As he rolled directly in front of them, he spotted Valdis and the others. They were entangled in a messy fight, and one, perhaps two of the Mantis fighters were trailing flames. He couldn't see how many of the enemy fighters were left, but it was obvious their numbers were giving them a serious edge in combat. A single, bright flash marked the impact of a large piece of ordnance against the already damaged hull of Furiosa.
"Valdis, are you there?"
"Nate...in trouble!"
The Byotai's voice strained as she struggled against impossible odds. Nate looked to his right and spotted her for a second, and then she was gone, chased by the skilled and deadly Star Empire pilots. Another flash erupted from behind a Mantis, and it exploded in a bright fireball that completely engulfed the craft.
"Helviti!"
Nate didn't know much of the old Byotai, but he'd heard the female pilots shouting this insult enough to known it meant trouble. As far as he could remember, it was close to the meaning of their word for hell.
"Dogg is down. I repeat, Dogg is down! Just the three of us left."
"We've taken a lot of fire. Svana's lost most of her power, and I'm burning on my left engine banks. These pilots, who are they?"
"No idea. But I know one of them. We need to get back to Furiosa."
"Negative," snapped back Valdis, "We can't land, not in this firefight."
Nate continued shaking his head as he answered.
"No, no inside. We need her guns."
Nate straightened up, waited, and then rolled into a one-eighty and hit the burners to move into a long loop. It felt natural, and if he blurred his vision a little, he could almost convince himself this was still the simulation, but only for a second.
"What about the others? Did you get any of them?" Valdis asked.
The audio crackled, and another burst raked his underside. Several rounds contacted his hull, sending a cloud of sparks flying out in front of his nose.
"Not good here. There are still four of them left, and Holder is down...they are really good, and they know our tactics as well as we do."
As he said those words, he found ideas coming to mind, ideas he'd not used in simulation or actual combat since he was a kid. Just thinking of the idea made him grin.
"Wait...I've got a plan."
Nate hesitated as he considered his options, and that brief moment almost cost him his life. A burst of automatic cannon fire hammered into his hull, followed by a small fire bursting out in the secondary engine charger. Engine power dropped to less than twenty percent until the computer system activated the emergency vents. The metal flaps flipped open to cool the system in the frozen void of space.
"Roll left, now!"
Nate did as he was asked just as a single Mahingan rushed past with its engines burning hot. A single Manta cut in from its flank and opened up with guns. Chunks of hull ripped away and then to Nate’s amazement, the enemy fighter partially disintegrated. It continued onwards, but away from the battle and trailing smoke.
"Beautiful," said Nate.
He looked back towards Furiosa, and the vicious battle now taking place between the single ship and her seven attackers. The group of Anicinàbe cruisers split away to attack her flanks, while the two traitor Byotai monitors swung about to face their flanks to the battleship’s bow. Nate could see this gave them the optimal position from which to use the massed banks of mass driver turrets to batter the ancient flagship.
"Follow me into the waterfall. And remember the sequence!"
Nate didn't wait to see if she'd followed behind. Instead, he finished his loop far out to the port flank of Furiosa, and then pitched and yawed until moving within ten kilometres of her guns. He then lined up and activated the fighter's onboard computer. There were a number of pre-programmed scenarios for various procedures such as landing without a pilot, or precision bombing missions in complex environments. Those were not the ones he was looking for, though. Weeks ago, he and Billy had been working on variants of the simulator runs from months ago. One in particular had been an idea of his, and though a little crazy, had the potential to be game changing.
There it is.
"The waterfall?" Valdis asked.
The icon popped up, along with multiple lines of hardcoded data for their formation. It was a relatively simple mission run, but the reality was that the exact situation not easy to replicate, and should be almost impossible to perform.
"Yeah," said Nate, "That's the one."
"Nate, are you insane? Get away from her bow guns. We can never pull this off."
Nate shook his head and then the engine strafed to the right, narrowly missing cannon fire while keeping his nose directly in line with Furiosa.
