The navigation computer drew instructions onto her tactical display. The manoeuvre she had to pull off was complicated, not because it was difficult to accomplish on its own, but because The Twenty-One were going to do it all at the same time while they made a huge mess. Dame pushed all her thoughts and worries to the side and focused on the moment.
The Uriel fighter's systems read her demand to target seven Order of Eden fighters at once. Two were lined up with her main guns, another with her aft belly turret, and the remaining ones had missiles locked on to them. Every fighter in The Twenty-One - a temporary squadron put together in minutes by Ronin to defend the fleet - was to do the same, their position in the formation was to keep them from overlapping their targets for the most part.
The Order fighters obviously didn't see them. The new cloaking systems were working, the counter still had nine seconds left on it, but they were about to be in optimal firing range. The problem was easily solved by her training. Once they were within twenty-eight thousand kilometres of their targets with no obstructions, they were to fire. The mission counter was secondary.
Hands on the controls, her eyes on the range indicator to her central target, Dame took a deep breath and let loose with her fighters' main and secondary weapons the instant they crossed the range threshold. Everyone in The Twenty-One made exactly the same decision - to favour their range indicators instead of the mission countdown - and the Order of Eden fighters were set alight with a barrage of gunfire as a line of rapid fire missiles accelerated towards them. The muffled puh-puh-puh-puh of her main autocannons as they fired small, dense, high velocity charged rounds at the pair of fighters she sighted filled her cockpit. The enemy's shields failed, guns returning fire.
Order of Eden ships weren't built to the same standard as Haven Fleet vessels, and that was most apparent with their fighters. They had big guns and an interchangeable missile rack, but comparatively weak shields and a thin hull. The enemy managed to land several shots on her shields, bringing them down to ninety-three percent before her rounds ripped through the pair of fighters closing with her. Missiles began striking the Order ships, eliminating their shields and denting, sometimes rupturing their hulls. The difficult part of their strategy was coming up; the crossover.
The Twenty-One pointed their thruster pods to their dorsal side, fired them all at once, sending them down towards the outer atmosphere of Tamber and beneath the long rows of Order Fighters as they passed overhead. In near unison, all the Uriels flipped end over end. Their enemy tried to track them, to turn and defend as they pushed on to their targets - the group of Sunspire ships and the Triton - but Dame and most of The Twenty-One already had them in their gun sights. It was amazing to her that she wasn't alone or even first in acquiring a target and ripping into them with their guns. She was doing her absolute best, focusing as she never had before, but some of her fellow pilots were still faster if not better than she was. The roar of her main thrusters firing at full intensity filled her cockpit. Their relative speed and direction would match their enemy's in a few seconds, until then they would have to contend with whatever counterattacks the Order Fighters had to offer.
"They are launching drones and attempting to scramble all signals," Magnet reported. He was another War Forge pilot who transferred with her to the Triton. He was extremely good, a lot of fun to compete with too.
"Use turrets on the drones, watch for missile launches," Ronin replied, his transmission scratchy.
The fighters didn't evade, opting to recharge their rear shielding and use countermeasures instead. A plume of tiny missiles meant to confuse targeting scanners and harass enemies erupted from the Order of Eden ships. Most of the fighters had antimatter or nuclear markers, they meant to take out or weaken their main capitol ships' shields, and if they did, the Sunspire Dreadnaughts would most likely be lost. The thought of those artfully made, crucial ships getting destroyed threatened her state of calm, and Dame used neural targeting to send three missiles at one fighter, then another, and another as she focused her guns on yet another. All four of her targets had antimatter warning markers, and Ronin joined in, firing at the same ships.
Several of her seeker missiles went wild, tracking ghost targets, or colliding with a decoy drone instead. Ronin had the same trouble, but then one struck its target. Then another, and a third. Two of his missiles struck, then he called; "They're breaking formation!"
