“I am not amused. I’ve seen a huge explosion; we’ve lost ships and we haven’t even reached our destination yet.”
“I am aware. This is the nature of war.”
“Why have we stopped?”
“I don’t remember saying I would inform you of either the status of the battle or my tactics…”
“Tactics? You call that tactics?”
“I don’t think I like your tone, Emperor. Would you like me to show you how I deal with impudence?”
“Impudence?! Enough is enough! I’m coming back to the throne room right away.”
“No, you are not!”
“This is still my ship!”
“No, it isn’t. I’ve granted you use of the Dragon’s Claw. That’s a big difference. This is a Zarlack ship and, by that definition, it is mine.”
“What?!”
“I don’t have time for this.” The man’s eyes almost seemed to glow and he spoke with a voice that could have come from hell itself. “SLEEP!”
As if by magic, the Emperor collapsed on the floor of his room. Then, with total calm, the man swiped the video feed away and went back to analyzing his screen, resting his chin on his hands as he peered at the ships.
* * *
Onboard the Destiny, Captain Saroudis asked his tactical officer to report.
“One of the smart nukes just detonated, Captain.”
“Damage?”
“It took out two of their battleships and a few escorts; our sensors show some of the damaged ships are already retreating.”
“That’s odd. But that’s a few more ships we won’t have to destroy so let’s count our blessings and hope the rest of the mines will keep up the good work.”
“Yes, Captain. However, the fleet stopped cold after the explosion.”
“Mmm, they’re evaluating what their next move will be. I would do the same. What’s the status of the other mines?”
“They’re active in passive mode. Should we move the next one towards the fleet?”
“Are they on the fleet’s advancing vector?”
“Not quite.”
“Then we don’t have a choice. Activate the nearest mine into search and destroy mode.”
“Activated, Captain.”
“Time to impact?”
“About a minute or so.”
“Good. Keep me informed.”
“Captain!” the officer suddenly yelled.
“What is it?”
“All the enemy ships have started firing in almost every single direction they can.”
“Dammit! They’re trying to fish out the rest of the mines.”
“On board telemetry indicates that the travelling mine’s shield has been scored a couple of times.”
“Turn that mine off now!”
“Too late, it’s been destroyed by a concentrated laser burst from the biggest battleship.”
“A single burst?”
“Yes, Captain.”
Its firepower seemed much stronger than any of the previous ships to attack Earth. It would have to be monitored with extra care.
“Have the sensors identified the class of each ship?”
“Yes, Captain. Most are battleships and dreadnoughts of Zarlack design. The main battleship, however, is a class we’ve never encountered. The computer has no information in its database.”
“On-the-fly assessment?”
“Five times the size of the biggest Obsidian or Zarlack ship in the database, much stronger shielding, extremely high energy output, maybe twenty times the energy signature of the Destiny. The silhouette is reminiscent of the Zarlack design, but much larger.”
“Good gods.”
This one vessel alone could be the difference between victory and defeat. If Chase didn’t come back soon, and with reinforcements to boot, this battle could be over before it began.
* * *
“Target destroyed, master.”
“Very well. There are more mines, but I don’t have time to play cat and mouse.”
“Your orders, master?”
“Prepare a micro jump. Calculate the coordinates in between the ships and the satellites orbiting around Earth.”
“Calculating… Computer warns it’s a dangerous jump. Ships could materialize within some of the targets.”
“I am very well aware of that. No more warnings, just execute the jump when the calculation is ready.”
“Yes, master, jumping now.”
* * *
“Captain! Multiple jump signatures!”
“Friend or foe?”
“Foe!”
“WHAT?” the captain cried.
Before the officer could explain, laser fire started raining down on the shields and a dozen nearby explosions shook the Destiny.
“All ships, open fire! Lieutenant, report!”
“The fleet has jumped right in the middle of us, sir.”
“What the hell are they up to?! I’ve never seen Obsidian use such tactics. Damage report.”
“We’ve lost two frigates, sir. They were fused with the incoming ships as they jumped in. But the enemy ships responsible were destroyed in the process.”
“Dammit! All guns and all satellites, concentrate your fire on the main battleship.”
“Firing now.”
A barrage of laser fire pelted down on the shields of the Dragon’s Claw. But it completely ignored the waves of concentrated fire from its enemies and headed past the fleet and straight towards the planet. The rest of the Zarlacks stayed in position and began to launch fighters.
* * *
“Squadrons Alpha, Delta, and Gamma, engage these fighters.”
“Yes, Wing Commander.”
“Chase, where the hell are you?” Daniel muttered as he opened a channel to the Destiny. “Captain, we’re engaging the fighters, but what the hell just happened?”
“I never saw that coming, Daniel. That’s not how they usually fight.”
“It doesn’t matter now; we need to stop them.”
“That might be more difficult than we thought,” the captain replied. “Their main battleship is breaking position and will soon enter firing range of the planet. I really don’t think they care that we’re still out here.”
“This is bad!”
“Tell me about it!”
