Lord Erama didn’t worry about correcting the speaker on that last point. He was a Phalamkian, blue skinned, marbled eyed with four arms. However, that wasn’t that important right then.
“Well, I’d say their intentions are clear,” Chief Commander Cyraes murmured.
“Yes,” Lord Erama agreed. He frowned. “There was something strange about that voice, wasn’t there?”
“You’re right. It didn’t seem to fit. But it can wait.”
“Yes.” Lord Erama switched the communicator channel over. “Did you get all that?” he asked the others.
“Every word,” Admiral Garam replied. “And I can state as your witness that you have satisfied the rules of engagement on that score.”
“Glad to hear it,” Erama said. “Now let’s see about opening up their defenses. You’ve got your clearance, Commander Materson.”
“Thank you, sir,” Zak replied. A group of Harskan Corteks flew across the viewscreen.
Standing behind Lord Erama, Chief Commander Cyraes shook his head as the fighters shot into the distance. “That is either the most courageous or the most reckless thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Tell me about it,” Erama replied. He didn’t mention that Maia was flying with them though. It was hard enough for him to know she was out there without worrying her uncle too. “They’re the finest pilots you’ll ever see,” he added. “But these lads sure can be headstrong when they want to be.”
“They’re not the only ones,” Cyraes said, nodding as another wing of Corteks appeared and shot away to meet the enemy with Sigma Squadron.
Zak looked at his scopes and had to do a double-check. “I don’t believe it,” he murmured. “Epsilon squadron?” He flicked on the communicator. “Is that you out there, Captain Fera?”
“In the flesh,” Fera replied in his perpetually optimistic voice. No matter how hopeless things seemed, that voice could boost the morale of any pilot. “Epsilon squadron’s with you all the way, Commander. Hurricane and the others didn’t want you getting all the glory.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Zak replied with a smile.
“So, another strafing run?” Fera asked. “Or two? Or three?”
Zak winced as he looked at the enormous ships they were rushing towards. This was far worse than when they had strafed the Annihilator. At least that had been one vessel and they had been more or less familiar with the technology behind it. These Levarc Dreadnoughts on the other hand were so alien.
“Yeah, we’ll see if we can take out any of those weapons emplacements around the central cores. Hopefully, we’re too small for them to hit.”
“At least, too small for them to hit easily,” Fera agreed. “I hope so too. So, we want to give Lord Erama an open shot at these things?”
“That’s the plan,” Zak told him. “Let’s hit them on their starboard flanks and see if we can leave one side blind on each ship.”
Fera laughed. “You’re insane. But you’re the boss. Let’s do it.”
“Hey, Fera,” another voice chimed in. Lieutenant ‘Hurricane’ Brais. “Why aren’t these ships launching their fighters?”
It was odd, Zak reflected as they came closer and closer to those massive weapons emplacements. For a moment he lost his train of thought. The sheer amount of firepower on each of these vessels was terrifying. However, it was a good point. By all accounts, the Levarc had generally used anything and everything they had at their disposal during the war. If they were carrying fighters into a battle, they wouldn’t leave them in the hangar.
“Don’t know, Hurricane,” Fera said.
Just then, it hit Zak. He smiled. “Don’t worry about enemy fighters, guys. They don’t carry any.”
“What are you talking about?” Fera asked.
“The Levarc had separate carriers for their fighters,” Zak explained. “And unless any of them show up, there won’t be any enemy fighters.”
There was a slight pause.
“Is that right?” Hurricane asked.
“Yeah,” Fera replied. “I remember learning the same thing now. All right, we’ll just worry about these weapons emplacements then.”
“Which is plenty enough to worry about as it is,” Zak pointed out.
“Right.”
From her vantage point behind a small grove of trees, Lady Valinski watched as the guards walked off down the cobbled footpath. Her people were so naïve with security, it was laughable. For days, she’d been staying in the quarters of one of her inside agents and not once had anyone bothered to come looking for her. They assumed she had left the planet and so the possibility that she might not have never entered their little minds.
