The newly-formed Alliance wolf-pack formed up on the massed Imperial fighters. Now would be the perfect time for a torpedo, but Geun wasn't going to waste something better used for capital ships. This would have to be done with blazers, and it'd have to be done at close range. "Begtse," he whispered.
The remaining Dragon Strikers in the Imperials' path flitted out of the way as the enemy fighters oriented on the new threat. Red blazer beams began crossing back and forth. Shields flared brightly on both sides. Geun fed more power into his shields and blazers. The Imperials kept coming, although the shields of the ones in front were beginning to erode. Red light flashed in his eyes. His gaze shot to his shield readings. His shields were thinning rapidly.
The Alliance and Imperial squadrons ate up the distance between them. Soon they'd be close enough to fight with actual knives, if not outright collide.
A blue-white fireball shot from behind and below Geun. "Who launched that?" Geun demanded. "Those are for the heavies!"
The torpedo raced for the Imperial formation. The enemy fighters scattered. Geun immediately opened up on one that showed its belly, blazers burning brightly against its shields. He kept the beams in contact as long as possible. The enemy shields rewarded him by breaking, and soon his blazers gnawed into ahridium. The Imperial Striker got away with a scarred undercarriage for its pains. But not for long. Another Alliance Striker took up Geun's attack and finished the job.
Something exploded in the distance. That torpedo looked like it'd hit something, although it didn't look like any Imperial fighters were immediately down.
Amid the swirling red Imperial and Green Alliance markers on Geun's LIDAR display, a red Imperial marker appeared entirely too close to his left. He flung his fighter into a loop. A blazer beam passed through where he'd been. A pity the Striker-13 didn't have a rear-launching weapon. He'd need to talk to some of the machinists back at the base, if the wheel of his karma didn't turn today.
He abruptly cut power to his rear engines and ignited the retro-rockets in his fighter's nose. The Striker rapidly slowed and started shooting backward. The Imperial Striker shot ahead. Geun opened up at point-blank range, drilling almost immediately through the enemy fighter's rear shields. His blazer bolts soon reached into engines and cockpit and the Striker came apart. Another turn of the wheel for the Imperial pilot. Maybe his reincarnation would be an easy one.
Blazer beams slammed into Geun's shields. At first they held, and Geun threw his Striker into a roll. He fed all the power into the engines he dared, but he couldn't shake the two Imperial fighters dogging him. One rode his tail, pumping killing energy into the shields protecting his engines, while the second dove in on his port side. Geun fed more power to his shields, but his energy usage rose rapidly toward the red line. He gripped his stick tighter. Bloody-eyed Begtse, let this not be the day. He fired the rockets in the nose cone of the Striker. The fighter flipped and now he faced the rear-most enemy head-on.
Twin blazer beams leaped from Geun'sStriker right into the shields over its cockpit. The Imperial fighter pulled up, probably spooked. Geun shook his head. The stream of blazer fire that had been gnawing into his shields crept upward, away from the areas that had been previously weakened. Geun accelerated, walking his fire down the length of the Imperial craft from bow to belly. The Imperial pilot broke away. Geun yanked his stick right to pursue, but alarms interrupted him. The other fighter had shattered his port shields. Now energy fire ate into metal. The ahridium armor would hold, but only the Buddha knew how long. The schematics of his wing started flashing red. That was where the torpedoes hung. He threw the ship into a roll, but the enemy fighter moved with him. A chunk of his wing came away. Luckily no torpedo went with it.
The Imperial fighter continued to attack. Geun went into a full corkscrew, but the enemy continued to maintain his position. Alarms squealed continuously now. If he lost the wing he'd lose the remaining torpedoes.
Oh Begtse!
Chapter Four
Red-orange blazer fire cut across the blackness of space over Geun's head. The Imperial fighterdogging him shimmered blue-white as the energy ate away at its shields. A moment later they sliced straight through into the fighter's ahridium flesh. The killing energy drilled into metal and glass, cutting the Imperial fighter's cockpit apart. The enemy Striker went into a tumble as — Geun assumed — the pilot died.
