“Go! I’ve got this!” Frank barked, his eyes red as he looked at the station. Its weapons were failing, being torn from its surface as the weapons started to open up its thick hull, gaining access to the vulnerable areas inside.
Frank continued to control the spell formations, controlling them manually as the ship was hit by another blast, eroding the control of the AI that assisted the BloodHawk.
The station was covered in weapons fire, a juggernaut that wouldn’t give up.
“Focus on this point!” Frank yelled to the other fire controllers.
Light spell formations flared to life. The other fire controllers listened to their brother, pushing the limits of their magical coding. The second fleet’s battleship’s Mana barriers failed, a hole appearing in her hull.
A Pandoran destroyer was ruptured and another missile boat sent adrift but their weapons kept firing, their attacks landing on the station. They didn’t teleport away; they didn’t try to escape. They knew that if they didn’t destroy this station, then it would recover its Mana barrier and tear apart the combined fleet.
Those in the main fleet and the Jukal home world fleet looked at the two forces locked in combat, neither giving an inch. The station continued to tear apart ships with ease while the Pandora fleets held on, pouring out all of the potential that they had.
It was savage and brutal as ships were turned to shrapnel, decks opened to space.
A hole opened up in the hull of the station under the onslaught of Frank’s attacks. Multiple light beams tore into the hull of the station; portal relays that could bear on it fired out needle rounds.
They smashed into the opening. Armored panels were contorted and destroyed. The needle turned to shrapnel that ripped through the interior of the station.
Another needle round slammed into the point that the ships were focusing on, opening it wider and rushing through it. It hit what must have been a missile bunker on an inner section of the station. The whole quarter of the station exploded outward as a miniature sun exploded inside the station.
Sections of the hull were contorted and shaken. Many of the weapons systems failed. Missiles and needles that had already been fired didn’t stop as they mercilessly opened up the hole in the station’s hull and tore through everything inside. The station’s systems were broken and destroyed as it started to break apart, nothing more than a broken hull.
Frank leaned back in his chair, noticing that things were floating around. A ping on his interface told him that his Mana barrier had automatically activated, as the command center was open to space and without atmosphere.
A pop-up appeared in his face, asking him to join a private chat. He accessed it.
“All right, Navigation. Try to see if we can’t level her out. Engineering, let’s link some of our portals up to a power source in order to speed up the recovery of the soul gem constructs. I want us sealed up first and the air sorted. Communications and Sensors, direct teams to those wounded or trapped—let’s get them sorted out. Once we’ve got that, we’ll render assistance to the other forces. Frank, could you send orders for those portal relays to return? Let’s have them on defense, covering us,” Captain Xiao said from his command chair.
Frank looked around the room, seeing the core members of the command center all there.
“Sir, why didn’t you evacuate?” Frank asked.
Xiao chuckled slightly, holding back from replying as Navigation spoke up.
“Well, you needed someone to keep you level. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice we were drifting,” Navigation said.
“The sensors were a bit wonky—not going to let the targeting be thrown off by that,” Sensors offered.
“Needed to make sure you didn’t break all of the runic lines. Was a pain managing that power so the spell formations didn’t collapse,” the officer for Mana barriers said.
Frank choked up as he looked to them all. Even as they joked around, he could sense the care that they showed toward him.
A smile appeared on his face. He rubbed his eyes, clearing away any signs of tears, his emotions a mess from it all. He sat back, realizing how close he had come to death and how they had stood beside him, facing the same struggles as him, without a second glance.
“Thank you,” Frank said simply. The atmosphere turned awkward.
“Well, you’d do it for any of us,” Xiao said. “Now let’s get to work. That second fleet is almost here and the main fleet is tearing the home world fleet to shit,” Xiao said.
Frank looked through his sensors, seeing the three Pandora fleets giving everything they had. The combined fleets seemed to have found new strength as they tore through the Jukal home world fleet.
The Jukal were unable to withstand the combined fleets’ firepower. Already weakened by the three Pandora fleets from before, they had lost the initiative and were getting worse.
A grim look appeared on Frank’s face. He’d escaped death, barely, but even with that, his battle wasn’t over.
The Jukal fleet that was returning was taking the time to gather their forces now. It would take them a total of two days to reach the Jukal home world.
The combined fleets and the Jukal home world fleet separated. The Deq’ual ships had taken the most losses. Without the teleportation spells, they couldn’t escape after their barriers failed. However, they had been swarmed by Mana barrier orbs in order to make them harder to kill.
Even as the two fleets broke apart, the Jukal were still in the midst of the portal relays that had been left in the combined fleets’ wake. The bastion continued to fire backward and the portals around the ships moved to unleash attacks on them.
A battleship trailing behind received their combined attention. Its shields failed as its hull was scraped and opened up. Deep grooves appeared in the hull before a strike rammed right up its engine. The ship’s rear exploded and the ship blew apart.
The Jukal fleet tried to get another ship but were unable to do much more than damage their hulls.
It continued for another twenty seconds before they were truly out of range.
