Chương 175: Nova Wars - Chapter 145

Admiral (Most High Iron) Mu'uitbu'udy sighed and leaned back in his chair. He was sitting in the Fleet Command Bridge of the superdreadnought flagship of his modest two hundred and sixty ship strong fleet. While only sixty of the ships were full combat vessels, he had support and escorts, ten carriers, and even two medical ships. All to move from system to system at the edge of the Independent Kra'at Systems. The systems were mostly just solitary stellar masses with Oort Clouds, no planets, no nothing.

As it was, the Fleet had dropped into one of the few that had gas giants in order to take on mass to continue the two year long patrol. Mu'uitbu'udy glanced at the holotank and saw that nothing had changed. That it was still just one supermassive gas giant, one standard gas giant, and a dull red stellar mass. The stellar mass had already gone through the expansion phase and was now slowly contracting.

Mu'uitbu'udy could remember taking part in this same patrol three hundred years ago and the stellar masses were still fusing oxygen and carbon. Interestingly enough about that particular star is that is was also fusing spooky matter oxygen into iron. Iron that was then fused to the core, which was now sitting at 72. 89245% compared to the 72. 892449% it had been during Mu'uitbu'udy's midshipman cruise. That meant the star only had a few thousand years before it became unstable and then rapidly underwent a collapse.

The Independent Kra'at Systems would need to keep track of that star in particular. As it was, they were a good ways out into the dark, spinward and coreward from most star nations. Not close enough to the core to run the risk of hitting the massive radiation belt, but closer than most nations. Out far enough that a large section of the Independent Kra'at Systems was in the Long Dark between the Cygnus-Orion Galactic Arm Spur and the Perseus Arm some fifteen thousand light years away.

Beyond was the edge of the localized gravitational anomaly that was very close to what protected the Rigel systems. It was literally faster to move at sublight speeds, since FTL went significantly slower that superluminal travel. The anomaly had protected the Kra'at Systems for nearly fifty thousand years. Which is why Task Force Nu'uthanev'ahr'appens was pretty much going through the motions.

But Admiral (Most High Iron) Mu'uitbu'udy knew that the motions were important to the safety of his star nation, his world, and his family. Which is why he was gaming out defending the system with several of his staff. The senior-most members were acting as judges for the younger and less experienced officers of the Fleet Command Bridge crew to take on the enlisted. It would help keep himself sharp as well as train up the next generation of officers.

Plus, it added in a factor of randomness that drove other Lanaktallan crazy. After all, the most skilled did not fear the second most skilled, for the most skilled knew everything the second most skilled would do in response. No, it was the worst skilled amateur, because no being knew what that fool would do. The scenario had the stellar system being attacked by the Mad Lemurs of Terra in overwhelming strength. It was what the Confederacy called a Kary Bashed Maroon Scenario.

Admiral (Most High Iron) Mu'uitbu'udy considered it good training for his younger officers to learn that not ever scenario, not every fleet engagement, not even every exercise could be won. That even though the Confederacy and the Kra'at Systems were allies, and the Kra'at Systems could depend on the overwhelming firepower of the Confederacy to stand side by side with them, there was always going to be fleet engagements where it all came down to the Kra'at forces.

And there would be those engagements where the Kra'at forces would lose. Although, personally, Admiral (Most High Iron) Mu'uitbu'udy didn't believe in no-win situations. He watched as the enlisted forces jumped back out, leaving the junior officer's forces in disarray. Mu'uitbu'udy could see the mistake already, where the junior officers didn't immediately attempt to regather their strength and rendezvous with one another. Instead, the each began trying to track where the Lemur Fleets had gone.

He opened his mouth to offer advice when the lights suddenly went red and the scenario was immediately wiped from memory. A lone icon burned red, just inside the Oort Cloud.

"Admiral," Senior Most High Captain of the Warsteel Shi'iple'edr appeared in the holotank.

"Yes?" Mu'uitbu'udy asked, raising one eye.

"We have an unidentified contact in the system," Captain Shi'iple'edr said. The holotank shifted to show an icon. It was a massive structure, measuring over 50-tera-tonnes. Nothing else was listed except speed and heading. It was heading for the supermassive gas-giant on the other side of the system from Admiral (Most High Iron) Mu'uitbu'udy's fleet. Admiral (Most High Iron) Mu'uitbu'udy stared it for a long moment.

"No identification?"

