NOVEL WEB Book 3 – Chapter 1
01:11, January 1st, 2135
“Coming out of hyperspace now.” Selina announced.
Kayden watched as the kaleidoscope of colors on the viewscreen quickly faded, resolving themselves to the star-speckled blackness of regular space again. His eyes darted back and forth across various viewscreens and touchscreens around him, checking instrumentation readouts and ensuring that the stealth drive which cloaked them was functioning properly. Once he was satisfied he took a moment to glance around the bridge of their ship, the Broken Shackle.
On either side of him sat his Vrul and Kel advisors, Mirana K’Lani and Elara Nerys. As was typical of all Vrul, Mirana was dressed in her spacesuit with her helmet covering her face. The grey-and-white base layer of her suit clung to her curves, secured tightly to her body by a set of pauldrons, greaves, and vambraces. In a rare show of vulnerability she’d pulled back the hood of her armour, exposing the wires and tubes running between her neural link, atmospheric scrubbers and the in-suit computing apparatus on her back.
Just once, I’d like to see what she looks like underneath there. Kayden thought to himself for the umpteenth time. Of course, the smallest exposure to bacteria or viruses might kill her, so I probably won’t be getting that chance.
By contrast, on his other side sat Elara. Her blue eyes were narrowed as she quickly flicked through several screens of information, absorbing it all while biting her bottom lip cutely. It was a surprisingly human expression, and if not for her blue skin and messy white hair Kayden could have sworn she was human herself. His eyes traced her body appreciatively, noting that she’d apparently made some modifications to her standard-issue Kel Logistics Corps uniform, exposing far more cleavage than he’d remembered it having.
[“She made the modifications before we left.”] A voice rang in his head. [“She’s becoming much more comfortable with the idea of you as her romantic partner, and wants to entice you.”]
It's working. Kayden responded in his head before tearing his eyes away from the Kel beauty, glancing over at the source of the voice in his head.
Ali’s blue eyes met his before grinning at him. Most of the synthetic skin of her android body was covered up by a black skintight bodysuit, but Kayden appreciated the view nonetheless. Her silver hair was tied into a neat bun behind her and her pink lips blew him a quick kiss before winking at him, her grin widening.
It's awful hard to focus when you do that, Ali.
[“You focus 17% better during battle when you’ve received an explicit promise of sexual favors afterwards. I am giving you that promise.”]
“They’re talking in their heads again.” A new voice said from one side of the bridge.
“It is my turn with him tonight.” Ali shot back, turning to look at the new voice.
“Sure, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want details.” A second new voice said.
Kayden chuckled to look at the last 2 occupants of the bridge. Standing side-by-side were Selina and Dawn – both of whom were dressed in skintight bodysuits similar to Ali’s. In many ways they were a study in contrasts: where Dawn was curvy and voluptuous, Selina was lithe. Dawn had long red hair with two black demon-like horns protruding through it, whereas Selina had short black hair with cat-ears sticking out. Dawn’s eyes were yellow, whereas Selina’s were bright blue. Dawn had a whiplike tail that ended in a spade, and Selina’s tail was covered in black fur.
“Focus, flyboy.” Selina teased as she glanced down at the screen of her workstation. “We’ve got work to do, and Ashley is expecting a scouting report.”
Taking a deep breath, Kayden refocused on the task at hand. “Alright, lets give it to her then. Ali, what are we looking at?”
The lights of the bridge dimmed further before a blue holographic map of the system appeared in front of them. Ali strode into the middle of the image, causing it to distort slightly before zooming in on a planet highlighted in yellow. As the rest of the bridge crew turned to look at her, she began to speak.
“Welcome to the Trappist system, specifically Trappist Prime. Despite being a barren world devoid of life, the Sol Corporate Interests established a mining colony here in 2086, with its inhabitants living in a series of partially buried habitation domes. The colony has grown considerably since then, and now accounts for 28% of all raw minerals used by the SCI.”
“Understood, but what about the more recent history?” Kayden pressed.
