Chương 12: Nova Wars - Chapter 11 - The Hard Way Home

The storm has risen to fill our sails. And the blood is fresh beneath our nails. Warn them all: Momma, we're coming home. - u/Bergusia, Poet, Warrior, Shitposter Captain Decken had been born for the command deck. His natural leadership ability shone through as he stalked across the deck, his heavy armored boots thumping. He had commanded a hundred ships from a hundred command decks.

He had been Born Whole with the knowledge of multiple generations of warfare impressed into a brain already uniquely fitted for the rigors of space combat. He issued commands with firm authority, the rightness of his decisions almost filling him with an inner light. Hetmwit was none of those things. He was easily forgotten, more average than average, and people forgot about him between one syllable and the next when speaking to him. But none of that mattered.

"Roll ship 135 degrees, bring up Hellspace shield emitter twenty-two!" Hetmwit called out.

"Aye aye, sir!" Smiley snapped. He could feel the ship roll, like the inertial compensator wasn't quite working right.

"Give me a target, Mister Goofy!" Hetmwit stated.

"Capital ship found! Running targeting solutions," the robot stated. Part of Hetmwit marveled at how, as the hours had ticked by, the robots had seemed less and less purely difference engine driven creations of pure logic and mechanics.

"Guns free, Mister Fumbles!" Hetmwit ordered.

"Sir, Hellspace Shield three on Corvette Two is down! Enemy is concentrating fire on Corvette Five!" Mister Goofy called out from his sensor station.

"Keep me posted, Mister Goofy," Decken stated, staring at the holotank.

"Firing C++ Cannon!" the robot that Hetmwit had designated as Fumbles called out. There was the weird feeling of phantom fingers plucking at his bone marrow as Hetmwit glanced at the holotank. The capital ship already had a plume of debris exploding from the hull. In that split second glance he saw the enemy ship, weighing in the terratons, flex in the middle as the engines pushed against compromised or destroyed superstructure struts and the hull itself warped.

"Negative kill! Firing C++ Cannon!" Mister Fumbles called out again. The ship broke in half. Pieces began exploding and the two halves began shedding pieces.

"Sir, Corvette Two reporting boarders! Security has already taken 30% casualties," Mister Goofy called out.

"Number One, you have the helm," Decken snapped. He turned, putting two fingers on the side of his helmet.

"All ships, prepare to repel boarders. Mat-Trans, warm it up. I want me and Marine Away Team Four ready to go." The heavy blast door closed. Hetmwit concentrated on the fight, even when the lights dimmed for a moment.

"Capital Ship Twenty-Three is breaking up! Scanning for new target!" Mister Goofy stated. Hetmwit nodded, feeling sweat under his fur. His legs and arms were cramping like he had run a marathon, his stomach was twisted and painful. Part of him, deep down inside, was screaming and running in circles.

"New target found, Neckpunch Class Dreadnaught! Running targeting solutions!" Mister Goofy called out.

"Target acquired. Load C++ cannon," Mister Hefty stated.

"Magazine level down to 30%."

"Understood," Hetmwit stated.

"Guns free."

"Firing main gun," Fumbles stated. The ship felt like it had jerked back from the recoil as the lights dimmed for a moment.

"Direct hit. Negative kill. Reloading. Main gun heat at 73% and rising," Mister Fumbles said. Hetmwit stared at the holotank. The twisted and scorched looking ships had abandoned attacking the planets, focusing on the small flotilla. The corvettes rolled and dodged, agilely shifting out of the way of missiles and torpedoes, taking the beam weapons on the strongest part of their shields. Hetmwit had always thought that either you avoided getting hit or you died in naval combat.

He saw Corvette-Three take nearly thirty missiles on one of the battlescreens, then roll to present a fresh screen to the next incoming barrage of nearly fifty missiles, then rolling again to intersperse the port-side screen, which had regained strength. He had learned, in the hours that the battle had been going on, that the real key was avoiding giving the enemy too many firing angles on you.

That you wanted all enemy fire to come in from one, two at the most, directions so that the shield could be rolled away when they got weak so they could recharge and the emitters cool down or even rotated out in careful synchronization. Speed and agility weren't armor, but it could keep the enemy from pounding on the armor.

"Corvette Three reports no damage," Mister Smiley said.

"Incoming missiles at two two three by one one one," Mister Goofy called out.

"DEFENSIVE MANEUVERS!" Mister Smiley snapped out. The ship seemed to lean heavy. Hetmwit could swear he heard struts and beams groan and, weirdly enough, the snapping of canvas cloth being put under sudden tension. The frigate rocked and shuddered, the lights dimming and coming back.