"They're right behind you. I can't hit them from here," shouted Valdis.
"Don't worry. Form up on my wing, and remember the numbers from the chomper run."
"Nate...the chomper run cannot work. I told you this when you showed me."
Nate laughed nervously, just as one of Valdis' engines took another hit before blowing off large chunks of metal.
"We're outnumbered and outgunned. Follow me in, and wait for my computer's timing. Get it right...or get killed."
"Nate, you crazy...fool. You're mental! My computer system can't use the..."
Nate cut her off.
"Don't worry about that, just lock into formation, like we talked about. Spacing at ten metres, and don't change formation, no matter what happens. Understood?"
He sounded stern, perhaps much sterner than he intended, but it was critical that they got it right. He lowered his nose, hit the automatic pilot, and then took his hands off the controls. The computer took full control of the fighter and moved him onto a slightly lower flight path towards the warship. Occasionally, Nate hit the foot pedals to strafe left and right, but nothing else. A glint of something to his right caught his eye. As he turned his head, he spotted Valdis and them forming up on his wings. Their fighters were works of art, complex, and covered with intricate detailing.
What would I give to fly one of those?
For a brief moment Nate forgot about what was happening all around him, and thought back to his time on the Star Crusader simulation. He'd controlled a Mantis in one of the scenarios, and even now could still remember how fast and agile it had been. There was no equivalent in the Alliance inventory, and he'd love to fly one. Gunfire from Furiosa quickly returned his thoughts to the fight. The remaining Byotai fighters all showed signs of damage from the battle.
Here we go.
The distance to the battleship dropped by the second, and as the onboard computer took control of the fighter, he felt his heart pumping hard. The autopilot system was always a thing to worry about, but as they flew towards the capital ships, he struggled against his own instincts to grab the controls and fly the fighter himself. The two monitors and the battleship exchanged an almost constant stream of gunfire as both sides tried to inflict critical damage on each other. The monitors were smaller, but what they lacked in size, they made up for with layer upon layer of movable armour, and massive large calibre mass drivers.
"Furiosa is in trouble, Nate. We need to help," said Valdis.
Nate shook his head and tried to avoid shouting back.
"We've got our own problems right now. Just follow the plan."
The Star Empire cruisers were now circled around the Byotai flagship, and pounding her from the flanks and underside with a cruel and relentless bombardment. Every hit caused damage, and Nate kept shaking his head as he watched the flashes marking the impacts. One particularly large blast tore open her hull, and as he gasped, the battleship returned fire. The entire portside vanished in white light as she put a full mass driver broadside into the hull of the nearest cruiser. Most of the shots passed right through the vessel’s hull and exploded out of the opposite side. A good number struck internal systems, power systems, and weapons. At first there was no obvious heavy damage, until the entire forward third of the ship vaporised in an apocalyp
tic blast.
"Wow!" Nate cried, finding it hard to hide his emotions.
The other ships proceeded to hit Furiosa, seeking vengeance for the crippling damage to their cruiser. Even so, the battleship refused to back down and was now surrounded in fire, as the ship blasted away in all directions. It was an incredible sight, almost beautiful to see, and yet equally terrifying.
"Nate!"
Valdis brought him back to Earth, and not a moment too soon. He checked the computerised course once more, and where it would pass by the ship.
Trust the program. You know it will work.
In theory that was true, but as the closing distance dropped to five kilometres, the fighter dropped its nose and boosted velocity using the burners. Only then did some of the officers on board realise quite how close their fighters were coming. Nate glanced back and gulped as he spotted the pursuing Mahingan fighters on his tail. They were almost perfectly lined up for the shot, and he was now locked in on his course.
"Dump whatever countermeasures you have left."
One by one the broken formation of fighters dumped the electronic countermeasure devices. Burning hot flares, electronic noise generators, and chaff radar dispensers scattered behind, creating a confusing cloud that bought them a few more seconds.
