“I’ve got something!”
He rolled to the right, using his front thrusters to slow his craft down. He was so close to the cloud of broken matter he could make out the shapes of various objects, including a single thruster from a significant ship.
“Yeah, that’s a main drive unit from a Dragoon Class frigate. It’s too severely burnt to get ident codes from. This must be what’s left of the patrol ships. They must have all been destroyed.”
His eyes opened wide as he said that, the loss of the ships.
“More material over here,” said Lieutenant Levstrom, “Looks like part of a weapon’s battery. And a distress buoy! I’ve found a buoy!”
He sounded much too excited as the two circled near to the object. The buoy was armoured and fitted with a flashing beacon that must have activated moments after being dumped by a crippled ship.
They nearly reached the Rift. Just another few minutes!
The fighters continued to circle, and as they did so, Jack spotted something glint off into the distance. His eyes narrowed as he looked to the haze around the planet. It might be a grim, cold place on the surface, but from space it was a glistening and welcoming jewel.
“Wait. I just saw something.”
“What is it?” Firefly Leader asked.
Jack squinted, but all he could see was the fuzzy border between the planet’s atmosphere and space. It played tricks on the mind, and even as he watched, he could make out bizarre streaks of light and colour. Only then did he shake his head.
“Forget it. It’s gone.”
He looked away and rolled the fighter to the right. At the same time, a pair of Liberty Class destroyers and a single Dragoon Class frigate passed their position. They moved slowly as fighters circled around them, providing support for those trawling through the debris.
“Wait, I see it again!” Jack said.
He pulled up the nose of his fighter just as something flickered in the blackness of space. It was subtle, but the stars shifted as if being reflected back at the wrong angle.
“Target, bearing seventy-five, and moving fast. No way that thing is natural.”
He pointed his fighter towards the shape, and in a few seconds the entire squadron had reformed.
“Well spotted,” said Firefly Leader, “Hit your burners. We’re going in for a closer look.”
Jack hit the engine controls and activated the burners. The fighter shook violently as it accelerated away from the debris field and directly towards the unidentified object. The rest of the squadron did the same, as did the gunships from Firebrand Squadron. The three warships continued on their existing course, but the long streak of light from their sterns showed they were also accelerating. Jack looked carefully at the shape and tried to gauge its size as it flickered in the starlight. Then something nearby struck it, perhaps a weapon, or more likely a piece of junk floating around the planet. It caused a disruption in the surface that revealed nearly a third of the object.
“Oh, my god!” Jack yelled, “It’s a camouflaged ship!”
The outer sections of its hull started to move, and then it became almost completely visible. The onboard computer let out a shrill tone as it tagged the overall shape, finally revealing the massive size and shape. Outer hatches were opening, and a series of massive energy signatures showed quite how much power it contained.
“It’s huge,” said Jack, “And it’s opening gun ports!”
Hundreds of flashes engulfed the vessel, and for a moment Jack thought it had been hit by gunfire. But then streaks of lights whooshed past him. Some of the nearby debris tore apart, and a Firefly exploded as it was bombarded by fire. One Alliance frigate caught the worst of it, and its hull opened like a tin can. Incredibly, it remained operational and rotated about to bring its weapons to bear. The three capital ships opened fire immediately with their array of kinetic weapons as they lashed back at their tormentor. Moments later, dozens of missiles streaked away towards the behemoth.
“All fighters break and attack. I repeat, break and attack,” said Firefly Leader, “Let’s get that sonofabitch.”
Jack held his breath as he hit his burners and accelerated towards the ship. He looked over his shoulder as more Alliance ships entered the system. Most were frigates and cruisers led by battlecruisers. But many more vessels pushed through and opened fire, even at this massive range. He looked back to the alien ship and took aim. It was over two hundred kilometres away, yet he felt like he’d crash into it at any moment. It had enough weapons to fire on every ship in the system and continued to hammer anything heading towards it.
