Chapter 7, part 1
It seemed hopeless; there was no conceivable way to turn the situation around. Most if not all of her Strike Group’s ships would end up destroyed regardless of what they did. They could easily weather the first Shell division but the second and third divisions with their Super Heavies would reach them while they would still be dispersed, destroying her ships one by one.
They couldn’t run, the Shells had the speed advantage; it would take too long for her Strike Group to accelerate to the speed necessary to outrun the Shells, they couldn’t even dodge the attack as the second and third waves would easily adjust their course to hit the 51st straight on.
Their best chances of survival laid on a suicidal charge of the 51st into the first division all for the sole purpose of building up speed, trusting their relative speed, screens and luck to keep some of her ships able to disperse in all directions and try to flee with their newly built up velocity. It was the only decision she could take on the matter, she damned first the Shells and then the damnable alien who must have tricked them, whatever they would get out of him and his ship wasn’t worth her entire Strike Group but there was nothing she could do about this anymore. She drew a deep breath to prepare herself for giving the last order of her command, having decided to keep Tempest charging against the enemy even after the 51st would disperse, the last of the Vortex ships offering itself as a target in order for some of the rest of its comrades would survive. She signaled Rune-Laurel to activate her command channel but the window that opened soon after wasn’t that.
“This is Senator Alexander Jardin of the Terran Confederation to the Hierarchy ships. I am currently hosted aboard one of the Loroi Union’s ships. Any aggression against these ships will be seen as a hostile act against the Terran Confederation and will be treated accordingly.” Stillstorm just stared in shock at the holographic window which closed the moment the alien stopped.
“Who authorized that?” She shouted angrily.
“It was sent by all ships using Parat Tempo’s admiralty authorization.” Rune-Laurer replied.
“I want her and the alien…”
“Incoming transmission, audio only, unknown sender, location of origin cannot be pinpointed.” Rune-Laurel interrupted her.
“Understood.” A deep voice said before the transmitted message ended. She wondered for a moment what all that was about but the incoming Shell armada brought her back to the here and now.
“Rune-Laurel, my command channel!” Stillstorm ordered and this time the holographic windows of all of her squadron commanders popped up instantly.
“Full acceleration towards the enemy, concentrate all firepower into breaking through their torpedoes and formation, hold nothing back and break through their first wave. All ships are to scatter and disperse after that. Get all ships that you can back to Azimol and report on what has happened.” She ordered without waiting for their reports.
“Understood.” There was no hint of a complaint from the four of them, they knew that the Shells had them at a severe disadvantage and that the only thing that they could do was to save as many ships as possible. They all knew that most of them wouldn’t make it and for a brief moment Stillstorm wondered if that was one of Sunfall’s last orders at the height of the Semoset disaster, a desperate attack to break through the encroaching Shells when everything was lost.
“The first of the Shell divisions is cutting loose their gunboats.” Rune Laurel reported.
“They are launching torpedoes.” Stillstorm just stared at the display, preparing herself to give her final order to open fire as they closed in with the enemy, she knew that whatever would happen would happen quickly but she wasn’t prepared for what unfolded.
The first sign that something wasn’t right was when all of the Shell torpedoes just exploded in unison, as if someone had given a self-order. The Shell gunboats and warships just kept coming but they had ceased accelerating towards them.
“What’s going on?” Stillstorm asked without really thinking.
“Energy readings on the Shell ships have fallen!” Listel Tozet Antimony begun reporting a moment later.
“Detecting no ECM emissions, electromagnetic screens have been deactivated and their engines are offline. Remaining energy readings suggest that life support systems are the only things active on all their ships!” Stillstorm just stared first at the Listel and then at the bridge encompassing display before an other holographic window opened in front of her.
“I don’t particularly enjoy getting shot at.” The alien begun, the broadcast once again done under the Mizol’s authority.“Especially when I don’t have the means to shoot back, I think that certain someones need to experience such a situation in order to understand why I don’t like being in such a position.” The alien finished, his holographic window closing an instant after that; leaving Stillstorm to stare dumbfounded for a brief moment at the spot it held.
“Belay my last order, cease acceleration and engage all Shell ships at will, disengage immediately if they become active again.” Stillstorm ordered her squadron commanders after collecting her wits.
“Open fire!” She ordered Tempest’s gunners as she raised her arm, cursing herself for not giving the order the instant the Shells had come in range. Tempest fired first, the ship’s eight pulse canons finding their mark in an instant, a single Heavy ship that simply exploded a moment later. The rest of the 51st immediately joined in, all of their shots hitting their intended targets, Heavy and Medium ships exploding or left crippled from the punishment they received. They were completely defenseless and unable to do anything, without screens, without ECM and unable to maneuver; all of them were just targets waiting their turn. It wasn’t a battle, it wasn’t even a slaughter, it was…
“Target Practice…” Stillstorm thought and Rune-Laurel chuckled, to be followed immediately by most of the bridge as the earlier tension from what seemed to be Tempest’s last charge disappeared. Moments later another Heavy was foundered by Tempest’s eight Pulse Cannons and heard Torret Ashrain and Mazeit Moonglow argue about that wager of theirs again. Moonglow teasing that since Tsunami had eight Pulse Cannons to Black Razor’s four then they would have to cease their count in order to keep things fair.
