War of the Exiles Page 2

  "If the information the Khreenk scouts gave us is accurate, we should detect the perimeter defences in the next sixty seconds. The data showed they are equipped with area scanners and defences fitted to some of the larger objects."

  He pointed in the direction the General was looking.

  "If I was to build a base out here, I'd choose the point to the side, where the fields clear a little. There is enough space to dock a dozen heavy transports or several full-sized war vessels. Even better, there are major obstructions to bypass before the site could be reached. This is an easy place to defend. It might be an idea to move back to more open space."

  "Exactly what they want us to think, Captain," General Makos agreed, "And that is why they are not there, and why we will push on."

  He looked to Captain Minkov and gave him a grim looking smile.

  "You see; they want to give us the impression they are big and dangerous, that this area is a death trap to our ships. They've given the impression their heaviest weapons are cunningly hidden, and I suspect some of the intelligence gained by our Khreenk friends may have been leaked."

  His long reptilian tongue flicked out, and back in his mouth just as quickly.

  "What they don't realise is that I am prepared to suffer losses out here. I am not looking for a victory, or merely the destruction of their base. Oh, no. I am looking at smashing them and removing them forever. All for the greater good of our people."

  "I see," replied Captain Minkov.

  As one of the most experienced ship officers in the newly formed border military, he had been honoured by General Makos to be the captain of Hellstorm. Like so many of his kin, the Captain had abandoned his post in the Byotai military to come and help. General Makos was the most highly decorated figure in the armed forces, and when he issued his proclamation to assist the border settlers, it sent a ripple throughout the military. Many of the Empire's best leaders joined up with him, giving the Tenth Quadrant a cadre of well-trained officers. Though an excellent captain, he was not an officer used to commanding large numbers of ships, and more important, he did not have same kind of experience fighting the Anicinàbe that General Makos had.

  "Please explain, General."

  It was a pleasant enough question, but Makos could tell the Captain was not convinced.

  "This is little different to the positioning of a sniper. Does the warrior hide on the top of the tallest building or hill for the best view?"

  He paused for effect before continuing.

  "Or does he set up position near the tall building? A warrior doesn't just need the best fighting position. They also need to live."

  General Makos turned back to the view of the enemy. Their ships moved about in long columns, twisting and rolling like a long snake through the debris. It was impossible to detect their destination, but they were clearly concentrating their number around this particular area.

  "I can smell them out here, and they will strike well before we can reach their fortress."

  He lifted his head upwards and opened his mouth a fraction, letting the cool air enter his body to help regulate his temperature.

  "I can smell their fear, and it is well justified."

  He stared at the larger vessels and snarled. This cat and mouse game had continued now for three days, and still the Anicinàbe fleet would not come out and fight them. Fighters from both sides moved as close as they dared, but never enough to initiate a violent response. He had given up counting them, as every ten minutes or so, they would change formation or bring in new vessels from their hiding places in the vast debris field.

  Wait, what is that?

  He squinted as the computerised imagery showing the enemy constantly shifted. The display was muted and used colours to show the projected strength of the armour on the ships. At the one flank was something strange, as a single colour coalesced into a shape, like a shoal of fish moving in a tight formation so that they appeared as just one object. The General extended his hand and pointed at the shapes.

  "Magnify."

  The view shifted to an extreme close-up of space next to three capital ships. From behind them came hundreds of smaller heavy fighters. These craft were much bigger and more capable than the fighters used by the Byotai or Alliance, more like small versions of escort ships. Moving in between them were even smaller craft, each little bigger than an anti-ship missile.

  Something's different here. They haven't done this before.

  He looked back to Captain Minkov, the commander of Hellstorm, all the while feeling a tingling down his spine. General Makos had been in enough fights to know his gut instinct should always be relied upon. Right now something was happening.

  "Open gun ports, launch fighters..."

  His mouth made an odd sound as he finished speaking.

  "...and prepare for battle."

  The Captain hissed an acknowledgement and proceeded to issue orders to his officers. He moved slowly, and his mouth made a rasping sound as he spoke, as if there was a small obstruction in his throat. Almost immediately the ship was ready for battle, her stabilisers operating at full power, and weapons and layered armour active. General Makos watched in silence as dozens of Byotai fighters deployed in the formation.

  "Form the laager."

  The order was simple, and in just a few seconds each ship moved out into the wide sphere. The capital ships were spaced apart enough to avoid giving the enemy easy targets, but not too far they would be unable to provide mutually supportive fire. Hellstorm took up position in the centre of the sphere, the other ships providing protection in every direction. The fighters stayed close to the capital ships, ensuring they were well inside the protective cordon from the overlapping fire of the Byotai warships.

  Now they puff themselves up, and try and frighten us as though we were little more than children.

