The Cube and the Fire
August 1967
For several months, Rho Sculptoris II had finally been quiet.
After the costly reconquest of the planet in June 1967, the main Axis combat fleet had returned to the Solar System for repairs, refit and crew rotation. The Balbo cruisers that had opened the road for the invasion were back in Earth’s shipyards, while the surviving ground armies remained among the Echo ruins. Dozen of troop transports ships had been left in orbit, ready to bring the soldiers home when the archaeological and recovery operations were complete.
After two battles, thousands of casualties and almost two years of war, Rho Sculptoris seemed finally secure.
Deep beneath the ruins, Axis engineers uncovered an object unlike anything recovered before. It was a cube, small enough to be transported but covered in brilliant surfaces that seemed to change colour according to the angle of the light. There were no visible engines, no power conduits and none of the familiar components of Echo machinery. At its centre was a simple activation mechanism.
For weeks, scientists studied the object without touching it. Eventually, fragments of the control system were deciphered. Coordinates could apparently be entered into the device, but the implications of the calculations seemed impossible.
The first report sent to Earth Command was cautiously worded:
Possible instantaneous matter transportation system. Estimated capacity: fleet scale.
A teleportation device, if the interpretation was correct, the Cube could move ships across interstellar distances without travelling through the systems in between.
Nobody was eager to be the first to test it. They would not have the luxury of choosing.
August 30th, 1967 — The Sentinels return
The first warning came from the ruins. Four thermal signatures appeared almost simultaneously. Three vessels were identified as a new Kirch class, the fourth as an Agray class. All four had emerged from underground structures connected to the ancient Echo complex. Seconds later their engines ignited and the vessels accelerated to more than 5,400 km/s.
The troop transports in orbit were practically defenseless.
“Rho Sculptoris Command to all vessels. Sentinel contacts! Four ships. Repeat, four hostile ships!”
There was barely time for the warning.
Missile contacts appeared on the tactical displays at 35,200 km/s.
The officers aboard the transports watched the salvos approaching, expecting impact.
The missiles never reached them.
At tens of thousands of kilometres from their targets, the warheads detonated.
For an instant the space around Rho Sculptoris seemed to flash white. Focused energy crossed the remaining distance almost instantaneously and tore through the transport ships. Ship’s crew were completely blind for seconds.
Troop Transport 001 was crippled. Transport 002 lost its bridge and much of its propulsion system. Transport 004 suffered heavy damage. Transport 003 was penetrated repeatedly and exploded, leaving lifepods tumbling through the wreckage. Only 38 of its 127 crew survived.
Inside the research camp below, the scientists understood immediately what would happen next. The other transports could not outrun the Sentinel ships. No military reinforcement could reach Rho Sculptoris in time.
Someone looked toward the Cube.
“Are the coordinates entered?”
“Earth. Naval spaceports.”
“Then activate it.”
The device came alive. For less than a second, instruments across Rho Sculptoris II registered an energy pattern nobody understood. Then the damaged troop transports disappeared.
Seconds later, frantic messages began arriving from the Solar System. The ships had reappeared beside Earth. The Cube worked!
For the first time in human history, an entire formation had crossed interstellar space without travelling through it. The scientists barely had time to celebrate. Four Sentinel warships were still above Rho Sculptoris, now chasing around without a target.
Earth Command, Duce Hirofumi, sent one order: bring the Cube home. Then send Sumachbaum.
Return of the Balbos
The artifact was transferred to Captain Bernhard Sumachbaum’s combat group.
Sumachbaum had already become one of the most respected officers of the Axis Navy. He had commanded Agordat during the reconquest of Rho Sculptoris and had led the Balbo formation through the battle against the Rana-class Sentinel vessel. Now his force had been strengthened.
Agordat remained his flagship, also able to board. Alongside her returned Caio Mario and Lombardia, veterans of the previous campaign, while the newly commissioned Pisa joined the group. Two powerful Brema battlecruisers provided additional firepower.
Normally, reaching Rho Sculptoris would have required a long journey across the jump-point network. Sumachbaum watched the navigation display from Agordat.
“Activate the Cube.”
Space changed. There was no sensation of acceleration, no jump shock, no transition. One moment Earth filled the tactical plot.
The next moment it was gone.
Rho Sculptoris II appeared ahead.
For several seconds nobody on the bridge spoke.
Then Sumachbaum leaned forward.
“Enough sightseeing. Find the Sentinels.”
Into the laser missiles
The captured sensor data soon revealed what they were facing.
The Kirch and Agray vessels displaced approximately 11,548 tons, moved at 5,403 km/s and carried shields, electronic warfare systems, large decoy launchers and Size-9 missile batteries. Later examination would reveal a particularly sophisticated combination of Fire Control and Missile Jammers, together with long-range missile fire controls.
But during the battle, the Axis knew only one thing. Their missiles were unlike anything humanity had faced before.
The Balbo and Brema formations possessed considerable point defense. Their Leonardo Particle Beams could engage targets at up to 150,000 kilometres, and the ships also carried railguns, CIWS and decoys.
