C64 New Neighbors.
New Neighbors.
Badland System, Salim, Aboard the VDN Queen of Hearts.
“ What’s the situation ? “ Roland asked when he stepped onto the bridge.
“ Still trying to get visual confirmation. Detecting about 20 vessels of corvette size. No IFF, no Military formation. “ Jacob responded while checking the small display that had been raised in front of him, showing him the current situation captured by their sensors.
“ Did we get any communication signals ? “ Roland asked, sitting down in his captain chair.
“ Negative, no communication signals we were able to detect so far, nor any response to our hails. It may be a loose band of Pirates working together, but I don’t get why they destroyed the frigate. It should have been easy salvage for them. Unless that is not what they are after. “ Jacob stated.
“ Something feels off. “ Roland uttered.
“ The boarding frigates, are they withdrawn ? “ He asked then.
“ They set out for Lanwer after releasing their boarding pods. “ Jacob responded.
“ Good. “ Roland noted, pulling his personal data screen before himself to check the detected movement. His gaze narrowing as the sensation grew that something was wrong.
Corvette sized ships, even if Military grade, could be easily handled by brawlers, and they had 4. Two laser heavy Vorden brawlers, and two captured pirate brawlers with Gatling and rail guns.
Together with the missile armament, corvettes should not stand a chance. They might cause some damage to the frigates, maybe even destroy one or two if Roland wasn’t careful, but they should be at a clear disadvantage.
“ All ships form up on the Queen of Hearts, combat readiness, we set course for the Phase point. “ Roland ordered, and Jacob would nod in agreement.
This was suicidal of the enemy vessels, unless they were missing something. Right now, Roland had the destroyer and 6 frigates on his side, 4 of which are modified civilian types formerly owned by pirates.
The boarding vessels, already on their way out of the system, merely had some self defense capacity with limited rail gun fire support, used to tear down ship defenses before boarding pods are launched, and that would hardly help them right now.
“ Aye Cap, frigates forming up. Setting course for Phase point. “ Tactical called out.
Roland could see the new course diverting them from the current orbit around the local star, the acceleration would break the orbit, and direct his small fleet in the opposite direction toward the phase point to Lanwer, which they would have to cross to reach Oldran.
The problem was that they would get closer toward those corvettes, and the approach vector was altered such that, instead of hours, it would be minutes before a confrontation occurred. Navigation was mindful enough to adjust course not to directly cross path with those corvettes, but a fire exchange would be unavoidable.
“ Any contact yet ? “ Roland called out, giving into the blaring sensation that felt like a near paranoia now.
“ Negative. “ Communications responded.
“ All available rail-guns, set a suppressive fire screen towards the corvette’s. The moment they get a clear solution, shoot to kill. “ Roland ordered, unwilling to give the other side the upper hand.
“ We’ve got a first visual. “ Tactical informed him then, relaying the image towards the screens available to Roland and Jacob.
“ What the-. “ Roland uttered then, the screen showing what looked like a long, worm like object.
By what Roland could make out at maximum magnification, it was actually more, Insectoid, like a centipede, with what looked like chitin platings on top and bottom, and multiple limbs stretched out to the side with a sort of thin membrane spun between each of them, like wings.
Towards the front, the frame grew wider, and these limbs reached out further, allowing a greater coverage with the membranes in between them. And by the look of it, these, things, were snaking about, using a sort of, up and downward movement, as though they were, swimming ?
“ Is this some kind of trick ? “ Jacob uttered, causing Roland to briefly look over towards him and see that he too was checking out the current view of these corvettes, or rather, creatures by how they looked.
“ Ships in formation, ready to engage for course correction. “ Navigation called out, giving Roland cause to be grateful again that Vorden officers were permitted to engage some judgment of their own.
On Terran ships, navigation would simply have announced their readiness and given a time-frame for when the drive is being engaged. But the Vorden navigation officer expected a confirmation of the order. Seemingly to have judged himself that the current order would cause a fire exchange.
It was like they where an actual team, and not blindly following orders like Terran personal was trained to do. A dangerous mix that could likely also backfire, but with the mostly Vorden staffed control crew on the Queen of Hearts, it was a perfect synergy.
“ Wait. Set full combat alert, all ships stay evasive and watch the situation for now. Have the frigate’s open fire. “ Roland ordered, seeing how the young man at the Tactical console briefly looked toward him with a hint of confusion.
