Atlantia Series 2: Retaliator

by Dean Crawford

  ‘Stay in pairs!’ Andaim commanded. ‘Combine your firepower and make your shots count in each attack!’

  Evelyn picked out a pair of Scythes amid the melee, their wings flashing in unison as they caught the starlight and pursued two Raythons. Evelyn focused in on the lead Scythe and closed upon it, moving her control column without thought and with brisk movements as she slid in directly behind the Scythes.

  She did not see her aiming reticule turn red as it locked onto the enemy fighter, nor did she see the bright plasma shots erupt from her guns. All she saw was the Scythe split in two by the direct hits, bright flames and debris flashing in the sunlight as they spiralled past her Raython and the Scythe fighter broke up into fragments.

  She did not make the splash call as other pilots were doing. The second Scythe fighter pulled hard left and then rotated in mid–flight, maintaining its trajectory as it pointed its weapons back at her and opened fire. Evelyn pulled hard on her control column and simultaneously threw it over, rolling the Raython through a tight barrel–roll and making it as hard to hit as possible. Trails of glowing plasma rocketed in red streaks past her canopy, always just out of reach, and as she rolled back into plane with the Scythe fighter she fired once.

  The shot hit the fighter square on and smashed it into two, the flaming debris flashing by either side of Evelyn’s fighter as she rolled it up onto its side and sliced through the expanding fireball.

  ‘Splash four!’ Andaim reported. ‘Evelyn, form up now!’

  Evelyn blinked and realised that Andaim was now following her, having been left behind as she pursued the two Veng’en fighters.

  ‘Roger that,’ she replied.

  ‘Stay on my wing damn it, before you get us both killed!’

  Evelyn slid in alongside Andaim’s fighter as they wheeled back into the fight, clouds of Scythes and Raythons and countless flashes of plasma zipping across the starfield between them.

  Evelyn saw the Atlantia fire another salvo at the Rankor. The blue plasma shots blazed between the two massive ships and hammered the cruiser’s aft hull, peppering it with flickering fires and shattering sections of hull plating, but the ray–sheilding still protected the majority of the larger vessel’s hull from permanent damage.

  Andaim’s Raython opened fire on a pair of Scythes and caught one of them on its port side, smashing the wing off. The engines exploded in a bright fireball and Andaim jinked right to avoid the debris. Evelyn went left and cut in ahead of Andaim as she settled in behind the remaining Scythe.

  ‘I’ve got him.’

  ‘You’re covered,’ Andaim replied.

  The Scythe jerked frantically left and right, trying to shake Evelyn, but she held on easily and waited for the perfect moment to take a single shot. She squeezed the trigger and two plasma rounds converged on the Scythe’s cockpit and smashed it into a glowing mass of molten metal. The Scythe, pilotless, spiralled slowly downward and smashed into a tumbling asteroid to vanish in a roiling cloud of burning fuel and flame.

  ‘Good shot!’ Andaim called as he pulled up and rocketed over the asteroid.

  Evelyn skimmed the giant rock, the surface of it flashing by as she pulled up and aimed back toward the battle. She glimpsed the underside of the Atlantia’s hull, saw multiple small fires flickering from where plasma damage and asteroid impacts were battering her.

  ‘The ship’s taking too many hits,’ she called as she emerged from the asteroid field. ‘She can’t stay in there forever.’

  As if in reply a plasma round from the Veng’en cruiser ploughed into the Atlantia’s bow amid a flare of bright light, and Evelyn glimpsed debris spiralling off her hull plating in the aftermath of the blast.

  ‘They don’t have much choice,’ Andaim replied as explosions burst around his Raython, the shockwaves making the little fighter rock and quiver.

  ‘We need an edge,’ Evelyn snapped. ‘Kordaz said that Veng’en ships are filled with forest materials.’

  ‘So what?’ Andaim asked as he tried to get on the tail of a Scythe that itself was following a Raython. ‘The Atlantia can’t go up against a cruiser that big in open battle. She’d be smashed to pieces!’

  ‘She can’t,’ Evelyn replied, ‘but we can.’

  *

  Sergeant Djimon jogged up the shuttle’s ramp as Bra’hiv watched, holding on to the shuttle’s interior wall with one hand as the Atlantia shuddered and rocked under the plasma blasts and asteroid impacts.

