Peregrine activated a display record of the tactical situation using his imbedded personal data interlink unit.
“The Varlon were in the process of an initial assault of Caltha Three, one of the larger Alliance of Worlds colonies in the Rhendal sector. The orbital defense stations, starfighters, and ground weapon bunkers and its moon’s planetary defenses were being overwhelmed. I initiated a flanking maneuver and a hammer assault against the Varlon cruisers. After an exchange, we had the upper hand, until several Varlon cruisers and some carriers arrived after moving stealthily into position with their chameleon cloaks. Some Varlon starships appeared to resemble some of my ships or were masquerading as damaged orbital defense batteries or debris of destroyed orbital stations.”
Peregrine’s tactical display continued to follow his presentation.
“They launched some Scorpion attack craft and Spider ships, which counter-assaulted our starfighters and then dropped planetward. At this point, we held the line.”
Peregrine moved the time index and then showed a large mixed fleet of Varlon starships moving in with H-class dreadnaughts and a few other unidentified, non-Varlon vessels. Peregrine pointed out these other ships.
“We did not pay a great deal of attention to them, until they fired. The larger ones were over twenty-three kilometers in length. I’d say they were some kind super dreadnaught or warbase ship class. These were not Varlon ships; they did not use the same kind of stealth technology, and these ships were not in our databases.”
Sections of the battle were displayed on the central 360-degree surround viewer, which Peregrine utilized. The Varlon cruisers and H-class heavy dreadnaughts ships were beginning to force back Peregrine’s gathered fleet with heavy plasma weapons; his own Constellation-class battlecarrier was in the midst of the battle. Eventually, the unidentified alien ships closed, and a knife-like bolt shot out toward a Legendary-class battlecruiser and shattered the hull—a hull composed of a titanium alloy reinforced with additional ablative armor.
Peregrine continued. “These new starcraft were using antimatter cannons. Shearing anti-protons and anti-neutrons destroyed several cruisers and shattered three dreadnaughts into pieces. At this point, several other Alliance of Worlds task forces of the third fleet arrived. I had to order a retreat, and the recently arrived starships volleyed their antimatter torpedoes at them to facilitate an orderly retreat. The other ships were fast like the Varlon, but even faster—almost fifty percent faster using sub-light speed engines —than our ships. They probably had some kind of norpic generators. Our scans were partially disrupted when trying to lock on to the two largest vessels. It was our good fortune that there were only about twenty of these unidentified alien ships, and they were scattered in several adjacent star systems in the Rhendal sector. Of these starships, only the two largest ones and two of the others ships were armed with the antiparticle weapon. My science section estimated that they had only a limited supply of antimatter to fuel their cannons.”
Grand Admiral Jeroloh broke in. “You are reporting that not all the unidentified ships had these antimatter cannons.”
“Yes, that is correct, sir,” Peregrine said. “However, they also used plasma cannons and particle cannons, as well as phased particle-beam weapons that were superior to our own in terms of energy output and recharge. Their antimatter torpedo systems had similar yields but had a more sophisticated countermeasure system. Their plasma torpedoes were almost as devastating as the Varlon's, and the two larger ships had even higher energy yields. As you know it usually takes three of our ships to match a Varlon starship of similar size class. I would say that these aliens were somewhat superior. We did not remain close or long enough for more detailed scans.”
Peregrine continued. “As we know, the metal-organic hulls the Varlon have are their Spunril alloy. With an organic-metallic mesh hull much like the Hegemony’s ships, these new ships were of a different style to the Varlon’s’ and had different markings. We scanned the two largest ships, and they had somewhat different hull types compared to the other similarly styled ships. The hull was difficult to scan and seemed almost to brush off damage. Only the three largest unidentified vessels—similar in size but longer than the Varlon H-class super dreadnaughts—had this type of hull. It was evidently a superior organic-metallic configuration. The other ships, some type of large heavy battlecruisers, had perhaps a somewhat lesser hull and could be damaged by combining fire from multiple ships.”
Admiral Peregrine displayed further tactical data through the presentation system.
Sheppard could see that Peregrine was pained by the loss of crew and ships to these new enemies.
“Later, when I studied the sensor logs and energy scan readings to determine tactical significance, it seems the largest of their ships were actually not using their full attack capacity, and only two appeared to release any fighter craft, even though they were most probably present,” stated Peregrine. “I will also mention we scanned two types of heavy starfighters—one type we are designating Raider-class and the other Marauder-class. Several Marauders were able to fight and destroy a Waterway-class light cruiser. These must be some form of heavy assault fighter, and we estimate they have a small onboard crew. The smaller Raiders seriously damaged and destroyed many of our fighters before being taken out.”
He wiped his brow and paused to look at the display. “It’s likely I could have regrouped if it were only the Varlon, as they would be more concerned with digging in on the targeted planet and beginning a ground assault than chasing after my fleet. These new alien ships and a Varlon strike fleet continued to pursue, until we were driven from the core ward portion of the Rhendal sector. During the retreat, we had little time for offensive combat. Eventually, the Varlon moved to consolidate their new acquisitions and deal with the remaining planetary defenses and orbital defense stations, and they stopped attacking my remaining ships. At about that time, the unidentified alien ships stopped their attack as well.”
Viess the Betellian stood. “My I add a comment?”
“Yes, please do,” said Admiral Peregrine.
“I know these starcraft; they are Accadian vessels. I am not pleased that they are involved. As Admiral Peregrine indicated, their starships have excellent metallo-organic hulls almost equal to our own. From the few ships you have shown us, the two largest are of Jiyarr design, with Accadian marking symbols, and they have hulls and shielding as effective as—or perhaps even better than—ours. “I ask your patience, but we must go to our ship and inform my government’s Preceptor Council.”
Several murmurs broke out, and there were a few hushed discussions as the Betellians prepared to leave.
Sheppard was becoming both nervous and annoyed that Alliance of Worlds forces had been lost in the Rhendal sector.
Another officer asked to speak.
“Yes, Commodore Slenpsa,” Peregrine acknowledged him.
“I too have seen these vessels,” said Slenpsa.
Sheppard had met him two years ago. Slenpsa was in the officer exchange program, and he was from the Lyramenian Republic. The Lyramenian had more advanced technology than the Alliance of Worlds and were considered as advanced as the Karratins, Estrians, or the Quarran and were part of their ancient Hegemony but were considered more interactive than the other three civilizations. His people who dwelled in water worlds had a special type of affiliation treaty with the Alliance of Worlds. Lyramenians were descended from an amphibian-like ancestor, and they wore a special uniform that provided them with additional moisture, since they could handle low-humidity environments for only a few hours.
“I was patrolling three years ago with my pod fleet on an exploratory mission and came across a mining operation near Cynz space,” said Commodore Slenpsa. “The ships did not attack us, but they were taking threatening postures. We had brief communication and soon left the area. They had attempted to mask the events on the mining facility, but we were able to obtain some information in any case. They were mining and refining some titanium and osmium and other elements and were evidently in an early stage of operation. They had masked their presence until we actually passed through that