Yes, it's the next instalment in my writing prompt based space opera ! The prompt this time from the Worldbuilding Community is Worldbuilding Prompt #500 - Jailbreak - I'm going to have fun with this one !
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Aboard the battleship "Imperial Flame", command vessel of 5022-C Battle Corps
Comtech Viard leaned back in his chair on the command deck. He was looking forward to finishing what felt like an interminable, boring shift. He had a date with weaptech Miral Flira, the hottest gunner in the ship, and probably the whole squadron. Every minute was a minute closer to paradise, and a minute too long.
That was when an amber light flashed on his comdesk, followed by an urgent buzzing in his ear implant. He waved a hand over the "receive" sensor and listened to the incoming message.
"Come in, command. This is light cruiser "Run Fast, Hide Well" at the picket screen. We've got decloaking activity coming through from Einheriar space. Significant signature quantity detected."
Viard responded. The incoming signal had been fuzzy, so he used extended Bat-lang. "Got that, Run Fast. Stay stealthy, update on vector and volume soon as."
Then he waved a hand over the sensor which would alert command staff. Almost immediately, Duty Lieutenant Marshi called across the command deck. "What ya got, Viard ?"
"Signatures, ma'am, decloaking on the border from Einheriar space."
That was when the Run Fast called again. The signal was fuzzy and distorted. Viard ran it though his de-jammer programme and fed the message straight to Marshi. "This is Run Fast. We've got at least 5000 battle cruiser sized signatures, heading into Imperial space fast and in close battle formation. Vector looks like they're aiming for Tharwell sector. First picket engaged and were gone in ten seconds. We're hopping out to observe, we can't face this wall of crap alone."
Marshi whistled. "Oh. This is serious. I'll pass it up the chain, we need the whole Battle Corps mobilised to deal with this."
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Three hours later, the edge of Tharwell Sector, 250 light years into Imperial Space
Debris littered the heavens. The shattered remains of nearly six thousand warships spun in space, bleeding off the energy and radiation that had destroyed them.
The Imperial Flame had survived, although she was currently dead in space, her engines and entire rear third of her hull burned away, awaiting a rescue tug. On the command deck, casualties had been light. A damage control crew were using mops to gather up the remains of Lieutenant Marshi, smeared from one wall to the opposite one by a narrow penetrator beam.
Viard slumped in his chair, exhausted by the comms load he'd had to deal with. Admiral Leikar stood at the battle-scarred command chair, watching the holotac display as it showed the few remaining Einheriar war units as they grudgingly disengaged and crawled back to enemy space.
"So what the hell was that about ?" he asked. "A major attack by a significant formation, but no follow-up, no supporting units, no second wave. They've wrecked their own fleet and most of our battle corps... for what ? Anyone got any ideas ?"
All around the command deck, worn out crew shook their heads, equally befuddled by this strange but bloody battle.
Then Viard had an idea. Something he hadn't even consciously noticed in the confusion of battle, but must have been working at the back of his mind like some kind of earworm. He checked through communication intercepts he'd picked up from the enemy fleet. There ! Just before the Einheriar had disengaged, a message far shorter than everything else that had been going on. He ran decryption routines until it cracked.
Calling out to the admiral was a breach of protocol, but he didn't think, he just did it anyway. "Sir, I've got something. Right at the height of battle, just before the end, there was an unusual and short message. It was 'Unit JQZ34785 is through. Mission achieved. Disengage'."
Admiral Leikar's expression immediately shrank into a frown. "Sensors, talk to me. Now !"
The sensor officer studies his readouts for a good thirty seconds before replying, in an incredibly worried tone. "Admiral, we've got a single enemy unit. Detached from the battle, broke through a weak point in our lines and is making a beeline for Tharwell system. We've got no hope of catching them, none of our surviving ships are fast enough."
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Planetary Command, Tharwell V
Alarms screeched and klaxons sounded. People half in uniform and half still in civilian clothes tumbled into the headquarters command room, confused and wondering what the hell was so urgent.
Governor Sardas called the room to order. "Ladies and gentlemen, we've got a situation. Battle Corps 5022-C has put through an urgent call. There's some kind of unusual Einheriar unit headed our way. They've been decimated in battle against an Einheriar fleet and haven't got anything left fast enough to catch up with it."
The room erupted into hubbub again, as Sardas banged the desk to try to restore decorum.
