Knolan Cycle, Book II
Science Fiction
Date Published 11-01-2021
Publisher: PhoenixPhyre Publishing
After returning from a successful mission with the Knolan Shock Forces, Hāthar needs a break. With Arra his mate pregnant and he still recovering from his last mission, Hāthar has compelling reasons for sticking close to home. But newly developed stealth technology has enabled Knola’s enemies the Valdrōsians to ambush one of Knola’s Deep Space Fleets, inflicting heavy losses.
Intelligence has identified the facility from which the new technology originated. Developing countermeasures, however, will require a raid to steal the technology and abduct the stealth project managers. Having recently defeated just such a raid, Hāthar is asked to evaluate the feasability of the Knolan plan.
The plan is insanely risky, but Hāthar senses he is the best choice to lead it. With the fate of his adoptive home hinging on the success of the mission, he sets aside his personal preferences in favor of duty. Eryinath-5, The Dancer Nebula continues the chronicle of Knola’s thousand-year war with the Valdrōsians—and the coming climactic clash that will determine the fate of Earth and our corner of the galaxy.
EXCERPT
Chapter 5—The View into the Abyss
“The Way is a path, not a destination. It cannot correct what is flawed.”
Varineya—First Oracle of Knola
Hāthar stepped through the open proximity door and gave the Command Center a once-over. Smaller than he expected, but reminiscent of the bridge on an Accipiter class cruiser. A series of displays lined the circular desk in the center of the room, with powered chairs inside its circumference. The chairs all faced outward, oriented toward the displays and the command consoles embedded in the desk itself. He glanced at the domed ceiling and found the expected globe-shaped holographic repeater.
The Guardian and Counselor Amasadara sat in two of the powered chairs behind the circular desk.
The Guardian beckoned. “Welcome, son. We would like your opinion on a mission we’re contemplating.”
Hāthar bowed formally and received a bow from the Guardian in return. “Why me?”
“Your experience on Rykynaar seems applicable,” the Guardian replied, waving him to a seat.
Amasadara nodded to the diminutive intelligence captain in the wine-red cruiser suit and silver piping of the Deep Space Fleet Intelligence Corps. She turned to one of the consoles embedded in the desk and punched in a series of commands.
As a holo-cast materialized inside the circle of the desk, the woman faced Hāthar with a professional smile. “I am Zukinar, DSF Intelligence. The following is classified ‘Most Secret, Command Circulation Only’…and is current as of two weeks ago.”
She faced the materializing holo-cast of a planet. “This is Tranyarmätt, a Type III planet in an unclaimed Sectar we call Punahir.
“You will perhaps recall a Type III planet is habitable but uninhabited,” the Guardian added for Hāthar’s benefit. He waved to Zukinar. “Please go on.”
She nodded. “Tranyarmätt is hot by Knolan standards, with almost non-existent polar regions. Triple canopy jungle covers much of the continent of interest.”
Zukinar tapped a few more strokes at the command console and plucked a briefing stylus from the sleeve pocket of her cruiser suit, thumbing the slide on it to zoom the holo image out. Pointing with her stylus, she aimed a red dot at a tiny orb in a medium-sized cluster. “The planet is a little more than fifty-nine rift days from the Kholibaar system…located here.”
The red dot traversed the holo-cast, to circle the Kholibaar system. Memories of Hāthar’s first desperate battle above Ashilear and those who died defending it flooded into his mind.
“Two months ago, one of our S & R ships patrolling the security zone around Kholibaar detected a short burst of unexplained electromagnetic radiation from the Punahir Sectar. Per protocols, the captain launched an unmanned probe to investigate. The burst proved to be a new cipher of Valdrōsian origin.”
Zukinar zoomed the holo-cast back to Tranyarmätt. “The message originated here.” The holo-cast zoomed in again, displaying a shallow valley with a nine-domed structure near a large river. The facility’s largest dome was at the center, connected to eight smaller domes by passage tubes, in a symmetrical eight-rayed star.
“A Valdrōsian expeditionary command center,” Hāthar observed.
“That’s what it looks like,” Zukinar agreed. “Prototyped from one, perhaps. But as you will see shortly, it is not a command center.
“Most of the intercepted traffic is in an untranslatable cipher, but syntactical clues suggest the message was an ‘eyes only’ status update for the oligarchs on Valdros. And possibly even Arctōsa.”
“So whatever this installation is for, it’s important enough to update the Empress?” Hāthar asked.
“Correct,” Zukinar confirmed. “The—”
“And why will become clear in a moment.” The Guardian turned to Zukinar. “My apologies for the interruption, Captain. Please continue.”
“Yes, your Eminence.” She turned back to Hāthar. “The probe unearthed another interesting anomaly. Based on size, the facility radiates an energy signature several orders of magnitude larger than it’s mass alone would suggest.”
“How much larger?” Hāthar asked.
“About five times expectation.”
“And?” Amasadara prompted.
