There were scores of vessels connected to the multiple docking arms. Each of these extended out like long tendrils, the largest moving out to more than a kilometre. They were capable of taking even the largest bulk haulers and the most powerful Naval warships.
The largest of the docking arms lay broken in three places. The massive structure was twisted and bent, and one particularly large section had ripped from the starbase and now drifted dangerously close to the other moored ships. This scene of structural carnage was a subtle reminder as to where two Alliance ships had broken free. Hundreds of small holes peppered the ruined gantries and docking arms, marking the impact of heavy guns. The escape had not been peaceful, and scores of small fires now burned in this part of the starbase.
"They got Adamant," said the Sergeant through gritted teeth.
Lieutenant Higgins nodded but kept his eyes fixed firmly ahead.
"She won't be forgotten, Sergeant, I promise you."
They passed the single largest conflagration and into the open space around the base. The shattered hulk of the Alliance Navy Auxiliary replenishment ship, ANA Adamant was now all that remained. The bulk of her hull remained attached to the broken docking arm, though both were now crippled beyond hope of repair. She had been boarded, and some of her crew executed in the opening minutes of the mutiny. She lay burning from a series of explosions that had ripped through her powerplant and stores in matter of minutes. These were not from fighting, but due to the courageous last actions of her captain, who upon seeing the hopelessness of their situation had given the order to scuttle the ship. The officers of all three Alliance ships present at the starbase had refused demands from the mutineers to relinquish their vessels, with terrible and violent repercussions.
"Nearly there," said Lieutenant Higgins.
A bright yellow flash obscured their view, and for a moment both thought their escape was over. The Mauler could certainly take a beating, but there was nothing they could ever do against a full volley from a ship-of-the-line. The Byotai high-energy weapons could destroy a frigate with a single well-placed volley. All it would take was a hit to the engines, and they would drift in space with no hope of making it back one piece.
"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about," said Sergeant Popwell.
In front of them were two vast starships, although massive compared to the Mauler, but miniscule to the vastness of the starbase. They were the only two ships to have successfully broken free of their mooring clamps, leaving large chunks of metal drifting in a trail behind them. Because this was space, there was nowhere for the broken metal to go, so it drifted on whatever course it had started out on. The larger of the two was the Armoured Assault Ship ANS Relentless, and the first to escape. She was a recently reactivated training ship and beginning to show her age. Instead of the heavy particle projectors fitted to modern warships, she was armed with railguns, the latest technology two generations earlier.
"Gorgon made it, too," said Sergeant Popwell.
"Yeah, but look at her hull."
They were already passing the ship and could see the armour and weapons in all their glory. ANS Gorgon was a Liberty class destroyer, one of the standard Alliance middle-size modular warships, and a powerful escort vessel. There were great scars along her port hull, and flashes continued to erupt along one section, leaving a trail of debris behind her.
"Better than being stuck behind...like Adamant."
The mention of the ship lowered his spirits, and he moved his attention fully to Gorgon. This particular vessel had been fitted out for fleet defence, and as such her three mission bays were configured for defence against projectiles, rockets, and missiles. The three modules were attached like panniers, suspended under the heavily armoured skeletal structure. Each module came equipped with a pair of quadruple 20mm coilgun mounts, on top of the two mounts fitted fore and aft. The ship even carried a set of torpedo tubes under her nose to fire anti-ship ordnance when required. Back in the Biomech War, the Liberty class had proven flexible, if sometimes a little under-armed. Lieutenant Higgins looked to his gunner and smiled before activating the internal comms system to speak to his passengers.
"We'll be on board Relentless in less than thirty seconds. Get..."
"Watch out!" Sergeant Popwell suddenly shouted.
The Lieutenant instinctively pulled on the controls, but that moment of examining the damaged ship had turned his attention away from the danger. A single Byotai heavy raider arced around the destroyer, heading for their starboard flank.
"Open fire!"
Sergeant Popwell was already in action. Inside his control unit he spun around the two starboard turrets and put out a storm of projectiles. His shooting was off, and though he was quick, the pilot of the heavy raider had already anticipated his shooting. Using the manoeuvrability of the craft, he rolled it and put a burst through the side.
"Alert, hull breach," announced the computer in a monotone voice.
Lieutenant Higgins shuddered as multiple rounds punched through the plating and struck around the cockpit. One embedded in the control system for the guns, and half the controls went dead. The depressurized compartment whistled and howled as the internal defence systems pumped coagulant sealant gel into the gaps. In less than five seconds, the craft was repressurised, but the damage had been done.
"Lieutenant!"
Sergeant Popwell hit the release level and drifted out from his harness. Globules of blood drifted about inside the cockpit, some striking metal, or even the two men. The Mauler continued drifting towards the assault ship, but with one engine damaged, and fuel pumping from the hull, it was beginning to move dangerously out of control. Lieutenant Higgins tapped the side of his helmet, and the visor opened. He groaned but was still conscious.
"Sergeant."
The older man grabbed the pilot's arm and tugged on him.
"I can't land this thing on my own."
