Cannons continued to take out targets faster and faster, shields continued to fall and ships moved out of the line of fire to recover.
“Nice work Resilient, let the other AI’s know that I would not want to tangle with them!” Salchar said with a ghost of a smile, getting chuckles of those that were nervous and anxious enough to take any excuse to bring levity to the situation.
“Rounds going in,” Marleen said. The wall of fire acted as it had been created.
Space was filled with debris, an area hundreds of kilometers big was covered in remains of ships, something that would make anyone aware of just how massive space was, frown in apprehension.
The wall of rounds found the debris, found missiles, found husks and smashed into ships right before another wave of missiles added their own destruction.
Penetrators went off, ripping into armor, through it and into the actual ship itself, if enough hits landed, or landed the right way.
Anything that missed exploded and turned into fast travelling shrapnel the size of a mug.
“Shifting ship,” Milra said, bringing more guns to bear and the three cannons that had been cooling off as the other three fired.
Salchar and Rick had a quiet conversation every so often, Rick letting Salchar know what was going on with the Fleet, or Salchar passing orders onto the rest of the fleet through him.
Rick was the conduit to the rest of the fleet, the bridge was the conduit to the overarching information of the fleet and Hic Stamus.
Salchar made it look easy. Smith didn’t know how anyone could command just a ship, let alone a ship and a fleet.
Fire kept pouring down on the Kalu, it put the Jump-ships firepower to shame. Though the jump ships just needed to hit the Kalu ships to throw off their calibrations, and they could destroy a ship coming through a wormhole.
“Two minutes,” Resilient said.
“Ben?” Salchar asked.
“Ready to go,” Ben said as the ship continued to rotate, bringing the ten lower laser cannons that were located on the lower sections of Hic Stamus and tilting so that two on the top could also fire, the ship rotated slightly, changing which two on the top could fire, and which rail cannons could join in.
“One minute,” Resilient said, Milra moved Hic Stamus so it was heading straight at the Kalu and along its path of motion.
Vort’s voice could be heard warning the rest of the ship that they would be entering a wormhole shortly. The fleet moved into preset positions.
“Wormhole jump,” Resilient said, guns fell silent, projectors appeared from under their heavily armored recesses, capacitors were drained as wormhole generators created the necessary components of ripping through space and time with precision.
Wormholes filled the space, creating an impenetrable wall, right in the Kalu formation.
Ships disappeared, like the ships that had run into the second wormhole.
Few of the Kalu got past the wormholes, flying around them was met by laser cannons and rail cannon fire.
“Transitioning,” Milra said, applying thrust to put a bit of an angle on the ships’ motion she didn’t have the time to smoothly cross the event horizon but the angle helped out a little bit.
They came out on the other side. Smith half expected to see Kalu waiting on the other side. Instead he was met by the inky blackness and spotted lights of an area between stars.
“I want reports from every ship and section. I want to know what happened to Dasa, More and Divine Solace,” Salchar said, not quite able to keep the hoarse emotion out of his words.
Smith released the holographic table, his hands hurting from gripping the railing around it so hard.
He hadn’t even noticed it with the adrenaline, fear, excitement and anxiety that seemed to run through him at varying levels throughout the battle.
“That’s how the big boys play,” Heston said with gravity, looking to Smith.
“Fuck,” Smith said with feeling, unsure of how else to express what he had felt and seen.
He had been on the bridge for some forty minutes, two Corvettes and a Destroyer had been destroyed. One Battle cruiser was going to need a yard and fourteen other ships had lost their shields, three of them had needed to pair up with another ship to use their wormhole as their projectors had been shot up.
Numbers were rolling in from the sensor platforms in the Nexus. One-hundred and forty-three thousand had followed their Kalu war-brothers into the black. Leaving just under two-hundred and fifty-three-thousand in working order. Twenty-eight-million Kalu, still alive and working their way through inhabited space.
The rage from before, the want to just plow through them and finish them off fell away as those numbers settled in. That single fleet was now a quarter the size of the other two fleets already past the line, the harm that they could cause just served to boggle his mind and cold water douse his spirit.
“Well anyway you’ve got a few hours before you’re off to help Cheerleader and Boot out, I’d suggest you get some rest before then,” Heston said.
“Yeah, this war isn’t going to be won in a day,” Smith said a new realization filling him.
“Nope, but with battles like that one, hopefully we can whittle the bastards down,” Heston said with feeling.
Chapter Hit and run
Cheerleader looked over the information that was being transmitted from the dead system that Orshpa was passing through. Looking at the entire fleet made them look as if they were just toy models. Zooming in showed the truth. Star-warriors halfway between a corvette and a destroyer flowed between the Star-destroyers which were as big as the smallest Free Fleet carrier.
Scarier than the number of ships, was the formation that they were flying in.
“It looks like Orshpa learned from his first engagement,” Boot said, respect mingled with anguish. Orshpa was coming in with his entire fleet in a single line, like some massive page being pushed through space.
They weren’t going to come in waves like they had in Eltar, or how Falhu’s forces had moved through their systems.
Orshpa wasn’t just reacting to the Free Fleet’s tactics, he was changing his own tactics to counteract them.
