ALL NOVEL Chapter 285 - Grey Goo
Chapter 285 – Grey Goo
(Flag Bridge, BSN Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, Uldat System)
The thing I hated about Transition Drives, besides the fact that they could only be used at the extreme edge of a system, was that they were the exact opposite of stealthy. Literally, anyone with the ability to detect tachyons (which was anyone with interstellar communications, or even a sensor suite that wasn’t patched together at the space equivalent of Radio Shack) could detect a transition from light years away. Well, actually, it was detectable on each end of the transition for one fifth of the total distance. That meant that a transition 25 light-years in length would be detectable in a 5 light-year radius from both the start and end points of the transition.
In no universe, real or imagined, was that considered ‘stealthy’.
Of course, there was a time for stealth, and there was a time for going loud. Right now? This was a time for going loud, as loud as possible.
And it was certainly loud when the entire Imperial Navy’s 3rd Fleet transitioned in behind the Ihm ships! Oh, sure, they were still well out of engagement distance, but they were even now accelerating towards the Ihm fleet, which now found itself trapped between the Black Stars and the Imperials. The Ihm were on the clock. The longer they stayed to try and deal with us, the closer the Imperials got. But I wasn’t going to let them just ignore us, either.
“All ships, switch to Dragonbreaths, main guns, and energy weapons. All fighters, all bombers, free to engage. We kicked them in the teeth, now let’s hold them down so that the Imperials can finish the job!”
That might have been what I told the others, but the truth was that we weren’t out of this yet. Everything depended on the Ihm commander. There was still plenty they could do, especially if they weren’t entirely concerned with keeping their fleet intact. If they were willing to sacrifice everything to ensure the destruction of the base, then there was little we could do to stop them. That wasn’t something a naval commander would do, normally, but it was something that a zealot wouldn’t hesitate with.
So, was this commander a crusader, a jihadi? Or were they a commander? That answer would determine the outcome of the battle.
(Flag Bridge, INS Bastogne, Uldat System)
“Report!”
“Enemy fleet! Range 2.5 million kilometers, dead ahead!”
Admiral Huang nodded grimly. “All fighters, all bombers launch. All ships advance, and prepare to engage. What is the status of Bandar Base?”
“Base reporting no damage. Black Star caught the Ihm far enough out that they haven’t been able to reach the base, yet. They have launched fighters, but are holding them back, near the base as a defensive screen, in case any ships break through Black Star’s lines.”
“Good. Status of the enemy fleet?”
“Out of 333 ships initially reported, 290 remain operational. Losses include two corvettes, three frigates, twenty-nine cruisers, and eight superdreadnoughts. Of those losses, the eight superdreadnoughts and two of the cruisers are drifting, but appear salvageable. All other ships are continuing on in formation, at reduced speed. The new shields detected at Sedara are active on all ships. Enemy fleet moving at 60% normal reported speed.”
“Excellent. Time to intercept?”
“Five hours, on current tracks and speed.”
Huang nodded absently as he considered the plot. The next few minutes would decide the course of the battle. The Ihm were trapped between Black Star’s forces and his own. Tarpits deployed by both sides limited everyone to sublight speeds. The Ihm had their new Hellspace drives, but Black Star was within range of them with their Starbolts, and the psychic shockwave produced by an FTL collision in Hellspace would leave their ships vulnerable.
The Ihm had three choices, now, as far as he could see. First, they could blow through the Black Stars, and drive towards the base. They had the ships and massed firepower to do it, but the Black Stars and the base’s defenders would make them bleed for it, and they would lose their fleet entirely when his ships caught up to them.
Second, they could stand, and fight, counting on their new shields and whatever other secrets they had to win the day. Or, perhaps, just long enough that one of their other forces, like the one around Sedara which were no longer being kept under watch by the Navy, could jump in, and turn the tide in their favor. If that happened, then it was likely that the base, the Black Stars, and his fleet could all be lost, though, again, the lizards would bleed for every ship they took out of the fight.
Third, they could cut and run, trying to create enough distance so that at least some of their ships could escape into Hellspace. That would mean abandoning the ships already destroyed or drifting, as well as any survivors on them, and it would require at least some of the ships to stay behind as a rear guard. But it could be done, and it would preserve the majority of the fleet’s most powerful ships.
The only question was what would they do?
(Fleet Command Center, IAS Illuminator to Savages, Uldat System)
Warmaster Krathra cursed as she watched her screens, ignoring the healer tending to her wounds. The Illuminator was still mission capable, as was she. The mission, however, had just gotten that much more difficult. After all, she did not need her subordinates to tell her what that the Imperial fleet transitioning in during that period where the Shroud was offline meant. Their chances of completing this mission with conventional tactics had now dropped to zero, unless she was willing to throw away her entire armada to destroy one military base. A single base did not have that kind of value.
Quickly, she went over her options. Most, she rejected. Returning to the Godsrealm was possible, but only if her forces were outside the range of the Black Star ships, and their Starbolt torpedoes. She would not waste her fleet idly with any of the other options.
There was one chance to accomplish her mission, but the question was how to get it into position? It would only take a single ship… Wait! A single ship could make it through the rift in time, especially if it opened inside her formation. That would work!
“Message to the armada. The Illuminator to Savages will enter the Godsrealm while the fleet provides cover with their warp shields. We will conduct a fast strike to eliminate the enemy base and the forces on the planet below. As soon as we enter the Godsrealm, all ships are to turn to the course being entered now, and escape to the Godsrealm when out of range of the Black Star torpedoes. All ships to reconvene at the secondary rendezvous point.”
“As you will it, Warmaster.”
She took a breath, and then said, “Prepare Hskthet torpedoes.”
