The Cold Wind (Ch 39 - 45)
#6 of The Cold Wind 1
Forgive my crappy numbering on the chapters, we appear to have two chapter 39's... THE HORROR... :-)
Chapter Thirty-Nine
"Tainui asked me a rather strange question today," Two-Talon mentioned to Hunts-In-Grass while they lay together in the sleep-webbing that evening. The warrior turned to him in the darkness. "What did he say, lover, hrrr?" "Well, he did not call me his lover for a start - Ow! Hrrr, alright, alright!" The medic huffed with laughter, rubbing the spot where his bond-mate had thumped him. "He asked me if there was anything about him that could harm a Vanguard or the other way around." "Not certain I understand, hrrr? Even a spawnling is more than a match for a human and he would have even more difficulty attempting to hurt a mature Vanguard without some type of weapon." "I do not believe that is what he intended." "Then what, hrrr?" "Sexually." Hunts-In-Grass stared at him, startled. "You are not making a joke I presume." "Correct, I am not. He has been spending a lot of time with that young engineer friend of his." "The shy one that always avoids us? Vanguard and human together, do you not consider that unnatural, hrrr?" Hunts-In-Grass studied Two-Talon face carefully, his eyes wide in the dark. Two-Talon leaned over and licked the side of his face affectionately. "There is something I communicated to him not too long ago: We cannot always control who we love." He snapped his jaw shut gently. "Tainui will never see his home world again. He will never be with another human now that his bond-mate has been taken from him. We have each other; can you blame him for seeking love wherever he can locate it, even if it is not one of his own species, hrrr?" Hunts-In-Grass considered this for a few moments. "When you put it like that it seems more reasonable... So. Is there, hrrr?" "Hrrr?" "Any biological reason why a human and Vanguard should be prevented from rutting?" "Physical size differences aside, I do not believe so. Humans would be unable to interbreed with Vanguard, but that is not an issue due to his sex anyway." "Very well. As long as he is not being taken advantage of then I am satisfied." "Be careful. Your soft, loving nature is starting to show through," Two-Talon rumbled with amusement and licked his face again. "Hrrr, I will show you my soft, loving nature..." "Lies! That is not soft!"
III Chapter Forty
Four years passed quickly while New Home prepared for the inevitable return of forces bent on the destruction or conquest of the outcast colony. The Original Home leaders had decided to end the 'myth' once and for all, intending to make an example of it to anyone - Vanguard or alien - who thought to challenge the Vanguard empire. New Home was to be beaten into submission and if that were not possible, wiped out entirely. Weakness could not be tolerated and would be trampled under claw. Far out in space, beyond the ecliptic plane of the New Home planetary system, there was a small distortion in the deep, cold, interplanetary vacuum that quickly developed into a tear into sub-space. A fast-attack frigate slipped through the tear with a flash of violet-blue Cherenkov radiation and coasted slowly towards the distant red sun, the big generator gantries along the front of the ship sliding into recesses in its hull. Within several minutes there were several dozen distortions appearing behind the frigate. Within an hour, there were several thousand tears of varying sizes appearing, as the entire battle fleet dropped out of sub-space. Several of the tail-enders swiftly activated their conventional thrusters and moved off to a safe distance from the last distortion, which was several orders of magnitude greater than the others. The tear in the fabric of space-time stretched and kept growing, leaking all sorts of exotic radiation into real space until the massive Vanguard Capital ship, Hammer-Of-The-Ancestors lumbered ponderously through the artificial gateway. Pride of the Original Home military, only three of the Capital ships had ever been constructed. Many military leaders considered it a foolish waste of resources, sending one to what was considered nothing more than a mopping-up mission. Large sensor arrays unfolded out of recesses on the hull and began scanning the star-system. Behind it, the violation of conventional physics collapsed as several specially designed support tenders powered down their over-sized generators and docked with the larger vessel. It was far too large to be able to create a rip into, or out of sub-space big enough to fit through by itself.
* * *
Hunts-In-Grass happened to be on duty in the command centre when one of the deep-space sensors on the control console in front of him chimed softly. He glanced with bored disinterest at the console as it flicked up a holographic display of an area of space at the edge of the New Home star-system. What appeared to be hundreds of small, blue-purple pin-pricks of light were highlighted by the computer. Boredom was quickly replaced by alarm when the number of contacts multiplied into the thousands and were positively identified as Vanguard war ships by the computer. He activated the communications and alarm panels simultaneously. "Multiple inbound contacts, confirmed hostile. They are coming..." Less than a minute later several senior defense force warriors came sprinting into the room, including the leader, Dark-Mist. Activating the main viewscreens, Hunts-In-Grass replicated the sensor readings on those as well. "Very well. They have arrived much sooner than we expected. Have we got a count on the number and types of ships, please? I would like to understand the nature of the force they have sent this time." Dark-Mist then turned to one of the other senior warriors nearby. "Please notify the civilian population centers to prepare for evacuation to the shelters. Mobilize your ground defense forces. When they land troops we should be ready." "They are still too far out to be certain, but the sensors calculate approximately 2000 fast-attack frigate class vessels or smaller, 300 battlecruisers and one massive, unidentified vessel. Whatever it is, it is larger than anything I am familiar with," Hunts-In-Grass rumbled, channelling a grainy and blurred image of the gargantuan vessel through to the main viewscreen. Dark-Mist looked at the screen blankly. She had expected a show of force of perhaps several hundred ships, not several thousand. Her broad shoulders slumped. There was no way they could even contemplate defeating an enemy this strong with the resources they had. "Please assemble the Council of Elders immediately," she rumbled quietly to an aide beside her. He snapped his jaw shut and took off at a dead sprint. One of the older warriors stepped forward for a closer look at the grainy image on the viewscreen and shook his head in surprise. "I believe that may be a Capital ship. They were considering building them before I defected to New Home. Heavily armed and heavily armored, the idea was for them to be launch platforms for planet-busters." "Planet-busters?" Dark-Mist stared at him with undisguised alarm. "Experimental anti-matter weapons. Early tests indicated that eight of them were enough to completely destroy the entire surface of a planet to a depth of several kilometers." "Is there any way of knowing whether or not they are transporting such weapons, hrrr?" "I am unsure. That is a question best answered by an engineer." "Very well. We have at least a couple of days before they get within range of our defenses and plenty to do in that time. Do what you require in order to prepare yourselves, your families and your crews for what lies ahead. Hrrr, may the Revered Ancestors guide and protect us in this time of crisis." She turned to Hunts-In-Grass. "Please endeavor to provide an accurate count of the enemy forces as soon as you can. Report any progress to me directly." "Understood," he rumbled in assent. Dark-Mist lumbered into the briefing room