by Dean Sault
A sudden bright orange light from the sky cast strange shadows across the quarry. Several more brilliant flares soon followed.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Benjamin said and watched flashes in the night sky.
“This is one time I hope your human intuition is not so prophetic.”
Chapter 52
“General, they’re coming again!”
“Admiral Klav, are you still on open comm?”
“Yes, I see them. Should we meet them half way?”
“Negative. They are going to make an all out assault trying to bring down our planetary defenses. Stay below the top shield and prepare for close combat with any ships that get through. We’ve got to protect those shields at all cost.”
“Understood, General.”
Tanarac’s fleet rose as close to the upper shield as they could. In an unusual tactic, the Heptari heavies led the way this time, the giant command ship joined the attack. It was closely guarded by four Rahl starships.
Admiral Klav positioned two of his biggest starships above each planetary shield projector and the rest of his capital ships paralleled the course of the oncoming enemy heavies, with extra emphasis on Rotaga’s flagship.
“I’ve got to concentrate on heavies, and there are too many light ships for my remaining Vipers to cover. Your atmospheric pilots better be as good as you claim. They’re about to earn their pay.”
Despite the approaching danger, the general couldn’t resist a little one-upmanship.
“Don’t worry about my fighters. We’ll take care of your failures. You get those heavies. Our ground-based cannons are almost back online. They already have enough charge to help you with that command ship if it gets inside the top shield.”
There was a period of silence as the War Room staff watched the massive Heptari force approaching the planet. Anything that needed to be said had already been said. They could only wait. The admiral broke the silence.
“General, their heavies are leveling out, and they’re in firing range. Can we engage?”
“Negative. Our weapons won’t reach maximum effectiveness at that range. Let them get a little closer. Besides, I’m not sure what their plan is yet.”
General Tragge’s concern was answered almost immediately. Heptari heavies opened fire simultaneously at the planetary shields. The light show was spectacular, as the top shield lit up across the entire planet.
“Ludic, did that volley weaken our shield?”
“Negative, sir. Only blinded our sensors for a couple seconds. Wait . . . sir, we’ve got hundreds of lights and mediums just outside the shield.”
“Where are those heavies?” The general kept his focus on the greater threat.
“They’re right behind the light ships, sir.”
Admiral Klav broke in.
“We’re on it, General.”
A second coordinated blast from the enemy spread across the shield, again blinding Tanarac sensors. Just as the instruments recovered, the first Heptari light ships dropped out of the shield having penetrated during the sensor blackout.
Vipers screamed into combat, catching many of the small enemy ships before they could raise their force fields. Admiral Klav’s ships fired at Rotaga’s heavies, without much effect.
Another simultaneous blast from the approaching enemy dissipated across the shield. This one destroyed a few of their own small ships caught in a reflected blast wave. Disregard for their own ships told the general all he needed to know.
“This is it, Admiral!” the general said with conviction. “Main attack. They’re not going to pull back. Ludic, if you have any more tricks up your sleeve, tell me now.”
“No more tricks, sir, but they haven’t beaten me yet.”
The War Room filled with sounds of war. The admiral gave a running string of directions to his heavy-ship commanders. Transmissions between fighter pilots would slip sporadically into a command frequency, briefly exposing staff to the realities of combat. The rescue coordination monitor began stacking up with Viper ejection pod beacons.
“General,” Admiral Klav said with alarm, “Rotaga’s flagship is approaching the shield.”
“Yes, we’re tracking her. Watch out for those big cannons. She’s deadly.”
“Got it, sir. We’re pumping all the firepower we can into her belly but can’t get through her shields.”
“Keep trying. She has to drop her force fields to penetrate our upper shield. That’s your chance to nail her.”
“What the hell?” Ludic could not believe his eyes. “You see what I’m seeing, sir?”
“Is that possible?” the general asked. “Can she do that?”
All eyes in the War Room watched fireworks as the command ship’s bottom shields clashed with the powerful planetary top field.
“Sir, she’s trying to force her way through the energy barrier without dropping her own protection. She can’t do that, in theory. Two shields should act like giant magnetic poles repelling each other. The closer they get, the greater the repulsion. Her escorts have dropped shields. We got four Rahls coming through.”
The staff in the War Room watched as four big Rahl starships emerged from the upper shield directly below their flagship. Six of Admiral Klav’s heavies had been targeting Rotaga’s vessel, but now began firing into the unshielded bellies of the Rahls.
One of the unprotected enemy ships suffered a core breech and exploded, taking the nearby Tanarac attacker with her in an antimatter/matter vortex.
Two of the three remaining Rahls managed to raise shields before suffering serious damage. They immediately attacked four defenders. The third Rahl suffered shield damage from the core breech explosion of their comrade vessel and was under attack by a smaller Syne-class Tanarac ship.
The closest Tanarac capital ship lost its shield array in the first blast, forcing it to retreat. General Tragge’s three remaining heavies under Rotaga’s ship exchanged furious cannon fire with the two fully shielded enemy ships.
