The warlord grinned viciously when he saw the sight before him. Luck had finally smiled on him. He considered himself smarter than his brethren, and he knew the silly alliance idea wasn’t going to work with this enemy. After his encounter with one of their scout ships, and news of their attack on Urokia reached his ears he had gone to Ilyatria. It was one of the more powerful worlds in the Orialias belt and located near a region of the belt that was flooded with deadly radiation which spilled out from dangerous anomalies in the area. Few were crazy enough to venture into that field, but the Ilyatrians had made a career out of exploiting the resources there. Those resources made them quite wealthy. The Ilyatrians had the best shield generators in the entire belt as they were needed to keep their mining ships functional in the radiation field, but more importantly, they had developed some of the best weapons available in the entire region.

So he had made a daring raid on the system. During the raid, he had managed to capture three of their battleships in addition to his original target a small convoy of freighters carrying shield and weapon components for the Ilyatrian military shipyard, which he had used to upgrade his ships. His own flagship now supported twenty of the Ilyatrian’s famous plasma lances, and battleship grade shields. He had lost a few ships distracting their fleet, but overall he felt the trade was worth it. Now he could engage these newcomers that seemed deadset on destroying all Rykoni holdings in the sector.

Finding them was not easy, given their ability to disappear when they don’t want to be seen. Not to mention their ships were far faster than those used by most of the other races he knew of. He was grateful however for all the reports of systems they had attacked that had reached his ears. Those had proved useful in plotting out systems that could be used as a base from which they had launched their attacks. It had taken him days, and he had fruitlessly searched dozens of systems, but now their fleet was before him.

It seemed the bulk of their fleet was away, but he could never be certain of their numbers. On his screens, he saw fifty-six small frigate sized ships that had a rather predatory look to them. Three larger ships were close to his position on a clear patrol pattern, and he believed they were destroyers. Leading this Destroyer group was an alien cruiser. The ship bristling with heavy weaponry he knew it would be one of his first targets.

The core of their fleet seemed to be anchored near an asteroid field a few million kilometers from his jump point. The most threatening of which was what they knew to be a carrier. They had been seen leading the attack fleets, and he quickly marked it as a priority target. Near it were anchored six other ships. Four of them were large capital ships, and while they didn’t seem to carry much weaponry they had characteristics that led him to think they were industrial vessels. The other two looked to be a battleship and a heavy cruiser that was basically a smaller version of the battleship. He didn’t think much of those, and focused on the industrial vessels for his strategy. He would need to sink those, as they were likely responsible for maintaining and supplying this fleet. Sinking those would force them to withdraw and he was already looking forward to the salvage.

 Countryman stepped out onto the bridge and noticed the organized chaos that was in progress. Greyman was waiting by the door, and immediately reported. “Sir, a large Rykoni fleet emerged from hyperspace in the system. The Accentor and her escort has already engaged them. The Firehawks will be entering the fray shortly, but it seems this fleet has better weapons than seen previously on Rykoni ships.”

Countryman glanced at the tactical display below the balcony they were standing on, and replied, “Better how?”

“Most are now armed with midrange plasma weapons. They fire short plasma streams, and are powerful enough to pose a threat to our hull armor,” said Greyman. Almost as if to emphasize his point a Rykoni cruiser opened fire on one of the destroyers greenish streams of plasma tore into her sides amidships. The plating failing at those points, and holes were melted into the side of the ship. She wasn’t down just yet, and returned fire with her forward tubes. Dozens of photons streamed out at nearby targets. Most found their marks with deadly results, but not a single one actually penetrated the shields on the ships. Countryman was surprised as he had not encountered an energy shield capable of blocking their shield penetrating torpedoes. Even so, there were enough in the water to sink thirty raiders and a cruiser, but not the one that had fired. Her shields held against the barrage, and she fired again.

Plasma streams tore into the weakened armor in the secondary hull as she passed over the cruiser’s position. Suddenly there was a flash as the commander of the destroyer wisely chose to make an emergency warp out. Then the Firebirds reached the line, and engaged the smaller raiders. Easily pulling the majority of the Rykoni ships away from his cruiser and the two destroyers still escorting her. Countryman glanced down at the helm, and ordered, “Bring the main engines online,” and then he glanced at Greyman, “Scramble all fighters.”

