by J. K. Mabrey
The group flew in range of the station’s weapons just as a squadron of its fighters, RA’s, met them. The Rinada took a couple of glancing blows as Brax let off a barrage of fire dead ahead. Zavik raced the Rinada straight through the oncoming group of Chokmnd RA’s trying to draw the fight closer to the station.
“We’re only five hundred miles from the station,” Alberan said.
“Tell the cruisers to open fire on the station,” he said as he did the same with the bow facing lower cannon. “Brax, keep the fighters off our six.”
“Roger that,” Brax replied.
“I can’t find anything on the Chokmnd networks about this supergun,” Dani said.
“Keep looking,” Zavik shouted as the ship took a glaring shot from an RA. “There’s got to be something on it.”
“Unless…” she said as she continued to search, “it’s not a Chokmnd weapon.”
“You think it’s Red Moon’s?” Alberan asked.
“They are deep into weapons and military contracts,” Dani said.
The ship flew past the station, firing shots against its side with no visible effect. Alberan brought up what details they had on Chokmnd space stations. “It appears to be heavily shielded,” he said.
“Yeah, got that,” Zavik replied.
The station was tall, with each section clearly defined. There were two distinct regions. The lower sections were round and about one hundred feet tall. Each lower section was smaller than the one above it, forming a point at the bottom tip. The top section mushroomed around the edges and was as tall by itself as the ten bottom sections combined. This housed the bridge. The lower sections housed combat troops and ships. Littered around the edge of the mushroom were turbolasers and missile launchers. As soon as the squadron had gotten in range the full force of the station began firing.
The Chokmnd stations were designed to rotate on their middle axis. The bridge stayed stationary as the rest of the structure spun. In combat, this maneuver would provide relief to any section of the structure that was taking damage from an attack. Numerous shield generators provided coverage to targeted areas, and the revolutions would provide ample time to recharge, should they be weakened.
“What have you got, Alberan?” Zavik asked.
“If we station ourselves in front of it, we’ll never be able to do enough damage to bring down the shields. But, if we set up a running line of ships to hit the same spot over and over, we could take out a critical system.”
“Like their propulsion system? Get them to stop turning,” Zavik said.
“Exactly. I’ll relay the location to Captain Bernard. He can order the squadron to follow your lead.”
Zavik targeted the propulsion generator on his pass along the station. Two RA’s focused on the Rinada and began hammering the ship with shots from behind. Brax focused his turret on the trailing fighters and caught the right one with a direct shot to the cockpit. It burst into flames, pushing the other one off course. A Katana unleashed a barrage of laser fire on the disoriented ship and destroyed it in an instant.
Zavik continued on his path undisturbed by the events behind him. He pulled Dani off her search of the superweapon to focus on the space station. She rerouted power to the lasers at the expense of speed. In this case, that was just what they wanted. The ship slowed and laid heavy fire on the generator. Flashes of blue erupted in a circle above the critical device. Zavik was able to get off a dozen shots on the location before the station’s lasers depleted the Rinada’s shields enough that he had no choice but to bug out.
The plan was working, though. The local turrets stayed focused on the Rinada, even as the next ship flew in for its fly-by attack. After the seventh ship flew by the gunners began to realize the plan. But it was too late. The next ship’s barrage brought the local shields down. The U.E.F. cruisers let loose a half dozen missiles on the target. The generator erupted in a sea of fire blasting out the side of the station.
The Chokmnd space station began to slow its rotation as the ships turned their weapons to other targets.
“We get enough shots in the opposite direction, we might be able to stop its momentum entirely,” Dani said.
“Zavik! There’s a Dreadnought coming in range,” Alberan said.
“Let the cruisers occupy the Dreadnought,” Zavik said. “The Katana’s need to focus on the station. Tell them to lock onto the shield generator.”
“Roger,” Dani said.
The assortment of U.E.F. fighters surrounded the shield generator and unleashed their full complement of weapons. Lasers punished the shields around the generator until it had no choice but to vent its built up heat. The shield around the generator collapsed and seconds later the generator was destroyed.
