Well, his ship ignored them, the other ship would shoot them from time to time.
The room rocked, an explosion occurring close by. Thlock-nel looked up and frowned, he had lost three more missile batteries, leaving him now at just over thirty-seven percent offensive weapons.
A fight to the bitter end for sure.
QBS ArchAngel
“This is Acting Chief Engineer Merlins,” the voice called out to the bridge from the speakers, “We’ve lost thirty percent of our people back here, and I need prioritization. Chief Rodriquez and then Acting Chief Kirby were both killed. What do you need?”
ArchAngel flagged all of the options running through her list and then started moving the ship one last time, “Give us everything to forward guns, Chief Engineer. Let’s send these sonsabitches to hell!”
“Roger, ArchAngel.” The people on the bridge kept the communications open and answers flowing, allowing ArchAngel, running above the new AI’s estimated efficiency, to try to keep as many of her crew alive as possible.
However, it wasn’t a question of staying alive, it was a question of whether they were going to defeat the enemy, or not.
Yollin Super-Dreadnought Bridged-ael
“They certainly wouldn’t ram us, would they?” the Admiral said aloud, “Tell the helm to start adjusting, don’t let those parasites ram our ship!”
QBS Minnesota
Admiral Thomas watched the whole battle and could see how it was shaping up, and that they would be victorious.
If the ArchAngel took out the Dreadnought.
He glanced over at the battle and then stopped, staring at his screens. “Get me ArchAngel!”
He waited for the connection.
“Sir?” a voice like Bethany Anne’s replied.
“Tell me you aren’t going to ram him,” the Admiral asked.
“I’m not going to ram him,” the ship replied.
Too damned much like Bethany Anne, he thought.
“Now, tell me the truth. Are you planning to ram that ship?”
“Not at the moment, but it is on my list of possibilities,” the AI responded.
“How far down the list?” he asked.
“Next,” she replied before she cut the connection.
“God help them,” Admiral Thomas whispered.
QBS ArchAngel
Acting Chief Engineer Merlins ran to the hacked together connections and looked at them, trying to see if he could fathom what John Rodriquez had done. He had lost two of the shunts in the explosion that killed John and needed to figure out his fucking genius.
“FUCK YEAH!” he screamed as he charged up the steps and grabbed one of the shunts, “Get me some fucking wire!” He yelled as he moved towards power lines 12 and 18. He yanked the dead connections on those that John had used, “Route these to 6 and 24, yester-fucking-day!”
They might be the ones going out in a ball of fireworks right now, but he was pretty sure they wouldn’t be the only ones.
—
Pilot Julianna Fregin and her wing ducked under the barely-limping ArchAngel and raced ahead to nail two fighters as they came across the top. They shot them from below, their pilots never realizing that the danger hadn’t been lost, it was merely under them, obscured by the alien ship.
Her speaker sparked to life, the voice sounded like the Empress, the volume was turned way up, “EVACUATE! This is the ArchAngel, all ships evacuate this position, or suffer potential destruction in ten, nine, eight…”
“FUCK!” Julianna shoved the controls forward as they darted ahead, trusting that the massive battleship behind her knew what the hell she was talking about.
Yollin Super-Dreadnought Bridged-ael
Admiral Thlock-nel’s eyes opened wide when his screens showed him that all of the alien’s smaller ships were rapidly leaving the local area.
All of the alien’s ships.
If he could have seen outside, he would have turned to stare at the ship battling him, wondering what the hell …
He never finished his thought when the massive beam of energy, powered by the shunts the human had figured out, powered the alien’s guns one last time, blowing the Bridged-ael apart.
Seconds later, the aft engines and engineering area on the ArchAngel exploded, sending debris out behind the ship, forever consigning her to a grave in the Straiphus system unless they figured out a way to move her.
Fully a third of her all-volunteer crew died in that one explosion.
Within a few hours, the remaining Yollin captains capitulated, but the battle was already over once the Bridged-ael had been defeated.
The Battle for the Straiphus system was finished.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
QBBS Meredith Reynolds Military Operations Room
“Are you planning on providing a warning?” Lance asked his daughter as she waited for word that everything was where it should be with the ESD Beam. She had allowed Matrix to join her in the Operations Room, and had him on her lap, petting him.
