Fifteenth Year of the Nomads

Eight Hundred and Forty Fifth Year After the Battle of the Sol System

“Hawkwing, Solar Wind. New arrivals have shifted to a search formation and are headed for our prey. Estimated time to arrival six zero hours. Estimated time until they can detect the flotilla is seven five hours. Out”

“Vanguard, Solar Wind. Mines deployed and armed. Falling back to the Raptor. Out”

“Hunter, Solar Wind. Escorting the Vanguard back to the Raptor. Out.”

Admiral Supesu nodded in satisfaction. She had time to get her ships out without being detected. The Twisted were getting better, but not better enough.

“Communications, Admiral. Message to all ships. Standard scramble, standard encryption, normal priority for orders from the Flag.”

“Admiral, Communications. Fleet orders, standard encrypt, standard scramble. Ready to record for transmission.”

“Message begins. All ships, maintain emissions control and form up on the system north extraction point. We are ghosting this system. Out. Message ends.”

“Admiral, Communications. Clean recording, transmitting now.”

“Thank you Communications. Helm, make it so.”

“Admiral, Helm. Drifting to system north extraction point. Estimated time to arrival is seven zero hours.”

“Admiral, Engineering. Smelting Process is at five three percent completion. Estimated time to completion now three for hours. Out.”

Admiral Supesu sat back in the command chair with a smile on her face. The extraction was going smoothly, the Twisted battle group hunting her nomads was about to get a bloody nose, and best of all she would get to watch it all happen.

Kokko’Liekki Laiska’Vanha’Verta frowned as the disabled freighter began to appear at the fuzzy extreme range of CV Viimein’Laiva’Elossa’s scopes. There was an excessive amount of debris floating about the ship. Either it had been a passenger smuggler instead of an ore hauler, or the humans had left the cargo just sitting there. Laiska’Vanha’Verta rubbed above his eyes with his grasper, pondering. The humans were sneaky sons of unwed mothers, so they could have decided to plant a trap this time. His missing eye and arm aches in sympathetic pain to the last trap the humans had sprung on him.

“Cryer, proclamation to the battle group.”

“Kokko’Liekki, Cryer. Ready to record for transmission.”

“Proclamation begins. All ships to battle group missile defense formation, centered on CV Viimein’Laiva’Elossa and oriented against the derelict freighter. Preliminary close scope scans of the derelict freighter and the surrounding debris will be carried out by light attack craft. Proclamation ends.”

“Kokko’Liekki, Cryer. Clean recording. Transmitting proclamation to the battle group now.”

“Flight Control, prep and launch a squadron of LACs in the scout configuration please. I want then to go in first and sweep the wreckage for any unpleasant surprises.”

“Kokko’Liekki, Flight Control. By your will.”

“Admiral, Tracking. Twisted capital ship is launching strike craft. Designating it as a carrier at this time.”

“Understood Tracking.”

Voidstrike mines may be simple minded, but that makes them no less effective. They had rudimentary targeting criteria: a target had to be moving under its own power, and not be a human ship, and be within two thirds of the onboard missiles maximum range. If all three conditions were met, then the missile would lock on and launch.

The Vanguard had managed three complete drops, each time emptying out her missile racks to do so. At forty voidstrike mines per drop, that left a minefield of one hundred and twenty single shot launchers, each armed and looking for their own target. It was nowhere near as effective as a one hundred and twenty missile salvo, as each missile was looking for its own target and launch solution, instead of coming in as a concentrated hammer blow. The voidstrike mines would launch as they found targets, resulting in a ragged salvo irregularly scattered across any and all targets in range.

Empire light attack craft were versatile things, mounting an integral meteor cannon and a number of fast change hard points for additional missile racks, meteor connons, power cells, scope packages, or extended use life support equipment. The CV Viimein’Laiva’Elossa was equipped with the Empire’s newest and best, the Taistelija’Lakko forty one, which had six hardpoints. In the scout configuration, two of those hardpoints were filled with extended life support packages, another two with expanded power cells, and the last two with high powered active scope arrays. By the Empire’s reckoning, this configuration let a light attack craft see a foe coming and evade before being able to be brought to combat.