"No emissions that we can detect. No IFF to make identification easier," the Captain said.

"It appears that the object came from the gulf between the arms or perhaps from the arms itself."

"Do we have visual on it?" Admiral (Most High Iron) Mu'uitbu'udy asked. The Captain shook his head, his feeding tentacles trembling.

"No, Most High Admiral. It came into the system nearly six light hours away from us, on the other side of the stellar mass. We have some satellites in orbit of the stellar mass that were able to map the geometry of the object but..." There was a buzzing sound from the holotank. Six more of the shapes appeared. All of them the same size. One was larger by a huge factor. Three peta-tonnes. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"We don't know what they are?" the Admiral asked.

"Negative," the Captain said.

"I'm dispatching a pair of destroyers to get a look. Their ETA is roughly sixty-eight minutes. They have superluminal communications with us." The Admiral nodded.

"Then we wait." He folded all four of his arms and leaned back slightly in his chair. Time ticked by slowly. Twice more of the objects suddenly appeared. Then four. Then eight.

"No hyperspace or jumpspace ripples? No hellspace portals?" Admiral (Most High Iron) Mu'uitbu'udy asked.

"No, Admiral." It was also obvious that they were all heading for the super-massive giant giant. As the minutes went by the objects changed course and even accelerated toward the supermassive gas giant, quickly getting up to. 5C. There was a buzzing and the Admiral pulled his attention back to the tank. Sixteen more had just dropped into the system. Only, instead of the point on the far side of the system, they had dropped in 'behind' the fleet, as well as stellar mass-wise, boxing the fleet in on two sides.

Everything went to battle-stations. Admiral (Most High Iron) Mu'uitbu'udy stood up, moving to the holotank. He quickly began issuing orders, getting the screen into position, ordering the ships to go to guns ready and battle stations. The first visual came in and all Admiral (Most High Iron) Mu'uitbu'udy could do was blink. It was a long cone. The smallest only a thousand kilometers long and two miles at the wide mouth.

The largest was twenty-thousand miles long, a hundred miles at the mouth, and ten miles at the tail. It weighed in at over 500 petatonnes.

"What?" he asked.

"MAR-GITE!" one of the analysts suddenly shouted. Admiral (Most High Iron) Mu'uitbu'udy wasted no time.

"Get us out of here! FULL RECALL!" he snapped.

"All units immediately moved to Rally Point Victor-Six! Divisions, jump when ready!" As he watched one began to 'unroll' was the only thing he could thing of to describe it. He'd read about it. It was an enveloping attack. Once the Mar-gite cluster got too close it was impossible to jump to lightspeed.

"Get DesBat Seven out of here! Secure Jump Pattern Tango. Warn the capital! Warn everyone!" Admiral (Most High Iron) Mu'uitbu'udy ordered. He thought for a second.

"Detach CruBat-Twenty-Two. Give me a direct link to their Rear Admiral." He slammed his hands down on the edge of the holotank.

"I don't know how they got here, but they're here." He stared as eight more mass icons flashed into existence.

"And we need to buy ourselves some time." Everyone stayed silent as each division of ships jumped out, starting with the logistics ships and quickly moving to the heavies. The flagship stayed in place, maneuvering to avoid the three sides of Mar-gite.

"Yes, Most High Admiral?" Lower Decks Most High Admiral La'astahnd asked, appearing in the holotank.

"Get near the stellar mass," Admiral (Most High Iron) Mu'uitbu'udy ordered.

"You know what to do." The Lower Decks Admiral nodded.

"When?"

"Get ready as soon as you can get into position. We'll have to assume they'll spot you as soon as you jump into position," Admiral (Most High Iron) Mu'uitbu'udy stated. The Lower Decks Admiral nodded.

"If they pose an immediate threat or begin to jump back out in the direction of the Kra'at Systems, carry out the end terminus of your mission," Admiral (Most High Iron) Mu'uitbu'udy stated.

"For the record: If you are immediately threatened or the Mar-gite begin warping out headed further into our galactic arm, you are to carry out your mission with extreme prejudice." The Lower Decks Admiral nodded again.

"I am so ordered."

"You are ordered." 0-0-0-0-0"That's the last of the Task Force," Commander He'elju'umpr stated, his voice almost bored sounding. He crossed his four arms.

"There are five hundred twelve Mar-gite clusters currently in the system. The smaller ones are being absorbed by the larger ones. All of them are unrolling with one side facing the stellar mass. Some smaller ones are being pulled into the gas giants."

