Chase then went after the first target, which had managed to stabilize its spin but was obviously having trouble with its thrusters, probably because the missile blew up one of its oxygen tanks. It was little to no challenge to finish up such a badly wounded enemy, but this was not a simulation, and challenge was no longer the name of the game. Time was of the essence, and Chase blew the fighter out of the sky without hesitation.
“Thanks, Beta Leader,” Daniel called. “Hope you won’t need those missiles later on though.”
It was a fair point. Chase had effectively depleted half his missile complement in the first minute of the engagement but, under the circumstances, it made more sense to blow up the enemies quickly to avoid being caught in multiple crossfire.
“Copy that, Alpha Leader, nothing to worry about.”
Chase vectored toward the nearest enemy craft and locked lasers. He switched them to full power and pulled the trigger the second he had a firing solution. The first shots caused heavy damage to the enemy vessel, which quickly reacted with evasive actions. Obviously panicked, the craft rammed into its wingman, sending it into a spin that turned into a fireball as it was caught in some friendly crossfire. The second craft had lost its aft shields upon impact. Chase had no intention of letting this advantage fade away by giving the pilot time to transfer power to compensate. He hit his afterburner and rained down deadly laser fire. The ship exploded, and Chase flew through what was left of it, acquiring his next target as soon as he was through.
He quickly checked his radar. Five more ships had been dispatched by the rest of the squadron, putting them at a numerical advantage. The scanners also showed that Alpha Team had engaged another squadron as soon as the numbers had evened up. Chase dispatched one of the last ships with agile laser fire and watched while the remaining enemies were successfully destroyed, one by one.
“This is the SAD Destiny. The first wave of attack seems to be contained, but we’re getting unusual neutron radiation on the sensors; we don’t know what to make of it. It seems to be coming from everywhere.”
The last remaining enemy fighters retreated back toward the battleships, staying outside the firing range of the first assault. But just as they made it back, the sky all around them erupted into what looked like a million, blinding lights.
3
Standing proudly on the bridge of the Obsidian battleship, the Iron Claw, Admiral Zan was looking at the heart of the battle with a grim smile on his face. His bright emerald eyes glowed in the dark as he turned to face the command center and his crew.
“Report!”
“Everything is proceeding exactly as planned,” said the tactical officer. “The first wave has been repelled as anticipated and the remaining ships have been recalled. Should we send the second one, Admiral?”
“That won’t be necessary, Lieutenant Major. We’ll proceed directly to phase B. But first, let’s make sure these rebels won’t try to quit the scene before it starts to get interesting. Deploy the anti-gravity engine on the starship Titanium now. As soon as its engine is deployed, call in the secondary fleet and engage.”
“Titanium erecting the anti-gravity field, Admiral.”
“Very well. Ask the Second Fleet to enter the theater.”
“Message sent, Admiral. Ships jumping now.”
The usually dark space flashed with sudden light. Then, just as everyone’s eyes were adjusting, several gaping holes of darkness began emerging from the bright, blurry veil. The next moment, it was clear that the spots were actually battleships, lots of them, circling all around the Alliance’s battlegroup and escorts. In a matter of seconds, the new ships were everywhere, spewing their squadrons one after another like locusts.
On the bridge of the Star Alliance Destroyer Destiny, Captain Saroudis had only partially regained his eyesight when he emptied his lungs, shouting.
“Full reverse! Get us the hell out of here, now!”
There was a metal grinding sound, and strong vibrations suddenly shook the whole ship. Crewmen who were not seated ended up flattened on the ground or crashed up against the walls. The captain’s eyes flashed with terror.
“What’s going on?! Why aren’t we moving?!”
The tactical officer tapped into his console. “We seem to be restrained in some sort of magnetic field. It’s paralyzed our engines, and the more we try to maneuver, the more we’re effectively weakening the structural integrity of the ship, Captain.”
“Stop the engines at once!” shouted the captain.
There was a temporary calm but, the next minute, hundreds of lasers began firing against the shields. Usually, starfighter firepower wasn’t strong enough to cause much damage to a battleship-shielded vessel but, when there were multiple squadrons firing at the same time, it might very well make all the difference in the world.
“Lieutenant Brents, divert all power except life support to the shields.”
“Aye, aye, Captain! Diverting power now.”
The rapidly fading shield gauge on the control screen was suddenly boosted back into the green and seemed to lower only in small increments.
“That won’t keep those battleships from blasting us out of space like bugs,” said the captain, mind racing as he tried to think of a solution to the impossible situation. Then suddenly he turned to the tactical officer with illumination. “Use the sensors to find out which ship is generating the magnetic disturbance.”
“Yes, Captain.”
The captain then turned to the communications officer. “Sergeant, give me a comm line to the entire battlegroup.”
“Ready, sir.”
“This is Captain Saroudis. We are currently being held by a powerful magnetic field; if we want to survive, we need to send every available squadron to destroy the vessel holding us. As soon as the target is destroyed, return to your ships. We need to make a long jump out of here. Probably by the borders of uncharted space, to make sure we have a chance to regroup and repair.”
