by Joe Crouch
A calm before the inevitable storm came as they began to catch up with the loose fleet ahead of them. Terran ships dropped off as they couldn’t keep pace with their inferior tech, but what they lacked in advancements they gained in courage and heart.
Sean sat at his console and watched his own races ships carefully. He couldn’t believe they were still flying with the state they were in, compared to the perfection of Ioution design the Terran vessels were rough as if they had left the dry-dock halfway through construction. But to his surprise, they were the first ones to act. Fissures formed all along the hull of the cruiser, weapons-doors split in two and made way for gun emplacements that rose out from the ship, they swivelled in place as they clicked into position. As if with a mind of their own they each cranked to the left in unison, and after a moment of calm the ship was engulfed in a blinding light from the massive muzzle flashes which blew out from the triple-barrelled cannons.
“Holy shit!” cried out Sean as he felt adrenaline rush through his body, “Did you see that!?”
“See what?” Fez asked, not even raising his head.
“Our ships just opened fire with a massive salvo from their mass drivers,” he danced about, punching his arms outwards and making the sound of explosions with pursed lips. He rushed back to his seat and switched the viewfinder towards the Xuron armada. Their imposing ranks were made a little smaller as the unguided lumps of slag thrown out by the Terran weapons tore holes through their lines. Ships were punched out of position with the sheer kinetic energy imposed on the projectiles. Debris and a viscous green liquid floated away as he bore witness to the massive holes which were punched through the vast structures. With an inward cheer, his attention turned back to the Ioution front lines.
Space between the Ioution and Xuron fleets became engulfed in a cacophony of bright, wide-spectrum light as their rear lines opened fire. Beams of tightly packed energy zipped between the ships and slammed into the others defences. The honeycomb structure of the Ioution shields flashed brightly as they absorbed the incoming fire and dissipated it away harmlessly. From where Sean sat the battle looked impossible, the relatively small Ioution fleet advanced on the Xuron. They took a different approach and made use of their small numbers and their foes disorganisation. Every Ioution vessel concentrated their fire on a single target while the Xuron spread their fire about, and they could afford to with over twice the numbers. But the Ioutions were the first to claim a scalp.
Their concentrated energy disappeared deep into one of the Terran induced puncture wounds. The sheer amount of energy exerted by all Ioution ships into a single space made the organic material glow a bright hot white as the molecular bonds which held the ship together began to break down. Within a matter of moments, their energy weapons tore deeper into the ship and with little warning the Xuron ship exploded outwards in a bright ball of flame which was gone as quickly as it came. Four large chunks sped away from the blast and impacted the ships around them causing light surface damage.
“Tactical, arm our missile banks and get them prepped to fire as soon as possible,” ordered Fez as he sat back in his chair and threw one leg over the other. They sat outside of their effective weapons range, but the Mar’Ell was equipped with long range missiles, more akin to torpedoes back on Earth. A loud buzzing rushed through the ship in waves as the weapon’s capacitors were charged. Out the window came the stunning view of the Veterum ships closing in on the battle. Their long blue ion tails snaked away from every ship leaving a trail through space.
The readiness of the missiles was obvious by the almost deafening cranking sounds and shifting above the bridge. With a nod to the tactical officer small pockets formed along the Mar’Ell’s hull, loaded batteries poked their noses out and turned towards their distant targets.
“Fire!” Fez yelled as the shifting came to a halt. A crushing pressure wave rippled through the ship as the vast arrays unleashed their ammunition in one massive salvo. They pushed away from the ship and momentarily floated in space, but they snapped to life and screamed towards the Xuron front line. Ioution missiles were smart and weaved between their own ships as they accelerated.
After a brief wait, they split off into different directions and slammed into the Xuron hulls. The majority were harmless and detonated against their defences, but one ship took a beating and as their shielding broke the missiles dug deep into their armour and self-destructed once inside the ship. Destruction was immediate as the ship broke down into tiny pieces and drifted away.
