Battleship Avenger (Conquest of Stars Book 2)

by Sid Kar

  As they were walking down the corridors, the Nestorians were flummoxed to see Strike Soldiers patrolling everywhere with their laser guns ready and drawn.

  “I don’t mean to intrude,” Bakus said to Styx, “But it looks like a curfew to me.”

  “Just a drill,” Styx lied, “practice for if the Mercurians manage to infiltrate us.”

  Bakus suspected that something was up abroad Conquistador but it was not his place to push for answers. He just hoped this did not get in the way of their combat operations.

  Styx led them to a small conference room and waited outside with his guards while Bakus, Joules and Agnosis walked in.

  Raptor immediately spotted Agnosis and asked, “What is he doing here?”

  Agnosis said nothing, he had been ordered by Joules to only speak when spoken to.

  “He is going to lead our spacefighter attack on the planet,” Bakus said.

  “Alright,” Raptor said tersely, “Welcome abroad our spaceship. Unfortunately we don’t have time for a tour.”

  “Some other time,” Bakus said. It was a tradition amongst space fleets when one ship commander visited another for the first time he would receive a tour. But Bakus didn’t care for it; Starfirians would have arranged it in such a way so that Nestorian’s didn’t learn anything about Starfirian army technology anyhow.

  “This is my Vice-Commodore Barryett,” Raptor said and then pointed to a younger man on his left, “and Colonel Kartar Ryft; he is the top ranking officer of our space fighter section.”

  “Major Joules,” Bakus pointed to him, “My second-in-command and Capitan Agnosis you are familiar with.”

  “General what is your battle plan?” Raptor asked.

  “Now that you are here, much better strategies are available to us than my plan,” Bakus said, “I certainly hope you haven’t come all the way to just watch the action.”

  “Joking general?” Raptor said, “This is not a cruise ship. But make no mistake, I have not been given an order by my Supreme Commander to strike the Mercurians, but you have received a direct one by your Chancellor. We will do what we plan to do, you will receive benefits as a side effect but you will have to eat the dish we serve you even if it’s too sour or salty for your palate.”

  “We are however open to any suggestions,” Barryett said, “We have a plan in mind but aren’t rigid.”

  “In that case, you should know that our plan of attack is straightforward,” Bakus said, “Make a run with the battleship from one side and the spacefighters from other,” he looked at Agnosis, “We will hit as many military sites as possible. But if their strength is insufficient and we get an opportunity, we will do another run to strike their industrial sectors.”

  “You will be lucky to manage one run on your own,” Raptor said, “There are three Mercurian battleships guarding that planet.”

  “How can you know this Commodore?” Joules asked, “Even Starfirian scanners can’t distinguish battleship’s gravity signals from so far when they are orbiting close to a planet.”

  “We caught two Mercurian ships flying deeper into their space beyond this system on our scanner,” Raptor said, “Computer matches them to two who were involved in the attack on your Nestor. Five of theirs had escaped, that makes it three still guarding their outpost here.”

  “That is a conjecture,” Bakus said.

  “True, but it doesn’t matter,” Raptor said, “Here is our plan of action. Conquistador is going to make a mad dash at the target planet; they will launch either one, two or all three battleships – latter if they are mad – at us. We are going to lead them away from the system leaving the planet for you to clean up.”

  “You are going to just fake an attack?” Bakus said wide eyed, “and give us the privilege of doing all the fighting?” Bakus hadn’t forgotten how Conquistador had hid out under the ocean while Nestorian battleships in the orbit were taking a beating.

  “If they send only one after me, I will turn my ship right around and rip it to shreds,” Raptor said, “If they send two or three then I will take them on a ride out of the system but if they send three you will have an easy victory. But my actions don’t concern you because either way you face reduced enemy strength.”

  Bakus looked keenly at Raptor. He was an efficient commander who tried to do most with least resources and even with other’s resources. He had proven his mettle at the Battle of Nestor but he was a Starfirian and Bakus did not trust the Empire’s agenda for this region of space.

