Hell's Razer

by S. F. Edwards

  He had to hand it to the designers of the Wildcat. That cruciform engine arrangement had made the craft extremely maneuverable, even if it did sacrifice some of its overall thrust. The four engines flared and the Wildcat raced towards them again. Blazer snapped off a half-hearted barrage of plaser and bio-cannon rounds as he raced ahead. Hoping his gamble would work, he jump-rolled his fighter up. The other pilot jumped as well, right into the firing arc of the Narfics.

  Arion unleashed the lightning cannons at their target. The inertia of the quick jump was easy for the Wildcat to overcome and he dropped below the plane of fire. Blazer doubted the pilot of the nail-skulled fighter would even hear the alert tone of the two missiles before they detonated.

  Blast plasma from the first missile shredded the underside of the fighter, obliterating the shields before the second missile exploded. One of the engines tore free, rocketing into the nebula. Blazer watched for a few cents as the pilot wrestled to regain control. The fighter spun away on a death spiral back towards the red-mottled hull of the Barker. “He’s a goner,” Blazer commented and spun back to face the rest of his flight. They’d already dispatched their targets through coordinated efforts. “Thanks for the assist.”

  “Looked like you had it handled,” Zanreb replied. “Thought a good one on one would help you work out your frustrations.”

  “Well next time, Four, don’t make that assumption.”

  “I thought you had it handled too, Three,” Gavit replied with a laugh.

  “Yeah, he was actually impressed,” Matt added from their backseat. “He and Deniv were…”

  “Knock it off,” Blazer snapped.

  “Yes, Sir!” they all replied, and according to the link identifiers, even Deniv was online.

  “Blade Force flights, Monstero Nach Lead,” Tadeh Qudas’ haggard voice came through the link.

  The lack of the tell-tale metallic iciness of his voice was almost more unnerving than his normal tone. It amazed Blazer that Tadeh Qudas was even conscious after how Marda had described his injuries. Like the other non-combatants, he should have been transported to Drobile. Instead, he’d remained aboard, with a full tactical display in his private room in Marda’s medical bay. From there, he could still command the squadron. “Orders have changed. The Barker is bringing in reinforcements to cover their exposed flanks. Take the Nip Tails and escort the Vamair. She’ll be initiating slashing attacks against the Brandenburgs before they can move into blockade formation.”

  A new nav point and holographic silhouette of the Vamair in the distance appeared on Blazer’s HUD. “Copy all, Lead. All Units, Three, on me.”

  The two flights formed up as quickly as they could around the Nip Tails as they vectored towards the Vamair. As they proceeded, Blazer watched the Barker continue to spit muons down their return vector, boring an ever-widening and deepening tunnel through the nebula. Blazer realized it would be to no avail. It would take several hects, at a minimum, to burn their way through to the tiny protoplanet the Wolfsbane waited behind at this rate. That assumed that their power cores, or the ship itself, would last that long.

  “Nach Three, Nip One. We are ready to commence our first run. Distract that destroyer from the Vamair. Requesting cover.”

  “On it. Ten, keep your flight here to cover the Vamair and the rest of the Nip Tails. Flight Two, on me. We’ll draw their fire so the Nips can get a clean lane.”

  Affirmative responses poured in and Blazer surged ahead with his flight.

  Blazer glanced down at the targeting display as they approached, then back up at the wireframe silhouette the sensors painted. Something was wrong. He knew the Brandenburg design well: one of the class had been a part of the assault on their academy six annura earlier. Most of the features were there, the massive engine block, the long proboscis style Razer Cannon, but the central hull was wrong. The saucer-shaped main hull was gone, replaced by a smaller, boxier hull. Even the energy readings were off. “Arion, are you seeing this? Are the sensors…”

  “It’s a clean reading. The WSO weave is linked with all local ship sensors and to burn through the interference. That’s a new class of ship.”

  Blazer agreed and began to cycle through the subsystems to target the turrets. As he did so, a new identifier came up for the ship. GFS Bremen, Light Destroyer Class.

