War fleet revolution, p.1
War Fleet: Revolution, page 1
part #5 of War Fleet Series
War Fleet: Revolution
Book 5
Daniel Young
Copyright (c) 2021 by Daniel Young
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Epilogue
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1
The air on the bridge of the URSA Gennethal tasted fresh to Rear Admiral Frank Olsen, if it was possible for air to taste fresh on any warship. Unlike the former ships Olsen had captained, the CIC here didn't smell of petroleum and burned coffee but, unusually, like a spring day back on Earth after it had just rained. The ship's engineer, Chang, had told Olsen that this was because of inbuilt ozone generators on this Tauian warship, one of the many interesting features they'd found on it.
In a sense, it made hunting down enemies feel like hunting in the forest. Now they were hunting Admiral Aarsh--recently promoted in the Arstan ranks from rear admiral. Except this time, Olsen's aim wasn't to kill. Rather, they had the second superweapon, the cellular modifier, docked on a nearby transport. This, they planned to use to convert Admiral Aarsh over to the allied cause. Olsen knew Aarsh wanted his head on a stake to present to his Lord Empire. But hopefully, given the circumstances, the hard-headed alien would see sense.
"Santiago, how are the calculations looking?" Olsen asked the Gennethal's navigator.
Lieutenant Resham Santiago, the ship's navigator, swiveled around on a strange stool: she didn't just sit on it, but rather levitated on a platform of fanned air. "I'm still getting used to the equipment, sir," she said.
"Aren't we all," Olsen replied with a nod. "But does that mean that we're in the right location for Aarsh to emerge from FTL-warp?"
"This is almost certainly the place, sir," Santiago said.
Olsen turned to Rob, the ship's android. He didn't even need to ask the question. "Sir," Rob said. "Santiago is right. Like the lieutenant, I'm still navigating my way through the ship's foreign interfaces. However, given the trajectory data Owandi's scouts sent us when they saw Aarsh and his fleet enter FTL-warp, there's a 99.97% probability that he will emerge within one hundred miles of our targeted location."
"That's good enough for me," Olsen said, and he looked down at the hologram at the center of the bridge. With all these advances in technology, he would have thought at least the humans, Arstans, or Foorints would have developed such a thing. It showed an overhead view of the surrounding purple nebula in stunning detail. If he wanted, he could zoom in to see their octopus-like metallic warship, with all its advanced weapons and tentacles, or zoom out to see the gas and asteroids that filled space here--glowing purple in the light of the system's three suns.
In addition to the hologram, the whole bridge, including the floor, was wrapped with some kind of material that acted like screens, with views from three-dimensional cameras arrayed along the hull to outside, so it felt like they were standing on space and gazing into it. To his right, Olsen could see the dense cluster at the center of the galaxy, only just visible through the nebula. Just like the Okranti, there was no need for mag-boots here. But unlike any ship Olsen had ever known, the gravity field adjusted based on changes in the ship's acceleration and deceleration. Even at FTL-warp, standing here felt like standing on the surface of Olsen's home planet of Earth.
To their right was the URSA Benedict, still commanded by Captain James, as well as a few spiky Foorint destroyers that the FRF had supplied to support this operation. On their left, Captain Frega had assembled a line of Arstan warships--including the old reliable Okranti.
The cellular modifier was in a transport module docked at the back of the Jigoor, Frega's flagship. The plan was simple: first they would send out a wave of transport ships to board Aarsh's ship, the Kinlysta. All troops were equipped with the advanced Tauian rifles that they'd found aboard the Gennethal, with the power to stun the tough crocodile men for up to twelve hours. Once taken down with these weapons, Frega would dock the transport containing the cellular modifier to the Kinlysta and then lead it through the ship, converting any mutants on board back to normal Arstans again.
Of course, Olsen and his crew had the most powerful weapon of this ragtag fleet. He had a Tauian warship--a weapon that no one in this galaxy would have conceived of a year ago. They also had the cellular modifier. However, the cloaking manipulator they'd achieved at the Battle of Soori was now in the hands of Olsen's new superior, Fleet Admiral Owandi. After Brownstone's death, Owandi had promoted Olsen to Rear Admiral, and Novak to captain. Commander Rico Cadinouche had then become Novak's XO.
"Schmidt, have you got a handle on the weapons?" Olsen asked the weapons officer.
"Yes, sir," Lieutenant Teller Schmidt replied.
"And Chang? Do you now feel confident enough to handle the repairs?"
"As ready as I can be, sir," Ensign Boris Chang said, swiveling around from his console. He gave a meek smile. "There's still a lot to learn in this place."
"You'll do what you can," Olsen said.
But really, their true weapon on this ship was Captain Sasha Novak, who sat floating on a stool of air just in front of Olsen. She had that alien device that they'd retrieved from Oort hanging from her hip--the one that the Tauian ambassador had used to control minds. Novak had thought she might need it at some point, and she claimed to know how to use it, but Olsen didn't quite understand how.