She shook her head. This was going to change when she took over with Lord Ilian and Lord Admiral Calendres. Although she was going to have to put a stop to Ilian’s charade about having orchestrated the entire scheme. Yes, he had found the Basilisks and through them he’d found those Levarc ships, but that had only been because he’d been staying in her quadrant. Besides, he enjoyed playing the role far too much for her liking.
Although, it had been fun watching him at work on that gullible little puppet Knight Admiral Alenski. She smiled to herself. She had been quite fortunate in stumbling across him. Such a bitter and foolish man, yet so useful in the overall scheme.
She nodded to the palace guards behind her, the ones who were on her side.
“Follow me, and keep quiet.”
The six of them nodded back and she left the grove, striding down the path as if she owned everything she surveyed before her, lifting the hem of her flowing black dress as she stepped over the cobblestones.
Inside the building, no one ordered her to halt or stepped out and leveled weapons at her, mainly due to the fact that no one was actually there.
“This isn’t right,” one of her men said, sounding unhappy. “There should be guards in here at all times. Look, there isn’t anyone manning the front control desk.”
Lady Valinski shrugged. “I’m looking. When we take over, we can do something about redressing that problem.” She marched into the center of the circular room, straight past the unmanned desk and to the doorway that led through to the cells on the far side, which were probably comfortable and modest, judging by the look of the rest of the building.
“High security,” she murmured to herself. “Don’t they know the meaning of the term?” Clearly not, she decided as she looked around the various doorways and decided that the building was empty. It was more like a guest house or a resort than a prison.
“You know, I’m actually disappointed in them,” she told the guards as she came back to the desk. “I really would have thought they’d provide us with more of a challenge. Clearly, they’ve got no clue when Admiral Roth isn’t around to hold their hands.” She shrugged. “Maybe I shouldn’t have sent him off hunting those phantom Levarc.”
“I disagree,” one of the guards replied. “I for one am very glad he’s not here right now.”
“Oh well,” she replied as she brought up Lord Ilian’s cell number. “Personally, I like a bit more zest in life. All right, all of you. Stay here and keep a look out. And don’t leave it to the last minute to come and get me if something is wrong.”
Without waiting for a reply, she flicked her thick wavy hair and marched out of the room. Pleasant sunlight filtered through skylights and high placed windows. She brushed the leaves of the various plants that decorated the corridor she was now walking down. Then she opened another door and stepped into a room with a small fountain in the middle, several more plants scattered around the place and three doorways at the other side. She wondered for a moment if she could have ever pulled off a scheme like hers in the Federation. Not a chance probably. But here, it was like picking grapes off a vine.
She then hit the release to Lord Ilian’s cell and nearly jumped out of her skin.
Sitting on the bench at the far side, her legs daintily crossed and a Federation blaster in her hand, was the Empress. She was resting
the blaster on her thigh but it was pointing right at her. Lady Valinski had to give her credit for elegance. Two guards stood beside the Empress as well, pointing more familiar Minstrahn weapons at her, while to her left and her right, she heard the other cell doors open and saw more guards entering the room out of the corner of her eye.
The Empress smiled. “My dear Lady Valinski. I was wondering when you would drop in.”
She looked somewhere past Lady Valinski’s shoulder, giving someone a little nod. “Thank you for your assistance, Ms. Tellashi.”
“Not at all. Well, your Imperial Highness. It looks like you now have the entire set.”
Lady Valinski glanced back and saw a light brown skinned woman with dark hair smile at the Empress and leave the room. She frowned. The woman didn’t look as though she were Minstrahn.
Grimacing, she turned back to the Empress.
“Well, congratulations, your Imperial Excellency. You have me. However, may I ask you where Lord Ilian is? I was rather under the impression that this was supposed to be his cell.”