By this time, every ship on the station had been released into battle. The Katana’s began to dwindle as their outnumbered enemies gained the upper hand. The station’s shields were gone, and every hit did damage to critical systems. The stem of the station suddenly went dark as a wayward Chokmnd fighter flew into the lower portion of the station. The weapons fire coming from the station started to slow as more and more systems began shutting down. The cruisers noticed the weakened station and turned their attention away from the Dreadnoughts. They bombarded the middle of the station with missiles from all sides.
The middle of the station housed the main reactor. A small fusion reactor powered the station. It was breached in seconds leading to a reactive explosion that severed the station in two.
The top section drifted up, disintegrating as explosions ran through the station. The lower half was blasted toward Chokmna. With no power to the station, it was destined to burn up in the atmosphere.
Zavik turned the Rinada towards the superweapon. Just then a shot was fired from the cannon. It ripped through a U.E.F. cruiser with no effort. It was split in two as the beam continued to disintegrate the rear half. The front section spiraled away as the lights slowly dimmed on the derelict ship.
Zavik shook the sight out of his mind and refocused on the battle in which they were having mild success. One of the other defending stations had already been destroyed. Another was swarmed by fighters and taking heavy damage. The third station had defended itself well, to the point that additional ships were needed to neutralize it, but eventually, it too fell.
Zavik radioed Mike, “You ready to hit the weapon?”
“Yeah, before it takes out another capital ship. We just need to know what to aim for,” he added.
“Dani’s been searching too, but so far nothing.”
“Hang on!” she said. “Our recordings of it firing show four vents off the base of the canon open to space to help in cooling it down. Every time it fires that superheated plasma beam, it generates massive amounts of heat in the base. It needs to vent immediately after firing to prevent overheating the systems.”
“How does that help us?” Zavik asked.
“When the vents open, they expose the four reactors used to generate the plasma.”
“Are they shielded?” Mike asked.
“It doesn’t look like it. Shielding would reduce the heat radiating out. It appears the Chokmnd’s chose faster re-firing over defense.”
“That’s good for us,” Zavik said. “Mike, send your squadron in to take out the reactors.”
“You got it. Good work.”
The cruiser Mike was on, the Venerable, took aim at the Chokmnd superweapon. Surrounded by four-dozen Katana’s, the squadron quickly began barraging the weapon with heavy fire. While the weapon wasn’t shielded, its armor was impossibly thick. The fighters’ lasers showed no effect, and the missiles only inflicted cosmetic damage to the exterior.
“We have to focus on the generators,” Mike said. “The exterior is too well armored for our weapons.”
The surrounding ships converged on the weapon, unleashing massive amounts of fire on the exposed generators. The Chokmnd defenses were failing. The dreadnoughts were preoccupied away from the weapon. The stations were supposed to
be enough of a defensive shell to keep it safe. But once the stations were eliminated, the Iriquim fleet moved in to form an arch around the weapon. They were ordered to keep the Chokmnd dreadnoughts away. They were succeeding, despite their disadvantages in size and strength. The U.E.F. ships moved in to assist and their combined numbers proved too thick for the Chokmnd to cut through. The superweapon was cut off from aid and its undersized defenders were dwindling.
The Rinada veered towards the massive object. As Zavik eyed the machine, he was amazed by the sheer size of it. He estimated it had to be four times larger than the standard U.E.F. cruiser. A quarter of its length was the base where the fins were located. The rest of the structure consisted of four rods that extended away from the base. This was the canon where the plasma shot out. It had poor maneuverability but was perfect for taking potshots from a long distance. This thing was designed for attack, not defense. He knew Red Moon built this thing to use in their occupational takeover of other systems.