Ahead the Accentor engaged three Rykoni cruisers in a head-on engagement. A lightning flash struck one of their nearby cruisers, and her shields buckled in a brilliant flash of light. Vibrant blue energy streams tore into the cruiser, and ripped it apart in a matter of seconds. Countryman was quite happy to see that, as he was glad that their Electro Cannons still worked on these new shields the Rykoni had installed on their ships. Pulling up a scan report he took a glance at the new Rykoni shield configuration.

A quick glance revealed that these new shields were actually quite sophisticated, and used a matrix very different from those used by other races. The core of the matrix shared a number of traits with the Radiation shields his own ships carried. It was clear that radiation protection was quite important to the designers, and even more interesting was the resilience of the matrix. These shields warranted a bit of a study, but he would have to shelve that for later.

The Rykoni didn’t take their lost cruiser lying down, and their other two cruisers opened fire on the Accentor. Green plasma streams raked across her hull, but the plating held. The ship returned fire her guns firing at full power. Violet energy bursts tore into the nearest cruiser. Her shields strained, but held under the barrage.

Not far from the Enterprise the Kingdom class carrier the SFS Emperor SFR-05 was deploying her fighters. A number had already been in the water on patrol, and she was now deploying her reserves. Countryman could already feel the massive main engines warming up, and hear the gentle hum of their operation reverberating through the hull of the ship.

In the distance, the three cruisers could be seen engaging with each other, while the two destroyers engaged another cruiser to prevent her from engaging the Accentor. Likely a good thing as the Accentor appeared to be evenly matched with the two cruisers already fighting her. Both Rykoni cruisers were barely keeping their distance, and trying not to let her use her Electro cannons. Countryman had just given an order to summon Selia their Slynari liaison to the bridge, and been informed that the engines were online, when suddenly a small explosion occurred on the smaller of the two Rykoni cruisers fighting the Accentor.

She instantly lost speed, as the explosion had knocked out one of her engine clusters. Instantly the Accentor pounced on the ship and tore her to shreds. She lasted less than a minute after the Accentor hit her with the Electro Cannons. As she was tearing it apart the other cruiser opened fire with a heavy barrage of plasma streams. The first few shots missed the Accentor entirely, but a good chunk of the barrage tore into the starboard nacelles. The plating held, but buckled to the torpedo that was fired for good measure. The resulting breach was too far forward to actually damage the warp engines, but a few of the maneuvering engines took the hit.

Countryman wasn’t all that concerned. The Battlehawk class was designed to be able to take a pounding, and he knew that armored bulkheads would have dropped into place to isolate the damaged section. Sure enough, the Accentor came about and fired photons, followed up by a volley of particle cannon fire at full power. The Photons slammed into the final cruiser’s shields amidships and detonated with impressive force. The shields flared brilliantly as they tried to radiate as much energy as possible. The following particle barrage slammed into the weakened shields, and they collapsed. The rest of the stream punched into the hull of the cruiser dealing crippling damage. She wasn’t sunk yet, however, and the Accentor’s captain was quick to follow up. A precisely targeted cutting beam knocked the cruiser out of the fight for good by severing the primary power transfer conduits. Effectively knocking out main power for the cruiser. The Rykoni didn’t even have working backups so they had no quick fix for the problem.

At the same time, the two Sabres weren’t doing as well against their single cruiser opponent. That ship was significantly better armed and shielded then her counterparts. She could almost be called a battleship. One of the destroyers seemed to be in a lot of trouble. She had taken nearly a hundred armor-penetrating hits, but was still fighting. Unlike their friend that had to retreat none of these hits were near the critical power systems. So they had not yet bothered to retreat. Her commander was keeping the vital secondary hull out of the line of fire. Countryman made a note to have the aft armor increased on all Sabre class destroyers, and then pointed out the cruiser they were fighting.

“Full speed ahead towards that ship,” ordered Countryman. Greyman quickly protested, “But, sir, shouldn’t we stay here and guard the industrial ships. While pointing at the twelve cruisers approaching their position.”

Countryman glanced at them and noted their armament and shields were considerably weaker than the cruiser he wanted to engage.