“I believe it would be best if we tell Salchar to keep a hold of the jump fighters, using them to harass the forces moving through the Nexus,” Cheerleader said, sitting back in her chair.
“Why?” Boot asked.
“If they attack that formation then Orshpa is going to flip his ships and pile unholy fire into them. The jump ships are our best assets for hit and run. He could wipe them out before they get all of their missiles out,” Cheerleader said, waving to the hologram of the formation to emphasize her point.
“I agree,” Boot said.
He had a habit of doing that, asking why, to see the logic of the other persons thinking while reserving his own judgement. It made people think through their plans, it also made Cheerleader sit back more than one time, his voice in her head asking why she was doing what she was doing and gaming out the scenario.
Both of them had come into contact with a Kalu fleet, Cheerleader with Falhu’s forces, Boot with Orshpa’s in the opening fight at Eltar.
“Who said that they wished every mission was boring, if it wasn’t it was because either someone had fucked up, or they were so deep in the shit there was no foreseeable exit?” Cheerleader asked.
“Probably the Vahsnu,” Boot said.
“Can’t believe that they still don’t want the protection of the Free Fleet,” Cheerleader said.
“We’ve been keeping the true scale of the Kalu forces a secret so we don’t scare the shit out of everyone,” Boot said.
“I thought that it would have leaked by now,” Cheerleader said.
“Salchar is going to be giving a priority message today,” Boot said, “Even with the forces at his disposal there are going to be at least a hundred thousand Kalu ships working their way into the heart of the Union.”
Cheerleader just sighed, looking to the t
imer on her data pad. Orshpa was expected to come through Jasah in two days time at the latest, tomorrow the earliest.
They had gone through the plan and its contingencies so many times that the fleet could recite them in their sleep now.
“Let’s give people the night off, they’ve more than deserved it,” Cheerleader said, reclining in her seat even more.
***
Evelyn Sparks shot forward in her seat as the priority message came in from Salchar himself.
She shushed everyone in the room as she hit the play, a recording playing on the large screen in front of her.
“Hello, I thought that it was past time we let you all know what’s going on with the Kalu and the fleet. So far we have engaged the Kalu in four battles. We are still fighting them in the Nexus. Two fleets are waiting in Jasah to bring the Kalu leader Orshpa and his fleet under contact. The Kalu force numbered nearly one and a half million ships when they began their campaign. They have had severe losses and lost nearly six-hundred-thousand of their number. Twenty ships, were lost with all hands to bring that about. We do not know where the Kalu intend to go, but we know that we will be there to meet them and help all that we can. At this time, we have brought every asset that the Free Merchant Fleet and its subsidiary the Free Fleet has under its command into action. The enemy is determined and their numbers vast, we will cut down their numbers at every opportunity, we will fight them on our ships, we will fight them in stations, on planets and wherever possible. We will defeat them no matter where they are. We make this promise to every person of the Union and serving member of the Free Fleet.” He paused his eyes seemed to pull Evelyn and everyone that was now watching the screen into them, “Let you not go into the light peacefully, but go knowing that the full fury and love of the Free Fleet will be with you. May your fires burn ever brighter as we take on your promise, to banish the black and strive for the light,” his words were not just absent words, but a promise carved into the armor of the Free Fleet’s hulls.
“Strive for the light, but prepare for the darkness,” the rest of Hic Stamus’ bridge replied, there was fear and anxiety in their voices. More than that there was defiance, anger and cold purpose.
Salchar touched two fingers to his head throwing a salute to Evelyn, whose eyes were transfixed to his.
The transmission stopped as other files labelled ‘battle footage’ and ‘casualty lists’ were downloaded to her linked data pad.
“I want the casualty list out as soon as possible, people have a right to know if their family members or friends are coming back,” she said, pressing the link to the battle footage, the screen changed as people started moving to complete her assigned tasks.
Wormholes appeared like a sea of glowing pearls, ships exited them, advancing into the system. A fleet was waiting in the system. Wormholes appeared around them after a few minutes, new ones forming behind the Kalu wormholes that kept appearing, hundreds of ships coming through in a matter of seconds. It was like watching a tsunami wave. They seemed unstoppable, a force of nature that seemed to defy pre-set laws.
She zoomed in on the Kalu forces, her breath catching in her throat, they had looked innocent just emerging from nothing, and now looking down on the ships she saw the strength and power of those black ships.
Missiles and fire ripped from Jump-fighters that came in from beyond the jump-limit, in the direction the Kalu ships were moving away from.
They unleashed barrages of missiles, moving to put Kalu ships and wormholes between the first waves of ships that were turning to attack and bring them under fire.
Jump fighters fired their weapons until they were dry, jumping out to their carriers, re-arming and throwing themselves back into the fight.
The display of Jump fighter firepower was impressive, deadly with the ships that were destroyed by their own wormholes with a hit from those fighters.
Yet it wasn’t enough to stem the tide of Kalu, it was like putting a big rock in a creek, water still got around it and the pressure was building behind the rock. Kalu were now in the tens of thousands and still the fighters kept returning. More of them came under the fire of the Kalu ships, lasers and missiles pulling them apart.
