Star Crusader: Siege of Kalar

by Thomas, Michael G.

  “Negative,” replied Commander Higgins, “If we leave now, we will let this second force cause heavy damage. The ships alone will cripple the Anchorage, and we have no idea how many people remain on board. Follow my course, and give them the best volley you can as you pass by. Do as much damage as possible.”

  Nate shook his head as he listened to the exchange. They were halfway around the massive facility, leaving the battle behind them as they hurtled towards the assault party. It didn’t take an expert to see that at their closing speed, they’d pass right on by the enemy, and with little more than three seconds to fire their guns. He wanted to jump in, but Matilda spoke, having clearly come to exactly the same conclusion.

  “Sir, we can do this. We’re almost in position, but we need to make changes, and fast. The Phantoms have the firepower. If we track along my projected course, we will move into their formation from behind. We can pass through them, hitting them in all directions before diverting at the station.”

  There was a short pause.

  “According to my system, you’ll need to push nine gees for almost ten seconds. You won’t be conscious.”

  Nate nodded quickly as he listened. This had happened many times before in simulated engagements, but on the computer, the displays merely went black. This was simulation of passing out, and a randomised timer was used to bring them back. This would be completely different. They might black out for quite some time, leaving them exposed to the dangers of the enemy. Even worse, they could fly directly into the station or one of the other ships.

  Autopilot.

  Nate hit the commination toggle without giving it a second’s thought.

  “Sir, we plot the course, use the security override, and then activate autopilot. We can do it.”

  “Okay, do it.”

  “Understood, Commander, we’re on it,” said Holder, “We’ll do the best we can.”

  “Good luck, Ironclads, we’re counting on you.”

  Nate swallowed uncomfortably as he listened. Their mission had just become a lot more difficult. Three seconds later the data from Matilda arrived, and they added the information to their navigation systems.

  “Is this going to work?” Valdis asked, “The mathematics are not so easy at these speeds, and with that gravity-well.”

  Nate nodded.

  “Matilda is never wrong. She’s like a Human computer. You can trust her.”

  He tried to sound confident. He had utmost confidence in his friend, but there was still a flicker of doubt in the back of his mind.

  This isn’t a game we’re playing. If we’re wrong, then we’ll died. It’s that simple.

  “Okay, Ironclads. Hold on, burn sequence in twenty seconds.”

  Nate licked his lips and then checked the settings on his pressure suit. It was designed like the old systems hundreds of years earlier. Under extreme pressures it would force his lower body to send blood to his head, allowing him to remain conscious for longer when pushed against hard gravitational forces. Valdis noticed him moving and chuckled.

  “Humans. Your tolerance to gravity amuses us.”

  Nate did not laugh.

  “The last I heard, your bodies couldn’t stand much more than ours.”

  “Perhaps,” she replied coyly, “but not this body.”

  She ran her hands down the front of her chest and laughed.

  “We will see soon enough.”

  Nate looked ahead and spotted one of the Phantoms as it swung into view. They were further apart than before, a safety requirement when pushing this hard. Long tendrils of flame poured from the back of the craft, and he was mesmerised.

  These fighters sure are something.

  “Nate!”

  He snapped back and glanced to Valdis, who in turn pointed ahead.

  “Look.”

  To their left was the Kalar Anchorage, and it was moving higher and higher as the fighters started to roll to the left. Nate had never seen such a massive structure before, but Valdis was pointing to the Byotai warships. Most were still attached to the long jetties and clearly far from serviceable.

  “There they are.”

  Nate shifted his eyes and then spotted the shapes ahead of them. They were just dots, but some were definitely larger.

  “Magnify.”

  The computer did nothing, and Valdis repeated the command in her own tongue. The optical imagery shifted to a zoomed-in view of the formation. There were dozens of craft, but she seemed most intrigued by the single, small ship. It took a second for Nate to realise what he was looking at.

  “Tribunus corvette?”

  Valdis didn’t move and kept her attention locked onto the distant craft.

  “Just like the one we took command of. That is a problem.”

  “You don’t say,” agreed Nate.

  The computer spoke back to them, but he knew what it was saying, even without the translator.

  Here we go.

  Lieutenant Commander Holder spoke as the engines activated.

  “Ironclads, see you on the other side.”

  The rear part of the Phantom’s hull swivelled downwards almost twenty degrees, and both engines activated at maximum power. At the same time, the manoeuvring thrusters helped stabilise the fighter as they began the harsh rotation. Nate felt as though a hammer was pushing down into his stomach, compressing him to the base of the seat. The g-force increased second by second as they moved onto their new course, while still racing ahead. Nate’s eyesight began to darken, and he breathed quickly, trying to stay conscious. The enemy formation drifted into view from the bottom of the cockpit just as he lost all vision. To his amazement, he could still hear, but then even that went, and it felt like he’d entered a deep sleep.

  “Nate!”

  What was that?

  “Nate, open your eyes!”

  He did that, and the light almost blinded him. He blinked, and then found that they were flying backwards, the engines burning on maximum to decelerate them. On his flanks were the other two fighters, and both had their turrets deployed and ready to fire. He turned to Valdis who was busily modifying the gun controls.

