Star Crusades Nexus: Book 05 - Prophecy of Fire

• CHAPTER ONE
  
• CHAPTER TWO
  
• CHAPTER THREE
  
• CHAPTER FOUR
  
• CHAPTER FIVE
  
• CHAPTER SIX
  
• CHAPTER SEVEN
  
• CHAPTER EIGHT
  
• CHAPTER NINE
  
• CHAPTER TEN
  
• CHAPTER ELEVEN
  
• CHAPTER TWELVE
  
• CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  
• CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  
• CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  

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The heavy fighter losses sustained during the Great Uprising served as a reminder that the fighter program needed improvements. The existing stocks of Lightning and Thunderbolt fighters would be retained for years to come, but even the new Hammerhead couldn’t match the power and expendability of cheap robotic fighters. Though too late to participate in the fighting, the first squadron of X57 Avenger combat drones was activated aboard the newly commissioned Conqueror Class battlecruisers to serve alongside exiting fighter squadrons. Finally activated in 361CC, just a week after the Zathee standards were raised over the capital buildings on Helios, they would see action in their first few months of service.

Robots in Space

The battle of C34A should have been nothing more than a routine operation; instead, it became a watchword for one of the greatest military disasters in the history of the Helion military. It wasn’t even supposed to have been a battle, and in hindsight should never have been suggested. Even the name was itself something as a misnomer, as the Helions themselves were the agent of their own destruction. If superior forces had engaged the ships, it might have been inexcusable. As it happened, so the loss of every single soul spared them from the indignity at having been defeated by an inanimate object.

Twenty-one of the most advanced and powerful ships in the vast Helion Navy arrived at the allocated area with perfect timing and were well equipped and prepared for battle. As well as the ships, they were also accompanied by a dozen smaller vessels and over a hundred heavy fighters. Instead of glorious victory, the entire force was lost in the vain attempt at intercepting the deadly comet as it hurtled through space. The battle marked the lowest point in the Helion military for generations and was the greatest loss of military ships since the defeat of the Biomechs hundreds of years earlier.

The operation was conducted with a degree of planning and coordination that might be expected from the Helions. They approached the comet from the rear so that they might match its speed rather than smashing through it, something that would result in catastrophic damage as well as the loss of many, if not all the ships. Now traveling at nearly two hundred and fifty thousand kilometers per hour, the hunters and the hunted were finally in range, and the mission moved to the next phase.

Under the protection of a great cloud of fighters, a dozen large craft were launched to attach devices to parts of the comet. Each of these was at least five times larger than a fighter and carried the parts to assemble a complete gravity generator that would help move the comet off course. None had made it anywhere near the object before vanishing in a series of fireballs. There were no signs of debris that might cause the impact other than tiny particles of dust and ice that trailed the core. This immediately halted the plan to deflect the course of the comet by even a few meters using non-violent measures. This should have been enough to warn the Admiral and his captains that a new and more considered approach needed to be taken.

This time the fleet adjusted its course to avoid potential damage from the vast debris cloud that moved with the object. This meant the force of ships had to spread out by hundreds of kilometers. Weapon systems on the ships targeted floating debris that followed the comet like parasites. It took almost a full day for the fleet to pick its way through the deadly cloud so that they were position directly in front of swirling maelstrom. Once in front, it took incredible skill and bravery by Helion fighter pilots and the warship gunners to keep chunks of rock and ice from striking the ship. This was the only success in the entire operation and resulted in the entire group of ships being placed safely in the path of the blue orb.

Comet C34A didn’t appear to be anything more interesting or unusual than any other comet. It showed up as a glowing blue sphere on the dark background of deep space. It was the largest known comet in the system with a nucleus of over eleven kilometers in diameter. A light blue coma expanded around it like a shimmering cloud, and its trail extended millions of kilometers behind it. At the heart of the comet was a dense core of dust, rock, organic compounds, and ice that might have made it a rich target for mining and exploitation.

With the failure of the initial mining and explosives operation, the Helion flagship Horizon moved into weapons range and unleashed over a hundred atomic missiles. They rushed out from the missile tubes and covered just a short distance before each detonated prematurely, sending their cargo of fissionable material into the swirling cloud that was the coma of the comet. Thirty second later, every single ship opened fire with kinetic weapons. It was a hopeless attack and could be expected to achieve nothing more than adding a few more craters to the comet. In the middle of the onslaught, they suffered their first casualty. Horizon split in half, and a dozen blue explosions ripped through her superstructure as she was torn into fragments. The remaining ships were unable to change their course, so opened fire at whatever targets their scanners could identify. Some of their missiles locked onto their own ships and IFF systems failed. In a matter of minutes, the fleet and the comet became one, as chunks of debris, missiles, and pieces of rock moved about. The last phase of the battle for Comet C34A was over in less than six minutes, leaving the shattered hulks of the ships and over five thousand Helion dead.

