The New Species 21 (Patreon)

Special thanks to my gf (who will be named in the published version of the novel but wishes to remain anon for now) for helping write this chapter in a female perspective!

Chapter 21

Subject: Captain Hendrix

Species: Human

Description: Mammalian humanoid, no tail. 6'2" (1.87 m) avg height. 185 lbs (84 kg) avg weight. 170 year life expectancy.

Ship: USSS Kali

Location: Sol

I hadn't had much of a chance to read since all of this started. I was only on chapter four of The Alumari Renegade Series Six Part 5. It was a nice gesture from Violet but I have no idea how to make it up to her. It. Whatever. The worst part about it was that every time I get to a good spicy part, something rudely pulls me away from it. Then I'd just end up being less invested when I finally got back to it and frankly, the part just wouldn't hit the spot anymore.

I had just opened it back up on my tablet when the Priority One came in from Violet. She wasn't aboard anymore, I think she's on one of the stations. I gave the order to turn us in the direction we needed to be facing and to charge up the guns.

The Kali is one hell of a ship. She's bulky but can move like an oiled up ice skater. And the firepower... This old girl can go multiple rounds with entire fleets if she had to.

Unless those fleets had US Battleships. I looked at our three beasts on the tac-map. The USSS Arumara, USSS Tripoli, and USSS Agincourt. Those were ships that you wouldn't call 'she'. The USSS Kali had class, a certain sort of grace about her that those ships utterly lacked. They even look like dicks. And the Mega-MACs, MACs, and Mini-MACs spread across their hull didn't look much different. Dicks on dicks.

Despite their phallic properties, it was considered one of the highest honors to be able to command one. To even be considered for the honor one had to be distinguished in some way. Usually with a Meritorious Service Medal or Decade Service Medal. I was already working on obtaining my MSM and the captains of the Arumara and the Tripoli were due for retirement by the time I would get my DSM. I fully intended to apply for the command.

If I had to choose between the two of the battleships, I'd choose the Tripoli. The Arumara is a Knuknu ship, and having a human commander may affect morale. The knuknu pretend to be open and welcoming, but deep down they're just like the rest of us. They prefer familiarity and a human commander wouldn’t go down well.

Being a battleship captain meant that when there wasn't a war on, you were essentially on leave. Even during a war, the ships rotated out frequently. It was one of the only posts you could get that would get you time off regularly. Probably because it was expensive as all hell to field one of those ships. Battleships inevitably become the biggest targets on the battlefield, and because of this, everyone aboard gets danger pay. Unless they're on leave.

So, more pay and more time off. That combined with the fact that my family would be proud makes the assignment irresistible. I'd probably even be able to afford to get them out of that rental unit. A nice housing unit fully paid off and with a proper kitchen. My husband, Phillip, will be so happy. He loves to cook.

I daydreamed for a moment about eating his Spaghetti Americani made fresh from a full kitchen with our two sons. It made for a picture perfect moment, but if we don't win this battle we won't have that chance. My family is on Titan, and this enemy is xenocidal. Captain Neil had told me about his findings and I couldn't be more relieved to get the no retreat order. Now they can't order me out of the system.

"Ma'am, weapons are charged and ready," said Lt. Eskin, one of two knuknu on my bridge crew.

"Roger. Once they get back into real-space scan for profiles and target the warp disrupter vessels as fast as possible," I said. "Actually, make it accurate AND fast, with a preference for accuracy. We need the beasts to be able to move around the battlefield."

The obvious advantage of the battleships were their massive cannons that could punch through several ships in a single shot. However, if those rounds missed and ended up crashing down on a colony, the results would be devastating. Because of this, the battleships could only fire if their rounds would exit the system on a miss. At the moment only the Agincourt had clearance to use their Mega-MACs.

I had once made the mistake of questioning this policy by pointing out that most of the planetary and planetoidal bodies in Sol were unoccupied. I was quickly and patronizingly informed about slingshot orbits. It simply wasn't a risk that we should be willing to take. After all, the rounds have the capability of leaving an impact crater larger than any nuclear weapon we've ever made. Which is to say that it could take out a large city and the surrounding suburbs even without the help of gravitational acceleration.

An inexperienced commander might question why the battleships were positioned the way that they were, but I knew that the reason was for spacing. One should always assume that the enemy has a trick up their sleeve and is stronger than you are, or one will be defeated in a most embarrassing way. If the three battleships were grouped up all it would take is a single shot from a superweapon to wipe them from the field. Although, that shot would likely also turn a planet into an asteroid belt...

