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* * *

Disappointed, Vit’r’an looked at the damage his weapons had inflicted. He had intended to destroy all of them with a single shot. But the human ships proved more resilient.

“What happened? The Larsha’ka were supposed to destroy their ships.” Vit’r’an said, the Larsha’ka was not the most powerful weapon the Ra’a’zani possessed, but it was the base of all of their ships, and the main weapon of the Blood Claw.

“Now that we have damaged their hull, we have better scans of their ships. It looks like their hull is made out of high density metal alloys. They have a tremendous mass, Dakar. The Larsha’ka expended most of its energy just to get through so much mass.” A Taskmaster on the sensor post said.

Vit’r’an growled again. The Larsha’ka could burn through anything, provided it had enough energy. If it needed to expand so much of its power just to get through the human hull, the Blood Claw will need to fire follow up shots for it to be effective. But they did destroy one and crippled another of their ships. That meant that some areas of their ships had less defenses than others. The terminal now showed the human middle line moving forward, their damaged ships moving behind. Looks like the humans figured out what the Larsha’ka did. If their bigger ships had thicker hull, then it would take more than a single shot to damage them enough to destroy them. Then the human middle line split again, their biggest ship going up above the Blood Claw, while the two smaller ones going below. They planned to get him between them. A good plan, but one that won’t work as their weapons were ineffective against his ship.

“Target the ships four through six, fire when ready.” Vit’r’an said.

* * *

Andros rolled the Monarch, bringing its top side to bear against the Ra’a’zani ship. All of their railguns, and massive turrets were trained on the Ra’a’zani ship. The battleships Claymore and Sovereign were under the Ra’a’zani ship, their trajectories and weapons pointed in a way that made sure that any missed shots wouldn’t hit the Monarch, or the Monarch’s them. The light cruisers were coming in behind the Monarch, even further above. The heavy cruisers Tempest and Sword waited in front of the Ra’a’zani ship.

Then Andros saw the Ra’a’zani ship open fire, just as the order came through.

“Fire!” Andros said, and watched as the space filled with fast moving metal objects.

* * *

“Firing!” Vit’r’an’s subordinate said. And all five Larsha’ka cannons on the top of the Blood Claw fired on the biggest human ship, while the four on the bottom fired two shots on the each human ship below. Vit’r’an followed his Larsha’ka bolts, just as alarms started beeping across the bridge.

“Incoming weapons fire! It looks like Pasha’ka, thousands of them!”

“Get their frequencies!” Vit’r’an yelled out, if they were the same ones that could multiply this could be bad.

“The Srasah’uk can’t get a lock!” Someone yelled out. Vit’r’an looked at the incoming fire, realization coming to his mind. His eyes widened. “Evasive Maneuvering!” He yelled out. But he knew that it was too late.

* * *

Out in space, the Ra’a’zani Larsha’ka and the human weapons fire encountered each other. A few of the humans metal shells impacted with the Larsha’ka, and those that did were devoured by it, reducing the Larsha’ka energy by a small amount. Then they passed, the Larsha’ka bolts hit their targets spot on. Five Larsha’ka bolts hit the Monarch, three hit the Citadel, and two impacted in the amidship. The top of the ship’s hull was bathed in green-white energy that swallowed anything it came in contact with, several turrets disappeared as they were consumed. The Larsha’ka savaged the Monarch’s hull, but the dreadnought ships had been created to deal out as much punishment as they got. The damage was minor.

The two battleships each got hit by two Larsha’ka, the Claymore shrugged of the hits, losing only a couple of turrets. The Sovereign on the other hand wasn’t so lucky. One shot hit it amidship doing minor damage. The other one hit close to the ship’s drives, the Larsha’ka ate through the hull and reached a power conduit. The last part of the ship exploded, sending the Sovereign into a spin, it’s auxiliary maneuvering drives firing to try and stabilize it.

The Ra’a’zani ship noticed the danger of the human attack almost too late. In the split seconds that its commander realized the danger, the Ra’a’zani ship fired all of its drives in one big burst of power, moving ever so slightly out of the way. That moment was enough to save them from most of the onslaught, but not all. The smaller 150mm explosive shells fired from the human ships railguns bombarded the Ra’a’zani ship creating craters on its surface. But it was their main weapons, the massive 700mm shells fired from their turrets that inflicted the most damage. The Ra’a’zani hull was strong, but the pure destructive power of the human weapons proved sufficient to devastate their hull. One 700mm shell dropped right on top of the Ra’a’zani Larsha’ka turret, breaking it apart and penetrating inside the ship, causing an enormous explosion that left a seven meter wide crater on the ship’s hull.

And then three of the 700mm shells followed by dozens of 150mm explosive ones, hit the Ra’a’zani ships close to its drives. The effect was immediate, the hull material of the Ra’a’zani ship shattered as the shells destructive power hit them. A part of their drives exploded, but the Ra’a’zani ship was made with the best materials their kind was capable of making, most of the explosion was absorbed or deflected off the most important sections of the ship.

* * *

Vit’r’an felt his ship shake around him, the clear sign that the internal dampeners were damaged. He wasn’t worried, his ship had many redundancies. The dampeners were probably the most important part of a space ship. His terminal showed the damage the Blood Claw was receiving. Hull breaches, loss of hull integrity, and then he heard an explosion. The light on his bridge dimmed, the lights and computers flickering, until a moment later they came back strong. Vit’r’an glanced at his terminal. He saw the damage to his ship’s drives. Their maneuvering capability had dropped to 30%.

Vit’r’an felt his blood boil in rage. He knew what the human weapons were. Mass drivers, weapons that his people used long ago. He had heard of the devastation that those weapons could do to a ship that was foolish enough to stand in their way. And now he had experienced it firsthand. His ship’s hull was savaged, the damage wasn’t critical, surface damage only. But the integrity of their plates had dropped, they lost a Larsha’ka cannon, and the only reason for his drives still operating was that their builders built them with battle in mind, and constructed them compartmentalized. His people had stopped using mass drivers thousands of rotations ago, when their ship became maneuverable enough that there was little chance of those weapons hitting their mark.

Vit’r’an knew that the humans had drawn him into a trap. He was holding back, waiting for an opportunity to present itself for him to disable and capture one of their ships. But now, the flow of battle had turned. His enemies knew that they had weapons that were effective against his ship. And the damage to his drives will make it impossible for him to evade all of their fire. Their ships could move around his in circles. He saw the rest of the human forces were on an intercept course, no doubt to fire their own mass drivers. While the three ships that had inflicted so much hurt were slowly turning around, coming back from his ship’s rear. Enraged Vit’r’an turned to his crew.