Star Freedom

by D. R. Rosier

  I updated my board, and locked on the second target. The plan was to fire twenty-four missiles at all three hundred ships before they closed range, whether the original target had been destroyed or not. The best result was they’d all be destroyed, but time would tell.

  We were still just over two light minutes apart, so we’d have the third volley in space before the first even hit.

  Sixty seconds passed, and we launched the second volley, and then the third sixty seconds after that.

  The Stolavii were firing and hitting the missiles with their point defense, or at least some of them, and as predicted it was completely ineffective against shielded missiles.

  Bright fire lit the void of space as the first wave of missiles reached the ships. Of the sixty targeted, thirty-two were completely destroyed, twenty were heavily damaged and out of the fight. Of the remaining eight, they had varying shield strengths. Those eight had managed to spoof more than the others, and were on the outsides of the targeted formation.

  We launched the fourth volley as the second volley rocketed into the next sixty ships. The second volley wasn’t as successful. The Stolavii had opened up with their plasma weapons, taking some of the missiles out. I was begrudgingly impressed by their fast thinking and actions. Still, twenty-two ships were utterly destroyed, and ten more had been damaged enough to knock them out of the fight.

  After all five waves, the original enemy fleet of three hundred was down to a hundred and fifteen that were still in the fight. A hundred and twenty-three were completely destroyed, and the remaining sixty-two were dead in space. If not rescued, they’d be eaten by the sun in just a few hours. That was later though.

  The hundred and fifteen remaining had changed vectors to try and escape, but their momentum was too large. None of us mistook it for surrender though, they still hadn’t hailed us. They launched six hundred and ninety missiles, a focused strike on the fifty ships they were headed for on the edge of our lines. Of course, it was our fifty ships, because I was just that lucky.

  Narrowing down the targets made sense, but they didn’t narrow it enough. There were only thirteen missiles headed toward each ship.

  We fired our sixth volley of missiles. It wasn’t as exact this time, since we hadn’t known how many ships would have survived the first five. Over thirty ships had twenty or more missiles headed for them, and the rest of the missiles were spread out weakly at the rest of the enemy fleet.

  My hands flew across the board. Five of the thirteen missiles lost lock, and at this distance I was able to knock the other eight out of space.

  I checked the enemy status, I had a little time before the next launch, and twenty-eight enemy ships were overwhelmed by the number of missiles from the last volley and destroyed, five were knocked out of the fight, and the remaining eighty-seven were able to spoof their missiles, or absorb it with their shields.

  We’d taken two hundred and thirteen of three hundred enemy ships out of the fight, and thanks to our shielded missiles without a range, we hadn’t even lost one. Only a handful even had degraded shields.

  I was about to launch the seventh volley, we hadn’t even gotten within plasma range yet, when the eighty-seven ships cloaked, and disappeared off our sensors. I guess they decided these animals were too much for them.

  With the added five from the last exchange, there were now sixty-seven enemy ships dead in space, and flying at great velocity toward the sun.

  Jillintara said, “Janson is hailing us.”

  “Hologram,” Vik said.

  Janson appeared, “That went better than I could have hoped. What should we do about the dead ships?”

  Vik grunted, “If they answer hails, and surrender, we’ll launch SAR operations. Otherwise the sun can have them. But… the fight isn’t over yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if those ships de-cloak again when they reach plasma range. Our fifty ships would be hard pressed to defeat eighty-seven, most of our edge would be gone at that range.”

  That was true enough, our missiles were far more effective than theirs, but considering we could only launch one volley every thirty seconds at a maximum, at close ranges the plasma weapons mattered far more.

  “Actually, it will be close to even Vik. Don’t forget our destroyers have four extra turrets, theirs only have eight, we have twelve. We also have stronger shields.”

  The odds appeared almost two to one against us, but they really weren’t.

  We’d added four more plasma weapons when I upgraded and greatly increased the efficiency of the power core. We had energy to burn, so it’d made sense at the time. Still, with eighty-seven ships they would still outnumber our plasma weapons by just short of a hundred. But that was better than almost double, and our shields were better which would compensate for that.