He wasn’t sure if petting Matrix was calming to her or not, but it was certainly calming to Matrix.
He was asleep.
The Yollin attack ships were hours away, so there wasn’t any rush. They had figured out that the massive Super-Dreadnought ship had a shield around those that were in formation alongside it.
“Nope.” Bethany Anne said. A moment later she barked out, “Marshmallows!”
Lance had leaned forward in his chair, to check out her face, wondering if she was having another conversation with the voices in her head. He hoped that she would always be able to handle those conversations in the future. If she happened to succumb to other less tangible voices in her head, how the hell would she know?
“Pardon me?” he asked. She turned and smiled at him.
“Just imagine,” she said, holding her arms wide, “how fucking big the marshmallows you could roast on this beam the guys are going to create? I mean, fuck, probably a marshmallow the size of a football stadium.”
Lance had blinked a couple of times before the chuckles around the Operations room alerted him to what she was doing. He leaned back in his chair and replied, “Yes, but who is going to bake a graham cookie that large?”
“Beats the fuck out of me,” she answered, pointing to herself. “I’m the Empress, I don’t bake.”
“Thank God, we all voted and made that a prerequisite of your Royalty. I recounted your baking effort back in…was it fourth or fifth grade?” he asked.
Bethany Anne turned to him, a small blush on her cheeks, her previous effort to raise the morale in the room forgotten. “You did not!”
The room busted out in laughter.
—
The little probe recorded the Yollin ships heading towards the asteroid station, the asteroid station turning and all of the other ships moving away from the area. What it recorded next caused the little probe to turn around and head back to the gate through which it had arrived.
It needed to find another ship to hitch a ride back through the gate and report.
The fleet needed to stop advancing.
—
Those in the Ixtali ship witnessed the event, but they could not believe it.
One of the three ships that refused to move farther away, when commanded by the alien EI, melted. The other two were far enough away that those inside could be rescued, but their ships and contents were lost. They later tried to file a complaint about the danger they were placed in, and the human who talked with them suggested the punishment for frivolous lawsuits was seven years labor in the Eubos system.
They left peacefully, but they didn’t have anything good to say about the Etheric Empire.
Those on the planet, even those in the daylight, could see the streak across the sky.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds Military Operations Room
“The ESD Beam is ready and operational,” Reynolds spoke.
ADAM?
>> Yes, everything is ready to go.<<
T
OM?
Hey, I’m just as anxious that this works as you are. I might be old, but I don’t have a death wish, either.
Ok guys here goes nothing…Well, except the whole bringing a scene from Star Wars into real life…Other than that shit, here goes nothing.
“Meredith, warn all personnel to sit down and strap in. Fire up the warning claxons and let them know it’s happening,” she said.
Breathing deep, Bethany Anne gave the final permission. “Reynolds, under my authority as the Empress of the Etheric Empire, I release permission to fire the ESD Beam at the Yollin fleet heading in this direction.”
All across the inside of the Meredith Reynolds, lights faded. In some areas, such as the crops and livestock, it looked like dark clouds had covered the sun for a little while. Then, what felt like a sonic boom reverberated throughout the asteroid, surprising many of those who had chosen to ignore the warnings.
Arti-sun area
“Why are you sitting down?” Bobcat asked as he watched Marcus sit down when the alarms sounded. The three engineers behind them sat as well. Bobcat turned to see William looking around, then slowing sitting on the floor, his eyes wide. “Oh no!” Bobcat shook his head, “You aren’t getting me to lose this bet by getting all worried. I’m telling you right here, and right now…”
The sonic boom tossed Bobcat from his feet, landing right on his tailbone, his shout of pain making those in the room flinch. When he rolled over, grabbing his ass due to the pain, he noticed his friend staring at him before Marcus said, “I may be sympathetic to your pain, but I still won that bet.”
“Yeah,” Bobcat agreed, “I feel you.” He rubbed harder, “Why the hell didn’t you say that this could happen in the meetings, you ass!”
“I did!” Marcus argued.
“The hell you did,” Bobcat replied, “If there was an earth shattering kaboom mentioned, I would have remembered that shit.”
