If you have to fight, you fight like you're the third monkey on the ramp of Noah's arc, and brother, it's starting to rain. - Terran saying, Age of Paranoia
Every other species, you kill the officer or leadership unit, the subordinates give up or just dig in.
With a Terran, when you kill the leader, you have just removed the restraints.
Your life, your planet, your species is now forfeit. - Former Grand Most High Sma'akamo'o, from I Have Ridden the Hasslehoff
Commodore N'Skrek stared at the screen as he watched more Mar-gite travel clusters warp into the system. He knew that most of them would warp back out after roughly an hour and all of them were were slowly rolling to gather solar radiation.
The planet had multiple large clusters around it, which were shedding orbital drop clusters that fell through the atmosphere before separating into individuals that spread out and then, weirdly enough, glided in for a final landing. They didn't care where they landed, ocean, land, mountains, cities.
They'd congregate where there was food.
Ships were lifting off of the planet. Some didn't get far before they started tumbling or exploded in mid-air.
Death blossoms were opening for large ships to come through, move to a large death blossom, and vanish into it. Most of the ships showed damage, some were streaming energy behind them.
There was hardly any Confederate Space Force Naval ships in the system, not very many System Defense Force ships either.
As he watched, three vanished in a bright flash.
Better to scuttle the ship and kill everyone onboard than be eaten by Mar-gite, he thought to himself as another System Defense ship exploded with all hands after reporting massive multiple hull breaches.
The Knock It All Out was the only ship from the task force that had made it to DYN-772343 and it had dropped into a complete whirling nightmare.
More of the massive Mar-gite clusters came in. Outmassing the Giga-Clusters by a factor of 10,000 or more. They immediately sent apparel to the stellar mass, cruising at entry speed. There were five lines of them, and as N'Skrek watched, the lead ones warped out.
"Give me data on the nearest systems within known Mar-gite range," he said.
"Aye, sir," the Lieutenant on the intel console answered.
He could feel the guns firing. The ghostly plucking at his bone marrow. The scrape of a hot needle against his nerves. The wincing lance of headache from the big spooky matter compression cannons.
"STATUS CHANGE!" was called out. "HELLSPACE BREACH!"
He looked at the holotank just as the vessel finished emerging.
"Newcomer is in the terratons range. Squawking Confed transponder. ID is: Catch These Catching Hands Sucker," was the answer to the question that N'Skrek hadn't asked yet but would have.
"Newcomer is firing on the Mar-gite," someone else said.
N'Skrek nodded.
"More of the big ones have warped in, keeping at the edge of the system, joining the previous convoy lines," came the information.
"Got it! Five systems within suspected Mar-gite range," the Lieutenant called out.
"Load a fast message torpedo. Get it all the way up the bands. Warn those system that they've got incoming Mar-gite!" N'Skrek said.
More data was coming in. Every planet in the system with even a hab-complex on it was being assaulted by the Mar-gite. They were pouring off the clusters that had moved into orbit.
N'Skrek knew that those clusters were nothing more than overlapping Mar-gite.
How the Mar-gite traveled at superluminal speeds was a mystery.
It was just known they did.
"Hands is requesting warplan interlock," another Lieutenant said.
"Lock them in. Let them know the planets are lost. We're just holding what we can before we have to retreat," N'Skrek said.
He hated saying it. He hated admitting it.
He was at another losing battle.
But the sheer weight of Mar-gite gave Space Force no choice but to retreat.
All fighting to the bitter end would do is give the Mar-gite more nutrients. Let them absorb the warsteel to built more outer shells with. They'd glom onto the power plants and drink the radiation like a hungry duck in a pond full of reeds and bugs.
"Signal from the Admiral. They want to know if we have any planet crackers," the Lieutenant asked.
"Tell him, negative. We have none in inventory," N'Skrek said.
"Catch is responding that they can crack the planets. They are asking for confirmations on which worlds."
N'Skrek swallowed thickly and stared at the display.
"Sixty, seventy, one hundred fifteen new warp signature in the Giga-Cluster or larger range exiting warp," came the word.
There were hundreds, thousands of pinpoints of Mar-gite clusters all over the system map.
"Fleet command is ordering everyone out," came the disbelieving voice. "Scatter to predetermined coordinates, warn the Confederacy."
"Catch is firing on... DIGITAL OMNIMESSIAH!" the oath broke through the CIC's normal dispassionate professionalism.
N'Skrek had been looking at the holotank when it happened.
