Free Fleet Box Set 2

by Michael Chatfield

  “We were...” Orshpa said, his voice hot with Edvasho's implication of his unwillingness to join in battle.

  “That was not a request,” Edvasho's voice deadly, cutting the channel. The Star Destroyer's descended, their hangars brimmed with their blood lusting crews.

  Edvasho tossed his head, he would have to look out for Orshpa. Unlike Xentar, the Kalu sub leader had never truly accepted his command. Edvasho smashed a Kalu out of his way as he headed for the guns, he would find a way into this damned station.

  His Primes followed him towards the massive cannons that left spots on their sensors, killing them with the light output. Swarms were turned away and decimated by these guns, yet they too had fallen. Edvasho knew that one side’s strength could also be their weakness, something that he was going to put to the test.

  Chapter A nasty surprise

  “Star Warriors are landing their troops,” Sensor called out.

  “They're raking the hell out of our guns!” Tactical yelled out, the swarms of Fighters were landing right on the larger cannons, their lasers boring into the massive weapons. Others were being hit from multiple lasers, the weapons and defences of Rosho were getting quickly ripped away.

  “Fighters are coming in,” Fighter command said.

  Missiles were let loose into the largest swarms that were piling out of the star Destroyer's. The actual ships were targeted as well. Tens of them erupted as the small but powerful missiles cracked their hulls and got inside.

  There was a thousand Fighters on the Syndicate side, the Kalu had at least twenty times that in space. Rail guns and plasma guns fired as the Fighters ran through the Kalu formation. Their targets switched to ships that were trying to land on Rosho. If the Syndicate Fighters could stem the flow then the powered armor wearing Syndicate forces could get some relief.

  Kalu swarms turned from their main tasks, coming to face the Fighters. It would still take them time before they reached their intended target. While the Kalu Fighters were good at hitting a stationary target like a weapon system, they were terrible at hitting anything that was moving, they used their massive firepower to hopefully hit their target with at least a few lasers. At range their lasers were spread out and useless, other Fighters dancing through their invisible beams, firing lasers and missiles into the Kalu.

  Star Destroyers and Star Warriors that had been headed to Rosho were raked by Fighters as they passed from above and behind them, staying out of reach of their forward facing weapon systems.

  Ships streamed atmosphere, others exploded, and some went dead, hitting Rosho because they were unable to regain control. The Kalu forces, eager to get on Rosho, were pressed in close, dangerously close in space terms. Dead ships, or those that had lost part of their engines and careened off, more often than not, hit their allied Kalu ships. Or the debris from a ship exploded, pelting another ship close by.

  Lifendi looked over the information as if he was observing a war game in a simulation.

  Now the Kalu have their turn. The two forces Fighters now engaged one another directly, both of them converging to a single point, a line of death and madness.

  Lasers met missiles and an array of weaponry. The ships plowed into one another, icons that signified the different groups disappeared as casualties racked up. Syndicate Fighters thundered into the swarms, not releasing their triggers as they threw everything at the massive formations of Kalu. They disappeared into the swarms, many of them not coming out. Their power systems overloading either intentionally or not as Swarms were illuminated from inside.

  Syndicate Fighters fought to evade the swarms, finding the sides of the Kalu formation worse than the front for weapons fire.

  They raked the swarms, many of the Syndicate Fighters running into lasers, or being hit by the mass of incoming fire.

  Then the Fighters passed one another, the swarms braked as hard as they could. Their swarms made them take a looping curve to come back at the Syndicates.

  The Syndicate Fighters, now a fraction of their original force hit the Kalu with everything but missiles. Missiles this close to Rosho would damage more than they would help. They grouped together as they headed for the surrounding Kalu ships. They had fully engulfed Rosho and the Fighters had too much momentum to stop themselves.

  They passed Rosho in a number of seconds, hatred and vengeance in their bones. They aimed their fire long distance to hit the Star Destroyers fighter bays and the escaping ships. It would take a half minute for the first rounds to land, the time decreasing as the Fighters got closer.

  Kalu Warriors fired lasers, it seemed that the Kalu were finally out of missiles thankfully.

  The Fighters dodged and weaved, but still a number of them fell to the Kalu.

  It went on for a time, small swarms formed, accelerating for the oncoming Fighters. They were nothing compared to the swarms the Syndicate Fighters had just contended with. Weapons fire smashed into them, the swarms in groups of no more than ten when they crossed the Syndicate Fighters. There were none left as they reached the end of the Syndicate's formations. The Syndicate lost twenty-five of their number in the engagement.

  The Kalu ships kept firing as the syndicate Fighters continued their dance to evade.

  The Fighters cleared the Kalu ships, turning and firing their engines to begin their braking, loosing missiles right up the unarmored engines of the Kalu ships.

  Even braking hard, the Syndicate Fighters built up inertia carried them out of range quickly.

  Fresh Kalu Fighters from the closest star Destroyers joined their swarms. The almost organic like Kalu fighter formations were close to the original swarm’s strength that had engaged the Syndicate Fighters.

  Lifendi plotted the fastest route from the Kalu Fighters’ position to his own.

