"We're protecting the VIP, or did you forget the nature of our trip?"
"I am fully aware of the nature of our trip, Wellard. I am also aware that out of our convoy of six ships, one is scrap, two are effectively disabled, and one has yet to jump, leaving the Endeavor and Providence as the muscle."
"I understand, Jim, and have already ordered my crew to move. We should be out of your line of fire in moments."
Mills face softened as he nodded his understanding. "Thank you, Vince. For what it's worth, I'm sorry for overreacting."
"Save it, Jim. You can apologize to my crew once this mess is over with. Until then..."
The transmission cut off abruptly, leaving the viewscreen empty. Wellard stared at the screen for a long moment as if it would click back on using his projected brain waves. Once his mind grasped what happened, he sat up in his chair and glanced back at Lieutenant McRee.
"Why did we lose the signal?" Wellard questioned.
"The Providence took a direct hit," Bremerton said. "Likely hit the comm room or the bridge."
"Just what we need, a two on one fight." Wellard pressed the button on his console, opening a channel with the CAG. "Valarie, tell me the birds are launching soon."
"Thirty seconds, Captain. Most of the pilots were in their rooms for the night. My assistant is briefing them on targets now."
Wellard nodded. "Good. We need every ounce of help we can get out there. This fight just got extremely one sided."
"We will do what we can to help, Captain."
"That's all I can ask. Wellard, out." The captain sighed, pushed a few buttons on his console, and brought up the image of the battle. The Madrid and Achilles, while crippled, were still in the fight enough to send of a few stray rounds of fire at the enemy ships. It wasn't enough to overload the shields by any stretch of the imagination, but it was just enough to force them to keep their shielding widespread.
"Bremerton, I want you to focus our firepower on a single point." Wellard pressed a few buttons on his console, highlighting a spot on the York. By his estimation it was the best place to hit the ship with catastrophic damage, allowing the rest of the survivors to focus on disabling the Dachshund.
"I thought we wanted them captured," Bremerton remarked. "A hit there will take them out for good."
"We only need one ship alive," Wellard noted. "Besides, we aren't in a position to escort two ships."
Bremerton's face was stone, as if lost in thought. Did the kid really believe they were capable of capturing both crews? Perhaps that was an option while the Providence was in one piece, or be back on the table if the Concord were to suddenly appear, but for now they would have to settle for one.
Besides, destroying one EU ship would cause enough trouble. He believed this one incident may be the straw that pushed their relationship over the edge. As it stood, the NEC wasn't going to be happy with the destruction of one ship, or with the disabling of two more. But even those things were minor compared to the attack on the Providence. Governments, and people, tend to frown when you attack their leaders.
"I understand, Captain."
Before he could say another word another violent explosion rocked the ship, forcing him to hold onto his console to keep from being sent to the floor.
"Wilson, I thought you had the shields under control."
"I did, Captain. They were accounting for the sustained fire of the York, not the Dachshund. Power is being rerouted as we speak."
Wellard thanked the young cadet, not that it would do any good in the next few minutes. As good as the Endeavor was, it wasn't equipped to handle such a fight. Having to focus their attention on two points would allow one of those points to penetrate more quickly. When that happened it was just a matter of time until the ship was added to the growing amount of space debris.
"Any luck reestablishing communication with the Providence?"
"Working on it, Captain. I've been able to get bits of data through, just nothing substantial. Enough to know it will be a few more minutes on their end."
"Very well. We'll just have to do this with without them. Ensign, evasive maneuvers. Try to put the York between us and the Dachshund. We aren't going to survive long with both the bastards pounding on us." Wellard was about to call up the CAG to see what in God's name was taking so long with the fighters when he noticed the fleet approaching the York like a horde of angry hornets poised to strike.
Before he could issue another order the combined fire of the two ships ceased, giving his shields a much needed reprieve. But before he, or his crew, could take advantage of it, their combined weapon systems lanced out, slamming into the Providence with enough force to rip of a large section of the hull. The ship belched fire and debris into space where the beams hit. Within moments small explosions erupted around the ship.
Wellard's jaw dropped at the sight. How the hell had they been caught with their pants down? Perhaps a better question was how they were going to survive when they were the only ship capable of putting up a real fight?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Atroxxin Sector
Cockpit X-71 Fighter
"Loading targets to your HUDs, boys. Focus on them in this order," Tegan ordered. "And try not to get hit by any of the weapons this time. We don't need a repeat of the simulation."
"No intention of doing that again," Fireball replied as the other two gave a quick laugh.
"Targets locked and loaded," Lancer said. "Switch and I am moving into position."
"Roger, Lancer. You two keep to the right so we can avoid each other on our runs."
Tegan's plan was simple. Split up her four-person squad then have each set attack the line of targets from either side. This allowed her team to hit the targets while making her squads footprint as small as possible on radar. It also had the added advantage of allowing each pair to hit any enemy fighters that might be trailing them on each pass, not that either ship had unleashed its compliments of fighters.