  I sighed. Honestly, we were probably looking at mutual annihilation, all things considered, we were probably close to even at this point. Except, the other hundred ships in close formation to our fifty would be launching missiles as well, not to mention the hundred ships still trailing them in the hammer fleet. The only question was could we overwhelm them with all those extra missiles before they beat down our shields with plasma.

  Jillintara said, “We’ll know in approximately five minutes if they’re escaping or not. The fleet at the Stolavii home world has not responded, though I’m sure they’re aware of the situation.”

  Janson said, “I’m moving my fleet closer to yours, we might even get a few of them in plasma range if they choose to uncloak at that time.”

  I shrugged, it wouldn’t be the first time we’d lost a ship. I think we’d lost three now. Or was it four? Regardless, I programmed the orbs to evacuate us if our shields dropped below five percent due to enemy fire. As long as they didn’t completely overwhelm us all at once, we’d escape.

  It wasn’t perfect, but it was one more layer of defense. Once everything was done that we could do to tilt the odds in our favor, there was no choice but to trust in chance and fate. My brand of crazy really helped in situations like this.

  If they were smart, they’d stay cloaked and just leave. On the other hand, they were probably pissed beyond belief that we’d hurt them so badly, and that they hadn’t managed to destroy even one of us yet. If they were angry enough, they might sacrifice the rest of their ships just to take out a fifth of ours. I knew the basics about their psychology and how they saw as lesser animals, but I couldn’t guess which way they’d jump in this situation.

  Either way, I was prepared to lock onto a ship and fire missiles and plasma at them.

  Jillintara reported, “Sixty seconds. Give or take a few, if they’re going to attack.”

  The minute passed and we were all tensed to take action. It passed and nothing happened, but just as I had hope they’d just pass us by, five seconds past Jillintara’s estimate, the darkness of space was lit up by plasma.

  I locked onto a ship and fired everything at them. We had twelve plasma weapons, but only six were in line with the enemy fleet, and six missiles were launched. That was okay, they couldn’t bring all their weapons to bear either, it evened out.

  Jillintara said, “Shields down to eighty-three percent.”

  Five missiles came our way, at point blank range I raced to knock them all out, but one got through.

  Jillintara added, “Seventy-two percent.”

  We lost five ships in that first exchange, and they lost a handful as well.

  After that it was a slug fest with plasma weapons, except for the twelve hundred incoming missiles from the rest of the fleet. They arrived moments later, and gutted the enemy, outright destroying twenty-three more ships. That brought their numbers down to sixty-four, and we still had forty-five.

  The rest of the fleet was out of the fight at this point, the intense skirmish would be over before the next volley of missiles were ready to launch, on either side.

  Vik ordered, “Tilt the ship so all twelve plasma weapons can be used.”

  Telidur replied, “Yes sir.”<
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  The ship swung slightly, and I could bring all twelve to bear on the enemy. Not the same ship, I had to target two given the angles, six on one and six on a second one. The plasma finished cycling. It took four to five seconds between firings, which is why on the new ships I used plasma from a blue giant. That cycle would be gone. Of course, we had to live long enough for that fleet to finish building.

  “Firing.”

  The rest of the ships opened up as well, including the enemy, and once more the dark void of space was filled with bright fire of plasma. The ship rocked from the explosions, but the shields held.

  Jillintara said, “Shields at fifty-two percent, we lost seven more ships in that exchange, the enemy lost twenty-three.”

  That made sense, our shields were much stronger, each plasma hit from us was causing their shields to drop a lot faster. Still, there were more of them. We were down to thirty-eight ships, they had forty-one. The odds were in our favor, much more in our favor now, but a lot of things in battle are blind luck. We were just lucky we hadn’t been one the twelve ships they’d overwhelmed by over targeting.

  One of the ships I’d been targeting was gone, so I switched to another and waited for the plasma to cycle.

