Karma is a bitch, he thought coldly, remembering a sister he didn't talk about. He found out later that she had stood with the beginning of the Free Fleet, when it had been a thing of armory meetings and whispers. She had been killed during the battle for Parnmal.
She had been his little sister and the Syndicate had killed her out of their greed.
“Well Sis I got them for you, now we just have to deal with the black's own demons,” he said quietly, looking at the damned Kalu.
The Kalu had been reduced to half of their number. That was no small feat. Though it was still only half of their number, there were hundreds of ships pressing home their attack. That number didn't even begin to include the number of Kalu Fighters.
Chapter Rosho, a rock against the Kalu Sea
Edvasho had seen little of the fiery battle happening outside of Rosho. All he knew was that instead of pressing all of his forces forwards. Orshpa had kept most of his forces back, only sending some of the Warriors and Fighters to aid in taking the station. Edvasho saw as ships were destroyed from being so far from battle, the Fighters getting behind them and raking them as if they were some kind of farmers!
It had taken longer than Edvasho had hoped to get to the base of the guns, multiple smaller weapon systems had cut down many of the horde with him.
He didn't stop moving as he got to the base of a planetary cannon, it was massive, and 50 veteran Kalu could go around the base with comfortable space on either side.
Edvasho didn't think of much but getting the cowards and tricksters that resided inside of the station. His claws ripped into the cannons armor, leaving grooves in it. He kept going, the cannons plating then innards started to drift away from the station. Edvasho would yet close with this enemy.
***
“They've breached Rosho!”
“Get Units moving to the breach, put it on screen,” Lifendi snapped, he was in his element, he wasn’t sure if it was because he had gone beyond sleep. He knew what awaited him at the end of this all, he would soon have all the rest he wanted, for now he would live, live like he had never lived before.
The main screen moved to highlight a battery of planetary cannons.
Seems like there was a weakness in our armor, our guns.
“Have our forces move so that they are ready to support gun crews. I want all gun crews in armor,” Lifendi was confused by the calm surety that filled his voice.
At the end, when the outcome is clear, mishaps become a much smaller issue.
Alarms went off as the Kalu pierced the base of the planetary cannon, tens of them went flying away as pressurized gasses were pulled into the void of space. The bodies of gunners followed that gas out as the massive cannon tilted slightly, it was a painful few seconds before the cannon's last restraining supports were either cut by the Kalu in their race into Rosho. Their gunners own air supply applied to too much pressure and finally it snapped. The cannon tumbled free of the station, taking Kalu and whatever had been kept in place with it.
The area behind the cannon quickly ran out of air as gun crew members fired at the Kalu that rushed in through the new breach. There was only a token force left now, most hadn't been wearing their suits since it made it harder to use the cannons.
“Operate the Cannons on remotes,” Lifendi ordered. Tactical averted their eyes from the main screen, passing orders to get those cannons online and firing still.
Each of those rounds could rip through a Star Destroyer, Lifendi was not going to have them sit idle if he could help it.
“Have our people put breaches on the doors leading out of that compartment, we'll use the pressurized air to our advantage. All weapons are cleared for use,” Lifendi said. That kind of order was rare to hear, especially with some of the modified weapons that certain Syndicate members used.
The communications officer grinned ferally, passing on the information as they pulled out a plasma pistol, changing out power cells and the barrel.
The way the officer's hands moved made Lifendi wonder what the creature had been doing before they decided on being a communications officer.
The Kalu over ran the surviving gun crew members in minutes, pulling them apart with their claws and fangs.
There had to be hundreds moving across the surface to the new breach, other groups were trying to get through other weapons mounts, more than one gun crew chief had ordered some armored personnel to clear his guns. Most had survived so far. The Kalu Fighters were falling away, turning towards the other ships, not because they had cleared all of Rosho's weapons, but because shooting at Rosho was as likely to kill the tens of thousands of Kalu, as it was to hit the actual station.
Lifendi had no doubt they would be back, he had a plan to get them back after all. He looked at one of his numerous consoles, checking the status of the shields.
“I want those damned ships, screw the Fighters, if they have nowhere to get fuel then they're fucked,” Lifendi said, casting a glance to his own Fighters, their numbers were now down to less than a hundred, they had done their job and then some. It seemed that every ship that made it to the Kalu Sphere had gone AI. Eight ships still survived, they had claimed at least twenty times their number of kills. A shiver went down Lifendi's spine as he thanked the dark he hadn't ever faced an AI.
The Kalu had come with one hell of a fleet, but now there was only two thousand ships left around Rosho. Lifendi had bled four thousand ships. There was still many times that number of Kalu Fighters, but their number had been hammered down in the thousands.
Rosho still belched weapons fire from its operational batteries. Kalu ships fell to this fire as Syndicate Fighters ran from swarms, attacking or strafing as many Kalu ship's before the swarms eventually caught up with them. The AI controlled ships were pounded like a sea of fire, they stumbled and staggered, every single weapon they had firing, lines of fire lancing out at their enemy ships. Swarms now descended on these ships, freed from Rosho, and reinforced by Fighters that had refueled or been repaired enough to continue flying. Every Fighter had been deployed now, they moved to join with swarms or created their own as they hunted down their targets doggedly.
