Last Stand Boxed Set

by James David Victor

  Ellen Ripper smiled and winked at Bale, then she turned back to the weapons console and prepared for the fight.

  “Nice one, Gerat,” she said. “I’ll make an admiral of you yet.”

  “That’s if you don’t get me killed first, Ellen. I just hope we don’t run out of ammunition.”

  “Why, what are we saving it for?” Ripper said. “Coming into range of the Skalidion flank now. Firing all weapons.”

  Group Captain Stuart watched on the holostage as the frigate arm, including all frigates and corvettes in the fleet, whipped out to the flanks in an arcing maneuver, like a pair of bullhorns pointing at the sides of the hail curtain and the Skalidions concentrated there. He could see the benefits of the strategy now. The Skalidions were piling up behind the hail curtain waiting for the forward fighters to punch holes in it. The concentrated fire from the frigates and corvettes on both flanks had the Skalidions boxed in on three sides. The strategy was already impacting the enemy numbers.

  A wave of explosions rippled across the holostage as Skalidion fighters were destroyed by the blasts of hail cannon and flickering high-energy lasers from the frigates and corvettes before they turned and retreated.

  “Throw a salvo of combat drones into the heart of that Skalidion mass and then give me another hail curtain. Watch out for the frigates. Order the tac boats to stick tight to the destroyers and make sure we are targeting accurately so we don’t hit any of our own ships.”

  Through the fading wall of the previous hail curtains came the Skalidions. They ran headlong into the salvo of combat drones with each drone detonation accounting for over a hundred Skalidions, vaporizing them in an incandescent fireball.

  The enemy charged on with reckless determination, the swarm taking fire on the flanks as the frigate arm swept in for a second sortie on either side. The outer fighters in the swarm were destroyed by hail and laser, a fresh kill every second. But in the center of the swarm, a mass activation of the green fire weapons grew into a huge green glow hundreds of meters across. It hung in front of the swarm for a moment before it leapt away, heading towards the Canis.

  Group Captain Stuart saw the ball of green fire roll across space directly at his ship. “Incoming fire. Angle the stability field and deflect that mass off us.” Stuart looked at the holostage and the green fire closing in by the second.

  With the tac boat sensors connected to the Canis’s main sensor network, he could see the entire blue giant system. The frigates and corvettes were fighting hard. The ball of green fire was falling in towards the two destroyers with the tac boats and fighters holding formation. Stuart’s eyes darted this way and that, taking in all the information, looking for any opportunity to turn the tide in this battle.

  One Fleet signal far away in the outer system caught his eye.

  The Scorpio was in orbit around a moon of a gas giant in the outer system. It was still not responding to communication, but Stuart knew there was a Marine on board—a Marine who could be trusted and who could get the job done.

  “Open a channel to Major Jack Forge on the Scorpio. Direct channel to his tactical suit. I hope to krav he has got it on.”

  The communications officer turned and nodded to Stuart letting him know the tunneling communication beam was focused on the Scorpio.

  “Major Forge, this is Group Captain Stuart. We’ve lost the Scepter. We are falling back to planet Blue. We need the Scorpio in the fight. Report your status, Major.”

  And then the rolling ball of Skalidion green fire hit. It boiled over the surface of the Canis, knocking it off beam. The ship tumbled forward, pitching onto its nose. The hull stability field sent most of the energy from the fire spilling off into space where it was already breaking up and boiling away in tortured arcs of green energy. But the initial hit had still been great enough to send the Canis tumbling.

  The lights on the command deck flickered, and the holostage blinked off before coming back on a moment later. The holoimage flickered rapidly until it settled, but the usually clear holoimage was replaced by one that was scarred across the midpoint and blurred at the edges.

  “No reply from the major,” the communication officers said. “But we’ve got distress calls coming in from the civilian cruisers. They’ve entered orbit around planet Blue but many of them are falling out of orbit. There appears to be a magnetic anomaly emanating from the planet, and it’s playing havoc with the navigation systems. We have two civilian transports that have already crashed. We have some other transports who are taking it as a sign to begin their landing. Those that are in orbit are crashing to the surface or are making their landings. It’s utter chaos.”

  Bob Stuart clenched his fist and pressed it into the armrest of his command chair. The fleet had only been his for less than a single watch rotation and already, it was out of control. The civilian fleet that he was honor and duty bound to protect was landing on the nearest planet with an atmosphere. Planet Blue had only had the most basic of surveys. It might be habitable, but it also might not be suitable for a permanent colony. The civilian ships that were landing, however, were unlikely to make it back into orbit. Furthermore, they would be sitting ducks for the Skalidion once they crossed the system. Those civilian ships were trapped on the surface and at the mercy of the Skalidion swarm.

  And then a second rolling ball of Skalidion green fire slammed into the Canis. The lights on the command deck went out, and Group Captain Bob Stuart was plunged into darkness. The only sound to be heard over the emergency warning alarms were the cries of concern, fear, and in some cases sheer panic from the command deck crew.

