Two minutes passed as they watched nothing happen. Sentinel told them the Scythe ship came to a stop just in front of the formation, next to one of the Corinthian ships.
“Maybe they’re negotiating,” Gheno wondered.
“Those are ships designed for war. I have a hard time thinking they are negotiating,” Kale added.
They continued watching while nothing happened. Kale began to think that maybe his luck would hold. When the counter got to three minutes, they could see the Scythe ship clearly, still at a standstill.
Sentinel spoke up, “I'm picking up some of the radio now. The Harmoa is threatening to destroy everything if they don’t turn over the Scythe ship, which they are accusing of piracy.”
“Not far from the truth,” Kale added. He hoped that Deespa was bluffing, at least to blowing the Scythe out of the sky.
The calm scene changed suddenly. The Scythe sped out headed towards the station when it stopped still again, and began slowly moving back towards the Harmoa. It was caught in the tractor. Then all six ships opened fire on the Harmoa. It was hard to tell on the screen, but a haze, a moving cloud, erupted from the ships. Sentinel informed them it was a salvo of dumbfire missiles, flying towards the Harmoa. The Dominion ship opened up with its main weapon, the orange beam, and split right down the middle of one of the ships. Internal explosions could be seen on the scope.
“Two minutes left.”
The orange beam began to swing to the left and hit another one of the ships before the four remaining broke formation and began to swarm towards both the sides of the Harmoa. The tiny Scythe continued slowly floating towards the Harmoa as the dumbfire missiles flew past her and began to slam into the giant ships impressive hull. Thousands of miniature explosions, each as quickly snuffed out by the lack of air in space, flashed against the front of the ship.
The orange beam stopped and hundreds of cannons began firing from the port and starboard side. They were bright red metal slugs, super-heated and accelerated at thousands of miles an hour and they rained out of the Harmoa and towards the ships on either one of her sides. Red streaks filled the blackness of space, easily visible as they were on the dark side of the planet. They glowed as they streaked towards the Corinthian ships. Each impact tore at their hulls.
“One minute.”
The Corinthian ships began coming in closer to the sides of the Harmoa. No ship would be able to sustain close range damage against the Dominion ship, and just as he suspected, the green globs of plasma began shooting out of the sides of the Harmoa. Not all hit the Corinthian ships, but enough did. But the four remaining ships were just buying time as well. The station began firing its own long range beams. They were nothing like the Harmoa’s giant beam, but they began carving into her hull. The four ships began to attack the Harmoa with what appeared to be lightning bolts. Kale recognized them as Ionized plasma. They did little physical damage but caused massive amounts of electrical damage. They only worked at close range and the effect was nearly immediate. The Scythe broke free from the tractor and began flying away again, this time headed directly down into the planet.
The Midnight Oil slowed down from its sling just as both sides emptied their fighter ships. A swarm of drones erupted from the underside of the Harmoa like bees, flying in a swirl. The Corinthians responded with their own, but far less numerous, fighter ships. The two swarms collided just under the Harmoa, who was surrounded by the four Corinthian ships. The Midnight Oil nearly crashed into one of the drones as it slowed down from its sling. Kale looked up and could see one of the larger Corinthian cruisers directly ahead of it, facing them. To their right was the Harmoa, facing away from them, side by side with the cruiser. The second cruiser was behind the first one Kale could see.
“Sentinel, show us what you got. Fire one, right at that first one. Get its attention.”
The lights dimmed in the cockpit and a small vortex formed in front of the Midnight Oil.
“Uhm, I’ve seen that…” Gheno began.
The vortex spiraled wide, swirling in purples, reds, oranges and blacks. It blocked out their whole view of the battle. Then it began spinning faster and siphoning out towards the cruiser. From the side, it bore a resemblance to a lance carried by the knights of medieval Earth. The lance shot off towards the cruiser, crossing just above it. Where it went over the ship, the hull tore off violently, as if an invisible claw had just torn through flesh. The force of the impact nearly tore the vessel in half as the lance crossed three quarters of the Corinthian craft.
