by Lee Watts
"Then use the tertiary guns and aim manually! They're mere pests, swat them!"
The smaller guns of the swarmed Ramillie ships turned swiftly while looking for the darting, tiny intruders. Compounding the problem of hitting the small targets was the Ramillie gunners had to try 'swatting' them in the dark. Catching only glimpses for half a second, the Ramillie gunners started firing haphazardly. Exasperated at attempting to aim at the evasive troops, the gunners weren't considering what was beyond their intended targets, and several of their shots instead hit adjacent Ramillie ships.
Descending in droves to the massive enemy vessels, Realm troops anchored themselves with magnetic boots and activated their primary weapons for this part of the battle, energy drills. The mining tools, designed to cut through the dense rocks of the asteroid ring, sliced through the Ramillie ships with ease.
"Admiral! I'm reading hull breaches all over those ships!"
The Ramillie formation was two rows of four ships. Each vessel in the lead row had hundreds of Realm troops crawling all over its hull and was quickly being ripped to shreds.
On the bridge of the beset Ramillie heavy cruiser Gallimimus, its captain helplessly watched targeting screens as his ship was stung time and again. A thump at the large, main window of the bridge drew his attention away from the screens. On the other side of the window, a Realm Marine had the audacity to wave at the captain before beginning to drill through the transparent steel. Some of the bridge officers ran to the exits, others, captain included, were too stunned to move and stared motionless in fascinated fear as the man bore through their hull. A moment later, the drill breached the room causing the internal pressure to completely blow out the pane. Air rushing out into space quickly expelled from the bridge everyone and everything not bolted down, captain included.
With the window and occupants gone, the Marine activated his pack to fly into the exposed bridge then used his drill to reduce the ship's control stations to melted slag. Finished, he jetted back into open space. Systems throughout the Gallimimus went off-line, and the entire vessel began its death throws. Attacking troops detected the impending demise of the Gallimimus and fired their rockets to distance themselves from the craft. Half a minute later, it shattered in a blinding explosion, sending debris smashing against the nearby ships.
Even from deep in the asteroid ring, Alexander could see the billowing explosion of the first Ramillie vessel. Though he knew Qil'Donan couldn't hear him, the Remnant's commanding general stared out the window with arms folded across his chest and spoke to his opponent anyway.
"Now, you fight on my terms."
CHAPTER 36
"…If God be for us, who can be against us?" - Romans 8:31
Admiral Qil'Donan couldn't believe his eyes. His assault force was engaging infantry, and there was nothing in his extensive naval training covering that contingency. One of his heavy cruisers was destroyed, two more were floating dead in space, and two others were under heavy attack. Things were rapidly spinning out of control.
Evading the haphazard but deadly blasts of enemy laserfire, a Realm soldier flew around the Ramillie frigate Baryonyx. Utilizing his magnetic boots, he attached himself to the underside of the ship. To an observer, he looked upside down, but in zero gravity, to him, he seemed right side up. Landing, he activated his drill and began carving his name in the hull. Distracted, he didn't notice the window a few meters behind him where a Ramillie crewman saw the back of the inverted graffiti artist slicing into the ship.
Instinctually, the Ramillie drew his sidearm and fired. The blast slammed hard into the window, but it held. Kicking himself for the almost fatal blunder, the crewman breathed a sigh of relief the window, while damaged, remained intact. He turned to leave but stopped upon hearing the same sound as ice under too much weight. Looking back, he noticed a spider web of cracks rapidly growing on the damaged pane. His eyes widened, and he darted toward the door. Before his second step, the window shattered, and shards blasted out into the great void. Air rushed around him forcing him to desperately struggle to keep his footing. The wind pulled the terrified, unprotected crewman off his feet and unceremoniously slung him into the cold of space where he met with an agonizing, but mercifully, quick end. With it all happening behind him, the oblivious Realm soldier continued drilling.
On the command ship, a crewman reported the Baryonyx was deploying escape pods.
"Cowards," Qil'Donan spat. "Put it on the monitor."