The Rinada followed a fighter as it flew alongside the weapon, firing its canons at the still exposed reactor. The fins were about a hundred feet wide and opened at an angle towards the rear. The further back you got the wider the opening. The fire from the fighter was inaccurate and most blasts missed the target in the narrow opening at the front. As they made their way to the rear, the blasts began hitting more steadily. The fighters were timid about flying too close to the weapon. As they reached the end the fighters broke off, but Zavik held the Rinada on course. Brax was still busy keeping Chokmnd fighters at bay so the only weapons available were the lower blasters. When the Rinada closed on the end, Zavik unleashed a concussion missile directly into the exposed reactor. A blast ruptured through the reactor, lighting up the entire side of the ship. The fin became dislodged and spiraled away from the station. The blast slowly subsided as the fighters turned their attention to the other reactors.
“I take it that’s not going to be enough?” Zavik asked.
“No, I think it can still fire something with only one reactor active,” Dani said.
“No doubt a redundancy design,” Alberan said. “Even if one reactor is offline, the weapon would still be available to use, and still be quite dangerous.”
“Then let’s take the other three out,” Zavik said.
As Zavik moved his focus to another reactor, Alberan shouted, “Zavik, three Chokmnd dreadnoughts have broken through the defenses. They’re headed our way.”
“Mike!” Zavik said over the comm. “Can you guys take care of that leak?”
“Consider it done. Just destroy those reactors before it can fire again.”
The U.E.F. Katanas had followed Zavik’s lead and fired a cluster of missiles at the exposed reactors, destroying the one on the bottom. Zavik focused the Rinada on the top reactor as the Venerable and three other cruisers engaged the dreadnoughts. Fighters from the dreadnoughts swarmed the U.E.F. ships and began eliminating them from the battle. Zavik joined a convoy of three other ships as they raced for the reactor. The lasers were nearly useless, the armor was too thick to penetrate. As they closed in, Zavik launched another missile. It sped towards the reactor, then smashed into the side of an unlucky Chokmnd RA that erupted in a glorious fireball. The Rinada had to pull out, it had gone too far to the rear of the weapon to launch another missile. Just as Zavik got out of the way, a Katana trailing the Rinada was struck by an errant blast. The rear engine caught fire, sending the single-man fighter into a tailspin. It rocked back-and-forth in an effort to stabilize its path. Finally, it began barrel rolling and dived right into the top reactor. A chain of explosions lined the reactor and a fireball erupted out of the top of it.
“Poor guy,” Dani said softly.
“Yeah…” Zavik said. “At least he managed to aim it at the reactor.”
“Only one left,” Alberan said.
“We’ve only got two missiles left, Zavik,” Dani said.
“The lasers are ineffective on the reactors,” he said. “We need to keep at least one for that last reactor.”
“Zavik!” Alberan suddenly shouted. “The Venerable has taken heavy fire on its engines. The engines are about to be destroyed.”
“Mike, what’s going on over there?”
“We got surrounded by a couple dreadnoughts, and then a squadron of fighters tried to disable our engines. Nothing too serious.”
“Tried to disable your engines, you say?” Zavik asked.
“Yeah-“ Zavik could hear an explosion over the radio. “Looks like they just destroyed them instead.” Alarms blared over the radio.
“You okay?” Zavik asked.
“I’m fine,” he said unsure if it was true. “Critical systems are shutting down. Life support’s still up, but our engines are out. Weapons are offline. We’re sitting ducks.”
“Zavik,” Alberan said, “they’re adrift without their engines.”
“The other cruisers can form a defense around them,” Zavik said.
“Yes, but they’re drifting directly in front of the Chokmnd weapon,” he said.
“Even with only one reactor, that blast can rip through a cruiser,” Dani said.
Zavik looked directly at Dani, “How long till it can fire again?”
She looked at the console. “It’s been fourteen minutes since the last. It’s starting to close,” she shouted as the last remaining fin began its descent.
