Frozen Soul, and other works: Chapter 193

(Conference Room, CNV Tribute of Gold, Grimshield’s Bane System)

Admiral Ironbelt looked around the conference room at the assembled Admirals, their top aides, and flag captains. This was the moment she had been both waiting on and dreading, the first planning meeting for how to deal with the X’thari Harvester that was in Consortium space. There were eight fleets from five nations and one corporation here. She would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy the thought of being in command of such a force, but the circumstances made any enjoyment turn to ashes in her mouth. There was a very good chance that the only people here who would still be alive after the battle were the Nomads.

When everyone was settled, she touched a button on the conference table in front of her, and a chime sounded. Everyone stopped their conversations, and turned to look at her. “Thank you all for coming. I know our nations have not always been allies, or even friends. Some of us have come to blows with each other in our own lifetimes. Remember that the threat we face is one that threatens all life in this galaxy. Any differences we have must be set aside until the crisis is resolved. This may mean working alongside people you have good reason to hate. I will not try to cheapen your feelings, or the reasons for them. But we all know the stakes here. And we all know that, in the end, there is a very real chance that none of us, or our fleets, will make it out of the coming battle alive. It falls on us, then, to shelve our ill will with our fellow commanders, and work together, so that we might spend those lives that are lost as dearly as possible, and work on destroying the Harvester once and for all.”

She looked around the table, and was pleased to see that while there were definitely tensions (one could not help but notice the glare that the Kul’tiran Lord Proudmoore gave Admiral Mollen, unless you were blinder than a Tygelian rock slug), but there were grim nods and even the Kul’tirans did their best to hide their displeasure at sharing a table with the mercenary leader. It wasn’t much, but she would take what victories she could get at this point. The stakes were far too high to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

“Right. In that case, let us go around the table quickly and introduce the key players. As you all know, I am Admrial Dhurdroda Ironbelt, commander of the Consortium Navy’s Seventh Fleet, and overall commander of this task force.”

She nodded to the Ihm female sitting to her right, indicating she should speak. She was lean and slender, like most Ihm females, and her eyes betrayed a deadly cunning. “I am Keh Dhaka, Warleader of the Second Great Armada of the Ihm Imperium. By the words of the Treaty, I will carry the command if Admiral Ironbelt falls.” The Treaty of Helbizore was rather clear that the entire chain of command could not be one country’s commanders before all others, for fear of recklessly wasting lives like cannon fodder. Because of that, the second in command of the combined fleet was chosen by lottery among the remaining commanders as the fleet was gathering, and so on, with each country being kept out of the next round after their commander was chosen. This resulted in Warleader Dhaka being the combined fleet’s second in command.

Dhaka nodded to the Gauz male to her right, passing the floor. He was short, stocky, and bald on the top of his head, with the close-cropped beard common to spacefaring Gauz (whiskers caught in spacesuit seals were a bad thing). With a nod to Admiral Ironbelt, he turned to look at the rest of the group. “I’m Admiral Bradmig Jadegut, commander of the Consortium Navy’s Fifth Fleet, and third in command of the task force.”

A Knelfi female was next in line. She looked quite prim and proper in her dress uniform, but then the Knelfi were always prim and proper looking. “I am High Admiral Leena Aejor, commander of the Confederate Navy’s Sixth Fleet, fourth in command of the task force.”

The human Kul’tiran was next. He was a broad, hearty man. Scion of the aristocracy or not, he had worked his way up through the Kul’tiran Navy like everyone else. “Lord Admiral Tandred Proudmoore, of Kul’tiras, commander of the First Fleet. I guess that makes me fifth in line.”

Another human smiled. She was slim, and had skin that was a slightly darker shade than the Kul’tiran’s. “I am Admiral Han Moon-Hee, of Her Imperial Majesty’s Ninth Fleet. The Vindictus and I are here to see this threat ended, once and for all. Should things go bad, I will be sixth to take up the mantle of command.”

A Felisan Male bobbed his head next to her, and said in an almost purr, “I am Admiral Kasyx Rizazzi of the Confederate Navy’s Twelfth Fleet. Should things get to that point, I would be the seventh fleet commander to take overall command.”

Finally, the last human in the room spoke, from his seat at Ironbelt’s left. He was the only Nomad in the room, and the only commander who was not a part of a star nation that had signed the Treaty of Helbizore. “Some of you know me already, by reputation if not in person, but I am Admiral Mirikon Mollen, of the Black Star Navy. And should things well and truly go to shit, command will fall to me. I hope for all our sakes that such a thing does not happen.”

Ironbelt nodded, and said, “I, too, would very much hope that the command of the combined fleet never falls on you, Admiral Mollen, not least because of the fact that I am extremely allergic to being dead!” That got a laugh out of the group, none of them strangers to gallows humor. Such things were common amongst all militaries, it seemed. “Now, before we begin planning specifics of our attack, we have new data from Coldana, that must be considered.” That got a stir out of everyone. She turned to look at the Nomad. “Admiral Mollen, if you will?”