On the admiral's display appeared the beset warship; its exterior was crawling with Realm troops who were slicing it to ribbons. As rats abandoning a sinking ship, small lifeboats fled from the dying craft.
"Weapons, lock on to the Baryonyx," ordered the incensed Qil'Donan.
"Lock established."
"FIRE!"
A high-powered beam of ruby-colored energy flamed from the Deinodon and punched into its sister ship. The beam quickly bored through the craft. Shuddering from the impact of the attack, the frigate trembled. Realizing the ship's imminent demise, Realm troops ignited their thrusters to distance themselves from the doomed craft, but there was insufficient time. Within a pair of heartbeats, the Baryonyx exploded. Over the Realm radio channels came a surge of horrifying screams from incinerating soldiers. As the ball of energy enveloped escaping troops, the screams suddenly died out, leaving only an ominous silence in their wake.
"Cold-blooded monster!" Alexander fumed. "He's destroying his own ships to get us!"
Switching the communications panel on the holographic projection table, he addressed the infantry.
"Disengage! Disengage! Fall back to secondary positions! Prepare for phase two!"
As troops darted back to the protective cover of the asteroid ring, Ramillie ships took potshots at them. The troops' small size and relatively slow speeds allowed them to easily navigate the narrow spaces in the asteroid ring.
Lieutenant Colonel Ortiz and his battalion of three-hundred troops rocketed away from the Ramillie ships to their assigned rendezvous point. Major Hyeon was the unit's second in command. As the battalion assembled in the cavern of a depleted mineshaft, they discarded their torches and took out their rifles.
"What now Colonel?" Hyeon asked.
"Now, we wait."
"For what?"
"A leak."
By the puzzled look on the major's face, it was clear Hyeon didn't understand, so Ortiz elaborated.
"We know the enemy will adapt to our tactics. So, the Prince said we're to watch for leaks in our defenses then plug them. So, we wait."
With relief, the executive officer of the Deinodon reported his first good news of the battle.
"They're withdrawing, Admiral."
Qil'Donan smiled with satisfaction.
"Of course, they are. They're nothing but a cult militia showing their true colors. We've hit them, so they tuck tail and run. Let's finish them. Prepare a volley of missiles, and lock onto their command center."
Wishing he were somewhere else, the weapons officer again delivered a message he would rather not.
"Admiral, the ore in those asteroids is interfering with the weapon's lock. If we got closer…"
Qil'Donan shot him a look and considered actually shooting him, but decided to restrain himself. With the space between the rocks insufficient for his mammoth battleship to pass, Qil'Donan ordered one of the smaller ships, the cruiser Deinonychus, to proceed into the field.
"Take out that control station first," Qil'Donan ordered. "With their command post gone, they'll lose the ability to coordinate. Plus, seeing their precious banner down should take some of the spirit out of them."
Already bearing scars from the initial engagement with Realm forces, the Deinonychus apprehensively eased its way into the ring of stones.
"I don't like this," cautioned its combat-seasoned captain. "There's no room to maneuver. Shields to maximum, and put the tertiary guns on full automatic point defense, set for motion detect. That should take care of any more infantry attacks."<
br />
Instructed to stay out of phase one of the battle, Gunnery Sergeant Imre Kovacs maintained a lonely vigil on his predetermined asteroid; his assigned weapon, an adapted rocket-launcher, was at the ready. As directed, he anchored the opposite end of the harpoon's cable to the rock on which he stood. Why engineering teams attached a pair of shuttle engines to that asteroid, he didn't know.
Creeping steadily nearer Imre was the Deinonychus. Silent and deadly, the warship reminded him of some great deep-sea predator. The warship bristled with weaponry. Imre noted the smaller, twin-barreled cannons were making small but swift jerking motions. He deduced they were on automatic and refocusing their sights at every slightest hint of movement. Instinct told him to run and put as much distance as possible between him and the warship. But, realizing the consequences of such a flight, he held his ground. To distract himself from the instinct, he thought of his wife and daughter who were in one of the habitation asteroids.
Using the HPT, Alexander and Veltri monitored the position of the approaching predator.