“Yes!” Sean yelled as he leapt out from his seat, “That’s what I’m talking about. How many is that now, three or four?”
“Three or four what?” came Taris’ voice as she stepped onto the bridge, “Did I miss much?”
“Oh not really,” he kicked at the floor, hiding his smile, “Only the coolest moment of my entire life. These Terran ships, underpowered, outgunned, and outclassed joined in the fight regardless, and guess what?”
“What?” she replied nonchalantly.
“We totally kicked some ass,” he smiled as he held a hand up for a high-five, she looked to the hand and back to him.
“Cool…” she said as she took his seat and thumped her feet up onto the console, “We’re all going to die here, so I may as well be comfortable.” Her words created an air of unease around the otherwise focused bridge crew, Sean gave her an angry look and decided it was better to just move on and ignore her. He hung over Fez’s shoulder and watched the battle rage on over the long-range scanners. Xuron vessels were picked off one at a time, but they seemed to make little headway with the enemy’s sheer numerical advantage.
“Captain,” Yumie said, “We’ve lost a frigate to overwhelming plasma fire, its shields were torn apart in seconds, the bugs seem to be gaining coordination.” The captain thumped the armrest of his seat and pretended to spit to his left.
“How long until we are in weapons range?” he asked, “I want every forward battery armed and to open fire when within optimal distance.”
“I think we have another problem,” Yumie replied as he swivelled in his chair to face the captain, “Scanners have detected a large swarm of Xuron fighters headed this way, Sha’mi’s carrier is in the process of responding.”
The long-range scanner was awash with minute signatures that buzzed in their direction. A sea of Xuron fighters twinkled off in the distance, they danced around their own forward lines as they raced towards the Ioution ships. In response Sha’mi unleashed her own dogs of war as the sky around the Ioution flotilla was slowly filled with the small, darted craft which launched out from the vast carrier. Sean’s heart began to race as he saw signatures appear to swarm around the Terran’s own fleet. He raced over to his console and zoomed his viewfinder over towards their fleet, and there they were, the smooth, curved, elegant Scimitar class of fighter he was involved in testing. They were spat out from the carrier on their signature magnetic rails as the defensive force began to assemble out in front of the small fleet.
“There they are!” he yelled excitedly, “Those are the fighters I was working on back on Earth just before you picked me up,” he turned to Fez with a large grin scrawled across his face. The nippy fighters accelerated away from the towering carrier at a blistering pace and joined up with their Ioution compatriots. Together they engaged the Xuron craft on the battlefield, they dodged and weaved between the massive bolts of energy and plasma which arced across the gap to find their larger targets.
It was like watching a ballet as the small vessels pulled off tight turns and dipping manoeuvres as they came about and tore into their opponents. Xuron and Ioution vessels alike erupted into bright blue and green balls of fire as they destroyed one another. But the Terran pilots, which their lesser numbers and more intensive training, took their opportunities well and fed off the scraps of others. Equipped with dual Gatling plasma blasters they spat out small rounds in lines parallel to their path of flight. Terran engineers seemed to have made an addition for the non-atmos
pheric version of the Scimitar, though, and slapped on an automated turret on their belly.
“What are those?” Taris asked as she perked up at the sight. Two larger, more heavily armoured versions of the Scimitar craft jettisoned out from the Terran carrier. As soon as they were away from their mothership a group of regular fighters broke off from their dogfight and surrounded the pair. A bright blue flame erupted out from the rear of the ships as they broke a narrow path through the buzzing swarm in front of them and accelerated hard. From their aerodynamic wings dropped four large missiles that sparked into life and burned brightly as they locked onto their targets.
“Nightshade missiles,” muttered Sean as he bit his lip, a sentiment he imagined Captain Nathan shared in seeing the new weapon in action for the first time. He could almost hear their signature squeal as they zipped across space.