“Two weeks ago, the SCI’s naval forces retreated further away from Earth. Voidborn fleets overwhelmed the remnants of the home fleet in the Alpha Centauri system, forcing them back to their tertiary rally point here. The SCI continues to wage a ground war on Alpha Centauri – similar to the one they’re still waging on Earth – but without naval assets they are vulnerable to orbital bombardment.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “Two days ago, what was left of the SCI fleet called for assistance on all channels, saying that the Voidborn were advancing even further, attacking the Trappist system. Since then, we’ve intercepted many transmissions regarding a series of skirmishes across the system – something that I can now confirm given the presence of a not-inconsiderable amount of starship debris.”
Kayden shook his head in disgust. “We should have come sooner.”
“You know why we couldn’t.” Elara countered. “It took almost a month to repair and rearm Sanctuary’s fleet.”
“And it’s not like we were sitting idle either.” Selina added. “Our combined patrols with Port Vega and the other independent systems have been keeping the Voidborn hemmed in SCI space.”
“Except for their incursion into Roccan Alliance space, yes.” Ali added. “The Roccan Navy is still fighting to retake the Bernard’s Star system. The timing of their incursions into the independent systems coincides with them attacking this system, so it’s likely they are transiting from here into independent space.”
Kayden shook his head and refocused. “What’s left of the SCI Navy?”
“They are here, in orbit around Trappist-h.” Ali said, the holographic image zooming out. “A pair of cruisers, a dozen frigates, 4 corvettes, and several wings of fighters and bombers. They appear to be engaged, fighting off a small Voidborn reconnaissance party.”
“That’s all that survived?” Dawn replied, shaking her head. “That’s…not a lot.”
“Their main fleet was decimated in the first few days of the conflict.” Kayden said through gritted teeth. “We intercepted some of the casualty numbers. It…wasn’t pretty. Once it became apparent that they’d lose Earth, a lot of the survivors fell back and joined the Roccan counterattack too.”
“Kayden.” Ali said tersely. “Voidborn ships have just entered the system in orbit above Trappist Prime. Looks like a carrier with several escort frigates and corvettes.”
Everyone in the room reached for a screen as the hologram in front of them disappeared. A list of sensor readouts appeared in front of Kayden showing the tonnage and configuration of the ships. The list grew before his eyes as more and more ships began to appear, either from hyperspace or deploying out of hangar bays.
“Shit. Kayden, they’re deploying bombers and landing craft.” Selina said. “The SCI fleet is out of position too, they’re not making it back in time to prevent the landings.”
“Based on the power readings from the fleet, they’re spinning up their hyperdrives.” Ali confirmed. “They’re going to make an in-system jump. They won’t be back in orbit for another 2-3 minutes though.”
“That might as well be forever.” Selina said, watching the colony’s battered orbital defence systems weakly try to repel the attacking forces.
“Should we move in closer?” Dawn asked. “Try to prevent them from landing?”
Kayden gritted his teeth as he shook his head. “No. We’re here to observe. We don’t have the firepower to handle that kind of a fight, even if the SCI manages to scamper back and protect the colony.”
“You’re right.” Dawn nodded. “We should call in Ashley and the rest of the fleet. It’ll be enough to win this battle.”
Kayden narrowed his eyes, weighing his options. “Maybe. It’ll be a tough fight though. Is it worth it?”
Elara turned to him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that in a war of this scale, we need to be careful how we use our resources.” Kayden explained. “Listen, I don’t like it any more than you do, but this colony is a relatively minor one. The SCI can’t make use of the resources here with Earth occupied, and the Roccan and Lokken already source their own minerals from within their borders. Every minute the Voidborn spend invading this colony is another minute we can spend regrouping and rearming for the real fight ahead of us.”
“It just seems so…callous.” Elara said. “Trading lives for time like that.”
“That’s the cold calculus of war.” Kayden said, his expression hardening. “The colonists and army forces understand that calculus just as well as we do. It’s something all humans intuitively understand – sacrificing themselves in battle for a greater cause.”
