Frozen Soul, and other works: Chapter 229

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

The bridge crew came to attention as I walked onto the deck. I waved them back to their work. This was no time for ceremony. “Report! What is the status of the breech?”

“Estimated time until rupture is ten minutes, Admiral. Imperial Navy is gathering near Saturn, to have more time to react to whatever is about to happen. They’ve offered a spot in the formation for us.”

I looked at the charts. Saturn was a good choice, given the alignments. By a quirk of orbital mechanics, Saturn was the closest planet to Pluto at the time. A good landmark to form up around. They could have rallied near Pluto, but that may have put the fleet too close to the rupture when it happened. There was no telling what would happen when the rupture occurred. Better to have some distance to play with, and learn the truth.

“Form up on the Imperial fleet’s left flank. All ships to general quarters. I want all systems ready for combat if needed. All personnel in suits, and armed. Shipboard Marine compliments to be ready for combat. Have Fourth Company ready for boarding actions. Launch the alert fighters, all other squadrons to their ready rooms, have their birds prepped.”

“Admiral! Gravitic sensors are fluctuating wildly! It looks almost like wind shear. Levels increasing rapidly!”

I bit back a curse. The gravitic anomalies had suggested that there were going to be problems. There was simply no getting around the fact that, when one of the fundamental forces in the universe started acting up, problems were going to happen. Unfortunately, if it was starting to act like wind shear, that had some nasty connotations.

“Will the fleet be safe to maneuver?”

“Unknown, sir. At current levels, sublight maneuvering should not prove overly hazardous, though use of gravitics will result in turbulence. Advise against using the hyperdrive, though. The shears are unpredictable, and rushing into one faster than the speed of light would likely rip the ship to pieces.”

“What about our weapons? Will our weapon systems be affected?”

“Yes, sir, but the extent of impact is unknown. Kinetics should be mostly unaffected, though they may have unplanned course changes. Unknown what effect it will have on energy weapons. Recommend limiting engagement range for all standard weapons.”

“And the torpedoes?”

“Starbolts should be considered nonfunctional beyond point-blank range. Dragonbreath torpedoes likely to still be effective at normal ranges. We simply don’t have enough data, sir.”

“Very well. Comms, make sure all bombers are loaded with Dragonbreath instead of Starbolts. Pass word to the Imperials that Starbolts likely to be ineffective. Make sure captains know to conserve ammunition until the proper moment.”

“Admiral! The rupture is forming!”

I looked at the sensor readouts. Everything we had was focused out beyond Pluto. It was because of that that I had a perfect view of the instant that madness, true madness, entered this virtual world.

An explosion of indigo light announced the formation of the rupture. It was relatively small, as astrological phenomena went, being roughly the size of Venus. However, that was just the visible distortion. If the gravitic sensors had been running wild before, now they were truly getting a workout!

I looked at Raven’s realtime analysis. Hyperdrive was definitely out of the question in this half of the system, probably further. If more ruptures like this formed, it was going to have a major impact on movement anywhere in the affected areas. It would be worse for civilian traffic, of course. Military forces always used tarpits to lock down hyperspace in battle, but having to go in realspace to the edge of a system before being clear of the distortions would seriously hamper civilian logistics.

“Admiral, we are receiving distress signals from the Pluto colonies! Minor rifts are opening across the planet, and alien creatures are attacking the populace! The reports are calling them demons!”

I took a breath. “What are the Imperials doing?”

“The fleet is advancing upon the rupture at flank speed. We have not detected any enemy ships, as of yet, but that could change at any point. Estimated time of arrival is in four hours. The Imperials have dispatched several of their marine assault ships to Pluto, in order to aid in the planet’s defense. They’ll be on station in three hours. Until then, the planet’s garrison troops are on their own.”

“Are we getting any readings at all from inside the rift?”

“Unconfirmed readings, Admiral. The chaotic nature of the dimension on the other side of the rift is causing the sensors to report multiple exclusive readings. We simply don’t have the technology to get a clear reading on the chaotic space.”

“Raven, can you clean the readings up any?”

The android frowned as she looked over the same sensor data I was, as well as accessing the raw feeds. “So far, the sensors have detected possible ships of multiple configurations, large organic creatures the size of the Harvester, a rogue planet, and some things I don’t have words for, all occupying the same area, sometimes simultaneously. The readings we are getting are simply impossible and ever changing, which is causing to not register any sightings.”

“Analysis?”

“Honestly? Too little data to say for certain. The two most basic hypotheses are that the sensor data is all incorrect, either due to the nature of chaotic space or due to technology used by the ‘demons’, or that all of the sensor data is accurate, but the chaotic space has different ‘phases’ to it, which can see ships and even planets be shuffled into different places depending on how they are viewed. Or it could be some combination of the two.”

The comms officer looked up. “Admiral! Word just in from the Fourth Group at Coldana! A second rupture is opening at the site of the Harvester’s death!”

“Open a channel to the Gugnir. Give my orders to Commodore Thistlebow: You have command of Black Star forces in the system. Operate in conjunction with the Consortium forces. If hostile creatures appear on the surface of Coldana, First Company, Black Star Marines authorized to intervene to push back the invading forces and defend civilians. If situation becomes untenable, a fighting retreat is authorized.” He paused, and then said, “And get me a sensor feed from Coldana!”

“At once, Sir!”

