Fallen Empire: Ten Davids, Two Goliaths (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Matthew Quinn

  “Will do, Raptor One.”

  Good. “All right, Raptor Squadron. All together, on my mark. Five, four, three, two...”

  “One!” all the pilots under his command shouted together. The five Strikers leaped off the asteroid and dove right for the Achilles.

  ***

  Tammy’s Striker-13 hurtled through space on Geun’s four, her engine almost hitting the red lines. “Woo-hoo!” she shouted, for a moment feeling like the cowboy ancestors on Old Earth her mother had told her about. Only this time, she was going to rope some Imperials, not some cattle that had gotten separated from the herd.

  The sun Rebus caught her attention and she momentarily bowed her head. Rebus, for prosperity. That was a good sign their mission was blessed. The Empire was a parasite, feeding on the lifeblood of dozens of worlds and billons of people, and today they were going to pull the great tick’s stinger out a little bit.

  “Everything check out?” Geun’s voice echoed in her earstar. He asked every member of the Raptor Squadron that whenever they went on a mission, but she knew what he really meant. Had she taken her Psilex before the two squadrons went out the previous night?

  She thought back. Had she? She hadn’t missed a dose in weeks. She felt the heat of the life-giving suns in the tips of her blonde hair, but the embers were dying. She frowned. If she’d had her Rioters she’d feel the burning of the Suns Trinity in her bones, the roaring of their fusion-fires in her ears, but the CAG had made it clear she could not make the full communion with the Suns Trinity until the Empire fell. In that they’d been just as firm as the Navy had been, although they’d provided her Psilex as a poor substitute rather than ordering her to report for mental reprogramming.

  “Everything checks out, sir.” As her fighter hurtled toward the two Imperial cruisers, her stomach began to slowly tie itself in knots. Had she taken the Psilex before they left? The intelligence about the cruisers had come in so quickly they had to fly out the night before. The squadron had time to hit the head and that would have been the time to take the pills, but they were in such a hurry...

  The knot in her stomach tied tightly. It was possible nothing would happen. When the CAG back when she flew for the Imperials had gotten too nosy she’d gone days without communion with the gods to allay his suspicions and didn’t suffer for it. But the Suns Trinity could be fickle, and if they really wanted to get a message through, they had many options...

  She shook her head. “Everything checks out,” she repeated.

  “Are you sure?” Geun’s voice was full of concern. Of all the other members of the squadron, he was the one who understood.

  “Yes sir.”

  “Good.”

  She swallowed. Had she lied to him? She didn’t know if she’d definitively forgotten to take the Psilex before they left. Maybe she had and was just worrying too much. She wouldn’t burden her squadron commander with her concerns, not now. There was too much riding on him having a clear head.

  ***

  Geun pushed his concerns about Tammy away. He could change nothing about her situation. All worry would do now was distract him from the task at hand. He breathed in and out, slowly calming his nerves.

  His console buzzed. The Achilles wanted to know who they were. He transmitted a set of codes another defector had brought after the Perun Arcade Massacre. They probably wouldn’t fool the Imperials long, but in space a few seconds could be good enough...

  “Go for the bow like the captain ordered,” Geun continued. “Cross the T and minimize the flak.”

  The squadron looped toward the Imperial cruiser, bearing down on its bow like a wolf pack. Geun’s console kept buzzing. The cruisers were pinging them hard with LIDAR. The Achilles grew larger. He swallowed. Thank the Buddha of the Three Suns that the Sarpedon was too far away to support them.

  Geun flew the fighter out in a long loop taking him ahead of the Achilles. A quick glance at his console showed the other members of Raptor Squadron flew behind him, a perfect arrowhead that would soon turn toward the enemy cruiser’s bow and unleash hell on them.

  “Turn toward the cruiser on my mark,” Geun ordered. There is no crime like hatred and no joy like the joy of freedom. Buddha of the Three Suns, this is so that all will enjoy this freedom. Buddha of the Three Suns, send bloody-eyed Begtse to help us. “Three, two, one.”

  The squadron banked toward the Achilles. The LIDAR pinging was so constant it tempted Geun to override the console and stop the buzzing. A quick glance showed Dragon Squadron orienting on the Sarpedon’s bow. He smiled. Everything was going according to plan.

