Enemies on All Sides (Maraukian War Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  Karain watched as the two targeted freighters were hit again and again.

  The defensive systems couldn’t cope as decoys appeared, confusing them.

  More of the missiles started to get closer.

  Unlike the nuclear missiles, these anti-matter missiles’ power was much stronger, allowing them to reach out and slap the carriers around, breaking structural members of the ships that were under acceleration.

  At their core, these ships weren’t purpose-built warships but reinforced freighters. They had massive engines and they were meant to go long distances, not to weather the firepower of hundreds of missiles and rail cannon rounds with anti-matter embedded within.

  “How the hell do they have so much anti-matter? This kind of use—it would be a waste for the Union,” Karain heard Strong’s mutterings as she felt his unsurety.

  “Emarl fleet is launching small craft!” a sensor operator said as ships screamed out from the carriers, entering the battlefield.

  There were even some that came from the battleship. albeit in lower numbers.

  “Captain of the LMFC Grouasl reports that his ship is being torn apart by weapons fire!” Not a few moments later, the LMFC Grouasl was ripped apart under the stresses of the Emarl firepower.

  As the broken sections started to drift, there was no mercy or halting the oncoming volleys.

  The second freighter under fire shook and buckled; sections started to stop working, with multiple power systems failing.

  An anti-matter-laden missile exploded just three hundred meters from the ship. A large section of the ship simply disappeared and the broken remainder was blasted away. Sections started to fall apart as round after round smashed the freighter apart and missiles tore at the remains.

  “Focus fire on the Moby!” Strong yelled out as the communications officer passed on his orders.

  The incoming fire had come in a rush, destroying the two freighters.

  They might be large ships but they couldn’t stand up to the concentrated fire of nineteen warships.

  Their fire started to arrive on the Emarl system ships. Defensive fire lanced out at the oncoming hell. With their sensor platforms dotted all over the system, they were able to engage the rounds and missiles at a longer distance, reducing the effect of the volleys before they arrived.

  Karain watched as the Moby fired back. She had never seen anything like it; they used missiles, cannons, and defensive systems to break apart the oncoming firepower.

  The whole Emarl fleet worked together as they deployed more small craft that also worked to fight the incoming wave of fire.

  “Deploy the gliders!” Strong said.

  Orders were passed as the gliders started to fly out of the carriers. Their deployment systems were slower, but they seemed to come out in unending waves across the Luyten fleet.

  The Emarl fleet’s defenses were impressive, but it wasn’t enough to stop everything.

  Missiles started exploding closer and closer to the Emarl ships as rail cannon rounds made the ships buck, with armor panels exploding. Different ships were hit worse than others, with sections of their ships being opened to space.

  Karain felt a savage satisfaction.

  “We’ve got a report from the LMFC Trailblazer. They’ve lost a lot of their thrusters and they have problems with their main engines!” a communications officer yelled.

  The ship in question had a missile erupt behind it near its engines. The whole area was a mass of broken and twisted metal. Something exploded in the ship but it kept on slowly limping around.

  “Direct hits on the Moby!” a sensor operator yelled out, their tone heated as they got some payback for their losses.

  The Moby was weathering a storm of fire but the retired space legion ship was no longer the junker that had been in the Hellenic system for centuries.

  The vessel blasted through missiles and took hits from the rail cannon rounds. A section was ripped off the Moby as a rail cannon round ripped off armored panels.

  “What?” Karain said. The savage scar in the side of the ship started to repair itself. Molten metal poured into the wound, smoothing it out and repairing the wound.

  A cannon mount took a direct hit, the mount being turned into slag as the round made the ship shudder.

  Atmosphere escaped the ship before again that molten metal covered it and the rail cannon mount started to reappear as it was being built stage by stage.

  “Shit! The mergers must be using the nanites to repair the ship!” Strong saw the same thing as her as the ship charged forth, weathering incoming attacks.

  They were like juggernauts, taking the hits and moving forward, surrounded by a halo of fire as close-in defense fire fended off attacks.

  The Moby was being hit hard, but it continued to move forward and repair itself.

  “They’re coming into close range,” a sensor operator announced.

  Once the two forces intersected, they would be among each other’s formations for only a few seconds. But in those seconds, the majority of the damage would be dealt.

  Karain looked at the fleet’s positions. Her people were disorganized as they fought to bring their freighters around. They wouldn’t have enough time to do so; they’d underestimated the speed of the Emarl ships.

  Karain had a faint premonition. If we’ve underestimated them thus far, what the hell are we going to be running into?

  The fighting had just started and she’d lost two ships already; one ship was badly damaged, to the point that it nearly couldn’t move.

  Her NIAI started to highlight messages coming from the other captains. It looked as if their confidence was being rocked; they had expected to walk all over the Emarl system and its forces. Now it looked as though it would be anything but a cakewalk.

  Hits struck the LMFC Trailblazer again, peppering its hull with explosions. The ship bucked and shook. Its armored panels ripped off as rounds continued to hammer its softer internals. Hit after hit rained down on it as Karain mentally removed it from her order of battle.

  Three ships—now we just have one more than them.