“Oh, I’ve seen that too,” Gheno added. The damage eerily resembled the damage on the Magyo.
The cruiser immediately stopped firing and all visible lights went out. The impact ripped the hull open. The atmosphere vented so quickly there was no hint of the escaping air.
“Wow. Get that thing ready again,” Kale shouted, impressed, “Now that’s a gun.”
Sentinel told them it would take nine minutes.
“Ok, the Harmoa can deal with the rest of them. Let’s get that Scythe.”
Kale sped the Midnight Oil off after the Scythe. They picked it up on their sensors and visual scopes just as it began to enter the atmosphere. They could see the red glow clearly against the horizon. It was going in fast, fast enough to start heating up its hull. Most space bound ships entered the atmosphere of a planet slowly, using their gravity fields.
“It’s in a hurry,” Gheno pointed out.
“Sentinel, burn all our fuel. We have to catch up to it. I have an idea.”
The AI complied and the ship started using its hydrogen fuel to supplement the gravity field being created to fly them. They shot off after the Scythe ship, catching up quickly until they got into the atmosphere themselves. They forced themselves to slow down so as not to burn up as well. As they approached the ship from behind, the Scythe opened up fire from a rear cannon.
“Whoa,” Kale yelled as the pings of ballistics echoed off the hull. Kale put on his breathing mask and shouted at Gheno to do the same. The hull was thick and as they entered the atmosphere of the planet, the risk of venting grew less and less, but it was still a risk. Kale swerved the Midnight Oil back and forth in an attempt to make the least amount of bullets hit them, but she just wasn’t a very maneuverable ship.
“Captain, we’re taking damage,” Sentinel report as two hits to the windshield sent myriads of cracks spreading from each impact.
“Yeah, I can tell. Get us is as close as we can. We have a bigger engine than she does. Get us in and envelope our field around their ship. And do it from above if we can, or she’s gonna tear us to pieces.”
He continued to move closer, and the closer they got, the harder it became to avoid the bullets that continued to zing out of the rear cannon. One bullet pierced the hull and zipped right past them in the cockpit. Kale looked over at Gheno, and he was terrified. Kale was too, he just wasn’t showing it as visibly. The cabin filled up with the piercing hiss of air exiting the ship. He had already turned off two alarms.
A third alarm blared and explosions filled the sky in front of them. Missiles streaked by from behind them, one hitting the Scythe on the side. The damage was visible; the hull was shredded.
“No!” Kale shouted, as two Dominion drones flew past. The Scythe began to drop out of the sky.
“Now Sentinel, extend it.”
The AI began burning fuel and had their ship extend their own gravity field past the ship and onto the Scythe ship. They brought the ship tight up with it.
“Captain, we’re burning fuel fast. Thirty percent left.”
“Get us down to the ground now.”
The two ships, which were tied together by a common gravity bubble, began dropping straight down. Kale could only hope the Scythes internal field was still working or that everyone was strapped in. If not there would be injuries.
“Twenty percent.”
They weren’t dropping fast enough. Without fuel, they would be able to maintain their own field, but not both of the sh
ips together. Kale looked at the altitude and saw just over twelve thousand feet; still very high. Dropping the Scythe now would destroy it and everyone inside.
“What are we coming down into Sentinel?” Kale asked.
“Heavy forest,” it replied, “Ten percent.”
Five thousand feet. “Turn everything off but the field. We’re in the atmosphere, turn off everything.”
Screens started going dark, and lights dimmed then turned off. The slow movement of the air through the vents stopped and Kale and Gheno started to float in their seats as the internal gravity field was turned off. Their seat belt straps held them in place.
Two thousand feet. “Burning too fast. Three percent.”
The two ships continued to drop as fast as their shared gravity field allowed them to. Kale watched the counter of fuel drop by tenths from three percent down to one tenth of percent. He quickly saw the altitude at just over two hundred feet. When he glanced back he saw the fuel counter at zero percent. They burned through all of their fuel. He couldn’t feel if the other ship was released or not as the gravity field that now kept their own ship afloat betrayed any sense of letting go.