A burst of light filled the space in front of The Twenty-One as one of the antimatter bombs an Order of Eden fighter was carrying went off. It looked like it was the fighter she was shooting at, but it could have been another. It didn't matter. Her shields were down to seventy-four percent and it was time for The Twenty-One to break up, becoming groups of three as they put distance between themselves and the disaster that was about to take place. A disaster that, if it went off right, would take care of this entire group of Order of Eden fighters.
Ronin was her lead, so she followed him as closely as she could as their fighters flipped then thrusted to get distance from the explosions that were sure to follow. The fighters were just over eight thousand kilometres away, a little too close for what was about to happen, so he had the right idea.
The flash of light cleared, and Magnet was with his trio, flying after the Order of Eden fighters too fast. They were gaining, not getting to a safe range. "God dammit, we got turned around," he said.
"Get out of there, at least ten kilo-kliks," Ronin said.
"I know, we're…"
Another bomb lost containment, going off under the Order of Eden fighter it was affixed to, and it was followed by a second flash of light, a great bulb of raw energy that tried to annihilate everything it came into contact with. The enemy fighters were still far too close to each other, and that explosion set off others, utterly decimating everything in their group. There were three more flashes, and when her sensors got a read of the area, Magnet's group of three and the enemy fighters were gone. "Travel on," Dame said under her breath, wishing she told him that she liked him, that she used his scores as a bar when she was practicing in simulations sometimes. That was the problem with heroes; sometimes they died.
"All right, we're breaking this party up," Ronin said. "Triton Flight has assignments for all of us in teams of three. Leaders notify them that you're ready and get after your objectives."
Ronin's fighter flipped and turned, leading her and Flag, a pilot from the Samurai Squadron, towards Tamber's atmosphere. "Triton Flight; My sensors have picked up a modified Arcyn Starskipper emerging from the deep ocean on Tamber. Can you verify that it isn't one of ours?"
"Confirmed, Ronin; that Starskipper is not one of ours," Lieutenant Neke said from Triton Flight Command. Dame had met him, he was a shorter man with kind eyes. It was something she wanted to do every time she started service on a new carrier, introduce herself to everyone in Flight Command so they knew her face. What he said next made her adventurous spirit stir. "Intelligence believes that may be Sol Bandit."
"Acknowledged," Ronin said. "We're after it."
The nose of their Uriels began to flame up as they continued entering Tamber's atmosphere. Sol Bandit was the code name for Order of Eden Admiral Lucius Wheeler, the greatest enemy of Haven Fleet. The scan results of the ship emerging from the ocean far, far below came up on her display. It was an Arcyn Starskipper with enhanced shields, plating and an improved wormhole system. "How are we proceeding?" she asked.
"Disable and cover. Switch your guns to directed electromagnetic pulse mode. We're going to capture him," Ronin replied.
Fifteen
A New Legend
* * *
Ronin, Flag and Dame were about to catch up to the Arcyn Starskipper when five sharp nosed Order of Eden fighters came down from orbit to knock them off its tail as it tried to get away under water. They started with missiles, which, at such a long range, were taken out by the turrets on the bellies of the Haven Fleet pilots' Uriel fighters. Then, showing a little impatience, Ronin entered
a climb right at their enemies. "We've gotta knock these guys down quick."
Dame followed, catching up as quickly as she could to his right. It was strange at first, charging at their enemies in a near perfect incline, but she got used to it quickly. Fast enough to train her guns on one of the Order fighters and assign her turret to fire at another.
Flag's turret was targeting the same one hers was. "Fighter Three is having a really bad day!" he said over the communications channel as their enemy's shields failed. He went evasive as they tested his hull. The one Dame had her main guns on blasted her in return, taking her shields down to eighty-four percent.
Her enemy wasn't so well shielded, however, and it only took one burst to knock their forward shields down, another pair of bursts to rip through the front of the fighter then through the cockpit, killing the pilot inside.
Ronin fired three missiles at the rest of their enemies, raking them with his guns. His three targets exploded, their fireballs large and bright in the atmosphere, it wasn't something Flag or Dame were used to. She'd only spent thirty percent of her simulation time in atmospheres, a number she set herself so she could keep working on her adaptability. The simulations didn't do the fire, the noise and close feeling of things in oxygenated skies justice.