The sixth Tanarac heavy, one of the smaller Syne-class cruisers, attacked the impaired enemy Rahl by itself. This Heptari warship could only manage partial shields.
Syne cruisers were far from equal to a Rahl, but size did not concern the commander in that Tanarac starship. He pounced on the powerful Heptari vessel, using superior speed to maneuver away from the enemy’s lethal main cannon.
Each time he came around behind the Heptari ship, he unloaded all his firepower against what remained of the Heptari shield array, quickly finishing the job of stripping away its protection. With no shields, the bigger ship lost its advantage.
Cannon bursts from the fast moving Syne sliced chunks off the Heptari vessel, including large sections from the main bridge. Return fire from the enemy’s dangerous main cannon passed frighteningly close to the wildly maneuvering Syne cruiser.
There was no single cannon blast that sealed the fate of the enemy starship. It just began breaking apart from multiple structural failures. The back half broke free and accelerated along the planetary shield, propelled by engines with no command control. The front half rolled harmlessly in space, its big cannon tethered only by its primary power conduits.
The aggressive Syne commander changed course to assist his three sister ships engaged with the remaining two Rahls.
General Tragge made a quick note in his audio file to commend the crew of that Syne.
Ludic was first to discover the real threat in this new attack.
“General, the command ship is forcing her belly through the shield. Cargo bays are open.”
A low-orbit satellite showed massive cascades of electricity as Rotaga’s command ship defied theory and forced her shields through the uppermost planetary energy barrier. With four nearby Tanarac heavies busy battling the remaining Rahls, there was nothing to challenge that command ship.
“Sir, she’s releasing fighters below the shield. Wait a minute, those are troop carriers. They’re trying to put assault troops on the ground. I count six t
ransports.”
“Admiral Klav, this is General Tragge. Do you read?”
“Go ahead, sir.”
“Heps are launching ground assault forces to get our shields. Can you take out those troop carriers?”
“Hang on, sir.”
Everyone in the War Room could hear the admiral issue new instructions to his ships engaged with the Rahls. In addition, the admiral put out urgent instructions to all Vipers in the vicinity to address this new threat.
“That’s the best I can do, General. You’d better warn the atmospheric guys. They’ll have to finish the job.”
Two of the Tanarac heavies disengaged from battle with the Rahls and set course to intercept the rapidly descending troop ships. One of those two defenders, the tenacious Syne cruiser, assumed a trailing position to protect the rear of their larger sister warship. Distance to the transports shrank with every passing second.
Both Rahls changed course, attempting to protect their descending ground troops. They ignored trailing Tanarac ships that were pouring cannon fire into them.
Under the furious barrage, one Rahl lost propulsion, and its attackers navigated around the disabled ship to pursue the remaining Heptari warship.
The last Heptari heavy fired its main cannon into the back of the Syne. Rear shields on the smaller ship were no match for the powerful enemy cannon. They failed. A second volley from the Rahl burst the brave Tanarac vessel into fragments.
Flying through the wreckage, the enemy warship set its sights on the Tanarac starship that was now attacking Rotaga’s six troop transports. As the Heptari troop carriers approached the second planetary shield, they spread out to maximize survival chances.
The fast-approaching Tanarac starship fired at two of the unshielded ships, simultaneously. Both vanished in clouds of shrapnel, but the remaining four transports managed to pass safely through the planetary shield into space below the second shield.
The Tanarac warship made an extreme course change to avoid colliding with the planetary shield. As it slowed to come around, the Rahl caught up and fired a close range cannon burst, hitting the bridge through weakened extended shields. The disabled vessel began flying blind in a corkscrew path, without command and control function.
Closing in for the kill, the enemy starship ignored Tanarac threats from its stern. Legendary single-mindedness of Heptari captains often proved to be their weakness.
The faster Tanarac heavies cut off the Rahl’s intercept path and coordinated their cannon fire into its matter-antimatter reactor dome. A massive cloud of glowing, white plasma consumed all three Tanarac heavies, as well the Heptari ship.
“Get outta my damn shield,” Ludic yelled. “I’m pushing that command ship out.”
Ludic worked feverishly with controls at his command center. The monitor above him showed dramatic increases in intensity of electric discharges surging along the belly of Rotaga’s command ship. As the intensity increased, the bottom of his vessel rose out of sight.
“You’re not getting through my shields,” Ludic shouted in defiance.
“Good job,” the general observed.
“Don’t thank me yet, sir. I had to collapse the first shield and extend it out to double-layer the top shield. There’s nothing between those troop carriers and the ground.”
“Comm, get me Surface Defense Command,” the general ordered as he adjusted to the flow of battle.
“Sir, I’ve got General Faa with SDC.”
“Faa, this is Tragge. I know you’re tracking those troop ships. Plot all possible landing locations near shield generators and scramble ground squads to intercept them. Don’t wait to see where they land. I want our best troops pre-positioned in case those ships survive our fighters.”
“Already done, sir, and I’ve also got back-up ground forces in the air waiting for landing coordinates. I can have them on the scene in minutes. General, sorry about the damage at ground station two. One of the Hep fighters got a shot at the generator before we could take it out with ground fire. We’re doing our best, sir.”