  “We will go along with it,” Bakus said.

  “Good,” Raptor said and smiled wide, “In the spirit of our cooperation, I am going to give you five hundred of my spacefighters under Col. Kartar’s command. They will attack the target planet from the opposite side of your battleship’s vector.”

  “We very much appreciate that,” Joules said.

  Bakus, Joules and Agnosis took their leave and were once again escorted by Capitan Styx and his guards to the bay from where they flew back to Avenger in their shuttle.

  “That was generous of Commodore,” Agnosis said, “I am also curious to see Starfirian fighter planes in action.”

  “Don’t let that gesture fool you,” Bakus said, “Starfirians want to collect data on the Mercurians and Col. Kartar’s spacefighters will be loaded with electronic sensors.”

  “Oh…” Agnosis mumbled.

  “But you did well, Capitan,” Joules smiled at him.

  “I did nothing,” Agnosis said.

  “Exactly,” said Bakus and guffawed along with Joules.

  Agnosis grinned sheepishly as he docked the shuttle in Avenger’s bay.

  Starship Conquistador came out from behind the outermost planet of the system and slowly accelerated towards the target planet. The Mercurian outpost’s scanners lit up with the large and distinct gravitational signal of Conquistador as it made its run towards them. The Mercurians dispatched two of their three battleships to engage it in mid space.

  Commodore Raptor kept his spaceship steady on the course. He did not want to switch course too early for fear that if Mercurians were too far way, they might decide to abandon chase and return. He wanted them to commit to chasing him. Conquistador flew all the way just short of the estimated rocket range of Mercurian battleships, then Raptor turned its vector away from the target planet. He kept his speed low enough that Mercurians would have hope of catching him but fast enough to easily maneuver out of the path of any rockets. The Mercurians however did not launch a rocket barrage. Both of them had taken a beating in the attack on Nestor and their arsenal was depleted too. They tried hard to close the range but to no avail. Every time they thought they were gaining on the Starfirian vessel it would just zoom ahead.

  General Bakus and his crew patiently watched this chase. Starship Conquistador took its two pursuers out of the solar system along with it and they disappeared in deep space out of Avenger’s scanner range. Two days had passed since Bakus had the meeting with Raptor and now it was his turn.

  “Nestorian soldiers,” Bakus said to his command room, “We come to avenge the attack on our republic, on our homes and the death of our comrades and civilians. Let us put the Mercurians on notice that they can’t make us the subjects of their foul ambitions.”

  The officers and the crew nodded their head in support of Bakus who turned his head slowly to look at everyone. There was determination on their faces and that is what he wanted.

  “Major Joules, give me top acceleration to the target,” Bakus said.

  “Yes General,” Joules replied. He directed the flight crew to pull Avenger out of its hiding behind the outer planet and accelerated at top rate towards its target.

  Bakus closely watched the scanner data. There was no movement from the Mercurian planet. No battleship came out to do battle with him in space. This was either good or bad, either Com. Raptor’s plan had worked or the Mercurians were preparing an ambush for him. But it didn’t matter because they were fully committed now.

  At one
point Avenger had to decelerate again to avoid getting pulled into the planet by its gravity. The Nestorian spaceship flew for two hours before it received its first certain data point about the enemy.

  “General Bakus, the electronics scanner shows one Mercurian Battleship present in the planet’s orbit,” signals officer Porkus Bellus said excitedly.

  “The Starfirian was right, I have to give him that,” Bakus said.

  “That’s why they didn’t come out,” Joules said, “In the orbit it will have support from planetary ground batteries. The force multiplier effect.”

  “This ship can handle both,” Bakus said.

  “General, the scanner computer indicates this enemy ship was at the battle of Nestor,” Tagg remarked.

  “Even better,” Bakus said, “We make them pay for it.”

  The planet became bigger and bigger on the visual display and the officers stared at it.

  “It is aqua blue,” Joules said, “Is that all water?”

  “It is greenish-blue,” Bakus corrected, “And unless their oceans are filled to the brim with algae, that appears to be methane oceans.”

