"The Mad Lemurs of Terra of yesterday are marching so they will have returned tomorrow to assault today. " - Tome of Illuminations of the Shattered Mind, Cult of the Defiled One
Field Captain Strechen stood on the bridge, staring at the holotank as the ship left Transit Space, dropping to 'realspace' with a shuddering groan that vibrated the entire ship.
Senior Scientist Hrekkel stood next to his very own private Way of the Means bodyguard, one Imperial Expediter First Class Ee'eerlee'u, one of the feared Empress Direct Action Hands.
Strechen had noted that they were always near one another and the Expediter Ee'eerlee'u, call me Leeu, often reached out to touch the smaller male as if it comforted her to do so.
Over the last few months of travel, shocks, and fear, Strechen understood the need for comfort very very much.
As she watched, Leeu reached out and touched Hrekkel's shoulder. The smaller male reached up, without looking away from the holotank, and put his hand over hers, squeezing gently.
On the holotank the system's primary star, Nal.Sheveki-229, burned a silent yellow. Planets were appearing as the scanners picked them up. Gas giants, barren rocks, three planets with atmosphere.
"I have drive signatures. Dra.Falten ID's," the scanner technician called out.
More pinpoints started showing up. Dozens, scores, then hundreds.
"It's a full fleet of the Empress's Might," the scanner tech called out. "The Empress's Divine Flower of Will Fleet."
More blips started appearing.
"Anomalous signatures registering in the terraton range," the scanner tech called out. "No drive signatures, no ID. Ten in all," the scanner tech called out.
The ten signatures were obviously heading toward ten of the fifteen planets.
"Correction, eleven, no, twelve anomalous signatures. Two more have appeared beyond the resonance zone," the scanner tech called out.
"We're getting a communication demand. The flagship In the Desires of the Empress is hailing us," the comtech said.
Strechen glanced over to where Tawtchee was sitting at an empty chair. His uniform was spotless, creased and pressed, and for a change he wasn't drinking a narcobrew or smoking a Treana'ad smokestick.
Instead, he was looking at the holotank intently.
"Put it through," the former XO of the ship, now Captain Helt.rika said. She tugged the bottom of her uniform blouse to make sure it was hanging correctly as the secondary holotank lit up.
The female that appeared looked harried and exhausted. "High Admiral Calfreka" was the ID tag next to the holographic representation of the officer.
"Identify yourself," Admiral Calfreka demanded.
"Captain Helt.rika, Seeker of Terrible Answers, in the service of one of the Empress's Direct Action Hand," Captain Helt.rika stated.
The Admiral looked out of the holotank, to the side, then nodded, looking back.
"Is your vessel armed?" the Admiral asked.
The Captain shrugged. "Lightly. We are an exploration and survey vessel rather than a warship," she gave a sharp, barking laugh, "We couldn't risk being mistaken for a hostile warship."
The admiral closed her eyes. "You can't help then," she said softly. She opened her eyes. "Get out. There's twelve already, there will be a few more soon so that there will be one of those cursed things per planet. Maybe a few more that will cruise through before warping back out."
"Additional anomalous contact," the scanner tech called out.
The Admiral closed her eyes and nodded, the motion full of resignation.
"What are they?" the Captain asked.
"We don't know," the Admiral said. She opened her eyes, looking angry and resigned. "They aren't ships, not like we know them. They get close to a planet and unroll, then break apart into millions of clusters. The clusters make landfall and begin eating everything. If, and it's a big if, our weapons penetrate the battlescreens of the large objects, our attacks don't have much effect."
The Captain glanced over at the holotank.
Strechen could see the data.
Two thousand two hundred kilometers long, four hundred kilometers at the wide end, fifty kilometers at the small, leading, end. It as an elongated cone.
There were thirteen in the system now.
"They just keep coming," the Admiral said.
"We have reinforcements," the Captain said. She rubbed her face, then tugged on her ear for a second. "Not much, only a handful of ships, but they have assured us that they can assist."
Long seconds passed before the Admiral replied.
