The shipyards themselves loomed large in the shimmering holographic viewscreen now as they neared the facility. The enormous docking facilities were in full view, outstretched servicing pylons and huge repair bays which made the one hundred and forty meter long Liberty look like a tiny speck in comparison.
The lights within the facility were all on, as they could see the thousands of lit viewports, so the base had power. As he gazed into the viewscreen, stroking his chin in thought. Michael noticed that there was not a single scratch anywhere on the station, so they hadn’t been in a fight the Krenarans had surprised them.
“Any ships in those docking ports?” he asked just to be sure, their may have been others around the other side of the facility, unseen.
“Negative Cap’n, docking ports are all clear, so they are.” Kinraid replied.
Normally there were around twenty ships assigned to defend Echo base, it was all that could be spared from the front lines, and they were ordered to defend the facility at all costs. Where were they? Michael thought.
Suddenly the viewscreen blazed into life again, startling him and breaking him out of his train of thought. “Admiral Sato to the Honduras, and Eurinades, attempt docking procedures. All other vessels, adopt defensive posture.” The transmission ended.
“You heard the man, bring us about and adopt defensive position bearing 147 elevation 0,” Michael said.
Eldathar instantly complied, and he swung the Liberty 90 degrees, accelerating slightly away from the station and then held position.
Michael looked towards Kinraid who could guess what the captain was thinking, “Still nothing, sir.”
The massive Danitza’s took up strategic positions around the base, as the Alexander class medium cruiser Honduras, and the Jefferson class heavy destroyer Eurinades advanced toward the station and gradually adopted docking positions.
A formation of Ghandhi class destroyers and Mandela class light cruisers continuously patrolled the area. Other than this the entire fleet sat perfectly still, every ships sensors were constantly screening the surrounding space, as if expecting some sudden strike by the enemy.
On the surface of the planet far below Colonel Nikolai Vargev revved the engine of the raider hard, continuing to speed past the enemy held positions. Energy pulses from Krenaran weapons fire continued to blast apart the ground all around them. The roof mounted Armschlager bucked and swayed as it returned fire; raking the Krenaran positions.
Two of the brutal aliens fell, one gurgling as a shot passed through its neck in a spray of white blood, it plummeted to the ground from the high landing pad. The second was thrown backwards as multiple rounds slammed into its chest. Both the driver of the truck and Vargev in the raider floored the accelerator as they sped past the loading area, and the highest concentration of Krenarans. Yet more energy blasts hurtled towards them and Vargev had to steer hard to avoid the incoming fusillade, smoke and dust thrown up by the weapons fire hammering into the ground all around them. The other commando and the gunner were jostled severely, cursing as he almost lost his grip on the armschlager.
A single lucky shot tore into the roof mounted heavy machine gun, cooking the gunpowder carried within the ammunition and causing it to explode in a bright fireball, showering the occupants in hot metal debris fragments. Vargev very nearly lost control of the vehicle as the force of the explosion rocked the raider violently, causing the A.T.V to veer onto two wheels.
“Not now!” He shouted in desperation, as he wrenched at the steering, beads of sweat lined his chiselled features as he struggled to get the vehicle back under control. The occupants were thrown around the interior of the speeding vehicle, as it jerked violently.
The gunner fell back hard on the steel floor of the vehicle, choking and coughing up blood as he tried to breathe through his ruined airway, his face was a torn and bloodied mess, a burnt ruin from the explosion and shrapnel. Once the A.T.V had settled again the other commando onboard tried to tend to his fallen comrade as the vehicle sped through the hail of Krenaran weapons fire, Vargev cast a quick glance in the rear view mirror, and saw the other commando solemnly shake his head. Silently he cursed.
They quickly passed the fiery ruins of the command centre, fortunately only drawing minimal fire from other Krenarans advancing through the shattered building. They seemed as though they were more interested in consolidating their position for the big push during the night.
Finally the battered raider and the accompanying truck screeched loudly to a halt in front of the huge munitions buildings, Vargev and his accompanying commandoes from both vehicles quickly dismounted, carrying their injured with them.
