“After this, we’ll build defenses.” He also didn’t know those who were chasing the enemy and trying their best to stop the inevitable. But the three of them in Johnny’s main room saw it all.
Johnny brought up the outside view from one of the refinery’s towers.
“There’s three incoming ships. They have weapons armed,” Misha confirmed.
Memories still flooded his mind. This was his first, his baby. “Status on the evac?”
“One is away. Ten teams are accounted for. Waiting on two.”
“Get them out of there,” he said.
Misha pulled up a screen to see where the remaining two teams were running from, and running they were. It looked as if a couple were carrying one of them. Johnny didn’t know what had happened, but he understood. They weren’t leaving anyone behind.
“Time till the freighter’s clear?”
Johnny looked at Misha. “They need a little more time. What can we give them?”
Leon quickly pulled an image from the refinery. “If they hit and blow the reactors at the same time, the fallout will almost certainly take out the freighters.”
“Spit it out!” Johnny said. “What’s your suggestion?”
“Blow section nineteen first. The reaction is still huge, but it won’t be as dangerous.” Leon pulled another image, a projection of what would happen with this effect.
Stepping in closer to the screen, he saw Misha and Leon stand with him. “Do it.”
Leon plugged in his authorization, but the AI spoke direct to Johnny for confirmation.
“Reactor overload confirmed.”
Johnny swallowed. He’d never thought at all that it would be on his own order that he’d blow part of the refinery up. But if it gave those two teams—those hundred people—time to get out, it was something he’d never question of himself. From inside the refinery, several key components melded together; what was usually kept apart for obvious reasons now flowed into the one chamber.
It was instant, and Johnny winced as pure fire spread through it.
Leon was the one who started to talk to the screen. “Come on!”
Johnny’s chest tightened all the more. They had to make it out of the ships’ line of fire.
“ETA till impact, twenty minutes,” Misha said.
Johnny looked to the view of the missiles headed in. They would hit key parts of the refinery; it was all going to be lost anyway. His thoughts now turned to the rest of the fight and rebuilding once it was over. He’d more than enough faith that the EN would win.
Chapter Ninety-Three
ENS Moby
Oort Cloud, Emarl System
10/3557
Chen watched the trajectories of the two Luyten warships’ payloads.
He didn’t have much hopes for the station. They only just arrived, coming to find a new life and then they can only watch as their homes are destroyed.
“Time till intercept?” Chen asked.
“Forty minutes at current speed,” Francis replied.
“Very well. Travestki, I want all weapons readied and checked. Carla, do you have those updates on the rest of the fleet’s status?”
“Yes, sir. All ships are good to go. We’ve got some minor damage affecting the ENS Titan but they’re operational,” Carla replied.
“All right.” Chen tapped his fingers on his armrest. “Carla, you have command. Francis, send a request to all commanders and captains in the fleet. I want to talk to them in ten minutes in the conference room.” Chen rose from his seat as Francis sent out the message.
“I have command.” Carla moved to take Chen’s seat.
Chen relocated to the conference room.
The others joined in on the conference call not long afterward. Mark joined from his location, with the rest of the Vanguard.
Once everyone was there, Chen cleared his throat. “All right, right now we’ve got two freighters. Both of them are big beasts and they’re a pain to destroy. If we go toe-to-toe with them, we will win, but we’re going to take a ton of damage. My first aim is to take out the freighters’ engines, limit their mobility.
“Then I want to insert the Vanguard into the two ships, clearing them from the inside. They might have more guns and ammunition, but they don’t have that much of a fighting force internally. That is my idea, but Mark, I want to know what you think.” Chen outlined his plan but he was ready for Mark to shoot him down if he needed to.
Mark had a thoughtful look on his face. “I agree. Fighting these two freighters is a bad idea. We don’t have the ammunition stocks they do. They’re broken down into different command regions, so we have to destroy the entire ship to take them out. We will lose a lot of lives and maybe even ships. If the Vanguard can be inserted into the ships, we can take it from the inside. We’ve already seen that while they’re strong on the outside, internally they’re still freighters that we can destroy easily.” Mark’s voice was filled with confidence.
“I will not force you. Otherwise, we have the option to follow behind them and slowly whittle them down bit by bit,” Chen said, though he wasn’t sure how effective that would be. They didn’t have that much ammunition remaining and the Moby had taken massive damage. Its supplies had been turned toward repairs instead of making more ammunition.
“The Vanguard is ready,” Mark said.
“Very well. Then we’ll hit the freighters with everything that we have, open up their engines and have the Vanguard board them.” Chen’s plan was dangerous but with the Vanguard aboard, Chen didn’t think that the remaining forces on the freighters would be able to stop them.
“I’ll get my people ready and loaded,” Mark said.
“I want to create two strike forces. Captain Trello of the ENS Reliant, you will be in command of Battlegroup Two. The Moby will be in command of Battlegroup One. ENS Titan, ENS Chaka will remain with the ENS Moby as Battlegroup One; all other ships will be part of Battlegroup Two. We’ll use the launcher on the Moby to gain access to Target One, while we cross-load merger capable drop-ships to the Reliant. There shouldn’t be many glider pilots and crew left on either of the ships but both forces’ RSDs and seeders will move in support and cover the launchers and drop-ships,” Chen said, starting to outline the plan.