"Hellspace Shield Four down! Rotating vessel. Rotating up new Hellspace..." Mister Hefty started. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"BOARDERS ON DECK TWO!" Mister Goofy said.

"Marines are engaging." Hetmwit nodded. He reached down, knowing his hands were shaking, and unsnapped the retaining strap of the heavy pistol on the belt of his armor. He drew it slowly.

"Marines are taking casualties," Mister Hefty stated.

"Understood," Hetmwit said. He undid his harness and slowly stood up, turning to the fact the heavy blast door. The pistol was heavy in his hand.

"Corvette Two reports boarders repelled," Mister Smiley stated.

"Understood," Hetmwit licked his lips nervously.

"Boarders have taken main corridor. Are advancing," Mister Hefty stated.

"Captain has boarded the flagship," Mister Smiley stated. The lights flashed.

"Firing C++ Cannon. Direct hit. Target is breaking up," Mister Goofy said.

"The Captain has engaged the boarders," Mister Hefty stated. Hetmwit just nodded, still facing the heavy blast door. Somehow, even in vacuum, he could hear screaming, screeching. Howls of rage and fury. It wasn't coming across the radios, the communication system, but somehow transmitted through vacuum.

"STATUS CHANGE!" Mister Goofy called out.

"HELLSPACE PORTALS OPENING!" Hetmwit swallowed.

"Slush at 83%, heat at 73%, magazines at 11%, tesseract primary mass tank at 8%," Mister Hefty stated. There was an enraged shriek that slowly trailed off.

"Enemy vessels are withdrawing through Hellspace portals across the system," Mister Goofy stated.

"Boarders have been repelled," Mister Hefty stated. The door engaged, slowly raising.

"Bogey Thirty-Seven is still making for the stellar mass on a least time course," Mister Goofy stated.

"Flagship is returned. Captain is returning to the bridge." Hetmwit still gulped, raising his pistol. He sighed in relief and lowered the pistol when he saw the Captain standing in the passageway with the sword in one hand and the SMG in the other. The Terran's armor was gouged and raked, dull burning red in the deep parts of the rents and tears, smoke somehow oozing off of the damage to waft through the vacuum. The teeth of the sword were glowing a sullen red and telltales were lit on the side of the SMG.

"Status, Number One," Captain Decken said, clomping in.

"Enemy is withdrawing from the system," Hetmwit said, holstering his pistol. Decken moved up to the holotank.

"Makeup of Bogey-37?" he asked.

"Unknown. Mid-size ships. Nine in total," Mister Smiley stated.

"Distance from stellar mass?" Captain Decken asked. Hetmwit buckled himself back into the seat.

"Three light minutes," Mister Smiley said. Captain Decken stood for a long second, staring at the holotank.

"Charge the cores. Run a course for Olipnat Concordiant Prime," Captain Decken said.

"What? Why?" Hetmwit asked. Decken turned and faced Hetmwit.

"We have to warn your people. Warn them what is coming," Decken said.

"STATUS CHANGE! MISSILE LAUNCH DETECTED FROM BOGEY-THIRTY-SEVEN!" Mister Smiley called out.

"Target?" Decken asked. To Hetmwit the Captain seemed to give off a weird combination of anticipation and resignation.

"It appears to be the stellar mass," Smiley said.

"Course ready. Hyperspace cores at full charge. Chronotron drive ready," Mister Smiley said.

"Drop an FTL recon probe," Captain Decken said. He turned.

"Plot a microjump, out near the Oort Cloud."

"Aye aye, Captain," Smiley said. There was a faint swooshing sound. Hetmwit had learned long ago that the sounds were all added by the computers. He doublechecked the astrogation and navigation data and loaded it into the navigation system.

"Bogey-37 has just made transit through a Hellspace portal," Mister Goofy stated.

"Enemy forces?" Hetmwit asked.

"None in the..." The stellar mass, in the middle of the holotank, suddenly had purple spots erupt on it.

"EMERGENCY TRANSIT!" Captain Decken roared out. Hetmwit slapped the button. Everything turned inside out as they flotilla jumped to hyperspace for less than ten seconds. Hetmwit tried not to throw up inside his own skull. The ships streaked back into existence with a large flare of visible light and the sound of a smithy being dropped from a great height as the ship's compensators bled off massive amounts of energy.

"What?" Hetmwit managed to gag out.

"Put the data from the recon drone right here," Decken snapped from where he was standing by the holotank.

"Run the data for a course of Olipnat Concordiant Prime."