“Fire at will!” Firefly Leader said.
Jack selected one of the designated targets and launched two Starfire missiles. He then rolled to the right, moved down towards the hull, and opened fire with his Gatling guns. The others around him did the same as they strafed its surface. The damage was only superficial, but it pulled away enough guns from the rest of the fleet to buy them some time. One of the missiles hit, and Jack cheered as explosions wracked the surface. A moment later a stream of armour-piercing slugs reached out to a cruiser, ripping open its left flank. Explosions wracked the hull, but then shots hit Jack’s fighter, turning all his attention to his own predicament.
“I’m hit!”
He rolled left and right, struggling to move his fighter away from the mighty torrent of fire. Most missed, but enough struck the rear of the craft to rip away two of the small angular winglets and knocked out a main thruster. Warnings sounded, and for a second he thought it was all over. The enemy vessel appeared briefly, and then vanished as the view ahead continued to change.
I’m in trouble now!
It took all his training and self-control not to panic, and he rolled the fighter around and headed towards the nearest destroyer. Its massive array of automatic cannons were firing non-stop towards the enemy ship as it struggled to defend itself against the alien onslaught.
“Fireflies! Fall back to the escort ships. This is too hot,” said Firefly Leader, “Move it!”
The squadron of fighters broke formation and spun about as they made their way towards the escort ships. Two groups of gunships whooshed past them, ignoring the order to fall back. They opened fire with their powerful railguns, and combined with the hits from the heavier vessels in the fleet poured fire into the Ski’lig ship. Hundreds of small blasts covered its surface, and yet the ship remained only superficially damaged.
“Get out of there!” Jack yelled over the tactical channel, “There’s…”
It was too late. Streams of carefully controlled fire reached out and split apart four of the gunships. In seconds they were obliterated, and the remaining craft spun away while being shot apart.
Jack shook his head as he watched a battle line of cruisers unleash their powerful particle weapons against the ship. As he watched, he noticed it begin a long, slow turn away from the planet.
“Wow! That thing is massive!”
Jack glanced down and looked at the growing levels of data coming from the ship. Clearly the vessel had been coming right for them, but as it turned, it revealed more of its beautiful and elegant profile.
“Twenty-two kilometres long.”
He kept shaking his head as he looked at the design. It was long, like a syringe, with only the last third thickening up into sections that seemed to grow organically from the hull. There were wide domes, surrounded by bone like ribs and fingers along the outside of the ship, plus an array of arched winglets and translucent sails that were bigger than any ship in the Alliance. More shots came nearby, and he pushed his nose down and hit the burners. There were two destroyers ahead, both engulfed in clouds of gunfire.
“Stay close to the destroyers,” said Firefly Leader, “Flak patterns are changing…now!”
Jack looked to the ships, and to the projected gunnery patterns around them. While the cruisers engaged the alien ship, these smaller vessels performed a quite different function. They unleashed explosive flak rounds that de
tonated at a pre-set distance from the ship, creating puffs of energy and debris that would rip apart or detonate incoming projectiles. Jack watched carefully as the destroyers flagged the gaps in the corridors. They were quite narrow but allowed him to travel through the area of explosive devastation in relative safety. The others did the same, and within a few minutes they were ten kilometres from the ships and regrouping.
“That was close,” said Lieutenant Levstrom.
Firefly Leader moved in front of them, and Jack’s eyebrows rose as he noticed the scars along the flanks of her fighter. That reminded him of the damage he’d already sustained. A cursory look showed he had lost nearly a third of his thruster power and half of his ordnance. Apart from that, the rest of the damage was relatively minor and could be repaired back on the ship in a matter of days.
“Fireflies, stay back and guard the destroyers until our heavies can get the attention of that beast.”