Against the Sentinel missiles, much of that defensive architecture became almost useless.
The Particle Beams could engage the incoming salvos, but the missiles were extraordinarily difficult targets. Entire volleys produced only one or two kills. At 127,000 kilometres the Balbos fired twenty-eight beam shots and destroyed only two missiles.
The shorter-ranged railguns were even more problematic. Their useful interception envelope began around 40,000 kilometres, but the Sentinel warheads detonated well outside the ranges where they were most effective.
CIWS never had a chance.
And the decoys?
Nothing.
Sumachbaum watched another wave appear.
“Sir, point defense cannot stop enough of them.” “How many missiles remaining?” “Too many.” “And distance to enemy?”. “Closing.”
Sumachbaum stared at the tactical display for several seconds.
There was no elegant solution.
“Stop trying to kill the missiles.” His officers turned toward him. “Kill the ships. Maximum speed.” The Axis formation charged.
Captain Paola Valente stood on the bridge of Lombardia as the first salvos arrived.
Valente was no inexperienced officer. She had already fought at Ulla and had received the Cross of Defense for the great battle of March 24th, 1966. She had seen Raider vessels explode at Particle Beam range and had watched men die in boarding actions.
But she had never seen weapons like these.
“Energy detonation!”
The ship shook.
“Shields hit. Nine impacts!”
Another flash.
“Two more on shields. One through the armour!”
Valente grabbed the edge of the command console as warning lights spread across the bridge.
“Keep formation. We turn now and Caio Mario takes the next salvo alone.”
Another wave was already coming.
On Caio Mario, Captain Fugunaga Akane had the same problem.
The beams fired again and again into the incoming missiles, but most passed untouched.
Then the Sentinel warheads detonated. Seven impacts collapsed into the shields. Another struck armour. The second wave penetrated deeper.
Chief Engineer Michael Hutter was killed when Main Engineering was destroyed. Moments later, Executive Officer Felix Noack died with Auxiliary Control.
“Engineering is gone!”
“Secondary power failure!”
Akane barely had time to give the evacuation order.
Caio Mario disappeared in a violent internal explosion.
Of 530 crew, only 94 reached the lifepods. Akane was among them.
Sumachbaum could see the lifepod signals appearing behind the formation.
“Mark every pod. We come back for them.”
Another salvo arrived.
This one found Lombardia. Her shields had already been exhausted. The energy warheads ripped through the armour, destroying internal compartments one after another.
Chief Engineer Benigna Ongaro was killed in Main Engineering.
“Captain, catastrophic power failure!”
Valente looked at the tactical plot. The surviving Balbos were still closing.
They were almost there.
“Do not break formation,” she said.
The bridge shook again.
“Captain—” The screen went white and Lombardia exploded.
One hundred and forty members of her crew escaped in lifepods, including Lieutenant Yakuta Yukimichi. Paola Valente did not. The veteran of Ulla died with her ship.
For Sumachbaum there was no longer any possibility of retreat.
Two Balbos were gone. Agordat had already absorbed repeated hits. Her shields collapsed, recovered partially, then collapsed again. Armour damage began to accumulate.
Pisa remained beside her.
The Sentinel ships kept launching.
Then something changed.
A new salvo did not appear.
Sumachbaum waited. Ten seconds. Twenty. Nothing.
“Missile contacts?” “None.” “Enemy launchers?” “Silent.”
Their magazines were empty. Sumachbaum allowed himself the smallest smile.
“Now it is our turn.”
Particle Beam range
At close range, the balance reversed immediately.
The Sentinels had survived behind a wall of missile fire. Without it, they were facing ships designed specifically to kill at beam range.
Leonardo Particle Beams opened fire.
The surviving Balbos hammered one Sentinel vessel after another, collapsing shields and penetrating machinery. The Brema battlecruisers joined the engagement.
Two enemy ships were destroyed.
Two more were crippled.
Sumachbaum resisted the temptation to finish them.
“No further fire. I want those ships intact.”
The 1st Assalitori BOA deployed from Agordat.
The boarding teams entered the disabled Sentinel vessels through ruptured compartments, fighting their way toward the command sections. The Agray resisted, but the operation was remarkably clean: the assault troops eliminated 118 crew units and captured the ship without losing a man during that phase of the boarding action.
The captured vessel was an extraordinary prize. An 11,548-ton missile destroyer, fitted with thirty shield units, electronic warfare jammers, large decoy systems and thirteen Size-9 missile launchers. Its Kirch counterpart carried the same basic hull and weapons but a much more powerful long-range sensor and fire-control suite.
For Axis scientists, the value of the ships was obvious. The energy-warhead missiles had nearly destroyed an entire fleet.
From earth, Hirofumi gave the order for Ciclope tugs and salvager vessels to begin moving toward the battlefield. Every surviving ship would be recovered. Every wreck would be stripped.
Not a single piece of Sentinel technology was to be left behind.
Then another alarm arrived. There was barely time to celebrate the victory when a new warning signal flashed across the bridge displays. This time it was coming from Proxima Centauri.