Chapter 10; Betrayals of falsehood
"We're beginning our final approach to the Kalash location. I estimate that we will be in our final holding position in fifteen minutes." Jiire announced from her station.
"The forward units of our fleets report that they are moving forward and engaging the enemy. I'm bringing your battlefield communication systems online now, Lady-Protector."Kennae said next.
"Understood and thank you." Khagaan said nodding. Sher then turned her gaze to the upper deck, meeting the eyes of her flight officer: "Ziel, deploy air reconnaissance unit."
"Air reconnaissance deploying, aye." Ziel said in response. A trio of Gaalsien interceptors departed from the carrier moments later.
As they were making their final approach, Khagaan considered the odds of the battle that was about to begin. She felt confident that victory could be secured today, despite that fact that the enemy had likely fortified this location and the fact that Gaalsien had only limited information of the potential composition of enemy fleet units, largely based on enemy wreckage discovered from earlier battle sites and theoretical estimates on the Kapisi's potential readiness based on the carriers accelerated launch schedule. She had a strong force with her, well suited to combat in equatorial desert conditions, against a cornered, half-prepared enemy that had been worn out in prior engagements with Gaalsien forces already. None of the local patrols she had directed to attack the Kapisi here beforehand had reported back as of yet, so she had to assume that those units had been defeated, but doubtless those units had made the enemy bleed before they fell. With the weather clearing up, they had been able to reestablish contact with the Renza and advise them of the situation, so reinforcements were on route as well. If the worst came to pass she could simply bunker down, hold her ground and wait for their arrival, and then she would have the enemy carrier outnumbered two to one.
"Our field units are now reporting that they have engaged the enemy. Hostile forces are falling back to the main wreck site." Kennae interrupted her musings. "Our forces are reporting that the enemy has engaged in salvage operations in the area, just as we suspected."
"Very well." Khagaan said, and turned her own communications channel open: "Command to all units, secure the valley region, then regroup and hold your positions until given orders to attack the final enemy location."
She then turned to speak to her sensors officer: "Harkath, as soon as our air units get close to the main wreckage site, give me camera footage of the area. I want to see what these Coalition types have managed to do."
"Time to holding positions… five minutes." Jiire called out from her post.
"Air scout camera footage now becoming available, relaying to your console." Harkath said next, filling Khagaan's screen with video images. Khagaan could not help but notice the sound of disbelief in his voice, how shocked he was by something he had seen.
"No…" Khagaan breathed as she saw the scene the cameras of her air scouts were relaying. The Kapisi was nestling in the wreck site, along with prepared defenses and the bulk of the enemy carrier's fleet. Even as she watched her air units had to turn and flee as the enemy anti-air turrets opened fire, one of her interceptors tumbling out of the skies, streaming black smoke. But this was not the reason she was horrified, no. That was caused by a whole other sight: The Kalash site had been violated, blasted open by what could only have detonations of mining explosives. Coalition salvagers were working on the site even now, moving to and fro between wreck sections and the support cruisers stationed nearby, the lights of their phased disassembler arrays shining. This place was ancient, an echo of chosen peoples that had traversed the garden of the stars themselves, loaded with memory and religious significance, and the heretics had destroyed it to plunder the wealth of resources contained within. It was a great crime that this had happened.
"We're too late." Khagaan said with sadness, still not believing what her eyes were seeing. Beside her, Arraesh simply shook his head, his expression grim, clearly as dismayed as Khagaan was feeling.
"Those arrogant, irreverent, disrespectful…." Khagaan rumbled, anger replacing the sorrow in her voice. "Kennae, give me a channel to the enemy carrier, send only. I have a message to give these filth."
Her expression dark, Kennae followed the order she had been given, nodding to Khagaan when she was done.
And so Khagaan spoke with terrible, cold anger in her words:
"S'jet carrier Kapisi, there can be no hiding from the Gaalsien in the Great Desert. We are the desert. As before, you have violated this holy site, only now you've chosen to destroy it, pillaging it's sacred artefacts to serve your profane ambitions. You may go no further. Prepare to face the wrath of Sajuuk, and beg his divine forgiveness. I will pray for your souls."