  Commander Scherer sat in the cockpit of his Blade in the center of the fighter squadron. The nose of his plane was pointing toward the hail curtain and the Skalidion fighters punching holes through it. His drive system pulled him backward along with the retreating fleet. He checked the holostage on his flight console and saw the frigate arm of the fleet race away to the flanks in an arcing bullhorn attack formation. Their strategy was clear: to slam the Skalidions in the flanks.

  But the Skalidion fighters were taking the damage inflicted by the frigate arm seemingly on the chin. The swarm was still punching through the kinetic hail curtain. Hundreds were lost, but the swarm still appeared as big and powerful as ever. They were moving in and already firing their green fire weapons into the retreating destroyers.

  “Attention fleet flagship. This is Commander Scherer of the Blades. We are not doing any good back here. Permission to break formation and engage the Skalidions that are punching through the hail curtain.”

  Scherer watched as more Skalidions battered their way through the curtain, even as the retreating destroyers and their tac boats fired another salvo of the kinetic hail. The rounds detonated, throwing out the deadly shield of hail with high-yield explosive capability to defend the retreating fleet.

  And still, the Skalidions threw themselves at the curtain, slamming headlong into it, punching holes through with their own destruction. Their deaths created the path for the others, who were already amassing their green fire as they advanced.

  “This is fleet command,” the reply came over Scherer’s cockpit communicator, a crackling and squeaking reply from the flagship—a sure sign their communication systems were taking damage. “Negative, Commander Scherer. The Blades will hold formation.”

  Commander Scherer slammed his fist down in frustration. “Krav it all, Command. We are getting a beating. Put me and my Blades in the fight.”

  “This is Group Captain Stuart. I appreciate you want to get in the fight, Commander. Your time will come. We’ll all get a chance to face the Skalidions. You will have your chance, but not yet. Hold formation. Don’t let me down, Commander. I know the Blades are eager. I know you will do us proud when the time comes. Canis out.”

  Scherer hoped the group captain knew what he was doing. For now, Scherer would have to follow orders. He flipped his fighter and pointed the nose toward the planet. He checked the fight going on behind him. The flee
t had deployed another hail curtain, but this one was more diffuse and limited in intensity. The hail cannons across the fleet were clearly not operating at peak efficiency anymore. The frigate arm was sweeping across the flanks of the swarm and firing their own hail cannons. High-energy lasers flickered on and off across the frigates and corvettes as they sliced through the Skalidions. The assault created tiny green flashes of death with every flickering beam as the Skalidion fighters were destroyed by the dozen.

  Scherer couldn’t do the math in his head, but he guessed with such overwhelming odds, the fleet could fight like this for days and still be left vastly outnumbered. The fleet did not have days; it hardly even had an hour. Soon, they would be at planet Blue, their backs to a wall. Then the Blades would be called into action. Scherer knew he would be sent to close with the swarm and to take them on ship-to-ship, outnumbered a hundred or even a thousand to one.

  It would be a great victory for the Blades, or a rapid defeat.

  The frigates and corvettes moved independently in wild maneuvers, flipping end over end and pouring fire into the swarm. Scherer could see one frigate was already damaged, slow and being left behind. And then it was destroyed, its reactor giving way to a sustained barrage of green fire.

  The remaining frigates turned their drives to the swarm and accelerated back toward the massed fleet, laying down retreating fire against their pursuers. And then the frigates flipped and swerved and gave fire, hail cannon and high-energy lasers blasting into the swarm.

  Even with the destruction, the swarm was still vast and came on with reckless abandon, throwing themselves willingly into destruction, drawing ever closer to the destroyers.

  4

  Riya Henson could not sit in her cabin and wait. She needed to know what was going on. She had too much of her father in her. Admiral Henson had been the senior officer of the fleet her entire life. If she couldn’t get answers from the captain of a civilian transport, then what was the point of being the daughter of the admiral? She ran along the corridor toward the command deck dragging Bren, her younger sister, by her hand.

  Being the daughters of Admiral Henson, they were able to run past the guards posted outside the civilian transport’s command deck. Bursting in, the girls saw the image on the holostage, of the terrestrial planet Blue.

  The crew’s panicked chatter filled the command deck with a constant noise. The girls had spent plenty of time on Fleet ships, including the flagship carrier, and they were used to a more orderly command deck. The air of panic from the civilian crew seemed to feed off itself and create further panic and concern.

  Riya read the data on the holostage in a fraction of a second. The civilian transport was caught in the gravity well of the planet and had already entered the upper reaches of the thermosphere. Data streamed across the holostage, showing hull temperature, descent curves, descent velocity, and the estimated time to impact on the planetary surface.

  Surrounding the civilian transport were other ships, the same kind of vast civilian transport, all entering the atmosphere of planet Blue. Others were still arriving in orbit, but all were heading for the planet.

  Riya turned as she heard the navigation officer talking to the civilian captain.

