'Bombard ships, I instruct you to move into the link. Cruisers, frigates and other escort craft you are to keep pace but under no circumstance are you to leave those ships behind.'
The enormous vessels that were the bombard ships engaged in their propulsion. Fire bloomed behind that left a trail of thick orange smoke as the primitive ships moved forward. Remnants of a race beaten by a war of their own making, the behemoths had only one purpose, planetary destruction. The pirate fleet owned orbit to surface artillery as part of their arsenal, but nothing near the magnitude of such ships.
'Three minutes until the first Bombard ship reaches the link my Khan,' said one of the navigation officers monitoring the fleet's progress.
The Khan remained silent. His officers would never expect an acknowledgment from their leader or dare repeat themselves. He ran his fingers through his dark beard, considering the many options and decisions needed in the moments to come. A wrong choice could be disastrous.
'Raeson, acknowledge,' the Khan said over his coms.
'The Commander is unconscious my Khan,' Slin replied. 'Those visions started when the ship opened the link and it has knocked him out. I've assumed command of the Arvernus until he awakes and can retake command.'
'So it links Raeson to the Eclipse in the same way as Draethus?' replied the Khan. 'Very well, I want you to traverse the link ahead of the bombard ships and if there is trouble on the other side, burn back and inform us.'
'Yes Sir, right away.'
*
The pirate corvette fired up its engines, performed a rollover vector to the port side, and entered the tear. Inside was that of pure madness as a whirlwind of energy surrounded the Dawn Eclipse, connecting it to the link. The Arvernus accelerated to full as it passed the golden ship and headed further into the corridor of energy.
'How are you holding up Eclipse?' Slin asked over the coms.
'The Commander has passed out, something to do with the link opening,' Tremon replied. 'Hope he wakes up soon, it's pretty shaky in here.'
'Copy that Tremon. The Khan has ordered us through so if you don't see us again it's safe to follow, or we are dead, either way.'
Tremon laughed, 'I'm uncertain how long this link will be open so you'll want to be fast.'
The pirate corvette raced through the tunnel of energy, sparks and lightning attacking the ship's nanite armor but not enough to cause significant damage. Thirty seconds later the vessel was free and had made it through.
'Arvernus to fleet, other side is clear do you copy?' Slin announced through the ship's communication system.
'This is Talon Commander Zekhal of the Dying Nova, we copy and are sending the rest of the fleet through, stand by.'
*
The first bombard ship entered the link, the immense vessel vanishing alongside its cruiser and corvette escorts followed closely by a cluster of six others, a herd of giants lumbering to the destination. Behind them, the frigate the Dying Nova served as rear guard whilst running point for the next group of vessels soon to enter the vortex. As the frigate entered the link the whirlpool of energy vanished, abruptly leaving again only an empty void behind it.
'Get it open!' the Khan roared into the coms system, 'get that damn portal open again so we can reach Heridia!'
One officer approached the angry leader, steadied himself, and said. 'Sir, the Eclipse has vanished along with the bombardment fleet.'
The Khan gave the man an angry stare as the officer continued, 'Roughly twenty escort cruisers and frigates are with them, so that's something.'
'Something?' the Khan said angrily under his breath, 'we just lost the best chance we have at victory. Do you think with our fleet divided we can win? All we can do now is sit here on our hands and do nothing.'
*
The golden ship raced to reach the end of the link, its engines white hot as a trail of plasma burned in its wake. Crimson streaks of energy, left over from opening the gateway, smoked off the now closed armor.
'Faster!' Tremon yelled, 'go faster for creator's sake; we have to make it to the end before the link closes!'
Spect fiddled with some of his controls, 'I'm not piloting, the ship has control Tremon.'
'It's what?' the Paladin replied.
'The ship is flying itself, I have no control and what's worse look behind us,' the scientist said as he rapidly activated the rear display.
An image of the frigate, the Dying Nova, was shrinking in the distance as it too was in danger of getting caught.