He'd not quite worked out how she'd managed to connect with every single ship control yet, but it seemed natural to her. She could power up the ship's super-powerful shields, control the advanced tentacle weaponry that could slash through enemy shields and hulls alike, direct the beam cannon at a target with unerring accuracy, and virtually instantaneously transport the ship anywhere in the galaxy.
All this was done through a device, sitting on her head with metal prongs sticking out of it, that created an interface between her and the ship. Often, as they piloted this thing, Olsen felt as if he was just there for show to understand the statistics and make sure the crew kept up their morale. Novak could control the entire ship using her own mind, and she'd already proven that when she'd brought down Brownstone's entire flotilla at Soori by herself.
Still, it was good to have a contingency plan, and Olsen wanted his entire crew to know how to work this ship in case something happened to Novak. He'd learned a long time ago, during the Grashorn incident that once stained his career, not to put all his strategic eggs in one basket.
Olsen raised his wristwatch to his mouth through instinct, before remembering that the ship's intelligence knew how to pick up certain signatures from his brainwaves, so it could relay his voice to whomever he wanted to speak to. He didn't need his wristwatch anymore--or at least, not on this ship.
"Redrock," he said. "Are you fully set up for a transport operation, with the second spatial disruptor on board?"
"The Unicorn's good and ready," Redrock replied from a speaker somewhere in the ship. "And the second spatial disruptor is still operating in reverse mode."
"And Kota, your squad is good to go?"
"Affirmative, sir," the ship's Marine sergeant replied. She'd healed quickly since getting shot when they'd evacuated Soori before the planet exploded. The ship had a remarkable healing station.
"Then it sounds like we're good to go," Olsen said, and he rubbed his clammy hands together. "Now, we wait." He felt nervous, but he didn't know why. After all, they had the most advanced warship in the galaxy. Even so, it felt alien to him--and the Tauians had proven many times to Olsen that they weren't to be trusted.
Fortunately, it turned out he didn't have to wait for long. Because Santiago called out from her station, "Sir, it looks like they're here."
The Arstan ships first appeared as pinpricks of light in the distance. Rings glowed around them as they emerged from FTL-warp. Hundreds of Arstan warships must have been there, with Aarsh's flagship--the Kinlysta--at the center of them.
Just shortly afterwards, Novak turned around. She looked at Olsen as if she'd realized something important.
"Sir--" she said, but she didn't have time to finish her thought. Because, virtually as soon as the Kinlysta became visible, a massive green missile shot out of it, moving much faster than a standard projectile. It headed straight for the Gennethal and hit them before anyone had time to react. A bright green light filled the view. The Gennethal jerk ed violently, and Novak screamed as she clutched her hands to her head and then collapsed to the floor.
2
As Novak sat interfacing with the ship, waiting for Aarsh to arrive, she found something in the databanks. At first, it had seemed insignificant--schematics of the cellular modifier, with instinctive instructions on how to use it. But they'd already learned how to use the cellular modifier. Captain James had learned the exact audible signal to reverse the polarity.
But then she saw an image through this, and it came like a dream drifts suddenly into the head. All this time, they'd been operating the spatial disruptor at an incredibly limited capacity. It didn't need to be in the same room as its subjects--the spatial disruptor could operate differently if interfaced by Novak, wearing this special helmet. She would only need to direct the energy into a concentrated pulse of low-wavelength radiation that could spread out for miles across space like a shockwave, cutting through bulkheads, hulls, and shields and altering the minds of any exposed creature.
This helmet, it seemed, didn't just allow Novak to interface with the Gennethal, but with all other Tauian technologies across the universe in ways she couldn't yet comprehend.
With Aarsh's fleet already emerging from FTL-warp, Novak knew she had to deliver the new to Olsen fast.
Just as she'd turned to Olsen and called out, "Sir--" a bright green light had flared out, interrupting her train of thought. The next thing she felt had been pain, intense pain, throbbing out from the device that connected her with the ship. It had started in her temples, then quickly spread out across her skull, and then jolted down, her causing her muscles to spasm. She screamed out as the pain threw her violently from her seat to the floor.
She writhed there for a moment, seeming to lie on empty space with the light from whatever weapon the Arstans had launched at the ship fading around her. She continued to spasm on the floor, the pain intensifying, all eyes on the bridge on her. But she didn't care. If she let this continue, the thing on her head would kill her.
She willed strength to her arms, despite how much it hurt to raise them. Then she clawed at the device on her head and wrenched it off there, throwing it across the room.
It took her a moment for her senses to return to her, the pain still coursing through her. It wasn't debilitating, as Novak had learned through years of training how to cast pain aside. But she didn't stand up immediately. Rather, she took some time to look around. Olsen wasn't even looking at her at that point, but at Rob.
"What the hell happened?" he asked. "Damage report, Rob."
"It appears that all systems are fully operational," the android replied. "That weapon wasn't targeting the ship, but its operator."
