Star Crusader: Siege of Kalar

  “Get ready on the guns.”

  They dropped down into a gap between two jetties with a wide gap in the middle. It was much like a shaft but exposed on one side, and with large sections jutting out every two hundred metres. Nate lined up and pulled the trigger. This time the shuttles could not escape, and he destroyed one with the long volley of cannon fire. Valdis hit the second with multiple turrets. It wasn’t enough to destroy it, but the craft still spun out of control and crashed into the pylon before disintegrating.

  Please don’t detonate.

  Nate held he breath as they burst past the wreckage and nothing happened. He’d expected the pilot to detonate the charge, but they raced on by and kept chasing the third and final shuttle. They were close, but this one seemed to know when to slip to the left or right. Every shot Nate fired missed. Even Valdis had little chance of causing anything more than moderate damage. They blasted past the last barrier and in the outer plates of the station. The shuttle vanished behind a docked ship. Nate could see large landing areas below and to his amazement people in sealed suits and armour.

  There it is.

  The shuttle moved out from below the ship, and for a second was visible. He hit the engine controls, pushing them forward at deadly speeds. He hit the toggle, giving him full locked control of the turrets. With all of them now pointing forward, he took aim and fired. Seven turrets and both heavy gun mounts opened up, shredding the shuttle and destroying it in one swift burst. The wreckage broke apart as they smashed through it and on into the station.

  “Uh, now what?” Valdis asked.

  Nate hit the reverse thrusters, pulling on the controls to avoid the complex interior of the station. Gantries flashed past, and then they were in some kind of narrow transit system. He kept trying to slow down, but they were still travelling too fast.

  “We try and slow down before we’re squashed.”

  “There!” Valdis shouted.

  They burst out of the shaft, and ahead was a massive loading platform. The station’s artificial gravity pulled them downwards, forcing the secondary engines to work even harder. He pointed the nose of the fighter at it and spun around to fire the main engines. The deceleration was incredible, yet still they carried on towards the ramp.

  “Deploying gear,” said Valdis.

  Just as they were about to make contact, Nate spun them back around, and they hit the metal platform with a heavy thud.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Kalar Anchorage, 9th Quadrant

  January 11th 2473

  Nate grabbed his sidearm, clicked off the safety, and reached for the door controls. Valdis held his arm and stopped him from moving. They hesitated, looking at each other with their visors open. They wore their standard pilot gear, Valdis in her Byotai suit, and Nate in his Naval PDS, but both also had additional armour around their torsos as well as their helmets.

  “Be careful out there, Nate. Katanga and his people are not…well, they are not as they seem.”

  Nate was confused, but then nothing about the Byotai made sense. They were a split people, with two groups now fighting for dominance amid the ruins of the old Empire. But then there were the other factions, people like this Katanga, and even the infamous General Makos. To the Byotai he was a legend, but one that had abandoned his post in the military to assist the rebels in the Tenth Quadrant. Now even he was back, and fighting against other Separatists, as well as the power of the Star Empire. Nate had always assumed good guys and bad guys fought wars, but he was seeing the truth as far more complex. There were heroic individuals on all sides, and sometimes he found it hard recalling who the actual enemies were.

  “You, too.”

  They stepped out of the fighter to the surface of the massive Kalar Anchorage. Nate was intrigued to see the place, but apprehensive about what they might find. Space combat was something he was comfortable with. It was a job he could do, even with his diminutive size. But he was no warrior, and the Byotai were a big, powerful people.

  “Stay close to me,” said Valdis, “This could be…complicated.”

  Nate nodded and slowed down. Each movement of his legs could draw attention, and he was aware that if they encountered trouble, this could all be over. Valdis was right beside him, her pistol raised and ready. They reached the platform and took cover behind the landing legs of the Phantom. It wasn’t much but enough to allow them to take stock. The place was not easy to analyse, and his first impression was it looked like an old refinery complex on a planet, not the outer segments of a massive station. The lighting was poor, and every direction showed metal beams, rails, gantries, and supporting structures. A bright light, much like a star, poured in from above and cast yellow hues everywhere. It was spooky, and he felt vulnerable out on the platform.

