by TR Cameron
"Six left," Kate said. "Pandora, what else can we do here?"
Again, the ship was silent for several seconds. "I recommend avoidance, Commander," Pandora replied at last. "Without superior numbers, we cannot defeat these."
"Can the other ships engage that same shielding?"
"Negative, Commander. That was a new feature in my generation."
"Dammit," Kate breathed, and ran her hands through her hair in an unconscious imitation of Cross's nervous habit.
"Kate," said Claire Martin, sounding more fearful than Kate could remember her ever being.
"Claire?" she asked.
"We may want to go help at the other end of the sector. The floating fortress is attacking our flagships."
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
The emotions of the battle were ever-changing, and right now Indraat Vray had a scowl on her face. She’d hoped that the gravity ships would destroy the Domeki vessels, but they managed to escape. There was no chance to keep up with their speed. Around her, on the bridge, there was an air of quiet anticipation. She knew her people were as frustrated as she was by their need to stay at the rear and coordinate the larger strategy. Each of them wanted to go and get personal retribution against the humans for all the trouble, damage, death, and destruction they’d caused.
"Status?"
Her tactical officer had the information at the ready. "Both sides have taken heavy losses, Fleet-Captain. The humans have defeated the minelayer carrier, and it’s in retreat. The mines that were successfully deployed have damaged the planet, but haven’t destroyed it.
Indraat grunted. She hadn’t been confident about that part of the plan in any case. The small ships were too vulnerable in a sector as populated this.
"Overall battle?"
"We outnumber the humans, but only slightly. There are a significant number of damaged vessels on both sides."
"Maintain our current strategy. Fight with numerical advantage wherever possible. Send the gravitic assault ships toward the planet to clear the way. Should one of the Domeki vessels enter range, however, they’re to immediately seek to destroy it.
"Affirmative, Fleet-Captain."
"Main screen, show me the Emerald Sky."
The field-of-view narrowed until she could see the fortress and its target, one of the largest human ships. The Emerald Sky had thus far been moving into position, but finally came to a rest. Telltale electrical distortions appeared around the globe. Indraat smiled at what was to come.
The discharges increased until the entire sphere seemed aglow. Then they coalesced, coming together at a single point. From that confluence, a beam leapt into existence, connecting the Xroeshyn sphere to its target.
The weapon was a rare one, and required the incredible power of the fortress to fuel it. Unlike most of their other weapons, which used intermittent fire, this beam was persistent. Hidden within the destructive potential was a dataflow. The weapon analyzed the enemy's shields using that data and modulated the frequency of the attack to find a weak spot.
It took only a minute for it to discover the vulnerability in the human ship. When it did, most of the beam passed through the shields as if they weren't there, to strike the hull. It drilled straight through, emerging on the far side of the vessel. The beam cut off and was reestablished moments later, targeted upon a different portion of the ship. This time, there was no resistance at all and it plowed through. This second effort struck a vital component, and the target erupted in a series of explosions. Incandescent bursts sparked out in all directions and pieces of blackened hull floated free.
Escape pods shot from the ship, flying into the void in every direction as destruction consumed the vessel. For only a moment, Indraat thought about ordering the fortress to sweep the area with its beam. Overkill, no matter how pleasurable it’d be to watch them die.
"Order the Emerald Sky to attack the other large ship. Send in another eight cruisers in support."
As her pieces reshuffled, she analyzed the enemy’s countermoves with a grin. The human forces in the sector were utterly inadequate competition for the floating fortress, which had stymied even the Domeki. An opportunity appeared to remove a few pawns, so she dispatched several of her ships to accomplish it. But otherwise, she waited, and watched. Until she saw it. The trespassers’ ship, accompanied by only one other, and isolated from the main battle. She tapped her display to mark the two vessels.
"All torpedo ships to launch on these targets and continue launching until they’re destroyed." She sat back with a smile. On the screen, a plethora of glowing points appeared, hundreds of them, as her eight support decks launched salvos at the pair she’d targeted. It took almost half of the missiles' flight time for the enemy to notice and react. Both ships sped up, seeking the protection of their fellows, but Indraat knew they wouldn't make it in time. Fighters swept in to engage the torpedoes, and knocked down a portion, but far too few to preserve their quarry. The vast majority continued on. She imagined how torturous it must be for the captains to anticipate the torpedoes spiraling in to destroy them, and realized she didn’t want that pain to vanish so quickly for the trespassers. A quick set of orders caused all the missiles to shift course slightly and seek the other member of the pair.
She zoomed in the screen, so she could experience the end of the human ship. As the projectiles drilled in, countermeasures from both ships engaged and knocked out another portion of the torpedoes. Still, it wasn’t enough, not enough by far. At the last minute, the trespassers' ship darted in to take a protective position above the target and, no doubt, use their positioning to reinforce one another's defenses.
It was no matter. A high majority of the missiles still struck the intended target, and the rest damaged the other ship. She wore a broad grin as the torpedoes impacted and the trespassers' ship fell away, small explosions showing where her shields had been penetrated.