  “It is methane,” Porkus confirmed, “chemical composition data now filtering in…nitrides, sulfides…what the hell, those are oceans of liquid methane. What kind of aliens find that hospitable?”

  “We don’t know yet if that’s their natural habitat or they are living inside temperature and atmosphere controlled domes,” Bakus said.

  “Their battleship is still not coming out,” Joules said, “Looks like it is going to be a sub-light speed battle.”

  “Yes, a punch for punch fight,” Bakus said.

  “Col. Kartar of Starfirian fighters sends message that they are on their way for their part in the mission,” Jovus said.

  “Prepare our fighters too,” Bakus said, “get them in their planes.”

  “Fighter pilots ready to launch,” Porus replied, “Awaiting orders.”

  The five hundred Starfirian space fighters had flown astern Battleship Avenger to avoid detection and identification as an independent force and now they broke cover and flew towards the small moon that was the lone satellite of the planet. The moon’s gravity masked the minute gravitational signature of the spacefighters.

  “General, the enemy battleship is moving at a 45 degree angle from our vector to the planet,” Tagg said.

  “Flanking?” Joules looked at Bakus with questioning face.

  “Yes, but more than that,” Bakus said, “They want to catch us in crossfire between their spaceship and their planetary weapons. However we practice this very tactic every year on both sides of it. I want that ship to be kept between Avenger and the planet. Get to it.”

  Joules and the flight crew worked frantically to maneuver Avenger and it banked hard to its left and accelerated to avoid getting flanked. The Mercurian battleship reversed course a hundred and eighty degrees and Avenger mimicked it precisely and it too turned on its heel. The Mercurian battleship turned straight towards Avenger and accelerated rapidly in an attempt to pass it. But Avenger’s flight crew was dexterous and experienced, having been chosen from the best of Nestorian battlefleet crews, and it too swung its nose rapidly out towards space and accelerated furiously. Before Mercurian battleship could rise parallel to it, the Nestorian ship had darted off further in space still keeping the Mercurian ship between them and the planet.

  Then the battle began.

  The Mercurian commander must have reached the limits of his frustration because he abandoned space maneuvers and let loose with a massive volley of rockets.

  “Return fire, rocket for rocket,” Bakus said.

  “Launching offensive and defensive rockets,” Xanus replied.

  Rockets launched from the tubes of both battleships and lurched at each other. Many collided in mid space while others smashed on to the shields protecting the hull.

  “Activate the laser defense system,” Bakus said, “switch it to automatic.”

  “Laser is on automatic, general,” Joules said, “We should start firing concentrated lasers at them.”

  “Joules take personal charge of laser offensive,” Bakus said, “Probe for weakness in their shields.”

  “Yes general, taking control,” Joules said. He started identifying potential targets on the enemy’s hull and passed them to the junior laser officers who would try to strike them. Streaks of powerful green laser rushed from Avenger’s cannons and splattered over the Mercurian battleship at multiple points. The Mercurian commander retaliated with blue lasers striking Avenger every which way.

  Bakus knew he had an advantage here. The Mercurian ship had taken some damage to its hull that was visible and also picked up by the scanners and identified by the computers which compared pattern over the entire hull. The fact that it was a sub-light speed battle made visual targeting possible as the laser officers were doing. They were using telescopes to find spots on enemy’s hull that might be signs of damage and testing them with concentrated laser. All they had to do was to open one hole large enough for a rocket to pass through and keep it open long enough for it to reach inside and then the warhead abroad the rocket would tear the enemy from inside out.

  The Avenger had a new, fully charged shield and while a spaceship’s hull was never completely uniformly strong, it would take a lot of random probing laser fire from Mercurian battleship to find a weak spot on her.

  “General, the enemy has launched spacefighters,” Tagg said, “the computer estimates 300 of them.”

  “No doubt to try to take out our laser cannons,” Joules said.

  “Porus, launch all fighter planes,” Bakus said, “Order them to restrict their objective to intercept the enemy fighters till further notice.”

