Well I, Mr. Mercenary, am back with the next update to the story. This is the chapter where the different sides become aware of another, but only expect some minor language, a warning just to be safe. Well, here's Chapter six.
BATTLE
The Minds had to admit it to themselves. For a moment, they were actually impressed with the decisiveness of the AI aboard the superfreighter.
By flooding its enormous antimatter drive engines with fuel well past any safe level, to the point where a burst of energy flooded out all at once, the freighter had canceled out their own beam weapon. The combined energy discharges instead radiated outwards in an enormous, visible ring, away from the dueling starships. The freighter took a risk at blowing out or even destroying its own engines to protect itself.
And now that freighter, as the humans would describe it, was clearly 'pissed off.'
It quickly began to attempt to swivel its immense bulk to a more suitable position where its dozens of railguns and heavy batteries could have a clear shot at the enemy battlecruiser.
The Ship Mind began to counter-move the freighter, maneuvering and keeping itself below and to the left of the freighter/battleship, where the fewest shots could reach it. It unleashed on the freighter with its own armament, its enormous plasma weapons capable of destroying a fair sized ship with relative ease. But a mix of swarms of chemically ignited magnetic rails and flurries of torpedoes made any decisive shot at the freighter difficult, if not impossible. The Ship Mind could only counter with a few shots at a time from its deck plasma cannons.
And suddenly, all at once, the Minds had a brand-new problem to face: The remnants of the Human Fleet around their former base had arrived at last, appearing suddenly and out of nowhere.
The Minds suddenly realized that their perfect plan had had a flaw in it: The Plan called for the entire fleet to be present, not bits and pieces of it. It was a crucial mistake, they realized, a mistake that could cost them dearly unless dealt with properly and immediately.
The starfighter Mind now took direct control of the ships it now commanded. It decided that if it was not possible to fight the stranded Humans all at once, then a few at a time would suffice, albeit time-consuming.
The T'Hranii fighters now maneuvered towards the incoming Human vessels, waiting for the right moment to strike. The Ship and Bomber Minds could deal with their own objectives themselves. So now it analyzed the targets presented to it: A single lone destroyer, with a fairly large entourage of starfighters and other craft.
The Fighter Mind calculated that the destroyer could be neutralized with several hits amidships, just forward of the superstructure. But that would require several fighters, as each only had a single heavy photon bomb equipped. The fighter escorts on the other hand, could be dealt with ease. The best plan of attack would be to deal with them in one-on-one or two-on-one combat. The Fighter Mind foresaw no problems, as long as the Human destroyer was neutralized early in the fight, and if it held the element of surprise.
As for the Bomber Mind, its mission was clear: destroy as much of the Human infrastructure on the planet's surface as physically possible.
If you could call what they had infrastructure. The Minds' scan had discovered something startling. Not only were the humans very few in number, only about seven million across the entire world, but they had regressed. Their technology level had receded back to their earliest days of their civilization, and despite their being some evidence of recent advancements, it was still not enough to combat the pair of frigates.
The Bomber Mind formed a relatively simple battle plan. One ship would move for the northernmost landmass on the planet and the other for the large southern one. This was going to be too easy. Perhaps it was a bit lucky itself to be given such a simple task in comparison to the others.
As the T'Hranii vessels began to fight their indicated targets, they mostly ignored altogether the clouds of meteor-like orbs beginning to fall on the planet below, completely unaware of their terrible power to destroy.
Second Fleet, 1108 hours, in orbit above Rukbat 3
Falsner couldn't believe what he was seeing with his own eyes. An enormous Crosseye battlecruiser, currently fighting it out with their primary target, which was huge itself by comparison. And the voices still flooded over the Comm.
"Hey, those Crosseye assholes are trashing our target-"
"Oh my freaking-"
"I repeat, this is the Firecross, we need reinforcement, we are about to engage-"
Suddenly a new voice broke in above the chatter. It was Colonel Skye. "Calling all vessels, calling all vessels. There is confirmed one Crosseye battlecruiser in the area, possibly other enemy vessels. New orders are standing until further notice. Luger and Sphinx Squadrons, escort the dropships to the RV, Bloodtail and Image squadrons, protect the Firecross at all costs. Good luck."
"You heard the man,"Falsner shouted in the Comm. "Move, move, move!"
Falsner knew it was hopeless for him to take on a battlecruiser with even an entire squadron backing him up. But it seemed they may not have to worry about engaging the cruiser, it appeared to be preoccupied at the moment avoiding the brunt of the superfreighter's assault.
The three dropships wasted no time themselves in making for the freighter, looming ever closer now. The two squadrons eyed the rapidly nearing cruiser with a wary eye. Another two squadrons plus one destroyer continued to approach at a slower pace, in the event of necessary fire support.
And then, as if on cue, all hell broke loose.
Seemingly out of hell itself, a trio of torpedoes appeared from nowhere, aimed directly at the destroyer.