The fighter that got away, the one she and Flag spooked with their turrets, was on the run, and she went after it. "I've got him." Dame announced.
"Good, I'm after the Starskipper," Ronin said. "Flag, back her up."
"Aye, he's movin'." Flag said, turning to follow her.
He was talking about the fighter that was trying to get away, no doubt. The Arcyn Starskipper was moving much slower under water, but the ocean made a good shield. Electromagnetic pulse weapons and mini-missiles weren't effective, and the rounds from their guns had a high chance of exploding against the surface. The only thing that worked were their turrets, and they suffered a huge range decrease, all the way down to ninety-five metres.
After making sure her quarry wasn't leading them to another group of fighters, Dame increased her throttle and locked on with missiles. Ronin might need backup, that old ship could still do damage if it went skyward, so she decided finishing the Order fighter off with missiles made more sense. She got within ideal range and launched five. They accelerated after the fighter as the pilot jinked towards the water then pulled up, launching countermeasures that scattered out behind him like a chain of bright stars. To her surprise, three of her missiles went after the decoys, exploding in great yellow-white clouds.
Punching her throttle up, Dame opened up with her guns. That urged the pilot into a spin, then a turn. "Go back Ronin up, I've got this," Dame said, following his sad manoeuvres.
"Nah, I got it," Flag said as he launched five of his own missiles from above.
One of hers caught up with the enemy fighter, blasting its shields down to nothing. The second struck, sending it spinning sideways, and then Flag's missiles struck, sending the ship down as flaming rubble.
"Sorry, sorta stole your kill there," Flag said.
Before acknowledging him, she slowed and turned her fighter around in a sharp arc then accelerated to catch up with Ronin. "You wasted ammo, if anything, but it worked out. We needed to take that thing out fast so we can catch up to Ronin and find out if Sol Bandit is on board," she said, passing him.
"No need to feel sore about it," Flag snickered.
Dame rolled her eyes and refocused on the task at hand, activating her cloaking systems, which warned her that they wouldn't be effective at such high speeds in an atmosphere. "So much for that," she muttered to herself. When she caught up with Ronin, they were getting close to a land mass. He had his jamming systems on, stopping any transmissions from the Starskipper. His jamming noise looked exactly like the type the Order used. "Nice trick," she told him.
"Just hoping the ships in orbit think it's one of their own using a jammer," Ronin said. "We don't need any more fighters coming to the defence of whoever this is. Switch your guns back to DEMP mode."
Dame set her guns to fire directed electromagnetic pulses, hoping that they'd get a chance to use them. For a moment she wondered if the Arcyn Starskipper was on its way to some underwater tunnel. Things would get complicated if that was the case, they'd have to submerge, and she'd only used that mode once in simulation, then one other time when she was finishing her qualifications on the Uriel.
The Arcyn Starskipper burst up from the water. Ronin, Flag and Dame opened fire, sending blue bolts of energy made to interfere with electronics and shields through the air between their Uriel fighters and their prey. The Starskipper led them to land, where a massive forest covered the unoccupied territory. It flew low, accelerating, its shields losing power by the second.
"Where's he going?" Flag asked. "Maybe to that mountain range?"
"Arcyn Starskipper, land so we may inspect your craft and your crew," Ronin said, using one of the shorter orders from the fleet manual. "We will disable your ship and you will crash if you continue to resist."
The Starskipper flared its main thrusters and dipped even lower, accelerating along the treeline then turning into an arc. The forest below was set ablaze instantly, creating a firestorm that forced their sensors to recalibrate. Dame flipped her fighter upside down and pulled up, watching the enemy ship with her naked eye as she increased speed to keep up. Ronin and Flag were still coming around, they each had five older seeker missiles after them.
Her scanners finished recalibrating, and the reason why they had to do so was made plain; the enemy ship was using Xetima fuel. The flashes that started the fires below were hot enough to melt stone. That would only mess with their scanning systems once.
