The Return of Nemesis

By Aaron Wood

In Mythology, Nemesis is the one who brings forth Divine Retribution on those who have offended the Gods. The Noven Battlecruiser Nemesis is thus well named given its arsenal of weapons and devastating main-gun. For two thousand years however its been missing from the fleet, its fate a deep dark secret the Novens would not share with the rest of the Confederation. But now secrets are revealed as the great cruiser is resurrected for a special mission. A mission where someone will eventually face Divine Retribution.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aaron Wood
• Release date: Jan 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781310892974

Book preview

The Return of Nemesis

By Aaron Wood

Copyright © 2012 by Aaron Wood

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living, dead, or undead, is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.

Smashwords Edition: January 2012

Contents

Preface

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Preface

"Just when you think you know the story, it changes."

More than three thousand years ago, a space-faring race appeared in the universe that would change the balance of power among the stars. They were called the Novi and they were unlike any other race for they were of one mind and yet of many bodies. A race of one person, replicated over a million times by his original species to fight a war centuries before. In this he was too successful, defeating not only the enemy he was created to fight but also his creators. As to what happened to his creators, the Novi would never say other then they still existed. But at some point in the past the Novi left the world of their origin—never to return—for the vast cold void of space.

It is said they were never truly defeated in space. No other race would directly challenge the Noven militarily and risk having a battlecruiser, or worse, take orbit over their home world. Thus, if the Novi had been interested in conquest, the galaxy would have been theirs two thousand years ago. Instead, like the Spartans of ancient Earth, the Novi would only go to war when directly provoked, or to defend one of the races of the Confederation, a Confederation the Novi had helped form from the most powerful races in the galaxy.

Though a general peace had reigned since the formation of the Confederation, in recent years several mysterious attacks had occurred on outposts and colonies of the member races. Colonies that had been safe for centuries suddenly subjected to attacks from as yet unidentified raiders. As a result old hatreds have been resurrected and accusations made as to who is behind the attacks. To counter these raids the Novi, acting as a neutral party, have deployed the bulk of its fleet to patrol these border zones.

Chapter One

Deep within Confederation space, a Noven Typhon-class destroyer led its convoy of ships towards the planet Timur. For more than a century convoys had traveled to Timur as a transition point to various outposts and small colonies. Because of the threat of pirates in this area of the galaxy, the Novi had been providing armed escorts in the form of a flotilla of destroyers. Based at Timur, these destroyers patrol the routes to the outlying colonies.

The operation was simple. The convoy would arrive at Timur to meet a Hydra Class destroyer. Some of the convoy vessels would then join the Hydra enroute to their outpost, while others would await their destroyer escort. Still others would unload at Timur prior to joining the Typhon on a journey back into the Confederation. At no time however would any of the convoy vessels be left alone; even in orbit over Timur.

On the bridge of the Typhon, the command clone had just come on duty. As his eyes flashed, indicating he was receiving a telepathic signal, the other clones on the bridge gave him a complete update on the convoys’ space fold. Thus, without a word spoken, within moments he was aware of a propulsion problem with one of the convoy ships, a navigation glitch in another, and a dispute between two freighter captains over who would offload cargo first at Timur, none of which was out of the ordinary for this route.

For the next half hour the situation on the bridge was as quiet as a tomb, the only sounds coming from the instruments and the low vibration coming from the fold engines. Then, just as the pilot clone signaled they were only two minutes from defold, an emergency telepathic signal reached the command clone. Without warning, unidentified ships had appeared at Timur and were engaging the lone Noven destroyer. The command clone didn’t even have to think the order for the lights on the ship to change to red and the battle klaxon to sound through the decks. He did, however, have to break the silence of the bridge by opening communications with the convoy vessels to tell them they must defold now while the destroyer continued to Timur.

Within seconds the freighters had done as told and dropped out of hyperspace. At the same time the Typhon went to flank, crashing out of fold forty-five seconds later at Timur, only to see the Hydra completely surrounded by four ships. Within seconds the Typhon was then rocked by a thermonuclear detonation off its port bow. Through the link the weapon station clone reported that they were in a minefield obviously laid by the attacking ships as they’d approached the Hydra. As the Typhon now reduced speed to a crawl, the larger of the four attacking ships began firing on it with long-range weapons.

As the Typhon rocked from hits, its command clone was beginning to lose his temper. Everything indicated great thought on the part of the attackers: launching their attack just as the convoy was approaching, laying a field of charges right at the point were the Typhon would defold, having a ship with long-range weapons to pound it at a safe distance while it struggled to clear the field as three other ships pounded the crippled Hydra. They’d had the Novi practically from the start: Now all they had to do was keep firing until the Noven shields failed.

And yet this command clone knew something these raiders apparently didn’t. Their attack was less then three minutes old, but he knew they needed ten minutes to restore their fold systems. Four minutes before that could happen the heavy cruiser Hercules would arrive, summoned at the same moment as the Typhon. Then the battle would turn; none of these enemy ships was a match for a Noven ship of the line. All the destroyers had to do was hold out for three minutes.

And just as the command clone predicted, six minutes into the battle Hercules defolded into Timur orbit. Before the destroyer clones could issue a hurrah through the link, however, all four attacking raiders folded out of orbit. The clones were dumbfounded, unsure what had just happened. Moments later they began receiving calls for help from the freighters they were supposedly guarding, freighters they now were in no position to help.