  “I want everybody targeting their frontal shields. Concentrate your fire and cut a hole for the torpedoes. I don’t want to expend them on shields, I want to expend them on ahridium.”

  “Aye aye sir.” Tammy sounded chipper, not stressed or nervous. Maybe she wouldn’t suffer a flashback in the middle of the battle. They were spaced out so she wouldn’t crash into another Striker, but if she didn’t keep her head the Achilles’ e-cannons would find it all the easier to cut her to pieces.

  The Imperial IFF queries stopped abruptly. Geun swallowed. At this point the enemy had clearly figured out he wasn’t a friend. They wouldn’t waste torpedoes on fighters unless they were bunched up to the point of stupidity, but their e-cannon could pick the fighters’ own torpedoes out of space or slice the fighters to pieces. Another reason not to launch torpedoes until the enemy shields were down.

  Tammy’s voice crackled on the transmitter. “The Achilles is reorienting. They’re going for a broadside.”

  Geun responded via the squadron-wide channel. “Keep oriented on the bow. Most of their guns are on the sides.” Of course there were plenty of guns on the bow too.

  “Aye aye sir,” Raptor Four — Lieutenant Jackie Albertson — said. Geun frowned. She seemed hesitant. He didn’t need anybody bugging off, not right now.

  “Is something wrong, Raptor Four?”

  “Accelerating to match the Achilles is going to really stress our engines. Red line’s getting closer and closer.”

  “Keep going, but keep me posted.” Geun’s gaze flicked across the void toward Dragon Squadron, which was beginning its attack run. Geller’s Striker might be able to better manage the acceleration, but Raptor Squadron had only Striker-13s. “Let me know if you cross the red lines for a prolonged period.”

  “Aye aye sir.”

  Raptor Squadron continued coasting toward the Achilles. “Fire on my mark.” Geun marked a set of coordinates on the Imperial cruiser’s bow shields and transmitted them to the other Striker pilots. Buddha willing, they’d drill through the shields and toss some torpedoes in afterward. “Three, two, one...”

  The five Strikers’ e-cannons lit up, five blood-red streams pouring down onto the front of the Achilles. The cruiser’s shields flared blue-white beneath the assault. “Move around!” Geun ordered. “Don’t make it easier for their flak computers!”

  “Aye aye sir!” Raptor Four’s glee briefly warmed Geun’s own expression. All around him the Strikers moved up and down, their fire — mostly — remaining concentrated. Tammy didn’t respond, but a quick glance showed she was doing her bit. Geun’s gaze lingered on her craft a bit longer. Even if she didn’t have a flashback, evasive maneuvering while keeping fire on one target could be tricky enough. The fighters’ shields should prevent serious damage from a minor collision, but it’d be just the Alliance’s luck to lose two fighters before the Imperials even shot back.

  Geun’s gaze fell to his sensors. The Achilles’ shields held, but had to be drawing power from sections of the ship that weren’t under attack. He frowned. If they had more fighters, they could have hit the weakened sectors and scored breakthroughs.

  If. If the Starseers hadn’t crashed that battlewagon onto Perun Central so long ago, the Perunese Republic might not have become the Empire. If the pirates had picked someone else to rob and kill that day, he might still fly for the Empire. And if Tammy hadn’t met that weirdo preach
er in Recruit Training Command, she’d had never started taking Rioters. “If.” Geun’s lip curled. “If.”

  “Incoming!” Tammy shouted. Geun’s attention jumped to the Achilles. Right light flickered as the cruiser’s own e-cannons opened up on the oncoming fighters.

  “Evasive action, but don’t let up on him!”

  All five fighters went into spins, pirouetting down on the Achilles’ bow like the most lethal dive team in existence. Geun kept his eyes glued to the computers tracking the Strikers’ energy fire. Despite himself, he found himself smiling. They were pouring the pain onto the Imperial cruiser, and so far the enemy hadn’t been able to hit any of them. A red lance of e-cannon fire hurtled past his Striker, setting his shields shimmering briefly but inflicting no damage.

