Storm World Ch. 01

Foreword - Back in June of 2014 I began posting 'Upon a Savage Shore'. At that time, I did not intend to post any other stories on this site or in the UaSS universe, though the possibility was not out of the question. After the last chapter was posted I was relieved. No more stress over getting chapters done. No more worries about plot points or the dreaded plot holes. It was done. I could relax. The problem was, about a week later I started to miss working on the story. Unfortunately, I had done everything I could think of with the characters. I had wrapped up their lives in a neat bundle. Work soon filled the time I would normally have spent writing and I turned away from the universe I had created, but I did not forget it. To be honest, the jZav'Etch Hegemony and the Conglomerated Planets just would not let me rest easy. Their struggles continued to brew at the back of my mind and I soon understood they were demanding more attention than I had given them.

Several plots eventually rose to the surface, but time was not my friend. I could not write them all. But I couldn't forget them, either. I began writing snippets. I began creating new characters. I began seeing where certain elements worked together. I now have ideas for five more stories in the Savage Shore universe. Only two of those stories involve Liam Carter, M'pel E'kmel, Tem'Ma'tel and the irrepressible Clot'ilda. It is my intention to complete each of the five stories over the next few years. This story, 'Storm World', is the first of the sequels, though, it is not really a sequel. None of the characters from the first story appear in it because it takes place at roughly the same time as UaSS.

Those of you who are familiar with my style will recall that I do not include sex scenes unless they somehow advance or enhance the story. You will also recall that my chapters conform to print standards more than the standards of other authors on Literotica. By this I simply mean that my chapters will generally be shorter than many Lit readers are used to. However, my story will be as long as it takes to tell the tale. This story might be around 50 or 60K words (novella length), but I thought UaSS would be that long and it came in at over 150K. I guess we'll just have to see.

I intend to post a new chapter every two weeks. Writing the chapters for this tale has been far more difficult than I anticipated, so there may be some delays in getting a chapter completed. Partly this is due to my new work schedule and partly it has to do with the plot and character development. I will post progress updates on my profile page to try to keep you all informed. Completion for this story is projected to be some time before the end of the year. I dare not be any more exact than that.

With all that said, let us begin.

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Storm World

Chapter 1

Commander M'peth qHo struggled into her environment suit, too anxious over what was happening to grumble about its claustrophobic feel. Like the Earthly cats they resemble, jZav'Etch in general and Thahn 'Den specifically do not like confinement. M'peth qHo, a Thahn 'Den, was no exception. She had never liked these damned suits no matter how necessary they were during an action. Logically, she knew in combat there was serious risk of a hull breach and the only thing between her and death at that point could very well be the fabric and armor of the suit. Logic had little to do with claustrophobia, though. Just as she donned the restrictive helmet and opened the polarized faceplate a warning klaxon sounded. The ship was about to return to normal space. They must be entering a planetary system.

Emerging into the axial companionway from her tiny cabin M'peth qHo saw a handful of crew rushing to their action stations. They moved quickly, but not in panic. These were experienced soldiers even if they were not accustomed to such a long pursuit. 'Qhiq ou class interceptors rarely needed to travel between star systems to bring down their prey, but this interceptor, the Char'Noth, had been dispatched the moment she had boarded and handed over the sealed orders to Captain Ala'am Tsu'Dig, a larger than average dTel'Qohar with reddish fur that faded to white on his chin, indicating he was somewhat older than she was. He had not liked having an Intelligence officer aboard, but orders were orders and the captain was a well-disciplined officer.

She took the companionway to the ship's bridge and entered a scene of tension. In spite of the fact that the bridge crew were all in their suits, the air was laden with the scents of stress and anxiety which emanated from their open visors. None of the crew turned as she stepped through the hatch. All were focused on their controls with Captain Ala'am Tsu'Dig tracking everything from his board. As she crossed to stand next to the captain's acceleration couch the ship shuddered, indicating they had completed the transition to normal space. In larger vessels the transition was hardly noticeable, but an interceptor was comparatively small with most of its internal space being occupied by the massive drive and weapons systems.