A young sergeant approached them, and saluted the colonel.
“Where is General Steel sergeant?” Vargev asked as he returned the salute.
“In sickbay sir, he’s badly injured. We didn’t think you would make it either after being cut off like that.”
“We almost didn’t sergeant; take me to see General Steel.”
“Of course sir.”
Vargev followed in the sergeants wake, the colonel felt a slight heat in his right leg, as he looked down he could see that his fatigues and a small portion of his flesh had been singed from the Krenaran weapons fire, while he was driving he had not felt it, ignoring the burning sensation he followed the sergeant inside the temporary triage centre hastily rigged up in a far corner of number 2 tank factory, as far away from the fighting as they could manage.
The factory roof had a large ragged hole blasted into it, as a result of the two days of intensive bombardment. The sunny, cloudless sky of Gamma IV was visible through it, and it leaked water heavily. Conditions were less than ideal, but it was the best they had under the circumstances.
The sergeant and two other medics led Nikolai to a bed where Steel lay.
The general tried in vain to struggle into a sitting position, agonizing pain racked his body however and he collapsed back onto the bed; he was weakening.
“Don’t try to move,” Vargev said solemnly.
His Generals uniform, hung next to his bed was torn and bloodstained, his exposed chest covered in crimson bandages. “You were right colonel,” he coughed.
“About what sir?”
“About everything; about deploying the forces in the hills, I’ve been a fool and now I’ve doomed us all.” He sunk further into his pillow, a small tear of sadness ran down his weather beaten, wrinkled cheek.
“Try not to speak.”
“I guess this means you’re in charge now Nikolai.” Steel coughed, a small trickle of blood escaped his parched cracked lips.
“Yes sir, it does.”
“Just do one thing for me colonel?”
“What’s that sir?”
“Win this damned war.”
“I’ll try my best sir,” Vargev smiled wanly, his dark moustache curling up at the corners as he did so.
Walking slowly away from the bed, and out of earshot of Steel, he spoke to one of the medics. “How’s he doing?”
“Not good, he has sustained severe shrapnel injuries to his chest and stomach, he has a collapsed lung, a ruptured spleen, and he’s bleeding internally.”
The medic solemnly shook her head as she let out a sigh, “we are doing everything we can for him, but I don’t think he’ll last the night.”
“Do whatever you can for him.”
“We’ll keep on trying colonel.”
Vargev and the woman saluted each other and he left sickbay, all Nikolai could think about was the fact that there goes a good man, and he will be sorely missed. He couldn’t allow himself time to grieve, there will be plenty of time for that later.
He walked towards a group of soldiers smoking and leaning upon the pitted track armour of an Apollo main battle tank. He was weary, and in a daze with the sadness he felt at the loss of General Steel.
A young Lieutenant quickly dropped his cigarette after realizing who it was, saluted and asked. “What are our orders sir?”
&
nbsp; “err..what?” Vargev shook his head slightly as if to lift the fog from his mind, before his thoughts snapped back to the task at hand. “We are going to re-organise the entire defence, I want your section to deploy heavy machine gun nests at the front gate, two men per nest; got that.”
“Yes sir,” the lieutenant snapped to attention. “Is it true what the men say sir?”
“And what is that lieutenant?”
“That we may not last the night out sir,” he said weakly.
“We can; and we will Lieutenant. We’ll fight to the last man if necessary,” Vargev replied, not really believing his own words.
“Yes sir,” the lieutenant replied, a slightly relieved look spread across his young features.
They both saluted for the last time and the lieutenant immediately set about ordering his section.
Nikolai could hear the distant ‘boom’ of entrenched groundhog artillery pieces resuming their day-long shelling of the Krenaran positions.
