The first few rounds broke the enemy fighter's shields down. The pilot of the heavy fighter turned his ship with a jerk and tried to accelerate out of Dame's path, but her rounds put great big holes all the way through his ship, ripping the internals and the pilot apart in three seconds. It was still almost directly in Dame's path, so she timed an increase in her shield regeneration with a glancing collision that sent the remains of the enemy ship spinning. "Don't ever take my Uriel away," Dame breathed.
Anti-starfighter rounds continued to pepper her shields. The smell of warm electronics was registered by her sealed suit and synthesized harmlessly so she could smell the olfactory warning, but the Uriel's systems reported that it was still operating within its limits. As she fell in beside Ronin with Easy on his other wing, it seemed like they were an inevitable force chasing three destroyers.
The Hammerhead she left behind exploded, and even her sensors were overwhelmed for a moment. The armoured forward section of the Athens One was all that survived, and it was drifting towards several Order of Eden ships. They had time to get out of the way, but it would still complicate their movements, loosen the barricade around her people, the circle of Haven ships that desperately needed a gap to escape through.
The anti-starfighter fire was interrupted as well, the blast of energy scrambling targeting computers enough so they had to re-acquire their targets. Ronin fired all his Burster missiles at the lead destroyer. In the quiet moments following the flash, they all made it through and were able to damage the destroyer's port shields, nearly taking them down entirely before point defence systems took them out. "We have to get closer, give those defence systems less time to react to our attacks," Ronin said.
The anti-starfighter rounds resumed their assault on their shields, and Dame carefully compensated, turning her recharge rate up again. They were closing on the destroyers fast. Soon they would provide as much cover as they would present a problem, and their point defence systems seemed predictable, like they were being controlled by a simple automated system. Ronin, Easy and her were having an increasingly easy time evading their attacks, weaving and dodging. The destroyers would be reduced to rubble soon.
This was what it was like to be a fighter pilot tasked with killing capitol ships. This is what it must have been to be a giant killer on the chase. Dame thought, remembering ancient fables she made her caregivers retell over and over when she was a child.
Twenty-Nine
Technology Reduced to Bludgeons
* * *
The path to their prey was a hazardous one. Relative to Easy, Ronin and Dame, the three destroyers were moving too fast towards Tamber to get in front of them. To get close enough so their attacks had a good chance of getting through, the trio had to cut through open space, where larger, more powerful Order ship energy weapons would be able to hit them. Sure, most would miss, but there was so much firepower on the field that getting hit was a certainty.
Their fighters were moving at increasing speed, coming in behind the Order ships and catching up. The enemy could see them plainly, their weapons tried to burn their Uriel's shields mercilessly, and Dame's power systems were warning her that they would soon overheat thanks to the flood of power she had to send to the emitters.
Beams pulsed at them and the pulses of guns from fighters that could spare a moment to take a shot in their direction made it feel like Dame was in the middle of lightning storm. The jumping power level of her shields, the flickering of the lit button panel in her cockpit were enough to invoke fear, but Dame held fast to reason and an unwillingness to fail. Smoke was beginning to obscure her view of her manual controls, but the systems in her helmet overlaid a ghost image so she could see where they were.
It wasn't the reactor that was installed to maintain her shields, or the small version of the quad drive installed in her fighter that threatened to burn out. They could keep going for years. The emitters were at their design limit, but they could maintain that for weeks. It was the electrical system between the two. The wires were carrying more energy than anyone predicted they'd need to, and their regenerative materials were healing as quickly as possible to counter some of the deterioration, but it was a losing battle. The slider under her thumb that controlled her shield's recharge rate was turned almost all the way up as they crossed the no-man's-land across the front of the Order fleet.
It took less than a minute to make that trip, then they were behind the three destroyers. A firing pattern was uploaded by Ronin as they closed to within fifteen metres of the rearmost destroyer's hull. The Order of Eden ships stopped their assault, and she was able to turn her recharge rate down, the alerts regarding her electrical system faded away except for one, which was written small in the corner of her vision: SERVICING REQUIRED.
"Let's take these down," Ronin said, sending a firing sequence to her and Easy's targeting computers.
Dame verified it at a glance: the remainder of their Burster missiles would be fired in quick succession, then they'd rush along the shields of all three destroyers, taxing their shields in a scattered pattern so the port side of the vessels would all be hit at the same time. The second part of the pattern had the last of their Hammerheads blasting the port sides with only five seconds worth of antimatter generation, enough to hopefully drive the destroyers off course. They were to break away before they went off, turning back to the Order capitol ships, the way they came. They wouldn't be joining their fellow pilots in the great dogfight between the opposing forces.
That realization nearly made Dame fire late. She initiated the sequence just in time, so the last of the Bursters in her rack joined those fired by Ronin and Easy. A hail of heavy weapons' fire striking the first ship in the line two kilometres ahead of them lit the sky in violent flashes as Haven ships turned their fury at the lead ship. The mechanical bump of her torpedo launcher flinging the second munition in the firing sequence told her that it was time to break away, and her hands were busy at the controls before she could think about it, spinning her ship to starboard and blasting her thrusters.