  Chapter Seventy-Nine

  ENS Homeland

  Oort Cloud, Emarl System

  10/3557

  “ENS Titan has taken direct hits on their bow. They are repairing as we speak,” Guy reported, checking the different streams of information that came in. “The Moby is holding its own currently; there are reports of wounded and dead. ENS Forsight reports that one of their RSD launchers is down.”

  Hall listened and looked at the tactical map. All of the RSDs and seeders had been deployed and were using the previous volleys as cover as they advanced.

  Their rail cannons fired, trying to clear out the missiles that they came across.

  RSDs and seeders were destroyed but new ones were ready and waiting on the warships, their pilots buried in the depths of the ships, ready to fight again.

  Hall had set up a multi-layered advance. With their wall of fire, they had shocked and shaken the Luyten forces. They’d targeted three ships and taken out the three ships. The Luyten forces were better commanded than Hall had hoped for.

  When seeing the Emarl’s advance, the ships had immediately started to shift so that they could keep their broadsides facing the Emarl.

  The screen of missiles and rail cannon fire died down against the Luyten forces as the fire that the Emarl forces had to weather only increased.

  He was surprised with the tenacity of the ENS Moby. Even under such fire, the ship was constantly repairing itself and fighting on. Being a bullet magnet spread the stress of close-in defense of the other ships.

  “RSDs are going in,” Rasalov said.

  Hall nodded. Soon it would be the turn of the actual warships going toe-to-toe with the converted freighters.

  ***

  “Looks like all of our cover is gone. Time we earned our pay,” Flight Commander Yu said. His formation seemed to explode outward as the rapid support drones spread out to make it harder
for a missile to catch and destroy them.

  The RSD pilots were a mix of humans and mergers. All of them had been training since the RSDs had been proposed.

  They all lay in their different pods that had moved with the craft and their projections that fed them real-time information on what their ships were going through.

  “On your wing.” Young was still a few kilometers away from him but it was enough to be in mutual support.

  “Couldn’t leave you two to have all of the fun,” Bobbie said as he moved up on the other side of Yu’s wing.

  When they had become mergers, Bobbie had learned how to fly so he could run in support of his two friends.

  They were still primarily a drop-ship crew, for the merger forces, but they could double up as RSD pilots as well.

  The three of them moved erratically and shot out flares and decoys to distract the freighters as they closed in on them.

  “Gliders moving in!” Young said, shooting down and rolling to the side as weapons fire crossed the void.

  “Shit,” Bobbie muttered. He fired at the drop-ships with his rail cannons and started firing his missiles. They were small but had a deadly anti-matter payload.

  A group of four gliders were blown apart with one of the anti-matter missiles as Young came back out of her dive and stitched up another with her rail cannon.

  Yu barely rolled to the side, while firing and using his maneuvering thrusters, bringing him onto one target and then using thrusters on the nose of his craft to bring him onto another target and fire on them.

  Bobbie weaved but after his display with the missiles, the gliders seemed to gang up on him. He wasn’t able to miss all of their rail cannons; his ship was compromised and turned into an expanding explosion of anti-matter.

  “Fucking shit birds!” Bobbie yelled. “I’ll be back out with the second flight.”

  “Good stuff,” Yu said as he cut through the glider formation. His rail cannon made the craft shake as a stream of rounds cut through a glider, which continued on in a straight line, its crew dead.

  Yu checked his surroundings. He was in close to a freighter; it started to open up fire on him and gliders moved to intercept. He could see another RSD off in the distance, making the approach and getting chewed up by a stream of rail cannon fire.

  Yu’s missile hatch opened as he targeted the freighter and fired his missiles.

  They shot forward like metal darts. Their powerful engines accelerated them faster and faster. The close-in defense systems took some of them out as Yu maneuvered around, launching missiles again and again as Young, coming in behind him, moved in on her final run and fired her payload of missiles at the freighter.

  As soon as it had appeared, it was gone. They came out on the other side of the Luyten formation. Five or six of their missiles hit, with others coming in from other sides. The anti-matter explosions tore at the ship’s hull, peeling back its layers and destroying different weapon mounts.

  The freighter wasn’t defeated, but its hull had been damaged badly, leaving entire sections open to space and twisted and melted metal behind.

  Seeing that there were no more targets, Yu exited the craft and entered another craft meant for wave two.

  “Feels like we’re cheating,” Young said as she did the same.

  “What? One pilot—two ships. Just seems fair.” Yu checked the system on the new RSD as it was being loaded into the ship’s launcher. The RSD’s strength came from the fact that although it took a trained pilot to use them, they wouldn’t lose a pilot if the ship was destroyed.

  Yu was thrown back in his seat as the RSD accelerated and shot out of the Moby.

  Other RSDs and seeders appeared from the other carriers and battleships, allowing the numbers of the fleet to swell once again.

  The ships moved into fighting groups and positioned themselves quickly. Missiles poured out from the Emarl fleet’s ships. Now they didn’t come in volleys but one after another in a massive display of firepower.

  The lead cannons started firing as the RSDs shot away from the fleet, moving to engage the oncoming gliders and then reach the freighters beyond.