The bridge went silent for a few moments as the large screen in front of them split into two views. The one on the left showed the swirling colors of hyperspace flickering out as the SCI fleet frantically retreated and engaged the Voidborn in orbit. The one on the right showed a tactical map of the planet that highlighted hundreds of landing craft, fighters, and bombers descending on one of the habitation domes. Kayden gripped his command chair tightly as he saw dozens of them explode, hit by whatever anti-air weaponry the colony still had.
In the end, their efforts proved to be ineffectual. The landing craft touched down en masse outside the habitation dome, disgorging thousands of troops before rising back towards the ships in orbit. They carefully avoided the defense turrets around the formal landing pads, choosing instead to land further back and allow their troops to make the approach on foot. As they did the bombers began to strafe whatever fortified positions the SCI army set up around their orbital cannons, trading fire back and forth with the beleaguered defenders.
Kayden stood, determined to bear witness to their pain. He watched in silence for several moments as the energy shields around the habitation dome started to flicker before failing, allowing the Voidborn forces to enter the structure. He occasionally glanced to the side to view the battle in orbit, watching the two sides grind each other to a stalemate.
“Kayden.” Ali said tersely, interrupting his thoughts. “You need to see this.”
The tactical map disappeared, replaced by a grainy view from a security camera. In front of them was a writhing mass of Voidborn creatures – quadrupedal lizard-like monsters with metal needles grafted to spindly appendages on their backs, snake-like creatures with metallic arms affixed to their torsos, and ponderous crab-like creatures with enormous cannons bolted to their carapace-covered backs. To the back were even more creatures that Kayden didn’t recognize, but they weren’t his focus.
Instead, he was focused on the bipedal figure in the middle of the group. She strode confidently through the horde, her metallic wings flexing as she did. Even through the grainy image Kayden could make out the purple organic-looking carapace which covered her body, as well as the black snakelike tendrils sprouting from her head which could almost be mistaken for hair from this distance.
“Where is this?” Kayden asked, recognizing the figure instantly.
“On the planet. I hacked into the SCI security systems.” Ali replied.
“And it’s current? She’s down there now?”
“Apparently, yes. I believe it is an opportune time to remind you that the Voidborn are hive-minded. The current hypothesis by our science teams is that their command signals are being directed by the queen herself. By eliminating her, we eliminate their supreme commander – thereby significantly hampering their forces.”
Kayden strode quickly back to his command chair before sitting and beginning to strap himself in. “Good thing we reloaded our guns before leaving. Looks like we’re going to need them.”
“What happened to the cold calculus of war?” Elara said, strapping herself in as well.
“The equation just changed.” Kayden replied. “If we’ve got a chance to take out the Voidborn Queen, we’re doing it.”
“I’m calling Ashley now.” Dawn said. “We’re going to need reinforcements.”
Selina glanced up at the security camera footage for a moment, watching the Voidborn tear through a bunker without breaking stride. “That hyperspace jump will take an hour, minimum – and that’s not accounting for any last minute preparations they’ll need to make. This is going to be over before then. We need to buy the defenders some time.”
“How? That fleet will destroy us in minutes.” Mirana reminded them.
Kayden shook his head. “We’re not going to face them head on. We just need to destroy enough of their bombers and landing craft to give the SCI army forces a chance. We can fly between the fleet in orbit and the planet, intercepting them as they return to the carrier.”
“While avoiding fire from above?” Elara questioned. “That’s going to take some pretty fancy flying.”
Grinning for the first time, Kayden reached over to his prosthetic arm and pulled out a universal control cable before connecting it to the port in his command chair. His neural link transferred the vast amount of information from the ship directly into his mind – everything from sensor readouts to system controls. He quickly located the ship’s intercom system and addressed the crew.
“Crew to battle stations. Strap in – things are about to get bumpy.”
He'd barely closed the channel before powering up the engines, causing them to dart forward through space. Knowing that every second they wasted would increase the chances of them being seen prematurely, he diverted power from any non-essential system to the engines, pushing them even faster towards the quickly-approaching planet. Despite their dire situation his grin widened, enjoying the feeling of blasting through space for just a moment longer.
“10 seconds until we’re in weapons range.” Ali said distantly. “Powering up all guns.”
“Focus fire on the landing craft!” Kayden ordered as they neared the cloud of relatively small Voidborn ships. “That way they can’t reinforce their troops down there.”