“Take us down, quick, Sentinel.”
“The other ship dropped nearly one hundred and seventy feet. It has crashed through some of the trees.”
“Put us down next to it.”
“Captain, there's no place to land.”
“Then crash us through the trees too.”
The AI complied and the ship started its descent. They watched out of their shattered windshield as they crushed through trees; limbs, bark and leaves came flying in through the window. The sound of splitting wood made them brace against the flying debris. The ship tilted to one side as it came to rest against a large tree and slid down it until it was on its side.
“Are we down?” Gheno asked.
Sentinel confirmed they had landed. “More of a controlled crash.”
Kale unstrapped and nearly fell off at the angle the cabin was in. He managed to keep himself upright and slid the cabin door open manually as the power was all still out. He reached out towards the hatch of the ship, hung on to the doorway of the pilot’s cabin and reached towards the small stow closet next to the hatch. After sliding it open, he took out two of the plasma rifles he had stored there and handed one back to Gheno who was slowly trying to get out of his seat. Kale opened up a small panel next to the hatch and cranked the release open using a small lever. The hatch popped open and Kale pushed on it to open it all the way. The hatch opened up right next to the tree and he used it to slide down the side of the Midnight Oil.
Landing at the bottom, he tapped a wrist band and asked if Sentinel could hear him. There was a delay, and then the AI answered. The Scythe ship was crashed through the trees just fifty feet off the rear of the Midnight Oil. Kale looked up, the dense forest canopy keeping most of the sunlight out. Gheno slid after him, rifle in land. He was looking very uncomfortable with the large weapon.
“What are we doing?” he asked.
“Going after the other ship. Maybe the pilots or whomever are still in shock.”
“Kale, what if she isn’t even on the ship?”
Then it would have been the worst mistake of his life. “Listen, why don’t you stay here. If you don’t hear from me in ten minutes, get yourself inside and have Sentinel radio for help from our Dominion friends in orbit.”
Gheno didn’t think twice. He scrambled back up the tree and into the ship. Kale looked back and saw him as he peered out of the hatch.
Kale checked his side arm as well. He took hold of the rifle with two hands, and began walking up a slope leading directly off of the rear of his now mostly destroyed ship. Crash landing it was a rash decision, but it was either that or wait, and on this planet, waiting meant that Scythe ship would get help before they would have.
He trekked up the small slope and came upon the Scythe ship. It was split nearly in half along the trunk of a large tree which must have come crashing down along with the ship. Smoke poured out from the far side of the ship, the front of the ship, beyond Kale’s sight. He forced himself up to the crest of the slope just as a large figure came stumbling out from the broken rear half of the ship, right through opening in the hull. He was older looking and had grayish hair. His clothes were torn revealing his toned arms. Kale suddenly felt out classed. It hadn’t really dawned on him up until this point that whoever had kidnapped Ayia was likely a professional. He raised his rifle and pointed it at the man.
“Where is the girl?” he shouted.
The other man snapped to attention and stood still. He looked around him, studying where he was. Kale was getting nervous.
“Where is she?” he asked again.
The man looked him straight in the eyes and then smiled. “Oh no,” Kale thought. Kale fired twice. The man jumped down to the side with incredible speed, the slower plasma bolts missing easily, and taking chunks of the hull with each hit. Kale continued to spray green bolts of plasma towards the man, but he was too quick. He dodged behind the large trunk that had split the ship, then popped up nearly ten feet down to the right and fired two quick shots with his own small side arm.
Kale felt the pierce of the bullet on his left shoulder and yelled out in pain. He was shot before, but the pain was worse every time. He spun around behind a tree, and came around the other side. He scanned and saw the man running down the length of the tree. He continued to fire shots with the plasma rifle, searing away at the large trunk, but never hitting him. He felt the warm ooze of blood down his shoulder and each shot he fired made him recoil in pain. He held the rifle up as long as he could then dropped behind the tree again. He dropped the rifle and pulled out his side arm. Bullets were faster.