'That frigate is too slow, it will not make it,' Tremon whispered.
The Dawn Eclipse burst out of the link, before the opening vanished leaving the pirate frigate trapped behind in the closed link.
'What will happen to it do you think?' Tremon asked the scientist.
Spect ran a finger across the frame of his glasses and shrugged, 'It will probably stay trapped for eternity I would imagine, lost in whatever realm that link belongs too.'
The Paladin felt a pain in his chest with the thought of losing one of their own but knew that in the end, before this war was over there would be a lot more casualties.
'Let's join with the bombard fleet,' Tremon said, 'and get the Arvernus on coms we have to do something about our unconscious Commanders.'
From under the liquid metal lake Draethus lay unconscious, floating as a corpse would in an ocean lit by fire.
We are sorry we couldn't keep the link open for longer, Commander Draethus, the Eclipse said into his mind.
*
The Heridian fighter activated its frontal weapons and took a shot at the pirate's Widowmaker craft as it banked a hard turn to evade. Flares burst from behind the dark ship as the Heridian fired its missiles only to have the countermeasures lead it off into the distance. Hot plasma burnt into the pirate fighter as the enemy projectiles connected and ricocheted, then repaired on the fly by the nanites embedded in the armor. Both fighters strafed from side to side, the front runner burnt for his life, trying to reposition and break free from his pursuer.
'This guy is a pain in my stern,' Stark said into the coms as he looked over his shoulder at the red fighter trying to target him.
'I'm on it, pull down now!' Nash yelled as she flew between the two hoping to confuse or at least distract the enemy.
Her plan worked. The Heridian fighter hesitated just long enough for Stark to spin his craft on its center and fire his guns. His cockpit display blinded him as oxygen inside the enemy craft ignited along with its fuel. The remnants of the enemy burst outward in all directions.
'Thank you Nash, you're becoming quite the pilot,' Stark said thankfully.
'Shut up,' she replied. 'The Commander might have given you a pass on what you did, but I haven't.'
Stark thought about replying but let it lie. He could see her point and after all he put her in harm's way.
'Stark, we have more fighters' incoming from the front, reform your squads and don't let them get to the bombards,' Raeson ordered from the command deck of the Arvernus.
*
The capital ships that successfully made it through the link had carried on with the mission under the combined command of both Raeson and Draethus. Though outranked by any of the cruiser commanders that were escorting the bombard vessels, the joint vote put the two in charge. This meant that none of the eighteen cruiser commanders could try to pull rank and kept animosity between the pirates to a minimum. Draethus thought it may have something to do with their new fame, however.
The fleet moved painfully slowly because of the sheer mass of the bombard ships, and for the last two hours they had been fighting off waves of Heridian fighters emanating from an unknown source. Red cloud enveloped the area, a nebula of gases that made seeing the way ahead impossible and with the hundreds of derelict vessels scattered throughout, very hazardous.
Are you detecting anything on long range scans Eclipse? Draethus asked the ship in his mind and are you sure we can't activate the link again?
The entity that
was the ship entered his mind in a peaceful and in-evasive manner. The interference from the energy within this area is disrupting all scans. We can detect no planet, and cannot activate the link for another few days because of the limitations between the ship and the Tether Source.
Understood.
'What about you Spect, can you see anything on visuals yet? I'm sure a planet wouldn't be that hard to find.' Draethus asked the scientist who was busy at his console.
'I've been scanning the area since we started this gauntlet,' Spect said, squinting into his displays. 'All I see is a red cloud, not even a star in sight.'
'Any idea what these derelict wrecks are doing here, do they have a configuration we've seen before?' Tremon asked, hoping that someone on the open channel could answer the question.
It was Slin who spoke first, 'They seem to have features similar to those of the one in the Nebula Stream we almost collided with.'
'There must be hundreds of destroyed vessels here, including Heridian capitals. Must have been one hell of a battle,' Tremon finished.