"Well done, Pilot!" the captain said. "Weapons, get a lock on them."

Looking over the captain's shoulder M'peth qHo saw the mutineers' ship on his screen. The pilot, a young female Pah'Tht whose name she could not recall, had done very well indeed. They had come out of third space well within missile range of the Vearoq' class raider the mutineers had stolen. Its drive plume suddenly flared brighter than the surrounding stars as it began maneuvering. Both ships were traveling at hyper-luminal velocity, but the sensors easily detected the enemy from this angle. Raiders were sleek and fast, equipped with considerable firepower and heavily shielded against most forms of detection. From the rear, though, almost any vessel could pick them up and the sensor array on the Char'Noth was the most current generation.

"Target lock has failed!" snarled the gunner. His fingers flew over his controls as he attempted another lock. Like the captain, he was dTel'Qohar and a particularly aggressive one at that. M'peth qHo thought him handsome with his tawny coat and black tufted ears, but he was also very young and lacked both patience and scars, showing he was inexperienced.

"The enemy has detected us, Captain!" called the tactical officer, not looking up from her screen. "They deployed an ECM pod. Pod is scrambling our sensors."

"How long before we can break through?" Ala'am Tsu'Dig demanded, hissing with frustration.

"Unknown, Captain," responded the tactical officer, still working her controls. M'peth qHo recalled this officer was a fellow Thahn 'Den and not one to be intimidated by the ferocity of her captain. Nevertheless, she decided to intrude herself and leaned down to speak in support of the tactical officer.

"Captain, the Co 'Ak's Revenge is equipped with the latest electronic warfare suite," she said in a low voice, referring to the mutineers' ship. "It is a match for your own. We will need to get closer to break through the jamming."

Captain Ala'am Tsu'Dig scowled up at her and asked, "Is the Intelligence Branch certain these mutineers are worth this much effort?"

"While a crew of Dusig separatists would hardly be worth tracking down," she replied, "they have stolen one of our most advanced raiders and are led by a jZav'Etch officer who has information we would not wish our enemies to acquire. Intelligence Branch is sure we do not want to risk the security of the Hegemony."

"I still cannot believe any jZav'Etch would betray the Hegemony," growled the captain, returning his attention to his screen.

"Our information indicates she is a member of the Singing God faith," she told him disgustedly.

"A zealot?" the captain asked in an equally disgusted tone.

Followers of the Singing God believed all jZav'Etch should return to a simpler form of religious government where only the females had a say in the future of their race and all non jZav'Etch would be enslaved or exterminated. They believed a number of other strange things, as well, like all males should be kept in militarized compounds behind high walls where they could be protected from the sins of the world until they were needed for mating or war and all children should be brought before the priestesses to be judged on their fitness to live.

"Pilot, plot a short jump to bring us in on the target's tail," Ama'al Tsu'Dig ordered.

"But the strain on the engines, Captain," protested the Pah'Tht at her controls.

"A short jump will not overtax the drive, Pilot. Proceed with your plot," he said firmly. Over the intercom he ordered, "All crew, brace for acceleration."

There were no spare acceleration couches on the bridge so M'peth qHo dropped to the deck and pressed her back against the bulkhead. It was none too soon, either. The pilot took only a moment to calculate the jump and engaged the drive with a flick of her thumbs. The ship lurched into and out of third space in the twitch of a whisker which left no time for finessing the ship through a smooth transition. While Ama'al Tsu'Dig had been correct regarding the drive the sudden transitions pitched M'peth qHo into the air and slammed her back on the deck. She was saved from a concussion only by her helmet. As she rolled to her side and attempted to get to her feet her head spun and she felt her gorge rising. She sat down heavily, inhaling several deep breaths to bring herself under control. Her tail flicked with irritation inside the left leg of her suit and she once more regretted the necessity of the uncomfortable confinement. Why could military designers not come up with some way to give her tail its own sleeve? Civilian suit manufacturers had been doing so for a hundred years or more. Unfortunately, regulations prevented her from wearing one while on duty.