  “What do you think?”

  Valdis watched around them, her eyes darting from place to place.

  “This is a secondary loading level. It’s not designed for starships or heavy transports.”

  She pointed to where they’d come from, and both could see a hexagonal entry gate leading off to the exterior of the ship.

  “This shaft moves from outside the Anchorage to deep inside.”

  She turned back around and pointed in the direction they had been flying.

  “If the shuttle had made it through there, it would have detonated, for sure.”

  The shaft was strange in that technically it didn’t appear to be an actual structure. It was one area where little had been built, creating an open shaft type space running in an almost perfect straight line.

  “Soldiers, and they’ve spotted us.”

  Nate saw movement in the distance and squinted for a better view.

  “I see them.”

  The figures were still small, but Nate’s onboard scanners showed a magnified view, and right away he knew they were Byotai soldiers. They were big, heavily armoured, and it looked like they all carried weapons.

  “We’ve got a problem.”

  “Yeah,” Nate said, “They’re coming this way.”

  Valdis grabbed him and twisted him to the left.

  “No…this problem.”

  As Nate’s view shifted, he almost grunted in surprise. There before him was the wrecked remains of one of the shuttles, and it was less than a hundred metres away. It looked a lot bigger out of his fighter, and though heavily damaged, it was possible there might be survivors. Something glinted, and then Valdis shoved him. Bullets glanced off the landing legs.

  “Get back!”

  They pulled their bodies in close behind the struts, but they were only so big. More shots glanced off, and Nate ducked back, desperate to avoid being hit. They might be wearing body armour, but it was nothing like the heavy gear worn by marines. One accurate shot could easily end either of their lives, and Nate had absolutely zero interest in dying today. He peeked out to the right for a better look. The enemy was dressed in a bizarre mixture of military and civilian clothing, with a myriad of faded colours. They carried a range of weapons from rifles to pistols, and they were spreading out around the scattered wreckage.

  “I see eight.”

  She took aim and fired her Seax pistol. It was bulkier than most similar weapons, primarily due to the loading, priming, and heating components. Like its larger cousin the Krokspjot carbine, the Seax fired white, hot thermal bolts. Six blasted away, and Nate watched wide-eyed as one hit an enemy soldier in the chest. He fell to the ground, and a pair of his comrades dragged him to cover.

  “Fire, Nate. Do something!”

  Nate didn’t like guns, especially when he was expected to shoot at others, but with rounds clattering all about him, he was well motivated. He lifted the massive M6 Navy pattern autorevolver and took aim. The thing looked ridiculous in his hands, but it was reliable, and he’d grown rather fond of the thing. Using a two-handed grip, he stepped out and aimed at one of the enemy crew. The target slowed and aimed something back at him.

  Fire!

  He squeezed the trigger, jus
t as he’d been taught. The pistol kicked back and instantly loaded in the next round ready to fire. The 11.5mm precharged thermal slug raced out and struck the crewman in the shoulder. A normal bullet might have caused minor damage, but the thermal round was designed to hit with mass force and burning hot, much like a shotgun. The man staggered and then fell, shouting to his comrades. Nate fired twice more, missing both times.

  “Get back!”

  He lurched behind the landing leg as a dozen bullets sprayed all around him. One even glanced off his collar and vanished into the darkness. The others were spreading out, and they kept on firing.

  “Valdis, we need to get back inside. They’re flanking us.”

  She seemed to ignore him and loaded in another magazine before blasting away at the targets. Then something struck her on the helmet, and she went down.

  “Valdis!”

  Nate completely forgot about the gunfire. He slid the pistol back into its holster and bent down to check her. A metal slug had breached the plating and punched a hole in the metal frame.

  “Valdis, can you hear me?”