where her aide was waiting for her. On the viewscreens around the room were the Elders responsible for the major clans and cities scattered around New Home. She tilted her head back, exposing her neck to them as a sign of submission and respect. "I apologize for disturbing you. However, the event we feared has arrived. The enemy approaches in greater numbers than our worst-case scenarios ever allowed for. We may be able to hold them off for a short time. However, in the end I do not believe we can be successful. We will fail. One of the vessels that approaches may be carrying weapons capable of destroying every living thing on this planet." She looked at each of the elders in turn while they silently waited for her to continue. "I come before you to ask for guidance. Given the hopeless nature of the situation, I believe the best option may be to unconditionally surrender in the hope that they will display mercy on our clans. Or, we fight on regardless and possibly face the complete destruction of New Home and everyone on it. What say you, hrrr?" The Elder from one of the oldest New Home clans looked at her through his three remaining good eyes which were still bright and clear despite his age and spoke to her after the rest of the assembled Elders snapped their jaws shut in affirmation. "Hrrr, we are all in accord and speak with one voice. Many generations of Vanguard have fought hard to make New Home a sanctuary from all that was wrong with the traditional Vanguard way of life. If we perish protecting that ideal, then so be it. There is no more to be said on this matter. You have our support and respect, young Dark-Mist. Go with the Ancestors blessing." One by one all the view-screens blanked out, leaving Dark-Mist standing in the middle of the briefing room, alone with the weight of the world pressing down on her shoulders.
Chapter Forty-One
"You are certain, hrrr?" "I desire very much that I am mistaken. However the sensor array hidden in orbit around the fourth planet has confirmed it. That Capital ship is carrying anti-matter in some form. I can only assume those are the 'planet-busters' that Shining-Scale mentioned," Attacks-First rumbled, staring at his datapad and not wanting to meet Dark-Mist's eyes. "I wish we had some positive news for a change. Have we got an update for when they will reach the singularity-mine zones, hrrr?" "The bulk of their fleet will be in position in a little over two hours. Assuming they do not detect the mines I would suggest that as an optimal time to activate them." "Very well. Keep me informed." The defense force fleet was waiting in geo-stationary orbit around New Home, the last line of the space-based defenses. 350 ships of varying sizes and types orbited in a loose pattern protecting most of the planet. Two large, heavily modified asteroids orbited at the Lagrange points between New Home and its two moons. Stripped of most of their useful elements in the construction of the space-docks and defense fleet, the hollowed out remains proved useful for hiding yet more surprises for the attacking fleet that was now only hours away. All of the defense force bases on the planet were on full alert, troops armed and ready for the inevitable ground-based invasion once the space defenses fell. The civilian populations had been moved to vast underground caverns hidden in the large mountain ranges that circled the planet and were as well protected as they could be. Everyone was tense and impatient, waiting for action. It began with a single word. "Activate."
* * *
Still several million kilometers out from the planet, the Original Home battle fleet had yet to meet any resistance. On board the Hammer-Of-The-Ancestors the fleet leader, Deep-Cut, was becoming quite irritable and suspicious. He had expected some sort of resistance long before they had reached this close to the rogue colony. He paced around the bridge, ill at ease. "We have almost cleared the debris field. Getting energy readings from the large asteroids in orbit around the planet," the chief engineer rumbled while he studied his control console, attempting to keep a low profile and avoid annoying the leader any more than he already was. "What are those rogues up to?" Deep-Cut muttered as he glared at the engineer and continued pacing. He didn't like surprises. A bright flash from near the front of the fleet made them both look up at the main viewport. Suddenly, there were hundreds of bright flashes appearing throughout the fleet, some followed by bright explosions as overloaded shields on the smaller ships collapsed and the ships inside were destroyed or damaged beyond repair by the as yet invisible weapons. The viewport darkened automatically when the level of light became too intense. Deep-Cut grabbed the engineer by the shoulders and shook him roughly. "What is going on, Ancestors curse you?!" "I do not know! There is nothing... Wait, I am picking up a large number of gravitational anomalies throughout the fleet." The panicked engineer stared at his console in disbelief. He blinked reflexively as a bright flash shone through the viewport from something exploding against the Capital ship's shields. "Get me some answers immediately, or I will throw you out the airlock to look for them personally," Deep-Cut snarled at the engineer. "I want to know the second you locate their fleet. Someone provide me a damage report, immediately!" he demanded. He watched, seething, as several explosions rocked one of the battleships not far ahead of their position. The shields on the ship sparkled briefly before failing and the battleship broke formation to avoid more damage. The pack-leader in charge was obviously panicking in his attempt to escape. Another couple of explosions rocked the already scarred battleship and it slowly started tumbling out of control when it lost main power. "No, you fool!" Deep-Cut hissed while he watched the battleship begin to break up as more explosions blossomed around it. Several smaller fast-attack frigates were not quick enough to get out of the way when the singularity-generator confinement fields on the battleship failed. The massive shock-wave from the resulting detonation spread quickly through the crowded ships. "The enemy appears to be using some sort of gravity weapons dispersed throughout this area," the chief engineer studied his readouts carefully before continuing. "Appears that they are camouflaged by rubble." "What kind of trickery is this, hrrr? Where are their vessels? Contact the fleet and order them to destroy everything, even if it appears harmless. Hrrr, especially if it appears harmless." Following the instructions he'd been given, the chief engineer passed along the orders via the command-net to all ships. Soon the bright flashes of the detonating mines were replaced by smaller points of light as any suspicious rubble was blasted into dust. "We have lost 12 battleships and 273 frigates. Two of our tenders will require minor repairs. However, we are otherwise unharmed." "Very well. Disperse the frigates and battleships into their assigned squadrons. Send three full squadrons to each of the two asteroids. I do not desire any further surprises," Deep-Cut pulled out his datapad and made a few notes. Gravity weapons? Although it was relatively easy to turn the ubiquitous generator technology into a crude weapon it was highly inefficient and wasteful to do so - the rogue colony must be desperate, he figured. What did surprise him however was the use of disguised weapons. While not unheard of in classical Vanguard battle strategies, he was more than a little surprised the New Home renegades had come up with such an idea - it was not very honorable. The concept of using mines as weapons had not been used for many generations, as they were generally not powerful enough to be useful against Vanguard shielding. He was going to enjoy personally handling some of the prisoner interrogations once all was said and done to find the master-mind behind this unusual strategy.
