There was no contact, except for occasional radio chatter coming from the station as the panicked Byotai tried to launch. The new arrivals advanced in silence, until finally they launched their missiles. Unlike the Alliance or the Byotai, the Anicinàbe relied upon fast ships and agile missiles rather than heavy guns and armour.
“I see,” said Valdis, “Looks like negotiations are over.”
Nate tapped his helmet, and the black visor slid down to completely shield his face.
“Did they ever begin?”
He pulled on the stick and brought the nose up a fraction. The approaching fleet was not massive, but it was well timed, and based on his own quick calculations, would hit the Byotai before they could get more than three ships away from the station. It would be another massacre to add to the long list of massacres.
“Lock all turrets forward, and arm the guns. It’s time.”
That was the moment all six ships of the Victorious Battle Group appeared directly behind them. They’d been reinforced with a third Spartan Class armoured transport that had been en route to Karnak before the fighting ended. It was a welcome boost to the small force, but hardly a major one. There was no sign of movement, just a flash, and they materialised as though they’d been there from the start. Hundreds of turrets opened fired, unleashing a torrent of hardened slugs into the formation. Taken completely by surprise, the newly arrived and overly confident formation split apart and scattered past the Alliance ships.
“All fighters launch and attack. Ironclad Two, take the lead,” said Commander Higgins.
Nate looked quickly to Valdis who nodded as she reached for the controls. They were both itching for a fight, and Nate spun to the left and activated his gunnery systems.
“It’s shooting time.”
CHAPTER TWO
Kalar Anchorage, 9th Quadrant
January 11th 2473
The opening battle of Kalar started with the warships unleashing a veritable arsenal at each other. The rapid arrival of the Alliance fleet brought them much closer to each other than normally expected for a space battle. The consequence it was almost impossible to hit each other with conventional gunnery. Both sides opened fire with every weapon system that could be mustered. Multiple volleys of heavy guns blasted out into space, spitting solid slugs and explosive shells into the hulls of their enemies.
“Wow,” said Nate, “That is insane.”
He had seen this on multiple occasions now, but he found the bizarre mixture of lights and shapes mesmerising. The mass drivers and railguns left long streaks through the dust and gas, but the particle beams were the most incredible thing to observe. Each time they fired, a line appeared instantaneously in space. The weapons operated at the speed of light and smashed the energy into the target, exploding it with ease. Some gamers had called them cutters, due to the way they looked like hot wires burning into ships. Now seeing them at first hand, the description was completely wrong. The beams might look like hot wires in this area of gas and dust, but the targets did not burn. They exploded as though hit by a bombardment of missiles.
Valdis glanced ahead and then back to her computer.
“We have troubles of our own, Nate. Fighters, coming our way, a lot of fighters.”
Red indicators flashed ahead, but Nate quickly relaxed as two more Alliance Phantoms moved in alongside them. Days earlier he might have been worried, but these craft already bore the insignia of the Alliance. Nate might not be a military man, but he felt his confidence boosted by having his friends nearby. All of his experience came from the Star Crusader videogame simulation and his greatest successes when working alongside people he knew and trusted implicitly.
“Star Crusader, nice to see you.”
Nate instantly recognised the sound of his best friend, Billy Mitchell. They’d worked together since the beginning, and though he was far from the greatest pilot, he was an excellent team player. If Nate needed a pilot he could trust, there were few others he would choose over Billy.
“Billy!”
Nate completely forgot about call signs, something he still found hard to get used to. In the games it was always first names, though his joking nickname of Star Crusader seemed to have stuck. Not that he was complaining. There were much worse things to be called.
“Cut the chatter, Ironclads.”
Nate’s eyes shifted to the right where the third fighter moved to join him. It looked little different to Billy’s craft, apart from the small text running alongside the canopy. More important, the helmet display showed the Lieutenant Commander’s name as an icon over her craft.
“Yes, Sir,” said Nate.
To his surprise, his commanding officer remained at his flank.
“You’ve got this. Lead the Squadron in.”
For a second Nate was confused. There was no reason he should be leading the formation into battle, but the more he thought about it, the clearer it became. He might have nowhere near the experience she had, but did have more than triple the flight time on the Phantom. More than that, he had experience of flying similar craft in the simulator, hundreds upon hundreds of flying hours.
“Yes, Sir, going in now.”
He looked one last time at the pair of Phantoms, doing his best to hide the wide grin on his face. This kept happening to him, and each time he completely forgot about the danger he was in, and just concentrated on the ships and the technology. But then he spotted the dots directly ahead, and a surge of adrenaline pumped through his body. They raced towards the incoming fighters, the heavy Phantoms pulling slowly apart to create larger gaps between them. From here he had the perfect view and found it hard to pull his gaze away from them. They were not far off the power and capability of a corvette, yet little bigger than two fighters in mass. The two had only just launched from ANS Victorious and were already right there beside him. Nate glanced to the tactical display and was surprised to see one of the fighters was missing.
“Where’s Cassandra?”