  He nearly deactivated his helmet to hear better, before remembering what was happening there. So he bent down lower and dragged her back towards the small ramp at the side of the fighter. Shots hit all around him, and another glanced off Valdis’ chest armour. Nate pulled hard, desperate to move her from the gunfire, only to lose his grip. With no way to right himself, he collapsed to the ground alongside Valdis, as two cannon projectiles slammed into the underside of the fighter. He struggled up to one knee and hesitated. A bright, white light from behind blinded him, and he looked back. Two shapes were moving in around him.

  This isn’t good.

  Staying alongside Valdis, he pulled out his pistol once more, and took aim at the lights. He now faced trouble both in front and behind. Then he heard a groan from below.

  “Nate…Next time stay in the ship.”

  The lights remained blazingly bright, but then they lowered, surrounding them with dust and the screams of engines. Yellow and white flashes ripped along the front of both craft. Nate held his breath, expecting pain, but he felt nothing.

  What?

  Four of the crew were cut down, and the others raced back to the wreckage of their shuttle. More shots ripped around them, and then the craft exploded, taking the crew and part of the station decking and gantries with it. Nate instinctively covered his face to protect himself, and when the flames faded, they were gone from view.

  “Stay where you are.”

  Nate knew that voice and was stunned to see a pair of crew from Ironclad Squadron, armoured and equipped just like him.

  “Matilda?”

  His friend moved close and opened her visor. Nate smiled at seeing her face.

  “You needed assistance?”

  Nate shook his head in surprise.

  “Good timing, a few more seconds and…”

  “You’d be dead. Yes, we know. That is why we came.”

  Billy moved alongside her and grabbed his arm.

  “Come on, Nate, you know Matilda.”

  Once on his feet they moved to Valdis and helped her up.

  “Is she okay?”

  Matilda nodded.

  “Her vitals show as nominal. Her suit is compromised, though. Your own system will tell you that.”

  Nate might have kicked himself had he not been so relieved to see his friends, as well as knowing Valdis was safe.

  “Uh…what about them?” Billy asked.

  More than two-dozen Byotai soldiers were spreading out in a skirmish line ahead of them. They wore regular heavy armour, and each one carried a Krokspjot carbine or a Sparth cannon. Billy shook Valdis, but she remained unconscious.

  “Great. Just when we need her.”

  “We should return to the fighters,” said Matilda.

  They started to move when a dark shape lowered down from the high ceiling. It was a small craft, not much bigger than the shuttle, yet more soldiers hung onto its flanks ready to leap out. It dropped lower and lower, touching down just metres ahead of the line of soldiers. Nate heard the sound of engines roaring, and a quick look over his shoulder showed the gun turrets on the Phantoms were now pointing ahead and towards the Byotai. They didn’t seem concerned, and when the small craft took off, it left another twelve soldiers, as well as a single overweight, yet massive Byotai warrior.

  “Keep your eyes on the target,” said Lieutenant Commander Holder over the communications system, “But do not fire unless fired upon. We don’t want to start another fight down here.”

  Nate checked the ammunition counter on his pistol, and then groaned, remembering he’d forgotten to reload. He was down to two bullets, and from experience knew sliding in another autoloader clip could be difficult under pressure.

  Stay calm. Remember the training.

  He licked his lips nervously and raised the weapon to point at the approaching soldier. The warrior moved at a slow walk, and behind him came the twelve guards. As they inched closer, Nate could see their armour was old, worn down, but most definitely standard Byotai military issue. They came within ten metres and stopped. The leader kept on until two metres away. He paused and looked to each of them. One soldier pointed towards Nate and the others, before dropping to a knee. Some of the other did the same, but only those with some vestige of military equipment.

  “Humans?”