Daniel’s wings engaged the fighters in a frenzy of dogfighting, dispatching one after the other, but they were outnumbered at least five to one and were losing fighters fast. The kill ratio was still highly in their favor but, with these numbers, it wouldn’t matter for very long. Daniel took out three enemy vessels in a row and avoided being hit by a missile at the last second. Then he saw a burst of light and looked up in horror to see that the main Zarlack battleship had opened fire upon Earth.
His comm link clicked on.
“Daniel, they’re using mass drivers!”
“Jesus, mass drivers?!” He could only imagine the damage that would cause. “We need to stop that ship at all costs.”
“We’re firing all we have and it’s not even making a dent in its shields. If you have any brilliant ideas, now would be the time.”
Daniel’s mind raced but came up blank. “I’ve got nothing. We can’t recall the mines; even if we were to detonate them, we would inflict heavy damage to our fleet and to Earth.”
“From what I’m reading, I don’t think the target ship’s shields would collapse from a nuke or two anyway.”
“Then this battle will soon be over.”
“I don’t think we have a choice; we need to take this ship out of the equation or this is the end for both the Alliance and Earth.”
Daniel swerved to avoid another missile. “Any ideas?”
The captain paused. “Just the one. We can micro jump into the ship.”
“That’s suicide, Captain. The Destiny will be obliterated.”
“I don’t know that we have any other options.”
“Any news from Chase?”
“Nothing, and that
doesn’t sound like him. He would have tried to contact us by now.”
Daniel shook his head and refused to believe the worst. “They’re jamming all communications. Even if Chase wanted to, he couldn’t get a hold of us.” Then he keyed some commands onto his control panel and a new display with a blinking ship appeared in front of him. “Captain, I’m sending you the coordinates of the jamming ship. Let’s take it out now!”
“Received, firing now.”
The Destiny and all remaining ships started to fire at the target, and soon, it exploded into a million pieces, taking out two waves of incoming fighters as well as a few of Daniel’s Gamma Wing pilots.
* * *
“Report!” shouted the hooded man.
“Master, the jamming ship has been destroyed.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. In a few minutes this battle will be over. We will crush the planet before their very eyes. Let them see what it costs to defy us, and then we will annihilate them.”
There was clear disappointment in his voice. He expected a stronger defense and more surprises from the Alliance. They had destroyed an entire battlegroup with much less than what was present here. Either the general in charge was really a poor tactician, or something was missing.
Perhaps it was the presence he could feel hurtling through space towards them….
He targeted more cities on the surface of the planet, aiming for targets where Alliance buildings had been built. He would annihilate whatever edge the Alliance had given to Earth first, and then take out the rest of the planet. This had not been his initial tactic, but he had not liked the surprise mine taking out some of his fleet. It was a coward’s action; one that needed to be paid in blood.
* * *
On the Iron Fire, Chase asked the communications officer to establish a signal to the Destiny and waited impatiently in his chair, tapping the armrest nervously.
“I’ve got Captain Saroudis on the line.”
“On screen.”
“Captain, we couldn’t get in touch with you. What’s happening?”
“Chase, I sure hope you’re bringing reinforcements. We’re getting our asses kicked. In a few minutes, this battle will be over. Earth has already taken heavy damage.”
“What?!”
“Their main battleship is a behemoth of a vessel; all our concentrated fire is barely making a dent in its shields.”
“Dammit! What’s the plan, Captain?”
“That depends on how many ships are coming with you and when?”
“Well, we’ve found three more battleships, but we also have some foes on our tail.”
The captain’s face tightened in alarm. “What? What foes?”
“Droxians, sir.”
“We do not need this right now!”
“Actually, sir, I have a plan about that.”
“Explain!”
“Well, they’re right behind us. We’re pushing the engines to the maximum, probably past that, so they’re going to fly in just moments behind us. We need to make sure they enter the conflict. Maybe it will distract the Zarlacks enough for us to try and take that ship out.”
“That’s a big if, Chase.”
“I know, Captain.”
“Why don’t I like the sound of that?”
“We have quadrinium though, more than enough. We also found the Axxis, the Fury, and the Far Beyond.”
“The Far Beyond wasn’t destroyed?”
“No it wasn’t.”
“Still, I’m not sure we can do anything against this massive ship. I’d better jump into it and take it out now, while we still can.”
Chase stood up in alarm. “No, Captain! Their shields might actually withstand it and then you would have sacrificed yourself and the Destiny for nothing.”
“So what do you propose? We’re running out of time.”
“We’ll use the advanced weaponry of the Far Beyond and the rest of the fleet to make as big a hole as we can in the main ship. We’ll hit it with everything we’ve got!”
“You’d better. ETA?”
“Two minutes, sir.”
“That’s going to be the longest two minutes of my life.”
* * *
In the Destiny’s engineering room, Yanis was pacing left and right while Cedric was relaxing in a chair, his feet resting on the corner of a table. After a moment, he pulled out a cigarette and lit one up.