Lieutenant Higgins did his best to smile, but his face was already turning paler by the second. Sergeant Popwell had already grabbed the field dressing pack from the mount on the ceiling, pulled off the lid, and pushed it against the wound on the Lieutenant’s chest. It was a fully automated medical pack, and both sealed the wound and pumped in a series of painkillers.
"Sergeant, enter the auto-land command, and..."
The young officer's eyes flickered, and then he was gone. Sergeant Popwell couldn't tell if he was unconscious or dead. All he knew was that they were still tumbling towards the warship. A quick glance at the screen confirmed they were spinning, so he grabbed the manual override wheel and twisted it. The last remaining thrusters activated, and they began to twist back around. Coming right at them was another of the heavy raiders, and in that moment, he knew they were all dead. He could have stayed there and watched, but even though he knew it was too late, he still kicked away at the wall and reached over for the gunnery controls, forgetting they had already been knocked out. His hand grabbed the controls, and he depressed the triggers. Nothing happened, not even the whine of the ammunition feeds.
No, it can't be happening, not like...
The fighter exploded in a bright yellow flash that tore the craft apart with incredible ferocity. All fighters contained substantial supplies of explosive fuel and ordnance, and it appeared the entire lot had been ignited. The centre of the explosion turned black, and then through the flames appeared the shape of a winged fighter, its forward guns blazing away as it continued to shoot at the ruined Byotai fighter. With a flash of power, it made a last minute course change and activated its main engines to fly overhead, leaving the small fragments of the Byotai fighter to clatter against the reinforced forward armour of the Mauler.
Thank you!
Sergeant Popwell had no idea who was piloting the Lightning fighter, but whoever it was, they had just saved him and everybody on board. The problems for them were still far from over, and he pulled himself back to the controls and continued moving them until they were aligned with the assault ship. He had
no idea where the main drive engines were controlled from, but the manoeuvring column seemed reasonably straightforward and instantly overrode the standard control system. With the warship now in view, another series of icons appeared, and at least one he recognised.
"Landing system and glide path," he said quietly.
"Alert...Proximity alert," said the computer.
He looked around at the myriad of controls, sweat pouring out and sticking to his face, doing little to cool him down in the stressful situation. He'd been in plenty of combat scenarios before, but had never been expected to know more about the Mauler than how to use its weapons.
"Where the hell is it?"
Though mainly computerised, there were still plenty of physical buttons, levers, and overrides to allow a crewmember to control the vessel, even after a major system failure. He almost panicked but then found the button display. He leaned forward and almost punched the flashing shapes.
"Auto-landing sequence activated, following approach vector. Landing confirmed. Locator beacon and glide path approved."
Though the gun battle around the ships continued, the Mauler remained on the landing programme, oblivious as to what was happening all around. Sergeant Popwell didn't react until they were through the outer doors and passing through the multi-stage airlock system and to the landing deck. He looked to his young officer and placed his hand on the man's shoulder.
"Sir, Sir! We made it. I don't know how, but we made it."
The man's red-shot eyes opened, and he nodded to the Sergeant, incapable of saying or moving any further.
* * *
Alliance Armoured Assault Ship 'ANS Relentless'
Nate had never been inside a Mauler before, and certainly not in a combat environment. The excitement he should have felt was abated by the so recent memories of the destruction aboard the starbase. Until today, the only death he'd ever seen was pre-recorded on a videostream, or in one of the many combat simulations he and his friends played. There was nothing more terrifying than landing under fire. The knowledge that a single well-placed shot would see the craft depressurise and all of the occupants killed in a slow, cruel fashion. He began to close his eyes but saw Cassandra staring right at him. They were clamped into position, so they simply looked towards each other and waited for it all to end.
The landing inside the vast warship was every part as rough as the flight from the starbase. Seconds after they hit the metal flooring, the mag clamps were released. Nate's first reaction was to breathe a sigh of relief at having made it. It had taken seven terrifying minutes to travel from the starbase to the ship, and every second was an opportunity to be blasted out of space. With no access to external video feeds, and no windows of any kind, there was simply no way for him to know what was going on.
The doors opened, and cool, dry air flooded the Mauler. He was second out and assumed the vessel would be packed with crew, pilots, and marines. He could not have been more wrong. The landing bay was in reality a massive series of hangars, and inside them a bizarre collection of craft, but Nate counted no more than five deck crew in the entire place. He was expecting at least five times that number.
"Sergeant, where is everybody?"
The marine tried to smile but ended up giving little more than a grimace.
"This is it. We've got only a skeleton crew, and a quarter of those were on the starbase. What you see is what we have, nothing more."
Cassandra choked as he said the last words.
"On the starbase? Did you get them out of there?"
Sergeant Perkins nodded proudly.
"Yeah, most of them. We took losses, though."
The ground beneath their feet shuddered and then again.
"What's that?" Jack asked.
The Sergeant called over to one of his marines and spoke to them for several seconds. As he finished, two of them peeled off and moved into the distance. He then turned back to the cadets.
"What did you say?"