The Empress frowned. “Was it?” She smiled again, her gun still pointing at her. “I do apologize. We had to move him to arrange this reception. However, he isn’t far away. Would you like to join him?”
“They’ve got her?” Ms. Analia asked as Ms. Tellashi stepped inside the living quarters of the ship.
“They’ve got her,” the other replied, sitting down and leaning back in satisfaction. “Pity. I had to come in behind her so I missed seeing the look on her face.”
“It would have been priceless,” Ms. Analia agreed.
“Still,” Ms. Tellashi said, “I feel good now that we’ve accounted for each member of Lord Ilian’s triumvirate.”
“I agree,” Mr. Savaja said. “However, it’s too early to celebrate just yet. Whatever the latest move was that Lady Valinski had planned, it’s already been put into motion.”
Just then, Mr. Ishara leaned over his console. “I think you have a knack for timing, Mr. Savaja, although I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or not.”
Mr. Savaja sighed. “Have I just jinxed everyone?”
“I don’t know but it was pretty impressive if you did. Three ships have just entered the system and they’re big.”
“How big?” Ms. Tellashi asked.
Even Mr. Koraashi sat up at this.
“I’d say huge,” Mr. Ishara said, “except it doesn’t really cut it. These things are enormous.” He trailed off as he tried to get some visuals. It was a long shot, he knew. The ships were quite some distance away in the outer system but after tweaking his settings for a few moments, he was able to get a good look at them.
He let out a long breath as he leaned back.
“What?” Ms. Tellashi asked him.”What is it?”
“They’re Levarc Dreadnoughts.”
“Bring me visuals on screen,” General Kellahav said. He was once again on the bridge of the Annihilator, with its incredible firepower under his direct command.
There was a slight pause as the radar operator brought the visuals up. Levarc Dreadnoughts. Exactly like the ones that had razed Pelagia.
“All right,” Kellahav said. “Comm, get me a hailing frequency.”
“Sir?” Captain Dreimarc asked in surprise.
“We’re doing this by the book, Captain,” Kellahav replied. “Comm?”
“Hail when ready, sir.”
“Incoming Levarc force, this is General Kellahav, acting commander of the Minstrah Defense Fleet alongside Lord Admiral Arathea. You are in violation of Minstrahn sovereignty. Please state your intentions.”
“Minstrahn sovereignty be damned,” came a short reply. “Prepare to be destroyed. All hail the Levarc!”
With that, the other party terminated the transmission.
Dreimarc gave Kellahav a questioning glance. “Is there something wrong, General?”
“Something unusual at least,” Kellahav replied, turning around. “Whoever is on those ships is not Levarc.”
“What?”
“Later,” Kellahav told him, stepping over to his command chair and switching on the communicator. “Lord Admiral Arathea?”
“I receive you, General Kellahav. We have seen the incoming vessels.”
“We have determined their intentions are hostile. Arrange your ships in a defensive line behind me.”
“We must take our share of the danger too, General.”
“This isn’t about honor, Lord Admiral,” Kellahav told him. “Minstrah has no planetary shield. If these ships get past, they could literally melt the surface of this world.”
There was a slight pause. “But surely, no ship could be capable of such devastation.”
“I saw my homeworld destroyed in that manner nearly thirty years ago,” Kellahav replied. “It is possible, I assure you.”
“I... I understand, General.”
“Good. Then let’s forget about honor for the moment and concentrate on practicality. The Annihilator will meet this enemy first.”
“It’s just that each one of those vessels matches your own in size,” Arathea protested.
“Yes,” Kellahav sighed. “It’s not exactly an even sided battle. However, no one ever said war was fair.”
“You are right, General. May fortune smile upon us and guide us safely through.”
Kellahav smiled. “That would be good.”
19. Catastrophe Averted
A massive barrage of lasers spurted out of the weapons clusters arranged around the Levarc Dreadnought’s hull.
