Star Force: Mak'to'ran (1) Page 2

  Maybe the Human commander didn’t know the full extent of the damage to the surviving V’kit’no’sat ships, for his sacrifice of some 62 attack craft had been designed to draw the attention away from the distant jumpships.

  Even as Mak’to’ran dealt with repositioning his fleet to follow the I’rar’et in towards the star and getting his own damaged ships heading back towards them he analyzed the odd move. What was their commander so afraid of?

  It took nearly 20 seconds before he realized the obvious...and a few seconds after that the missing Star Force vessels from the tally that had passed them mid jump suddenly started appearing at the end of their own braking maneuvers.

  It hadn’t been a desperation move to save their own jumpships. It had been a layered bait trap that fortunately Mak’to’ran hadn’t taken, giving him a few precious seconds to assess the overall situation.

  “I am assuming fleet command,” he said, transmitting to the I’rar’et commander while simultaneously linking his ship’s command and control systems into the relief fleet using his superior status to overrule any debate. Each ship commander could manually override such things but they would not, save for emergency situations, meaning that within a moment all ships would be responding to his direct commands.

  In mind’s eye the additional ships came online, glowing in respond to the command change, and he began issuing orders to some of them directly while allowing his crew to handle others. To them he gave loose orders that would allow them to micromanage with greater efficiency, but altogether he got a tendril of his fastest ships shooting out to reinforce the damaged group while they pulled back towards his primary fighting force.

  Meanwhile he sent the I’rar’et ships…those that weren’t already a part of his original assault fleet…in two different directions. A chunk he sent after the Human control ships, not expecting them to make any kills but wanting to give the enemy commander something else to think about. The larger second group he brought to him, retasking individual ships into his own combat formations and strengthening them as the whole mass of ships headed towards the star and the recently arriving Star Force jumpships chased after them, unloading their attack ship ‘drones,’ as they called them, and sent them racing on ahead even faster.

  Again, with so much damage his navigational options were limited, but Mak’to’ran had a tonnage advantage and intended to use it, turtling up his ships as they fought to provide cover for the damaged ones to rejoin, sending them to the center of the spherical formation all the while daring the Star Force swarm to hit them directly. He might lose additional ships, but they would lose virtually all of theirs.

  The Human commander chose a third option, making one strong attack run against a specific portion of the sphere that had his attack ships moving like a narrow river and hitting a few Oso’lon ships…and only Oso’lon. Mak’to’ran didn’t have many left in his fleet, but the three that were getting hit were all located together and mostly intact.

  That didn’t last long, and when he tried to rotate them backwards against more cover the river of attack ships moved to compensate. Many of them were lost, but the Humans accomplished their objective as all three ships were reduced to limping wreckage.

  After that the Star Force fleet withdrew to a safe distance, coming back near their jumpships and engaging the chasing I’rar’et vessels until Mak’to’ran recalled them, leaving both groups sitting in space and staring at each other outside of weapons range.

  Knowing better than to wait for more Star Force reinforcements to arrive, he got a few Oso’lon survivors off the damaged ships then got his now augmented fleet moving to the next jumppoint while watching the enemy carefully. They didn’t pursue, rather taking the time to recover their debris and annoyingly some of the V’kit’no’sat tech. The Era’tran truly wanted to turn around and punish them for that, but when querying the I’rar’et and realizing they were not sent to reinforce Mak’to’ran’s fleet, rather coming of their own accord from a nearby mission deployment in response to his call for aid, he knew he could not risk his remaining ships further.

  Leaving behind the wreckage, he escorted his badly damaged ships to the jumppoint then left with them in one now larger, but still slow moving mass of vessels.

  Over the following weeks they received no more ambush attempts. Already well beyond Star Force space, it seemed the arrival of reinforcements had caused the Humans to turn back and let the rest of them go, probably in fear of being ambushed themselves if they continued pursuit. But it wasn’t until a full 2 months after leaving Terraxis that Mak’to’ran finally counted himself and his surviving ships safe when a very large Oso’lon fleet appeared waiting for them in an uninhabited system on their forecasted return route.

  Mak’to’ran was glad to see them, but the number of ships was alarming. There were over 2,000 vessels, most of which were also Kafcha-class, for the Oso’lon were amongst the largest of the V’kit’no’sat races and needed the extra hull space to accommodate them, much as the Era’tran did. That said, seeing more than 50 of them in one place was rare, and the fact that they were here alone was also a bad sign.

  When a private channel request was made from the Oso’lon fleet commander, Mak’ro’ran accepted it with privacy fields being erected on the command deck so the crew couldn’t see him with their eyes or Pefbar.

  “Are you still being followed?” the Oso’lon asked, its long neck making the hologram Mak’ro’ran was looking at appear far smaller than it should have been, so he changed modes and caused the surrounding command deck to disappear with a life size representation of his counterpart taking their place. The long necked Brontosaurus had a body far larger than his, but his neck was lowered almost parallel with its back, putting its head level with his when it dipped down leaning forward in a sign of obvious concern.

