Chapter IV: Jumping at shadows
"Hiigaran Naval Vessel, are you in need of assistance?"
Taidanii Trader Captain Elmetri So'isk looked at the mighty ship ahead of his freighter convoy. This was very peculiar, a Hiigaran ship of the line, Deus class battle cruiser by the looks of things, sitting in the empty space between planets, obviously damaged.
"Repeat, Hiigaran Naval Vessel, are you in need of assistance?"
His sensors officer came over to the Elmetri as the long-range sensor scan completed.
Definitely Deus class battle cruiser, IFF identifies it as Shevat. There's extensive damage around her dorsal ion turret. It could have affected her drive system and power core. A reading about local space caught his eye.
"This is a lot of quantum resonance for just a single battle cruiser," the Captain said suspiciously, tapping a finger on an obscure number. "Lock in an approach vector, maintaining current speed"
Captain Elmetri So'isk had served in the Taidanii navy for a decade and something here definitely didn't feel right. A mans face appeared on his console.
"What are we going to do?" The captain of the second freighter asked, no concern or worry present in his voice. Surprising considering there was a possibly hostile super capital ship four hundred kilometres away.
"I'm not sure Jeren…something's wrong. Have you picked up anything strange?"
The other man consulted someone off screen momentarily, and then turned back to his communications device.
"There've been some tight band beam transmissions from the battle cruiser, but we couldn't work out their destination"
"Really? We haven't been looking…" He stopped abruptly. Damn!
He heard a groan from across the bridge.
"Elm! We're being targeted" He looked at his first officer – his wife, incidentally – and shook his head. Jeren said the same thing; he's being targeted as well. Elmetri looked at his friend, worry creasing his brow.
"We've been had"

"Implacable, this is S-Alpha Two, the Taidanii ships are friendlies. They want to know if there's anything they can do to assist"
The interceptor pilot sounded tired and disheartened. Like every person still alive, he guessed.
"S-Alpha Two, this is Nevin, ask them for their cargo manifest, we'll see if they've got anything which we can use to patch up Shevat"
The battered old assault frigate the Tai's had with them had not even attempted to resist when Implacable had slipped out of the dust clouds. It simply stood down.
His destroyer had seen better days.
Like two days ago… he thought sadly to himself.
The forward mass driver turret was missing, and one of the reaction mass tanks had ruptured as they where escaping from the battle. Acceleration, manoeuvring and firepower were decreased. He sighed. What more could I ask for?
Shevat had taken a direct hit as they attempted to jump to hyperspace. Nevin felt it was his fault, as the biospear that caused the damage was heading for him, but the explosion of Shevat's other escort destroyer had thrown Implacable underneath the battle cruiser, the biospear hit Shevat about ten meters astern of her dorsal ion turret.
They where forced to make an emergency exit from hyperspace little more than fifteen light years from the battle zone.
Now his destroyer sat idle beside the three freighters and assault frigate. Shevat's eight remaining interceptors hung near the battle cruisers hangar, understandably wary about entering combat. Moving to a range from which the freighters small loading drones could work, they offered the Hiigarans what they could.

