Star Crusader: Siege of Kalar

by Thomas, Michael G.

  “It’s one of the advanced cruisers. We must have rolled back when we lost power.”

  Valdis clenched her fists and moved her fingers to the controls.

  “I know. The computer has given them the codename Gladius, and the threat warning is maximum. We really don’t want to be fight that thing.”

  “Like that makes any different to us,” said Nate, “Any capital ship is a problem right now.”

  Valdis settled on the turret system and without checking, rolled the guns around to face forward. Nate tensed as he felt the subtle vibrations inside the craft.

  “I’m ready.”

  He licked his lips and pushed the nose of the fighter down so that they were pointing slightly away from the ship’s bow. The more he pushed the thrusters the more the fighter vibrated.

  “No further!” This time her voice was strained and sounded almost nervous. When they turned their attention to the ship, they fell silent. It was nearly two hundred metres long, its bulbous front section bristling with missiles and torpedo tubes. More worrying was the bank of turrets along its back and the upper shoulders.

  “Let’s do this,” said Valdis.

  Nate nodded, and together they opened fire. The main guns fired again and again, the few remaining turrets adding their own shots. It was a short and violent assault until finally the guns stopped. They were five hundred metres away, and though they’d caused damage, the ship still appeared fully functional, apart from the myriad of small dents and holes along its hull. The gleaming red paintwork now looked battered and worn after just a single attack, though that gave Nate relatively little comfort.

  “This is not good. We barely scratched that thing.”

  The distance estimate dropped to four hundred metres. Missiles raced out from their mounts, and at least two heavy ship killer torpedoes blasted out from their launcher, like small stars glowing with energy. No sooner had they left the ship, and they appeared to explode into a dozen smaller warheads, each streaking away at speed.

  Burst torpedoes.

  Nate gulped at seeing them move away from the ship and vanish from view. Their existence had been argued over the last few weeks, but this now confirmed their use. The turrets began firing, filling space with shards of metal, and Nate knew right then his time had come. He turned to Valdis who had opened her visor, better to see as systems continued to cut and fail. She worked the controls as though her life truly depended upon her next few actions.

  “Valdis.”

  She ignored him and opened fire again, this time with two of the left turrets that now had a clear firing arc. One of the cockpit lights blinked red, and a vast light filled the cockpit, blinding Nate. His vision went first, with sounds following shortly after. Yet his mind remained active and confused.

  It’s over. Our luck has run out.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Kalar Anchorage, 9th Quadrant

  January 13th 2473

  Nate expected everything to end, but to his astonishment the light receded, and before him was a gap in the fire and flames. Everything moved slowly, like watching the world in slow motion. The enemy cruiser was gone, but he could barely identify any of the fighter’s interior.

  What’s going on?

  He could hear the sound of Valdis’ voice, though everything was muffled and confused. He turned to look at her. Her face was right in front of him. It was in focus, but as she moved, everything blurred again. Nate felt nauseous, but then as she stopped, her face returned to normal.

  “…Katanga!”

  Nate had no idea what she was talking about, so he looked to the forward view out of the cockpit and placed his hands on the controls. With each passing second, the sound changed, and his view accelerated until everything returned to something close to normalcy. A ship burned to the left, and fighters swarmed past nearby. Two Mokkus lined up at his side.

  “Nate, they think they can catch us. Take us back with them.”

  He couldn’t believe that, but when he tapped the controls, the fighters opened fire. Streaks of gunfire raced past their nose, vanishing off into the void. Nate flinched and moved his finger to the gunnery controls.

  “They are not tracing them!”

  With a quick pull, he yanked back on the trigger and tensed as the guns fired. At least they were supposed to. Instead he was left with the anti-climax of absolutely nothing happening.

  “Oh…that’s just great.”

  Another two Mokkus came in from the left, boxing them in. One spun about and fired a short burst, but that served to annoy Nate even further. With no weapons, and limited ability to escape, he was left with just two options. Ignore them, or ram them. He chose the latter.

  “Nate!” Valdis yelled as he hit the pedal and then strafed hard left. The heavy fighter moved thirty metres in an instant, smashing into the fragile wing structure of the nearest Mokku. The unfortunate pilot either wasn’t paying attention, or was simply too stunned or slow to escape. The right wing buckled and folded underneath, and then one of the thrusters ripped apart, quickly sending the fighter off into a death spiral. Now forewarned, the other three pulled away and rotated around to open fire.

  “Now we’re in trouble,” said Valdis.

  One started to fire, and shells slammed into the Phantom. Nate flinched with every impact, but then two of the fighters exploded. The third soon followed. Nate found he was alone and still flying.

  “Uh…okay, that was unexpected.”

  He twisted to the right and watched the vast column of ships moving into battle. It was a colossal affair, and under other circumstances, he’d have loved to watch it unfold. Then something familiar swept by, the bright engines announcing their arrival.

  “Nate, look!”

  A smile formed on Nate’s face as he watched them move ahead of his position, while the battle continued to rage all around them.

  Phantoms!

  “Star Crusader. Can you hear me? I repeat, Star Crusader, can you hear me?”

