As Andros watched the battle and the Ra’a’zani class 1 ships dying at range, he saw their larger classes moving from the back to shield them. One of their class 4 ships moved in front of the Ra’a’zani formation, just outside of the range of Andros’s ship.
“Move us into position and target that ship’s drives, Weapons Handler. Full spread proton beams, three seconds cycle. Prepare k-turrets one and three for fire,” Andros ordered as he highlighted the ship in question on his c-board.
The 3000-meter-long arrowhead-shaped dreadnought moved out of the fleet’s formation, its laser point defense striking down any missile that drew close enough to the ship.
“I have a lock,” the Weapons Handler said.
“Fire,” Andros ordered.
“Firing.”
The new Empire ships were much different than those before them; they had sacrificed the sheer amount of kinetic weapons tonnage for more power. The dreadnoughts still had a much larger arsenal than the other classes, but gone were the times where they could cover the space with countless kinetic shells; there was no need for it.
The dreadnought class possessed twenty-two heavy proton beam emitters, an upgrade of their particle beam weapons. A simple frequency shift and a particle discovered in the data from the sphere had increased the power of their weapons by 900 percent, and one side effect was that the beam was now visible to the naked eye. Each emitter was capable of holding the destructive beam for five seconds before needing to cool off.
The dreadnought’s weapons swiveled and targeted the Ra’a’zani ship; a single beam of dark green energy struck the Ra’a’zani ship, impacting its shimmering field. The shimmering field tech was an amazing discovery, a field that dissipated any energy hitting it. It was a tech that the Empire had stolen and improved on. The current Ra’a’zani field tech was now leagues behind that of the Empire.
The field held for barely two seconds before collapsing, allowing the green energy beam to strike the ship’s hull. The beam burned away into the hull, arcs of crackling energy jumping out of the impact point to scorch and damage the surrounding areas. In one second, the beam had already done significant damage. Then, just before the beam shut off, another took its place, burning into the hull for another three seconds before yet another took its place, allowing for constant damage to the Ra’a’zani ship and enough cooldown time for the proton beams.
The Ra’a’zani ship tried to roll, tried to bring to bear an area where their shimmering field still worked, but they were too slow. The beam blew through their drives, leaving them without maneuvering. But even with that, the massive ship was still a threat, still firing its weapons at the Empire’s ships.
“Their drives are down, Force Leader,” Andros’s subordinate reported.
“Lock k-turrets one and three, one shot each,” Andros ordered.
While the Empire had downgraded the number of their kinetic weapons on their ships, they had not removed them from their arsenal. In fact, they had upgraded them significantly with the help of the knowledge they had received from the sphere.
Two kinetic slabs of ri-steel exploded from the Risen’s turrets, traveling not at a scant fraction of the speed of light, but at one third. White streaks of light slammed into the unmoving Ra’a’zani ship, ignoring their shimmering fields completely. Two shots blew the largest class of ship that Ra’a’zani fielded to pieces.
“Nice shooting, Weapons Master,” Andros said. “Keep up the missile fire on the enemy’s smaller ships. Let’s see if we can find some more of their class 4 ships to destroy.”
Johanna watched as the Ra’a’zani ships and their defense platforms exploded under the fire from her ships. The Ra’a’zani field defense tech was no match for the firepower of her fleet. Their missiles were slower and weaker than her own, and the combined point defense of her fleet didn’t allow a single one of the Ra’a’zani missiles to pass through—and even if they had, Johanna was certain that the energy shields on her ships would’ve held.
The Ra’a’zani were trying to disable her fleet’s missiles using their defense, the same they had used in her last battle with them. But now the Empire knew what it was, and their missiles were shielded against it. It was ingenious, really. The Ra’a’zani system locked on to the frequencies that the missiles oscillated at. Everything in the universe had a unique frequency—everything vibrated. By sending a vibration on the same frequency as the missile through sub-space, the Ra’a’zani were able to produce a reaction and the missiles exploded. But now her missiles were shielded, their frequencies almost impossible to lock on to, their defense useless.
A few of their class 3 and 4 ships braved the missile fire and closed the range, firing their main weapons. Bolts of white-green energy flew towards her drone ships. The crew remotely controlling them tried to evade but were unable to move the 760-meter-long drones in time. Three bolts of energy struck one drone’s shields, briefly making the shields visible in the area of impact. The Ra’a’zani weapon was something that they hadn’t been able to identify until they’d gained access to the sphere and its knowledge. The weapon utilized what the People had called Xa-nan, named so after the woman who had discovered it, Xa Gannan. It was a type of plasma-like substance that could literally break down solid matter, as long as it had energy.
The three consecutive impacts on the energy shields did nothing, as the weapon was completely useless against shields. Its only strength was against solid matter. The drones fired their main weapon, high-intensity lasers, which the Ra’a’zani field’s dissipated but not completely; a small portion of the lasers’ destructive energy was transferring to the hull, scorching and melting it. The Ra’a’zani ships found themselves surrounded by drones, and hammered by intense beams of light and heat. Johanna sent the order for a couple of her battleships to change targets and finish the Ra’a’zani warships with their more powerful weapons.
Her fleet’s missiles were hammering the Ra’a’zani ships, kinetic weapons blew their defensive platforms to pieces, and proton beams destroyed their ships. The Ra’a’zani were outmatched in every possible way, and soon the fighting drew to a halt as the last Ra’a’zani ship died. She had lost three drones, and had one lightly damaged cruiser; the Ra’a’zani had lost everything.
Johanna disengaged the Watchtower interface, and started giving orders for the fleet to take up positions in the high orbit of the planet while the drones destroyed all the Ra’a’zani orbitals—their stations and processing plants—while her cruisers handled the planetary defenses and covered the fleet. Her larger ships were on their way to deal with the Ra’a’zani presence on the two moons and the rest of the system. It was time for stage two.
Anessa was brought to the command room of Adrian’s ship escorted by six guards. She could see that all inside the room were engrossed in their stations. Orders were sent and relayed much like they were on a Legion warship. In the center stood her captor. Leaning on a railing, he gazed at the holographic display in front of him. His two beasts sat on their haunches, attentively watching Anessa as she approached. As she stepped close enough, he turned to look at her, then gestured to the display.
Anessa turned her gaze and studied the holo. She didn’t understand any of the markings or data, but she knew that what was in front of her eyes was an aftermath of a battle. She recognized pieces of Ra’a’zani warships, and knew that the Humans had done what she couldn’t—they had found Ra’a’zani territory. Empire ships had besieged the planet on the holo, and many were lowering themselves to the ground. It was an invasion.
Immediately, she felt anger. It was supposed to be her Legion that was destroying the Daksinn—the Ra’a’zani. She turned her eyes to Adrian, seeing him studying her.