Shevat's bridge was a mess, cables hung lose from the walls, plasglass lay in minefields on the floor, daring the barefooted to traverse them. It was sheer luck the Taidanii had stumbled across them, the helpful traders offering the Hiigarans parts to repair their damaged hyperdrive module, and patch the breach in her upper hull. Still, the traders could only help so much, the parts they donated would only last a certain time.
Nerithol Krosen kicked a discarded cafbev pouch, it twirled upwards slowly, small globules of undrunk liquid slipping out, shimmering and wavering like tear filled eyes. Like the interceptor pilot he had come across on his way to the engineering decks. She was sitting against the wall, curled up into a little ball. Her eyes had looked like that, on the verge of tears. Only one of her squad mates was still alive, she had whispered. And still she didn't feel safe, back aboard Shevat; she had looked away then, ashamed. Second Death died, she blurted out, and we could be next. I used to feel invincible aboard this ship.
There was nothing he could do to reassure her, he thought grimly as he looked about his ruined bridge. A monitor spluttered to life, the face of Nevin Soban filling the screen. A crack ran down the center, distorting his rugged face.
"Sir. The Tai's say the shipyard at Forec could give us a better repair, and it's only three light years away. We could make it"
Nerithol thought about it, rubbing two fingers on the bridge of his nose.
"We aren't sure if we where followed though, Nevin. I don't want to bring those things down on an entire planet"
The screen opened a new communication window, and the face of the lead Taidanii trader appeared.
"Permission to speak, captain?" The trader asked
"Of course, be my guest" Nerithol said as he sat down and looped his feet under a grab hoop on the ground.
"When we left Forec, about thirty three hours ago, there was a Republican task force in dock for routine stuff, like maintenance, shore leave and what have you" a small icon began to blink on Nerithols screen. The captain was transferring an image. "If you would look at this image sir, I know the resolution isn't the best, but it's sufficient"
Shevat's captain tapped the icon, and the image sprung up on the main screen.
"I think what you see there should make you feel safe about going to Forec"
The captain enhanced the image. With no one on the bridge but himself, he found that he was remembering skills he hadn't used since he was a frigate captain. Two ships stuck out like sore thumbs.
"Qwaar-Jets…"
The Taidanii trader nodded.
"It's my opinion we take the risk, sir" The destroyers captain put in. "The Qwaar-Jets will definitely give anyone following us a hard time, and even down an ion turret, you still have more firepower than a Qwaar. That's a big decision for anyone coming after us to take."
Nerithol thought hard. The twin Taidanii heavy cruisers would be able to put up a good fight.
That's assuming we've been followed…maybe I'm just being paranoid
He shook his head. What was he thinking! Leaving Shevat in this state was endangering his crew. Forec it was.
"Alright then, we'll make the jump" He looked to the Trader "Are you going to come with us?"
The trader nodded. "Yes, we need to resupply. I think our customer would be unappreciative if we arrived missing some of his cargo"
Nerithol smiled. All traders are the same.
"I'll contact the Hiigaran consul on Forec. See if we can't get you reimbursed and perhaps a little on the side"
Elmetri tried to conceal his smile.
"Ah…you don't have to do that, Captain"
"Nonsense, it's the least I could do"
The destroyer's captain shook his head, lips twitching in amusement.
"Well…if you insist, sir" He let the smile bubble through to the top. "Vel'delfar out"
The traders screen disappeared, allowing Nevins face to fill the monitor again.
"I hope your right about this, my friend" Nerithol looked about his wreckage strewn bridge, the small globules of cafbev had long since been siphoned away by atmospheric restoration units.
"Yeah…me too"

Aligning themselves on Forecs star, the trio of Taidanii traders and the two Hiigaran Naval vessels drifted slightly as they shut down their fusion drives.
In order to reduce strain on Shevat's weakened hyperdrive, the three Taidanii traders offered to include the destroyer inside their jump envelope.
The first ship to make the jump was the Taidanii assault frigate, the purple window eating it up quickly. Then the three traders and Implacable jumped in unison, the destroyer's gate taking slightly longer to shrink to nothing.
Shevat opened her gateway. There where slight instabilities in the wavefront, but everything seemed to be going acceptably. The crew held their breath as they heard the familiar noise of the hyperspace rent pass them by. The loudspeakers crackled to life.
"Attention all personnel, we have successfully entered hyperspace"
Breaths were released happily; engineering crew clapped each other on the back and cheered. The crews of the other ships in the convoy all smiled as it was announced the battle cruisers resonance could be felt behind them.
Captain Nerithol looked content, assured now he had made the right decision.
Was this what it was like aboard the Mothership, jumping into uncertainty for the first time? The giddy tension as the hyperdrive ran up to full power, the short burst of terror as the wavefront consumed us? The ship wide elation as the featureless purple of hyperspace looked upon us?
Judging by the looks on the bridge crews faces, he thought this must have been what it was like.

Something stirred in the dust cloud. A cold mind regarded them hungrily as the purple window swallowed Shevat. Massive limbs flexed out as it moved, seeking the star they headed for.
The thing reached its mind out, grasping hold of the particular harmony of the star.
Vez'kim'jez-sul, the star whispered to it in its melodic ethereal voice.
The…creature… locked a mental claw around a wavering note. It willed itself there, it could feel the tunnel forming, shrinking space and time. Cells deep inside it's sleek body exerted themselves against the wall of reality, ripping the barrier away. The warmth of the star spilled through the now open tunnel. Dark intent filling it's mind, it flung itself into the tear in space, the tunnel a strange hybrid of hyperspace and real space.
The starsong grew louder as it travelled; soon the sound saturated the alien thoughts, rejuvenating it, its strength increasing as it approached the sun.