  Geun allowed himself to smile. He’d buy whoever figured out those two ships would be manned by trainees a drink when they got back to the Alliance’s secret asteroid base.

  Then a perfectly-aimed burst of e-cannon fire slammed into Raptor Four. The fighter’s shields held, but the sheer impact of the energy burst sent it tumbling. Two blasts in quick succession evaporated what remained of the shielding and the fighter itself.

  Raptor Squadron was now down by one Striker.

  Chapter Three

  Raptor Four’s icon turned red on Geun’s console “Jackie!” Tammy shouted over the main channel. “Shit!”

  Geun’s hand tightened on the stick. He hadn’t been as close with her as Tammy, but she did share his appreciation for five-grain rice. Hopefully Jackie’s —Raptor Four’s — karma was good enough to earn her a reincarnation after the war ended so she wouldn’t have to go through all this again.She could be an engineer like she’d been before the Perun Arcade Massacre in peace.

  “We all knew this could punch our ticket,” Geun said, throwing his Striker into a spin to avoid another burst of energy. The cruiser’s translucent shields shimmered as they kept eating the fire he poured into them. The other members of Raptor Squadron were all on target, but now the Achilles was shooting back things got a lot trickier.

  Tammy shouted. Geun’s heart leaped into his throat. “You all right?” He hoped to the Buddha she’d gotten that minimal dose before they set out for the asteroid the previous day.

  “Got hit. Shields at 25 percent.”

  Another hit could kill her. If she held off on firing for a moment or three, the Striker’s engines could replenish the shields. But they needed those shields down! “Continue evasive! Make it hard for them to get a bead on you. But keep the fire coming!”

  Raptor Squadron kept on its dive toward the Achilles. An e-cannon blast hurtled Geun’s way. He sent his Striker into a spin once more, but it wasn’t enough to dodge the spear of killing energy. Shields down to 50 percent. He scowled.

  “I’m hit!” Raptor Three — a young man from the Hierarchy Moons Geun didn’t know well — shouted over their link.“Stabilizers out! Right engine offline!”

  “Keep on firing! Keep on...”

  Another shout of pain and Raptor Three’s icon on his console turned red. Geun grit his teeth. Things were already going to hell and the cruiser’s shields were still up!

  “Raptor One, this is Dragon One,” Geller interrupted. “I’m picking up LIDAR emissions from a spot close to you. They’re pinging all the fighters.”

  This time Geun did swear. “Do you know what it might be? Some kind of drone?” The Imperial fighter squadrons he’d flown with had birds loaded with sensors to help track enemies farther out, but he’d have seen one on his own sensors. And he’d never thought a capital ship would need a mobile LIDAR package. His heart sank. A ship with seasoned crews wouldn’t. But trainees were a different story.

  Geller didn’t respond. Geun’s stomach lurched. His eyes fell to the display on his Striker. Dragon One was still in the fight. Good. If there was a third craft out there, his Striker-18’s sensors would be better at picking it up. “Yes, Raptor One it does. It’s big enough for me to pick up, but it’s not as big as a Fang.”

  “Shit.” Green crews should have made for easier targets. But the men and women aboard the Achilles and Sarpedon weren’t nearly the meat on the table Intel thought they’d be. Words first written on Old Earth rose into his mind. Someone had blundered. “Sir, wire me where it is. I’ll send a couple of mine after it.”

  “Will do, Raptor One.” A moment later a set of coordinates appeared on his console. He immediately re-transmitted them to Tammy. “Raptor Two, get that asteroid-kisser! Then get back here!”

  “Aye aye sir!”

  Tammy’s Striker broke off from the squadron and shot after the new enemy ship. “Feed more power into your guns,” he ordered the remaining pilots. He frowned. There was only so much power to go around. They could only keep dancing around the oncoming e-cannon fire, keep shooting, and keep shielded so long before something burned out.

  ***

  It didn’t take long for Tammy to find the target on her own sensors. It wasn’t a Fang, that was for certain, or she could have flown right over it. It was big, but it wasn’t big enough to be one of the sensor birds that flew with a fighter squadron. Some kind of drone? If the Empire replaced manned spacecraft with drones, the Alliance would be in big trouble.

