Tactical Insanity Part 1
January 2030 - 0G Manufactory in Orbit around Terra Nova
"Iacta Alea Est." The Human murmured
"It's a bit early for that no?" Ed, a younger but only marginally less scarred version, asked.
"Like it or not Ed...Before today we could have lived and died as bounty hunters. Before this moment I could have simply passed the technology off to the leaders of Earth and... left them to their fate. But now...Now there is no turning back."
"You know. You're the only human I've met who is more melodramatic sober than drunk."
"Heh." The Human turned to Ed, his face split by a wide smile. "Well. Someone has to be. This will be the first defender of Earth. Shield of Humanity...."
"In a decade."
"Give or take." The Human nodded
_____
June 2032 - 0G Manufactory in Orbit around Terra Nova
"I'm impressed." Ed began coming up the human whose eyes were trained on the sight before him.
"As am I Ed. As am I." The Human replied
"We're lucky. That the United States consolidated their shipyards." Ed observed dryly as workers clambered over the superstructure
"Consolidation would have put a couple hundred out of a job...it's the automation that really did a number on 'em. But I'm not complaining. Whatever my opinions on their country's leadership and their great betrayal...their people will work if you make them an offer. Even if it is in space, four light years from home with no guarantee of ever going back."
"They're adapting well."
"Extremely. At this rate we're going to have to start knocking down more valuable bounties to keep the metal flowing."
"We could build our own foundries. Jeeves mentioned that the Steel Shock is driving more and more millers into joblessness. Terra Nova can support them. The people and the foundries."
"That's an option. Would lower costs too, if we're only moving raw materials and not finished product. If they're unemployed and desperate...they might take job a trillion miles away."
"I'll make the call."
_____
February 2033 - 0G Manufactory in Orbit around Terra Nova
"I have to admit.” Ed said as he took up his now familiar position in front of the window “The Germans proved to be better at embezzling material than I had ever dreamed." Ed said coming up to the human whose eyes were trained on the structure that was almost recognizable as a ship.
"Not just the Germans. All of them. And not just materials. It's the advantage of autocracies. If millions of people need to vanish from the census then they can be vanished. If millions of tonnes of raw material need to disappear off ledgers they can make it happen." He paused a moment to sip the drink in his hand. Before shaking his head in disbelief "I never thought I'd see Tera Nova hit ten million people before we made the announcements on Earth."
"When are you planning that by the way?"
"As soon as I can. But things are still too unstable on Earth and...our hand is not yet strong enough."
____
December - 2034 - 0G Manufactory in Orbit around Terra Nova
"Have you read this?" Ed asked
"The message from the Kaiser? Of course."
"He's got a pair." Ed snorted
"He's also got a point. Our timeline dropped from ten years to five because of them."
"But it's so...cliché"
"What were you expecting Ed. The Germans build a battleship, give it the biggest guns, the thickest armour, the longest rails, enough firepower to glass a planet...what were you expecting them to name it? Dein Lieber Freund Fritz?"
"Well...Let's hope this battleship doesn't end up like the last one."
“For now its name is UBA1. Unnamed Battleship 1
From the outside the first of a planned five battleships was finished but the flurry of activity continued unabated. The cap over the three engines; two fusion, one fission had gone on the night before and now the guts of the ship were being shoveled in. It was a marvel of engineering. A proof of concept as much as anything else. Experimental technologies designed by a team of AI's and scientists from a dozen different fields poached in secret for a singular purpose.
___
May - 2035
"Have you made the crew lists?" Ed asked "Nemo?" "Nymos!"
"Hm...Sorry Ed...It's just so...quiet out there."
"It's space. It's always quiet."
"Funny.... Furniture and final checks... Then it's done."
"But our work isn't. A ship isn't worth a damn if it doesn't have a crew."
"I know. I've put the AI's on that." Nymos sighed "This might be the diciest part. The government doesn't care if people on unemployment disappear, especially if they were 'mere' labourers. Scientists and researchers are eccentric enough that it's an easy enough tale to tell that they've moved off to pursue a passion somewhere else...But..."
Nymos clicked his tongue "Vanishing soldiers and their family’s is...a bit more difficult and. I'm concerned about the general public. There are conspiracy theorists already ranting and raving about how millions of people are disappearing and how it's the NWO or One World Government or the great reduction..."
