Chapter 24
The Battle of Saturn
On board Earth’s Destiny, Specialist 1st Class Wald Grugger watched half a dozen sensor screens for signs of anything that might prove a threat or hazard to the ship. His shift was almost over, and he was tired and a bit blurry eyed. For this very reason the sensors were equipped with alarms that would sound if an object of any substantial size came within range.
The alarm sounded, and a rhythmic bleep . . . bleep . . . bleep came from the medium-range sensor’s speaker. Grugger looked at the screen curiously. First one blip appeared, then another, then the screen filled with dozens of tiny blips representing objects coming toward Earth’s Destiny.
“Colonel, we have multiple objects ahead coming at us,” he reported.
“Can you tell what they are?” Colonel Belmoht asked.
“I’d say a meteor storm except the pattern is too uniform, and the odds against such an occurrence are astronomical. My guess is, it’s fighters, sir.”
“Fighters?”
“Yes. From one of the attack cruisers, probably. We’ve just about caught up with them. They must have spotted us.”
“How much time do we have?”
“Ten loons at best, sir.”
“Ask Commander General Lavendar to come to the bridge.”
“Yes, sir.”
Colonel Belmoht pushed the ship-wide alert button on his console. A piercing alarm began to sound. Crew members, wherever they were, rushed to their battle stations. All pilots scrambled to the flight decks and began putting on their flight suits. Rossi Sincini rushed to the bridge.
“What’s happening?” he asked.
“Incoming fighters,” Colonel Belmoht advised. “Should we power up our shields?”
“Ah . . . We can’t while we’re traveling FTL.”
“Should we stop the ship, then?”
“I don’t know. The odds of them doing any serious damage are slim. They’ll only have one shot at us and then we’ll be out of their range.”
Tam stepped onto the bridge and looked over at the beeping sensor screen. “So, the fun finally begins.”
“It appears that way,” Colonel Belmoht said.
“So, what are we going to do about it?” Tam asked thoughtfully.
“I don’t recommend stopping, sir,” Rossi said. “That’s probably what they want us to do. I’d just send out a flurry of missiles in their direction and fire our lasers at anybody who comes in close. We can take quite a pounding before they’ll do any serious damage to us. The attack won’t last long before we’ve passed beyond their range.”
“What about our fighters?” Tam asked.
“Once they left Earth’s Destiny, they’d never make it back on board. We can only deploy the fighters if we slow down to below their maximum speed.”
“All right, I’ll think about that,” Tam said. “What about evasive maneuvers?”
“If necessary, but any course alteration will delay our arrival on Earth.”
“What do you think, Colonel?” Tam asked.
“I’ll defer to Mr. Sincini. He’s the expert.”
Tam nodded and watched the screen as the blips got closer and closer. “Advise the crew to maintain battle positions.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Two loons to contact,” Grugger advised.
Tam and the others took their seats and strapped themselves in.
“What would happen if we collided with one of the fighters?” Tam asked. “There are a lot of them out there, so that’s a distinct possibility.”
“Ah. We’d be annihilated, sir,” Rossi said. “But I doubt any pilot would intentionally hit us head-on. That would be suicide.”
“These are the Purists, remember,” Tam said. “They are fanatics and they think they are on a mission for God. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of them tried to ram us head-on.”
“Then we better play it safe,” Rossi reasoned. “We should stop and engage them. It’s hard to destroy a battle cruiser.”
Colonel Belmoht nodded. “Kill the main drive and engage reverse thrusters! Activate all defensive shields and launch fighters!”
The ship rocked and swayed violently as the reverse thrusters came on and brought the attack cruiser to an abrupt halt. Fighters immediately began streaming out from six different launching platforms and circled around to engage the enemy. The first wave of enemy fighters exchanged laser fire with the defenders. A second wave of attackers slipped by and sent a barrage of missiles toward Earth’s Destiny. The missiles exploded the moment they hit the ionic shield, scattering debris and a thick cloud of fine dust in all directions and cutting visibility around the ship markedly.
“They have the advantage of superior numbers,” Rossi noted as he watched the battle on the big screen in front of the bridge.
“True,” Tam said. “But I’m sure the morale of our pilots is better. They all volunteered for this mission. That is not the case with the Purist pilots.”
“Who’s our squadron commander today?” Rossi asked.
“Lt. Ul Lamh,” Tam replied.
“I hope he’s on his game today.”
Frequent lasers blasts and an occasional exploding fighter lit up the sky. Grugger ignored the light show and kept a close eye on all the sensors.
“Squadron Commander, report,” Colonel Belmoht ordered.
“SQ1 reporting. Twenty-one kills, six fighters down, enemy on the run.”
“Very well. Do not pursue. Split up your squadron and keep an eye out for more intruders.”
“Yes, sir. Will do.”
Grugger’s eyes narrowed as he focused on one of the ship’s rear-facing sensors. “A very large object is approaching aft,” he advised.
“That would be the battle cruiser,” Sincini noted.
“There’s another one forward!” Grugger said.
Tam sighed. “Two against one. That’s hardly fair.”
“SQ1,” Colonel Belmoht said.
“Yes, sir.”
“Have you spotted any attack cruisers?”
“Yes, one is just coming into view now.”
“Can you identify?”
“Yes, according to its markings it is Videl’s Revenge.”
“That figures,” Tam said. “I wonder if the entire Fleet is here to gang up on us?”
“I doubt it,” Colonel Belmoht said. “The rest of them are no doubt taking advantage of our delay.”
“I’m being advised that the other one is Humanities Hope, sir,” SQ1 said.
“A better name would have been Earth’s Despair,” Tam noted.
“Sir,” Grugger said. “Fighters are launching from both attack cruisers.”
“SQ1. We’re under attack from two attack cruisers, fore and aft. Split your squadron and engage the enemy.”
“Yes, sir . . . This is SQ1, first wing forward, second wing aft. May God and Sandee be with you!”
“Sir,” Grugger said. “They’re sending everything they’ve got at us. We’re going to be outgunned three to one.”
“It’s all right. We have superior pilots,” Tam replied confidently.
“Incoming missiles,” Grugger advised. “Three, six, eight of them.”
The front viewport lit up when the missiles exploded as they hit the ionic shield. The ship shook hard from the shock waves. Lights dimmed, and loose objects fell to the deck.
“SQ1. How are we doing out there?” Tam asked.
“Our kill rate’s double theirs, but there are just too many of them.”
Grugger leaned in toward the sensor screens and squinted. “Sir, there are more fighters coming in on our starboard in a tight formation. There must be at least fifty of them.”
Tam looked at Rossi. “If all fifty launch missiles at us will the ionic shield hold?”
“No problem,” Rossi said confidently. “We’ll just get knocked around a bit from the shock waves. But we’d better close all launch platforms.”
“Lock down all launch platform
s,” Tam ordered.
“Incoming missiles,” Grugger reported. “Three, ten, twenty—oh my God! There’s too many to count.”
The ship rocked wildly, lights flickered, and then there was an explosion so powerful, fixtures and equipment were ripped from their deck bolting and sent crashing into the walls. There were screams of horror and shrieks of pain from the crew as they were pelted by flying debris or felt their vital organs twisted and ripped apart. The screams of agony continued until most aboard had lost consciousness or succumbed to the brutal thrashing. Then there was nothing but silence and darkness.
Tarizon, Conquest Earth, Tarizon Trilogy Vol 3 Page 28
