Tales from the Service: The Emissary’s Message

2954-03-11 – Tales from the Service: The Emissary’s Message 

The Kyaroh are a curious people, made hard by at least two generations of conflict with The Incarnation. If this account is accurate, I wonder whether the hard-hearted attitude toward death and the affection for remembrance and sacrifice which this account demonstrates is a part of their ways even in peacetime. 

The attitude which “Vasili” remarks on is, as far as I know from my own brief experience talking with Kyaroh, and idle comments in conversations with those of greater experience, is quite correctly portrayed. This gives some credence to the story, but again, I have no way to confirm it. 

Vasili M. was disappointed in how little of the vaunted redoubt he was allowed to see. The mixed group of towering Kyaroh and watchful hoverdrones which surrounded his group on all sides blocked their view down lit side-passages as they were marched down through a maze of broad, intersecting tunnels, most of them noticeably sloping down. 

Bel’itec, apparently unfazed by the silence with which his comrades had greeted him, walked serenely at Vasili’s side, while the Marines followed them close behind, their grim silence matching their hosts. Their carbines had been confiscated, but, Vasili had noticed, the xenos hadn’t searched beyond that; each Marine had been permitted to keep his sidearm and Nine, and of course Vasili’s boot gun remained in its tiny holster. Either the Kyaroh weren’t particularly concerned about such small weapons, or they simply hadn’t realized the group might have backup weapons. 

Vasili was inclined to think the former explanation more likely. The Kyaroh had scanned them using acoustic-sensing drones capable of seeing implants within their bodies, so these weapons were probably not secret. Most likely, this was some sort of test, but he couldn’t figure out what sort it was. 

As long as nearly a dozen Kyaroh surrounded them, of course, there was little a few pistols and knives could really do. No doubt there was another group of defenders either going ahead of them, or following behind, and unseen cameras probably tracked every move. 

The path they were led along seemed purpose-built to bewilder human senses, and Vasili soon lost all track of direction, except for a certainty that they were now very deep below the shattered streets. After fifteen minutes of silent march through so many gray passages, he began to imagine they were looping back and forth over the same ground over and over again, in an endless spiral through a mad anthill bored into the skin of this bruised world. 

At last, the Kyaroh leading turned abruptly into a brilliantly lit cross-passage, and the sudden blaze of artificial lights directly overhead stung Vasili’s eyes. This passage opened out into a huge open space, and the ceiling soared away above in a gigantic fluted dome. There were walls – structures – on both sides of the path, and in an irregular grid ahead, but Vasili still could see little beyond cold gray walls, hard-edged corners, and staring, porthole-like windows. His escorts seemed to cluster together to deny him a view of anything particularly interesting, though obviously there was no way they could be doing that on purpose. 

The leader turned aside into a narrow doorway shortly after entering the dome, and the group found themselves in a small, square room, lit by a single round electric light in the center of the ceiling. Most of the guards and drones remained outside, and the two who filed in after the humans took up station beside the door as it shut. 

The Kyaroh leader addressed Bel’itec in their rapid, growling language, and Bel’itec responded in turn with an extended, uninterrupted speech, his hands eerily remaining at his side the whole time. 

“What do you think is the problem?” Sergeant Ver nudged Vasili. “I thought Bel tipped them off that we were coming.” 

“It’s possible his message didn’t get through.” Vasili responded, voice low. “He’ll sort it out.” 

“He’d better.” Ver nodded, folding his arms in such a way as to put his right hand just above the grip of his Nine. 

After a few more barked questions, which Bel’itec answered only with single words, the pair of Kyaroh turned to Vasili. “The warden wishes to know our message for the leaders of this redoubt.” Bel’itec prompted. 

Vasili nodded. “I will summarize. But the detailed plans I carry are for your leader only.” 

