Chapter 36

As we made for the station, I mulled over what had happened, and just how out matched we were. It took all we had, and we lucked out in that the Mac’skarian vessels had not been as upgraded as the Neornith ships had been. We needed to work harder, faster and needed to increase our capabilities if we are to survive. I was amazed how our rescuers had been able to mask their entrance into the system and their approach to the station. Even as they fought with us, their ships were masked somehow, to hide who they were. It was a type of cloaking technology, but it seemed out of phase. Then there was the weapon they used to drain the shields of the Neornith ship and disabled it. There were so many things to ask our new allies, especially their change of heart.

The Assent followed suit and as we neared the Neornith ship, I was amazed at its design. It would be easily capable of atmospheric maneuvers based on its aerodynamic design. It made me wonder if their ships were built on their worlds before entering space, to limit who knows of the ship creation perhaps. I wouldn’t put it past them, given that the systems they used to keep others out of their space could be circumvented at some point. The cannons on the ship were much different than the designs of the fighter we had found, and I was excited to see what we could gleam from this boon we had gained thanks to our allies. As we passed the ship, our klaxon began to sound as streaks of energy passed by our ship to strike at the hull of the Neornith ship.

“What the hell was that,” I yelled, as I rose from my chair. “Who fired on the ship, and I want a damage report, now!”

“The weapons blasts originated from one of the Jekrina ships sir,” Lieutenant Far’calw replied. “They didn’t do any damage to us, but they completely destroyed the life support systems for the ship. I estimate all usable air will be gone from the ship within the next eight hours. If their emergency systems fail, far sooner than that. The damage to the life support module also resulted in the hull being punctured. They have force fields intact, but it is only a matter of time.”

“Open up a channel to the ship in question,” I yelled, waiting for confirmation of the open channel. “This is Captain Stargazer of the White Claw. They were defenseless, so why did you attack them further?”

Our viewer activated to show a female Jekrina, in uniform, standing on what I assumed was their bridge.

“They deserve no mercy,” the captain growled. “They have kept our people under their thumb for over four centuries, before the Mac’skarians were attacked. They have subjugated our people and tortured them in front of us as a lessen to the rest of our peoples. They wouldn’t hesitate with us, so why should we show them any mercy?”

I rose from my chair and replied, “Because we need to be better than them! How are we going to stop this circle of violence unless someone changes things? Who is to say that they can’t be reasoned with?”

The captain began laughing, “Reasoned with? Are you out of your mind? Do you not know why they were nearly wiped out in the first place?”

I looked at her in confusion and slowly shook my head from side to side. I noticed that her expression had softened and there was almost a look of pity on them.

“They are parasites,” she said with the heat returning to her voice. “They steal from other races, consuming the natural resources of the planet’s they completely conquer. They force the ones they subjugate to supply them with materials, food, and other things to keep them appeased. The true horror is that they eat anything! They eat their captives alive and aren’t against cannibalism. They have not only consumed our people and many others as a show of their dominance, but they even punish their own people the same way. There is nothing to redeem. Before they were nearly wiped out, they were consuming planet after planet.”

My mind drifted to locusts and even the science fiction species the Borg. Yet there were redeemable aspects when a Borg was freed, but they were compelled by an outside force. These birds seemed to be compelled by their greed and their need to consume anything in their path. Carrion birds of the worst kind that will stop at nothing to get what they want.

“So what are you saying?” I asked warily. “Are you saying the only way we can find peace is to commit genocide of an entire species? How does that make us any better than them?”

She sighed, “It doesn’t make us any better than them, but many of us don’t see another way. They will not see reason, they may bide their time and then come back more ruthless than ever. They will never agree to peace, as their desire to consume is too great.”

I thought for a few minutes, “Then you get to a stalemate. You meet them with an equal and greater force and force them into peace. Let them know that they can be wiped out, but instead you establish borders that all agree to and a neutral zone that separates them. You place bases and patrols along that border to ensure they don’t cross, and we would be able to track their cloak to ensure that they don’t sneak past.”

“You’re not serious,” She gasped. “Why would you do such a thing? They don’t deserve to live!”

