by Charles Nall
“Receiving link request from Iriguchi, Captain.”
“Overlay on screen, Lieutenant Draeden.”
“I'm getting a link request from Iriguchi,” Trevor said.
“Maybe Riko stopped them!” Arnold said.
“Overlay it,” Jacob commanded.
On screen, Oshiro was standing next to Koizumi. Oshiro clasped his bleeding nose. Koizumi seemed nervous.
“I'm Captain Oshiro... This was a mistake,” Oshiro said.
“Captain...”
“Quiet, Koizumi. We can fight this. We don't have to do this. We are better than this,” Oshiro said.
Arnold yelled over the link, “Where's Riko?! Is she okay?!”
“Who said that?” Oshiro asked.
“We're linked with a corvette. Oh, it's the one we had in our hangar for a while,” Koizumi said.
A tear streamed down Oshiro’s face. He continued to bleed. “I'm sorry. She tried to escape the best she could. I'm so sorry.”
“What? Where is she?” growled Arnold.
“Calm down, Arnold, please,” said Jacob. “Captain Oshiro, I know it's hard but you can fight it. We don't have to do this. We don't have to fight.”
Lieutenant Koizumi shook his head. “We must.”
“No, no, he's right. Stand down, everyone.” Oshiro was clearly in pain. “Stand down.”
Koizumi pulled his sidearm up to Oshiro's head. He fired. Oshiro’s head snapped back. The bullet exited the other side of Oshiro's head in crimson gore. Oshiro’s body collapsed.
A gasp went across the bridge.
The two security guards watching the bridge took aim at Koizumi with their automatic weapons.
Koizumi yelled, “The captain was not fit to command! I am taking command of this ship and this attack force! We cannot turn back now! Launch everything. Destroy them all!” He looked around at the shocked crew. “DO IT!!”
The security lowered their weapons.
The link closed.
Sharon placed her hand over her mouth in horror.
“Where–where's Riko?” Arnold muttered. “Where is she?”
The Orion Confederation attack force started unleashing weapon fire upon the Galactic Union warships.
The battle had begun.
Badger, Python, and Blackwing ran down the hangar bay of the hypership. Badger jumped into his fighter. Python started climbing into his Kitsune. “Blackwing? Where you heading?” Python asked as Blackwing ran a different direction down the bay.
“I was assigned to a bomber!” Blackwing replied.
“A bomber? Are you effing with me? We have one?”
“I'm gonna blow a huge hole in those bastards!”
Python threw his fist into the air. “Fangs out!”
“You better effing believe it! Fangs out!” Blacking echoed.
Captain Devereaux called out to his crew, “Protect Agamemnon! Weapons free!”
“Weapons free! Alpha Squadron, watch our back! All other fighter squadrons take down any hostiles near Agamemnon's shield zone,” Commander Freeman shouted.
“Agamemnon is going on full burn, I believe they are going to do circles around Artemis,” Lieutenant Commander Skyrift said. She then clutched her chest in pain and coughed.
“Of course. They don't want to be a sitting duck. Have all ships follow them around Artemis,” the captain commanded. “Blast anything out of the sky you can. Are any more ships en route?”
Freedom shuddered from cannon fire.
“No, sir, I don't think so,” said Lieutenant Knight. “Wait –one Judgment is en route, the Iphigenia. It will be here in a few minutes.”
“We're outgunned, I hope we can stay alive that long. We have to play this smart!” yelled Freeman as another salvo of fire came across the shielding of Freedom.
Trevor scanned his console. “Most of the firepower is focused onto the ships near Agamemnon. We're not being targeted.”
“Let's change that,” Jacob replied. “How is it looking out there?”
“It's impossible to describe. This is the biggest fight in a very long time,” Sharon said. “Lots of fighters are trying to soften up the shields of the warships surrounding Aggy. She’s starting a full burn around Artemis.”
Jacob called out, “Alright, guys. We haven't even been in a big starfight yet, but here we go. Rapture is a corvette, we're here to take those fighters out that are trying to drop the shields. Let's do it!”
Rapture raced toward Agamemnon.