He expected Bel to translate, but nothing of the sort was attempted. As the silence grew, Vasili cleared his throat and went on. “Force Seventy-Three intends a full-scale attack on the Incarnation flotilla defending this system. If orbit-space is mastered, Kyaroh infantry forces traveling with the fleet will be landed on this world to assault the garrison, and I bring proposed plans of campaign to liberate your world.” 

The warden’s cold, black eyes remained on Vasili for a long moment after he finished speaking. Vasili wondered how much the xeno understood; perhaps he was being fed a translation in an earpiece, or perhaps the summary was being viewed remotely by the redoubt’s commanders. 

After nearly half a minute, the Kyaroh spoke again. Bel’itec took it upon himself to translate. “The warden wishes to believe in this message of hope, but this world has been liberated by uprising once before, and the return of the oppressor proved worse than it was at first. He asks what guarantee of protection the Force of Seventy-Three will offer against this eventuality.” 

Vasili nodded. “I cannot predict how the war will progress after this world is freed, and neither can my superiors. I can only say that as long as Force Seventy-Three remains at large in this region, the enemy cannot devote enough ships to reconquest without exposing his own home-worlds to attack on the Sagittarius Gate axis. If your world is reconquered, it will hasten the downfall of the Incarnation, and your valiant sacrifice will be remembered by your people and by mine.” 

This, of course, was not the sort of message one might give to a human, but Vasili had sat long with Force 73’s ASWO and Naval Intelligence chief, and they’d coached him to lean into such grim blaze-of-glory language. This was, according to them, far more persuasive to a Kyaroh than it would be for those of his own species. 

The warden made no response, and again silence stretched in the room. Just as Vasili opened his mouth to ask Bel’itec what the matter was, though, the warden pressed his huge, dark hands together, and dipped his head, making a brief guttural remark.  

“The warden wishes to welcome you.” Bel’itec rumbled. “To Redoubt Kirznha's unconquered halls. If this hope should prove false, he hopes its name shall always be remembered among your kin.” 

Vasili nodded, and tried to mimic the pressed-hands gesture. “Your people’s valor thus far is already the talk of my people.” He was glad this was only a slight exaggeration, and one he could do smething to make even smaller. “And when we all have peace, it will be a matter for story and song.” 

The warden barked again, then turned to open a door in the wall behind him. 

“He finds your manners unexpected in one who is distant kin of the oppressor.” Bel’itec again translated. 

With a sigh of relief, Vasili gestured to his comrades, then led the way onward. 

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Tales from the Service: The Emissary’s Welcome

2954-03-04 – Tales from the Service: The Emissary’s Welcome 

Despite Bel’itec’s promises, the little group clambered through the bedlam of urban ruin for the rest of the day. The bluish-tinted local sun had already fallen behind the gap-toothed ruins before they halted again, in the shelter provided by the twisted, jagged shell of what had once been a metal-framed, glass dome.  

The air was eerily silent, without wind or the creaking and groaning even a whispering breeze might set off in such a wrecked place. Vasili M. didn’t dare to even break open a ration-bar, much less ask their guide for a status update, and his trio of Marine escorts were, as usual, grimly silent. 

“We are crossed the redoubt perimeter.” Bel’itec, seemingly ignorant of the hushed atmosphere, used his normal booming Kyaroh voice. Vasili wondered if his kind could even whisper; possibly not, since he’d never heard it. “We will be located shortly.” 

“Located?” One of the Marines, Sergeant Ver, lifted up his head. “What do you mean, located?” 

“Redoubt Kirznha is well defended by listening posts and sensor pickets, which I am not permitted to describe to your kind.” Bel’itec didn’t turn to look at the Marine. “We have been detected, and will be confronted momentarily.” 

“And what do you mean-” 

The big man didn’t get to finish his question. A series of rapid clicking sounds echoed through the broken dome, seeming to come from an object rapidly circling the group. All three Marines raised their weapons in a flash, but Bel’itec stood still, his lumpy hands pressed together in front of his body. “My kin are always watchful.” 

