Shadow Space Chronicles 1: The Fallen Race (10 page)

The Chxor Empire continued to expand.

The threats made Lucius anxious.  Faraday had the potential to work out very well, or to go very badly indeed.

***

CHAPTER
III

November 5, 2402 Earth Standard Time

Faraday System

Unclaimed Space

The ships of Nova Roma and the other stellar nations didn’t match the power of the fallen Amalgamated Worlds Fleet.  They had built ships of scale and power, with overlapping defense screens, antimatter reactors, and advanced weapons.

Nevertheless, the designers of the Nova Roma ships of the line had done their best.  They managed to create defense screens that protected, if not all of the ship, three quarters of the hull, leaving only the full aft hemisphere, and the ‘khon’ sections open.  The khon sections being four eddies in the forward area of the screens, caused from the tension of stretching the energy as far as was needed.

The
War Shrike
was a Desperado-class battleship, designed for the quick, fast, and furious clashes of skirmish lines, convoy raiding, and recon in force.  She had two sets of turret-mounted dual exotic particle cannons, an over-powerful armament for her size, and her intended duties.  The later decision to put the Desperadoes to work in the wall of battle against larger ships proved a fiasco.  They inflicted heavy damage on their opponents but – invariably -- lost.  The most notable example was the Battle of Khon, where the lighter but more numerous guns of the enemy found the forward shielding of the Desperadoes to be inadequate in four specific locations.  Those four sections bore their namesake from that battle.

The reasons for the horrendous losses, both in that battle and others, was that the Desperado-class lent most of its energy in offense.  When it came down to taking damage itself, the lighter battleships lost against more massive dreadnoughts.  Desperadoes such as the
War Shrike
carried only two squadrons of fighters, mounted only a small amount of electronic countermeasures, and in the end, simply didn’t have large enough power plants to produce the strong defensive screens of larger ships.

They proved extremely effective in defending convoys, both singly and in groups, from raiders.  It was when Nova Roma Fleet Command ordered the remaining Desperado-class battleships to begin raids at the will of the captain and whatever opportunities arose, that the true glory of the battleships arose.  The
War Shrike
had killed over forty-three convoy escorts, and at least three times that number of convoy vessels.  In fact, the
War Shrike
had one of the most-feared reputations to the enemies of Nova Roma.

Perhaps that was why Task Force Seven of the Chxor fleet made the
War Shrike
its primary target. 

Perhaps... then again, perhaps not.

Squadron Commander Kleigh drove Task Force Seven after the
War Shrike
.  Kleigh, being a typical Chxor, was very logical minded, structure oriented, and ultimately, a perfectionist.  He had faced the
War Shrike
in no less than three occasions.  On all three, despite overwhelming numbers, distinct firepower advantage, and in the end, even complete surprise, the
War Shrike
had escaped him.

It made no sense, it followed no pattern; the
War Shrike
was an anomaly, completely atypical of the logic and order of the universe.  The Chxor were superior.  The Chxor destroyed all who opposed their inevitable expansion, the Chxor created order out of disorder.  Nothing,
nothing
, could long oppose the Chxor Empire, Squadron Commander Kleigh knew.

Therefore, Kleigh decided that the
War Shrike
must be eliminated.

Kleigh felt no personal loathing towards his prey; nor respect either.  The Chxor had long previously abandoned emotion as inferior to the necessary structure and order of a modern society.  However, an objective observer may have noted that Kleigh held a perverse fixation on the destruction of the
War Shrike
.  Many xenothropologists considered this blind dedication to a goal that the Chxor often underwent a natural outlet for the suppression of their emotions.  Most other people without the benefits of such a brilliant education simply understood the Chxor sometimes went insane.

Regardless, Kleigh performed with maximum efficiency as he gave his latest command, in an orderly and calm voice.  His crusade for order would soon be over.  Hours spent in trying to detect the escape course of his prey had finally paid off.  There had been interruptions, as the task force dealt with any enemy ships they located in the search of their main target, a good many number in actuality, far too many for the sector to remain unmanaged by the Chxor.  Order should be maintained, after all.

The two corvettes and single destroyer that the force encountered had attempted surrender.  Squadron Commander Kleigh saw little to gain in the capture of human pirates and mercenaries, and a potential for live gunnery practice in the engagement.  Afterward, the escape pods and individual humans in their vacuum suits had proven of further use in as a drill for the missile and fighter interceptor gun crews.

The engagement would provide a marked improvement in discipline amongst the non-Chxor conscripts as well, Squadron Commander Kleigh knew.  They obviously saw the fate of those who opposed the Chxor and would not wish to join them.

If Kleigh were so inferior as to feel emotions he would have been pleased at the outcome and efficiency.  And, after his crew had searched the enemy ships for intelligence, they had found exactly what they wanted on their sensor computer.  The enemy ships had seen his target, and their computers knew what star system.  He would backtrack the course of these renegade humans and soon he would find more.

Granted, it was only a scrap of recording.  A bit of voice which Kleigh recognized as Captain Lucius Giovanni and sensor readings which matched the
War Shrike.
  Still, that was enough to tell Kleigh that his squadron was on the correct track.  He had technically exceeded his initial orders to engage Nova Roma forces on the periphery of their Empire.  In truth, he knew, he had gone beyond their borders.  Still, this latest encounter showed that he had continued a logical progression.  His Fleet Commander had yet to order him to return, and he still served the efforts of the Benevolence Council and the Chxor Empire.

The efficiency involved in the service of their interests and to achieve the restoration of good order to the universe in the destruction of Lucius Giovanni and the
War Shrike
is most excellent,
Kleigh thought.  Best off all, to achieve it soon would be the epitome of efficiency.

***

Lucius wasn't sure what to make of the Contractor's curt request for him to meet with her privately at her office.  When he found her red-faced and pacing, he still didn't know.

