“The Universe moves in mysterious ways,” Urlow said, looking to Kelu. “Plus the foods alot better, and they can actually make you take a shower, seriously I thought you didn't know water existed when you were captain,” Urlow admonished, showing signs of humour.
“Har, har,” Kelu replied, his own face betraying his lighter feelings. He turned to the main screen as he looked at the ships lined up in their formations.
It's about time we tried out these new Rail Cannons on something more than target practice.
***
Orshpa looked at Rosho as sections were thrown free and chunks spun off.
Edvasho is dead, he thought. A smile that only he could feel and no one could see, spread across his face.
See what just charging into battle will get you war leader? The last two words were made with a disgusting noise even in his head.
“Sub-leader Darsoo, inform all Kalu of Edvasho's death, as per clan rules I am elevated to war-leader. We will proceed to Xentar to pass on the news. I want ships dispatched back to Kalu controlled space in order to bring up our reserve forces,” Orshpa, looked into Darsoo's eyes.
“All of our reserve forces,” Orshpa said with Darsoo nodding knowingly. He was part of Orshpa's personal clan and completely loyal to his leader.
Now Orshpa would have a real war. One that did not rely on taking one planet at a time. He would be like the demons of old, visiting their wrath down upon these creature's planets. His clan ancestors would ride with his Star Warriors and Destroyer's. He would scourge these creatures’ planets with the full might of all the clans.
“Yes War leader,” Darsoo said. He and all the command staff bowed to Orshpa. He gnashed his teeth together, finally he would have all the might of the Kalu behind him.
“What is our fleet's numbers?” He asked, ending the moment, there was work to be done.
“There are fifty Star Destroyer's left, three hundred Star Warriors and forty three thousand Kalu Fighters War leader,” a seer said.
“Rally our forces and make sure they are ready to battle. Make it clear that we are not pulling back, merely gathering the forces we need to entirely crush these creatures. We will not deny any Kalu from joining us,” Orshpa said, knowing how to play on the mindset Edvasho had ingrained into the Kalu.
***
“It looks like it's time to get to work ladies, gents and the rest of you,” Smith said, reading a transmission from Cheerleader as he pressed play on his newest playlist.
AC DC’s Highway to Hell blasted through his headset, bleeding over into his microphone’s pickup.
“I want those Destroyers,” he said, flight plans coming in hard and fast as a guitar started playing in his ear and over the comms channels.
“Livin' easy
Lovin’ free.
Season ticket on a one way ride”
Smith drained a capacitor, using the power to generate a wormhole, using the sensor platforms across Rosho he was able to pick his emergence point with damned good accuracy.
“Takin' everythin'in my stride
Don't need reason
Don't need rhyme
Ain't nothin' that I'd rather do
Going down
Party time
My friends are gonna be there too “
Smith muttered the songs' lyrics as he emerged from his wormhole, stabilized his Jump fighter, powered his drives and shot nuclear bombs out of his back end. He rode the explosion, adding to his nearly non-existent acceleration. The bombs came out in sequence, each of them giving his craft a directed explosion as he came into missile range of his first Destroyer.
“This is Roman Candle one, lighting the fuse,” he said to his pilots as he armed and sent his missile's flying at the Destroyer.
“I'm on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell
Highway to hell
I'm on the highway to hell”
The missiles were the bomb-pumped variants. They released their invisible beams of destruction on the Destroyer, piercing through multiple decks and causing explosive decompression.
“Here come the bastards,” Julxar said as Fighters that had been heading towards the Destroyer's or were on them, started to turn towards the new threat the Jump fighter's presented.
“Thankfully they left the door open,” Smith said, selecting multi-head missiles, firing them right at the Destroyers fighter bays as he used a bank of capacitors to supercharge his rail gun, he unleashed a barrage of plasma bolts at the fighter bay he hadn't targeted with his missiles.
“Time to move,” he said, more to himself than anyone else as another Jumpfighter's bomb-pumped lasers raked the same Destroyer.
Smith plotted a wormhole, using a capacitor's charge to create its formation, he updated his new co-ordinates and his new intended target as his Jumpship projected a wormhole.
“Nobody's gonna mess me around
Hey, Satan
Payin' my dues
Playin' in a rockin' band
Hey, mamma
Look at me
I'm on the way to the promised land”
Smith murmured along with the song's lyrics, the last words coming out in a grunt as his Jumpship caught the wormhole. Smith used the gravitational forces of the wormhole, his thrusters and bombs to cut his speed and turn him.
He grunted as his specialized battlesuit and the jelly that covered his entire body and filled his cockpit stopped him from passing out, or turning into a messy human splat.
As soon as it started it was done and he was careening towards his next target.
“Woo hoo! That is what I am talking about!” Smith yelled, he would have jumped up if he was in a MEF, but the Jumpfighter's jelly cockpit which had kept him alive in that last turn stopped him.
Adrenaline and wake-up that had kept him alert buzzed through his system as he selected his rail guns, he was down to three capacitors at full charge, and good ole rail cannons would be fine for the beleaguered Star Destroyer in front of him. Rounds streaked out from his craft, catching the light of Rosho systems sun. The Destroyer was too big and too slow to get out of the way, though the fact it was piloted by Kalu Traditionalists was probably its downfall. It turned into the oncoming Jumpfighter, the rounds hammering its forward sections.