"We have them, Captain!" cried the tactical officer, her lips peeling back from her long fangs in savage satisfaction.

"Do you still want them alive, Commander?" asked the captain.

"Such are my orders," she replied, finally getting to her feet. She felt a little shaky, but did not now believe she would vomit.

"Gunner, target their drive," ordered Ama'al Tsu'Dig.

The gunner's fingers danced across his control board and sent a salvo of missiles streaking from their tubes. On the captain's screen M'peth qHo watched as the weapons closed on the mutineers' ship. One after another they began to wink from existence as the enemy point defense weapons destroyed them. Only the very last missile got through the defensive barrage. It detonated nearly on top of the raider and the computer began tracking a cloud of debris. The pilot reacted instantly. She shifted their course by a degree or two, cutting close around the shattered pieces of hull plating and whatever else had come off their prey, inadvertently causing M'peth qHo to stagger and fight for her balance on the pitching deck in spite of the inertial dampers.

Though obviously damaged, the raider seemed unaffected. It would certainly take more than a single missile strike to bring this ship to heel. Vearoq' class raiders were built to take punishment much worse than this.

"Enemy is firing, Captain!" called the tactical officer, sounding unnaturally calm as she deployed countermeasures to distract the incoming missiles.

"You had better hold onto something, Commander," Ama'al Tsu'Dig said. He tapped a few buttons on his board and read data as it scrolled across its screen.

M'peth qHo frowned and looked to see if there were anything to hold on to. She discovered only a narrow brace on the back of the captain's couch. With an apprehensive flick of her ears she gripped it so tightly her fingers hurt. As things developed, though, her precaution was unnecessary. The Char'Noth's point defense system easily dealt with the enemy's missiles, none getting close enough for the crew to feel even a shockwave.

"They are deploying another ECM pod, Captain," the tactical office announced, making some adjustments to her sensor controls. "Correction! It is a mine!"

"Evasive!" roared the captain.

M'peth qHo's eyes flew wide and she locked her fingers even tighter around the metal brace. They were too close to be entirely out of the mine's destructive envelope, though. Point defense particle cannons fired, but mines were hardened against such attacks. Even as the pilot frantically altered course M'peth qHo felt the ship buck under her feet and once more she was thrown in the air. Again inertial dampers fought to compensate for the violent maneuvering and failed. Her fingers were torn loose from the brace and she was hurled against a bulkhead. She could not be sure if her vision faltered for an instant or if it were the lights flickering, but once more it was her helmet that saved her from serious injury and, for the first time she could recall, she blessed the makers of her suit.

"Targeting array is offline!" called the gunner.

"Particle shields are holding," reported the tactical officer. "Armor is damaged. Internal structure is intact."

"All compartments, report damage," the captain said over the intercom. "Pilot, bring us back on course. We are not done with them."

M'peth qHo slowly rose to her feet, feeling much shakier than she had the first time.

"Do we have a visual on the mutineers?" she asked.

"Yes," replied the captain as he was going over the data on his screen. "We are still close aboard them. It won't do us much good until the targeting array is back online."

"Are your astrometric systems still functioning?" she asked and staggered to the tactical officer's station. The astrometric sensors tracked particle dispersion and trajectories.

"Yes," said the female. "Why do you ask, Commander?"

"Bring up the data for me," M'peth qHo said.

A screen on the far right of the tactical display lit with a hologram of the space surrounding the Char'Noth. She tightened the focus of the sensors until only the area immediately surrounding the two ships was displayed.

"There," she said and tapped a button to send the data to the gunner's plot. "Use that to manually target the enemy. You will need to lead the raider the way you would lead Ziss'el on the wing."

"Captain?" the gunner asked, uncertain he should follow the orders of an officer not of the crew.

"Proceed, Gunner," the captain confirmed and then looked at M'peth qHo with a predatory smile. "The commander seems to know a thing or two."

She gave a brief nod in acceptance of the compliment. It was not often a line officer of any rank gave such acknowledgement to one in the support services. The gunner glanced at her and then began calibrating his weapons.

"Are you well, Commander?" asked the captain.