A purple ripple pinged on the tactical map. Normally, hyperspace jumps did not attract undue attention. There would be the standard array of quantum and long range scanners focused on it, and three defence platforms per gateway would be put on alert, but generally they where handled by Forec shipyards AI. This particular exodus however, caught the eye of the sensors master aboard the Taidan Republic carrier Bre'sha.
Three hundred and fifty kilometres out from the standard jump distance meant one of three things. It was either a poorly trained spy, an invasion force or a vessel in trouble, which had no control over its exodus point. Within seven seconds, another eight defence platforms had lined their ion beams upon the opening gateway, and opened covers on missile launch tubes.
The ship appeared. IFF; Hiigaran Navy Vessel Shevat. A Deus class battle cruiser.
They began transmitting a wide band signal, open to anyone who would listen.
"…Vessel Shevat, requesting assistance. Repeat, this is Hiigaran Navy Vessel Shevat, requesting assistance…"
The carrier's first officer, currently on command duties as the captain was aboard the heavy cruiser Soim, gave the order to launch two flights of scouts to assess the situation. The streaked out of the large ships forward bays, engines flaring brightly as they kicked in their afterburners.
The acting officer asked for a channel to be opened to the stricken warship.
"Hiigaran Naval Vessel Shevat, this is Taidanii Republic Carrier Bre'sha, how can we be of assistance?'

There where too many steel monsters for it to win now.
-We could win
-No. You overestimate your abilities
But it could wait; its prey would leave eventually.
It would follow it home.
And then it could cry out to its brethren, cry out a joyous note of victory.
Revenge would soon be theirs.

"So, you think its possible one or more of these things followed you, Captain?"
Nerithol was standing in the shipyards officers lounge. Outside the wall window, he could see the sleek, low profile of his ship, lying next to a stubbier Qwaar-Jet heavy cruiser. Small MSV's darted about her aft section, and replacement parts for Shevat's damaged hyperdrive where being ferried aboard. Beside him stood a mountain of a man, the captain of the Qwaar-Jet, Ish'falleen, which was next to the Hiigarans vessel.
"Well, we didn't pick up any readings, but it's possible, I thought it best to warn you"
The Taidanii nodded his head towards Nerithol.
"Well, my thanks to you captain, you can never have enough information" He downed his glass of potent Forecian spirits, not even grimacing slightly. The cup was placed on the nearing a little to heavily. Eyes looked at them across the lounge.
Peace had blossomed across the sector when Karan had become Sajuuk-Khar, the chosen one. Forec, due its position between both Taidanii Republic worlds, and Hiigaran worlds, was enjoying a golden period. Work was underway expanding nearly every aspect of the shipyard, as it had to serve a multitude of different vessel types. Commercial areas speared out from the bottom of the station, like slender fingers reaching for the world below. The shipyard was more often than not full to capacity, passenger ships and cargo vessels sitting idly in a rosary about the planets equator, waiting for a free berth. Members of nearly every race in the known galaxy littered Forec Stations halls, a cacophony of languages assailed the ears of the unprepared upon arrival. Industrial stations floated about the primary body of the orbital, like crumbs from freshly baked desert loaf.
An oblong shadow settled above Shevat. Both captains looked up, to see the crimson hull of Implacable sitting above her, drones welding on temporary armour over the multitude of hull breaches along the destroyer's length. "Nice vessel, but I think it could have done with an ion cannon" The Taidanii said, looking at the Hiigaran ship. "Although in trials, I here this class beats the old Rev class"
Nerithol laughed softly.
One of the new Taidan destroyer's slowly headed back out, it's escort of the Hiigaran destroyer complete. More streamlined than the old Skaal-Tel, this next generation warship looked more menacing than its predecessor.
"You are well informed friend. It's the torpedo launcher, gives her the ability to hit with more weapons from any angle. The Revelation class was in trouble if ships came from directly above or especially below"
The Taidanii, Kel Siotur, clapped the Hiigaran Captain on the back with a massive palm. With the other hand, he waved the barkeep for two sine glasses of Forecian ale, brewed in the coldest reaches of the north.
"Drink with me my friend, too better ships," he gestured at the assembled super capitals in dock. "Which keep us alive, and too peace"
He leaned in close to Shevat's captain.
"'Cause I for one like Hiigaran drink"
They laughed. It felt good to laugh, Nerithol thought, after seeing such horrible vistas. Crewmen in the lounge from the various warships in dock came and joined their toast, the laughter and murmur of voices growing. In amongst the crowds gathered about the window, he could see the happy, familiair faces of the Taidanii traders, officers from Implacable, Taidan officers, and his bridge crew.
He sighed happily. It was good to forget about what was happening outside. Taking a deep drink from his glass, he let the warmth flow through him, and shut out the view through the window. New and old friends surrounded him, all of them getting swept up in the moment. The sine glass twinkled enticingly to offer him a short escape from the harsh reality which awaited him once he left this bar. Raising his glass in the air again, he tapped it against Kel Sioturs glass and allowed himself to be taken by the feeling.