"Admiral Pallus, launch the planetary defence squadrons. General Vorat, get those rusty old air sweeps and missile batteries of yours uncovered and ready. Secretary Hiall, draft a memo to the senators that next time they block the funding for defence satellites I'll have them all shot for treason."
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Two hundred miles above Tharwell V
The enemy unit, the size of a large battle cruiser, had swatted aside the planetary defence squadrons with ease.
The ancient APBC's making up the squadrons, long retired from front line service, had hurled themselves valiantly at the giant machine. They had managed to do some damage before they were wiped out, but it was not enough.
Now it was the turn of the defensive missiles. Dozens of them, each tipped with a microtic warhead, streaked toward the intruder. Defensive beams flickers out and vapourised many of the missiles, but it looked like a few were going to get through.
Then the AI-controlled unit did the unexpected. It disintegrated. The proximity warheads of the incoming missiles detonated in empty space, their total conversion warheads destroying a large part of the mass that had been the enemy ship, but not all of it. Some of the remnants dropped inward, towards the planet. It was only when they started moving in evasive patterns to avoid the air sweeps that the people on the ground realised the threat wasn't over.
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ASP-Prison 301, Marin City, Tharwell V
Captain Holmen frantically worked the recharge lever on his Kjaelon XXV Sheller. Then he leaned out of his doorway and emptied the whole magazine at the Einheriar crawler unit coming down the corridor towards him. He was rewarded by the sound of flailing metallic limbs as the explosive shells tore the machine apart.
There were now five of the enemy machines in the corridor, each one blasted apart in turn by him. He wondered where the rest of the staff were. He'd seen Auditor Grisaille go down with a nasty-looking chest wound, and a couple of the others grabbed by the invading machines and literally torn apart.
The attackers had been in one of the first shards of the enemy ship to hit the ground. Right in the prison courtyard. They seemed to be focusing their attacks on the cell blocks. He wondered why for a moment, and then realised that Fedric was there, his body filled with disabled Einheriar experimental tech. They wanted him, or rather the tech, back. They wanted to spring him ! Clearly, they didn't realise he wasn't an actual prisoner, he was just being kept there for his own protection. With good reason, as it now turned out.
The sound of heavy shellers erupted from the far side of the prison courtyard. Holmen waited as it grew in intensity and then died off a bit, then took the chance of looking out into the corridor. Through the hole that had been blasted where the far wall had been, he could see outside. The courtyard was filling with ochre-clad local defence troops, busily mopping up the last remaining enemy crawlers.
That was when the sky filled with light and Holmen fell back, dazzled and half-blind. A few seconds later, the shockwave hit. The building shook, but stayed intact. Holmen realised what had happened. A microtic, clearly hit by defensive fire before it could get as low as it had intended. If it had reached ground level, or even a low airburst, he wouldn't be standing to think about it. Microtic meant microgramme-range total conversion. But a microgramme of heavy metal converted to 100% pure energy could do a city-destroying level of damage. The enemy were clearly worried; if they couldn't manage a jailbreak for Fedric, they were willing to use a weapon of mass destruction to make sure he wasn't going to talk. Their plan had failed. The tech in Fedric was new, but not that revolutionary. So what made him so important ?
Imaged created by AI in Wombo.art - hopefully she's wearing enough not to be classed as NSFW !
Epilogue: aboard the remains of battleship "Imperial Flame"
Weaptech Miral Flira unfastened her jacket, to reveal a lot of blue skin and a distinct lack of undergarments. "Stuff going out for a date, Viard, come into my cabin and collect your reward, you were magnificent today."
To be continued.......
Previous posts in the series:
Part 1 - Worldbuilding Prompt #490 - Storing the taxes safely
Part 2 - Worldbuilding Prompt #491 - Avoiding trouble
Part 3 - Worldbuilding Prompts #493 and #496 - Hiding on Debris
Part 4 - Worldbuilding Prompt #497 - Hiding in a Closed Ecosystem Is Dumb
Part 5 - Worldbuilding Prompt #498 - Pursuit by AI is Terrifying
Part 6 - Worldbuilding Prompt #499 - Not The Answers We Were Looking For
There are also a few related posts from this setting which introduce some of the characters;
Captain Holmen was introduced in Worldbuilding Prompt #471 - A Question of Jurisdiction
Imperial Infomancer Dranton turned up in Worldbuilding Prompt #467 - The Imperial Halls of Information
Greville and the Tarnished Phoenix first appeared in Worldbuilding Prompt #432 - Debris