the next system after we transition through the warp point. As for safety the scans of this system show no signs of any movement. It is all as we expected.”

“Then we should proceed as we planned Admiral.”

“Yes. The twenty seventh squadron under command of Kerak al Shu will stay here as a rear guard.”

He turned towards

“I know that we don’t have much reason for that Kerak but it is a precaution I don’t mind making. After we transition you have the parameter of your mission to take the samples from the habitable planets.”

“Yes admiral. It will be as you say. I look forward to the hunt.”

The comment caused several smiles. The Dacarians loved to hunt. It was something that was natural to them, considering their ancient past.

“The rest of the fleet will transition through the warp point in three persks. Make the final preparations and checks on your ships I want the fleet at full readiness by that time. For the glory of the Emperor…”

“For the glory of the Emperor...”-the reply came from the voices of the captains.

The holograms disappeared one by one. As the last one disconnected from the net he was left alone with Sokar. He turned towards the younger captain and the man that was commanding officer of the flagship in his absence.

“How is the readiness of the crew of Ahairna?”

“The ship is at full readiness my lord. They are all at their posts and ready for their tasks, as they should be. They are legionaries.”

“Yes Sokar. In the emperor’s name we die. That was our pledge. The pledge every legionary takes. We gave our lives the day we were born, the day we joined the legions. We gave them to our emperor.”

“What do you think about our mission Sokar? What do you think about the humans?”

The younger officer looked in to the eyes of his superior. Voran noticed the calm demeanor of the captain. There was no fear in the look he saw, only deep respect.

“Just as anyone my lord I know the ancient stories. They are excellent warriors. And this is their home world. The world the Icarians took them from just as the Farsians took our ancestors from Dakar.”

The admiral exhaled.

“Yes and even do they had far greater superiority and controlled the orbitals the battle on the planet was fierce, and long. I fear that it might be the same here.”

“I fear from that too. You know the reports about how the Alterans fought at the end. Our ancestors suffered grievous losses before eradicating their forces. The ones that we took as prisoners at the very end were the ones that couldn’t fight anymore, or couldn’t fight at all.”

“You’ve seen the reports about their wars, especially the ones about the great ones, at the beginning and in the middle of the previous century. Just as us they do not fear war, and when it comes they are capable of great violence and sacrifices. I fear that we might awaken a beast tomorrow, a beast we won’t be able to control.”

The younger captain looked at Vokar. He spoke quietly but with a firm voice.

“Do you fear that we might fail my Lord?”

“No Sokar. I don’t fear about tomorrow, i fear about the future. I fear that as time passes they will become strong just as we did in the past and then they will strike. I fear that there might be some other colony somewhere out there. The Alterans or the humans however you want to call them are warriors. In a way they are like us. That is why our ancestors had so much trouble with them. In some ways our two races are so similar that I fear that the gods played some cruel joke with us in some distant past.”

“You had the same discussion with V’las I did, didn’t you my Lord?”

“Yes Sokar. The youngling has a very clear and rational mind. Just as everyone from his clan. I can’t wait to see Ristarion. He was the pride of his father. You know that both he and V’las were against it when it was proposed. But the council made its decision and they obeyed. They even obeyed the order not to reveal anything to their clan. I know Arios personally. He is very close to the youngling. And he has honor, the kind of honor that is rare among our race. Their clan might be small and weak now compared with the others but they are among the best ones in our race. And the emperor knows that.”

“I know my lord. Arios and my father once served together. Their history and honor codes are well known among the people of my clan. I highly doubt that Arios would have approved a mission like this one.”

“Not without getting permission from the emperor or the admiralty first.”

After this they both just stood there not saying anything for several minutes. They were entrenched in their thoughts.

“You need to take a rest my Lord. We have time till the transition.”

The admiral stayed quiet for several more minutes. He still felt tired from the waking up. While some of the crew and most of the fleet personal were awoken from time to time, he spent most of the time in cryo sleep. That was now taking its toll. He knew that he would be ok by the time they reached the warp point but he needed the rest.

“You are right as usual my friend. I will be in my quarters if you need me. Call me when we are at the warp point.”

“Yes my Lord.”

After this they both exited the chamber and while the captain went on the bridge Voran went to his quarters.

The fleet slowly started moving towards the warp point in distance. And as they did deep inside the system other ships started preparing for the long awaited confrontation the D-Day was finally here.

The young officer looked carefully at his screen on board the Prometheus. He felt tired just as the rest of the crew. They were at full readiness and red alert for the past ten days. He wasn’t the only one on the edge. Most of the crews on the ships felt the same. They all hated the waiting.

As he looked away the sound of the sensors registering something at the edge of the system got his attention back on the screen. He looked at the results from the scans. And immediately activated the alarm and turned towards the officer on watch. Both the captain and the admiral were resting at the moment and Lieutenant Atkinson had command of the watch.

“Sir I’m registering anomalies at the edge of the system.”