The eight ship squadron moved out to englobe the derelict freighter, and in doing so brought themselves into the outer perimeter of the voidstrike mines at roughly the same time. The communications channels erupted in confusion as light attack craft after light attack craft found itself locked up and launched on by mine after mine. A ship would maneuver to evade one missile, and in doing so enter the attack range of two more mines.

Of the eight light attack craft dispatched to probe the derelict, three managed to limp back to the CV Viimein’Laiva’Elossa, trailing atmosphere and despair the whole way.

Kokko’Liekki Laiska’Vanha’Verta nodded in satisfaction. He hated to lose ships and sapients, and the loss of five light attack craft and their twelve sapient crew members each was rather painful. But it was far less painful then losing one of his destroyers and its two hundred and fifty sapient crewmen.

“Battle Information Center, Kokko’Liekki. Analyze the data from the scouts please. I want the mines tagged for elimination by the destroyer squadron before we approach the derelict any closer.”

“Kokko’Liekki, BIC. By your will. Passing targeting data to the destroyer squadron for prosecution.”

“Good. Recovery Command, Kokko’Liekki. Start prepping your sapients. The Fanatical Purifiers have set mines outside the derelict, so expect more traps inside the ship too. I would prefer to lose a remote rover over a sapient if any losses are unavoidable.”

“Kokko’Liekki, Recovery Command. Heard and understood. We are preparing boarding teams now.”

Admiral Supesu shrugged. She had hoped the voidstrike mines would get more than just five strike craft, but it seemed her opponent was wary of traps. Admiral Supesu supposed that she could respect that. After all, the Twisted had been burnt by a ‘trap’ before, if you could call The Third World’s suicide a trap. And it would only make sense for them to send out a command officer who had survived that fight to come hunting for her.

“Combat Information Center, Admiral. Any sign that the Twisted have picked up on or location?”

“Admiral, CIC. Negative indications of couterdetection at this time. We are well outside the range of known Twisted sensor systems.”

“CIC, Admiral. Time until Nomad Fleet is ready to FTL out of this system?”

“Admiral, CIC.Three hours for all ships to complete FTL preparations.”

“Thank you CIC. Guns, are we in missile range of the Twisted fleet?”

“Admiral, Guns. No ma’am, we are not. Mass drivers have the range, but hitting a mobile target at this distance would require a cooperative target with a predictable vector and velocity and / or acceleration.”

“Very well Guns. Get with Tracking please, and set up for a single mass driver salvo on the Twisted battle group. I intend to only fire the Solar Wind’s guns once, just before we FTL out. No other ships will be firing.”

“Admiral, Guns. Affirmative. What are your targeting priorities?”

“Focus the salvo on the carrier. I’d like to kill off some of the smaller ships, but they are more likely to evade the incoming rounds. The Carrier will probably live, but crippling it will send it back to the shipyards for repairs, which will make them lose out trail.”

“Guns, Admiral. Understood. I will inform you when I have that firing solution.”

Kokko’Liekki Laiska’Vanha’Verta had an itch in the back of his empty eye socket. The recovery crews had found nothing unusual. No traps, no unexplainable bodies. Just the single crippling meteor cannon shot to the drive array, the hull breaches were boarding craft had made forced entries, and dead sapients in the corridors. Some had managed to fight back, but there was no indication that they had met with any success. The main cargo hatch had been opened, and the ore had been dumped out of the hatch on its pallets to be picked up by waiting ships.

But the itch in Laiska’Vanha’Verta’s eye socket would not go away. He did not believe in fate or foresight, but Laiska’Vanha’Verta was starting to believe in instincts. And his were prodding him now, warning of another trap he hadn’t seen yet.

“BIC, Koko’Liekki. Any sign of FTL transitions?”

