The Epherium Chronicles: Crucible

by T. D. Wilson

  “Captain, secondary cruiser is changing course,” Aldridge announced. “She’s matching our heading and trying to maintain distance.” King to E1.

  Hood stood from his seat. “Helm, alter course thirty degrees to port and accelerate to flank.”

  The Armstrong banked hard into its turn, trying to close the distance between the two ships. The Cilik’ti vessel again matched the Dreadnaught’s course, but the Armstrong had managed to cut the distance by almost one-third.

  “Helm, resume last course. Launch torpedoes as we pass,” Hood ordered.

  The Armstrong banked to her starboard, and five MK98 torpedoes left their launch tubes, speeding toward the Chi’tan cruiser. The cruiser banked away from the Armstrong and accelerated, trying to regain the distance between the two ships.

  “Secondary cruiser is now at three thousand meters. Torpedoes have acquired and will impact in fifteen seconds,” Aldridge assured, but her confidence melted away as her terminal beeped. “Captain, enemy ship has activated countermeasures and is attempting to jam our torpedoes.”

  “Steady as she goes, helm.” Hood knew he had to be patient.

  “Secondary cruiser is changing course again. She’s moving above us, Captain, and angling back to bring her main guns back in the fight. Torpedoes are still holding course. With her jamming up, she’s preparing to let the torpedoes run and pass beneath her,” Aldridge informed him.

  “Helm execute forty degree roll to starboard, match target as she moves,” Hood ordered and waited for the show.

  The torpedoes closed within five hundred meters of their target. The five MK98s made an abrupt alteration to their course and bore down on the Cilik’ti cruiser. Surprise. The Cilik’ti countermeasures were ineffective, and the new torpedoes had held their locks after all. Knight to E5, takes Rook.

  Caught off guard, the cruiser’s point defense guns activated too late. The MK98’s slammed home against the Cilik’ti capital ship. Savage explosions ripped huge holes in her armor, expelling atmosphere from the ship’s interior. Secondary explosions knocked out the cruiser’s engines. Even though it moved under its current momentum, the bow of the ship dipped below her stern, a clear sign she had lost helm control.

  “Port guns open fire. Target those exposed areas!”

  The Armstrong’s gunners couldn’t miss. Huge explosive rounds found their marks deep in the internal workings of the Chi’tan cruiser. More explosions ensued and massive blasts erupted from her stern, fracturing her engines. Sensor readings confirmed that one of the cruiser’s reactors had blown. The ship was disintegrating.

  A cheer broke out on the Command Deck, and Hood felt a sense of relief that the enemy numbers had been reduced. But they were still outnumbered. He checked his terminal for the latest tactical positions. The first cruiser was reengaging. The battle with the second cruiser had taken the Armstrong to the edge of the window he’d drawn to prevent a direct assault on the colony by the Cilik’ti landing craft. The Chi’tan had realized it too. Queen to E5, takes Knight.

  The Chi’tan mother ship, already nearing the planet, accelerated. Large assault landers began to stream out of her launch bays. The Cilik’ti assault lander was a heavily armored transport ship that reminded Hood of an old Earth blimp. However innocent their appearance, these deadly craft were armed to the teeth and could carry up to five vehicles and over one hundred Cilik’ti warriors. Several of the craft already had red auras developing around them as they started to enter the atmosphere.

  Hood had to react fast. “All starboard rail guns target planet-bound landing craft. Fire at will!” Bishop to B5, takes Pawn.

  The Armstrong’s guns put up a wall of fire between the Chi’tan mother ship and the planet. Two of the landers were hit in the first salvo and exploded in a shower of armored shrapnel that struck a third lander, sending it spiraling out of control into the planet’s atmosphere. One of the Armstrong’s fighter groups brought two more of the craft down in a hail of missiles, but more and more slipped through and were on their way planet-side.

  “Lieutenant Wells, you’d better get McGregor. Tell him he’s got incoming.”

  Another blast stuck the Armstrong, and the impact jarred the Command Deck. The first cruiser had reengaged and her primary guns hammered the shield, breaking through the barrier and pounding the armor on the Armstrong’s bow. Knight to D5, takes Pawn.