  She fed her engines more power, kicking the fighter after the target. As she got close, her LIDAR painted it in more detail. It was long and skinny, like an Imperial clipper, but clippers were used for the highest-priority transportation missions. As far as she knew, there weren’t any clippers specialized for electronic warfare. Two Imperial escort cruisers on a training mission wouldn’t have such a craft with them.

  She closed her eyes, thinking back to the last time she’d communed with the Suns Trinity. It was after she’d fled the Naval base orbiting Arkadius with the master-at-arms and his henchmen at her heels, before she’d found her way to the Alliance. She’d found a nice quiet corner of the freighter she’d agreed to keep clean in return for passage to Aldrin. She’d swallowed the tablets, set a candle alight between her legs, and pondered the flames that made the elements that made the worlds.

  Nothing came. The Suns Trinity were not inclined to enlighten her right now. Perhaps They didn’t want her to dwell on irrelevancies. The clipper had to be destroyed, regardless of why it was there.

  When she opened her eyes, the clipper was still in her sights, but something odd was happening. It was shifting, its dark edges blurring against the infinite blackness. She swallowed. She’d definitely forgotten her Psilex. Hopefully this would be the worst of it. She could still kill the damn thing. She drew a bead and tightened her finger on the firing trigger...

  Suddenly an enormous eye opened on the clipper’s port side. The bright blue eyeball shifted left and right before making direct contact with her green ones. It narrowed, as though it recognized her.

  “Space!” She yanked her stick upward, pulling the Striker out of its attack run. Most of her fire missed, except for the last few bolts that caught harmlessly on the enemy’s shields. She shot over the Imperial craft and banked her fighter sharply to starboard, looping back toward the ship’s blazing drive. The enemy was turning back toward the battle flashing in the distance.

  “Oh no you don’t!” She opened fire once more. Red energy met blue-white shielding in a flashing display that lingered on her vision seconds longer than it should have. The clipper continued on its course back toward the fight, peppering her with fire from its rearmost guns. And those shots bit deeply into her shields whenever they hit. Tammy jinked her fighter every few seconds, but the hits struck home more often than not. Her shields had been eroded down to fifty percent and although her scans showed the enemy’s were in worse shape, that wouldn’t help her if hers broke before theirs did.

  The enemy ship jolted underneath her bombardment. Something sizzled on the inside of the enemy’s shields. Tammy laughed. First blood — or metal — was hers! If she even managed a localized breakthrough, she might win this quickly and get back to help Ge
un take down the Achilles.

  Then a blue-white torpedo leaped away from the clipper and hurtled straight at her.

  ***

  Geun watched on the LIDAR as Tammy continued farther and farther away. So much for killing the third ship quickly and getting the hell back into the fight. Until she got rid of the clipper or chased it so far away it couldn’t help the enemy anymore, he hadjust two to finish breaking through the Achilles’ shields and throw some torpedoes through.

  Geun’s eyes flicked to the power gauges. The e-cannons were overheating and would need to cool soon. The other fighters were likely in similar situations. If the fire lapsed even for a few moments, the cruiser’s shields would replenish. There’d be no way to get through them. His gaze flicked toward distant Aldrin, which eclipsed one of the three suns. Cleon Moon was a good place for a pilot, especially one with his own ship. Perhaps the Moonstar Mafia was hiring? With the rebellion raging, the Empire had bigger fish to fry and if he broke away during the fight, he doubted either cruiser would follow.

  And if Tammy went with him, she could commune with the Suns in peace. The Moonstar Mafia could provide just the right type of Rioters. That drone or whatever it was was in the direction of Aldrin anyway, so she could flee too...

  Something flickered on the cruiser ahead. Were e-cannon blasts starting to hit the hull? The translucent bubble around the cruiser still shimmered. Perhaps a few emitters were down. Unexpected hope blew the treasonous thought out of his mind.

  No battle plan survives contact with the enemy. “Raptor Five, this is Raptor One. We’re going to need to use torpedoes.”

  “Sir?” Raptor Five — an entirely too conscientious young man who’d been fresh from flight school when the Perun protesters had gotten shot — asked. “I thought...”

  “Plans change, Raptor Five. You see anywhere where e-cannon fire is leaking through?”