“I did mention it, the information is on page seven,” Markus countered.
Bobcat grimaced, waiting for the pain to subside, “Seven? Page seven?” Marcus nodded and Bobcat raised his voice in frustration, “Page five to nine are all math calculations!”
Marcus nodded, “Right! In the middle of page seven, there are calculations that expressly show the chances of something like this happening are significant.”
William leaned around Marcus, causing Bobcat to focus on his other friend, “What?”
William smiled, “You should take a remedial math class, buddy.”
Bobcat rolled his eyes, “Like you knew that shit, either.”
William wisely kept his mouth shut.
One week later
The QBS Achronyx flew by the misshapen hunks of metal and debris that had been the Yollin force.
“Damn,” she whispered, “what the hell did Bethany Anne do this time?”
“It seems,” Hirotoshi said, “she was a little put out by the attacking Yollins.”
“Ya think?” Tabitha replied, “I’m put out when they don’t have chocolate cake for dessert on Friday nights, I hope to hell this is a little more than put out.”
Tabitha.
Tabitha’s eyes flew open, staring at Hirotoshi then pointing to her head.
“What do you want me to do?” Hirotoshi asked, “Talk to her for you?”
She wanted to punch him.
Yes, my Empress? She replied.
My condolences on Shin’s death. He was a brave warrior and will be sorely missed from your team.
Thank you, she replied, her sadness seeping back in. She felt a hand on her shoulder and reached up to squeeze Hirotoshi’s offer of support.
I am in the middle of too many engagements to step away. The fleet from the Straiphus system arrived last night, but I need to let you know that there is another roommate with you, now. I will catch up with you later tonight if you are awake.
I’ll be awake. It isn’t Anne, right? Because teenage girls can be such a snarky pain in the ass to deal with.
Uh huh, Bethany Anne sent. Tabitha could imagine the Empress rolling her eyes, and she smiled. Bethany Anne continued, my meeting is about to start. You should be happy to know that your roommate is male, not female and certainly not a teenager.
Oh, good. Tabitha replied. Then realized what that meant. You have a guy living with me? Holy crap, Bethany Anne. What are you trying to do, hook me up? I’m already around a bunch of men all the time, it’s going to mess up my game.
Tabitha, your game is lame. You haven’t been getting anything in that…Oops, gotta go. Don’t worry, He’s not a man.
The communication connection disappeared.
“What did she say?” Hirotoshi asked.
Tabitha, lost in thought for a moment looked up slowly, “Well, I have a new roommate. But it isn’t a girl and not a man.” She blew out a breath before complaining, “What the hell? She gave me a boy as a roommate?” She thought about being seen naked by a kid by accident and started shaking her head, “Oh no! This shit isn’t going to work.”
Tabitha continued shaking her head, “No, no no no no!” Tabitha looked up at Hirotoshi, “How do you tell your Empress there is no damned way you are going to become a freaking babysitter for her?”
QBBS Meredith Reynolds Military Operations Room
Dan Bosse left his special operations office, looking over his options for building a team and walked over to the operations room to find the General. He stepped over and sat down in Admiral Thomas’ chair for a moment. “You called?”
Lance smiled, “Yes, I thought you might want to see this,” he pointed to the display.
“What is it?” Dan asked. “That’s not our system, nor Eubos or Straiphus.”
“No, this system is actually a couple of gates away. You are looking at the attacking force from the kingdom there.”
“Why do they want to attack us?”
“Well, they don’t anymore. You are watching them turn around and head back home.” Lance looked over at the Special Forces commander, “It was your idea to place the tracking and etheric communication pieces in the tablets we sell to the aliens. Doing that has helped us learn we might have had a problem.”
“Oh, that’s nice,” Dan admitted, “It doesn’t give me anything to do right now, but it’s good to know that the idea worked out.”
“Oh,” Lance waved a hand at him, “You will be busy soon enough. The Navy put on a big show recently, and the ESD beam from the Meredith Reynolds just scared a whole damned kingdom’s navy away.”
Dan smiled, “Good, it’s about time us little special forces guys get a piece of the action.”
Lance smiled, “Yes, the little guys.”
QBBS Meredith Reynolds
Never Surrender Page 26