  “Yes sir, sending directions to Capitan Agnosis now,” Porus replied, “Fighter planes launching at ten per second.”

  Capitan Agnosis was the first spacefighter out of Avenger’s bay and he accelerated straight at the incoming enemy fighters. He was joined by his squadron mates and they readied their rockets and lasers while counting down the seconds to the effective range. There were 200 of them and while they were outnumbered Agnosis wasn’t too worried. They had experience fighting the Mercurians and he had handpicked the best pilots from across the entire Nestorian battlefleet for this mission.

  An enemy spacefighter flew at him head on and Agnosis strafed him with his lasers at full charge. He took off a wing from the enemy fighter and sent it tumbling wayward in space. He quickly pulled up to avoid the incoming rocket it had managed to lob at him and the rocket made a narrow pass under his fuel tank.

  The Nestorian and Mercurian spacefighters passed each other firing lasers and then turned around to engage each other in dogfights. Mercurians took advantage of their superior numbers and many of their spacefighters kept flying towards Avenger. Agnosis and a few others pulled their fighters in a reverse roll and got on their tail. Their primary objective was to save their powerful laser cannons. Agnosis now fired a rocket at a Mercurian spacefighter heading towards Avenger which banked hard to the right and the rocket went straight ahead and exploded against Avenger’s hull. Agnosis cursed violently although he knew a single rocket from a spacefighter would barely scratch a battleship’s hull.

  “How is our laser attack going?” Bakus asked abroad the battleship.

  “The Mercurian is a sturdy ship,” Joules replied, “But at this range we are hitting it with most of our shots. Just a matter of time before we can penetrate their shield and hull at someplace.”

  “General, we are picking up rocket launches from the planet’s surface and from under its methane oceans,” Tagg said.

  “They have also started firing ground based lasers at us,” Joules said.

  So the Mercurian commander was feeling the pressure of the battle, Bakus thought. That was a good sign and now if only the Starfirians executed their part of the mission aptly they would gain an upper hand.

  “Permission to divert some rockets at the plane
t?” Xanus asked, “Tagg’s scanner data is identifying geolocations of their rocket launch platforms and laser cannon stations.”

  “No,” General Bakus said firmly, “We concentrate on their battleship. If we can defeat it, we will mop up the planetary defenses. Capitan Jovus, send all the data about plausible locations of their ground defenses to Starfirian spacefighters.”

  “Sending now,” Jovus replied.

  Colonel Kartar Ryft was sitting in his spacefighter watching the data stream in from the battle between Nestorian and Mercurian battleship. Avenger was performing better but its victory was far from a foregone conclusion. And now lasers and rockets were flying in from the planet to aid their battleship. Most lasers missed Avenger well off the mark. It must be difficult for their operators to aim at Avenger when their own battleship was in between and obscuring the view, Kartar thought. But the rockets were faring better as they could maneuver around the Mercurian ship in their flight path to the target.

  The five hundred Starfirian spacefighters were hovering on the dark side of the moon biding their time. As Kartar was checking out the battle data from their own sensors, he received an encrypted message from Avenger. He looked it over and then smiled.

  “Attention, Col. Kartar speaking,” he said on the comm. channel to the rest of his force, “we have received the signal. Prepare for the strike mission: fly low and hit hard.”

  The Starfirian spacefighters launched from the moon and accelerated rapidly to the other side of the planet from the battle. Col. Kartar looked at the planet from his own eyes as it became larger and larger in his view. He had never known a planet like this to be habitable for any alien race he had heard of. The Mercurians must be a real strange one, he thought to himself as their fleet descended down on the planet. The planet’s composition was primarily methane and the surface of the vast blue oceans of liquid methane along with the planet’s atmosphere were shrouded in dense white fog, however it was not uniformly distributed and there were clear spots in the sky.

  “Ready the fighters for the strike run,” Kartar said over the common channel once they had descended to a sufficient altitude. He pulled his stick and steadied his spacefighter in a parallel flight to the planet’s surface and his squadron did likewise.