Chapter 42: Chapter 36

Star People

Chapter 36

Advancements

Day Two of Operation Star Point, 1250 hours…

“Splash four.” Commander Barrett commented as he watched a short-range missile slam into an enemy jet and turn it into a fireball. This had been his fourth kill of the day. During the Cryterian War, he was already a quadruple ace with more than 20 victories. Now he was just one kill away from becoming a quintuple ace.

The Zedan jets were faster than their propeller-driven predecessors, but they still proved to be no challenge to the Star Hawks and Byattas.

This was by far the largest wave of enemy jets the Free Land forces and their allies had encountered. However, despite the higher level of aviation technology, the Zoderas were practically useless as their pilots were raw, inexperienced rookies. Most weren’t using their speed and altitude advantages over propeller planes and were getting suckered into slow, turning fights with the Mustangs and Warhawks. And it was no surprise that the Zoderas were easy pickings against the hardened veterans of the Star Alliance war against the Cryterians.

In the Starfighter designated as Red Hawk Five, Lieutenant Omar Abadi shook his head after making his craft do a simple reverse twist, putting him on the tail of a Zodera. He couldn’t believe just how green the Zedan pilot was. A quick burst from his kinetic accelerator guns and the enemy jet’s port wing was sheared off, causing the Zodera to plunge toward the ground while trailing smoke and flames.

At that point, his sensors indicated that another Zodera had managed to get within range to begin firing at him from above. Omar wasn’t too concerned as his deflector shields would very likely protect him from the cannon shells. And there was also the fact that his wingman had the Zodera in his gunsights and…

KA-BLAM!

A particle beam struck the jet on the fuselage, chopping off its tail. The pilot managed to bail out as his fighter spun out of control, fell to the ground and exploded.

Omar nodded as Red Hawk Six came up to fly beside his Star Hawk. The pilot gave him a thumbs-up before peeling off to find his next target.

Lieutenant Tamar Cohen and Omar had served together since the start of the Cryterian War. The destruction of the Earth had brought about one good thing. It had united the people as a whole. Before the Cryterians, the people of the Earth had still been warring with each other, even by the late 22^nd century. However, when the planet was completely destroyed, all human races had to let go of their ancient resentment and hatreds towards each other, as there was no planet to fight over any more. Survival became the main goal and eventually, after years of fighting a common enemy, all humans from Earth were now collectively designated as Terrans.

Once they had come to the world of Istaria, land and territory within the Alder Continent had been equally divided among all the members of the Star Alliance. There was virtually no conflict between the Terrans, the Catians, the Kyteeri, the Nemonians, and the Velor. Fighting a common enemy had united not only the Terran races, but the other members as well.

And it was this kind of cooperation which was pushing the Zedan forces back. On the Omaha, Juno and Sword fronts, Free Land forces were repelling the Zedan defenders with ease. Current Star Alliance technology was more than enough to handle anything the Zedan could throw at them.

But that didn’t mean that Star Alliance technology wasn’t going to advance any further.

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Polaris City, Mech Research and Development Facility #12…

“Are you certain that this will work?” Sureka asked as the female Catian engineer looked over the blueprints on a holo-viewer. Beside her was a male, Terran engineer.

“I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t. It’s completely feasible and it’s an idea that’s been suggested before.” Warren Hikes shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “Besides, you have to admit, it’s pretty cool-looking.”

“We’re talking about completely overhauling a Battle-Mech’s basic frame. It’s got to do more than just look cool.”

“Oh it’ll do a whole lot more than just look cool. And we won’t have to train a new category of pilot. We can simply cross-train the Battle-Mech pilots for aerial combat, while we can also train the Starfighter pilots for ground assault.”

“Good point. And when you think about it more, it would be more efficient to have a Battle-Mech that can be used by multiple branches of the services. Even though it won’t be ready to participate in our war against Zedan, it will still be quite groundbreaking in both aerial and land warfare.”

Warren used a pointer to indicate different sections of the blueprints. “We can easily implement Kyteeri Starfighter engineering for both atmospheric and space combat.  All computer controls and data storage will be provided by Terran and Velor technology. The life-support systems will be Nemonian of course. And all of it will be based on the Catian Battle-Mech platform. You might say this project will be a melding of all Star Alliance technology.”

As the two engineers discussed between themselves, a third engineer looked over their shoulders and gazed upon the blueprints. He grinned at what he saw and nodded vigorously with approval.