"Ironclads, get away, now. You're entering our flak corridor!"
It was Commander Higgins, and Nate could tell the older officer was panicking.
"Negative, Commander. We're going through. Keep firing!"
Nate focused his attention directly ahead and tried to ignore the fusillade of shots now coming from the fighters behind them. The countermeasures confused their tracking systems, but that couldn't last much longer. His stomach churned as the computer rolled him around so that his underside pointed up and away from Furiosa. The engines boosted to maximum power and then forced him in front of the battleship.
This is it.
He wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't. It was some odd sense of morbid curiosity that kept his attention locked onto the numerous forward facing guns. They were now close to the port side of the hull, near the bow, and still looked as though they were trying to stay close to the vessel to avoid being shot. Then they were at the front, and the computer rolled him around and boosted the engines one last time. Nate's fighter pushed on past the bow and directly into the line of fire.
I'm insane.
The Lightning fighter shuddered as the port side mass drivers opened up. From the cockpit it looked like a volcano erupting right in front of him. The weapon spat its projectile out and then loaded in the next one to fire. Before it could shoot again, Nate was past and heading through to the next gun. He looked to his right, sighing in relief, as Valdis appeared, unscathed and moving at high speed. As he'd suggested, she travelled at a fixed distance, much like she would have done in an aerobatic display. And then they were out of the fire and travelling away from Furiosa. Nate checked his display for the others, and almost stopped breathing when only one Mantis appeared. Two seconds later the other popped up, its hull signature masked by the explosive energy nearby.
"Outstanding," said Valdis, "We made it out."
"Okay," said Nate, "Follow me around."
The three fighters circled around the damaged Furiosa, one Mantis on each of Nate's flanks. He felt as though he was the most important person in the world right now and even began to smile. Then his threat indicator activated bright red. Dozens and dozens of new targets appeared ahead and from behind the two monitors.
"Ironclads, watch yourselves. We've got new contacts. Seven more fighters coming your way."
Nate checked the status of his guns when a familiar voice filled his helmet.
"Nice try, Nate. I'm still here!"
DuFarl!
He twisted back and spotted three of the powerful Mahingan fighters burst out from Furiosa's guns. There was no sign of the others, and he assumed they'd been torn apart by the volleys of mass driver shots. The leader of the unit spun about as though out of control, and then swung in to attack Nate. A burst of automatic cannon fire shredded the left side of his Lightning, and he was forced to roll the craft and boost the engines in a desperate move to avoid the shooting. The two Mantis fighters split away and circled around in an attempt to attack the remaining fighters of DuFarl's unit. They spotted the change of course and did the same, with one fighter heading for each of them.
"Keep moving, and don't give them a chance to use their heavy guns," said Nate, "One hit and you're gone."
Valdis grunted as she pulled seven gees before sliding in behind a Mahingan. Her guns roared, but this piloted strafed to the right and avoided the worst of it before spinning around to fly backwards. The wing-mounted guns opened up, sending Valdis into a vertical climb away from the bullets.
"Ironclads, main deck is ready for combat landing. Get back here, and fast!" said Commander Higgins.
Nate checked the immediate area, but the deck was still taking a lot of fire from the circling enemy ships. Any attempt at landing could quite easily see them cut apart as they flew inside. He wanted more than anything to be inside the thick armour of Furiosa, but once more the threat indicators sang their song.
"No chance, Commander. The new fighters are launching ordnance. Moving in to provide a screen."
"Negative. Ironclads, get back inside!"
Nate ignored the orders and spun around in a slow circle. As DuFarl and his wingmen came into view, he opened fire. The two Gatling guns did their work, and he gasped as the guns scattered bullets across the nose and canopies of two of them. He continued to spin and then boosted away to face off again the cloud of warheads. He doubted DuFarl was out of the fight, but stayed back far enough to suggest he'd taken damage, maybe he'd been injured in the battle.
That will do for now. I've got work to do.