  The Byotai looked old, yet he spoke the foreign tongue at least as well as Valdis could manage. Nate was both unnerved and amazed at the same time. He’d only learnt twenty or so phrases of the Byotai language, and yet this race had managed to become partially fluent in a matter of a decade. His eyes shifted from left to right, but the leader took all of his attention. Now that he was close, the armour, burn marks, and damage spoke of hard usage. Unlike the others, he carried no weapons in his hands, though there was at least one blade and a pistol hung low at his side.

  “Yes, I am Flying Officer Nathaniel Lewis, Ironclad Squadron.”

  The warrior looked at him carefully, soaking in every single detail. His eyes barely blinked, and Nate found his attention wandering as the bright yellow eyes transfixed him.

  “Nathaniel…Lewis.”

  The warrior moved closer. Nate felt his hand trembling, but he had no idea what to do. Even as the engines on board the Phantoms died down, he remained stunned by the event, but when the calm female voice behind him whispered, he finally lowered the gun.

  “Warlord Katanga. It is good to finally meet you.”

  The Byotai’s attention shifted from Nate, and to the right, where Lieutenant Commander Holder appeared. Her helmet was missing, and she walked right up, stopping in front of him.

  “Lieutenant Commander. Welcome to Kalar Anchorage.”

  Nate shook his head and looked to his friends. All of them had lowered their guns, much to his relief. When he glanced back, the warrior was in front of him once more.

  “Young pilot. You saved the station, and my people.”

  He then lurched forward and grabbed him, pulling him close in a bear hug. It went on for several seconds before he released him. Once separated, he nodded towards Valdis. To Nate’s surprise she was conscious, though still supported by Billy and Matilda.

  “Valdis Ferreus?”

  He inched closer and examined her face carefully. They exchanged a few short words before he moved in close, pulling her to his chest. Valdis grunted from the pressure, presumably made worse by the pain of her recent injury. They then separated, and the Warlord took a step back to look at those before him. Nate looked to his friends, only then realising what a sight they were. Apart from Holder, they were all youngsters, with little business being anywhere near fighters, let alone commanding the top-secret Phantoms. The Warlord laughed, and then pointed to Nate and the others.

  “Humans never cease to amaze me.”

  His laughter faded, and he began to move away. With the niceties over, Warlord Katanga indicated for them to follow him.
Holder stopped nearby and pointed back.

  “We came with the Victorious.”

  Warlord Katanga didn’t seem impressed by that. He stared at her, waiting for what was coming next.

  “We have General Honorius with us.”

  The Warlord’s eyes widened at that news.

  “Honorius?”

  “Yes, he is aboard our flagship.”

  Warlord Katanga rubbed his face with the back of his hand.

  “Then it is true. The pup Kratha lives, and the war continues.”

  He looked stunned at the news, hesitating as he considered the situation. Nate used that moment to check on the others in the area. The Byotai soldiers looked equally confused, and though they’d lowered their weapons, they were still keeping a wary eye on the new arrivals.

  “We heard the rumours, but even I doubted the son lived. It would have been better for him to die in battle than to drag this out longer than necessary. His brotherhood failed him…now I am forced to rely on my own.”

  His nostrils flared, and Nate began to feel grateful that Commander Higgins had persuaded him to take unmarked armour to the Byotai ship. After joining the Prince Kratha as companions in the bizarre blood ceremony, Nate and Billy assumed they’d receive a great fanfare. Billy, especially, was still disappointed that they had to keep it private. Even General Honorius had explained that it could cause problems until the Prince was confirmed as the new leader of the Byotai. Not even Makos had guaranteed service to the Prince and his loyal retainers. Until then it was better to keep the whole thing quiet. Nate and Billy had not wanted to leave their now unique armour aboard Relentless before transferring to Battleship Furiosa, but seeing the Warlord’s face, the decision had been the right one, for now. Even so, he would like at least some recognition from the Warlord that he was more than just a videogame pilot.

  “Tell me. Does Honorius really live? Without him there is no war.”

  Lieutenant Commander Holder nodded slowly.

  “Yes. Together they are rallying the remnants of your military to fight alongside our own forces.”