The destroyer had just barely raised its shields when the torpedoes hit. The electromagnetic shielding was simply dispersed by the missiles as they careened into their target, piercing the armor plating and ripping deep into the ship.
Thee first torpedo ripped into and detonated in the Engineering section, killing the Chief Engineer and over three dozen engineering officers and crew. The second tore through the infirmary, killing several medical staff and the two patients present when it detonated.
But the third and final torpedo was the straw that broke the Firecross.
It ripped into the torpedo armament, well forward in the ship's bow section, and into the storage compartment, before exploding. Almost a hundred crewmembers and officers were killed instantly as the entire bow section blew outwards in all directions, sending jagged chunks of hyperdense steel and melted bulkheads out into the immediate space.
The Firecross, crippled by the swift and brutal attack, was finished. As Falsner and others gazed on, a small number of escape pods launched from the ruined ship, and out into space.
He heard someone go hysterical on the Comm. "Holy freaking shit, there must have been two hundred people on that crate, and they just, they just-"
The line abruptly went dead as a fighter suddenly exploded in Falsner's near vicinity, perforated by plasma blasts.
"Shit!" Hawkins screamed over the Comm. "We just lost the Firecross, I repeat, we just lost our freaking destroyer escort! Shit!" Hawkins' fighter took hits, damaging its engines.
"What the hell is our radar support doing, whacking off?" Falsner screamed. "Return fire dammit! CTS Sargasso, request scan the EM spectrum for anomalies, we're fighting blind here-"
He had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when his own fighter shuddered under several blasts. He glanced out over to his port wing and saw a line of white-hot spots perforating the carbon-composite armor, signature of the T'Hranii plasma weapons.
He jerked the starfighter hard to the left, narrowly avoiding the burst of fire that came from somewhere from above him. As the exterior became a blur for a brief moment, He momentarily glimpsed the translucent silhouette of one of their sleek Blade starfighters, before it vanished from his field of view.
"Dammit, I repeat, we are engaging the enemy! Where the hell is our radar support?"
"This is Skye, your new orders are to cover the Firecross until the remains of her crew can get away safely, and to engage any threat. Standby for radar support."
"By asking politely, how the hell long do you think we can last without it before were all fricking smoked?" Falsner shouted back.
"Capris, Texas, you're to investigate an anomaly at the sent coordinates that has been detected, further orders upon investigation. Out."
"In the middle of a freaking battle?" Texas shouted to no one across the Comm.
"You heard him, do it," Falsner himself ordered.
CTS Sargasso, 1120 hours, 39 AUs from Rukbat Prime, Command Bridge
The Comm became flooded with shouting and screaming voices, some demanding, some distressed.
"Dammit, my port engine's fried!"
"I can't see the bastards, where are they?"
This is Image Three, I've been hit!"
Come on you Crosseye frackers, I can take you all-"
The mood on the Bridge of the Sargasso had become frantic in the last few moments as they began to realize the true nature of the developments. The Firecross, one of the finest escort destroyers ever built, had been defeated already and the battle had barely begun. The loss would mean that the fighter squadrons would have no fire or radar support, leaving them vulnerable. Until the Leningrad, their missile cruiser, charged up its own Deepspace Jump Drive which would take another two minutes at the very least, the fighter pilots were, more or less, on their own for the moment.
And there was an additional mystery, one that left all of their techs scratching their heads. And Colonel Skye had taken an interest in it.
The long range scans indicated the presence of an additional mystery ship, one that could not be identified as any known type. What the scans could tell was that it was in geosynchronous orbit, and only about twenty kilometers from the battle. It would have a front-row seat to the battle now beginning to truly unfold.
Captain Falcanar's only concern for the moment, Skye noted, was to ensure the safety of the superfreighter and its cargo of much needed antimatter fuel.
Without a destroyer to guard, his two fighter squadrons were temporarily directionless, until He gave the new orders. He neglected to mention that the 'anomaly' was a ship of some kind. If it was anything, it was probably some stranded survivor from the Tzu 32 incident like the ships of the Fleet were.
He had considered putting more fighters into the nearby warzone with the Leningrad when it jumped, but dismissed it immediately, knowing that his best cards were already on the table. Rookie fighter pilots would only get in the way or be slaughtered.
Hopefully, Skye thought, this 'mystery ship' would turn out to be, 'interesting', at the very least.
The Yoko, above Pern
The power had been restored to the ship when Lessa reached the bridge. Although many were too injured to get up and around on their own, some were still trying to move to the window ports, to get a better view.
The Vessels were dangerous, Lessa thought. They hadn't even attacked the Yoko directly and had already caused all of this damage. Both F'lar and his dragon were out for the time being, the Yoko had been damaged, and a lot of other people were seriously hurt, including the Masterharper.