The clicks faded into silence, and at first, nothing happened. “Bel...” Vasili kept his voice low. “What precisely do you expect to happen?” 

“Once they are assured you are not our oppressors, we will be permitted to enter the Redoubt.” 

Of course, Vasili knew quite well, he was the same damned species as their “oppressors,” namely, the Incarnation garrison. “How can they tell?” 

Bel’itec turned his head a fraction toward Vasili. “You do not bear the electronic leash.” 

“The-” Vasili stopped short. “Right. No implants. How can they tell?” 

The Kyaroh did not answer, only inclined his head slightly, his dark eyes flickering to fix on something in the gloom behind Vasili. 

Slowly, Vasili turned around, and something flitted into the shadows just as he did. Whatever it was, it was small, inky black, and floating or flying without sound. “Sensor drones. I see. Probably looking for the EM scatter off implants, but what if they were turned off?” Incarnation personnel couldn’t turn their implants off, of course, but he wasn’t sure the Kyaroh knew that. Most of the Incarnation troops themselves didn’t seem to know it, after all, so trained were they to rely on the devices for coordination. 

“A solved problem.” Bel’itec turned toward the location of the skulking drone. “The oppressor has used specially implanted Kyaroh turncoats to infiltrate the redoubts before. But the implants cannot be hidden.” 

The clicking echoed through the area again, this time louder, and seeming to come from several places at once. The Marines put their backs together, and Ver gestured for Vasili to join them. 

Vasili, shaking his head at the Marines, stayed where he was. They were the only Confederated personnel on a whole occupied planet; if either the locals or the occupiers decided to kill them, a defensive last stand wouldn’t do any good. Besides, the sound had given him an idea. “Acoustic sensors.” Sound waves, at the right frequencies, could penetrate flesh and reflect off harder substances within; this was an archaic, but still occasionally used, sensing principle, usually found in medical devices. 

“If I understand your language correctly, yes.” Bel’itec nodded once. “Had we been found to be Incarnation slaves, we would already be dead.” 

Ver scowled at the Kyaroh. “So, what now?” 

“Now we will be greeted.” 

“By who?” 

As if to answer the Marine’s question, a heavy thump reverberated through the pavement at their feet, followed by the ominous sound of many heavy, methodical footsteps coming closer. 

As this account is currently unverifiable, I have little to comment on. Additionally, while I will acknowledge receipt of both questions and dubious accounts related to some sort of new weapon system tried out during Operation SLEDGEHAMMER, I will not be posting anything of note on this. I took some of the more credible versions of this story to my Naval Intelligence contact and she laughed so hard I was worried she broke something. No, there seems to be nothing to this. After all, if there had been, you would think the skirmish might have gone better for Seventh Fleet. 

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Tales from the Service: Emissary of the Seventy-Three

2954-02-25 – Tales from the Service: Emissary of the Seventy-Three

Obviously, as I alluded to in last week’s entry, I am aware of the recent announcement by Seventh Fleet of the raid conducted on one of the Incarnation core worlds, an arid but well-populated planet known to its inhabitants as Prospero but identified by Navy planners as Target Karma. 

The official name of this operation seems to be Sledgehammer, though none of the fleet press releases named the offensive. As I indicated last week, at least two head-fake operations seem to have been tied to this to try to conceal the operation – some personnel seem to have been informed they were involved in operations “Ludendorff” and “Juno” with different operational parameters. 

This deception, however, had little to no effect. The raiding force for Sledgehammer ran into a formation of Incarnation cruisers which blocked it from doing much damage to orbital infrastructure, and several lesser warships were destroyed in the ensuing battle. In the grand scheme of things, such a skirmish would barely deserve a single press release from Seventh fleet headquarters, except that it took place over an enemy world. 

That’s all I can really say for the moment about Sledgehammer. Target Karma (I will use this term, for consistency with Navy releases and to avoid confusion) appears to have avoided significant damage, but there must be some effect on enemy morale to see Confederated warships over Incarnation worlds for the first, and certainly not the last, time. The raid, minor though it is, begins a new (and hopefully final) phase of this war. 