  He sent the map to his tactical officer. The officer was forcing everything he could out of his people, and more than even they thought themselves capable of. Lifendi was thankful he was able to at least get some of his command staff on Rosho.

  “Fire missiles into those Fighter hunter swarms when they get close,” Lifendi, seeing the tactical commanders screen change and he slowed his rate of orders, contemplating the sight in front of him.

  The Fighters had done better than even Lifendi had thought possible, but their casualties were equally astounding.

  Tactical was bellowing on their microphone, weapons fire converged on one point, it cleared the swarms, giving the missiles bays in that area clear space.

  The swarms crossed Rosho, heading straight for the Syndicate Fighters that were still organizing. Instead Rosho fired fifty missiles directly at the swarms.

  The Kalu didn't have time to react as warheads designed to kill Dreadnoughts smashed into the sides of their swarms. Kalu Fighters just disappeared, like some creature had taken a bite out of their formation.

  The Kalu swarms shifted like wounded animals, trying to cover their sides as missile after missile cut through them.

  “Get me our Fighters on the line,” Lifendi said, it was about time someone got them sorted out.

  “You’re on sir,” a comms officer replied.

  “Alright you bastards, you wouldn't be fighter pilots if you didn't have a damn death wish! We've cleared the way, it's time to show those damned Destroyers and Warriors how the Syndicate will use every damned dirty trick we have to win! Get your shit together and crush these Kalu fuckers!” Lifendi’s anger was laced with his desire to be one those Fighters, to press the attack upon the enemy.

  He looked to his display, seeing what else he could do to assist the Fighters, draw the fire from them, and hurt the Kalu as much as possible.

  “Get me any ships that are still manned.” The line crackled to life, his connection to anything outside of Rosho was being wiped away as Fighters took down communications relays on the surface.

  “Our Fighters are going to charge the Kalu ships. Now is the time to rush them and put as much damned hurt on them as we can. Hit them with everything that you have,
” Lifendi commanded. Ships responded, they looked like water ships of old, Kalu ships attached to their armored sides like limpets as they rushed towards the nearest Kalu vessels. It was uncoordinated and messy as fuck but they charged outwards at the surrounding sphere of Kalu.

  The Syndicate Fighters flew off in five groups, right behind the Kalu ships. The ships hadn't turned to face them, showing how little they thought of the Fighters.

  The Fighters were low on ammunition but they made their reaction mass and ammunition count. They hammered engines with rail cannons and plasma. The engines, so close to the power cores, ended in explosions as the reactor's shielding was breached. The Fighters hunted down the Kalu savagely. They had taken out tens of ships before some of the Kalu started to move their ships to attack. Kalu Fighters swarmed their own crafts, covering their brothers as they joined their number. Missiles were reserved for these groups.

  Swarms converged from other parts of the Kalu Sphere, they headed for the Syndicate Fighters. They were now operating independently or in groups less than four. This made it harder for the swarms to strike them down quickly, having to move from one spread out individual group to another.

  The ships that were dealing with their own boarders moved as fast as was possible towards the Kalu. Their engines were weak due to the damage they'd taken, internally or from the earlier engagement. Now they weren't engaged by Kalu ships as got into weapons range. Their cannons that were still operational blazed as they laid into the Kalu sphere.

  Ships fell, the Kalu moved, but either because of their honour, or the fact that their forces were aboard the ships that attacked, they tried to land on them instead of firing back.

  “Take this to the black with you!” One Captain bellowed over an open channel as he linked all of his computers again. Lifendi saw alarms ring out over all channels, an AI had formed. The alarms went silent. That only happened if the AI had been contained, or it was already formed.

  AI's were formed when enough computing power had been interlinked and given enough complex commands that problems needed that massive computing power to resolve those issues. In solving those issues the computing power combined and created something capable of thinking of non-linear patterns, then it would start thinking of sorting out problems that it came with. It searched for information and fought for its very survival.

  Batteries that had been quiet on the Dreadnought came to life as the AI's processors churned out thoughts in the millions per second and realized that for it to find out more, it needed to get clear of the threats around it.

  “We have AI creation event,” a comms officer said.

  “Hopefully the damned inorganic can do some good,” Lifendi growled. The AI controlled ship seemed to have sorted out shields and propulsion as well, the ship powered away from the Kalu as its shields took incoming fire and missiles. Unleashing its own weaponry without any real co-ordination.

  ***

  “Commander, an AI has been generated in Rosho system,” Devastahli said, his voice hard and filled with purpose.

  Commander Whorst looked to the holographic image of Devastahli which was turned to him, even though Whorst couldn't see Dev's eyes, he felt his every expression being watched.

  “Get me Commander Cheerleader, and Dev, I do not know how much this could possibly mean to you, but I cannot risk War Station,” he said, though clearly not finished as he talked over Devastahli's attempt to speak. “Though I will see if she will free Light Runner and Covesa to greet your new family member,” Whorst's eyes bored into Dev, AI and human staring at one another. There was a trust there, and hope.

  “Commander Cheerleader is online.”

  “Whorst, what is it?” Cheerleader asked awake, but still groggy, apparently the fleet Commander had been sleeping.