"That cruiser alone packs enough fire-power to destroy any one of these rocks," Veltri warned. "If it gets a clear shot, we're done for."
The Prince had no intention of letting the Ramillie get that shot. As the front tip of the Deinonychus began passing below Imre, he received orders from Alexander to target a specific asteroid several hundred meters away. To avoid detection, Sergeant Kovacs slowly raised his launcher to aim.
With the Ramillie craft so close, he knew if he moved even a fraction too fast, the automatic weapons of the enemy ship would take him out. He wondered what would happen when the rocket launched. There would be insufficient time to duck back in the crater before the Ramillie cannons released several shots. But even if he could take cover, he considered the enemy's weapons might just shatter his asteroid. None of that mattered at the moment, though he knew it would matter a great deal shortly. For now, he was focused on his task. With the steady arm of a skilled marksman, he aimed at the distant rock. His target was the one engineers had equipped with a pair of engines. With heart pounding in his ears, the sound was at last broken by the Prince's voice over the speakers in Sergeant Kovacs' helmet.
"Gralla Killer, whatever happens, don't move."
"Acknowledged."
Imre stood in clear view. A human gunner would have picked him off immediately, but the Ramillie weapons were set on automatic so couldn't distinguish him from the stationary stone.
Suddenly, the top mounted guns of the Ramillie ship whipped around having found prey. Imre remained motionless, but his eyes darted to where the enemy cannons were pointing. Quick bursts of blood-colored energy zipped out at a trio of Realm troops jetting for more distant cover. The first soldier was taken out almost instantly. The remaining two split directions in an attempt to confuse the enemy turrets. Trying to draw fire away from their comrades, four more soldiers broke cover and rushed to separate rocks. If Imre took off it would add to the distraction, but instead, he kept his statue-like vigil, only watching as the enemy ship erupted with laserfire. Lashing out in rapid succession, twin energy blasts from the multiple double-barreled cannons of the Deinonychus shot out like darts tracing each of the soldier's movements, and all met with a barrage of the deadly light piercing them. Imre remained motionless. It wasn't lack of courage keeping him still; it was discipline. Though he admired those who rushed to their comrades' aid, he knew if The Remnant was to survive this battle, everyone needed to follow orders, and his were clear, don't move.
On the three-dimensional map, Alexander, Merrick, and Veltri watched with grief as each dot representing one of the flying soldiers winked out. Noticing the dot for Sergeant Kovacs remaining, the Prince offered a silent prayer of thanks to the Elder for Imre's restraint. Pushing anger aside, Alexander fought the urge to act prematurely. Focusing on the image of the Ramillie ship, he estimated speed, distance, acceleration, and a dozen other factors while Sergeant Kovacs stood ready.
"Fire," Alexander finally ordered.
Immediately, the rocket launched and went speeding across the chasm of empty space toward its target with a reinforced cable lashed to it. As predicted, the Ramillie guns opened fire, but not at Imre. After firing the rocket with its attached cable, Imre remained motionless. Since the guns were on automatic, they followed the movement of the rocket; and he wagered if he stood still, they would leave him alone. He gambled and won. Bolts of deadly energy shot at the narrow projectile, but each passed harmlessly over or under it, and the rocket with its warhead removed, lodged deep into the other engine-equipped boulder. A long, thick metal cable now connected the two asteroids.
With the enemy ship below the cable, Alexander hit the switch activating the thrusters on the rocks, which leaped like sprinters from starting blocks. Since Imre was not attached asteroid, he suddenly had no cover at all. His instinct was to find the closest shelter, but discipline kept him motionless. It was his strict adherence to the Prince's orders to not move that saved his life.
As soon as the two cable-linked asteroids began moving, the Ramillie cannons immediately started firing at them. Far larger targets than the sleek rocket, the guns found their marks time and again. Each blast sent chunks of rock flying away, but when a bit of stony covering was removed, the remaining tizanite absorbed the energy bolts. The two asteroids sped around opposite sides of the Deinonychus. When the connecting cable impacted the shields, it caused the propelled rocks to loop around the ship like a giant bola. Each circle around the vessel tightened the noose and shortened the cable until the rocks slammed forcefully against the Ramillie shields. Pressed against the energy screens, the asteroids cracked while blasting off the useless hunks of rock until all that remained were the tizanite cores. The tizanite, instead of shattering, absorbed the energy from the Ramillie's shields.
