by David Buck
‘Very well then – we will oblige him if he wants a big butcher’s bill…’ Paul thought darkly to himself, as covering fire from his team let him fall back several metres back through a bulkhead door. The defenders had set a series of satchel charges throughout the ship as they were forced slowly back by the Fenshilla. Paul knew that the outside of the transport was on the other side of the rooms that they had been forced away from, and a series of loud detonations now shook the ship.
The commander had earlier set explosive charges on both the doors and the reinforced portholes serving as windows. He looked on with grim satisfaction as the nearest view screen now showed several dimly lit Fenshilla being dragged out into space. For some reason the aliens were wearing only respirators and face masks and the cold vacuum of space soon claimed them. Paul now led his team back to the central corridors some distance from the bulkhead door.
Paul Burgess tried not to think of his young family as he fought to protect the lives of his team and the other humans. The joy of meeting their cousins from Earth had been quickly subdued with the appearance of the Fenshilla, and he noted that one of his team members lay dead alongside an engineer from Earth. The torrid defence had been unusual for two reasons, as the attackers seemed to be able to easily identify female humans and did not use deadly force against them, plus there was the matter of the disabled scuttling charges. The commander now addressed the several humans still alive in the two central passageways.
‘Our suits are well down on air and our weapons will last only a little longer. Our explosive charges elsewhere in the ship have been disabled by methods unknown. We can continue to fight or we can now surrender as there is nowhere to go from here….’
Paul’s observations were broken by a message from his third in command, Rebecca Dalton, onboard the second transport, the Achilles.
‘Paul, we have inflicted heavy casualties on the Fenshilla, but the explosive charges we set against the reactor were disabled by their soldiers in armoured suits. We are electing to fight until we are taken…’
A series of laser blasts came over the voice link and Paul knew that Rebecca’s own team were in their final battle. The link went dead as he looked around at his own team and spoke quietly.
‘The Fenshilla must have used armoured suits to disable our main series of explosive charges as well. Now Rebecca and her team fight on and I suggest we do the same.’
There was only time for a hoarse chorus of voices to agree with him, before the bulkhead door exploded and a torrent of Fenshilla soldiers poured up the corridors towards the human defenders.
***
The Fenshilla commandant gave a snarl of rage as the heavy toll amongst his soldiers was relayed onto his bridge. He was not in a good mood as the human male at his feet had attacked him and his officers several minutes earlier. The male had been in deadly fury after the commandant had kicked the human female in the head. The commandant’s long snout was broken in two places, and he also now limped badly as well. He knew now that the human defenders on the transports consisted of a mixture of Earth and Barede humans, and they had fought hard before being taken.
Fortunately his platoon commanders had listened to his earlier briefings and both the damaged transports were still intact due to their actions. The commandant was also now aware that his earlier easy successes in capturing the survivors of the first two human destroyers would not be easily repeated.
The total number of humans was quickly calculated and the Fenshilla commandant formed a grudging respect for the human defenders. For less than twenty defenders per transport had each cost over ninety elite soldiers per ship. He knew that the breeding farms would soon replace the soldiers tenfold, but he had a significant investment in these elites. The Fenshilla by habit shook his loose pelt and a torrent of loose skin cascaded onto the deck around him.
The naked pair of humans still cowered at the commandant’s feet and they retched loudly as his odour engulfed them. He gave another snarl with a cruel mouth filled with sharp teeth, but now did not strike them, since they had been selected as prime breeding stock, and the human female now always seemed to be in the way after the recent attack. The Fenshilla then noted the next reports from his soldiers with satisfaction, as the newly captured humans consisted of several young females.
Freya Paulson had listened with alarm as the last radio message between the two transports had been replayed onto the bridge. Her head and her left hip hurt and she was a mass of bruises, but she was focusing coldly on what was occurring around her. Apparently Barede colonists had earlier arrived with a Trader ship and had come to the aid of the transports.
The Traders had then fought the Fenshilla in a ferocious battle, before fleeing with several human ships, and Freya fervently hoped they would get the story of the Fenshilla attacks back to Earth. She soon stopped retching, and again slowly placed herself between her Fenshilla jailer and the battered form of Steve Rickers. Freya then remembered the details of Steve’s frenzied attack that had led to his beating.
Nearby lay two dead Fenshilla bridge officers that Steve had killed with his fists and feet despite being chained around the waist. The Fenshilla commandant had defended himself with his short club during the attack, and had kicked her to subdue her, but now he was reluctant to strike her again. Freya kept still and took in the events unfolding around her with hooded eyes filled with rage. The Fenshilla had weaknesses, and she would await a time to exploit them and enact a savage toll on her jailers.
The commandant ignored the humans chained at his feet as he now made further plans. For the damage to his ships after their earlier battle with the Trader ship was now apparent. Four of his eight heavy cruisers, including his own flag ship, could not follow the Traders as their advanced hyper drive modules would require weeks of repairs. Fortunately the four cruisers in better shape included the one commanded by his nominal second in charge, and in moments he was giving concise orders.
