Star Crusades Nexus: The Third Trilogy

by Michael G. Thomas

  “They’re going down,” said Jack quietly.

  He and the others watched with sickening curiosity as it shook under the weight of heavy gunfire. Pieces broke off from its hull, yet it refused to drop out of the sky. The fighter pilots must have smelt blood because they moved in even closer to try and finish it. The Biomanta then managed to fire a short burst of kinetic gunfire at one of the Hammerheads.

  “Whoa!” yelled a marine.

  The gunfire chased along the wing and struck one of the engines. The small blast ripped a chunk off the wing, and the fighter spun out of control toward the ground. Only moments before impact, the cockpit burst open, and the crew module blasted up into the sky, well away from the wrecked fighter. Two more moved in to take its place and continued firing at the almost indestructible warship. Jack looked to his left and right, wondering what was going on. He spotted the massive gun mounts of the hidden anti-air system that had been buried inside the ruins of the city block his unit were defending. The mount itself was moving, and he could see it tracking the Biomech ship as it moved across the sky.

  Why aren’t they firing?

  He didn’t have to wait long before the gun mounts of the Helion 10th anti-air ground forces opened fire. The tracer fire reached up into the dusty clouds as they did their utmost to pick out the attacking Biomechs. Three streams of cannon rounds battered away at the nearest Biomanta as it dropped to below a thousand meters. The ship leveled off, trailing three separate streams of thick black smoke. It shuddered as the ground units hit it hard, and then as quickly as it had arrived, the warship tilted over on its side.

  “Yes!” shouted a marine on the next floor up.

  Jack couldn’t take his eyes away from the burning wreck. The ship was the size of an assault cruiser and big enough to devastate a large swathe of city. It continued to tilt until it was upside down. More gunfire hit it repeatedly, and finally the fighters pulled back just as it crashed into one of the nearby mountains. The impact shook the very ground the marines were waiting to defend, and small layers of dust shifted from the powerful crash.

  “That is how you deal with Biomech scum!” Callahan murmured.

  Jack noticed more than a little malice to his voice.

  “Get your heads down, now!”

  The voice of Sergeant Stone boomed over their intercoms, and as one they dropped down into their positions. Jack moved forward to the lower level window that looked out to the west. He slid down and dropped a meter into the slit the CES team had dug just inside the smashed wall. Riku and Callahan were already there and activating the rangefinder on the bipod mounted L56 Mark III. A box lay on the ground containing a power unit and two spare ammunition feeder cases.

  “Jack?” Riku asked.

  She stared into his visor, but his expression seemed lifeless. The glasslike material glowed orange and red, and she turned to speak with Callahan.

  “What’s wrong with…”

  The other marine put his hand on her head and pushed both her and Jack down as low as they could go in the slit. At almost the same time, a blast of heat ran over the building and would have burned them if they hadn’t been protected inside their armor. The soundproofing in the helmets cut out most of the noise, but Jack could hear the screaming of somebody outside. Callahan tried to stop him, but he scrambled up and looked backwards into the ruins of the block. The anti-air unit was still firing, but only two Helions remained and both wore NHA armor under their smoking robes. Three of their comrades ran into the street screaming, surrounded in flames as their clothes burned.

  “Somebody help them!” he shouted.

  Jack took one step, and then a great impact shook him so violently he slipped and fell to his side. His point of view shifted, and he found himself looking up at the shape of a Bioray, one of the Biomech landers that could put an entire company onto the surface. It hovered a hundred meters above the ground, and only a quarter of a kilometer off to the west. Shapes dropped from its flanks as it deposited warriors to the surface. More movement caught his attention, and he rolled back to the slit on the ground. Additional Biorays appeared from much higher as they left the fuselage of a cruiser-sized warship. This one was long, darkly colored, and bristling with studs on its flanks and underside. Then he spotted the small black shapes on its superstructure.

  Guns!

  A hundred flashes went off at the same time, and then the rain of metal fell. Thousands of the deadly projectiles came down to the surface in such a dense pattern it could have been hail.

  “Stay here, you fool!” Riku shouted.

  She grabbed Jack’s arm and yanked him back down. She tapped his visor and looked inside. He was breathing, but the rate was increasing, and she sensed he was close to an attack of some kind.

  “He’s in trouble,” she said nervously.

  Callahan bent down, checked the information on the tiny display to the side of his helmet, and then looked back at Riku.

  “He’s having another panic attack. Talk to him, calm him down, and get ready. They’ll be here soon.”

  Another massive salvo of gunfire smashed into the ground and then a great vibration as the cruiser-sized ship moved toward the city.

  “Look!” Callahan shouted.

  Streaks of light moved at impossible speeds from the triple towers near the mountain on the other side of the city. One impacted with such energy that the cruiser shuddered with the impact. Then came shot after shot before the vessel turned to try and move away. The Alliance ship from earlier moved around it, taking full advantage of its greater maneuverability.

  “That’s a Liberty destroyer,” said Callahan with satisfaction.

