Countryman was in the middle of teaching a class on Psionic arts. So few had mastered what they had learned that he had chosen to teach some of what he had learned to those who had displayed talent. Although they already knew it was only a matter of time before everyone could use the arts. He shifted a bit as he referred to the holograms he had prepared.
“Psy mages don’t simply manifest a firebolt and throw it at an opponent. The known psy arts don’t work that way. Instead, we take elemental psy and channel it through our bodies. This comes with several benefits. Defensively by channeling the energy through our bodies we become immune to the element we are channeling. Now while it is possible to spark a fireball with thought alone, it is far more efficient to channel fire attuned psy energy through your body and unleash a fireblast. The longer you have been channeling said fire energy the more powerful the blast, and the more quickly you can draw more.”
Suddenly a hand was raised, he acknowledged the hand, and the young woman the hand belonged to asked, “Is there an upper limit to how powerful a channeled blast can be?
Countryman nodded, and replied, “Yes there does appear to be a limit. We have not determined a pattern as that limit differs from person to person. It does seem to be connected with age though. In general the older you are the higher your limit.”
A younger girl raised her hand and was acknowledged. “What happens when fire hits someone who is channeling fire? You said they are immune, but what happens to the energy?”
“Good question. The energy blast is pulled in and absorbed by the psionic energy flows the person in question is channeling. The energy is used in the next attack they use, and reduces the time it takes to reach their limit...”
The next person with a question did not even wait to be acknowledged and just blurted his question out, “What if they were already at their limit.”
Countryman sighed, “I was just about to get to that. Interestingly enough, it does join the flow, and they still get the boost, but they can’t hold this extra energy for long. How long depends on the person, but it does have some interesting applications. Anyway today, I will teach all of you how to channel an element. Each element has a different feel and effect. I want you to pay attention to how it feels when you channel it.”
A few minutes later, Countryman was observing the class channeling their element for the first time. With every person, the element they first channeled was the one they had the highest affinity for. Countryman had a very high lightning affinity, with fire just a bit behind that. So when he had first tried the arts he used the lightning element. Fire was not far behind, and with time he figured out how to combine the two elements and how to advance the one. Plasma was an advanced form of the fire element. Not that any of these boys and girls would be doing that any time soon.
Suddenly an ensign entered the room. She quietly came up to him, without disrupting the class, and said, “Sorry for interrupting you, sir, but you wanted to be informed when task force 15-11 returned. They arrived just a few minutes ago and will be docking to take on supplies in about ten minutes.”
“Thank you, ensign,” said Countryman. As the ensign left he dismissed the class, and made his way down to meet up with Greyman. By the time he got there, the ships in question were already docked, and Greyman was giving them their briefing.
----------------------------------------
The captain was in the middle of getting her briefing when Supreme Protector Countryman entered the conference room she was in. On the projector was an image of the special ordinance her vessel was being loaded with. The Type VII AMF Torpedo, a specially equipped AMF torpedo perfect for her mission, and Grayman had just begun briefing her on it.
“The Type VII was designed not only to include a full stealth module but with long-range targeting in mind. It comes complete with a full guidance system and can track maneuvering targets out to ranges of 1.2 million kilometers making it one of the longest ranged torpedoes in our arsenal. Against other targets, it can accurately lock on and hit any target in sensor range. Beyond that and you will need a spotter probe to ensure a hit. A small control computer and sensor array were also included, including a retargeting system. If her primary target is destroyed, the Type VII will automatically locate a new target and vector to intercept. She carries only a medium warhead, but that is enough for most targets. She does not carry a shield penetrator module like most torpedoes, but the Type VII does include a robust armor penetrator allowing it to punch through most armor types. It is of the same type as those employed on types I through VI, so nothing your crew won’t be familiar with.”