Furiosa was already busy enough in the gun battle with the Star Empire ships. Now these missiles and torpedoes were racing towards her and might easily breach her inner gun cordon and hit the hull.
I can stop some of these. I can't let them hit Furiosa.
CHAPTER THREE
Karnak, 10th Quadrant
27 December 2472
A single cataclysmic explosion marked the impact along Furiosa's port flank. Two more large calibre shells struck nearby, ripping out great chunks of beautifully designed armour. With each piece of damage, the ship miraculously healed itself as she shifted sections of the movable armour plate to protect the weakened parts of the hull. This was a temporary measure, as there was only so much armour to go around, and shifting plates meant weakening the armour in other places.
The one-sided battle raged around the Battleship Furiosa, but even the most optimistic individual could see it was a losing battle. Two of the cruisers now showed signs of major damage, as well as the crippled third vessel. Both Byotai monitors were marked by multiple penetrations, yet they fought on, refusing to back down. And there, right in the middle of the battle was the aged Byotai flagship. Her hull showed breaches and damage from hundreds of impacts, yet most of her guns continued to fire.
Thruster to the left, give me space.
Nate knew it was Valdis before he even saw her, and with a tap of his foot pedal he slid five metres to the left. The winglet-mounted thrusters swivelled about to give him a precise shift out of the way, while retaining full control of his overall movement. As he reached the end point, Valdis raced past and then appeared overhead as she moved though a long barrel roll. She then rotated quickly, firing another burst directly behind them; Nate's eyes widened in surprise, watching her position on his flank. A flash behind them marked the death of a Mahingan as it spun wildly out of control, its long wing shape ripping apart in the violent action. Two small flashed ripped open the gun pod, and then it vanished from view.
"Nice," said Nate.
Valdis breathed heavily, and Nate could hear her struggling for breath as she fought her controls. For a second the Mantis fighter spun wildly out of control,
but Valdis was a pro. Rather than fight the spacecraft, she simply hit the stabiliser and let the computer do the work for her. With three separate boosts of power, the fighter levelled off and moved back alongside Nate.
"Yeah, expect I took another hit back there. My ship is dying, Nate."
"We can't turn back now. Hit those missiles."
Both fighters opened fire, pouring cannon and gunfire into the approaching missiles. This was one of those occasions where precise aim was of little importance. Three missiles broke up, and the subsequent explosions ripped through the others, destroying almost half.
"Yes!" Nate yelled.
His excitement vanished as the new formation of fighters opened fire towards the pair of them.
"Break!" Valdis shouted.
Once more they pulled apart, just as the large unit of Star Empire fighters came in, all guns blazing. Nate had never fought harder than right now. With five fighters on his tail, he needed to use every single trick in the book. Each time he moved, he would run into the path of another. Valdis tried to pull some of them away, but DuFarl and his wingmen were there, blasting more holes in her craft. The second Mantis moved in behind the fighters and raked DuFarl's fighter, sending the group scattering into space in a massive and deadly dogfight.
"Run, Nate," said DuFarl, "Run far away and save your ship."
He then laughed, in a fake, cruel tone.
"I'll take care of your girlfriend for you."
Nate felt an uncontrolled rage building in his body. He'd never liked DuFarl, and had come across his anger and bitterness back before the fighting. Even in the Star Crusader simulator, he'd been cocky, arrogant, and the most racist Byotai pilot he'd ever met. On their last encounter, he thought he'd left the Byotai for dead, but now he was back, with an elite squadron and a burning desire to see Nate suffer.
I'm gonna end this...right now.
He instinctively moved away to help Valdis, but then the first of the missiles struck Furiosa. In his heart he wanted to help his new friends, but his mind reminded him that without the battleship, they would all be dead. So Nate turned his back on the Mantis and moved his fighter into the path of a pair of armoured anti-ship torpedoes. These were old-fashioned ship killers, dispatched from the Byotai monitors, and each nearly the size of his fighter.
Star Crusader: Battle Fleet Victorious Page 5