He watched with interest as the fleet continued to advance. The cruisers and battlecruisers moved ahead in two columns, their powerful weapons appearing roughly matched with the guns of the alien ship. The smaller escort ships moved along the flanks of the formation, half a dozen forming a skirmish screen at the front of the advancing force. He watched the enemy ship and then blinked. He was sure something had detached from the hull, and then his scanners began issuing warnings.
“Pilots. The enemy ship is launching attack ships. Prepare to engage.”
Jack gulped nervously. He’d read the specifications of these smaller ships. Though the size of a frigate, they apparently matched an Alliance cruiser in a ship engagement.
“On my mark…”
A series of fresh alerts sounded, even as Jack’s fingers moved to the boost controls. He looked back and smiled as two massive Alliance ships entered the system, ships that he’d never expected to see out here. They were half a kilometre long and looked nothing like any of the other ships in the fleet. For the last century, warships had looked similar to the design of ocean-going vessels. Cylindrically shaped hulls, with top-mounted superstructures and various arrays of weapons. The dreadnought was an entirely new breed of ship that had taken the flatter shapes of the Byotai battleships, and combined them with a mixture of powerful weaponry. Though still carrying a massive volume of particle blasters and smaller gun turrets, their mains weapons were the fourteen massive turrets that covered their hulls.
It can’t be. We’ve got dreadnoughts!
As far as he understood, only one dreadnought was currently in service following her maiden voyage earlier in the year, and had sustained heavy damage during her first operation. It was well known that other ships were in production after the government on Terra Nova had made such a spectacle of the news. The ships were known as The Six, and were to be the backbone of a new, resurgent Alliance fleet. These two must have been rushed into battle, and he wondered if they were even combat capable. Looking at the tactical scans for the system, he spotted their names.
Harbinger II, and Triumph, truly incredible!
“Good news,” said Firefly Leader, “The heavies are here. Now it’s time to go back to work. Stay in a dispersed pattern. We’re going after the attack ships.”
Jack hit his burners, and one by one, the survivors of the squadron surged ahead. Fighters from three other squadrons were also heading into the fray, plus two more already engaged around the alien flagship. Streaks of lights reached out to the Ski’lig ship, and Jack almost choked as the pair of ships fired broadsides into the enemy ship. These were no particle weapons, but the deadly 450mm dual mass driver bombardment cannons. These weapons were the primary guns of the dreadnoughts, and though slow to aim were designed for one purpose only, to rip apart capital ships with overwhelming force.
“Yes!” Jack watched the entire side of the ship disappear in a cloud of light as ANS Triumph fired half of her turrets in one mighty blast. Seven turrets and fourteen barrels hurled solid slug shells fitted with detonation charges buried deep inside their cores. An entire fin array ripped away from the Ski’lig ship, followed by several small secondary explosions.
“In pairs, break and attack!”
Jack nodded, and then pulled up with Lieutenant Levstrom at his left. They moved away from the others, rolling around to attack one of the attack ships from the flank. There were several of them, and they made directly for the line of cruisers. A beam of light extended out to one Alliance ship, but the attack ship then took multiple hits as the more numerous Alliance ships concentrated their fire.
“Levstrom, stay on my mark. Let’s rip up her engines.”
“I’m with you.”
The pair of fighters swept in from the flank and opened fire at a range of five thousand metres. The integrated Gatling guns went to work, showering the attack ship. Small holes covered the ship, along with scores of tiny sparks, but the attack ship didn’t completely ignore them. At least two separate weapons systems tracked them and opened fire.
“Evade!” Levstrom yelled as he pulled up.
Jack rolled to the left and hit his burners as the fire struck around them. Razor-sharp shards punched through the portside wings, but luckily managed to avoid hitting anything critical. He then spun the fighter about on its axis, and while moving away opened fire again. His gunfire had little effect on the ship, and then to his astonishment the vessel split in half. He looked to his left and found two battlecruisers, including the fleet’s current flagship as they moved in at speed. Both were firing their forward particle beam arrays and inflicting significant damage on their opponent.