"I need the ETA timer on my tac-map," I said to no-one in particular.

After a moment the timer popped up. Three minutes. I switched over to our system stats. Shields up, weapons charged, engines primed. All of our accompanying ships similarly prepared.

My gaze lingered on the readout for the USSS Roma, commanded by Captain McKenzie. When Violet had given her my order to return to the ship, she had argued about it. Said, 'I want to hear it from the captain herself, not a fucking pager.' Dumbass.

The regulations state that I could have pulled her command and confined her to quarters pending a court martial. When I saw the recording I had been mad enough to do just that. Violet convinced me to be lenient, pointing out that McKenzie had previously been part of an autonomous patrol and wasn't used to her CO being over her shoulder, let alone a subordinate to her CO giving orders.

I had made certain McKenzie knew this, as well as the potential ramifications for her stupid little outburst. I made it crystal clear that it doesn't matter if your CO gives you your orders in person or via fucking carrier pigeon, you follow them without debate or delay. Then I gave her a slap on the wrist in the form of a meeting with SR to correct her anti-AI sentiments. We're all a team, and if you can't play nice with your teammates you don't get to play at all.

Sighing, I switched back to the tac-map. 45 seconds left.

"When you have a shot, fire at will," I ordered.

"Aye aye, ma'am" came the reply from the bridge crew.

30 seconds. I felt a little nervous, as one always does before a battle. Even when you've got the enemy outnumbered and outgunned things can go wrong for you in a flash. Even a single miss can snowball into defeat.

20 seconds. I took a deep breath and held it for a bit before letting it out again. Adrenaline works great when you're in the shit, but it'll make you a shaky mess if you let it.

10 seconds. 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

I watched the tac-map. I waited for five more seconds. Nothing yet. Oh for fuck's sake, why is the ETA always wrong? I was about to open my mouth to joke about it when the enemy ships entered real-space. I watched as our systems scanned their profiles and matched them to the Omni-Union.

Battleships, Cruisers, Destroyers, Frigates, and Warp Disruptors. The intel file that Captain Neil had delivered mentioned carriers but none were among the enemy fleet. The final tally was... 578 ships total. More than expected, and not mathematically constant. Interesting.

"Firing!"

I watched as our opening salvo travelled toward the enemy at mind-boggling speeds. A few of their ships attempted to move, either to block the rounds headed toward the warp jammers or to get out of the way of the projectiles. Nearly a fifth of their ships were DIS within the first thirty seconds of the battle. We hadn't accomplished our objective, though. There were still warp disruptor ships among the enemy.

"Coordinate with the other long-range vessels and get firing solutions on those warp jammers. The faster we take them out the quicker we can wrap this up," I shouted.

"Aye aye, ma'am," came the reply.

I watched the tac-map as the USSS Arumara and USSS Tripoli began to approach the enemy on sublights. To the untrained eye, it would appear that they were impatient to get into the fight. But this was actually a fairly standard tactic for battleships that couldn't use their Mega-MACs. If you can't use your big gun, get close enough for the enemy to surround you and use the dozens of smaller ones. It's easier to get a bunch of kills when you're in a target rich environment.

This was a problem, though. Our intel demonstrated that the enemy was not afraid of suicidal actions. Not much could make it through a battleship's shields and hull, but a ship ramming them definitely could. Especially ships with antimatter and nuclear mines. One of our frigates had taken such a hit and had been pretty badly damaged. And that was with just one hit.

I went to press the comm button when I saw an emergency order from Admiral Bakir scroll across the screen. 'Arumara and Tripoli, return to your positions. Engaging in close quarters with the enemy may result in kamikaze runs on your vessels, which would be unacceptable.' Oh good, the Admiral's paying attention.

"Firing."

I watched as our second salvo impacted with the enemy. No dice, they were guarding the warp disruptors, and some of them had begun to spread out and approach our vessels. Our destroyers were fending them off, but it wouldn't be long before they were overwhelmed.

"Have the destroyers stay clear of our firing path and keep firing everything we have," I ordered. It's all we can do for now.

The enemy was firing but they weren't trying to position themselves for optimal firing solutions. They were heading towards our ships at full speed. The ships themselves were the enemy's primary weapons. They're machines, so loss of personnel must not be a concern for them.