The two new craft pushed their engines until in an arrow formation with Nate right at the centre. Nate looked at them again, but there were definitely just the two. Valdis checked the others, and then contacted Victorious.
“Uh…we’re missing a fighter. What’s happened?”
“Understood, Ironclads.”
It was Commander Higgins. He sounded flustered, and that immediately unnerved Nate. The officer was a true professional, and if he was worried, then there was a problem.
“Phantom Four is unable to launch, so just the three of you for now. You have fourteen drones in support, though. Do some damage out there.”
“Affirmative.”
Valdis glanced at Nate.
“Hear that?”
Nate smiled. “Oh, yeah.”
He opened the Squadron channel.
“Stay close, and get ready, this is gonna get rough. Let’s clear a path through their fighter screen. The more we knock down, the safer our ships will be.”
It may have been obvious, but they were not there just to tangle with fighters for the fun of it. The Star Empire ships were an unusual category, but the Anicinàbe craft that comprised most of this taskforce relied heavily upon missiles. Nate and his comrades could help knock down missiles, and therefore stop as many as possible from hitting the Alliance ships.
“Ready your boosters…now!”
The pilots boosted their engines and rolled about as they followed just behind Nate. The entire structure of the heavy fighters shifted slightly as the hulls adjusted several degrees, giving the engines even more room to rotate. Shots rushed passed them, but they were already well away.
“Perfect,” said Valdis, “Now all we have to worry about is that.”
She pointed to the maelstrom of battle ahead. Three Anicinàbe cruisers were burning from bow to stern by the time Nate was in position. The Confederate Class Alliance warships proved devastating at this range, their powerful particle beam cannons and mass drivers tearing great chunks out of the much light
er Anicinàbe vessels.
“Yeah, this is going to be interesting.”
For all their firepower, the battle was far from a one-sided affair. On one side were the six heavily armoured Alliance ships, but only three were actual combat vessels, the other three heavily armed troop transports, capable of only a minor combat role. On the other side, the many ships of the Anicinàbe attackers. Nate ignored the long streaks of gunfire and concentrated his efforts on the fighters. They were smaller than his advanced heavy fighter, yet still nimble and hard to keep in the gun sights.
“Valdis, have you got turret lock?”
The fighter pulled hard to one side as Nate boosted the port thrusters, pushing them out of the path of gunfire. More shots passed them, but a couple struck the laminated armour, sending clouds of sparks off into the distance.
“Yeah, just about.”
“Do it, and don’t stop!”
The multiple turrets swivelled about, quickly tracking the many targets racing past. At the same time, the formation of drones moved up to their flank. They were small, little more than engines, with control fins and a single Gatling gun system at the centre. Two vanished as quickly as they’d arrived, destroyed by turret fire from the nearby ships. They did their job, though, shielding the heavy fighters from the cloud of shells coming their way.
Nate nodded directly ahead.
“Do it!”
When they fired, there was a subtle vibration inside but no sound of any kind. One fighter cut apart, and a second lost its entire left side, spinning out of control and crashing into a cruiser. Gunfire from the other two fighters did much the same, sending more Anicinàbe fighters spinning out of control. There might have been only three of them, but they were easily able to match three times their number right now.
“Not bad!” Nate said.
The formation rolled to the left, once again narrowly avoiding another stream of fire.
“We’ve got three behind us.”
Valdis sounded concerned but not enough to cause a panic. Like all of her people, she had a grim view of her own destiny, and always assumed that death in the cockpit was a forgone conclusion. So while Nate might be nervous and feel his chest pounding, Valdis always appeared much calmer. Nate caught a glimpse of her as she adjusted the gun controls and shook his head.
I wish I could be so cold and calculating when in such danger, but there’s little chance of that.
“Deal with them,” said Nate, “I’ve got trouble up front, too. We need to thin these out. Don’t forget, it’s just the drones and us. This is all we have.”
Valdis glanced briefly ahead and then spun the rear turrets backwards. As she pulled the triggers, the other two fighters did the same. Long trails of projectiles poured out, each capable of tearing off an engine or cockpit with ease. Ten seconds later they burst out from the dogfight and right alongside one of the cruisers. This was a Wildfire, the standard front-line warship used by the Anicinàbe. At a hundred and ninety metres in length, it was a substantial vessel, unlike anything used by the Alliance. The bow was bulbous, protected by extra armour and multiple ordnance launchers.
“Ironclads, watch my designated targets. Strafe her weapon systems and hurt her. Get ready for a rotational attack.”
The three fighters screamed past, their turrets rotating to the left and opening fire. One after another they swept on by, raking the ship with gunnery. Few fighters carried much in the way of turrets, but these Phantom heavy fighters carried not one, but eight independent turrets, each able to cripple a fighter on its own. By the time they reached the vessel’s stern, they’d caused substantial damage to many of its systems. That didn’t stop many small turrets firing back, but at such a high closing speed, most of them missed. Nate flinched as one burst clattered along the central fuselage, but incredibly it failed to breach the armour.
“She’s a tough ship.”
Nate lifted his eyebrows and nodded.
“Yeah, she is.”