"Swordfish Squadron to the rescue!" a loud woman's voice echoed across the squadron's channel. "This is Lieutenant Alisa Marchenko bring a world of pain to the Imperial asteroid-kissers!"
Following close behind the blazer burst was a fleet runner. Geun didn't know his naval history well enough, but the thing looked like an older model of Striker that had been crossed with an Imperial Army ground-attack Cobra. Bulkier fuselage than a Striker, thicker wings with more torpedoes and enough blazers to justify a gunner seated behind the pilot. Marchenko hurtled the runner like a spear into the heart of the oncoming Imperial fighters, catching debris from the fighter she'd just killed and a wave of blazer fire on her shields.
"Don't just sit there!" Geun shouted to the remaining members of Raptor Squadron. "Form up on her! Let's go!"
"Yes sir!" Tammy called out over the squadron channel. Her Striker rocketed past Geun's to follow in Alisa's wake. The Raptor survivors soon joined her. Geun gave his damaged wing another look. Although there was metal missing, no functionality had been lost. Thank the Buddha.
It didn't take long for Geun to realize that not only was Marchenko a skilled pilot, she either had the most astounding tolerance for G-forces imaginable or was completely, utterly insane. Most of the Imperial pilots scattered like bowling pins would if they had the legs to get out of the way of the ball, but one flew straight at her, blazers gnawing into her frontal shields. Marchenko took their fire on the shields directly over the cockpit until the last possible second, then fired the retro rockets on the top of her ship. The fleet runner tilted downward, the rear shields protecting the engine taking the worst of it, and then all the retro rockets on the nose cone fired at once. The bigger fighter shot backwards and upwards out of the path of the Imperial fighters.
Now it was Geun's turn. He opened fire with his own blazers, targeting the shield sectors on one fighter where Marchenko had probably done the most damage. The Striker fired right back. Geun's shields eroded faster than his enemy's. He frowned. The Striker-18's main improvements over the Striker-13 were its controls and sensors, but it looked like the shields could recharge faster too. Damn it.
Then Marchenko resumed her fire, hammering the Imperial fighter's upper shields. For a second the three fighters pounded each other, then the Imperial fighter's shields shattered. Blazer fire transfixed the Imperial craft a second later. The enemy fire died away. Geun shifted his attention to his LIDAR. The Imperial fighters who'd fled Marchenko's near-suicidal attack were coming back now...
Suddenly Marchenko's fighter dove right for the Imperial craft she'd just killed. What the... was all Geun had to think before the entire front half of the fleet runner's shields flared blue white. Then Marchenko's ship was through where the fighter had been. Pieces of the dead Striker flew everywhere. Geun's shields flared in several places where they'd hit. So did those of the Imperials.
"Target the weaker sectors!" Geun ordered the remaining Raptors. The debris didn't look like it had done much damage to his own shields, but if there was a chance they could get through the enemy's a few seconds faster...
The Alliance Strikers opened fire. A second later, more blazer fire fell on the Imperials as the Freedom's Fire joined the party. Geun guessed they'd run out of torpedoes. Two Imperial Strikers exploded as red blazer beams cut into them. The remaining Imperial craft decided discretion was the better part of valor and fled.
Only they didn't flee alone. Marchenko's fleet runner pursued, blazers stabbing at the retreating enemy. One fighter slowed, an engine knocked out, allowing Marchenko to finish the job. Then she ignited the rockets on her craft's nose and f
lipped it, sending it hurtling back toward the Alliance formations just as fast as she'd raced after the fleeing enemy.
All Geun could do now was wonder just how Marchenko's gunner could stand her.
Wills' voice echoed in Geun's earstar. "Raptor Squadron, Dragon Squadron, that represents almost all of the remaining Imperial fighter cover. New strike package." Data began appearing on Geun's console. "Taurus and Viper are going for the Kir's Fall. Swordfish will handle the cruiser Teravia. You handle that other cruiser the Sherran Moon and that damaged frigate. Freedom's Fire's out of torpedoes, but will be providing blazer support for Taurus and Viper."
Geun looked over the remaining fighters under his command. Eight fighters out of what had once been twenty. They could do this.
