***A/N***
I normally do these at the end, but I wanted to forewarn you. I changed the perspective of how this chapter is written. I'm debating on changing the whole series to be written in more third person instead of first. I'm thinking it would work better for what I have in mind for the third book. Let me know if you like it or not. I really want some feedback on the characters I'm trying to build up in this chapter. I would like to apologize for this chapter being so delayed. November was a rough month for writing. Thanks for the support and not giving up on me.
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They were finally off. Admiral Rodrigues learned two important lessons in his years in the military. The more people involved in the planning, the more time was wasted and the higher you were in the hierarchy, the less common sense and practical knowledge you had. Luckily, the combined fleet was only dealing with one of those two issues. However, it was compounded by the fact that they were dealing with alien races instead of those with different political viewpoints. That tended to make things unnecessarily complicated. At least they were on their own now. Admiral Rodrigues had left the moment he had his assigned search grid.
"Status?" he asked.
"Sky is clear. All ships are reporting negative contact with hostiles," the ship's captain, Lydia Reed, replied.
"I'll be in my quarters. Notify me of anything you find," Admiral Rodrigues commanded.
He made the short trip to his quarters and sighed as he reclined in his overly comfortable chair. His eyes, as usual, were drawn to a picture frame he had magnetically attached to his desk. Pain and guilt returned anew as he stared at the beautiful women holding his son. Her hair was disheveled and her makeup had smeared all over her face, but in that moment, he couldn't imagine her being any lovelier. His face suddenly hardened. This was the true cost of war. He sighed as he forced himself to review logs and reports. The life of a fleet admiral was not as glorious as one would believe. It consisted of an unholy amount of paperwork.
"Admiral Rodrigues to the bridge," a voice announced over the intercom. A completely uninteresting report remained unfinished as he purposely left the room. He waded through the sea of salutes that accompanied his position. He understood the necessity of rank and the proper respect thereof, but sometimes the little things could bother him. Crew shouldn't be required to stop everything just because he happened to walk by. Now on the bridge, with all the formalities out of the way, he could see why they had called for him. On the main screen was a live feed of a Zrynt facility. The facility was orbiting around a massive gas giant. It was the only permanent resident of this system besides a ring of asteroids that lay between the planet and its sun.
"Any indication of what is going on inside?" Admiral Rodrigues asked.
"Negative," replied Captain Reed. "A few ships were seen ferrying in raw materials. There are pylons going from the station into the atmosphere, presumably to collect more raw materials."
"Any other sensor data?"
"Whatever they are doing, it's using a lot of power." She paused a moment as new information appeared on a nearby screen. "It also appears that this system's asteroid field is rich with rare minerals."
"It was my understanding that the Zrynt didn't believe in mining raw materials."
"Either we have hurt then enough that they are starting to create their own ships, or our information about them is incomplete. Regardless, I believe this warrants further attention," she stated.
"I agree. Place the fleet on alert and begin plotting jump points. I want all exists covered."
The life of an Admiral felt foreign to Admiral Rodriguez. His previous military experience forced him to be more engaged with those under his command. While the whole fleet was technically his, command of each ship was somebody else's responsibility. Once battle was engaged, there was little for him to do. The final battle plan was given to him for his approval. Times like these, he was jealous of Admiral Ryan. He had the pleasure of being both a fleet admiral as well as the ship's captain.
The battle plan was transmitted to all ships and a call for battlestations was issued. Stations began calling out their readiness as the fleet prepared for the assault. "All ships have reported ready status, Admiral."
"Commence attack in thirty seconds Captain Reed," Admiral Rodrigues said, strapping into his seat. His chair was to the left of the captain's chair. He was sitting next a communications team that would allow him to give orders to other ships without disrupting those taking orders from Captain Reed. Soon, the battleships vanished, eager to start their hunt. They reappeared around the three subspace entrances that had been mapped out. There wasn't much interstellar traffic, so their presence went unnoticed for some time. The cruisers and frigates jumped next. They began their task of forcing the Zrynt ships into a single area. Their main goal was to concentrate the Zrynt, making escape more difficult. The first shots were finally fired as what appeared to be an ore freighter came too close to a frigate. The resulting explosion alerted every Zrynt ship in the area of their presence. This was the signal the rest of the fleet was waiting for. In the blink of an eye, the remainder of the fleet jumped into the lion's den.
