Isani watched as the human ships fired their missiles, their rate of fire was better than what his ships could achieve, but he knew that 3000 missiles weren’t going to be enough to breach Sowir defenses at this distance. And the Leviathan fired six much larger missiles. The missiles chased those fired before them until they put a significant distance from the human ships, and then they detonated.
“Maseera!” Hosar Tassat exclaimed from the sensor station, “Those missiles were nuclear!”
Surprised and horrified Isani turned, “Any danger of radiation?” He asked quickly.
“No Retsar. We will pass through the radiation field too fast, and our hulls will protect us. But I wouldn’t recommend any of our ships to stay in the area for extended periods of time.” Hosar Tassat said.
“What were they doing? Why did they detonate early?” Isani asked. It was insanity, the Consortium of course knew about nuclear weapons. The Mtural were the ones that first discovered and built one. But as soon as the Consortium realized the dangers, they put a ban on nuclear research. With extreme punishment for anyone disobeying.
“I don’t know Retsar. Perhaps it was a malfunction… No, they all detonated at the same time…” Hosar Tassat was saying when he was interrupted by Hosar Ovar from the auxiliary sensor station.
“They fired something else during the explosions from the nuclear missiles Retsar.” Hosar Ovar said.
Looking at his screens he saw nothing that indicated any weapons fire. “There is nothing on our scans.”
“Our auxiliary scanners picked it up, there were flashes of light coming from the human ships during the interval of missile explosions. They definitely fired something, our sensors just don’t recognize it as weapons fire.” Hosar Ovar said.
Isani turned to Hosar Tassat, “Find whatever it is they fired, I want to know what the hell it was and why they detonated six nuclear missiles before they fired it.”
“Yes Retsar.”
Isani spent the next few minutes trying to figure out what it was that they fired as he watched his screen and the 3000 missiles speeding towards the Sowir ships. And then Hosar Ovar yelled out. “I think that I got it!” He said, “Out secondary sensors have been following a fast moving objects in space, from the moment of the explosions. Our main sensors are calibrated to look for missiles heat signatures, that’s why we it doesn’t show on our main sensors.”
“Can you tell what it is?” Isani asked.
“Whatever it is, it is cold. Very cold, I have no idea what it is.” Hosar Ovar said.
Isani watched his screen, it now showed the projected track of the human cold weapons. As he looked at it and their tracks that were on the intercept course with the Sowir ships something clicked in his mind.
“Kinetic weapons.” Isani whispered.
“Retsar?” Hosar Inra asked from the weapons station.
“The humans told us that those turrets on their ships fired kinetic weapons. That’s what that is. They must be made out of metals. Just metal missiles, with no explosives, no maneuvering.” Isani said, amazed at the human ingenuity.
“I don’t understand Retsar, what purpose do they serve then?” Hosar Inra asked.
“Those weapons don’t rely on explosive energy, but rather kinetic. Their speed amplified by their mass. And they are made out of metal. If they hit they will transfer all that energy.”
“But what is the point if they can’t maneuver? Sowir will just shoot them down or move out of the way.” Hosar Inra said.
“Only if they can see them. Their sensors are similar to ours, and we only saw them because we witnessed their launch. That was what those nuclear detonations were for. To hide their launch, even those missiles they fired, they are all a distraction. The real danger are those kinetic missiles.” Isani said, the human ships had started to slow down, so Isani ordered his ships to do likewise. They would wait for Sowir to reach them. The humans were dangerous, very dangerous. Isani was very much relieved that they were on his side.
In the darkness of space 3000 missiles speed towards their target closing in with each passing second. Behind them hundreds of metal slugs followed in their wake, obscured by the missiles leading. The Sowir ships opened with defensive laser fire, and as soon as the first human missile exploded all others entered evasion mode, but even then the Sowir fire started cutting their numbers down. The more ground the missiles covered on the path to their targets more of them were destroyed. Until finally just a couple thousand of kilometers away the last human missile exploded harmlessly, not reaching its target. The Sowir ships kept on the same course, unbothered. Then there was a change, quickly, seemingly in a panic, the Sowir ships started to spread out, but by then it was too late. Hundreds of metal slugs moving at the fraction of the speed of light slammed into their formation. A lot of them missed as Sowir ships spread out, but more than a third hit, and more than half of those that hit were glancing blows, barely scratching the hull of their targets. But those few that hit, were devastating. The Sowir used a ceramic composite as a base of their ship’s hull, just as the rest of Consortium did, it was great for withstanding laser fire, absorbing explosives, preventing missile penetration and deflecting small grain like particle that moved in space. But the human weapons were made out of metal, a material they had long since abandoned in their building because of its weight and mass, and now it was that mass that worked against them. The metal slugs shredded through the ceramic, inflicting heavy damage to areas they hit. They hit only a few ships and none of the damage was critical, as all Sowir ships had redundant systems. But one Sowir light cruiser, two heavy cruisers and one battleship bore the scars of their first encounter with the human warships.
Adrian looked at his c-board, looking at the results of his little opening move. The damage his ships inflicted looked much worse that it really was. None of the Sowir ships were critically damaged, they detected the fire early enough to escape the brunt of it, but it must have hurt their pride. If Sowir even had such emotions. The enemy fleet had altered their course, now they were coming on an arch that would take them to the right of the Nel fleet, using it as a shield against Adrian’s fleet. Both Adrian and Isani were forced to make adjustments as well. Now altering their course to bring them parallel to that of the Sowir. Eventually this arched course would bring them back towards Nuva. Adrian and Isani formed their ships into two “walls” one above the other, with Adrian’s fleet taking the top and Isani’s the bottom. After they adjust their course they would be travelling parallel to the Sowir, until eventually both forces smashed into one another. The two forces entered laser range, and almost simultaneously all three commanders ordered their ships to fire.
Invisible beams reached out of the human and Nel ships to strike the Sowir, just as theirs reached out to strike back. Missiles joined the battle, thousands of missiles were fired on both sides, and the space between the two opposing forces became bathed in explosions, with only a few managing to get through. The Sowir laser defenses proved more efficient than the human ones in the sense that their targeting was better, but the sheer amount of defensive shells that the human ships fired provided the difference. The entire space between them was blanketed in cover fire, in a random pattern that Sowir missiles were hard pressed to evade. The bulk of Sowir missiles were targeted at Nel ships, with the human ships using most of their defensive fire to cover for them. The laser beams started inflicting more and more damage on the Nel ships as the two forces drew closer, while human resistant hulls managed to dissipate most of it. On the other side the Sowir ships were soaking in a lot of damage from the human ships. The Leivathan’s heavy lasers were hitting the Sowir battleships hard as they moved out to cover their other ships. The battle was more or less even, until the Sowir opened up with their particle beams.