HOMEWORLD2: WRATH OF THE GODS
CHAPTER 10: SICILIAN DEFENCE
The Hiigaran System is not without perils, as the Exiles discovered when they returned to their Homeworld. Not only did they have to contend with the Inhibitor Station fleet that guarded the Bridge of Sighs, they also had to save the Mothership from certain destruction by a collision asteroid used by the Imperials.
While the inner orbits of the Hiigaran System can be considered uneventful in cosmic terms, the same cannot be said for the outer orbits and most importantly, the outskirts of the system. Here, asteroid belts move in random and high speed orbits thanks to the erratic gravitational pulls of the gas giants' movements in the area. The Hiigaran Navy has not encountered any resulting tragedy since Landfall, the closest being the Revelation-class Destroyer Bushan Re which narrowly escaped destruction thanks to the assistance of the Somtaaw Explorer-class vessel Kuun Lan
It must be said that the region the Bushan Re drifted into was not the most violent region in the Hiigaran System Outskirts. That dubious distinction must instead go to Chapel Perilous, where the collision asteroid was built. Many astronavigational officers now agree that the Mothership was blissfully lucky enough to pass through the place during the Quiet Times. Had the Exile Fleet arrived at Chapel Perilous during the active cycles, they would have to struggle against asteroid movement dwarfing that in the Diamond Shoals asteroid field outside the Kadesh Nebula.
Even with all the recent advances in Hiigaran technology, Chapel Perilous remains off-limits to all shipping traffic. Not even the presence of vast quantities of rare minerals could persuade the Somtaaw to send their mining fleets into this aptly-named region.
Onboard the Exile, Outskirts of Gehenna asteroid fields:
The Hiigaran carrier fleet inched away from the Progenitor gate that had led them home. They were now on the outskirts of Gehenna, deep behind enemy lines. Already, Commander Hyll had ordered the fleet to start recharging hyperdrives to jump out of the Vaygr Reaches. Makaan's defeat had not shattered the Vaygr, only united their hatred against the Hiigarans.
The Seven Crusades were now separated, but each Crusade still posed a formidable threat to the Inner Rim. Even now, they still lead incursions into the Outer Rim worlds in an attempt to pierce the Inner Rim and raid Hiigara, but their sporadic attacks were always repelled.
Hyll was eager to leave at once as Gehenna was under the control of the Vermillion Crusade. The Vermillion Crusade was arguably the most powerful Crusade in the Vaygr Reaches. It was the Crusade that Makaan hailed from, and though it received a major blow in the the defeat of Makaan and his elite fleet, it had recovered to its original strength in a few months.
"You know, Kiir, at times like these I wish we could just jump out using the Eye of Aaraan."
"Indeed, but you know that sending a long range transmission to the central Eye will surely reveal our presence to the Vaygr. We'll just have to sneak out undetected using the old way."
"Kiir, you know quite a bit about space travel. Ever thought of becoming a tactical officer?"
"Nah, I just read up a little bit on ship tactics and strategies my knowledge is still inadequate…"
"Nonetheless, it's good having you around the bridge."
"Thanks, you flatter me Commander."
"Please, just call me Hyll."
"Right."
The hyperspace module controls began to beep steadily, indicating that the Exile was fully charged and ready for hyperspace jump. Commander Hyll gave the order to synchronise hyperdrives. If everything went well, they would reach the safety of Hiigaran space in about three jumps.
As the fleet made the jump to hyperspace, a Vaygr assault frigate hiding in a nearby dust cloud began beaming its discovery to the Vermillion Crusade…
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, hyperspace transit:
The Mothership had entered hyperspace just minutes ago, and Yuno was still amazed by what her sensors had told her. As the Gatekeeper had made the jump to hyperspace, she had noticed the immense quantum energies emanating from the derelict device attached to the bottom of the Dreadnaught. After running several checks against the Mothership's databases, she concluded that the quantum energy involved clearly exceeded that of the Three Cores by a very large margin.
