by Lee Watts
Vivica smiled.
"Yes, I'm sure it is."
In the battle-torn space outside, waves of tri-winged Ramillie fighters flooded in and about the asteroid ring while whirling in a wild melee of combat. A frenzied hail of blue and red laserfire filled the void as Realm infantry engaged the alien ships. From every direction, and from behind virtually every rock, blue rifle fire zipped out at the Ramillie starfighters. Shields designed to deflect or absorb far more powerful blasts from enemy fighters all but negated the infantry's weapons. In contrast, the troopers had no shields, and the cannons of the Ramillie starfighters were many times more powerful than the soldier's weapons. Remnant forces, outmatched, continued in vain to pound away at the Ramillie ships.
Many of the rocks the infantry used for provisional protection were small and contained virtually no tizanite. A few quick blasts from a fighter shattered them, sending rock debris and former defenders scattering. Phase three of the battle quickly became a lopsided slaughter.
Because of the dense field of rocks, the Ramillie pilots had to slow their fighters to many times less than their standard combat speed. Compared to an infantry thruster suit, the ships were still substantially faster.
Isolated on one of the smaller boulders, and seeing the futility of individual weapons, Imre ignited his thrusters making his way over to a rock where there was a group of twenty soldiers. He switched his radio to proximity broadcast, enabling him to speak to all of them.
"Listen up! Small arms are no match against their shields. We need to concentrate our fire to take 'em out. Form up along the ridge of this crater and standby!"
The Remnant combatants formed a line, slinging the barrels of their weapons over the rocky crest the gunnery sergeant indicated. One of the deadly fighters was zooming nearer.
"Here he comes," Imre shouted. "Set for beam, and hold it till she blows!"
With a flick of a thumb, each soldier quickly changed the weapon's setting from sending out bolts of energy to the beam function. The rifle would continue the beam until the trigger was released. The starfighter raced closer.
"Hold," the gunny ordered, knowing if he gave away their location too quick it would prove fatal.
"Hold…" at the last moment he yelled, "FIRE!"
Simultaneously, a score of beams struck out at the targeted craft. Set on beam, the weapons provided no break to the power drain against the ship's shields, which quickly buckled. The deadly rays went on to penetrate the fighter's hull causing it to burst apart half a moment later.
Cheers rang out from the small group. They targeted a second incoming ship with identical success then a third. Other Remnant forces noticed the tactic and quickly replicated it from dozens of other asteroids. Not oblivious to the sudden change, Ramillie pilots then adapted their own tactics. Instead of flying solo, they formed up in groups of two or three. As the fighters navigated the maze of rocks, they waited to see from where the concentrated beams emanated. As soon as one of the Ramillie ships came under fire, its partner ship would target the source of the attack and blast it. So, instead of the lengthy process of destroying Realm troops one at a time, the pilots had found a far more expedient means of wiping out Remnant fighters. It was during this phase of the massacre when Imre Kovacs met his end. His final thought was of his wife Elsa and little girl Hannah.
Surviving troops disbanded the makeshift groups and resumed the individual attacks, which, though virtually useless, at least didn't border on suicide.
Admiral Qil'Donan sat back in his command chair, drumming the tips of his fingers against each other.
"That's more like it," he said with a smirk. "Now, instruct the fighters to clear a path to that command center and take it out. I've tolerated these insolent pests long enough."
Ramillie starfighters blazed a trail of destruction through the asteroid field while progressing to their primary target, the command tower of the main asteroid.
In the operations control room, Colonel Veltri saw a trio of Ramillie fighters heading right for them.
"Here they come," he shouted.
"Activate perimeter guns," Alexander instructed.
Installed initially to defend the control center against an outside force attempting a prisoner break, half-a-dozen medium-sized cannons slid out from ports in the control tower. Much to the surprise of the three approaching Ramillie pilots, the previously unknown defenses sprayed blasts of blue energy at them. The fighters returned fire; the trio of ships charged the tower unflinching from their intercept course. A brilliant, billowing explosion filled the space around the tower, and Remnant troops throughout the ring turned to see if the control center had been destroyed by collisions.
