The fleet will stay in orbit and provide support from the orbitals, our reports from Kafam show them going to the planet’s surface as fast as possible, not one ship tried to stay in orbit as they did at Heija,” Bregend said, looking to his command team and the commanders of his fleet in holographic form.
“Sounds like a plan,” Kelu said, one of the Syndicate prisoners turned reformed Free Fleet ship commander.
“Questions, comments, ideas?” Bregend looked around, they had all worked on the plan together, but he wanted to make sure there were no last minute tweaks that might help them out. No one had anything to say.
“Alright, well let’s get our people ready,” Bregend said rising, the holograms turned off and the room seemed smaller as he headed for the bridge.
***
Commander Fal looked to the skies, he couldn’t see the Kalu that hid behind the atmosphere of Ershue, but he could damned well sense them. It was hard not to with the dread that hung over the planet like the massive trees that Ershue and the creatures of the planet lived in.
He looked away from the sky and looked to the mountain plateau that rose out of the trees. A massive asteroid had once hit Ershue, making this rise in the center of its impact.
Now Commandos from across known space drew their lines in Ershue’s ground, protecting those that hid in the underground bunkers built under the mound that acted as the command center and base for the Free Fleet forces.
PRC’s sprouted from the mound’s armored walls, automated Gatling guns rose on pillars and were mounted to walls. Fal had taken a lesson from Parnmal, turning the rise into a maze of choke points, funnels and weapon systems made to give the Kalu a very bad time.
More units were spread out around the planet. They were there to harass the Kalu from the rear. Make it so that they were never not under attack.
Fal wished he had more weapons, had built up his defensive complex more. It was fifteen kilometers wide, but he had watched the videos of Kalu. He didn’t know if that was going to be enough.
***
Bregend watched as flight after flight of fighter, bomber and shuttle was released from their carriers.
It wouldn’t be long now.
All of the Fleet’s ships were presenting their broadsides, momentum carrying them towards the Kalu.
“All craft are clear of their respective carriers,” Zoka, the Fleet’s Wing Commander said from her place at Bregend’s left.
“Good,” Bregend replied, the bridge was tense. The jump fighters were popping in and out of the Kalu formation, they were inflicting a lot of casualties, but the Kalu turned and tried to engage them as soon as they emerged.
It was a risky game of cat and mouse.
“How we looking Mills?” Bregend asked, glancing to his second on his right.
“Ready across the board,” Mills reported, looking to Bregend, steel in his eyes.
“Domal, run the guns and open all tubes. Kyle pass the word to the rest of the Fleet. Afnar, bring the shields up. Qurv can you put up field of fire ranges in front of the fleet?” Bregend asked, rail cannons hydraulics pushing them from their maintenance positions out to firing positions. Gunnery chiefs yelled at their people like those officers that had commanded the warships of Earth’s oceans.
“Yes Commander,” Qurv said, a sphere opening in front of the Fleet showing the outer limit of the Free Fleet’s effective fire.
People moved around, dealing with the smaller issues that came with bringing a ship to full readiness, like ramping up the power reactors, making sure that command systems were ready to be transferred, reporting any issues they encountered.
There was nothing like war, it was brutal, terrifying and about the worst thing that sentients could do. Yet it was the biggest rush they could get, two sentients smashing together with all the power, smarts and skill they had.
There’s nothing quite as bad as war, but there’s no rush quite like it. Bregend summarized as he snapped his visor shut, locking and sealing. The rest of the bridge followed suit and the first fighters lit up their drives, both the ones that powered their craft, and the ones behind their missiles.
“The forward fighters have contacted the edge of the Kalu formation,” Zoka reported.
The fighters and Bombers had been largely kept in their carrier’s hulls as jump fighters were rushed from battle to battle, grinding into the Kalu at every opportunity.
They had learned a lot watching the Jumpers, and now their simulation was being put to the test.
Their railguns fired as they raked Kalu ships, fired multi-warhead missiles and used all of their skills to get away from the angered Kalu’s bows which were now spitting out missiles and lasers at any target they could see.