The captain then turned toward his communications officer.
“Try contacting headquarters to inform them of the situation. This could be a huge military maneuver that will shake the balance of power in the galaxy. We only have a few minutes before they overcome us by sheer firepower, especially when these new battleships start entering firing range. And give me status on the anti-gravity ship.”
“We can’t seem to reach the Alliance headquarters, Captain. Communication logs show multiple distress calls similar to ours all over this part of the galaxy.”
“Geez, could this be an all-out attack?” asked the captain, not expecting any answer.
“It looks like it, Captain. We have identified the ship responsible for the anti-gravity field. Transmitting coordinates to all fighters.”
The captain re-addressed the rest of the fleet.
“This is the SAD Destiny. Fighter squadrons, we are sending you a target via your navicomputer systems. This is a high priority target and it must be destroyed immediately.”
The rest of the ships regained offensive formations and started vectoring toward the coordinates they were just provided. It didn’t take long to realize that the target was within a group of enemy battleships. It was an unusual looking vessel, positioned defensively, well protected by the other ships around it. But before anyone could do a thing, half of the enemy craft firing at the Destiny battlegroup suddenly stopped and went on a pursuit course of the Alliance squadrons.
Laser fire filled the blackness of empty space in a matter of seconds. From a distance, it must have looked like a beautiful light show, except that any of these lights could blow a ship out of the sky. Heavy photon fire from the battleships started to make it more and more difficult for the squadrons to approach their target.
“Alpha Leader, this is Beta Leader.”
“Go on, Chase?”
“We won’t make it this way; we’ll be in pieces faster than it takes to say ‘oops.’”
“I’m listening, but make it quick.”
> “We split into two groups; your group harasses the photon cannons and tries to take one of those battleships out of the equation, while we go for the jackpot and blow this sucker out of the picture.”
“Good thinking, but we’ll reverse the positions if you don’t mind. We’ll go after the target; I have more ordnance anyway.”
“Right…” Chase said with some reserve, then he added, “Good luck, Daniel.”
“You too; we’re both gonna need it. Alpha Leader out,” Daniel said, and he clicked another button on the comm controls. “Listen up everyone, the only chance we have to live another day is to destroy this target. Make no mistake, we must do absolutely anything necessary to destroy it, or die trying. I’m counting on all of you. Keep in formation and prepare to engage.”
The sudden change of tactic seemed to have thrown the enemy off guard, and the distraction might just have given them a chance for Daniel’s squadron to approach the target from a good vector. Chase wasted no time ordering a shower of laser fire upon the battleship that was the nearest to the target. It rained blue laser light just as, simultaneously, all the fighters unloaded their complement of torpedoes into the battleship’s nose. The first few were deflected by the battleship’s strong shields, but the continuous fire made it weaker in many spots, allowing some of the following torpedoes to go through and explode directly on the plating of the vessel. Before the last torpedo reached its target, the battleship started exploding in a bright fireball. The resulting shock wave took out a few of the fighters that were near the explosion, including some from Beta Squadron, which was now reduced to four ships.
“Chase, are you nuts?! You’re supposed to lay cover fire, not blow us up to hell!”
“This will buy you the time you need to remove the target from the board, Daniel, and you know it!”
“What about the crew members you just lost?”
“What difference does it make if they would have died in the next few seconds had we failed? And for what cause would it have been, Daniel?”
“You can’t just—” Daniel’s voice cut out momentarily. “I’m entering tactical firing range. Hang on.” Then the radio went silent.
Fighters from Alpha Squadron were diverting fire so Daniel could reach an optimal firing range. Some of them were instantly destroyed by photon cannons, while others fell to enemy fighters in one-on-one combat.
Daniel wished he could wipe the sweat from his forehead, but instead he lowered the temperature of his suit. “Approaching optimal firing range in ten… nine…”
Suddenly, a shock jolted his entire fighter and sent the stars and ships spinning in the windshield. Daniel was hit. He tried to stabilize the ship as well as he could, but it was one hell of spin to recover from. His inertial dampeners started to go critical, and already he could feel terrible G-forces taking hold on his body. He had to act fast...
“Code Red! This is Alpha Leader. I’m in a spin I can’t get out of. Inertial dampeners failing.”
Chase’s voice crackled on the comm. “Hang on, Daniel! That’s an order.” He quickly changed trajectory and acquired Daniel’s craft on his sensors. A plan began swirling behind his eyes, and he hit the comm once more. “Daniel, there’s a chance what I’m gonna do is gonna get you killed.”
“Why am I not surprised? But hurry—I don’t think I can take it much longer anyway.”
Chase entered a series of coordinates manually. Then he switched to his missiles.
Daniel heard the warning from the navicomputer. Ally craft had locked onto the ship.