At the last moment, the four missiles split off their shared trajectory and raced towards their own individual targets. The officers on the bridge of the Mar’Ell kept a close eye on the new armaments, they expected little but revelling in others failure seemed to be a shared pastime for them. Sean held his breath as the missiles drew closer, he didn’t know what to expect but the tip of the warhead began to glow a bright blue.
As if a knife through butter the missiles pierced through the Xuron’s outer shielding and dug into their hull. Their noses spooled up into action and drilled into the thick, organic exterior. Wide-eyed, the entire bridge crew watched on, nothing happened for a brief few moments before BOOM, four ships were wiped from existence with seemingly little trouble.
“Wow…” Fez nodded as he turned to a jubilant Sean, “Once again I cannot fault your races ingenuity, I imagine the high council would be very interested in your advancements.”
“Well I hope you lot have something worthwhile to offer us,” he smiled. The white-hot glowing remains from the obliterated Xuron ships drifted away from their frontline. A return to base order was issued to the advanced nightshade scimitars, they wasted no time and turned on their metaphorical heels and made a dash for the cruiser.
Their success attracted attention, though, and a large swarm of Xuron fighters screamed towards the lightly guarded contingent. Xuron weapons lashed bolts of plasma towards the nimble craft. They darted from side-to-side as they skimmed between the sea of fire which was hurled at them. But it was no use. The plasma tore a hole through one of the scimitar’s external thrust engines, the ship swerved off course and slammed into the side of the other. The two fused together into a ball of hot slag that drifted away into the desolation of the void never to be seen again.
“No!” Sean yelled as he landed a clenched fist down onto his console, “What a waste…”
The long blue trails that spewed out the rear of the Veterum ships gave away their position, but it also easily allowed their allies to keep track of their movements, something which Sean was grateful for. Veterum ships had a certain look to them that he could appreciate, they were clean, angled, functional, they were never going to win any beauty or design contests.
Their military tactics confused him, though. They moved slowly towards the edge of the battle, ships formed an almost perfect, vertical circle around a single vessel which stayed in the eye of the storm. On closer inspection, though, small detonations came from the hulls of the ships as they fired cables from their portside. One-by-one they each interconnected with those adjacent until they formed a networked web.
“What are they doing?” asked Sean.
“I ain’t never seen nothing like that before,” Zarid said over Sean’s shoulder. The Human jumped out of his seat scared for his life as the Fre appeared out of nowhere.
“Careful you idiot,” he replied as he pushed him back, “You coulda’ killed me.”
“So close…” Taris smiled, “The battle seems to be going well, how long until we’re in firing range, El Capitan?”
A surprised look washed across Sean’s face, “You know Spanish?”
“What’s a Spanish?” Taris questioned without deception.
“I… Don’t worry,” he shook his head in despair.
“Not long,” Fez eventually replied, “Although you say it is going well, I am not so sure, we have lost a handful of ships, and while they have lost more, they still have the numbers advantage.”
Xuron ships ignored the Veterum as they advanced on their position. The ancient race’s ships noses began to glow a bright, regal purple as energy sparked off from their surfaces. In a move that surprised Sean, the lone, central vessel’s entire front section detached, it floated away from the small ship but remained tethered by a thick cable. Then, in a blinding purple flash, the vessels which encircled the lone ship each fired off the energy build-up within their own noses towards the pyramid shaped device which hung out in front of them all. It began to burn brightly against the dark backdrop which now drew the aggressive attention of the Xuron fighters.
Out from a Veterum carrier spewed hundreds of small fighters. Their multi-coloured ion trails of blues and purples looked like the painting of a madman as they crisscrossed paths. They had incredible speed as they easily intercepted the Xuron craft and held them at bay as the luminosity of the tethered device grew. Instantly, the Veterum ships stopped pulsing their energy towards the cone, it sat alone for a moment as nothing happened, Sean held his breath in anticipation as he waited. But nothing happened.
