Space Fleet Sagas Foundation Trilogy: Books One, Two, and Three in the Space Fleet Sagas

by Don Foxe

  The other four fighters increased speed and engaged the Primaries so fast, the commanders had no time to react. Their ships were peppered with combinations of kinetic rounds, that opened breaches in their force field coverage, and bursts from wing-mounted laser cannons.

  Primary One fired a dozen torpedoes at Angel 7 while Mags maneuvered between Primary One and Primary Two. She dove down instead of away, making a tight loop around Primary Two. This way she avoided the enemy fish and the fire being laid down by Jon-Jon and Angel 4.

  The missiles attempting to follow in Angel 7’s wake could not recreate the tight circle and impacted Primary Two. The force field protected the big ship, but the multiple torpedoes rocked it hard. The impacts obviously disrupted the firing teams inside the ship because all weapons ceased. Two of the Mischene torpedoes were nuclear and created a large gap in the force field. Angel 4 took advantage when Jon-Jon, in the right seat, placed a half-dozen rods through the gap and the weakened hull.

  Primary Two imploded and then exploded as the projectiles created havoc through the ship, finishing by detonating stored munitions. By the time the initial shock wave from the ship’s death began, Angel 4 was off to assist Demon 2 who engaged with Primary Three.

  Mags and Angel 7 sailed beneath their target and released a series of four projectiles following four kinetic bursts, allowing the bursts to outrace the projectiles to the flat bottom of the enemy ship. She did not stop, maintaining the flight line and repeating the sequence along the forward nose of the big ship. Mags completing a K turn above the Primary, sending two projectiles back. Seven of the ten rods hit within the short window created by the nymphs. Those seven ripped through the ship from three directions. The two from the top travelled all the way through and exited the bottom of the fatally stricken ship.

  Storm called out to Mags, “Get away. They’ve set a short destruct sequence.”

  Mags completed a J turn and flew up and away at best speed. The ship behind them blew in a massive explosion that would have engulfed Angel 7 without Storm’s warning.

  “Suicide move,” Mags said. “They were trying to take us out and willing to die to do it. Warn the other fighters, Storm, and good catch.”

  “Demon crew is with the resistance on the surface,” Storm reported. “They have a Zenge ground force following.”

  “Sorry about that,” Fitz said across the open channel. “I finished the surface cannon and I’m returning as fast as I can. They must come in overland in shielded vehicles. There is a pretty dense canopy and the atmosphere is really thick down here. It’s hard to get imaging through the trees.”

  “Do our guys need help or can they evade?” Mags asked.

  “Sounds like Elie is acting as a rear guard and giving the Zenge reason to go slow,” Storm reported, “They estimate 1,000 Zenge fighters. There’s only a dozen resistance, Elie, Folly, and Sparks.”

  “Rain,” Mags called, “this is your specialty. Fitz, pull out as soon as Rain arrives and gives us a hand up here with Primary Three. Storm, tell Elie to drop Folly’s translator-communicator behind, somewhere the Zenge will have to cross. Make sure it’s on and transmitting.”

  “Elie says copy, and why is this Rain’s specialty,” Storm asked. Sky turned in her co-pilot seat, interested in the explanation as well.

  “When Rachelle was a pilot for Can-Am she flew a plane that had multiple air-to-ground systems, including 40 mm cannon. Back then if a ground force was being overwhelmed, or they were trying to take a fortified position close to their own lines, they called in air support for a precision attack. It was called bringing the rain. Rachelle had such a rep for hitting the coordinates that one team started putting a transponder in a bucket and placing it on the coordinate spot. After a few times, no buckets and no transponders were ever recovered. So once, this smart ass Captain complained to her about having to replace so many transponders. Next time they called her in, the entire enemy force had been wiped out and the bucket with the transponder hadn’t been touched. I don’t know what her call sign was before that, but ever since she’s been Rain.”

  “Elie just called for the strike,” Storm said. After a few minutes, she reported “Sounds like the Zenge ground force and half the forest is gone.”

  “Baker reporting the plasma cannon at the northern Crown Mountain range is destroyed,” Storm relayed. Then added, “He is headed south to the peninsula on the super continent to take out the next nearest installation.”