‘Adjutant Commander, take the four best ships and follow the Trader wing within six hours. I will take our heavily damaged ships back to our base, using the slower standard hyper drives, with all the captured humans. I will shortly send a list of star systems I want you to search for their heavily damaged ship. Also you will send me four squads of your soldiers from each ship, as that will still allow you enough soldiers to capture the Traders if possible. You will take or destroy the Trader ship or you will not return to our base.’
A series of smaller ships shuttled the soldiers back to the damaged ships as the two fleets separated. At the appointed time the four cruisers all used their advanced hyper drives to make a long hyper jump towards the first location they would search. The four damaged ships slowly moved towards the outskirts of the star system and activated their standard hyper drives for their much slower return journey.
***
Omerio calmly looked over the time and distance calculations for the Jerecab frigates. Fortunately the Gold system was well spread out and required up to two days to cross to the other side. He knew that the two larger outer planets forced outwards the null space zones required for a hyper drive point to well outside the system. The Barus captain then again checked over the operational status of his sixteen cruisers, for he had specified they only use ion drives to cross the system. Commander Tamerio now spoke up to confirm what Omerio had hoped for three hours earlier.
‘The Jerecab are three hours behind us and the last count gives their strength at sixty frigates. We could take them but then we would have to withdraw for repairs and replenishment. We will be at our jump point shortly and the Jerecab formation looks like it will follow us across to the next system.’
Omerio looked over at his friend and second in command as he replied with a grim smile.
‘We are just going to rely on the greater mass of our ships to throw off the emergence point for the Jerecab. No doubt they will be under orders not to pursue us too far from the system they are guarding. Commander Everson should then be able to land
his troop transports on the second planet.’
Omerio had selected the Platinum system as their next destination because it also had a larger planet that would magnify the effects of the jump distortion he was attempting. The space round his ships erupted into the familiar star streak pattern of hyper space, and in minutes the ships had arrived in the outskirts of the Platinum system. The Barus squadron slowly reversed course and within two hours was sitting in tight formation across the hyper jump point. Within the hour a series of smaller ships appeared well within the system, and Omerio noted with satisfaction that the Jerecab ships had been scattered across several hundred million kilometres. Omerio ordered a powerful active scan released as he did not want to experience any further surprises.
Tamerio then spoke up after calculating the distance the Jerecab had been thrown off.
‘Captain, the Jerecab will require over several hours at least to reassemble and clear this system. So if we commence the next part of our plan, then we will only add to this delay.’
Omerio now ordered his squadron to accelerate hard diagonally across the Platinum system towards the jump point for the Ivory system. As his cruisers increased speed, Commander Tamerio quickly spoke out with what was now troubling him.
‘Omerio, the sensors are showing wreckage of smaller ships across the system, yet none of the destroyed ships are the human destroyers. There is also wreckage of several supply ships and I suspect that at least two of them are human. Also I am seeing traces of a single much larger ship amongst the readings.’
Omerio ignored the lack of protocol Tamerio had used in not addressing him by his rank on his bridge. He was also surprised at this development, but he noted that something about the larger ship trace was familiar as he replied.
‘Well the larger ship is a Trader wing, as there are also fainter traces now showing of her smaller sneak ships. There are other traces that look like sneak ships, but there is too many of them now, so this would mean that the human destroyers had been present at some stage. We will look for them in the Ivory system in several hours time. The other aspect which concerns me is that there is still no sign of the Cephrit coming to the aid of the humans.’
Omerio later noted that the Jerecab took longer to reform their squadron as smaller groups of ships sought to stay well away from his menacing squadron of larger ships.
He looked in with satisfaction as he realised that the Jerecab had lost nearly a day of travel time as his squadron approached the next hyper drive point.
***
Joel Everson noted that the two sneak ships had sent active scans as soon as they had all arrived at the Gold system. The Barede commanders had both seemed bemused that their cousins did not use this technology, though they were very interested in the unique spinal mount weapon used by the Earth destroyers. The two sneak ships had then each taken a position to one side of the rest of the human ships, as Rick Greene called through the first reports.
‘Joel, the Jerecab have only left four frigates here and they appear to be damaged. The Barus squadron must have been successful with their diversion and drawn the frigates away.’
Joel looked over the layout of the Gold system with satisfaction, for their entry point had been on the planet side of the system after they used another star system as a way point. He was hoping this would allow them even more time to land their marines. He also noted that the sensor reports listed a dozen smaller transports in orbits around their target, as he now deployed his small group of ships.
‘All ships at best speed to Gold Two, and the six transports are to prepare for immediate landing. We will not leave the transports in orbit for the Jerecab to wreck later, and we will attempt to hide them on the planet. All destroyers and sneak ships are to prepare to enter the atmosphere to strafe Jerecab defences. The two tankers are to stay at the hyper jump point as they will only slow us down.’
Joel knew that he was taking some risks leaving his tankers untended, but he knew that their presence was optional both for the attack and the return to Earth. He was also considering the technical discussion he had with Rick earlier, as the two sneak ships had unique characteristics that could prove useful.