Colonel Ortiz used his helmet's magnification feature to see the source of the distant explosions. As the red glare from the blasts faded, he saw the blue and white striped banner of the Realm, tattered, but still proudly posted on the command tower. The charging Ramillie ships were now only hunks of flying debris.
"She still waves," Ortiz reported in defiant relief at the sight of the banner. "The banner flies! Keep fighting!"
The colonel, and the thousands of other soldiers in the field of rocks knew as long as the banner flew it meant the control tower was operational, so there was still a chance. They repeatedly looked to the control tower throughout that perilous night for proof their banner was still there.
Zooming through the field, the second set of Ramillie starfighters began a run toward the control asteroid.
"Major Hyeon, we've sprung a leak," Ortiz realized.
Hyeon saw what was going on and nodded.
"Agreed, Sir, but what can we do about it from way over here?"
"Not much, and that's the problem. We've got to stop those fighters or sooner or later they'll take out the command tower. If they do that, it's over."
"What do you recommend, Sir? You saw what happened when the troops tried to concentrate fire. The ships homed in and took out handfuls at a time. With that kind of casualty rate, we'll run out of men long before they run out of ships."
"You're right, but there's got to be some way to take those fighters out."
"It's a shame we can't use the longbows," Major Hyeon groused referring to the shoulder-mounted, anti-aircraft missiles the army used in atmospheric combat.
"Why can't we?" Ortiz asked.
Major Hyeon reminded him of how the tizanite would disrupt the longbows' guidance systems, which is why the Ramillie weren't using missiles either.
"Then we'll have to do the old-fashioned way and aim them ourselves," Ortiz decided. "Hurry, take a squad and go get every last longbow you can stuff in those utility shuttles, and get them here as quick as you can!"
"Yes, Sir," the Major replied and hurried to his task.
Jaiden sat in a tunneled-out, crate-filled room with a group of civilians deep in the heart of the control asteroid. Feeling that Remnant soldiers considered him useless in this fight, he was discouraged and fidgety. Across the room, his sister and Vivica were engaged in conversation. Lady Canton was doing most of the talking. Aulani looked… wrong. Jaiden figured she must be frightened, so he got up to go help her. That's what he told himself was the reason. Now, if by chance, it meant he could get near the blond goddess she was talking to, so much the better. Vivica's every movement seemed graceful, and even from across the room, the sound of her voice intoxicated the seventeen-year-old. He wondered what he should say for Vivica to overhear. A thousand ideas cross his mind, each he dismissed as dumb. By the time he reached the two women, he stood there silently, mind still racing with bad ideas.
Puzzled at her brother's zombie-like blank stare, Aulani spoke to him.
"You alright?"
Her words snapped him back to the moment. Distracted with thought, he hadn't really heard what she'd said. He decided to go with the reason he'd come across the room.
"You alright?" Jaiden asked.
Confused, and a little concerned by his odd behavior, Aulani suggested he sit down.
"Yea, yea," he replied shaking his head to clear it. "So, what are you two talking about?"
Vivica smiled.
"Oh, just girl talk. You wouldn't understand."
Overanxious, he responded, "Yes I would. No wait, I mean, no I wouldn't." Blood rushed to his face, and inside, he was screaming, I'm an idiot!
Vivica uncrossed her legs and hopped down from the crate where she was sitting.
"It's okay," Vivica smiled. "You two probably want to talk. I'll give you some space." Then she sauntered off.
Aulani turned to her brother.
"You're acting weird; you feel okay?"
Humiliated he lowly answered her with, "Yea, yea. I'm fine."
The guns of the control tower repeatedly fired, in total taking out three sets of fighters bent on the primary asteroid's destruction. Taking damage during each of the attack runs, the tower was steadily weakening. Holes caused by Ramillie lasers now decorated the banner of the Realm. Desperate to stop the charging starfighters, time seemed to pass as an eternity to Ortiz as he waited for Major Hyeon's return. About to send a second squad for the longbows, he stopped upon noticing a group of shuttles heading his way. Hyeon had taken the long way around to avoid the Ramillie fighters.