  At this range, there was little time for either force to react as they poured fire into one another and the battlespace turned into chaos.

  Yu merged with his RSD, spinning around to avoid enemy fire. His cannons blared as targets appeared.

  He fought against acceleration as he banked out of a dive. His engines worked at full thrust as he came under fire that pinged his craft. Warning lights went off as he was already trying to shake them off. The damage only increased as he punched his engines to full, heading for a nearby freighter.

  Yu gritted his teeth as he fought the ship’s controls. The RSD’s feedback was getting worse and worse as he tried to dodge more gliders and then incoming freighter fire.

  He fired his rail cannons, knowing that he couldn’t last much longer. His drone was starting to fail and there wasn’t anything that he could do.

  Young was pushing hard and her craft was in much better shape.

  “Go for it—I’ll cover,” Yu said as his missile hatch snapped open and he launched missiles at a wing of incoming gliders.

  Explosions appeared in front of them, blocking them off from Young as she pushed her craft to its top speed.

  Yu fought to follow her. She’d engage targets, only to fly past them as Yu would finish them off. Yu saw as a wave of missiles came at him from the gliders.

  He slewed his ship around, firing his cannons and his missiles back at them. But it wasn’t enough as the missiles exploded and tore his ship apart.

  Chapter Eighty

  Legion Headquarters

  Roma, Hellenic System

  10/3557

  Moretti followed Zedra through the legion headquarters with his head held high, fully focused. She needed no guards with her, but there were still two flanking either side of them. It would look like a regular visitation to the complex, but he knew that this was going to be the first blood of the days ahead.

  She paused by a doorway. Inside were her leading men; they’d also been placed in key points throughout the facility. There was only one man in here she particularly wanted and had informed Moretti previously that he was working to double-cross them. His recall to their headquarters had been planned carefully, asking him to deal with Hesra and his trial. Now with the trial over and Hesra probably sitting at home, getting drunk, it was time to see both plots sealed.

  Zedra entered the room. The four men who were with Farius looked up, recognized her and had their hands on the hilts before even Farius could react.

  “What’s the meaning of this?” Legate Fabius Losa Varius asked.

  Moretti linked in with his operatives throughout the complex. All seventeen of them reported in straight away.

  “Phase one, comply,” he said, knowing all too well that these trained killers, both his and Zedra’s, would execute the traitors here. Tonight, their blood would flow.

  Zedra spoke clear, for all of them to hear. “By the trust given to me by Emperor Cassius and the Roma Legion, it is tonight we cleanse her ranks to begin again.”

  Varius’s left eye twitched, but Zedra was too fast. Her sword was drawn, and she stepped forward in one quick and effective strike.

  Varius’s eyes widened, and his guards stood to help, but it was already too late. Moretti didn’t need to do anything to even react; the blood around him ran freely.

  The links in from those around the facility started to come in.

  Moretti looked to Zedra as Farius’s body dropped to the floor.

  “Phase one complete, Legate.”

  Zedra moved to the main systems. “Easier if you link in and remove access. Lock the facility down.”

  While Moretti did so, she gave her two guards other orders. “We have a slight detour before we head to the science facility.”

  “Interesting.” After completing his tasks, Moretti turned to her. She had a different look about her now an
d he liked it; he saw nothing but blood lust.

  When he followed her out of HQ, a shuttle waited and she hopped in. The driver knew where to take her.

  This was somewhere he’d not expected. Hesra’s house was just outside the legion’s grounds. Guards were stationed outside and around it, but they let the vehicle inside without a question.

  “This one’s for your friends, the mergers.” Zedra left the vehicle, and moved to the front door.

  There was no pleasure to be sought from this, but it would make a few finally feel as if there was real justice. Hesra’s trial had been a joke—no political remorse, no repercussions for his clear actions. Everything white-washed and only his status and rankings removed. He clearly wasn’t suffering, living in this house, with this amount of money behind him.

  Zedra was swift once inside, and together they swept the downstairs rooms. Hesra wasn’t in any of them.

  Moretti checked his NIAI, and spoke for her to hear clearly. “He’s in a secure room in the basement.”

  Zedra raised an eyebrow. “You think he knew someone was coming?”

  “Wouldn’t you? He might not have known when, but he’s not stupid.”

  They made their way through the house and to the room. It was locked. Moretti grinned this time as he made quick work on it.

  “Thanks,” Zedra said and slipped through. “Make sure this death is recorded and transmitted to your friends.”

  Moretti was quick behind her. He heard a scream—a young woman. How Hesra had managed to get her to agree to sleep with him and stay in this room he’d no idea… It was the pit of disgust. Filthy. His unshaven beard and unruly hair was slick with dirt and despair. When he looked to Hesra, he saw nothing but red. That one man was responsible for the deaths of the most valued people he’d ever gotten the chance to know.

  Hesra woke, scrabbling for his life. He looked to Zedra, to her drawn weapon.

  She simply said, “Begin phase two, Mr. Moretti.”

  She didn’t give Hesra the chance to react. With one turn and slash, her blade sliced true. Hesra’s head slid off his shoulders in a gurgling mess.