by Ryk Brown
Bright yellow flashes appeared all over the Dusahn soldiers as the bursts of laser energy fired from the general’s right mini-turret pierced the weaker armor worn by the Dusahn regulars. The bolts of energy pierced the soldier’s bodies, exited out their backsides and slammed into the buildings behind them, blowing holes in the wall.
The Dusahn soldiers fell, their internal organs gravely wounded by the lasers passing through them.
Four more Ghatazhak followed the general, rounding the corner only seconds behind him, just in time to join him in the fight against a worse foe, the Zen-Anor.
General Telles ducked as a massive bolt of charged plasma tore through the corner of the building, showering him and his men with chunks of Takaran concrete and bits of red-hot metal.
General Telles looked back at the four men who had joined him. “I think I’ve figured out the source of that power surge.”
“Starboard shields at thirty percent!” Jessica warned.
“Strike in five seconds,” Kaylah warned.
“Wait for it,” Nathan told Loki, his eyes glued to the mission clock.
“Four…”
“Ready to jump,” Loki confirmed, his finger hovering over the jump button.
“…Three…” Kaylah continued counting, as the Aurora rocked with incoming weapons fire.
“Shields at fifteen percent!” Jessica warned.
“…Two…”
“Wait…” Nathan urged.
“…One…”
“Wait…” Nathan repeated.
“…Zero…”
“Captain,” Loki pleaded.
Nathan simply held up his hand, his eyes shifting toward Kaylah to his left.
“Jump flashes!” Kaylah exclaimed
“NOW!” Nathan barked, as Kaylah spoke.
“JUMPING!” Loki replied, the jump flash spilling over them as the words left his mouth.
“Tell me it was our missiles,” Nathan begged.
Kaylah turned to him, deep concern in her eyes.
“Hard about,” Nathan ordered, still looking at Kaylah. “What then?”
“Nine of them,” she replied, “and the flashes were too big to be missiles.”
“Coming about,” Josh replied as he initiated the turn.
“I need to know what jumped in,”
“I can tell you in twenty-two seconds,” Kaylah promised.
“If they were ships, we’ve got a problem,” Jessica commented from the tactical station.
“They shouldn’t have any left,” Nathan insisted.
“Would you like the good news or the bad news first,” Kaylah asked, attempting to lighten the mood considering their sudden change of fortune.
“Bad,” Nathan replied without hesitation.
“Three battleships and six destroyers…all of them old school.”
“Jung ships?” Nathan wondered.
“Very similar to the type we faced back in the Sol sector,” Kaylah confirmed.
“False-flag fleet?” Nathan surmised.
“We destroyed all their false-flag ships,” Jessica insisted. “Shinoda and I checked the propulsion and reactor signatures on every Jung ship operated by the Dusahn and matched them up to the ones originally spotted in the Sol sector. We destroyed them all.”
“We destroyed all the ones we knew of,” Nathan corrected.
“Turn complete,” Josh reported, uncertain of what would come next.
“Well, what’s the good news?” Nathan wondered.
“Our missiles were about five seconds late, which might have been a good thing,” Kaylah told him. “They not only took out the dreadnought’s shields, but they also struck several of the newly arriving ships, bringing down the shields on one of the battleships and three of the destroyers.”
A sinister smile crossed Nathan’s face. His usual good luck was definitely running low, but it wasn’t completely gone…not yet.
“You weren’t kidding when you said he was lucky,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda commented as he read the status update from the Aurora.
“I hardly call the unexpected arrival of three battleships and six destroyers…lucky,” Cameron argued. “Nevertheless, we must move quickly, before those new arrivals disperse.”
“All missile launchers are reloaded,” Commander Kraska announced from the Orochi’s tactical station. “Half shield busters, half variable-yield nukes.”
“I don’t suppose we can increase the number of shield-penetrating warheads?” Robert asked.
“All we have left are nukes,” the XO replied, “and we only have twenty-eight missiles left, beyond what we just loaded.”
Robert sighed as he turned and continued pacing the deck of his Orochi’s compact bridge. He paused in the center of the bridge, gazing out the forward windows. “Waiting for results is the worst part of this assignment. It was so much easier on the Cobras. With guns and torpedoes, we got to see the results of our attack.”
“I can’t say that I mind not being constantly under fire,” the XO admitted. “But I do see your point. However, it’s only been a few minutes.”
“A long few minutes.”
“New contact,” Ensign Lief reported from the sensor station. “Comm-drone.”
“Flash traffic,” the comms officer announced. “Another missile strike.”
“How soon?” Robert asked, returning to join his executive officer at the tactical station.
“Two minutes,” the comms officer replied.
“Two full launches in five minutes?” the XO wondered. “What the hell is going on there?”
“Undoubtedly, the Aurora is deep in it, as usual,” Robert replied as he helped his executive officer prepare the strike package. “Same as before. Launch them as they’re ready, and manual strike jump.”
