Wys shook his head. “They’re masking signals well. It’s pretty frustrating, Admiral.”
Exla sighed. “Let’s keep our distance from the planet this time. Send an order to our elite fighter squadrons—if the opportunity presents, they’ll lead the charge to the Chironex.”
Wys cleared his throat, hesitating a bit. “Okay, sir.”
“Something wrong, Wys?”
“Just wondering, if we find the Chironex, are we...”
“Taking it out with Ryle aboard?”
Wys nodded.
“Unless we can somehow extract him, I don’t see any other option. If we don’t stop that ship, two whole planets could be destroyed.”
They were quiet for a moment until an incoming call from Swaqmota broke the silence. “Exla! This is Swaq. We’ve engaged the enemy. Or rather, they’ve engaged us.”
* * *
The Archon’s secret fleet had crept out of clandestine underground hangars on Topaz—hidden from Chrysolite’s spy cameras. Six heavy cruisers carrying hundreds of Havocs entered the battle and attacked Swaqmota’s left flank while the standing Archon fleet advanced and struck his right. A clear path for Swaqmota suddenly turned into a chaotic wall of resistance.
The Kyanite emptied its hangars of fighters: several Hydro-5 squadrons along with a few captured Havocs, repainted yellow and green for Chrysolite. The fighters clashed in space around the Kyanite, explosions erupting everywhere.
The Chrysolite Battleship Halica along with two cruisers charged straight toward the planet attempting to break through the Archon fleet but was confronted by three heavy battleships led by the Barbarian. The Halica didn’t last long as it was pummeled by plasma cannons and Neon Prime missiles. The Halica’s aft engine core exploded, hastening its destruction. Its accompanying ships scurried to retreat.
The Barbarian spearheaded a brutal counter-attack, ripping several Chrysolite cruisers to shreds and unleashing carnage on the Hydro squadrons, causing Swaqmota to reevaluate his offensive and ordering the Kyanite to reverse direction. Several Hydro fighters vanished into nothingness as they were pounced on by Gak Destroyers—to the puzzlement of Swaqmota’s staff.
Swaqmota, viewing the mayhem, shook his head in frustration. “Noff, how did we not anticipate this? Where did those cruisers come from?”
“Sir, uh...” she said as she checked several different instruments. “I’m getting a report concerning the planet’s southern hemisphere…the Archon must have been building them underground for some time.”
“And now’s the perfect time to unleash them on us,” he said. “How’s our wizards?”
* * *
“Everybody hang on!” shouted Peex from the Orca One’s cockpit as he navigated through a hail of enemy fire. Qusam and Sienna gripped tightly their cockpit seat handles. Sienna suddenly gripped Qusam’s knee as if he might float away. Enemy laser blasts were picking off the Orcas’ fighter escorts one by one. One of the escorts imploded, turning into a microscopic collection of fried atoms.
“What was that?” said Peex in response to the vanishing ship and abruptly swerved to avoid an incoming Archon cruiser. He nearly crashed into a friendly fighter, but the fighter imploded just before impact and the Orca passed through unharmed.
“I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but this is just wacky,” said Bao.
“Can you get us through, Sergeant?” Qusam asked Peex.
“I’m trying. Whoa!” said Peex as he turned the ship again and tracked alongside a Chrysolite cruiser for cover as a pack of six Havocs sped past.
“Qusam,” said Bao. “Even if we make it down there it might be a lost cause.”
“There is only one direction.”
“I know, forward.”
“I was going to say ‘downward’.”
One of the two transport ships sent from the Kyanite exploded in a ball of flame sending pieces clattering against the Orca’s viewport. Peex was forced to abandon his shrinking team of escort ships and chart his own course just to stay alive.
“We better turn back,” said Peex. “At least for now.”
“What about the Orca Two?” asked Bao.
Peex checked his screen. “They’re already heading to the Kyanite for cover. We’re outgunned five to one. This ship was not meant for this!”
A blast nicked the side of the Orca One sending everyone lurching to the right. Peex adjusted course and sped as fast as he could toward the Kyanite which in theory was the safest place to dock.