Having overheard her words on the radio, her units moved forward, already anticipating the order to attack. Khagaan turned off the channel she had used to address her enemies proceeded to give orders to her fleet:
"Siege cruisers and anti-air squadron four, establish a defensive perimeter around my carrier and hold your ground. Everyone else, advance and annihilate these heretics. The Faagani have violated the sanctity of this place. For that they deserve nothing but their deaths from us. Show no mercy, no hesitation, take no prisoners. Wipe. Them. Out."
Her units followed their orders, swarming toward the narrow paths that led up to the hill where the enemy was holed up.
"Be careful, the narrow paths make for a perfect position for mines. Keep your eyes open and sweep the area with gunfire if you have to." Khagaan said to her fleet as they neared the beginning of their climb. And true enough, no sooner had she said that when she saw in the camera there was a blast of dirt and one of her assault ships flipped over, its bottom torn open. Seeing this happen, the units of her fleets opened fire, briefly covering the rest of the pathway with explosions before resuming their efforts to advance. The mines now cleared, fighting soon began on the top of the hill. With the enemy fortifications and several fleet units present, Khagaans forces took considerable losses, but still managed to gain a foothold. As Khagaan watched the scene unfold, listening to the radio chatter and the reports Harkath and Kennae were giving, it was soon becoming clear to her that her forces were gaining the upper hand in this fight despite the fierce resistance the northerners were giving.
"It seems that I win this round, Roman. Unfortunately this will also be the last dance we will be having together." Khagaan said to herself, a smirk tugging the corner of her mouth.
"Lady-Protector, I'm detecting a new type two ground contact, now entering local battle area, type five, four, and three contacts surrounding, mixed ground and airborne signals. A carrier and fleet it would seem. Running contacts through IFF –checks now." Harkath reported, smiling at the successful ongoing battle.
"The Renza? Already? I thought they were further out than this." Khagaan wondered, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, maybe they…" Harkath began to say. Then his smile froze: "Wait a minute, that can't be right… all the IFF pings are coming back as hostile. That's not the Renza… it's a damned enemy fleet! New Coalition units inbound!" he shouted, alarmed.
"WHAT!? You're certain!?" Khagaan shouted in disbelief. "Fuck!" she then cursed without even waiting for a reply, turning to shout into her communications unit: "All fleet units! Additional enemy carrier and fleet is entering our battlespace! Abort the offensive against the Kapisi! Fall back and regroup with our carrier ASAP! I repeat, additional hostile carrier and fleet in our battlespace, fall back immediately!"
"Airborne hostile bomber detected! Tracking vector and… tell skimmer two and assault six to take evasive action, bomber incoming!" Harkath warned Kennae. Sadly his warning was already too late as just in that moment a bomb separated from the body of the aircraft, plummeting through the air and annihilating itself in a storm of shrapnel, taking out the Gaalsien forces within its blast radius.
"Damn it, call reserve crews to their positions and alert engineering to begin manufacturing replacement units immediately." Khagaan ordered. "And someone give me a positive identification on the new enemy carrier. I want to know who in Sajuuk's name were fighting." She added.
Khagaan watched as her units were doing their best to disengage and fall back to the relative safety near her carrier. Caught between two groups of hostiles, many of them were not making it. For each ship that managed to slip away, two more were being gunned down by enemy air and ground units. "Sajuuk have mercy…" She gasped as she watched the scene of destruction unfold. Khagaan did what she could to protect her fleet, ordering flights of her interceptors to cover the retreat of her ground units with airstrikes, but the enemy anti-air defenses were well prepared against such a maneuver. After the initial exchanges Khagaan had no choice but to recall her fighters and decline further requests to launch in order to conserve her remaining air power and pilots.
"Arraesh, how long before the Renza can get here?" Khagaan asked, trying to keep concern from her voice, even though she knew that she was now suddenly outnumbered two carriers to one with a severely depleted fleet, the circumstances of the battlefield now completely reversed.
"Unknown, too long I would say." Arraesh replied, giving her a knowing look. He too understood how dangerous this situation was.