* * *
Admiral Rice watched along with everyone at the tactical station as several antimatter Hammerhead torpedoes blasted one side of the three destroyers headed directly for the circle of Haven Ships. The lead ship was already being pounded by every heavy railgun and other kinetic cannon they had, and the thing was turning, but its trajectory barely changed. Its shields failed, the bridge, the forward power matrix, and a launch bay were broken open, but the mass of that ship was too great and it was moving too fast. It was more of a comet than a starship. "No life signs on that ship," her tactical officer said calmly. "Orders?"
Everyone could see what was coming. The lead ship's trajectory had changed, but it would strike the Triton, which was stuck in place as it reinforced the shielding of the ships around it. The two behind were course correcting despite the damage they'd taken on the port side. They were pointing themselves directly at the Sunspire. "Shelter protocol." The triple then double hoot of the alarms started before she could explain what that was to anyone who needed a reminder. Knowing her bridge staff, none of them did, but she took her place in the command seat regardless. "Dampeners to maximum. Abandon the outer sections and take cover behind internal armour." As she said it, crewmembers were rushing from their gun emplacements and other stations behind the outer hull of the Sunspire, running as fast as they could inward, so they could seal themselves behind the old vessel's inner layer of armour, putting metres of some of the best metal between them and the void.
"Helm," Admiral Rice addressed calmly. "Position us so we block any potential collision with the Triton or the other ships in our formation. Ronin's plan only bought us a few seconds."
"Aye," the helm reported.
"We're reinforcing your shields as much as we can," Admiral McPatrick's hologram said from her left.
Admiral Rice turned towards him. Regret forced itself into her thoughts; she wished she saw the three destroyers coming earlier, that the
y'd used the Sunspire to forcibly break through the enemy line, even though it would have meant their end, that she didn't agree with the Phase Seven plan. Setting all that aside, she uttered the most important thought to the holographic counterpart. There were only seconds left. "Tell my daughter I love her." Then, turning to the bridge crew and tapping a control that would send her words across Haven Fleet, she stood. "It has been an honour to serve with all of you. Let freedom reign, even if we must win it with swords and gnashing teeth. This is the Sunspire, declaring an emergency."
Her helm team did exactly as ordered. The bridge crew, most of them Freeground Fleet veterans, stood at their stations and saluted her. The Sunspire successfully blocked the first destroyer as her arm was half way raised to return their gesture of respect.
* * *
"Oh, no, hell no," Easy muttered over the channel he shared with Ronin and Dame. The Sunspire managed to block the first destroyer as it rammed into its side, crushing into some of the heaviest armour made for a starship. The second struck the great ship almost on the nose, while the third destroyer collided with the long body of the Sunspire near the rear, glancing off, away from the circle of ships the Sunspire guarded. "That ship, it's history, it's why I signed up. I thought it was invincible," Easy added.
The second destroyer that struck the Sunspire was nestled against its nose, the armour of both ships fused together by the violent collision. It exploded, adding another sun to the sky for an instant. Dame turned the video of it off and looked to her tactical scanner instead. There was a group of fighters, all launched with the last sortie, surrounding two boarding shuttles.
These were Order of Eden troops and pilots that expected to be delivered to Haven ships, where they'd board if they could get past their defences and fight counter-insurgence teams. The thought made her furious, but as the first of their rounds raked her shields, Dame focused. A hunter is calm, a hunter has a clear mind. I am a hunter, she thought to herself. "Focus, we have giants to kill," she said to the fighters on her channel.
"I couldn't have said it better," Ronin said, his intentions appearing on her tactical display. He was going to turn his fighter sideways relative to the group of nine fighters and two boarding shuttles, then fire as they passed by. Easy checked in, his trajectory taking him above as he would do the same thing.
Dame had to make sure she could be effective without getting caught in their crossfire, which limited her options. Deciding on a course of action, she signalled her neural interface to mark her intentions on the tactical map for all to see. Her attack was vulgar, risky, but it would be satisfying if it worked at all. As Ronin and Easy moved to her left and right, she swerved to assault the group head on, turning her shield recharge rate up as they started to fire at her. Normally this was a foolish move.
It wasn't complete folly, though: more than half of the squad she was charging noticed Easy and Ronin, so they weren't firing at her but turning in their direction without abandoning the shuttles. Her shields would last for the moment, the fighters defending the boarding craft were using pulse guns, and her shield was using a small percentage of that to recharge, stopping the rest. The boarding ships turned their turrets on her, and Dame weaved, dodging most of the incoming fire as they closed. At the same time, she lashed out at the lead one with her heavy guns, the rumble and grumble of them almost as satisfying as the moment she saw the boarding shuttle's shields fail.
The instant it was vulnerable, she launched a Driller missile. It was set to anti-personnel mode. The narrow, hard pointed missile pierced the front of the boarding shuttle and burst open, sending hundreds of spider-like spinners through the occupants. The little robots turned their attention to the electronics, then, following the schematics loaded into their memories to the computer systems.
