by Aer-ki Jyr
“Deal,” Paul said with a smile as he turned back to look at the holos…which was unnecessary since he was already mentally linked in, but he did so just in time to see the Ultrix begin repositioning around the star to get to their outgoing jumpline with a handful of warships and a host of cargo ships following.
It took a long time to get all of them into position, with the Voku ships slipping into the gaps as groups would make jumps out together, spaced with at least 1 or 2 seconds between each ship so they didn’t ram each other on exit or entry to the next system on the decel end of the jump. Larger gaps of 30 seconds or so existed between groups, allowing for the spacelanes to clear out on arrival and each progressive group tagged with emerging from the jump in progressively higher orbits, laying out the fleet in a long carpet each time it hit a new system.
Then they’d all have to reposition to the new jumpline again, stagger up and make similar jumps. That was the nature of interstellar convoy travel, and over the next pair of months they continued to do exactly that, leaving the Core Region, then the ADZ altogether and passing through what had once been Calavari territory and was now partially Nestafar and partially unclaimed wasteland.
When they got to a predetermined system within Nestafar space but uninhabited by them, the Star Force/Voku armada split up into 8 attack groups, each traveling to a system with Elarioni in it with the intent on hitting them simultaneously so both their enemies wouldn’t have any forewarning that they were coming. Paul, Riona, and the Adamant headed towards the most populous Nestafar world and the one that should prove to be the hardest to get the evacuees out of. It was called Vionsed and was part of a three planet Nestafar civilization, meaning they would have to contend with the system defense fleet in addition to whatever surprises they had in store around that particular world.
They weren’t going in completely blind though, given the information the Elarioni had provided. What they didn’t know was that the Skarrons had already invaded Vionsed. One other world in the system had already been battling the Skarrons on the ground, but when the Adamant arrived a few minutes behind the leading warships Paul saw their sensor data on the battlemap and the Skarron units already in play on the ground.
Not to mention a huge Nestafar fleet in orbit, with Skarron ships elsewhere in the system, though primarily holding onto turf around the other world that now seemed to be mostly under their control based on orbit and surface readings being fed to them by Star Force scout ships deployed there to assess ship numbers.
“Alright, time to get to work,” Paul said, mentally triggering the TF to being the dislodgement procedure from the Adamant, which Riona was on. As he did so the warships alongside began disgorging their drones and deploying them into screens as the Nestafar fleet started to come their way…but like clockwork the first of the Voku ships entered a slightly higher orbit and kept some of its forward momentum, blowing by the Star Force ships as the huge chrome bullet began to disintegrate, with smaller pieces falling off it looking like sand prior to large chunks breaking off, all of which gave the appearance that it was dying a quick death at the hands of some invisible Nestafar weapon.
But each of those chunks didn’t stay rugged. They morphed into smaller chrome ships of various designs, all with smooth lines and perfect hulls that shot off deeper towards the planet and engaged the Nestafar head on, despite their superior numbers.
They were buying time for the Adamant to drop its invasion troops to a landmass on the edge of the ocean where the transports would start setting down. They had to secure the area then hold it for the duration of the evacuation, but to do that they first had to get down there and there was no time to waste. Give the Skarron ground forces time to redeploy and you’d be in a world of hurt…something that Kip had impressed upon Paul prior to their breaking up and heading to different target worlds.
Sending a signal to the Admiral and his bridge staff, Paul ordered the Adamant lower into the atmosphere and directly into the Nestafar fleet once the TF fully separated. While the Voku made up the bulk of the firepower in this operation he wasn’t going to sit back and let them take all the damage, especially considering that their ships were all manned, tough as they were. To that end the giant donut-shaped warship slid down into the Nestafar swarm and began racking up ship kills as another Voku ship entered orbit and began disintegrating into warship pieces that fell down into the growing melee.
By the time the 3rd arrived the Nestafar saw that they were in a world of hurt and pulled back before their numbers could drop below the 50% mark, for the Voku were tearing them to bits.
They began fleeing on separate vectors, clearing the path that Star Force was hacking out down to the surface and moving off to other orbits and seeing what their new enemy would do. Paul’s ships held position, as did about two thirds of the Voku, but the rest of them pursued the Nestafar who regrouped at various locations and continued the fight with better odds.
Paul let them go, knowing that he couldn’t take the Adamant after them if they chose to dance around orbit. Besides, killing the Nestafar wasn’t the point of this mission…that was just a bonus. Getting the Elarioni out was the reason why they were here and to do that he had to hang onto orbit and protect the transports which would start jumping in from the star as soon as he signaled it was fairly safe. Right now the Voku were guarding them there, and as much as Paul wanted to head down to the surface and join in the fighting that was sure to come he knew he had to stay right where he was and oversee the naval situation for the duration of this operation.
Sometimes being the ‘Admiral’ was fun, other times it just plain sucked.
Riona didn’t wait for the TF to land, instead launching from one of the bays during the decent. Her skeet got bounced around a lot by the turbulence but eventually she got it righted and pointed down, lining up the streamlined hull with the oncoming air and pulling out away from the huge distortion ripples coming off the 2 mile wide ship with more fighters following her out. They immediately had their hands full as Skarron fighters moved to intercept the TF and met them literally half a minute after exit.