"They're not wrong. You are making a new world order."
"Yeah but why the hell would I want to kill nine out of ten people? Anyways point is. We don't just need a lot of people. We need a lot of good people and we need to get them in a way that doesn't incite a panic."
"So what's your plan?"
"Dunno. That's why I put the AI's in charge."
"And what about the Kaiser's recommendations?"
"A few eyebrow raisers but...none of them look wholly incompetent. His suggestion for helmsman looked...interesting." Nymos said handing Ed a dossier.
"Huh...I don't think I've ever seen that combination of hair styles before...and...Why is wearing a plate vest?
"Your guess is as good as mine."
___
June - 2035
"Joakim von...Bro?"
"Von Bro?" Ed Echoed
"Yes. During the restoration of the monarchy our towns sign was hit by a bomb. Instead of building a new sign we renamed the town. And you have so many Joakims that...Now you know which one I am."
"Fair enough..." Nymos stared at the papers in front of him "You're my chief pilot and..." He shook his head "Our chain of command looks more like a ball of string that a kitten got to. Alright well...you're the last officer so...get yourself settled in."
"One question."
"Yes?"
"How many instruments can I bring."
"How many do you have?"
"Lots."
"You can bring five. I’ve already installed a piano onboard."
"The I'll skip my keyboard. Thank you captain."
___
July - 2035
"Sir. Sirs" The Master Engineer added noticing Ed
"Master Engineer. What's the verdict?" Nymos said directing the man to one of the chairs. A new addition to the office that had, for years, remained Spartan.
"Everything is...in the green."
"Why the hesitation?" Ed asked, eyes narrowing
"Because this is insane. Instead of small scale experiments you've built a fifty million tonne monster with only half an idea of how everything is going to work. So yes. As best I can tell everything is working as intended."
"And what. Master Engineer do I have to work with."
The smaller human sighed calling up three dimensional pints. "As you requested. The primary armaments consist of two full length Rail Guns one on the upper and one on the lower spine each firing type R-1 shells."
"R1?"
"Rail type one. According to the designers we might as well make it up as we go because this is so far out of our league."
"Alright."
"In addition you have two demi rails that are half length each and fire R-2 type shells. Since the rails are shorter the shells were made lighter to ensure that shells from all four guns will arrive simultaneously. In addition most of the ships dual purpose batteries are located along the rails to prevent smaller ships from targeting them...or...at least making it more difficult for enemy fighters to target them. Each dual purpose battery can fire in a full arc with a built in lock to prevent them from shooting each other."
"Don't trust our gunners Master Engineer?"
"Nymos, Sir. I did my time in the army. I've seen people shoot themselves in the foot with the safeties on. I don't trust anyone."
"Fair enough. Continue."
"Important note: The rails only fire forward. Making them bi-direction would have increased both cost and complexity exponentially and severely reduced long term viability. So they only shoot forwards. To that end the rear of the ship has several dozen rail cannons..."
"Rail cannons?"
"Yes sir. The Rail Guns are accelerators only. The Rail Cannons use solid fuels to increase shell velocity. I would however like to take this opportunity to add that the number of fluorines held onboard this ship will incinerate all of you, should you suffer a severe containment breach. Not even venting will save you should the superstructure catch. The magazine is coated in a triple layer of oxides but please take care."
"That's rather the idea. There are zero things in this galaxy that like being fire. And being burned alive...that leaves a mark in anyone who sees it." Nymos smiled darkly "If we can blow 'em up. We'll burn 'em."
"That is your prerogative sir. Anyways yes. The ships cannons spread in such a way that there is no safe approach. Though. Obviously frontal fire will be the most effective because of the rails. So you have giant guns, big guns, cannons, rapid fire batteries. You also have an autonomous laser point defense system for incoming torpedoes. We don’t know if anyone uses them but better safe than sorry. Shells are likely to be too small to destroy though I'm sure the AI system will try to help. Also worth noting the cannons can be manipulated by hand for purposes of maintenance."
"Now!" The Engineer clapped his hands "Speed and manoeuverability!"
"You're excited" Ed said dryly finally breaking his silence.
"I am." The Engineer nodded "This was my part of the project. You have four graviton anchors to afford tighter manoeuverability so you don't suffer from what we've dubbed 'space slide'."