  Precious seconds ticked by as Hood had to give his gunners clear shots at the remaining transport. The Armstrong took another hit on her bow. No more transports appeared from the mother ship. The last two just entering the atmosphere exploded in massive fireballs, suffering deadly fire from the Armstrong’s guns.

  Hood checked the tactical screen again. Of the nearly fifty transports the mother ship had sent to the planet, only twenty-two of them had made it through. Twenty-two too many. He smacked his thigh in frustration. The Chi’tan got what they wanted. Enough enemy hardware was headed down to the planet to roll over the colony twice, but he had faith in McGregor. It was up to the Marines on the planet now.

  Hood turned his attention back to the cruiser. He needed to finish her off now if they had any chance of tangling with the mother ship. He decided to put another piece into the game. “Aldridge, power up the particle cannon and target that cruiser.” Hood had kept the large particle weapon out of the fight for a reason. The shield had kept the Cilik’ti off-balance, and the torpedoes showed them how much they’d underestimated humans since the war. The particle cannon, well, that put them on the same playing field. It was sure to open their eyes. Queen to E3, takes Pawn. Check.

  It took almost ten seconds for the cannon to complete its charge, and the Cilik’ti cruiser continued its attack. The next blast penetrated the shield. The cruiser’s particle weapons melted away more of the Armstrong’s armor on her bow like butter. Sparks flashed from a panel on the left side of the Command Deck, and a warning alarm flashed on Hood’s screen. “Damage report!” Bishop to E2.

  “That last hit compromised the outer hull, bow sections of decks five and six. Two point defense guns are down, but inner hull integrity and atmosphere are intact,” Aldridge said. Waves of concern for the crew pounded inside Hood like a rising flood, but her next words kept them in check. “No casualties reported.”

  Another hit in that section could be disastrous, and Hood knew it. He turned back toward Aldridge and his jaw tightened. “Lock on to that cruiser and fire.”

  Crackling blue energy gathered on the edge of the huge gun on the top of the Armstrong. Hood watched in earnest as the particle cannon’s energy discharged and slammed into the remaining Chi’tan cruiser. The blast ripped into her hull and exploded in the heart of the vessel. Blue-and-yellow fire along with the ship’s atmosphere burst their way out of the cruiser’s docking bays, accompanied by debris and the bodies of the Cilik’ti crew. The cruiser broke into three pieces. The aft section containing the engines exploded in a blinding flash of white light. Queen to C5, takes Knight.

  Cheers renewed among the crew on the Command Deck, and Hood caught sight of Jillian’s elation as she celebrated with the helmsman. Her hands bolted over her head in jubilation. She gazed back at him, eyes filled with joy. Hood started to celebrate himself, until the power to his station fluctuated. He paused and surveyed the Command Deck while the rest of the crew continued to celebrate. The power flux moved across several of the systems for a brief few seconds then ended.

  Hood reopened his channel to Engineering, “Mr. Whitaker! I thought that power issue on the cannon was fixed.” Whitaker didn’t answer, but Hood could hear him yelling at his staff in the background. “Whitaker, what’s going on?”

  Hood heard racing footsteps, and then Whitaker’s strained voice came over the channel. He was out of breath. “Sorry, Captain. We had...” He stopped and took two deep breaths.

  “You had what?”

  “The cannon,
sir,” Whitaker began, now much clearer. “When we rerouted the power through the space-fold drive, we tapped the raw power feeds in its section to avoid issues with the shield.”

  “I got that. What happened?”

  Sounding somewhat annoyed, Whitaker continued, “Well, the power feeds are fused for their protection against shorts and current overload. It seems the inrush current from the cannon after firing overwhelmed them.”

  “So what? We blew a fuse?”

  “In a sense, yes.”

  Hood pressed his fist into his forehead and clenched his teeth in frustration. “Why didn’t it happen when we first charged the cannon?”

  “Initial charge like that is a slower process, but the recycle creates the huge inrush,” Whitaker explained and then directed one his technicians to check the secondary circuits to the shield.

