“Rear armor broken,” the XO said. “We’re about to find out how tough the hull is—without armor!”
Another strike ate deep into the forward section. The resulting decompression blew a neighboring section to the bridge, blasting through the bulkhead and spitting debris everywhere. Trident’s final moments flashed in his mind.
“They’re slicing us up!”
The ship shook, but only slightly, definitely not a direct weapons strike.
A squadron from Delta Wing vectored for Phoenix faster than heavy cruisers should vector towards anything this close, but they were a couple hundred thousand kilometers away when they noticed she was in trouble.
So focused on their prey the Imperial squadron had been they didn’t notice the closing heavy cruisers. An all-encompassing barrage scattered their formation from the skirmish. Although heavily damaged they managed an astounding speed, to escape further punishment from Delta Wing. And the latter was burning too hard to turn to cut them off.
“Rayne, I thought you could use some help this time.”
“Bless your little soul, Rhineheart. Care to follow my lead?”
“Anytime, Commander.”
****
Flaps turned around.
“Sir, you know I’ve been good about not questioning you, but I have to hear it again to be sure. You said right into the enemy formation?”
“That’s right, Ensign,” Aaron replied. “XO, ready the kinetic barrier. Like them, we brought some new toys to this fight. One toy really—with a lot of surprises.”
The looming enemy battleship formation screened by several escorting heavy cruisers unleashed multiple missile volleys. Phoenix was out in the wild on her own, surging ahead of Rhineheart’s formation. Surely, she was a tempting target for the Imperials.
“Now, XO, engage the barrier,” Aaron ordered.
Tiny turrets arrayed around Phoenix’s hull deployed gravitic charges as she surged through the concentrated enemy formation. Imperial cruisers and battleships spread over two million square kilometers around them. The barrier deflected the hostile missiles like a starburst. The lumbering battleship formations were packed so closely together. The majority of missiles struck Imperial ships before the Imperials realized what was happening and detonated the remaining active missiles.
The distraction, ensuing chaos and punishment delivered by Phoenix granted Shepherd a reprieve. He regrouped his ships and burst into the enemy formation. The results devastating on both sides.
Railgun and missile salvos proved more effective at quickly crippling and destroying Imperial cruisers and battleships. The Imperial warships couldn’t sustain the laser barrages before needing to recharge for another strike. This reduced their effectiveness especially against the more heavily armored United Fleet battleships. However, these drawbacks didn’t hinder United Fleet railgun and missile salvos, which didn’t require as much power to maintain, merely ammunition and magazine reloads.
The advantage skewed the battle in favor of the United Fleet. The Imperial heavy ships inflicted their fair share of horror on United Fleet battleships. However, as more Imperial ships ceased being combat capable, the longer it took them to inflict any appreciable amount of damage on their counterparts.
“Commander,” Alvarez called. “I’m detecting several formations of Imperial warships, which broke away from the fighting earlier—they’ve engaged each other!”
Aaron adjusted his tactical view to the coordinates indicated by Alvarez. Phoenix’s scopes and sensors illustrated the Imperial ships and sure enough, lasers and missiles crisscrossed the combatants. Then he saw it. The Imperial Dreadnought Phalanx in the thick of the fighting.
Aaron reached for the handheld Quintus gave him. He’d have to wait for a reply because Phalanx was several light-minutes away.
“Lord Commander, this is Commander Rayne. What is your status? We stand ready to provide assistance.”
Several minutes later, he received a response. “Negative, Commander, I’ve returned to Phalanx and I’ve ordered a general withdrawal. Some of the ship captains have declared me a traitor. However, the majority of remaining ships are loyal to me. I’ve ordered them to withdraw immediately and most which are able have done so. The usurpers are attacking my ship, and some of my own crew has mutinied. The situation aboard is dire. I will soon lose control of the bridge. There’s nothing you can do for us.”
“Wrong, Quintus. There’s always something to be done so long as it’s worth doing. Stand by, I’ll be seeing you shortly.”
