by SF Edwards
That makes sense. But does that mean that the Temblors are gearing up to fight too? What about…
“We do not have alert fighters and our squadron is the best prepared to fight right now,” Joda continued.
Oh frag me. Please, God, let this be some kind of simulation like our last sortie was when Joda had us take on all those holo-masked drones and instructors.
“This is no simulation, cadets. I know that’s what you are thinking. Your instructor cadets are currently manning up their Splicer 3000s. You will provide cover to Temblor Squadron as they attack. Other bomber and fighter squadrons are being readied but they needed to be roused from their bunks first.”
Blazer sat back in his seat. This was serious and the gravity of the situation pressed down on him harder than his most strenuous combat maneuver had.
“Provide cover to your assigned attack craft. Remember your training, keep moving and you will survive. Above all else, protect the academy,” Joda concluded.
The link cut out and Blazer looked around as technicians swarmed his craft, removing the dummy rounds from his launchers in preparation to load live missiles. He undid his harness in response and prepared to climb out of his cockpit to assist when Chief Flind ran up, waving him back into his seat.
“Sit down! We’ve got this,” the chief yelled.
Technicians clambered over the rest of the squadron, loading up live munitions and setting their plaser cannons and EPCs to full power instead of the lower-powered training levels. Blazer looked down at his indicator and watched as the plasma reserves to his plasers filled and the EPC Cannons’ charge level increased to combat levels. That setting could only be adjustment on the ground. This is real.
Blazer swallowed hard and sat down, a new realization washing over him. If there was ever a justification to use our modifications in the open, this is it, to save the academy.
He fished around in his survival vest, pulled out the maintenance dongle and held it up for all to see. He looked to the fighters on either side of him. The pilots turned and looked at the object in his hand. They nodded and pulled out their own dongles. They held them up until the entire squadron, even Seri, who’d initially disapproved of the modifications, held up hers as well.
It didn’t go unnoticed by anyone on the deck and even Chief Flind nodded to Blazer that it was the right time. The squadron waited until the maintainers finished arming their craft, then each of them inserted their dongle into the maintenance plug. Just as they all expected the alert lights lit and they prepared for launch.
GFS-Nosferat, Battle Bridge
Captain Delgado felt his throat tighten in anger as Vampire Group took up orbit outside the asteroid shell. The asteroids within were far too close together to risk taking capital ships through. By what means does the Confederation open up the shell to transit their ships through unharmed to that space dock?
Delgado turned and looked at the commander beside him, “Launch the recon flight.”
The commander nodded and relayed the order. The Light Carrier Dracula beside them launched a pair of Tiger Cat Fighters in response to investigate the interior of the shell.
The commander then looked up at the shell and read the limited readings and intelligence they had on the area so far. “The shell is less than half a kilometer in thickness. We could just blast our way through it. The shields should be able to take the rest.”
Captain Delgado considered that. The Nosferat’s guns were more than capable of cutting a swath through the asteroid shell. Moreover, the destroyer Bathory’s razer cannon could rip a hole wide enough for all three of them. The only problem there was that they would have to wait up to half an hour for the cannon to cool down and recharge its capacitors.
The captain shook his head. “No. I want a good reconnaissance first. Those recon fighters can paint our targets for us. Then we’ll have the Bathory take out the shipyard and cut us a path in a single blast before we move in for the kill. Once we suppress their defenses, we can use this same asteroid field against the Confederation when it launches a counteroffensive. Only we’ll be waiting inside with our weapons ready to greet them.”
The commander scratched at his nose. His combat records paint a man who would prefer to go in guns blazing. But he has to realize that firing the Bathory’s razer cannon too soon will prove detrimental.
“There!” Captain Delgado called out as the recon fighters cleared the shell and pointed to the holographic display. “There’s the shipyard. They must have some means of opening up the shell to allow ships to pass through.”
The commander’s face turned sour as he looked. “I’m not so certain that’s a shipyard. It’s rotating so that must mean it has gravity on the inner surface. I’ve never heard of the Conts having shipyards with gravity before.”