The plans were for the Star Alliance’s first transformable Battle-Mech. The new machine would be built on the standard Hunter platform, but the humanoid shape was deemed to have poor aerodynamics and wasn’t very suitable for atmospheric combat. In space, they did well enough with maneuvering thrusters, but a more compact and efficient shape was needed to effectively use its weapons. It would also be more energy efficient and would not need a transport vehicle to bring it to the battlefield.

The idea for a transforming Battle-Mech was not a new one. In fact, both the Catians and the Terrans had been considering the concept for several years, but they had neither the time nor the technology to research the possibility until now. After the Star Alliance had landed on Istaria, the project that had been shelved for over 5 years had been reopened since the destruction of the Planet Ravager.

The plan was to strip down the Hunter Battle-Mech to its most basic frame, and then redesign and modify the frame to be able to transform into a compact configuration that was both air and spaceworthy. At that point, they would add in modified Star Hawk engines for thrust, plus Byatta inertial dampeners. In addition to Starfighter designs, Kyteeri technology was also used in various air, land, sea and space ship designs. The actual transforming tech was basically Catian and would be controlled by the latest Terran hyperdyne computers. These systems had both holographic and manual interfaces for ease of operation. And the life-support systems in the cockpit were using an updated version of the bio-med capsule that could heal any injuries up to near-death level sustained in battle, as well as keep the pilot nourished and hydrated.

The new Battle-Mech would be named the Valiant-type.

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Energy Research and Development Facility #4…

“So what’s the status of the project?” Chief Supervisor Arthur McNeil asked.

Head Researcher of Division Alpha, Peter Minovsko nodded as he showed his superior the basic prototype on his computer console.

“This is new inter-dimensional warp-field generator that we’ve been working on.”

“How is this any different from our hyperdrive systems?”

“Well, the basis of our hyperdrive is to bend space around the ship, allowing us to enter hyperspace. As you know, the plane known as hyperspace is not bound by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, and therefore allows us to travel faster than light. We are still travelling the same amount of distance as in real space, but we are able to achieve much faster speeds.”

Peter took out a data pad and a input stylus and began drawing on the pad. “Now if we call the entry point into hyperspace as A…” He drew a small circle and marked it as A. “… and the exit point from hyperspace as B…” He then draw another circle some distance away from A and marked it as B. “… the distance between A and B is the same distance in hyperspace as it is in real space. The key factor is that even though we still traveled the same amount of distance, we can do it faster in hyperspace since we can achieve speeds far greater than light.”

“Yes, and that’s why we were able to reach star systems within days or even weeks. Without the hyperdrive, we would have never been able to contact the Kyteeri, the Velor or the other members of the Star Alliance.” McNeil stated. “So how is this reactor different?”

“Now what is the shortest distance between two points?” Minovsko asked.

“I would say that it would be a straight line, but I get the feeling that’s the wrong answer in this case.”

“In real space and hyperspace, that is the correct answer. But let me ask you this, what if you could go from one location to another, but not have to travel that distance between them?”

“Is that even possible?”

In a word, yes. Believe or not, the people of Naran already have that ability.”

“How’s that possible?!”

“I didn’t believe it myself until I saw it during my last visit to Naran.”

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Flashback to several months ago…

“So this is what you call the Divine Gate?” Peter asked as he and a group of Free Land diplomats were shown an elaborate arch that was about 15 meters high and 10 meters wide. The arch seemed to be carved out of stone and had a multitude of ancient runes inscribed into its surface.

“Yes, this is one of our most powerful magical artifacts.” The Naran diplomat said with pride. “We have another Divine Gate in the capital. They allow for instantaneous travel between this city and the capital; more than 20 leagues away!”

All of the Free Land diplomats showed expressions of astonishment and disbelief. From what the Naran diplomat was telling them, the Kingdom had a working teleportation system. This was something that not even the Star Alliance had come up with, at least not yet.

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End of flashback…

“So you’re saying that this Divine Gate actually works?” Arthur asked, in which Peter nodded.

“They allowed the diplomats and me to pass through it. We entered the gate in Marsolo City and found ourselves on the outskirts of the Naran capital. We had only taken a couple of steps. I even confirmed with the global tracking systems that we have in orbit around the planet, and they acknowledged that we had disappeared in Marsolo and reappeared in Vaneren. There were no records of us even traversing the distance between the two cities.”