“Hey, there’s no smoking in here!” Yanis reprimanded.
Cedric glanced around at the damaged ship. “All evidence to the contrary.”
“Of all the scientists on your planet, they had to send me a hilarious smoker.”
“Want one? Might help you calm down.”
“I’m perfectly calm.”
“If you say so.”
“Look, we need to focus. There has to be a way to disable that main ship without sending a nuke aboard. At this distance, we’d blow up half the planet…”
“Actually, from the looks of that giant ship and its power signature, I’d say more like half the solar system. What about an EMP?”
“I’m unfamiliar with the term.”
“Electro-Magnetic Pulse. On Earth, this thing fries or at least disables all electronic devices for a good long while.”
“That could work, but wouldn’t it affect our fleet as well?”
“Theoretically yes, but if we can time our attack and ask our ships to power down the second before the blast…”
“…they’ll be immune to its effects.”
“Bingo.”
“What about the calculations for the transport; have you successfully accessed all the devices on Earth?”
Cedric leaned towards a holographic display he’d been monitoring. “Almost. Your computer is badass. It hacked almost everything in minutes. Right now it’s having a go at the more heavily secured systems but, after another few minutes, we should have the computational power of the entire planet at our fingertips, and the trillions of petabytes of storage that goes with it. Hopefully, it will be enough to beam the EMP onto that ship.”
“Well…let’s hope we have a few minutes then.”
Cedric nodded. “Not to sound too melodramatic, but we’ll only have one shot at this.”
Yanis pointed to the cigarettes. “Give me one of those.” He clicked on his comm link and scrolled through until he saw Chase Athanatos. “I have to make a phone call…”
* * *
Daniel’s wings were almost all destroyed; only two of Alpha Squadron’s vessels were remaining, but both of them had exhausted all their missiles and they were fending off the incoming waves of enemy fighters in a laser-fire dogfight. He glanced down at his own instruments. His shields were down to sixty percent and the damage that was being inflicted upon the planet was simply too much to withstand. If something didn’t happen soon, all their hard work, all that was left of the Alliance, and an entire civilization would be destroyed.
Just then, another Alliance support ship exploded, but not before colliding with a nearby enemy battleship. The explosion didn’t take it out, but it clearly disabled it. There were still seven battleships, including the seemingly indestructible one raining metallic hell from above the planet.
“I’m hit!” cried Lieutenant Barios.
“Break off and—”
Before Daniel could finish his sentence, his wingman’s ship exploded in a bright flash of light and he was no more.
“NO!” Daniel shouted.
He stared out at the already dissipating debris and felt something he had never before experienced in all his years of fighting. Pure hopelessness.
A missile exploded on his starboard shields, knocking his ship off course and draining what was left of his shields. At the same time, two more bogies came up on his tail. He took a deep breath and braced himself. This was it.
But just then, bright blue flashes split the sky on his port side. He stared out in amazed disbelief. The Iron Fire had returned! The next second, more Alliance battleships jumped in
as well. They immediately started firing a defensive barrier that took out the two bogies and allowed Daniel to retreat towards the Destiny.
“Daniel, respond?!”
“About damn time! Where were you, Chase?!”
“Believe me, I got here as fast as I could. No time to talk; I need you to board the Far Beyond right now. I’m going to the Destiny with Sarah. The Fury and the Axxis will provide cover fire.”
“Roger that. Good to have you back.”
“Good to be back, bro.”
Daniel broke off and flew at full burn towards the Far Beyond. The second he landed, he jumped out of his fighter and started running towards the nearest lift. A few moments later, he was on the bridge. On the screen, Chase was already talking to the Far Beyond’s Captain when he saw Daniel.
His face lit up with relief. “Good, you’re here. I’m on board the Destiny but we won’t stay long. Sarah and I will deliver some quadrinium to the satellites for a major assault. The Far Beyond’s and the Euphoreon’s fighters will engage the enemy squadrons while the Axxis provides cover. It is vital that Sarah and I deliver this quadrinium to the satellite or we won’t stand a chance of destroying this massive ship. Not to mention, any moment now, the Droxian Fleet will arrive.”
Daniel was bowled over. “You managed to bring Droxian reinforcements?”
“…Not exactly.”
“What exactly then?”
“They were chasing us.”
Daniel almost laughed. “Boy, this day gets better and better.”
“I’m hoping they’ll join in on the fight; that is, if the enemy starts firing on them. I’ve already instructed the other ships to treat them as friends for now, so make sure the Far Beyond does the same.”
“And if they fire at us?”
“Well, then it will really be a shitty day.”
“Not to mention our last.”
“We’re not there yet. I’m taking two F-140s, fully loaded. You’ll know when we’re ready to strike. In the meantime, I have a special mission for you.”
Daniel leaned forward. “I’m listening.”
“The Far Beyond has some experimental weaponry on board, the kind that could make a serious dent in this colossus of a ship firing on Earth.”
Earth Last Sanctuary (Universe in Flames Book 1) Page 25