Riona ducked her skeet down through a long, hard braking loop to level off and begin chasing them through the dogfight that was forming as they tried to throw plasma into the side of the TF. At first the atmospheric turbulence shielded it for the most part, but when the tiny white plasma orbs began hitting the shields the anti-air fire started coming back too, with the enemy fighters quickly learning that this wasn’t an undefended target.
That left them to contend with the Star Force skeets that were easily outnumbered. Riona and the others kept it together though and started racking up kills while going evasive far more than they liked until the Voku fighters came down from orbit, dropping like rocks that then split up into fragments that began chasing after the Skarron fighters. The smallest of the Voku ‘pieces’ was more than twice the size of a skeet and outmassed it by a factor of 6. That said, the craft were still nimble, nearly the match of the skeets in agility alone, and armed with directed energy orbs.
They weren’t plasma, but a form of energy that Star Force hadn’t gotten around to creating yet, even in engineer play, which saw the Star Force techs building all manner of things from the database that would never be put into practical use, just so they could say they did and learn from the experience. These weapons were known as Dwio, and had an active guiding mechanism in the fighters to steer them into targets like a guided missile.
Riona could see multiple colors that she didn’t understand the significance of, but she did see that their shots rarely missed. Even when the Skarrons evaded a lined up shot, the orbs steered themselves into a correction…and passed right through the enemy shields.
The Skarron fighters had the same armor on them that their walkers did, though in significantly lesser amounts, allowing themselves a bit of longevity against the Voku orbs but it wasn’t nearly enough, with two or three shots bringing one down and there being plenty of Voku fighters to get
the job done, in addition to the skeets were which holding their own.
Riona was glad for the help and by the time the TF finally set down and began unloading mechs and other ground vehicles they had the immediate airspace secured and were working on pushing the perimeter out and hitting the few surface targets that were of note, some Skarron and a lot Nestafar. Nothing civilian, but a few weapons emplacements that were throwing up anti-air and larger plasma weaponsfire at the fighters, though some tried to play dead and hide, but eventually Riona and the others cleaned out the surrounding area in preparation for the battles yet to come.
And they were coming alright. Skarron walkers were redeploying on the south and west while Nestafar ground troops were massing on the north, with the ocean and the Elarioni to the east. Within a few hours, maybe a day tops, there was going to be a showdown, with both sides looking like they weren’t going to tolerate anyone on their turf, making Riona wonder who would be shooting who if the Nestafar and Skarrons got to each other. Three way battles were extremely rare, but this looked like it might just be one in the making.
7
Ker-shat stood shoulder to shoulder with the other Voku troops inside the transport as it traveled down to the surface of the planet under assault, waiting patiently until the doors underneath his feet eventually opened, leaving him and the others standing on small squares with nothing but an energy shield separating them from the quickly moving ground beneath. As the transport slowed those behind him were released, with him waiting a few moments longer before his shield disappeared and he dropped through the square and into freefall.
The 8 foot tall Voku cushioned the drop using his flight harness, coming down onto the dirt and rock-strewn ground in a crouch as two others fell beside him. One was a skirmisher like himself, while the other was wearing the exoskeletal heavy weapons they were meant to escort to the target…which in this case was an enemy walker with infantry support that was pushing towards one of the Human positions where their infantry was guarding the coastline.
The Star Force mechs were elsewhere, dealing with larger threats and the Nestafar were trying to slip one of their own through a weak spot in the perimeter, yet it was far enough away from their massive dropship to be out of its weapon range. Those closer positions were reserved for the dozens of transports coming down and parking near the water’s edge and extending pylons out into the depths to facilitate the transfer of evacuees…and this walker was heading for the nearest of them.
The Voku transport had put them down behind the enemy grouping, with the leading elements already engaging the Humans and the four-legged machine blanketing the area ahead with plasma that the Humans were having to evade while effectively chewing up the enemy infantry. As soon as Ker-shat got to his feet he and the other two Voku began to run, then they leapt forward and flew some 80 meters before landing again and running some more. They repeated this process three times before coming up on the rearmost infantry, with the Voku leaping up again and grabbing one of the flying Nestafar by the neck from behind.
He dragged it to the ground with him, placing a killing shot to the back of its neck from the blaster gauntlet that he wore attached to his forearm then discarding the body as he landed and ran forward. Meanwhile his double did likewise, rising up as he fell as both of the skirmishers paved the way for the slightly slower moving teammate coming up from behind as he refrained from firing so as to give the skirmishers more of a surprise factor…though his sights were set dead center on the walker ahead.
Ker-shat was wearing very little, as was Voku custom. His black body was covered by an equally black and flexible skin-tight sheath that provided a bit of armor value against abrasions and weaponsfire, but in order to preserve his agility the bulk of his defense came in the form of a pair of shield generators housed in solid strips along the outside of each hip. One was an energy shield, in that it repelled all energy while making an exclusion for his own weapons. It operated like a bubble surrounding him and anyone he kept close, with him able to adjust the size with a simple touch to the control interface he was wearing.
