by Drew Avera
Text copyright ©2017 by the Author.
This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Nick Webb. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Legacy Fleet remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Nick Webb, or their affiliates or licensors.
For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds
MISSISSIPPI
BURNING
A LEGACY FLEET NOVELLA
FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE ALORIAN WARS
DREW AVERA
WWW.DREWAVERA.WORDPRESS.COM
The Original Legacy Fleet Trilogy by Nick Webb:
Constitution
Warrior
Victory
The Legacy Ship Trilogy by Nick Webb:
Independence
Defiance
Liberty
Other Legacy Fleet Universe Books
Available in Amazon’s Kindle Worlds:
Alt. Chronicles: Legacy Fleet
an anthology produced by Samuel Peralta
Ascendance: The Interstellar Life of Pigeon
by Saul Tanpepper
Meridian
by Moira Katson
Hammerfall (The Khorsky Trilogy, Book 1)
by David Adams
Vengeance
by Michelle Garza and Melissa Lason
Invincible: The First Swarm War, Book 1
by David Bruns
Avenger: The First Swarm War, Book 2
by Chris Pourteau
Vigilance
by Will Swardstrom and Paul K. Swardstrom
Tripoli
by Aaron Hubble
Refuge
by Josi Russell
Colossus
by Jon Frater
Formidable
by Christopher J. Valin
Please sign up for the Legacy Fleet Universe new release announcements. Subscribers will get an exclusive Legacy Fleet short story written by Nick Webb when they sign up. http://smarturl.it/nickwebblist
CHAPTER ONE
Alarms blared on Vira Station as the coming attack screeched closer. The Swarm was back and there was nothing anyone could do but hope and pray that this would not be the end of humanity in this sector. “Get the closest ship on the comms and ask what’s taking so long!” Admiral Kershaw shouted as he looked at the monitors. A lone Swarm ship barreled towards them ominously. “You,” he said to Ensign Moya, his secretary. “Get word down to Prime Minister Geraldo and have them prepare to evacuate.” Inside, Kershaw wanted to throw up at the thought of what was coming. He’d been sweating profusely for the past thirty-minutes as he waited for IDF ships to come to his aid, but the wait felt more like a hopeless countdown to extinction than a military operation.
“But, sir, there’s two-million people down there. How are they supposed to get everyone off the planet?”
They’re not, he thought. “That’s for Prime Minister Geraldo to figure out. My earlier discussion with him should have promoted him to prepare for evacuations already, but I don’t know for sure he would have mobilized the transports without authorization from Vira Station first. This is more a courtesy call than anything else, just do as I said. If nothing else, we owe it to them to give a least a small chance of survival.” Maybe I should have spent my time orchestrating the evacuation instead of trying to summon the IDF to come to the rescue, he thought, but without backup it’s only a matter of time before we all die anyway.
“Yes, sir,” she replied, running towards her desk to carry out her orders.
Admiral Kershaw stood nervously. His anxiety making his heart race more than fear alone could.
“We have the Mississippi, sir. They should be here in in five minutes.” Chief Malleoli shouted from his position in the room. The circular hub of Vira Station was not designed for combat operations. The station was put in place to act as a communications hub for incoming and outgoing ships to Corla. The few weapons mounts were there as a deterrent, not as an actual defense mechanism. This is going to be a problem.
Kershaw turned to Malleoli. “Tell them to hurry the fuck up or there won’t be anything to defend.”
“Aye, sir.”
Fuck, I never should have taken this post. Retirement is looking good right about now. It was selfishness that made him take orders to Vira Station. It was supposed to be easy duty prior to retiring and he had the option to settle on Corla afterward which would have made cost of living reasonable. For all intents and purposes, his retirement would have him living like a king in some areas of the small world. This is what selfishness gets me, he thought.
As he looked out the double-paned view port, he could see light reflecting in the direction of the incoming ship. Its speed seemed to defy reality as he watched, eyes wide and breathing heavy. “Do we have the PDC’s ready?” He had to shout to be heard.
A voice behind him, one he didn’t recognize, responded. “Three out of four are on-line, sir.”
“What of the fourth one?”
“It’s down for maintenance, sir.”
Kershaw let out an exasperated sigh. Down for maintenance. Yeah, we’re all going to be down for maintenance soon. “I don’t care about the maintenance status. Get a crew on it and get it ready to fire, now!”
The junior enlisted man gave a half-salute before running out of the hub, his identity still unknown to the admiral.
“Mississippi is three minutes out,” Chief Malleoli said as he stepped next to the view port beside Kershaw. “They were the farthest ship from our position, but the first to arrive. Maybe we should count our blessings.”
Kershaw scoffed. “You want to count blessings? You have a Swarm ship about to blow this entire system to hell. If we’re the first to die then maybe we’ll be the lucky ones.”
Kershaw could see Chief Malleoli roll his eyes, but he didn’t say anything about it. Malleoli was trying to hold onto hope. There was nothing wrong with that, no matter how short-sighted it was. But the cold-hearted truth was that time was running out and there wasn’t a damned thing any of them could do about it but wait.
