Too many questions, and he was powerless to do anything that might help him answer any of them. He was a passenger again. He hadn’t been one of those since the MSA invaded Lunara, and that moment had changed his life forever.
His thoughts were stopped by the sound of the fleet, in unison, engaging their quickdrives.
Destination Mars.
Chapter 25
Looking through the haunting echoes of the past, over the moans and objections of his squadron, Eamonn realized he was going to die today.
The entire fleet of the MSA had positioned themselves in front of the Protector. The shimmering reflections of the cruisers danced across the viewscreen, and the pulsing blue flashes of the MSA fighters dug deep into his weariness. The fleet spread itself throughout the sky, stretching from Mars past Phobos to the open expanses of space. The space around Phobos, which he had been on only days before, was the defensive position the MSA desperately wanted to protect.
Fifteen minutes ago, the Solarspot had pulsated into view, along with twenty escort MSA fighters. Eamonn saw them up close and vivid, but he remained calm even though he accepted death as inevitable. He found no reason to live beyond today after this trouncing. The Alliance fleet had abandoned them. Sarah had been unsuccessful in convincing Captain Terry. She was probably dead. Parker as well, who had probably died trying to save her. Now, seven ships would fight against two hundred. It would be over in five minutes if they were lucky.
Chloe had insisted that the Alliance fleet would come. Somehow, she said she knew. She insisted on flying her starwing into this slaughter. With no combat experience, she would die first, most likely. He wasn’t going to indulge in any illusions today, not on his last day.
Pressing his clammy hands against the armrests of his captain’s chair, he felt guilty about bringing the paltry seven-ship fleet into orbit over Mars. Olympus, Red Dust, Quartz, Atalo, Shannon, and Chloe were too naïve and desperate to do anything other than follow his orders and his reckless plan. It had no chance of working, considering Seth and Samantha had overheard everything on Orcus. Still, he couldn’t think of another way of destroying the Solarspot.
"Shannon, hold here for a moment," he said. "I need a count of the ships within fifty kilometers of the Solarspot."
"Visual scanners are working as fast as they can. With so many ships darting in and out of the area, they can’t keep up. Radar is still showing a blank screen."
"No doubt," he said. "The MSA forces have still managed to keep their radar trick from us."
"What are they waiting for? They must have spotted us by now."
"Gwen wants me alive so she can kill me her way," Eamonn said. "She won’t risk my death unless it is necessary. They’ll be patient. Like they always are."
"Why don’t we act like ourselves and do something proactive? You know this waiting is making me sick to my stomach." She held up her hand. "My hand is shaking out of control. Look at it."
Eamonn peered down at her. Her soft, delicate hands were shaking, as was the rest of her body. Terror gripped her. Perhaps she felt her impending death, as well. He found such a feeling tranquil, yet she found no relief in it. Odd.
"I guess it is time to start our task," he said. He gestured with his hand, and Shannon began to power up the weapons systems.
Bracing himself, he sent the commencement alert to his squadron of rogue Alliance members.
Just as he pushed the button, the reaction in his viewscreen was most unexpected. In perfect timing with his finger, forty MSA fighters and four cruisers slowed from their quickdrive and jerked to a stop in front of the MSA fleet.
"Captain," Red Dust radioed. "What are your orders now?"
"Delay the start. We have to wait for it again," Eamonn said. "I expect we’ll have some help—"
And then the MSA fired in unison. Missiles and bullets streamed from the MSA fleets. The flashes, even from that distance, lit the bridge of the Protector. Eamonn sensed Shannon brace herself, but they weren’t shooting at them. They weren’t shooting at anything. "What is happening?" he muttered.
Then in an instant, eighty…ninety…maybe even a hundred Alliance ships slowed from their quickdrive and engaged the MSA fleet, absorbing the MSA bombardment which had been laid before them, swirling the reddish-orange plasma shielding across space. The Alliance replied with its own salvo of missiles.