This week’s entry is, or claims to be, an account brought to us from the Kyaroh front. Due to the lack of HyperComm connectivity to Force 73, I have no means of verifying this, so I present it with the caution that, as the fog of war clears on the operations in that quarter, we may find that this is only a clever invention. I have made no alterations to names, as the submitter made clear it was already anonymized. 

At a signal from his guide, Lieutenant Vasili M. eased his rail carbine off his shoulder and sat down on the dust-strewn floor of the ruined structure, grateful for a chance to rest after nearly six hours of hiking through the most broken terrain imaginable. The trio of Marines who followed him picked out spots for themselves, though they showed no sign of fatigue. They never did. 

“How much farther?” Vasil asked, reaching into his pocket for a food bar. 

Bel’itec, their Kyaroh guide, peered through a jagged hole in the wall opposite they’d come through, his vast shoulders briefly blocking the stream of daylight which lit the space. “The perimeter approaches.” His rumbling voice formed clear Anglo-Terran words, though he had only started learning the language a few weeks prior. “Before dark, we will be with my kin.” 

“Good.” Vasili bit off a chunk of the meal bar, and chewed thoughtfully. He had volunteered for this duty, and he wasn’t sure he regretted it yet, but two days and nights of hiking and sleeping rough had been hard on him. He didn’t want to admit it, but three years in Navy service had begun to dull woodcraft honed among the rugged hills of Planet at Centauri. 

Woodcraft, of course, had precious little benefit, when one’s course took one through vast kilometers of ruined mega-city. From Bel’itec, he’d learned that the place had once been a grand place, a center of culture and the arts, as well as the main hub of the planet’s weapons industry. Some ten million Kyaroh had once called it home – but that had been before the Incarnation arrived. Now, it was a shattered jumble of broken artifice, a haven for renegades both human and Kyaroh, shallowly colonized these past two decades or so by weeds and vermin. 

So far, the little band had run into little trouble. They’d spotted a few Incarnation air patrols, but these perfunctory overflights, even with all the sensors that festooned Incarnation aircraft, could do little to penetrate the shambolic wilderness that had once been a grand city. The occupiers knew better than to commit troops to ground patrols; even if they never spotted a single Kyaroh, there were other dangers to contend with. 

The planet’s original inhabitants, of course, had never quite abandoned the city. The surface was a total loss, but according to Bel’itec, life of a sort still went on in the many tunnels bored below the surface, where many thousands of Kyaroh sheltered, out of reach of Incarnation captivity and enslavement. 

No doubt the Incarantion force suspected the presence of this redoubt; after all, it was one of many such on a planet they nominally controlled, and not even the largest. The surface and the day belonged to the occupier, but the depths and the darkness favored the Kyaroh who still dared to resist. They seemed to have little will to reduce it, however. Their occupation force controlled and operated what heavy industry had not been destroyed by their assault, with the dubious help of nearly a million enslaved Kyaroh. Why should they care if, in warrens, tunnels, and mountain caves, there were still many who called themselves free? It made little difference to their war machine. 

That, of course, was what Vasili and his little band were here to change. They had crept down to the surface in a stealth-equipped shuttle launch to avoid the lone enemy cruiser stationed in orbit with a message for the leaders of the subterranean resistance. Force 73 was on its way. The time to strike was at hand. 

“We should not linger.” Bel’itec gestured back out the door through which they had come, to a street choked with titanic chunks of what had once been a towering skyscraper. “We must not be detected so close to the redoubt.” 

Wearily, Vasili got to his feet, and his trio of Marine compatriots silently followed suit. “I hope there’s some hot food and a few soft beds waiting for us when we get there.” 

“You will see.” With that, Bel’itec crept outside, moving more stealthily than anything that big had any right to. 

With a sigh, Vasili hefted his carbine and followed. 