"You mean Novak?" Olsen asked, his eyebrows raised.
"The weapon assaults whoever is wearing the helmet," Rob replied. "I found a record of such an attack in the ship's databanks. If the Tauians want to temporarily disable a Gennethal's link to their operator, they often use such weapons. It's more of a law-enforcing method for rogue starship captains, and rarely used in practice. Admiral Aarsh must have acquired one of these from the Tauians."
Novak saw Olsen nod and looked up at the viewscreen. "Which means there must still be one of them out there supplying them."
"It is also possible they got the weapon long before we killed Ambassador Oort."
"I don't think so," Olsen said. "I'm almost certain that there's someone out there manipulating this. We just need to work out who."
"How do you know?" Novak asked, her throat hurting to talk.
"Let's just say that you learn from experience which hunches to trust."
Through blurry eyes, Novak could see some of the crew surrounding her. Santiago crouched down, reached out and touched Novak's shoulder, and then she offered Novak her hand. Novak used it to pull herself up, the Tauian mind-control device swinging against her hip as she stood.
Olsen walked over to Novak. "Are you all right, Novak?"
"Yes, sir," Novak said. "I think so."
"Do you need medical attention?" He held a glass of water out, and Novak grasped it and took a sip. It also hurt to swallow, but she knew that hydration helped ease pain. Novak glanced over to the helmet that she'd worn only a moment ago. It had some kind of green sparks dancing around it, and certainly didn't seem fit for wearing.
"Novak? Did you hear me?" Olsen asked, his eyes squinted.
"I'm fine, sir," she said. "But with your permission, we need to give Redrock new orders. He needs to get me on Frega's transport module, because we don't even need to get the superweapon on the Kinlysta."
Olsen's eyes went wide. "You shouldn't do anything after taking a hit like that, Novak? We need to get you to the medbay."
Novak appreciated the concern, but she also knew it wouldn't do them any good right now, and so she brushed it aside. "Sir, I saw something in the ship's databanks. We don't need to get the cellular modifier close to mutants to turn them normal again. We can do it all from where Frega has the weapon positioned right now--or at least I can." She glanced up at the Arstan fleet. She could see shapes up there moving, but her vision was still blurry, and she couldn't quite make out the details of what was happening up there yet.
"How do you know you can trust this, Novak?" Olsen asked.
"With all due respect, I don't think we have time for this, sir," Novak said. "Like you, I've just got a hunch."
She couldn't see the details in Olsen's eyes, but she knew he was studying her. "Damn it, Novak. Since you've served with me, I can't even remember a time you've been wrong."
"Is that a yes, sir?"
"Be quick, but this changes nothing. We'll still launch the boarding parties as planned. If we can disable Aarsh's ships from within, it's going to make your job a hell of a lot easier. Redrock, don't launch until I give you the orders. You're taking Novak as a passenger, and she'll explain the rest."
"Affirmative, sir," Redrock said from over the intercom. "But let me know when, because I'm raring to get out there and kick some ass."
Novak nodded, and she turned on her heel. The helmet was still sparking on the floor, but it didn't hurt to pick up as she'd expected, and she was going to need it. Just before she sprinted out towards the hangar bay, she heard Commander Cadinouche's voice float out from behind her.
"Sir," the ship's second reserve pilot said. "We might actually want to hold off the boarding parties."
But there was no time in war for indecision, and so she didn't let those words sap momentum from her run.
3
"Sir," Commander Rico Cadinouche said. "You might want to hold off the boarding party."
Olsen turned down to look at the commander. With Novak gone, Cadinouche would now pilot the URSA Gennethal.
"Explain," Olsen said.
"See for yourself, sir," Cadinouche said, and he pointed at the Kinlysta.
Olsen's eyes went wide, as Aarsh had completely changed the scene outside in mere seconds. In a maneuver more efficient than any Olsen had ever seen--particularly for an Arstan fleet--the carrier modules had detached themselves from their superstructures and moved into position. Each was now placed behind a diamond-shaped configuration of four shield modules. The bay doors opened on the carrier modules, and what must have been tens of thousands of Arstan fighters flooded out. They came from behind the shields, launching from either side of the modules, then swinging around to face the allied FRF fleet.
They weren't heading for the URSA Gennethal, but flanking in from the side in a superbly executed pincer attack. Presumably they wanted to take out the support first, so they could go for the most powerful Tauian weapon last. It was a sound tactic--Olsen would have done exactly the same. He just hadn't expected that those transports would get into position so fast, and he hadn't also expected they could pack so many fighters into each carrier.
With the URSA Gennethal operating at reduced capacity and the limited number of fighters they had at their disposal, the allies certainly faced a formidable force.
"Shit," Olsen said. "Redrock, hold off flying out there. If you send out the Unicorn right now, you're toast. Schmidt fire up the Gennethal's weapons. Santiago, send a command out to the captains to launch fighters, but no transports yet. We need to throw everything we've got at them."