  The dust-filled debris field now found itself home to two massive fleets of ships. As more than a hundred and twenty warships manoeuvred around each other, there was still no sign of battle, with both sides holding back. The drifting chunks from the shattered planet continued to move amongst the vessels of both sides, forcing them to continually shift about to avoid impacts. Then came the first encounter, a short battle between a pair of Byotai scout fighters and a single Anicinàbe heavy fighter. The three vanished in a dust cloud, and a moment later a bright flash announced their destruction. That sent the fighters on both sides into a killing frenzy, and in less than sixty seconds both sides were heavily engaged.

  "Keep the fighters close, support them," said General Makos.

  The order was unnecessary as the ship captains were already doing this. He looked at the unfolding battle, as Anicinàbe ships and fighters moved in to strike at the more remote Byotai ships. Kinetic guns showered both sides with hardened metal slugs, all the while missiles streaked back and forth. The real damage came from the direct-energy weapons, of which the Byotai were the true masters. Unlike the particle weapons of the Alliance, they used a technology that sent large low-velocity pulses of raw energy that would explode any object they came into contact with. The only weakness was they were too slow to be used against fast escorts and fighters. A single Anicinàbe destroyer vanished in a flash, and as the light settled, the burnt out husk was all that remained.

  "Good, very good," said General Makos, "Do not get distracted. Stay in formation."

  He watched the groups of Anicinàbe vessels and fighters moved in from multiple directions. Their skill in navigation was unsurpassed, and even he was surprised at how close they would move in the debris field. Two Byotai ships packed with mercenaries pulled away, and one collided with a massive asteroid made of rock and ice. A chunk of the ship ripped off, exposing its power unit to the elements. Anicinàbe fighters dove in and shattered the crippled vessel, leaving it in ruins. General Makos snapped and activated the fleet-wide channel.

  "Stand your ground. Do not let them push you from your course. Rely on your armour and steel will. We will not flinch before these
cowards."

  The game of cat and mouse continued for another twenty minutes, and although gunfire was exchanged, there were only a few more casualties, most of them amongst the crews of the fighters on both sides. General Makos smiled as yet another squadron of Anicinàbe heavy fighters withdrew; two trailing smoke.

  We will not be moved, little soldiers. I am coming for you.

  For all the efforts by the Anicinàbe to draw away the fighters, not one of them worked. Each time they feigned withdrawal, the Byotai would slow down and stay within the cordon offered by the capital ships. Seven Anicinàbe heavy fighters were torn apart, for the loss of just three light Byotai fighters this way, yet still the columns of fighters came, continually attempting to peel away the Byotai. Nearly half of the hundred plus Anicinàbe ships now moved nearer.

  That's it, General Makos thought; you're getting tempted, aren't you?

  "New contacts!" said Commander Kratochvil.

  The imagery changed again to show multiple views from around the Byotai fleet. General Makos had intentionally kept away from the larger fragments in the debris field, even though his fleet was technically the more powerful. His only possible weakness was he could be quickly surrounded and overwhelmed by the smaller and more numerous clan ships. Captain Minkov indicated towards the line of dots above them, and just over a hundred kilometres away.

  "Active scanners have located fifteen more ships hidden inside the dust cloud periphery, and they are moving to block our flanks."

  "Good," General Makos replied, "They are merely confirming what I had already suspected."

  He rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand. It was a futile gesture, as the metal plating from his armoured helm pushed down well past the flesh of his cheeks.

  "These are the tactics of fear, something the Anicinàbe like to use."

  A quick movement of his hand changed the imagery and the current routes used by the fleet. The enemy was in front, but in much greater numbers above and below, along with more ships moving to the flanks. There was nothing to their rear.

  "They leave us with a way out, and they hope we panic and leave as quickly as we arrived. This is nothing more than a ruse. They know we can crush them, and this is their bluff."

  General Makos brought his fist down onto his left arm; the metal armour rang out from the heavy strike. It caught the attention of more than a few of the Byotai crew.

  "But I say to hell with them, to hell with the whole dammed lot of them!"

  He then gave the order none of them would have expected.

  "Initiate feigned withdrawal. Move back three hundred kilometres, and then reform the laager. Keep us to the rear. Loose spacing, let them think we've lost our nerve."

  The source of the attack was approximately where Captain Minkov had suggested would be a good location from where to build a base. Even as the Anicinàbe moved out to give battle, he still refused to believe that was their base. Each of the Byotai ships had by now changed course and was falling back in disorder, at least that was the impression given.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Few thought the fighting on Karnak of 372CC, or 2472 by Old Earth reckoning, would last more than a few months. Instead, the local disturbance turned out to be something much greater. Dozens of minor tribes swore allegiance to the coalition of border clans led by Tahkeome and descended upon the seven border worlds, leading to a series of battles and skirmishes that left thousands homeless, or worse. The war might have ended, were it not for the courageous defence of the Khagi District, an event that saw a surge in volunteers heading to the front on both sides. Even when the Anicinàbe League refused to back the offensive of the coalition assembled by Tahkeome, they continued to fight. Yet after nearly a year of skirmishes, neither side could claim complete control of the seven border worlds and their rich resources of naturally occurring nanocrystals. Every week news spread through the Helios Nexus and beyond of the latest victories or defeats, but one thing never changed. The Tenth Quadrant as the Byotai called the region, or the Marche as the Anicinàbe knew it, was far from peaceful. On one side were the renegade General Makos and his volunteers, while on the other, the coalition of border world Anicinàbe and their many clan war chiefs. As the war continued, rumours spread that Tahkeome had vanished, with some even suggesting the mythical warrior was a fakery to unite the clans.