Captain Delgado shook his head emphatically. That’s no O’Neil Cylinder. It’s completely closed off. With no way for light to enter, it has to be an enclosed space dock. Perhaps it rotates to accommodate farms but who could say for certain without boarding it? “No, it is definitely a space dock. Have the recon craft move in and investigate.”
The two fighter craft raced towards the academy in response and flew a scanning profile across its surface. Captain Delgado smiled as the data came in. Buttoned up, with the docking portcullis closed and every airlock hatch covered there was no way they could launch the cruisers within. The fact that it still radiated heat into surrounding space confirmed the high-energy power systems within. This has to be a shipyard.
The commander shook his head as he stared at the image. “I don’t see the entrance.”
“It was there,” Captain Delgado replied and pulled out his datapad. He picked out the image of the academy sent by the probe. The image wasn’t clear but there was an opening at one end of the pill-shaped asteroid. “They must have closed it up somehow.”
The commander looked over at him-unsure. “That’s possible but it means they know we’re here.”
“That was a certainty the moment we dropped into the system. The fact that it’s closed up means they’re hoping that the rock will protect their ships inside. They aren’t ready to fight back at all.”
“Moving onto the primary,” the recon leader called back over the open link as the two Tiger Cats altered their vectors to take them towards Singularity Base. With reconnaissance pods mounted in place of their heavy weapons, they turned their powerful scanners on the rocky dwarf.
Captain Delgado watched the screen with keen interest. This miniature world has to be the location of their academy. As the fighters raced across the surface, the imagery and data they sent back revealed only a featureless rock. The pilots flew too fast to make out anything on the surface. The sensor operators receiving the telemetry aboard the Nosferat made quick work of the imagery and found several small hatches.
“That’s it. Those have to be the entrances to the main facility,” the captain declared.
Again the commander shook his head. “I doubt that. I see no docking facilities and no place to berth or land shuttles or larger craft.”
“Likely masked or concealed like they did to the space dock’s entrance.”
The commander’s face still showed doubt and his datapad showed that the captain was still fixated on the space dock. Calculations about the inner surface gravity based on its rotation rate ran along the side of the image and Captain Delgado shook his head at the numbers. Those are far too high. The commander obviously needs a course in remedial math.
“Have the recon craft pull back and send targeting data on the space dock to the Bathory. We’ll eliminate their ability to launch their ships then launch the bombers to subdue the base.”
As if in response, an alert rang out for inbound craft. The main sensor operator turned to the captain with wide eyes. “Sir, we show a Confederation ship inbound on a dark matter stream.”
Captain Delgado’s blood went cold.
“It’s an Ormu-Balhet class heavy cruiser.”
Th
e bridge went quiet around the captain. He recognized the silhouette the moment he saw it. The Ormu-Balhet class were the pride of the Drashig Heavy Fleet. Their numerous turrets and massive turreted plasma beam cannons made them formidable ships despite the age of their basic design.
“On screen!” Captain Delgado ordered.
The main view switched over to the exterior cameras to show the massive beetle-shaped heavy cruiser drop out of slipstream behind the strike group. They tracked the huge ship with its distinctive red and orange hull as it decelerated and drew itself into position between the Nosferat and Bathory. The large ship opened fire.
Captain Delgado felt his world disintegrate as the Nosferat's shields took the full force of the strike and reports came in of the Bathory opening fire on the ship. I will not be defeated so easily! Defiant to the end, Captain Delgado leapt to his feet and pointed at the ship on the screen. “Return fire!”
At the edge of the screen, he watched as one of his ship’s turrets angled around and opened up on the horridly-colored craft. Thrice damned Drashig, who paints a ship in such vivid colors?
"Bathory reports that her shields are taking a beating, sir,” the commander reported as he ran over to the tactical board behind the captain. It showed numerous hits on all three ships. “Where in the stars was that monster hiding?”
