The Hipno Chronicles:
Ghosts of Liandris
Chapter 8:
Civil War!
050 UNITS, 34 OCTEMRE 1354 (FURIAN CALENDAR)
NEAR FURIAN CAPITOL PLANETOID ONWARD TO VICTORY,
THIRD AGE OF REDEMPTION
Major Sula 'Kuntakree drew his spiker pistol and fired at the back of Ship Master Tano's head.
The crystalline spokes thucked into the Ship Master's skull and exploded--spraying blood, brains, and bits of skull over the command console.
The magnitude of his treachery was unprecedented. What Sureptigon (A/N: Furian Theron) Major would dare disobey a Ship Master who had led seven glorious campaigns against their enemies? Who would murder his superior officer on the bridge of one of the fleet's most renowned cruisers?
But how could Sula let this continue?
Tano 'Inanraree had lost his mind, literally and figuratively. And while religious fervor was laudable under most circumstances, it was not if it killed killed the entire crew of the Incorruptible...and destroyed their race.
Sula stepped over the body of his friend and former commanding officer and holstered his weapon.
The U-shaped bridge seemed somehow smaller now, the blue-white light a little harsher than it had a moment ago, and the holographic consoles appeared covered in icons he couldn't understand. Sula blinked his nictating membranes and looked with cleared eyes at the bridge officers.
Sureptigon from the respected Dn'end Squadron--Crueo 'Lusonamee at Operations and Zassah 'Jeqkogoee at Navigation--stared with maws agape, shocked into inaction. Y'gar Pewtrunoee at the Communications/Sensors station nodded with understanding.
But the bonded Pulzolo (A/N: Furian Seeker) pair responsible for security on the Incorruptible tensed; their armored hulks took two thudding steps toward Major Sula. Their spines fanned in anger. One of their duties was to protect the Ship Master, and, failing that, they were to enact revenge on his assassin.
In truth, the bonded pair, Paruto Xida Konna and Waruna Xida Yotno, were a mystery to Sula. He had seen them tear enemies in half with their "hands" while in the midst of a mindless blood rage, and afterward pause to recite war poetry. How could any truly understand the Pulzolo? Inside their thick armor swarmed purple worms--a colony gestalt as alien as anything Sula had encountered.
More pragmatically, they were indestructable--at least to Sula with his one half-empty pistol. Pulzolo armor could withstand multiple energy bolts before even warming.
Sula stood tall and unapologetic.
The Pulzolo stared at him. Their froms shuddered and the eel colonies pulsed in harmonic unison to produce a subsonic thrum, words that were more felt than heard. "A mercy kill," they said together. "You have done the Ship Master an honor."
Sula resumed breathing. They were his now to command and to send into battle. As was the Vengeance-class cruiser Incorruptible.
"Does anyone else have words about this?" Sula asked his bridge officers. They looked to one another.
Y'gar, the eldest bridge officer, stepped forward. His sole vanity was his left eye, which had been blinded in combat. He had refused to have the cataract repaired.
"Tano was devout to the end," Y'gar said. "But his reasoning, in light of recent events, was not sound. This was regrettable, but necessary...Ship Master."
There it was: Sula was Master now. All the honor his. All the responsibility his as well.
He glanced at Tano, spilling his lifeblood over the command console, and set a hand on his mentor's shoulder, a parting gesture. "Remove him," Sula whispered.
Y'gar made a chuffing sound and three Bultioy (A/N: Furian Fodder) appeared and carried Tano off the bridge, sponging up the remains as they went.
Sula knocked one with a cleaning rag aside. "Let his blood remain," he said. The Bultioy scurried away.
The stain would forever remain on Sula's soul: it could stay on the deck as well, a reminder of the price he had paid for their survival.
Sula then stared at the central holographic viewer: at the insanity that surrounded the Incorruptible.
The Tenth Fleet of Cleansing Light was in chaos, more than a hundred ships maneuvered on random vectors, barely avoiding collisions, and in the distance the evil black silhouette of the Ancestor Oblivion construct--ominous, breathtaking, and the source of this trouble.
It had made Ship Master Tano lose his mind. He had belonged to a fringe cult, the Governers of Contrition, who believed all Ancestor creations were sacrosanct. This even applied to the xenoparasitic Blight infestation. Tano had reasoned that the Ancestors had created a perfect life-form, and it was therefore their duty to protect, even embrace, it. He had ordered the Incorruptible closer to the Oblivion sphere to allow the disease aboard.
That would never occur while Sula breathed. The Blight was an infection that had to be cleansed. There was nothing remotely "holy" about it.
The Incorruptible shuddered.
"Energy on the port lateral shield," Crueo 'Lusonamee said, leaning over his OPS station. His strained voice betrayed that he had only recently been initiated in combat. "Successfully deflected, but the shield has collapsed."
The hull reverberated once more.
"Strike on the aft shield," Crueo said. "It's holding."
"One third power forward," Sula said. "Roll to present starboard shields." He turned to Zassah on NAV. "Trace those firing solutions and give me a target!"
