The Battle of Tangine

by Will Crudge

  “Execute, Skull!” John nodded. “Blast these fuckers from the cosmos!”

  “Damn right, Admiral!” Skull responded “Sending the COA to the Air Force Squadron commanders now. I recommend ordering the ship to their actions stations immediately.”

  John nodded, and then glance over to the Commodore. The First Officer activated the ship-wide alert on a nearby control console that was mounted to the bulkhead.

  “Skull?” John asked.

  “Go ahead, boss!” The irreverent NAV system replied. “If we survive this, then I just wanted you to know that you are an asshole.”

  “Uh – OK,” Skull said.

  “But you’re the most ingenious asshole there ever was!” John finished his thought.

  “Aw! Somebody loves me!” Skull replied in a mock-sheepish voice. The entire command crew erupted in a mix of laughter and cheers. The sounds of joyous revelry almost made the image of three KEPL launches go unnoticed.

  The view on the main display captured it all. The mighty Battleship targeted the Dreadnaught, but the vast distance between the UAHC ship and the Crimson Capital ship made for several tense moments of waiting.

  “Damn! Those shields are tough!” Skull shouted. But nobody had to ask what he meant. They could all see it on full display.

  The main Crimson fleet was deployed in a wide arc and seemed to be closing in on the Hailstorm. The formation appeared to be at least a thousand kilometers across and formed a half sphere. If the Earth was sliced in half, then the Crimson Fleet would roughly resemble a single half of the Earth’s crust, and the UAHC Battleship would be the central core. The Crimson’s flagship was roughly on the would-be equator, and was facing down the UACH ship on an even plain.

  The impact of the first sixty-ton KEPL round flared the capital ship’s energy shields, but it almost instantly snapped back into an invisible shell after a few ripples of energy washed over from the impact point.

  Just as the enemy shielding stabilized, the second sixty-ton KEPL round smashed into the prow of the dreadnaught, and the shields flared back up to its full intensity. The brilliant white flash of energy held, and then began to recede into ripples of energy, as did the first impact… But this time the shield took twice as long to recover, and it was apparent that the shield generators were being heavily taxed.

  The ninety-ton KEPL, however, barely noticed there was a shield at all… The round slammed into the mighty ship’s prow, and the shielding flared, overloaded, and dissipated all at once. The zoomed in image of the massive ship revealed significant damage. A gaping hole in the prow was garnished with wrecked bulkhead ribbing and twisted chunks of armored plating. Burning atmosphere was rolled out from the newly formed cavity, but then abruptly stopped. It was apparent that the backup emergency shielding had snapped in place, and sealed the hole from the vacuum of space.

  But the ninety-ton KEPL had lost enough inertia from the impact of the shielding, that it didn’t appear to do enough damage to cripple the ship. The Crimson dreadnaught was the size of a small planet, after all. It shrugged off the deadly attack successfully, but not without causing panic. And panic was what the Fleet Marshall was going for.

  The images of the smaller enemy ship formation were on a secondary display in the CIC, and was showing at least half their number had already vacated the taxiway tunnel, that was formed by the massive blueish energy shielding that linked the station with a hyper gate, much like the spoke of a wheel. The vessels appeared to be at least two hundred in number, and were a blend of cruisers, destroyers, and a small swarm of frigates.

  Those that had already vacated the taxiway, had formed several battle formations, but facing in the general directions to where the wrecked HAL’s had faced. It was obvious that they were gathering to invade their strategic targets, and were getting formed up into attack formations before transitioning into FTL.

  But now it was apparent that they’d been diverted and were now beginning to move from the far-side of the station in relation to the Hailstorm was located. Obviously, the ninety-ton KEPL had either made Fleet Admiral Cornelia nervous, or the dreadnaught had taken more damage than the sensors could detect.

