The first Kial-Caalin’dal
war
By HitlerSucks
It was a sunny, bustling day on the beautiful blue-tinted planet, Rictal. Not an ordinary day, however, but, according to the major religion of the Kial Hegemony, the holiest day of the year. People got off work to celebrate, the military was called off, fun and happiness were all around.
Nobody thought anything bad can happen, that the holy day will protect them from disaster, or so they thought, until the sirens began singing their dreaded melody and bombs began dropping around the planet. Many died just from the first torpedo salvos alone, but there were many more. The Kial Hegemony was under attack, that was for sure, but now the biggest question was by who?
Finally the torpedo trajectories where able to be traced back to the filthy barbarians ‘next door’, the Caalin’dal Empire. As shocking and pathetic as it was to attack a nation on its holiest day, essentially striking it with its pants down, the attack wasn’t much of a surprise, since the Empire had been inching closer and closer to Kial for years now and a strike was feared for months. Now their fears have been legitimized.
As the army scrambled around desperately trying to mount some sort of defense against the attacks, the Empire’s movements continued to be traced. The Empire’s barbaric army vastly outnumbered the Kial forces, so their only possible way for the Hegemony to win against one of their attacks was by sheer better planning and scientific advancement. Nevertheless, the Kial troops were totally scared by the barbarian forces, their ragged and dirty clothing and intimidating, tall and muscular appearance where more than enough to scare a Kial soldier to death.
In an astounding amount of time, a defense was mounted, with a line of ships strewn from one side of the Hegemony to the other. The Kial ships always had a renowned reputation of being so well-armored they could take anything and not even dent, it was about time to prove it. As expected, the torpedo salvos suddenly stopped, and after an anxious wait moment, the first barbarian ships came. At first the scouts smashed into the defenses, but they did pretty much nothing. Then, the crowning jewel of the Empire, their frigates came, one by one, smashing into the defensive walls like a storm. The Kial ships destroyed many of the frigates, but it seemed that for every 1 frigate destroyed, 3 Kial ships were destroyed. Soon, the Kial forces simply could not hold the swarm of enemy ships at bay and had no other thing to do other then retreat. Well, they had, but the alternative was rather, frowned upon. Now, the defensive line of the Hegemony was spread so thin even a battleship could sneak through, and that’s exactly what happened. Imperial battleships snuck in behind the lines and with only a few ships, destroyed the entire Kial armada. Just a few ships took down an entire fleet.
Soon, the Kial Hegemony was bought to its knees. Its armada was gone; all its planets where under siege and soon whatever remained will be destroyed. As the desperate government was about to declare surrender to the Imperial forces, word arrived from the Republic of Sera, saying only:
“Hold on tight, comrades, we are on our way to your aid.”
With that, the Kial Hegemony suddenly had a great boost in morale. The best army of the Quadrant had their back. They were ready for a counter-attack against the filthy barbarians ready to enslave their nation. Soon, following in the footsteps of Sera, many other nations realized that the Empire’s days were timed, and they joined as well. Within only a few weeks of fighting, the InterPlan won back Kial’s territory and was ready to push into the Empire.
..But, before they could be embarrassed by any more defeats, the Empire stood down and asked for peace. As outrageous as the peace-terms imposed by the Hegemony and the Republic were, the Empire had only 2 choices, agree, or be annihilated. Unsurprisingly, they took the first and the Empire’s land was cut up between the victors, it losing nearly 30% of its territory to the Hegemony and the Republic, along with the newly independent nations of Pelin and Wilt, both of them puppets of the Republic.
The ar may have ended, but hatred grew, alliances formed, and the hot, burning hatred of the Empire towards Kial in particular was greater by the day, hatred that will only lead to a new series of conflicts and the deaths of many, many more to come.
Good enough?
Yeah it's pretty good. Here's an example of what I have so far. Try to make these stories just small events that happened, not big huge story driven events.