  “We’re moving into position in seven seconds. Be ready!”

  Nate blinked again and looked at the tactical scanners. They were about to enter the enemy formation right in the centre and almost matched their velocity.

  “Outstanding work,” said Lieutenant Commander Holder, “Now it’s our turn, Ironclads. On my mark, cut your engines, rotate, and give ‘em hell.”

  Nate’s eyes widened with excitement, and he shifted his fingers to the main cannon controls.

  “Now!”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Kalar Anchorage, 9th Quadrant

  January 11th 2473

  Nate’s chest pounded as he waited for the order. At the same time, reports flooded in from the Alliance ships as the battle moved into a close-range bloodbath. He was too far from the battle to see with the naked eye, but the tactical display showed another story. Areas of red marked damage on the ships, and at least three of their ships had sustained heavy damage to their armour. Time was turning against them.

  “Spin!”

  The order came in loud through Nate’s helmet and the fighter’s internal speakers. He stamped on the pedals, and the fighter spun about like a disc. It moved so quickly he almost overshot, but the secondary engines were powerful and quickly brought him back into position.

  “There they are,” said Valdis.

  Now they were flying towards the station, they were actually in an almost perfect escort formation with the enemy vessels. And so far, they hadn’t even noticed the Alliance craft moving in alongside them.

  “Target the ship first, then move to the shuttles,” Holder ordered.

  Billy and Nate acknowledged the order, but Nate could feel nerves returning to his stomach. It was one thing to hit the ship, but the shuttles were undoubtedly filled with troops, and destroying them meant hurting or killing those inside. It was yet another chan
ge from the thousands of simulated battles he’d been involved in, and it left him feeling awful. Off into the distance he spotted three large groups of Byotai fighters. All bore friendly IFF signals and accelerated through the formation of shuttles, blasting them before hurtling off to engage the Star Empire fighters.

  “Okay,” said Nate, “We’ve got gaps in their line. The Byotai have bought us some time.”

  He looked quickly to Valdis.

  “We can do this.”

  “Of course.”

  Nate did his best to hide his smile even though his closed visor hid his face. He activated comms once more and began tagging targets via the computer.

  “Target the ship, and bring her down. Break and attack!”

  Each had a target, and as Nate pulled back on his controls, he rolled around the aesthetically pleasing vessel. This was the first time he’d looked at this class of vessel from this angle. The central hull was quite narrow and split off like a fork on either side out to the front. Long silvery wings extended out as part of the power and propulsion system. He was captivated, but then saw the guns shifting around to point at him.

  “Weapons free!”

  Nate fired first, putting shot after shot into the port wing extension. The powerful cannons tore sections of the silvery wings apart and punched deep holes into the armour. They inched closer while Nate kept on shooting. Valdis controlled two banks of turrets and supplied them with separate targets. They blasted away, shredding armour plating, wing sections, and even two turrets.

  “Yeah!” she yelled, “We can do this.”

  Then the ship opened up with its own guns. Shots lashed past, and one burst caught the starboard engine of the Phantom. The impact was so great it forced them off course and into the line of fire of the escort fighters. They were away now and zoomed in to attack. Nate almost moved to engage them, but the voice of the Lieutenant Commander sent him back.

  “Stay on the target.”

  More shots rattled against the armour, and as Nate changed his course, one of the Phantoms cut across in front of him. The turrets were all firing, and he felt stunned as three Byotai Hawkmoth fighters gave chase. Valdis gave them a burst, but he kept his eyes on the target and fired again. Shots slammed into the ship, but before he was rewarded with explosions, his fighter took a heavy hit. A single round punched through the armour and struck a starboard turret. The combined impact blasted away the weapon, leaving crackling energy where it had been.

  “We’re taking damage!”

  Valdis swung the remaining guns about and raked the ship, but it wasn’t enough to stop it. More shots tore into the Phantom, and another punched into the underside, damaging the undercarriage.

  “Screw this. We have to move.”

  He pulled back on the stick and lifted up, only for four of the fighters to give chase. He corkscrewed about, desperate to shake them off, but the pilots were good and managed to avoid the return fire with ease. Lieutenant Holder’s voice returned, this time sterner than ever.

  “Get away from the ship, now!”

  Nate needed no encouragement and boosted the engines. He’d intended on moving away, but by coincidence this threw him into the front formation of shuttles. To his astonishment that instead of carrying people, they were actually carrying larger containers fitted around their hulls. He tapped the computer scanner and sent the images back to Victorious.

  “Ironclad leader, are you seeing this?”

  A second later came back a worried voice.

  “Well spotted, Star Crusader. Victorious is analysing them now.”

  Valdis shook her head and pointed at one of the units on the front of the shuttle.

  “Those are not cargo containers; they are mining charges.”

  Nate looked to her and opened his visor. She could see the warm sweat dripping from his forehead, and the nervous look on his young face.

  “Micro-atomic mining charges?”

  “Yes,” she replied, in a matter of fact tone, “We use them to create landing grounds in the military, or to start deep core mines.”

  “And these ones?”

  She laughed.