The Zrynt were taken by surprise when a sizable force appeared near their facility. All ships were called on to fight these intruders. Ships disappeared and reappeared in formation as they jumped next to assigned targets and opened fire. Close combat was a game the wolf pack excelled at. Their weapons hit their hardest and they didn't have to worry about guessing where their targets were going to be. The Terran fleet tore their way through the opposing fleet with little resistance. Most of the ships here weren't meant for combat.
"Captain, something is happening inside the Zrynt facility," somebody on one of the lower tiers called out. Admiral Rodrigues pulled up the unknown facility on his scree, and sure enough, power seemed to be fluctuating inside. A fine crack appeared and began to grow wider as the unknown structure split open.
Something inside began moving. A large ship emerged. "Incoming enemy craft," somebody announced superfluously. The ship that was making itself known, was something previously unseen from the Zrynt. It was shaped like a wide arrowhead with a rather large sphere set in the center. The Zrynt ship was nearly as large as the Vengeance, but Admiral Rodrigues felt that it was more than capable of causing damage.
"New primary objective," Admiral Rodrigues shouted over the commotion of the bridge. "Take down that ship." The ship raced away, accelerating faster than a ship of that size should have been capable of. "Recall all ships and have them intercept that ship. It will not get away," he said to his communications team. The last statement was more of a command than anything else. The Zrynt ship may have been faster than the Terran vessels, but what they lacked in speed they made for in jump drives.
Alarms blared as the shields absorbed a powerful beam of concentrated energy. "Shield status," Captain Reed demanded as she silenced the alarms.
"Shields are holding," said the communications officer. "Engineering says they are working on bleeding off the excess energy. They warn that too many of those too close together would cause the shields to overload."
"Order the fleet to keep their distance," Admiral Rodrigues said to his communications personnel. "We may be able to survive a hit like that, but they might not." He then turned to Captain Reed and said, "Let's destroy this scum."
The Zrynt ship had managed to put a considerable amount of distance between itself and the Vengeance. The Vengeance jumped to where they had anticipated the Zrynt ship to be, only to find the area empty. The Zrynt had altered their course and were steadily moving away. A moment after arrival, another energy bean glanced off the shields.
"Focus on shorter jumps," Captain Reed commanded. "The closer we are, the quicker we can react to course changes."
The game of cat and mouse dragged on. Hits were scored on both sides, but no damage was taken. The Zrynt had minimal shielding that protected them from the Vengeance's weapons at the extreme ranges they were being fired from. Captain Reed was growing increasingly frustrated. Everyone was exhausted from the drawn out battle and the non-stop jumps were starting to make people sick. On top of everything else, the engineers were complaining about the abuse the jump drives were taking. Captain Reed had finally had enough. She turned to Admiral Rodrigues and said, "Request permission to deploy primary weapon and end this fight."
"Request denied," Admiral Rodrigues said without looking up from the terminal he was working on. Admiral Rodrigues spoke again before Captain Reed could respond. "There are many things I have learned in my years in the military. One particularly helpful truth is nothing is truly random. I'm working on an algorithm that will help us predict course changes that the Zrynt will make. If we can predict their next move, then we can end this." Another hour went by without anyone gaining the upper hand. Finally, the computer finished compiling the algorithm. "Plot your next jump as you normally would. I'll provide jump coordinates after seeing how the Zrynt react. I recommend hitting them fast and hard. Their weapons will benefit from the closer range just as much as ours."
Admiral Rodrigues had done better than he thought he would. His prediction had an eighty percent chance of success. The Vengeance arrived less than a kilometer from the Zrynt ship. The anxious gunners took no time in venting their frustrations at the Zrynt. Every available weapon fired on the Zrynt ship. The shields quickly succumbed to the intense barrage. With the shield gone, the hull was raked by the powerful lasers. The Vengeance was gone before the Zrynt could retaliate. It reappeared moments later and continued its work of destruction. The Vengeance was now in its element and the Zrynt ship soon succumbed to its wounds. The sphere at the center of the ship detonated, producing a terrific explosion which almost overwhelmed the Vengeance's defenses.
An hour later, the area had been declared free of Zrynt ships. The fleet was gathered at a safe distance from the defenseless Zrynt shipyard. The question remained of what to do with the Zrynt facility. It was finally decided that the intel that could be gained on the new Zrynt ships would be worth the delay in the search for a Zrynt Lord. As the marines were getting ready to launch, the shipyard suffered hundreds of small explosions. It quickly broke into hundreds of pieces and disappeared into the swirling mists of the planet below.
"Well, that solves that problem," Admiral Rodrigues stated. "Plot our next jump and initiate in eight hours. You have all earned some rest."