Sandbags were quickly stacked up near the front gate throughout the day, with heavy machine guns placed behind them. More sandbags were piled up near the breach in the perimeter fence near the warehouses. Vargev had ordered two Dominator assault walkers, and two more heavy machine gun nests there, manpower was on the short side, with so many dead and injured, the men were tired and battle weary, he knew that. But they had to carry on the fight, they couldn’t just give up yet.
Troops were ferried past the Krenaran held buildings in much heavier cougar armoured personnel carriers held in reserve, rather than use the lighter raiders. The buildings surrounding the Krenaran occupied areas were garrisoned once again and more heavy machine gun emplacements were prepared at strategic positions on the rooftops.
Finally, after many hours of re-organising and planning, Vargev finally said to himself, “now we are prepared.”
In orbit far above, the mood was tense, the Honduras and the Eurinades had docked with the station, and had transferred some of their crew onboard. They were performing a thorough search of the facility, trying to find out what had happened, they found some evidence of weapons fire, but little else, and were about to detach from the station to resume their previous positions.
“Sir, I’ve got something for ya’,” Kinraid said in alarm as he turned in his seat towards Michael. His station came alive with information, data flashed across it with such speed that it was all he could do to read it.
“Put it on the viewer.”
The holographic viewer blazed into life again, and they could just about see a small black cloud emerging from the far equator of Gamma IV, silhouetted by the jade green upper atmosphere of the planet itself.
“Magnify.”
The viewer zoomed in on the cloud, and they quickly found that it was not a cloud, but instead a gigantic Krenaran fleet heading straight towards them. It showed hundreds of enemy stealth ships, and several of the deadly command carriers bringing up the rear.
“Jesus Christ!” Michael shouted, as he looked upon the size of the enemy fleet bearing down upon them.
“I’m readin’ over three hundred ships, and six command carriers,” Kinraid said, his eyes wide.
“Have the rest of the fleet detected them?”
“Only the Solarian ships sir, they are awaiting orders.”
“The enemy fleet has increased speed, they are closing fast,” Eldathar said.
That is how they had taken the station, a fleet of that size would have breezed through the defenders. The crew onboard the shipyards would have been outgunned and quickly overwhelmed, they would have had no choice but to surrender, and in so doing becoming more slaves for the Krenaran war machine, either that or simply eaten, Michael thought sadly.
6. The great battle for Echo base.
The enemy Krenaran fleet continued to close at a tremendous pace.
Michael had now realized that it was all just a monumental trap, the Krenarans knew full well the E.D.F would be sending reinforcements, so they laid in wait on the far side of the planet where they would not be detected. The E.D.F fleet was outnumbered almost two to one, and no less than six of the deadly command carriers were now bearing down upon them.
The Hermes had put its entire fighter and bomber wings on alert status.
The Liberty was already on full alert, its fusion cannon and high energy torpedo launchers, were powered and ready. More power was shunted to the thrusters and main engine. The load on the Solarian power core was almost at maximum, he would have to be careful.
The Krenaran fleet continued its inexorable advance, and Michael noticed that the deadly multiple torpedo launchers on the massive Krenaran command carriers were steadily rising into their firing positions.
As the two gargantuan fleets closed, the signal for battle came from the Hermes. “E.D.F fleet, break and attack!”
At once the two forces set upon one another furiously. Dozens of Solarian battlecruisers, together with their smaller frigates and escorts opened fire together. Multiple incandescent blue fusion cannon beams streaked towards the Krenaran ships, some managed to evade the ferocious fusillade. Several more were caught and torn apart by the sheer power of the Solarian weapon systems, their hulls spinning wildly out of control.
A huge wave of torpedoes launched simultaneously by the Solarian shipping followed this initial strike, slamming into more Krenaran ships at close range, their high power charges smashing into the hulls of the enemy vessels before detonating in huge explosions, lighting up the space around them.
Over twenty Krenaran vessels had been decimated in the initial attack alone, their crumpled, wrecked hulls floating aimlessly through the battle site. Nearby Krenaran ships had to jink and weave to evade the wreckage in order to get to grips with their hated enemy.
