Wasps
The bridge of the Merciless was one of Commodore Jacob Valent's favourite places, bar none. In schematics it was efficient, a broad oval that served as a well-protected hub for all commands aboard. In images it was classically designed with black panels and rounded edges that reflected like chrome, the seats and stations spaced out just right so everyone could work in comfort while they stood during standard operation or sat during alerts.
The technology used in its design utilized lighting, air circulation and sound buffering fields to make sure everyone could perform at their peak. Interfaces were intelligent, learning from the operators and adjusting to the needs of the moment using non-invasive neural tracking along with traditional inputs and holographic displays.
Lessons learned in design from Lorander, Earth, Issyrian, countless corporations, other races and Ayan's team were incorporated into the entire ship, balancing efficiency with the creation of enjoyable spaces. The oval bridge used subdued lighting overall, adjusting illumination for each station depending on the demands of the user. Jake's space, the circular platform where his command seat was placed, was dimmed the most so he could concentrate on looking at his crew and what they were doing. The holographic display around him faded whenever he looked past it at someone like Finn who was manning the Engineering station, or Kadri, who was running the Scanning and Sciences section of his ship. Every department had their own leader and a console on the bridge around the captain or his first in command. The rest of their staff were at stations behind them, where they were close enough to communicate quickly and clearly with their Commander or Chief, but sound baffled enough so the Captain wasn't overwhelmed by standard chatter.
Jake looked to his command interface, a ring of holographic status windows around him, and was glad to see a report from Flight, which was run by Lieutenant Commander Looph - a Nafalli with almost silver fur - that Sticky had been able to retrieve Carnie. His suit put him into stasis after detecting a medical emergency. "I'm going to direct Sticky to deliver Carnie to Haven Shore Medical," she said.
"Good call, I have a feeling that ship is going to engage us at too close a range for us to safely let them into a retrieval bay," Jake said, turning his attention to the fighters that were responsible for keeping targets at a distance from the Merciless. They were slowly losing ground. A group of five fighters led by Fury were doing their best to fend off a swarm of the smaller, less deadly enemy fighters. "Any chance we can get a vulnerability analysis on these bugs, Lieutenant Commander?" Jake asked Kadri, who was directing her team of four science specialists through their analysis of scan data. She'd told them a lot so far. The fighters they were seeing were coming through short wormholes that originated just outside the edge of the solar systems' asteroid belt.
"The front of those ships are less vulnerable than the rear, where they have short antennae, a small sensor panel and their main thrusters," she replied. "Our database doesn't have anything like this, so we're figuring out a new ship and species type here."
"Do your best," Jake said, looking at the fighter for a moment. It looked like some kind of four-legged, four-armed insect that fit into a complex spaceship carapace. Its head was behind a fully transparent metal shield. The pilot seemed to plug into the ship in several places biologically and technologically. Some inlets and outlets seemed obvious, while others were less so. The reaction times of the small fighters was as good as some of his best pilots.
"We're trying to get a good shot at these fighters, but they're staying close to that freighter and if they give us a chance to hit them from this distance, they're right next to one of our fighters, so we don't get much of a chance," Lieutenant Commander Huun said. He was a short, squat burrower Nafalli who had dark brown fur and reminded Jake of cartoon bears that he faintly remembered from Jonas' childhood.
"Just keep trying to get your shot. Is the antimatter aboard the Cloud Break still stable?" Jake asked. The scan they had of it was alarming. There was a balanced core inside the ship that should remain safe for a century, but their scans saw that there were several insect creatures wrapped around it. The casing had been scratched at until the shielding was less than a millimetre thick. There were two hundred and thirty-three life signs aboard. All of them were human, and all of them looked like they were in a deep sleep. Their scans turned up the identities of several who were from Baila, a massive civilized world with a system of terraformed moons and large stations that was less than five light years away. He knew of it. The last he heard was that it was a ruin, an empty wasteland that had been ravaged by machines after the holocaust virus. Artificial intelligences outnumbered humans and other intelligent races by a ratio of nine to one, they never had a chance. If these bugs with Edxi DNA were finding survivors there and bringing them along for their attacks, then Jake had to save them and find out if his fears were true. He didn't give his supposition on why the humans were brought along more than a moment's thought or share it with his crew. They were handling enough as it was.
"Report from Navigation," Commander Agameg Price said. "Two more ships coming in. Both are freighters from the same company as the Cloud Break. Used for local service before they were damaged. It's the same as its predecessor: roughly repaired, two hundred thirty-three humanoids aboard. They are on an interception course."
Jake looked at the Scan and Sciences results on the two ships. Just like the first one, the hull was covered by enemy fighters that clung to it like the insects they were. One had several of the larger, more dangerous vessels. "Kadri, turn our secondary scanner bank all the way up." Antimatter alarms went off, marking the new arrivals. There were creatures wrapped around the ship's core, ready to breach containment and cause a massive explosion at any second. "We need to keep a safe distance. Go evasive."
"The Excalibur is reporting in," Lieutenant Commander Liara Erron said. "They have cleared their sector and are offering assistance."
"Tell them to check in with Fleet and thank Captain Worton. Our situation is about to be resolved," Jake said.
"Aye, aye," Liara replied.
