INTRODUCTION
This is my first novella, hope you like it. While it may be a little dry (to some) and hard to read, what I tried to do was paint a picture of life in Sirius and what if the nomads should return.
[Unknown Space]
The bridge commander frantically scanned her overview. All non essential personnel had been evacuated. Gashes of debris, air and twisted metal fell out of the many large open spaces where the hull used to be. They were ambushed. The once glorious Liberty Exploratory Fleet had been destroyed and the escape pods mercilessly slaughtered. The unknowns had struck hard and fast. Liberty had to be warned. There was only one thing to do, or all was lost. The commander hesitantly gave the order to de-cloak. Before she could even read the confirmation message, her cruiser had exploded in glorious flames.
[Battleship Freedom, Alaska System, Liberty Space.]
The Freedom was a Vanguard class carrier. Thousands of man-years of development went into her majestic hull. Vanguards were three Yet, to everyone except a select few, she didn't exist. She was part of a fleet of elite craft, built by the finest military engineers in all of Liberty, to act as the last line of defense should the nomads ever return. Beneath her nameplate on the bow she proudly displayed her title: "Liberty's Last Hope".
It was lunch time. Over a thousand officers made their way to the central cafeteria. Besides the highest ranking officers, none of them knew where they were, such was the secrecy behind the Capital Fleet. While the other houses were squabbling over their petty territory disputes, Liberty had secretly built a separate fleet in covert. Never to see the light of day until, God forbid, the nomads return.
Like everyone else in the room, Lt. Ross rose to his feet, and prepared to go to lunch with his comrades. "INCOMING TRANSMISSION". He took a heavy sigh. "Why did they always have to call during lunchtime?" he cursed. "Computer, display message". "NEGATIVE, CLASSIFIED". Ross scanned the room. He was the only one left. He typed in the access code, and the encrypted message flashed on his screen.
<INCOMING TRANSMISSION>
UNKNOWN SPACE
Commander Hannah here. Pass this encrypted log to the commander.
<UNKNOWN ATTACHMENT>
<END TRANSMISSION>
Ross worriedly called the commander, who promptly ordered him out of the room. The transmission was transferred to a portable datapad, and the original copy deleted. When he was back in his room, then only he opened it.
<OPENING ATTACHMENT>
Unknown ships. We have been destroyed. Not our nomads. Not human either. Appeared out of nowhere. Possible cloaking tech. All escape pods destroyed, no survivors. Hull critical, not going to make it. Here they come, damnit avenge us -explosion-static-
<END TRANSMISSION>
Commander Smith was a veteran of the Nomad War. He received his promotion during the war when his commander was killed in combat. The recruits often joked that should the nomads ever return, they would crush them in one fell swoop with what they called the 'killer fleet'. However, Smith knew the nomads. Three super carriers, while easily capable of defeating any known fleet, would probably not survive an onslaught of nomad battleships. And now something more powerful has come. Something that has wiped out the Liberation and its support fleet. Now, only two ships remained. He breathed deeply and called the Justice and its fleet to rally at his position.
This was it. This was their purpose. It is time to fulfill their very reason for existence. He just hoped it will be enough.
[Sigma 13, the Sigmas]
In the dimly lit cargo bay, Lawrence was just doing his chores. He was one of the freight handlers on the Silverfish. Small time traders didn't have armies of crew cleaning their cargo bays every time they arrived at their destination. The Silverfish, flagship of the SilverLeaf Trading Corp, a loose coalition of independent Freeport traders, belonged to such a small time corp. Lawrence and most of his mates were just here to gain some work experience before applying to join the larger trading factions. "Yeah" he thought. "Just two more months of this hellhole and I'll apply to join the Freeport Shipping League. Last time I applied as a fresh grad, they just laughed at me".
Such a fate was common for the middle class graduates of Liberty society. Born during the baby boom after the Nomad War, Lawrence had been fortunate enough to get a job amidst the sky high unemployment rate as the overloaded education system spewed out more and more graduates. His diploma was just like a blank piece of paper, his experience was the content.