Strechen realized that she missed the faster than light communication of the Terrors.
"Unless they can get through the enemy's battlescreens and rip apart ships thousands of miles long, I don't see how a few ships can help," the Admiral said. She sighed. "You know what, I'll take anything I can get."
"Just don't fire on them," the Captain warned. She winced slightly. "That would be a bad idea."
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"Hyperspace flutter," the sensor tech called out. "Task Force Steel Warhammer is about to enter realspace."
"Here they come, Admiral," the Captain said.
Strechen kept from smiling.
The words roared out through the ship, as if someone had used the PA system onboard. They howled from the very air itself, and Strechen was pretty sure even the Admiral and the enemy heard it.
FÁG AN BEALACH TÁ BRISTEOIR FÁINNE TAGTHA
Followed immediately by another roar.
RUITH A' BHANRIGH AIR NA CEANGLAICHEAN AIR A RIGH-CHATHAIR A SHLEAMHNACHADH
"New contacts! Twenty ships! All with Task Force Steel Warhammer ID's," the sensor tech called out.
Strechen again found herself admiring the ships as they appeared in the holotank. Massive ships, each easily twenty kilometers long. Not sleek, flawless lines, but built with sweeping arches, massive gun arrays, looking more like works of art than warships.
Ten seconds later the Admiral staggered back, covering her ears and wincing.
"Task Force Steel Warhammer signals all ships present and accounted for. No Transit Space alterations or injuries," the communications tech called out.
"Signal Warhammer we read their last," Captain Helt.rika said. "Invite their High Knight Aesir to join us in the conference call."
The communication tech nodded.
"What is that?" the Admiral half-screeched.
"Reinforcements," the Captain stated.
"Captain, sidecar communication request. Warhammer states it is a superluminal network to enable realtime communication between the fleet, ourselves, and their own Lord Captains," the commo tech called out.
"Bring them in," the Captain said. She kept from swallowing nervously.
The third holotank flickered to life.
The Admiral was in one section, Captain Helt.rika in another section.
A Terror was in the last one. Clad in a stark, severe uniform, blond hair cut short, blue eyes that still somehow held an amber glow, the Terror had a grim expression on its face.
Strechen was glad she had studied Terror facial expressions. She knew it was determination, not a threat display.
"I am Lord Knight Aesir of the Sancti Ordo Spiritus Tyr," the Terror stated.
"I am Captain Helt.rika of the Seeker of Terrible Answers," the Captain said.
The Terror nodded.
The Admiral, to her credit, just nodded several times fast. "I am High Admiral Calfreka of the Empress's Divine Flower of Will Fleet, aboard the flagship In the Desires of the Empress."
There was a moment of silence. The Terror looked to the side, then back.
"You've got a Mar-gite problem," he said. He looked to the side again. "You're evacuating the planet?"
The Admiral shook her head. "There are not enough ships. We have all essential personnel off-planet, but there isn't enough lifting capacity to pull the majority of the population," she sighed. "We can't stop those things. Our weapons can't get through their battlescreens, they land billions of creatures on the planet which start eating everything they can."
She shook her head again. "The Empress had ordered us to evacuate essential personnel, leave the rest."
The Terran's lip curled slightly for a split second. "And then?"
The Admiral pulled on one of her ears. "Then, we run to the next system and watch more of those things arrive to do it all again," she sighed. "We cannot put up a fight."
The Terror nodded. "All right. Have any made planetfall yet?"
The Admiral shook her head. "No, geometry was with us," she said.
"Two more point sources have arrived. Vector shows they will be moving through the system without intersecting any orbital bodies," the sensor tech called out.
"Move your ships away," the Terror said. He looked to the side. "Keep your distance."
"If you get too close, hundreds peel away from the larger mass and attack the ship," the Admiral said. "Once that happens, the ship is lost."
The Terror nodded. "For you, maybe," he looked to the side. "We're running a fireplan now."
"For what few ships you have," the Admiral said.
The Terror drew itself up. "We were invited in by Captain Helt.rika," he said. "I must ask you, Admiral: Do you need assistance?"