Opening fire right now was unlikely to cause a hit, and the projectiles, they would need a little over an hour to even reach the targets. But instead of voicing his concern, he turned about again and relayed the order to the captured frigates who, unlike the Vorden ships, were purely projectile based in their armament.
“ Load up the main weapon, and have a few potshots at those corvettes. Best firing solution possible. Let’s test their reaction. “ Roland then announced, receiving a questioning look even from Jacob.
“ At this distance ? “ Jacob asked in a hushed voice.
“ Something isn’t right. If they are moving like this, how come we did not detect them sooner ? “ Roland suggested, pointing out that, with the way these creatures moved, they should have been in system even before them.
Their current speed suggested they were gaining on the Queen of Hearts, still accelerating. And while it seemed unlikely that they could engage in sudden course corrections, Roland could not shake that nagging feeling in the back of his mind, that something was wrong here.
“ No energy signature, and their size is not very helpful either. “ Jacob suggested.
“ And how did they destroy the disabled pirate ships ? For that matter, the Pirate did not seem aware of them as well. How are they even moving through space ?“ Roland then noted, as there was no visible armament to these creatures. Nor did the combat with the Pirate give any suggestion to him that there was something else to be mindful of in system.
“ I see no armament, no sensory organ. Just some sort of bug, squirming in space. And somehow that squirming allows it to move ? “ Roland uttered.
“ Ready to fire. Three second fire impulse, 30 second cool-down period, cooling pumps spooling up to increase fire rate in about two minutes. “ Tactical then interrupted.
It prompted Roland to check the main screen for a moment, watching how the frigates already opened fire into the general direction of the approaching creatures.
“ Open fire, and get a munitions update on the frigates. I want full artillery coverage, maximum rate of fire. Down to a capacity of 40% of their stock. “ Roland instructed, recalling that, after their engagement with the pirates, the frigates should still have about 75% of their ammunition.
It was a standard tactic for full fleet engagements within the Commonwealth. To open fire long before effective weapons range was achieved. A Wasteful practice, and usually backed by supply lines that could quickly rearm the partaking vessels. But it did achieve a formation interruption, and damaged, even killed off enemy vessels before the actual engagement as there was nothing slowing the projectiles down.
But in their current situation, they would likely be unable to keep this practice up for more then a few minutes. After which they would need to preserve ammo for the actual battle, if one occurred.
“ Opening fire ! “ Tactical responded, releasing the primary weapons beam towards where the predictive algorithm assumed the creature most likely to be for the laser to strike it.
“ And now its a waiting game. “ Roland uttered under his breath, switching the view on his personal screen to have a tactical view of their current situation, which included the varying target solutions the ships in his fleet had. Each frigate to have split weapons fire towards at least two targets, resulting in effectively 6 of the twenty creatures to be fired at, with some targets being shared amongst them.
But Roland then noticed what may have been a misjudgment on their part. All sensors on their side were directed towards those corvette sized creatures. Only passive sensors bothered to check the surroundings. And that suddenly felt like the greatest mistake to be done, given how hard those creatures were to detect.
“ VDN Shallow Waters and VDN Firebird, hold laser fire. I want them to keep full sensor sweeps of the surrounding area. “ Roland commanded.
“ You think there is more ? “ Jacob asked, but his question was left unanswered as Roland noticed a brief but unmistakable spot of light somewhere off in the distance before them. Briefly to flare up on the main view-screen.
“ What was that ?! “ Roland demanded, swapping his screen back to tactical view, only to estimate that both the boarding vessels, Salvage and Verdant, were off in that direction.
“ Try to contact VDN Salvage and Verdant immediately, I want a status report. “ Roland demanded, fearing that they may just have lost those ships.
“ Sending request, estimated time for a response is twenty minutes. “ Communications responded promptly.
“ All ships, Evasive maneuvers, incoming fire from behind ! “ The captain of the VDN Firebird then called out via emergency frequency, prompting Navigation to suddenly fire up the primary engines and the maneuvering thrusters to steer the Queen of Hearts onto a new course.
“ Report ! “ Roland demanded.
And he had to remind himself again that the Vorden command style had advantages, especially in a situation like this. Used as he was to the Terran command chain, it left a bitter taste in his mouth to have a subordinate issue orders effecting the ships under his command, even if he understood the necessity of favoring reaction time over stringent and slow command processes.
