《An Excuse for Space Battles》


 The Wrong Neighbourhood

    A beautiful view to wake up to.


    Thousands. Perhaps tens of thousands. Spaceships. Alien, strange looking space ships. In the backdrop, the vast darkness of space, and two suns.


    Most of the ships have a blocky exterior, to accommodate all the mounted turrets and weapon bays, the larger ships have massive energy cannons.


    Though the ships number in the thousands, space is still so vast, so massive, that they appear like a messy patch, hovering, resting in some point in space, the light from the two suns giving their presence away.


    "Wow." A blob wondered to itself, looking. Where did all these things come from?


    Oh, there''s a few planets. They look really tiny.


    They start firing. Oh. Lasers! It''s so pretty!


    Eh.


    They are firing at that little blob of energy in space?


    Its winces and braces for impact, but... it doesn''t hurt. Lasers did not work against a floating energy blob, so the thousands of ships change their weapons, and start firing missiles instead.


    It didn''t really work either. The blob just absorbed the impact of the explosions, it is after all a multidimensional existence, and conventional weapons don''t really work when the blob''s blobby structure exists on multiple planes of existence. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    It wondered what are all these ships trying to do. Perhaps, this is how they attempt to communicate? Ah, but it has no way of responding. If it could feel sorrow, maybe it would feel a bit sad.


    The fleet stop firing their missiles, as they realise the missiles are ineffective, and two small ships approach the blob. The blob is colorless, formless, though occasionally it flickers and takes on a color.


    They get close, attempting to use their scanners and detectors, to figure out what exactly they are facing. If we were to peep into their ship''s bridge, and translate their alien language, we would find the aliens feeling strange, fearful, and in awe.


    The blob, too, feels curious. It has not met another creature since time immemorial, so it too, is curious.


    The blob expanded, its formless limbs, like a liquid wrapped around the two ships, it seeps into the ship with ease, ignoring the force fields and armor throughout the ship. This was how the blob communicated.


    And they all melted. Ship, people, everything. They turn into a gooish substance, absorbed by the blob.


    "Hostile, these ships are." The blob wonder to itself, learning from the ships'' crew, their knowledge assimilated into the blob.


    And so the blob moves, expanding, its tentacles and limbs expand so quickly, it almost wraps around the entire fleet of ships.


    "Warp out, now!" The alien admiral commands, its two feelers on the top of his octopus-like head shakes, a sign of nervousness and fear for their kind.


    "But the planet?" Some of the crew silently wonder, but witnessing how the blob disintegrated the two vessels, they knew their admiral is right.


    The ships begin to enter warp-space, and flee to a nearby star system. But it is too late for some of them. Of the 10,000 ships, only 7,000 manage to escape.


    The blob expanded too quickly, and it suddenly exerted a massive gravitational field that messed with the 3,000 ships warp drives. For them, the 3,000 stuck and pulled by the gravitational waves, the captains unleashed all weapons they had at their disposal.


    For a brief moment, the entire star system lit up, from all the lasers, nuclear weapons, and explosions.


    But, their resistance is futile.


    The blob consumed all of them.


    All 3,000, deconstructed into a goo, assimilated into a blob.


    And as it does so, it learns of the vast network of stars and systems, and of the greater universe. It is no longer a clueless blob that floats around a star system.


    The blob now knows, with great certainty, from the digested minds of the 300,000 or so crew.


    It is not alone in the universe.


    And for the first time in an eternity, it feels something resembling joy.


    It has so much to do.


    So much to consume.

 Meeting the planet-eater

    ¡°Alright, we¡¯re arriving in 3... 2... 1...¡± The navigator, a Cattlan calls out. It¡¯s a routine, a habit from the older days whenever they leave warp.


    A hole appears in the darkness of space, and out comes the Morningstar, a slender custom-made cruiser, and it enters the star system. The Captain, Alarma, also a Cattlan, surveys the view, it¡¯s a single star, with multiple large gas giants, and a smaller cluster of rocky planets in the nearer orbit.


    ¡°Activating sensors.¡±


    ¡°No. Wait. The customer told us to meet here. But I don¡¯t want them to know we¡¯re here... yet.¡± Alarma looks around.


    ¡°Second thoughts, captain?¡± A cat-faced person sits next to Alarma, and he, or perhaps she, looks a bit quizzical.


    ¡°Yes, Minka.¡±


    ¡°I see. I¡¯ll get the emergency warp drive ready.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡± Alarma nods, and looks out. ¡°Crew, visual cameras. Let¡¯s see whether we can spot anything before we make ourselves known.¡±


    ¡°Aye.¡± The bridge has about 20 people, all of them start to activate multiple screens and go through their cameras. It took about half an hour, and the 20 crewmates start to shout out.


    ¡°Clear.¡±


    ¡°Nothing? Their cloaked?¡± They are about three quarters into their visual cameras.


    ¡°Captain?¡± One of the crew asks, and presses a button. It pushes whatever that camera is seeing onto the main screen, a projection onto the bridge¡¯s large glass window.