“We’ll find out later. Now instruct the Bathory to continue firing. I want that ship reduced to slag. Order them to concentrate their fire on the flight-deck. The Lady Blood will be an easy target for any strike craft they’re carrying."
"Yes, sir!" the com officer called back.
“Starboard torpedo room reports ready but they’re having trouble getting any kind of lock,” the commander called back unsteadily.
“No matter! At this range they can’t miss! Order a broadside!”
“Yes, sir!” the commander replied. “Torpedo control, fire one!” A moment later, the first torpedoes streaked out of the starboard tubes.
“Sir, we’ve lost communications with the Bathory. We’re being jammed,” the communications officer reported.
“Captain Smith will know what to do. Continue firing!” Captain Delgado ordered; tasting blood as a fighter exploded upon emerging from the ship’s long ventral hangar.
Captain Delgado’s breath came in throaty rasps with each passing moment as they traded fire with the Drashig ship. Though no further reports came in from the Bathory, the tactical officer conveyed heavy damage to the smaller destroyer. He had to end this soon or the loss of his crew would be inevitable. All thoughts about the recon fighters disappeared as he focused on the battle with the large ship. The captain’s eyes went wild when he watched one of his ship’s hyperplasers breach the hull of the heavy cruiser. He didn’t even question when he watched torpedoes and missiles emerge from ports in the ship he had never known of before. His bloodlust and thirst for glory were in control as fissures opened in the orange hull.
“Order another torpedo barrage! We have them!” he announced from his seat as the Dracula moved from behind the cover of his ship to engage.
"Sir, their shields are failing. We are reading massive structural damage,” the sensor officer reported.
Captain Delgado sneered at the screen as the Dracula’s shots went wide of the ugly ship beside them. I should have their gunnery crews sent back to training. How could anyone miss that? “Continue firing! We have them!” Captain Delgado barked.
"Sir, the Bathory’s engines have taken heavy damage and her shields have buckled. She can barely maneuver at all," the commander cried out as he read the limited sensor data he was receiving from their destroyer escort. “She can’t take much more of this.”
"Sir, we are reading a major power surge in the Ormu-Balhet’s power system. She's about to blow," the sensor officer yelled.
The captain all but ignored his commander, focused on the viewer. Thought of glory filled his mind as the huge ship alongside them cracked in half and shattered before his eyes. The flash of its power core rupturing nearly blinded them and forced the entire bridge crew to look away from the screen. Cheers rang out. His crew had scored first blood in the battle.
Captain Delgado’s cheers caught in his throat when he looked back at the screen to find a fully operational and undamaged Ormu-Balhet floating before them. Every blast his crew had inflicted wiped away. He watched dumbfounded as the immaculate ship began to morph before his eyes into a nightmare mirror image of his own.
As the image faded away, Captain Delgado gagged and swallowed back bile. Only a cluster of hundreds of tiny targeting drones and a single large transport, all of them covered in holographic projectors and sensor masking emitters remained. In the distance beyond them, the debris of the Bathory hung in the darkness. Its once impressive lines were now nothing more than a burned out floating hulk.
"Sir, sensors report that the Bathory has been completely destroyed by our own guns, sir," the sensor chief reported, still in a state of shock.
The captain sat dumbfounded. What manner of sick game or joke is this? “I don’t underst…”
“We were played,” the commander screamed back. “We just killed our own ship.”
Captain Delgado felt his jaw go slack. He couldn’t believe how he had been fooled into destroying his own escort. The Bathory was their key to a quick victory. Its Razer Cannon was supposed to destroy the space dock. It had to destroy the enemy’s fighters and cruisers before they could take off and allow them to take the main facility with minimal losses. Its destruction meant that all his carefully laid plans were for naught.
He felt the eyes of his crew upon him. This is no time for weakness, but action. Slamming his armrest, Delgado looked back up at the monitor screen. “Launch all fighters,” he ordered. “I want torpedoes on that facility and I want it destroyed!” he all but screamed as the tactical officer relayed the order. “What’s the status of the recon flight?”