The others listened attentively as they jotted down notes, asking rapid-fire questions with hard faces.
There was no joking or messing around.
Ten minutes later, they had their plan.
***
“Merge!” Mark’s words were simple but with it, four hundred Vanguard mergers all came together. The power of their abilities was impressive. With all of them focused on one goal, it didn’t seem that anything would be able to stand in their way.
Mark didn’t need to explain anything to them as he passed them all of the information that he had received.
They all took it in and assimilated the information. As they were complete, they started to move to the flight deck or launcher area. All of them wore their armor whenever possible.
“Lieutenant Desialias with Bravo Company will be the launcher team while I will be attached to Alpha Company, who will be moving via drop-ship! We need to move as fast as possible as the fleet is slowing down so that we will be able to break down into companies,” Mark said.
Their original forty minutes till intercept was now turning into an hour and fifteen as the fleet’s engines dialed down, decreasing their rate of acceleration.
“Let’s not mess it up,” Mark said.
Mark left the channel as the Vanguard left the all hands channel, breaking down into their companies, then platoons and sections.
Mark moved with a section toward the hangar bay.
“Look after yourself,” Ava said.
“You too,” Mark said.
“Mark, where do you need me?” Evan asked.
“Go with Bravo Company,” Mark said.
“Understood.”
Like that, the Vanguard moved through the ship, getting strappe
d into the different launcher pods for the launching system that Charles had created. It was made to rapidly deploy the Vanguard as well as any supplies to the surface of a planet, but in this case it would be used to launch them into the freighter.
Mark moved with the Vanguard, moving past different holding areas that had been filled with resources and were now filled with prisoners who had been ejected into space by their own officers.
They watched the massive black armor with interest and trepidation.
The hangar was in a mass of movement as RSDs were cleared away and drop-ships were checked and readied.
Their crews were running checks on them. These crews weren’t human but rather the specialized merger crews that Yu and Young had been training.
Mark saw Bobbie and headed for his drop-ship.
“Good to see you,” Bobbie said. The two of them tapped forearms before Mark jogged onto the ship.
Two sections filed in afterward, locking themselves into the harnesses.
“How are you two doing?” Mark stuck his head into the cockpit as he saw Yu and Young checking the drop-ship’s systems and doing final takeoff prep.
“Ready for another ride.” Yu smiled as Young rolled her eyes and sat back in her seat and merged with the drop-ship.
The weapons on the drop-ships moved around as reactors and anti-matter power systems came online. Drives were ignited as thrusters let out experimental spurts.
Mark dropped into a seat and locked himself in.
“All in! Locking up!” Bobbie said.
Mark used the ship’s sensors. Seeing through the craft, he saw the mergers quickly moving in lines, entering the drop-ships that were then picked up by loaders and placed onto acceleration rails.
The rear ramp hadn’t closed fully as Bobbie made his way to the forward part of the drop-ship. A crane came down, grabbing the drop-ship and putting it on a launcher.
“Baz, you need anything?” Mark asked the lieutenant in charge of Alpha Company.
“All good here, Mark.” Baz was a reliable man. Nothing seemed to faze him and he seemed quiet until he was on the battlefield. There he showed command and control that left not only Mark but the other mergers in awe. It was through this that he had gained the position of lieutenant in the Vanguard.
“Hopefully it won’t be too much of a bumpy ride,” Baz joked.
Rachel, his second-in-command and company warrant officer, came online. “Fat chance of it being a smooth one.”
“Ahh, classic warrant officer grit.” Mark smiled in his helmet.
Rachel grunted, apparently happy with the title.
Mark was pushed against his harness as the drop-ship accelerated out of the Moby.
“All right, form up on me. We’ll be linking up with the RSDs from Battlegroup Two, who will be flying in formation around us, looking to protect our asses before we get to target two.” Yu’s voice was calm and relaxed as drop-ships continued to deploy from the carrier and move into formation around his drop-ship, heading for Battlegroup Two that was separating from Battlegroup One as they locked onto their targets.
Mark got himself comfortable and started looking over plans of entry and other information, unable to fully relax as he led his people into battle.
“Well, it looks like you got what you wanted,” Sarah said, referring to Mark’s conversation with Ava.
Mark didn’t reply to her. On one hand, he was happy that his people would be put to use; on the other, he knew that there would be casualties.
Sarah alerted him to the fact that the weapons fire from the two freighters was closing in on the refinery.
He switched to the system’s sensor feed.
The missiles were the first to arrive.
The station didn’t have any defense systems. It was rocked by the explosions. Parts of the station just disappeared as the strikes landed again and again, tearing the refinery open, revealing its guts and causing secondary explosions.
It took the hits, one after another, as it came apart. In just ten minutes, the expanding cloud of materials that had been the refinery was all that was left.
