Storm' Fury: The Shenkar War

by Seth Libby

  “Aye Aye captain,” Evan said in his best attempt at sounding like a pirate.

  Keying the fleet net he synced up all the new additions to the rest of the defense fleet before he addressed them. Liam managed to do all this while jinking and juking his fighter through the battle. On several occasions he had narrowly avoided colliding with another fighter or debris from wrecked ships.

  “Attention Paladins, form up and follow your designated leaders. Remember your training, do not allow yourself to be pulled away chasing lone fighters. Valkyrie, you and Succubus are assigned as wingmates to Zombie, stay with him and cover him.”

  If Liam would have to bet he would say no one pilot could make a difference…..if Evan wasn’t part of that equation. Evan on the other hand wasn’t just any ordinary pilot. He could fly with such fluidity and perfection he made it look like art. Upon entering the battle he immediately fell upon the nearest Shenkar fighter and destroyed it within a few heartbeats. Again and again his energy cannons found their targets as he burned through space leaving Shenkar wreckage in his wake.

  Even so, with the devastation Evan was dealing, the Earth forces would be hard pressed to survive this battle unless they received some heavy support.

  Trying to monitor the new additions, Leah in particular, Liam nearly collided with a Scorpion fighter heading in the opposite direction, closely pursued by three Shenkar Creeza fighters. Accepting he wouldn’t be able to protect Leah and fight effectively he put her out of his mind, telling himself Evan would protect her. Pulling hard on his flight stick he brought his fighter around on course with the three Shenkar fighters. Although it was probably not a wise decision, Liam ignited his afterburners to quickly close the space with his targets.

  Falling in behind the three, he quickly locked his targeting reticule onto a Shenkar fighter, he then depressed the trigger. Before the Shenkar pilot realized what had happened, his fighter was exploding around him. Before the first fighter had finished burning in space, Liam had already locked his targeting reticule upon the next Shenkar fighter. In mere seconds the second Shenkar was destroyed and at this point the third and final Shenkar pursuer realized his wingmates had been killed. Breaking off his pursuit of the Scorpion fighter the Shenkar pilot attempted to escape Liam’s dogged pursuit. Before Liam could get a target lock the Shenkar pilot collided with a large piece if of wreckage and his fighter exploded. Not sparing anytime to think of the Scorpion fighter he had rescued, Liam turned and looked for another target. There were plenty of targets to pick from and Liam was turning toward one almost immediately. This was going to be a long and costly battle if they didn’t get help soon.

  December 26th, 2013 2:45am

  EDF expeditionary flagship, Kraken, Terran system

  Captain Sean Dunklin watched in horror as the Shenkar command bases pounded Admiral Saunders small fleet. From the beginning, this battle had been going badly. Damn that French moron was all he could think of the President of France. If Jacque Lecroix hadn’t take two thirds of the fleet with him to Outpost 238 then maybe the Earth would stand a chance. Unfortunately, Sean could clearly see it was only a matter of time. With so little a fleet and only one of the defense platforms operational, Earth would fall, unless someone could do something.

  “Give me a status report,” ordered Captain Dunklin to his operations officer.

  “Sir, the fleet is moving at flank speed into the Shenkar fleet. They appear to be using the Shenkar fleet as a shield against the command bases. Sir, the Reagan is dead in space, three of our warships have taken up defensive positions but they are taking a pounding as well…one of them, the Alexander, is commanded by Admiral Kelvin.”

  Captain Dunklin brimmed with frustration as he was unable to do anything. Here he sat, on the most powerful warship in creation and she was stuck locked into the shipyards in which she had been built.