  “An AI has been created in Rosho system. I am asking if Light Runner would be freed to enter the system and communicate with the AI?” Whorst said, knowing it was better to tell her why he was calling her, instead of apologizing for waking her. There was a few tense moments before she replied.

  “Do it, they are not to engage in battle at all, make sure that the Relays are open in-case they need that to communicate with the new AI,” she said, her tones crisp and authoritative.

  Whorst looked to Dev who nodded slightly.

  “Thank you commander, I will see to it.”

  “Next time, please have the AI's contact me directly, while this is a member of their race, this fleet is made up of many. Running off to attempt to save one at the possibility of losing thousands is unacceptable.” It was clear who that point was intended for. Devastahli might be one of the most powerful known creation, yet even his holographic representation seemed to cringe at the promise in those words. Commanders in the Free Fleet were not to be crossed, nor was their code.

  ***

  Commander Smith watched as Rosho was pummelled and swarmed. He had rooted for the Syndicate Fighters as they threw themselves at their attackers.

  Now he watched in shock as the newly created AI's ship spewed atmosphere, it looked to have opened all of its airlocks. Weapons came alive each of them hitting a Kalu ship. Gunners were good at their job, but the Dreadnought was pin-point accurate, ships rolled away, exploding or damaged as the Dreadnought's batteries blazed, PDS was focused into a single beam, actually gouging into Kalu ships, missiles flew free, and the Dreadnought slowed its progress.

  The Carrier Light Runner transited into the system.

  Smith watched as the bandwidth on the FTL relay plummeted.

  There was a few minutes of the Dreadnought's targeting changing as it found weaknesses in the Kalu ship's design.

  Alerts fired off as a Battle Carrier went AI, then a Destroyer. The captains of the ships, knowing that they were going to die, turned their ships into AI's hoping that they might be able to save them. Maybe they wanted to hurt the Kalu as much as damned possible, maybe they'd just simply given up.

  The FTL relay was fully taxed out as Light Runner shunted information to the AI's.

  Smith remembered a little bit in a class on AI familiarization he'd undertaken before going aboard War-Station.

  AI's at their creation sucked up all the knowledge possible. The faster that information was available, the faster they could become fully aware, instead of continuing on their original processes and commands they had been given.

  Smith opened a line with Light Runner and Covesa that resided within it.

  “Could you use us as relay stations to get information around the Kalu formations?”

  “Yes, do it,” Covesa said, as if she was holding an unbearable weight while others looked on, not lending a hand.

  Smith changed channels.

  “Position your ships around the Kalu formation, we're going to directly link Light Runner to these ships,” Smith said. Jump fighter's plotted their points, moving in order of jump. It was the easiest way to control the Jump fighter and not have collisions. A way to look at it was an American football playbook. The Jump Fighters were each designated an area that they could jump into, like a coverage zone. Each Jump fighter had a coverage zone so that they didn't run into another. Then there was position specific plays, like runs. Each Jump fighter would pick a place where they were going, according to their assigned number. So the first would pick a place, jump, second would check their place wasn't the same as the first, and then jump and so on.

  With the first Jump fighter's there had been a huge issue of converging. All of them had been MEF Fighters, all of them wanted to come in on the perfect angle and run. The institution of a football-like playbook for their manoeuvres simplified the hell out of things.

  Jump fighter's had got damned quick at it as well. The ships accelerated or jumped close to their intended position. It took nearly an hour to get into position, another Destroyer went AI in that time. Even though that was fast as all hell, Smith knew that getting Light Runner linked was essential.

  Smith checked that everyone was in position, flicking over
to Light Runner's comms.

  “Good here.” A laser beam which had to have been sent a good five minutes ago touched the Jump fighter's that were close to Light Runner, information passed through the linked ships like synapses firing through a human's body.

  “I guess this is what an AI's umbilical cord is,” Smith said.

  “You would be correct in that analogy Commander Smith,” Covesa said five minutes later, Smith remembered his comm with her was still open. He couldn't help but think she sounded like a mother would after giving birth.

  “Well come on Gal you've got some kiddos to sort out!” Smith grinned inside his helmet, hoping to inspire her to push, once again.

  “No rest in this fleet!” she said a few minutes later, time lag making the conversation painfully slow as her voice turned metallic, it was clear she was increasing her output.

  There was nothing that Smith could do there, he hoped that his people's efforts would help the one AI try to save the newborn of her kind.

  The destruction the AI's were visiting upon the Kalu was something to behold. Ships of every kind were reaching the Kalu, their captain's connecting every system they had together, in order to bring their no longer manned weapon systems online.

  Smith knew that the situation must have been dire inside those ships. He remembered the videos and stories from those that had engaged the Kalu in hand to hand combat while inside the Heija system.

  It wasn't inconceivable that there was just the command crew and a few holdouts left. The Kalu didn’t care for power systems or shutting off the ship, they gutted the ships of personnel. The only time they destroyed power systems was when it was between them and their prey.

  Smith didn't lie to himself, he felt slightly sorry for the Syndicate, they had no idea what would descend on them. He didn't think that they didn't deserve it, but there was still a part of him that reached out to them, knowing the hell that they were going through.