The Aurora appeared in the middle of the newly arrived ships behind a blue-white flash of light, opening fire before her jump flash had completely faded. Her forward plasma torpedo tubes belched waves of red-orange plasma triple-shots at the Dusahn flagship directly ahead of them, slamming into its hull and tearing it open. Her dorsal forward turrets panned left and right, fore and aft, raking across unshielded destroyers on either side, overloading surface mounted systems and causing small hull breaches in multiple locations. All around the ship, point-defense laser-turrets lashed out at anything within range. On either side of her aft section, her broadside cannons spat out waves of red-orange energy bolts, pummeling the shields of the other enemy warships that, although still intact, had been greatly drained by the surprise missile attack only seconds after their arrival.
But the Aurora was not the only one with weapons, and all nine older warships opened up on the Aurora only a few seconds after she had begun her attack. With nine warships training all weapons upon her, the Aurora’s shields flashed repeatedly as they absorbed the impacts of the enemy’s energy weapons.
“Dreadnought is coming apart!” Kaylah reported with excitement as the Aurora rocked from incoming weapons impact against their shields. “Multiple secondary explosions! She’s done for!”
“Helm!” Nathan barked. “Steer toward the battleship on the left and continue firing on all forward tubes!”
“We can’t take this amount of fire for more than thirty seconds!” Jessica warned as the ship rocked.
“Firing on the battleship,” Josh announced as he opened fire again.
On the main, semi-spherical wrap-around view screen, weapons fire seemed to be coming at them from all sides, bathing the bridge in flashes of red, orange, and yellow.
“Aurora!” Nathan called, “Can you route power to whichever shield is weakest and shift that reroute on the fly?”
“Affirmative,” their AI replied.
“Do it!”
“I can also use past firing patterns to anticipate which shield
section will require supplemental energy to maintain shield strength.”
“Great,” Nathan replied, irritated that he had to authorize that as well. “Do that, too!”
“Done,” Aurora replied. “This should extend time to shield failure to one minute and thirty-eight seconds, assuming the current level of bombardment.”
“Concentrate all forward weapons on that battleship!” Nathan instructed, clinging to the arms of his command chair.
“Twenty seconds to strike!” Kaylah warned from the sensor station.
“Stand by to turn to a clear jump line,” Nathan instructed.
“Any particular direction?” Josh asked, steadying himself against the violent, unpredictable motion of the ship as its shields continued to absorb the energy of the incoming weapons.
“Whichever way gets us out the quickest!” Nathan replied.
“Got it!”
“Ten seconds!” Kaylah warned.
“Start your turn!” Nathan ordered. “Jump us out as soon as you get a clear jump line!”
“Turning!” Josh replied.
“Jump when clear!” Loki confirmed.
“Five seconds!” Kaylah warned. “Crap! Jump flashes to port!”
Nathan jumped to his feet, looking up and left as the Aurora turned right and dove to get a clear jump line under the enemy battleship ahead of them. Dozens of blue-white flashes revealed tiny specs of white riding on fiery contrails as they dove toward them.
“More above!” Kaylah continued.
Nathan’s eyes widened as two of their own missiles streaked over them, barely missing their topside. He turned his head to the right as the missiles passed, watching them slam into the destroyer to starboard, blowing it open in a fiery explosion.
“Clear jump line!” Josh reported.
“Jumping!” Loki announced a split second after.
The blue-white jump flash washed over the bridge, and the violent shaking stopped.
“Starboard ninety and jump ahead thirty light seconds,” Nathan ordered.
“Ninety to starboard,” Josh acknowledge, rolling the ship into the turn as ordered.
Nathan plopped down in his command chair, the incredible stress leaving his body for a moment. “Remind me to have a talk with your brother about his timing,” he told Jessica.
Commander Verbeek yanked his flight control stick to the left, rolling his fighter into a tight left turn, losing altitude in the process. He rolled back level and then tapped his jump button, transitioning his Super Eagle five kilometers ahead.
Suddenly, his target was right in front of him, less than a kilometer away and growing closer at an alarming rate. He had only seconds.
The targeting system flashed a red bracket, indicating it had detected the target, and then turned solid red. The commander pressed the missile launch button on his flight control stick, sending a single missile streaking ahead of him.
He immediately pulled up, rolling slightly right to avoid the explosion that came one second later. “Target destroyed,” he reported over comms with a smile.
“Thank you, Commander,” General Telles replied over comms.
“Eagle One returning to angels three. Let me know if you need any more help.”
“Will do,” the general replied.
“One-eighty complete,” Josh reported.
“Return jump plotted,” Loki added.
“What are we looking at?” Nathan asked his sensor officer.
“The dreadnought is dead, broken into three pieces,” Kaylah reported. “One battleship is badly damaged. She can defend herself, but she’s not going to be much of a threat. Same with one of the… Wait… Jump flashes! Multiple… Gunyoki!” she exclaimed. “About thirty of them! More flashes! Four Orochi! They’re all attacking!”
“Jump us in one hundred clicks from the nearest battleship,” Nathan instructed. “We can’t let them have all the fun.”
“One kilometer to Capitol Square,” Donan reported over comms. “It’s up to you boys, now. We’ll provide as much cover as possible.”
“Just don’t let any Dusahn tacticals sneak up behind us, and we’ll do the rest,” Sergeant Major Crawley replied.