  The Kraken was the newest form of warship in the Earth fleet. A Leviathan class battlecruiser, she had the mass of six battlecruisers put together. Roughly three quarters of a mile in length, she was the ultimate in advanced battlecruisers. For offensive capabilities the hull bristled with over four hundred heavy and light energy cannons in addition to thirty five torpedo launchers. For defensive protection, of the six fusion reactors on board, two were solely dedicated to maintaining the mighty warships energy shields. In the event of energy shield failure, three over lapping layers of alloy 1090 armor plating covered the superstructure. For incoming torpedoes were one hundred and seventy Foxfire missile interceptor pods. However, the Kraken had so much more to offer. Her Command Bridge and Combat Information Center housed the most advanced quantum computers in existence. The new system would grant the warship’s weapon system the ability to launch and reload torpedoes faster than anything in the fleet. In addition it could target over three thousand separate targets simultaneously, constantly feeding the targeting information to the energy cannons. She also housed three thousand light and heavy fighters as well as had the capability to transport a division of the new Praetorian Guard, the newly named heavy ground troops that will make up the bulk of the military. At her full load she would house, with ease, almost twenty eight thousand men and woman.

  But still here she sat, held back by a technical problem. As he continued to watch the battle, he watched men and woman he knew dying. Whirling about he confronted one of the engineers that was responsible for the fold engine dilemma.

  “Give it to me straight, and I want the truth, what is the status of the fold engines?”

  “Captain, I believe we have corrected the problem but we still haven’t run a full test upon the systems.”

  “Good enough for me. If the Shenkar fleet over run our defenses it really won’t matter if we blow up or not, we act now!”

  Seating himself in his command chair he looked out across to bridge to his crew.

  “I refuse to stand by and watch our friends die. Clear all moorings and release all docking clamps.”

  The bridge crew did not hesitate but quickly went about their tasks on readying the warship for action.

  “Captain, the shipyard commander is refusing to release docking clamps. He states we do not have clearance to take the Kraken from the shipyards.”

  “Put me on with the commander.”

  The communications officer tapped a few keys on the communications console before indicating for the captain to go ahead.

  “Commander, this is Captain Dunklin, I am the ranking officer of the Kraken and you are not! Release those docking clamps or so help me God I will engage to fold engines right here and take half the shipyards with me! I order you to release the Kraken!”

  As he spoke those last words an image formed in in Captain Dunklins memory of a movie he had watched in his childhood where the god Zeus demanded the same of Poseidon. Like Poseidon, the dock commander heeded Captain Dunklin’s command as the indicator board signaled the docking clamps had been disengaged.

  “All ahead flank speed! As soon as we are clear the shipyards engage the fold system. Destination coordinates sector two three six by four four two.”

  Several of the crew turned to stare at the last command of the captain but only his operations officer spoke up.

  “Captain, are those coordinates correct? That would put us right…..”

  Not letting his operations officer finish his sentence Captain Dunklin turned and in leveled a lethal stare as he spoke in a deadly commanding voice.

  “You heard my orders Commander Trent, if you cannot fulfill them then you may leave the bridge!”

  “I just…” Commander Trent started to say then thinking better of it he snapped to attention before he spoke again. “That will not be necessary, coordinates acknowledged.”

  The bridge descended into silence as the men and woman went about their assigned orders. After a few minutes the all clear was given and the fold engines were primed. Wasting no time Captain Dunklin gave the order.

  “Engage fold engines!”

  December 26t
h, 2013 2:45am

  Shenkar Battlecruiser, Xxeata

  Shizta couldn’t help but admire the humans for their tenacity. They truly were a formidable opponent. A true warrior’s heart pounded within their chests. When faced with overwhelming odds, instead of retreating the humans chose to attack. Shizta had at first thought them insane for attacking under such odds but then he had seen their plan. The humans had engaged the Shenkar fleet at point blank range to use them as a shield against the two command bases. Even so, Shizta had expected to easily defeat the small defense fleet seeing as they were outnumbered close to three to one.

  Unfortunately, this was not the case, as it became quickly apparent the humans had upgraded the weapons and defensive systems of the Meshtrell technology. Those pods that fired hundreds of missiles had been quite effective in both intercepting torpedoes and dealing damage to the Shenkar forces. Now with additional fighter support from the humans planet the three too one odds was quickly diminishing. The voice of the Overlord Gyliene shook Shizta from his thoughts.