  Nate felt his heart pounding as he heard the sounds clearly through his helmet. He looked back to Valdis again, and she bared her pointed teeth in a smile. She had never exhibited fear in the battle, but there was still obvious relief at seeing their friends once more.

  “Lieutenant Commander! Yes, I hear you.”

  “Good. We’re forming up and moving to Victorious. We’re leaving. What’s your status?”

  “We’ve sustained engine damage, weapons are off-line, and manoeuvrability is poor in the vertical. I need to get this bird on the ground, and fast. We took mass drivers hits in the fight.”

  There was a momentary pause.

  “Understood, Star Crusader. Can you follow?”

  Nate nodded furiously.

  “Yes, Sir, we’re with you.”

  “Good. To Victorious!”

  The Phantom boosted its engines, and as it moved away, another pair moved in ahead of him. Seeing the others confirmed his friends were still there, and that encouraged Nate more than any other news possibly could.

  “Push the engines, everything we’ve got left!”

  Valdis made some changes to the energy output, and a gentle thud pushed them back as the remaining thrusters took them away from the scene of battle. Once through the gap, Nate looked to the sides of the cockpit. An entire line of enemy ships was spaced out, presenting a powerful cordon around the Kalar Anchorage. A column of Byotai ships faced this powerful ring of steel. They were moving into a single point along the line and unleashing a veritable arsenal at them.

  “This battle is just getting started.”

  “Not for us, Nate. We need to land. Fast!”

  Thirty seconds later the Phantoms were racing alongside the massed formation of Alliance ships. Nate looked on at the vessels and instantly felt so much better about the battle. All six Alliance ships shared a standard hull and circular nacelle engine system, and flying together they looked unstoppable. Each time the three Confederate Class ships opened fire, his eyes opened wide. The sheer fir
epower was astounding, leaving his craft puny and insignificant in comparison.

  “Sir, I’ve run the numbers. This isn’t looking good,” said Matilda.

  Nate’s brow tightened as he tried to work out quite what she was talking about. Valdis looked to him and shook her head.

  “Numbers?”

  “Yeah, Matilda is like a Human computer. If she’s crunched the numbers, then she’s nearly always right.”

  “Uh…then…”

  Valdis stopped mid-sentence as Lieutenant Commander Holder answered.

  “What is it?”

  “The battle, Sir. We are outnumbered, and with the new ships in the system, I calculate our chances of victory are 2:3 at best. And even if we win, the losses will be…”

  “Will be what? Give me specifics.”

  Nate gulped as he listened to Matilda’s detailed analysis of how the battle would unfold. There were several options, and all of them resulted in either the fleet being annihilated, or at the very best, badly mauled. Nate’s opinion of the Alliance ships was clearly more than the reality, and he hadn’t quite appreciated the fragility of their forces. As Matilda explained, the IAB and their ships were designed for short, violent actions, not prolonged engagements. And right now that is exactly what was going to happen once the Tabarzinn and its escorts moved into range.

  “Damn, I didn’t think it could get worse than it is right now.”

  Valdis laughed.

  “Nate, you fool. It can always get worse, trust me!”

  They were now locked into formation with the ships, but any confidence he’d had quickly vanished. It was one thing to take part in a grand battle, quite another to undertake one where so many of their ships might be destroyed, and his friends captured or killed.

  We must hit them hard, and then leave.

  Nate twisted around quickly, startling Valdis.

  “What was it Matilda said about how the ships got here?”

  Valdis was confused, but not for long.

  “She said the Leviathan heavy transports created a bubble around them to help transport other ships.”

  “Yes.”

  Nate’s eyes rose as he considered the options.

  “What is it?”

  Nate beamed back at her.

  “I think Matilda might be onto something. If we can pull it off, we might actually have a chance.”

  Nate keyed the intercom, cutting off the conversation between Matilda and the Lieutenant Commander.

  “Sir. I think Matilda is right.”

  “About what?”

  “Everything, Sir. And we can use it to get out of here, all of us.”

  * * *

  Alliance Assault Carrier 'ANS Victorious'

  The formation of eight Byotai attack cruisers adjusted course at the last moment. Unlike most capital ships, the Cohort Class attack cruisers were designed to be fast and agile. The entre primary hull, as well as the four curved wings that extended out both vertically and horizontally, were all fitted with powerful engines and thrusters. They could out turn and out accelerate every ship in the sector, and now demonstrated their prowess as they shifted into their new formation.

  As always, the flagship commanded by Warlord Katanga took up the vanguard position. The formation had been moving in a long column, giving the impression they were preparing to take on the enemy in a series of duels. Instead, they pushed their engines hard and moved into the centre of the Star Empire lines. Small groups of Hawkmoth fighters accompanied them as they breached the line two kilometres away from where Victorious was doing the same.

  “Katanga is my kind of commander!” Colonel Gun said.