“Aaron,” Vee said. “We don’t have any marines, or even enough spacers for a boarding action. What are you going to do?”
“We don’t need marines. We’ve got Lee,” Aaron said. “Lee! Once we’re done, you’re with me. We’re going to blast those ships attacking Phalanx and punch a hole onto that ship. We’ve got to get Quintus. He’s the only one who can expose the Lord Praetor’s treachery.”
“Ensign, flank speed. Lieutenant, target the frigates with havocs. We’ll have a higher hit percentage as we close. Fire at will with everything else on the heavy cruisers.”
Phoenix burned ahead and at two light-seconds volleyed a spread of missiles into the pesky frigates gnawing away at Phalanx. Three frigates were blown to sparklers and another six drifted away as smoldering hulks.
Phoenix dove under Phalanx’s port beam and vectored dorsal along her starboard section, spitting tungsten all the way. It wasn’t an ideal strategy to close point-blank with heavy cruisers, but once in close, the larger anti-capital laser turrets on the Imperial ships wouldn’t be able to track effectively.
“Keep us in tight, Ensign,” Aaron said. “Keep hammering them, Lieutenant. If you see a clear shot for a havoc, take it, don’t wait on my command.”
“Aye, sir!” they both responded.
The heavy cruisers obviously turned their full attention on the new combatant, evidenced by the fact they scored several laser strikes on the ship.
“Ventral armor weakening,” Vee said. “Recommend we don’t take much more hits below.”
Phoenix vectored hard over starboard as a powerful laser strike from Phalanx crippled one of the Imperial heavy cruisers. Phoenix fired havocs at the remaining cruiser, which accelerated away at full speed, not feeling good about the odds of this engagement.
Quintus hailed.
“Commander, you are indeed crazy. That was the last shot we’ll be firing. The bridge is about to be overrun and we’re evacuating through maintenance tubes. I’ve locked out the bridge controls. They won’t have control of the ship and we still control engineering. We will be unable to open any airlocks for you. We’ll fight this battle here. I will hail again when I can. Quintus out.”
Aaron was already moving to the lift and Lee joined him. They said nothing to each other as they waited. Hammerhead was damaged and out of the question but he still had three other support craft to choose from. Flaps told him he’d checked all and each were good to go. Someone must have flown them in the docking bay so at least he knew the engines worked.
On exiting the lift into the hangar, he looked at the markings on each craft in the bay then he stopped.
U.F.S. Reliant. That must be a good omen.
“Lee, we’re taking Reliant.”
They moved to the small patrol craft and Aaron triggered the ramp open with his handheld. Lee boarded and took the tactical station. To his right Aaron operated the helm and completed an emergency systems check. The systems, which the ship needed to maneuver and propel itself, showed green. That’s all he needed.
The overhead boomed. The bay doors opened.
“You’re clear to depart, Aaron. We’re covering you. Lee, bring him home. Understood?”
“Understood, Vee,” Lee said.
Aaron clapped Lee on the shoulder. “Buckle up!”
Reliant lifted off the deck and burst into the black, and onward to great glory.
Chapter 28 – Define Irony
Reliant
Aaron slapped the control to initialize the seal and Reliant’s airlock sleeve extended to Phalanx. Quintus would not appreciate Aaron blasting holes in his ship, but the handheld link to Quintus provided his exact location on Phalanx, and Aaron felt it expedient to get as close to their mission objective as possible.
The pressure indicator flipped green, and atmosphere normalized. Reliant’s airlock rolled back and revealed a caped figure poised with a weapon, standing at the end of the docking sleeve.
“I told you not to come,” Quintus said, lowering his weapon. Two flanking guards relaxed their postures.
Aaron grinned as he stepped through the sleeve and onto the decks of the Imperial dreadnought. “And you believed that would be the end of it? Finally, someone who hasn’t read my file,” he said, looking over the Imperial Lord Commander. “Don’t you Imperial uppers ever take those things off? What’s with you people and capes.”