"I am well enough," M'peth qHo replied, though, she felt sure she would be covered in bruises and would need some pain medication before she could get anything like a night's sleep.

"Missiles targeted, Captain," announced the gunner.

"Launch when ready," Ala'am Tsu'Dig ordered.

With a flick of the thumbs on his right hand the gunner sent a salvo of death streaking out into the void between the two ships. M'peth qHo tracked the missiles in the hologram on the tactical display. As the weapons closed on the Co 'Ak's Revenge they began winking out as before. The mutineers' point defense systems were obviously still functional. This time, however, the missiles were programed to detonate in close proximity to the ship, rather than when they struck its shields. Four of the high yield warheads exploded in rapid succession. She smiled thinly, watching the particles spread in the hologram. The raider rocked under the flail of the warheads and bits of it flew off on their own trajectories.

"That is one of their dorsal turrets," remarked the tactical officer, pointing to a large structure pinwheeling away from the mutineers' ship. "And that looks like a stabilizer. Well done gunner."

"Well done, indeed," added M'peth qHo with a purr of satisfaction.

"My compliments, Commander," the tactical officer said in a low voice. "I would not have thought of that."

"Excellent shooting, Gunner," the captain put in a moment later. "Prepare another salvo and wait for my command. Pilot, what is their heading?"

"Continuing on base course, Captain," said the little Pah'Tht. "Why do they not turn and fight, Captain?"

"Cowards," he said dismissively.

M'peth qHo narrowed her eyes in thought. The pilot had asked a very good question. If the mutineers turned and presented their bow the battle would be far more even. Their shields were much stronger from that angle and they carried much heavier armor on the bow. In fact, any raider was more heavily armored than an interceptor, though, not as maneuverable.

"Captain, what is their base course?" she asked slowly, still thinking.

Ama'al Tsu'Dig looked at her curiously and then transferred the data to the tactical display. She and the tactical officer examined it and plotted the mutineers' trajectory. They exchanged a look and then M'peth qHo turned to expand the astrometric display to include the planetary system.

"Captain, they are making for the third planet," she said.

"They will not go into orbit," he replied. "It would be entirely foolish of them to do so. They would be at our mercy."

"True, Captain," she agreed readily. "They could, however, deposit a beacon or a life pod with the stolen data on it. They might even deactivate the transponder signal to prevent us from locating it without an extensive search."

"You believe this zealot would sacrifice herself to accomplish her mission, whatever that may be?" Ala'am Tsu'Dig asked.

"She might do so," she confirmed.

Ala'am Tsu'Dig jabbed a button on his control board and growled, "Engineering, bring the reactor to one hundred percent output."

"It is already at one hundred percent, Captain," replied an engineer.

"Then give me one hundred-ten percent," he ordered.

"Captain," a different voice said. "The drive is already under strain. That short jump put a fracture in the primary crystal."

"How severe is it?" he demanded.

"Negligible at normal operating levels, but we will need to replace it once we return to base," said the engineer.

"I need speed, my old friend," said the captain. "Will it hold at one hundred-ten percent?"

There was a long pause before the engineer responded, "For a time, Captain, but if it goes out we will be stranded until a ship can recover us."

Captain Ala'am Tsu'Dig looked to M'peth qHo inquiringly.

"High Command is well aware of our mission," she said. "More than that, Intelligence Branch will send a ship to recover us. They will want to know the status of our mission."

While what she said was true, she did not add that a rescue ship would not be sent immediately. It might take as much as a standard year. The Intelligence Branch had other ways of determining the success of her mission that involved less risk to their assets. If her mission failed there was no second plan for preventing the enemy getting the data the mutineers possessed. It would all be damage control and counter moves after that.

"Engineering," the captain said heavily. "Bring the drive up to one hundred-ten percent. Pilot, get us closer. We must end this before they get to the planet. Gunner, launch missiles when ready."

"Launching now, Captain," replied the gunner and flicked his thumbs over the controls again.

"Enemy is firing, Captain!" the tactical officer said an instant later. "Missiles are tracking!"