I sat in admiral’s command chair, looking over the information coming in. This was like something out of a game (an irony that was not lost on me). I guess that the only silver lining was that the Chaos Brigade was nowhere near here. I could only imagine what would happen if they were in the middle of a party like this. It wouldn’t be good, that was for sure.

“Admiral, ships detected, leaving the rupture! Unknown design and configuration! Capabilities unknown!”

“Time to intercept?”

“One hour, thirty minutes.”

“Put them on screen.”

The first ship I saw was, frankly, hideous to behold. It looked for all the world like someone had taken a pile of scrap from a junk yard, put it through an industrial shredder, and then welded the pieces back together in a way that almost, but not quite, looked like a spaceship. Oh, and then armed it with as many guns as possible.

“Goddamn, but that is one ugly ship.”

Raven nodded. “And it has several hundred equally ugly friends following it. Initial scans indicate that their weapons are primarily forward-facing. Most of their armor appears to be front-loaded, as well. Strong closing barrage, but weak against flank or rear attacks. Of course, you have to survive the barrage to get there, first. Unknown strength on the weaponry.”

Looking at the sensor readout, she said, “We are detecting twenty-five dreadnought-sized ships, fifty cruiser analogues, eighty-four frigates, and two hundred and twelve corvettes. The enemy fleet is only maintaining the very loosest of formations. Likely some kind of warband rather than an organized military.” She paused, and then said, “A new ship has exited the rift, this one is significantly larger than the dreadnoughts.”

“Raven, make a note that we need area denial weapons, will you? Our ships are effective against single targets, but seeing this reminds me that we are, unfortunately, lacking in area response capability.”

“As you wish, Admiral.”

The comms officer looked up, “Admiral, message from Admiral Han aboard the INS Revelator. All ships to close and attack. The Imperials will hit the center, they want us to try and get around the flank and take out that big ship before it can enter the fight.”

“Right. Plot a course, and send it to the fleet. First Group will be the tip of the spear. Second Group will be on our left flank, and Fifth Group on our right. Launch all fighters and bombers. Fighters are to keep the sky clear of enemy fighters, if they have any, and otherwise seek targets of opportunity. Bombers are to target the corvettes, allowing our ships to focus fire on the larger vessels.”

I considered for a moment, and then said, “My compliments to Major Zoxl. The Fourth Company of the Black Star Marines has its first mission. They are to board and capture the big ship there. Contact Commodore Draka, have Second Group guide them in.”

I watched as the two fleets closed. The enemy ships began firing at an insane range, well before their weapons could possibly be considered effective. Their energy weapons were powerful, but they were too unfocused, and lost cohesion quickly. Their ballistics were nothing to write home about, save for the prodigious rate of fire they were unleashing. They definitely didn’t seem to care about ammunition stores.

Fortunately, at these ranges, they wouldn’t harm even the corvettes. As the fleets closed, however, the sheer mass of firepower would make up for the lack of strength and accuracy. Getting to the point where we could turn and hit them from behind would be the hard part.

“Any transmissions from the enemy fleet?”

“Yes, sir. Computer is working on translation now. Doesn’t match any known languages.”

I sighed. It was probably something droll like demanding we surrender to some war-boss or whatever. No matter. “Are we within the modified Dragonbreath range?”

“Thirty seconds, sir.”

“Coordinate targets across the fleet. I see eight dreadnoughts in our field of battle, and they are leading the charge. All ships are to focus on those eight targets. Break their strongest ships first. Have all ships joined the point defense network?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Fire.”

(Flag Bridge, ISN Revelator, Sol System)

Admiral Han Moon-Hee gripped the sides of her command chair as another barrage shook the flagship of the Imperial Navy home fleet. She left the fighting of the ship to her captain. Her job was to manage the fleet, and contain or destroy this threat.

“Admiral, the Black Stars are engaging.”

“On screen.”

She watched as the Black Stars accelerated at the oncoming craft. Over two hundred torpedoes were launched from the Black Star ships and their bomber squadrons. Unlike the Imperial ships, which were designed for close combat, the Black Stars favored long-range engagements, destroying targets from a distance, or sneak attacks, not letting an enemy know they were there until it was far too late. A slugging match was not the best matchup for them, and they knew it.

Over two hundred torpedoes were fired. Perhaps a quarter of those were intercepted by point defense. The rest, however, managed to get through the enemy fire, and hit, hard, against the ships. The eight dreadnoughts in their section never stood a chance. All of them were gone, along with twenty-four corvettes.

The enemy forces in that section lost any semblance of cohesion they had. Intelligence’s initial evaluation was that they were dealing with some kind of tribal structure, rather than a military one. Admiral Mollen’s people must have told him the same. He cut off the head, and now the remainders were too busy trying to figure out who was in charge to properly fight.

But wait! That left wing of his, which was identified as ‘Second Group’, was swinging around, turning on the flank of the disorganized ships! And behind them were the Black Star Marines! She could see the lines of battle shifting. She’d asked him to take out the super-superdreadnought, or whatever designation they were going to use for it, and he’d decided to attempt to capture it instead! Or, at least, raid it so that they could learn more about the enemy.

Right, she couldn’t let the enemy have time to recover. “All ships, focus fire! Aim for those big ass engines! Cripple these bastards, and we’ll be able to take them easily from behind! For the Empress!”

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Tales of the Void Traveler - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37
Memoirs of a Supervillain - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R9NWS8J

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