  “Well, Bremen, prepare to meet your end, fog’s clearing,” Blazer called. A heartbeat later, the trio burst through the nebula to meet their target as it burned towards the Barker. It looked just like its silhouette and was definitely a product of the Centauri Shipyards. Blazer spotted the next difference between it and the Brandenburg: beam cannons. “She’s got beams, scatter!” Blazer ordered and vectored down to avoid a crimson shaft of energy lancing at them.

  The beam arced down after Blazer as he slammed the afterburner to drop below its firing arc. It was the last thing he’d expected on the destroyer. The Brandenburg had minimal anti-fighter point defenses, but all twelve dorsal and ventral turrets on this new destroyer were beam domes. One by one, each of them whipped out at the trio of fighters. “Arion, feed our telemetry to the Nips. Have them fire before they clear the clouds and get out of here,” Blazer grunted as he side-slipped around another beam piercing the fog.

  “Nach Three, Lead, confirm that destroyer has beams,” Tadeh Qudas ordered.

  “Confirmed Lead,” Gavit grunted over the link. “Thing looks like a Brandenburg that went on a diet. Beams are quick too, fast trackers. Cooked our shields.”

  “Lead,” Bichard hum-clicked in. “Beam Cannon energy signatures are consistent with Rimdook type.”

  “Agreed,” Gokhead replied, far too calmly from the rear guard position. “Looks like they reverse-engineered the beams off the Mangler.”

  “Analyze later people,” Tadeh Qudas ordered, his voice not carrying the weight it normally did. “The Nip Tails and Vamair just launched their first torpedo volley. Cover them before she commences her run.”

  Blazer looked over his shoulder as dozens of Sharks raced into view from multiple vectors, mildly iridescent trails in their wakes. He held back a silent hope as first one, then two, then three beam cannons swept across them. Brilliant flashes marked the deaths of the weapons as the shaft of coherent plasma washed over them, melting the weapons and triggering their photon detonator crystals. “Damn,” he hissed and saw his opportunity as three slipped through. “Arion, get me…”

  “Locked on, give me an angle.”

  Blazer flipped about and raced towards the ship, “All Monstero Nach, paint the destroyer for a torpedo lock and fly interference. Draw off those beams so the rest of the torpedoes can make it through.”

  Blazer watched a beam turret twitch in his direction as he approached before it snapped back towards the incoming torpedoes, confirming. “Auto-targeting,” he muttered.

  Automated targeting systems were a curious thing, and on small ships, like this light destroyer, practically a necessity. Depending on the programmer, and the sophistication of the software, their threat prioritization could be figured out. That twitch of the beam cannon told Blazer enough. “Torpedoes are high threat priority to the system. Close in and launch at minimum, safe distance,” Blazer ordered.

  “WOOHOO!!!” Gavit hooted as the three of them raced in. “Watch this Nip Lead.”

  Blazer didn’t even dare roll his eyes at that as he bore down on one of the beam turrets. Arion highlighted the limit of the destroyer’s shield bubble and the point at which he had to break off. He timed it perfectly. The millicent Arion released the Sharks, he pulled up on the stick and throttle and he mashed the afterburner button. It couldn’t have been coordinated better.

  Blazer stared down through the SIS as the beam turret twitched up before the first torpedo blasted into the shields. That disrupted the shields long enough for the second to slip through and pierce the eye of the emitter. The explosion and resulting plasma fountain from the weapon’s feed trunk were almost beautiful.

  “Yes!” he let
out through gritted teeth as Gavit and Zanreb repeated the tactic, eliminating three of the four beam cannons on that side. “Vamair, we saved the last one for you.”

  “More like for us,” Deniv replied as another volley of torpedoes streaked in.

  The destroyer rolled. It was a vain attempt to bring the portside beam cannons into play, but the torpedoes were coming in from too many vectors. The beams lanced out, taking out half. The rest, and a clutch of heavy torpedoes from the Vamair, made it through to splash against the Bremen’s shields. To their credit, the shields held out longer than those on a Brandenburg would. They failed under the assault nonetheless, blasting away in a brilliant purple flash.