“Don't stop me
I'm on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell
I'm on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell”
Smith grinned like a shark.
“Well, if they're giving me such a nice opportunity, I should take it,” he said, firing his laser-missiles directly at the Kalu Destroyer. Laser's tried to catch him as he used the incredible manoeuvrability of the jump fighter to its limits. They didn't even care to shoot at the missiles as all four channelled their payload right down the already weakened frontal armor of the Star Destroyer.
The first two lasers hammered the armor into oblivion, the third added to that destruction. The fourth, hit where the second laser had struck.
“And it was juuuust right,” Smith said, the laser penetrated the armor, driving deep into the Destroyer.
“Course correction,” Smith said, seeing another target and plotting course changes, thankfully he wouldn't need to do any high G course changes on this one.
He submitted his path, putting on more speed to get clear of the Destroyer and its surrounding Star Warriors.
The Destroyer he'd just raked with four missiles buckled and then broke apart in a flash of light.
“Seems you got that one's power plant commander,” someone commented.
“Best aim in the game,” Smith laughed. “Keep those course corrections coming in, we won't be the only one's messing about with the Kalu for long.” He casted an eye to his constantly updating chart of his people and their jump Fighters.
They had taken out five Destroyers, wounded fifteen, and were just getting started. To an outside eye it was chaos, to Smith it was the greatest show in the universe
. Jump Fighters hit Destroyers from one direction, using their agility and devastating weapon systems to fly in, hit their targets and fly away as another jumper came in from another direction.
Death by a thousand cuts. Technically rents, and damned big ones.
Smith checked the report on the first Destroyer he had hit. It was fighting with only its armament, none of the Kalu Fighters could get in or out of the bays.
Smith's face went hard as his screen popped an alert up, three jump Fighters had fallen so far.
“Tighten it up people, as soon as you're down to one capacitor, or twenty percent ammunition, pull back to your designated rally points,” Smith reminded them, knowing that a number of them were going to push for more time on target.
While Jumpers packed one hell of a punch, that came at a cost. They ate through ammunition and power at an alarming rate when they were in combat.
Smith was coming in on a Destroyer that had just been hit by three Jumpers already, a group of Fighters were swarming around the ship to come at Smith. He started inputting commands for wormhole generation as well as basic commands, he knew what hell he was going to put on his body.
Better to hurt than be dead, he thought. He charged his rail cannons and fired plasma right up the Kalu Destroyer's back end, alarms rang as he depleted his capacitor's and his rail cannons fired their normal rounds.
“Take this you fuckers,” Smith said, firing three of his four remaining multi-missiles at the swarms directed towards him. His last two remaining laser-missiles followed them.
Smith initiated his braking-wormhole plan, his Jumper flipped, its drive going to max as it shot out double charged bombs to slow his momentum.
Smith fought to stay conscious as his jumper created a wormhole, the jumper shook violently, causing Smith to pass out.
He gasped, looking to his Star map, seeing the Carrier Rolund waiting.
Jumpers were transiting near the carrier, heading straight for it. A few jumpers were already emerging, plotting their routes and jumping back into the fray.
Smith powered his drive and headed for resupply, forwarding his information across.
He looked over his displays and overall information feed. Cheerleader and Boot were just about to join into the fray.
***
“Transition complete. Ship reports coming in,” Werv said beside Cheerleader, his head bent over the incoming reports.
“Boot's carriers have brought the largest concentrations of Kalu forces under fire and are deploying their Fighters and bombers,” Jorvut said from his sensor pit.
“Very well, we shall follow engagement plan Rodeo,” Cheerleader said, looking to her star maps, her voice and expression like granite. The joking carefree Cheerleader was replaced by the true commander that had learned under Salchar and trained in the bloody battles with the Syndicate.
The three solid formations split without issue, turning into search and destroy squadrons.
Her fleet had transited into the system damned close in terms of space, but it would still be a matter of hours before they closed in on the Kalu formations.
The Jumpers were doing what they did best, bringing havoc and chaos down on their enemy. The fifty Destroyers and their Fighters were doing everything possible to crush the jump Fighters, but they were just too fast and too unpredictable for the Kalu to handle. They destroyed about seven jump Fighters, but their fellow jumpers had left at least ten Destroyer's lifeless.
The jump Fighters concentrated on the Star Destroyer's far from the Free Fleet formations as MEF's and brand new bombers joined the fight.
Good luck Boot, Cheerleader said, looking at the targets that separate squadrons had designated and going over reports of ship issues. With a fleet this size there was bound to be some.
Thankfully none of them were critical, yet.
***
Commander Boot transited into the system, Cheerleader's forward elements passing through their own wormholes.
“Tactical, would you please announce our presence to these Kalu bastards,” Boot said conversationally, knowing full well his words would be passed around at almost the same speed as his true orders.
“It would be my pleasure commander,” Tactical said, pressing a command for all tactical commanders and gunners on the twenty-seven corvettes, thirteen Destroyers, eight Battle cruisers five Battle-carriers, two true carriers and one super-carrier that made up Commander Boot's fleet.