Lieutenant Frederick Springman sat in the forward weapons control cubicle of the massive Starhawk-class battlecruiser, Seran Republic Interplan Ship Blazing Glory. The man across from, another lieutenant named Ingram Torril, said “Why does the Republic even care about these little battles? Just let the idiots fight amongst themselves.” Yelton wasn’t even native Seran. He was born on a small planet near the conglomeration named Pelin. He’d had no interest in joining the Order of the Divine, so he emigrated to Meltrial, and joined the Republic of Sera Interplanetary Navy. He eventually went to SRIN officer candidate school on Danusk, and commissioned as an ensign. Et cetera, et cetera. He was here now, on the BG, and that was what mattered.
The BG, along with two other Starhawks, Infinite Glory and Imminent Glory, were in command of Interplan Task Force 8, assigned to “resolve” all conflicts between the Kial Hegemony and the Caalin’dal Empire. These conflicts never amount to anything, however. It usually begins with a Kial asteroid miner making a claim, and a Caalin’dal miner challenging that claim. They fight, call in their friends, and once the fighting gets ugly, the militaries get involved. That’s where ITFs 4 through 9 are involved. Starhawks show up, all the fighting usually ends, but according to Article 334 of the Quadrant Interdependence Treaty, any ships still in belligerence with Interplan in the area are liable to be fired upon by those Interplan forces. They never fight back. Not until now.
The deck intercom buzzed on. “Dusk Drive ascending… now”. There was no feeling associated with ascending from dusk-space, except for the fact that light returned to the universe. Entering was a different matter, though that’s a story for later. Springman and Torril flipped up their echo location visors.
“Springman, you got TacHUD?” Torril asked.
“Coming on now.” Springman replied.
While in Dusk-space, light and most radiation cannot exist. The only one that remains is heat. All sensors, hull cameras, radar and communications devices are powered down completely before ‘downing’ into Dusk-space. It takes a few minutes for them to return to full power.
“I’ve got thirteen… eighteen… Christ, fifty-two vessels remaining in belligerence.” Torril called over.
“Are you sure? I see sixty of them.” Laser and coherent light can be seen racing between two walls of ships, some simple cargo haulers, others massive military ships comparable in size to the Interplan Starhawks. By regulation, they should have stopped firing by now.
Springman linked in to the bridge. “Captain, all ships remaining in combat. None seem to have ceased fire.”
The reply came immediately. “We still have a full minute before they have to cease fire, lieutenant.”
“Yessi-“ was all Springman could get out.
“Class two Dusk-drive descent. Small Caalin’dal freighter, point-five AU out.” Torril called out. It wasn’t the freighter that just descended. That would have registered as a class six or seven. A class two was a much smaller object, the size of an asteroid or an escape shuttle. Or a torpedo. Dusk-torps are highly illegal, heavily regulated, and extremely effective.
“Captain, we have a possible DTorp launch from a Caalin’dal-“ Again Springman was cut off. On the TacHUD, a Monolith class flagship on the Kial side erupted in a massive fireball. Springman revised his statement.
“Confirmed DTorp launch. The HGKS Light of Kial just went dark.”
The Captain linked in to all weapons system cubicles. “All stations, weapons free on Tango Two-Three.” In an instant, scores of beams raced toward the small craft. It would take four minutes for the coherent light to reach and destroy their target, and occasionally all beams would miss. In the next instant, thirteen sub-light torpedoes were loosed from portholes on the BG’s hull. These wouldn’t miss.
“Captain, the HGKS Hand of Rictal is sending lifeboats over to the Light of Kial.” Torril linked to the Captain. All ships in the area had ceased their fighting.
Springman could feel Captain Del Toro link to the other Captains of the other starhawks over his TacHUD. As the Captains of ITF 8 “ascended” to their meeting, another worrying blip appeared on the screen.
“Class four Dusk-drive descent… from the CRN Gaalin’da Mekgo.” Torril said under his breath. The Gaalin’da Mekgo was a gargantuan-class flagship, and was likely in control of the whole operation. The fact that a Caalin’dal ship of the line would fire a Dusk-torpedo is unthinkable. Where they sent it to was a different matter.