The other ship took the brunt of the attack. Roughly the first third was absorbed by his shields, but after that, it was down to armor versus explosives. Despite the ship's size and the modular design that their scientists had noted allowed damaged sections to channel further destruction away from the rest of the ship, the missiles were devastating and unending.
The ship was wreathed in fire and smoke and colored gases as the torpedoes covered it from bow to stern. She squinted at the brilliance, and when it faded, the ship was adrift, seemingly powerless, dark, and aflame.
"Target the trespassers. Launch and continue launching. Also, send in nearby cruisers to finish the other one off."
"Missiles away, Fleet-Captain," confirmed her weapons officer.
"Ships on their way," added her communication officer.
The next salvo shot in tight groupings toward the Washington. At the same time, four of her cruisers changed course to deliver the final strike against the drifting ship. As they reached maximum range, they fired. Out of nowhere, the eight-times-damned Domeki vessels flashed onto the screen to interpose themselves and protect the damaged ship.
"Temporary retreat," Indraat ordered, "those four ships to avoid being engaged by the Domeki vessels."
"Affirmative, Fleet-Captain."
With the human forces torn between blocking her forces from approaching the planet and assisting in the defense of their largest ships, her own larger numbers carried the battle. The floating fortress eliminated the second human flagship now that its beam weapon was finally recharged and able to cut through the human vessel with minimal resistance. Again, escape pods launched, and again Indraat let them go, noting their trajectories as tiny engines sent them toward the planet. The planet that would soon be no more.
"New orders. Emerald Sky to close on the planet. All of our ships to run interference. Disengage from current battles, form into packs of eight or four, and protect the fortress's advance. It’s time to eliminate the home of the trespassers. Avoid the Domeki vessels wherever possible." She was counting on them to follow the floating fortress.
"Connec
t me to the Captain of the Ruby Torrent." Immediately, he appeared on screen.
"Jenraa Shek, you’re hereby assigned as backup command for the invasion fleet. Should something happen to me personally, or to the Ruby Rain, you’re to proceed with the existing plans."
"Affirmative, Fleet-Captain, thank you for your confidence in—" she cut off the woman's appreciative babble by killing the channel. Pleasantries weren’t something she had time for.
"Brothers, sisters, now we will end the defilers once and for all. Helm, set a course for the trespassers' ship so we arrive shortly after the torpedoes."
"Course ready, Fleet-Captain."
"Execute."
The Ruby Rain shot forward like a falcon released to seek its prey. Indraat had only one regret: that she’d only be able to kill the trespassers once. They deserved so much more pain than that for the trouble they’d caused the Xroeshyn, her uncle, and her personally. She promised herself that she’d luxuriate in every second of their demise.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Okoye's voice sounded on the bridge as he spoke to her over the battle net. "Commander Flynn, the floating fortress has started to move toward Earth. We have nothing in our arsenal to stop it, so we once again need to rely on you and your ships to do what you can against it. If you discover a way for us to assist, let us know. Until then, all human forces will be tasked with eliminating those defending the fortress."
"You don't ask for much, do you, Admiral?" Kate replied.
"Officers who rise to the top inevitably find great challenges there, Flynn. You’re a victim of your own success. Okoye out."
She laughed and shook her head. He always had a better reply. One of these days, she’d get the last word in, and it would be transcendent.
Another voice came over the battle net and announced, "Incoming present for the aliens." Her head snapped to the screen, where seven ships tore from a tunnel into the rear lines of Xroeshyn forces. Their surprise was apparently complete as the first salvo eliminated three of the vessels that had been hurling missiles out into the battlefield. In short order, they’d finished off the rest and sent the command ships running. A magnified view showed that they were all shiny and new, and were the largest classes in the AAN and UAL fleets.
"Clever," Kate said.
"Indeed, Commander. The decision to hold back those ships was a good one. It’s a tactic the enemy has used successfully on a number of occasions."
Kate frowned. "Are you saying they likely have more ships in reserve?"
Pandora replied, "Negative, Commander. I see nothing to suggest that, and the Phoebe has detected no communications that would indicate it."
"Is it possible to tie her ship into the battle net, so everyone can hear the enemy?"
"The Lieutenant Commander is already feeding information to the admirals."
"Excellent. Guess I'm not needed here at all. Maybe I'll just go find a beach to relax on." She reached up and hit several commands on the helm, slewing the Pandora on a course toward the floating fortress, after assuring herself that the wreck of the Beijing wasn’t in any current danger.
Well, not any more danger than the rest of us.
As they closed on the fortress, the battle grew thicker. The behemoth's protectors and the human ships battling them were frequently obstacles in her path. Kate launched on some, blasted others, and in the case of the smaller fighters that flitted about the sector, she engaged Pandora's heavy armor and plowed through them. "That’s a nice feature. Is there a reason we cannot use it all the time?"
"It draws too much power, Commander. After each time it’s deployed, a set of storage capacitors are recharged to provide for the next activation. Once those are drained, the armor would draw from the main engines, and our maneuverability and offensive capabilities would be significantly reduced."