“I don’t believe it. You’re telling me that those magic-users actually have a teleporter? Hmmm, maybe we should look into magic more often if they’re able to do that.”

“Well, yes it does work,” Minovsko admitted, “but just like all their other spells and artifacts, it’s not very efficient. We had to wait for them to do a long series of chants for over a half an hour. Additionally, the magical runes and gemstones burn out after a few uses, and replacing those components is very labor-intensive.”

“So did you determine the method of how their teleporter works?”

“We have a theory.” Peter then brought up the drawing of the two circles again. “Now, remember when I asked what the shortest distance between two locations was? Now if we are able to bend the space between the two points, like so…” He manipulated the image on the data pad until circle A was superimposed on top of circle B. “… then the distance is virtually zero.”

“But we can’t do that in real space.” Arthur pointed out. “At least not for very long. The old warp drives we used before discovering the hyperdrive, were good for short distances like the length of a solar system, but they could only be used outside a planet’s atmosphere.”

“No, but we can bend space in hyperspace.”

“Really?”

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“The theory is sound. We’ve been doing some experimentation in the last few months, and we found that it is possible to manipulate hyperspace to a degree in which considerable distances can be shortened. Remember that hyperspace or subspace are not bound by the Laws of Relativity and therefore can be bypassed. That’s what we intend to use the inter-dimensional warp field generator for.”

“What about the enormous energy requirements and preparation time?”

“It may be extremely difficult for the Naran magicians, but not for Star Alliance technology. A standard meson/anti-meson reactor or a few micro-fusion power cells would solve the energy requirement problem. As for being able to control the direction of the teleporter, we could use a tachyon transmission device. However, you have to keep in mind that distance will be restricted to within planetary limits. Teleporting to a point within the vacuum of space can be quite dangerous without proper guidance.”

McNeil nodded as he began to imagine the implications of being able to use a teleportion system. Domestic transportation of people and cargo would receive a massive boost once the system was made practical enough. Military logistics on a planet would be child’s play. And he could easily see the teleporter as an emergency evacuation method.

“And there’s one more thing.” Peter added.

“What’s that?”

“Now I’ve already said that it’s extremely difficult for Naran to use this Divine Gate, but it would be much easier for the dwarves to use it.”

“Why is that?”

“Remember that Neo-Psion Reactor that we’ve been studying a few days ago? It’s been discovered that It could theoretically provide the energy needed to operate the Divine Gate at a more efficient rate than what Naran is capable of.”

“I see your point. That’s another factor for when the Council decides whether or not to let the Dwarven nations join the Star Alliance. Not only could the Neo-Psion Reactor upgrade their magical technology, but it could be used to power Star Alliance tech as well.”

“In any case, the warp-field generator should be ready for testing a short time after the war with Zedan ends.”

“Speaking of Zedan, I’ve heard that they trying to use new weapons against us.”

“You mean those jets? I’ll admit they’re a lot better than those propeller planes, but they’re still no match against a standard Starfighter.”

“No, not just the jets. I heard that the Zedan are trying to use their version of the cruise missile. What did they call them back in World War II? Oh… right, the V-1 rocket.”

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Day Two of Operation Star Point 1535 hours, Sword Beach…

On the bridge of the Star Battleship Missouri…

“Captain, we have an incoming signal heading toward our position.” Ensign Taichen announced. “It’s flying toward us at low altitude and at relatively high speed.”

“Is it one of the Zedan jets?” Delan asked as he sat in his command chair.

“No sir. Sensors detect no life readings and it seems to be travelling on a direct trajectory towards us. I’m also detecting a warhead of highly-explosive material.”

“Is it another one of those long-range rocket weapons that we’ve been encountering recently?” Reelan asked.

“I’ve just confirmed that it is one of those weapons.” Taichen stated. “Its ETA is 1 minute, 28 seconds.”

“Shall I shoot it down, Captain?” Ensign Gatsbu asked.

“Affirmative, Ensign.” Matt nodded. “However, I don’t want you to waste a kinetic shell on such a minor target. Even a shot from one of the secondary pulsar guns would be overkill.”

“I’m very certain that I can bring it down with one of the maser anti-fighter guns.”

“Very good, Ensign. Proceed.”