"Aye aye, sir," Mister Goofy stated. The holotank wavered. The stellar mass appeared. The purple splotches were ejecting huge plumes of burning purple fire as the splotches spread. Hetmwit opened his mouth to ask what was going on when everything went white and the holotank reported "SIGNAL LOST" in red letters.

"Get us into hyperspace as soon as possible," Captain Decken said. He turned and looked at Hetmwit.

"We have to warn your people."

"Who are they? What happened?" Hetmwit asked.

"I don't know who they are," Decken admitted.

"But I know what they just did. I've seen it before. If they're willing to do it here, they're willing to do it to every system your people inhabit."

"What did they do?" Hetmwit repeated.

"They Hellspiked the stellar mass," Decken said. He paused a second.

"They nova-spiked it." Hetmwit swallowed down his fear.

"Navigational data ready," Mister Smiley said.

"Time to Olipnat Concordiant Prime?" Captain Decken asked.

"Four days," Mister Smiley said. Captain Decken looked at Hetmwit.

"Let us pray to our gods that we arrive in time." [The Universe Liked That] The atmosphere had been pumped back into the Nell, meaning Hetmwit could take off his armored vac suit and actually use the fresher, eat a meal from a plate instead of a tube, and sleep in a bed. Three days had passed. The whole time, Captain Decker had gone over replays of the battle over and over. Several times Hetmwit had watched video of the Captain fighting strange beings. Some had four arms, some two.

Some were shaped like spiders, some bipeds.

All of them had a crust of thick black pebbled material on their skin, with cracks that shone with a sullen red light. All of them had wide open fanged mouths that drooled wisps of burning fire even in vacuum. Their weapons looked like standard weapons coated in resin then baken in an oven until parts were cracked and smouldering.

The Captain had torn them all apart with that sword with the clattering toothed chain on it or shot them point blank with that heavy SMG, using tight controlled bursts to shatter the boarder's bodies apart. Every time, they fell into chunks, like smouldering coals, and then crumbled away. When Hetmwit had asked what they were, Captain Decken had admitted to not knowing. The flotillas drives were charging for the last jump before they hit Olipnat Concordiant Prime.

The plan was to drop out of hyperspace just inside the Oort Cloud and transmit ID until the Olipnat Concordiant Prime Navy could rendezvous with the flotilla.

"They suckered me," Captain Decken sudden said. Hetmwit looked up from where he was checking over Mister Fumbles's diagnostic results.

"Captain?"

"They suckered me. Right here. They figured they couldn't win right here," the Captain said. Hetmit stood up and moved to the holotank. He could vaguely remember that section of the battle. When the enemy had concentrated everything they had on attacking the Nell and trying to glass the settlements on the planet.

"They increased the pressure as they brought in this task force," Captain Decken said.

"They got close with the Helljump Portal, about as close as you can get, then had the task force run at minimal signature." Hetmwit nodded.

"That's when they pushed the boarding parties. Anything to keep us occupied," the Captain said.

"Could we have done anything about it?" Hetmwit asked. Captain Decken nodded.

"They were in C++ cannon range, as well as in range of the Foraker Class missile pods," he said.

"We could have knocked them out of the sky within minutes of their translation to real space." He turned away from the holotank.

"They suckered me," he snarled.

"Like a boot midshipman."

"Make the enemy see what they want to see," Hetmwit quoted Decken's words back to him. Decken gave a barking laugh.

"It's a bitch when it happens to you." Hetmwit just nodded.

"All right. Give me a status on the flotilla, then jump to hyperspace, warn your people," Decken stated. Hetmwit nodded, tapping the table. He opened various windows.

"Corvette Two and Corvette Four have been repaired. Corvette Five's weapons are down, no way to fix them outside of a shipyard. Corvette Six lost its port pod launcher, no way to repair it," Hetmwit stated.

"Other than that, we're back to as good as we're going to get."

"Mass tanks?" Captain Decken asked.

"Topped off last stop."

"Arms lockers?"

"Fully loaded."

"Marines?"

"Remanufactured or repaired," Hetmwit said. Decken stood up.

"Very good," he clonked toward the door.

"Let's warn your people."

The ships dropped from hyperspace in stages that made Hetmwit's stomachs hurt.

"Sensor readings coming in," Smiley reported.

"Onscreen," Captain Decken said. The screen rippled and cleared. Hetmwit jumped to his feet, swearing. The system was awash in burning ships and fire. Two windows showed those twisted and burning ships raining fire down on two of the three planets. The third, Prime World, had a fierce fight around it. Cities were burning on its surface. His eyes sought out the continental land masses, recognized them, then moved to the edge of the continent.

The city looked intact even though one of the enemy ships was moving into the orbit to be directly above it. He turned and stared at Captain Decken.

"My mom."