Lifendi looked to the Free Fleet ships in the system, there was a Carrier moving closer to Rosho and its Kalu forces, the damned jump Fighters encircled the Kalu for some unknown reason.
Lifendi traced lines between the Jumpships and back to the carrier.
“They're sending messages through tight beam. To the newly created AI's?” He said under his breath, surprised at the conclusion he'd come to.
Why would they try to communicate with AI's? He cast his mind back to the rumors he had heard. There had been some about the Free Fleet working with AI's. He tapped his arms that must have been the reason. The Free Fleet were working with AI's, trying to recruit these ones, or maybe give them information to kill more Kalu.
It's not as if it's going to matter much to you, he said, that odd comforting and humorous tilt to his thoughts surprising him. “What are you gonna do? Not much you can do,” he said under his breath, if anyone had been looking at him they would have seen the sparkle of humour that passed through his eyes before he looked at his screens.
He had a couple of days by his estimate, his guns needed to be fixed up, his people were engaged in fights all across the insides of Rosho, the doors to the breached planetary defence cannon battery blew out, Kalu going flying as modified charges followed them. Plasma scorched the area, more charges going further into the Kalu mass that was attempting to pass through their fallen brethren’s remainders.
Silent explosions smashed into them, turning them into obstacles for those behind them.
Now it was time for those damned shields.
He stood, the noise making everyone look over as he marched to the shields command console, the shield officer moved out of Lifendi's way.
“Alright, the shields aren't going to hold for long, Tactical I want you to get as many weapon systems as you can, back online and firing. Communicatio
ns I want the powered armored Syndicate members to get out on the surface and clear the areas around those damned guns.” Cat calls of confirmation came back as each person issued orders to those they needed to.
“Shields coming online in three minutes,” Lifendi said, a timer appearing on the main screen, he stretched his fingers, looking down at the shields console.
He ran through reports, changed outputs and convergences, coverage areas changed and predicted outputs climbed up as he continued his modifications.
“Ready?” Lifendi asked, his hands floating over the controls, the major adjustments were complete.
“Good on tactical.”
“Good on powered members.”
“Good on Shields,” Lifendi said, shunting power from power plants big enough to power Earth for years. The power plants fed him power as shields snapped into existence. Guns rammed backwards, their working parts openned to their gunners as they rushed to get the weapons to full functionality.
Kalu were mangled as they found themselves blocked by a shield appearing. Kalu, unable to stop themselves were ripped apart by the magnetic forces of the shielding.
These shields were made to take fortified bunker breakers, a few hundred Kalu running into them was like rain falling off of an umbrella. The Kalu ships running into them were a different matter entirely. While Lifendi had made a two tier defence with his most powerful shields protecting his weapons, he had his smaller shield generators project their field over a much larger area, making a shield over the batteries shields. They ripped Star Warriors and Destroyers apart, the shields shaking them apart on a molecular level.
Ships that had been coming in to land, like the Kalu Warriors on the surface of Rosho, found themselves running into a wall.
The Kalu didn't react for some time, then the first lasers stabbed out, raking the shields. The rest seemed to understand, following up with their own lasers.
“Tactical I want that damned Star Destroyer!” Lifendi yelled, his hands flying over his controls, reinforcing his shields, giving them everything that he could find to give them.
Syndicates in powered armor opened up with their weapons as they got clear of the doors and hidden accesses, smashing into the Kalu that had been smashing Rosho's guns to gain entry.
The Kalu took a few moments to understand what was going on. The Syndicates array of weaponry and liberal use of different and especially effective explosive ordinance kept them at bay as their own numbers increased on the surface.
Lifendi shut down a sector's outer shields, putting the power into other areas, and the under shields protecting the guns.
The Kalu weren't firing on the under shields yet, there was still a number of Kalu inside. Fighters darted in, ramming themselves into the shields, Kalu Warriors did the same. The under shields wouldn't take much under that kind of onslaught.
Weapon systems were coming online quickly, reaching out at the Kalu ships that fired into Rosho's defences.
Lifendi glanced upwards, the first breach at the planetary cannons was striking deeper into Rosho. There was now 14 other breaches, being big enough for a single Kalu to get in or a flood of them. A number of the airlocks and their tricks had also fallen.
Lifendi grinned in a way that was everything but kind and humorous.
Welcome to Rosho, and your deaths. He said mentally, looking back to his shields as he and the rest of the shield officers and personnel fought to give the batteries and powered armor wearing people on the surface more time.
The corridors of Rosho had been sown with traps of all kinds, Lifendi had let his people and their twisted imaginations go wild. Not even he knew the full extent of the booby traps.
More cannons returned to their readiness positions, announcing their return to service by belching their deadly projectiles at their Kalu enemy.
“Three outer shields lost in the north.”
“Two west.”
“Five East.”
“One South,” the shield officers said in business-like tones. They didn't have time to panic, they were like fireFighters putting out twenty blazes at once, they didn't have the time to feel and care. That kind of pause could mean that they wouldn't get to all of their fires.