The moment they were in range, weapons emplacements throughout the ship began their barrage of fire. Kayden’s grin widened savagely as their combined energy and projectile rounds ripped through the shields of the Voidborn landing craft before pummeling their hulls. He slowed for a few moments as explosions began to bloom around them, sending dropships pummeling to the planet in pieces.
Knowing that the element of surprise wouldn’t last long, Kayden targeted the wing of bombers converging on their position and unleashed a pod of dozens of homing missiles from a launcher. He watched for a moment as they closed the distance before slamming into their shields, draining them completely. There was a brief pause before the remainder of the hailstorm of missiles smashed into the bomber’s hulls, blasting them out of the sky.
Energy weapons for energy shields, projectile weapons for armour, and explosions for everything. Kayden thought to himself, his drill instructor’s words echoing in his mind.
He took a moment to watch his joint human, Kel, and Vrul crew begin to reload the missile launchers before reorienting the ship, giving their gunners a better angle with which to shoot. In moments they found themselves in the middle of the formation of landing craft, desperately blasting them out of the sky as they rose towards the carrier. He distantly heard Selina cackle with glee as she took manual control over one of the guns, sending a barrage of rounds through the broken hull of one enemy ship and into another.
“I’d hate to be in one of those things!” Mirana cried out as she watched another half dozen transports fall. “It doesn’t look like they have much in the way of shielding or armor!”
“They’re meant to be disposable, just like their soldiers!” Elara replied.
An energy blast from the Voidborn fleet above them glanced off their shields, causing the ship to shake. Knowing that they were out of time Kayden began to juke side-to-side, dodging several more blasts as he did. Hoping they’d done enough damage to the Voidborn landing fleet he pushed the engines to full throttle again, zooming away from the aerial battlefield. The few bombers that tried to give chase were either shot down or left behind as they hurried away, dodging fire from the fleet overhead as they did. Once they were far enough away he turned the ship’s cloak back on before relinquishing control of the ship to Selina.
“Ali, hail the SCI flagship for me.” He said as he pulled the control cable out of its port and retracted it into his prosthetic arm.
“Channel is open.” Ali replied smoothly. “Audio only.”
“SCI fleet, this is Kayden Reynolds of the independent colony Sanctuary. We’ve come to render assistance.”
There was a booming sound before the response came. “An independent? What the hell are you doing here? And why can’t we find you on our sensors?” The male voice said with a drawl that reminded Kayden of old videos he used to watch on the extranet about the American West.
“The answers to both of those are a long story. I know you could use some help. We’ve got some friends on the way, but it’s going to take them a little time to get here. Can you hold out?”
Another booming sound came over the radio before the SCI captain responded. “I have no idea. These Voidborn are tough sons of bitches.”
“I recommend a fighting retreat back to Trappist-b. Divert power from your weapons to your cruiser’s energy shields, and use them to shield the smaller ships in your formation. Our fleet will emerge next to you as soon as they can.” Ali supplied helpfully.
“You heard the lady.” Kayden added. “Can you do it?”
There was a brief pause before he responded. “We can’t leave the colony undefended.”
“They won’t be.” Kayden promised. “We’ll keep using my ship as a screen, doing hit and run strikes against their bombers and landing craft. I’m going to land down there and see if we can take out a high value target – the Queen is down there.”
“You’re going to need help.” The voice said. “I’ll give you my command codes and tell any forces you come across to fall in under your command…if you’re willing to help me out.”
“What do you need?” Kayden questioned.
“There’s a convoy of mostly civilian craft down there, packed with noncombatants. They were planning on making a run for Port Vega when we got attacked. Those people are still on board, ready to take off. If you can keep those ships intact we can still make the run when all this is over.”
Taking a deep breath, he nodded before seeing the visible relief on both Dawn and Elara’s faces. “Alright. We’ll protect everyone we can.”
“Thank you.” The voice said. “Transmitting authorization now. If any of them give you any guff, tell them Commander Duke sent you.” He paused for a moment before adding. “Good hunting out there. Give my best regards to the Queen.”