'I would love to salvage them,' Spect said, looking up from his scans. 'Even if we could reconstruct the schematics and manufacture them ourselves, they would make a great edition to the fleet.'
'Let us worry about making it to the end first before we think about rebuilding shall we?' Draethus said from under his lake of liquid metal.
*
Positioned in front of the fleet, Stark fired his weapons at the crippled Heridian fighter and watched it spiral out of control then crash into the wreck of a derelict. He quickly rolled right to evade the twisted metal of another wreck that appeared from nowhere and squeezed through the gaps in its hull.
Damn, that was a gutsy move, even for me, he thought.
The last enemy fighter exploded as Nash and her wingman launched a combined arsenal of missiles that streaked through the night.
'Scans are clear,' she announced over the coms, 'no wait there's something else.'
Four Heridian cruisers emerged from the fog of war, beasts that launched themselves out of the mist, hunters searching for prey.
'Shit, they're going for the lead bombard vessel and look at their speed,' Nash announced.
The voice of three cruiser commanders chattered over the coms, escorts to the bombard vessels, before they each left their assignments and headed on a collision vector with the approaching hunters. A mass of laser fired out from the enemy capitals and cut the lead pirate cruiser in half. It buckled from the middle and exploded into two enormous pieces that separated into opposite directions.
Stark could hear the orders from Raeson over the coms being ignored by the two remaining cruiser commanders to the front. The pirate vessels, although powerful in their own right, were no match for the speed, agility and sheer firepower of the four Heridian cruisers that now bore down on them. Another pirate capital ship exploded without even firing a shot. White hot gases erupted in a spectacular light show. The third vessel decided he couldn't take on all four of the enemy and retreated, running back to the main fleet, something Raeson had already ordered.
'Cruisers four to nine form up around the front bombard, star formation and keep it tight. The moment the menace is in range I will give the command understood?' Raeson ordered.
The fleet commanders acknowledged and the pirate vessels began as instructed but were too far behind the lead bombard before the enemy opened fire. Light gleamed from the four enemy monsters and connected with the lead bombard capital ship. Its armor held for longer than Stark had expected, then began melting. Its thick plating gave most of the crew time to evacuate, pods separated from the back of the vessel and drifted away with their beacons flashing. The enemy lasers fell silent as the lead bombard broke apart and exploded. Large chunks of debris drifted apart as the core at their center sparked and erupted, the enormous bombardment weapon at its base disappearing into the distance.
*
Draethus watched from the back of the fleet and knew the vessel his lover served on was now the next ship in the line of fire. 'I'm not just going to sit here, fire engines, and let's get into the thick of it,' he said.
'About time I got to shoot something,' Tremon exclaimed as he ran a check of his weapon systems.
'Raeson, we are going in for interdiction to see if we can draw fire, Draethus reported over the coms.
'I'd ask you to hold back,' Raeson said, 'but I know your intention.'
The golden vessel accelerated forward, easily overtaking the rest of the fleet and spiralled in towards the incoming enemy vessels. Pulses of energy pushed the vessel as it strafed from one side to another. Enemy weapons fired at the smaller ship forming criss-crossing patterns, deathly lines of plasma, but were too slow to hit their intended adversary.
'Time to explode some shit,' Tremon yelled gleefully as he triggered his holographic guns at the targets displayed in front of him.
Spect looked over in surprise as he was not used to hearing the Paladin curse. The pirate's vocabulary had been rubbing off on him.
Silver lasers erupted from the sides of the golden ship, hitting one of the enemy ships on its bow, stripping away some protective armor. Pieces of plating curled away and spun, but not enough to penetrate the hull.
'We are coming around again, get ready,' Draethus ordered.
The Dawn Eclipse aimed to the heavens, rolled over and came in for another pass. The distraction plan was working and gave the pirate cruisers enough time to form around the new lead bombard vessel. Draethus knew the fleet was almost in weapons range.
The ship strafed across the four enemy cruisers again, the silver laser peppered across the bow of two, but again inflicted minor damage.