Jack pointed back at the inner hangar doors. "The sound."
Sergeant Perkins grinned.
"Oh, yeah, well, that's the sound of the Byotai trying to keep us here."
He looked at each of them in turn, scanning their faces and assessing them in seconds. At the same time, a small group of pilots climbed into their craft on the deck, and motorised tractor units moved them into position. Nate was astounded to see deck crew removing cables from the power clamps of Lightning fighters. He'd seen the snub-nosed fighters before at shows and demonstrations, but he'd never expected to see them being armed for combat.
"Billy, look, Avengers."
Both looked on in awe at the shape of the deadly X57 Avenger III drones. They were covered in thin sheets, but their shapes were still unmistakable to those familiar with the designs. They were roughly the same size as the Lightning fighters, but that was all they had in common. The Lightning fighters were a throwback to the fighters of the last two wars, but the Avengers were the latest iteration of the venerable drone programme. These designs had only come into service over the last two decades and were already revolutionising space combat. Apart from the obvious advantages of remote control or autonomous operation, the fighters were able to take full advantage of the extra space to fit more armour and weapons. The end result was a medium-sized, eight-engine fighter much more heavily armoured than its size would suggest.
"Avengers. On a ship like this?"
One of the deck crew overhead Billy and stopped what he was doing for a brief moment. The man was filthy, but not from dirt or neglect. His overalls bore the telltale signs of oil, grease, and other fluids commonly used on the spacecraft. The man's face told a whole other story, and Nate saw he was tense and worried, the lines on his face appeared to widen every second, making him look older and older.
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
Billy looked to the grubby mechanic and shrugged, evidently not realising he'd just insulted the old warship, and therefore by association, its crew. He started to answer, without thinking about the impact of what he was saying.
"Well, Relentless isn't exactly..."
Nate struck him gently in the chest. It was far from subtle, but at least it stopped him speaking for a moment. Billy looked back at his friend who answered him with a withering stare.
"I think what he meant to say was that Relentless is fitted for manned fighters only. We're both surprised to see drones on board. Aren't they normally restricted for use aboard ships like the Crusaders and Liberty destroyers?"
The man's lip lifted a little at the corner, and he chuckled. It was a good save, and he had more than enough work to do.
"Yeah, okay kid. Something like that."
A small team moved around to the front of the Mauler and helped remove the injured pilot from the cockpit. The cadets watched as the bloodied body was taken away. A battered looking sergeant followed along with them, a man that didn't even give them a cursory look as walked on by. Nate moved his attention back to his friends.
"We were real lucky back there."
Rex laughed, but there were still nerves that he couldn't hide.
"Luck was nothing to do with it."
Cassandra looked directly at him and nodded politely.
"If it wasn't for Nate, we'd still be on that station, and their prisoners."
Jack groaned as he lifted his arm, so Rex grabbed the limb and pushed it back down.
"If it hurts to do that, then stop."
Nate noticed Billy was much more interested in the spacecraft that filled the interior of the ship. He looked at the array of equipment, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not drag his eyes away from the small number of aged Lightning fighters.
"Lightning IIA fighters," he said under his breath.
"Yeah," Billy agreed, "You can see they're the modified versions. Look at the wing mounts. They can carry heavy weaponry."
Both looked on as though they were on a school visit to a military museum. The fighters sat there, wait
ing on battered sleds, like relics from a long lost past. The Lightning was a simple winged design, with a pair of large engines attached to its flanks. The tail section consisted of a pair of boom extensions, each bearing an elegant looking rudder. Hardpoints under the wings were fitted for external ordnance, and a pair of guns sat atop the nose and directly in front of the bubble canopy. It might not have been fancy, but it had served first the Confederacy, and now the Alliance with great success. This revised version carried improved avionics, heavier frontal armour, and the ability to carry more powerful weapons on its revised wing mounts.
"Cadets," said Sergeant Perkins.
Nate and Billy looked around to the man, and he stepped closer to them all. Rex lifted himself up taller, clearly making himself look the biggest and most important member of the six cadets. Sergeant Perkins looked at each of them in turn before Rex spoke.
"What do we do now?"
Sergeant Perkins lifted an eyebrow just before he answered.
"You're safe for now, but the fight is only just beginning. If we want to get out of here in one piece, we're gonna have to fight our way out."
Rex took a step towards the marine, separating himself from the rest of the group.
"Uh...what are you saying exactly? You know we're exchange students. We're just cadets."
The marine looked less than impressed with his interruption. Instead of answering Rex, he looked past him and at the other five.
"I'm saying that this mutiny is Empire wide. I've just heard the same is happening to all Byotai territories, and we're taking losses. We have orders to withdraw immediately. That means each of you will have to do your part, no different to the rest of the crew. Understood? There are no passengers on Relentless."
Nate nodded and looked to his friends. All of them were there, including Jack with his new bandages applied en route to the ship.
"We understand, Sergeant. Whatever we can do."
Rex placed his hand on Nate's shoulder in a dismissive gesture.
Star Crusader: Hero of the Alliance Page 7