“I thought you depleted the rest of your ordnance on that battleship. You didn’t have so many left in the first place.” Daniel strained to speak. A deep ache had started radiating out from his bones from the force of the spin. If things kept up, it would crush every bone in his body; the little ones first, then the bigger ones.
Chase interrupted his dark train of thought. “I kept one. I thought, what the hell, one more missile ain’t gonna make a difference; I might as well keep it for something that will.”
“I like your thinking buddy, but if you don’t shoot now…”
“Firing.”
The missile vectored straight to Daniel’s ship but, a fraction of a second before it connected, Chase remote detonated it. The shockwave that followed stopped most of Daniel’s spin and sent him hurtling through space like a dead rock.
“Uuuuuurggh…”
“Daniel, are you alright?” Chase asked fearfully, peering out the window to get a visual on his friend’s ship. When there was no reply, his face whitened. “Daniel?!”
“Yeah... I’m... here... I’m contemplating my breakfast but, thanks to you, I might actually get a chance to have another one tomorrow.”
Chase sighed in relief, but it was short lived. “What’s your status? We have to destroy that ship, and we’ve just lost our window to do it.”
“Status check is erratic. I lost most of my shields, inertial dampers at twenty-five percent,” Daniel reported. “So I have to watch for crazy maneuvers unless I want those words engraved on my tombstone. Otherwise, weapons seem to be online. I can still deliver my full complement of torpedoes, but I’ll need a shield.”
Chase nodded and hit the comm. “All fighters report.”
“Alpha Four reporting ready. Shields minimal.”
“Alpha Seven, I’m still in the green.”
“Alpha Two, I lost a stabilizer, but I’m good to go.”
“Beta Three, shields in the red, good to go.”
“Alpha Eight, in the green.”
“Beta Four, I’m hit, but the ship can fly.”
“Beta Seven, shields are holding.”
“Alright everyone,” said Chase, “we’re going to surround Alpha Leader and go for an afterburner run on the target. We’ll only get one shot and we have to make it count. We must stay in Alpha Leader’s proximity and cover his ship with our shields. If necessary, cover him with your ship itself.”
“Beta Leader, this is Alpha Four. The targeting system won’t engage at this velocity; it won’t have time to get a good lock.”
“He won’t need to,” Chase replied. “Daniel will manually release the torpedoes when we’re in sufficient range.”
“And what would that range be, Chase?” Daniel asked nervously.
“Say, about a klick or two away from target.”
“…You’re insane.”
“I thought someone said that we had to do everything possible for this mission to succeed. I’m only telling you what our course of action should be.”
Daniel sighed again and glanced around at his damaged ship. “You’re right Beta Leader; we’ll proceed as you suggested. Everyone in position!”
Daniel engaged his afterburner and everyone else followed closely, trying to stay in a tight, defensive sphere around him. When it started to rain lasers, the ships protecting him saw their shield levels drop at an alarming rate. The ones whose shields were already down started venting parts into space. While the first five seconds of the run were crazy, the next ten were even worse. Almost every few seconds, a ship would either explode or be disabled. Before long, there were only two pilots remaining, Daniel and Chase.
Only when the instruments told Daniel he was under one klick did he hit the trigger. The weapons deployed and both pilots made a hard break left. Chase was soon out of range, but Daniel fell behind—his inertial dampeners and engines being low on power. It took only a fraction of a second for the torpedoes to reach their destination. It was a direct hit. The resulting blast engulfed everything around it in a fiery wall of flames.
“Daniel?” Chased asked nervously, watching the fire get closer to his friend.
“I see it.”
“…Daniel!”
“Chase, I promise you I see that massive explosion!”
The fire got closer and closer to Daniel’s craft. Soon, only the nose of his ship was visible to the outside world. Chase held his breath… But then the flames started to dissipate. W
ith a whooping cheer, Daniel shot out of the explosion and into open space.
On the command deck of the Iron Claw, Admiral Zan started to lose his composure. When he could stand it no longer, he turned away from the main screen and glared at his second in command.
“Major Extor, would you mind telling me what just happened?”
“We just lost the battleship Sudden Death.”
“Fitting end for a ship of that name, I suppose. But how could they destroy one of our battleships so easily?”
“They launched all their torpedoes at once, Admiral,” the major replied nervously.
“They did.” The admiral’s voice was dry and dangerous. “Very well then, concentrate your efforts on destroying them now that they lack their precious ordnance.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
But moments later, a red light started to blink on the tactical console and the lieutenant’s face changed radically.
“Admiral, one of the ships with a full tactical load of torpedoes is converging toward the Titanium’s coordinates.”
“Deploy all cannons and every fighter, even the ones out of range. Fire on the ships with everything we’ve got.”
He spun back to the main screen and watched as a storm of firepower converged near the Titanium. There were multiple explosions and shield impacts. Several of the Alliance vessels were quickly dispatched and bits of them drifted behind the attack like a deathly cloud. Finally, there were only two ships remaining. The admiral smiled to himself as he watched their imminent collision. Not only would they fail to destroy his prize ship, but they’d end up painting its hull.
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 9