"And remind them about the enemy's ramming tactics. They should be focusing fire on the ships nearest to them and avoiding close quarters wherever possible."

"Aye ma'am," came the reply.

Shell after shell impacted into the enemy's blockade, slowly chipping away at their numbers. I watched the tac map for an opportunity. Anything that would let us have a clear shot at the remaining warp disruptors. I noticed the alien ship, marked as RSV Lowelana, fighting tooth and nail just like the rest of us.

It was a little ship, but it had mobility and the captain seemed to be well aware of that. It was zipping around taking pot shots at weakened enemies. For some reason, it reminded me of one of those birds that ate pests off of rhinos.

Little birds... I debated launching our fighters. Fighters are very short range vessels that don't have a lot of firepower or much range. They're usually used in policing action, like pulling over a civilian vessel that isn't following proper docking protocol. We use them so infrequently that the possibility hadn't even occurred to me until now.

No, not yet. The enemy wasn't close enough for the fighters to have much impact. But it never hurt to be prepared.

"Have the fighter crews make ready to launch," I said.

"I'll give the order, ma'am, but they probably already are. This'll be the most action they've seen all year," Lt. Eskin said with a chuckle.

A knuknu's laugh is quite the sound. It echoes within their beaks, and so it sounds like a bunch of laughs all at once. I turned my attention back to the tac-map with a smile. We had managed a few successful hits against the warp jammers, but there were still about ten left. The enemy had nearly three hundred ships left in the fight. Even after our surprise attack and follow-ups, they still outnumbered us.

The hardest part of being a commander was having patience. Especially when you're looking at a display that's showing the ships under your command having their shields being whittled away. Sure, it was little by little, but it was faster than they could recharge. Moving to cover them would put us in the line of fire and at risk for kamikaze attacks. Fuck it.

"Move us forward, keeping our ships out of our firing solution. Use the PDLs and chain-guns to provide what cover we can, and deploy the fighters," I ordered.

"Aye aye, ma'am!" came the reply.

We started moving our way into position, firing as we went. Our macs were still aiming for the warp destroyers, but everything else was trying to kill as many of the enemy as possible. I silently cursed their damned blockade. Now that the majority of our destroyers were distracted, it would take minutes to clear a hole big enough to take out the rest of the warp disruptors. We'd likely have to take out damn near every one of those battleships and cruisers to pull it off.

I watched the tac-map as our fighters deployed. The ET201 fighter is the most advanced fighter to date. It boasted two 50mm guns that fired either Full Metal Jacket rounds, or HAPI (Heavy Armor Penetrating Incendiary) rounds. These rounds would punch through all but the most advanced armor plating and then combust violently with the atmosphere in a vessel. They're closer to thermobaric devices than incendiary bullets, but I don't get to make the acronyms. HAPTD isn't as catchy, I guess.

Well, actually no. Thermobaric devices are made to produce a shockwave. These make a shockwave, but they also cause intense fires using powdered white phosphorous mixed with the air fuel. Fires hot enough to fry ship systems like life support. Of course, for policing it was usually the standard 50mm FMJ that were loaded.

Judging from how ineffective the strafing runs were, the enemy ships probably didn't have any atmo. Or an internal atmosphere that was inert. Probably the former considering they're mechanical. It's a good thing the guns weren't the only payload the ET201 had. I smirked as I saw the first missile launch.

In addition to the two 50mm guns, each fighter is equipped with four missile bearing hardpoints. The missile of choice today was the Z782 nuclear device. I watched as the missile hit home on an enemy destroyer, completely disrupting its shields and vaporizing a chunk of its hull. If it were organics aboard, they would all be killed by the flash of neutron radiation. But the damned ship limped on... until the second missile struck the hole the first left. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all.

My satisfaction was short lived when I noticed that shields had started popping on many of our ships. Even the Tripoli no longer had active shields. It had been the main target of the barricade's MACs, and it was difficult to evade with such a large vessel. Thankfully it had top of the line armor plating, but if it continued to take hits it would eventually be lost.

"Ma'am... the warp disruptors..." Lt. Eskin said hesitantly.

"What?" I asked as I zoomed back out on the tac-map. They were gone. Most of the barricade and the entirety of the warp disruptors had just disappeared. I quickly shouted, "Don't assume we're the last to see this! Alert everyone that the warp disruptors are no longer a threat and they can use standard tactics!"

As soon as I finished my sentence a casualty notification popped. I sat in silence for a moment before I tapped to see who it was.