A jolt of joy washed over Eamonn. The space around Phobos was ablaze with battle—the first battle for its freedom, in which the MSA had the early advantage.
The sudden shudder caused by multiple missile explosions sent Parker reeling backward, and his hip slammed into the weapons control terminal. The controller pushed him to the floor and cursed him for getting in his way. Parker didn’t begrudge him for doing so. Everything was tense on the bridge; a degree greater than it had been before. The battle had begun, with them slamming into a bombardment of MSA fire.
The bridge shook continuously. How had they been so quick to react? They had hidden their arrival well enough, and yet this MSA bombardment was so exact. Was there an informant?
The MSA fleet was massive, upward of two hundred war machines. And they were about to be bruised. He hoped. Parker knew the start of the battle was crucial for the Alliance. They couldn’t allow the intimidating force to faze them. The Alliance’s first attack—headed by their elite Asterfighter squadrons—slammed into the MSA’s defenses. First, mines laid at the front edge of the battlefield hindered them. They valiantly roared their engines like beasts, and many perished hitting the minefield, but a greater number blasted through. They were more agile and quicker than the MSA fighters, despite being outnumbered, or perhaps it was their dogged determination as they bore into the MSA’s secondary defenses, pushing past them and heading toward the MSA cruisers. Recklessly, they sprang into the middle of the MSA fleet and strafed across it, spraying everything they had in their arsenal, swarming the MSA cruisers like an army of ants over a helpless grasshopper.
At Parker’s side, Sarah stood stunned and overexerted. She clutched at his hand to keep herself from falling. Playing out in front of them was the battle she had waited so long to see.
A second wave of fire surged at the Alliance fleet, flashing through the viewscreen, shimmering off the clusters of attack fighters charging ahead. A cloud of MSA fighters flew through the smoking explosions and darted toward the Sheriff’s bridge. Parker flinched, and before he was too frightened to realize their threat, they passed overhead, sending a volley of sonic bullets against the hull. The plasma shielding flickered, shrugging off the attack.
The third wave arrived. Parker was prepared for them this time, and so was the bridge crew. The Sheriff banked to the port side, avoiding most of the fire while the shielding absorbed the rest. Hannah ordered the starboard side turrets to launch a full salvo at the oncoming MSA bombers. They connected with enough to send them rushing back to cover.
Parker stood, staring like a wonderstruck boy, trying to take in the entire battle strategy. To start, the Alliance disengaged from the quickdrive into the area in two columns perpendicular to the spread MSA fleets. The first column was to the outside, cutting straight toward the outer orbit of Phobos. The column consisted mostly of heavy cruisers. Their mission was to cut off the support from the outer fleets to the battle. Several Asterfighters buzzed around them in support, keeping the bombers and MSA fighters away, giving them time and confidence to concentrate completely on the MSA cruisers.
The second column was to the inside, parallel with the first column, charging into the space between Phobos and Mars, where the Solarspot currently floated behind a trio of MSA cruisers and countless fighters. But it was difficult for Parker to tell ship numbers because of the exploding flashes aglitter within the battlefield. Nonetheless, it was a formidable task to reach the Solarspot.
The Sheriff’s position made him nervous and with good reason. In the aftermath of the Battle of Mars, he had seen what had happened to the last Alliance fleet that had flown too c
lose to Mars—
A bright flash sent Parker reeling backward to get away from it. Several gasps sounded from across the bridge. He steadied himself against a railing.
"What the jinx was that?" Hannah shouted.
Everyone on the bridge was quiet. The clang of metal on metal echoed through the bridge. Debris, Parker thought. Then he spoke. "Their orbital defense system. We are too close to the planet. They were able to track us with those yellow globs. They timed our deceleration out of the quickdrives. Now the orbital defense grid is getting exact targeting."
Hannah looked distraught. She reeled back around to look at the viewscreen. "Still, they shouldn’t be firing it with the Solarspot so close to us."