  The Armstrong completed her turn back toward the planet and the mother ship. Hundreds of fighter drones swarmed in from the huge Cilik’ti vessel and the Armstrong’s point defense guns opened fire on all sides. Two of the Armstrong’s fighter squadrons, both approaching half strength, engaged the drones, while the four gunships pulled in closer to offer support.

  Hood’s face was red from anger. “We’re running out of time, Mr. Whitaker. I need that weapon operational,” he chided. “What are our options?”

  “It’ll take time to route a new circuit to handle that power load and it would be unwise not to protect it in case it took a hit or overloaded. We could lose half the ship if it exploded.”

  The Chi’tan mother ship moved away from the planet but closed the distance to the Armstrong in the process. Queen to A4, takes Pawn. Hood examined the tactical screen again. The ship would be in optimum firing range of the cannon in about ten seconds. He put the channel to Engineering on hold and instructed Aldridge to target all rail gun batteries on the mother ship and open fire. The roar of the Armstrong’s weapons started anew, and explosions began to appear on the mother ship’s armored hull. The powerful armor-piercing rounds slammed into it, wrecking some of the huge ship’s powerful armor plates. Rook to A6.

  Hood opened the channel back to Engineering and Whitaker’s first words were incoherent. “I need a solution, Mr. Whitaker. Can we use the weapon, or are we going to just keep popping fuses?”

  “Well, as I was saying before you put me on hold, we could apply some bleed circuits, but it’ll take time. Once the fuses blow and are reset, the weapon charges slower without the huge inrush and we can—”

  “So you’re saying the gun will charge normally once we reset again.”

  “Yes,” Whitaker answered. “I mean, it’s not ideal, to be sure, but—”

  Hood didn’t have time for him to elaborate. “How many fuse packs do we have, Mr. Whitaker?”

  There was a brief silence on the other and then some whispering. “They’re used on the main power conduits from the reactors,” Whitaker said. Hood could hear him accessing his terminal. “Looks like we have about a hundred in stores?”

  “Excellent. They just became ammo. Get them out of stores, and I want that circuit patched after every shot.”

  “But sir, using these fuses like this could cause wear on the conduits or instability in the cannon, not to mention the drain on the reactors. To be sure, the theory could hold promise, and I imagine the research and engineering community could provide—”

  “Just use them, Mr. Whitaker. We’ll talk about the ramifications for a technical paper on the matter after we win the battle. Hood out.” He slammed his hand against his terminal, and the channel closed. “Aldridge, Whitaker will have the cannon back in operation in a minute. Target those hangars—”

  “Sir!” she said before he could finish. “Sensors just picked up new gun ports on the mother ship.” She checked her screen again. “There’s a massive power spike.”

  Queen to C6, takes Pawn. Check.

  Hood turned back toward his screen and was almost blinded by the flash when the main cannons of the mother ship opened fire, and their energy impacted on the Armstrong’s regenerating shield. Two of the energy bursts pierced the shield and lanced down the front port quarter of the Armstrong’s hull, scorching armor plates as they went.

  The lights in the Command Deck dimmed, and two panels from the ceiling were blown off. Blinding pain erupted on the side of his face and he was knocked off his feet. He got up gingerly, holding his cheek. His hand felt wet and he noticed the blood on his palm. A piece of one of the panels had grazed him. Blood continued to ooze from the wound and he held his hand tight against it to slow the bleeding.

  Hood struggled to focus and dizziness made it hard to stand. He leaned against his chair to steady himself. “Damage report!”

  Aldridge didn’t answer.

  The dizziness subsided, and Hood focused his vision on the Tactical Station. He could see the lieutenant’s prone form beneath the console. He raced to the station, arriving shoulder to shoulder with Jillian. They found Aldridge facedown on the deck but steadily pushing herself up. Both officers grabbed an arm and helped her to her feet.

  “I’m all right, Captain,” she said and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  She assured him and pointed to his cheek. Jillian saw it as well and grabbed one of the nearby med kits from the wall. She opened it and put a medical patch over the wound. The gash was sure to need additional care, but the medication in the patch would seal around it and force the wound to clot.