She was impressed. They had few weapons that were effective at hitting a maneuvering target at that range. Most such weapons were missiles, not torpedoes. Missiles, unlike a torpedo, carried complete propulsion systems, so where a torpedo only had a limited ability to maneuver a missile had no such limits. Early missile designs got all their thrust from onboard engines, but modern versions used catapult launchers. These catapults were not dissimilar to torpedo launchers and fighter catapults as they all used the same basic principles. The speed boost brought missiles up to speed faster and reduced the amount of onboard fuel they would need, which increased their range among other things. Well, it increased their effective range. Not that it mattered much given that they did not often use ship-to-ship missiles. Most of the missiles used by the fleet were intended for use against fighters and other light craft like shuttles. As for ship killers they did have one design in use. It was a Photon Missile design, but not many ships in the fleet could use it. Seeing as most ships in the fleet lacked the required missile launchers. Sabers could be equipped with a missile launcher module if the mission required it, and most mining vessels carried them by default. It was a good long-range weapon effective out to 2.2 million kilometers, so it made a great deterrent weapon.
“What is the yield of the Type VII?” she asked.
“It’s a standard variable yield medium warhead. Rated for a maximum yield of 2200 Gigatons. It will do a massive amount of damage to most Cylovan targets. More than sufficient for what we want.”
She had to agree. Those would be the right tool for this job. That was part of the reason why there were so many different types of AMF torpedo in service. The same torpedo that would work for a Saber’s launchers would not fit those of a fighter, and then you also needed to consider the target. Why expend a high-yield AMF torpedo on a lightly armored frigate when a Photon would be more than sufficient. This is why the cheaper, but far weaker photons were still in use. Before she could say anything, Countryman spoke, “Captain. I see the admiral has just about finished the briefing. Good luck with your mission!”
She shifted her posture, and said, “I’m honored with your presence, sir.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
He smiled, and activated the projectors, switching the images, “I have a secondary objective for you, if you are able. We found a small fleet base not far from your main objective and we expect them to send ships fairly quickly in response to the attack. This is the perfect chance for testing a new type of torpedo. I want you to ambush the response fleet, and then take out the base as well. I have crews standing by to load them if you agree. Since these are experimental prototype warheads, you are free to turn down this side mission.”
He paused and changed the image, projecting a hologram of a torpedo. At first glance it was a Type VII AMF torpedo, but there were a few key differences at the front of the casing. “This is the prototype for a new type of Armor-piercing stealth torpedo. Taking advantage of several key advances this weapon can briefly phase out of normal space. Allowing it to bypass physical matter. At least in simulations. In preliminary testing, the phase generator burns out after about half a second. Still, that is enough to bypass the armor of most ships. Not much use for any other purpose. This side objective will test how effective these Phase Torpedoes are in combat. You should have a brief window to test their effectiveness when they just warp in, as their shields will be down for a few critical seconds.”
She remained silent for a moment. She could not say that the new torpedoes did not interest her. The captain was also glad that she was given the opportunity not to take them on. Many captains were not comfortable with prototypes, and she was among that number. From the sound of it, and the look of the hologram, only this ‘phase generator’ was untested technology so that reduced the risk of carrying a prototype weapon. She looked over the diagram in thought, and suddenly noticed that she recognized some of the components of the ‘phase generator.’ They were components used mainly in hyperspace technologies.
“Sir, this phase torpedo seems to rely on hyperspace technology, would that not make it vulnerable to hyperspace jamming?”
He smiled, “I’m impressed. It does rely on hyperspace, but that really depends on the jammer. It works by only partially shifting the torpedo into the first layer of hyperspace, which brings it out of phase with matter in normal space. A jammer could prevent that in theory, but in practice, the torpedo would successfully shift more often than it fails while in the vicinity of an active jammer. If you want to know more, I suggest you read up on hyperspace jamming.”
“I guess I will. In the meantime. I’ll take them, but I think I can work them into the main attack if you have enough.”
“We have a few hundred. Let’s talk details, and you can make the decision later. This is your mission after all.”
One week later, CX-22 star system:
The captain leaned forward, as she watched the screens. Her ships were already in position. The fleet had assigned her an additional twenty ships, mostly destroyers but one of them was a cruiser. The base was massive so they had to disperse so that they could fire at the targets they had chosen. They did not have enough ships to take out the entire base at once, so they had chosen targets of priority meant to inflict crippling damage on the first strike. The follow-up attacks were to finish off the base. Of course they would have to deal with the reinforcements or retreat, but she had a solid plan for this strike.