The Admiral thought for a second, then nodded. "If you think you can stop these things, then yes."
The Terror gave a sudden grin, exposing meat tearing teeth.
"Thine eyes shall show you the glory of our lord," the Terror said. He turned to the side. "Execute Warplan Flare of Morning."
Strechen watched as the ships suddenly vanished, seeming to streak off into the distance for a split second.
"Where..." the Admiral started to say.
THA FLURAICHEAN COGAIDH AN SEO
roared out from every surface, from the very air, as all twenty reappeared at various points around the system.
Strechen had learned to read the holotank over the journey.
Each of the Terror ships were roughly two million miles from the 'Mar-gite' ships.
The Admiral recovered, rubbing her ears. "What do they think they can..."
"Gravity distortions! Temporal distortions!" the scanner tech called.
From each of the ships there was strobes of pink or blue.
"Task Force Steel Warhammer is firing on unknown contacts," the scanner tech called out.
"These are Terrors, Admiral," Captain Helt.rika said slowly. "Not old junk, not rusting ships we found orbiting a neutron star, but actual Terror ships crewed by Terrors."
Strechen could tell that the massive ornate ships were firing broadsides. There were distortion paths streaking from the ships into the sides of the massive Mar-gite vessels. The ships began breaking apart, only to seemingly contract and then vanish.
There was silence for a moment.
The ships kept firing.
Strechen moved up and looked at the data.
The "Mar-gite" ships would get hit by the gravity surge and suddenly tear apart, only to vanish into itself.
The Terror was talking offscreen, his lips blurred.
Strechen moved over to sit next to Tawtchee.
"Are you frightened, Field Captain?" Tawtchee asked, staring at the holotank.
"No, why would I be?" Strechen asked.
The Mar-gite 'vessels' started vanishing.
"Because we couldn't even effect them, and the Terrors are destroying them in mere minutes," Tawtchee said. "We had an entire fleet here and could do nothing. They devoted one ship per enemy ship and the enemy is losing without any apparent effort."
Strechen stared at the screen and then suddenly got it.
"We have released a terrible thing upon the universe," Tawtchee said quietly.
Strechen just nodded.
"What... how are you..." the Admiral asked, tugging on her ear.
The Terror turned back. "Standard hyper-compressed carbon antimatter artificial singularities," the Terror stated. "It rips them apart with the accretion disk, the event horizon shreds them down to subatomic particles that are then destroyed by the singularity itself. The singularity can only hold together for a few minutes before it evaporates away in a stream of antimatter particles that then destroys any remaining matter before succumbing to entropic forces."
The Terror looked offscreen, said something that had his lips blurred, then faced the screen again.
"Standard Mar-gite counter-measures," he said. He frowned. "These ones crossing through the system, though. They're bigger than anything on record by a huge factor."
The Admiral nodded. "Those ones just move through the system before vanishing at the opposite edge from where they came in."
The Terror frowned. "I'll be launching message torpedoes. This region isn't clear of superluminal shades."
The Admiral just swallowed, nodding.
The Terror stared out of the screen for a long moment.
"If you wish continued assistance, tradition mandates that you have a representative aboard my flagship," the Terror said.
Strechen knew what was going to be said before the Captain could even say it.
"I will transfer representatives to you," the Captain said. She looked at Strechen. "Two of them."
The Terror nodded.
"Once we eliminate these Mar-gite, we should prepare for more," he said.
"Two more have just appeared at the edge of the resonance zone. Vector says they will cross the system without intercepting any orbital bodies," the scanner tech said.
The Terror looked at the Admiral.
"You need to inform your Empress," he said.
"Of what?" the Admiral asked. She couldn't believe that the Terror ships had destroyed the majority of the huge constructs already.
"This is a xenocide invasion," the Terror said. His face grew grim. "It isn't aimed at you."
"Who is it aimed at?" Captain Helt.rika asked.
"The entire arm spur," the Terror said. He shook his head.
"You are just in the way."