  Spartan was gone, but General Honorius watched with interest as the eight Byotai attack cruisers pierced the blockade. It was a tense moment; especially as four looked as though they were going to ram a Star Empire advanced cruiser. Turrets lashed back and forth from each side as the distance dropped to a few hundred metres. Then scores of torpedoes appeared and slammed into the attack cruisers. They crashed through and forced a breach in their line, sending a pair of the Gladius Class ships away at the last moment.

  “They are taking a lot of fire,” said the General.

  As if to counter his point, a number of warheads struck Victorious’ hull, setting off yet more warnings. The impacts were continuous, like a high-speed pile driver slamming into the side of the ship.

  “As are we,” agreed Gun.

  He reached out and pointed to the enemy ships directly ahead.

  “Match Katanga. Send us right though and hit them hard.”

  The Byotai were a little closer, and for the next thirty seconds the Alliance officers watch the violent and savage battle. The large attack cruisers unleashed powerful volleys from their fixed gun mounts. Though lacking the sophisticated weapons of the modern Alliance ships, they carried large numbers of heavy mass drivers. These powerful weapons were similar to the bombardments cannons aboard Victorious, and did terrible work to the lighter armour of the Star Empire. One enemy cruiser exploded, and a pair of Byotai ships clipped a second as they attempted to ram it.

  “Impressive,” said Gun.

  “Sir,” Captain Delatorre called out, “We’re moving through now.”

  Gun nodded with a satisfied look on his face.

  “Good. Smash through and regroup with Katanga. We will mass our forces together, like a clenched fist that will be unstoppable. Together we will introduce these Biomech hating plebeians to pain.”

  Commander Higgins could hear all of this from his position further back, in front of his personal computer unit. He’d not heard the Colonel speaking of the enemy this way, and there was a clear and obvious bitterness towards them. It hadn’t even occurred to him that their desire to see all things Biomech destroyed, of course included him. The Jötnar were one of the many types of synthetic warriors created by the machines for their wars, and plenty of Humans saw them as evil. Even he wasn’t entirely comfortable being ordered about by a three-metre tall monster. But unlike civilians, he’d seen the Jötnar fighting. There was no more loyal warrior than a Jötnar, and Colonel Gun was most definitely the most famous of his race.

  “Incoming torpedoes!”

  The next minute reminded him of a kind of psychedelic dream, with every screen and window filled with light, energy, and flame. He continued to give orders to the fighter units remaining, and coordinated the actions between his scattered forces to get them back to the ships.

  We’ve taken out twenty-seven of their fighters, for eleven fighters down so far. A good exchange, but we can’t afford to throw pilots away.

  He connected to the squadron leaders.

  “Move in closer to the ships. I need you inside the gun cordons, and fast.”

  Colonel Gun’s attention was far from the fate of the many fighter pilots now engaged in desperate battle. There were tens of thousands of lives hanging in the balance throughout the fleet, and he had zero interest in micromanaging the affairs of the few. The six Alliance ships breached the enemy line while firing non-stop. It was a desperate measure, and for now did exactly as expected. The heavy ships smashed through the line, with Victorious taking a beating. Behind her came one of the armoured transports, and then in third place another Confederate Class. The staggered line of ships fired continuously, with even the lighter secondary weapons of the armoured transports blasting anything that came too close.

  “Good,” said Gun, “Very good. Keep moving through, but do not stop firing!”

  Four ships were now in the breach, blasting the enemy vessels each side of them. By the time the sixth and final ship broke through, they’d left the nearest enemy vessels burning from bow to stern in a terrible conflagration. As the firing reduced in intensity, Gun stared at the tactical display. General Honorius did the same, focussing his attention on the point where the two forces were moving together, to meet as a single unified force of warships.

  “Okay, Colonel. You’ve knocked out two ships and crippled three more.�
��

  “Yes, I know,” he replied curtly, “And now we are close to Katanga, we can concentrate our force where it is needed the most.”

  He looked to Five-Seven and Captain Delatorre.

  “We’re closer to the Anchorage, are we not?”

  The Captain pointed to the left mainscreen.

  “Yes, Colonel. Remaining shuttles and transports are making for our ships. That should halve the time to load them inside.”

  “Good. Very good.”

  General Honorius looked far less impressed.

  “Wonderful, Colonel. You have us all together, but we remain outnumbered. What happens now?”

  “Colonel!” Commander Higgins called out, “This is urgent.”

  The massive warrior looked across the deck.

  “Commander?”

  “I’ve got incoming contact from the Ironclads. They’ve broken away from the facility and are in formation with the fleet.”

  “That is good. I have a battle to fight, Commander.”

  He looked away, but Commander Higgins was far from done.

  “Sir. You have to see this. It is critical to the battle.”

  Gun snorted with irritation, checked the main screen one last time, and then moved towards the man. His heavy body and armoured torso made a deep thudding sound as he walked. Commander Higgins should have been nervous, but he was adamant that the Colonel came to his system.

  “Well?”

  Commander Higgins placed a hand on the screen and enlarged the image of one of the huge Star Empire advanced cruisers. All of them could see the dark blue, almost purple colouration, and the gaudy symbols and iconography running along its flanks. Missiles raced past its hull, and the more observant could see a formation of fighters.