The formation raced past the stern of the ship and away from the threat of its flank guns. That was the moment he gave the order.
“Spin and unload your main guns. Knock out her engines and fast.”
One by one they spun on the spot so they were flying backwards. Nate felt a little nauseated for a second, but once lined up everything felt still and calm. With the primary engine shutdown, they were drifting, though to those inside they might just as easily have been stationary, not that there was such a thing in space.
Speed is relative in space.
Nate smiled to himself. He couldn’t even remember where he’d first heard that. The gun sights were now nicely lined up, and he could see the flashes of lens flare from the rear of the cruiser. The Phantoms carried a pair of heavy 75mm mass driver cannons on their flanks just behind the cockpit, and they fired, sending heavy slugs deep into the engine systems of the ship.
“Keep firing,” said Lieutenant Commander Holder.
The fighters moved further and further away, not before putting so many shells into the ship a series of explosions raked its stern. To Nate’s amazement two of the main thrusters exploded, and then the entire stern vanished in a blinding white light.
Wow!
“Good work, Ironclads. It’s not over yet, though!”
Nate pushed the foot pedals, and the fighter spun around on the spot, now facing the direction it had been originally travelling in.
“We’re ready, Sir.”
He threw Valdis a hurried look.
“What does he mean?”
She shrugged, but before there was time to answer, Commander Higgins spoke.
“The enemy has launched boarding shuttles with heavy fighter escorts. Eight are down, but three times that number were already here and forcing their way past our blockade.”
Nate licked his lips.
“We can pull back and help to…”
“No. There’s another problem.”
Nate looked to the left, and then right, but before he could spot what this problem might be, he noticed a large wing of fighters coming right at them.
“Break, break, break!”
The three split apart as though an explosion had forced them off into different directions. Before any of them could recover, they were stuck in the middle of yet another huge furball, with fighters in all directions. Nate tried to line up on one, only for two Alliance drones to get in his path. One exploded, and the other opened up with a long burst from its one and only gun. The nearest Anicinàbe pulled up trailing flames, with the robotic drone close behind.
“Hold them off!”
“I’m on it,” snapped back Valdis.
All eight turrets swivelled back and forth, blasting the skies with fire. Nate rolled left and right, ensuring every conceivable angle was covered by at least two of them. Two more Anicinàbe craft raced away, flames belching from their hulls.
“Yeah!” Valdis yelled, “They have no chance now!”
The three Phantoms kept moving ahead, hammering anything daring to come too close. Most of the remaining drones peeled away to help tackle the cloud of shuttles trying to run the blockade. No sooner had Nate taken a deep breath than the familiar voice of Commander Higgins returned.
“Ironclads, I’ve marked the location. Get there now. Leave everything else behind. Now!”
He almost shouted over the communications channel, visibly shaking Nate. He almost choked before replying. As he exhaled, Lieutenant Commander Holder beat him to it.
“On it, Commander. We’re going in.”
Nate let out a slow sigh of relief. Though it was a great honour to lead the formation, it was also an incredible stress and worry for him. Dozen, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of lives were at stake, and although he knew a lot more about these fighters, there was little doubt that she was the person to lead.
“Ironclads, you heard the orders. I’m taking command from here in. Note the waypoints, and send everything to your engines. Maximum speed, now!”
Without checking to see if they’d heard her orders, she hit the burners and accelerated away. The massive engines glowed white with power as the Phantom raced off, leaving the other two behind. Nate reached for the thruster controls and pulled on the lever. Engine power increased dramatically, pushing both of them far back into their seats.
“Here we go.”
Commander Higgins remained on-line, explaining the situation as they raced towards the first waypoint.
“They must have been waiting here several hours before we arrived, probably under emergency power as infiltration units. Then they came in with their entire assault force and forced our hand. Now it’s down to you.”
Nate counted in his head as they moved to the first waypoint and then rolled slightly and adjusted the engine output. The course was a clever one and used the modest level of gravitational pull created by the space-time distortion of the massive Kalar Anchorage. Commander Higgins surprised Nate with his understanding of the physics required to bring them on-line with the second attack force, far quicker than merely accelerating in a straight line right at them.
I hadn’t even thought of that.
“They’re coming in from three-three-seven, not far from your current position. This was definitely a diversion. They have nine traitor Byotai fighters providing escort on top of the first targets, as well as a single ship.”
He hesitated and then continued, but Nate looked to Valdis.
“A warship, nine fighters, plus the shuttles. And we have three fighters?”
Valdis opened her mouth and hissed with amusement. Commander Higgins interrupted whatever she might have been about to say.
“I don’t know how they managed it, but they will be at the station soon, and they’ve already knocked out the facility’s defensive systems for their approach.
Nate gulped as he heard that. The scanners clearly showed the Alliance taskforce was well positioned to provide a buffer. Matilda spoke up, saying what all of them already knew.
“They will reach the station from two directions, and in less than twelve minutes.”
“Understood, Victorious. Can you jump to the facility and block their progress?”
Star Crusader: Siege of Kalar Page 2