  ‘We need to get out there and do this before this ship gets torn apart!’ the sergeant yelled.

  Bra’hiv hit the button to close the shuttle’s ramp and then turned and called to the pilots.

  ‘Lift off, now!’

  The shuttle tilted as it lifted up off the Atlantia’s deck and Bra’hiv saw the launch bay doors open as the air was sucked out into the oblivion of space. The dense asteroid field, a morass of tumbling rocks cast in harsh light and shadow, loomed into view as the general strapped himself into his seat behind the pilots and watched as they guided the shuttle out of the Atlantia’s bay.

  ‘Stay close to the debris field,’ Bra’hiv ordered. ‘We go only when the captain orders, understood?’

  The pilot nodded, the shuttle accelerating away from beneath the Atlantia’s bow even as a barrage of red plasma fire tore through the asteroid field. A gigantic ball of rock was shattered by a direct hit from the Veng’en cruiser’s guns and a cloud of vast and chaotically tumbling debris rocketed toward the shuttle.

  ‘Incoming, starboard bow!’

  The pilot responded instantly, diving down into cover behind a larger asteroid as the hail of debris flew past. Smaller rocks hammered the shuttle’s hull with a loud rattling, and through the glow of the distant star Bra’hiv could see veils of thick dust and other flotsam suspended in space, and endless minefield of threats to the shuttle’s hull and engines.

  ‘We need to get out of this,’ the pilot said to Bra’hiv without breaking his gaze out of the viewing panel. ‘We’ll either get pulverised by the big ones or our engines will clog with debris and fail us.’

  ‘Stay in the holding pattern,’ Bra’hiv ordered, his voice equally calm and betraying none of the consternation enveloping him. ‘If we’re spotted, we’re doomed.’

  ‘This is suicide, for one man, for a convict.’

  Sergeant Djimon’s voice reached Bra’hiv from the troop compartment behind him, where men from both Alpha and Bravo Company sat. The general looked over his shoulder and saw the familiar expressions of men about to join a fight: stoic, tense, staring straight ahead into nowhere and alone with their thoughts.

  ‘We don’t leave anybody behind,’ Bra’hiv replied in a low growl. ‘We can’t afford to any more.’

  ‘And lose more people in the process?’ Djimon challenged, drawing a few glances from the other Marines around him.

  Even though they were all hardened men, combat ready, that did not mean that a single one of them wanted to join a fight that they may not survive. Nobody wanted to die, no matter how tough they thought they were, and the merest hint of a chance at escape was as addictive as any drug to men who were, in the end of all things, human. They joined the fight because it was the right thing to do.

  Bra’hiv knew that they had to believe in what they were doing, and Djimon was trying to take that away from them.

  ‘Qayin would not be where he is now if it were not for his own courage and your betrayal, Djimon,’ the general replied. ‘You told us you saw Qayin die, and yet he’s reported as being alive and a hostage aboard that Veng’en ship. We’re facing death again because you didn’t want to. You got a problem with that, why not talk to your fellow Marines about it?’

  Djimon did not dignify the other Marines by looking at them, his gaze remaining fixed on Bra’hiv, but the general saw the Marines all glaring at the sergeant with questioning expressions on their faces.

  ‘Forgot to mention that to Alpha Company, did you Djimon?’ Bra’hiv asked.

  ‘You calling m
e a coward?’ the sergeant challenged.

  ‘I’m calling you a traitor,’ Bra’hiv snapped. ‘Qayin may be a murderous convict but he’s also got guts and he’s trapped because he didn’t want to leave anybody behind. You, on the other hand, were more than willing to leave a fellow Marine stranded aboard an infected vessel under direct fire from a Veng’en cruiser.’ Bra’hiv glared at Djimon. ‘You’re not the man I want watching my back, sergeant.’

  Djimon opened his mouth to respond but his reply was cut off as the shuttle pilot spoke into his intercom.

  ‘Company, stand by for deployment!’

  ***

  XXXIX

  ‘Fire!’

  Ty’ek watched as another gigantic salvo of plasma rounds thundered away toward the Atlantia, the blasts smashing into clouds of asteroids shielding the frigate. Chunks of rock were shattered to tumble in countless swarms, veiling the Atlantia in ethereal clouds of glowing dust.

  ‘Only two direct hits from six, commander,’ his tactical officer reported. ‘We can’t get enough strikes to bring them down.’