Flag was struck by two missiles; his shields were down to three percent. "Countermeasures!" Dame shouted.
As if he had to be reminded that he had them, he launched a barrage of counterpunch missiles from the rear of his fighter. They were new, she'd never seen them used out of a simulator, but they were amazing, using guidance systems and simple thrusters to intercept incoming missiles. They worked.
Ronin wasn't bothering with countermeasures, he kept his speed up, gained altitude and used the turret under his ship to fire back at the missiles as he out-climbed them. That left her alone with the Arcyn Starskipper, which was firing back at her with a small railgun turret. "No more warnings, Pilot," she transmitted, switching to lethal rounds and targeting the ship's main thrusters.
With practiced control, Dame flipped her fighter so it was upright again and got her enemy in her sights. Some things felt exactly the same as they did in simulation. A missile warning flashed on her screen. Her auto turret opened fire and she launched a package of five counterpunch missiles, not five packages like Flag did. One missile struck her right in the middle of the cockpit, reducing her forward shields to twenty-four percent. Another was destroyed by her turret, and the last one went after the counterpunch missiles, which tore it to shreds.
Her guns roared to life. Dame loved the sound of them in atmosphere, it was like the rapid pounding of war drums, and she watched as the Starskipper's shields failed. A single shot made it through, nearly striking the aft Xetima tank. If she broke through the armour there, the ship would go up in a violent fireball, there would be no survivors. Several high velocity rounds struck the nose shield of her fighter as both its missile racks opened, launching forty-two seeker missiles at once at her fellow pilots. The pilot for the Starskipper was smart enough not to launch at her again, she was flying so close that any strike would have done damage to her fighter and the Arcyn ship.
Another barrage of turret fire raked the front of her Uriel, reducing her forward shields down to twelve percent. With a flick of her shield controls, Dame sent all power to her forward shields and blasted the turret. The little shield charge the Arcyn Starskipper managed to regain was gone in the first few rounds. It was a pleasure to watch the armour of the older ship spark, deform and collapse around the turret. The weapon emplacement itself sto
pped firing as its barrels turned into a twisted pair of tubes, and the transparent metal bubble was torn apart. Dame released her triggers as a rapid succession of explosions - like the illegal firecrackers she and her foster brothers and sisters used to make into rows - sent pieces of the ruined turret works out up above the ship.
The Arcyn Starskipper faltered in the air for a moment, then kept flying. "We're evading," Ronin said. "Finish it off, the Fleet needs us in orbit."
"I've got this," Dame said, seeing that Ronin and Flag were both still evading several Tornado Seeker Missiles. They were older, but fast, accurate, and some of them could keep up with the climb rate of their Uriels. Ronin still had ten on him while Flag had eighteen. "Dump the rest of your countermeasures and set your mini-missiles to chase those Tornados," she told Flag.
To her surprise and dismay, one of the missile racks on the Arcyn Starskipper opened again, there were eleven missiles loaded. A missile warning flashed on her tactical display, indicating that they were all targeting her! Using as much instinct as skill, she reversed thrust and fired her guns at the launcher as they started coming up from their tubes. Some of the missiles were caught by her gunfire, the Arcyn Starskipper must have taken serious damage on their port side, but she knew she couldn't have hit all the projectiles. Less than two seconds later, as her fighter was surrounded by the Starskipper's smoke, her fears were confirmed by the sounds of missiles colliding with her shields. There wasn't time for any kind of countermeasure, her ship and her life were saved by her forward-facing shielding. If she hadn't focused the energy there moments before, that would have been her end. Instead, her fighter got away with some denting and scratching.
The smoke cleared, her sensors showed the Starskipper going down ahead of her, and with teeth clenched in anger, she flew after it. The trail of destruction left behind by the enemy ship as it crashed through the trees, skidded through the dirt and came to rest as it smashed into a tall stone was easy to follow. "You guys all right up there?" she asked.
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 14 Page 12