Star Crusades

by Michael G. Thomas

  “Beautiful,” said Valentine as she stopped firing.

  The muzzle of her shoulder cannon showed almost white from the constant firing but began to cool in a matter of seconds. She looked up and smiled as the aerial Ski’ligs slunk back into their hiding spaces.

  “Not bad,” agreed Hawkins, “All it takes is a little loving attention from Novas and their friends.”

  The others laughed and fired the occasional shots as the last few of the enemy dared to show their faces. The battle had quickly turned, but as the Ski’ligs slinked away, Valentine felt a little uneasy.

  “Is this it?”

  Kallias shrugged.

  “No chance. This is just a gun battery. I bet they’ve got a whole city down here. Maybe they’re withdrawing to regroup.”

  “That would make sense,” said Alexis, “Who know where they will attack from next?”

  “Contact from General Gun.” Lieutenant Fletcher walked towards them with the battered and exhausted looking 1st Lance, “The fleet has arrived, and they’re engaging the Ski’lig ships.”

  “Yes!” Colston said, “Time for the Skils to eat some bombardment cannons.”

  Almost immediately the ground shook violently. Valentine looked up at the opening leading to the trench and to the sky beyond. Streaks dropped down from orbit and headed towards the surface.

  “I think it’s already started. General Rivers is here.”

  They watched for a few seconds as more and more shots hammered their way into the ground. Though there was no way to see what was happening with each impact, it was soon clear, based on the combat network that specific locations on the surface were taking a beating.

  “Beautiful,” said Lieutenant Fletcher, “We did our part, now Fleet can do theirs.”

  The ground shook again, so hard that part of the roof around the broken turrets split away and came down with a mighty crash. Cables and supports dropped down after it, sending a cloud of fine powders that spread all around the destruction. Two Ski’ligs must have been hiding because they fell from the roof, dropping halfway to the ground before their wings extended, and they turned to fly away. Without warning, Lieutenant Fletcher lifted his arms and opened fire. The ammunition feed on his back ran directly to the pair of machine pistols, and he unleashed a long stream of fire that hit both before they could gather any speed. One fell, but the second rolled to dive to the right.

  “He’s mine,” said Kallias.

  He tracked the target with both arms and fired a volley from all four L48 rifles. The 12.7mm high explosive shells exploded as their internal proximity sensors detected the nearby Ski’lig. The broken creature fell quickly to the ground and smashed on the diamond rock.

  “Good shooting, Private,” said Sergeant Jablonsky.

  “Thanks, Sarge. It’s not like we’ve had a lack of practice.”

  The others laughed at that, all while the Lieutenant looked back to each of them. He could see the marks, cuts, and numerous battle damages. Yet for all the damage they had sustained in battle, they were still on their feet and looked ready to keep up the battle.

  “What’s your status?”

  Sergeant Jablonsky looked to his unit, and then to the Lieutenant.

  “We’ve all taken some heavy hits. Half the unit has sustained mechanical damage, and we’ve expended almost twenty percent of our ammunition.”

  Lieutenant Fletcher ran his eyes over the men and women of the lance. He could see the metal spikes embedded in their armour, as well as snapped lance points, and significant scorching and burn marks. One was missing a forearm and one several fingers.

  “If we’d been regulars, we would have been turned to mincemeat,” he said confidently, “Novas did the work of a thousand marines, and between us we’ve silenced their ground batteries. But we can’t do the rest alone.”

  “So we’re digging in?” Alexis asked.

  “Negative. The General wants us to keep up the pressure on the enemy. He wants them kept on the back foot. The minute we ease up, they can rally and turn on us. Don’t forget…this is their own turf.”

  “Keep up the pressure where? The heavies have been crushed. This cavern is ours.”

  He looked up as a Jackal rose and turned away to return to the fleet.

  “Our job is to secure landing zone Charlie deeper in this cursed trench.”

  Target indicators appeared in front of Valentine’s eyes.

  “Charlie is a wide space, right at the base of the trench. It’s big enough to allow the regulars to land in brigade strength.”