"Apparently, our destruction is more important!" Parker shouted. He moved down from the viewing gallery and into the pit where Hannah and her flight controllers were. "Move us closer into the MSA fleet. They won’t be able to fire without risking their own ships."
Hannah shook her head. "We aren’t positioned. It’s suicide to move in the fleet too soon."
"We stand a better chance than against the orbital defense system. Look at the Ultimate. It was destroyed in a matter of seconds."
Hannah glanced at the viewscreen for only a second before turning toward her pilot. "Take the inner fleet closer to Phobos."
"There are no open lanes for the fleet," the pilot said.
But Hannah was uninterested in the pilot’s concerns. "Then punch one!" she said, spitting her words like venom into prey.
From the command center deep under Zephyria colony, Gwen Arwell loved what her viewscreen displayed. The battle had gone as planned, and their anticipation of the Alliance fleet’s arrival was perfect. And considering the yellow globs enabled them to track the Alliance even during quickdrive, she expected as much. Quickdrive detention had never been possible until the MSA had engineered it. This was its first practical test, and it exceeded her expectations.
Now, she fired at will toward the Alliance fleet that had strayed too close to her planet. Their arrogance in coming within range of her super weapon made her almost feel sorry for them. Had the Alliance not learned from their mistake the last time? She would obliterate them again.
"I have determined their battle strategy," Samantha said from across the command center. She hurried over to her. "They are barricading our outer fleets from coming into the main battle area. With Phobos in the way, we have little room to maneuver for support."
"Send Omega fleet around Phobos to offer support to the back side of the Solarspot."
"It will take time for Omega fleet to navigate," Samantha replied. "I suggest we try to weaken the outer barricade and strafe our fleets to the Solarspot. It is too dangerous to leave the shipyards unprotected."
"They aren’t," Gwen said. "We have two fleets that just joined us. They can provide cover for the shipyards. And if—a big if, mind you—if things happen to get more interesting, I want the Solarspot to shift even farther back toward Omega fleet."
"Surely, you don’t think we can lose?"
"Did I say that? The Alliance cares about destroying the Solarspot. They’ll take a foolish run eventually. That is why I haven’t completely cut it off from the Alliance because I need it to draw them in."
Samantha shook her head. "You’re overconfident in their abilities. They won’t even get close."
Gwen smiled. "They can at least think it. Mind over matter."
"You want them to think they are winning."
"Exactly," Gwen replied.
"Odd. Look at how the inner fleet cuts into our forces."
"Odd?"
Samantha rubbed the back of her head. "Odd because the outer column is serving as a barricade. But the other column is doing the same thing. However, they are barricading nothing."
Gwen turned toward her tactical officer. "Where is the inside fleet? Show me an overlay of the battlefield."
The screen popped up on the main view. Gwen picked her chin with her thumb. The outer Alliance fleet ran parallel with her fleet. The barricade Samantha had spoken off. And then a small detail she might have missed if she hadn’t looked at the overlay jumped out at her. The inner Alliance fleet had run close to Mars for a reason, using the same column strategy. They wouldn’t have made the same mistake of running close to the planet to defend against the orbital defense system. They knew it was there.
Their ultimate purpose was clear on the viewscreen but not within the battlefield. In the confusion of the battle, no one noticed the passage the two Alliance columns were making, like a canal diverting water toward a farm. The Alliance had managed to clear open space from the back of their fleet to five hundred kilometers from the Solarspot.
But a corridor for what?
Their fleet disengaged quickdrives at the same moment, and they accounted for the cruisers marked with the yellow globs. There wasn’t a ship available to attack the Solarspot.
Gwen swore under her breath. "Radar control. Where is the Protector?" she screamed.
The Protector hung poised in space, ready to strike.
The Asterfighters in the distance changed their configuration from a point to a diagonal, creating an echelon formation. Like a swarm of bees, they broke off and attacked different parts of the MSA fleet.
