Shadow Space Chronicles 1: The Fallen Race (14 page)

The Chxor had just passed a small, rocky, unremarkable planet.  It had no atmosphere, no moons, and a rocky, cratered surface.  The Faraday colony never gave it anything more than a numeric for a name.  However, a planet didn’t need to be remarkable to cast a significant sensor shadow.

If Lucius possessed a fleet, he couldn’t have hidden it in that shadow.

He didn’t possess a fleet, he had the
Gebneyr
.

The battlecruiser rounded the planet behind the Chxor formation just as the three squadrons of fighters reached their optimal firing range for missiles.

The
Gebneyr
and the three squadrons had a perfect firing solution.  The four cruisers lay in the front of the formation, ahead of the dreadnoughts.  They provided no protection to any attack from astern.  The Chxor, in maneuvering to intercept the
War Shrike
, had left their clouds of chaff behind.  They hadn’t yet deployed new chaff because neither side would throw away missiles at this range.  The
War Shrike
hadn’t drawn close enough for the main weapons batteries yet.  Both dreadnoughts’ jamming focused forward, towards the apparent enemy’s sensors.  The fighter squadrons separated from the
War Shrike
and apparently without missiles did not constitute a threat.

The fighters had reloaded their missiles earlier.  An older freighter served as their reloading platform.  Thirty-six ship killer missiles lanced out from the three squadrons.

The
Gebneyr
was a different story.  It lay only five thousand kilometers behind the two dreadnoughts, well within range within its primary and secondary and tertiary weapons batteries.

It also mounted four missile tubes and external missile racks which allowed it to fire twenty four Pilum missiles in one opening salvo.

The six shots from the primary battery and the six from the secondary battery slammed into the rear of the nearer Chxor dreadnought.  Twelve more lighter beams from the tertiary battery quickly followed.  The beams punched into the rear of the dreadnought, well aimed at such close ranges.

No ship could take such fire at such close range.

Engine pods ripped apart.  Power plants detonated as beams ripped through control systems and containment fields.  Turrets and gun mounts blew off, twirling off into space.

The aft end of the dreadnought dissolved into nothing more than shredded wreckage.

The other dreadnought still had its rear mounted weapons and sensors, and fought to get a lock on the battlecruiser.  The Chxor technicians had just enough warning to see a total of sixty fusion warhead missiles fired from short range at the two dreadnoughts.

The dreadnoughts tertiary battery could engage missiles, fighters, and light vessels.  They had no time for the sensors to gain a lock on the inbound missiles.  The gun crews of the X-ray lasers fired blindly at the inbound, evasive missiles.

Fifty nine missiles survived to engage the two dreadnoughts.

The chain of explosions enveloped the two ships.  The two dreadnoughts disappeared from Lucius’ sensors beneath the massive energy release from those missiles.

When the radiation cleared, thirty seconds later, nothing remained where the two dreadnoughts once lay besides rapidly expanding clouds of superheated gas.

The bridge of the
War Shrike
erupted in cheers and Lucius felt a broad smile spread on his own face.  “One half of the enemy’s firepower destroyed,” Lucius said.  The remaining cruisers of this force were essentially unarmed.  Lucius could alter course and destroy the vessels at his leisure.  The ships were slow and, without the guns of the dreadnoughts, were no longer a threat.

Lucius pondered letting the vessels go, but discarded the thought as the ships continued their courses, the Chxor commanders unable to comprehend the destruction of their force.

“Captain, I’m receiving a signal from the damaged Chxor cruiser.” Lieutenant Palmer said, his drawl harsh.  “It’s a human.”

Lucius frowned.  How had a human got aboard one of the ships, much less the one which had fallen out of the Chxor formation?  He pulled up the signal on one of his screens.

A woman in a battered and bloodied ship suit stared back at him from the screen.  She had removed the helmet from the suit, to reveal brown eyes and a shaven scalp.  She also carried a heavy rifle, slung across her shoulder.  Behind her, he saw two other armed humans drag a Chxor corpse off the bridge.  “Captain, we wish to signal our surrender, and ask for asylum with you.  We mutinied against the Chxor.”  She waited, clearly nervous.

Lucius looked at her for a long moment.  “I hadn’t realized the Chxor used human crews.”

She stared at him for a long moment.  When she finally spoke he could see the tendons stand out along her jaw, “They draft people from every world they control.  With them, it’s either learn your assigned duties or be put out the airlock as useless.  Most of the cruisers have significant numbers of human crew.”

A dozen questions flitted through his mind, but he pushed them back.  “Did you take the ship intact, and can you pilot it through shadow space?”  That was the most important issue.

“Yes,” she answered.  “A lot of the other crew went along with us, in the mutiny.  Even some of the lower Chxor officers.”

“
I’m detaching a shuttle to your vessel.  I’ll have Marines to take charge of any prisoners and some crew to lend assistance.”

“
There aren’t any prisoners.” Her answer was coldly satisfied.

Lucius suppressed a shiver at what he saw in her dark eyes.  There was anger, and hurt, and a terrible desire for revenge.  He wondered what horror it would be to live beneath the Chxor.  Never mind that, he had a hard enough time sleeping as it was.  He
really
didn’t want to know what burned behind those eyes.

“
Well, the Marines can help you take charge.  Who is the acting Captain?”

She shrugged, wearily.  “I don’t know.”

“Who is in charge?” Lucius demanded.

She looked around, clearly in an attempt to force her brain to work.  “Matty was, but he’s dead.  Alice took over then, but they killed her when we stormed the bridge.”  She stared off into space for a long moment.  “I guess I am.”

“And who are you?”