The combined fleet altered their course, aiming for Pandora Fleets One, Two, and Three.
The Jukal fleet changed their course as well, heading for the rest of the Jukal fleet that had returned.
There were still dozens of defense stations around the Jukal home world to contest the combined fleet holding the home world’s orbitals, leading to a standoff.
Frank turned his attention to the damage. Looking to the reports on his people, he let out a heavy sigh upon seeing the dead and injured. It was not his first time losing people, he knew, but it never got easier.
***
Bob let out a yell as his conjured spear cut through the sky, piercing the battlefield lord that was running away. The slaves were also in a full rout. The Emerilians chased them from behind and above, pressing them harder and harder.
The battlefield lords, after seeing their fellows being slaughtered, started to retreat, only to find the Emerilians were not willing to let them go.
As the last battlefield lord fell, the slaves’ morale plummeted. Here and there, they would fight, but most of them just kept running.
“Slow the pace!” Lox barked.
The Emerilian force slowed down, the slaves quickly leaving them behind. Suddenly, those who were running away started exploding.
Dave frowned as he connected to the flying citadels. Where are you? Come on—what’s the frequency? Dave’s mind moved a million times a minute as he looked through reams of information on his interface.
“There you are!” Dave found what he needed before he sent commands to the flying citadel.
A massive spell formation appeared over the slaves. They shot upward, trying to destroy it, but how could they compare to the power of sixty-four flying citadels?
Streamers shot down from the sky and landed on the slaves. Immediately they stopped exploding and the spell formation disappeared.
He’d found out the
signal for the kill switches in the slaves, blocking it and sending down a spell to destroy the implanted kill switch in their bodies.
The slaves didn’t pay it any heed and kept running.
“Reduce the fire on the slaves,” Lox said.
The flying citadels responded. The rate of fire decreased as the slaves ran and flew off into the distance.
“Forces on the front lines, hold position. Fresh forces, move up. Everyone check your gear and look after any issues you have.” With Lox’s orders, their forces started to move about. The flying citadels’ rate of fire came to a halt.
The forces on the front line rotated out, Party Zero included. The floating defensive structures were now holding back after having lost thirteen islands; they had started gathering their forces instead of wasting them away with fighting the flying citadels. It was clear that they were readying another offensive.
The Emerilian forces were quickly moving through the pit that had once been the slaves’ home. For them, the distance of ten kilometers wasn’t enough to make them feel even out of breath.
Missiles shot out from the flying citadels as spell formations appeared above the floating defenses. Beams battered the floating islands, smashing them down.
The missile grand workings activated, creating teleport points through which attack spells were sent through.
“Looks like the floating islands aren’t quite out of range,” Steve commented. Dave looked over to him. Their size could almost be compared to a dragon’s. Steve’s attacks shook the heavens and earth. With one swipe of his axe, he had killed hundreds of the slaves and three of the battlefield lord’s minions.
The arks kept any Jukal forces out, with their portals creating sealing shields. The flying citadels suppressed and destroyed the floating defenses; scouts patrolled the sky and the ground as the entire Emerilian and Jakan force advanced, taking the portals with them.
It seemed as if their advance couldn’t be stopped. As they sped along the ground, the combined fleet tried to repair their ships as best as they could and prepare for the coming battle. Their original fighting force of a hundred and thirty-three was now down to eighty-nine ships. Eighty-nine against nearly two hundred Jukal fleet ships and defensive stations around the Jukal home world.
The Jakan continued onward. The defenses hidden in the emperor’s residence and the ambushes by the slaves were found by the forward scouts and ended before they could begin.
Those who surrendered were sealed by overseers and sent to Emerilia. The ground shook with their advance, none of them daring to slow down. They no longer marched in lines but rather jumped and crossed over the broken battlefield below in a fashion similar to tree tag that the Stone Raiders had played when moving between locations on Opheir.
In front of the emperor’s main palace, a new force was showing its face. Massive floating defenses hovered in the air; drones moved around them in groups. Below them, sections of the ground opened up, revealing massive defensive works, missile batteries and artillery.
Mechas were located behind walls, organized in groups of nine.
The ground all around the palace started to change, revealing more defenses and weapons emplacements. Armored Jukal moved to and fro, organizing the defenses and turning the majestic palace into a fortress.
Chapter 18: Victory or Defeat
In the space of a day, the Emerilian and Jakan forces on the ground were closing in on the Jukal emperor’s palace. While the combined fleet were repairing their ships, engineers, mages, and people from the asteroid base and the Deq’ual outpost swarmed through their ships to help with the rebuild and repairs that they desperately needed.
Their ships were not in the best condition but they only had one day before the Jukal reached them.
The worst of the Pandora ships stayed behind with the Deq’ual ships supporting them. They were constantly releasing needles. Jeeves worked out the math for the needles’ trajectory, using the gravity of the home world and the best firing angles and speeds imparted on the needles to curve around the planet’s atmosphere and hit the stations.
Five had fallen under the steady and unending barrage laid down by the combined fleet.