“Sir, the Prime Minister is beginning evacuation preps now,” Ensign Moya said from across the room.
He turned to face her, merely nodding his acknowledgment. “There’s no way in hell for them to evacuate in time.”
“We can try to save as many as possible.”
“It won’t be enough.” Kershaw looked down at the small Earth-like planet. More than two-million souls scattering in terror at the incoming threat and he could only wonder if it would have been better for them to not know their death was imminent. He liked to think he would rather know so he could make peace, but there was no peace to be had as he watched the Swarm approach; only trepidation.
“Sir, they are in range,” Lieutenant Williams said from her console.
“In range for what? We don’t have long-range weapons,” he said.
“I know, sir. I meant that they are in range to fire upon us,” she replied.
He turned back to the view port and watched as hell was unleashed.
God help us all.
Kershaw ran to the communications station and grabbed the mic, “All hands, we have incoming. Brace for shock!”
As soon as he set the mic down he felt the rambling vibrations of the PDC’s firing. The sensation made his stomach turn. Kershaw held onto a piece of piping running from the deck to the overhead and hoped for the best. Vira Station groaned as it defended itself against the onslaught. He could see flames erupting briefly outside th
e large view port as the Swarm’s weapons blasted against the hull of the station. It’s only a matter of time before something gives and we’re all dead.
“Sir, the Mississippi is thirty-seconds out,” Malleoli shouted.
“A helluva lot of good they’ll be when the station is obliterated by these mother fuckers.”
Kershaw watched as Malleoli laughed at the response. Everyone takes facing death a different way. For Kershaw, he was scared as shit. Enough so he was sweating his ass off and it was seeping through his dark uniform.
“We’ll make it as long as the PDC’s hold up.”
That’s what I’m worried about. “What’s our status for the PDC’s? Did we get the fourth one on-line?”
Ensign Moya moved over to her desk and turned the monitor downward so she could see it from the floor. “It appears to be on-line, sir. But we are going through rounds too fast. If the mounts don’t melt from heat then we will be out of ammunition in a matter of minutes.”
Great.
As the assault on Vira Station continued, the Mississippi appeared outside of the view port, taking the brunt of the attack with the broadside of her hull. Admiral Kershaw rose and ran over to the comm, “Joan, thank God you’re here. We’ll keep our PDC’s firing to provide as much protection as we can, but we’re running low on rounds.”
“Save them until you need them, sir. We’re deploying our fighters now,” Captain Joan Everett said over the comm. To Kershaw’s ears she sounded mad as hell, but that could have been the way she always sounded under pressure.
“Roger that, let me know if you need anything we can provide,” he answered.
“Will do, Mississippi has the...”
The line went dead as the lights in the hub dimmed. Kershaw felt an explosion in the lower levels of the station and feared the worst. “What happened?”
Ensign Moya scanned the station’s system and turned to face him. “The fourth PDC mount which as down for maintenance just exploded due to a heating issue. The explosion took out the entire lower level. I’m initiating sealing off those levels now.”
“How many did we lose?”
“I’m not sure, sir. Perhaps thirty personnel, but it’s hard to tell since we don’t know who else may have been down there.”
“Dammit,” he said, stalking closer to the view port and looking at the battle raging outside his station. “Have a crew deploy in EVA suits to see if there’s anyone we can save.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea, sir? The exposure to vacuum could cause more issues and we don’t have the manning to save the station and mount rescue efforts for people who are most likely already dead,” Chief Malleoli rebutted.
Kershaw stalked over to the man, shoving him into the bulkhead, the reflection of the back of his head reflecting off the glass of the view port. “Are these people your responsibility or mine?”
“Yours, sir.”
“Then we will carry out the orders I say and you will not question my authority. You got that?”
“Yes, sir,” he answered, swallowing hard as he looked back at Kershaw with fear in his eyes.
Acting out in anger was not normal for Kershaw, but he felt at such a loss he had no idea what to do. Was it potential suicide to send his people away from their battle stations to mount a potentially failed rescue operation? Yes, but he felt he owed it to the men and women he put in harm’s way to do what he could for those who might survive. Besides, it was my orders that led to this catastrophe in the first place.
“Get a crew together, Chief. You just volunteered to lead the mission,” Kershaw said as he turned his back on him and moved back to the communications station. He picked up the mic and spoke, “Mississippi, do you hear me?”
Silence was the only response to his question.
“Damn comms are down. Moya, deploy a crew to fix the comms array as well. If we can’t coordinate with the IDF ships then we’re no better off than we were without them.”
“Aye, sir,” she replied.
Kershaw watched as the bustling activity in the hub fought to distract him from the horrors happening outside of Vira Station. They were doomed and he and everyone else knew it, but part of what made humanity who they were was the resiliency to survive no matter the odds. He just hoped they could overcome those odds once more. An explosion riddled the station, causing it to list to one side.