“Gunners do what you do best!” He barked, pressing another button which fired a pre-set barrage in every direction, the missiles adjusting onto their targets mid flight as the carrier's cannons were run out into firing position. They recoiled almost the same second they were declared ready, sending their accelerated rounds into the face of the enemy.
Fighters and Bombers that had been clamped to the carrier's exterior, released their clamps.
Their deployment took only a matter of seconds instead of the usual hours.
Fighter commanders worked together to guide their wings onto targets while Boot watched, as the shocked Kalu were greeted by a wall of nuclear blasts and composite metal rounds. For a minute his prim and proper mask fell as his manipulators moved in calculated glee.
“That'll show those Kalu fuckers,” he murmured, not seeing Tactical's own Avarian grin as he passed on his commander's words, knowing full well the effect it would have on the gunners and pilots hammering the Kalu. Which had been something of a terrible nightmare.
The new bombers fired a barrage of missiles as they closed with the enemy, there was a bomber to every wing, all of them loaded with laser missile's targeted at star Destroyers.
MEF's battled Kalu Fighters, deploying their new multi-warhead missiles, or splitters as some had come to call it.
The Kalu Fighters were thrown into disarray, in their attempts to swarm back together, they were run down by coordinated fighter wings.
Cheerleader's squadrons were now bringing the Kalu under fire, cannons released their gunner's anger on the Kalu, Star Warriors staggered like drunkards as rounds ripped through them. Main cannons blared their defiance, tearing into the thickest armor and exploding, ripping sections of Destroyer apart.
“Nav, it does seem that our targets are thinning. If you and sensor's find us a new hunting ground it would be much appreciated,” Boot said in his usual calm tone, restraining himself from jumping up and whooping. A commander must keep up appearances after all.
“Yes Commander Boot!” Helm sounded as if they had been given a damned present instead of a demanding task that they were only too pleased to complete.
Boot allowed his manipulators to twitch, a feeling of knowing that this was where he was meant to be, and that this was what he was meant to do filling him with purpose and drive.
He revelled in hard decisions and issues, not because he liked them, but because he knew he would take them all on to protect his people.
***
Orshpa ripped the banister in front of him apart and threw it into a console.
“We make for Xentar,” he barked to his people, even though it was clear that the majority of the Kalu fleet which were engaging these storiless clan members of the Free Fleet.
“What do we tell them?” Darsoo said, knowing full well that not many Kalu would want to leave a battle other than for a damned good reason.
Orshpa paused before answering, knowing that Darsoo was asking not to challenge, but rather look out for his war-leader.
“We must tell Xentar and our people of this Free Fleet's betrayal. Otherwise we will be cursed as we become the silent clans own. Cowards and the dishonourable will use our traditions against us in this battle. We must tell others so that they are not also tricked by these creatures,” Orshpa's voice rose to an almost blood-crazed yell.
Darsoo and Orshpa made eye contact, Darsoo looking away quickly, Orshpa made a noise in his throat that made Darsoo look up into his war-leader's eyes.
Orshpa tilted his head slightly, indicating his understandin
g of Darsoo's devotion and ability to think when he had not, and the promise that he would be rewarded for his insight.
Darsoo quickly lowered his eyes in reverence to his war-leader.
Orshpa made another growling noise that told Darsoo he was effectively dismissed.
Darsoo got on the talker-Kalu who passed the word to the fleet and he conferenced orders to form up and head for the jump limit through the Free Fleet's ships.
Turning and running from their guns would have been tantamount to Orshpa committing suicide. By running through the Free Fleet's position, it at least showed their willingness to fight. Something that a new War-leader needed to prove immediately. Having Kalu thinking that their war-leader cared more for their lives than attacking the enemy. It didn't put a war leader in the best position.
It took time and Orshpa having to talk to a few of the Kalu ship-leaders to get his people moving, but they did. Forty Star Warriors lost to the black, and just twenty-two star Destroyers remained.
“Full acceleration,” Orshpa said as most of his Kalu had answered his call.
The enemy groups were closing in on the Kalu mess, their rail cannons fired, ships turning to bring fresh batteries into position as the last cannon batteries checked their weapons.
The Kalu's lasers weren't in the kind of mass that could fire and penetrate the ship's shields, especially because of the manner that the Free Fleet ships moved to cover one another, sharing the damage over multiple shields and crafts.
It spoke of incredible discipline, communication, and command.
Bombs were deployed, pushing the Kalu through the enemy formation faster and faster. Fighter's and newly armed bombers launched their payloads into the oncoming Kalu ships. Orshpa watched with dark satisfaction as lasers caught some of those damned ships. His own Fighters were largely useless, since combat had cut them down, and the Destroyers’ numbers were so low that many Fighters were going to be left for dead. The Fighters that wouldn’t make it back to their carriers, tried to kamikaze the Free Fleet ships. Some of them got through the scathing PDS fire, crashing into shields. A few got past the shields, striking the ship underneath and taking it out of commission, most of them permanently.
Free Fleet Box Set 2 Page 66