I shook my head and said, “You are blinded by your rage and your grief. Revenge serves no one. Ever. The Mac’skarians here agree with me, despite nearly being wiped out by these things. My navigation officer was the only survivor of that assault, who remembers the empire as it was. She agrees with me, despite her hatred and grief. But this is not a discussion for now, while tempters and adrenaline are still high. We need to get back to the station to begin repairs.”

“I will be leaving to notify our forces of what has happened,” replied the captain. “The Rotothca ship will stay to patrol the system until reinforcements arrive. We will keep a presence here to ensure you aren’t taken off guard again.”

I took a breath of relief, “Thank you and I look forward to welcoming our allies here. Be safe and I hope we meet again.”

My comment caught her off guard and she quietly nodded before the channel cut off. The ship began to pull away, but my hopes for their anger to have dissipated were dashed. Their aft weapons hit key sections of the ship in a torrent of fire, tearing holes in their hull and destroying their emergency power systems. I watched as oxygen levels on the ship were reduced to zero and life signs began to drop. I felt conflicted this time and began to wonder if my path was the right one. Could I broker peace with them, or would we have no choice but to repeat the mistakes of the past?

“Should we do something about this captain?” Vish asked. “I mean maybe we could send some drones to feed power into their emergency systems?”

I tapped in a few commands and the holo display changed from a system display to one of the enemy ship. Flashing red indicators showed the various levels of damage and thanks to our updated sensors, we could get an idea of their internal systems.

“There is nothing we can do,” I replied with a sigh. “They took out their primary and secondary power systems when they sent their volley. They wanted to make sure that this ship was dead in space before whatever weapon was used to disable it wore off. Do we even know what that weapon was?”

Hobbs appeared beside me and said, “It was a torpedo that was designed to detonate unstable energy of some kind. When the first torpedo hit the shields, it sent a feedback to the shield emitters causing an overload. The torpedo that hit their hull sent an energy pulse across the entire ship that caused overloads of their systems and caused them to shut down.”

“So it was like an electro-magnetic pulse of some kind?” I asked, causing Hobbs to tilt his head to one side.

A moment later he nodded and said,” the first one destroyed their shield emitters yet the second one only damaged their systems.”

Vish glanced back and said, “Perhaps the plating on the hull helped to disperse the energy somewhat before it hit and could affect the ship’s systems? Er’tanik had said the plating on the fighter we had found had unique properties to it.”

“Release some drones to anchor to the ship and bring it within a safe distance of the shipyard. Send the fighters to assist in the escort and to keep an eye out for anything dangerous or suspicious as the ship is brought closer.” I said as I dismissed the display of the enemy ship. “Keep our weapons active and trained on the ship as well. Once we are one hundred percent certain that there are no threats left on that ship, then we can worry less.”

They acknowledged my orders and we headed for home. I still felt on high alert due to the adrenaline running through my veins.

“Alta, what have our guests said in regard to what they heard from the conversation with our attackers?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes.

“Most are in disbelief still that what they saw was genuine, but Beth and Rihs’tal are trying to explain their circumstances,” Alta replied. “They are hopeful that it will be enough to make them start thinking critically about what they have been told.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. We just needed to catch a break with this ship. Hopefully, there weren’t counter measures to prevent us from gleaning new data about our enemy and innovative technologies. I walked over to a nearby console and entered in commands to bring up a view of the Obsidian being towed by drones. Despite the upgrades that we made to her, and I could see she was severely damaged. Whole sections of her hull were destroyed, exposing the interior to space.

“Tali, please give me a status report on the Obsidian,” I said, trying to hide the fear in my voice.

I waited to hear her reply, hoping that even if she doesn’t appear, that she would respond though our communications systems. With each moment that passed, I felt the pit in my stomach drop a little deeper.

A few minutes without reply I asked Hobbs, “Hobbs, can you reach Tali or her black box at all?”

His eyes flashed for a minute, and he got a sad look on his face, “I cannot connect to the Obsidian at all. Using the White Claw’s sensors, I can tell that the black box for the ship has not been destroyed, but I cannot tell how intact the inner mechanisms are. Alta will get to checking on the box as soon as the Obsidian is docked in her shuttle bay. The Obsidian has suffered fifty-seven percent damage to her outer hull while the effects of the blast has damaged seventy-eight percent of the internal systems.”