    Alarma looks, his two eyes winces. ¡°What am I seeing?¡±


    The crew presses another button and it magnifies the image, and it shows the skeletal frame of large warship, floating aimlessly in space.


    ¡°Identification?¡±


    ¡°Sormudans Carriership AVEQWA.¡±


    Minka sweats. ¡°Emergency warp ready. Shields active.¡±


    Alarma nods, and turns to the crew. ¡°Sormudans? Why?¡±


    Well, the crew couldn¡¯t answer that. A door to the left of the bridge opens, and three creatures take a seat on the bridge.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°Should we use our sensors? At least the detectors?¡±


    ¡°Detectors only.¡± The crew starts running the ships detectors, detectors mainly just collect data, without transmitting any signals or waves.


    ¡°Some combat residue detected in space. All Sormudan armanents.¡±


    ¡°All?¡± Minka¡¯s turn to ask. "No Keefren?"


    ¡°...yes Vice Captain. All Sormudan.¡±


    One of the three creatures, a wolf-headed man looks at the captain. ¡°Well, I''ve seen enough to tell that this won;t be good. I think our meeting is cancelled.¡±


    The Captain nods. ¡°I¡¯m afraid so, chancellor. I suggest we best leave before whoever hijacked our secret meetup finds us.¡±


    ¡°Ah it can¡¯t be helped then. Keefren''s Peace remains ever so elusive.¡± The wolf-headed chancellor sighs, it sounds a bit like a sad howl.


    Minka shakes his head. ¡°Does not explain why is there a Sormudan carrier here. How¡¯d the Sormudans know? And who destroyed it?¡±


    The chancellor shakes his head. ¡°Let¡¯s not speculate. The Sormudans are friends, perhaps they too, want to see an end to this long war.¡±


    Alarma looks around. ¡°Any other visuals detected?¡±


    The screen changes, and it focuses now on a green gas giant. It zooms in on the surface, and then they saw a large circular... object leaving the gas giant¡¯s atmosphere. It¡¯s black, and it¡¯s surface metallic, and it¡¯s massive, about half the size of the gas giant. As it leaves, the gas giant starts to collapse onto itself.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Whatever destroyed the Sormudans.¡± Alarma muses. ¡°Minka, I¡¯m counting on you to warp us out once I give the signal.¡±


    Minka nods, and he moves his equipment right next to the navigator. The equipments join together. Another crew member also moves his equipment next to Minka, but his equipment looks more to be weapon systems, than navigational and warp items.


    ¡°Alright, activate the sensors and focus on that. I want to know what the hell that thing is.¡±


    ¡°Activating Dios sensors.¡± The crew shout out in unison, and the sensor readings start to come in.


    ¡°We¡¯re detecting multiple weapon types on the surface... Sormudan weapons, Cattlian, Keefren, Octus and multiple unidentified weaponry.¡±


    ¡°Octus?¡±


    ¡°Has it picked up on us?¡±


    ¡°Not yet-¡±


    Minka turns to the captain. ¡°Permission to start warp.¡±


    Alarma looks at Minka. He sighs and the nods, ¡°Very well. Save all data we have and let¡¯s get ourselves out of here.¡±


    Minka taps a set of buttons, and a warp-portal surrounds the ship, creating a hole in the darkness... again. The hole is tiny, and it''ll take a while to open up.


    At that very moment, the entire ship experienced a massive pull, as if somebody lassoed a massive rope around the ship and then tugged.


    ¡°What-¡±


    ¡°Thrusters! Stay within the warp zone.¡± The Morningstar¡¯s massive multidirectional ion thrusters fire up, counteracting the tug.


    The hole opens. But not big enough, yet.


    The ship shakes violently, as it tries to fight off the tugging sensation. Alarma and all the crew immediately latched onto their seats. ¡°Hold!¡± The thrusters are at max power.


    The hole¡¯s finally big enough. And Minka pushes the ship through the moment it does.


    -Warp!-


    ¡°What was that?¡± Now that the ship is safely in the warp, the chancellor looks at Alarma and asks. ¡°I expected Keefren warships, but not... that thing.¡±


    Alarma shrugs. ¡°I''ve got no answer for your Chancellor. We¡¯re still processing the sensor readings. We''ll let you know once we get the reading processed by the AI. I suggest you get some rest, it''ll take some time for us to digest what we just saw.¡±


    The chancellor nods, ¡°Ah well, I¡¯ll return to my chambers.¡±


    ¡°Will let you know once we arrive back home, chancellor.¡± The wolf-man and his two guards leave the bridge, and Minka leans back.


    ¡°Phew.¡± Minka let out a long breath of relief, something all the other crew also shared.


    ¡°Good call, Minka. Your instincts were spiking again?¡±


    Minka nods, he gently touches his whiskers.


    ¡°Ah, well. Looks like the Chancellor''s dream of a Keefren¡¯s Peace still a long way to go.¡±


    Minka shakes his head. ¡°Captain, no. I think we¡¯ll see that peace very soon.¡±


    Alarma pauses, then he looks at a screen with the artificial planet. Various datasets are now coming in after the AI is finished with processing and consolidating the readings.