"All fighter squadrons. Picking up movement on the York's fighter bays. Be ready for enemy bogeys at any time," Commander Thompson said.
"Copy that," Bobcat replied. "Eyes on the skies, boys. Looks like we're about to get company."
As if on cue, the blips from sixty enemy fighters filled Tegan's optical display. At first they swarmed from the York as sixty individual blips, before converging into fifteen groups of blips, four fighters strong.
This was her first sign that the NEC and EU were really at war. The tactic of using squads of four fighters was something both factions had used since the beginning of their time in space. None of the other factions used similar formations. Shit, none of the corporations she flew for before her time in the NEC used anything similar.
Tegan pushed her fighter forward, eager to at least start her run before the enemy fighters closed in, making it difficult to focus their attention on the cruisers. They closed in within two kilometers before flipping their crafts to the side to get in position for their run.
"Fireball, you ready for this?"
"Ready as I'm gonna be." The kid sounded nervous as hell, which didn't come as a surprise. Only a handful of the Endeavor's pilots had live combat experience. Most of their time had been spent in simulations where failure meant sitting in a dark cockpit for a few minutes while the rest of the scenario played out. Now that the stakes were real, she supposed she would find out what they really had to work with.
"Just stick with me Fireball, and you'll be fine. It's just like the simulations. Focus on what you have to do and trust your fighter to handle its part." She wanted to tell him to trust his instincts, but decided against it believing his instincts were telling him to haul ass back to the fighter bays and away from the fight.
Fireball's deep breath was audible on the comm which she took as a good sign. "I'll do what I can."
"That's all I ask," she replied. "Increasing thrust to eighty percent. Keep three hundred meters behind me and watch out for enemy fire."
"Roger."
<
br /> "And Rick," she added. "Keep your head in the game. Shit is going to get crazy here real soon."
"Will do."
She smiled, pulled back on the controls and moved in. She watched the green blip on her radar that represented Fireball's craft close behind her for a moment longer than she should've. At some point she needed to let him handle things himself. Either he would figure things out, or he wouldn't. Worrying too much about it would only compromise her ability to live.
Dodging stray fire as she closed the gap, she kept the first laser battery in her crosshairs. She waited until she knew her weaponry wouldn't miss the target before pulling the trigger, spraying the target with her own laser fire. The metal where her beams struck turned bright red as she passed as she roasted it, but failed to penetrate the moderate armor protecting the battery.
The next two laser batteries were much of the same. The fourth was a different matter as Lancer and Switch added their firepower to the mix, putting four sets of lasers on the weapon as the two teams crossed paths. The weapon exploded from their combined might, pelting Tegan's cockpit with shrapnel as she passed through the expanding debris field.
"Woo, one down!" Fireball shouted through the comm.
"And a ton to go," Tegan said.
The rest of their run was more eventful at first as their lasers tore through the armor already superheated by the other pair. They knocked out an additional two batteries before their firepower became as ineffective as it was at the start of their run.
Tegan checked her display and noticed the other two had knocked out an additional two batteries on their reverse pass, but much like her pass the last one was a bust. Still, one full run on the weapons and they'd destroyed six of the batteries that were pelting the Endeavor. If the rest of the squadrons were having this level of success, the Endeavor wouldn't have much left to worry about.
"Enemy fighters closing fast," Lancer said. "Moving to engage."
"Roger that. We've got your back." Tegan pulled back on her controls, sending her craft into a spin that put her nose aimed towards Lancer's blip. Fireball tried the same maneuver, but it was clear it lacked Tegan's finesse as it fishtailed a half-dozen times before he pulled it under control.
She pushed the ship hard to catch up. Harder than she should've considering her situation, but they needed to catch up with the others before they found themselves outnumbered and outmatched. Without seeing the enemy fighters in action, she had no way of knowing how skilled they were, but she had a hunch that most of the squads alone had more combined experience than the whole fight crew of the Endeavor.
Two targets were added to her visual display as Lancer marked them for attack, followed quickly by two more. The enemy squadron was making a b-line for the pair, flying in a tight diamond formation.
"Lancer, drop and twist to port. See if we can get them to tighten up a bit."
Lancer's response came late for her taste. She knew why the kid was hesitant to make the maneuver. He was lined up for his first kill and was ready to take the shot and she had just asked him to drop off and pull away. Not only that, he was being turned into the mouse, bait for the four cats heading his way.
"Roger, Bobcat. Dropping now."
She watched through the cockpit window as Lancer made his move. Switch held his position for a moment before joining him.
"Come on," she said as she watched the enemy squadron maintain position. While they had taken a few shots at their fighters as they made their moves, none of them seemed bothered by the two that got away. Instead, they held their position and speed as they continued full on towards the Endeavor.
She wasn't sure what the captain of the York had in mind, but surely he hadn't ordered them to focus on the Endeavor while ignoring its fighters. If it was the case, the fighter portion of the battle was going to be extremely one-sided which didn't bother her one bit.
"Targets will be in firing range in ten seconds," Fireball said.
"Take out the lead ship then make our way around to the left once it goes down."