Admiral Eefrit, on the other hand, was seated calmly in his chair, resting himself. He had made a grave tactical error in his haste to defend Sarum, resulting in the loss of countless lives when the crystals blew. Hopefully, a good rest would let him calm his nerves. Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to do so.
"We will be exiting hyperspace in one minute. All ships, stand by for full evasive manoeuvres."
Eefrit didn't quite understand why Yuno mentioned "full evasive manoeuvres."
"Yuno, I was wondering, why evasive? Shouldn't we be instead preparing to face the invasion fleets?"
"You see, I ran a check through all the possible hyperspace exit points and decided that only this one place is suitable to mount a defence."
A nearby screen lit up and Eefrit watched as a map of the Hiigaran System appeared. The green dot that represented the Mothership was approaching the outer edge of the system. Yuno zoomed in on their target destination, which appeared in bold red on the map.
"This place… Chapel Perilous!"
"Yes. I understand that the Chapel is currently in one of its most active cycles in a decade, we can use that to our advantage."
"Yuno, are you mad! That place literally swarms with rocks! There's no way the Raiders, Imperials or Vaygr could survive there…"
"This is precisely my point. The enemies seem to have forgotten the significance of the region, hence this will lead to their downfall."
"… Very well. How then do you propose we survive while the invaders do not?"
"I have instructed all repair crews to be on maximum alert and shunted power to all automatic repair systems. All outer decks have been evacuated except the bridge. I recommend that you all retreat to the inner auxiliary bridge for better protection."
"What! So we're just going to sit there and take it!"
"I'm receiving sensor data on asteroid positions and trajectories, computing best possible course. Hyperspace exit imminent, all ships stand by for full evasive manoeuvres!"
Eefrit and the rest of the bridge officers wasted no time in moving to the inner bridge.
Onboard the Gatekeeper of Sajuuk, Outskirts of Hiigaran System (Chapel Perilous):
When the Dreadnaught slipped into normal space, everyone was greeted by an unpleasant sight. Asteroids ranging from interceptor-sized ones to the carrier-sized biggies were hurtling at frigate velocities in seemingly random directions. It looked to Soban that they had just jumped out of the pan and into the fire.
When Engineering had heard about their current situation, they wasted no time in diverting all remaining power to shields for cover from the asteroids. No sooner had the shields activated did a large frigate-sized rock slammed into the right side of the ship. The Gatekeeper shuddered slightly, but her shields held and deflected the asteroid in another direction.
"Damage report!"
"Shields at ninety-six percent power, shield integrity still one hundred percent. We can handle those things without much trouble unless they come in a swarm, but we're not sure if we can take a hit from the bigger rocks."
"Got that. Helm, pull any excess power from weapons systems and divert to main drives. We need to evade as best as we can here."
Captain Soban then watched the viewscreens as the rest of the Mothership fleet faded into realspace. As soon as the jump windows closed, the Legacy's point defence systems kicked into full alert and began blasting away at any asteroid within range. The frigates and destroyers shifted to high gear, trying their best to avoid getting hit. Meanwhile, the battlecruisers and carriers moved into a protective sphere around the Mothership, using their weapons to pummel any dangerous space rock coming the Mothership's way.
"Captain, we're receiving an incoming transmission from Yuno of the Mothership."
"Patch her through."
"Captain Soban, the enemy will be arriving any time now," Yuno cut in quickly,"I am transferring to your ship's databanks coordinates that you should follow to avoid as many collisions as possible. I will also analyse the formation of the enemy fleets and transmit the relevant targeting data to maximise the effectiveness of the Phased Cannon Array."
"Thanks for the help, but I think our shields can handle this fine."
"You need the shield power for the actual battle. Besides, my long range sensors are picking up an approaching asteroid swarm. It'll be on us in five minutes, and when that happens, expect asteroid density here to triple."
"Triple? As things stand right now those rocks are having a party around us!"
"Then brace yourselves for more. Yuno out."