* * *
Dark-Mist smiled wearily at Shining-Scale. "Those singularity-mines appear to have been somewhat more effective than the human's critics said they would be." "Indeed. Let us hope that the rest of his ideas are as successful. If you will excuse me, I am required by the ground-defense warriors." "Very well. May the Ancestors watch over you and your warriors, Shining-Scale. When this is all over, we shall have some grand stories to regale the spawnlings with." While he walked away the old warrior considered Dark-Mist's words and sighed deeply. When this is all over... If he didn't know her better he might have even believed her. Dark-Mist turned to the warrior manning the command console. "Send word to the two asteroid stations. They are free to fire when they acquire targets however they should concentrate on the Capital ship as a priority." Snapping his jaw shut the warrior acknowledged her order and sent the command. On the surface of the two Lagrange asteroids massive bunker doors slid silently open exposing dark tunnels leading deep inside the hollowed out rocks. From within each of the exposed tunnels a convoluted arrangement of crystalline-looking tubes surrounded by super-cooled refrigeration units emerged slowly into the starlight. Sensor arrays attached to each of the units activated and began to search nearby space for targets. Deep inside each of the asteroids a subsonic rumbling began as hundreds of generators were brought online, powering up the large banks of capacitors attached to each of the Gamma ray laser cannons now studding the surface. Targets acquired, the lasers fired their invisible beams of concentrated death into the cold vacuum. The crews on board the smaller fast-attack frigates didn't stand a chance as the beams passed completely through the less powerful shields and ships as if they weren't even there. While the radiation had only a slight heating effect on the metal it passed through, organic matter was incinerated within seconds - the hapless Vanguard crew literally exploding at their posts before they even knew what was happening. Suddenly without crew, dozens of frigates and a couple of the battleships drifted slowly out of squadron formation, no responses returned to the increasingly angry attempts at communication from the squadron pack-leaders. They had no idea that the crews of the stricken ships were no more than smoke and greasy ash even now being scoured clean by the life support systems. The larger battleships were better shielded but not quite well enough to save several hundred crew on board each of the affected ships. They died slowly over the next few hours of severe radiation poisoning. Surviving medics on the affected ships, unable to save their crews watched helplessly as their crew-mates died. Sensor reports quickly alerted the chief engineer on the Hammer-Of-The-Ancestors to the danger. Reacting swiftly, he modulated the shields to reflect the Gamma radiation, bouncing it harmlessly into empty space. He notified the fleet-leader of the attack with a nervous twitch in one of his eyes. "The fleet is being fired upon by powerful radiation weapons. They appear to be originating from the two large asteroids orbiting the planet." Deep-Cut looked at him and snorted dismissively. "The squadrons we dispatched should deal with that effectively. What is of more concern to me is their battle fleet. Where is it located?" "Sensors detected many ships in geosynchronous orbit around the planet a while ago, they -" the chief engineer collapsed to the decking making a hideous gurgling from the torn wreckage of his throat. Deep-Cut stood above the weakly convulsing body, blood dripping from the talons on one of his hands while he watched the life fade out of the unfortunate Vanguard's eyes. He signaled to a couple of armed warriors standing nearby to remove the body once it had stopped twitching, then turned to another nearby engineer who stared at him with barely concealed terror. With a slight smile, he addressed the quaking Vanguard. "What is your designation, engineer?" "My designation is Loader, fleet-leader." he managed to rumble out, only just avoiding soiling himself in the process. "Well, Loader. Congratulations, you are now the chief engineer. I am unsure why your predecessor chose not to notify me as soon as he located their fleet. However, I trust that you will not make a similar mistake." He held his hand up to his snout and sniffed at the dark Vanguard blood covering it before licking his hand clean. "I desire to know their fleet numbers and strength. I do not believe you will locate that information by staring at me like a frightened spawnling." Loader quickly moved over to the sensor controls and began to scan them with some urgency, hoping desperately that he hadn't stood in the pool of congealing blood staining the decking. One by one each of the Gamma ray laser cannons on the asteroids were silenced, the delicate crystalline mechanisms blown into glittering fragments amidst clouds of coolant, dust and debris when the squadrons dispatched earlier skimmed low over the surface of the asteroids, below the firing range of the deadly weapons. As the fast-attack frigates finished mopping up the last of the cannons and moved away, the battleships launched several high-yield fusion bombs towards the asteroids before rejoining the main fleet. Bright flashes exploded across the surfaces of both asteroids, the smaller of the two breaking into several slowly spreading pieces from the force of the detonations. * * * "We have lost the asteroids, Dark-Mist," the warrior manning the control consoles informed the pack-leader as he studied the sensor read-outs. "Lunar weapons platforms report ready. Although once they start firing it is unlikely they will survive for long before coming under attack, also." "So many brave Vanguard already gone. Have we inflicted much damage on the enemy, hrrr?" she rumbled despondently. "Checking... Unclear, the weapons were designed to affect biological matter not mechanical so it is difficult to know. It appears to have slowed down their attack, however." "Very well. Alert the lunar bases to attack as soon as they are in position to do so. They are required to give the fleet as much support as they can, for as long as they are able. How are our ground defense preparations, hrrr?" The warrior turned and checked another set of console screens before staring at her nervously. "They are prepared and ready. Do you really believe we...that we have any chance, hrrr?" he asked her, a pleading tone evident in his voice. Dark-Mist avoided meeting his eyes when she replied. "We have the advantage once they land and a few surprises courtesy of our resident alien. I am confident of eventual victory."