  Aldridge moved back to her terminal. “Let me check the damage, sir.”

  Hood watched the results flash onto her screen. It wasn’t good. The two main rail guns on the port side were out of commission, as well as one of the torpedo launchers. Scarce pockets of armor remained where the Cilik’ti weapons had struck, and casualty reports began to pour in. No deaths, but several injured, at least two severely.

  “Evasive maneuvers, Titan One,” Hood called to the helm as he walked back to the Command Station. “We can’t go toe-to-toe with that thing, but we can weave and dodge while we land our own punches.” He sat down in his chair and his body ached. Even though the gash on his head stopped bleeding, it still throbbed. “Aldridge, all available guns are to return fire at will. And get that particle cannon locked on. I want to give them a taste of their own medicine.” Queen to C6, takes Queen.

  Jillian sat down next to Hood. His blood was still on her hands, which were shaking. He reached over, grabbed a bloody hand and squeezed it hard to get her attention. Her hands stopped trembling and latched on to his. He could see her patented look of determination return to her face just as the first salvo from the Armstrong’s cannon streaked toward the Chi’tan mother ship. The energy tore a huge hole in one of its launch bays and ruined the bay’s point defense weapons.

  The massive Cilik’ti ship launched another barrage in response that clipped the shield, but missed the Dreadnaught, much to the relief of many on board. Knight to C6, takes Queen and completes trade.

  “I’m worried about Jonathan and Gina,” she said. “I hope they’re doing better than we are up here.”

  Hood’s mind broke away from the battle and he pictured his uncle standing next to McGregor, holding back a swarm of Cilik’ti warriors. He worried about them too. But it was their fight, and he prayed God would protect them.

  Chapter Eleven

  Magellan Colony Site

  Cygni 4

  Saturday, February 1

  Earth Year 2155

  Through his powerful field glasses, McGregor caught sight of the first Cilik’ti assault crafts when they cleared the edge of the atmosphere. It was difficult to see them at first in the turbulent dull red sky. He growled, but it was more of a challenge than anger. He was ready for them. The wind had picked up, and the rain now pelted the Marines’ positions around the colony reducing
visibility, but McGregor didn’t mind the weather. His focus was on the Cilik’ti landing craft, which were coming in hot and under fire. At least three fiery trails veered off in different angles away from the colony, victims of his weapon batteries’ defensive fire. Two disintegrated in the atmosphere, while the third lit up like a fireball and slammed hard into the lower mountains one hundred clicks south of their position.

  More craft barreled into the atmosphere and unfolded large wings. The wings held the majority of their weapons as well as their powerful engines. Once the wings deployed, the landers were capable of inflicting severe damage to ground targets and deploying their troop payloads. The array of defensive armaments set up around the colony opened fire on the Cilik’ti ships. Missiles and pulse cannon blasts exploded around the landers, whose current speed due to the descent made it impossible to land or slow down to drop any troops as they passed. Each lander in turn tried to make a wide bank around the perimeter of the colony to avoid direct fire, but several took hits and at least four left the area with smoke or fire trailing them.

  McGregor increased the magnification of his glasses and verified his count. He had a total of twenty-two landers that broke atmosphere, but now he only saw eighteen. More of his missiles continued to streak toward the Cilik’ti ships as they dropped closer to the planet surface, and his automated guns in the clearings east of the colony drove them south toward the large tangled forest.

  Huge plumes of purple smoke rose up in front of the landers. The Cilik’ti had plasma bombed the LZs. The plasma flash burned the forest underneath the landers and filled the air with a smoke curtain. The rain and wind were able to thin the wall of smoke somewhat, but it had already done its job. McGregor couldn’t see what the Cilik’ti put on the ground, but he was certain it wasn’t good.

  McGregor was about to pull down his glasses when he caught a glimpse of a small explosion north and farther east of the Cilik’ti LZ. He was already at max magnification, and the visibility made it near impossible to see what was happening. He was able to make out the rough outline of a lander, and then another in the flashes of explosions. The ground guns defending the open clearing outside the forest continued to hit the ships, but these blasts were larger.