  “Signal the overlords of the command bases, tell them to ignore the defense platforms and move to within firing range of this fleet. As soon as they are within firing range have them open fire with everything they have. I want everything in this sector atomized.”

  “But overlord, our own ships will be destroyed in the assault including us,” questioned the communications officer.

  Overlord Gyliene didn’t say anything for several moments as he stared at the communications officer. Finally the operations officer looked away and trasmitted the command bases their new orders. Not waiting for any response, Overlord Gyliene turned to his helmsman.

  “Withdraw the Xxeata from the battle. Once we have finished off the humans fleet we will move against their home planet. We have more than enough troops aboard the command bases to take the humans planet.”

  Shizta didn’t like these new orders. It was one thing for a warrior to give his life for the cause of the federation but to be slaughtered by their own weapons so needlessly? With the command bases for direct support they could easily beat the humans. There was no need to sacrifice Shenkar warriors so needlessly.

  Shizta calmly approached Overlord Gyliene and spoke in a low voice.

  “Overlord, is it really necessary to sacrifice our ships to eliminate the humans fleet? What of the other human warships we left at the human’s outpost? What if they return?”

  Overlord Gyliene smirked at Shizta.

  “Have you lost your backbone, Shizta? Perhaps the Shelecore was wrong about you, perhaps you are not worthy of being called one of the elites?”

  Shizta stiffened at these words as anger boiled up within him. It took him several seconds to compose himself before he spoke.

  “I only wished to advise that perhaps the Shelecore would not want you needlessly sacrificing so many of our warships and warriors.”

  This time Overlord Gyliene did not bother to hide his disdain for Shizta as he spoke.

  “Perhaps you should not presume to think what the Shelecore wishes. It seems in this case you are not privy to what he wishes. His command to me was to destroy every one of our ships if necessary to eliminate the human’s fleet. The Shelecore does not care of what losses we suffer. Why do you think so many of the elites were sent on this mission? The Shelecore is well aware of the growing unrest some of the elites are feeling towards him. He arranged to have all those he suspected assigned aboard ships that were to be in the forefront of the battle. By now….”

  Whatever Overlord Gyliene was about to say was cutoff as his operations officer shouted.

  “Overlord we have fold activity in sector six three two.”

  “That is directly between our command bases, bring it up on the holo display,” commanded the overlord.

  A holographic image of the two Shenkar command bases sprang to life above the holo table. Between the two command bases an image flickered into view. A ship so massive it even dwarfed the late flagship of the federation. The instant the warship completed its fold sequence, its massive array of weaponry let loose its deadly rain. Hundreds of energy bolts slammed into both command bases, quickly followed by dozens of torpedoes. Even before all the torpedoes of the first wave had finished their deadly assault did the holo display register a new wave of torpedoes inbound. Shizta was in awe of the power displayed before him. How these humans could take the technology of the Meshtrell and improve it to such an extreme level was unthinkable.

  Massive explosions covered both command bases as they attempted a feeble response. The attack by the human warship had been lightning quick and pinpoint accurate. The few torpedoes they managed to launch were quickly intercepted and destroyed by the humans anti missile defenses. Great chunks of metal were torn away upon each impact.

  “Overlord Gyliene, commander Fyki is requesting support. He states the human’s warship has hit their primary reactor, it’s approaching critical.”

  Overlord Gyliene just stared flatly at the holo display of the two besieged command bases before he spoke.

  “Order Commander Fyki, if he has any propulsion left, to move as close to the human’s warship and initiate the self destruct.”

  Turning to Shizta he then spoke again.

  “I will not tolerate failure; Commander Fyki should have been prepared for any unforeseen events.”

  “Overlord, I am reading fold activity on the outer edge of the system. New signatures match several of the warships that had responded to the attack on their lone outpost,” stated the operations officer.

