Into the Black

(Fleet Command Cluster, Choyurqi’s Challenge, Dimiya System)

“Time to weapons range?” Warleader Thess Retlux snarled at her command staff. She was hungry for the kill, could taste it already. The traitor knew it, too. Why else would she send her fleet on a suicidal run at her vastly superior forces, while her flagship turned and ran? The coward knew she was doomed, now that Black Star’s greatest weapon was blocked by the Divine Shields, and was simply trying to scurry away, like a rodent. Perhaps she thought the incoming X’thari would save her?

“Two minutes to weapons range with the enemy fleet. Target vessel is seven minutes from weapons range. We cannot match their speed while sustaining the Divine Shields, Warleader. X’thari emergence in one minute, thirty-seven seconds. They will be emerging within weapons range, behind us.”

“Launch the diversionary probes in, twenty seconds. Set its course towards the Confederate fleet. Let the X’thari and the Confederates fight each other, while we hunt down the traitor. And order the fleet to fire a few shots into the rest of the Black Star force, to keep them from getting complacent. We will hunt them later, once we have dealt with the traitor. There will be no escape for her, this time!”

“By your command, Warleader!”

Retlux leaned forward in her command chair, eyes focused on the screen. “Stupid fool. You should have never betrayed the Imperatrix. Now, even in death your soul will be tormented by the Goddess until there is nothing left.”

(Flag Bridge, BSN Hrunting, Dimiya System)

“New contacts from enemy fleet!”

Commodore Dakha’s eyes lit up at that. “Report!” If they were trying something new, then she needed to know about it, now, so she could pass the word to the other ships once they arrived.

“Multiple probe launches from the enemy fleet, including the flagship. They are accelerating hard towards the Confederate ships. It looks like— Hold one.” The officer frowned, looking at his readouts. “Confirmed! Probes are emitting X’thari drive radiation, but no signs of an Anchor Drive actually charging.”

Dakha nodded. “That is why they are not concerned about the X’thari. They had a plan, just in case, to draw them off and focus them on something else. Make sure that Wrath of Gadran copies this information. Are they still lined up on the X’thari force?”

“Aye, Ma’am. I am detecting weapon launches from the Confed fleet. Looks to be a Confed version of Dragonsbreath torpedoes. Estimated impact on X’thari forces just as they emerge into realspace.”

“Good to see that these Confederates haven’t been completely sitting on their hands. Be sure to get good sensor reads on them, and their effect on the X’thari.” She took a breath, and said, “As soon as the fleet emerges, I want them tied into the tactical network with targets painted.”

“We’re ready, Commodore.”

She paused, watching the time tick down, so fast and yet so slow, all at the same time. With thirty seconds until the rest of the fleet’s arrival, she said, “Ready weapons. Dragonsbreath only for this first shot. Fire as soon as we are in range.”

(Flag Bridge, CNS Wrath of Gadran, Dimiya System)

“Admiral! New data coming from the Hrunting! The Ihm have launched probes towards us with X’thari signatures!”

Admiral Rizazzi nodded. “In that case, all weapons focus on the X’thari. The Ihm have asked us to fight amongst ourselves while they and the Black Stars settle their grudge. Since the damn bugs are like a drunken frat boy, refusing to take ‘no’ for an answer whenever they detect their drives being used, we’ll just have to take care of them, first.”

He took a breath, and then looked to the communications officer. “Message the Hrunting. Tell them we will handle the swarm. They can deal with the Ihm.”

“Aye, Sir!”

Looking back at his plot, Rizazzi sighed. “Almost time now.”

(Flag Bridge, BSN Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, Dimiya System)

“Emergence in three, two, one. Emergence!”

I took a breath as we come out of the anchor jump. The transition always took ten minutes, no matter where you were going, or how far it was. But for those ten minutes, you were both inside and outside of time and space, in the will-bes and never-weres, alongside the otherwheres and also-heres. There was a reason why we didn’t use the drive that often!