* * *
Exla watched as Swaqmota’s fleet got pummeled. “Hang in there, Swaq. Maybe we can take some of the heat off you.”
“Thanks, but I think we’ll need to pull out soon,” said Swaqmota over the comm.
“Forward,” said Exla to his command crew.
Several Archon blips appeared on the screen–four battleships plus change. Exla, growing weary of these completely outmatched situations, burned inside with fresh resolve to put an end to this.
“Uh...Admiral...,” said Wys.
“I see it.”
“We’re outmatched three to one.”
“I said I see it, Lieutenant!” barked Exla, unusually animated for him. Wys put his head back over his console.
Ensign Dothan approached, “Sir, they’ve blocked off any route around Topaz. Archon ships keep emerging from the planet’s surface. There’s no way to reach the strike group even if we knew where it was.”
“No way at all?” said Exla, more as a challenge than as a question.
His crewmen and women remained silent, mulling over proper responses. Was there a viable strategy here? The tactical of Topaz showed a glob of Archon ships blocking all routes around the planet, ensuring an unobstructed path for the Chironex.
Dothan cleared his throat. “Unless, Admiral, you’ve got something in your toolbox we don’t know about.”
Exla examined the tactical one more time—now they were outmatched four to one. “Perhaps. Wys, we still have that cruise missile, correct?”
Wys ran the cargo manifest. “Yes, there’s the one, but aren’t they—”
“Illegal?” said Exla. “The law hasn’t officially passed yet. Too bad we forgot to dismantle the one we have.”
Wys smirked.
“Dothan, patch to me the best approximate location and size of the Chironex. This missile will find it. Wys, on my mark, launch. But first, we need to get closer,” said Exla.
The Chrysolite Pulsar cruise missiles were equipped with a plasma core-seeking guidance system, built-in sensors, deflector shields, and high-speed thrusters. If they were pointed in the right direction they would find their target. The hitch was the firing range, and the Azurite was not close enough. The “too hazardous” vote by the Assembly to dismantle them had been delayed again a few days. Exla would simply dismantle this one by destruction.
“Azurite crew,” said Exla, raising his voice above the whole command center. “Be brave and take us forward. Once this task is done, we’ll get out of here. Be ready to fall back to Sector 8.” Exla nodded to Wys.
Wys punched in the command. The bridge crew resumed battlestations. The Azurite, with the Battleship Defender on its left flank and the Fizer on its right, blasted straight toward the Archon blockade. Two elite squadrons of Hydro-5 fighters swooped around the ship, leading the charge. The Defender moved ahead to help shield the Azurite.
The Archon fleet took advantage of the easy targets, unleashing an onslaught of Neon Prime missiles, blaster cannon fire, and hordes of fighters. The Defender’s shields bore the brunt of the assault while its hangar bays released forty-eight Hydro-4 fighters. The lead Archon battleship of this battlegroup was the Lightcrusher, named in “honor” of the fallen Qesem.
“The Lightcrusher,” said Exla, speaking to his fleet commanders on the comm. “Take it down. Forget the rest of the ships. We don’t have time for them now.”
His fleet focused all fire on the Lightcrusher which was protected by swarms of Archon fighters. The battle qui
ckly turned into a ferocious free for all inflicting heavy casualties on both sides.
Exla, not normally anxious, watched the tactical with his heart rate increasing by the second. The Azurite felt as if it was merely inching toward its launch point coordinates.
“Four minutes...,” said Wys.
Two Archon battleships attacked the Defender’s port side, obliterating its deflector array and cracking open fissures in the hull with a furious round of Neon missiles. The Defender responded by releasing thirty Spike Drones. The drones popped out from tiny exit ports around the hull, spread into the midst of the Archon ships, extended their spikes, and wildly spewed plasma cannon fire in all directions. Such a strategy was useful in situations like this—buying time for big capital ships. The drones knocked out a dozen passing Havocs and created at least a momentary distraction.
“Two minutes...,” said Wys.
“Prepare to fire!” said Exla, sooner than the regular protocol.
A bright flash from an explosion on the Defender lit up the viewscreen.