  I fired as soon as possible, and the older ship I’d been targeting went up in a huge blast, the second took all six hits and their shields were highly degraded. I ignored the vibration and shaking and locked onto another enemy ship in range.

  Jillintara said, “The enemy lost twenty more, we lost fifteen. Shields at thirty-one percent.”

  I cringed, all our shields were running low, mutual annihilation had been a good guess. They had twenty-one ships left, all with degraded shielding. We had twenty-three. For the first time, we outnumbered them, but it was still ugly.

  I tried not to think of all the Isyth lives being lost, we’d lost twenty-seven ships so far, twenty-seven crews. Although, four weren’t completely destroyed, just out of the battle. It didn’t bother me now, but I knew it would weigh on me heavily once my psycho switch turned off, when the battle was finished.

  It was still a couple of seconds before the plasma finished cycling, when space lit up with fire again. It was startling, but a very welcome sight. Enemy ships started to disappear off my plot. Fifty ships, firing twelve plasma strikes each, at twenty-one enemy vessels with already highly degraded shields.

  Jillintara said, “Janson’s fleet has entered plasma range, eighteen enemy ships destroyed, the last three are drifting with no shields.”

  I took a deep breath, and took my hand off the firing button.

  Janson who hadn’t closed channels spoke, “Well, that makes seventy enemy ships to rescue. But we’ll get your four first. Assuming they answer hails and surrender.”

  Vik grunted, “Thanks for the assist, that next plasma exchange would have been mutual annihilation for the rest of us.”

  Janson said, “My pleasure. Without your fleet we’d have been screwed. So, what’s next?”

  Vik said, “I’m not sure, the rest of the Stolavii fleet is sitting tight. I’d like to take them out, and remove their infrastructure in space. I’ll suggest that action, but that won’t be up to me. It might be a little too much as well. I don’t think they’ll ever change, and if we can avoid doing this again in a year it would be preferable.”

  Janson grunted, “I understand. Come visit us sometime when there isn’t a crisis level emergency, and we’ll toss a few back.”

  Vik smiled, “That’s the best offer I’ve had in a while. We’ll see. Maybe in six weeks, we’ll stop by and talk about you expanding your fleet.”

  Janson sighed, “Will do. I guess it’s back to dealing with scientists and politicians.”

  Vik laughed, “Better than battle, and less dangerous.”

  Janson grinned, “But not by much. Be well Vik.”

  He disconnected, and the hologram winked out.

  I took another deep breath, as my mental switch flipped. The battle was over. The shields were already regenerating, and would be up to full strength in less than an hour.

  Vik ordered, “Let’s get our people off those ships. We’ll also stick around long enough to resolve the Stolavii drifters.”

  SAR operations took a while, and I tried not to let the deaths get to me, but it wasn’t easy. A year ago I wouldn’t have batted an eye, but I knew the Isyth people, and loved some of them now. This new life of mine no longer had a surreal element to it, my mind had accepted it long ago. We’d done the right thing, I knew that, but there was always a cost to be counted. Of course, the Stolavii still had another three hundred and fifty-eight vessels back at their home world, this wasn’t done. They were still building too, so would soon add another fifty ships to their remaining numbers putting them back over four hundred.

  There was also the not so small matter of the Suaterans. I didn’t imagine their scouts would be at it for much longer, and it wouldn’t take that long for them to move forward with their intentions, whatever they were. Maybe Solyra would have better luck opening a dialogue than Vik had, but that was probably just wishful thinking.

  The Stolavii drifters, stubbornly didn’t surrender, but they did manage to get two of their ships back online ninety minutes later, with minimal shields and power. They also managed about fifty gravities of acceleration. They took in the other crews, from the ships that had survivors, and set course out of the system. We let them go, no one had the stomach to send missiles after them, and we let the human fleet move in and claim the rest of their defunct ships for raw materials. The Stolavii ships were abandoned, and legally taken as salvage. A much better plan than letting the sun have them, but only possible because they didn’t have crews present any longer.