Chapter Ninety-Four
Freighter 801
Oort Cloud, Emarl System
10/3557
The freighter was a little cramped, but Pela found a seat and began to strap herself in.
Lucus sat beside her, also tying himself in. “You did a good thing there,” he said.
Pela looked over at her friend’s team. It might have been touch-and-go for them, but they were out; they were safe. One moment of panic and they’d almost fallen apart. All Pela did was be the calm support they needed to get it back on track. They hadn’t technically failed; they were also still within their company guidelines, but she could see the guilt-riddled face of their leader.
“I’d have expected nothing else for us if we’d been behind.”
Lucus’s face told her he wasn’t so sure on that.
“This is your captain. Please make sure you are all strapped in. There will be some turbulence momentarily, but it should settle.”
Pela looked around as everyone scrambled for their belts, or anything just to make sure they were secured in and safe from bouncing around.
The ship lurched, and Lucus grabbed hold of her before she was out of the seat and floating.
This wasn’t just turbulence. Pela searched through all the information coming in. “What?”
Lucus pulled her to him, wrapping his arms tightly around her, holding on dearly. The ship lurched again then bounced from side to side as it fought for stability.
“Pela, what is it?” he asked.
“Seventy-Seven.” She turned to look at him. “It’s been destroyed.”
As the ship’s turbulence settled, Pela realized she was on Lucus’s lap. He didn’t let go, though, even when she tapped his arm. She struggled to face him again, about to ask him to let go, but she saw something in his eyes.
“Did they all get out?”
“Gondi?”
“All personnel are accounted for,” Gondi informed her.
Lucus could have asked the question himself. Why hadn’t he? “Yes,” she said.
“Thank God.” He squeezed her tighter.
Pela flushed, but she didn’t ask him to let go. She leaned in instead. “It’s okay. We’re all okay.”
Chapter Ninety-Five
ENS Moby
Oort Cloud, Emarl System
10/3557
Ava took a deep breath as Polwell clapped her on the shoulder.
“Good?”
“Yeah. Just being used as a damn human projectile is a bit weird,” Ava said.
“Yeah, you got me on that one.” Polwell nodded.
“See you on the other side,” Ava said. They hit forearms as Ava moved to the deployment pod.
It looked like a missile.
Damned well is a missile—with me underneath the fucking rocket engine.
Ava stepped backward into the pod as a harness locked around her armor. A casing covered her front, bringing her darkness.
Kela linked to the pod, allowing her to see out with her sensors.
The fitted panel was secured as she was picked up and slotted into a rack where there were two sections already loaded.
More of the Vanguard stepped into their pods and were loaded into the holding launchers. The first batch were already locked into the deployment tubes, which were basically large acceleration rails.
“So, I’m thinking we need to come up with a new name for this,” Kumar said over the leadership channel.
“What?” Polwell asked, sounding almost pained to do so.
“Gravity turbos?” Kumar asked.
“That just sounds dumb,” Fu said.
“Hey, your name is literally fuck you,” Kumar said.
“Yeah, he got you there,” Hahn agreed.
“Hahn, let us not forget you’re a second lieutenant here. Watch out or else I’ll leave you out in the cold again,” Fu said.
&n
bsp; Waters laughed as Hahn let out a tired groan.
“Nice.” Kumar laughed.
“Crotch rockets?” Second Lieutenant Katch said thoughtfully.
“Wow, sounds like a new disease,” Lundy said.
“What is this—the rebellion of the warrants?” Ava asked.
“Seems to be,” Polwell agreed.
“Ah, come on, who’s side you on?” Kumar complained.
“Kumar…” Polwell’s tone had a hint of warning.
“Yes, Company Warrant Officer!” Kumar said with false attention.
“Yeah, looks like gross insubordination.” Polwell sighed.
“Rocket power?” Lundy asked.
“That’s Kumar on a Friday night,” Fu said.
“Tip of the week, kids: if you have to force it, it’s a shit,” Kumar said in a serious tone.
“Dude, you can control your entire body. How did you not know you were going to shit yourself?” Waters asked.
“I ain’t perfect!” Kumar said.
“Clearly.” Hahn coughed.
“Is this the screw Kumar crew?”
“Kumar, we’ve brought you here for an intervention,” Lundy said in a professional voice.
“This is what I get for allowing you access to my brain!” Kumar complained.
“We should be seeking disability benefits for seeing what’s in your brain,” Katch said.
“Ohh!” Waters cheered.
“Shit, that one’s gotta burn.” Fu laughed.
“Well played, Katch,” Kumar said in approval, before taking on an exaggerated proud tone, complete with fake tears. “I have taught you well. Now go, ride your crotch rocket of doom!”
“We are not calling them crotch rockets,” Ava said.
“Aww, c’mon! What else we gonna get, Missile McMissileface?” Lundy complained.
“Oh God, do you think we’d let the rest of the Vanguard name it? It’s already bad enough hearing your lot’s suggestions,” Polwell said.
“Battlegroup One, this is Captain Chen. We are closing in on Target One. Prepare to present broadsides!”
Enemies on All Sides (Maraukian War Book 4) Page 35