Panic ensued on the bridge of the Deinonychus.
"CAPTIAN, we have a massive power drain! Shields at eight-five percent… seventy… sixty-two..."
Emergency power was diverted from non-essential systems to reinforce the straining shields. The extra power only accelerated the energy absorption by the hunks of tizanite.
"GET THOSE THINGS OFF OF MY SHIP," the captain shouted.
The guns of the Deinonychus opened fire on the asteroids, dumping power into them. Once reaching the flash point, the tizanite cores ignited into brightly flaming orbs of energy.
Searing through the weakened defenses, the blazing rocks burnt the cable in two and quickly overcame the vessel's shields. The incandescent globes drifted toward the ship's naked hull which they scorched and soon breached. Slowly but steadily, the tizanite balls cut their way deeper into the dying craft.
"All hands abandon ship!" the captain instructed.
Escaping crew launched from the Deinonychus, but with the auto-tracking weapons still powered, the cannons destroyed each of the fleeing Ramillie pods. When the frigate's power failed, the guns fell silent, and the ship hung as a lifeless wreck among the rocks with two tizanite balls burning brightly from deep within its charred hull.
CHAPTER 37
"…the LORD is a man of war…" - Exodus 15:3
Studying the holographic display of the battle, Alexander smiled as he watched the Ramillie frigate Deinonychus removed from the fight.
Opening a channel to Gunnery Sergeant Kovacs, the Prince praised him. "Good work, Gralla Killer!"
Sergeant Kovacs, himself awestruck by the effectiveness of the unconventional tactic, chuckled as he replied.
"Roger that, Sire. Roger that."
Serving as Alexander's second in command, Colonel Veltri shared in the gaining optimism with the current tide of battle, but tides change, and the momentum of battle was about to swing the other direction.
Veltri's smile melted, and his upbeat mood disappeared upon noticing the images coming in from one of the asteroid ring's perimeter cameras.
"Sire, we've got incoming," Veltri reported.
He punched the button changing the ta
ble's main floating display to show the feed from the perimeter camera. Alexander and Merrick watched as scores of starfighters launching from a Ramillie carrier now sped toward the field of rocks. The Prince knew this was inevitable, but it made the event no less nerve-racking.
Keying the communications panel, the colonel opened a frequency to the troops stationed on the asteroids.
"Fire at will! Fire at will! All units prepare for assault," called out Veltri.
As Colonel Veltri went to detailing specific orders to various squads, Alexander addressed those inside the habitation asteroids.
"All hands this is command, phase three is beginning, repeat phase three is beginning. All personnel to bunkering areas. Counter-insertion teams, standby to engage."
Hearing the warning voice from the room's speaker, Vivica turned to Aulani.
"Counter-insertion team?" she questioned in a concerned tone. "What's that?"
Aulani shrugged she didn't know and turned her eyes to look at the redheaded female Marine standing near them. The Marine, Sergeant Tia VanAllen, understood the meaning and explained.
"Ma'am, we expect the Ramillie to enter the tunnels in an attempt to get to our personnel. Counter-insertion teams are to try and stop them before they get to the civilian areas."
"Try?" Vivica sassed sardonically. "Well, they better do more than try. My fiancée will be furious if anything happens to me."
Aulani turned to the refined woman.
"Fiancée?" she asked. "You're engaged?"
"Oh, my yes; we were madly in love before he left."
"Before who left?"
"Who? Don't you know? I guess not. I'm surprised he never told you, but I guess that's the kind of thing he might keep from someone like you. Alexander of course."
She extended her left hand, proudly displaying the large diamond ring on it. "Isn't it the most exquisite thing you've ever set your eyes on?"
Trying, unsuccessfully, to seem unaffected, Aulani answered softly, "It's the loveliest ring I've ever seen."