The captain's voice over the PA system woke Lawrence from his daydreaming. "Buckle up people, we're making our jump into Honshu." He hurried to secure himself as the ship entered the jumpgate.
Such long delays were common, Kusari was at war and they had to scan all incoming ships good and proper. The Honshu side had it easy, only one cruiser stood guard at the Sigma-13 gate. Most of the traffic was gas either fish food from Kurile, or gas miners and haulers belonging to the GMG. However, the protectionist Kusari populace frowned upon foreign traders setting foot and resented the Zoners. This was understandable as they also had their baby boomer unemployment problem. And today, they struggled to hide their displeasure. Oh no, "don't get mad, get even", the commander of the Sakura cruiser thought. His own son had been denied a job at Kishiro, and the position instead given to a migrant from the Sigmas. This was his chance to get even.
[Honshu System, Kusari Space]
"Glad that went well, now entering the trade lane to Akita Border Station."
"This is Sakura Patrol Five. Hold it right there, fish food inspectors." the police officer joked.
"You're clean, proceed. As there has been pirate activity along the lane, we will escort you to the station. You get that, Sakura?"
From the bridge, the cruiser commander was observing the situation.
"This is Sakura. Negative, we have reports of incoming unknown craft. Stay and guard the cruiser, they can take care of themselves".
"But sir... all right..." the officer hesitantly obeyed.
Unknown to the police officer, the Farmers Union pirates he detected had been informed and given protection by the commander of the Sakura. Unfortunately, Kusari society was not well known as being clean. Corruption and under the table deals and agreements between even respected individuals in the navy and the local unions were often given a blind eye. If any KUSARI were among the victims, there would be an outcry.
The GMG on the other hand, were just thugs. A ruthless FOREIGN organization that had taken over space right next to Kusari. Space that should rightfully belong to the Kusari people. Space that held valuable vital resources that should rightfully belong to the Kusari people that they now not only had to buy, but had to bid with their hated enemies, the Bretonians. In fact, if they had access to the Sigmas, they would probably have won the Kusari-Bretonia war.
Now, their own corporations were forced to make peace and trade with the GMG, who are openly supplying the enemy. Pathetic.
"PIRATE ATTACK! Incoming Farmers Alliance fighters, battle stations everyone, dropping countermeasures, CRAP trade lane disrupted! Keep us together till we reach the station!"
The Silverfish was just 5k from Akita. They couldn't afford escort. The pirates wouldn't negotiate, they demanded 10 million credits. The corp didn't even make that much a year.
Suddenly, the hostiles disappeared from the radar. "Damn! Radar failure! The last thing we need!" the captain cursed. Prepare to eject or we're gonners."
The captain tried to get a visual. Lawrence gazed out of one of the tiny windows located throughout the hull. "Sir! Unknown ships closing fast! I've never seen anything like it! They don't seem to be human in origin... they're ignoring us! They're going for the station!"
They were now visible from the cockpit. The captain gasped and quickly turned his ship around. The unknowns were now opening fire on Akita. Fighters spewed out and the Navy declared on all open channels to avoid the area, and that they were moving in fast.
The Sakura moved in. The captain was shaking with fear, he was certain his retribution had come. At least he would be remembered as a hero. He barely had enough time to announce "gunnery open fire, target incoming ships" when blue blobs of light emerged from the unknown bombers, or at least he thought they were bombers. The cruiser's weapons could not track the fast unknown ships. Before a single shot could hit its target, the unknown energy bombs hit, immediately puncturing the shields. The unknowns were now within gun range. Streaks of green and blue fell relentlessly on the Sakura.
"EVACUATE ALL PERSONNEL" - too late. The cruiser exploded within blast range of the escape pods, there were no survivors.
The defending fighters fought valiantly but were shot down like flies. The unknowns, about a dozen in total, took few casualties. The station was quickly destroyed, and the escape pods didn't make it very far. Only a few managed to achieve cruise speed and disappeared into the horizon. Just as navy warships were within firing range, the unknowns cloaked and escaped. All attempts to scan them down proved unsuccessful.