“Report!”

“Hrunting is locking us into the tactical network with the Confederate Navy. Confirmed Ihm and X’thari presence. We have target lists from Hrunting!”

“All ships, weapons free. Let’s clear the skies!”

Raven appeared at my side as the crews went to work. “Admiral, there are massive Hellspace disturbances across the system. Several rifts are forming on the planet Ydan, and they’re now starting to open on Dimiya itself. Demons are attacking everywhere.”

“Evacuation status of our people and their families from Dimiya?”

“Evacuation is complete. All Black Star employees and families are on Black Star Station. ‘Civilian’ members of the aligned organizations have also been evacuated to the station. Station defense group is forming a second line of defense, in case anything slips past Second Group.”

I nodded slowly. That was fine, then. We’d done what we could for our people, and now we just had to protect them, as best we could. “Very well. Status of the enemy forces?”

“Upon emergence, Ihm forces were outnumbering us 2 to 1, and outmassing us by 3 to 1, including the Hades. All ships have launched fighters, and we’ve used Dragonsbreath torpedoes on highlighted targets from Hrunting. Current numbers show twenty-five smaller craft destroyed, and several of the mid-sized craft are showing severe damage. However, Second Group has sustained casualties, even as the enemy remained focused on the shuttle Mirage.”

“And the X’thari?”

“Eight thousand ships and counting. The Confederates hit them as they emerged, but there’s only so much they can do. Fortunately, the probe looks to be drawing the X’thari’s attention.”

“Admiral!” A communications officer cut in, “Reports from Ydan indicate that the Hellspace rift is spreading!”

“Right, we can’t count on the Confeds containing the Ihm, or the Hellspace rift going away on its own. We need to hurry up and deal with the Ihm, so we can work on these problems.” I took a breath, considering. “Black Star Marine units are to breakthrough to Ydan. Do what you can to contain the damage and destroy the enemy. Navy will keep the Ihm off the Marines’ backs.”

There was a chorus of affirmative replies, and I looked back at the comms officer. “Inform Blackstar Station to have civilians shelter in place. We can’t risk anchor drives with the X’thari here, and there may be more of them outside the system, waiting on anyone trying to flee. Not enough of the freighters have psychic shielding enough to keep the demons out, anyways.”

“Understood, Admiral.”

(Fleet Command Cluster, Choyurqi’s Challenge, Dimiya System)

Warleader Retlux cursed as she wiped the blood from her eyes, willing her wounds to heal themselves with the Goddess’s power. The Challenge had been struck by two of the Black Stars’ damnable Dragonsbreath torpedoes. It wasn’t enough to destroy the superdreadnought, or even critically damage it, but the impacts had caused a power surge that blew electrical conduits throughout the ship. Primary life support was offline. But the shields, weapons, and engines were all fully functional. She could still fight.

“What happened? Report, damn you all!”

“Warleader! The X’thari signatures closest to us weren’t X’thari! It is the rest of the Black Star Fleet! And the Hrunting’s signal has changed, becoming a shuttle named the Mirage! The Hrunting is still in formation with the Second Group. All ships firing!”

“Fleet formation Yudar-Fenyd-Four! Wing Thuxi to Piercing Talon maneuver. Target is the Hrunting! All other ships, fire at will! Link fire control systems, and load the advanced point defense programs, to deal with Dragonsbreath torpedoes! Send word to the other fleets, the traitor and her master are here!”

(Flag Bridge, CNS Wrath of Gadran, Dimiya System)

“X’thari forces: nine thousand, four hundred and seventy-three ships remaining! They are moving into attack positions!”

Admiral Rizazzi grit his teeth. “Send out shuttles with X’thari signatures, heading I don’t care where, so long as they aren’t towards any of the stations or planets! Try to strip off as many of the escorts as possible, like those Black Star ships did at Coldana!”

He looked at the plot. “How many ships do we have with Black Star primary weapons?”