A small flash signaled the first strike, then the void began to light up. As more and more flashes in the distance signaled impacts. Each one doing terrible damage to her unsuspecting target. Her sensor officer started to give the report as soon as the last flash ended, “Multiple direct hits. All primary targets destroyed. Major damage to secondary targets. Second wave will impact in 15 seconds.”
----------------------------------------
The collective’s attention was quite suddenly refocused when one of its subroutines alerted to a sudden attack. As it started analyzing data and accessing damage other subroutines started work on countermeasures in case of a second attack. While at the same time sending orders to nearby fleet bases to mobilize reinforcements and supplies if needed. Before it could get much done, however, the system was lit up again as a second round of explosions went off in the system.
At least this time the shields were up, but they did not help as much as they could have. They did not even have time to get them to full strength. This time the sensors were running every type of active scan possible as well, and as such, they saw something, but it took the collective precious minutes to find it, by then a third wave of explosions rocked the system.
Damage was widespread, numerous fleet ships had been destroyed or disabled. The capital shipyard hubs were decimated and many of the smaller slips were in shambles. It sent orders to have additional ships dispatched, once it found that small bit of data. One sensor band, not normally monitored, had picked up a small object just 3.2 seconds before it had struck the shields of the dreadnought that had detected it. The readings of said object were familiar, it was a species 11247 compressed plasma torpedo, and it already knew how to defeat their stealth to a degree. It seemed that they had even better measures that they normally did not use. The new band would be useful, but only if it could get close enough to spot them, and that was inside the range of their beam weapons. That was the main reason that specific sensor band was not normally monitored, it was a short-range band, and one better suited for detailed scanning then area monitoring.
As its smaller ships dispersed to hunt for the enemy ships in case they fired again, it studied the readings. The readings were fuzzy, but the analysis gave it some information. Not enough to devise a solid countermeasure, but it now knew a little more. It had never seen weapons like these before. It had never considered a warhead much of a viable threat given that its shields could easily absorb most warheads. Only Sylnari devices could penetrate that, but the Sylnari devices were very different from the warheads everyone else used anyway. Theirs created a form of hyperspatial flux that simply tore anything it hit apart. At first, it had no defense, and while it was able to adapt the shields to the threat. The devices were so powerful the adaptations did not really help. Now it was looking at a more conventional weapon that could do the same, a plasma-based warhead that detonated with enough force to destroy most ships, and strong enough to seriously deplete the shields of most warships in the fleet, if not knock them out entirely.
It had seen them use the devices before, but now they were even more of a threat. Since apparently they could hide them from sensors, and worse deploy them is such numbers. As it began working on countermeasures, other subroutines maneuvered the fleet to protect against this attacking force.
Suddenly the moment those extra ships were arriving to flush out the attackers, they exploded. This time it saw the attacks coming, but since the shields were down it had to rely on the beam weapons for protection. They managed to destroy about a tenth of the warheads before impact, and this time something strange happened. The warheads simply passed through the armor and then exploded inside the hulls of the relief force. It had never seen anything like it. The collective had no idea how it happened, but it did detect some odd readings just before it happened. Some kind of flux, clearly hyperspace related, but the readings were very different from what it normally saw with hyperspace applications. Something to look into. At that moment it also finally spotted one of the attacking ships. Judging based on the size it was a destroyer, a lone destroyer. It sent twelve ships to aid the cruiser that spotted it, as an engagement began. While other ships continued to look for its support. The collective already knew how many torpedoes a single destroyer could launch, and one destroyer could not have done this. Its torpedo banks could not even carry enough torpedoes. Even if they could carry that many, they could not fire them fast enough to cause this kind of damage in the time period in question.
It expected thirteen ships to be sufficient to take on a lone destroyer. It expected it to have severely depleted its torpedo bay of high yield warheads. Especially since Species 11247 did not seem to put too many of them on its ships. What actually happened was very different. Over the course of the next few minutes that one destroyer managed to sink the cruiser, plus four of the destroyers and a second cruiser that the collective had sent after it before the destroyer jumped away.