Chapter Forty-Two
On both of the moons multiple banks of large, 'industrial grade' singularity-generators spun up to provide power to the massive machines lying across the pitted and airless surface. Travels-By-Night checked the settings for the last time before turning to another engineer standing by the controls and snapping his jaw shut. Dune-Runner activated the firing controls and stared at a large viewscreen as a high-pitched electronic whining noise filled the room. Propelled by massively strong magnetic fields a small metallic mass of slag raced along a five-kilometer track before flying off the end at a velocity approaching 75% light-speed. All across the surface of both moons this was repeated by the network of rail-guns. The small masses were all but invisible to most sensors as they streaked across space towards the attacking fleet. Satisfied that they were working correctly, Travels-By-Night joined the other engineer at the controls and activated the rail-gun feeders. Soon waves of shrapnel were sailing through space towards the fleet at relativistic velocities.
* * *
"Fleet-leader, sensors are detecting some unusual readings from the two moons." "What kind of -" Deep-Cut was interrupted when the Capital ship lurched as something impacted the shields with a great deal of energy. Alarms sounded as the first impact was very quickly followed by several more, the superstructure shuddering violently under the onslaught. Outside the Capital ship, the shields flared wildly, glowing an ugly yellow color as the shield-emitters struggled to keep the swiftly moving masses from smashing through. "Evasive maneuvers, immediately!" Ponderously the massive ship began to adjust its course out of the line of fire but not until several of the shield-emitters on the port side overloaded and failed completely before the auxiliary units had time to cut in. In the brief period while the shields were offline, slag pellets slammed into the side of the ship, punching a line of deep craters across the side of the hull. Superheated plasma, internal atmosphere and clouds of debris billowed from the glowing wounds before containment hatches deep inside the Capital ship slammed shut, sealing the breaches. Anyone looking closely would have seen some of the debris wriggling around briefly before eventually growing still as it dispersed into the vacuum. Smaller vessels with their less powerful shields were not as lucky. More explosions appeared throughout the fleet as the smaller ships virtually evaporated when the rail-gun pellets converted most of their mass into energy on impact. A battleship was neatly cut in half by several of the slag pellets, the rear section pinwheeling out of control under full thrust for several seconds before disappearing in a massive explosion. The front half tumbled away from the scene of devastation, spewing atmosphere and debris from the shattered remains. "What in the name of the Ancestors is this?" Deep-Cut roared at the cowering Loader when several more impacts hammered the shields. "I do not know! They are moving too swiftly for the sensors to lock on properly!" "Dispatch the asteroid squadrons and take out anything they can locate on the moons! Order the rest of the fleet to disperse widely, squadrons four through 20 are to engage with the defenses in orbit around the planet." He grimly watched through the main viewport as the fleet slowly spread out, explosions still blossoming as the flight-path of an unlucky ship crossed that of one of the fast moving projectiles. Loader snapped his jaw shut as he frantically followed his orders. "Immediately, fleet-leader!" In the main control centre on one of the moons, the mood was considerably different. "Yesssssss!" Dune-Runner enthusiastically embraced a haggard Travels-By-Night. "Look at the damage we are inflicting on the rank-shit bastards!" Rail-gun technology had been been known about for many thousands of years by the Vanguard. Although they utilized the same technology in their hand-held assault rifles, they had never bothered experimenting with it on a larger scale as a weapon since, with their gravitational manipulation technology they had never required it in that capacity. When Tainui had first brought up the idea of massive rail-guns as weapons, the other engineers had laughed at him until he pointed out the amount of energy contained in even a small lump of matter traveling at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Moving too quickly for most sensors to pick up and packing no electronics to give them away, the pellets of slag were extremely easy to produce and devastating in their effect even against powerful shields. "What is wrong? You should be happy with our success," Dune-Runner released the other engineer and looked at her with concern. "It is only a matter of time before they terminate us as they did to those on the asteroids." As if on cue a proximity alarm sounded and both Dune-Runner and Travels-By-Night turned to the sensor console. "Enemy ships inbound. Hrrr, arming defensive missile banks one through seven." Several of the fast-attack frigates in the attacking squadrons were taken out by the defenses when they over-flew the rail-gun installations, but resistance was ultimately futile. Blinding flashes of light splashed across the stark, airless surface as fusion bombs created new glowing craters in each of the two moons, the hail of slag projectiles coming to a halt as the rail-guns were flash-vaporized. In the last few seconds, the two engineers looked at each other. "It has been an honor," Travels-By-Night smiled at the other young engineer, clasping Dune-Runner's arms in her own. With a blinding flash another glowing crater was blasted deep into the surface of one of the moons... "We have lost approximately one third of the fleet to the attacks so far. However, the fleet in orbit should pose no problem. Hammer-Of-The-Ancestors has sustained moderate damage to the port side, with many casualties. However the anti-matter weapons are still stable." "Obviously, for you are still here communicating to me things I already know, are you not? I desire that defense fleet wiped out to a ship. Ensure those space-docks are captured intact, however. They will be useful for repairs. Hrrr, when the troops land, we are to be the only vessels still space-worthy in this system." Deep-Cut stared through eyes dark with menace at the planet slowly growing larger in the viewport in front of him. "Scan the planet and provide me a report on the state of their ground defenses." "We are are at too great a distance for a meaningful analysis," Loader glanced nervously at Deep-Cut before returning his gaze to the control console. "Hrrr, I do not suppose that matters much. The EMP strike should neutralize any major ground-side threats anyway." He regarded the planet through the viewport thoughtfully. The rebels had put up a considerably effective defense, using some highly unusual methods. However, it appeared that things were