The sensor officer checked his screens. They hadn’t received anything from the two fighters since the false cruiser arrived. “No reports since the jamming, sir,” he called back. “Hold on,” he continued checking his screens, “I show multiple fighters emerging from the asteroid field.”
Asteroid Shell Exterior, Monstero Nach 03
“All units, Admiral Sares. The diversion worked. Engage the enemy and hold off any bombers outside the asteroid shell until Blue Brick can launch.”
Blazer smiled to himself as he emerged from the asteroid shell. The expanding debris field of the Galactic Federation destroyer filling his forward view served as proof of Admiral Sares’ genius. The two recon fighters were now a memory, easy prey for the pack of fighters. Gavit and Chris had taken them out right after they’d launched.
Blazer looked back at his charges. His trio of assault craft, like the others in the Temblor Squadron, had one craft configured as a gunboat with the ventral and dorsal light torpedo packs replaced with Gatling Plaser Cannon Turrets. Blazer’s element flew ahead of his three ships as Gavit’s flew behind them.
His pulse pounded as he raced ahead towards the carrier. His blood cooled, however, as it discharged its compliment of fighters. Blazer could hardly believe his eyes at the multitude of Tiger Cat Light Fighters, Phantom 4 Medium Fighters, Corvus Heavy Fighters, and Mosquito Light Bombers flooding out of the front of the thru-deck carrier. This is a full-on assault group. Thank God they aren’t carrying any Valkyrie Heavy Bombers or Solaar Interceptors. Still, those Tiger Cats were sure to carry anti-bomber load outs.
Joda’s face appeared on his screen. “Monstero Nach, cover our bombers and ignore the Mosquitos. Take out their escorts if you can. Blue Brick squadron is launching to intercept inside the asteroid shell.”
“You heard him! Flight Three, on me. Flight Four, hang back and cover the bombers,” Blazer called out and jammed the throttle forward. His enhanced engines threw him back into his seat. Easing up on the throttle he allowed his wingmen to catch up and cycled through the targets ahead of them. Two Tiger cats
stood out from the rest as they vectored towards his bombers.
“Flight Three, these are our targets,” he ordered, transmitting his targeting data to his wingmen. Blazer vectored his fighter to intercept as thrusters fired all across his fighter. Blazer noticed the leader adjust his vector to follow his flight. Blazer took a calming breath as the threat display on his console lit up to show that the craft was also targeting him. Right into my hands. If the enemy targeted him instead of the bombers, then they couldn’t bother the less maneuverable craft.
The change did not go unnoticed by Arion and Gokhead. “Lead, they’re coming right at you.”
“I copy. Hold formation and engage on my mark,” Blazer called out and watched the distance to the fighters shrink until they entered their effective weapons envelope. “Mark!”
All three immediately fired of a pair of missiles at the approaching fighters. As he watched the missiles clear his wings, Blazer pushed down on this throttle forcing his fighter down a split cent before a kinetic kill rocket fired by the Tiger Cat lead fighter raced over his head.
Blazer breathed a sigh of relief as it sailed past. That single round flew fast enough to shatter the shields of a heavy bomber. If it had connected with his fighter, it would have splintered the craft. Guess that proves they’re carrying anti-bomber loads, with those giant Mass Drivers and Heavy Plasers.
Blazer knew how to engage the enemy now and pulled back on his stick to watch his missiles strike home. They exploded over the lead Tiger Cat as he maneuvered to avoid them. The blast weakened but did not destroy the shields as the blast plasma warhead peppered them with metallic shrapnel and plasma to neutralize and strip away the ion screen.
This was no rookie pilot. Still, his maneuver forced him right into Blazer’s gun sight and he opened fire. His eyes thinned, he showered the craft’s remaining shields with plasma rounds. The shields gone, he tore away at the armored shell of the rocket pack under the fighter’s port wing. His rounds perforated the rocket pack detonating the rockets within.