Eamonn diverted his focus to an overall picture of the battle. The Alliance had cleverly planned the quickdrive calculations for this battle. The entrance point was a confined space between Phobos, the MSA fleet, and Mars. They shrieked in like a ghost from out of the shadows. The MSA bridges roiled their ships at the unexpected visitors, even with the obvious numbers advantage and the forewarning of their arrival. The sudden jolt of battle rattled even the more prepared defensive posturing of the MSA.
Eamonn hadn’t moved from his chair since the battle began. Shannon scrambled around trying to fix a small overload in their proximity control systems. But Eamonn’s eyes fixated on the fight, and his ears focused on the radio chatter. There had been much discussion within the Alliance fleet about the orbital weapon, which had already taken out three of their cruisers. The cruisers in questions hadn’t been doing much as it was. It was as if the Alliance commander knew they were going to be hit and did nothing to save them.
A tactic perhaps, Eamonn thought. But why was the Alliance streaking toward the MSA at a perpendicular angle with two fleets? Several bunch formations would have been better; it would spread the MSA’s focus along several fronts, creating multiple points of chaos for them to worry about.
"Captain, are we going to join the battle?" Red Dust asked for the third time in the last five minutes.
"I told you to wait," Eamonn said. "An attempt on the Solarspot will come."
With those words, Eamonn knew the entire battle plan. The two columns of Alliance ships weren’t an attack formation. They were a wedge to clean space for him and his group. Parker and Sarah had done it.
"We’re going now," Eamonn said. "Does everyone see the empty space between the two Alliance columns? That is our laneway to the Solarspot."
"Understood," Red Dust radioed. "We will get you there."
A bolt of raw adrenaline surged through Eamonn’s veins. He felt the opportunity happening. The Alliance ships were few but they had wedged themselves perfectly for his squad to do its job. He switched on his radio and said, "I need you guys to fight like you have never fought before. Keep your head on a swivel and punch the Protector a hole through to those damned MSA. I’ll send the Solarspot to its destruction."
Shannon turned back toward him and smiled.
He smiled back at her. He turned to his controls. "Is the drone ship ready?"
"It is secured in our cargo hold," Shannon said. "We can launch it when the beacon is placed."
"Excellent," he replied. He stared at the ocean of hellfire in front of him, taking in the grand moment. It felt so forbidding, but he stared down the corridor the Alliance fleet was holding, and he knew the Alliance had been waiting two years for this battle. The Battle of Ma
rs had been a mistake, and he planned to rectify it for Sarah McCloud, who had given him so much. The opportunity to kill the chancellor made him forever grateful to her. This would be his repayment, giving her planet back to her.
Six green signals flashed across his screen: Red Dust, Quartz, and Olympus in their Asterfighters, Atalo in the Iron Chunk, and Chloe in her starwing. Their part of the attack was ready to commence.
He switched on his radio. "Chloe."
"Yes," Chloe said. Her voice shook.
"Can you lead us to the Solarspot? I believe your abilities should enable you to see ahead for us. Sense danger in the minds of the MSA."
Eamonn heard her swallow hard through the radio.
"I’ll lead us."
"I know you can," Eamonn said. "You’ll be our guide."
Outside the ship, the ion engines fired up and streaked toward the corridor. The battle zone grew larger and larger, and several damaged ships raced by them on their way. And as if they had never known anything different, they were in the battle.
Chapter 26
Sweat pooled on the back of Chloe’s neck as she gripped the control stick of her starwing. She jerked back, twisting her hands to send her looping up and over a dozen shards of shrapnel that had been propelled toward her from out of nowhere.
The war zone was by far the scariest thing she had ever experienced. Hans Bauer’s torture was a massage compared to this nightmare. She sensed everyone’s pain from the battle: cries of agony as skin burned away, horrific screams as limbs severed, and the abrupt silence as distant voices disappeared. The latter disturbed her the most; it was like someone drowning in a sea of nothing and abruptly being submerged forever. She ignored pleas for help. She wasn’t all-powerful.
Lunara: The Original Trilogy Page 89