The Captain “descended” from the meeting. “What’s the target? Another Kial flagship?”
“No sir, it’s… the Imminent Glory, sir.” Springman was speechless. In almost three centuries not a single Seran naval vessel had been fired upon directly or on purpose.
Del Toro immediately linked to the ImG’s Tacframe. “Imminent Glory, you need to descend now!” He said with a calm, practiced tone. But it wasn’t enough. He had barely finished his sentence when the ImG’s hull turned a soft pink, then began to glow red. The torp ascended inside the ship… Springman thought with horror on his face. There would be fires and small explosions all over the ship, burning the crew members alive. Torril was anxiously watching the TacHUD for signs of lifeboats.
One big problem, or advantage, with DTorps is what happens if they ascend where matter already exists. Different matter cannot exist in the same space at the same time, and the resulting blast generates about three terratons of force, preceded by a large electromagnetic force that fries even the hardest cased electronics. This devastating event is known as the Vance-Drycht Effect.
“All stations, blow him away.” Del Toro commanded with a tone that strongly suggested he’d had friends in the newly-made oven outside the viewport. Without hesitation, Springman unlocked all weapons systems in the ship, and felt the other weapons cubicles fire away. Coherent light and charged particle beams raced toward the flagship, followed by small yield nuclear missiles, torpedoes, and plasma arc anchors. Other ships in the Caalin’dal Reigning Navy moved to guard the Gaalin’da Mekgo from these attacks with their own ships, and succeeded, except two of the anchors still trailing their gas lines toward the flagship. It would be enough.
“Plasma arc coming online.” Springman reported. As soon as the anchors impacted the hull, and after biting inside, they become electrodes linked with another pair back in the ship. The gas trail they left behind ionizes, heating up to around nine thousand degrees Celsius. The Gaalin’da Mekgo would become its own oven.
Twin lightning bolts raced toward the ship, and immediately, pieces of molten hull and slagged debris flew off her. At that moment, the remaining Infinite Glory opened up with everything she had. Lines of more hard-light and twinkles of what the TacHUD showed as nuclear torpedoes started their short trek to the enemy lines. By that time, all civilian belligerents had left, descending into Dusk-space and going their separate ways.
Only fifteen minutes had passed. “Incoming enemy fire. TacHUD shows conventional torpedoes, CPB lances, and hard-light projectiles.” Torril stated. Springman had forgotten the small man was even there.
The Caalin’dal Reigning Navy’s ships were more numerous, but the Seran Republic Interplan’s ships were top-of-the-line Starhawks. The Kial ships had all left, leaving the wreckage that once was the Light of Kial to drift forever until scrappers and salvage crews tore her apart even further.
“Deploying countermeasures.” Springman said. Small clouds of dense gas and dust were sent toward the incoming CPB lances and coherent light. Hunter Torps tracked down everything else. The “Puffs” drained and diffused the charged particle beams and light. Nothing even touched either of the Interplan ships.
By now, sixty-five percent of all ships on the side of the CRN had been destroyed. But they still had a weapon that could easily incapacitate any of the starhawks in a matter of seconds.
Another blip. “Captain, class two Dusk-dive descent, heading for our position.”
Del Toro must have already had engineering on standby, waiting to descend to Dusk-space as soon as the call was made. Everything made of light vanished for a split-second, and returned. We had moved two kilometers forward, the TacHUD showed. An object, about the size of a small house, ascended right where we had been. It immediately re-descended, with a trajectory bound for the Infinite Glory. They was no time for warnings.
Springman was about to report it, but he felt the Captain watching his display. There was nothing that could be done. They watched as the DTorp ascended right at the very center of the ship. There must have been something already there, because everything in the BG went dark. With the TacHUD down, Springman delinked from his cubicle, and flipped down his echo-location visor. The entire ship was without power. The realization hit him, and the entire world began to buck around him. That was the last thing Springman felt.
So where's the Quadrant map?