Starship Vengeance

Chapter 36

"Go back to the beginning of the message," Ayrn ordered. It had been several hours since Eyth sent the message. Ayrn was in her private quarters reviewing the data sent back. The computer complied with her demand and began the message from the beginning.

Eyth appeared on the screen, blood darkening his already dark purple hair and running down the left side of his face. His hair now more closely resembled that of Ayrn's almost black, purple hue. The image sat still, the computer waiting for the next command. Emotion was one of the few things the Nyth had been unable to remove effectively with all their modifications to the human body. There had been attempts, but the mental status of all involved were questionable, to say the least. Ayrn felt several emotions looking into Eyth's familiar blue eyes. Ayrn did her best to shake off the emotions threatening to overwhelm her. She was from the same generation as Eyth, and had known him her whole life. Loss was one of the few things the Nyth were unaccustomed to.

"Begin playback," she ordered. The rivers of blood resumed their streaming down Eyth's face, making the crimson stains on his white uniform even more noticeable.

"Ayrn, we stumbled on something significant," Eyth began. "The Zrynt are here in force. The amount of effort put into defending this system is on a level we have yet to see. They are constructions something, but so far we have been unable to confirm what it is." Eyth lurched forward and the screen pixelated. The quality of the message had degenerated significantly. Ayrn could only speculate what could be causing that much damage to his ship. "I don't have much time. We're trying to save as many ships as we can, but it appears as if we are all to be martyrs in our cause. I'll send what little data we were able to scavenge. I only ask that you avenge our deaths and end these unholy creatures." Eyth's face was replaced by a swarm of letters and numbers. It was raw sensor data. His ship must not have had time to process it all.

Ayrn returned to the bridge, knowing full well that her best intelligence analysts we busy processing the data. Pihn'Lo'Teck and Wehn'Na'Teck were slowly approaching the system where Eyth had met his demise. The rest of the fleet was converging on Ayrn's location.

By the time the rest of the fleet had returned, Pihn and Wehn had managed to get a few light hours away from the enemy. The intel they sent back was a few hours old already, but it provided a clear enough picture. Something very large was being built. Based on the curvature and the section already built, the best estimate was that a ring two hundred kilometers was being built. The purpose behind the construction remained a complete mystery. Another mystery was the shear amount of firepower the Zrynt had paced in defense of this ring. There were defense platforms strategically seeded throughout the system. The Zrynt must have been paying attention, because they tended to focus on the areas that members of the alliance used as entry points when they entered unknown systems. Beyond the defense platforms were hundreds of ships on patrol. Undoubtedly there were cloaked ships as well, just waiting to pounce.

New insertion points were worked out and the fleet readied themselves for the assault. Ayrn gave the command and the Nyth fleet charged in. The insertion point was carefully selected to provide the optimal defensive position while keeping clear of the bulk of the defensive structures. With a large, rocky planet behind them, the Nyth fleet opened fire on the Zrynt.

"I want constant updates," Ayrn demanded needlessly. The bridge was full of commotion as various sections performed their duties. To their credit, the Zrynt reacted quicker than she would have liked. Unseen streams of energy streaked across space and unleased its payload on shield and hull.

"Ayrn, we have lost forty five battleships and two heavy destroyers have been forced to withdraw." Trel stated. "Pihn reported taking heavy fire and will like be required to withdraw. We can't hold this position without taking extreme casualties."

"Order all battleships to retreat along with any moderately damaged destroyers," Ayrn replied. "Order all remaining destroyers to initiate evasive maneuvers. We'll give the Terran tactics a try."

Once the battleships and damaged destroyers retreated, all that was left was seventeen operational destroyers and lifeless hulls of dozens of battleships and one destroyer. Ayrn hadn't caught the death of the destroyer, but based on the wreckage, it had taken a beating. As the Zrynt closed in for the kill, the remaining ships jumped.

Each of the remaining ships selected their own targets and began systematically destroying their targets. The Zrynt were getting better and anticipating their opponent's moves, Ayrn noted unhappily. They managed to go unscathed for the first few minutes. Now the Zrynt were getting better at predicting their next jump and they found themselves in torrents of fire when they did. Ayrn stood to try and relieve some of the tension in her body when she was violently thrown to the floor. The blaring alarms pierced her skull as she tried to get her quivering body under control.

"Damage Report!" she yelled.

"We have multiple breaches in sectors five, six, and eight," a junior communications officer reported. The communications section chief was currently unconscious and was being tended to by several of her subordinates. "Sensors indicate we were struck by several large objects traveling and high speeds."

"Can we trace the source of the attack?" Ayrn asked. Everyone went still as a picture was displayed on the main screen. Approaching their position was a large, spherical ship. A Zrynt Lord had arrived.

"Order all ships to retreat," Ayrn yelled, taking control of the situation. "Send a message to the Terrans. We have found a Zrynt Lord."

Of the twenty five heavy destroyers that Ayrn commanded, only ten were fully operational. Three had been completely destroyed. Fifty two battleships were destroyed with countless others sustaining damage. Ayrn mourned the loss of so many thousands of Nyth. Redemption would only come by ending the Zrynt.

The Nyth fleet was busy repairing their damaged ships while they waited for the strength of the combined strength of the Alliance. The Zrynt were noticeably thinner after the attack. There was no way of truly knowing just how many ships had been destroyed, but the number was in the hundreds, if not thousands. The debris that made traversing the system hazardous was in the process of being collected, no doubt to be used in making more Zrynt ships. Ten days after the failed attack on the Zrynt, the rest of the fleet arrived.