"Space...slide?" Ed asked
"Conservation of momentum. On a planet aircraft use wind resistance to turn. No such wind in space. Hence the graviton anchors. They create temporary points of massive gravity which you can use to bank and manoeuver considerably faster than you otherwise could."
"So why only four?" Nymos asked
"That's all that fit between the reactors."
"Alright then." Nymos said chuckling to himself.
"And of course you have the three engines in the back: two fusion, one fission. You also have, as a triple safety, diesel generators."
"Top speed?"
"The absolute max: One lightyear an hour."
"Impressive." Ed said while Nymos just whistled
"However. And this is critical. That speed will stress the engines."
"How badly?"
"No idea sir. Like I said we conducted zero real world stress tests. But it is capable for pulling one light year hour for at least two hours at which point...we stopped testing since that was all you asked for and we were on a hell of a reduced timeline. After two hours it took about sixteen hours for the engines to stabilize and be safe to use for anything more than manoeuvering or sub-light. One improvement you might be interested in. We had a breakthrough late in development and we were able to reduce the charge time of the engines for a ship of this size from five to ten minutes down to forty or so seconds."
"Cruising speed?"
"About half that."
"That's still not bad. Earth and back in less than a day."
"Naturally a smaller ship could go faster for longer but...UBA1 as you call it is massive and requires a hell of a lot of distortion to get it out of normal time."
"Understood. I'll have you begin designing those smaller ships once we launch...Guns, engines...The crew compliment I have...Shields and armour. What's the final verdict?"
"Shields are strong. Armour thick. Honestly sir. I can't tell you much more than that. We only have the theoretical specs from the alien data you obtained and everything else you already know. The shields are intended to deflect projectiles instead of stop them. The armour along the superstructure is triple layered with heat dissipating materials between. The most vulnerable points are obviously the engines, the rails, and the turrets."
"Alright. Let's party. Ed you ready?"
"Oh yes."
____
"Captain ON DECK!" Joakim von Bro shouted
"Yes yes yes. As you were." Nymos said returning their salute.
"How does it feel to be a real captain now?" Ed asked his face twisting in a macabre smile.
"Honestly Ed? It's electrifying. I don't think I've felt this much adrenaline in...well.... days but still." Nymos answered his own face split in a smile which was slowly becoming painful.
"Ready Captain?" von Bro asked
"Transmit release sequence." Nymos said in lieu of an answer.
One by one they could hear the clamps release, and feel the ship shake as the magnets which had in place since its keel was first laid release it to the void. A final shudder and clang and the ship was free, the air within charged as everyone waited on the Captains orders.
"Engineering. Bring the Fusion cores online." The electrical hum grew louder as the shape came to life with the power of two small suns.
“Status?" Nymos asked after a few tense moments. They had not exploded so far but nobody was really relaxed, if anything the realization of what they were setting out to do was enough to send most hearts racing.
"Life support. Green. Reactor output and temperature. Green. Shields. Online. Distortion Drive. Online. No faults or surges in the rail supply. Everything checks out sir."
Nymos breathed deep savouring the smell of a ship fresh off the line about the break free.
"Get us out of here. Jeeves, von Bro. Test System 1"
The hum of electricity grew louder, for the first time the Distortion drive let the crew of UBA1 feel its awe inspiring power. The crew could slowly feel reality begin to twist and bend as time itself distorted around them and spread to the space immediately around the ship. There was no feeling in the world to describe the affect a distortion drive had on humans it hit every primal instinct and set every nerve ablaze. By the time the thirty seconds ticked by and the ship left normal time and space the crew was wide eyed and coated with sweat. It was only professionalism and brute force of will the stopped them from devolving into confused hysterics.
"Control. Report."
"We're not dead Captain. But fuck me that was weird."
"We're on the bridge. Nobody will be fucking anybody here. Engineering. Talk to me."
"Everything's in line with the models sir. It seems like the AI knew what they were doing." Chief Engineer Utton, one of the only aliens and the only member of Thon, invited into Nymos's inner circle.
"And yet you sound surprised." Jeeves' voice came over the intercom "I'm also pleased to announce that all internal systems are fine and everything went just as well as I thought it would. Since I don't trust my own sunny optimism..." That drew a few chuckles from the older members of the crew "Aries and Byte are running secondary checks."
"Excellent now, you mentioned a distress call before we left?"
