Into the Black

(Flag Bridge, BSN Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, Uldat System)

I was going over the reports from Sedara about the battle between Second Group and the Ihm Armada. Unfortunately, it seemed that the Ihm had been clever, and found a way to channel Hellspace energies into a shield that allowed them to do the impossible, and shrug off Starbolts. Presumably, it would also work on any incoming kamikazes trying to ram at FTL speeds.

Alarms cut off my train of thought. Looking over at one of the nearby ensigns, I was about to ask what was going on, when she looked up from her screen, and met my gaze. “Sir, Hellspace rift forming!”

I took a deep breath. This was the alert I had been expecting, though only two days after Second Group left Sedara? Travel through Hellspace was not instantaneous, and while I didn’t have any information, I had to assume that the psychic shockwave at Sedara should have done some damage to their fleet. It couldn’t be the forces there, could it?

“All ships to battle stations. Range to the rift?”

“4.2 light hours, sir. They’re coming out on the edge of the system.”

That was outside the effective range of the Starbolts. Unfortunately, they only had a range of one light hour, due to fuel limits. That was still an incredibly large range, seven times the distance from Terra to Sol, but space was impossibly huge, to the point where that covered less than a fifth of the radius of a solar system. The Ihm were going to get out of the rifts unopposed.

“Message Bandar Base. We’ll go with Plan B. All ships maintain stealth, maneuver towards the enemy as planned.”

“Aye, sir.”

We had not been idle while waiting around at Bandar Base. Together, we had worked on various defense plans. Plan B was the first contingency plan for the Ihm making an uncontested entry to the system.

Tarpits scattered across the system lit off, locking down FTL travel across the system. My ships, which had been split into three groups to cover as much of the system as possible along the arc facing the Imperium and Sedara, began moving a quickly as possible while under stealth towards the rift. We wouldn’t be able to make it into range before they arrived, but we could set up for the initial barrage.

We didn’t have to wait long. About a minute after the initial warnings, the rift opened. The damned thing looked like someone put a gaping wound in the living flesh of the universe, with chaotic energies bleeding out everywhere.

From the rift came ships. Over three hundred ships of the Ihm Armada came from the hellish space. They out numbered my own ships by greater than two to one, even if I included the Marines in my count.

More detailed sensor readings came in. Three hundred and thirty ships. Thirty superdreadnoughts. Ten carriers. Forty cruisers. Sixty-five destroyers. Eighty-five frigates. And one hundred corvettes. All against my one hundred and fifty-three ships, most of which were corvettes and gunboats.

This wasn’t a fight we could win in a straight brawl, especially without the power of Starbolts. We needed to be smarter than they were. That, and hope they fucked up.

(Fleet Command Center, IAS Illuminator to Savages, Uldat System)

“Report!”

“Warmaster, enemy tarpits are deployed. No enemy vessels detected. The enemy base has not launched fighters.”

Warmaster Cras Krathra nodded her head. That was as it was supposed to be. The enemy had deployed their fleet in a rush, and been crippled in Sedara. That left Uldat open to attack. There shouldn’t be more than a couple ships, if that, in the system, and a handful of fighter squadrons. Not enough to challenge her Armada.

“Status of the Shroud?”

“The Rejoice of Ascension reports that their technicians believe that they have eliminated the problem requiring a shroud-ship to be in a stationary position. They can activate it on your command.”

“Very well, initiate the shroud. All ships, advance on the enemy base. It is time to show these humans the power of the Imperium!”

(Flag Bridge, BSN Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, Uldat System)

“Geezus!”

“Report.”

The ensign reading the sensors looked up sheepishly. “Sorry, Admiral. The Ihm just started up their Tachyon Jammer. Tachyon scanners and comms are jammed.”

“Have they communicated with the base?”

“Not yet, Sir.”

“Any sign of those shields that warded off Starbolts at Sedara?”

“Negative, Admiral. The Ihm ships are moving at full speed towards the Imperial base.”

I nodded. That was good. It meant that they didn’t suspect that Black Star ships were here. At least, not yet. That meant we could, perhaps, get a shot off before their new shields came up.

I looked at the plot. The Ihm were flying in a shell formation, with the lighter, more expendable craft on the outer part of the shell, and the larger craft, like the superdreadnoughts and carriers, in the middle. That would change once they had an enemy to fight, of course, but it was a solid defense against sneak attacks, mines, and other ‘nastiness’ that ships like mine could bring.

Worse, the ships were not on static courses, but were making random course changes. Not enough to break formation or send them off course, but it was enough that ballistic weapons like the main guns on most of my ships were useless until we got to much closer range, since there was no ‘close’ with a bullet. It either hit or it didn’t.

I checked the ranges. The first elements of the fleet would be in extreme range of First Group’s Starbolts in one hour. Two hours would have all three groups in range of the fleet. Two and a half to reach their dreadnoughts and carriers.

“Message to Gugnir and Banshee’s Wail. I am dividing the enemy fleet into fields of fire. Prepare fire plans for all ships with Starbolts to take out as many capital ships as possible. Fire in two and a half hours from my mark. Mark.”