Zavik fired up the engine to get on the other side of the weapon. Other U.E.F. ships followed course. Chokmnd fighters targeted the Rinada, but Brax held most at bay from the rear. Ahead of the ship, an RA began firing, hitting the Rinada head on. The shields took a beating, but Zavik was determined to stay on course. The RA was on a path for a collision with the Rinada. He was sure it was planning a kamikaze attack. It was coming in from above so the lower turrets were useless. He yelled at Brax to take it out but by the time he would be able to swivel around, it would be too late. Suddenly the RA exploded as three blasts ripped through it. A Katana flew through the blast and debris and took up flank ahead of the Rinada.
“You’re all clear, sir,” a young voice from the ship said.
“Thanks,” Zavik said, letting out a breath. “We owe you one.”
The duo continued toward the weapon when an RA closed up on the Katana’s tail. “You’ve got a bogey on your six,” Zavik said to the pilot. The pilot maneuvered side-to-side but the RA wouldn’t shake off. He drifted out of line with the Rinada, moving further away to the left. “Damn, he’s going out of range of our lasers.”
“I can’t shake’em!” the pilot yelled as the fighter took a direct hit.
“We’ve got to help,” Zavik said.
“We don’t have time,” Alberan said. “That fin will close before we get another chance if we break course.”
“He’s right,” Dani said.
“Lock a missile!” Zavik ordered.
“What!” Dani shouted. “We only have two left.”
“He saved us, we’re going to save him. Lock a missile and fire.”
Dani did as Zavik ordered. The missile sped away, veering to the left after the RA. It was overkill. The RA was completely obliterated upon impact.
Zavik didn’t say anything. He just pushed on to the reactor. They came over the edge of the weapon and Dani locked their last missile on the reactor. She launched it on Zavik’s order. The missile streaked from the Rinada to the massive weapon’s exposed final reactor. It impacted towards the rear of the opening. They waited for the chain reaction explosion to destroy the reactor. It didn’t happen.
Dani checked the terminal and said softly, “The missile didn’t hit any critical systems.”
“It’s still active?” Zavik asked. “What can we do?”
“The fin is almost closed,” Alberan said. “Once it’s closed, we’ll have to wait for it to fire before we’re able to destroy it.”
“If it fires again,” Zavik said softly, “it’ll destroy the Venerable.”
The Rinada kept its cours
e directly to the reactor, the fin still closing slowly.
Zavik looked at Dani. “Does no one around here have any missiles?”
“No one with a clear shot,” she said. “I’m sorry, we’ll have to wait for it to reopen.”
Zavik looked out of the viewer at the powerless Venerable sitting in the crosshairs of the most terrifying weapon he’d ever seen on a battlefield. It had to be stopped. “Jettison the core,” Zavik said as emotionless as he could muster.
“What?” Dani asked, not sure if she heard him correctly.
“Jettison the core directly ahead. It’s the only option we have.”
“If we lose the core, our systems will shut down,” Dani said. “We’ll be vulnerable.”
“The auxiliary power will keep the shields up to twenty-five percent. We’ll have limited maneuverability and life support.”
“Guess I should be grateful for that,” Brax said over the radio.
“It’s your ship, your call,” Alberan said.
Dani punched in the codes to prepare the core to be launched out the front of the ship.
“When you jettison the core,” Zavik said, “I’m going to use all the reserve power to pull us away from the weapon. We don’t need to add to the explosion.” Zavik steadied the ship, aiming the bow directly at the reactor. "Now!"
Dani launched the core. It floated away from the Rinada, drifting toward the reactor. The Rinada corrected course to fly over the shutting fin just as it closed down, swallowing the makeshift bomb. A light flashed along the edges of the fin and the weapon didn’t move again.
The Rinada drifted past the weapon, attempting to correct course away from the battle. Dani tried to pull up a readout of the Chokmnd weapon, but the console was offline. Zavik directed the Rinada away from Chokmna. With little impulse power and reduced shields, he needed to attract as little attention as possible. He maneuvered over to the Venerable that had garnered two cruisers as a defense.
“Mike,” Zavik said over the comm, “what’s the status of the battle?”