Captain Soban slumped into his seat, dazed by what he had just heard. Yuno was one crazy female, though her plan might actually give them a chance to stop the invasion before it reached Hiigara. At that moment, the sensors screen lit up and beeped urgently. The invaders were arriving.
Sure enough, green and blue hyperspace windows opened to reveal the shining mass of metal that was the combined might of the Vaygr, Imperials and Raiders. Soban gasped at the sight, then heaved a sigh of relief when he saw a massive rock pummel through a dozen ion array frigates that were still exiting hyperspace. The frigates lit up in dazzling explosions, sending the enemy fleets into disarray.
The battlecruisers broke formation and started firing away wildly at any rock larger than a frigate, causing the shards of shattered asteroids to rip into the frigates and carriers with crippling force. Some of the ion array frigates were rendered useless as their fragile focusing arrays were broken apart, and repair crews rushed to cover gaping holes in the weaker spots of the attack carriers.
Captain Soban received firing data from Yuno, so he immediately gave the order for Weapons Control to charge the Phased Cannon Array. The Gatekeeper aligned itself to face the enemy and glowed as it brimmed with energy. Then the blinding scythe of light leapt forth and tore through five Imperial battlecruisers, destroying three and crippling two.
The Vaygr were the first to realise that they were being fired upon, so their battlecruisers turned to face the Hiigaran fleets, launching their fusion missiles. More than a hundred missiles zipped through space, but only twenty-odd missiles hit the Hiigaran fleet, the rest of them discharging their payloads against asteroids. The Hiigaran ships fired back, using ion cannons to slice through the asteroids and scorch the Vaygr ships beyond.
Captain Soban gave the next order and the Dreadnaught fired again, frying another four more Imperial battlecruisers. The targeting data was very helpful as it showed all the battlecruisers that were lined up in a straight line for the Phased Cannon Array to eat through. By now, the Imperials and Raiders had reorganised themselves and joined in the fray.
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, Outskirts of Hiigaran System (Chapel Perilous):
"Alright, there's a lot of data coming in right now, Eefrit you might want to take over from me to make things easier?"
Eefrit slowly got up from a chair, stretched, then grabbed the comm channel mic.
"Admiral Eefrit to all ships, pull back four kilometres. If we can pull this off right we can catch them in the swarm!"
Sure enough, there was a big ugly asteroid swarm looming in the distance. It looked nasty, and it was racing to them at murderous corvette speeds. Now, the Mothership broke formation with the other capital ships as the Hiigaran fleet raced to get out of the way. Captain Soban's ship remained behind to distract the enemy fleets and get them into the path of the approaching swarm.
The Legacy's pulsars failed to deflect a frigate-sized asteroid, which slammed into the front of the Mothership with devastating force, sending shudders throughout the superstructure of the massive ship. Eefrit held on for dear life.
"Are we okay?"
"Outer hull breach and heavy inner hull damage, repair systems engaged at full power!"
"What's the status on the rest of the fleet?"
"Our frigates and destroyers managed to evade the asteroids, and the battlecruisers are deflecting the rocks with their weaponry. The carriers are hiding in the shadow of the battlecruisers, so they should be alright. Only problem is with the Solar Sword – they haven't completed standard drive repairs and the ship is falling behind. The captain says that he'll be jumping the ship to Hiigara for safety's sake."
Sure enough, the damaged battlecruiser was lagging behind even the slow Mothership, and it looked set to be caught in the swarm. Just then a blue hyperspace window opened up and slid through the battlecruiser. They had managed to charge their hyperdrives in time. Meanwhile, the Gatekeeper was now moving to catch up with the rest of the fleet. Captain Soban had successfully taken out a total of seventeen Imperial battlecruisers. The Raiders and Imperials pursued blindly while the Vaygr hesitated, wondering if there was any subtle trickery afoot.
The Vaygr saw what was coming, and started pulling back immediately. The Raiders and Imperials saw the swarm too, but they were too far in to move out of danger now. The asteroid swarm engulfed the combined Raider/Imperial fleet, barely grazing the retreating Vaygr fleet. The epic battle paused as both Vaygr and Hiigaran fleets stopped to stare in disbelief at the cosmic cataclysm unfolding before their eyes.