Chapter Five
"Aye aye sir!" Geun responded. "Raptor and Dragon squadrons, we have a strike mission. How many torpedoes do we have left?"
Tammy was first to check in. "I've got all four. You?"
"Same."
One by one, Geun's remaining pilots checked. None of the five surviving Raptors had fired their torpedoes, but the Dragons had expended most of theirs. Twenty-two torpedoes for a strike package on the cruiser Sherran Moon. They didn't expend nearly so many on the Achilles or the Sarpedon, but Geun wasn't going to gamble on this being easy. He didn't think any of the frigate's torpedoes had penetrated the heavies' shields, but maybe they'd burned out some emitters.
"All right," Geun began. He swallowed. Don't let them see you're nervous. "We're going after the Sherran Moon, with the damaged frigate as the secondary target. The Imperial battle-group will create an absolutely massive flak envelope when we do our run. All of us will focus our blazers on these three points" — his free hand danced across the console as he picked a spot over the Imperial cruiser's drive, a spot amidships where they hopefully could drill into the command center, and the bow — "and then when we get close enough, concentrate our torpedoes on those three points. Hold off firing as long as possible so they can't intercept them."
Geun's breath caught in his throat. With those orders, he'd sentenced pilots to death. They could always unload all their torpedoes and bolt, but they'd be intercepted on the way in. His way would reduce the window the Imperials had to shoot the oncoming ordinance down, but they'd be firing at fighters instead. "Does anybody have any questions?" Nobody replied. "All right," he continued. "Form up on me, loose formation, and let's gut her."
His LIDAR showed the seven other Strikers under his command spreading out around him. The three Imperial heavies and their crippled midget partner didn't look like they were going anywhere. Fear began its slow crawl up his spine. The Imperials were confident, even though they'd lost two frigates already. Two frigates for a dozen fighters, probably more. That's a trade they can afford.
"All right people, let's go." He accelerated, beginning the long dive toward the Imperial ships.
***
Tammy kicked her Striker downward in Geun's wake. On either side the remaining eight Strikers from Dragon and Raptor squadrons hurtled toward the Imperial heavies. The acceleration rapidly ate up the distance between the oncoming Alliance fighters and the enemy. It wouldn't be long now until she could start carving into the cruiser's shields, to pave the way for the torpedoes.
A mere second before she would have pulled the trigger, a red-orange light filled her cockpit. Warning lights flashed and alarms blared. She threw the fighter into a roll. The light vanished, but her shields had been drastically reduced. "Whew." If she'd just near-missed an e-cannon beam from a capital ship, she was lucky she hadn't been vaporized.
Now it was time to turn the favor. She locked onto the coordinates she'd been given near the Sherran Moon's drive and pulled the trigger. Somewhere to her left, Raptor Five did the same. The cruiser's shields flared as the red energy cut into them. Out of the corner of her eye she could see other Raptor and Dragon fighters opening fire as well. Vast tracts of the cruiser's shields turned white as the blazers bored into them. Tammy could almost feel the emitters straining beneath the fighters' killing energies as they pumped power into the cruiser's defenses. Hopefully the Sherran Moon's shielding had been provided by the lowest bidder.
The hairs rose on the back of Tammy's neck and she threw her fighter into a spin. A moment later a bright red e-cannon beam slashed through where she'd been. A young man shouted in pain over the squadron network.
"Shields broken. Canopy compromised," Raptor Five gasped. Static filled the channel. "Launch mechanisms for three of the four torpedoes out."
"Turn around and get the hell out of there!" Geun shouted. "Get back to the base!"
More static. "Maneuvering jets out." Static. "Making this." Static.
Then a chain of explosions rippled across the Sherran Moon's shields. Tammy's jaw dropped within her helmet. Raptor Five, Lieutenant Chuck Lopez, the young man who'd defected to the Alliance straight out of the Imperial Naval Academy, had just gone full kamikaze. The shields turned pure white beneath the onslaught before dissolving completely. Chunks of debris slammed into the cruiser's hull, some tearing holes through which plumes of gas vented.
Silence reigned on the squadron channel for what felt like hours. "Make that count!"Geun shouted. "Torpedoes!"