Admiral Mollen stood to his full height, and looked around the table. “At the request of Admiral Ironbelt, five Starhunter deep space scout ships attempted to sneak into the Coldana system. Because of their stealth features, tactics, and small size, they were able to enter the system undetected. The FTL comm array in Coldana has been destroyed, as expected, but the Starhunters have Nomads on board, and, as such, have been able to provide data on the conditions in the system.”

Ironbelt had heard this report before, but it was a good sign to see everyone straighten up a bit more as they paid attention to the Nomad’s words. The Nomad communication networks had proven far too useful for them to be discounted now. “The first thing to report is that Coldana still lives, and her people are still fighting the X’thari forces on the ground. We have not been able to get confirmed numbers from the resistance forces as the Black Star ships were ordered to maintain strict radio silence except for tightbeam intership links to avoid detection. But we are able to confirm from intercepted transmissions that the battle is ongoing.”

He paused, and then continued. “As good news as that is, the more important information is that the X’thari Harvester was apparently damaged more thoroughly by the Consortium Fifteenth Fleet’s Operation Firebringer than the initial reports suggested. The Harvester is slowly making its way through the remains of the Consortium fleets, consuming the materials. However, we have not seen an appreciable increase in the number of X’thari vessels compared to the post-battle data. This, combined with the fact that the Harvester looks to be consuming and processing the debris at a far slower rate than past data would suggest, leads our analysts to conclude that there was internal damage to the Harvester that did not show up on the outside, much like having a broken bone or punctured lung might not be immediately obvious from the outside in one of us.”

Admiral Jadegut frowned. “Will we be able to go over the data as well, so our analysts can corroborate? If this is true, then it gives us a window where the Harvester is more vulnerable than we can ever hope to find it, save while it is actively consuming Coldana.”

Admiral Mollen nodded. “The data, such as it is, is being compiled and sent to each of your commands’ analysts. Unfortunately, there is little in the way of hard data at this time, as we are dealing with oral reports, which don’t support massive data files.” When Jadegut nodded, he continued as he was before. “According to the Starhunters, the X’thari in the system are split between guarding the planet and the Harvester. If tarpits could be deployed, then this would allow the two groups to be kept separate, keeping reinforcements from helping defend the Harvester.”

Admiral Rizazzi cleared his throat as the Nomad sat down. “Could we use the method these Starhunters used to enter the system without fighting our way through the X’thari blockade?”

“Unlikely. The Starhunters used their X’thari drives to warp to a point well outside the system and engaged a ballistic course to enter the system well above the ecliptic, avoiding most of the X’thari patrols. In addition, five small ships designed for stealth are an entirely different matter from a combined fleet numbering over fifteen hundred ships. The Black Star Navy might, might be able to sneak in the same way, but without the support of the combined fleet, it is unlikely that we would be able to get close enough undetected to get a clear shot on the Harvester, and against that many ships it is unlikely we would be able to make a decisive attack before we were destroyed.”

Warleader Dhaka nodded her head. “It is good to know one’s shortcomings, and have a clear head, instead of becoming filled with the battlefire and losing sight of reality. If we cannot sneak in, then we must have a wedge to force a hole for the rest of our ships to get through.”

High Admiral Aejaor nodded slowly. “Before we decide which forces will force the hole open and which ones will make the attack, what plans do we have for destroying the Harvester? Given the data on its shields, we would have to use a sustained bombardment of the entire combined fleet to have a hope of destroying the shields by conventional means. Unless we are going to try and have a dreadnought sacrifice itself as in the last battle?”

Admiral Mollen raised his hand. “The data suggests that the layered shields of the Harvester can be defeated if we have a high enough concentration of firepower, striking in conjunction. Unfortunately, the amount of firepower required is unobtainable, unless one uses superluminal weaponry.”

Ironbelt shook her head. “It took an entire fleet base’s worth of engineers working in dry dock over a week to remove the governors of twelve shuttles. The time it would take to remove them on enough craft to be useful to the attack…”

Lord Proudmoore cut in. “What about the Black Stars and their FTL torpedoes? Are there enough of them to make the difference?”

Admiral Mollen looked over his shoulder to the synthetic female sitting behind him as his aide. “Raven?”

“Currently, between the various ships in the combined Black Star forces here, and the Starhunters currently in Coldana, the Black Star Navy could field well over four hundred Starbolt torpedoes without resupplying from supply ships. This includes torpedoes launched from the Dragon bombers, Assassin corvettes, Reaper cruisers, Knight destroyers, Wrath battleships, Starhunter scout ships, and the Starlight Raven. Simultaneous launch numbers are significantly below that number, however.”

Lord Proudmoore looked at the aide blankly for a moment. “Well, that was certainly more than I expected.”

Admiral Han chuckled. “I have found that the Black Stars are always more than one might expect. However, hearing this makes it clear what we need to do. If we can get the Black Stars a clear shot on the Harvester, they are the only force with enough burst firepower to have a hope of destroying it, certainly before Coldana is consumed.”

Ironbelt smiled. “Then, in that case, lets start talking specifics.”

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Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):
Frozen Soul https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT
Tales of the Void Traveler https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37

Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy GameLit):
Volume 1 - Tutorial
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB

Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4

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