"Calculating, sir," Zassah said. "Solution obtained. Two targets."
A holographic frigate pair appeared on the deck and sped toward them: the Tenebrous and the Twilight Compunction, commanded by the Gultaranae (A/N: Furian Enforcers), Gargantum.
This was Sula's other problem.
In the confusion cauused by the departing Speakers, the Sureptigon's ancient feud with the Gultaranae had escalated into xenocide.
The frigate pair moved as one, accelerating, their lateral lines warmed, and released a second salvo of energy that arced toward the Incorruptible. "Maneuver one two zero by zero seven five," Sula shouted.
"Coming about," Zassah answered, and the stars wheeled through the holographic view space. "Sir, that places the all-female carrier Lawgiver between us and them."
"The Lawgiver has fully generated lateral shields," Sula growled. "They can take the hit."
The frigate pair split to miss the carrier in their flight path. The enemy ships, and their energy torpedoes, became obscured by the bulk of the sleek carrier.
"Heat lines four and seven," Sula ordered, "and prepare to target the Tenebrous as it emerges from the carrier's shadow. Divert engine power to the fore energy projector and make ready to fire at full capacity. Estimate targeting solution based on last known trajectory."
Crueo nodded and made the weapons ready.
The alpha Gultaranae Ship Master was savage, but he was effective. Sula could not afford to merely wound one of them.
The edges of the Lawgiver's shield shimmered, dispersing the energy into fiery wisps--an inconvenience for them...but a lifesaving maneuver for the Incorruptible.
The Gultaranae frigate attack pair appeared, over and under the carrier.
"Fire all lines!" Sula ordered.
The lights on the bridge dimmed as energy heated and flowed from their lateral banks and arced forward in two bloody streaks across the dark.
"Counterguidance signals detected!" Y'gar shouted. "Attempting to disrupt."
The energy blots drifted back and forth and diffused into smears in a signal tug-of-war between the two ships. Sula had not anticipated they had such abilities. Stolen, no doubt...so they wouldn't know all the system's intricacies.
"Reprogram to home in on their signal lock," Sula said.
"Yes," Y'gar murmured, and his hands moved algorithm blocks over this console. "Lock reestablished on new signal," he said.
Their bolts smoothed, concentrated--and accelerated.
The Gultaranae frigate turned into their shot, presenting the smallest possible target. A desperate maneuver, and not quick enough.
The frigate's shield heated, dispersing the first bolt of superheated energy. The second strike hit bare hull, melting the shield arrays and sensors, boiling away layers of smooth blue armor-alloy.
"Fire energy lance!" Sula commanded, "Dead center on tageting solution!"
"Aye, sir," Crueo said. "Projector spinning up--firing."
The bridge lights flickered to ultraviolet backup as all the Incorruptible's power drained into a single spear of destruction. It lit the space around the battle, a cleansing illumination. The Tenebrous appeared frozen in time for a moment...before the energy tore through its hull, blasting internal decks into atoms--amidships, and then the aft energy coils--shattering the ship into a haze of glowing particles.
The surviving Gultaranae frigate, the Twilight Compunction, however, was untouched...and it continued toward them.
"Recycling engine power," Zassah said. "Fifteen seconds until engine back online."
Fifteen seconds could be a lifetime in a close-quarter space engagement.
"Depressurize Launch Bay Fourteen," Sula shouted. "Dump energy from auxiliary coils into the lateral lines."
"Plasma diverted," Crueo answered, his face flushing, "Emergency depressurization---now."
A tremble ran through the ship as the bay vented. Propelled by the sudden outgassing of their atmosphere, they turned toward the surviving frigate. The Incorruptible's lateral lines appeared to heat.
The Twilight Compunction's engines flared and it turned, maneuvering behind a nearby destroyer for cover.
They were retreating--as they should when presented with superior firepower...even if that firepower was an illusion. Sula wondered if the Gultaranae Ship Master, Gargantum, had been aboard the Tenebrous, or if he had sent it ahead as a decoy.
The carrier, the Lawgiver, turned, and lasers stitched the frigate. Several beams painted it's hull, heating the shields--before another destroyer crossed the line of fire.
"Main coil reenergized," Crueo said.
"New course two seven zero by zero zero zero. Break fleet formation. We cannot fight without destroying our allies as well as our enemies.
The Incorruptible turned and accelerated to a position three hundred kilometers over the fleet. Several ships fired upon one another, but many just drifted, unsure which action to take.
Their leader, Lady Furia, and her royal fleet were missing; some said they had left to partake in the Odessey. Rumors abound they had actually aligned with the Gultaranae.
There was, however, an even greater threat.
The holographic image of the Sphere appeared on the main viewer. Four destroyers stood near, abeam, and targeted hundreds of smaller craft--Maledict, Mancubi, and even Sirens--that attempted to evacuate the surface of the ring structure. They burned these craft with energy bombardment and flashes of laser fire...but there were too many trying to escape.
Nothing could be allowed to leave that place. If a single Blight-infected vessel transistioned into hyperspace--their existence would end. The plague would never again be contained.