“What kind of anomalies Rivers?”

He turned and rechecked his results in just a second.

“We have hyperspace windows opening sir…Multiple contacts. We have confirmation of Dacarian warships. Hull configuration matches.”

“Go to passive sensors and red alert. Stop all communication’s.”

The bridge suddenly erupted with activity.

Over the intercom Atkinson contacted the admiral and the captain.

Several minutes later all officers were on the bridge.

“What do we have?”

The question came from the admiral.

“Hyperspace windows opened at the edge of the system sir, at a distance of forty eight astronomical units.”

“Are they Dacarians?”

“Hulls and engine signatures confirmed it sir. We have Dacarian ships in bound.”

Jennings took his seat, and so did Linda. On all the Earth ships the same activity was being conducted.

“How many are there Rivers?”

“We are reading six hundred plus contacts sir.”

Just a minute later the young officer turned towards the admiral.

“Six hundred and eighteen contacts confirmed sir. We have fifty four dreadnoughts, ten heavy, and twenty light carriers, sixty battleships, fifty heavy and seventy light battle cruisers, eighty destroyers,  and one hundred frigates and hundred and twenty corvettes. There are also fifty four other ships I can’t classify. Forty of them are huge sir.”

As the officer read the results of the scans an eerie silence took over the bridge.

The number of ships was enormous. By tonnage they far out classed and outweighed the entire fleets, both in space and on sea that humanity had. And no one even thought about the fire power. The scans showed multiple armaments, just as the cruiser that was destroyed on earth had. And some had even more.

“Show me.”

“Yes sir.”

On the screen before Jennings a digital representation appeared that showed the disposition of the enemy fleet. He focused on the forty largest ships.

“Those must be the transports and the fuel ships.”

“Jesus Sir. There are a shit load of them.”

“Yes there are. Well there will be a lot of targets for the warheads when they make their way on the other side. Rivers did the drone transition through the warp point?”

“Yes sir as soon as it registered the hyperspace windows forming.”

“Good, is every one in position?”

“All ships are ready and on their assigned places. I sent a short transmission as soon i noticed the anomalies to Admiral Peck and the Eden defense fleet. They are on red alert and on passive sensors as well, and they are ready to assist us if needed.”

“Let us hope we won’t need them.”

The Eden defense fleet consisted of two corvettes, eight Los Angeles class and two converted ships from the Alteran fleet. The colony had over a million inhabitants. The colonies were placed at Alpha Borealis the huge mountain massive that the planet had. The deep caves in it offered good protection against orbital strikes. Powerful rail gun batteries to provide protection against ships in orbit were placed on the base and the mountain massive. The colony was well protected and the small fleet was there to offer a little more help. But as he saw the fleet that was forming up Jennings knew that if Earth falls Eden will follow soon.

Those ships were massive and here for one thing only, the total destruction of humanity.

He activated the inter come.

“All hands to battle stations. I repeat all hands to battle stations. This is not a drill. I say again. All officers are to report to their commanding posts. This is not a drill we are at condition red.”

The voice echoed through the ship and as it did the ship blurred in to activity. Everyone was rushing to their posts. But there was no panic. They were ready. The fleet exercised non-stop for the past several months. They all knew their duties.

“I’m detecting massive scans of the system sir.”

This was the moment their destiny was decided. The moment they all feared. The ships were well hidden and they were running on passive meaning that only the life support and small parts like the ships telescopes and internal and proximity sensors were working. The power input was so small that it was really covered by the outside radiation. The ships in the asteroid belt were totally passive.

“Any sign they noticed us?”

After a brief pause Rivers turned, and exhaled.

“No sir. They are forming up, and heading towards the warp point. They will be there in about ten hours if they continue at this speed.”

“Ok continue watching. We have time.”

The officer turned and Jennings turned his attention to the screen and the images of the enemy fleet. He wondered how many ships were going to stay back.

Deep in the asteroid belt Captain Elisabeth Hutchinson was wondering the same. The sixteen ships under her command shut down everything but life support the moment they detected the anomalies. They just as their counterparts were stunned by the sheer number of ships and the size of the enemy fleet. As time passed and the news that they weren’t detected were confirmed everyone allowed a moment of relaxation. The first part of the plan worked. Now all that was left was to wait.

And in some ways that was the hardest part of the job, and the most boring.

27 June 2019 04:52 hours

Sol System

Simonson was watching the reports about the fleet’s positions on the screen on the bridge of Demetrion. The fleet was at red alert just as the one in the Proxima Centaury system. They were ready before too but for the past ten days all ships were present here. The last of the marine contingents arrived nine days ago. The Argus was positioned close by. The massive battleship was the only true capital ship in the entire fleet and the only one that could really hurt the enemy without much trouble. The ship was functioning ate seventy nine percent. Even with all the repairs and the fusion reactors that were placed there was no way that it could be fully repaired in the short time they had.