Commander Freeman shook her head. “There's way too many of them.”
“Get me on the link with the President. We can't just expect to win by running. We have to dogfight,” Captain Devereaux said.
“What do you mean, sir?” Lieutenant Draeden said.
“We're going to stop our forward momentum with forward auxiliary ion thrusters on my mark and rake them with fire,” Devereaux said. “We're barely hitting anything with our fire by just running. Link me with every ship.”
Rapture flew near Freedom. Agamemnon was speeding over Artemis with the Galactic Union warships closely following. The Confederation warships were on their tail. Fighters buzzed around the warships of the Union. Explosions danced all around the warships.
Mass driver fire was launching from both sides of the battle. Most of these slugs were being deflected off the energy shielding, but occasionally a slug would pierce the shielding and rip through a hull of an unfortunate ship.
Badger and Python zipped around the battlefield. Firing upon any Union fighters in front of them, while raking the warships with their fire. Blackwing flew behind them, occasionally dropping a highly explosive torpedo onto exposed areas of the warships.
The forward coil cannons of the two cruisers in the invading force fired upon the Galactic Union ships intermittently. The slugs usually missed completely, but one of the slugs tore through the battleship Daedalus. The slug continued through Daedalus and crashed into Freedom's shielding. It broke through and impacted the hull of Freedom. Daedalus erupted into a fireball. A burst of flaming shrapnel nearly impacted Rapture. The explosion took out several fighters from both sides.
Freeman yelled, “Direct hit! And we lost Daedalus!”
“Damage report!” Devereaux called out.
Freedom shuddered from weapon fire.
Lieutenant Knight replied, “The shields took the brunt of the damage. All shield generators of the upper hull have been disabled! One major hull breach on Deck One where the slug entered. The slug is resting just inside the hull. Closing blast doors, sealing that section off.”
“Is it an explosive round? Are we still safe?”
“Just a standard slug from my readings, Captain” said Lieutenant Knight. “I think we're safe.”
“Not that safe,” Lieutenant Skyrift said as the ship was rocked, “All upper shield generators are down, remember?!”
“Good flying, Arnold,” Jacob said as Rapture dodged flaming scraps of Daedalus that were still accompanying the Galactic Union forces.
“I'm trying, this is nuts.”
“Freedom just took a huge hit. It's upper shields are down! We need to make sure those generators aren't taken out by fighters while they cool off,” Trevor said.
“Arnold bring us up there, we have to protect them.”
Sharon nodded in agreement. “Jake’s right, we can’t lose a destroyer.”
“I'm ready, let's take the fighters out!” Elijah said as he commanded the weaponry on Rapture.
Mass driver rounds shredded through hulls. Rotary cannon fire ricocheted off shielding. Explosions ripped across warships. Fighters danced around blasting each other in some sort of twisted ballet. The entire landscape of war was moving at a rapid pace around Artemis.
Rapture flew across the top of Freedom. Rapture unloaded fire on Confederate fighters that got too close. The singed hull of Freedom was getting ripped apart. Turrets that weren't destroyed along the hull were trying their best to attack the enemy fighters that were destroying the s
hield generators. The Confederate fighters were attempting to keep the destroyer down. Torpedoes being launched from both sides were also being taken out by the fighter forces.
Elijah called out, “Got another one!”
“Keep it up!” Jacob yelled. “Take those fighters out!”
A coil cannon round from the Confederate cruiser Yatagarasu launched out of the front of the ship. The slug impacted a Confederate fighter and disintegrated it. Friendly fire. It flew between Apollo and Agamemnon and fell toward the moon below.
Devereaux watched the horror of the battle from the viewscreen. “Artemis is getting tore up too with all of these coil cannon shots. We have to execute the maneuver. Are there any enemies directly astern?”
“Just fighters if anything, most of the warships are above and behind us,” Skyrift said.
An explosion echoed across Freedom.
“Do it!” Devereaux commanded.
Trevor yelled, “Got the go-ahead, watch yourselves!”
Arnold sighed. “Here goes nothing!”