nearing a conclusion. The rebels didn't have enough of a fleet to stop his from landing and once on the ground, the New Home defenses would be swiftly overwhelmed. He studied with grim satisfaction the console displaying the status of the anti-matter weapons happy that despite the losses sustained there had been no reason to even contemplate using them yet. Anti-matter was a difficult material to handle and so far no effective method had been discovered to use it for propulsion or energy generation because it was simply far too unstable to store in any significant amount. Weapons of devastating effect, however, were easily created. Although he would deploy them if he had to, he preferred to get his talons bloody in proper combat. "Fleet-leader, attack squadrons four through twenty are engaging the defense fleet now," Loader braved a quick glance in the direction of the fleet-leader. The large warrior turned and joined him at the sensor console, watching in satisfaction as the defense force fleet numbers slowly dwindled under the relentless attack. Less than an hour later the last New Home defense force ship was no more than a spreading cloud of debris high in orbit above the surface of the planet. "Launch the EMP weapons, full spread. Once they have detonated give the signal for the ground forces to launch." "By your command, fleet-leader."
* * *
In the New Home defense force base, Shining-Scale turned to Dark-Mist with a stony expression on his face. "Rail-gun stations on the two moons have fallen. Our fleet is defeated. There is nothing preventing the invaders from landing ground-troops." Dozens of small electronic packages were ejected out of specialized launching tubes on the front of the Capital ship while it orbited high above New Home, falling in graceful arcs towards the surface far below. Once they reached their preset altitude they detonated with a bright flash, an almost visible wave-front of heavily ionized radiation spreading out from each explosion towards the ground. All over the surface of New Home the lights flickered briefly before going dark. Electrical circuits in other devices expired in showers of sparks or quietly overloaded when the electromagnetic pulse overwhelmed them. Dark-Mist smiled at Shining-Scale in the dim light filtering through a sky-light and snapped her jaw shut gently. "As you predicted, so it has happened. Go, be with your troops. I shall accompany you shortly." Shining-Scale gave her a long look before turning to depart. Dark-Mist watched him go with a wistful expression on her face before turning to Hunts-In-Grass who was standing beside a bank of dead control consoles. "There is little more you can achieve here. I am tasking you with assisting the medics. Ensure they are protected as well as you are able."
Chapter Forty-Three
Lying in the sleep-webbing, Attacks-First watched while Tainui finished stuffing various items into his back-pack. "There are other engineers or warriors who could do this," he rumbled quietly. "They are needed urgently elsewhere." "The computers -" "The computers," Tainui smiled sadly, "are not able to handle stuff outside their programming parameters. Look, the shuttle needs a real, live pilot and I am the one needed the least around here. Don't worry about me, the damned thing is equipped with an escape-pod. I'll be back," he joked in an Arnie voice that was completely lost on the Vanguard. "Hrrr, very well. Just ensure you do return. New Home requires you..." This one requires you, Attacks-First added silently, unspoken. Tainui knelt on the sleep-webbing and embraced the young Vanguard for a minute before standing and grabbing his backpack. Attacks-First reached out an arm and grasped him by the shoulder. Turning around, Tainui gave him a questioning look. He didn't say anything but instead stood up and gently nuzzled Tainui's face with his snout, sniffing deeply to ingrain his scent to memory. Tracing the tip of his forked tongue across the human's lips, he also memorized his taste... Before Tainui could react, he pushed past him and left the room without looking back, hiding the bloody trails his tears made as they streamed from his eyes before the human could see them. Tainui stood, staring sadly at the empty doorway for a couple of minutes, before he turned back and completed his packing. Just before he left the room he pulled a datapad out of a pocket and laid it on the sleep-webbing. Attacks-First would discover it and the message it contained when he returned to the room. Unless he got back before Attacks-First did. He jogged over to the command-centre to find Hunts-In-Grass. The warrior emerged from the structure just as he arrived and blinked at him in surprise. "Tainui, this one is pleased to greet you." "Yeah, hey. I was just looking for you, actually. Is there somewhere we can go talk?" "Indeed, this one was going to meet Two-Talon and other medics. Do you wish to accompany this one, hrrr?" "Uh, not this time, bro. I'd like to talk to you. Alone." "Very well. This one's quarters should be suitable, hrrr? We will not be interrupted at that location." Once they reached his quarters, Hunts-In-Grass closed the door and hunkered down on his haunches, making himself comfortable while staring at Tainui expectantly. Tainui fumbled nervously with his backpack, drew out another datapad and glanced at it for a few moments before handing it to the warrior. "This is kinda hard for me. There's something I've gotta do shortly and there is a chance...Well, if I don't come back, I want you to give that to Two-Talon for me." "Not come back?" Hunts-In-Grass' eyes widened with alarm and he quickly lurched to his feet again, stepping closer to Tainui as if to prevent him from running away. "What exactly are you planning, hrrr?" After spending a couple of minutes bringing him up to speed on the Taniwha project, Tainui was grabbed roughly by the warrior and held in a vice-like grip, the talons digging painfully into his skin. "Hrrr, that course of action is madness! This one cannot permit this!" "Goddammit, Hunts! As a warrior, I would've expected you of all people would understand," Tainui growled at him, desperately trying to keep the waver from his voice. "I'm not doing this 'cause I want to, I'm doing it 'cause I have to. Don't you get it?" he pleaded. Reaching up he rested a hand on the warrior's chest and dropped his voice to little more than a whisper. "I failed in my promise to protect Andrej. But I am not gonna fail in protecting you two." Hunts-In-Grass recoiled as if stung, releasing him from his grasp. The problem was that he did understand what was driving the small, brave human and if their situations were reversed he would be doing exactly the same thing. However Tainui had already sacrificed so much and it struck the warrior as being wrong for him to be expected to give up the last, most precious gift he had to offer: His life. Even if it was being offered freely... "You do this without coercion, hrrr?" "Yeah. Like the idiot I am