Screams were cutting through all communications frequencies as ships struggled to evade the rocks, and failed. A destroyer-sized chunk slammed into four ion array frigates and shattered the ships completely. The rock then split into several pieces to severely cripple two nearby heavy destroyers. The battlecruisers fired their energy burst cannons, deflecting many dangerous asteroids that were hurtling their way. Unfortunately, more chunks raced forward to replace their deflected comrades. Now it was the Imperials' might against the cosmic forces of Chapel Perilous.
A battlecruiser took a direct hit from a carrier-sized asteroid and broke in two, each ship fragment exploding at different times. Three Raider carriers manoeuvred to evade a bunch of large rocks, only to collide into each other and destroy themselves. Still, the chunks kept coming, tearing into the surviving carriers, frigates, destroyers and battlecruisers. By now the number of ships in the fleets had been reduced to half, and the survivors struggled to limp to the edges and break away from the unending assault.
Chapel Perilous did not wish to let them go, and threw the densest part of the swarm at the survivors. The rocks were now the size of command ships, and barely hundreds of metres apart. There was no evading these asteroids. One chunk swiped by and took with it six Imperial battlecruisers and nine heavy destroyers. Another rock cut into the fleet and obliterated a dozen ion array frigates and tore four carriers into pieces. Now the asteroid field lit up as the surviving ships lit up in a dazzling array of explosions, inundating the region with blinding amounts of light.
Still, the rocks kept coming. Both fleets could no longer see what was happening now, as the region was now obscured by large amounts of debris and space dust from the collisions. Fifteen minutes passed before Yuno declared the swarm as having "passed through completely." As the dust dissipated, it became evident that not a single Raider or Imperialist ship, save for the lucky strike craft that had launched in the last moments, had survived.
The remaining Raider fighters and corvettes now raced back to the Vaygr fleet to dock. However, the Vaygr had other ideas. Hundreds of bullets and mass drivers rained into the approaching strike craft, whose pilots were taken completely by surprise. When the remaining ships were all torn to pieces, the Vaygr transmitted a message to the Legacy of Kharak.
"We are reinforcements despatched from the Vermillion and Cyan Crusades. Though our allies are lost, we will still crush you pathetic Hiigarans!"
With that, the Vaygr advanced towards the Mothership and her fleet. Eefrit quickly started yelling orders again.
"All strike craft, launch and engage enemy fighters and corvettes! All other ships, continue to evade asteroids but try to bring weapons to bear on the Vaygr battlecruisers!"
"Emergency alert! I am picking up another incoming wave of asteroids! We are directly in its path!" Yuno warned urgently.
"What! Can we avoid it?"
"This one is big, at least thrice the size of the previous swarm! There is no escaping this, even at maximum drive speeds!"
"Alright then, all strike craft cancel orders and DO NOT LAUNCH! All who have launched, return immediately!"
"Setting course for the Angel Moon in Hiigaran orbit, all ships activate Sync Jump Algorithms and stand by for emergency hyperspace jump!"
The last fighters returned to dock and the fleet engaged their hyperdrives… and failed!
"Emergency alert! The Vaygr have activated their gravity well generators! We are trapped here, they are going to do to us what we did to the Imperials and Raiders!"
"Crap! All ships, full evasive manoeuvres! Yuno, get every crew onboard equipped with tools, we'll need all the repairing we can do! Get the other capital ships and frigates to do the same!"
"Swarm arriving in one minute… I don't believe this, the Vaygr battlecruisers are powering up their Trinity Cannons!"
"Damn the Vaygr!" It was then that the Mothership shook violently as three battlecruisers opened fire with their Trinity cannons simultaneously. The other battlecruisers fired on the Hiigaran battlecruisers and tore into whichever frigate was within their firing arcs. Klaxons started wailing and the lights flickered as the Mothership reeled from the assault.