The Galactic Union warships all fired forward thrusters and disabled main ion engines, causing the attacking forces to glide right over the top of the Galactic Union warships. The Union warships then resumed firing their main engines. The Union were now on the chase. Several fighters that were not prepared for the warships to slow down impacted onto the warships in fiery bursts.
Rapture began flying forward again over Freedom. Rapture’s rotary cannons cut into a fighter that was attempting to destroy a generator.
“We need to raise above the shield zone,” said Trevor. “I'm detecting a power surge. Their generators are coming back online.”
“Roger that,” Arnold said as he tapped on his console.
Rapture began to rise above the shredded hull of the destroyer.
Blackwing launched a torpedo into the hull of Freedom, doing heavy damage to the outer hull. A stream of crew members flew into space from the ruptured hull, more casualties of the battle.
“Blackwing! Pull up! Pull up!” Badger yelled over the fighter link.
“What? Why?” Blackwing asked.
“The generators!”
Blackwing's bomber did not pull up in time. Energy arced across the plating as the shields came back online. Blackwing's bomber exploded into bits as the energy shields cut through the ship. Many other Confederation fighters were also victims. Several generators sputtered in and out due to explosions going across the hull.
Arnold grumbled, “Shit.”
A Confederate corvette, that had launched from one of the Confederate cruisers, made its presence known by sending mass drivers toward Rapture. A couple slugs shattered across the shielding.
Sharon called out, “Shields down!”
“I can't shake him!” Arnold said.
“Can you spin around so I can hit him with mass driver rounds?” asked Elijah to Arnold.
“I won't be able to see where I'm going!”
“Use the stern cameras! Flip her!”
“I've never–”
“I used to do it all the time! It will be okay!” Elijah shouted as weapon fire impacted the corvette.
“I believe in you, Arnold! Do it!” Jacob commanded.
Rapture's main port directional thruster angled to its side and fired. Rapture spun. Rapture's bow now faced the bow of the attacking corvette. Rapture started firing its forward cannons into the enemy corvette. The Confederate corvette tried to maneuver the best it could to minimize the damage while firing at Rapture. The enemy broke off its pursuit and blasted a Galactic Union fighter with rotary cannon fire as it darted away.
“There you go! I knew you could do it,” Elijah said with a grin.
“Um. Somewhat!” Arnold replied as Rapture collided with Badger's Kitsune fighter. Metal plates ripped off as the corvette was bathed in a quickly-extinguished fire.
“Badger! Badger?!” called out Python over the Confederate fighter link. There was no reply.
“Are we okay, Sharon?” Jacob asked as explosions erupted near the corvette.
“Our front plating is barely hanging on–we can't take another hit like that. It may even pierce the bridge.”
“Well. That ain't good,” Trevor said.
The enemy corvette started flying parallel to Rapture's starboard side. The corvettes traded rotary cannon fire.
“Get away from us!” Arnold yelled.
“How are we doing?” Devereaux asked as an explosion echoed in Freedom. He struggled to keep his footing.
Lieutenant Jaxon Knight replied, “We lost Daedalus. Staggering fighter losses on both sides. We've only heavily damaged one enemy warship. Most enemy shields are down.”
Commander Sera Freeman tried to remain standing after an explosion rocked the destroyer. “We need to send more fighters to make sure the enemy shields stay down.”
“Agamemnon's fighters are already being sent toward the enemy,” Draeden said.
“How's Rapture?” Devereaux asked.
“Not good.”
Python's fighter darted through wreckage floating in space. He tried his best to dodge incoming fire while still raking across the warships with weapon fire.
Mass drivers tore through both sides. The warships smoked. Fires sparked and then sputtered out due to the lack of oxygen.
The invading forces then fired their forward thrusters to slow down. The Galactic Union continued around Artemis. The Confederate fighters and corvettes flew back toward the Confederate warships. The enemy corvette attacking Rapture also backed away.
Sharon analyzed the information on her display. “We're really hurt, no hull breaches detected yet, though.” She sighed. “It could happen at any point.”
“Ugh. Our shield generators are destroyed. They focused them down. I don't like those guys,” Trevor said.