“Finish her off,” said Firefly leader, “It’s payback time.”
A smile spread along Jack’s lips as he brought his fighter back around. Three gunships came in from the other side, each firing away with their railguns. The powerful slugs punched through the damaged ship, sending plumes of debris out from the other side.
“Yeah,” Jack said to himself, “You’re going down.”
He focused his attention on a heavily damaged section towards the stern and opened fire at close-range. His guns buzzed away, to be joined by four Starfire missiles, each which connected and exploded with a satisfying blast. He pulled up just in time and looked back at the blazing ruin of the enemy ship. Right behind it were the dreadnoughts, and their guns continued to thunder away.
Nice. We’ve got this.
He looked back as a second attack ship came right for him. This one was also damaged, yet its guns fired right at him. The voice of Firefly Leader filled his ears as he struggled to move away.
“All fighters withdraw immediately.”
The fighter felt more sluggish than normal, and only by using a combination of the main drive and the burners was he able to pull the craft around and boost away from the fight. He looked at the array of warnings throughout his fighter. Somehow, he had been shot to pieces and yet managed to escape alive. He shook his head and laughed.
“You lucky son of…”
Then he stopped as he spotted the piece of broken metal embedded in his leg. It wasn’t part of his fighter, but one of the metal spikes fired by the ship. It protruded from his leg and then out to the front of the cockpit and beyond. The thing must have been at least a metre long and as thick as his hand. He looked up as the enemy ship fired one last volley, even as battleship fire tore it apart. Two of the closest fighters exploded before his eyes, and then it was his time. The cockpit ripped open, and more shots tore apart the fuselage.
Jack lifted his hands to cover his face as the spikes tore the fighter in pieces of broken metal. The last thing he heard was the screaming of his own voice.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Morato Class Frigate ‘Nautilus’, Epsilon Eridani
27th May 2475
Captain Piera Regina looked out from the bulbous transparent section at the front of the bridge. It gave her a view of the battle unlike any she had seen on other ship designs. The enemy capital ship was already leaving, while two attack ships lay broken and adrift. Thr
ee others continued to fight as they covered the larger ship’s withdrawal.
“That was not the start we expected,” she said as an Alliance cruiser began to fall back. Its armour was badly marked, and fires and smoke followed it as it withdrew to the Rift, and back to Mars.
First Lieutenant Meredith nodded in agreement. She towered over most of the deck officers, a fact made more obvious by her vivid darkly tinted hair that always drew attention wherever she might be. Like all of the officers onboard, she had fought to get where she was, and as a battle-scarred officer with the wounds to prove it. Only a fool mistook the extravagant hair for a weakness, something she had exploited on several occasions already.
“That ship. Is it a battleship?”
“Uncertain,” said the Captain, “But it’s big enough to tackle Yorkdale single-handed, and that leaves me a little nervous.”
First Lieutenant Meredith nodded in agreement.
“A little? I can’t believe they are able to send in something so vast so far from their home.”
“Home? What do we know about their home?”
“True. I wonder what else is out there? We could have just encountered the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Ski’ligs.”
Light flashed around the enemy flagship as the collectors built into the vast wings activated.
“I wish I knew how that worked,” said Captain Regina.
“It’s a solar wind collector,” said Chief Engineer Linus, “Of that I am certain.”
The two officers looked back at him as he shrugged.
“But how they are using it to develop high interstellar speeds in such a short time is beyond me. Our drives are already complicated enough and run on the cutting edge of known science.”
As they looked back, the sail glowed brightly, with energy rubbing down the veins to the bulk of the colossal ship. Captain Regina gently her head as it began to move away. It started slowly, but in seconds the forward velocity had increased tenfold. It was moving away quickly, soon shrinking to less than a tenth its size as it moved faster and faster. And then it was gone, leaving the attack ships and the fields and clouds of debris as the only sign they had ever been in the system.
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