The first Bombers and their accompanying fighters tumbled and jinked, getting out of the Kalu’s fire.
The Bombers had yet to truly prove themselves. Now was their first opportunity.
“Remind me to not piss off our pilots,” Bregend said, loud enough to be heard across the bridge as Bombers opened their bays and vomited missiles at the Kalu. Fighters dove in, trying to take the heat from the Bombers.
The first fighters were clearing the Kalu, they turned back firing anything they still had in their guns and started breaking.
It took a few more seconds for the last bomber to clear the Kalu formation, their path skirting atmosphere.
“Domal?” Bregend asked, looking at the sphere which looked to be touching the Kalu’s rear elements.
“Ready for Laser cannons, twelve seconds until missiles,” Domal reported
“Fire, release missiles when you have a solution, same for rail cannons,” Bregend said, the first Kalu lasers were now hitting the Free Fleet, causing their shields to glow.
Dal’s Laser Cannons spoke up, their thundering explosions heard even on the Bridge. Five other ships had the Cannons and added their firepower to the brawl.
Anything in the weapons path was destroyed.
Kalu missiles thundered out of their ships.
Domal, waited. PDS sparked up and space was covered in millions of accelerated rounds hunting down incoming missiles.
Just when Bregend was about to say something, missile’s ripple-fired from every Free-Fleet ship.
“Flip!” Domal barked, Kyle repeated the order to the other ships as Wilma did as Domal asked, Dal’s other side presented itself, bringing fresh laser cannons and missile ports in range. Again the Free Fleet ripple-fired every port facing the Kalu.
“Roll!” Domal barked again, and so it continued, the Kalu’s lasers were spread across the Free Fleet’s shields as they flipped, fired and flipped again.
“Dash have lost their shields,” Mills said, the main screen showing a ship go from green to yellow.
“Ilox got a nasty hit in their bow, close to their reactor,” Mills said again as another ship went from green to red.
“Gunnery, you are free to fire, focus on the missiles,” Domal said into his microphone. Rail cannons erupted, they didn’t have the strength or speed of the Laser Cannons, but they had numbers. Thousands of rounds rolled through ammunition belts feeding their hungry children in the hands of their Gunnery teams.
Missiles hit the Free Fleet.
“Destroyer Qin has, she’s gone. Battlecruiser Gomz is rolling. Defiant have lost shields but are still flying, moving out of line of fire,” Mills kept up the commentary. Bregend looked over his fleet. He wanted to yell or do something. At this point all of his people were devoted to their jobs. His actions would only impede them. So he shut up and watched as his people fought.
“Missiles on the Kalu,” Qurv said.
“Shields are at sixty percent and falling.” Afnar reported.
Seventy-thousand ships had been sent at Ershue, the fighters and bombers had taken out nineteen thousand. The leading Kalu were already entering atmosphere.
“Keep us together Afnar!” Bregend barked, the missiles rushed to meet the Kalu. Wave after wave hit them, blinding sensors
to their presence as the Free Fleet came in.
“Sir, I think we hit one,” Afnar said, his voice totally serious. The Kalu had been braking to enter the planet’s atmosphere and the nuclear waves had blacked out both sides sensors. Collisions in space were so insignificant they were almost an impossibility. When a shit load of ships is all in one place all trying to do the same thing. They can’t see anything and a big assed carrier comes through, well the possibility of a collision rose rather significantly.
Bregend opened a channel up to his gunners.
“Come on you bastards, shields are trying to take your jobs now!” He said, laughing as Dal and the rest of the fleet came through their own nuclear wasteland. The gunners, not about to be outdone, and right in the middle of the Kalu fleet, unleashed everything they had. PDS fired right into Kalu ships. The Kalu quickly stopped firing missiles as they were blowing up in their face more often than their enemies.
“AI’s take over,” Bregend said, seeing they were moments away from passing through the Kalu formation.