Agamemnon's fighter group flew back toward the Galactic Union forces.
The Galactic Union warships came to a stop. All weapon fire ended. Both forces ended up three thousand kilometers away from each other. This wasn't a retreat.
Another Judgment-class heavy cruiser appeared next to the battered forces of the Union. The heavy cruiser Iphigenia had arrived.
Both sides of warships seemed to stare at each other. After a few seconds, the warships powered their engines to full burn. Both sides flew by each other, firing as much weaponry at the enemy as they could. As both forces passed each other, the Confederate forces turned and pursued the Galactic Union again. The Galactic Union warships left the orbit of Artemis and started flying around the planet Diana to try to minimize damage to Artemis.
Iphigenia fired mass driver rounds out of its stern cannons toward the invaders. Fighters started launching out of the hangar bay of the heavy cruiser.
“Where did that other capital ship come from? Blow it out of the sky!” Koizumi yelled as he brandished his weapon.
The bloody battle raged on.
Trevor groaned, “Our buddy is back.”
“Who invited that bastard?!” Trevor yelled.
The enemy corvette was on Rapture's tail again, tearing Rapture apart. A mass driver slug pierced the hull and went straight through Rapture’s engine room. The slug shattered the energy channel in the engine room. Energy arced all around and plating started melting. Rapture rumbled. Displays flickered on and off.
“Direct hit! Oh god, it's the energy channel. I have to go down there!”
“No you do not, Sharon!” Jacob said. “I don't know that much about reactor systems, but I know that area is extremely dangerous now! You stay up here! Seal that area off and vent any hazardous materials!”
“We're losing power across all systems. We have to go to backup systems. We're a sitting duck. Well, a duck that is hurdling through space, anyways,” Trevor said. “Wait, I'm detecting hyperspace fluctuations!”
A corvette jumped into the battle. It flew toward the battling corvettes.
“Not another one!” Sharon shouted.
“No... We're okay,�
�� Jacob said.
Madcat-2 unleashed its weaponry onto the enemy corvette. Madcat-2 and the corvette started their duel.
“Teresa!” Jacob exclaimed.
Teresa Day grinned over a vid link that Trevor had set up. “Hey there. Told you we'd meet again. Time to take out the trash! You never were good at that, Jacob.”
Several fighters from Freedom danced around the Confederate corvette. Madcat-2 and the enemy corvette traded blows. Madcat-2 fired a mass driver through the enemy ship. The Confederate corvette burst apart.
“That's right!” shouted Teresa. “Take care of yourselves, if something sneezes at you, you may go down. Good luck!”
“We understand,” said Jacob. “Good luck to you, too.”
Mass drivers cut into Apollo. A well-placed coil cannon slug ripped through Apollo. Apollo exploded. The pieces impacted all the ships around it, knocking out almost every Galactic Union shield generator. Coil cannons and mass driver rounds continued blasting by the Galactic Union forces.
A swarm of fighters covered Yatagarasu. Mass drivers from the Galactic Union impacted the hull of the Confederate cruiser. Yatagarasu trembled.
Lieutenant Ashara Cinderflake was covered with blood. She rushed between patients in the crowded sickbay of Freedom. The lights continued to flicker as the ship rocked from enemy fire. It was a bloody massacre. She was surrounded by wounded men and women. A large portion of them would not make it. Her crew just tried to make their passing as painless as possible.
A fellow medical doctor ran up to Cinderflake. “It's Lieutenant Venatici, he's dying!”
“I know,” Ashara Cinderflake said.
“His Peregrine barely made it back to the hangar. A mass driver slug ripped right through the cockpit. It's a miracle he got this far, we can't lose him now.”
“Then we will hope for another miracle.”
“Ash! We have to do something!”
“His wounds are too severe. We have to deal with people we can save. Triage.”
“He's one of the best fighter pilots we have!” exclaimed the doctor.
“Rank and ability does not matter, we save who we can.”
“We have to do something!”
“We are. We're saving who we can. Beyond that, please just pray for him,” Cinderflake said as she examined another wounded crew member. “Pray for everyone.”