“ Gravitational waves detected in the rear, the VDN Firebird detected incoming projectiles. “ Tactical responded while still evaluating the data transmitted by the Firebird.
Then there was a sudden bright light, visible on the leftmost main screen of the bridge, followed shortly after by a sudden, and quite violent vibration that shook the Queen of Hearts.
“ We’ve just lost the TCS Rose, the Reactor went critical. “ Tactical announced just a moment after, robbing Roland of the chance to even express his desire to hear what just happened.
And it was followed by multiple green glowing orbs that shot past the Queen of Hearts , some of which seemed to just barely have missed the destroyer.
“ All ships hold fire. Widen the formation and stay evasive. “ Roland commanded in response while trying to find wherever those gravitational waves were detected on his tactical map.
“ Where is the info on those gravitational waves ? And get me a solution on the enemy ! “ He demanded, growing impatient with the lack of information.
“ Still evaluating. We can’t find any energy signature. Predictive algorithm is trying to find the point of origin for those projectiles, but we’ve got no visuals. “ Tactical responded.
“ Have a look at this. “ Jacob then interrupted, drawing Roland's attention to check the screen of his second in command.
On it, Roland could see a recreation of the predicted and recreated firing path of those projectiles at the moment of their discovery. And once watching it play out a few times on Jacob’s screen, Roland could feel his face grow pale upon the realization of what he was seeing there.
Had the VDN Firebird not called out for evasive maneuvers, then by path prediction, they had each aimed straight for each ships reactor. And they seemed to have a limited tracking capacity, as most of those projectiles attempted to adjust course the moment the ships tried to evade the incoming fire.
But what really worried Roland was the recording of the Rose being struck by one of those green orbs. It passed harmlessly through the ships exterior, ignoring the active diffusion shielding and armor plating alike. Only for the ship to tear itself apart suddenly as the projectile likely, as Jacob’s evaluation suggested, made contact with the reactor of the Rose.
“ Are you sure they aimed for the reactors ? “ Roland asked, just to hear Jacob’s reasoning.
“ That orb caused no damage to the exterior. But before the Rose blew up, sensors detected electromagnetic fluctuations. I think they are aiming for the fusion reactors containment field. “ Jacob explained.
“ Gravitational wave evaluation done. “ Tactical called out then, but instead of reporting the result, the officer begun to frantically check the data again.
“ Well ?! “ Roland demanded.
“ T-there are, three new planetary bodies by what the data suggests. They are massive. “ Tactical responded finally.
“ Get visual confirmation. And set course for Lanwer, emergency retreat procedures. “ Roland ordered.
This order was being followed by the internal light to switch to orange, and then switch back and forth between orange and blue, the Vorden standard alerting the crew that extreme maneuvers may occur at any moment. It was followed by three deep long warning sounds, which marked the final warning that they had two minutes to get strapped into the next available maneuver seat or cabin.
“ The TCS vessels may not be able to keep up. “ Jacob warned, as the Vorden vessels were built for much higher speeds and maneuvers then even Terran Military vessels.
“ Crap. “ Roland grunted, checking his tactical view after he strapped himself in.
Personally, he could care less if he lost those three remaining ships, he got them from defeated pirates to begin with. But turning tail and sacrificing his men without good cause or reason, it would damage his trust with the crew, especially those from the Vorden territory.
“ Match retreat speed with the TCS vessels. And have them prepare to abandon ship. Once we pass those corvettes, I want them to get aboard the Queen of hearts. “ Roland relented. He still needed those ships to fend of the corvettes, and there was still the issue with the two Boarding carriers.
“ Jacob, when we evacuate those ships, have the Shallow waters and the Firebird dock to the Queen of hearts, hard lock. I am going to cover us the moment everyone is on board. “ Roland issued, recalling that those two brawlers could firmly attach to the destroyer.
It would put the docking port under stress, but it was designed to even last through combat maneuvers if need be. And what mattered more to him, he could use his ability to form a stealth cover around all three ships as long as they remained attached. Which meant, he at least could reduce his losses to some degree.
Jacob nodded, and then focused his attention on the screen before him again, issuing the command for the two brawlers to prepare docking maneuvers soon as the signal is given.
“ All TCS Vessels start firing at the enemy corvettes at mid point, spend every last shell and frequently swap targets, try to cover as many of them as you can. “ Roland ordered then, placing a marker on the tactical view before him which currently used the predictive algorithm to assume their position in a few minutes, which gave further detail for Tactical to relay his orders towards the other vessels.