“
Computer Technician Seventeen,” she answered instantly, then shook her head, “That’s what my rank was with the Chxor.  I’m Lauren Kelly.”

“
Well then, Lauren, you keep things together over there, and we’ll detach some people to give you a hand.”  He cut the connection, then spent a moment in thought.  He opened another connection.  “Major Proscia.”

“
Yes, sir?” The connection had no visual, which suggested the marine was on the move.

“
I’ve a mission for you and a question.”

“
Go ahead sir.  My men are helping out with damage control, but they’ve got everything under hand at the moment.”

“
One of the Chxor crews mutinied.  I need a security detachment to help them get things in order.  Also, I was wondering what your opinion is of fighting a boarding operation on the remaining cruisers.”

There was a long pause as the Major considered.  “Sir, I’ll need more people.  Fighting aboard four ships… we haven’t the manpower for it.”

“From what I understand, the other crews are made up of conscripts, with a lot to hate about their officers.”  Lucius responded.

“
That’s another matter altogether then sir.” The Marine officer answered.  “I’ve boarded one of those cruisers once, any fighting will be rough, the Chxor won’t go down without a fight.  If you can give me enough time and the Marines aboard the
Gebneyr
, I think we can lead the crews to a successful mutiny.  It will be bloody, but, if the crews are mutinous already, then things should fall into place.”

“
Make preparations then, Major.”  Lucius closed the connection and began his own preparations.

***

The cruisers didn’t have the speed to escape, so the only real threat came from the vessels’ guns, which could engage and destroy the shuttles as they transferred Marines aboard the ships.  The light cruisers’ only offensive weapons were six light lasers, designed more for missile interception than anything else.  They could, unfortunately, engage and destroy a shuttle.

Lieutenant Naevius led his squadrons in close, to snipe at the turrets on one ship after the other.

Midway through disabling the vessels weapons, one of the other two ships lost all power and began to drift.  It looked as if both power plants went offline at the same time, which suggested that a mutiny was already underway.  Major Proscia agreed and rerouted the shuttles already dispatched to another vessel to that one.  Lives might be saved in a quick resolution to that fight.

Lucius found the boarding operations much more strenuous to command than ship-to-ship engagements.  He could hear all of the commands and reports, but he wasn’t present.  He couldn’t see what his Marines saw.  He couldn’t help.  He couldn’t change the outcome, no matter what he did.

He was glad for Major Proscia’s presence.  The man possessed an almost frightening intensity.  William Proscia had fought on many battlefields and it seemed that he could see exactly what his men saw as he directed their operations.  He managed to speak calmly even as he directed the mutinous crews that rallied with the Marine boarding parties against the Chxor.

“Sir,” Proscia spoke, midway into the operation.  One vessel was entirely secured, the Chxor aboard had surrendered when faced with inevitable defeat.

“
Yes, Major?” Lucius asked, his attention split between the battles aboard the enemy vessels and the two enemy dreadnoughts and their escorts.

“
I don’t think we can capture vessel two.  Most of the crew is from Saragossa.” William’s said, his voice flat and unemotional.

Lucius winced.  The Saragossa system lay not far from Nova Roma.  They had had a dominant economy and heavy factories, which had made them a threat, especially since their colony’s merchant cartels were in competition with those of Nova Roma.  The short and brutal war that resulted culminated with the destruction of most of the system’s infrastructure.  Much of the system’s population died from starvation before the Chxor arrived to take charge.  “Offer to remove anyone who wants to leave, then evacuate your people.  We’ll destroy it.”  Lucius answered.  He had nothing against the Saragossans, but if they fought on the side of the Chxor, they were the enemy.

The operation continued.

Lucius watched the Chxor forces on approach to Faraday.  As expected, the planet offered no resistance.  The Chxor took no chances, for they didn’t trust humans.  Besides that, Lucius added mentally, the Chxor commander had to be peeved about losing half his forces.

As the Chxor fleet assumed the high orbital position, it began to systematically target all other craft in orbit.  Some ships tried to flee, then, but it was too late.  Only ships on the far side of the planet had any realistic chance to elude that much firepower.  One or two Faraday naval vessels attempted to return fire, but they survived only long enough to be engaged by the second salvo.

“
Lieutenant Palmer, what is the status on the evacuation ships?”

“
They’re dropping into shadow now, Captain.  They’re headed for the rendezvous.”

Lucius nodded, sadly.  Sixteen thousand people saved.  Nineteen million more and an entire world taken by the Chxor.  At least the politicians who surrendered would be amongst the first to feel the lash of their new overlords.

***

Squadron Commander Kleigh finished the annotation of his notes as his flagship finished annihilation of all orbital traffic as a security measure.  The standard operating procedure when beginning a planetary occupation, it also gave his gunners more needed practice.  He sighed as he reviewed the notes on the engagement.

Obviously, these Humans behaved illogically again.

He acted impeccably, he approached the battle in the correct mentality, which left him blameless for the results, he knew.  Who would have thought that the humans would sacrifice a world as a lure to destroy two dreadnoughts?  Chxor high command would find their actions as puzzling as himself.

He looked up as one of the communications technicians attracted his attention.  “High Commander, the planetary authorities have requested audience with you.”  Kleigh nodded and waited for the technician to rout the transmission to his command chair.

“What is the meaning of this!” an obese human demanded.  “We surrendered, you have no reason to fire on us!”

“
Your orbital traffic was a potential threat to my vessels.  It was dealt with.” Kleigh answered, logically.  “You will no longer question my actions.  All military personnel on your world will assemble for their surrender and a facility will be prepared for their internment.  All aircraft will be grounded and all ground transportation will be suspended.  Any acts of aggression against my vessels or troops will be met with instant retaliation.  Is that understood?”