Frank was deep in the weapons decks of the BloodHawk, working to get different systems online when he got an alert for Pandoran Fleets Four to Eleven were moving out. Most of the fleets had lost a ship or two at this time. They had beaten the Jukal, but they hadn’t had any definitive victories in the Jukal home system yet.
Frank and the others slowed their work as interfaces were activated, all of them watching as the rest of the Pandoran ships were sent out.
They teleported out from where they were stationed, taking portal relays and the bastions with them.
Although they had been able to repair themselves in record time, the Jukal fleet hadn’t been able to regrow their armor panels and electronics, putting them at a disadvantage in one aspect.
The bastions portaled into the middle of the Jukal force, flushing out portal relays through their teleport pads and onos.
The teleport pads and onos could increase the size of their event horizon, allowing them to move the fully functional portal arrays out. They were like a shoal of baby fish around a moth compared to the bastions. They unleashed chaos among the Jukal without warning.
Pandoran ships teleported around the Jukal, isolating ships, unleashing everything they had and teleporting away.
Frank watched for a few more minutes before he looked away. The strategy worked by manipulating the teleportation spells to their limit and the precise command and control and communication between the fire control and their weapons techs.
“Let’s get back to work!” Frank said.
***
“Well, that is a fucking mess,” Lox said.
Party Zero, as well as Fire, Mal, Air, Water, and Bob were all on one of the flying citadels, looking out over the terrain ahead.
The slaves from the battlefield were fighting against the Jukal defenses. However, there had been little chance for them to get close. Many had been cut down, the ground covered in craters and destruction where the slaves had been cut down. Bodies littered the fields and only a few of the slaves remained. As they had advanced, the Emerilian and Jakan force had come across more and more of the slaves looking to surrender.
The Emerilian and Jakan force wasn’t far behind the slave force.
They had finally left behind the pit that was the battlefield under the emperor’s residence and been greeted by the remains of the slaughter.
They were all looking to the defenses around the palace. There were light cannons as powerful as the ones mounted on the defensive station looking out at them. There were hundreds of Jukal mechas, swarms of drones, and a sea of defensive structures, both in the sky and across the ground.
“Well, looks like we’ll just have to take their aggro and keep them off-balance,” Dave said. He was now just wearing his normal armor, the parts of his mecha form secured within his bags of holding.
“Let’s make camp, get settled. Use long-range attacks—poke them a bit and see what happens. Have the Mana barriers deployed,” Deia suggested.
“Nothing like getting a rogue to earn their pay,” Dave said.
***
Kim released the Jukal in front of her. They collapsed, the ground eating them up—the Blood Kins’ work. They were hiding a few hundred meters under the ground.
Kim opened her eyes, blinking a few times as her eyes shifted from side to side. “All right, takes a bit of time when running that soul search stuff, and people with less nanites are harder to pull memories from.” Kim took the time to organize herself. “All right, I have a good idea of where he is. Going to need another person to corroborate, however—got a bunch of possible targets in mind.”
Under Kim’s guidance, they moved through the ground, bypassing tunnels and structures that were buried under the Jukal palace. Finally they came to the side of an underground structure.
Kim
cast a sensing spell, allowing her to find out what was on the other side of the wall. “They’re home—grab ’em!”
The wall opened up as Josh stealthed forward and disappeared into the room. He flitted through the shadows, finding an officer poring over an information terminal. Josh stabbed them with a poisoned blade; they stiffened, their eyes wide as they looked up at Josh.
“Hello there, sweetheart.” Josh turned back to the hole into the room. “Dwayne!” he hissed.
“Coming.” Dwayne made it into the room, helping Josh as they pulled the Jukal out. The Blood Kin sealed up the wall and they disappeared into the depths under the palace once again.
Once they were sorted out, Kim put her hand on the Jukal officer’s head. Light appeared around her hand as she closed her eyes. It took some time for the light to fade. Kim killed the Jukal with a bolt of electricity through the brain. She gathered her thoughts once again and started to go through the Jukal officer’s memory transfer.
“Okay, I know where the emperor is. I also know where the command console is. It’s going to take some time to get past the security to get to either. Might be best if we split up.” Kim’s fingers moved over her interface as she pulled out a Mirror of Communication. She closed her eyes and accessed the Mirror of Communication.
“All right, Lucy, you go with the Blood Kin and get that command console sorted out. You’ve got the programming for it and the information from the Pantheon, Dave, and Malsour. We’ll deal with the emperor,” Josh said, his hands resting on the curved blades in the small of his back.
Kim opened her eyes some time later as she shared something with them all. “Okay, just used the conference room builder in the Mirror of Communication to come up with this map. It’s really rough but it’s accurate,” Kim said. A map appeared of the underground facilities under the emperor’s palace. An overlay appeared, with blueprints and information that they had been able to collect on the palace as well as what they had been able to scan from the various sensory enhancing spells that the Emerilian and Jakan ground force had used.
Most of them glanced to the massive array of defenses that covered the area around the palace, facing their allies.
Empire Burning (Emerilia Book 11) Page 26