“Or perhaps Tsunami’s kills should count as half for the time being.” Stillstorm cut in. “If of course Torret Ashrain agrees that the amount of firepower one has at their disposal does matter.”
“It’s not the number of canons that matter; it’s how you use them.” Ashrain replied confidently as Black Razor took out another Heavy.
“My Lashret the alien wishes to speak with you.” Rune-Laurel sent to draw her attention from the… target practice.
“On screen.” Stillstorm replied as she sat to her station, the holographic window depicting the smiling alien appearing in front of her.
“After much thinking I have come to the conclusion that luck is a very fickle force of the universe.” The alien begun. “It is not a fair force and it is not random, its favor and disfavor shifting from individuals like the pattern is the product of a whimsical child. I believe that luck works self-indulgently, all of its shifts in its favor done so with the sole purpose of gaining a short of perverse entertainment out of the unfolding situations. It enjoys watching us come to terms with everything it threw at us and sometimes it begins favoring those it willingly hurt before in order to see what happens. It seems to me that luck has taken a favorable interest to you Torrai Lashret Stillstorm, make sure that it enjoys the spectacle.”
“Is this all your doing?”
“I merely put certain things into motion because I don’t like getting shot at. They shot at me and nearly killed me, would have succeeded in doing so if not for you and your ship. Now you are doing to them what they did to me as a result of everything, unless you find everything about this to be distasteful.” The alien replied.
“They would use the opportunity to do the same to us if given the chance. I don’t like my actions to mirror theirs but I don’t show mercy to those who never showed mercy to mine.” She replied as she observed the target practice session that the 51st was pertaining in.
“Never believed otherwise.” The alien said with a nod. “In a few moments you will receive a transmission with all of the Shell ships that are of interest to you for one reason or another, your Teidar will certainly want to visit them for some answers and to greet the Stray in person.”
“The Stray? It was in command?”
“Indeed, he would play a key role in the offensive that they expected to end the war but something unexpected forced the Stray in a course of action whose results you are now witnessing.” The alien replied and smiled once again.
“One thing strikes me as odd in all this.” Stillstorm begun. “Why would a Senator ride alone on an unescorted ship in the middle of a warzone and allow his ship to be shot at by the Shells?”
“I expect this conversation to be deleted from your records one way or the other so I will be as candid as I can while considering the circumstances we are all in. The Confederation isn’t really united in thought and the time you had left was too limited for a consensus to be reached about a course of action. I simply decided to take a roundabout route to my destination in order to force the issue back home. I… miscalculated in my approach to the situation and I was nearly killed but I don’t think either of us have a reason to complain with the end result we are finding ourselves in. The Union will be aided in the war by a Terran Confederation that will unanimously agree that an attack on me could not be left unanswered.” The alien explained.
“I don’t understand why you would personally take such risks for all this.” He just shrugged at that.
“No real reason. Perhaps I am a really superficial person who finds your kind to be prettier than the Shells.” Stillstorm couldn’t help but laugh at that but for some reason she knew that the alien was hiding something important from them. She would have to have a long talk with him later but for now she had to make sure that they would get every last Shell in Naam.
“For how long can we expect this target practice session to continue?”
“For as long as I am onboard your ship and I see no reason to leave just yet.” He replied before continuing. “Of course I have to mention the important issue regarding the equipment your salvage teams took from my ship. I expect everything to be eventually returned to the Confederation when time and the war permits, a lot of our portable computer systems are ansible capable so I will know where they are and who is fiddling with them at all times. I will even make sure for you to get a set of basic instruction manuals so you know what you will have to eventually return.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Stillstorm asked.
“It’s important that my equipment be eventually returned Lashret Stillstorm. Everything is keyed with my Senatorial access privileges to our information network, it would be improper for a foreign power to get accidental access to it and all the privileged information contained within especially since the last thing I did was to check the real time Shell naval asset positions as I plotted my ship's course. The Confederation will of course provide all the help that the Loroi Union needs in order to win the war but it would be improper for your kind to get privileged access to said information before my government makes a final decision in a few nanapis.”
“I see… I will make sure that all of your equipment will be returned to your government, eventually.” Stillstorm replied after realizing what he was implying, making her wish that a Mizol would be nearby to save her from looking like a fool.
“I am glad we understand each other Lashret Stillstorm. Now I think that your duties are far more pressing than my diplomatic obligations and I am still in the middle of a Crossfire game with Parat Tempo. Enjoy your target practice.”
Chapter 7, part 2:
http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 171#p30171