He peered back around the tree and was instantly hit in the right knee. Kale screamed out in pain and fell to the ground, dropping his weapon. His plan at disarming a shocked pilot quickly backfired. He dragged himself back around the tree, where his gun was just out of range. He grabbed the rifle and tried to bring it up just as the man came around the tree and kicked it away.
Kale had failed. He hadn’t saved her and was now going to die. The man had a look of one who had killed many before.
“Well, you cost me my ship,” the man said, “It’s a good thing I can afford a new one.”
“Let her go,” Kale gasped.
“You really are persistent. Sorry you couldn’t save your girlfriend, but she’s worth too much to my bosses.”
The hum of a gravity field buzzed by overhead as something flew past them above the trees.
“And that must be some of them now,” he said looking up, “Did you crash your ship here too? That’s too bad. Don’t think you’ll die from where I hit you. It’s gonna hurt for a long time.”
“Just do it,” Kale growled.
“No time,” the man said, peering behind the tree Kale was slumped up against, “Oh, and look, she’s awake now too. Such difficulty.”
Kale turned himself around on the tree. He found himself lying down on the mossy ground. Ayia came stumbling out from the crack that formed the halves of the Scythe. Kale tried to cry out to her, but found he couldn’t speak. Two more ships flew above the forest canopy, but Kale kept his eyes on Ayia. She dropped to her knees once on the ground and was looking around rubbing her eyes.
He was paid to rescue her, many weeks ago, and now he was failing. He tapped his wrist band and tried uttering the AI’s name, but all he managed was a croak.
“Oh, did your adrenaline run out? It does weird things to you. Got a really dry mouth right now?”
Kale looked over and saw his gun within reach. He tried to reach over to it but was stopped when the man’s boot came crashing down on his forearm. Kale felt the break and screamed out pain. He brought his arm back in and rolled over on his back, looking up at the man. The dense forest canopy was far behind him.
“I will kill you,” he promised.
“I’ve heard it all before,”
he began, but then quickly looked up.
The sound of snapping wood was followed by three objects crashing through the canopy and smashing into the ground at the bottom of the slope. Dust and debris filled the area, from which emerged three large war mechs. The emblems of the Dominion were clear on their chests. Further back behind, more mechs came crashing through the canopy. Kale looked back up at the man, the cool calmed look quickly replaced by a cautious hard look.
“I may not kill you, but they just might,” Kale laughed.
Alex Horhoff, veteran of many battles against Dominions, was never afraid of mechs, but he was grossly outnumbered and knew when a battle couldn’t be won. He had to find a way to even his odds. He fired three quick shots down at the front mech, shots that easily glanced off the armor, then dashed back to his ship. The war mechs came crashing up the slope. The first one took a quick look down at Kale in the ground, blood on his shoulder, and in a mechanical voice, called for a medic. It then kept on towards the ship. The mechs were not firing though.
As they crested the slope, the mechs deployed around the small wreck and stopped. Alex was stopped just under the large trunk, weapon in hand pointed into Ayia. He held her in front of him. Kale turned back onto his stomach to view the scene. Alex shouted out to them to stop or he would kill her. He smiled when they didn’t just open fire. He thought he had his leverage.
The first mech that crested the hill took a step towards them and then raised its right arm. All the other mechs lowered their weapons. There was a loud hissing sound and Kale could see the pilot actually getting out of the mech. Kale quickly understood the mercenary’s shocked look when he saw tiny thin legs in a black suit and black boots. She took a step forward and he saw her white hair.
“What the hell is this? The Dominion use girls as soldiers now?” Alex laughed.
Deespa pointed. “I am no girl. I am the new queen of man. The Lioness from the stars. You are holding my friend, and I am giving you just one more chance to let her go. Do so and I will allow you to live.”
The mercenary began laughing nervously while looking around at the other mechs. He struggled to keep Ayia standing up properly. She was still suffering heavily from the sedation drugs.
The Emperor's Daughter (Sentinel Series Book 1) Page 31