The Velor helmsman nodded as he took control of one of the port-side maser cannons. The weapon was about half the size of Phalanx CIWS of 21^st century Earth. Instead of firing a volley of 20mm, high-velocity rounds, it was capable of launching high-energy bolts at a rapid rate. The maser cannon swiveled about and pointed its twin-emitter barrels at its distant target.

“Target acquired… firing!”

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Several miles away, one of the newest weapons in the Zedan arsenal streaked through the air at over 670 miles per hour.

This was the Axidar.

As it was surmised by the Free Land technicians, this was the Zedan analogue to the Nazi wonder weapon of World War 2, the V-1 rocket. It was streamlined and resembled a torpedo with short, stubby wings near its midsection. The main differences were that it was powered by not one but two, pulsejets and had a larger warhead.

After the launching their Zodera fighters against the Starfigthters, the Zedan military also began deploying their arsenal of Axidar rockets to bombard the Omaha, Juno and Sword beaches. It was hoped that they could destroy the ships that were docked and cause chaos among the enemy forces. However, the long-range weapons were about as effective as the jet fighters, which meant that they were easy pickings.

As the Axidar rocket headed toward Sword beach, its primitive guidance system and timer began a countdown toward detonation. The intent was to explode over the heads of enemy soldiers and spread deadly shrapnel over the massed formations. Against foes that were less technologically advanced, this would have been a terrible weapon to contend with.

Against the Star Alliance however…

KA-BOOM!

The rocket briefly became a fireball as a short bolt of red energy struck it dead center. A few seconds later, the remains of the weapon, mostly just ashes, floated harmlessly to the ground. The Axidar hadn’t even come within 10 miles of the outer perimeter.

This had been the fifteenth rocket that had been shot down at Sword Beach since morning.

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“Excellent shot, Ensign.” Matt commented.

“Thank you, Captain. Shooting down these Zedan rockets is easier than shooting down a Floger bird for dinner.”

“Captain.”

“Yes Commander?”

“In the last few hours, our forces have encountered a large number of these Zedan jets and rocket weapons. However, they don’t seem to be very effective in slowing down our advance, let alone halt it. Do you think the enemy is starting to get desperate?”

Matt nodded in response to his wife’s inquiry, as he looked at the strategic map on the main holo-viewer. “I’d say that was the case. Just about all of the Starfighter squadrons have reported that they’re shooting down the jets with almost no effort. The Zedan pilots are making too many rookie mistakes and don’t seem to know how to use their own weapons. Even the pilots of Atlans and Naran are making kills. All the Star Hawk and Byatta squadron leaders believe that the Zedan air forces have little to no veterans left and are sending up raw recruits.”

 “That’s a terrible waste of lives.” Reelan commented. “And those rocket weapons?”

“Another desperation tactic. Some of them didn’t even make it halfway to their target zones and dropped to the ground without exploding. Several of our salvage teams found a few, disarmed them and began studying them. The reports say that their overall design is crude and their construction was shoddy.” He began counting on fingers. “They had rough welds… faulty wire connections… low-grade fuel… missing components… unreliable detonation devices… There’s no doubt that the enemy rushed through the production process and cut corners.”

“So not only are they wasting lives with their jets, they’re wasting resources on weapons that are ineffective against us.”

“It’s almost as if we’re fighting the Sath again.”

“At least the Sath had someone in their government who knew when to surrender. I can’t imagine what’s going on in the mind of the Zedan ruler.”

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The Zedan Capital, the secret bunker of the Emperor…

Major Crax Vero and Colonel Cordin Haxin were both wondering what going on within the mind of their Grand Leader.

Ever since the beginning of the invasion, the Emperor Vargil Zendara had become delusional in believing that their mighty defenses would easily turn away any who was foolish enough to invade the Zedan continent.

Then he got the reports from Omaha Beach. At that point, the Emperor became more unstable and started giving orders that were both insane and unworkable. They simply didn’t have the resources or manpower to counter the technological advantage and power of Free Land. Even their new fighters and rocket weapons had been completely ineffective. It wouldn’t be long before the enemy began besieging cities and other major population centers.

However, the Emperor would not even entertain the thought of surrender and had now given the order to begin using the Ender Bomb weapons.

To be continued…

Author’s Notes

Sorry about the long delay, but due to a distant relative passing away due to Covid-19, I’ve been busy helping with his family. Enjoy the chapter.

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