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Tales from the Service: A Fiend in the Dark

2954-02-18 – Tales from the Service: A Fiend in the Dark 

Yes, I am aware of the rather terse announcement from Seventh Fleet headquarters last week about a fast raid on an enemy-held system here in Sagittarius. Rumors in the fleet are that it was a mixed bag, that things didn’t go to plan and the mission did not meet all of its objectives, but these are just rumors, and Admiral Abarca’s staff hasn’t responded to my queries on the topic. I’ve heard conflicting rumors about the name of the operation; there are at least two different names circulating, which is odd. Operational code-names are usually shared with everyone involved, even support staffs, so they commonly leak among service personnel before a force jumps off, even when the objectives remain secret. 

Obviously, as has been hinted at in several interviews with the admiral, offensive operations have been imminent and in-plan for some months. That the first probing raid met more than expected resistance is, honestly, no real surprise. The Incarnation propaganda makes it appear invincible and irresistible, and to keep this charade up for their own people, they can’t really afford to have millions watch Confederated raiders smash up orbital assets unopposed. 

I suspect we’ll have some clear details by this time next week. 

The telescopes found stellar occlusions after a few more minutes of idly toying with the net, and once Raywhite had something to point its sensors at, data began to trickle in. There was indeed a main body to the strange entity; it was a nearly spherical ellipsoid with one distended pole, a bit more than two thousand meters long and about fifteen hundred across which emitted nothing and reflected very nearly nothing, excepting of course the grav-flux pulses. As far as they could tell, its surface was entirely smooth and featureless, showing no indication of its nature. 

“It remains my intention to collect a sample.” Lieutenant Kato said, after analyzing the data on the main viewpanel for a long moment. “What are our options?” 

“I recommend a high-ex wrecker load from the forward tubes, Skipper.” Snyder, the weapons officer, sounded excited to finally have something to do. “That’s bound to blast something clear.” 

Kato nodded. “Can we get close enough for the axial cannon?” 

Georgi Rye winced. He had been afraid that would be the direction of the skipper’s thoughts. A little cutter like Raywhite had a very small missile magazine compared to a larger warship, and theoretically they had a mission to complete on this cruise they hadn’t even started. Using even one missile body on this unexpected complication would mean a greater chance of running out before they had their next rendezvous with a supply tender. 

“For an optimal strike with the axial plasma cannon we’d need to be within about five klicks.” Snyder shook his head. “I didn’t think that was wise.” 

“Concur.” Georgi quickly added. “That’s close enough that it might interfere with our main drive.” He felt bad immediately; technically, they didn’t even know if the object had that capability. 

“Shame.” Kato shrugged and stood. “Load tube one, wrecker load. Load remaining forward tubes with ship-to-ship cluster charge.” 

“Wrecker load aye.” Snyder nodded and turned to his station, to issue commands down to the weapons bay. On a larger ship, the missile systems were handled by auto-loaders, but on a cutter, single missiles were housed inside the pressure spaces and the weapons bay crew was responsible for pulling it down from storage, mating on the warhead, configuring its dynamic explosive payload, and wrestling it into one of the four launch tubes. This crude system was slow and prone to mishap, but it had the advantage of being small and incredibly easy to fit out. Seventh fleet had hundreds of cutters of various configurations, most of them churned out by the score at Philadelphia and Madurai. In any case, any target that could withstand a volley of four standard ship-to-ship missiles from the forward weapons bay and a follow-up two from the aft bay was probably too much for such a small ship to be tangling with at all. 

There was little doubt that the object out there in the dark would survive so many hits, of course, at least physically. If it was made mainly of metal, it was the same mass as one of the larger battleships in the fleet, and if it was made of any lesser and more flexible substance, the blast of a wrecker warhead, optimized as it was for demolishing fixed space installations, would probably have even less effect. Still, Georgi told himself, if it had anything more offensive in store than the net, it probably would have used it by now. 