Quintus ignored him. “Commander, the situation is deteriorating rapidly. My people still control the engine room, but it’s only a matter of time until they are overwhelmed. If you don’t leave now, you might die here.”
Aaron waved his finger. “I don’t think so. I’m not giving up on you. I’m not about to let the last best hope we have for peace die here. We’re getting you off this ship.”
“I will not abandon my ship to these fundamentalists. Either we die or they do.”
“Quintus,” Aaron said. “You have the information and firsthand knowledge about conspirators from both sides. You said yourself the Emperor is a reasonable and honorable man . . . that he will listen to you. You claimed to want what’s best for the Empire—that isn’t your death. A lot of damage was done today but we have a small chance to stop this escalating to interstellar war.”
Quintus swung on his boot heels and moved back to the barricades he and the loyalists erected. “All that information is stored on my personal server in my quarters. Quite a few rampaging centurions stand between us and them,” he said.
“How many people have you got?”
“Twelve of us here and twelve holding the engine room. Some other smaller groups are scattered throughout the ship. Intra-ship communications are down and handhelds are jammed. However, before we lost comms, my men reported they locked down the majority of usurpers between decks six and ten. I’ve locked out the bridge. But if they get the engine room, they can scuttle the ship or bypass the bridge lockout and take us to warp.”
Aaron joined Quintus and peered beyond the barricade, beyond the melted slag of what he assumed was once the access hatch. “Any good news?”
“Only that the armory was locked down. The traitors don’t have access to battle suits,” Quintus said.
Fwump!
Aaron recoiled as several beams of energy struck the barricade and showered sparks in their direction.
“I take it you have energy weapon suppressors throughout the ship?” he asked.
“Yes but that would also render our weapons ineffective. And being at a numerical disadvantage it’s the only way we’ve succeeded in barricading the engineering section and our present location. Their numbers count for nothing in the narrow corridors once we hold position.”
Aaron snickered and whacked the Lord Commander on his shoulder as he moved back towards Lee.
“We’ve brought a little surprise ourselves—projectile weapons,” Aaron said. “From a time in our history some might argue was more civilized.” Lee handed him two pistols. The same ones he and Alvarez used on Rigel.
Quintus stared at him with a blank expression. “You believe blasting holes in people is more civilized?”
“More so than burning them to a crisp with energy weapons sure,” Aaron said. “The weapons are not that powerful, but they will be enough to stop unarmored combatants. Lee will lead the charge. He’ll get us to your quarters, just point the way,”
“I don’t see how this will work,” Quintus said.
“You’ll see soon enough.”
Quintus pulled up a schematic of the ship on a nearby monitor. “Indeed, if you’re keen on dying by my side, I’ll not stop you.”
He showed them the path from their present location to his personal quarters. Aaron and Lee committed the route to memory.
“You, me and Lee will push towards our objective. We only have two firearms. We’ll leave one here with your team and we’ll have the other.”
Like ants at work, the huddled loyalists disassembled the barricade.
****
Lee threw several stun grenades into the narrow corridor and charged the surprised enemy line. Their weapons weren’t quite useless since now they’d become effective melee tools. It would be far easier to shoot them all, but Aaron made it a special request—use deadly force as a last resort. Hopefully the Imperial Navy had adequate limb replacements in stock. These poor souls are gonna need them soon.
Finally realizing their weapons were useless, the bravest of the lot came out swinging. Lee bobbed and kept moving. Surely, the Commander could handle at least one of them. The others worked up the nerve, but the narrow ship corridor negated their numerical advantage. Perhaps he wouldn’t have to shoot any of them.
Wishful thinking.
As soon as it manifested, he tossed the thought aside. Shooting a few early on might convince the rest to scatter. The second and third Imperial scum took slugs to the knees, they’d probably never felt pain like that before, and hit the deck yowling. A rifled weapon loomed toward his face, but broke into pieces when he hammered it with his favorite arm. The attacker’s eyes bulged. Lee gripped and tossed him into the rear guard.