  Alien Races of the Orion Nebula

  Battleship 'Hellstorm', Medamud Debris Field, Tenth Quadrant

  Every single ship in the fleet was moving away from the main strength of the Anicinàbe, and already the enemy attacks seemed to have slowed. Most of the threat now came from four large squadrons of heavy Anicinàbe fighters. They took advantage of the apparent confusion and swept down to hit the rear of the column. To their surprise, the last ship to turn and leave was Hellstorm; her thick, layered armour could easily absorb the massed gunfire from the fighters. Almost immediately the warship vibrated from the impacts of the heavy weapons.

  "General, we're taking heavy fire. We've taken breaches to the primary armour layer in seven locations."

  General Makos seemed distinctively unimpressed at the announcement.

  "I can see that, Captain. You have your orders. Fall back to the designated location, and activate all defensive measures. Shift the armour and keep moving."

  For a brief second he spotted doubt in his officer's eyes.

  "Don't worry, my friend. We will deal with our Anicinàbe friends, and they will rue the day they turned on our people. We will fight them, and we will emerge victorious."

  "Yes, General."

  If it had been any other senior officer, it might not have worked. General Makos was more than just a famous military leader; he was something akin to a spiritual leader, one that had led Byotai forces in the Biomech War. There were fewer souls in the Empire valued as highly. The General turned to his right and towards his second-in-command; an even larger Byotai warrior attired in much the same fashion as him. There was a single significant difference between them, and that was the side of his face where his left eye had been replaced with metal plating. The flesh bore heavy scarring where the metal reached it, signifying a horrific past injury.

  The fleet moved away from the potential site of the base, and the Anicinàbe fighters and smaller ships continued to give chase. It was a half-hearted pursuit, and most of the ships held back. That was when General Makos stunned every officer in his vicinity.

  "Initiate the Mortis routine, now!"

  For a second nothing happened, but then the crew reacted and carried out their orders quickly. The engineering teams dumped coolant and radioactive material into space, and the helmsman sent the ship on an erratic course. In seconds the ship transformed from a combat effective battleship, to one giving the impression it had sustained critical damage. They now looked dead in space, venting all manner of material and with their weapons off-line.

  "Now we wait."

  The rest of the fleet continued to move back, but a handful of fighters remained as they circled about the crippled battleship. They were fast and deployed a series of countermeasures to distract and defeat incoming projectiles and missiles. The impression was they had been tasked with staying back to buy time for the ship to repair itself. For anybody looking from a distance, it was obvious Hellstorm was in trouble, and like a wounded animal, it began to draw the attention of Anicinàbe predators.

  "Here they come, the wretches," said General Makos.

  Fighters regrouped to escort a wing of destroyers. They held their fire, using the time to move into the perfect flanking positions from which to batter the battleship into submission. At the same time, they unleashed a veritable cloud of defensive fire to beat off the return fire of the Byotai vessel.

  "There's an urgent message coming from Blackstone, on homeworld."

  Makos could tell from his tone it was important, but their current predicament seemed more so right now. A stream of hardened slugs struck the battleship’s port wing assembly, and a section tore off,
only to swing back and then strike the hull of the ship. Then he realised that Commander Kratochvil had mentioned the information came from Blackstone.

  There were many members of the Empire's military and civil service sympathetic to the Tenth Quadrant's plight. The official line was that the settlement of the border was outside of the Empire's jurisdiction, but plenty would help unofficially, providing it didn't result in danger to them. Blackstone was the exception. The name was not one individual but actually a faceless collection of people that wanted to help. General Makos knew some of them, but they operated under the veil of Blackstone as a simple method of anonymity.

  "Blackstone, you say?"

  Commander Kratochvil nodded.

  "Yes, General, and it is a high-priority communiqué."

  That could mean only one thing, strategically critical news. His heart felt like it had stopped for a brief moment as he conjured up all kinds of awful scenarios. Commander Kratochvil looked confused, as if not understanding the General's expression.

  "It's the Anicinàbe, something has happened to them. Something catastrophic."

  He opened his mouth and smiled, showing his sharpened teeth. General Makos knew right away that it was the kind of news he wanted to hear.

  "So," he started, "It is something is of interest, after all. Let us hope it is bad...for them."

  Commander Kratochvil nodded in agreement.

  "Go on then, show me."

  Commander Kratochvil activated a small holographic imager on his arm. It was a piece of equipment carried by all senior officers, allowing them to communicate with anybody using the encrypted network. The video imagery showed a dark outline of their contact on the homeworld. The video looped to repeat the message he had just listened to, with specific reference to an identified violent event deep inside Anicinàbe territory. One so great it had sent entire populations fleeing in all directions.