The second shield was the more complex, for it was anti-ballistic and also encompassed him in a sphere of protection. The delicate nature of the construction only blocked fast moving objects, allowing Ker-shat to interact with his environment as if the shield was not even there…but it was, with a matrix structured in a way not to oppose normal movements. Or rather, technically it opposed everything, just at such a low level that it wasn’t detectable. When sufficient momentum hit the shield matrix it caught and caused a chain reaction that intensified the resistance, much like trying to walk through water.
Move slowly and you have little trouble, try and go fast and you essentially run into a brick wall. It was a crude metaphor but essentially correct, though the seamless integration with Ker-shat’s combat made it appear almost magical. The only other things he wore were the gauntlets on his forearms, both weapons and comm gear integrated into a single unit. Other than that it was just his muscle and skill guiding him into combat with a fluid grace.
His flight harness was part of the shield struts attached to his legs and allowed him brief moments of ability, while needing to recharge in between. The anti-grav tech gave the Voku incredible speed across ground in addition to their own running speed, essentially able to jump ahead and close with enemies incredibly fast, as well as to augment jumping.
That was how Ker-shat approached his second target, running a few steps then dashing ahead, almost dragging his feet on the ground as he shot across 30 meters and punched a Nestafar in the head while kicking another two nearby before delivering the killing energy blasts. The rainbow glob of light seemed to defy description or shape, passing as a blur between his forearm and the targets as the rest of the nearby Nestafar began to realize they were being attacked from the rear.
That was when the heavy weapons ‘hammer’ opened fire. He wore the same equipment as the skirmishers plus an exoskeleton that contained a number of extra weapons, the most prominent of which was a tiny Dwio. He didn’t use it at first, intent on clearing out some of the infantry nearby as he closed distance with the walker, sizing up its weak spot. He knew he had to get within one jump from it first, and to do that they had to get through the infantry that was beginning to make hits on the trio’s shields with their red plasma pistols and rifles.
It was an inferior weapon, but damaging enough in large numbers. Ker-shat knew they could take a great many hits before they were in jeopardy, but not from the walker which stopped in its tracks and began to turn around, bringing its primary weapon to bear on them.
Both skirmishers went wide right, hoping to draw its attention and simultaneously diving into a thicker infantry cloud that saw about 2/3rds of the enemy shooting at them from the air rather than from the ground. Keeping on the move they avoided one large plasma blast that actually hit and killed a pair of Nestafar, with the gunner seeming not to care as it continued tracking the two as they got a bit closer to the machine.
Meanwhile the hammer was slowly approaching from the flank, fighting his way through the infantry without carrying much how many of them he got. They were for the skirmishers, his task was the walker and he cagily began to circle around behind it, eyeing the distance he needed and not wanting to dart ahead too quickly and draw attention.
Ker-shat dashed to the right, catching a small bit of the plasma orb as it hit the ground beside him and seeing his shield strength diminish considerably. He still had plenty to fight with, but too many near misses and he’d become exposed. Prompting himself to be more evasive than hunter, he took out three more enemy infantry and kept away from the plasma blasts until he saw the hammer shoot through a nearly horizontal jump and up onto the walker’s back, coming down behind the neck and firing his Dwio directly into the topside armor, vaporizing the defense turret there as it came around to shoot him off.
Ker-shat figured he had it dead to rights, but as long as it was still operational the main cannon at
the top of the long neck was still a threat so he kept dancing around and killing infantry where he could until the hammer finally dropped the big machine, with it crumpling to the ground as its legs bent up to form a shallow cage around the Voku as the infantry swarmed toward him and tried to shoot him off…but it was too late.
Now no longer having to be excessively evasive, the two skirmishers went aggressive and started leaping towards whatever enemies were nearby as the distant plasma fire ahead continued without interference as the forward end of the Nestafar advance was still fighting it out with Star Force, apparently unaware that their walker was now down. It wasn’t long until a couple of silver armored Humans jumped out from behind their barricades and rushed the Nestafar while their support snipers continued laying down fire.
The Nestafar instinctively pulled back and up into the air, their natural defensive move, Ker-shat was discovering, with the Voku now making use of it and taking out two or three per leap as the Nestafar were clustering together into firing groups to try and get through the Humans’ thick armor. There were so many that the three Voku had their fill of targets, slowly wearing down their numbers with the Humans making the most kills by far, but eventually the Nestafar figured they’d lost and all of them took flight, pulling back across the dead walker and retreating towards the distant LZ that they’d come from.
Ker-shat and other Voku went after them, leaving the Humans behind and leaping forward to catch the fleeing flyers who were decently fast through the air once they got up to speed. He killed six more before an enemy fighter swooped in and landed a hit on his shield that blew away nearly a quarter of the defensive barrier’s strength. When it came around for a second pass he held up, staring it down and ready to make a defensive dash in whatever direction needing as the hammer landed a Dwio on the craft, damaging it.