“What a let…” he was interrupted as an enormous, focused, purple beam sprayed out from the pyramid. It travelled across space like a whale wading through the ocean. Eventually, though, it impacted against the closest Xuron ship. Within a matter of seconds, the vessel was gone, its atoms seemingly torn apart by the massive amount of energy exerted upon them. The small, lone Veterum ship angled its tethered device as it swept the destructive beam along the Xuron’s battle line. One by one the organic vessels were vaporised into their base elements or left behind as nothing more than burning hot accumulations of flesh.
Through the stresses and rigours of the energy exertion, Veterum ships began to pop and explode within the ring they had formed. The once securely fixed tethers waved about freely as massive clouds of steam were vented out from every ship. Xuron craft got a moment of respite as the mega-weapon deactivated as explosions ran along the hull of its parent vessel.
The bridge crew of the Mar’Ell were silent, their mouths were wide with the power they had just witnessed. “Mental,” Sean finally spoke up as he snapped out from his fixation, “I never imagined that when they formed up! Don’t get on their bad side I suppose.”
“It seems to be a highly unstable weapon,” Fez said, “They lost many ships in its use, losses I would presume the Veterum cannot afford with their limited scope of natural resources.”
“Ha!” Zarid cheered, “Look, the cowards are leaving!” Xuron ships turned a tight one-eighty as slip space tears began to form for their immediate evacuation.
“Captain, should we pursue?” asked Yumie.
“No,” Fez replied after a second of thought, “We shall regroup with the fleet and decide our next action there, such an open and large-scale attack on another race is cause for concern.”
“Sir, incoming transmission from Admiral Sha’mi,” with a nod to the comms officer an image of the stalwart admiral formed in front of them.
“Well, that was entertaining,” she smiled, her toothy grin full of sharp pearly whites, “I have to say the Humans and these new Veterum showed off some… interesting weaponry, I am certain the High Council will want to open dialogue about their acquisition.”
“Yes, I agree,” Fez said as he sat back, “Maybe we should meet on the surface and discuss details in private? There is a lot we could learn from Caladrius, Admiral.” Sean and Taris looked at one another with the widest grin on their face as their captain flirted with another as death and desolation still filled the air.
“Agreed,” she nodded with a sardonic smile. Fez cut the transmission, coughed and span his chair so he fac
ed the strike team across the room.
“What?” he asked as they burst into a fit of laughter.
“Nothing captain,” laughed Sean as he and the others stepped off from the bridge, “Nothing at all…”
Chapter 22
Dust from the battle over Caladrius had settled. The three races regrouped to asses their losses from the sneak attack by the Xuron forces. Salvage ships were sent out to harvest and collect any remnants from the destroyed ships, the Ioutions used this salvage as a peek into current Xuron technology and a way to test their own new advances within the safety of Desciea. Crew aboard the Mar’Ell had been lucky, their ship went relatively unscathed leaving them with little to repair.
Everyone had been called to a general assembly on the surface. The Veterum wanted to exchange information and get to the bottom of how the enemy had discovered their location after years of hiding. Sean had a suspicion, but didn’t speak up in fear of deteriorating the already frayed relations. He imagined others shared his suspicions so would allow them to come out with the accusations. In truth, he looked forward to the whole thing being over with so he could continue with something less dangerous, although being aboard an Ioution fleet cruiser wasn’t the best option for escaping danger, he knew. For now, the regular squad, minus a recovering but unwell Remulus, gathered up within the hangar and awaited instructions from their captain, who wasn’t to be found.
“Where is he?” asked Sean as he scuffed his feet along the polymer floor to create an obnoxious squeal, “He’s never late, should I go look for him?”
“It’s not worth it,” Taris replied. She had made the hull of the shuttle her own resting place, she sprawled out across one of the curved wings which sat extruding from the rear of the vessel. Her legs swung through the humid air like metronomes as they waited. “He won’t be long.”