  Ty’ek let out a roar of frustration. ‘What about our fighters?!’

  ‘We’ve destroyed two Raythons for nine losses sir,’ Rivlak replied.

  ‘Why are they winning?!’ Ty’ek raged.

  ‘Because they’re smarter than you.’

  The voice was that of Qayin, who sat strapped to a chair behind Ty’ek. Ty’ek whirled and smashed the back of his hand across Qayin’s bruised face, a spray of blood and bioluminescent fluid splattering across the soldier’s vest and hanging in fluid globules in the air.

  ‘They are nothing to us,’ Ty’ek snarled back at Qayin, ‘nor are you.’

  The Slyph’s crew, likewise strapped to chairs on the bridge, remained silent as Ty’ek stared at the main display screen for a moment longer and then he made his decision.

  ‘Take us in closer,’ he snarled.

  The Veng’en’s First Officer, Rivlek, stood up from his crouch behind the tactical station and shook his head. ‘We cannot move too close to the asteroid field, our hull is not as strong as the Atlantia’s. One direct hit and we could be severely compromised!’

  ‘We already are!’ Ty’ek bellowed. ‘Would you have us abandon the chase and flee like cowards?’

  ‘We cannot afford to lose our hull integrity!’ Rivlek insisted. ‘It may be precisely what they want us to do! We must force them to fight on our terms.’

  ‘A Veng’en will fight on any terms,’ Ty’ek snarled back. ‘That is who we are!’

  ‘It is who fools are!’

  Ty’ek’s leathery skin flashed dark crimson as he moved on reflexive impulse, his massive thighs propelling him across the bridge as he ploughed into Rivlek with a shrieking sound so loud and high–pitched it caused Qayin to wince.

  Ty’ek’s razor sharp claws plunged into Rivlek’s throat and abdomen like knives and tore through his flesh. Qayin saw Ty’ek’s limbs whipping up and down in a frenzied blur, dark blood flying in globules to float across the bridge or splatter across screens as the Veng’en commander shredded his former shipmate. Rivlek’s abrupt scream of agony pinched off into a gargled, bubbling groan as the officer died at his commander’s own hands.

  Ty’ek turned, his hands smothered in glistening purple blood that reflected the lights of the bridge as he pointed with one clawed finger at the main viewing panel.

  ‘Take us in closer and blast them with everything we have, now!’

  A Veng’en officer shook his head and pointed at the tactical display.

  ‘Incoming, we’re under attack!’

  Despite his expressionless face, Qayin thought he saw a glimmer of surprise and panic in Ty’ek’s features as he whirled and saw a pair of tiny Raythons rocketing toward the cruiser.

  ‘Crush them!’ Ty’ek roared.

  *

  Captain Idris Sansin gripped the support rail of the command platform as a murderous hail of plasma fire smashed through the asteroid field outside and debris pummelled the frigate’s hull. The Atlantia rocked and shuddered and the lights dimmed and flickered as Lael’s voice, as calm as ever in the face of despair, called out to him across the bridge.

  ‘Fires on decks six through eight. Laceration to hull plating on the starboard stern, engine bays intact, no leaks. Crew has sealed off the bulkheads.’

  Idris watched through the main viewing panel as the huge asteroids shielding the frigate from the worst of the cruiser’s shots were shattered one by one. The view was clouded by dust and debris that glowed in the sunlight coming from the far side of the frigate, but Idris could still just about discern the long, slender hull of the Veng’en cruiser.

  ‘We can’t take much more of this captain,’ Mikhain said. ‘We won’t last much longer against all of these asteroid impacts.’

  ‘We’ll last longer than we will against that cruiser’s cannons,’ Idris snapped in reply. ‘What’s their status?’

  ‘They’re holding position sir,’ the XO replied, ‘they’re not taking the bait.’

  Idris kept hold of the rail as the latest salvo of shots subsided, casting his glance across the tactical displays as well as the warning lights detailing fires and hull breaches across the frigate.

  ‘She’ll hold for a bit longer,’ he insisted, as much to himself as to the bridge crew. ‘Ty’ek is young, angry and impatient.’

  ‘That’s not much to base this strategy on, captain,’ Mikhain pointed out.

  ‘There’s not much else we can do.’

  Idris watched the display for a moment and his practiced eye picked out the faintest of motions in the cruiser’s giant hull.