“Tube one arming.” Snyder added the weapons indicator overlay to the main display. The first one blinked yellow, while the next three remained a dull red, and the final two flat grey. A moment later, the next indicator switched to a blinking orange, and the first stopped blinking. 

“Helm, get us into missile range.” Kato folded her hands. “Set condition one. All gunners stand by.” 

At her words, the ship’s computer sounded the alert klaxon. They’d been at heightened alert since the first evasive burn, so most of the crew had very little to do but switch their stations over to combat condition. The overhead lighting on the bridge dimmed and became redder. 

“Coming about. Mr. Sokol, keep tabs on that net for me.” Georgi switched the controls to manual and placed his hands on the control pads, which swelled into a pair of textured haptic bulges under his hand. Gentle pressure flipped Raywhite’s nose around to face the target, then he brought the drive up to twelve gees.  

“I have a targeting beam lock.” Snyder announced.  

“You may fire when we reach optimal range, Mr. Snyder.” 

“Aye, Skipper.” 

“The net has changed course to follow us. Estimate four minutes until we need to maneuver again.” 

“Time to weapon range?” 

“One minute, fifty seconds. The weapon will be in beam-riding mode, Skipper.” 

“Proceed. Helm, maintain course after launch to ensure optimal tracking. Ready a full-power evasive run on my command.” 

Georgi winced. “Aye, Skipper.” Locking the manual controls for a moment, he keyed in a random-evasive maneuver and a full fifteen-gee burn, ready at the push of a button. “Evasive course prepared at your command.” 

The seconds ticked by. Though the terms of this encounter should have become predictable by now, Georgi’s skin crawled at the idea that he was piloting the ship right toward the object. His left hand itched to slide over to the button to engage evasive. 

“Ten seconds.” Snyder called out. “Secondary missile arm. Five seconds. Four.” 

“Net is still safely behind.” Sokol called out. Georgi appreciated this, even though it wasn’t strictly necessary. 

“Two. One. Optimal range.” Snyder’s words were punctuated by a dull thump reverberating through Raywhite’s structure. “Tube one discharged.” 

There was a brief flash from the bridge’s tiny armor-glass viewports as the missile’s solid fuel starter charge kicked it free of the ship, which quickly vanished as its main gravitic motor took over outside the disruption radius of Raywhite’s own drive. The missile appeared on the tactical plot as a speeding yellow dart, wavering slightly in its course as it acquired the targeting beam and then straightening out into a hurtling straight-line trajectory right toward the bulbous side of the mystery object. 

“Give me visual on the main display.” Kato steepled her fingers. 

Sokol put the feed from one of the forward telescope cameras on the main display. There was nothing to see; the missile’s gravitic drive was invisible, and the camera could pick out only the brightest few stars. By the displayed magnification, the invisible entity should have filled the middle third of the screen, but nothing could be seen but a blank expanse of void. 

“Impact in three. Two. One.” The dart on the plot disappeared into the foggy indistinct area marked out as being occupied by the object. A moment later, the display blinked a white sphere over the area. “Detonation.” 

A bright flash of light fading into an orange halo filled the camera feed. 

On Georgi’s console, the grav-flux indicator spiked up to three, five, then, to his alarm, ten Mahans. It finally halted at eleven, then began to creep back downward. 

As he was watching it, Georgi noticed that the eyes of Sokol and Snyder were directed forward. He looked up, only to see with his horror that the tactical plot had gone quite mad – now the ship’s sensors could see the target well enough, as a glowing red shell on infrared bands with a bright wound in its side, but all around it, space boiled with faint traceries of coiling red substance, as if more of the net-substance was issuing out from the object on all sides. 

“Evasive, Mr. Rye.” Even Kato sounded shaken at the sight.  

Georgi slapped the control, and once again, Raywhite wheeled and shot outward, away from the strange entity. 

“Very good.” Kato took a deep breath. “Mr. Sokol, that had to have blown something clear. Find it for me.”

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