"Yes sir!" Tammy shouted. Torpedoes rippled off her fighter's wings. They fell like the fists of the sun-gods toward the Imperial miscreants, ready to smite them to their component atoms.
***
The space around the floating images of the Imperial ships in the center of the Kir’s Fall bridge was thick with incoming ordinance and counter-fire. Occasionally some of that ordinance got through. The bridge of the Kir's Fall shook, sending Alvarez staggering. “15 percent of the shield emitters offline,” the sterile voice of the ship’s automated monitoring system.
Alvarez bit off a curse. These rebels had destroyed two cruisers not that long ago, but they’d gotten them separated and kept them from supporting each other. The Imperial ships had formed a good firebox but were still suffering damage. “Any hull breaches?”
“Negative.” Kir’s Fall shook again. Alvarez nearly swore a second time. When the battle was over she’d have fire control gone over with a fine-toothed comb.
“What’s the interception rate?”
“73 percent.”
She pursed her lips. It should be at least 80 percent, preferably more. There was a Suns Trinity-damned big difference between getting everything and getting almost everything.
Another Alliance torpedo slammed into the shields. “20 percent of shield emitters offline. Hull breaches in Sectors Two and Seven.” Fear began its slow coil in Alvarez’s belly. She took a deep breath. Those two sectors would be relatively unoccupied in battle, and the ship had plenty of self-sealing doors and emergency breathing masks.
“Divert more power to the forward shields. Draw it from the unoccupied crew quarters.” Before the battle was joined three-quarters of that power had been diverted already, but every little bit helped.
“Diverting power now.”
Another torpedo detonated against the battlecruiser’s shields. The shaking was less severe this time. She waited a moment, but no reports of blown shield emitters came. Good.
“Kir’s Fall, Kir’s Fall,” a new voice echoed through the command center. “This is Captain Lewis from Sherran Moon.”
“Report.”
“Impact with a damaged Alliance fighter. Frontal shields out completely. Multiple hull breaches, many casualties.”
This time Alvarez did curse. “Captain Lewis, pull back immediately. The other ships will cover you.” She turned her attention to the automated monitoring system. “We’ll need to divert even more power to the shields.”
“Admiral, there is little power to be spared.” Alvarez grit her teeth. Was that damn computer being smart with her?
She took a breath. “Divert power from the brig, including life support.”
"There are prisoners in the brig, as well as guards."
“It’ll take half an hour or more for the hair to foul. By then it’ll be over, one way or another. Make sure they’re aware of what’s happening and that everybody has their portable breathing units available.” We’re not monsters, no matter what lies the Alliance tells.
Now that they had improved protection for a moment, Alvarez checked on the political officer. Carver was where she expected him to be, making the rounds between the different gun batteries. Good. Looking after crew morale and indoctrination was his main job, not being Imperial Intelligence's damned informer. When the battle was over she’d send him to deal with the people in the brig. If they thought they were expendable, they might start getting ideas about things like “mutiny” and “defection.”
Of course, in the grand scheme, everyone, officer or sailor, was expendable.
***
Geun pressed his thumb down on the joystick button controlling the torpedo launchers. The fighter rocked as the four torpedoes leaped from the wing mounts toward the Sherran Moon. On his LIDAR he could see the other squadrons unleashing hell on their assigned targets. Dozens of torpedoes streaked toward the quartet of enemies.
And almost immediately the Imperial flak started killing them. Torpedo after torpedo winked out on his LIDAR in quick succession. Two Imperial cruisers, a battlecruiser and a crippled frigate could put out a lot of e-cannon fire. The Achilles and Sarpedon hadn't supported each other worth a damn, but these enemy ships had drawn into a tight box and were moving down the torpedoes heading their way almost like it was easy.
Not only that, but they were reorienting! The damaged Sherran Moon was pulling back and the other ships were pulling forward, presenting relatively fresh shields to the oncoming torpedo wave. "Buddha!" Geun gasped. The torpedoes were locked on, but that wouldn't mean much if a shielded battlecruiser put itself between them and the target.
Fallen Empire: Discovery and Flight (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Choi and Watson Book 2) Page 3