  The Sergeant pointed to the cavern walls where the sealed-up doors to numerous tunnels were partially hidden in the pearlescent light. At the same time, new tactical data appeared on Valentine’s overlay. She could see the tunnels heading off deep into the ground. Stranger, too, many others dug down deep, all converging in one heavily excavated part of the planet.

  “Drone scans confirm a major concentration of underground structures and life signs below the trench. We believe it is the entry point to a vast underground mining site.”

  “That’s a long way underground,” said Alexis, “And the scans show what exactly?”

  “We don’t know,” said the Sergeant, “If I had to guess, I’d say ports and…cities, and shafts more than three hundred kilometres deep. This is a mine of the likes we have never seen.”

  “Sir, there aren’t that many of us here,” said Private Colston, “Shouldn’t we…”

  The Lieutenant laughed and turned about on the spot as more robotic Grunts streamed past.

  “All of the Novas, IAB marines, and Grunts are on the ground. That is more than enough. Our orders are to go inside and push them back. We then follow the tunnels to the lower levels of the trench and secure the landing grounds. Then we dig in and hold on until the regulars can join us.”

  He lifted his weapon and called out loudly.

  “Now…who wants to hunt some Skils?”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Morato Class Frigate ‘Nautilus’, Ekati Alpha, The Ski’lig Territories

  Captain Regina tensed up as the alien fleet opened fire on the nearest ships to their position. The newly arrived Alliance capital ships were still a good distance away, and that meant the vessels of the IAB were closer and easier to hit. Beams of lights and salvos of high velocity slugs hammered away at the dozen warships. The Captain had never seen so many Ski’lig ships in one place before, and they were moving at speed towards their blockading force in orbit over Ekati Alpha.

  “Captain, there’re three divisions of six attack ships coming our way.”

  “Eighteen attacks ships…against twelve of ours. Those are not my kind of odds. They’re smaller, but they pack the punch of a cruiser.”

  “Not just us anymore,” said Lieutenant Zimmer, “The rest of the fleet is moving to intercept at speed…and Triumph has just been activated as flagship. She’s taking up the vanguard position and preparing to fire.”

  “It may be too late for us,” said Captain Regina, “We have our orders. Begin evasive manoeuvres and return fire. Hit them…Lieutenant!”

  The main particle cannons fired away, followed by a near constant crackle of fire from the numerous 37mm particle blaster turrets fitted all over the ship. The long streaks and pulses of light reached out to the enemy force, while return fire came back and struck all around them. The smaller calibre turrets tracked incoming projectiles and used interceptor fire in an attempt to stop the worst of it, but not even the fast-tracking turrets could stop everything. One of the nearest Confederate ships took significant damage as it was hit by volley after volley, but it powered through the cloud of debris and returned fire with its forward guns.

  “Incoming fire!” Lieutenant Zimmer said.

  The XO pulled the intercom to her lips.

  “Brace, brace, brace!”

  It took less than two seconds, and then the avalanche of fire crashed into the port flank of Nautilus with such power a large section of armour plating tore awa
y. At the same time, armour-piercing slugs fired from the approaching ships bit into the damaged flank, causing further damage.

  “That was a heavy hit!” said Chief Engineer Linus, “Breaches on three decks, the polarisation shielding is incomplete. Those were not standard rounds. That was like being fired at by a canister round.”

  He hesitated and then brought up data on a secondary screen.

  “They match the specification for Shard Cannons. Naval Intelligence speculated on their use after examining wreckage over Mars. Short-range direct fire weapons that unleash a cloud of armour penetrating slugs.”

  He looked to the two senior officers.

  “It’s almost impossible to evade being hit once they’re in range.”

  Captain Regina bit her lower lip in frustration.