"Get me a fleetwide COM channel," he told Y'gar. "Use Furia's own frequency."
"Signal acquired," Y'gar said. "Ready for fleetwide broadcast."
Sula spoke. "This is Ship Master Sula 'Kuntakree of the Incorruptible to all loyal vessels in the Tenth Fleet of Cleansing Light.
"Brothers, we must cast aside our confusion, and cease falling upon one another. The holy relic is tainted. We must burn the corruption lest it takes us all."
"Zassah," he ordered, "send coordinating target solutions to the fleet." He motioned over the main holographic viewer, selecting portions of the Sphere where dozens of Mancubi were slipping away. "We must stop them before they make contact with one of those destroyers."
"Aye, sir. Targeting solutions sent."
The majority of the fleet, sluggish and disoriented, slowly aligned into a coherent fighting force: energy arced from a hundred ships, and laser fire weaved lacy patterns on the dark of space.
Under such a destructive salvo of combined fire, the smaller ships burned---leaveing only debris and skeletal frames.
"Do not close with the targets," Sula said over FLEETCOM. "Or the disease will spread." His claws grasped the command console.
To the Pulzola pair Sula whispered, "Sweep the ship, continuous patrol, until I order otherwise. Report any hull breach no matter how slight. Any deaths. Anything that might be a Blight infection."
The Xida Pulzolos nodded and the lumbered off the bridge, their hands flexing in anticipation.
"Crueo," Sula said, "ready the self-destruct sequence. We must be prepared."
Crueo nodded, his maw working nervously, but he set plasma coils to detonation mode. "All ready," he replied.
"One of the destroyers near the ring is hailing the fleet," Y'gar said, "Rapturous Arc."
Static crackled and over that a whisper: "This is Ship Master of the Rapturous Arc. We are overwhelmed. Do not allow them to make us their instruments. I will not---"
The signal terminated.
The Rapturous Arc moved, wheeled toward the stars, and then continued to turn toward the other three destroyers abeam of the Sphere. It touched one of its brother ships, energy shields shimmered, frequencies matched, and the Blight infected ship released a swarm of Incubation forms.
Over FLEETCOM Sula said, "Retarget. Burn those ships."
Sula then ordered Crueo, "Heat lines and target projector."
"Targeting solutions ready," Crueo answered.
Sula could take no chance. "Fire," he said.
Plasma and energy projectors fired from a dozen nearby ships and painted the two vessels. The destroyers' shields collapsed--decks mushroomed outward from the aft engine compartments--a wave of illumination that flared white, and the cooled to smoky afterimages.
"New targets," he told Crueo, indicating the other two destroyers near the Sphere. "Coordinate targeting solutions throughout the fleet."
Crueo hesitated only a moment, and then nodded. "Locked and ready. Targeting solutions sent, sir."
Those last two ships had been too close to their infected counterparts. There was no margin for error here. Not even a single Blight-infected cell could escape.
"Sir," Y'gar said, and stood straighter, "targeted destroyers have dissipated their shields."
Sula nodded, nearly overcome by the nobility of his brother Ship Masters.
"Send the order fleetwide," he whispered. "Fire all lines and lasers. Discharge projector lances."
Plasma lines heated, detached, and swarmed off the hull of the Incorruptible and the Tenth Fleet. Energy projectors fired and peeled off the ships' armor in a flash. Lasers peppered their boiling hulls, and air vented, sending them into tumbles. Plasma torpedoes impacted, squirting through holes, and igniting the vessels.
"Another round," Sula commanded. "Burn them to ashes."
More plasma impacted and the doomed vessels spun toward the Sphere, captured by it's gravity. It would be their pyre.
"Back the Incorruptible off," Sula ordered. "Thirty thousand kilometers."
Over INTERSHIPCOM Sula linked to the Xida Pulzolo pair. "Report."
Paruto spoke: "No breaches detected. All ship personnel accounted for. No taint exists."
Sula exhaled. There might yet be hope they could survive.
"Detecting Twilight Compunction, sir." Y'gar said, "and two other Gultaranae frigates on an intercept course. Their lateral lines are hot."
The crisis was not yet over but already they returned to the old hatreds. Sula scrutinized the fleet and saw others turning and firing on ships they had only moments ago fought side by side with.
"Make ready to transition to hyperspace," Sula ordered.
"With respect, sir," Y'gar whispered. "We are leaving the battle?"
"To stay here and fight until we are all dead is madness. Everything has changed. We will heed the summons of Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree. We must warn them what has happened...the Gultaranae. The Blight."
"Hyperspace matrix energized," Zassah said. He shook his head, confused. "Anomalies detected in dimension YED-4, sir...cause undetermined."
"Can we safely jump?"
"Unknown, sir."
Hyperspace dimensions didn't exhibit "anomalies." Was this something caused by the Sphere? There was no time to investigate. They'd have to risk it.
"Set course and execute transition," Sula told him. "Salia system, outpost world Joyous Exultation."