“No, Reymond can handle it. Our sister ship, The Avenger, has more than enough to teeth to stop those cruisers. We are going to take out their pocket battleship. It looks to be their flagship,” replied Countryman just as the door behind them opened. Moving in on her tentacles was Selia.

She started to say something, but stopped when she noted the battle going on around her. Then she muttered, “I guess I know what the red lights mean now.”

“Good you are here. These Rykoni seem to have gotten their hands on some decent shields, and weapons. I was hoping you could tell me where they got them, and if we are likely to encounter more ships equipped with similar weapons.”

She approached the captain’s sensor display and glanced at the readout. She had been here long enough that she could read it, and then she looked up. “Those are Ilyatrian weapon systems. They are one of the more advanced worlds in the Orialias belt. They are famous among the local nomads as a reliable seller of quality shield, and weapon systems. Many nomadic traders stop at their homeworld of Ilyatria or one of their colonies as they produce some rather exotic minerals that sell elsewhere at high prices.”

“That is interesting, but would you happen to know how to get a torpedo past Ilyatrian shields?”

She frowned in a rather cute manner and replied, “Uh no.”

Countryman sighed, and replied, “Well no matter we will figure it out.”

In fact they were already working on the problem. Telepathically communicating thoughts and ideas on adjusting the torpedoes to penetrate. Each torpedo that failed to penetrate also taught them more about the shields.

The ship shuddered as torpedoes detonated against the shields. The warlord shouted an order to return fire. Green streams slammed into the underside of an attacking destroyer. Half the energy streams successfully penetrating the armor with little apparent effect. There were dozens of weapon clusters in that part of the hull, but the only alien guns to fall silent were the ones that took a direct hit. He was actually impressed with the resilience of these alien ships.

Very few aliens built ships that could take the kind of beating his new guns were dishing out, and keep fighting. This just made the ones he was fighting all the more impressive. Suddenly one of his thugs shouted, “That battleship is coming this way!”

He glanced at his screens and sure enough, it was moving this way at full steam leaving only the carrier and the cruiser to defend the industrial vessels from his attack cruisers. Glancing elsewhere he noticed that his forces had managed to disable a number of the alien frigates, but most of his raiders had been sunk in the process. The remaining twenty or so frigates were almost evenly matched with the cruisers that he had deployed to support his raiders. The remaining raiders were clearly fleeing the field. As for the Cruiser, he had not engaged directly it was moving off to support a lone frigate that was struggling against one of his more trusted lieutenants. His cruiser was almost as well outfitted as his flagship the Black Flag, and more than a match for those alien frigates. Even if they had stupidly powerful guns on them.

He figured his lieutenant could handle it, and focused his attention on the two destroyers he was fighting and the approaching battleship. She was about the same size as the carrier well actually a little smaller, but bristled with heavy weapons. It was definitely designed for ship to ship combat. Given that it was bigger than his ship the Black Flag he would have to play things carefully.

His gunners scored a few more good hits on the destroyer engaging his ship. One of them unleashed a volley of glowing blue torpedoes at him. His shields flared to protect against the volley, and held. He saw a good opportunity ordered a few of those Illyatrian torpedoes they had lifted fired at the destroyer. Eighteen purple bolts streaked away from his cruiser only to encounter a glowing red web of energy. That flared up moments before impact, and destroying all but one of his torps. The last one slammed into the hull of the destroyer and exploded unleashing her deadly payload. The antimatter warhead detonated against heavily scarred and weakened plating penetrating twelve decks, and opening a massive hole in the hull. Half the guns on the destroyer immediately fell silent. The rest went silent a couple moments later, and the ship’s image went fuzzy on his scanners. As she began moving away.

The fact that the ship was clearly still operational irked him a bit, but he had a more immediate threat to worry about than a ship that was clearly running away. The other destroyer was getting a little too close for his comfort. He had already seen their lightning guns, and wasn’t going to let them use them on his ship. He just prayed his engines would keep working. They were a leaky cobbled together mess, but he couldn’t get his brethren to make better ones. 