The battle raged out in nearby space, the large black monolithic Vessel fighting the small, sleek, reddish hued Vessel, and neither gaining a clear advantage. Never in all her turns had she ever thought that she would see things like this. She had read the old battle reports in the AIVAS databanks, how there was a vast war with an alien race called the 'Nathis', and how the original Pern colonists were involved.
And now these two alien ships, neither of which were anything like the ships in the old earth reports, were dueling above her planet, above her world, and endangering everything she knew.
She made her way to a trio of Harper Journeymen, who all stood over a newly resurrected console display, and were chattering excitedly with one another. They weren't even aware Lessa had entered the Bridge area until she had announced herself.
"Well what is it now? Did those things out in space destroy something else?"
One of the three, a short and stocky man whose shoulder knots indicated he was from Igen Hold. "It is not what was destroyed, Weyrwoman, but what has appeared." He gestured at the display.
"What do you mean by that?" Lessa asked, startled. What new horrors would this bring?
The other two, who she realized were Jenga and Ceras, the two who were originally aboard. Ceras' right arm was in a sling, but Jenga was, incredibly, uninjured.
"Sometime after that initial blast that put the Yoko in this horrid state, Several more vessels of some kind appeared., then only minutes later the largest exploded, and those left started making strange," and the stocky Igen man struggled for the words for a moment, "movements, like they were dragons fighting Thread."
Lessa stepped up at the panel, trying to decipher the dots and symbols that flashed across the screen. The clusters of dots, roughly two dozen altogether, left arcs and loops one second at a time on the screen. And they had separated into groups; One heading towards the two warring Vessels, the other group staying behind.
And then, as the Weyrwoman studied the patterns, she realized that they weren't normal patterns, they were fighting, exactly like dragons. What they were fighting was beyond both her and the Yoko's sensor equipment.
"Listen," Lessa said, half shouting. "Get everyone on board the Yoko off. Many of them are injured so tell the ones that can get about to move the ones that can't. Bring them to the Hangar; the dragons will take them back to the surface."
"Everyone, even us?" Jenga asked.
"Everyone but those needed. This ship is in grave danger, as is all of Pern. Now do it."
"Yes, my lady." The Harper knew better than to go against a weyrwoman's orders.
As the Harper moved around the bridge, telling the injured they had to go. Lessa turned back to the images on the screen in front of her. If the Vessels were human in origin, than there might be humans on them.
This meant that, despite a very likely language barrier, they could be contacted somehow, by some means.
"Ceras, does the Yoko have any of that radio equipment from the Smithcrafthall?"
The young Harper turned around, from helping a fellow injured Harper to his feet. "Better. The Yoko still has the original equipment from when she was built. But I already checked it. It is still broken after that blast damaged everything."
Well it was worth a thought at least, Lessa thought.
Let me try to talk to them, her dragon suddenly spoke up.
Do you think you can? She asked back.
It may not be possible, but I can at least try, Her Ramoth replied, confident.
For the moment, A'rak and his bronze Lageth were safe, if only for the briefest of moments. The ad-hoc idea of getting an up close and personal wit the enormous black Vessel had become a quest to stay alive.
When they had went between right before the massive blast, they came out not on the surface of Pern, or it the hangar bay of the Yoko, but right next to the enormous black Vessel, which was in fact, very rough. Not smooth at all as it appeared from a distance. Its surface was textured enough for his dragon to get a grip on with his claws.
They had sheltered themselves next to one of the massive structures that had appeared on the first Vessel's surface moments before the second vessel appeared. The thing was absolutely enormous, the base many dragonlengths around. The thing's head had massive protuberances that flashed brightly at a very rapid pace, and turned to keep them pointed at the Second Vessel.
The Second Vessel was enormous also. Even from a distance it looked menacing, dangerous. It too flashed back in many places, as if the two vessels were somehow communicating. It was mostly a dark blood red, with black seams crisscrossing its surface, like seams between bricks.
Lageth, can you still see those lights you saw? He said to his dragon.
Yes. They are still there. There is a cluster not far from where we are now.
How long before you have to breathe?
Not long. I will need to very soon.
Then lets- And then A'rak noticed a strange sight off in space through the viewpiece of his pressure suit.
What appeared to be a formation of dragons was moving towards the First Vessel, at a high rate of speed. From the Yoko perhaps?
But as they approached, he noticed that they were much smaller then dragons and they didn't move like them either. These things were different from the present vessels but somehow similar. They were like miniature Vessels, much faster and more agile then their larger counterparts.
Lageth, do you see those?
Yes I do.
Watch them. If they start moving towards us or attack us, let's go between immediately back to Ista.
Okay, I understand. His dragon said.
And with that, the rider and dragon eyed and watched everything happening around them, both knowing that no one else anywhere had a view like this.
I could just say "to be continued", but where would the fun be if I could not foreshadow things to come at the end of each chapter? Expect lots more action in the future, and a few twists along the way. Keep it real until then.