Boomer wagged his tail. “Yeah, it’s been kinda fun. Thanks for having our backs too. I’m not the best at vocalizing my emotions, but I really appreciate all you did for us.”
Ziron nodded. “Always.”
19
Kevin’s palms were moist, and his heartbeat was elevated.
“Time to hyperspace exit?” he asked.
“Aren’t you connected to Mira and the computer?”
“I am, I thought we could have a final talk, you know, just in case.”
“None of that,” protested Ziron. “We’re gonna win, no matter what.”
“Sure.”
“That doesn’t sound all that sincere.”
“Sorry, I’m just having performance anxiety right now.”
“Well, cut it out. You’re making me nervous now.”
Kevin smiled. “Sorry.”
“And to answer your previous question, less than a minute.”
Kevin swallowed hard. He and Mira had run adjustments on their battle scenario all morning and had managed to optimize the battle plan with an additional ten percent efficiency rate.
They were ready. Kevin just needed to believe in himself. Something that was rarely a problem, but he never had gone into battle with such high stakes and that stressed him more than he was comfortable with.
“Forty seconds,” said Mira.
It’s go time.
Take a breath, Kevin, said Mira. Close your eyes, and just do what we did dozens upon dozens of times. It’s no different.
It feels different.
It’s not. It’s just in your head. Now take some deep breaths, calm yourself, and lower your heartbeat. And when we jump out of hyperspace, do what we’ve been rehearsing all morning. Your strategy is brilliant, it’s out of the box, and they’ll never see it coming.
Thanks, Mira, I couldn’t have done this without you.
Anytime, Kevin.
* * *
The fleet jumped out of hyperspace behind the moon, which would provide cover for a few seconds while Kevin dropped the shields and beamed most of the crew to the surface of the planet. Hopefully, he could beam them back up to their ship after a few minutes.
Checking the sensor data, Kevin saw they had arrived in the nick of time. The Kregan ships were about to enter firing range of the planet.
Kevin raised the shields and selected the one ship from where he had removed the entire crew and brought it into visual range of the Kregan fleet.
That seemed to get their attention, and half of the fleet turned about to face the destroyer. Kevin didn’t wait for them to finish their maneuver, though, as timing and range were everything.
Kevin fired all torpedo tubes on all the ships, locking onto the enemy ship that was at the center of the invading fleet.
This part of the plan was crucial in achieving victory. It all boiled down to a perfect hyperspace jump. But first, the torpedoes had to impact with their target, and since most of the enemy fleet was engaged in turning around, only a part of their laser cannons where in optimum position to shoot down a significant amount of incoming torpedoes.
They did manage to shoot down about thirty percent of them, which was on the lower side of his estimation based on the simulation. Kevin hoped that was a good omen for the rest of the battle.
Dozens upon dozens of torpedoes impacted with the targeted destroyer, and its shield went down like a sinking boulder. The last couple of torpedoes scored hits on the ship’s armor, exposing some of the decks as crew and equipment were sucked out and flash-frozen in the coldness of space.
Kevin activated the hyperspace engine on the crewless Arcadian destroyer and sent it on a micro-jump that ended up in the middle of the Kregan destroyer that had just lost its shields. The result was devastating, and both ships exploded in a fiery blaze. The explosion made tenfold by the amount of extra fuel that Kevin had beamed on board that specific asset.
This entire battle had been like a chess game. And some pieces of the board had to be sacrificed. But unlike in chess, Kevin had decided to stick a large amount of explosives on the sacrificed pawn.
Hopefully, that maneuver would be the early checkmate that Kevin needed in the battle.
The massive shockwave generated by the explosion impacted dozens of nearby ships, draining their shields by over forty percent for the farther ships and dropping them down to twenty percent for the four destroyers that were closest to the explosion.
“Time for phase two,” said Kevin out loud but for no one to hear.
Kevin had isolated himself into the holo-room, even though he didn’t need its holo-projectors. He had access to every sensor, every control, and every starfighter onboard the entire fleet.
Kevin launched every fighter in drone mode, without any pilots on board, so they were effectively working as drones. He could have pre-programmed every single squadron, but he didn’t even need to. His mental capacity had been upgraded so far beyond any living being to ever exist that he could control every one of them with his mind and still have brain power to spare.
The feeling was incredible, like playing a game of Starcraft against an unlimited number of opponents but still delivering hundreds of thousands of APM (actions per minute). And his already great micro-management video-gaming abilities came in handy.
Playing so many RTS (real time strategy) games had not been a waste of time after all. It gave him a clear understanding of strategy, both wide scale and in micro-managing all parts of his armies.
The squadrons soon emerged from the moon and flew at max thrust toward the enemy destroyers. Except, now the Kregans had noticed Kevin’s presence, and every single destroyer was vectoring toward the moon.
Exactly as planned.
One of the crucial points for Kevin in this battle was to make sure the enemy fleet was going all-in against his forces. If they divided their forces, there would be heavy casualties on the surface of the planet. It probably would have made his fleet’s job easier, by dividing and conquering, but easy wasn’t the target, minimum casualties on both Earth and Arcadia’s side was.