“That's what I like to hear!” Lifendi said, unable to keep the pride out of his voice, at that softness and praise, it seemed his officers worked even harder.
Lifendi found himself let out a whoop, this was one of the greatest games he had played, the game of life and death, each side smashing the other, his people coming together, actually working to save one another instead of themselves.
Oh what we could have done if we worked together! Lifendi thought with amazement.
“We're up to half strength!” Tactical said, as if he didn't truly believe it. Rosho had lost a hell of a lot of guns, but she had a damned insane amount of them. She might streak atmosphere, her shields might be failing once again and the Kalu were inside her armor. Yet she was one hell of a bitch, even this wounded, this battered, she showed the Kalu exactly why she had been called the deadliest station in existence.
At one time she had been the headquarters for the Planetary Defence Forces, she had degraded in many ways, yet she had garnered more weapons, more offensive abilities. All of which the gunners of Rosho were pounding into the original creators greatest enemy.
It's odd to think that someone stood right where I am, that had probably fought these creatures so many decades ago. Lifendi cleared those thoughts, he neither had the time, nor the want to open the dark locker of thoughts that came with those what ifs.
The Kalu had their act under control it seemed, they focused their fire onto one outer shield and then another. They started falling faster.
“Concentrate on the under shields,” Lifendi said, cutting a few shield generators off as he reset their coverage, snapping them into existence as close to the inner shields as possible before they started interfering with one another.
It didn't take long for those to fall.
“We've cleared the inner shields, forces falling back,” the Communications officer said.
Guns were going for all they were worth, some of the ones with less critical damage were looked to before going back to firing.
“I think we've suitably pissed them off and shown them just how we and Rosho can be just as unforgiving as the black itself!” Lifendi said proudly.
He looked to his shields officer, they were bent over a command console, sitting around idly would have been as bad for them as everyone else.
Now that there weren’t as many shields to manage Lifendi glanced up at the star chart. The AI controlled ships powered as fast as they could for the jump limits, their hulls a wreck. He had no remaining Fighters and while most of his power armor wearing Syndicate members had done well, some had let the Kalu in, instead of clearing their guns. There were more breaches, but more guns were firing.
“Southern battery four seems to have bagged that Star Destroyer for you Sir,” Tactical sounded thoroughly pleased with himself and his gun crew.
“Give them my compliments Tactical,” Lifendi said, gazing at the Destroyer which looked as if someone had pounded its fighter bays up into its holding areas and command decks. Lifendi knew that those fighter bays had been ripped off by Rail cannon projectiles. That Destroyer wasn't going anywhere.
***
“Order the nearest Kalu ship to pick us up,” Orshpa demanded, this campaign had been a hellish one. Even he hadn't thought that this cursed station would take so many of his ships and fellow Kalu to defeat. As soon as it looked as if the Kalu were going to have some kind of advantage, these creatures pulled out a trick they had hidden.
Orshpa raked his command deck in anger, his ships had been hit with three railgun rounds, thankfully the cannons had been at their extreme ranges and angles. They had all hit the same area of his ship, ripping away his Destroyer’s ability to hold Fighters and his ships ability to move.
Edvasho, following the silent clans be d
amned, honourable way of battle, charged with his forces through this equally damned station. He left cannons, power plants, shield generators and it seemed everything that could hurt Orshpa and what was left of the Fleet's ships.
Thankfully Orshpa had seen to the training of the Kalu Fighters, their work meant that the station's capabilities were much lower than their original strength. Though these cursed creatures kept repairing their systems just enough to get them firing again.
“There are two Destroyers and a star Warrior on their way,” Orshpa's talker said.
Orshpa didn't even have to try to make up an excuse for Edvasho, the reasons he couldn't get to the damned station were pretty clear.
Though this will be the last time that I fight under that damned Kalu. Now there will be no trickery, there will be no Ashota to tilt the fight, Orshpa said the name as if it was a curse inside his head.
He let out a low rumbling growl.
“Target those shields around their weapon systems, hit them with all we have left, pass onto the Fighters that they are to leave nothing capable of so much as moving on that station's surface.” Orshpa's talker didn't even attempt to reply to his leader, the clearly hot bloodlust made it clear to not draw any attention to oneself.
When he was the rightful leader of the Kalu, then he would call forth the legions and ships he had built up as soon as Edvasho and Ashota were far away enough that even Ashota's dishonourable and treacherous ears and eyes couldn't reach them.
Then Orshpa would have a war, a war that not even Edvasho or his pet Ashota could think of. Then he would show these creatures what a true Kalu leader was capable of.
Orshpa took another angered look at the screen. Their trails looked like veins through rock. They were slow and steady, but it was clear to anyone that there would be one victor.
Orshpa gave a satisfied noise at that, turning and heading to the rear of the command deck, sitting on the half of what remained of his Star Destroyer wouldn't be the best for his health in a short time.
The rest of the command crew followed shortly after, they wished to close with these tics burrowed into the station, layers of weapons and all manner of traps making the job of pulling the creatures from the station even harder. Though they also had a healthy understanding of what would happen to them if their leader thought that they weren't filled with bloodlust to close with the enemy.
Free Fleet Box Set 2 Page 62