  “No, we are not. Our pursuit has abandoned the chase,” Mak’to’ran said, using a secondary channel to order his crew to send a full update to the Oso’lon ships.

  “Do you require assistance?”

  “I need an escort or tow for my slowest ships so I can return at speed. Has a second attack group been formed?”

  “Initial elements are gathering at Nooron presently.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  “Both the Oso’lon and J’gar have been forbidden from participating in the reprisal.”

  “Forbidden?” Mak’to’ran asked, not fully contemplating that. Those two races led the V’kit’no’sat. “By whom?”

  “Everyone else. They know one of us has traitors in our midst, and they wish to forestall further treachery by banning our participation. I am here because I want to know the truth before you return. If the J’gar are at fault they must be made to pay and the remainder of the V’kit’no’sat rallied around us, or our empire will be torn apart. You must realize that this threat pales in comparison to the damage the Rit’ko’sor enacted?”

  “And what if it is the Oso’lon who are responsible?” Mak’to’ran asked directly.

  “Then they did not involve me in their treachery. I am loyal to the V’kit’no’sat first, therefore I must know where to stand. We cannot act on suspicion alone.”

  “I withheld nothing from my report,” Mak’to’ran answered honestly. “The weaponry in the planetary defense station was unlocked. Only two races have the codes to do that. I do not know which of you is at fault. Those answers will have to be wrung out of the Humans.”

  “Do you believe they will give them up willingly?”

  “No. I believe they will have hidden their secrets closely. We will have to conquer them in order to find the pieces of information we need. To begin that discovery we need to recover the planetary defense station, which is why it is imperative that I return as quickly as possible. The more time they have to prepare the harder it will be for us to take it intact.”

  “You anticipate them getting reinforcements?”

  “Of their own, yes. I do not expect their sponsor to show up in support, ho
wever.”

  “And you wonder to our presence here?”

  “I do.”

  “The J’gar lost a Mach’nel to this Star Force. Some would infer that they would not sacrifice one to cover their own treachery if a war is to come. That puts primary suspicion on us.”

  “So it might. Are you here to prevent us from returning?”

  “On the contrary. I am here to insure you make it back intact.”

  Mak’to’ran’s eye ridges condensed in a very displeased gesture. “You expect direct treachery?”

  “Whoever is responsible for this has been exposed. Either they will begin their overthrow attempt now or they will try to abort and conceal.”

  “You are unknown to me.”

  “I am Chak’ri, and this fleet is composed of the majority of our nearest assets. I was the closest, so I was assigned to come for you.”

  “Assigned by your Teelriem?”

  “No. Yaniel so ordered me.”

  That name Mak’to’ran did know. Yaniel was one of the Oso’lon that was more than 2 million years old and one of their most renown war commanders, better skilled in ground ops than naval, but a legend to all V’kit’no’sat none the less.

  “And I am supposed to go where?”

  “He did not specify. I am here to gain what information I can while insuring your weakened state is not preyed upon. I would assume you end up at Itaru eventually.”

  “I intend going back to Terraxis directly. Has another mission commander been assigned?”

  “Not since we left behind the Urrtren,” he said, referring to the V’kit’no’sat name for their empire-spanning comm grid. “If your intent is to go to Nooron, we will see you safely there. Do you wish to transfer to one of our ships? Yours appears to be hindered by damage.”

  “We are down a few gravity drives, but can make decent speed. It is the other vessels that have been slowing me. If another assault is imminent, I need to reach the fleet before it is launched if at all possible. I need to lead the counterstrike, or the cost of lessons learned will be squandered no matter how much record analysis has been done.”

  “I will take a fourth of my ships with you and leave the rest to assist your surviving fleet. We will get you to Nooron as fast as possible if you will allow a tow to compensate for your missing gravity drives?”

  “Acceptable, but multiple ships will be needed.”

  “I will assign three to your navigational command.”

  With a few lengthy thoughts, Mak’to’ran sent the appropriate orders to his crew and let them begin the long task of detailing the fleet combinations that would allow for towing with the available Oso’lon vessels as well as relinquishing command to the Kret’net Na’shor that contained Vatalak. He would have left command to Garrtak, but he and several other racial leaders in his fleet had died in Terraxis, leaving the Kret’net as the one he trusted the most to get the fleet back to port, at which point it would be disbanded, but until then it was still Mak’to’ran’s responsibility and he intended to make sure nothing happened to it while he attended to more pressing matters.

  “I need to leave immediately.”

  “Proceed and we will follow.”

  Mak’to’ran broke communications and extricated his Kafcha from the fleet, heading ahead of the limping ships to the jumppoint with the promised fourth of the Oso’lon vessels accompanying him. Two Na’shor and a Kafcha made themselves available and Mak’to’ran’s crew linked them into their navigational system and altered their IDF so that all were connected into a single mass that every gravity drive would propel, with mooring beams making sure there was no microscopic drift between the hulls that would pull one of the four out of alignment and brake the connections with disastrous consequences as part of a ship tried to accelerate away from another and ripped themselves apart.