“A second probe discovered a Valdrōsian expeditionary docking facility on the smallest of three natural moons orbiting the planet. The probe also imaged four Valdrōsian cruisers, one a battle-damaged Kröeshen class, while the other three are of a previously unknown class.” Zukinar frowned. “That is all we received before the probe went dark.”
“Went dark?” the Guardian prompted.
“Yes, your Eminence. Until then, the probe was functioning perfectly. We infer it was likely destroyed by a short-range fighter from one of the cruisers.”
“Or a piece of orbiting rock,” Amasadara suggested.
“Possibly, Counselor.” Zukinar’s expression suggested she didn’t think that likely.
“You said one of the cruisers is damaged?” Hāthar asked.
“Yes.” Zukinar turned back to the command terminal and tapped a few keystrokes into a floating side-menu. An array of probe images cascaded onto the display. She scrolled through them with her fingertips, selecting one and swiped it to a display next to the command terminal. The dock and cruisers swelled as she increased the magnification, finally zeroing in on a damaged ship.
“Note the hull breaches on the Kröeshen class cruiser.” Zukinar focused her red pointer on the cruiser’s nose. “There. Halfway between the nose and the bridge you can clearly see hyper gun damage. She’s definitely been in a fight.” She moved her pointer to the port pulse engine stub-wing. “She’s also missing her port stern weapons station, and note the missile gouge, here.” The red dot of her stylus circled another puncture near the mouth of the shuttle bay. “It seems not to have detonated, or there would be considerably more damage.”
Hāthar nodded.
Zukinar grimaced apologetically. “This is more intuition than inference, but based on the Kholibaar after-action report, we believe this is likely the fourth cruiser from that engagement.”
Amasadara smiled. “You are aware Hāthar was aboard the Cygnus in her last battle above Ashilear?”
“I had heard that, Counselor.” Unperturbed, Zukinar brought up a wider image of the planet and the moon. “The moon and the docking facility are in geosynchronous orbit, with the docking facility on the moon always facing the planet.”
“Meaning the facility, whatever it is, remains under continuous surveillance.” Hāthar frowned. “I’m guessing their choice of locations is not accidental?”
“That is our inference as well,” Zukinar agreed. “Especially in light of something else the probe imaged before it went dark.”
“Please continue, Captain,” the Guardian interjected.
Zukinar leaned over the command console and brought up a long photo array, which sorted itself. A close-up of the facility on the planet came up on the display.
“For reference, the imaging-array I’m going to show you was captured at nineteen images per second, so the original file was a little jerky. But by stitching all the images together we were able to fill in what was missing due to the low-res image capture.” The image began to move, playing what amounted to a slow-motion film. “Note the shuttle emerging from the port in the central dome.”
“Shit,” Hāthar blurted out in English. “That’s their new shuttle!”
“I’m sorry?” Zukinar interjected.
“No, I’m sorry,” Hāthar replied, in Knolan. “What I meant was, that’s their new stealth shuttle.”
“Yes, Hāthar-Tahk,” Amasadara agreed. “It seems we have found their production facility. Or one of them.”
“Technology for which as yet we have no countermeasure and cannot duplicate ourselves,” the Guardian added. “And though the facility is not defenseless, the Vals have left themselves a good deal more vulnerable than I would have expected.”
“Which brings us to the mission?” Hāthar guessed.
“Correct,” Amasadara leaned forward in his seat. “The prototypes you captured on Rykynaar have proven insufficient to reverse-engineer their stealth technology. But if we were to combine them with the minds responsible for creating them…?”
“You’re thinking of raiding the facility,” Hāthar guessed.
“Yes,” the Guardian agreed. “Which makes the mission profile eerily similar to the Valdrōsian raid you thwarted on Rykynaar. Your experience in that engagement may help us understand how they exploited our weaknesses…” he smiled wickedly. “…and offer insight into how we might exploit theirs.”
“And you have no more experienced leaders in the KSF who—”
“More experienced certainly, son,” the Guardian agreed. “But more…unpredictable? He shook his head. “We have a plan. One we believe has a chance of working, but we need a decidedly un-Knolan, un-Valdrōsian mind to help us see what we may be overlooking out of operational habit.” He met Hāthar’s eyes. “We are confident you can provide that.”
About the Author
Dirk’s path to authorship wasn’t quite an accident, but almost. It’s not that he didn’t write. He did. Still, through two previous careers, first as a Marine officer and subsequently as a corporate trainer, Dirk started way more stories than he finished. But in the backwash of the 2008 financial meltdown, his employer filed for Chapter 11. Cordially invited to leave and not return, Dirk found himself out of work and excuses.
Since then, Dirk has published West of Tomorrow, Best-Case Scenario, Act I of Nyra’s Journey, a collection of short fiction entitled, Through the Windshield and Tier Zero, Vol I of the Knolan Cycle. All are available from Amazon in paperback and Kindle. His latest work in progress is The Year of Maybe, Act II of Nyra’s Journey, due out in 2022.
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