  Jack had heard of them and tried to concentrate on it as the Alliance vessel unleashed a monstrous fusillade at the Biomech ship. Two more Alliance ships joined in, and as quickly as they had arrived, the Sawfish was losing height and trying to escape off to the west. The capital ships moved quickly and were soon replaced by the arrival of dozens of smaller Biorays, each one heading for the surface as quickly as they could.

  “Here it comes,” muttered Riku.

  Gunfire from the city now reached up to the sky like yellow and white fingers. Rifles, machineguns, and automatic cannon anti-air weapons opened fire with an intensity that could have almost blotted out the sun. Two Biorays were sent spinning to the ground, and those trying to reach the city were forced back by the fury of the guns.

  “It’s working,” Riku said, shaking her head.

  Callahan grabbed both her and Jack and lifted them to the edge of the window frame so they could see far off to the west. Smoke trails marked the course of so many of the Biorays, but more importantly, they could make out the shapes of dozens of them as they dropped down and hit the ground; well out of range of the guns of the city. Jack closed his eyes and slowed his breathing as best as he could. It took a while, and he could feel Riku squeezing his hand as he tried to calm down. When he opened them, she was looking right into his eyes.

  “Jack…Jack, come on, get ready!”

  She let go and moved to the window frame. Callahan grabbed the back of the gun mount and Riku took aim. The weapon shuddered as they unleashed a number of short bursts off into the distance. Jack pulled himself up and reached out to Riku. There was a bright flash, and then both Riku and Callahan vanished. A hole the size of an armored vehicle was all that remained of the gun platform and the barricade they’d spent so long preparing. Blood splattered against the walls, but there was no sign of either of them.

  “No!” he shouted hysterically.

  Jack lifted himself up and looked out at what seemed to be a wall of monsters. The tallest were the Eques heavy walkers, the mighty six-legged walking tanks that he’d seen before. Out in front of these were hundreds, upon hundreds of the Decurion assault machines, and they were moving quickly.

  Riku!

  He left his position and scrambled about, but he could find nothing but blood and pieces of armor. Finally, he came to a section of the front of her
helmet. He recognized the markings she’d made less than an hour earlier as they had waited.

  “Private, get here, now!”

  He looked up at the face of Sergeant Stone. The man leaned over the broken wall to the side of the room the three of them had been tasked with defending. Jack reached out, and the seasoned marine yanked him from the scene of death of destruction to the next room.

  “Son, we’re in trouble. Now get your ass on the firing line and do some damage.”

  Jack could barely breathe, but the Sergeant looked down, grabbed the carbine still slung about Jack’s chest, and pushed it firmly into the marine’s hands. He pointed to the low wall that looked much the same as the one he’d just left.

  “Get on the firing line and open fire!”

  Jack stumbled and fell down amongst a pair of marines he’d never met before. Neither even bothered to look at him. He lifted his carbine and placed it on the low wall. A tap flipped open the optical sight, and he looked down it and saw the wall of advancing Biomech war machines.

  We can’t hold them back, not this number.

  Explosions shook the terrain behind them, and then a dark shape rushed overhead and crashed into the ground spikes a hundred meters to the north. Jack watched the door open like petals to reveal the shattered interior where so many of the passengers had been embedded on the hardened metal. The small number of survivors tried to jump down, but a group of three Jötnar covered the access points of the Bioray with such a devastating fire that nothing but bodies hit the ground.

  Yes, you bastards!

  He turned back around and took aim at the approaching horde. One squeeze sent a single shot out that hit a Thegn foot soldier directly in the face. As it crumpled to the ground, he held down the trigger and began to howl. Sergeant Stone watched him and then moved his attention to those defending the northern and southern approaches.

  “Keep up your fire, marines. We have plenty of ammunition. Use it!”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  As the Helios Nexus faced its greatest crisis since the Great Biomech War, one question continued to be asked. Where were the great races of the Orion Nebula? Of the two hundred and thirty-one ships preparing to defend Helios Prime, the majority were Alliance and Helion. Only a small number of Klithi, Byotai, and some Khreenk mercenary ships had managed to arrive. It was true that other ships were assembling over Micaya, but their reliability was questionable, as was their quality. There were some on Terra Nova that even suspected the alien ships arriving at Micaya were there for nothing more than show. Even fewer suspected they might be waiting to show their allegiance to the enemy.

  The Path to the Apocalypse

  The three squadrons of Alliance fighters moved at high altitude with their engines on full burn. Every fifteen seconds their flare launchers released special sequences of countermeasures to protect them from the missile fire still coming from the Bioray landers. Captain Jim ‘The Hammer’ Evans checked the computer one last time and then found what he was looking for. He selected the shapes with his eyes and designated them as their next target.

  “Target spotted, two Biorays heading for the mountain. Bring them down.”

  He’d been given specific orders since launching over the city. The enemy had already landed a good portion of their ground forces, and the Alliance fighters were tasked with thinning out the rest coming down from space.

  “Captain! Fighters, four o’clock!” yelled his wingman.

  Captain Evans knew the position of the fighters from memory, and without thinking flipped the fighter about. The rear-facing cameras already showed him the pair of enemy fighters, and as he moved, a dozen projectiles ran directly beneath his craft.