“Fortress Faraday,” the Contractor snarled.  “The Conservatives are calling a convention; they want to ‘see to the gross violation of the Contract.’  They’re rallying behind the call of ‘Fortress Faraday,’ calling for us to sever all ties with the outside.  The fools think we can build down our naval presence, and buy off anyone who comes through!  They don’t understand anything!”

Lucius blinked at the vehemence in the Contractor’s voice.  “I wondered what you called me down here for.  Anything I can do to help?”

The Contractor rolled her eyes in apology.  “You can’t do a thing, I’m afraid.  I wanted to warn you in person.  While you have finally gotten things in order upstairs, the shit will be flying down here.”

Lucius raised an eyebrow.

The Contractor sighed, “I know a bit about how difficult things must have been for you, and that was with my unofficial help.  Right now, the Conservatives will be pulling out all stops to prove that I sympathize with you; I can’t afford to help you without losing control down here.  I’ve got to keep control down here or they’ll throw away all the progress I've made over the past five years.”

“
I see,” Lucius nodded.  “I’ll do my best to keep things quiet upstairs.”

The Contractor nodded and for once she seemed to relax.  “Honestly, it has been good to deal with someone who knows what they’re doing.”  She straightened her spine.  “But now to business.  Get up there and at all costs avoid anything that could put things in a panic down here.”

Lucius’s comlink began to ring and a second later the Contractor’s did as well.  They both went for them.  They listened for a moment, Lucius to the bud in his ear, the contractor to her handheld.

They looked at each other for a moment.  “Madam, I believe that we have a problem.”

The Contractor nodded, her face pale as the person on the other end continued to reel off a list of ships.

Lucius didn’t need a categorical listing, he heard enough in the four words.  “Chxor task force inbound.”

***

Lucius arrived at the shuttle pad, and stopped in surprise to see his brother in law at the shuttle ramp.  “Reese, when did you--”

“I’m leaving.”

Lucius noted the two duffel bags at the man’s feet, “You can’t be serious.”

“There’s a Chxor fleet coming in, right?”

“
Yes…”

“
I’m going to stay here and fight.” Reese said.  “I don’t expect an Academy failure and a disgraceful traitor to understand that, but that’s what I’m going to do.”

Lucius bit back a retort and spoke slowly and levelly, “Reese, we’re going to fight them.  We’re going to do our best to get them to follow us.  I need you—“

“And I needed Alanis.  You left her to die.”  Reese’s cold voice cut him off.  “I’ll stay here.  Odds are, the Chxor will win, as they’ve won before.  And then they’ll come here.  This gets me away from you and the opportunity to kill Chxor.”

“
Dammit, Reese, you should still be in sickbay—“

“
I’ll manage.”  Reese looked away.  “Anything else?”

Lucius clenched his jaw, and stiffly came to attention, “Commander Giovanni-Leone, you are dismissed.”

Reese returned the salute, jaw clenched.  “I stand dismissed.”  He grabbed both duffel bags.  Lucius watched him stagger under the weight.

“
Good hunting,” the bitter man muttered grudgingly as he passed.

***

“
Sir, it looks like four Dreadnoughts, and twelve cruisers,” Doko informed Lucius as he stepped onto the bridge.  “I’d say it’s the same group as hit us at Venture, same group that was after the convoy.”

Lucius nodded, “I’d hoped that the jump would throw them off.”  It was impossible to track a jump through shadow space.  “They must have searched every system in the sector.”  He studied the information on his console and then turned to Cato Naevius, “How many fighters do we have available?”

The Nova Roma Harasser fighter-bomber carried the largest missile capacity of any conventional human fighter.  One fighter could carry up to twelve conventional Hunter missiles, useful for killing fighters and missiles as well as larger ships when used in large numbers.  Alternatively, they could also carry three of the larger Pilum ship-killer missiles.  Those missiles carried sixty-megaton fusion warheads.  They also mounted pulse lasers for a close engagement against fighters or missiles.  A normal squadron of six fighters could unleash hell on any type of enemy.

The Harasser’s versatility in combat load-outs had done much for Nova Roma’s predominance in human space, until the coming of the Chxor.  Which meant Lucius wanted his fighters ready to unleash against the enemy.

Naevius paused in thought. “Second Squadron is off training with the
Gebneyr
, between the fighters down on the surface and the others on patrol…”  He sighed, “Well, really all we’ve got is First squadron on board, Captain.”

Lucius winced, and then grinned ruefully.  “So much for those plans, I suppose I should have kept at least two squadrons on station here, but…”  He shook his head.  “Alright, we obviously can’t fight these ones head on, and from the course they’re laying, they’ll easily detect the local communications within a few hours.”  The Chxor arrival in the outer system meant that the dense magnetic fields of the outer gas giants would at least mask the local radio broadcasts somewhat.  Short of a high frequency burst or military grade broadcast, the Chxor would have to clear the nearest gas giant and that would take them some time, he knew.  He thought for a moment.  “Our best hope is to draw them off in a pursuit, convince them we’re still heavily damaged.  Have the
Gebneyr
and our fighters head back here to take up a defensive position, take out the picket they leave in-system.  They can use the sensor shadow of the gas giants and their moons to mask their movement”  He looked over at Anthony Doko, “Plan Gamma Three?”

Doko winced, but gave him a nod.

He looked around the bridge at the new faces that stood at the old stations.  He restrained a sigh.  This was suicide in all but name, the fly baiting the bull.  “Plot your course for Gamma Three on this little joyride.”

***

“
I understand fully the orders you give me, fellow warrior, and I shall carry them out,” Burbeg roared into the comm.  As he turned away to begin giving orders, Lucius thumbed off the screen and turned his attention to the oncoming ships.