The fighters were recalled and the Kalu continued to pour out from their wormholes which no longer looked like pearls to Evelyn, but portals from hell.
She sped up the video, getting to where the fleet dumped missiles and mines, jumping away.
The missiles took their own toll, the mines cutting into the Kalu formation. They had finally stopped merging from wormholes, yet hundreds of thousands of the ships now raced after one another. They were predators on the tail of their prey. The fight hadn’t deterred them in anyway, it had excited them it seemed.
Evelyn let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, the fear making her hand tremble as she put the data pad down.
The office was quiet, everyone had been looking to carrying out their own tasks, but none had been able to avoid watching the imagery on the large screen that dominated the office.
“I want these videos edited for brevities sake. None of the fighting, or losses are to be edited out. I want us ready to present in five minutes. I’ll host and I want Salchar’s message ready to go,” Evelyn said, standing, trying to hide the shakiness of the motion.
The usual noises of working were subdued as Evelyn headed to the bathroom to get ready to tell the Union and every sentient creature on this side of the line that the Kalu were coming, and while millions of them had been killed already, there were still millions more on their way.
***
“Report,” Orshpa demanded.
“We’re missing a handful of ships but the majority emerged with us,” Daskil said from his position as controller.
“What about Free Fleet ships?”
“We’re not picking up any of them in the immediate area,” Daskil said, they hadn’t seen the Free Fleet in most of the systems that they had passed through. It looked like they had given up the fight after their first engagement. Orshpa knew his enemy. They were out there and they were watching, waiting to come down on him and his warriors.
He was ready this time and he would make them pay a heavy price if they chose to use the same tactics as before.
The Free fleet finally appeared on the sensors, showing seventy ships waiting on the outer limits of the system.
Come on, bring it! I’ll show you the fate of those that go up against Orshpa a second time!
Even with all of his silent threats and the new furrows in the command deck from his paws, the Free Fleet did nothing but power their engines and head towards Orshpa.
Before they could even get into range their wormholes opened and the Free Fleet disappeared, leaving yet another system opens to him and his fleet.
“Cowards! They have seen the might of the Kalu and they run like unbloodied littermates!” A controller declared, Orshpa let a hungry growl go, his lust for the Free Fleet’s blood driving his want to chase down the bastards and bleed them for every drop, to bring them under engagement.
“We proceed in the same formation that we arrived in towards the Nexus.”
“Drive signatures across the fleet!” Daskil said.
Orshpa looked up as thousands of missiles that had been silently pushed out of the Free Fleet’s missile tubes, using the momentum imparted by their mother ships to carry them towards the oncoming Kalu.
The missiles drives fired up, slamming them with acceleration and hurtling them towards the Kalu fleet.
“Cut them down!” Orshpa yelled, seeing that it was too late for all too many craft.
Chapter just when you thought Salchar was crazy
Bregend watched Boot and Cheerleader’s fleets missiles hammer into the Kalu formation. The fact that they had a formation and were actually keeping to it somewhat spoke to the power that Orshpa held.
He watched the video with almost clinical detachment as missiles swept through the Kalu, with them being in one single line there w
as no cover to be found behind another Kalu vessel.
The Kalu fired back against the missiles but it was too late. Twenty thousand died from missiles.
The Kalu fought to try and re-establish order, or find a target to exact vengeance, Bregend wasn’t quite sure, but it lasted long enough for the mines to get to work.
Invisible light punched through Kalu ships like bullets through paper.
An additional forty thousand weren’t going to be making it to any Union worlds.
“How are we looking?” Bregend asked.
“Kalu are in Quarst and moving towards Worshun as predicted. Kafam is under siege with forty thousand Kalu ships on the planet.” Close to four-point-four-million, Bregend silently interjected. “In a few hours the Kalu should begin landing on the planet Worshun.” Mills couldn’t quite keep the nerves from his voice.
“Very well, Wilma, are we good to go for wormhole?” Bregend asked.
“Yes Commander,” she said her face could have been carved from granite, the plan Elisati had come up with was, well calling it mad might be an understatement, but if they could pull it off and Elisati could draw enough Kalu into the trap.
Well it won’t be quite as ‘mad’ anymore. Bregend thought.
“Kyle, get me a channel to Elisati,” Bregend asked.
“Commander Bregend, it’s almost time I think,” she said, she must have been the greatest actor that Bregend had ever seen. Keeping the anxiety and fear that must be gnawing at her not only off of her face but completely removed from her body language. She looked like she was about to take a stroll through her garden, quite the image of poise.
“Yes, I think that I will be coming in a bit earlier to see how the Kalu react. It will be useful for later campaigns,” Elisati said.
“Understandable, anything that we might be able to learn will be vital as this war continues,” her palms opening out in Dovarkians gesture of understanding.
“Very well, Kyle alert the fleet. Milra make sure that everyone’s on the same page, we’ll charge up instead of wasting the capacitors,” Bregend said, looking to each of his people who quickly turned to get what needed to be done, done. We’ll be seeing you shortly, Planetary governor,” Bregend said.
From Furies Forged (Free Fleet Book 5) Page 22