  “Fitz, do you have a read on the hull breach Rain made on Primary Three before bugging out?” Mags asked.

  “Affirmative,” came the reply. “Forecastle, upper deck in front of the command bridge tower.”

  “Sabre, can you keep Primary Three occupied while Fitz and I dance?”

  “We’ll play the music,” Noa replied.

  “Fitz, come at it from the front and hit the breach with combo nymphs and rods. I’ll sweep in from aft, above your line and see if I can hit it right after you do.”

  Demon 2, Ryan ‘Flamer’ Fox on the laser cannons, and Noa ‘Sabre’ Tal flipping the fighter around space like an angry bee, laced the command structure atop the Primary with brilliant bursts of laser fire.

  Angel 5 completed a loop from behind, under and around to the front of the vessel designated Primary Two. He avoided most incoming fire, but Angel 5 did take a couple of laser bursts against the sonic force field, rattling those inside. Fitz maintained his loop, and dropped a double combination of projectiles preceded by kinetic rounds. The front of the ship sparked in blues and reds as the dense composite rods penetrated into the forward crew quarters.

  Angel 7 arrived from aft, passing less than one-hundred feet below Angel 5 as they sped away from the attack. Sky let loose the same deadly combination of rounds, hitting the same bullseye. As Angel 7 continued into open space, the front of the Zenge ship broke away. The Primary split. One-third forward and two-thirds back. Explosions rocked both sections. Fire, smoke, sparks and debris littered space around the dying space ship.

  “All systems down on Primary Three,” Storm called out. “Atmosphere is venting. All weapons off line. Engines all stop. She’s dead and drifting into a decaying orbit.”

  “Baker’s in trouble,” came the terse call from Rain in Angel 4. “Angel 6 has multiple enemy bursts heading their way. I’m going to intercept what I can.”

  “Storm, what’s happening with Angel 6?” Mags demanded.

  “Primary 4 launched plasma-noise bursts and is firing all laser weapons in a spread pattern toward Angel 6,” Storm replied, eyes glued to her holo display. “The plasma cannon on the peninsula is doing the same from surface up. The mothership is also targeting Angel 6 with a mix of plasma, lasers, and torpedoes. They are flying into a net of fire.”

  “Angel 4 targeting torpedoes and plasma rounds from the mothership,” came Rain’s worried voice. “Baker, try to flip and lift toward the mothership. Avoid lasers and see if you can outrun the other shit.”

  “Thank you, Rain. Angel 6 is . . .” and nothing followed but dead air.

  Storm and Rain said at the same time, “Angel 6 is hit.”

  Storm continued, “Multiple laser hits from the Primary and the surface. Elie, Angel 6 is breaking apart in the lower atmosphere. No life signs. No cockpit separation. No chutes.”

  Seats aboard the fighters automatically deployed chutes if a ship disintegrated within a planet’s atmosphere. In space, the cockpit section could be separated, and act as a short-term life raft.

  Rain confirmed visually. “Baker, Raven, and Hart are gone,” she said.

  “Rain, bug out now,” Mags ordered. “You’re in the same position. Get into space and activate your shields before they switch targets.”

  While Angel 6 faced extreme enemy fire, Demon 2 completed a final run on Primary Three. First firing kinetic rounds to open a portal, followed with a double tap of solid projectiles to blow a breach in the hull. The dense metal rods tumble through the stricken spaceship. Flamer finished with t
hree explosive torpedoes that enter the gaping hole and destroyed all engines and the engineering section of the vessel. As the ship died in space, command initiated a self destruct, hoping to catch Demon 2 too close to avoid the shock wave.

  Noa Tal jumped to space-fold to avoid the blast and came out fifteen-seconds later, 140,000 miles away.

  “Demon 2 is thirty-minutes away,” came her call. Thirty minutes because she did not want to make another space-jump unless necessary. They could only jump twice before needing to wait hours or suffer space-fold sickness.

  “Mags, the mothership is moving lower into the atmosphere, and heading out over the ocean between the two northern hemisphere continents. I think they are trying to get to the dark side of the planet,” Storm informed her captain.