  “Here they come,” Blazer called as the Vamair rushed into view. With the speed of a fighter, it streaked past. Beam cannons and hyperplasers tore at the Bremen’s hull as the destroyer brought its four remaining beams to bear. The two craft exchanged for only a moment, the Vamair digging deep into the Bremen’s hull while the other whittled away at the Vamair’s shields. The fighters cleared the area, best to avoid the confluence of beams as the Vamair raced past. The Bremen twisted to try and bring its Razer cannon in line with the swift cruiser. Blazer just shook his head as he watched the tip of the Vamair’s tail blossom open, a deep crimson glow within.

  He’d only seen Stingrays in holovids, and none did the awesome power of the beam justice. As soon as the Vamair passed the Bremen, the beam ignited, creating a solid lance of red light between the two ships. The Bremen bucked under the assault as if punched by a mighty fist, a fiery fist that melted through the unshielded hull towards the engines and power core. So in awe were all of them of the attack, that no one noticed an icy blue beam that lanced out of the Bremen’s Razer cannon until it was too late.

  The beam was off-axis, maybe ten degrees as it tracked the Bremen. Blazer had never seen a Razer with an off-bore beam. It didn’t make sense, but then nothing did about this Bremen. Then it happened. The beam pulsed and shimmered. And in that instant the whole side of the Vamair’s tail burst open all the way to just below its hangar, where the base of the tail met the ship and the port engine. It all disappeared in a flash of decaying pi-mesons.

  Blazer shook with disbelief. The Vamair went silent, spinning out of control, for a moment before the crew cut the power to the starboard engine. The megabeam spat out a few pitiful gasps as atmosphere streamed out, the tail twisted off-angle and barely holding on. Escape pods began to fly free only moments later and Blazer pulled himself back into the moment. “All Units, Nach Three, cover the Vamair’s escape pods. Nips, send that ‘Bremen’ back to whatever Sheol birthed it.”

  “No need,” Deniv replied.

  Blazer looked back, sure enough the Bremen had had it. Escape pods rocketed away in all directions, diving into the thick dust and fog of the nebula for cover. The scar the Vamair had dug into the Bremen’s spine still glowed with nuclear fire as the breached reactor core poured plasma into it. Great gouts of flame erupted from multiple hull breaches, and as an escape shuttle undocked, a plasma fountain engulfed it.

  The spherical cockpit of the Soyuz shuttle melted away in an instant. When the geyser subsided, what little remained of the passengers flowed out into the void. Blazer almost considered chasing down the pods and shuttles, but that was not their way. The Confederation didn’t destroy helpless shuttles, escape pods, or ejected pilots, no matter whether their enemy did.

  Instead, Blazer guided his fighter into formation with the first escape pod from the Vamair. He tried not to look at the craft, about the size of his own. The cylindrical hull was scorched from where a beam cannon had scored it. He couldn’t resist and looked it over, a red streak marking the escape hatch and streaked down the side. Someone hadn’t made it all the way in before the pod had ejected. It brought back horrid memories from the Gorvian conflict, of escorting transports filled with injured personnel and civilians. Looking over their grim procession, Blazer could tell that even if the pods had been stuffed past capacity that they could never carry all of the Vamair’s crew. He wished those brave souls luck, as they either fought to save their dead ship, or awaited rescue.

  UCSB Date: 1006.023

  Bridge, GFS Barker, Vorg Nebula

  Sir,” the tactical officer called. “The Bremen,” he continued, pointing to the craft’s silhouette on the situation display. It had turned into an outline.

  Admiral Kimmet punched the nearest panel as another of their corvettes also turned into an outline. “Damn them all!” She took a breath to regain her composure and looked back out over the bridge. She’d never seen her crew this shaken before and their blind barrages into the nebula had returned nothing but a few glimpses of garishly painted Drashig cruisers and corvettes. “What’s the status of the enemy forces? Have we located their main carrier?”

  Hyperplaser rounds traced their way through the thick nebula gasses and dust, igniting the oxygen within like ancient tracer rounds. There was at least one Ormu-Balhet Cruiser out there harassing and trading fire with the Barker and its defenders, likely two. A beam cannon pierced the clouds to slam into the Barker’s shields. They held against the assault, but a thin sliver of plasma managed to breach and slice into the main deck like a surgeon's scalpel into body armor.