"Priority alert, we have outer hull breaches across the entire left side, inner hull breaches across thirteen decks, critical damage to left side superstructure! Overall structural integrity at sixty percent… and we've lost the Super Strike battlecruiser! Omniscient and Starflare report heavy damage to subsystems and internal structure!"
"We can't go down like this!" screamed Admiral Eefrit amidst the flickering and dimming lights of the auxiliary bridge.
"Swarm arrival in fifteen seconds!" Yuno was now at a loss of what to do next.
Onboard the Gatekeeper of Sajuuk:
"The Mothership's been pretty badly beaten up by the battlecruisers, captain!"
"How long before the swarm comes?" Soban was now extremely anxious.
"Holy, we have ten seconds!"
"Captain! Engineering here, Grand Core reconfigured for Wake Jump!"
"Excellent! Engage Grand Core now!"
Five crucial seconds before the swarm reached the distressed Hiigaran fleet, the Grand Core hummed loudly and glowed as it surrounded itself with quantum energy. It then pulled the entire Hiigaran fleet into hyperspace. The Mothership's jump window closed just moments before the asteroids came hurtling in.
The Vaygr could only stare in disbelief as they saw the Hiigaran fleet escaping certain doom in spite of their inhibitor fields. They were even more alarmed when they traced the source of the massive energy spike to a Core-like object on the bottom of the Dreadnaught. As the full meaning of what they had seen sunk in, their disbelief melted away.
The commander of the fleet understood immediately the implications of a Core transcending the Three Cores. He gave the order for the fleet to push on to Hiigara. He would capture the Fourth Core and bring glory to the Vermillion Crusade he hailed from, in honour of the late leader Makaan.
The Vaygr fleet leapt into hyperspace.
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, high orbit over Hiigara:
The smouldering Mothership inched slowly towards the Second Scaffold for repairs as dozens of collectors from the Hiigaran Defence Fleet clung onto her beaten up left side to make temporary repairs. The massive Mothership Door had almost been torn in two, and mechanisms holding it in place were now straining against additional stress. The carriers accompanying the Mothership were now retreating to the rear of the Second Scaffold after launching their Acolyte II squadrons.
Eefrit was not taking it easy. He was still barking orders at whatever combat-capable ship remained in his battered fleet to align itself with the Hiigaran Defence Fleet. He was sure that the Vaygr would come after them nonetheless.
Sure enough, the Vaygr hyperspaced in five minutes later with their battlecruisers, destroyers, frigates and carriers. Assault craft screamed from the launch bays of the carriers as the capital ships moved into position to fire.
The Hiigaran Defence Fleet leapt into action immediately. With the Mothership's three remaining battlecruisers too beaten up to fight, the Defence Fleet's six battlecruisers moved in against the fourteen Vaygr equivalents.
"Eefrit, we are still outnumbered! The other Kiithid's carrier fleets won't arrive until an hour later!" Yuno exclaimed as she processed the sensor data.
"What does the Defence Fleet have here?"
"Not enough battlecruisers, and ten destroyers to match the Vaygr's thirty-three! Our frigates are outnumbered three to one! Commander Elohim's fleet is in low Hiigaran orbit, anyway he can't help much either!"
"Dammit! All combat-capable vessels, assist the Hiigaran Defence Fleet in whatever way you can! Second Scaffold, recommend you evacuate immediately!"
"This is Scaffold Control, Hiigaran Fleet Command reports that the Hiigara Planetary Defence Systems are coming online in the next few minutes, and evacuation is underway. We will need cover!"
"Roger that! All strike craft, fall back and cover the evacuation squadron!"
The sight was one of chaos as the Mothership inched away from the advancing lines of battle, her fighters and corvettes rushing away to provide cover for the Second Scaffold and its evacuation shuttles. Meanwhile, a Hiigaran battlecruiser erupted in a ball of fire, but not before it took down the Vaygr battlecruiser it was engaging. The Defence Fleet's destroyers were getting minced up by the Vaygr laser corvettes, and still more strike craft were swarming in from the carriers. The Vaygr already had fighter superiority, and were seeking to achieve capital ship dominance too.