And once he did so, he checked the screen for the current mission timer. It should be a while still for their earlier projectiles to possibly hit those creatures, and for the boarding vessels to respond. For that matter, the lasers should have passed the corvettes by now.
“ Status of the laser fire ? “ He demanded.
“ Fired 19 rounds, no joy. One was a near miss, singed part of the port wing structure with no discernible effect. “ Tactical responded.
“ Keep watching for projectile impacts, record any hit for later evaluation. “ Roland demanded, fishing for every bit of information he could use.
“ All ships, evade ! Incoming on the rear. “ The captain of the VDN Shallow Waters warned this time, which caused navigation to fire thrusters without a warning, yanking the Queen of Hearts into an accelerated dive while the frigates swarmed out to the side. And again, a swarm of green orbs passed by, though this time, flinging off harmlessly into multiple directions.
“ Where the fuck are they coming from ?! “ Roland demanded, cursing inwardly as the sudden acceleration was quite uncomfortable.
“ Sensors coming up empty. Those projectiles just seem to appear out of nowhere. “ Tactical responded.
“ All ships linked up for acceleration in 30 seconds. “ Navigation then interrupted as all ships were ready to accelerate at full force now, with the ships all about done to adjust course again after the last evasive maneuver.
“ Engage when ready. “ Roland insisted.
“ Roger. “ Navigation responded, triggering another ship-wide warning for the crew, which also prompted the screens before Roland and Jacob to be lowered, so as not to present an unfortunate hazard to them.
And just a few moments later, Navigation begun the countdown, prompting Roland’s gaze to look over the main view screen where the frigates already engaged their engines to dart ahead. Only for the Queen of hearts to follow suit with her much more powerful drive system.
“ Damn it. “ Roland uttered under his breath then, feeling himself being pressed back hard into his seat to the point that it hurt.
Much like it was with Terran ships, the Vorden grav-field generators were unable to compensate for the strong acceleration, though at least they could stay online unlike on Terran ships. Had it not been for that, Roland was sure he would be passing out at this point, and he was feeling a little envious of how well the Vorden crew was enduring this kind of maneuver.
“ Projectile path should cross the enemy any moment now. All visual sensors directed to targets. “ Tactical called out after the frigates had opened fire once again. The altered flightpath and inherited motion allowing the projectiles to hit the targets far sooner then the first salvo aimed at them.
Roland would struggle then to keep his eyes fixed on the central view screen that now split the view between those creatures ahead. Nine of the twenty were being displayed, selected as the once that have the highest fire concentration on them, and thus the highest likelihood to be struck.
“ Come on. “ He would utter under his breath, his eyes wandering across the various creatures on display, hoping to see anything other then that erratic wave pattern they moved with, but for a while, nothing seemed to happen.
Then one of the creature suddenly jerked to the side, and a purple liquid seemed to flow from a point just above the left wing section. The creature even begun to writhe and wiggle about, as if in pain, which further suggested that it had been hit.
Then another creature had a similar reaction as something impacted it’s mid section, only to be suddenly thorn apart as a larger projectile tore right through it. That flung a mess of purple liquid into the void, alongside an unsettling mess of long tendrils that violently lashed out, only to stiffen in place just before the beast ceased moving completely.
“ Yes ! “ Roland grunted with honest delight, giving into a hint of satisfaction to have repaid his losses least in part.
“ We are recording this ? “ Roland asked, just to make sure, watching how three more of the beasts were being shredded by rail-gun shells.
“ Aye Cap. “ Tactical responded.
And then Roland’s eyes narrowed as he could watch how some of those creatures opened the front of their body. Something akin to a large maw, just with rows of tentacle like appendages wiggling about where he would have expected to find teeth.
And from these appendages, streams of green glowing energy, or matter, gathered within the maws center, until a green orb was formed that shot forward from the creatures mouth.
“ So that’s how. “ Roland uttered, seeing at least some proof of how they are being attacked.
He even assumed that more of these creatures must be somewhere behind them. That was, until the orbs, flying in a path that was roughly towards his fleet, suddenly disappeared.
“ How long ago was that ?! “ He demanded, his mind racing with the urgent calculation about when to expect the attack, assuming that this may have been a sort of, cloaking feature.
“ About two minutes ago. “ Tactical answered.
“ All ships evade ! incoming from port ! “ The Firebird’s captain announced urgently, again to cause the frigates and the Queen of Hearts to adjust their course violently.