We would only get one shot at this. By the time we could get a second shot off, a good computer (or an attentive officer) would be able to activate those special shields of theirs. This shot had to be perfect.

(Flag Bridge, INS Bastogne, on route to Uldat)

Admiral Huang Cheng studied the war map. Getting updates to the situation was next to impossible while in warp. Ideally, it would be a simple set of Transitions to get across the Empire to help the fleets under attack from the Ihm, but the lizards had found a way to prevent Transitions. Until someone understood more about it, Transistioning near the war zone was strictly off limits.

Emergency flash messages were coming in at an alarming rate. The Doomhammer reported confirmation that the Ihm have a drive system that can go through ‘Hellspace’, as everyone was calling it, bypassing the normal methods of FTL, including their own jammers. That was problematic for a number of reasons.

Soryu and Maydar bases were almost undefended. Their fleets were caught playing shadow games with the first wave of Ihm forces. They couldn’t withdraw without giving the lizards free reign over the area. But if they didn’t, then the Ihm would potentially destroy the bases, and throw logistics into a tailspin.

The fleets going to relieve pressure on those bases were going to risk a Transition, despite the danger. It was the only way they could possibly save the bases. But that wasn’t his job.

No, his job, and that of 3rd Fleet, was to secure Bandar Base, in Uldat. They were still more than a week out, even if he risked melting the drives. Without Transition drives, it would be up to the Black Star mercenaries to hold off any threats to the base until then.

But the Black Stars were daggers, not shields. Their ships were light, quick, and efficient, but they were designed purely for offensive and stealth operations. A battle in the open, defending a fixed position? They’d been mauled badly a couple times in the past. If the Ihm came in force, the best they could do would be delay.

His communicator chimed. It was his guard, outside. “Admiral, Ensign Corswain reporting, with a Nomad message.”

“Let him in.”

The Ensign was an enigmatic sort. One of a sizeable number of nomads who had joined the Navy, Marines, and Army following the end of the Civil War. They were not entirely trusted by many, given their obviously split loyalties, but the benefits of their communications networks were unmatched. At least his salute was crisp and proper.

“What is it, Ensign?”

“Sir, the Ihm have appeared at Uldat, with a full armada. They have set up Tachyon Jammers, but have not yet noticed the Black Stars in the system. Black Star Prime is reporting that the odds are two to one in terms of hulls, and several times more than that by mass.”

Huang cursed under his breath. “Have the Black Stars discovered which ship or ships are doing the jamming?”

The ensign paused for a moment, his eyes unfocusing as he communicated on that strange private channel they had. “Sorry, Admiral. Due to the distance and interference, the best they can do is narrow it down to one of four ships, all superdreadnoughts.”

“Time until engagement?”

“Two hours from now, they’ll try an initial barrage. After that, well, the Ihm will likely turn on those special shields to stop Starbolts, so it is going to turn into a knife fight. I doubt they can kill enough in the first round to make it worth the effort.”

Huang looked back at the map. In two hours, his ships would be just in range of Uldat, if they pushed the Transition drive to the extreme, and melted the warp drives. He looked to his aide. “Send to all ships. Increase to 115% on the reactors, all power to hyperdrives, and warm up the T-drives. Tell the engineers to prep for a two-hour sprint, with a crash transition at the end.”

Looking back to the Ensign, he said, “Contact whoever you can in the Black Star forces at Uldat. Let them know that if they can take down the jamming, we will be in position for a transition. We just need a window, and we can reinforce their position.”

“At once, sir.”

(Fleet Command Center, IAS Illuminator to Savages, Uldat System)

Warmaster Krathra took a deep breath. “Launch troop ships and escorts. Tell them to begin their assault on the dockyards and orbital facilities. We wish to capture as much of it intact as possible, to further our war efforts in this sector.”

“As you command, Warmaster.”

She watched the plot carefully. There was still no movement from the Imperials, save for civilian and military logistics freighters burning hard for the other side of the system. Not like she could do anything about them. It was a simple fact of space warfare that, often times, you could see a target, yet not be able tag it.

Wait a moment. That logistics vessel, the one just about to pass behind Uldat II, blocking it from the armada’s view. That wasn’t an Imperial vessel, but a Black Star one!

The Black Stars had already appeared at Sedara, reportedly covering the Imperial dogs until they could scamper away, and narrowly avoiding being destroyed, themselves. That was far enough that an Anchor drive would be the only way to get here from there. Even if it were just the ships seen at Sedara, with their weapons, if the Black Stars were here, and stealthed, that would constitute a grave threat to her ships.

She pressed a command on her console. “Warmaster to all ships. Activate warp shields—”

Fresh alarms sounded, even as the ship threw itself from under her feet, sending her world into blackness.

(Flag Bridge, BSN Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, Uldat System)

“40% of priority targets destroyed. An additional 10% of priority targets have been disabled, and appear to be drifting. All other priority targets appear only minorly damaged, if at all. All enemy vessels now have their new shields enabled.”

I nodded. That was better than I expected it would be, honestly. “Status of the Jammer?”

“Offline, for now.”

I grinned, and contacted the ensign aboard the Bastogne. Time for them to ride to the rescue, instead of getting rescued.