"Indeed." Jeeves' avatar appeared "A Carlag freighter was being pursued by pirates. They're trying to run but the will pirates will catch them sooner rather than later."
"Can we catch them?"
"Catch them?" Jeeves chuckled "Absolutely not. You commissioned this ship to be a one unit death platform not a pursuit vessel. However, our distortion drive creates enough...wake I suppose you could call it. That anyone not in phase with us will be forced into normal time and space. Pirate and Merchant alike. Once they're in normal space..."
"We nail them."
"Precisely."
"Give von Bro what he needs and let's go kill us some pirates."
"With pleasure sir." It was an unsettling thing, seeing a hologram smile, but somehow Jeeves had made his smile a thing of dread.
The charge built again time twisted and melted as it relinquished its hold on them and then they were gone. The only sign of ever having existed was a deep bruise on the surface of reality that slowly began to fade.
It had gone just as Jeeves predicted. The presence of the battleship was enough to force the smaller ships back into normal time and space. Forced to sub-light speeds the Carlag freighter didn't have chance. Sure the Carlag weren't fighters but Ed had expected them to put up a token resistance, but no...When running failed the Herbivores rolled over and the pirates rolled up, docked, and began looting.
The Human battleship dropped in close enough to strike but far enough that their arrival might go unnoticed.
"Bring us into position. Rail crews. Get loaded, get ready."
"Aye sir."
Joakim von Bro could make the ship go forwards, backwards, and with the help of the distortion drive he could make it go at ludicrous speed. But aligning the ship so perfectly that all four rails could be brought to bear on a single target required three sets of human hands and an AI.
They had all wondered what it would feel like as a pair of three kilometer long rails prepared to fire. It was, quite literally, electrifying. Their skin crawled as the air itself became charged. Every hair stood on end, every nerve primed and then...It was gone. Four shells flying at a fraction of C.
They counted the seconds.
Every eye glued to the screens which projected updated simulations.
The pirates finally noticed their company and had kept their engines primed for just such an anomaly but they were out of time. Four shells, absolute overkill, ripped the pirate ship apart. Three exploded within the ship turning it into a cloud of shrapnel, the fourth passed through and detonated when its fail safe activated.
"Get us out of here. Now!"
Twelve seconds later the Battleship was gone and in its wake nothing but a cloud of debris and a shell-shocked crew.
_____
The Carlag docked. Unloaded. And then the crew staggered into a spacers bar. And when they told their story they were met with laughter, jeers, and a few pints for a valiant attempt at a scary story.
Two weeks later it was a Kal-Eth transport. Different people drinking in the bar but their reaction was the same unrepentant laughter.
Ten days after that it was a Capra heavy cargo hauler. The people still laughed but a few of them began exchanging glances.
A week later a Lothon passenger ship staggered. They still laughed but now it was nerves, nerves and a small dose of fear.
Only days later a Wren luxury liner came to port. Telling the same tale: They'd been thrown out of phase into normal space and time. Then without a word a shape materialized and opened fire, ripping the pirates to shreds. And then, it ignored all hails, and vanished. Without so much as a goodbye. By now everyone had stopped laughing.
Search teams were sent out. Military patrols scoured every inch of the systems. But found nothing save for slowly expanding clouds of debris. Each one a raider. Some were independent pirates. Some had been mercenaries of dubious repute. Some had been D'Neth of Jithen slavers. But in each case it was the same. Nothing left save for broken ships each one destroyed before it could react.
Three weeks and sixty light years away it struck again. This time the authorities were ready. They launched the moment the merchants sent out the signal that they had been saved. Armed with the latest equipment they finally found something. They found the wake of the ship; they found the bruise left by its distortion drive, and felt their blood run cold. The report was filed, classified, and sealed. The investigation switched from asking what to finding the culprit. But every party, every faction, and every race offered only protestations.
And so the rumour spread. Not an official reports for there was none but by rumours and whispers. From one dark corner of the galaxy to the next the rumour grew of a shape... a ship of unparalleled size and unimaginable power. With every pirate ship and raider that vanished into a mist of debris the legend of the Terror of the Void grew.
Of course.... the D'Neth and Jithen both took exception to the ship that hounded their raiders and destroyed their proxies and so they too began hunting for the King of the Stars.