"Alright, all remaining fleet units, regroup into defensive positions and prepare to hold the line. Kennae, get the Renza on long range comms, advise them of our situation and tell them to hurry to our location with all available speed, with possible updated orders to follow as our engagement develops." Khagaan ordered. She then turned back to her sensors officer:
"Harkath, where's that identification of the second enemy carrier"
"Working on it." Harkath replied. "Air surveillance footage is available from the airstrikes you ordered. Footage is of a poor quality, but the visible hull markings and paintwork suggests units belonging to kiith Siidim. Would you like to see for yourself?"
"Yes, definitely, show me." Khagaan nodded. The frozen frames on her screen now displayed on her screen confirmed what Harkath had been saying: The blurry but still distinguishable kiith insignias, the hulls painted grey-blue and white stripes. There was no mistaking the allegiance of these Coalition units.
"Siidim…" Khagaan repeated quietly, her voice full of loathing. Among the Gaalsien there were few enemies as hated as this filthy kiith. Certainly Manaani could draw out angry outbursts for their irreverent manner and the Khaaneph inspire terror and dismay for their soulless barbarism, but the hate felt against this kiith was an older, darker thing, a heritage from ages now long since passed. In the ancient days when kiith had still fought each other with blades of crude iron or steel and bows fashioned from animal horns, the Siidim had been bitter foes of her kiith, battling each other in an endless war for the soul of Kharak, a war renewed in this modern era in the struggles against the Coalition. During the history lessons of her youth she had learned of how the Siidim in their madness had restored the sin of pride and taken it further still, turning its cruelty against their own people, declaring themselves starborn, claiming all other kiith to be beneath them. She had learned how her kiith had valiantly stood against them, protecting true faith from their heresies. She had learned how the chaos of those war-torn years had ultimately driven kiith Naabal to resort to advanced weapons and technology in an effort to end the war, a display of yet another kind of madness, one than nonetheless had seen both her kiith and the Siidim crushed, defeated by forces they could not control or understand at the time. Yet even in defeat her kiith had sought to carry out their duty to the people of Kharak and Sajuuk. Rather than give in to despair, the Gaalsien had chosen to retreat to the deep desert with what knowledge and resources they had left, burying the city of Saju-Ka under the sands to keep it from unworthy hands and strip away false pride as they prepared for the struggles of the future. Every event that had transpired to bring Khagaan and her crew here on this day of battle had its root cause in the Siidim, in their damnable pride and filthy heresies. Indeed they were ultimately to blame that danger existed to the Kiithid of Kharak this day, danger that necessitated a war to end its threat.
Theirs was the fault, the blame, and the inevitable penalty. And now this ancient enemy was here, brazen as they please, shedding the blood of her people as they had done in the elder days. The corrupt of heart had allied with the blind.
Khagaan frowned, wondering how any of what was happening was even possible. All carrier fleets associated with the Siidim should have been in the north to protect the Coalition home territories from the Gaalsien offensive there. And yet the enemy was here, apparently defying logic and sanctity both. Khagaan's frown deepened as she noticed something familiar about the structure of the enemy carrier.
"That other carrier… it has the same hull design as the Kapisi does it not?" Khagaan said to Arraesh.
"I noticed that too, clear similarities." Arraesh said, nodding his confirmation.
"But I thought these Coalition carriers were new?" Khagaan wondered. "Could there really have been yet another carrier that we didn't know about?" she asked of Arraesh.
"No, that would make no sense." Arraesh replied, shaking his head. "The intel we received was absolute. The resources and industry required to build a carrier leaves behind a paper trail that is impossible to miss by any spy worthy of their title, particularly when a new design is in question.
"Then how…" Khagaan began to ask before the voice of Harkath: Lady-Protector, I have a positive identification, but it just doesn't seem possible…"
"Talk to me Harkath, what did you find out?" Khagaan asked.
"Well, I compared the carrier's reactor energy signature to known profiles that we had on file and…" Harkath explained before tapering to a halt, apparently reluctant to complete his sentence.
"And?" Khagaan insistently.
"The energy signature was a perfect match for the Siidim carrier Sakala." Harkath finished.