  The battle was by all standards, a rousing success. We lost some ships, but we’d halved the Stolavii fleet in the bargain. Our overall fleet was now four hundred and forty strong. We now outnumbered both the Stolavii and Suaterans, separately anyway, but together they still had an edge in numbers.

  When we were done, we set a course back home, and then left the bridge in Lyra’s capable hands. It was time to get some sleep, hopefully I didn’t have nightmares. I was hardly the squeamish type, or at least I hadn’t been. But then, back on Earth, and even just a year ago, I had no personal connections with people.

  Chapter Nine

  I woke up to a tingling body, and a head nestled between my inner thighs.

  “Hi,” I said breathily.

  Vik growled, which vibrated against my labia as he licked deeply inside me, it made me pant in pleasure as my mind spun. I was still waking up.

  I was already soaked, and wondered just how long he’d been doing that while I slept. I reached down and entwined my fingers in his hair as I arched my back, spread my legs further, and ground against his face. I guess he hadn’t gotten enough of me after the battle last night, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to argue. It was a hell of a wakeup call.

  His tongue was rough, but he was applying a perfect amount of pressure along my folds, and between them. I couldn’t catch my breath, and my whole body was tingling in pleasure, as the euphoria built in both my body and mind.

  His moans of approval, hot tongue, and brushing lips were a hell of a combination. I’d had men that were good at cunnilingus before, but Vik also obviously craved it, and loved doing it. It made a huge difference, and made me feel so sexy and desirable when he acted like he couldn’t get enough of me.

  “Cum for me,” he demanded.

  I gasped in a breath and arched my back further as I exploded in ecstasy. His tongue and moans of approval as he eagerly licked up and cleaned my liquid pleasure, as I was trembling beneath his tongue, was incredible.

  I half caught my breath on the way down, and managed to say, “Get up here and fuck me.”

  I loved the way he ate me, but there was nothing better than his long, hard, and fat cock, and I needed it. Luckily, he wasn’t like Telidur, and I didn’t have to beg for it.

  He grow
led, got on his knees, and then pulled me down to him, instead of crawling up me. I squeaked as I slid quickly down the bed. He smirked down at me, his lips glistening with my juice, and he speared me with a fast and hard thrust. I gasped in both pleasure, and a little pain, as he buried himself roughly.

  He grunted, “Fuck, your still so damned tight, I love how wet you get for me.”

  I bit my lip, and gave him a fuck me look, as I said sultrily, “It’s all for you. My tight little wet pussy is all yours.”

  I bore down and squeezed hard around his girth, as I swiveled my hips.

  He groaned, which quickly turned into a growl as he started to pound into me.

  It was really that easy, and I loved that I could drive him crazy with lust. Our relationship was deeper than that, I truly loved him, and I know he loved and adored me, but there was also an animalistic wild need to rut and fuck each other. I gave into it, and twerked my hips to rise into him, and meet his every wild hard thrust with one of my own.

  I got lost in our coupling, and the pleasure he gave me as he took me without mercy.

  Then he reached between our bodies and just lightly grazed my clit. I was thrown into rapturous ecstasy for the second time that morning, and felt myself flutter, squeeze, and milk his cock as he continued to fuck himself into me at a punishing pace. My fingernails dug into his chest, and my eyes didn’t leave his as I lost myself in him and the pleasure.

  He growled, “Fuck!”

  Two more pumps and he buried himself, I was still in the midst of orgasm as he grunted and exploded inside me, filling me with his seed. It was hardly our first time, but that moment always made feel incredible, desirable, and transported me.

  “Good morning,” I said in a breathless pleasure filled tone.

  He sighed, and kissed me so tenderly it made my heart soar, a complete turnaround from the way he’d just taken me. I felt a little sore, but incredibly sated and complete.

  “Morning Lori. I couldn’t help myself, you’re even seductive in your sleep.”

  I smirked, and laughed at the absurd statement, “How does that work?”