The Humans though. They loved it. Their world had beaten them, tortured them, tormented them, starved them and they mastered the long hunt. Until they learned to yearn for games of life and death where days of stalking ended in pitched moments of extreme violence, leaving them with a feeling of rapturous bliss.
It was scary, even for the carnivores on the crew. They didn't feel the thrill that ran through the Humans' veins when guns discharged. They didn't feel the compulsion to watch the enemy ships explode. They didn't understand the excitement humans could feel while pouring over maps to find pirate anchorages or how they could spend hours going over every ping reported by the Accelerated Photon Scanners or even how they could spend hours listening to FTL comms hoping to hear even a shred of a direction or even an outright distress call.
They didn't feel the thrill of discovery. They didn't live half hoping the alarms would blare summoning them to their stations. Their heart didn't race with the promise of impending violence. Their blood didn't burn at the thought of bringing brutal justice upon those deemed evil. They never felt the world fade away in the moment a ship passed in the path of a Rail Cannon. They didn't feel the ecstasy of adrenaline whenever their hands brought death. Humanity loved fighting, they loved killing but they lusted for the hunt and for the chance to fight for their lives.
And so the hunt continued: Humans hunted for raiders while The Grand Assembly, the D'Neth, and the Jithen hunted for the Terror of the Void.
_____
"I have to admit." Ed began "We’re preforming above expectations."
"And the crew seem to enjoy their work. Though..." Nymos laughed "Everyone likes hunting pirates. It's one of the few things that are black and white."
"Indeed." Ed nodded
The two men lapsed into silence. They were cruising at sub-light while the engineers ran diagnostics on the reactors, their view of the stars obstructed by the rails which extended just beyond the bridge. It had been a controversial design but it did ensure that, should the rail tips become damaged and a shell fail to launch, the bridge and crew had a chance to survive.
"I'm impressed with how the crew have acclimatized. To the stress I mean."
"It's about what I expected. Honestly my main source of annoyance is that everyone goes down so easily. We haven't really had the opportunity to put the ship through its paces.
"Famous last words." Ed mused
"May our lives be short and full of excitement." Nymos proclaimed fishing a flask from a pocket, drinking and passing it off.
"Cheers."
_______
"Where's the Captain?!" An excited but breathless comms monitor burst into the forward rec room.
"Over here." Nymos stood
"A merchant convoy reported pirate activity! They drove them off but we're almost certain the pirates will be back."
"A merchant convoy...odd."
"Maybe. But there's been chatter that the Gar Loth Coalition has been looking to move something...Don't know what but they've been trying to move something."
"Clear as mud. We'll finish our game later Ed. Aries!"
"Yes?"
"Set condition 4."
"Aye sir!"
"Ed. With me. Utton get to engineering. Eesti: Rest your gunners. Hit em with a wrench if you have to. I want them rested for when shit hits the fan. Join me in the war room once we drop out of distortion."
"Understood Captain." The Short Estonian flashed a grim smile and set off at a jog before jumping on the ladder that led to the gunnery axis: a series of passages that ran along the skeleton of the ship which allowed gunners to get to their positions while avoiding the main corridors.
"Everyone else..." Nymos surveyed the room his lips showing the barest hint of a predators smile "Relax while you still can."
____
The war room was a place that only AIs and masters of grand strategy could love. Its displays presented a dizzying array of information about not only the ship but the local space around it as terabytes of raw data flowed through it every second before being processed by the ship's AIs and sent to the Command deck. Unwieldly, but the War Room was directly above the ship's listening station and AI cores reducing data lag to zero. It also housed a large meeting room for the general staff and, for those in the know, a fully stocked liquor reserve for post battle celebrations. Though no battle had been large enough to warrant opening the reserve.
"How long to intercept Jeeves?"
"Four hours until we can knock them out of phase. Roughly two hours to catch them."
"Six hours. Give or take."
"I'm going to pass out in a corner. Wake me if something changes." Ed said letting himself collapse in a chair
"Ditto. Jeeves. You're in charge. Zap my implants if you need me."
"GOD FUCK JEEVES THAT HURT!" Nymos roared leaping to his feet. A reaction conditioned by far too many close calls, including one event where he was nearly mistaken for dead and eaten by an Isaad patrol.
Ed's species had an interesting reaction to being woken up. Namely: None. They were either asleep or completely alert they suffered none of the groggy groaning that so plagued humanity.