The Silverfish's captain, now dripping with sweat, activated cruise engines and sped towards the trade lane. Rather than stop for repairs, he just wanted to get as far away from Kusari as possible. While searching for a new trading contract on the opposite side of Sirius, he continued on his way to the Tau barrier worlds.
[Planet Toledo, Omicron Minor. Order Space]
"Sir, it appears unknowns have made their way into Kusari. Also, we have a transmission from our operative on the Liberation. It appears a few hours old, but it has just arrived".
<INCOMING TRANSMISSION>
The nomads have returned. And they have brought along something... else. We are under fire and lost many ships. This does not look good, their weapons aren't like anything we've seen
-scream followed by static-
<UNEXPECTED END OF TRANSMISSION>
Watcher Zaelas, commanding officer of the Order's 4th intelligence task force, read out the transmission to his officers. Their time had come. The purpose of the Order is about to be fulfilled, each and every one of them is about to be tested. He quickly gathered the other watchers for a quick video discussion. They will then present the information to the Order's commanders.
[Freeport 10, Tau 37. Barrier Space]
"For the millionth time, another transport carrying wadever to our pathetic piece of junk in the middle of nowhere" the Zoner patrol grunted.
"Hey, those supplies are the only things keeping them gud fer nuttin pirates from blowin us to smithereenies" his partner retorted.
"Silverfish requesting permission to la--- err... dock"
"Humph its another one of them"
"Just shuddup will ya, bring her in SilverJunk"
"Wait something on sensors, this doesn't seem right... could be pirates. Hurry up with the doc--- what the hell is that!"
Three floors below, on the observation deck, the Spa and Cruise tour group leader was taking yet another group of awestruck tourists on one of the "fringe space tours". They had just witnessed a bounty hunter ship crash into the station after being hotly perused by a wing of outcasts. It was in violation of Freeport rule, but being so close to the Outcast home world made the Zoners hesitant to enforce their no fire range. After all, should they intervene and provide covering fire, their station would probably be nothing but a flaming wreck within the hour. Not that it was ever much anyway.
Suddenly, a scream was heard from the crowd of tourists. "Yet another over enthusiastic bunch of rich snobs who ain't seen nuttin in their life" the tour leader thought. Before she could turn around, the last thing she remembered was a bright flash of white, then purple.
Before any warning could be given, the station exploded in glorious flames. Outcast, Zoner and Bountyhunter fighters quickly arrived, but the unknowns had cloaked and attempts to track them failed.
Among the debris, two ships slowly reactivated their engines and made a run for the neighboring Tau 39 system. The Zoner destroyer valiantly held the hole long enough for the Silverfish to get through. System wide sweeps of both Tau 37 and 39 failed to locate it.
[Planet New Tokyo, New Tokyo System, Kusari Space]
To the Kusari, it was just a regular day. Another day of corporate theft, scandals, assassinations, corruption and desperate propaganda to try and appease the increasingly annoyed populace. Nothing out of the ordinary.
The work day was just starting on the many small time news services on the surface. They often made a living on publishing what the bigger news groups dared not touch.
"Heh I've just got word on a 'situation' in the system next door. Apparently, the government is attempting a cover up by sealing all exits from the system, and the communication satellites are offline. This will be the story of the decade. Its gotta be something big. We happen to have a bug on a satellite in the area, I'm not sure but I think a station just went boom!"
Before his colleague could reply, police officers barged into the office and started seizing all equipment. The two newscasters were quickly dragged out of the studio. All while live on air. Such extreme censorship would easily send the people of Liberty into panic. However, it was all in a days work for the police, who were used to busting "rumor mills" and small time news companies for trying to use "shock tactics" or reporting "inappropriate material".
[Timor Mining Station, Tau 39 System, Barrier Space]
"Emergency docking! We got breaches all over! Nomad or what the hell attacked us. They could be following us! Seal the hole and get us out of here!"