  Captain Watts stepped up. “Ma’am, the Bremen managed to take out a Stingray Cruiser with its new Beam Razer before it went down. The weapon worked beyond expectations, had their reactor core not breached the destructive output…”

  Admiral Kimmet just turned to the infuriating Captain. He was not the man she’d selected for the job, this high-born fool. She’d wanted a career fighter pilot as the Captain, someone like her. She motioned towards one of the guards. “I didn’t ask you Watts,” she replied as the guards each took an arm.

  “But Ma’am?”

  She looked to the guard on Watt’s left. “Captain Watts died admirably in battle today. Let’s say, impaled on a piece of equipment while getting blown out of a hull breach. Isn’t that right?”

  “Yes Ma’am,” the guard responded and the two dragged Watts away as he screamed for mercy.

  The Admiral turned back to her tactical officer. “Now, your report?”

  “Uh, yes ma’am,” he replied and pulled up the enemy losses. “The Bremen, as said, killed a Stingray Cruiser, two more are still engaged at the jump point. We have destroyed three enemy corvettes, and numbers of fighters destroyed are unreliable with this nebula.” He trailed off and put a hand to his ear, listening to the battlenet reports. A smile on his face, he looked back to Admiral Kimmet. “Sir, the DePaul has engaged and destroyed a Goit Class Frigate.”

  “Where?” Kimmet asked, walking over to the tactical display as another beam barrage bit at their shields. The explosions of intercepted torpedoes lit up the darkness beyond the shields.

  The DePaul’s position appeared on the display. It was well away from the main battlezone, near a rocky protoplanet in close orbit around the nearest star several light-minutes away. “What were you doing out there little Goit?”

  “Ma’am, the DePaul reports that the Goit was limping away from the engagement zone. Course projection on display now.”

  Admiral Kimmet stared at the plot for several tense moments, studying it. “Sardenon’s out there. Maybe on the Wolfsbane, maybe it lived, or on some other command ship, but he’s there, so let’s draw him out.” Admiral Kimmet highlighted the far side of the rocky planet. “Instruct the DePaul to do a quick scan of this little rock for concentrations of metallics and energy output inconsistent with what would naturally be there, and feed us the telemetry. Then set up for long-range Razer bombardment of those scan points, quarter power. Keep that up until the DePaul reports that we hit something.”

  “Yes ma’am,” the Tactical Officer replied with a smile and set about his orders.

  “Ma’am, we have Solaar’s inbound from Gunslinger Squadron. They’re requesting priority landing clearance. They need to refuel and rearm,” the Flight Controller called
. Under combat conditions, with the shields raised, fighters and bombers coming in to land needed the direct permission of the commanding officer.

  “Is their approach vector clear?”

  “Yes Ma’am. We have corvettes blockading the aft recovery decks.”

  “Good, clear them for priority landing and rearming. We still have enemy bombers out there harassing us,” she replied as a torpedo struck their shields a moment later. “As I said.”

  Monstero Nach 002

  “Gunslinger Two, Channard Control, you are cleared to land on the central deck,” the Flight Controller finally called back. “Follow your guide beacons and do not deviate. We are opening a minimum shield hole for you.”

  “Be… er, confirmed Barker Control,” Trevis replied, trying his best to sound Terran.

  Natural instinct urged Trevis to gun his throttle and burn in guns blazing. But the start of this new cycle was feeling far from natural. With a patience he could scarcely understand, he watched the shields open on his sensors. In the back, Telsh did her damnedest to keep their sensor mask in place. It was no easy feat, especially with the interference from the nebula. The guise of a six-pack of Solaars they’d dispatched after they’d made the mistake of chasing after a flight of Feral bombers, well away from the Barker’s sensors, projected around them. The hardest part was the next, avoiding everyone else in the sphere of battle, friendly and enemy alike, to reach this point.

  “Gunslinger Flight, Channard Control, path is clear, land now before course change.”

  “Confirmed Control,” Trevis replied and edged in closer as the maneuvering thrusters on the Barker began to glow. The squadron passed through the shields together, Trevis goosing his throttle just a bit and angled towards the central landing deck. Trevis made a textbook approach with the help of the Geffers on the deck. As he cleared the lip of the ceiling, he looked straight into the Barker’s hangar complex, the aft door left open for them.