“We still have all three shields. No harm done.”
General Tragge’s attention returned to his main concern.
“Ludic, where is that command ship?”
“Just above shield three generator. Admiral Klav’s flagship is pouring fire into her belly, but she still has her shields up. I can keep her out as long as she doesn’t lower her defenses.”
Chapter 53
The human spacecraft buffeted slightly as it eased through the final shield. The crew watched Tanarac shrink in the distance. Shilgar looked from screen to screen, searching for something.
“Where’d the fighters go, Simon?”
“I don’t know. General Tragge said we can leave, and they all took off. Even that big ship above us left.”
His voice continued forming in the air around them, although his body showed no outward sign of animation.
“Doc, I entered the course and set our hull polarity to maximum. How much thrust should I engage?”
“Ease into the antigravity inverter slowly. We don’t want to go too fast. The longer we remain in close proximity to the Tanarac sun, the more energy we’ll have for deep space travel. Our energy reserves are building quickly.”
The hologram moved from his position near Simon to stand in front of Shilgar.
“It’s time for you, Kerl-Ga and Kelly to enter stasis.”
“Can it wait? I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Shilgar gazed past the hologram at the growing image of Tanarac’s larger sun. Its surface boiled with solar storms, unseen from the planet. Long fingers of plasma erupted far out into space where they cascaded in sheets of silver energy, twisting like fragile ribbons on a gentle breeze until they dissolved into surrounding blackness.
“I suppose we can wait until the asteroid fields,” Dr. Boroski responded with logic. “Tanarac and Heptari forces are on the far side of the planet. Our route will take us around the nearest Tanarac sun. This course should avoid contact, so I guess it’s okay to wait.”
The main command screen panned across Tanarac’s larger sun as the small ship responded to course adjustments. Violent churning thrust up from its surface, unnerving Kelly. Simon flew his spaceship tenuously between immense fountains of pure energy.
“Doctor Boroski, are you sure it’s safe for us to get this close?” she asked.
“Oh yes. This ship can absorb almost unlimited amounts of energy.” The scientist directed her attention to a small view screen on the far side of the room. “When we first entered space, you could see the external structure of the ship in that view. Now, you see only layers of pure energy organized by the external plasma matrix.”
It was nothing but random flashes of brightness to Kelly.
“All I see is swirling light.”
“That’s correct. As the ship accumulates energy, it deposits uniform plasma layers over the hull. Theoretically, there is no limit to the number of layers we can stack. That small dark line at the top of this view is open space. It will soon disappear as energy layers thicken.”
“Doc!” Simon called out. “Two ships approaching. Do you see them?”
“Heptari scouts.”
“What should I do?”
“Stay on course. They can’t get this close to the sun. Their shields will not hold.”
“They just fired at us!”
The bright pulse of a particle beam flashed as the Heptari vessels fired toward the humans. Impact caused a small ripple in the ship’s external energy stores and virtually no impact.
“Farnthal was right.” Dr. Boroski sounded pleased. “Energy from those pulse cannons just converted into storage. Those ships have no mass inertial devices, uh . . . rockets, so they can’t harm us.”
Simon continued his path close to the Tanarac sun while enemy scouts shadowed them at a safe distance from solar flares.
“We are about to change course,” the doctor said. “Heptari scouts will attempt
to stop us when we rise from this close-sun orbit. Their weapons are of no consequence, but they are known to ram opposing vessels. As long as we avoid physical impact, we will be fine. Once you get past their intercept line, you can simply accelerate away from them. Are you ready?”
External views began scrolling as the human vessel altered course.
“Here they come, Doc,” Simon cautioned.
“You know what to do. After you get past them, engage full power for a few seconds, and they will no longer be a threat.”
The Heptari scouts moved to intercept the human spaceship with weapons firing at full recharge cycles, but their energy pulses simply vanished into the growing pool of light around the ship. One scout changed course, and the other quickly followed.
“You’re right,” Simon said. “They’re trying to ram us.”
There was no concern in his voice. His comment was more like admiration for his mentor’s accurate prediction.
“Hold on folks.”
The human space ship surged forward. Shilgar and his companions were pinned to their chairs as artificial gravity lagged a moment in compensating for inertia. The Heptari scout ships shrank instantly into distant dots.
“That was easy,” he gloated.
The front view screen began showing randomly scattered rocks across space ahead. Dr. Boroski resumed his role as educator.
“Those are periphery asteroids of the first belt. The Tanarac system has five such rock fields. They are not dangerous as long as we travel slowly. Simon, if you have any trouble avoiding the boulders, just slow down until you find safe maneuvering speed.”
“No problem. I followed ore veins for years on Striker Twelve. This is easy.”
For the next hour, Simon weaved, rolled and slipped his human space ship around rocks, some as large as mountains. His passengers grimaced more than once as he cut things a bit close.
“Man, this is fun,” he exclaimed as he dodged behind one asteroid to avoid colliding with a fast-moving rock from another angle.
“Simon!” Dr. Boroski spoke sternly. “This is not a videogame. Slow down.”