    ¡°Keefren¡¯s War doesn¡¯t look so bad, now.¡±

 Warp Escape

    Starfleet Battles.


    "Captain Alarma. We demand you surrender yourself and your ship."


    A streak of light almost grazes the ship. The Morningstar zig zags through space, and deploys various visual-confusion countermeasures such as holographic rays, to confuse visual tracking weapon systems.


    The captain laughs. "Men, are we prepared to be outlaws?"


    "Aye!" A loud roar from the crew. They all met up after their encounter, and this had been the outcome.


    More lasers. Ten large Sormundran cruiserships fired their lasers.


    The Morningstar''s rear laser guns swivelled into action, fired their own lasers, intentionally crossed paths with the lasers, and redirected them slightly. A feat only possible with highly predictable laser beams.


    "Escaping the gravity well soon..." The navigator calls. The Morningstar lunges ''down'', to dodge a laser beam.


    Warp tunnels ''channelling'' time is usually inversely proportional to gravity, so being further out is better.


    "Preparing anti-tractor beams..." Minka calls out.


    The carrierships are still firing laser beams, and the Morningstar dodges it easily. The streaks of yellow and green lasers lighting up the dark space didn''t do to deter or stop the Morningstar from flying further away.


    "We''re in the long tail now. Warp channel time, 15 seconds."


    "Navigator. Punch it and buy us some space."


    The navigator nods, and the Morningstars eight ion thrusters instantly reach their full power, pushing them rapidly, and created a large distance between themselves and the large carrierships.


    The Morningstar flew and hid behind an outer dwarf planet, and then started the warp channel. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    One of the carrierships almost catches up, but the 15 seconds is done.


    And -warp-


    "This is the Cattlian News, bringing you updates on Chancellor Worfskins''s clandestine attempts to meet with Keefren Senators in a peripheral star system. He surrendered yesterday at Magistrate''s Nexus, and with it fascinating footage of a large unidentified spaceship. The Magistrate is still reviewing the footage despite the Chancellor''s demand to release the footage publicly."


    "A spaceship. They are seriously calling it a spaceship." Minka smacks his forehead, and scratches the back of his ears. "I cannot fucking believe this."


    Alarma walks over and pat him on the back. "At least we get ourselves out of there."


    "Where to, Captain?" One of the crew turn to face Alarma.


    "Amaxis''s Rest. The chancellor''s arranged for some of the smugglers to take us in."


    Minka sighs. "The Somundrans will give chase, won''t they? They should be in warp now too."


    "Well, given how long it takes for them to warp, we have a good lead on them."


    "Not if they intercept us with their other forces."


    "Where are we coming out, pilot?"


    The Navigator turns, "Sector WWRMMX."


    "Ah great. Looks like the warp winds are favorable. There''s no Somundran military installations anywhere near there, and the Cattlan forces will take at least a few days before they even deploy."


    Minka nods, "Well, I''m more concerned with the... private actors."


    Alarma takes a sip from a greenish juice like drink. "If they do appear, I''ll turn them into fertiliser."


    The crew and Minka laugh.


    "That thing... do you think it has warp abilities?"


    "Well... a crew member turns up the readings. Based on the sensors, it currently has insufficient warpstone, but if it does... It should be able to enter warp."


    Alarma, he''s now next to the crewmember with the screen. ¡°Who the hell made such a thing...¡±


    A robotic AI voice responds. ¡°Analysis of the structural form is inconclusive. Weapons and external armaments suggest mostly Cattlan and Somundran manufacturing methods. Main structure inconclusive, and metal patterns are foreign and not in our records.¡±


    ¡°Ah well, the origins be damned, the important question is, how do we destroy it?¡±


    ¡°...Sensors suggest the metal armor on the object is at least 100km thick. Likelihood of destruction via conventional weapons is remote. Recommend deployment of multiple Amaxar class capital weapons.¡±


    The crew, Alarma all stare at each other. There¡¯s only one Amaxar class capital weapon at the moment. The moon battery. Alarma shakes his head, ¡°That¡¯s a stupid suggestion, who in the Cattlan shithole worlds programmed this AI? Rejected.¡±


    ¡°Recommend using gravitational technology to facilitate collision with multiple uninhabited moon-sized objects.¡±


    ¡°Also rejected.¡± Alarma shakes his head. Throwing rocks?


    ¡°Luring to a supernova event.¡±


    ¡°AI, shut down.¡±


    ¡°Acknowledged.¡± The AI voice shuts down, the crew turn to face the captain.


    ¡°That bleak, eh?¡±


    ¡°If we can''t take it out, we need to know which Empire controls that interstellar superweapon."


    "Origins unknown, though. And if somebody had a power like that, they would have used it earlier. There''s no identification on the object either, or any transmission."


    "Where do we start?"


    "The first thing we do is, we spread information about that massive object, everywhere. Everyone, needs to know about it. Hopefully, some of the leaders will come to their senses when they see what it actually is."


    "Ayeaye, captain."