  Either way, the diverted forces were now having to cross over their own traffic pattern, and the egress of the rest of their force had to hold fast within the tunnel of energy in order for traffic to clear. Which was exactly when the UAHC Broadsword came through the hyper gate behind them.

  The Hailstorm’s CIC erupted in cheers as more UAHC fighting ships poured through the hyper gate and had the Crimson ships within pinned against an onslaught of missiles, beam fire, and KEPL strikes, and that of their own ships that had been redirected.

  The Crimson ships within the tunnel were facing station-ward, and their thruster arrays were exposed to the concentrated fire of the Broadsword Squadron behind them!

  “How fast can our Air Force brethren get their Mark-8’s down to that taxiway?” Darius asked. The man’s eyes weren’t directed towards anyone in particular, so it was assumed the question was directed at Skull.

  “Fast enough, boss,” Skull replied. “But I recommend holding one squadron in reserve to protect our flanks. If we start taking big hits… when we start taking big hits, that is… we’ll be vulnerable to harassment strikes from smaller vessels.”

  “Excellent assertion, Skull.” Darius nodded. “Send them all anyway and make it fast!”

  Every jaw in the CIC dropped, aside from Val’s and Jep’s. The seemingly text book recommendation was overruled without an explanation from the Fleet Marshal.

  “I-I, OK then,” Skull responded.

  “Sir, we’ve got another hail request from Cornelia.” Fin reported to John.

  “Main screen.” John said. Fin gave look of confusion. He seemed to be perplexed as to why valuable display space would be taken up during an active battle. But after John’s eyes shot at Fin like daggers, the young Ensign complied.

  The image of Cornelia filled the screen. The Crimson Fleet Admiral held the posture of a consummate commander, but ripples of annoyance seemed to permeate from his seemingly stoic expression.

  “I see the Broadsword’s destruction was merely a rumor.” Cornelia raised one eyebrow to accompany his arrogant tone.

  “Oh, it was destroyed,” Darius said. He knew that John didn’t have a clue of what the Broadsword Squadron had been through at the Alpha sight skirmish.

  “Well, that’s not what the IDENT code would tell me.” Cornelia cocked his head at an angle for a moment, and then shrugged. “It’s not like it matters. When I’m done wiping you from the cosmos, I’ll do the same to your heroic squadron down there… then I’ll be off to conquer your whole civilization.”

  “So, is that all you wanted to say?” Darius scowled

  Cornelia laughed. “No, I didn’t. I just wanted to see your facial expressions when the other half of my fleet transitions out of slip-space and hits you from behind!”

  Darius said privately to the others via neural interface. General Gordon was the first to send an acknowledgment icon, but John hesitated… Noticeably hesitated. Darius wondered if the Admiral was even fit to command an entire UAHC Squadron, when he obviously had no faith in his superiors. Especially when he’d seen his superior’s actions had all led to their survival up to this point. Darius thought he may be too insecure to allow for the right balance of pragmatism and raw gut feelings that would be required to overcome in battle. But that was a thought for a different time.

  John replied. All the while, Cornelia was blabbing about his own fleet’s superiority in the foreground, and the three men pretended to listen intently, as was expected of a vanquished enemy. The IDENT transponders of dozens of Crimson ships began to populate on screen as the arrogant man kept on preaching.

  SK’s, and nukes are too high. It just so happens, that all other weapons at their disposal won’t do much of anything against the upgraded shields,> Darius replied.

 

  Darius scowled.

  “Let me cut in to your glorious preamble of, what you expect will be, our reluctant pleas of surrender, Admiral.” Darius interrupted Cornelia’s self-absorbed rant.

  “Oh?” Cornelia laughed. “And what do you have to say? You going to beg for the lives of your beloved men and women? You going to offer yourself as some kind of bargaining chip?”

  “No… Not exactly.” Darius frowned. He could see the icons of dozens of Crimson ships trying to combine their laser, and particle beam weapons in a mass burn against the battleship’s shields. The shield generator status icon shone on the nearby command console display with Darius’ peripheral vision. He made a mental smile as the generator charge indicator was holding at ninety nine point nine seven percent. “I was wondering if you could stop firing on us long enough to organize our thoughts.”

