Nova Guardian (2 of 2) - The Battle

Thanks to Akarge and Tomken for proofreading.

The combined third and fifth fleet approached CX173, a system with an orange sun and seven planets. The scouts had found out that this system was very important for the Sa'arm. The second planet was a little too hot and dry for human standards but perfect for the Sa'arm. In addition, the planet's moon had a breathable atmosphere too. The Sa'arm had colonized both the planet and the moon and it seemed that they had not exploited the resources like they did normally. A lot of traffic was going in and out, mainly freighters and messenger ships. There were several hive ships protecting the system. What made the system important to the Confederacy was that the scouts had detected a new ship type here and it seemed that it had been developed here.

The Confederacy scout ship had left the system forty days ago. Headquarters came to the conclusion that this was a good opportunity to hit the Sa'arm badly. Headquarters thought that if the Sa'arm gestalt suffered when there were too few of the lizards, it might have reached a new quality when the population of two planets was in reach of the gestalt communication. Headquarters had quickly joined all available forces and even authorized the use of planet-crackers.

Admiral Chen Xuda was standing on the bridge of his flag-ship. It was the Fu, a Goddess Class Battle Cruiser of the latest generation of ships. He looked over the holographic display of his fleet. They were already in attack formation to beat the Sa'arm quick and hard. Their own scout ships had sent message that there were no bad surprises detectable. The actual scan of all the Sa'arm ships that were currently in the target system allowed them to run a surprise attack.

Admiral Xuda observed his bridge crew. There was a temporary disturbance at the direction finding station. It quickly subsided and Admiral Xuda didn't get an immediate report. But in a situation shortly before a big battle, the Admiral wanted to be informed about everything, so he asked the Lieutenant who was in charge at the direction finding station.

"Sorry Admiral, one screen showed a planetary object in our rear at the edge of scan distance. Corporal Wong was surprised enough to shout out loud."

"A planetary object?" the Admiral asked. "Should I be worried about this? I don't like surprises at my back."

"Sir, there are no planetary objects in hyper, traveling FTL. It's simply impossible. The signal vanished after a quarter second. It must have been a reflection or a shadow signal."

"AI, do you have an explanation for the signal?"

<I have currently no explanation for the false signal. I'm still analyzing.>

"Hmmm," the Admiral frowned. "I want to be informed if you scan something in our rear again."

"Yes Sir!" the Lieutenant acknowledged.

The combined third and fifth fleet dropped out of hyperspace one million kilometers above CX173-2. Their goal was to deliver the planet-crackers , wipe out all Sa'arm ships in reach and then retreat. As calculated there was one hive ship with escort ships within firing range. They were wiped out within thirty seconds by a full broadside of the Confederacy fleet. The Sa'arm had no time for a serious answer. But there were five more hive ships orbiting the planet and anothers two orbiting the moon. They all changed direction toward the fleet now.

Admiral Xuda just wanted to give the order to launch the planet-crackers when he heard a shout from the direction finding station.

"Dammit, there it is again! Planetary object, at minimum one-thousand kilometers in diameter! It has just left hyper. Damn, the shockwave is immense. Must be very heavy! Distance two million kilometers, speed 350 kilometers per second. It will pass the second planet in less than 100,000 kilometers!"

"Broadcast command, stay out of the way of that thing," Admiral Xuda shouted. "DF, is it friend or foe?"

"Sorry Sir, I have no clue!" Corporal Wong answered.

Admiral Xuda thought for a second. "Fire control, launch the planet crackers at our main targets. Launch all long-range scanner drones we have and let them scatter all over the system. We need to know what's happening here. Broadcast command: Helm, prepare for a quick retreat to hyper."

"Planet-crackers are on the way... Hit one confirmed... Hit two confirmed. Visible signs of the impacts will occur within ten hours."

"One Hive ship within firing range. The unclassified Object is still 1.8 million kilometers away."

"Broadcast command: fire a broadside at the hive ship."

Suddenly a low voice boomed through all communication channels. "This is Nova Guardian twenty-six speaking. Leave the system immediately. You have ten seconds to leave before I open fire at the planet."

"Sir, half the fleet is between the planet and that object!"

"Broadcast command! Retreat immediately!"

Within five seconds the Fu was in hyper leaving the system on a random course.

"Now can somebody tell me what that Nova Guardian is?" the Admiral shouted.

Before the bridge crew could tell the Admiral that they had still no clue, the AI answered. <The Nova Guardians are the last and most devastating weapon system developed by a Confederacy race 500.000 years ago. It is controlled by an advanced AI. The creators and several other races were annihilated by the Nova Guardians when the AI came to the conclusion that they were a danger for the Confederacy as a whole.>

Admiral Xuda was stunned. "I was taught AI's can't pull the trigger?"

<This specific one can. I calculate the construction of this type of AI was the reason why the constructors were classified deadly dangerous to the confederacy.>

"What else can you tell us about the Nova Guardians?" The Admiral asked.

<The Nova Guardians were created during the Great War against the Council of Believing Races. The Council was a theocratic empire of races that attacked the Confederacy 500.000 years ago. They didn't accept a 'no' for an answer when they asked the Confederacy to join their religion and empire. They sent missionaries to a lot of planets and when they succeeded in converting only one person that was enough to legitimize something they called rescue mission. But it was an invasion. Billions were killed by the attacking fleets. The Confederacy had a few races that were able to stand against the Council fleets. One of them created the Nova Guardians. It is recorded that the Nova Guardians wiped out the Council of Believing Races and fifteen races of the Confederacy. I have no information about the weapon systems of a Nova Guardian. This knowledge was deleted 500.000 years ago. They haven't been active since then. Neither the initial number nor the current number of Nova Guardians is available.>

"Hmmm. Is it a danger to us?" the Admiral asked.

<I assume you refer to the human race. The Nova Guardian warned us. I calculate a 75 percent chance that it is not yet decided by the Nova Guardian if the human race is a danger to the Confederacy and a 25 percent chance that it classifies your race harmless.>

There was a murmur among the bridge crew about that.

Nineteen hours later the Fu had reached the nearest Confederacy base. The first messenger torpedoes from the launched scouting drones were already waiting.

The whole third fleet had managed to retreat in time. From the fifth fleet three Castles had reacted too late or had been damaged. Two of them were vaporized by the blast of the Nova Guardian. The third one managed to enter hyperspace heavily damaged. A week later it made it to Ishtar.

The blast of the Nova Guardian seemed to be a broadside of at least three million planetary gamma ray guns. The atmosphere of CX173-2 was heated to six-thousand degrees and the surface melted. Then a whole layer of the Nova Guardian's surface parted and split into approximately 10-million separate parasite battleships. They destroyed every single Sa'arm ship that had not yet left the system or wasn't already destroyed, but they didn't harm the Confederacy scanner drones or the message torpedoes. The scans indicated that a parasite ships' defense was weak. Several of them were damaged or destroyed by fleeing Sa'arm ships. The scans also indicated that a few Sa'arm messenger ships had left the system early. In the meantime, the Nova Guardian had launched a giant cylinder at the sun of CX173. The Cylinder was sixteen kilometers in diameter and four-hundred kilometers long. Ten minutes after it had dived into the corona of the sun, the sun started to pulse. Another twenty minutes later the sun exploded.

The data stream from incoming messenger torpedoes ended with a message from the Nova Guardian. "This is Nova Guardian twenty-six speaking. I will stay on guard until all common incoming vectors are within the exploding sun. After that I will seek contact. There are too few Guardians left to fight this battle alone."