Both attackers regained their feet, exchanged glances and ran. Lee glanced back in time to see Aaron daze the first one he let pass and Quintus finish him with a blow to the back of the head. Moving right along then. Further down the corridor, men yelled and boots slammed the deck, moving closer. More meat for the grinder. A group of ten rounded the curve in the corridor. It was on now.
Four of them charged together, they didn’t even bother with their useless rifles now. Lee charged into them and half a meter before reaching dropped to his left knee and punched straight with his head down. The first two overzealous Imperials now floated through the air, back the way they came and into the waiting arms of more scum charging up the corridor. Lee slapped the other two towards Aaron and Quintus. He couldn’t have all the fun.
He aimed and discharged several low shots into the mass of charging centurions, causing the front line to fall, and those bringing up the rear to stumble on their fallen comrades. Jumping over the fallen, Lee swept his left boot into the face of one, then rocketed a right boot into the nose of another. By the end of this brawl, he was certain the Lord Commander guy would agree it might have been better to shoot the traitors in the head. He grabbed one of the fallen ones and launched him up into the overhead. The Imperialist hit the deck with a satisfying—face first—thud. He racked back and fired a fist into the throat of the eighth victim.
“Lee,” the Commander croaked, “a little help here!”
Lee snapped around and realized two of the Imperials he left for Aaron and the Lord Commander were quite large. The first one seemed to be trying to pull off Quintus’ head. The other rained fists into Aaron’s face, the latter trying his best to deflect the blows. Lee considered shooting first, but the movement was too great. He ran back, hammered the neck on the one crushing the Lord Commander’s windpipe, grabbed the other, and tossed him down the corridor. When the Imperial staggered to his feet, Lee shot him in both knees.
They reached the first junction and entered the maintenance crawlways. If Lee were a few inches thicker, he wouldn’t have fit. Together they slithered through the maze of engineering maintenance access all the way to the target deck. Lee exited the crawlspace first and faced his enemy. Behind him, Aaron fell out onto the deck. The Commander blew out a breath as he stood side by side with Lee and saw what they were up against.
“By all the known deities in the
universe,” Aaron said.
Lee breathed hard. “I know right, Commander? I count damn near twenty of this scum.”
“Is that all you see, Lee?” Aaron said. “What the hell do they feed these guys, Quintus? They’re nearly twice my size!”
“Traitors,” Quintus said, standing to Aaron’s right. “All of you. Cease your resistance and end this now before you seal the Empire on a path of destruction.”
The ranking scum spat. He was larger than two men—all by himself. “It is you, Quintus, who would lead us to destruction. I imagine if your ilk had your way we would be the next United Systems member world.”
Lee smirked. He’d get a good six at least before the scum closed the distance. He had enough bullets for all of them, but reloading was an issue.
“Blast em, Lee,” Aaron said.
Lee aimed low and fired. Definitely going to hit a little higher than knees this time.
“I got seven, Commander!” he said, as the first set was upon them.
“This is no time for cockiness, Lee!” Aaron yelled back, against the crush of bodies slamming into them.
Indeed!
Lee swept his bionic arm across the first group. The poor bastards tried in vain to deflect it, but he smashed the lot of them against the nearside bulkhead. He swept his arm over the opposite way and bowled over another group. A fresh mountain of bodies slammed into him, wielding rifles and some kind of training staff. Something reflected in the corner of his eye.
Whoosh! A sword! One of them has a bloody sword!
The only good news was the swordsman couldn’t deliver wild swinging strikes while the other scum huddled in so tight—I’m really going to hurt this one! A thrust pierced his side. He grabbed the blade and yanked it out and away from the wielder. He swung the hilt at the swordsman, whacking him across the cheek. Then he flicked the sword in the air, caught the hilt, and threw it into the chest of the former swordsman who staggered backwards and fell.
Border Worlds (United Star Systems Book 1) Page 24