  “Bring us about. I want our strongest armour facing them. Tactical, hit them with all we’ve got! We’ve got ordnance onboard, let’s use it!”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  She then looked to the right towards two columns of capital ships. The Alliance dreadnoughts were in the lead, followed by two-dozen other ships, most of which were current generation cruisers, as well as two battle-hardened battlecruisers, each still bearing the scars of the Biomech war with pride. Towards the rear of the formation were the light carriers, plus a smattering of escorts clustered around the Rift Control station and several support ships. The components for the station were already in position and being moved together. It was one of the biggest assemblies of Alliance ships she’d ever seen, and now they were heading into combat with the enemy.

  “That’s more like it.” Captain Regina nodded to herself, “Much more like it.”

  “Captain…we’ve got fresh contacts emerging from one of the planet’s moons. It’s big…” said Lieutenant Zimmer, “I mean really big.”

  “Show me.”

  The imagery shuddered as the long-range lenses adjusted to the distant shapes. There was a haze around them, but the design was unmistakable. There were two of them, and they were truly gigantic. Their scale might have been difficult to assess normally, but not when there were four much smaller Ski’lig attack ships escorting them.

  “Wow,” said First Lieutenant Meredith, “That changes things.”

  “Agreed. And those are Ski’lig battleships. That is a problem.”

  She looked back to the others and could see the questions forming in their eyes. The position of the fleet looked more precarious by the minute.

  “Chief, how long until that Rift station is operational?”

  “It will be hours. And that assumes nothing goes wrong. This is the first Rift control station erected in combat that I’m aware of.”

  “Not quite. There was one at the Battle of the Black Rift. A single ship created a Spacebridge that was highly unstable. There’s a reason we’ve not tried to recreate the tech except in the direst of emergencies.”

  “Until now. This station is a little different. It is complete but needs to be separated from the transport ships and then activated. It needs weeks of testing, but that will not happen. Then the powerplant will be brought online once clear.”

  “And then?”

  “And then the system will undergo calibration for connection to the Rift station at Epsilon Eridani. With a distance of more than ten light-years, they have no way to communicate other than by sending back a ship using its IS drive, and that would take weeks.”

  “Your point being?”

  “If our coordinates are off by a fraction of a metre, they will be unable to connect. The margin for error is simply vast at such distances. And it takes time to create a one-way Spacebridge. It can survive just seconds before collapse unless stabilised on the other side.”

  The Captain gulped.

  “Then let’s hope our scientists and engineers are as good as they think they are, and we hope they are.”

  All eyes moved back to the converging forces. Every single man and woman aboard Nautilus knew they were about to face their greatest ever threat, yet they remained calm and disciplined, just as they always had in times of great adversity.

  “Captain…more ships are launching from the moon. I have multiple attack ships shadowing them.”

  “Show me. And tell me how ships are still managing to evade our sensors?”

  Lieutenant Zimmer shrugged.

  “I have no idea, Sir. These ships may have been moored on the far side, maybe even on the actual planet. Until they left, the area was stone cold.”

  The imagery shuddered as the long-range lenses adjusted to the distant shapes. There was a haze around them, but the design was unmistakable. They looked like deep-sea creatures, their hulls almost entirely constructed in the rear of the craft, and long tendrils reaching out in front like spears. Massive translucent sails extended out from the hull and pulsed with barely contained power.

  “I’ve seen those designs before,” said Lieutenant Zimmer, “Those are Ski’lig capital ships, designated battleships on our database. Scans confirm they’re almost a kilometre in length, and they’re preparing to fight.”

  “The Lieutenant is correct,” said the Chief, “There are energy build-ups inside them. They’re going to fire.”

  He licked his lips and then tagged the first.

  “They might be big, but they also back a hell of a punch. Last time we encountered them they unleashed fire greater than any ship in our arsenal. Those things are ship killers.”

  “Uh, Captain!” said the communications officer, “The dreadnoughts are accelerating and firing their forward batteries. They’re taking the fight to them.”

  Captain Regina looked to the massive Alliance ships on her right as they fired massive barrages off into the distance and towards the emerging enemy battleships. They hadn’t even given them a warning, launching a pre-emptive barrage that smashed into the enemy ships, causing a series of small blasts all over their hulls.