The squadrons punched through the heavy defense fire of the enemy, with Kevin being able to give every squadron a different flying pattern, which really screwed up the enemy cannon operators.
First, the squadrons unleashed both laser fire and missiles onto six specific targets, and it only took a handful of minutes to drain their shields.
Meanwhile, Kevin locked a second wave of torpedoes onto Xonax’s massive flagship, which, until now, had not received a single ounce of damage and had not taken part in the battle. But it was getting into range.
Again, all part of the plan. Kevin expected Xonax to make this mistake based on the planet-sized ego of the newly crowned Kregan Emperor.
Kevin smiled.
Phase three.
Kevin then vectored all his fighter squadrons toward the flagship. And while they were getting shot down at an alarming rate, they were fulfilling their purpose.
Kevin locked hyperspace coordinates toward his six targets, and the moment the torpedo waves impacted with them and took out their ships, he micro-jumped all of his destroyers except for two and the Osiris, which was still safely tucked behind the far side of the moon.
The moment they appeared in the vicinity of the six destroyers, all of Kevin’s ships deployed tractor beams and locked onto the enemy ships and accelerated toward the flagship.
Seeing an entire armada of ships with six of their own destroyers dragged by multiple tractor beams heading toward the flagship, Xonax must have realized what Kevin intended to do next, but it was too late to do anything about it now—except run. But Kevin bet the Emperor’s gigantic hubris would prevent him from running.
And he was correct. There was no hyperspace activity detected on his sensors, and even if there had been, Kevin was ready for it, thanks to the advanced technological understanding of Kregan engines the merging with Mira had given him.
There’s no way to hide. Time to finish
this.
20
Kevin was no longer anxious when he saw his plan unfold just as he had rehearsed it. The flagship opened fire upon the incoming fleet of ships heading toward him at full sub-light burn. But that move reeked of fear and desperation and was not organized in any strategic way, firing mostly on Kevin’s destroyers who had their shields at one hundred and twenty percent thanks to some clever power redistribution.
The ships, after all, had a skeleton crew only, and most of its life support energy had been redirected to the shields. As did the laser cannons, which didn’t play a part in Kevin’s plans to take down the biggest piece on the board. So their power was siphoned into the engines, pushing them beyond specs at one hundred twenty-five percent.
At these sub-light speeds, even if the flagship tried to maneuver away, it would not be fast enough. Especially because of its mass making it difficult to maneuver as quickly as an Arcadian destroyer. It was simply too big for its engine in the first place. A design flaw that wasn’t surprising from a race favoring brute force and heavy weaponry.
“This is for everything you put me through,” said Kevin. “You thought you could threaten my world, my friends, my family? Think again.”
Eyes on the prize, commented Mira.
Roger that.
The ships reached impressive ramming speed before they approached the flagship, and then each Arcadian destroyer fired every single torpedo they had. They lit up Xonax’s flagship like a Christmas tree with each impact on its massive shields.
And therein laid the trick, this specific ship’s shields were four hundred percent stronger than anything else in both fleets. And dropping the suckers would require enormous firepower.
The waves of torpedoes did shave off twenty plus percent of the shields. Not nearly enough, but that was the role of the six towed Kregan destroyers.
The dragged enemy destroyers had reversed their axis, firing their thrusters to try to slow down the advance of their towing Arcadian ships. Kevin micro-jumped them in place, making sure to encompass a large enough hyperspace window to jump the tractored enemy ships as well.
The moment the maneuver was complete, the tractor beams reversed polarity, and the Kregan destroyers darted toward their flagship. Kevin activated an electromagnetic field pulse on all of his jumped ships to emit a frequency that would disturb the electronics on board the enemy ships and prevent them from engaging thrusters or disabling their engines in any way.
Xonax’s flagship was also affected by the pulse and couldn’t jump out of position.
“Checkmate.”
Everything happened quickly, and soon one Kregan destroyer after another crashed onto the flagship’s shield, draining them greatly with each explosion. The Kregan destroyers split into halves and more parts for some others, allowing additional massive pieces of debris to burn out on the surface of the flagship’s shields, further draining them.
Meanwhile, the Arcadian ships diverted their power to the shields and their plasma guns. A sphere of blue plasma energy grew in front of their ships.
The moment the flagship shields hit twenty percent, all ships opened fire with their plasma cannon. Twelve big plasma rays converged dead center at the Emperor’s ship. The shields failed, and the massive plasma rays punched through the ship as if it were made of tinfoil. The ship split in two, exposing all decks to space.
A handful of seconds later, one of the halves exploded, incinerating the other half in the blast.
Kevin sighed and let out a long breathe of relief. It was almost over.
The other ships are turning around and preparing to enter hyperspace, said Mira.
Are we ready for the pulse?
Already deployed for you, Kevin.
Thank you, Mira.
It’s the least I could do.
The Osiris rose slightly above the moon to make sure the pulse would impact all ships that were currently trying to escape. When Mira had calculated the minimum distance at which the pulse would be effective, she triggered it.