'Get clear Draethus!' Raeson yelled over the coms.
Combined weapons fire from the six pirate cruisers cut the first Heridian vessel from dorsal to bow, severing its head, causing it to erupt in an enormous explosion. The three other enemy ships attempted to evade by scattering in multiple directions. The second was too slow and ran headfirst into the pirate weapons fire. A line of illumination hit the vessel, connected from bow to stern, and evaporated the Heridian into nothing more than scrap. The last two Heridian cruisers raced in opposite directions trying to get out of the death, then arced back around and engaged the back of the fleet. Before they reached the rear, the pirate cruisers had reformed and performed the same tactic. The battle was over, and the victors resumed their slow progression through the clouds.
*
'More fighters are coming. Cruisers resume your escort cover over each bombard,' ordered Raeson.
Hundreds of enemy fighters emerged from the clouds, a swarm of insects covered the eerie sky and ready to unleash devastation. They burst in from every angle, weapons fire blanketed the bombards and cruisers alike, luminous streaks engulfed the ships, which combined would eventually penetrate the hull. The pirate fighters, totalling thirty-seven now after hours of losses, engaged the swarm in a mass of chaos and confusion. Explosions signalled the end of either a pirate or an enemy fighter in the smallest flash of light.
Stark twisted and turned, his fighter covered in scorch marks and even a small fire on his back fin. He knew if he held a predictable line he would die, so didn't concentrate on any one fighter and prolong the engagement. Two pulses of the trigger, if it connected the enemy would explode, if not then move to the next target. A straight line meant death.
'We can't keep this up, Raeson', Stark reported. 'Thirty odd of us against hundreds, even with cover fire from the cruisers anti-ship fire, we won't last long.'
'There is no choice, we have to reach Heridia with the bombards intact if we are to win this war,' the pirate Commander replied.
'I suggest we dock the fighters and repair, let the capitals take the fire for a while, they can take it,' Stark said.
'Negative, keep up the pressure and,' Raeson stopped when Slin yelled out from behind him on the bridge.
'Planet ahead, its Heridia!' Slin yelled.
The dark red world of Heridia appeared as the fleet exited the hazy clouds of destruction. It's surface familiar to both Raeson and Draethus, dark rocky continents swimming in oceans of crimson. Mountains stretched across the land and continued into the liquid as islands protruded like spines. The ominous clouds in the upper atmosphere drifted with what seemed to be an intelligent intent, moving in multiple directions casting acid to the surface.
'All fighters dock,' Raeson ordered, 'I say again all fighters dock. Fleet set waypoint to the following position I'm sending you now.'
By the creator, I know this evil place, he thought.
The pirate Widowmaker class fighters flared their engines, disengaged their fight, and headed for their respective ships. Destructive energy completely engulfed the fleet as the Heridian fighters strafed and circled. Anti-ship lasers from the cruisers continued their defensive attempts but were far too slow to keep up with the tight turns of their targets.
Raeson's coms chimed as Draethus said, 'You recognise this planet don't you?'
It took a moment for Xain to respond with the realization. 'This is the world from our vision, isn't it, how can that be?'
'Maybe it was the Eclipse readying us for what lies ahead? I'm not sure, but we shouldn't worry about that now. I don't believe the Rid fighters are atmospheric so we should set up in orbit.' Draethus replied.
'Confirmed, let's bombard this damn rock to the hole it came from.' Raeson switched back to his fleet coms, 'Prepare to set up orbits, bombard ships begin immediately, cruisers create cover fire.'
*
The enormous lumbering vessels arced their way into a low orbit. Flames from the atmosphere covered the bow and ignited the front armor plating creating a furious glow. Most enemy fighters followed, exploding without the required trajectory or protection against entering orbit. It only took a few dozen Heridians to suffer this fate to convince the rest not to pursue. The fleet had reached its destination.
A Dark Oceans Descent: (Heridian Saga, Book 1) Page 28