Five hours later the Typhon command clone was down on Timur as Confederation officials argued. Hercules, which had gone to the aid of the freighters as soon as it could fold, had just returned with what was left of the convoy: three ships completely destroyed and five others damaged. This damage record, however, did not include the Hydra, which had lost its bridge crew and would not be fit for service for three weeks. For the raiders the battle had been a complete success; there was little sign that any of the enemy ships had received any significant damage.

As the Typhon command clone stood watching the politicians, the command clone of Hercules approached. May I talk with you? he said in words, an action that caught the Typhon clone by surprise.

Don’t you want to speak to me through the link?

What I have to say doesn’t need to be broadcast throughout the race, replied the Hercules commander. These raiders were able to pull this off by performing a pop from behind a large asteroid passing near Timur.

Pops were a tactic only used by Noven and Naga cruisers to rapidly close on a nearby enemy. By utilizing the fold generators a pilot (Noven or Naga) created a fold bubble around the ship. The ship was then popped at high sub-light speed towards an enemy ship, closing distances as great as a thousand miles within seconds. True, the ship would incur an energy loss towards doing a regular fold, but the time delay was significantly less than the time it would take to perform a real fold.

So that is how they could perform a fold so quickly after launching their attack, said the Typhon clone.They’re using our tactics against us.

Better than them gaining the ability to fold in six minutes, said the other clone. Unfortunately it doesn’t change the fact they then had ten uninterrupted minutes to ravage the convoy before I arrived.

The Hercules command clone stopped for a moment to scan the room. When he had confirmed to himself they were not being watched, he continued. One more thing. They deliberately avoided damaging the Thermadonian freighters, but went out of their way to destroy the Reptilicon.

Runs to pattern, replied the Typhon clone. This is a Reptilicon colony, so the loss of Reptilicon ships will be most felt. As I understand it, three weeks ago an attack at a Thermadonian colony resulted in extensive damage to several Thermadonian ships while no damage was sustained by both a Naga and a Caldonian transport.

Do you think the White Lord knows this?

If we know something, he knows it. I just hope he’s working on a plan to put us one step ahead of these raiders. Otherwise, these guys will tear the Confederation apart by cycle’s end.

As the Typhon clone said this a fight broke out among the arguing bureaucrats. The two clones simply watched from a distance, quite sure if they intervened they would be charged with taking a side, and that would only add fuel to the fire the raiders had already ignited.

***

As the Timur battle took place another Noven began his daily journey through a jungle. Some jungles are benign and beautiful, while others are filled with dangers. In most of these cases a clone would wear peltast armor and carry the latest in Noven weapons and sensors. But in the jungle Clone 37026978 traveled in today he was forbidden any of these items. For today, as he had for over a decade, he was blending in with his surroundings. And those surroundings were the City of Los Angeles.

Clone 37026978 was a watcher, one of four clones placed on Earth to watch over the planet. Two thousand years ago Earth and the other planets in the Sol system had become major obstacles in the admission of both the Thermadonian League and the Reptilicon Empire to the Confederation. Both races had laid claim to the Sol system, but neither wanted it. What each had wanted was to find a way to prevent the other from taking it and building a base on its one easily habitable planet. If such a base were to be built, it could serve as a jumping-off point for attacks on colonies of either empire.

To solve this problem other members of the Confederation suggested making the Novi the planet’s guardian. This way the system stayed out of both empires and—even if one empire did try something—the Noven base at Regala was close enough to put a stop to it. Both empires agreed to this plan and for the last two thousand years it had worked to keep the peace.

To keep the situation low key, only four clones were assigned to the planet at any one time. Each clone had his own personal space fighter, giving him the ability to repel any small raiding force. If an attacker was more substantial, a series of sensor points—set up over a thousand years ago—would give the watchers two hours’ warning, plenty of time to summon help in the form of a cruiser from Regala. And if the situation were truly dire, the four clones could be given permission to use…

‘Morning, James, came the normal human greeting Clone 37026978 had grown to expect as he walked to his cube. Under the name of James Addington, he had acquired a job eleven years ago as an engineer working for a major company. This cover, like hundreds of others used over the centuries, allowed the clone to live unnoticed within the human society he was protecting. Within a few minutes James had greeted his cube partner, Ken, dropped his bag in its usual place, turned on his computer, and picked up his coffee mug. Within five minutes he was in the coffee room exchanging more greetings and pouring his cup of coffee. Then it was back to his computer, which had now booted up and was asking for his password. It was then that his eyes began to glow.

Jim, is something wrong? said his cube partner, Ken. You suddenly tensed.

Nothing to worry about, Ken, said James, closing his eyes. I just remembered I had a telecom this morning. James placed his thumb and forefinger on the bridge of his nose and squeezed as any human would to suppress a headache. He then opened his eyes to reveal again a normal set of hazel eyes.

I better see if the small conference room is open, he said, rising from his chair. In a moment he was closing the door to the small room behind him, isolating himself so no one could see his eyes beginning to glow again. Two minutes later, after the glow had faded, James chuckled. Oh, Medea is going to be soooo happy to see me.

***

Management assistance at check stand three, came the call over the store PA. Though it had nothing to do with her, Medea stopped checking the stock and looked