"That's not possible." Khagaan stated flatly, confusion in her voice.
"Ma'am, each energy signature is unique to a specific reactor due to minute but inherent differences in their structures. Even when comparing carriers made using the same blueprint these differences are observable with the appropriate scanners, and always distinct. There is no chance of a mistake here. That is the Sakala, without question." Harkath explained. Then he turned back to his console and the alarm that was now flashing there. "Enemy units approaching, enemy attack wave incoming." he said.
"Siege cruisers requesting permission to open fire." Khagaan heard on her radio.
"Permission granted, fire as soon as the enemy enters effective range. Fire at will, fire at will!" Khagaan replied, springing into action, pushing the startling revelations from few moments ago away for the time being.
Outside, her siege cruisers opened fire, sending a cloud of heavy shells hurtling through the air to detonate amidst the approaching enemies. For a time it worked, the storm of explosions tearing apart the swarm of LAVs that had been moving to attack them, sending the survivors into retreat. The Gaalsien launched a counteroffensive that sadly ran up against stiff resistance and was soon driven back.
"Coalition air units inbound!" Harkath reported next, and true enough, a force of them appeared, coming from the direction of the Kapisi. They charged through the air, towards the siege cruisers with the clear intention of taking them out. Khagaan's anti-air units opened fire at them, managing to destroy some of the attacking aircraft, but it was not enough. A flurry of missiles slammed into her cruisers and one by one they began to die, turning into flaming debris. It was becoming clear to Khagaan that the situation was quickly deteriorating beyond her control.
"Damn it! All units fall back, fall back! Jiire, get us out of here!" Khagaan shouted.
"Course?" Jiire asked in response.
Khagaan considered for a moment, thinking about her option at that moment. "Beladin. Take us to the dune sea." She said finally. "There's a wreckage field there that we can use to resupply and rebuild our fleet." She then said to Arraesh.
"Confirmed, setting course to the Beladin dune sea, engaging main drive." Jiire said, and the Ashoka began to move again. They backed up almost at full speed before taking a moment to turn around and continuing their escape, moving at best possible speed. What few ships of theirs were still alive followed them out. The greater speed of the Gaalsien fleet units soon allowed them to outpace the Coalition forces. When they were finally out of reach of enemy retaliations there was a collective sigh of relief on the command bridge. Yet Khagaan did not share in this sense of relief. She had lost so many units today… in one fell swoop the fleet in her control had been reduced to a shadow of its former self. The machines lost were trivial, those could be replaced given enough time and resources, but the lives lost could never return to their side, and she had lost so many of them…
"Inform the Renza of the developments here, give them our destination and tell them to head for the Beladin region as well and to await further instructions on route. Encrypted communications only. I don't want to have our plans intercepted." Khagaan ordered quietly, tired and saddened by the losses she had suffered today.
"It was not supposed to happen this way…" Khagaan then said, slumping visibly in her chair, her voice on the edge of breaking. "They lied to me. The Arrakesh crew. They told me that the Sakala had been destroyed. They had to know that it wasn't true and they had to know what that carrier might do, and they lied to me anyway. Lied to my face."
"Must have been afraid of the consequences of admitting that they failed." Arraesh commented, clearly disapproving of the decision that the Arrakesh crew had made.
"They know nothing of fear, or of consequences, but I will teach them about both." Khagaan said, anger now replacing the grief in her voice.
"Captain-defender Arraesh, I have a mission for you to undertake." Khagaan continued, her voice now alive with a cold rage. "You will go through our records, our communications, and you will find each and every one of the officers and crewmen who were responsible for the false information that led to today's disaster. One your investigation is complete, you will contact these people and tell them that I hold them personally responsible for every life we lost in the battle today, and every life claimed by the command carrier Sakala or its accompanying fleet from this point forward. You will then dispatch a courier for my father with a report detailing what happened here today, why and because of whom, along with my personal recommendation for the immediate arrest, court-martial and execution of these individuals on charges of incompetence, deliberate sabotage of battlefield strategy and endangering the primary mission objectives of my task force through supplying deliberately falsified information.
"Gladly, Lady-Protector" Arraesh answered with a grim voice.