I volunteered. You guys will have your hands full and are needed here. There isn't a lot more that I can do -" "This one believes you have already contributed enough. The Original Home fleet is hurting because of the innovations you provided for us. Tainui shook his head. "You know as well as I do that it isn't enough. Please! Just promise me that you'll give that bloody datapad to him if anything happens to me, alright?" "What is preventing you from communicating this to him yourself, hrrr?" Tainui avoided meeting his friend's eyes and turned to fumble with the zip on his back-pack, irritated with himself for showing weakness in front of the warrior. "I dunno if I can, bro," he muttered quietly, knowing full well the warrior would have no difficulty in hearing him. "I dunno if I'm brave enough to do that with what I'm about to do. He might try to talk me out of it...and I'm scared he would succeed."Hunts-In-Grass glared at the datapad as if it might explode in his hands and sighed, realizing he was right about Two-Talon's likely reaction. While he didn't like it, as a warrior he respected Tainui's decision. "Hrrr...Very well. If this one survives the approaching battle then he will deliver your message. Be certain you do return so this one does not have show him your message, however! You know this one does not desire to lose you also." "I'd miss you too. You guys are my family now; a scary space-lizard family, but still family." He laughed, trying to dispel the serious mood that had overtaken them both. "Don't worry your pretty little space-lizard head about it. I have no intention of dying out there anytime soon." Pocketing the datapad, Hunts-In-Grass got up and pulled Tainui into a tight four-armed embrace, crushing the human against his chest. "You had better keep that promise. Stay safe and may the Revered Ancestor's guide you, strange, silly little human." After leaving the warrior's quarters Tainui jogged over to a nondescript but heavily reinforced bunker on the far side of the base, situated well away from the rest of the buildings. Straining at a Vanguard-sized manual override, the armored door slid open with a rumble. A large, blocky shape filled most of the interior space, illuminated by heavily shielded but weak emergency lighting. Originally just a regular surface-to-orbit passenger shuttle, it had been extensively modified over the past few months for its new mission. While it had been designed to be mostly automated, the Taniwha still required a pilot to configure the final course corrections before it was activated. Named after the mythical but often revered monsters of his people, the Taniwha was an experimental weapon that had been built, almost as an afterthought by a small team of engineers including Attacks-First and himself. None of those who had worked on the project knew whether or not it would be useful come the final battle because it was a weapon that would only be effective against a single large ship or weapons platform. Thankfully, the enemy had obliged in the form of the Capital ship that was probably sitting in orbit, at least according to the last reliable sensor reports gathered before the EMPs had knocked out all the sensors. Some of the more experienced warriors had guessed - correctly - that the attackers would likely detonate EMP weapons high in the atmosphere to disable much of the military and civilian infrastructure before landing troops on the surface. Given this information, the engineers had built shielded bunkers all over the planet to protect vital equipment. Not only this, but with input from Tainui they had also designed troop and ground/air-defense weapons that relied on chemical rather than electronic power to function. Those, coupled with guerilla tactics from a species that most, if not all, of the attackers had no idea even existed would provide the attackers with a rather nasty surprise once they landed. Closing the bunker door, Tainui entered the shuttle airlock and pushed past the jury-rigged bundles of cables to the cockpit where he checked the flight status of the ship. Satisfied, he began preparing for the flight ahead.
Chapter Forty-Four
Two-Talon and several other medics from the nearby city were still in the process of outfitting battle medkits when the whole med-center structure reverberated with several loud «bang!» noises. They looked up in alarm when Hunts-In-Grass burst into the room carrying an armful of heavy, primitive assault rifles based very roughly on old Earth designs. "Here, take these with you. I will be fighting by your side, however you may be required to protect yourselves should I fall in battle. Come, we must move with swiftness!" "That noise -" The warrior quickly interrupted the nervous medic. "That noise was the arrival of our enemy. Their vessels appear to be landing near the edge of the city. This base is obviously not considered much of a threat by them yet - thank the Ancestors." "Very well, we are about ready to depart." Two-Talon motioned for the other medics to go on ahead and waited for them to leave before turning to his bond-mate with a worried look in his eyes. "Be wary out there. I do not want to lose -" Hunts-In-Grass silenced him by wrapping his tongue around that of the medic's for several long moments. Stepping back slightly, he held Two-Talon with all four of his arms and stared deep into his eyes. "I understand. I love you also." Smiling, he released Two-Talon and grabbed three of the assault rifles, handing one to the medic. "Have I told you just how attractive you look holding a weapon? You should be a warrior, not a medic." Two-Talon smiled grimly at him and grabbed his bulging medkit before exiting the room. Outside the med-centre the other medics and another couple of warriors were waiting for them. "You two will have plenty of time for post-battle rutting once all this is over," Thunder rasped in her gravely voice while smiling lecherously at them both. "Hrrr, I am uncertain if I am more nervous about the approaching battle, or her," Two-Talon whispered to Hunts-In-Grass when they set off. Lightning and Thunder led their small group at a run to meet up with a mixed squad of warriors and engineers moving into the outskirts of the city, occasionally looking up at the enemy ships streaking past overhead, shaking the ground with their sonic after-shocks. "Have you observed Tainui recently? I am concerned for him," Two-Talon queried his bond-mate while they loped along the road. "I am not aware of his current location," Hunts-In-Grass lied through his teeth. "However, I believe he was working on some sort of project with the other base engineers." "Hrrr, he is probably safest there. With the Ancestor's blessings, we will prevail and return with tales of bravery and violence. And how his 'toys' assisted with making victory certain." Hunts-In-Grass grunted and snapped his jaw in agreement and wasted no further breath in conversation with the sound of battle growing steadily louder ahead of them.