The big black ship had fired its main gun.
The center of the planet had visibly dented inwards, a plume of molten rock had exploded from the far side, then the divot had bulged back out, shooting magma into space. The fire quickly spread across the entire planet.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
The inhabited moon took a single shot and shattered.
N'Skrek made himself watch as the big capital ship wiped out all the inhabited planets with single shots.
"Catch is targeting the gas giants," the Lieutenant's voice was back to normal.
N'Skrek watched on the holotank as the gas giants visibly contracted.
And then exploded into flame.
The whole time, the Knock It All Out was running for the resonance zone with every ship still operational under Confederate control.
The Knock It All Out and N'Skrek had been in system six hours.
When they had arrived, there had been nearly twelve thousand System Defense vessels and twenty-seven Confederate Space Force vessels.
Now, two hundred System Defense Vessels and eight Confederate Space Force Vessels ran for the resonance zone, all trading data, all firing at the boarding clusters, interception clusters, and fast attack boarding clusters.
The Catch These Catching Hands Sucker was following, it's guns hammering.
A glance showed him that the Knocker's guns were starting to overheat. The dedicated nanoforges were all overheating and spilling slush.
"Grey ships have made translation. Death blossoms closing."
And still more Mar-gite clusters were warping into the system.
"ANOMALY!" one of the CIC sensor techs called out. "ONE, FIVE, NINE, FIFTEEN!"
"Get scans, we're about to jump to hyperspace," Commodore Senvris said.
"There's one passing by a targeting buoy," the tech answered. "Activa..."
"BELAY THAT!" N'Skrek shouted.
The tech lifted his hands.
"Warn fleet, we jump now!" he activated his link to the Captain. "Captain, jump now! NOW!" He activated his link to the fleet's tactical operation control, whistling as loud as he could. "JUMP! JUMP NOW OR DIE!"
There was a sudden whanging noise from further back in the ship and everything shivered like jello for a second.
There was silence for a second.
"Is there a reason we did a crash jump, N'Skrek?" the Captain asked suddenly.
"More of those anomalies showed up. Every time they do, we get a white flash and the ship goes dead. This time, there was fifteen. We can't take the chance it prevents us from carrying a warning."
More silence.
"Understood. Keep me posted on any findings," the Captain cut the link.
N'Skrek closed his eyes and exhaled.
If he was wrong, well, they could court martial him and be damned.
-----
Lieutenant (Senior Grade) now Acting Captain Valendee stood up from what had been the Captain's chair, his armor hissing as he came to his now full height of nearly two meters. He took a step forward from what was now a throne, decorated in black metal, with plenty of spikes and skulls, and looked at his now Executive Officer, one Commodore Shreling. The Hamaroosan no longer looked like a nearly harmless creature. His face was scarred, with discoloration of his fur, and his eyes burned a bright red.
"Status?" Valendee asked. His voice was rough, rumbling, easily overriding the hissing of his armor.
"Space Force vessels are making for least time course for the resonance zone. Mixture of vessel types, from System Defense to active Space Force Naval vessels. Three groups of gray ships are heading for a single active Death Blossom," the Commodore said. His voice was low, almost menacing, and a tube came out of the neck of his armor, down his jaw, and hooked into his left nostril.
"Vessel status?" Valendee asked.
The Commodore looked at the boards around him. "We still have eighty percent of the Marines. Over seventy percent of the civilians we pulled off the station are still alive. Sixty percent of the Space Force Naval crew transponders are still active."
"Order the Marines to check every transponder. Sweep the ship, I want that filth scoured from this vessel," the Tnvaru officer said. "Take over DCC, get my ship together."
"Aye, Captain," His Hamaroosan officer nodded, reaching down and opening a channel as Valandee tapped his helmet, bringing up the loaded com-link channels.
"Gunnery Sergeant Chaskell," came the reply.
"This is the acting Captain," Valendee said.
"You sound... different," the Telkan Marine said.
"The price a Captain must pay to sail the fiery seas of Hellspace," Valandee said. "Do you have eyes on your Marines?"
"Aye, sir," the Marine said.
"I want a full headcount. Intercom system is out. We're using personal datalinks to get the crew together," Valandee said. He looked at the holotank in the middle of the emergency secondary backup battle bridge. "The system is lost to the Mar-gite."
"Captain, we've got control of the main guns," Shreling said.
Valandee just nodded.
"Right away, Captain," the Marine said. There was a pause. "Some of my men have gone through... changes."