Jake checked their shield status and, at a glance, he could see that they had barely been scratched. One of the fighters holding off the enemy, piloted by Slider, slipped behind the Cloud Break and came back into line of sight with low shield power and damage to its sensor suite. There were still enough fighters there to do damage if they focused their attention on the Merciless, and they were hiding their firepower. "All fighters, return to the Merciless immediately."
"You heard him," Fury said. "Hard burn back, cover Slider. We're going to do this in box formation, hold for five seconds then break so the Merciless' big guns can get a shot at whoever's unlucky enough to chase us." He ordered.
Ashley's course adjustments kept the new freighters far enough away so an antimatter explosion wouldn't do any damage to the Merciless. It was good flying, but he saw a problem. "Ashley reports that the manoeuvres the enemy are making look like they are trying to push us out of position faster than before, enlarging a space so they can jump other ships in," Agameg relayed from his position in the second command seat. He was right behind the Sciences and Helm stations. "I concur."
"Keep your distance, but fly under them," Jake said. "Liara, alert Haven Defence." He watched as the fighters held their box formation on one of his holographic displays then split. The enemy fighters that were following them were blasted with high velocity anti-fighter rounds from the gunnery deck of the Merciless. The nine Edxi ships were reduced down to three in bursts of metals, viscera and components. The remaining ships split off and returned to the cover they brought with them, the Cloud Break. "Tell your people; good shooting today," Jake told Huun as he saw that none of the rounds that missed the enemy fighters hit the freighter behind them. The enemy fighters on the newest freighters leapt off the hulls, starting an acceleration run towards the Merciless. "We get all the scans we need, Kadri?" Jake asked.
"Yes, Sir," she replied. "Your Sciences department is happy."
"Good. Tactical; take those freighters out with our main batteries. Aim for the antimatter cores," Jake ordered.
Huun stood straighter than normal as he marked his targets and passed the order. There was a slight shake as a barrage of ninety heavy intelligent shells were fired from the largest auto-cannons aboard and less than a second later there was a super-hot bloom of light where two of the enemy's repurposed freighters were. Everyone on the bridge knew there was no other choice. The enemy were holding four hundred and sixty-six people prisoner on those ships for reasons unknown, but they also had enough antimatter to seriously damage, possibly destroy the Merciless. Jake didn't let himself flinch. It wasn't his fault. The enemy put him in that position. He looked to the tactical display and saw that the small portion of Samurai Squadron that was left behind to put some distance between the Merciless was almost a safe distance from the Cloud Break. The freighter was turning, firing its engines and starting to accelerate towards them. The fighters opened up with weapons from where the few remaining enemies clung to the hull of that ship, and as if to show that they knew who the leader of the five-fighter group was, they all shot for Fury. The seven small fighters attached to the hull of the Cloud Break wouldn't do much damage on their own, but together they launched a focused line of quill like rounds that exploded on impact that numbered in the hundreds.
He jinked, dodging most of the assault. "Cover Fury! His shields are down!"
"Do not fire back at that freighter, you'll pierce the hull and could set the core off," Fury said as he fought to spin his fighter so his forward shields took the next wave of hits while flying evasively.
Slider moved into the path of some of the enemy rounds, draining most of her shields as she crossed behind him, but there was another wave right behind it. It was aimed expertly, catching Fury just as he was pulsing his thrusters in that direction. His shields went down, canopy armour was compromised, then his suit failed an instant before he was killed. Jake watched as his wingmen and women crossed the safe distance line. "Take that freighter out," he ordered, highlighting the Cloud Break on his tactical display. "Flight, get ready for retrieval."
"Aye," Looph replied. "Our Emergency Response ship is ready to launch."
The Cloud Break exploded in a white ball of fire the moment the first rounds from the Merciless hit it, its last antimatter reaction destroying everything for several kilometres. "Target destroyed, the engagement board is clear," Huun said quietly. "That was the only way."
"It was," Jake said. "Kadri, Liara; get a package ready for Fleet Intelligence. I want to know what the brightest minds in the fleet think about what we're seeing. Looph, link up with ships in neighbouring sectors and find out how many losses their fighter wings have taken."
"What am I trying to discover, Sir?" Looph asked, her silvery muzzle turning towards him.
"It feels like we're being tested. If those smaller fighters started focusing their fire on one of our Uriels at a time, we would have come out a lot worse." Jake said, checking on Minh-Chu's group. They had finished clearing their sector and were signalling for relief. The Merciless' Flight Control officers were passing the signal on to Fleet, and Jake wondered how soon another ship and fighter wing would show up to relieve them. "I feel like the enemy is investigating, not invading."
"They just lost over a hundred fighters," Huun said.
"To a colony that can make what we're seeing, I'm guessing that was nothing. If they have larger ships, they've made sure that we're not seeing them." He scanned the database to see if any other ships scanned anything other than the fighters they encountered and saw that he was right. "Instead of using their own capital ships, they're using salvage from the biggest ruin within ten light years. If you think like we do, they lost over two thousand fighters today, but if you think like an insect running a large colony, say with a few million drones, then it's a small cost."
"They were transmitting the whole time," Liara said. "It's indecipherable, but it's a language."
"Then there's something out there receiving, something close to the edge of the solar system, maybe hiding in the asteroid outer belt. Alert Fleet. There's something we haven't seen, and it's learning a lot about us," Jake said.