On any other day humanity and their Solarian allies would have celebrated the devastation being wrought upon their enemies, however this was not any other day, and was but the tiniest of scratches compared to the sheer numbers of Krenaran ships that fell upon them.
Stealth ships returned fire with their deadly particle beams, targeting the larger, clumsy, and more importantly un-shielded E.D.F ships. The beams smashed home into the hulls of the vessels, causing devastating breaches and massive fiery rents and gouges in the armoured hulls of the vessels.
Several unfortunate Solarian vessels were caught in the withering hail of fire, the green haze of their energy shields lit up, but even these defences could not withstand the onslaught forever, several blinked and died under the barrage, their shield generators simply overloaded.
The Liberty banked around the scorched, blackened hulls of several damaged E.D.F and Solarian ships, its turning thrusters bathing the other ship’s hulls in a bright electric blue hue. Two high energy torpedoes from its twin upper launchers caught and blasted apart a stealth ship it was chasing, the explosion wreathed the outside of the Liberty in flame as it then dived low under the gargantuan hull of a Danitza class battleship; its huge starboard mounted rail-cannons thundering above as the small vessel passed by.
The Liberty unleashed the fury of its own fusion cannon. The shot slammed into another stealth ship about to fire on the huge battleship it had just flown past, sending it spiraling out of control by the sheer force of the impact and straight into the path of another, the two craft collided spectacularly sending out a bright fireball that lit up the hulls of the ships all fighting nearby.
One of the enormous Krenaran command carriers launched its deadly salvo of H.O.T rockets, three Solarian ships were utterly decimated by the multiple impacts of the torpedoes, their bright silver crescent shaped hulls torn, smashed and bleeding fire. Everywhere now ships were trading enormous firepower with one another, splintered, devastated vessels floated lifelessly through the void of space.
Towards the rear of the fleet, the E.D.F flagship, the giant Jupiter class assault carrier Hermes was nestled. Its two newly upgraded long range laser batteries picking off Krenaran ships that came too close, however these were not
its main weapons, it was a gigantic carrier and its launch doors three and four gradually opened as an entire wing of Peregrine fighters and another wing of God-hammer bombers took flight. Their mission was to eliminate one of those deadly command carriers, thereby making things easier for the fleet to concentrate on the other carriers and ships.
The fighters were to escort the bombers to the target, forming a shield against any Krenaran fire they would attract.
The majority of the Krenaran fleet ignored the smaller bombers and fighters however, instead concentrating their fire on the bigger supposedly deadlier capital ships.
This small formation of twenty four craft flew past the comparatively enormous wreckage of several enemy stealth ships and E.D.F vessels, their hulls torn and shredded, flames licked out of large ragged breaches. To the tiny fighters and bombers it looked as though they had stumbled upon a clash between feuding titans.
Larger ships flew past and around the fighters as they closed on their target, trading fire with nearby Krenaran vessels. Some Stealth ships would take an occasional pot shot at the escorting fighters, blasting a few of them apart in small fireballs. The shrill death screams of the pilots could be heard over the communications they shared with their wingmen.
As the giant flat topped enemy carrier came into view, they readied their weapons. Those gigantic H.O.T rocket launchers were larger than the fighters themselves, its vast shape loomed before them, dominating everything around it. The small force was down to just six fighters and eight bombers, barely above half strength, but the target was now in sight. And they were resolved to complete their mission; no matter the cost.
The formation increased speed, jinking past yet more devastated shipping, and floating debris fragments. At last they closed with the enemy carrier, it looked as though it was reloading its launchers after expending a salvo earlier in the battle.
The enemy carrier realized its peril too late, as the remaining Peregrine fighters dived upon the colossal ship at full speed, their wingtip mounted short range laser cannon shots raking the deck of the huge vessel. The puny weapon fire barely cut through the thick armour of the Krenaran ship, two of the fighters couldn’t break out of their dive fast enough and slammed headlong into the ship, crashing through its hull and sending fires blazing out into space.
E.D.F Chronicles - E.D.F resurgent Page 6