  “They are strapped to shuttles and heading for the Anchorage. What do you think?”

  Nate couldn’t believe it.

  “Sir. We believe they are mining charges.”

  “Understood, Victorious confirms. It looks like they plan on blowing the station, not capturing it. Orders have changed. Leave the ship, and concentrate everything on the shuttles. Do not let them reach Kalar Anchorage.”

  “Sir.”

  Nate hit the boosters once more and accelerated away from the other craft, even as they continued firing on him.

  “Valdis, buy me some time. Give me control of two front turrets.”

  “Got it.”

  They hurtled away at speed. Valdis used the remaining five turrets in short bursts, sending shot after shot at them, while Nate kept on racing towards the shuttles. Shots from the corvette kept on coming, and several more glanced off the armour, setting off warnings inside the fighter.

  “Lucky this isn’t a Bulldog,” laughed Valdis, “If it was, we’d be dead already.”

  Nate coughed at hearing that. He lacked the morbid ideas of destiny that Valdis had, and knowing the only reason he was alive was down to this particular fighter, left him with a heavy feeling in his chest. He wanted to stop, to open the canopy, and retch. But he couldn’t, this was space, and he was in combat. Nate concentrated on the targets, while the Anchorage facility grew bigger by the second. Flashes from the shuttles showed they were boosting their engines.

  “They’re going to ram the station,” said Valdis.

  “Not if we hit them first.”

  Nate directed every ounce of spare power to the engines and accelerated after them. Shots hit the rear armour, but he ignored it and lined up the shuttles. It took a second for the vibrating fighter to correctly line up, and then he had them in his sights.

  Fire!

  The side guns roared, spitting their large dense slugs at the shuttles. Not as tough as the Phantom heavy fighters, they were still big and able to take a beating. Nate had to put eight rounds into the first before it finally ripped apart.

  “Splash one!”

  The others separated, making it harder to target them, but Nate kept right behind them, firing almost continually. Three more went down before the other two fighters finally reached him. Both looked like they’d taken a beating, but they’d at least managed to shake off the Hawkmoth fighters for now.

  “Sir, there are too many of them for us to destroy.”

  “Understood. Spread out and keep shooting. Do what you can. The Byotai are sending in a squadron to support you. They…”

  “Too late, Sir, we’ll handle this.”

  For the next thirty seconds the three fighters rolled and spun as they chased the shuttles, until they were twenty seconds from crashing into the outer pylons of the station. The Hawkmoth fighters were close, and Nate directed most of his attention to avoiding them, and now hitting the shuttles. Then to his utter surprise, two Hawkmoths vanished in small fireballs. Without hesitating, he boosted his engines and moved in closer to the superstructure.

  “This is Colonel Gun. Good news, the Byotai have come out fighting. Three more Cohort Class ships have entered the battle. Give them space to do their work.”

  “Yes!” Valdis said excitedly.

  They moved in close as the shuttles ducked in and out of the long jetties, walkways, and antenna that extended more than three kilometres out into space. Even as they flashed between massive metal sections, they were still able to pick out the large shapes of at least two Byotai warships moving out to give battle. Nate found it hard to hide his smile as he spotted the guns all along the leading edges of the crossed wings. The ships were powerful, and seconds later, the enemy corvette vanished from his scanner.

  “Perfect.”

  He was so pleased with the change of events he almost tore off the top of
the Phantom. The jetty barrier was difficult to see and rather thin. Valdis realised the danger and yelled at him. “Watch out!”

  He tapped the control column and dropped below it, narrowly avoiding tragedy, and then went back on course.

  “Phew! Well spotted.”

  To the uninitiated it looked like they were flying over a city docks, but this was space, and a single wrong move would send them crashing into the heavy structure, killing both of them in a flash.

  “Why don’t they just crash, right now?”

  Valdis sighed.

  “Because the explosion will do only minor damage.”

  She pointed to the centre of the facility.

  “They want to fly into the superstructure before detonating their warheads.”

  Nate gulped.

  “Inside? That place could have thousands of people in there.”

  Valdis nodded.

  “More like hundreds of thousands. One warship takes over two thousand crew on its own.”

  The gaps became narrow, with barely space for two fighters to enter. Ironclad Leader pulled away, and Billy did the same, leaving Nate and Valdis chasing after the last two. Even with Nate’s skilful handling of the Phantom, he still managed to scrape the underside as they blasted past three thick antenna assemblies.

  “Star Crusader, get out of there.”

  Nate answered immediately.

  “Negative, Sir. We have three targets left, and they are taking nukes inside the Anchorage.”

  There was a momentary hesitation before Holder replied.

  “Knock them down. We’ll keep the fighters off your back. Victorious is sending help to deal with the others. It’s on you now.”

  “Affirmative.”

  Nate dropped power a fraction and boosted around a pylon to line up on the first shuttle. It was visible, but no sooner had he pulled the trigger, and it dropped out of view. His shots smashed into the pylons, doing little good.

  “Two fighters, right behind us…wait.”

  Nate checked the display and smiled as the other two Phantoms swept down to engage the Hawkmoths. Soon both sides were tangled together, leaving him free hands to deal with the three shuttles.