“ Time till closest contact with the enemy ? “ Roland demanded, cursing inwardly as it appeared that their projectiles moved faster then standard projectiles.
And it seemed that the limited maneuverability may have been due to range, as clearly, they were agile enough to attack from their rear and now even the side. There must be some sort of fuel or, energy conversion going on, reducing their agility the further they travel. Meaning, the closer they where getting, the more dangerous these projectiles may become, if his assumption was right.
“ 3 minutes, 26 seconds. “ Was the response given.
“ All secondary armaments, open fire ! Keep all sensors on high alert, assume those projectiles to have increased tracking capacity the closer we get to these beasts. “ Roland commanded.
“ The reactors. “ Jacob then remarked.
“ If they are aiming for the reactors, then spooling them down may be the best option. “ He elaborated further.
“ Then we be dead in space. “ Roland countered.
“ The laser batteries, we can drain them. If they hit the reactor at full power, they will blow up, but if those projectiles really only disturb the containment field, then lowering output to a minimum may only cause a meltdown. Reactors would be fried, but we’ll still be alive. “ Jacob explained his assumption.
It made Roland grunt with disapproval. The reasoning was sound, but it was based only on their initial observations. There was no telling if that was really all these projectiles did. But the Vorden ships all had multiple reactors, so it would do no harm to lower the risk to some degree.
“ Level all reactors, minimum output required to run all the secondary Lasers. Relay the order to Firebird and Shallow Waters as well. “ Roland issued, relenting to Jacob’s suggestion in part.
“ Incoming from the front ! “ Tactical announced this time, with all ships jerking hard to multiple sides.
“ Fuck ! “ Roland cussed loudly this time, feeling like his previous assumption may have been off after all.
These might have been the projectiles who’s formation they had witnessed, which suggested still that there where more enemies. And it was highly frustrating not to have the whole picture here, which made it hard staving off a sensation of panic. Hadn't he been from a military background, he would have lost his wits a few times over by now.
At least the ship’s managed to still stave off another hit. Since the TCS Rose was lost, every ship captain seemed on heightened alert, quick to enact evasive maneuvers, and they would need it.
If Jacob was right, then those three frigates would be a flying coffin. They only had one reactor each, meaning, they could not lower the output quite as much. If hit, they would experience a catastrophic failure, just like the Rose.
“ Give me an observed projectile count for each attack on us. “ He demanded then, realizing that each of these creatures only released one projectile, and only some of them had even fired, which would at least give a sort of, estimate what they where facing.
“ Between 15 and 42 projectiles. We tracked 17 during the last attack. “ Tactical responded.
“ Shit, so there are more of these beasts out there, and they seem to coordinate their attacks. “ Roland grunted.
“ And we have no effective defense. “ Jacob agreed.
“ Wait. How did we detect those 20 creatures ? “ Roland demanded then as a realization dawned.
“ Energy spikes consistent with ship reactors. “ Tactical responded.
“ Shit. “ Roland uttered.
“ Think they wanted us to find them ? “ Jacob asked, catching on rather quickly.
“ Yes. I think this might as well be a trap. I think they are trying to herd us towards them, for whatever reason. There is likely something else laying in wait out there. “ Roland grunted.
“ Slow down acceleration. All TCS Vessels, Set ships to automated defense with course towards those creatures, and abandon ship immediately. Shallow Waters and Firebird are to do a hard lock right away. And tell them to hurry up, time is of the essence. “ Roland insisted.
“ If they fire again right now. “ Jacob offered for Roland’s consideration, but assuming that Roland was well aware of the danger.
“ Considering how long it took them to form a projectile each. There must be more out there. If their aim is to lure us towards them, then sending the frigates their way may be a partial success on their part.
Considering the range of fire observed so far, I think they may be smart enough to think they can still herd us in. Though I think the moment I shroud us, they might try to hit our location hard. “ Roland responded, and then sighed as he heard the countdown for the engine shut off.
“ That is, if they can not detect us when in cover. “ Jacob suggested.
“ Unless they can read psychic energy, they should not be able to. “ Roland responded.
“ I hope your right. “ Jacob uttered.
“ It is not like we have a choice now. As is, I think they have not even attacked in full. And there is still those new planetary bodies. I have a feeling we do not want to be around to find out just why they suddenly appeared. “ Roland noted, which left Jacob silently nodding in agreement.