“The port thrusters must have been obliterated,” he said as he tried to look out the view port and assess the damage, but he couldn’t see it from his perspective. “Moya, prioritize the comms, but we need the thrusters to be fixed as soon as possible. If we can’t maintain a steady orbit then Corla is going to bring us crashing down.”
“Aye, sir,” she said, pausing from relaying the information to the crew she deployed to expedite repairs for the communications array.
He knew he was pulling his people in several directions, but this was life or death and he wasn’t keen on experiencing the latter. He paced the hub, running his hand along the curved view port as he surveyed the damage his station was taking. The Mississippi seemed to be taking the brunt of the assault, but the enemy fighters were getting past them and lighting Vira Station up.
“Concentrate PDC firing on the Swarm fighters. Use manual targeting and try to help the Mississippi out,” he ordered.
“Roger that, sir,” one of his Fire Control operators said from the center of the hub. The man, and his counterpart, a female Fire Control operator fought against the controls to get a lock on the enemy ship.
Kershaw felt the vibration of the PDC’s firing under his feet. To his relief, two smaller ships appeared, both were destroyers and part of the IDF fleet. “Hell yeah,” he hissed, his hands balled into fists as he watched humanity even the odds. “Contact Lasister Station and see if they have been engaged yet.” He hoped the station on the far side of Corla would be ready for the coming assault; at least they had more time to prepare.
“Sir, we have incoming!” Moya shouted.
Kershaw turned to see what was coming, expecting a missile or laser beam to strike Vira, but instead saw the crumbled, twisted hull of one of the destroyers shooting towards them. The ship, cut in half by the Swarm’s laser, rolled towards him, shooting sparks in the darkness as it grew close. He swore under his breath, the sense of victory pouring from his body as defeat tightened the noose around his neck. There was nothing he could do and, for Kershaw, the fight was over.
CHAPTER TWO
Shaky hands dropped the receiver as Prime Minister Geraldo came to the realization that he, and everyone on his world, was about to die. Evacuations were improbable at best, but he had a duty to at least try and save as many as possible. “Lindsay, please get word to all transport services to expedite the evacuation. The Swarm is here.” The deadness in his voice made him feel as if he was speaking in a dream. Where was the sense of urgency? Where was the direness in his words and actions? Perhaps I’m already dead and my brain has not caught up with my body yet.
“Sir, look,” Lindsay said, pointing his finger to the sky where the attack on Vira Station was evident. From his vantage point, Geraldo thought it looked like burnt ashes wafting in a light breeze, but from this distance he imagined massive flames igniting before the vacuum of space snuffed them out.
“It’s already too late, but make the call anyway. Have the ships head in the opposite direction and pray the Swarm don’t see them.”
“Yes, sir,” Lindsay said, running for the phone. Geraldo swallowed hard, imagining what death would feel like when it finally came for him. I won’t go down without a fight, he thought, grinding his teeth nervously. “I have a transport preparing for you, sir.”
Geraldo turned, canting his head with a questioning look on his face. “I’m not evacuating,” he said. “I’m staying to fight. This is my home and I’m not letting the Cumrats come and take it.”
“Sir, that’s…”
“That’s what?” He snapped. “I’m a human, just like everyone else o
n this world. I don’t deserve a chance better than anyone else on this planet, so why should I evacuate first? Get the citizens off first, then I’ll go if we’re still alive.” He hoped to sound inspiring, but his words fell flat and he only felt as if he sounded defeated already. Maybe that’s the truth I don’t want to tell myself. I’m afraid to die, but I’m afraid to live and deal with the circumstances of my decisions too.
“Yes, sir,” Lindsay replied, shuffling back to what he had been doing before. Geraldo watched as his secretary handled the bulk of the work that was his responsibility. Lindsay was a good man and Geraldo felt fortunate to have had the man serve as his secretary. If anyone was married to the job it was Lindsay, and that mentality helped carry Geraldo to his third term as Prime Minister of Corla. It looks like that’s coming to an end, though.
The sky erupted in green flashes and flames above Corla’s horizon. There were no clouds in the sky to obscure the horrors taking place above and Geraldo wondered how many of Corla’s citizens gawked at the warring with terror in their hearts. They aren’t the only ones.
“How are the transports coming?”
“One transport of citizens was already boarding, sir. Your earlier call to prepare was carried out somewhat efficiently considering how fast the Swarm arrived. I guess we have that to be thankful for.”
“Indeed,” Geraldo whispered. “I’m just glad Kershaw gave me the heads up. Even if the timeframe was too short to plan for a full-scale evacuation, we at least have an opportunity to get some people off planet. Let’s just pray it’s enough.”
***
Geraldo watched as several transport ships took to the air and headed westward at an incredible rate. "Godspeed," he said as he shoved his hands into his pockets as he always did when he was afraid. It was a nervous reaction his mother used to scold him for growing up. Now, it was the only familiar thing he felt as the Swarm dominated the battle group orbiting the planet. "What is that, just under ten-thousand people?" A drop in the bucket was all it was.