"Unshielded exposure to Hellspace will do that, Gunny," Valandee stated. "Captain out."
He cut the link and moved over to the holotank. The comlink numbers were hovering around weapon systems, ship systems, as the Commodore got into touch with each group.
"Space Force has ordered the planets cracked and the gas giants burned," Shreling said.
"Run targeting solutions. Just in case," Valandee said.
"Aye aye, sir," the Commodore said.
Valandee watched as more of the massive Mar-gite clusters warped in and others warped out.
This is a full scale invasion. What came before were just scouting and probe attacks, he thought.
"Fleet is responding that their planet cracker armed vessels are lost. They are requesting anyone with the capability perform the duty," Shreling said. He tapped his armored fingers on the control board. "We have what we need."
"Of course we do," Valandee said.
It just felt right that the ship had such terrible weaponry.
He knew his thoughts had been altered by the strange energies of Hellspace. That the ever-burning fires had scoured away part of his personality.
And left behind grim determination.
He glanced at his XO, watching as the Hamaroosan officer worked quickly, becoming more and more efficient as he got used to the job.
The Hamaroosan people fought against those who sought to eliminate all life in the Galaxy before, he thought to himself. The Tnvaru stood shoulder to shoulder with them as allies and friends. We shall do so again.
Valandee wondered, briefly, what his clan would think of how he looked now. He lifted up the gauntlet and stared at it.
Burning red runes. Twisted barbed wire. Heavy black metal plates.
"Target solutions ready, Captain," the Hamaroosan officer said, looking up at his Tnvaru captain.
Valandee nodded. "Fire when ready, Number One."
Shreling gave the orders.
Valandee expected the ship to shudder or perhaps vibrate.
Instead, there was a solemn silence between the two men.
"Direct hits, Captain," Shreling said. He looked up. "Gas giants are compressing," he looked down. "We have ignition."
Valandee nodded. "Status of the Fleet?"
"Still retreating. Grey ships are gone. Death blossoms are closed."
"If the Mar-gite are forcing the Grey Fleet to retreat, what we're seeing is just the leading edge," he said. He moved over to the holotank and brought up a map. He tapped up the maximum known range of a Mar-gite cluster and stared.
Five systems.
"Status change, Captain. Fifteen of those metallic ships have entered the system," Shreling stated.
"Target them. Fire subspace foam torpedoes, maximum stealth," Valandee said.
He selected the one with the heaviest Space Force presence.
In days gone by there had been nearly 2,500 ships there.
Now, there was only 250 Space Force vessels.
He punched up the data and charged the Hellcore.
"Fleet has gone to hyperspace," the XO said.
Valandee nodded.
There was a bright white flash from where the technological ships were located.
Sparks jumped from consoles. Electrical arcs snaked across exposed bulkheads.
The lights stayed on.
"Guns are at 15% ammunition," the XO said. He looked up. "I recommend retreat at this time, Captain."
Shreling moved up to the holotank. "Think Fleet will make its stand there?"
Valandee nodded.
"It's their only choice," he said.
He paused.
"Is that our goal?" Shreling asked.
Valandee reached out and tapped the map, expanding it out. Out again. Out a third time. Zooming in on a simple single system.
"We jump here," Valandee said.
"There? Are you sure, Captain?" Shreling asked.
Valandee nodded.
"We, they, the Confederacy, need reinforcements," he said. He touched his helmet. "All hands, all hands, prepare for Hellspace translation."
Shreling looked up and nodded.
On the holotank the map gleamed and glimmered.
A single system burned brightly.
-----
The Seven Rings of Gehanna was a system shrouded in darkness. Set at the mouth of the Tartarus Dark Matter Sea, with the Eye of Gorthaur only a light week 'north' of the massive red giant named the Eye of Barad-dûr. The gas giants had burned away in the gaze of the Eye of Gorthaur, the inner planets devoured by the hunger of the Eye of Barad-dur, leaving only a single planet surrounded by six rings of asteroids, three toward and three away from the red giant.
The single planet was known as the Isle of Dread was circled by defensive systems, ship berths, stations, and other, more esoteric systems.
A Hellspace portal opened and a single massive ship slipped through, breaking the chains and sending the grasping hands sliding back into the portal before it winked out.
The system rang with a single shout.
DEATH METAL IS HERE!
The Catch These Catching Hands Sucker entered the home of the Dark Crusade of Light.
[The Universe Liked That]