"We there?"
"No." Jeeves' soft British accent filtered through the speakers, appearing at the far end of the table. "But your comms officers have something rather urgent."
"Send them in."
"Sir!"
"Sir!"
"Fritz. Franz. What can I do for you?" Nymos asked trying to at least pretend like he hadn't been asleep.
"We found them!" They said in unison eyes burning with satisfaction and a touch of sleep deprivation induced madness.
"Who?"
"A pirate squadron. Seven ships. Two are chasing the Merchant. Five are lying in wait." Fritz's chopped sentences were awful even at the best of time but he was so excited he was starting to stutter.
"Best news?" Franz asked "They will also hit our wake. We'll get them all. And sooner than expected."
"How much? Jeeves?"
"We leave distortion in fifteen minutes. Another hour and a half to engage."
"Excellent. Set condition 3. Maybe we'll get a chance to flex our muscles."
"I hope so sir." Fritz and Franz said, each echoing the other.
"You two are coms officers."
"Yes but I don't want to go home and have to say that I never fought a real battle." Fritz said practically bouncing in satisfaction.
"Yes. That would be bad." Franz nodded in agreement.
"Well this will be your chance won't it? Alright get back to your posts tell me if you pick up any other transmissions." Nymos said waving them off.
"Yes Sir!" The two snapped a crisp salute and spun on their heels.
"Those two...are fucking amazing." Ed said in disbelief. "I don't think I've ever seen them asleep. Hell I don't think they even know where their quarters are anymore. They're either passed out in the mess, rec room, or showers or they're at their post."
"Yeah. God damn...Ah! The men of the hour." Nymos gestured to the officers who began to trickle into the war room, taking their usual places around the table. "Anything out of the ordinary? Or is this meeting perfunctory?"
"All the gunners are out like lights. They're...going to have a fun time when we drop out of distortion." Rain said smiling
"Reactors are burning normally. I put them through a load test and nothing came up." Utton said
"Nothing on the Comms beyond what F and F told you. Accelerated Photon Detection Arrays are popping blanks. Though there was a bit of...heh" Comms Chief Williamson chuckled "There was a bit of distortion when we entered distortion. But nothing since. So it was probably above normal interference.
"Nothing to report as far as the Armour goes. Hull integrity is at a hundred percent. The 0G Jockeys know their shit. I had my boys check for Fluorine breaches and everything came up completely clean." Technically Martin was head of Maintenance but after he put out a fluorine fire which nearly ate the ship he found himself promoted to Chief Armour Tech and Ammo Supervisor.
"Commander?" Nymos turned to face the commanding officer of the Ship's compliment of marines.
"The Marines are ready sir. Or. They will be once you give the order. Everything is running tight. I wouldn't mind a chance to actually do something this time around sir. It's getting hard to keep sitting them out."
"You will get your wish. I don't know when but I know you will. Ed?"
"Yeah. Yeah. We're your doctors. We're always ready. If things go well some idiot will cheer his throat out. If they don't...then we're also ready. And, let the record state, I hope the Commander spends the rest of his life never doing anything." Ed flashed a grim smile
"Yes fine let the records state that." Nymos sighed "Byte? Anything to add?"
"Nothing." The AI chimed "All the machines are good. If your Organics are good too then I guess everything is fine."
"Don't call them Organics byte. We've been over this."
"But they are!" The youthful AI protested.
"Alright. We're...right on time. Coming out of distortion... now."
Entering distortion was strange. But it was mostly cerebral. Time seemed to move slowly then quickly then stop. Things seemed close then far, then you looked down and the thing was sticking out of you. It was...strange but at least everything looked, more or less, the way it should.
Coming out of distortion was far worse and most people found it easier to just close their eyes. For whatever reason reality had an easier time letting go than grabbing on and so, for a moment that drags on forever things get surreal. Time became strange but things seemed to bend and melt in impossible ways like a Dali painting. Pieces seemed to break off and reattach in bizarre ways like Picasso's cuboid phase...and then it passed but the memory took longer to fade and sometimes soldiers complained of seeing flashes of the distortion for minutes or, in one case, even hours after return to real time.
"Time to contact?"
"One hour, seventeen minutes."
"Alright. Set condition two. Yellow alert. You all know where to be. Good luck."