It was an ordinary day on the mining station. More mining ships arriving full of ore, more transports to fill and head out to Kusari. Business had been affected ever since the Kusari secured Leeds, and it wouldn't be wise to run these sensitive goods through the blockade.
The Silverfish had been reduced to a flying wreck. It was obvious a few more shots would kill it. Its cargo of alien organisms were now leaking out of their damaged tanks. Lawrence and his mates have been struggling to pump the sludge out of the ship. Good thing it was cheap to purchase so losses are minimal... Small time traders have to worry about cost all the time. If he had been working in Universal, Kishiro or some other big corporation, they would just have ejected and fled to the nearest station. However, as they couldn't afford a 100% insurance cover and certainly couldn't afford an increase in premium, they had to carry on.
The transport slowly made its way into Timor's docking bay. They had to take it slow as much of their navigational equipment had been friend.
As they docked, they could see the impatient stares of many transport captains and miners. They were paid by the amount of ore they brought in. Full time employment was only for the privileged few who had proven themselves. It was the rough barrier systems, a flaming wreck entering station is nothing out of the ordinary.
The captain decided it was best they quickly make their way to Bretonia. The unknowns could be hunting them. Two attacks across different ends of the galaxy was unlikely to be a coincidence.
[Jakarta Orbital Facility, Tau 39 System, Barrier Space]
A Zoner carrier suddenly appeared on radar. It silently started heading towards the station. Nothing out of the ordinary, Zoner capital ship patrols were a common sight here. Desperado pirates have been attacking even zoner transports as of late, and as trade between Kusari and Bretonia had almost come to a complete standstill, the pirates didn't have anyone else to pick on.
Zoner capital ships making themselves felt was nothing more than a deterrence. As anyone could join the Zoners given enough effort, it was easy for the pirates to infiltrate, as an initiate at least. This meant that wherever the Zoner capital ships went, the pirates would probably know about it beforehand and target another convoy. Independent small time pirates didn't respect the laws of neutrality. Some were even brazen enough to sell their stolen goods at a Freeport.
As it silently moved towards the station and ignored all hails, it was obvious something was wrong. This was a depot station in lawless space, and its sensor arrays were more for detecting ships at long range than displaying them at great detail. It was only at 8k range that it was seen to be barely holding itself together. It was now clear that it was headed towards Tau 23. Now that was odd, as flaming wrecks usually docked at the closest station that would accept them.
[Falkland Base, Tau 37 System, Barrier Space]
After watching in horror as the destruction of Freeport 10 was broadcast on system wide news, the inhabitants were in a state of panic. Transports out of the system were overloaded, and long queues of people waited in vain for shuttles to Kyushu that would never return. Even if they wanted to return, Kusari had blocked all jump gates and trade lanes leading to Tau space and refused to let anyone through for fear that the nomads would pop in at any moment and head straight to Planet Kyushu.
Many traders capitalized on the opportunity of a lifetime. As the increasingly desperate populace was willing to pay more and more to get off the station, even if in freight pods, the one way trip out of the system was enough to get a captain rich. Some of these miners were rich. Really rich. And were willing to pay. Some greed crazed captains were even secretly jettisoning their cargo of human cargo just to make more 'trips'.
Relief forces will probably never arrive on time due to the remoteness of the system. With Kusari and Bretonia at war and the nearest Zoner presence was halfway across the galaxy, help would probably never arrive.
The IMG was scrambling anything they could, but many of their captains wisely refused to enter a nomad infested system.
On the docking bay, people were desperately bidding for remaining tickets out of the system. Some had even borrowed extensively and had their families transfer huge sums of money for the trip. Others were desperately getting their screaming children on the transports while not being able to afford trips out themselves.
"Zoner destroyer headed into port" the PA system announced.
"Wait, something isn't r--"
The destroyer broke apart in the docking bay in flashes of green and blue. Behind it, three unknown vessels fired upon the station. They had followed the destroyer into dock and was firing on the station's unarmored interior.
Outside, no one knew what was going on. The few transports that returned for more refugees still approached the station and attempted to dock. The station stayed silent.