  That was close.

  The fighters further back tore the Biomechs apart with short bursts of gunfire, dispatching them as quickly as they had arrived. He moved back into his lead position and hit the boost button. The Lightning fighters were much more sluggish in atmospheric flight, but even here their engines could accelerate them to greater speeds. The dark shapes of more Biomech ships were visible like black moons in the sky, as the enemy continued to send all that they had down to the surface. Streaks from their lower gun positions marked where their weapons were firing, and he could see the explosions as far as the eye could see.

  This is like something from hell.

  There were columns of smoke rising up to the sky in every direction, and at least a dozen Biorays had crashed around the city, most being damaged or broken up on the hastily prepared defensive towers and spikes built by the defenders. The mountain was something else again though. Its defensive guns fired without pause against anything moving within five kilometers. Missiles and tracer fire surrounded it, while a small group of destroyers circled in low orbit just under two hundred kilometers from the surface. At this distance their guns were ineffective against aircraft, but they were still able to lay down devastating wide area bombardment of the Biomech landing sites. Captain Evans checked the status of his missile bays and set them for long-range fire. The other fighters followed his lead.

  “Target their engine systems and put them on the ground.”

  He checked the area one last time and then gave the order.

  “Fire!”

  Each of the Lightning fighters launched a brace of Sea Skua anti-ship missiles. The weapons rushed away, leaving a gentle trail of gray behind as they moved through the sky.

  “Attack pattern Charlie for target two...now.”

  The fighters broke apart to change their attack approach on the second of the Biorays. By the time the missiles reached the first, they were ready to initiate an attack from three directions. Captain Evans found the super-heated exterior of the Biomech vessels almost mesmerizing. The extreme heat from their descent was something his pilots had been spared. These Lightning fighters were capable of atmospheric flight, but the perils of reentry were much too risky to undertake without significant preparation. Instead, they had mitigated the problem by landing on board the descending destroyers just minutes before entering the upper levels of the atmosphere. Although not designed as carriers, each was capable of carrying a small number of fighters or shuttles in a transport capacity. It had given his pilots time to fix minor problems and rearm on those ships that carried suitable ammunition.

  “Ten seconds and counting, hold your fire.”

  The fifteen fighters moved in like a pack of wolves closing in on a wounded bison. Closer they came, each jinking just a fraction around the withering defensive fire. Two were hit, but both shrugged off the damage and powered on even though they now trailed smoke. The two Biorays used all their remaining power to head toward the center of Spascia City when the missiles hit the lower of the two. Half of the missiles were shot down, but at least thirteen of them struck the rear and exploded with such force the Bioray tipped over on its side in a death roll, yet continued forward.

  “Get ready,” said Captain Evans while watching the range indicator running down.

  “Now!”

  Each of the Lightning fighters unleashed a blistering bombardment from their cannons that hit the engines and support equipment on the Bioray’s stern. That, coupled with the ground-based fire, sealed the fate of the vessel. Explosions raked along the ship, and two of the engines cut out, instantly depriving the ship of the forward momentum needed to keep it airborne. As it tipped forward, the first Bioray tried to tilt away, but it was too little and much too late.

  “Get away, now!”

  Captain Evans hit the boost button, and the others quickly did the same. There was no time to discuss plans or tactics, just the basic desire to get out of harm’s way before their fighters could be damaged. As one, the fighters activated the emergency afterburners that were rarely used in combat. Almost all the combat the Lightning fighters had ever seen was in deep space, but occasionally they would be called upon to assist in planetary combat sorties. This is where the fuel ejectors fitted to the outlets of their engines proved useful. The pumps dumped a quantity
of fuel directly into the stream to give an instant boost of power. The short-term blast of power pushed them out of danger just as the two Biorays collided. The impact occurred slowly, and there were no major explosions, just a long series of small flashes before both vessels broke in two and dropped out of the sky.

  Great work!

  Captain Evans looked to his left and then back to his right. Even though they’d just struck another blow against the invaders, he could still see the signs of their planetary assault. The IFF system tagged hundreds of landers and fighters, as well as a seemingly infinite number of warriors on the ground.

  “There must be over a hundred thousand of them down there now.”

  He spoke quietly and found himself surprised to hear his own voice. New orders came in from the ground with requests for attacks against a myriad of targets. The fighters computer system crosschecked the targets, along with the positions of the other aircraft and allocated targets in seconds.

  What do we have now?

  * * *

  A missile streaked overhead and narrowly missed Gun as he watched the battle going on all around him. He laughed as it crashed into the building to his left and exploded, sending chunks of masonry off in all directions. A smattering of NHA soldiers scattered as the material collapsed around them. Gun and his small entourage of Jötnar had taken over a long derelict factory building for a temporary headquarters. A flyover had collapsed alongside it, and that gave it a reinforced section to the rear, as well as partial protection from the air. Even better, the entire site was situated in a raised part of the city that gave him good views in all directions. Vehicles moved along the debris-strewn streets to drop off new soldiers or supplies, while others helped fill out the bunkers and breastworks all around the site. It was more a citadel now than a command post.