“Twelve, sir. All Assassins. They are loaded with the new munitions, though.”

“Very good. Have them fire at the center of the swarm, in shotgun mode. I don’t care if they hit anything critical, I just want to shake up the bugs, if I can.”

“As you command.”

“Sir! Black Star reinforcements have joined with Hrunting, and are engaging the Ihm. There’s a ship type that I haven’t seen before, identifying as the BSN Hades. It looks to be easily larger than four superdreadnoughts put together!”

Rizazzi nodded. “That would be the ship they used to escape Hellspace after the Ihm sprung their trap. Keep a watch on it. If it is anything like the rest of the Black Star ships, then it is going to have some massive guns, and I do not want to be anywhere downrange of that thing when it decides to fire.”

“Aye, Sir!”

(Flag Bridge, BSN Hrunting, Dimiya System)

“Damage report!”

“No damage to the flagship. The destroyer Pride was hit multiple times, and is dead in the water. Assassins Kai’Sa and CJ Parker are mission killed, and crews are abandoning ship. There’s no trace of the Carmen Sandiego. She’s gone, with all hands. We’ve also lost six of the gunboat squadron.”

“Ma’am! Aspect change in targets!”

Commodore Dakha frowned at the plot. She knew that formation all too well. “They’re forming up for a Piercing Talon attack on Hrunting! Fleet formation has shifted to linked fire control. Make sure the Admiral knows that we need mass fire to overwhelm point defense!”

“This is Admiral Mollen to all Black Star Navy ships. Full ahead, weapons free! Watch your targeting arcs, but get in close so that they can’t use numbers against us! Primary rail guns fire as they bear. Remember that the Hellspace shields are weak at the rear.

“Black Star Marines, your ships are to make for Ydan, and attempt to disrupt the rituals currently underway on the planet’s surface. The Navy will keep them off your back, as much as possible. Link up with Confed military and protect civilians where possible, but primary mission is to close the rift. If the rift isn’t closed, then nothing else we do matters. All weapons free, all normal rules of engagement for combat in civilian environment suspended.”

Dakha just nodded. There was no point in playing by rules that hampered your forces when the stakes were this high. “All right. You heard the Admiral! Tell Reapers War and Pestilence to form up on Hrunting. Full power to the rails. Send anyone in front of us a hearty helping of ‘fuck you’! All ships, full speed ahead!”

(Flag Bridge, CNS Wrath of Gadran, Dimiya System)

Admiral Rizazzi nodded as he saw the Black Stars charge into the Ihm formations. That was the appropriate play. With the close quarters, they could keep the Ihm from coordinating properly, and turn the numbers against them. If only that would work for his half of the fight.

Unfortunately, the X’thari were another story entirely. Their ships were designed for swarm tactics, meaning that going into the heart of the swarm was just playing into their strengths, especially when they outnumbered his fleet by so much. The shuttles were peeling off some of the escorts, but not as many as he would like. “All ships, check target paths, and switch to Sunfire Torpedoes! Target the larger ships, and fire the magazines dry!”

Of course, the Sunfire torpedoes were just the Confederate Navy’s version of Black Star’s Starbolts. The concept was too simple, and too devastating, not to use. Thankfully, the X’thari hadn’t seemed to develop any defenses against them, like the Ihm had. They still just relied on the fact that they would always have more ships than the enemy had FTL weapons.

Still, if he could take out some of the larger X’thari ships before the weapons ran dry, then that would give him a far better chance against the rest of the swarm. He was under no illusions of his chances of winning, of course. The numbers were insanely against him, but he’d been here before, at Coldana. He hadn’t faltered then, and he wouldn’t now, not in his home system.

“Admiral, we’re detecting more Hellspace rifts forming, near Ydan! More enemy ships coming through!”

Rizazzi just nodded. “So be it. Order the fleet, keep fighting to the last man. Every ship we destroy is one fewer that can ravage our home.”