"Okay, scratch that idea."
The frightened voice of the general on Earth came back across the battle net. "Admiral, what are your intentions toward taking out that massive behemoth that is heading toward Earth?"
"Suggestions welcome, Todd," replied Admiral Okoye.
"James, is that you?"
"None other."
"All I have left are our nuclear warheads on ICBMs. I’ve checked with our Alliance comrades, and they confirm that that’s all that remains in their arsenal as well.
There was sibilance across the channel while they waited for Okoye's reply.
"As long as the behemoth is outside the atmosphere, you’re released to fire nuclear weapons. When it gets within 80,000 kilometers, you are to cease firing immediately. There's no point in saving the planet if radioactivity kills everything on it."
"As ordered, Admiral. Keep yourself safe."
"You too. Okoye out."
Kate felt her heart fall. The realization that this was her home, and that it was in dire peril, hadn’t fully manifested before this moment. The idea of everyone dying from radiation made it real for her. The thought the planet that spawned them could be a barren rock with a single miscalculation was, for a moment, almost too much to bear.
"Commander," Pandora interrupted her melancholy, "we’re now in range of the fortress."
"Let's see what we can do." She designated a particular projection on the deadly looking sphere as their target. "All ships, fire our most advanced weapons at this point, and keep firing."
She followed her own orders and sent waves of torpedoes and energy into the fortress.
Half a minute later, she ordered her ships to cease-fire, and watched to see what they’d achieved.
"Dammit."
"I think we may have scratched the paint, Kate," said Claire.
"If that," Kate growled. "Pandora, is there anything in the Domeki records that will help us here?"
Pandora was silent for some time, then manifested on the bridge, as hidden projectors created the three-dimensional image that Kate always likened to an elf from Lord of the Rings. "Commander," she said, absently petting the furry creature wrapped around her shoulders, "the floating fortresses were introduced at the end of the war between the Xroeshyn and the Domeki. They’re the reason that war ended in a negotiated peace rather than the outright destruction of the Xroeshyn. As such, we didn’t have time to find a solution, and at war's end, we retreated into sleep. Thus, the knowledge of the Domeki possesses no answers to the question of the floating fortress."
Kate put her head down on her display as tears of frustration welled in her in the corners of her eyes. She forced them away and looked up at the screen in time to see the impact of the weapons from the planet upon the fortress. The most devastating tools of war that humanity had ever created, nuclear armaments, packed more destructive potential per square centimeter than anything in their arsenal. More than one hundred of them struck in two groups—one launched from UAL bases and the other launched from AAN bases. They were the final remnants of the balance of power on the planet, the last hedges against another war on its surface. It was fitting that they’d be used, together, here, joining the two factions on the planet as they’d joined in space.
When the brilliance faded, the floating fortress had been damaged. In one area, the tines had been scraped clean, and a crack appeared in the hull.
"Yes," Kate said and marked that location as the target for their next attack.
Before she could give the command, though, the fortress responded. The vicious beam weapon, that had destroyed the human flagships, shot down through the atmosphere and into the ground. Into the ground in the middle of the desert. The desert in Nevada. The battle net connection to the military installation on the planet dropped without a further word.
"Fire," Kate screamed, slamming the controls far harder than necessary to launch from the Pandora. Her ships, along with several others that had seen the vulnerability, poured destructive potential into it, but failed as countermeasures deployed by nearby tines intercepted the torpedoes, and the energy blasts were either absorbed or deflected.
"Okay, Clai
re, I'm looking for ideas here."
Claire was thoughtful as she answered, "Pandora, has anyone tried a sacrifice play against the fortress?"
Pandora turned to look at the screen, where Claire's image resided. "The Domeki don’t believe in sacrifice ships, Lieutenant Commander. Our lives are too precious for such tactics." Kate raised an eyebrow at the use of the word "our" from the AI, but didn’t comment.
"Did they have autonomous ships?"
"No, Lieutenant Commander."
"So, what you're saying is," Kate interrupted, "the Domeki never tried a sacrifice for fear of losing their lives, and the opportunity wasn’t previously available to do it without that cost."
Pandora now turned to her. "That is correct, Commander."
"How many do we have left?"
Diaz answered, "Two under our control, three under Lieutenant Martin's."
"It's not much. We need to make this perfect. Here's what we’re going to do."
SEVERAL MINUTES LATER, everything was in place. The human ships in near enough proximity led with a barrage of weapons into the target point to soften it up before Kate's attack. The rest of the humans doubled down on their efforts to keep the enemy away from their attacking lane.
"Good luck, Claire," Kate said.
"Same to you, Kate. Let's do this."
The Phoebe throttled up as Claire pushed the engines to their maximum and charted a course for the floating fortress. As she drove in, she fired continuous barrages of energy and torpedoes. When she grew too close for the broadsides to curve and still hit their target, she cut her engine and spun the ship, firing each of her weapons as they came to bear. At the last minute, the Phoebe ducked to dive under the fortress, accepting numerous strikes from its weapons as she fled. Her reinforced rear shields protected her from any significant damage.