"Breeders," Lower Decks Most High Admiral La'astahnd stated.

"They're converting the gas giants into farms to make more of themselves."

"How did they even get here? It's nearly thirty-thousand light years to the Mar-gite Front," Commander Nu'uxus asked. Lower Decks Most High Admiral La'astahnd gave a bellows sounding sigh.

"There is an obvious answer that none of us want to face," he said softly. He brought up a map of the galaxy and changed the color of everything but the Cygnus-Orion Arm red.

"That we're all that is left in the entire galaxy," he said softly.

"One just went to lightspeed! Wide end toward the nearest star in the Kra'at Systems!" was suddenly called out. Lower Decks Most High Admiral La'astahnd sighed again.

"Rewind Drive status?"

"Charged and ready."

"ALL HANDS TO REWIND STATIONS! REPEAT: ALL HANDS TO REWIND STATIONS!"

"Rewind target?" La'astahnd asked.

"Rally Point Oscar-Nine." La'astahnd just nodded. He looked at the Special Tasks Officer.

"Send the signal," he ordered.

"Signal sent." He stared at the holotank. Twenty points, arranged around the stellar mass, deep in the photosphere of the red giant, all winked. The mass of the star suddenly began to grow geometrically.

"We have ignition," Special Tasks stated. La'astahnd just nodded. The mass kept going up.

"Rewind is ready," a female Lanaktallan's calm voice called out.

"Rewind Confidence is high." The mass kept increasing.

"Two more just warped out, same headings."

"Eighteen more just warped in."

"Bogey's seventy-three and ninety-one have sunk into Gas Giant Two."

"Mass critical," Special Tasks called out. La'astahnd leaned forward.

"SUPER RAPID DIRECT COLLAPSE DETECTED!" Special Tasks called out.

"Thirty-six warped in!" La'astahnd made a chopping motion. Before his hand even traveled the full rotation everything went to wobbly jello. There was a sucking feeling behind his sternum and he felt like he was yanked backwards through himself. For a moment he could see his own skeleton if it had been made from carved shining crystal. Everything wobbled and La'astahnd felt like he had been dropped from a great height while wrapped in a hot soft comfortor. Everything solidified.

"Rewind successful," was called out. There was a pause.

"All supervisors are to do Rewind Checks and report to superiors. Repeat: All supervisors are to do Rewind Checks and report to superiors." La'astahnd opened his mouth to order the comm section to connect him to the captains of the other seven ships in the battalion.

"MAR-GITE WARP DETECTED!" was suddenly called out.

"ONE! TWO! FOUR! MANY MANY!" La'astahnd blinked, staring at the holotank. But only for a split second. He slapped the button on his command console and instantly he overrode all shipboard communications, connecting himself directly to the Captains of the other vessels.

"Go to Hellspace, ninety second burn run away from the Kra'at Systems! NOW!" he ordered.

"ALL SHIPS, JUMP WHEN READY!"

"Hellcore charging!" he heard.

"Sixty percent."

"MANY MANY NEW SOURCES!" La'astahnd just nodded. He could see three unrolling. There were some that suddenly slowed down and long thin objects slid from inside the cone. He watched as the drive kept charging. Rips in space appeared, filled with fire. The fire looped out, long tendrils that reached out to the Mar-gite and touched the massive constructs. The ones touched instantly caught fire in the vacuum of space. The other ships of the battalion jumped through, all of them within three seconds.

La'astahnd held tight as another portal opened and the Lost Angry Melon lunged toward it. Fire exploded in the Command Bridge. La'astahnd screamed as his nerves were flayed, as razors sliced along his hide, as his eyeballs exploded and ran down his face with acid fury. He heard his mother scream, heard his sister cry out in agony. Heard the laughter of the Mad Lemurs of Terra. It was suddenly over and La'astahnd realized he had been thrown to the deck.

He could hear screaming, the bagpipe wheeze of someone with a compromised lower chest. He closed his eyes tightly. He could hear calls for medical, hear DCC call out that there were massive casualties.

"Admiral, I need you to stay down. Don't move," someone said, their voice raspy and bubbly at once. La'astahnd just held still. It was the price we must pay to sail the burning seas of Hellspace. TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS Did anyone else get a sudden bad feeling? ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- HAT WEARING AUNTIE Yes. Some of the seers started screaming. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS We need to find out what just happened. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS---