There was two rail cannon gunners, one was the Avarian with the Kalu attached still, only half of its body remained now, the other was a similarly big bastard with scars in his powered armor to show he'd been on the front lines.
The Kalu-wearer threw Bok Soo his shotgun as he unlimbered his rail gun.
“Drop!” Bok Soo barked. The Commandos on the front lines dropped to the ground, the Kalu still attacking them, it was one hell of a risky move and required complete trust.
Cannons bellowed, rail guns using penetrators and turning Kalu into small bombs as beaders ripped into anything with hundreds of thousands of rounds per minute.
“Get back here,” Bok Soo said, as if talking to children, the Commandos crawled backwards underneath their comrade’s fire, forming ranks behind them.
“Check yourselves over, we're going right back in,” Bok Soo said, the firing had cut down considerably, Kalu numbers were dwindling. Bok Soo sprayed sealant on himself, his armor damned tatters after the Kalu's claws.
“You with me Commandos?” He asked, putting the sealant away and checking his shotgun.
Noise of agreement rose from his people.
“Alright then! Cease fire and advance!” Bok Soo said, his shotgun ready as a Kalu jumped up from its dead comrades, a hail of rounds and plasma put it back down.
More Kalu Star Warriors were attaching themselves to the hull.
Gonna be one long ass day, Bok Soo thought while putting his shotgun to a squirming Kalu, armor melted and glowed as his plasma round penetrated the Kalu helmet.
***
“Will you kindly get the fuck out of my engineering department!” Edmund barked, his rail-cannon turning the latest group of Kalu into mince.
“Chief! We've just lost reactor two, the Kalu are ripping up our damned insides!” Tollheim, one of Edmund's lieutenant said in a panic.
“Hold the main engineering deck. Lock out all the damned doors AND USE THE FUCKING BACKUPS!” Edmund's voice rose as his rail cannon barked again, painting the hall once again. His manipulators were tight in anger as he looked at the hole that was appearing down the hall from him.
Making me shoot my own damned ship, you damned plasma kinks! He let another stream of rounds smash into the Kalu, and wall behind them.
Alerts fired through his system as decks ventilated, the shields were down so every hit was coming through the layers of ablative and normal armor. It seemed like they had just gotten through those layers.
“Bok Soo, I'm going to need some Commandos to protect my people and get those holes fixed up!”
“No can do, all my people are engaged, those holes are Star Warriors burrowed into our hull,” Bok Soo grunted, obviously dealing with his own issues.
Fuck. Interesting how you pick up swear words so easily from other species.
“Got it,” Edmund cut the channel as the bridge was reporting that sensor's were going down. It seemed the Kalu were eating their damned way through anything that looked important.
“Zoom, take over for me. I'm going to reroute the sensor's lines,” Zoom jumped into the chiefs’ spot as Edmund turned to head into his domain. He sprinted through the deck which was a mess with people doing all they could to keep the fucking ship operational.
I hope that it's going on better out there.
***
Smith smashed his control pedals and joystick, throwing his ship into an erratic spin. The Star-destroyer's fighters had entered the fight and they acted like a school of fish. They grouped so closely together that they seemed to come together as one mass instead of a formation. They brought massive firepower to bear and if one fighter was shot away then the one underneath would lash out with their laser cannons.
What the made up for in numbers and firepower, they lacked in manouverability. The front always led, meaning that they had to make massive wide turns as if they were cars on a race track, instead of nimble fighters that could turn in place and power right back at their enemy.
Smith raked the forward elements of a swarm, ducking below a star-warrior as his next song came on.
“Rising up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances”
Not even the dire consequences could keep the childish grin off of his face as Eye of the Tiger played through his cockpit.
His play had worked and he was free of the Kalu-fighter-swarm and amongst Star-Warrior's.
He let loose into the closest Star-warrior, his inertia taking him past it in seconds.
“Oh no you don't,” he muttered under his breath.
“Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive”
Smith's threw his MEF around, gunning his engines and coming back at the Star Warrior that was firing on the Destroyer Valiant.
He skewed his flight path, keeping out of another swarm's weapons envelope, singing under his breath.
“Too many times it happens too fast
You trade your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive”
He brought his missiles online, he was close enough to eyeball it. The Kalu opened their front to breach Valiant.
An evil smirk came over his face as he fired manoeuvering thrusters, slowing his forward momentum and lined up for one hell of a shot.
“It's the eye of the tiger
It’s the thrill of the fight”
He stroked his trigger as the reticule fell right where he wanted it, the missile spat out. Smith threw his fighter around erratically. Staying that slow and on a steady path was a really easy way to get oneself killed.
“Rising up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor”
The missile struck the airlock, penetrating it and making the air inside the Kalu Star Warrior turn to fire, gutting the ship, the power plant lost containment, ripping the back of the Star Warrior apart.
Smith looked away from his latest victim, he had two missiles left and a few hundred rounds, he was past his reserves, but Talhalla was heavily boarded and only Fruit cup was clear of Star Warriors, though it was on the other side of the fleet, and in two minutes it would be at the front because of the rotating formation.
Floater was getting smashed, there was twelve Star Warriors attached to the Battle-Carrier, more heading straight for it.
Smith flicked his joystick and hit his throttle.
“Face to face, out in the heat
Hanging tough, staying hungry
They stack the odds still we take to the street
For the kill with the skill to survive,” he sung as he looked for friendly MEF's.
“Form up on me, going to give Floater some help,” he said on a wide broadcast, flashing his beacon.
“It's the eye of the tiger it’s the thrill of the fight
Rising up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night
And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger”
Thirteen ships joined him, all of them scattered all over the place, being in formation with fighters was death when an actual battle started, running silently it kept people alive, for the public it looked cool. Here a clump of fighters were a target.
Smith lit up targets and passed them around. He swung into a dive, aiming for a Star Warrior that was shooting close to one of Floater's pod like docks.
“Rising up, straight to the top
Had the guts, got the glory
Went the distance, now I'm not gonna stop
Just a man and his will to survive”
He switched to rail gun penetrators, kicking the throttle to full, making it hard to breathe as multiple G's pressed down on him. He squeezed the trigger, the rounds smashing into the back end of the Star Warrior. He whipped past, the Star Warrior's power-plant buffeting him as the ship expanded and fell apart, the fireball that had destroyed the ship f
rom the inside disappearing in vacuum.
He pulled back on the power, turning his ship so he was running on an angle away from Floater. He kicked his fighter again, twisting and diving as a Star Warrior seemed to have him in their sights.
A fighter raked the ship, the second following it loosing two missiles and cracking the ship.
Its weapons fell silent. Smith pushed past it, he couldn't believe his eyes. Surviving Kalu climbed out from the hole in the side of the Star Warrior, leaping for Floater and using thrusters in their armor to get there.
Smith made a tsking noise. He lined up a run towards the line of Kalu. He flicked his rail gun rounds to fletchette, those Seventy-five calibre rounds didn't leave one Kalu alive.
He had twenty rounds remaining and his two missiles still.
“Mufti diver?” A familiar voice said over the comms.
“Helllllooo?” Smith said.
“Goddamn it Smith, we really need to talk about your name choices for crafts,” Heston sighed.
“Of course sir,” Smith said, flicking his joystick as he powered for a star warrior hunting down one of the fighter's he'd brought with him. “Take that in yer keister,” iron entering his voice, firing his remaining missiles into the warrior's engines. The blast rocked Smith as he pulled away.
“…was that?” Heston demanded.
Smith had been so focused on keeping himself alive he hadn't heard the beginning part of the commander’s message as he was thrown around in his craft.
Might have been the whole 'take that in yer keister thing'.
Warning signs blared louder than when he had charged that first Star Warrior.
Rather fussy once it takes a few hits, he complained as he searched for a new target, remembering to reply to Heston with his best guess of what the man wanted to know.
“Shot a Star Warrior,” Smith said, checking his ammunition supplies.
“Well get back here Mufti Diver, you're low on damned well everything and we're readying a nice surprise,” Heston's voice hard with malice.
“Will do Commander,” Smith's voice as dark as the black that surrounded his craft and had leaked into his eyes. There were a lot of fighters that wouldn't be making it back to any carrier.
“Back to Fruit cup for resupply,” Smith told his fellow fighters, nine were still alive. Smith tried to not reflect on that as he applied full power towards Fruit cup and tried to find a new song.
“Let the bodies hit the floor, let the bodies hit the floor.”
Smith’s expression was nasty as he let those words speak to his desire to repay the Kalu for the holes in his and the other fighter wings formations.
***
A sick feeling rose in my stomach as I looked at the feed on my visor. We had repelled fifteen Kalu Star Warriors, our shields weren't coming back anytime soon and Resilient had returned a lot of control to the gunners, the computing assets that made her were close to overheating, one processing centre had been doused with coolant for fear it would melt.
The Fleet was getting hammered, we had lost twenty-nine ships, and there was only eight that hadn't been boarded by the Star Warriors, something that was probably about to change as the formation rotated them to the side facing the Kalu.
Seven ships had fallen to the Kalu boarders.
We had less than half of our total ships under our control and fighting to repel the Kalu, they never seemed to stop, gunners would destroy four or five, only for a sixth to get through and latch onto the hull. The battles in-ship were savage affairs coming down to claws against plasmid weaponry.
If this kept up I knew the Fleet would be destroyed.
“Ben, set course for the jump limit away from the Kalu, best speed,” I said, my navigator greening up. I shot a Kalu that had risen to its feet among the corpses around me.
My armor was more exoskeleton than plating at this point, sealant only did so much.
I checked my sword, it was bent from me using it like a baseball bat against a Kalu's head. Plasma spluttered through the partially compromised electrostatic shielding.
Krom and Shreesht rose, each supporting fresh scars in their powered armor. Their cannons were slung on their back, plasmid weaponry in their hands.
Each held a sword and a small hatchet, and could use them to devastating effect.
“Let's go, sector five nine is compromised,” I said, a group of Commandos that had attached themselves to me rose up, checking their equipment and weapons.
“Salchar we're getting over run,” Carsickle said, his voice calm despite the circumstances.
“On our way,” I said, a new fire filling me as I jogged as fast as I dared in the armor, too fast and I would be bouncing my helmet off of the roof.
Krom and Shreesht caught up and passed me, I let them as the Commandos followed us.
I checked my map, looking at the sensor data.
“Here,” I said, highlighting a wall right next to the Kalu forces. I got a grunt back in return.
We ran through a squad pod and a maintenance shaft, getting to the wall. I stabbed the wall with Shreesht and Krom. A line appeared as I dragged my sword down, Krom finished cutting the top.
He looked to me as I finished my cut last. We shared a nod as I kicked the wall, the bottom bending as I got out of the way and Krom fired into the stunned Kalu, Shreesht, the rest of the Commandos and myself flowed in behind Krom. I twirled my sword, it felt weird with its kink.
A Kalu brought a claw down at my torso. I turned, bringing my sword down and across. The Kalu tilted as it was lifting its other paw to attack but found it had one less limb. I didn't let it recover as I stepped in towards it and slammed my blade into the back of its neck, twisting it and jerking it free.
Blood seeped from the creature as I brought my blade out, flipped it in my hand and jumped at a Kalu leaping to Krom's side.
I tackled it mid-air my blade stuck in its gut, I rolled when we touched back down. Yanking my blade free as another charged me. I clamped my feet through my nerve ports and cranked up to full power as I swung my fist. The Kalu acted as if it had been hit by a small car.
Its nose crumpled in as my fist smashed into it, its body flopping back end over its front. I brought my sword up and down into the creature as it clawed at its own face.
I released my hold on the ground as I snap kicked a Kalu that had been following the one I had just ended.
Its head snapped sideways, throwing it off, momentum carried it forward still. I jumped on it, stabbing it with my sword. I felt something let go, seeing that my sword was now a dagger with plasmid leaking from the end.
Shreesht smashed into a Kalu that would've blind-sided me. He kicked them in the side, throwing them down the corridor. An enraged Avarian was something to get the hell out of the way of, especially one in powered armor and determined to show up his awakened comrade, who was clubbing a Kalu to death with his cannon.
A Kalu jumped on Krom he grabbed them and smashed them to the ground, his boot crushing their armor and helmet. Krom slung his cannon, threw me one of the array of blades he kept on himself. I grabbed it, throwing the broken sword at a Kalu that was still causing havoc to Carsickle’s people. It jumped in pain, and a rail gun peppering the creature leaving holes in its armor.
“Move up!” Carsickle said, his forces that had been trickling in to help me and mine, now they came in full force. I nodded to Carsickle, his people looked to have been surprised, they had their rail guns out instead of their plasmid weaponry, something they were fixing as they stowed their guns and unsheathed their plasmid.
Alerts pinged in my helmet, now on silent as there had been so many of them recently that they gave me a damned headache. More Kalu were landing. Though Fruit cup was finally rotating into the battle, Heston had mentioned he had a surprise but hadn't elaborated.
I felt a savage grin spread across my face as Heston's surprise became clear.
“You crazy assed fighter jocks,” I said inside my helmet as I stabbed a Kalu that trie
d to attack the Commando to my side. It turned on me, its jaws snapping. My pistol was in my hand and in its mouth in seconds. I pulled the trigger, stowing it away before the Kalu dropped to the floor.
“Think you can take my ships do you? You don't know the Free Fleet!” I barked, yells coming from the Commandos and the mixture of personnel that had joined in. All of them were fighting for their home and one another, it was why I had trained them all to be able to use powered armor, and made them learn basic fighting skills and weaponry.
“Breaches in the gunnery and engineering,” Rick said in my earpiece.
“The Fleet?” I asked, ducking out of the way of a claw and elbowing the Kalu in the face, stabbing it in its less armored under-belly.
“We're getting slapped, corvettes are rotating and acting like fighters, giving support and keeping away from the Star Warriors, nearly every ship is boarded and a lot are just barely holding on, we don't have the numbers to fight them all off,” Rick said simply.
“Follow Ben's route and get us the hell out of here. Prepare the mines,” I said.
“Will do James,” he said, “Alright TAC, get those..,” He was talking before he cut the channel to me.
“To Engineering,” I barked to Carsickle as we finished off the last of the wave of Kalu.
He greened up, plotting a route and sending it out to everyone.
Chapter decisions and honour
Yasu looked over the bridge of Floater, five star-warriors had clamped onto the ship around the bridge. Yasu had been fighting in the rear of Floater, allowing fighters to get free of the Battle-Carrier and keeping Engineering safe.
The Kalu had rolled the forces in the central areas of the ship and got into the bridge by literally clawing their way inside. Yasu had fought through what seemed like a sea of Kalu that had boarded her ship to get to the bridge, but it was too late.
The bridge crew had killed at least three Star Warriors worth of Kalu. She gently moved the body of the helms person, she couldn't tell what kind of creature they'd been, let alone their sex.
Floater was falling, that much was easy to see. She scanned the readouts on the console, looking at the plot of the system. She saw the rough planet that was the rally point of the Fleet before they jumped. Though with the Kalu on them Yasu didn't think they'd be able to clear through the wormhole.
From the Black (Free Fleet Book 4) Page 10