Chapter Forty-Five
On the outskirts of the city, several squadrons of troop-transports had landed or were in the process of landing, disgorging thousands of Original Home warriors. Crash, Bitter-Harvest and Crystal were the three pack-leaders in charge of subduing this particular rebel city and securing the small military base on its outskirts. They had observed the defense troops spreading out from the base toward the city when they came in to land and began organizing their troops into classic offensive formations once they were on the ground. "Where are the mobile weapon platforms? They should have been delivered by now," Crystal grumbled under her breath, scowling while she scanned the city and surrounding areas with suspicious eyes. "They will be at this location shortly. Not that it matters, we are more than a match for the primitive filth here." Crystal huffed with annoyance at Bitter-Harvest, a newly promoted pack-leader who was eager to get stuck into his first battle. Having survived several large battles in the past, Crystal was never one to underestimate her adversaries, especially when they were cornered or had their backs to the wall as the New Home forces now did. She strongly suspected that this battle was going to shape up to be more of a challenge than her fellow commanders realized. Scans done of the military base when they over-flew it had shown no active power-sources. The other ground force pack-leaders were fairly certain that most, if not all, of the weapons had been neutralized by the EMP strikes, adding to their bravado. Crash turned to her and laid a scarred rear arm around her shoulders and sniffed at the air. "Do you smell that, hrrr?" "I smell nothing but dust," she hissed, shrugging off his arm. "Victory! I smell quick and glorious victory here," he growled, baring his teeth at her. "The warriors are ready. Let us finish this." Crash hit a control on his commandpad and the assembled warriors drew their weapons and sprinted toward the settlement, many screaming out war-cries while they ran. Her ears pricking up, Crystal stopped running and lowered her projectile rifles when a faint noise reached her ears, barely heard over the noise of the advancing warriors. «Whump!» «Whump-whump!» «Whump!» "What is that?" she muttered as she pulled a pair of quadnoculars from her utility belt and scanned the city ahead of them, locating no obvious source for the noise. Still wary, she secured the quadnoculars and was about to begin running again when she heard a peculiar whistling noise growing louder. A noise which nagged at her from her memory. "INCOMING!" Crystal roared while throwing herself to the ground. Suddenly there were explosions all around her, clumps of mud and grass flying, smoke and flames, the whine of high-speed shrapnel flying through the air. One of the explosions in front of her hit the middle of a closely bunched group of warriors, knocking them to the ground screaming out in pain when red-hot shrapnel tore through their battle-suited bodies. "Order the sqads to spread out and make for the shelter of the city, quickly!" she screamed into her communicator to the other pack-leaders. She crawled toward a wounded warrior writhing on the ground nearby when another explosion went off behind her sending more shrapnel screaming through the air. All around her, warriors were running everywhere in disarray, some covered with blood and screaming, others lying on the ground ominously still. "We require air support immediately! And where are those Ancestor-cursed weapon platforms!" "Mobile weapons platforms inbound, should be with you in 30 minutes, pack-leader," a crackly voice from the Capital ship informed her over her communications link. "Can you locate from where we are being fired on?" Crystal ducked her head down when another explosion went off not far from her, blowing another unlucky warrior into unrecognizable chunks of seared meat. "Not possible. The firing positions are changing all the time. Most of the other landing parties are also facing unexpectedly heavy resistance. We are sending down the fast-attack frigates to assist. Central command out." "Ancestors damn you, we require those weapons platforms immediately!" She reached the injured warrior and saw he was bleeding heavily from several holes in his body-armor and the end of one of his arms was nothing more than a ragged stump. "We require a medic at this location!" Bitter-Harvest reached the shelter of a building on the edge of the small city and watched while thousands of warriors streamed towards the outskirts and relative safety. They were losing warriors by the hundred from the explosions all over the open plain between the troop-transports and the city. It had been his decision to land the ships a few hundred metres from the nearest buildings in order to try and cow the rebels by an ostentatious display of raw power; a decision which was coming back to haunt him. He reflexively ducked when a piece of shrapnel buzzed by his head, embedding itself in the wall behind him and spraying him with chipped fragments of rock. "Pack-leader Bitter-Harvest, take a detachment of warriors and locate the source of this attack. Lock onto anything with an energy signature. It should give them away," Crystal growled at him while she leaned against a wall, panting and covered with blood - some but not all belonging to the injured and dying warriors she had assisted. "Stupid, incompetent spawnling," he muttered angrily under his breath, pissed off at being ordered around by a warrior who should by all rights have been under his command. Rounding up a group of warriors nearby, he pulled a datapad from his utility belt and set off in search of the enemy. A couple of minutes later the ground shook when a single fast-attack frigate thundered past not far above them, heading deeper into the city to the cheers of the warriors around him. Seconds later the sound of several explosions shook the buildings around them and the roar of the frigate could be heard as it powered up into the sky, preparing for another dive attack. He watched as the frigate turned at the top of its arc and fell back towards the city, particle-beam weapons firing at unseen targets on the ground, accompanied by the sounds of muted explosions when the targets were converted into vapor. Suddenly, there were several loud reports from different parts of the city and the frigate visibly shook as it continued on its downwards trajectory. Leveling off, the frigate clipped the top of a large building, sending chunks of concrete and metal flying