  “That’s more like it. Let’s see how the Skils handle a fair fight.”

  She turned to her XO.

  “Put us on an intercept course. It’s time for us to join battle. The only way we can beat them is to focus our force.”

  The look on the face of First Lieutenant Meredith bordered on utter joy at the news.

  “Aye, Captain.”

  She looked back to the others.

  “Helm, bring us about, and plot a parallel escort course for the heavies. Fall in with the other IAB ships.”

  The engines roared, and the ship began a short, but sudden spurt of acceleration. Long streaks of flames pushed from the thrusters of the other IAB escort ships as they moved in the same direction. The six Morato ships fired barrages of missiles from their motorised ordnance bays towards the enemy ships, with an almost constant stream provided by the well-stock internal stores.

  “It’s time to see what our ships are made of,” she said happily, nodding to the columns of ships already on their way into battle, “We can do this.”

  The ships bore their Alliance colours and were surrounded by multiple squadrons of fighters and smaller escort ships. Even a number of gunships were moving into battle. But of them all, the mighty dreadnoughts continued to draw the XO’s attention. They were the most unusual part of the fleet, and by far the biggest.

  “Beautiful. Those dreadnoughts…they’re a far cry from the old Warlord Battleships.”

  “Well, those were an emergency wartime measure,” said Captain Regina, “Two nearly completed battlecruisers, joined at the hip. Trust me, whatever you read about them, they were not as special as you might think. Personally, I’d rather have two lesser battlecruisers than a single target with nearly the same manpower.”

  “The dreadnoughts…what would I give to command one of those!”

  Captain Regina pulled on the bottom of her tunic and sighed.

  “A ship is a ship, First Lieutenant.”

  The XO appeared a little chastened by the comment. And as Captain Regina looked to her, she could tell her words may have
sounded a little harsh.

  “But I agree, they are quite the sight. Nautilus is no slouch, though. We have the protection of a cruiser, the firepower of a heavy destroyer, and the transport capacity of a light assault transport.”

  She started to say more just as the pair of battleships opened fire again. This time six heavy cruisers and two battlecruisers joined them. Their combined gunfire ripped into a trio of attack ships, causing significant damage.

  “Perfect,” said the XO, “Perhaps this battle will not be quite as brutal as we had hoped.”

  A beam of light extended out to one of the cruisers and remained there like a cutting laser for nearly three seconds. When it finally stopped, it had left a deep scar of burnt and molten metal and cut away huge chunks of its port side.

  “Those capital ships have cutting beams of some kind,” said Chief Engineer Linus, “It’s a laser weapon of incredible power, not much different to the mining lasers used to cut shafts into moons.”

  “Lasers?” Captain Regina asked, “How is that now a thing?”

  The second alien battleship fired, and its beam struck a frigate. By the time it had stopped, the ship had been sliced clean in two.

  “Okay, that is a problem,” she said in surprise, “Helm, if that beam hits us, you will take any and all evasive measures to avoid taking continuous damage.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  The Alliance ships fired again, and for close to three minutes the two massed formations of ships exchanged fire. Heavy slugs from bombardment cannons mixed with lasers, particle weapons, and more. And into their firestorm came hundreds of torpedoes and missiles that hunted their prey through the fire and destruction. Random shots came close to Nautilus, and two bursts from shard cannons hit her frontal armour, causing light damage.

  “Have you ever seen anything like this?” First Lieutenant Meredith asked.

  “Unfortunately, yes, I have. I just hope we come out of this with more than half of our ships.”

  Those last words sent a chill down the XO’s back. The loss of a single ship would be devastating, but half of the ships would mean many thousands of deaths, and potentially a blow the Alliance would struggle to recover from. And then there was the thought of sustaining heavy damage to their own ship, something none would want to think about. Her attention was taken back to the enemy ships as the first barrage from the dreadnought slammed into the alien fleet. Crackles of light and hundreds of small explosions ripped through them to a chorus of cheers from the bridge crew.