“Give ‘em hell, Denton.” Donan checked his tactical display as the platoon of Corinari soldiers that had been following behind him charged past on either side. Two enemy targets suddenly appeared, blinking in red. He looked up, spotting the same two targets on the exterior view that surrounded him within his turret. A few hundred meters away were two gun emplacements being hastily assembled to repel the charging Corinari. “Two light APGs, three hundred fifty meters. One at my three five zero, and one at my zero one zero. Shall I do the honors?”
“Be my guest,” the sergeant major invited.
“Targeting with sky-shots,” Donan replied.
From behind sixteen combat tanks, Corinari soldiers clad in black and gray body armor charged forth, moving from cover to cover in practiced fashion as they fired on the Dusahn forces defending their seat of power. Energy bolts of red, orange, and yellow streaked back and forth between the two forces.
Dusahn soldiers scrambled to set up anti-personnel gun emplacements at intersections in front of the charging enemy forces, eager to get the upper hand on the approaching threat. But their efforts would be wasted.
Two screeching sounds were heard by the Dusahn soldiers assembling their weapons emplacements, followed by a distant whistling sound from above. The whistling descended in pitch as it grew louder. Several of the Dusahn soldiers looked up, scanning the nearby skies for the source of the strange sound. One of them spotted something small falling toward them. He pointed up at the object, hollering a warning to his comrades, causing them to scatter in all directions to find safety.
Two bright, white flashes appeared fifty meters above the gun emplacements, followed by a thunderous shock wave knocking the fleeing soldiers to the ground, tearing away their light body armor and stripping the skin and underlying muscle from their bodies, and crushing their internal organs. The shock wave carried a considerable thermal charge as well, igniting flesh and any other combustibles in the blast zone. Even the weapons themselves, partially assembled as they were, collapsed under the thermal shock wave, ending up bent, partially melted, and completely inoperable.
“Damn,” Sergeant Major Crawley exclaimed, observing the sky-shot strikes from behind cover two hundred meters away. “Nice shooting, Donan,” he called over comms. “Forward!” he hollered to his men, before returning his attention to his helmet comms. “Just don’t drop any of those things on us by mistake.”
“I’ll do my best,” Donan replied.
“Jump complete,” Lieutenant Deln reported from Orochi Three’s helm.
“Multiple targets,” Ali announced.
“We only care about our target,” Aiden reminded her.
“I’ve got it!” Ali replied a moment later. “Transmitting targeting data to tactical.”
“Transferring to missiles,” Ledge reported from the tactical console.
“Launch when ready,” Aiden instructed. “Helm, as soon as those missiles are away, jump us to the far side of that battle group, same range, and come about hard.”
“Targeting data is loaded,” Ledge announced.
“Ready to jump,” the helmsman confirmed.
“Launching eight.”
Aiden looked out the forward windows of the compact Orochi bridge as eight missiles, four from each side, streaked ahead of them, disappearing behind blue-white flashes seconds later.
“All eight have jumped.”
“Jumping us across,” the helmsman reported as the Orochi bridge filled with blue-white light. “Jump complete. Coming about.”
“I need a strike report as soon as possible, Ali,” Aiden reminded his sensor officer.
“You’ll have it in t
hirty seconds,” she reminded him back.
“Multiple contacts!” Kaylah announced from the Aurora’s sensor station. “Jump missiles! Ours! At least a hundred of them! Five seconds to impact!”
“Thatta girl, Cam,” Nathan murmured, more to himself than anyone around him.
“Battleship Three is turning toward us,” Jessica warned. “They’re trying to bring their main torpedo tubes to bear.”
“Missile impacts!” Kaylah announced.
“Ten up and twenty to port,” Nathan instructed his helmsman. “Ten-click jump on my mark.”
“Ten up and twenty to port,” Josh replied as he deftly manipulated his manual flight control stick to change the ship’s attitude, bringing the throttles of their main engines up at the same time to initiate the turn.
“Destroyer Six has lost all shields and is heavily damaged,” Kaylah reported.
“Ready stern tubes,” Nathan instructed. “Full power triplets.”
“Destroyer Five is coming apart,” Kaylah continued. “Battleship Three has lost all port shields.”
“Ready on stern tubes,” Jessica acknowledged. “Full power triplets.”
“Battleship Two is spinning up their jump drive.”
“Turn complete,” Josh reported.
“Execute jump!” Nathan ordered.
“Jumping!” Loki replied as the jump flash washed over the bridge.
“Pitch up to bring our stern tubes to bear on Battleship Three,” Nathan ordered. “Jess, fire when you get a solution.”
“Pitching up,” Josh replied, gently pulling back on his flight control stick and then releasing it.
“Battleship Two has jumped,” Kaylah reported.
“Find that battleship for me,” Nathan told her.
“I’ve got a firing solution!” Jessica announced. “Firing stern tubes!”
“Missile launch!” Kaylah warned. “From one of the destroyers! Eight inbound! Fifteen seconds!”
“Point defenses are engaging the inbounds!” Jessica assured them. “Direct impacts on Battleship Three!”