  “I know we didn’t have orders to land, but our drive system is misaligned, and I can’t reset it to symmetrical field geometry. Before I am halfway through the reset, it just flips out again.” The navigation officer turned back to his console. “We are caught in some sort of gravitational or magnetic anomaly coming from the planet surface. We are going down, Captain, whether we have been ordered to or not.”

  “I thought we were supposed to be escaping from these kravin’ Skalidion.” The captain squirmed in his command chair. “If we touch down on the planet, we’ll never get this ship into space again. Do everything you can to make sure we don’t fall into the atmosphere.”

  Riya looked at the landing pattern on the holostage. She could see immediately that there was no way this ship could avoid a landing. It was on a one-way course to the surface. The drive system was underpowered, and the velocity far too high. It was going to be a rough landing, if not catastrophic.

  “You need to put everything into the hull stability field,” Riya said, turning to the captain. “You’ve lost control of the ship, Captain. She is going down.” She pointed at the holoimage and a location on the planet where she was certain the ship was going to land. “In a few minutes, we will be on the ground—there.”

  The area on the surface that Riya had indicated was dominated by a vast archipelago, with thousands of small islands separated by a shallow sea. The civilian transport would cover an entire island should it be lucky enough to land on one. But even if it landed in the sea between the islands, the water there appeared shallow enough that it would hardly even cover the lower decks of the massive vessel. The ship would become a vast ocean-bound city. Eventually, the lower decks would become flooded, but only after the power from the drive main reactor failed, and that could be centuries yet. If the civilian ship did not need to use its power for its drive systems, it could maintain the hull stability field for generations.

  “Who let these children in here?” the captain said, pointing at Riya and Bren.

  Bren Henson folded arms across her chest and stuck out her jaw as she looked up at the captain, defiance fixed on her youthful face.

  “I’m not a child,” she said petulantly. “And I don’t need permission to stand here. Just ask my father and he’ll tell you where I can and can’t stand.”

  The captain looked at the girls. Riya saw his features crumble under the weight of sudden sorrow.

  “What?” Riya asked. The captain looked away as Riya step forward “What?” she repeated more firmly. “Tell me.”

  “The admiral…” the captain began and then trailed off.

  “What? What about the admiral? Answer me, Captain. I demand you tell me now.”

  “Get these young women off my command deck,” the captain said, standing up. “Direct all energy into the hull stability field and put us down next to one of those islands in the archipelago. Let’s be sure to put her down as gently as we can.”

  A pair of militia guards posted outside the deck were the only security. They stepped in and stood on either side of the Henson girls. One guard laid a hand gently on Riya’s shoulder, speaking calmly and gently.

  “Come with me, miss. Let’s get you somewhere safe. The ship will be landing soon.”

  Riya shrugged the guard off and stepped up to the captain. She looked up at him, her face determined but with a hint of sadness that was growing by the moment because she knew why the captain was reluctant to answer her question. Somewhere deep down, Riya Henson knew her father would not be joining them on the planet surface.

  “What is it?” Bren asked her sister, stepping up alongside her and taking her hand for comfort.

  The captain stepped down from his command chair. The man was old, and his eyes were red. He looked at the girls and then at the floor. He shook his head.

  “I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but the Scepter was destroyed a short while ago. There’s been no word from the admiral. There were no escape pods, no survivors at all. All officers and crew, including the admiral, have been lost.”

  Riya jutted out her jaw and took the devastating news with a determination that it would not upset her in front of others. Her father had been a Fleet officer her entire life, and she had always known he had been in danger every time he set out on a warship. They had all been in danger during the evacuation, all under constant attack by deadly enemies. It was astounding that any of the ships had survived this long.

  And the more Riya thought about it, and the more she tried not to show her emotion, the more the emotion insisted on showing itself, threatening to burst out of her chest.

  A single tear gathered in the corner of Riya’s eye. Bren turned to her sister and looked up, tugging on her sister’s arm.

  “What does he mean, Riy
a? Tell me what he’s saying.”

  Riya took one last look at the holostage. Planet Blue filled the image. The data streaming in showed the waves breaking on the shores of the small island they were heading toward. She put an arm around her sister’s shoulders and walked her toward the exit.

  “Come with me, Bren.” Riya Henson walked her sister away. “Father is with Mother now.”

  Bren was emotionally strong like her sister, just like their mother, but she held her sister’s hand tight.

  “So are we all alone now?” Bren said.

  “No, little sister, we have each other. We have everyone in the Fleet. They are going to need us, and we are going to need them. Let’s go and get somewhere safe. We’ll be landing soon.”

  5

  Jack moved silently forward with his Marine squad close on his six. A message had come in from the flagship that the fleet was under attack, but Jack was unable to send a response. He knew the fleet was under attack. The Scorpio had to rejoin the fleet and engage the Skalidion.

  One battle at a time, Jack thought. First retake the Scorpio, then join the fleet.

  A silent signal from his wrist-mounted holostage alerted him to movement in a corridor to his left shortly before he heard the sounds echoing toward him. A new group of Beretta’s pirate thugs were moving to engage Jack’s squad on their flank.