Ronin and Easy's gunfire was tearing through fighters as they tried to fight through the three Uriel gauntlet they'd set up. Signs of panic among those pilots were evident, their ships jinking and colliding with each other as they realized they'd been caught in an obvious, quickly set up trap.
The second boarding shuttle's shields were already down as Dame piloted her fighter out of its way so it wouldn't collide with her. In the quarter second it took to pass, she turned her ship, firing a burst with her guns. The unprotected hull at the rear of the ship came apart like tissue paper as it was ripped by her heavy armour piercing rounds.
"Nice!" Ronin said as he blasted the last fighter in the group apart.
A signal from the small skitter bots from her Driller missile came up on her heads' up display. NEW SHIP UNDER CONTROL. A sub-menu and new interface menu appeared in the corner of her view, and she transferred remote control of the shuttle to Ronin. "We hacked one."
"Thank you, Dame, we're going to use this for cover on our way to the next target, circle around behind it as I turn it around," Ronin said. "Too bad there are no life signs aboard."
"Couldn't be helped," Dame replied, taking her ship into a jagged turn.
"Where are we going? What's our target?" Easy asked. He sounded different; more intense.
"The Ascent One," Ronin replied. "We're almost there, too. We are to disable as many of its offensive emplacements and power generation systems as possible. Don't use any more Driller's, Dame, we're going to need them. We're going to fly under its shields, skim the hull so we can avoid getting cut to pieces. Until then, we're using evasion and our shields to close, you know the drill."
The Order Fleet was already under a direct assault from what was left of the Haven group near Tamber, their allies letting loose with an intense gun and torpedo barrage that moved past them. They were rushing to Freeground Alpha, most likely to use it for cover.
The Order of Eden fleet's heavy weapons were busy with a counter-attack, taking advantage of the Haven ship's broken formation for as long as they could, meaning that automated anti-fighter guns were all Ronin, Easy and Dame had to contend with if their cover was blown away on their approach on the Ascent One. "I never thought I'd think getting fired at by automated guns would be a relief," she mused aloud.
Ronin and Easy laughed in her ears, and she smiled a little, seeing the humour in her statement. A moment later, the seriousness of their mission returned as Easy asked; "I'm guessing there's leadership or something on that ship?" His fighter zigged and curved to avoid a stream of light railgun rounds.
Dame slipped out of the way of another emplacement's attempt to halt her advance as she listened to Ronin's response. "We're clearing the way for a special boarding team. They're getting set now and will be on their way in less than three minutes. A good friend of mine wants a face to face chat with the grand poohbah on that ship."
That could mean Admiral Jacob Valent would be on his way. At least Dame hoped that's what it meant. The foolish notion that one general could stop a war by confronting another face to face wasn't the reason why she hoped it would be him. No, Dame hoped Admiral Valent was on his way because he believed in revenge.
Thirty
The Trio
* * *
The point defence systems aboard the Ascent One, or someone monitoring the situation on the bridge of that ship must have recognized that there was no one left alive in the boarding shuttle Ronin, Easy and Dame were flying behind as they made their approach. It was obvious the moment that the perimeter guns stopped carefully shooting around it, instead shooting at it with thousands of kinetic rounds per minute.
The vessel began to break apart, twisted, pierced metal armoured plates and pieces of the interior alike flaking off at first, then coming away in spinning chunks. "All right, one more time," Ronin said so Easy and Dame. "Merciless, do you have a direct line of sight on my target?" he asked someone aboard that ship where it was in orbit around Tamber.
"The Merciless and Triton have your target. We are clear to fire," a voice from the Merciless replied. "Firing. They will lose their shields in section nineteen, but only for a few seconds. We will not be able to continue firing. We are moving bac
k under cover."
"Understood, we'll fly right in behind your shells," Ronin replied, sending Dame and Easy an update detailing his simple plan to their tactical systems.
A food tablet was offered by her suit, and Dame took the morsel as she watched the rapidly approaching flock of signals move from where the Merciless and Triton fired hundreds of heavy shells before taking cover behind the remains of Freeground Alpha, the gigantic, thick old station ring with countless darkened portholes in orbit around Tamber. She liked how her suit knew when she was hungry, and Dame still wasn't tired of the flavour she chose for her provision tablets - mint-chocolate. Her hunger was gone only a few seconds after she swallowed. It wasn't a true meal by far, but a good way to keep her energy up while removing a distraction.
The remains of the boarding shuttle finished flying to pieces, it's parts spreading out behind Ronin and his wingmates like a wake. "Break but stay close," Ronin ordered. "Our door won't be open long."
Dame and Easy's fighters split in opposite directions. Anti-starfighter rounds started striking her shields immediately. Her thumb moved the slider for her recharge rate up, and the wiring between the reactors and her emitter systems started to overheat right away. While dodging most of the gunfire, she vented her cockpit, clearing the atmosphere. The thick grey smoke that had accumulated was drawn out with it. Shutting down life support entirely was next, and her suit took over. "My power systems are overheating," she reported. "Shields are holding, but I have to do more dodging. I can't get power levels up, there isn't enough material for the main power cables to regenerate anymore."
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