  Darius knew he had to choose his words carefully. Surrender was never an acceptable term in any UAHC Military doctrine, and he was not about to change that centuries old tradition…. But he also was playing at Cornelia’s inflated ego. He knew the man would assume that surrender was what was on the table.

  “Very well. You have five minutes to discuss what terms of surrender that I’ll likely ignore. But in the meantime, I want you to order the Broadsword Squadron to cease as well!” Cornelia stated.

  “Consider it done… however, I have no authority over the Air Force squadrons bearing down on your secondary fleet forces. I can ask them to pull back as a gesture of professional courtesy, but they may or may not comply.” Darius wasn’t technically lying… but kind of was. It was a grey area that had not been sorted through. The Air Force was considered paramilitary in the UAHC, and the Fleet Marshal only had authority over them if the Military Consul ordered the Air Force to be fully militarized. At the moment, it was basically down to semantics, since Brigadier General Cooper had already recognized that the UAHC’s state of war had given him the implied task to take military action. But Darius played it off as a means to keep the smaller enemy force at bay for a few moments longer.

  “Somehow I think you’re lying, Fleet Marshal… But, it’s not like a few hundred Mark-8’s are any real threat to my larger ships. Five minutes!” Then the feed was cut from the other end.

  “Very well,” Darius said, and then turned his eyes to Val. The ancient monk with a middle-aged face merely nodded in response, and then turned to the Rear Admiral.

  “Admiral John?” Val asked with his usual level of calm humility.

  “Yes, Val?”

  “I’ll need to borrow the use of your QET, if that’s alright?” Val smiled. Darius winked at him, and then turned his eyes to John with a sinister grin. John noticed that the two men had something up their sleeves and wasn’t going to argue.

  “Please do, Val.” John he gestured towards the platform that rested just slightly forward of the command console. Val stepped up and initiated the QET field.

  The rectangular platform began to glow a shimmering blue, and tendrils of blue light began to emerge from the surface, and cascade upward, until Val was being bathed in shimmering blueish light.

  “General?” Val asked. The view of a ghostly blue figure stepped into the console as if he were physically present. The general nodded in response, and seemed to lock eyes with Val.

  “Yes, Sovereign?” The ghostly admiral replied.

  “Have our Crimson guests arrived?”

  “They have, sir. They’ve deployed ground demolition teams to the shipyard all around us. They have no idea what’s coming.” The General smiled.

  “And the Ghost Fleet?” Val asked.

  “Fully deployed and cloaked. Fleet Admiral Zeff is reporting that they’re ready to engage the main force of ships that are now bypassing our location.”

  “It’s time to power up the drives and link me to Midas,” Val asserted.

  “I’m here, my old friend,” Midas’ voice chimed in.

  “It’s time.” Val crouched down with one knee. He closed his eyes and gestured towards Darius and Jep. The two men came to his side, and stood beside the platform, but reached into the energy field and each placed a palm on the man’s back.

  Three Zodiacs went into motion at once. Two panthers, and one wolf walked up to Darius, and the war Master. The two men’s free hands rested on the shoulders of their paired mounts, and Sheba leaned in to make contact with Shadow.

  All eyes were watching the seemingly absurd ritual. Jaws were dropped, and the room was otherwise silent. Then the ancient monk’s eyes opened, and the CIC was full of gasps from the staff officers that could see it. The Admiral, General, and Commodore all tried to get a glimpse of what the rest of the room was so taken back by, and they all stood up and skirted around the command console, and stopped at the edge of the QET platform. Their own jaws dropped when they saw the glowing blue orbs that seemed to have replace Val’s human eyes.