"Finally," Ortiz exclaimed in relief.
Setting down on the big rock, the shuttles opened, revealing their precious cargo of ammunition. Each person in the battalion armed themselves with a launcher and a rectangular quiver-like canister, which they slung across their back with a strap. Ortiz addressed his troops.
"Now remember, turn the guidance system off, or the missile is as likely to turn and hit you as it is anything else. And spread out, we don't want any more mass casualties. Any questions?" There were none. "Very good. Move out!"
Members of the now heavily-armed battalion ignited their thrusters, heading toward the routes the fighters seemed to favor. The troops fanned out along the battered course to the control asteroid and laid in wait for the next run of starfighters.
"This first one's mine," Ortiz informed. "Hyeon, Thompson, with me."
Major Hyeon and Master Sergeant Thompson followed their unit commander to one of the larger asteroids. As with previous runs, a trio of fighters sped through the ever-widening path of rocks toward the headquarters complex. Ortiz instructed Hyeon and Thompson to target the outside fighters while he went for the one in the middle. They split up and waited as the three ships raced nearer.
Radioing his two companions, Ortiz gave a steady countdown.
"And in five, four, three, two, one, FIRE!"
In unison, a trio of missiles simultaneously launched at the fighters. Unprepared for such an attack, the pilots hesitated for a split second. It was all the time the missiles needed to reach their intended targets. Two of the fighters exploded upon collision with the longbows, but the third evaded its missile. The lone ship quickly came under beam fire from forty plus locations and soon burst into a ball of flame.
With no time to relay information about the new tactic before destruction, two more sets of Ramillie fighters succumbed to the power of the longbows before the rest of their fleet even knew to look out for them. A few pilots tried using chaff and flare, conventional means of drawing off a missile, but since the missile's guidance systems were turned off, the traditional counter-measures were ineffective.
Incensed by the stubbornness of The Remnant forces, Qil'Donan ordered every fighter in the assault force to launch and all of the capital ships to get as close as they could to the asteroid ring and engage at point-blank range. Additionally, he commanded the assault shuttles be loaded with troops and sent to board the asteroids and destroy the rebels from the inside. Though it was pointed out the starfighters wouldn't know which asteroids Ramillie soldiers were on and so might accidentally destroy friendly forces, the admiral made no change to the orders.
Dodging laser, missile, and stone, four boxy Ramillie assault shuttles sped through the asteroid ring making their way to the operations control complex. A pair of tri-winged starfighters, and the top-mounted swivel gun on each shuttle provided cover fire. More concerned with the fighters than the assault shuttles, the defenders targeted the starfighters. Guns from the tower took out two of the shuttles. Ramillie sensors detected the location of the tunnels in the chosen rock, and skillful pilots vectored the ships toward them. The twosome of surviving shuttles split direction with each aiming for a different entry location. Firing their braking thrusters at the last moment, the assault shuttles slammed into their chosen spots. Designed for precisely that type of maneuver, the shuttles easily absorbed the impacts. Latching onto the rock, each ship activated its drill. Though intended to cut through a ship's hull to allow boarding parties to enter an enemy ship, the drills worked equally well on rocks. Within seconds, the drills broke through, and dozens of Ramillie troops poured into the tunnels.
Throughout the control asteroid, speakers rang out.
"Breech on level five, section B! Breech on level three, section D! Counter-insertion teams respond!"
Hearing the alarm, a group of heavily-armed soldiers, led by Master Sergeant Gibson, ran out of the bunker where Vivica, Jaiden, and Aulani were. One of the four remaining guards, Tia VanAllen, closed the door behind the departing soldiers. Jaiden wanted to go with Marcus but knew he was out of his element, so stayed put.
Unaccustomed to such jeopardy, and jumpy from what she witnessed, Vivica was nervous.
"Wait. Wait," she stammered. "We're on level three. What section is this?"
Sliding a heavy steel bar across the door, the seemingly unconcerned Sergeant VanAllen answered.
"Section D, Ma'am."
Turning, Tia raised her voice as she addressed nearly thirty uneasy civilians.