The small fleet arrived at Gold Two after six hours and the combined fire power of the five stronger human ships easily overwhelmed the four Jerecab stragglers. Joel ignored the Jerecab supply ships now scattered around the inner parts of the star system. If he had enough time his ships would chase a few of them down at a later stage.
The two sneak ships went into the atmosphere first, for Joel now knew that they were more agile and had better defences against short range missiles. After half an hour a series of powerful explosions lit up the eastern edge of the largest continent, and he now sent his three destroyers against the three hardened defences the sneak ships had identified.
A single pass was all it took and three much larger explosions occurred as the spinal mount particle cannons ripped into the mountain sides that the Jerecab had fortified. For good measure the three destroyers used their other weapons to strafe two larger Jerecab lifters sitting in a large field. As the destroyers rejoined the two sneak ships in orbit, the six transports went around the far side of the planet to make a landing on the western side of the continent.
Joel knew that the transports would ferry their troops closer to the enemy after they had first secured a suitable base of operations. After four hours the troop transports had unloaded their cargo of troops, stores and equipment, before being hidden in a series of deep canyons. Rick had been busy during the long wait running further scans and he now reported his news.
‘The Jerecab defences are heavily damaged in two of their three sites and they are falling back to their primary site on a high ridge overlooking their landing field. I would recommend that your marines occupy the area around the field to restrict reinforcements landing.’
Joel found himself in agreement with Rick’s analysis and made a quick call to Colonel Mark Patton on the surface. He had to wait for several minutes until the connection was established, but he soon updated the colonel on what they were seeing from orbit. He was just finishing speaking with the colonel when Lieutenant Chandra reported that the Jerecab frigates had returned from their futile chase of the Barus cruiser squadron.
‘Commander, the Jerecab ships have returned across the system and I count roughly ninety ships. They will arrive here within eight hours at their current high speeds.
Joel wished the colonel luck even as the three destroyers and two sneak ships immediately broke orbit and raced away from their attackers for their original hyper jump location. He noted that the Jerecab had arrived not far off Admiral Neilson’s estimation of when they would return. The commander knew that the number of Jerecab ships arriving was significantly higher than their plans allowed for, so he evaluated that Jerecab must have also been reinforced from their home world. He urgently another brief message to Colonel Patton as this would affect his planned assault on the Jerecab positions.
Joel quickly verified that the Jerecab fleet could not intercept his fleet as they raced past the outlying gas giant. He finally sent a message ahead for the two tankers to leave immediately, with the fighting ships to catch up with them in the next system. Lieutenant Chandra gave a second report as another squadron of Jerecab frigates appeared.
‘Commander, twelve damaged Jerecab frigates have appeared at the third hyper jump location, their course is also for Gold Two and they appear to also have several supply ships with them. They will arrive at the planet shortly after the larger fleet of Jerecab ships.’
Joel was sure the smaller squadron of Jerecab ships was no threat and he even did a quick calculation on the best way to attack them. However he knew that he now had to get the news of the Fenshilla attack and the presence of the Jerecab reinforcements to Admiral Neilson as soon as possible. After another six hours the five ships arrived at their hyper jump location and they quickly exited the Gold system.
***
Colonel M
ark Patton had immediately had surveyed what information they had available, and he was grateful for the two updates that Joel had just provided. He had immediately flown off four drones that had crossed the three hundred kilometre gap to the Jerecab within an hour. The Jerecab appeared to number in the several hundred and were still streaming back to their original landing site. The colonel found this fact to be revealing, and he quietly specified orders to his troops as he looked over his two supply ships and four troop transports.
‘Only two dozen engineers are to setup up a perimetre and defences in that tree line. We will be leaving shortly to attack the Jerecab with three troopships, and I want the other ships hidden. I then want all marines off the Pinta and onto the other ships as we are leaving one troop ship in reserve. The Pinta is to be sealed up and landed under remote control in that deep lake nearby. We only have another six hours to move our forces unimpeded towards the Jerecab and we will do just that…’
Mark felt a surge of hope as another report came in from one of the drones, for it appeared that the bulk of the remaining Jerecab defences were still without shields. The colonel now recognised the opportunity and he ordered the three transports to take off in ten minutes. Mark had taken his two hundred elite marines directly to the Jerecab landing site within the second hour. He was relieved that only sporadic small weapons fire greeted the arrival of his ships, and a forward team went forward to clean out Jerecab hiding around the wreckage of their two large lifters.
The marines quickly deployed and began to quickly move forward towards the Jerecab positions on high ground, as Mark knew they only had the rest of the afternoon to inflict a defeat on the Jerecab. The three transports now dispersed to widely separate hiding places, as the battle was joined with the aliens.
A fierce battle erupted as the human marines methodically tore apart the Jerecab strong points and advanced up one end of the ridge. The defenders, with their main shields still down, slowly withdrew along the ridge and fought fiercely to dislodge the marines. The attack was not without casualties as the Jerecab still had defences, and Mark had lost several marines to slow moving drones that fired both lasers and steel ball bearings.