  But towing ships was a skill the V’kit’no’sat had mastered long ago and with a little preparation the four ships were linked as one by the time they hit the jumppoint, then they accelerated slightly behind a few hundred Oso’lon ships with the rest following seconds later, creating a protective bubble that would carry them through multiple jumps of considerably longer range, diminishing the number of stops they’d have to make on their way to the closest black hole link. The rest of the limping fleet would have had to go another way…a long way, had the Oso’lon not showed up, for there was a minimum speed requires for such a lengthy transit, otherwise the accuracy of launch would be hindered and the potential for missing your arrival point increased.

  The more gravity drives you had the more micro corrections you could make enroute, and with the three Oso’lon ships linked in Mak’to’ran’s Kafcha didn’t have any worries when they reached the first black hole, finding a patrol fleet there as was usual. It only contained 13 ships, but that was more than enough to keep the non V’kit’no’sat traffic tranquil, otherwise various races would have been trying to ambush each other at such an important navigational point, for this black hole connected to three others that were in range, though the longest jump only the more advanced races could take advantage of, and that’s the one Mak’to’ran’s ship was going to make.

  Once the black hole acceleration jump was complete the coast duration was not much longer than a normal system jump, but the speed and distance traveled were greatly increased. During the transit they passed the official border into V’kit’no’sat space, coming out at the coreward black hole and finding a much larger guardian fleet spread out around the dark system along with a huge Barkod-class defense station.

  The station had always been here and stretched out some 840 miles long in a giant flat disc that belonged to the Brat’mar. It was both an outpost and war asset, though less powerful than a Mach’nel. It had more weaponry for sure, but without the Yeg’gor armor it didn’t have the lasting power in battle against similar strength foes…but for all the other races transitioning through this black hole link it was as impregnable an installation as any other, for the V’kit’no’sat technology was so advanced that no fleet, no matter what the size, stood a chance against it.

  The auxiliary defense fleet was here so it could zip around the system and deal with threats that didn’t intend to assault the Barkod, but Mak’to’ran noted that the size of this fleet, now some 740 vessels, were not comprised of Brat’mar ships. Most of them were a mix of other V’kit’no’sat races and Mak’to’ran’s comm started to light up as soon as he came within communications range.

  He ignored most of the calls, instead sending all those inquiring a personal copy of all data recovered from Terraxis…information already passed onto the Urrtren from afar, but with suspicions high such information could always be feared to be tampered with. Getting a direct copy from the mission commander seemed to settle some of the agitation, but it was only the tip of the iceberg.

  Now that Mak’to’ran was in a system that was on the Urrtren, meaning that the beam transmissions from other systems had a point to send updates directly to, he was getting information from across the galaxy uploaded into his ship’s databases. There was lag, of course, and data from systems on the other side of the galactic core took forever to make its way through the Urrtren, but there was enough chatter from local areas regarding the heresy uncovered in Terraxis to disturb him…along with a recall order for him to go directly to Itaru.

  Anger flared in him the moment he received it, but he didn’t have long to stew before another order of lesser magnitude was cited beside it. This one didn’t come from the V’kit’no’sat capitol, but rather Jamtren, the Era’tran capitol.

  Technically Itaru outranked them, but this order came from Hamob himself. He wasn’t the active leader of the Era’tran, but one of the eldest who didn’t deign to get involved in the day to day affairs of the empire. He was a recluse sought out for only the most important of matters, and for him to contact Mak’to’ran directly was not only a great honor, but an indication of how serious this matter had become.

  And he was one Era�
�tran whose command outranked even Itaru’s, as far as other Era’tran were concerned. If he went to Hamob he wouldn’t be faulted for it inside his own race, and the Era’tran leaders would back his absence and defiance of an Itaru recall. He knew that without even being told, as well as assuming that something major was in the works.

  Maybe Hamob knew which of the founding races was responsible for this treachery? If so, why he would need Mak’to’ran when he had already transmitted all data was uncertain, but there was no debate within Mak’to’ran’s mind with regards to which order to follow…and even the fact that he was going to miss the second assault on Terraxis no longer mattered to him. If Hamob was summoning him, then that summons took priority.

  He just hoped that whoever was assigned as commander of the second fleet was overly cautious on arrival, and with that thought Mak’to’ran put together a personal message for whoever that individual would be and sent it off through the Urrtren to find its recipient whenever they were appointed, then he confiscated one of the Era’tran Na’shor in the system that was fully operational and took his leave of the Oso’lon, not waiting for them to respond to his parting message as he zipped out of the dark system on a link to another black hole as he began his long trip around the curve of the galaxy to the Era’tran capitol of Jamtren.

  3

  March 12, 3603

  Jamtren System (Era’tran capitol)

  Holloi

  When Mak’to’ran’s ship entered orbit of Holloi it decelerated to a respectful creep as it passed by the defense columns that ringed the planet’s equator. Each was the size of a small moon but elongated into a bent tube that made them somewhat resemble ribs. There were 38 of them in orbit of the planet, each over 700 miles long and having a unique identity. All were armed and well shielded, but they functioned as the pillars of Era’tran society and the interface point for the capitol with the rest of the V’kit’no’sat empire.