“We’re in position!” said Wys.
“Let it loose!”
The Pulsar missile raced out from the Azurite’s launch tube and rocketed on course in which it would skim Topaz’s atmosphere and zip around to the other side of the planet. Typical anti-aircraft or even starship fire was not adequate to bring it down.
“Turn us around! Command withdrawal Five-Two,” said Exla.
Wys sent out the command. The Azurite turned, lurched from several hits from Archon battleships, and sped the other direction. The Lightcrusher, a beast of a vessel, remained, glaring at their retreat. Exla would have to leave the Lightcrusher behind to confront another day. As he gripped his command console to steady himself, Exla’s attention was drawn to the Defender as more explosions racked its outer hull. He gave a proud salute as the valiant ship went down, living up to its name.
* * *
Peex steered the Orca One, dodging innumerable laser blasts, toward the Kyanite. About a hundred Havoc fighters buzzed around the area like flies, blocking any path to Topaz. “Orca Two is calling! Yeah, Rik?”
“We’re leaving the Kyanite. It’s under heavy fire, too unstable to land,” said Flaro.
The Orca Two zoomed out of the Kyanite’s main hangar of which the interior was riddled with burning fires.
Bao looked over Peex’s shoulder. “We can’t go that way, now.”
“I know!” said Peex whose face erupted with a sneeze.
As they raced past the Kyanite, an explosion rocked the battleship’s starboard engine. Peex wiped his nose and steered the ship away, trying to avoid roaming packs of enemy Havocs.
* * *
Red lights flashed on the Kyanite’s bridge. An electrical eruption blew out circuits in the wall beside Swaqmota. “Lieutenant, did Exla have any luck? The comm’s busted.”
Noff tried to read her instruments, but they flickered on and off. “Not sure, sir! Last I heard it was about the same as our luck.”
“Prepare escape pods,” said Swaqmota. “If you can…send the command to the rest of our fleet here—full retreat.”
Noff nodded and checked over her station. “Wait, sir...my last working instrument shows...a new group of ships arriving.”
“What ships?”
Several squadrons of fresh fighters arrived to the battle. Noff zoomed in on the visual which showed two separate sets of ships with different markings: one black, and one red.
“Onyx fighters,” said Swaqmota. “Both factions?”
Sixty top of the line Onyx Fighter Craft—thirty from the Black Onyx and thirty from the Sardonyx—converged on the scene. Heavily armored and equipped, the Onyx craft carried slicer weapons similar to the Arrow IV’s. While they could not annihilate the enemy fleet, they could carve a path through it—and they did.
* * *
“Whoever can hear me in the Chrysolite fleet,” croaked an unfamiliar voice over Peex’s comm. “This is Field Marshall Rusthill. We’re coming to get our children.”
“Follow those ships!” said Qusam.
Peex once again turned around the Orca One and sped after the string of Onyx fighters streaking toward Topaz. The Orca Two caught on as well and joined them.
The Onyx ships fired their slicer beams which cut through swaths of incoming Archon fighters, hacking off the wings of four or five Havocs with one blast. The train of ships soared underneath an Archon cruiser, scoring so many direct hits with the slicers the cruiser began to lose power.
The two Orcas followed the Onyx train, slipping through the blockade and speeding into Topaz’s atmosphere.
Chapter 55
Ryle, traversing the Chironex’s outer hull, finally reached the top of the diamond drill’s chamber which presented an ominous view of Topaz looming with the giant red sun simmering in the distance. Still no contact from Rez for a while. They must have got him. He’ll survive. Ryle focused on his task—to somehow open the two huge double doors on which he stood. The doors ran the entire length of the hundred-foot diamond. Temporarily turning off his boots’ suction, Ryle took big strides across the center of the doors to the opposite end and found the manual door controls.
The sun’s meager light darkened as the Archon light cruiser passed over. Ryle hunkered down, rifle-ready, as a squad of six commando troops disembarked from the cruiser and, guided by booster-backpacks, landed on the chamber. Another figure dressed in brown, bearing a sword, and wearing a space helmet landed with the troops. A dark wizard…out here?