Alarms blared, lights flashed and the ship became a hive of activity as everyone not already primed launched themselves into motion with time worn practice.
Nymos took his position on the bridge one eye looking into the void the other linked to the ship's AIs projecting information in a pseudo-holographic display for his eye only. Information scrolled by mostly confirming the results of the initial APDA scans.
Nymos's eyes could have burned a hole in the bridge shielding as he watched the pirate ships grow to become specks.
"TRIGGY! Blast the Pirates! Hell or high water they're never gettin' paid!" Nymos's voice was the only thing about him that was truly controlled. The man was high on adrenaline and pure hate, for the bridge staff who hadn't known him as the commander of the Grim Revenge it was terrifying.
"Yes Sir!" The Estonian gunnery commander replied.
Three seconds later two eight and two four man teams were loading the R Class shells into the base of the massive guns. The main weapons was one hundred and twenty kilos of steel filled with ultra-high yield explosives and capped with another forty kilos of volatile chemicals which would cause a primary detonation and ignite anything it came into contact with in an oxygen less fire. The main body would explode thirty nanoseconds later once it was inside the enemy ship turning the shell into a massive shrapnel bomb. The final sage: a forty kilo thermobaric device would tumble and detonate on impact with either the outer hull or flying pieces of ship. The triple explosion had become a hallmark of the Terror of the Void.
The smaller R-2 class shells were designed to leave the rails twenty Nano seconds after the R-1 and thus were one hundred and fifty kilos of high explosive hell. Each detonation would produce roughly seven thousand fragments in addition to the shrapnel from the R-1 detonations.
"ONE! TWO! LIFT!" Nenet of the Enets tribe shouted, he had been with Nymos since day one and for his service he had been given command of the rail crews.
The eight men heaved. So close to the rail, even hardened machines stopped working but humans never did. The crews could load as fast as the ship could shoot and for just as long if need be.
The two hundred Kilos of explosive death fell into the rail with a clang which reverberated across the loading bay. The sound, by now familiar, brought a smile to the rear facing gunners. They'd soon see ships bloom on their screens.
"Stand Clear!" Nenet shouted the men already jumping back.
"Magnetising." Nenet said closing the rail hatch. The ship hummed electricity arcing as the internal systems charged the shell and the rail.
"Shields online." A second soldier confirmed, an emergency shield descending over the rail.
"Opening rail." Nenet said. The plasma that had built up by the massive charge, the shell vibrating levitated by the strength of the field, was sucked out as the rail vented creating bright spots at the end of the gun that the bridge crew could see.
One last check, confirmation from the other rail crews came in moments later, and then...
"FIRE!" Nenet shouted.
All four rails fired in unison shells speeding up to a fraction of C. Every soldier could feel the shells fly by, but only after the fact. You knew it was coming and then you realized you'd felt to waves of electric discharge, been jerked to the side by whatever metal you had on you and then you knew it was over.
Nothing for a few seconds. And then a pirate ship exploded almost disintegrated by overwhelming force.
Fifteen seconds after the first shell was launched a second was on the rail. Twenty seconds after the first shell was fired a second ship exploded. Another twenty seconds and the third ship was gone. By the two minute mark there was nothing but a cloud where four ships had been.
As soon as the coast was clear, the merchant fled. Nymos never asked why someone was targeted. Maybe they deserved it. Maybe they didn’t. He didn’t have the tools to make that judgement. But he did have the tools to destroy the people whose actions had condemned them.
"God...Aries yes! What!?" Nemo demanded as the AI zapped his brain
"There's a D'Neth fleet heading towards us. They're moving at sub-light. We were looking for distortions. Two minutes to arrival."
"Do you have composition?"
"Yes!" The AI almost seemed frantic.
"What are we looking at? Broadcast to the crew."
"A D'Neth fast attack fleet augmented by a heavy carrier."
"Meaning?"
"Two light carriers at one hundred fifty one man fighters each. A dozen heavy cruisers, twenty light cruisers, twenty five frigates, one hundred corvettes. All commanded by a three hundred fighter heavy carrier."
"I see."
___
Continues in part two which is probably already up. I'll link as soon as I can.
References? What references? I don't see any references...
But in all seriousness this story is my (very late) contribution to the 100k event soooo.... yeah go check out part 2 which is "official" submission. This is one story that got way out of hand so has to be broken into two.