He gave the order to fire the aft missile launchers. Eighty nuclear missiles sailed from the launchers, but not a single one hit the destroyer. An energy web sprang into existence shortly before impact and disintegrated the missiles on contact. The destroyer opened fire with its own torpedoes, and his shields strained to stop the blue streaks that slammed into them. He glanced at his screens and noticed the shields were at eighty-seven percent. He was really glad he had picked up these battleship shield generators, and power systems.

He gave the order to come about and ordered his gunners to return fire. Streams of green plasma streaked across space to strike at the destroyer. Its damaged forward plating absorbed the first few shots, but a number penetrated into the hull behind it. The ship returned fire with its forward guns, and then broke off pursuit of his ship. Just at the alien battleship entered the scene. It was still outside the range of his weapons when it opened fire. Powerful high yield blue energy streams slammed into the side of his ship amidship. Most of the energy was absorbed by his shields, but some of it tore into his hull plating. The patchwork plating somehow managed to withstand the first barrage.

He ordered power transferred to the shields, and had his helmsman change course towards the hostile battleship. It clearly had the power and range to destroy him if he didn’t close the distance. He studied his scans of the ship. They weren’t cloaking themselves yet so he could see them even if the readings weren’t perfect.

Another barrage from the ship’s heavy beam arrays slammed into his shields this time along the forward quarter of his ship. With the extra power shunted into the shields they managed to stop the beam from penetrating this time, but a glance showed that his shields were being drained at a slow but fair pace. Then suddenly a heavy barrage of purple energy bolts were unleashed from the ship’s main guns. He immediately ordered evasive maneuvers but a number still hit his ship. The added strain drained an appreciable amount of energy from his shields. He actually had a fair amount of respect for this battleship. She had some pretty decent gunnery on her especially in terms of range. He spared a quick glance at his tactical display. The alien cruiser that had moved away was currently dead in the water not far from his lieutenant’s ship or what was left of it. Something had split the cruiser in two, and the ship had been vented to space.

His other ships were still holding their own against the enemy frigates, but he had lost a couple more on that front, and his fleeing raiders were being torn apart by fighter craft. His own fighters weren’t faring well against the alien fighters. His remaining cruisers were also being swarmed by fighters. Especially the ones engaging the industrial ships. He didn’t have good readings there but it looked like his ships had managed to unleash a payload on the ships, but the cruiser and carrier were keeping them mostly occupied. He already knew that retreat was likely not an option. He had read the reports, so he just needed to keep this battleship occupied and hope his remaining ships can come out on top. He didn’t bother sending extra orders as he knew his captains would only follow the vague outline of said orders.

The battleship was finally in range of his guns, and he gave the order to return fire. Green plasma streams streaked across space, and raked across the hull of the enemy ship. Her armor plating withstood the barrage, and she returned a barrage of her own. Blue streams raked over his shields, alarms went off as localized failures took place. He shouted out an order for evasive maneuvers, and the ship rolled away from the field of fire. A glance at the engineering display showed several red zones where the plating had failed. The alien weapons had ripped open the plating and torn several large rents in the hull.

He definitely didn’t want to get any closer than this or that ship would tear him to pieces. A glance at his weapon status display told him that the torpedo launchers and missiles reloaded. He ordered them all fired at the ship along with a heavy barrage from his main battery. Streaks sailed across the space. A number of plasma streams splashed against the heavy alien armor, and that cursed energy web sprang into existence to intercept his volley of torpedoes and missiles. Luckily a few penetrated the web to slam against the armored hull.

Several large explosions lit up his screen, and when the resultant light faded away he saw the alien ship appeared largely unscathed as the battleship maneuvered. A series of blue bolts flew from armored launcher ports all across her bow. It was a torpedo volley, and he glanced at the shield display to see that the shields had dropped below twenty percent. He ordered his thugs to activate every missile defense he had to little effect. The alien torpedoes didn’t even notice his jamming pulse, and went right through the chaff his launchers fired to stop them.

The ship shuddered as the alien photon torpedoes slammed into his shields. The stolen battleship shield generators were overwhelmed by the energy of the barrage and failed. One of the torpedoes impacted the hull near the bow, and exploded. The ship shuddered and he was thrown against a wall. Alarms blared, and a hissing noise filled the cabin. Old rusty bulkheads slowly dropped into place. Another shudder, and the room went dark.