  Shizta could feel the anger boiling off the Gyliene at hearing this latest news. Turning back to his operations officer Gyliene finally spoke, his voice dripping with acid.

  “Signal all forces to withdraw to our fallback position. We will regroup and attack again. They will never expect us to return so quickly after they believed us defeated.”

  December 26th, 2013 2:52am

  EDF Kraken

  “Captain, we are reading an energy surge coming from one of the Shenkar command bases. Reading indicated their fold engines are powering up…it looks as if they plan to fold,” Commander Trent said.

  “What of the other base?”

  “No energy surge from Base Two, in fact it seems base two is moving closer towards us.”

  “But that makes no sense, Base Two is more heavily damaged, she can’t possible hope to hold out much longer.” Captain Dunklin thought out loud. Then a horrible thought occurred to him. “Oh hell, bring our fold engines online immediately and get us the hell out of here.”

  “What coordinates sir?”

  Captain Dunklin was about to say anywhere when he thought of something.

  “Do we have any relay probes aboard?”

  Commander Trent looking surprised by the question took a second to answer.

  “Yes Captain, we have ten relay probes, but I don’t see…”

  “Ready a probe.”

  Commander Trent did so without another word and indicated the probe was ready. Captain Dunklin moved towards computer, punched in navigation coordinates, and then pressed the launch button.

  “Slowly move us away from base two but not too fast, I want them to continue following. We will lead them away from our fleet. As soon as we have coordinates on the final location of the probe then take us to within three thousand meters.”

  Minutes ticked by as the Kraken slowly move away, leading the second command base away.

  “Captain, first command base has folded away and we have a new energy surge coming from base two.”

  “Fold surge?”

  “No sir, it seems their reactors are overloading, going critical.”

  “Damn, do we have coordinates on the probe yet?”

  “We are receiving coordinates now sir.”

  “Enter those coordinates and take us there now. Have all weapons ready and on standby.”

  Just as the fold engines engaged, Captain Dunklin watched the Shenkar command base explode.

&nbs
p; December 26th, 2013 2:58am

  Shenkar Battlecruiser, Xxeata

  All thoughts were interrupted as Shizta felt the familiar tug in his stomach anytime he experienced a fold sequence. As soon as the feeling had started it soon began to fade.

  Turning to the main display he watched a massive explosion filled his vision as the other command base self destructed. Shizta couldn’t help but feel his anger rising at the needless sacrifice of so many warriors. They could have driven off the human’s massive warship and saved the second command base if all Shenkar forces had moved to help. Overlord Gyliene had needlessly sacrificed all those warriors. The only positive thing that came out of this whole mess was the human’s massive warship had been destroyed when the command base’s reactors overloaded. Or they believed it had been, when in truth their view had been blocked by their own base when it blew. They had run a scan after and found no traces of the warship.

  Shizta thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Overlord Gyliene barking out new orders.

  “Signal all forces that were not able to join us to initiate their self destruct. They are to take as many of the humans ships with them as possible.”

  Shizta watched Gyliene for several moments as the crew readied the ship for the fold sequence. His hand itched to grab his plasma sword and drive the blade through Gyliene’s throat. As if sensing Shizta’s thoughts, Gyliene turned and looked at Shizta. Smirking, as if to dare Shizta to attempt such thoughts, he then turned away.

  Suddenly he was forced to grab a nearby console as the entire ship shook followed almost immediately by the deafening roar of an explosion.

  “Give me a status report!” commanded Gyliene.

  “Enemy warship off the starboard bow, it appears to be the same warship that attacked us before.”

  Shizta turned to look over at the overlord just as the holographic tactical display in front of him exploded. Gyliene was thrown back through the air onto another nearby console. He lay there unmoving as Shizta attempted to make his way over to him. Pain shot through his leg as he took his first step. Looking down he saw a large chunk of shrapnel protruding from his leg. Figuring that taking it out would likely do more harm than good he decided to leave it there for the time being and continued over to the motionless overlord.