(Flag Bridge, BSN Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, Uldat System)
“Hellspace rift forming!”
“Do we have a lock?”
“Negative, Admiral. The other ships are screening with their warp shields. We can’t get a shot through.”
I cursed under my breath. A single superdreadnought just opened a Hellspace rift in the middle of the battle? While the other ships all just stayed put, shielding it? If it was a cowardly commander saving their own skin, they would have launched the rest of the ships forward, to draw more of our attention. So what was going on?
“The enemy ship has entered the rift. Rift has closed.”
“Damn. All right, focus fire on the next target, lets work on breaking the back of this fleet, see if we can’t scatter them for the Imperials to handle. Target—”
“Hellspace rift forming! One contact coming through. It is the superdreadnought!”
My insides turned to ice in that moment. Maybe it was instincts, or maybe I had a flash of foresight, from my new in-game sorcerous powers. Whatever the case, I knew this was trouble.
“Emergency message to the base! All fighters, all bombers intercept that superdreadnought! Focus missile defense!”
(Flag Bridge, INS Bastogne, Uldat System)
“Sir!”
Admiral Huang nodded. “I see it, ensign. What the hell are they doing? A single ship? Why not try for more of the fleet?”
“Admiral, the enemy fleet has changed course. New bearing is twenty degrees down angle, on a course heading away from Bandar Base. New time to intercept, five hours and twenty-five minutes.”
“Adjust our course to match. We will hunt these lizards down, and then worry about the missing ship. Breaking the fleet would set the Ihm war effort back substantially.”
“Hellspace rift forming, ten thousand kilometers from Bandar Base!”
“Shit. Have Bandar’s fighters and bombers intercept!”
“Sir, the chances of the station’s assault craft being able to take down a superdreadnought, even alone…”
“I know, lieutenant. Three fighter squadrons and one bomber squadron aren’t enough to reliably take down a ship that size, not without taking extreme losses. But there isn’t much choice. They have to hold the dreadnought until help can arrive.”
“Admiral! Flash message from the Ama-no-Murakumo! Black Star is warning Bandar Base to intercept all missiles and torpedoes as top priority!”
“Retransmit that order, with my recommendation as well. I don’t know what the crazy bastard is worried about, but he clearly has some idea of what the lizards are up to.”
(Fleet Command Center, IAS Illuminator to Savages, Uldat System)
The mood in the command center was grim, and cold. They had outmaneuvered the enemy, giving them a chance to preserve the fleet and take out the enemy base, but this was going to come at a terrible price. Still, sacrifices were part of the path to Perfection. They would ride this current, and they would emerge unscathed on the other side.
Warmaster Krathra took a long breath as she viewed her plot. The enemy had fighters and bombers angling to attack, but they were out of position. They wouldn’t make it in time. Quickly, she typed in targeting information.
“Fire Hskthets, and open another portal, so we can meet the fleet.”
(Flag Bridge, BSN Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, Uldat System)
I watched in mounting horror as the enemy dreadnought launched a spread of torpedoes, before opening another rift into Hellspace. Six torpedoes, in a single salvo. Two streaked towards the base, and the others arced to the planet below.
As the superdreadnought returned to Hellspace, I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. Simply firing off a few torpedoes and running wasn’t going to be enough to destroy much of anything. Not if they were normal torpedoes.
Looking at the projected courses and speeds, I could see that the torpedoes weren’t Starbolts, or even Dragonbreaths. Or whatever the Ihm equivalent would be. Two torpedoes wouldn’t be enough to take down the shields and destroy the base, so why did it seem like the Ihm believed that single attack would be enough, so much so that they did not feel the need to launch a second salvo?
“Sir, the armada is changing course.”
I nodded, absently, still looking at my plot. “They’re trying to escape with most of their ships intact, and feel they have a better chance of surviving our assaults, since the starbolts are out of the question with their new shields, than they are facing the Imperial Navy. But what was in those torpedoes?”
I watched, and saw that the four torpedoes heading for the surface were all aimed at population centers. Were they nukes? That would certainly make the surface strike a vicious one, but it wouldn’t end the station.
Then, the torpedoes exploded. Not from point defense, or anything like that. They just… exploded, into silver clouds. Clouds that drifted towards the base and the surface below.
And that’s when I knew.
“Abandon pursuit! All ships break off from the Ihm armada, and make best speed to Uldat! Transition to emergency relief efforts! Report to 3rd Fleet, possible Nanite weapon used on Bandar Base and Uldat!”
(Flag Bridge, INS Bastogne, Uldat System)
The Ihm bastards had opened Hellspace rifts the moment the Black Stars turned their backs on them, and took their tarpits with them. Huang had immediately ordered the fleet to warp to Uldat. Hoping that he would be in time.
But it was already too late.
Grey splotches were already spreading across the shipyards of Bandar base, as ships were hurriedly cast off and towed out of harm’s way before the splotches could reach them. On the planet below, the grey tide was spreading inexorably, in all directions. Nothing could stop it.
This was different from Greenwave. Greenwave at least left the planet intact, so you could plant defenses to keep some safe areas. But this? This was the nanite weapon out of old horror stories, the self-replicating nanomachines that could (and were) turn an entire world into ‘grey goo’.
Admiral Huang breathed deeply as he watched the start of a frenzied evacuation of the planet and station beginning, with the Black Stars joining in 3rd Fleet’s efforts without needing to be asked. “Contact the Admiralty and the Empress. Priority one emergency, and connect them to my ready room.”
He turned, and left the flag bridge, leaving the shellshocked officers to do their jobs. His hand itched for a drink, but that would have to wait until after his report. This was not going to go over well.