The reactor was hit. Falkland's hull buckled, and air, debris and human remains vented out. The returning transports made a run for it, picking up any escape pods they could find. Most were empty.
[Planet Kyushu, Kyushu System. Kusari Space]
A large fleet of refugees slowly descended into the atmosphere. Security was tight, and the identities of the survivors were carefully scrutinized. Any Bretonian among them had some serious grilling to endure.
News crews were told at gun point to leave, but as the incident was in lawless space, the Kusari couldn't cover that up.
[Kagoshima Depot, Kyushu System. Kusari Space]
Yasuta was just returning from one of the Farmers Alliance's many raids on foreign convoys. After being turned down by Kishiro and his position given to a foreigner, he joined the Farmers Alliance in rage. He had just finished destroying a Snyth Foods convoy full of paste. Today, instead of victorious cheers, Yasuta was greeted by the solemn, sympathetic stares of his companions.
He was puzzled. His party had just destroyed two advanced trains full of snyth paste. This would usually be a great victory. He proceeded to call in his comrades to transfer the hostages to a suitable holding area. Foreign corporations often paid big money, secretly of course, to secure the release of their crew. They will then claim nothing ever happened and that the crew was 'found' on a nearby station. However, everyone with half a brain knew what happened.
However, instead of congratulating him, his friends silently took him aside and told him the news.
"The Sakura, your father's ship, had been destroyed while you were gone. Our wing, who was informed by your father to attack some transport from the Sigmas has been destroyed as well."
Yasuta was overwhelmed by the unwelcome news. He just dropped and cried and was carried by his friends back to his bunk.
After the initial protestations, his father had gone out of the way to ensure Yasuta rose in rank in the Farmers Alliance. As they shared the same distaste towards the foreign corporations, his father had risked reputation, life and his position as cruiser commander to disclose the location of foreign transports to the Farmers Alliance. Mainly to his son, who would then quickly mop them up. He had even gone so far as to order his men out of the area, directing them to another patrol route which he claimed had 'suspected pirate presence'. After several successful raids, he was now a squad leader. The money his son gained from ransom was shared with the wingmates and the Farmers Alliance itself, but even then, it was still more than enough to retire in a few raids. And that was just what they had intended to do. Yasuta had always talked of farming luxury food on a lush, green world and raising his family and providing for his ageing parents in luxury. Their family had a proud tradition of farming luxury food, but the influx of cheap snyth paste had seen their fortunes dip. They had to sell the farm and move to New Tokyo for work. He was then made redundant and the last available place he was qualified for in Kishiro was taken by a foreigner.
His mother had died three years before in an industrial accident in some snyth paste plant. They had operated without proper safety procedures, but that was promptly covered up, as was common in the corporate world.
Naturally, Yasuta held a personal hate for Snyth Foods. He held them responsible for the decline of his family, being forced to sell their ancestral land and ultimately his mother's death.
The majestic, though ageing battleship stood guard over the jump hole into the Dresden system. Protecting this link was vital, as it was one of the few exits into the Omegas from Rhineland, and the riches they held beyond. Trade convoys to and from Freeport 5 made up the majority of the traffic. Often, desperate Corsairs would attempt to make a break for Dresden, or return with a shipload of stolen goods.
Most of the fleet had been redirected to the border systems since the war with Liberty started. The war had put a serious strain on Rhineland. Trade with Liberty had stalled, and Liberty being the center of the universe as far as trade was concerned, Rhineland's convoys had to use the back route through the Omegas to reach Bretonia. Precious fuel from the GMG systems had to run through the Sigmas, and due to the pirate infestation, many convoys have stopped coming. The resulting fuel price hike had seen many shipping companies going out of business and an increase in pirate activity in the Omegas. Trade with bretonia was paramount now, and yet the navy refused to deploy more assets along the border.
Bretonia didn't have it easy either. They had to fight the Kusari, which had taken over Leeds. As a result, minerals from Bretonia had stopped coming as well, and the Kurger fields were fast being depleted. Rhineland was now desperately trying to control the increasingly dissatisfied populace and riots calling for peace with Liberty now occurred on a daily basis.