“Kokko’Liekki, BIC. Null sign of FTL transitions into or out of the system since our arrival.”

“They are still here…”

“Kokko’Liekki, BIC. Say again?”

“BIC, Kokko’Liekki. Disregard my last.”

“Kokko’Liekki, BIC. By your will.”

“Cryer, send word to the battle group. All ships are to go to evasive pattern Kiertamalla’Kaarme at this time. Expect meteor cannon fire incoming from unknown vectors until we detect FTL signatures exiting this system.”

“Kokko’Liekki, Cryer. By your will.”

“Steersman, go to evasive pattern Kiertamalla’Kaarme.”

“Kokko,Liekki, Steersman. By your will.”

“Admiral, Tracking. Target ship is no longer cooperating.”

“Guns, abort the salvo.”

“Admiral, Guns. Standing down to FTL transit stations.”

Admiral Supesu blew out a frustrated breath. The Twisted had figured out that something was up in the nick of time. There was no point in pushing her luck any further.

“Communications, send the farewell. Helm, get us out of here.”

“Admiral, Communications. Farewell sent.”

“Admiral, Helm. Willco. Engaging Distortion Thruster Assembly.”

“Kokko’Liekki, BIC. FTL signatures! System north, mass estimates indicate one titan class ship, ten capital class ships, and twelve frigate class ships.”

“BIC, Kokko’Liekki. Clarify. Are the ships in question entering the system or leaving?”

“Kokko’Liekki, BIC. Apologies. FTL signatures are for ships leaving the system.”

“Heard and understood BIC.”

“Kokko’Liekki, Cryer. Incoming message, text only. Broken Empire common, machine translation. Message begins. Quote ‘I make methane in your area. Your mother was a vermin, and your father smelled of prostitutes.’[2] End Quote. Apologies Kokko’Liekki.”

“Cryer. Heard and forgiven. The Fanatical Purifiers taunting us as they cowardly turn and flee. Pass a proclamation to the battlegroup. Maintain evasion pattern Kiertamalla’Kaarme for the next three hours, then return to normal station keeping procedures.”

“Kokko’Liekki, Cryer. By your will.”

“Steersman, the proclamation applies to you as well.”

“Kokko’Liekki, Steersman. By your will.”

“Tracking, you have the watch. If anything come up, I will be in briefing one catching up on paperwork.”

“Kokko’Liekki, Tracking. I have the watch. By your will.”

The Solar Wind slowed back down to reasonable speeds as she approached a nameless, planetless red giant of a star. There was absolutely nothing in the system of any interest aside from a few water-ice asteroids, and it lay far off of the Twisted Empire’s known trade routes. All of which made it perfect for Admiral Supesu’s purposes. It was a convenient chart reference and gravitational anchor to hand the Nomad Fleet on while the Solar Wind set about its next construction project: building a third Hawkwing class carrier.

The Tent class ships of the Provisioner branch dropped into stellar orbit and spread their solar arrays to drink in the light of the star. The Protector branch set up a rotating patrol for the Hunter class frigates, setting the Hawkwing to keep a close watch over the tents and the Raptor to watch over the Solar Wind as she set about her work of erecting a scaffold to house what would become the Crane. It would take almost an entire year to complete the Crane and her attached hunter class escorts, but a fifty percent increase in the fighting strength of the Protector branch was worth the delay.

It would also give the Nomad Fleet’s Research and Development teams tome time to tinker and experiment. Admiral Supesu did not expect any radical breakthroughs, but even incremental improvements would be worth consideration. Designs were in the works for a semi modular destroyer that could be built almost as quickly as a Hunter class frigate, as well as for a more substantial mobile shipyard vessel for the Producer branch. The shipyard in particular would mean a substantial reduction in the construction time of capital ships, as the Solar Wind would not have to set up scaffolds for each individual ship.

Admiral Supesu leaned back in her command chair and brought up some paperwork for review. She had plenty of time to wait, and her people would have plenty of time to train.