toward the ground. Whatever had fired at the frigate had obviously rattled the vehicle's crew. Gaining altitude, it was turning to make another sweep of the city when a few more loud reports were heard from scattered locations across the city. The frigate lurched and began to spew a dark trail of smoke and flame from the rear section when something breached its shields and impacted the engineering section. Seconds later there was a small explosion from the damaged tail section and the frigate quickly began to lose height. It disappeared from view but left no uncertainty as to its fate when the sound of a distant explosion reached their ears. Almost squealing from the rage he felt, Bitter-Harvest fired a high-explosive round from his assault rifle into what appeared to be a commercial building not far from their position sending chunks of shattered plexiglass, dust and concrete into the air. Firing a few more rounds he shortly reduced the building into little more than a flaming pile of rubble. He wasn't certain how those filthy primitive bastards had managed to shoot down a ship when they weren't supposed to have any working weapons, but he suspected they must have discovered a way to conceal some weapons from the EMP strikes. Not far ahead of their position, he saw movement - a couple of strangely uniformed Vanguard had seen them approaching and ducked down a side-road. "You five," he pointed to several warriors, "get after them and take no prisoners!" he hissed venomously. The selected warriors took off after the New Home Vanguard and quickly disappeared from view. There were sounds of a short burst of rapid-fire weapons discharge, followed by a strange staccato sounding response and then everything went silent. After waiting for a couple of minutes, Bitter-Harvest studied his datapad screen and, seeing no energy signatures sent the rest of the detachment to check on the missing warriors. Rounding the corner he saw five unmoving bodies of the warriors he had sent minutes earlier a few metres down the narrow road, surrounded by a rapidly diffusing cloud of acrid, white smoke. A couple of the warriors separated from the rest to go check on the bodies. "They are all dead, shot by some sort of projectile weapon," one of the warriors responded when he returned, handing a couple of strange looking small cylindrical metal containers to Bitter-Harvest, who looked at them blankly, not recognizing what they were.
* * *
Vanguard weapon technology had leapfrogged straight from bladed to energy weapons back in their early technological development. Although chemical explosives were known they were quickly disregarded for weapons of larger destructive capability. Thus hand-held, chemically activated firearms were a strange new concept to the New Home engineers and warriors to wrap their heads around when Tainui first introduced the idea to them. Needing no electronics, the weapons were immune from any potential EMP strike that could be launched by the attacking Original Home forces. Tainui also reintroduced them to the concept of mortars, bazookas and anti-aircraft artillery. After getting over their initial incredulity at the thought of using chemically powered weapons, the warriors had quickly embraced the novel 'new' technology. The engineers were also happy because the weapons were considerably easier to produce in mass quantities than the more conventional Vanguard weapons full of complex electronics. Being able to play around with explosive chemicals also made some of the younger engineers quite happy, much to the displeasure of their more mature clan-mates. All over New Home a similar pattern was repeating. The attacking forces were advancing much more slowly than had been expected. They were hampered by the hit and run tactics being deployed by the defense forces, in conjunction with the unconventional use of a weapons technology that had not even been guessed at by the Original Home tacticians. In one or two cities, carefully shielded EMP weapons were brought into play by the defense forces, reducing the attackers in those areas to the monofilament bladed weapons that every warrior carried for emergency use. All their electronic equipment was rendered useless by the EMP pulses deployed by their supposedly helpless enemy.
* * *
Tainui finally finished his flight preparation and, with a loud rumble, the heavily modified Taniwha staggered into the air from its shielded bunker, ungainly and difficult to control due to the extensive modifications made to it. Attacks-First watched it take off and waved all four of his arms at it, despite knowing that its sole occupant wouldn't be able to see him. Feeling like a large part of his soul had left with the shuttle, he lumbered over to the armory, to see if there was anything he could do to assist the other engineers and warriors. And to take his mind off the one thing he loved that was disappearing into the sky.
* * *
On the bridge of the Hammer-Of-The-Ancestors, Deep-Cut studied the readouts on his command console, furious at the steep losses his forces had suffered on the surface. "Hrrr, fleet-leader, sensors have detected a surface launch. It is not one of ours," Loader rumbled. He avoided looking over at the fleet-leader, hoping that the large warrior's displeasure wouldn't spill over into violence. He was nervous about becoming yet another stain on the decking like his unfortunate predecessor. "What type of vessel, hrrr?" "It appears to be a small shuttle of some type. Minimal threat projection given its cross-section and loading profile." "Is that so, hrrr? Suddenly you are an expert as to what constitutes a threat, are you?" A rising sense of panic overtook Loader when he raised his head and stared wide-eyed at the fleet-leader who slowly lumbered towards him, glaring at him through narrowed eyes. "N-No fleet-leader! I - I, hrrr, scans indicate no presence of any kind of high-energy w-weapon. I just thought -" Deep-Cut snarled and back-handed the frightened engineer across the snout, knocking him to the decking. "You are not here to think. You are here to relay information to me and to do what I demand of you. Now get off the deck and back to your post. Send a frigate after it." Disregarding the incident he returned to his command-console and studied the readouts for a few more minutes, before tapping a talon on a particular location and rumbling thoughtfully to himself. Turning to the dazed looking engineer he gave Loader a predatory grin, light glinting off the rows of sharp teeth. "Ready my personal transport. I am going hunting."