Liberty was now increasing its war effort. There had been rumors of an undercover fleet being deployed in the Sigmas to cut off Rhineland's supply of fuel. Bretonia couldn't supply them with that, they have been short on fuel since the GMG refused to run the blockade and risk sanctions from a nation that wants to reclaim their space. The Freeport was the only source of fuel, and Liberty harassment had made the Zoners think twice before making any big shipments into Rhineland. Those that do are sold at three times the price. Surrander, to many, especially those who had lost their jobs and were now facing tough times, seemed to be the better choice. Besides, how much worse could it get?
"Commander, something has been detected on long range comms. Not like anything we recognize. Lets hope it isn't one of Liberty's new creations..."
The battleship immediately swung into action, entering blockade position on the jumphole. On the Dresden side, two battleships were deployed to protect the hole. The Schwerin aligned itself to jump through and hold Dresden with the local force if necessary. However, they all knew they couldn't afford to lose their link with Freeport 5.
A convoy carrying minerals from Freeport 5 slowly made its run to the Dresden hole, oblivious to any unknown presence.
"Schwerin, request clearance to jump."
No answer. The captain then noticed two faint signals on his radar.
"Schwerin, unknowns spotted on radar, get us out of here..."
"Bridge to gunnery, fire at will! What the hell, these don't look like anything I've seen before!"
A swarm of unknown fighters de-cloaked and depleted the battleship's shields with flashes of blue. The battleship quickly pulled into the jumphole. The transport was left to fend for itself.
As the crew ejected, they could see the transport exploding behind them. The unknowns began shooting open the pods and appeared to be collecting something...
[Tau 23. Barrier Space]
The sludge containing alien organisms continued to flow out of the Silverfish.
"This is the captain! We're finished! The unknowns have come for us! Five fighters detected!"
Lawrence immediately ran for an escape pod and ejected. He was not going to die with some transport full of fish food.
As the transport exploded behind him, he could see no one else had made it out alive. Through the corner of his eye, he saw the unknown fighters cloak and leave the area.
[Alaska System, Liberty Space]
"Allright, glad to see you could make it, Liberation. We've been informed of an unknown presence in the Sigmas. A tour group from the Hawaii has sighted several unknowns in the clouds. We best get there ASAP."
[Luxury Liner Hawaii, Sigma 19, The Sigmas]
This is Hawaii. Unknowns have been spotted in radar. Something big. Its over. Evacuating all personnel, please hold till the pods are out of the area.
"This is the Freedom. Engaging all nomad enemies, Liberation please assist"
The two super carriers moved in on both sides of the Hawaii. The Freedom took up position on the side facing the planet, the Liberation on the other side.
The large unknown craft was unlike anything seen before. It was at least five times the size of the Freedom.
A large, green blob grew at the front of the unknown juggernaut. It then fired one powerful shot, piercing the Liberation. The Hawaii was hit and destroyed.
"Freedom here, we're hit! The blast has destroyed our weapon systems."
A swarm of nomad fighters spewed out of the juggernaut. They tore at the wrecked cruise liner, as if searching for something. They then quickly left, leaving the crippled carriers behind.
Order capital ships de-cloaked near the planet, but were too late to stop the unknowns.
Zaelas instructed the fleet to scan the area, but failed to find anything significant amongst the debris. They were watched by the Liberty super carriers who did nothing to stop them.
[Epilogue]
As suddenly as they had come, the unknowns left and were never seen again. It was obvious they had achieved whatever they set out to do.
Top military scientists concluded that the unknowns that had attacked were a special breed of nomads tasked with collecting... something. They were obviously of nomad design, but not like those seen in the war. Maybe the keepers had sent them to collect what they left behind. Maybe they will one day return to reclaim the small plot of land in their backyard known to us as Sirius.
![[Image: silverleafshippingsigv.jpg]](http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3936/silverleafshippingsigv.jpg)