There were seven AI’s in the fleet, and it seemed that even though they were made from numbers and characters, they had their own bloodlust to fulfill.
The ships rate of fire increased monumentally, ships moved as they blew out guns, crews racing to replace the parts needed as the AI’s fired everything they had. Laser Cannons fired at their limit, temperatures going dangerously high as Kalu and Free Fleet ships clashed.
Ships exploded, both Kalu and Free Fleet, lighting up the planet’s sky.
Then they were past the Kalu formation which was descending into Ershue’s atmosphere.
AI’s returned control to the gunners, coolant flooding their taxed systems.
Damage crews worked tirelessly to save ships, twenty-seven remained. Seven of which were barely operational. All of them had lost their shields, most of them had been breached. Guns were offline, the gun bays being ripped open. Thankfully Salchar had instituted programs to remove all air from the ship to prevent explosive decompression. Yet it hadn’t helped those in the path of a missile or laser.
“Collect our fighters and bombers and bring the Fleet around to support Ershue. I want reports on every ship. Anything incapable of combat is either going to be sent to the nearest resupply point to be fixed, or pulled apart for parts and left to drift. Make sure the Ship commanders don’t try to fight on with a fucked ship,” Bregend said, looking to his second. Ship commanders didn’t want to lose the ship that they had fought so hard for.
“Understood,” Mills said, touching his earpiece and relaying his commands.
Bregend had missed his shot to put a wormhole in front of the Kalu. Yet he’d done better than he’d hoped. Now only five million Kalu were headed towards the planet. So were another three hundred thousand Commandos.
“Planetary defenses are firing, good effect on target,” Qurv said, Bregend nodded, not trusting himself with words as he looked at the main screen, the names of his friend’s ships wiped from the screen.
The rage he kept back through gym and work made his fist ball. He was an angry man, but he put it to use. Though he hadn’t got all of his anger out, not by a long shot. He had a lot of Kalu to kill.
***
“Fire all Planetary Rail Cannons and get some missiles up,” Fal said.
The ground thumped as the first PRC’s accelerated their massive projectiles towards the Kalu. Smaller Rail cannons added their fire into the mix as armored missile silos opened their hatches and unleashed their half-ship strength missiles.
The Kalu didn’t fire once on their way down towards the planet, but the gunners took their toll, PRC’s blasted straight through even Star-Destroyers, smaller rail cannons riddled them with holes. The missiles, well in atmosphere weren’t just destructive, they were cataclysmic. Each of them carried a load of a hundred refined kilotons of nuclear force. The kind that makes new suns and is felt thousands of kilometers away. Anything within a hundred kilometers disappeared, the shockwave whipped Kalu around for another hundred kilometers, some recovered, and others didn’t. It was mayhem.
Fal saw the first of the craft dip below the tree-line.
“Find out where they land and get the word out to the ranging parties,” Commander Fal said, it was night time where he had made his defenses, giving them a prime view of the Kalu and Free Fleet smashing together. It made one hell of a light display.
The Kalu fighters were now pouring out of the Star-Destroyers and heading for the defenses.
“Have the missile weapon techs seal up their armor if the Kalu fighters come in close. Don’t need them having their gear going off,” Fal said.
“Yes sir,” Poj said, passing the information. Ershue made great assistants, they were one of the few races that could multi-task, and with their agile limbs they could manipulate many items at once.
It was probably one of the many reasons why Ershue were so damned good and annoying with practical jokes.
Everyone was inside the armor mound and the PDS were starting to earn their pay.
The HAPA’s had wanted to add their own firepower to the mix, but Fal wanted to get a feel for fighting the Kalu before devoting his most powerful units.
“Communications from Bregend’s Commando Commander,” Poj said from her position at the communications console.
“Well tell me!” Fal snapped, some of the stress and understanding of the seven kinds of shit that had just landed on his planet breaking through.
“He’s coming down with the Fleet’s Commandos, breaking atmosphere in three minutes,” Poj said as if she was in basic again.