"Copy."
Focused on the reticle in the center of her HUD, she waited until the crosshairs lit up before pulling the trigger. The combined spray of their lasers tore through the lead fighter, turning it into a floating pile of scrap that moved full speed towards the Endeavor.
Tegan pulled her controls left to pull the second ship into her sights. Another round of fire later and they had sent another pilot to hell.
But something was odd about the fight. It was almost too easy. Not even once had the fighters made an attempt to fire, let alone trying to kill them. Either this was the easiest dogfight in history, or they had something else up their sleeves. As if to confirm her suspicions, the CAG chimed in.
"All fighters, focus your efforts on the enemy fighters heading towards the Endeavor. Keep them from impacting the hull at all costs."
"Impacting the hull?" Switch parroted. "You mean these bastards are suicide runners?"
"Sounds like it," Tegan agreed. "Keep your head in the game."
Chapter Twenty-Three
Atroxxin Sector
Bridge, NECS Endeavor
"Push it harder Ensign, or we're dead."
"I'm trying, Captain, but something is jamming my controls."
Bremerton, still shaky from nearly being thrown on his ass, carefully made his way over to Price's station. Leaning over her shoulder he wanted to get a better look at what was keeping the ship from increasing its thrust. Punching in a string of commands on the console, he brought up the full thruster schematics.
"The thrusters are active," Bremerton noted. "But it's like something is jamming our signal to them."
Wellard opened the comm to engineering. "Vaughn, any idea why our thrusters aren't responsive?"
"Aye, Captain. The last hit did a number to our wiring. Every available hand is working to fix the problem. I suspect they will be operational in the next fifteen minutes."
"We don't have fifteen minutes. If those thrusters aren't available in the next fifteen seconds were in for a world of hurt."
"I'll get a team heading to the thrusters to see if we can fire them manually," Vaughn offered. "It's the best I can do."
"Make it happen." Wellard cut the connection to engineering then turned his attention to his XO. "Wilson, pull some of the fire teams to help focus on the fighters. Laser weaponry only. I want to keep all of our standard ordinance on the Dachshund."
"Sending the orders now," Bremerton replied.
The fight was going badly. Not only had the two ships taken out most of the convoy, they had unleashed a horde of suicidal fighters intent on acting like guided torpedoes. Without assistance, there wasn't much hope the Endeavor would survive its first encounter. The ship, while state of the art, had not been battle tested outside the simulations.
Around the bridge, the crew worked furiously to keep the ship in working order, but the combined fire of the York and Dachshund were doing a number on her. Wellard knew it was only a matter of time until they joined the growing pile of rubble outside the gate.
"Captain, picking up a new contact. It's the Concord. They just materialized on our side of the gate."
"It's about damn time," Wellard remarked. "Send them our current targeting vectors and have them assist in taking out the Dachshund. And get their fighters helping against theirs."
"Aye, sir," Lieutenant McRee said. "Sending transmission now."
The beginnings of a smile formed at the corner of Wellard's lips. With the Concord they had a fighting chance. Within a matter of seconds, the ship was adding its firepower to the Endeavor's. The shielding of the Dachshund glowed bright red against the backdrop of space where the Concord's lasers were doing a number on the shields as small explosions rang out around the beam where the Endeavor's conventional weaponry added to the damage.
"Sensors are picking up heavy energy fluctuations on the Dachshund."
"Good," Wellard replied. He pressed his comm, opening a channel to the
CAG. "Thompson, if you have any fighters near the Dachshund move them back. She's about to go critical."
"Step ahead of you. Any fighters not targeting theirs are moving into position to disrupt the York's weaponry as we speak."
"Guess that means the fighter situation is under control?"
"Indeed. I have three squadrons mopping up any survivors. All enemy bogeys should be eliminated in the next few minutes."
"Sounds Good Valarie. Keep up the good work. Wellard, out."
For the first time since he reached the bridge, Wellard leaned back in his seat. They still had a long way to go, but the battle was quickly turning around. Once the Dachshund was down, he would have the two ships focus on disabling the York so he could bring its crews in for questioning. He wanted to know why the hell they had attacked them in the first place. More importantly, he wanted to know if this was an isolated incident, or something he needed to report back to the admiralty before things got too far out of hand.
Then suddenly the Dachshund exploded as the combined attack lanced it's power supply. He watched at the ship went dark one sector at a time, followed shortly by small explosions that followed the wave of darkness. Then a line of fire engulfed the ship at its midpoint as the explosions ripped the ship in two sending debris cascading in a circular blast radius that engulfed the ship.
The Dachshund was down, leaving only the York to go and for the first time the odds were in their favor.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Atroxxin Sector
Cockpit, X-71 Fighter
"Sending new target vectors," Bobcat said over the comm as she sent the new targeting vectors just transmitted to her by the CAG.
"What the hell. We aren't taking out the weapons?" Fireball replied.
"Negative, Fireball. The captain wants to keep the York from running. They said they can handle the weapons themselves."
Endeavor (The Mythrar War Book 1) Page 8