  “Fitz, Rain, commence runs on Primary Four. Fitz high, Rain low, and I’ll take the sides,” Mags issued orders like they were second nature. “Keep scans on alert for surface fire and the mothership’s weapons.”

  In the thirty-minutes in took for Demon 2 to return to Fell space. The three Earth fighters had engaged and raked the final Primary from stem to stern and across the center beams. The ship made a final attempt to save itself by diving into the atmosphere while firing everything at the three attack ships. In the end the Primary burst into a fiery finish, close enough to the planet for the explosions to be heard on the surface. The pieces were low enough to get caught in the gravitational field and pulled down creating streamers across the horizon.

  Mags ordered all fighters to meet behind Travus, whose rotation placed it over the eastern hemisphere of the planet.

  “Storm do we have coordinates for Angel 6?” Mags asked.

  “We do and I’ve contacted a resistance camp that is nearest,” she replied. “It will take them hours to get to the site, but they promise to collect what they can, and destroy anything else. I monitored and scanned the debris from explosion to surface impact. Nothing of value is left.”

  Then she changed the subject. “The mothership stopped and dropped half its bulk into the ocean,” Storm reported. “The location places it between a plasma cannon on the tip of the super continent’s peninsula and another plasma cannon emplacement on the north-western coast of the eastern continent. The sun is below the horizon, so it’s in the dark.”

  “That part is dumb,” Noa said. “We use electronics, not light. It can’t hide in the dark.”

  “Part of their nature,” Rachelle surmised. “Like the way they fight in overwhelming numbers, and use space like it’s two dimensional. They’re frightened, so they hide in a dark place.”

  “Scans indicate four hundred forty-eight warm bodies and 50,925 cold-blooded lifeforms,” Storm interjected. “Dropping into the ocean seems to have a limiting effect on their anti-scanning systems. The warm bodies are mainly located on what we believe is the bridge and in the engineering section. I’d say data represents a Mischene crew with Zenge troops.”

  “The Mischene would know better than to try and hid in the dark,” Sky said. “I think that it just happens to be night. They are looking for a cross-fire position. Submerging half the ship means we have limited access. Weapons would reach them through the water, but they would be less effective.”

  “Half of their armaments are of equally limited use to them,” Jon-Jon, Angel 4’s co-pilot added to the discussion.

  “I’m picking up chatter on the fm,” Storm said across open channels. “The resistance team that collected Demon’s crew is back in camp with all three. Seems there were about two dozen Zenge left after Rain’s cover fire. The, and I quote, ‘catherea from Earth’ finished them off.”

  “Catherea?” Leigh asked.

  “It’s a jungle cat on Fell,” Storm replied. “It’s quiet, quick and deadly. I’m sure they mean Elie.”

  “Go, Loba,” said Fitz so everyone could hear him.

  “More reports from deep scans on the mothership,” Storm said. “They seem to be moving all personnel toward the center and lower sections of the ship. They also appear to be moving operational command from the bridge to engineering.”

  “They’re creating buffer space,” Noa said. “If we break through a hull, we just hit empty decks. They don’t have to worry about venting atmosphere, because they aren’t in space. No implosions from depressurization, and explosions just destroy unoccupied areas. Even our projectiles won’t do as much damage since they have to travel through the atmosphere. Friction will slow them down, meaning a lot less force at target.”

  “We could hit them at the waterline,” Rain said. “They’re at sea, so treat them that way. Sink the damn thing.”

  “Only it’s over a mile wide, high, and thick,” Mags said. “If we open holes at the waterline, they just hover a little higher, lifting the damaged area out of the ocean.”

  Conversations receded while everyone considered their options.

  Storm interrupted the quiet contemplations by informing the squad their leader was back in touch.

  “Elie is on coms from the resistance camp,” she said, and opened the channel for all to hear, and speak with Captain Casalobos.

  “Storm, give me a recap.” Everyone waited while the Fellen brought Elie up to date. “Where are plasma cannon emplacements on the planet?” Elie asked.

  “Northern Crown emplacement is down thanks to Baker,” she reported. “Western coast site taken out by Fitz. There is one on the tip of the eastern peninsula of the super continent, near the major east-west meridian. There is another on the eastern continent, northwest coastline, eastern and northern hemisphere. Currently it’s on the dark side of Fell.