"Okay people, listen up! We've got hostiles in the area. I want everybody to go hunker down behind those crates."
With an air of superiority, Vivica looked at the shorthaired Marine woman in disbelief.
"I don't 'hunker down.' People like me don't hunker. I'm not even sure what hunkering is, but I'm sure I don't do it."
Tia wasn't impressed.
"Listen, Sweetheart, you'll hunker down or else."
Indignant, Vivica shot back, "You can't talk to me that way. I'm one step away from royalty."
"Lady, you're one step away from a fat lip. Now hunker down and shut up!"
Vivica's eyes became slits shooting icy darts at the Marine.
"And who do you think you are taking that tone with me? Why you're… you're… nobody."
Tia's eyes flashed, and she stepped challengingly closer to the arrogant blond.
"Nobody?! Perfect. When you're in the medical bay, and they ask you who gave you that black eye, you can say 'Nobody did it.'"
Violently interrupting their discussion, a rolling boom, like the sound of swift approaching thunder, howled down the corridor. The blast caused the floor to shudder and Vivica to quickly overcome her distaste for hunkering.
CHAPTER 38
"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints"
- Psalm 116:15
In the third level of the Remnant's control asteroid, two squads of Ramillie troops made their way through the tunnels. On opposite ends of the asteroid, the squads had the same ultimate goal, shut down the enemy command center. If their duty meant killing every soldier and civilian they encountered, so much the better. One squad headed up toward the operations control room. The other group started down; their aim was the main power generator.
Though outnumbered, Master Sergeant Gibson and his counter-insertion team of six had an advantage over the closer set of invaders, access to the security camera feeds.
Except for the thruster packs, Marcus' team wore the same spacesuits as the soldiers outside, in case of a breach. With hurried caution, they approached the Ramillie's location. Also wearing environmental suits and expecting resistance, the Hegemony soldiers kept their weapons at the ready and made quick steps toward their goal.
> Sergeant Payton Simon, assigned to Marcus' unit when he'd finished his welding job, linked into the security net and had a miniature display projected on the bottom right side of his visor.
"I see them," Payton reported in a hush. "Looks like about twenty." He pointed down the long corridor to where it intersected another hall perpendicularly. "They're coming from the left. Should be at that junction in half a minute."
Looking around the narrow passageway for where his team could find cover during a firefight, Marcus saw none. That was unacceptable. Along the slender tunnel were rooms with civilians taking shelter. Each door was closed and barred. Marcus turned to his team.
"Wait here," he instructed and ran down the hall stopping short of the intersection. He pulled a grenade from his belt and pushed his back flat against the rocky tunnel.
Wary of a possible ambush at the intersection, the Ramillie squad commander raised his arm with a closed fist, silently signaling his troops to stop. Looking around, he noticed the small camera mounted on the ceiling. Payton saw him gesture at it then the image shook as someone moved the camera. Half a minute later, the view went to static.
Inside his helmet, Marcus heard only the sound of his panting breath and pounding heart. Half wishing he was back in the wilderness of Acatus where he could listen to the animals to detect signs of danger, Marcus held his position a while longer. In the carved-out rock of the asteroid, there was no flutter of birds or sudden silence to alert him of an imminent attack. He forced himself to breathe and flicked the switch arming his grenade. It was set for five seconds, but many a one-armed soldier knew five-second grenades were often only good for three seconds.
Pressed by time to accomplish his mission, the Ramillie squad leader motioned his team forward. Nearing the intersection, he saw a quick-moving hand lob a fist-sized object at them.
"DROP," he quickly commanded.
A blind throw, the grenade bounced off the side of the corridor. Within three and a half seconds it exploded in a blinding flash and thundering roll. The blast caused chunks of rock to crumble from the walls and sent the civilians down the corridor hunkering for cover. A cloud of thick dust belched from the hall. Before it even finished billowing, Marcus did a diving roll across the intersection, taking cover behind the corner of the far wall. Sprinting to the near corner, his squad took up position and using the corner for protection, sent a barrage of blue laserfire down the smoke-filled passageway.