“Good,” Fal said and he meant it, he was going to need the veterans of the Fleet. He had a few hundred sown into his units, their advice and teachings were invaluable. Having an entire Fleet’s worth of them and their tag-ons from Quarst made him feel the etchings of hope.
No time for that now, he thought. The Gatling guns across the armored mound going from periodic bursts to full out streams, more of them adding their firepower with every second.
He had a feeling that sound would become normal after a while.
“We have touchdown with the Kalu, five hundred miles out. I’ve informed the Ranging parties, artillery has the coordinates and they are coming on target.”
Fal winced, it wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate artillery, it was what it would do to his planet with its use.
It was a capital crime to burn a tree down that wasn’t dead or destroy them. Even with the battles between the Ershue, before they found the ability to spread across the stars, they never hurt the trees.
Now it was do or die. Fal wanted to limit as much damage to the trees and his home planet as much as possible, but it was losing a few trees to surviving. Salchar had brought up the point that trees could be grown, great swathes of the planet could be left untouched by the fighting. Yet lives, the lives of the young and the old, they couldn’t be regrown. If the Kalu won on Ershue then there would be no place for the Ershue to come back to.
I can start to see why having the same name as our planet can be confusing. He thought trying to alleviate some of the guilt in his thoughts as artillery tubes fired timed rounds that would rain shards down onto the Kalu.
The Ershue shared the same name as their planet. Their belief was that they were just a part of their planet, they did anything to protect their planet, hurting it was like hurting another sentient creature.
“Rangers have acknowledged orders, they are moving between us and the Kalu to lay traps,” Poj said, her multiple hands working various screens as her wings moved in anxiousness. “The Commandos have broken atmosphere, the Kalu fighters are moving to intercept.” Her wings were not at all happy.
“Concentrate all PDS fire on those fighters. Tell Commander Xar he and his HAPA’s are cleared to fire on the Kalu fighters moving against the shut… Holy fuck,” Fal said, swear words are the first words that a person learns from another language after all.
The shuttles weren’t w
ithout their defenses, they might be big lumbering crafts, but after the first drop on Chaleel the pilots understood a need to upgrade their ability to clear a path and help them get to the surface.
Heat coverings fell away from disposable missile pods and Gatling guns seated on the wings, sides and front of the shuttles came alive.
The Commandos inside manned those guns, sent rounds trailing out from the crafts as the shuttles plowed into the Kalu fighters.
Even the Kalu fighters seemed shock as the missile pods erupted, sending multi-warhead missiles into the midst of the holes they’d created within the Kalu swarms.
Shockwaves ripped the Kalu formations apart as nuclear fire showed itself. The missile pods fired fighter missiles and only a few at a time for good reason.
However, like always the Kalu could soak up the hits. They fired on the shuttles. Lasers meeting armor. The lucky ones had a new engraving, the unlucky ones got hit in something useful, or too many Kalu hits coming in from too many directions and they were cut apart like cheese through piano wire.
The HAPAs fire helped some, drawing the Kalu fighters away from the shuttles helped more. PDS weren’t even slowing down now, just moving across the sky, peeling Kalu out of the swarms. The Kalu didn’t even change their direction.
Then the first Commandos were on the ground, ramps opened before the shuttles touched down. Commandos were on them and jumping free of the vessels as fast as possible. Half of them were wearing HAPAs.
“Oh my,” Fal said, his wings moving in excitement as those massive arms fired, missile pods locking into position and added to the fire.
Fal had never seen something so beautiful as over a hundred HAPA’s rail cannons streaked rounds across Ershue’s skies.
Tracers, missiles, artillery, lasers, a collage of weapons fire lit the Ershue night sky. Shuttles raced up into the atmosphere, firing what seemed like all of their missiles. Thankfully most of them that had made it to the ground made it out into atmosphere.
Caught out in the open against Kalu fighters, the Commandos didn’t panic and run, they leapfrogged, Companies protecting one another until they reached the mound.
From Furies Forged (Free Fleet Book 5) Page 25