One of the Vaygr battlecruisers got within range of the damaged Legacy and fired its missiles and Trinity cannon on the fleeing vessel. The Mothership seemed to stagger under the assault, then its great Mothership Door broke into three pieces and detached from the main structure. Captain Soban quickly turned the Dreadnaught around and fired upon the battlecruiser, shattering it in one hit with the Phased Cannon Array. However, there was no way the Gatekeeper could protect the Mothership from the approaching swarm of laser corvettes.
The corvettes came and pumped their laser shots into the Dreadnaught's shields before turning on the crippled Legacy of Kharak. With the Mothership Door gone, the fragile construction equipment underneath was now exposed. The corvettes dived in and strafed the production lines with their bolts of death, killing repair crews and effectively disabling the Mothership's capital ship production.
Captain Soban remained defiant and ordered for all point defence systems to be fired on the laser corvettes. Unfortunately there were just too many of them to shoot down with one Dreadnaught. By now, the last remnants of the Hiigaran Defence Fleet had been overwhelmed, and the surviving Vaygr forces now moved against the Mothership. Eefrit and Yuno knew that even with the shields on there was no way for the Gatekeeper to win against at least seven battlecruisers.
The end seemed near as the battlecruisers opened fire on the Dreadnaught's withering shields. Suddenly, a massive yellow hyperspace window opened on top of the flaming Mothership, revealing the entire length of the ancient ship the Vaygr once sought. A familiar voice boomed across the fleet channels, much to the relief of Eefrit, Soban and Yuno.
"Warriors of the Fringe, you will now face the Wrath of Sajuuk!"
Karan opened fire with the Sajuuk's nanite cannons as the great ship brought its feared weapon to bear on the Vaygr fleet. One shot brought with it the end of a battlecruiser. The Vaygr returned fire, unleashing fusion missiles, laser bolts and energy strikes from their Trinity Cannons, only to have it all absorbed silently as the Sajuuk's superior energy shielding came online.
The Vaygr knew then that defeat was imminent. They spat curses at Karan and her mighty ship before retreating back into hyperspace.
Onboard the Oblivion, The Great Wastelands (Gate 112A):
As the hyperspace gate's enlarged portal closed silently, a robed Progenitor walked briskly to the side of the Divine Leader and whispered into his ear. Upon hearing the news, the Divine Leader smiled wryly. After a few moments of careful thought, he gave orders to take the fleet into the nearby nebula to harvest resources for the coming battle with Sajuuk.
With a great hum, the Progenitor fleet flickered into hyperspace along with its infected tradeships, leaving the massive hyperspace gate alone with its debris field of wrecked Hiigaran ships.
Onboard the Exile, deep space:
The carrier and its accompanying fleet of frigates drifted silently in space as they recharged their hyperdrives for the next leg of the journey. They were still a good two jumps away from the Outer Rim. Kiir Sjet had retired to his quarters to sleep, while Commander Hyll opted instead for a short nap on the bridge. The crews of the carrier were quite exhausted after the hectic encounters and terrible events gone past.
Kiir had a nightmare, only this time it wasn't about the death of the pilot testing the prototype Super Acolyte. He dreamed that Hiigara was burning, all its oxygen stripped away by the flames. The cities were in ruins, and people were dying everywhere. He walked along a shattered street as though he were some spirit venturing around the place. Kiir then heard a roar coming from above. He looked up and saw the darkened sky part to reveal the deep blackness of space.
What came next caught him totally unawares. He was knocked off his feet by a powerful force that shredded everything in its path. The pavements cracked and the earth groaned in agony. He saw great fissures split in all directions from the pillar of eerie blue light now embedded in the heart of Hiigara. The pillar was huge, and seemed to pulsate with its own heartbeat, each pulse tearing the planet apart…
He awoke abruptly with a yelp, his hands cold with sweat. He was shivering with terror.