  “There is one on the northwestern tip of the Super Island we call SCoslene, where the SC tribe live. It’s near the point where the major meridian and the equator meet. Finally there is one where the super continent and the southern polar region meet on top of the highest mountain in the southern Crown. Southwestern hemisphere, and it is also looking down at one of our hidden laboratories.”

  She completed the report with, “There are between 15,000 and 20,000 Zenge troops stationed around each cannon emplacement.”

  “Well, at least we don’t have to worry about white noise bubbles,” Fitz chimed in. “Once we drop into the atmosphere, no sonic force field.”

  Elie called out to Jim Huard, com-tac on Demon 2. “Jim, what do you have in torpedoes and mini-missiles?”

  “Twelve total,” the com-tac replied. “Four explosive torpedoes, two nuclear torpedoes, and six tactical nuclear mini-missiles.”

  A tactical nuclear weapon (or TNW) also known as non-strategic nuclear weapon refers to a nuclear weapon which is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations. This is opposed to strategic nuclear weapons which are designed to be used against enemy cities, factories, and other larger-area targets to damage the enemy's ability to wage war.

  The yield on a TNW is considerably less than a heavy-duty nuclear weapon. The blast damages a specific area, and the radiation does not leach into the atmosphere and contaminate large areas.

  “Here’s the first part of the plan,” Elie said to his squadron. “You start at the cannon on the eastern continent and work your way down, across the super continent, over to SCoslene, and finish at the Southern Crown. Sabre, you follow Mags. Angel 7 will strafe each location and pull fire as they fly past. You come in low, fast, and hard. Place one TNW on each target, then follow to the next. Fitz and Rain, you stay behind Sabre. Watch her six, and eval the strikes. After you hit all four, we reevaluate.”

  “Ready when you are,” Noa responded. “We have missiles in the tubes and smart coms on each up and running. Jim can put the birds within feet of the target.”

  Angel 7, with Demon 2 on her tail sped from behind the moon. They raced through the exosphere, the region of the atmosphere closest to the orbiting moon and beyond the thermosphere. The two Earth ships hit the thermosphere creating fire tails like comets. The thermosphere started at about fifty-five kilometers above Fell’s surface. The outsi
de temperature was hot. Here temperature is not measured using a thermometer, but by looking at the motion and speed of the rarefied gases in this region, which are very energetic but would not affect a thermometer. Temperatures in this region reached thousands of degrees, but had no effect on the space ships.

  Next they entered the mesosphere. The mesosphere sits above the stratosphere. The atmosphere very rarefied, that is, thin. The temperatures decrease dramatically with altitude, dropping to minus one-thirty Fahrenheit (minus ninety Celsius). Inside the attacking ships no one noticed the dramatic change in temperatures. Focus was on the incoming plasma and laser fire coming from the eastern continent cannon site. There was also sporadic fire from other surface locations. At the speed Angel 7 and Demon 2 were approaching, the incoming rounds looked to be in slow motion.

  They reached the stratosphere, about thirty miles above the surface, and began their turns toward the initial target. In this region of the atmosphere is the ozone layer, which absorbs most of the harmful ultraviolet radiation from Fell’s sun. The temperature increases slightly with altitude in the stratosphere. The highest temperature in this region is only thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit or zero degrees Celsius. Temperature was not a factor, but friction was. The ships now had to maneuver like jets and not spaceships. Speed was reduced. Still, they traveled at nearly Mach 20, or 15,000 miles per hour.

  They finally encountered the lowest atmospheric layer, the troposphere at about seven miles. The thick, moist Fellen air added more friction, dropping the two ships to just over Mach 10. Clouds engulfed them in the troposphere, with sheets of rain pounding against their hulls.

  This presented the most dangerous position for the two ships. They were vulnerable to the same weapons that killed Baker and his team.

  Mags evaded laser fire, and ducked plasma rounds as she came across the first cannon. Sky lacerated the camp, cannon and immediate vicinity with kinetic rounds and forward lasers. As Angel 7 screamed by, weapons on the ground followed their departure, leaving them vulnerable to Demon 2.