Ryle launched a grenade into the center of the pack. The explosion knocked three of the commandos off into space. The others dodged the blast and maneuvered to different spots of the chamber surface. Two opened fire on Ryle with their blaster rifles. He rolled into a gliding flip across the chamber. Upon landing, Ryle returned fire, striking one trooper but the other one sped away. The brown wizard, sword drawn, moved toward him and activated a hand-held energy shield. Ryle fired at him but the wizard deflected the shots with the shield.
A commando landed behind Ryle. Ryle spun around too slow to avoid getting kicked in the helmet, sending him drifting away from the ship. He shook off dizziness, fired his leg boosters, and powered himself back to the side of the chamber. He found a tiny ledge on which to plant his feet for the moment.
A commando boosted around the side of the ship, finding Ryle and opening fire. Ryle quick-started his boosters sending him back up onto the chamber where he landed face to face with two more troopers. One of them swung his rifle, but Ryle ducked to dodge the rifle and rolled into the feet of the other, knocking him off his feet and floating off the ship. Ryle fired and the blast and struck the trooper’s backpack causing it to boost wildly sending the trooper spinning around into space.
Ryle felt a punch to the gut, mostly absorbed by his armor. He knelt down, put both hands on the ship, somersaulted, and extended his legs in an upward kick to the trooper’s facemask, disorienting him long enough for Ryle to pull up his rifle and blast him in the chest and neck in between the armor. The trooper floated lifelessly into space.
The last commando appeared overhead raining down a hail of fire. Ryle rolled to evade but the blasts struck his rifle, blowing apart the blast tube. Ryle tossed it aside, grabbed a smoke bomb and tossed it at the trooper. It exploded in the trooper’s face, rocking him backwards. Ryle yanked out his pistol blaster and squeezed off a few shots, one striking the smoked up soldier’s helmet breaking his breathing apparatus. He drifted, suffocating, into space.
With a few seconds to assess, Ryle wondered why the brown wizard hadn’t finished him off yet or had even tried to. The wizard approached closer. Static crackled over Ryle’s comm and a raspy voice, “Surrender, Gelibor.”
Ryle fired a couple shots at the wizard who deflected them with his shield. Ah, now I see. Ryle wasn’t sure if the wizard could hear him but gave it a try, “Where’s your magic? Can’t a wizard sing in space?” Apparently a wizard’s magic was bound by the laws of phys
ics; sound waves couldn’t travel through a vacuum.
This jab prodded the wizard to lunge forward, but Ryle fired his leg boosters sending him back to the control booth where he identified the manual lever.
“Surrender, Gelibor. You, like your people, have no chance.”
His chances may have been slim, but Ryle never considered giving up until all options were exhausted and still never quit. He grabbed the lever with both hands and pushed as hard as he could—but it wouldn’t budge.
“You will die just like your planet,” said the wizard.
The wizard couldn’t sing, but he could attempt to intimidate. All he has is fear. “Dark wizard of Aqtal, at least I have a planet to call my own, not one stolen from the innocent and built on the backs of slaves.” Ryle activated his boots’ anti-grav function—just enough power to help him move the lever.
The massive chamber doors opened, splitting apart down the center. The wizard stepped to the side to avoid the widening crack. Ryle let go of the lever, leaving the doors slightly opened. He hooked his grappling cord around the lever and slid down through the narrow opening. He landed on a hard surface inside the chamber which could only have been the diamond drill itself.
Ryle watched and waited. He saw movement above as the wizard started to jump down through the crack. Ryle fired his leg boosters and yanked on the grappling cord the opposite direction, pulling the lever. The massive doors closed on the wizard whose body became lodged between them. Ryle pulled again with all his might and at full booster power. The doors won the struggle and the wizard was crushed, his body breaking into bits of rubble, some floating into space and other pieces drifting into the dark chamber.
Ryle caught his breath and rested in the darkness. Enemies vanquished. Now what? The pitch darkness changed to a glow emanating from the diamond. A hundred feet long, the gem radiated beauty despite its status as a deadly weapon of mass devastation.
The Topaz Operation Page 26