Meanwhile, Kevin was checking his sensors for something else and was happy that she could take over that last task.
When the enemy hyperspace windows came to life, the result was deadly. The pulse interfered with their hyperspace engines at very specific frequencies, destabilizing the hyperspace windows which collapsed while the ships where still entering them. The ships burst one after another in a ballet of explosions worthy of a Fourth of July super fireworks display.
“It’s over.”
Yes, Kevin, it is. And you’ve managed to optimize this scenario another fifteen percent, which in itself is very impressive. Congratulations.
Thank you, I couldn’t have done it without you.
I’d love to say that’s an understatement, but the truth is, it is I who couldn’t have done this without you. Let’s just say we make a great team.
The best team…what did your scan reveal?
As expected, a smaller ship managed to escape the flagship before it exploded. It’s headed down to Earth, and I don’t think I have to tell you where.
My home.
Correct.
Kevin reached the controls of the nearest Arcadian destroyer and tried to lock onto the life forms aboard the smaller ship that had just entered the planet’s atmosphere.
The ship was emitting a strong jamming field that prevented Kevin from ending Xonax right here and now.
I gotta go down there.
That would seem to be the only move.
Can you stay in contact with the ships from down on the planet?
I can interface with the Osiris, which is networked to the rest of the fleet. Why?
I’d like you to wrap up things here while I take personal care of Xonax on the surface.
What kind of wrap up?
By now, every government on Earth has seen the battle. They will start scrambling their jets or worse.
Nuclear weapons.
Yes. Show them what happened, and convince them we’re on their side.
Understood, Kevin. Good luck.
Kevin opened a channel to Lacuna and Boomer.
“We have to get to Xonax on the planet. You’re sure I can’t dissuade you from coming on this away team?”
“I’m not sure that even deserves an answer,” said Lacuna.
“What she said,” added Boomer with a strong bark.
“Alright then, as we planned in contingency scenario two, Boomer and I will beam down to the house. Lacuna, stand by for beaming down once Xonax’s ship has landed.”
“Good luck, to the both of you,” said Lacuna.
“Right back at ya.”
21
Kevin’s mom, Angela, screamed as the door of the kitchen exploded. She dropped the food tray she was carrying when the first Kregans emerged from the smoke.
Kevin’s dad, Leon, ran into the kitchen from the living room and stopped short, freezing in place upon seeing the trio of Kregan guards. Before they knew it, Kevin’s parents were in the living room, blaster rifles pointed at their heads.
“Where is your daughter?” said one of the guards.
“Don’t tell them anything,” said Leon.
“Wrong answer,” said the guard.
He flipped his blaster rifle and smashed his weapon’s stock into Leon’s face, sending him crashing onto the floor and spitting blood before losing consciousness.
“Leon!” screamed Angela. “Stop it! Please!”
“Shut up! Tell us where your daughter is!” ordered another guard. “And perhaps we won’t kill you.”
Fear permeated Angela’s tear-filled eyes. She shook like a leaf in the wind.
“Let them go,” said a voice from the top of the stairs on the second floor of the house.
The guards looked up and took aim.
“I said, let them go,” insisted Kevin. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”
But the guards didn’t fall for the boy’s threats and opened fire. Kevin moved quickly, jumping over the railin
g and kicking the nearest guard with his right knee, sending a couple of the Kregan’s teeth flying across the living room.
Kevin caught a glimpse of his scared mother before launching toward the second guard and grabbing the end of the rifle barrel, but not before the Kregan discharged it, sending a blast to the right side of Kevin’s stomach.
Dark-colored blood splattered behind him onto the beige wall as Angela screamed at the scene.
Kevin pulled on the weapon and used the momentum of the guard tripping forward to kick him in the face. The Kregan released the rifle, which Kevin flipped with great agility and proceeded to aim it at the enemy before shooting him through the forehead.
Another blast hit Kevin on his arm, spilling more blood.
“Stop this!” screamed a young female voice from the stairway.
Kevin’s sister, Sonja.
But in the commotion, the Kregan guard ignored her and kept firing at Kevin who jumped over a chair to avoid further injury and rolled on the floor. The next Kregan shot hit near his head, splintering part of the wooden chair.
Kevin aimed his rifle and shot three times, each hit burning through the Kregan’s chest. The guard looked at the large wound and the blood oozing out of his chest. He dropped his weapon to the floor and collapsed atop the side of the sofa.
Then everything went wrong. The main door on the other side of the living room was blasted apart, and Kevin turned around, rifle in hand.
Before he could do anything, blaster fire impacted with his gun, sending it spinning back. Upon crashing to the floor, the weapon sparked.
Five shadows stood in front of the brightly lit opening where the door once stood. Four additional guards entered in twin formation and aimed toward Kevin.
The fifth and last figure stepped in: Xonax, the Kregan Emperor, an evil smirk spread across his face. He drew his personal blaster from his belt and aimed it at Kevin’s head.
Angela came skidding on the floor next to her son.
Across the Galactic Pond - Box Set: The Complete FAR BEYOND Space Opera Series Page 52