“I sure hope our cruisers are keeping well back,” Zak muttered through gritted teeth as he swerved his fighter out of the path of the blasts.
“We’ve lost one,” Hurricane called out.
“What?” Zak asked.
“One of ours. I mean, one of Draedon’s.”
“These things are nuts!” Ja’is complained.
“We’ll just have to be more nuts,” Zak said, firing a salvo of blasts at the struts of one of the blades. “Right. Sigma squadron. Pull up, recharge and prepare for your next pass.”
As he pulled away, Zak saw several members of Epsilon squadron on his starboard corkscrew their way down towards the massive blades, letting out a volley of torpedoes. One of the blades appeared to crumble. Then there was a massive explosion and it came loose, tumbling end over end away from the main core of the Dreadnought.
“Quick!” Captain Fera shouted. “Before they get another one online!”
Zak braced himself. “All right. You heard him, Sigma squadron.”
Moving into the gap, Zak took Maia, Ja’is and Adaria and flew between the giant blades, firing several more torpedoes into the core.
Ja’is let out a loud cheer as a large section of the armored plating below them split open, sending out a shower of burning fragments.
“That blade’s dead!” Adaria cheered. “The next one over, starboard side. Look at it. All its weapons systems are shorting out.”
“Good,” Zak said, wishing he could take his hands off the controls long enough to wipe off the thick layer of sweat that was gathering on his brow. At the moment, he didn’t dare. “Quickly, concentrate fire on the portside blade before they figure out what’s happened.”
With a fluid movement, they pulled their fighters into a sharp roll, banking down and straightening as they corrected their course. As they swooped down over the blade, they fired again, tearing it to pieces.
“Lord Erama,” Zak said as they pulled away from the massive ship. “This one’s clear.”
“Copy, Commander Materson,” Lord Erama replied, nodding to the helmsman. “Get your squads well clear, gentlemen. These aren’t exactly precision weapons.”
As the two squadrons moved away, he brought his cruiser closer to the damaged side of the Levarc Dreadnought’s weapons ring. “All ships, stay back,” he said, not taking his eyes off the massive vessel before him. “Gunnery, are we in range?”
“Almost, sir. We’re in rang
e... now.”
Lord Erama turned to Chief Commander Cyraes. “Are Sigma and Epsilon squadron safe where they are?”
The Felariam commander nodded. “They’re out of range.”
“All right.” Lord Erama braced himself as he gave the order. “Gunnery, fire.”
On the viewscreen, he watched as two orbs of light shot away with bluish-green trails of light behind them, like two tiny comets.
Just as suddenly as they appeared, they winked out, collapsing in on themselves a small distance before the Levarc Dreadnought and for a split-second, nothing seemed to happen. It was almost anti-climactic. Then a moment later, two very faint translucent spheres of light appeared. Over the course of a second and a half, they grew so large that they engulfed the Dreadnought. Electrical sparks flashed all over its hull and then they disappeared.
Then more sparks of electricity shot out from where the two torpedoes had collapsed on themselves. The sparks hit the Dreadnought and swept over it and as the last of them died away, the ship appeared exactly as it had before, except not a single light was running and the glow from its engines was gone.
Lord Erama exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. The sheer power he had under his command was disconcerting. Very effective but definitely sobering.
“Admiral Garam,” he said, switching on the communicator, “I believe we have evened the odds somewhat.”
“I saw it,” Admiral Garam replied. “What was that?”
“An electron shockwave charge. It’s a little tricky to explain right now but, well, you saw what it did for yourself.”
“It’s unbelievable. But you’re right. The advantage is ours if we take it.”
“Right,” Lord Erama said. “We need to strip away the shields of those other two Dreadnoughts, then we can take them out the same way. Go wide to your starboard and see if you can hit them from their broadside without exposing too much of your own ships to enemy fire. I’ll press on from our portside with my own ships.”
Beyond the Veil Page 24