  The monk took in a deep meaningful breath, and then his forehead wrinkled as he appeared to be straining somehow. The stoic forms of Darius, and Jep remained emotionless, and the two men closed their eyes in response to the monk’s strained efforts of concentration.

  Then all of their eyes opened in unison and share the same sublime glow. Growls and muffled roars from the three Zodiacs caused the bystanders to look towards the beasts, whose eyes were shimmering as well. The two panther’s eyes were a brilliant green, and Growl’s were a shimmering red.

  Then Val opened his eyes once more. Everyone in the CIC stepped back in fear and confusion as the monk let out a blood-curdling yell, and his eyes flashed even brighter than before. Darius and Jep appeared to be straining as well, but their Burdon was over-shadowed by the roars and howls that came from the Zodiacs.

  Then all went silent, and Val Collapsed to the QET surface. Darius and Jep seemed to go limp for a brief moment, but then they both straightened back up. Their eyes fluttered back to their natural colors, and they immediately rushed to lift Val to his feet once more.

  “It worked.” Val gasped. And the entire command staff were on their feet and stood like statues. John himself was in awe, but then shook his head and began to spout orders for his staff to get back on their assigned tasks.

  Ensign Fin batted his eyes and snapped himself back into the present. He wheeled back around to his console and couldn’t believe his eyes.

  The icons of a thousand new contacts filled the screen, and countless alerts flashed before his eyes. He was rendered speechless at first, but then a flood of euphoria poured over him as he read the IDENT codes of Unum warships fill his entire scanning display.

  “Multiple contacts! Unum reinforcements!” Fin could barely hold his composure together as he fought back tears of joy and relief. “On screen!”

  The entire CIC command crew stood in awe at what they saw. The IDENT codes paired with the new icons that appeared to be completely encircling the Crimson Fleet. The spherical formation that was surrounding the lone battleship, was now encased in a layer of a thousand ships that were each larger than any dreadnaught ever built. Bigger still than the newly upgraded UAHC Battleship itself.

  “Unum IDENT’s read… Juggernauts?” Fin’s report evolved into the form of a question, as he was noticeably taken back from the unknown hull type. He glanced over to the Admiral, but the man stood beside the General, and Commodore in a trance-like state of awe as the three men glared at the screen. Fin th
en looked over to the ancient monk, as he regained his footing, and was catching his breath. Fin could hear the audible alarms from the energy scanner in the background, as they blared warning of multiple massive energy anomalies.

  Val looked at the young Ensign and formed a crooked smile. “You still an atheist?”

  Fin just stared blankly at the monk named Val. He had a flood of emotion and confusion washing over him but had no time to mentally process anything. He had to stay focused.

  He returned to his workstation and saw another hail request from Cornelia. This time he decided to breach standard procedure, and he accepted the hail on the main screen.

  The image of a befuddled man in a defeated posture came into full view. By now, the CIC’s command staff had mustered enough discipline to appear as if things were business as usual. Fin noticed how odd that was, considering the pseudo-supernatural event that had just taken place a few moments earlier.

  “Where in the hell did those – ships – come from?” Cornelia spoke out of fear and confusion. His posture betrayed a man defeated. Before any human could respond, Skull answered on Rear Admiral John’s behalf… and in true Skull-Crusher style…

  “They just came from your mother’s house… but even those big-ass ships couldn’t fit inside her gaping whore’s vagina, so they showed up here to try and use your asshole as a backup plan!” Skull asserted with every ounce of rage and indignity that he could muster…. But for once, Admiral John didn’t try and shut him up.

  There was a long and awkward pause. All eyes in the CIC glared at Fleet Marshal Darius, but he turned his eyes to Rear Admiral John. The rest of the command staff followed suit. But the stoic man stood tall and confident. His semi-tense jawline accented his piercing eyes, as he stared down his vanquished enemy.

  “It’s true, Cornelia.” John cut into everyone’s surprise… even Skull’s. “Even their massive hulls were no match for your mother’s cavernous gap!”