* * *

“Gentlemen, I don’t have long. The stories of this impending doom are starting to unnerve the public, and the President wants it squashed, fast. What is the problem that you want brought to his attention so urgently? Has something happened on the Helion colonies?”

General Rivers, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs shook his head in reply.

“No, Mr. Secretary, our operations are continuing as planned. I asked you and the Joint Chiefs to come together to listen to something of much more concern. I have received a number of disturbing reports from the Helion Naval Institute, as well as from Naval operatives via Admiral Jackson, of a potentially devastating threat.”

He looked at the officer who waited patiently around the table along with the others.

“These reports could indicate a threat even larger than the current insurgency we are helping to eradicate. If I may?”

The Secretary of Defense sat down and sighed.

“Go on.”

All it took was a quick signal to the pair of scientists, both in their fifties and who were waiting patiently next to the display unit. They wore smart, though ill-fitting suits that suggested they were not their usual clothing.

“Doctor Steiner, if you will.”

The senior scientist nodded politely and then pressed a button on his personal secpad, and a video stream appeared. All of those present looked at it with a mixture of intrigue and surprise. The video shuddered and flickered before finally freezing to a still image of the massive comet. It was very grainy and to most of them was nothing more than a blue blob on the screen.

“Now, if you look here you will see the object,” said the senior of the two.

There was a deathly silence in the large briefing room. It was easily capable of seating nearly thirty people, but on this occasion less than a third filled its space. The ceiling was low, yet the inlaid sculptures throughout the room gave it a feeling of ancient opulence, almost decadence. All of the imagery documented the colorful past of Terra Nova, dating back to its first colonies and its struggles in the Great War and the Uprising. A slightly lighter section of wood showed the most recent artwork, one of the Fall of Terra Nova, a key event that saw the agents of the Biomech enemy driven from the capital world of the Confederacy and the founding of the Alliance, and the modern age. The room was windowless and only one door provided access. Two Marine Guards waited with their carbines resting up against their shoulders. They all watched the video stream as the comet continued on its path before it vanished with a white light.

“What exactly is that?” asked General Hammerstein, the Chief of Staff for the Colony Guard, the new military force that operated defense forces on each of the colonies. The scientist tapped several buttons. The comet shrunk in size and moved back to its initial point. The man pointed at a dark shape to the left of the comet. Admiral Jackson stood up and walked to the screen.

“Alliance ships have already charted this section of space during our patrols near the Black Rift. At first glance it looks like a piece of debris, flotsam if you will. In reality, however, this is actually the abandoned Helion remote outpost that used to provide long-range support for fleet operations near the Black Rift. It was being used to store materials and supplies but luckily was unoccupied at the time of the impact.”

The video stream continued, but this time at a much slower pace. The quality was still grainy, but it was possible to make out the shape of the orb and the spot that marked the station. The comet moved though the black dot and continued on its original course, with nothing but a bright white flash to indicate the fate of the station. The General gasped, but the others remained completely still. Admiral Jackson moved back to his position and sat down. The chief scientist continued.

“Our long-range scientific scanners indicate there is nothing left of the station, and the comet has continued on its path.”

The scientist paused and looked at the group of older men and women. All were military, apart from the Secretary of Defense who wore his civilian suit.

“Go on,” he said.

“Well, if you look at our projected trajectory, you can see the comet will pass through the orbit of the outer moons of Helios before striking the planet itself.”

“I don’t understand. You said just a few kilometers. It doesn’t seem that big, are you sure this is as significant as you say it is? We have enough problems, what with the Helion insurgency, and this political stand-off with the other aliens.”

The image on the screen was evidently insufficient to show the sheer potential destructive energy of such an object, and it clearly frustrated the senior scientist. He looked about at the group, rubbed his forehead, and then repeated his earlier summary, but in a language he hoped the Defense Secretary would actually understand.

“Defense Secretary, you recall the massive asteroid impact that was responsible for a planet-wide mass extinction of dinosaurs back on ancient Earth?”