  ‘She’s moving,’ he said.

  Mikhain frowned at his tactical display and then looked at Kordaz. ‘What’s Ty’ek’s play?’

  Kordaz stared at the screen for a moment as though mesmerized by the damage being wrought on his own people, and then spoke.

  ‘He will attack directly,’ he replied. ‘Ty’ek is young and cannot help himself. He craves revenge and fame for actions in battle.’

  ‘He’s right,’ Lael said. ‘The cruiser is moving in closer. They’re targeting asteroids now, not our hull.’

  ‘Good,’ Idris replied, tightening his grip on the rail as he glanced at Mikhain. ‘Grappling lines?’

  ‘Charged and ready, sir,’ the XO replied, ‘but we don’t have nearly enough men to board and take the Rankor. I don’t know what the hell you intend to do with them.’

  ‘What they were intended for,’ the captain replied, ‘more or less. Keep the engines spooled up ready for my command.’

  ‘Aye sir,’ the helmsman replied. ‘Ion drives at fifty per cent power and awaiting your orders.’

  Idris watched the cruiser and then his heart sank in his chest. He heard Lael’s words as though from afar.

  ‘She’s coming in broadside to us sir,’ she said. ‘She’s keeping her guns to bear.’

  Ty’ek had perhaps a little more to him than Idris had hoped. The Veng’en commander was using lateral thrusters to keep the majority of his massive cannons pointed at the Atlantia as he closed in on the edge of the asteroid field, preventing Idris from gaining any kind of fire power advantage.

  ‘I knew it,’ Mikhain snapped. ‘Damn it Idris, as soon as she blows through those asteroids we’re going to be fully exposed to her broadside. One full set of direct hits from close range and we’re done for.’

  Idris gritted his teeth and glanced at the tactical display.

  ‘How long before they break through?’

  ‘Sixty seconds, no more,’ Lael replied. ‘They’re blasting the asteroids with their secondary weapons and charging the main guns for their final assault.’

  Idris scanned the displays with his practiced eye and knew instinctively that the time for planning and deliberation was over. This was it. He either acted to defeat the Veng’en cruiser or he chose to flee.

  ‘What do we do, sir?’ Lael asked.

  ‘The shuttle, Ranger One,
what’s her location?’ Idris called.

  ‘Sector Five, elevation minus four two,’ Mikhain reported. ‘She’s hiding just inside the asteroid field.’

  Idris released his grip on the railings and made his decision.

  ‘Deploy the shuttle to board the cruiser!’ he ordered. ‘Fire grapples on my command!’

  ‘Captain!’ Mikhain yelled. ‘If we grapple her she’ll be in position for a full broadside from point blank range! We’ll be cut into pieces!’

  Idris saw the cruiser’s guns shatter the last of the large asteroids shielding the Atlantia, the vast rocks breaking up into dense tumbling clouds surrounded by halos of glowing dust and debris, and through it all the cruiser’s immense hull looming toward them.

  ‘Grapples, now!’ Idris yelled. ‘Fire them at her stern only!’

  Mikhain scowled but he reached across and targeted the cruiser’s stern before slamming his palm down on the launch button.

  A series of dull thumps reverberated through the Atlantia’s hull as ten grapples, each the size of two Raython fighters and attached to cables as thick as ten men, were propelled by rockets toward the Rankor’s stern.

  Idris saw them rush across the empty space between the two ships and slam into her hull close to her engines, bright flashes of light caused by friction as the huge metal grapples plunged into the cruiser’s hull and were welded into place by the kinetic energy of the impacts.

  ‘We’re exposed!’ Mikhain yelled as the last of the asteroids shielding the Atlantia was blasted into a billion fragments by the cruiser’s guns. ‘There’s no time left!’

  The captain pointed at the helmsman.

  ‘Full power, hard to starboard, now!’

  ***

  XL

  ‘This is it! Activate weapons!’

  Bra’hiv called out to the men in the rear of the shuttle as it broke free of the asteroid field and rushed toward the huge Veng’en craft.

  The Marines activated their plasma rifles and pulled their visors down, the masks sealing with a hiss as the interior was pressurised in anticipation of a hull breach and “zero–zero” combat: zero gravity and zero atmosphere. Bra’hiv saw Djimon activate his rifle and check the visor of the man next to him, each Marine ensuring that his companion was fully prepared for battle.