"Boarding vessels are coming to you now."
"Uh...what the hell?" said Billy.
Nate was silent for a second, and as he thought about what was happening, the ship took more hits. He tapped a button and brought up a pair of external camera views from the ship. To their one side was the Rift Station, and off on the other the four cruiser-size military ships. Nate didn't recognise their designs, but he instantly knew what the bright neon like insignia meant that was emblazoned on their flanks. Lights flashed along different parts of the ships, and then masses of projectiles struck the ore hauler.
"I...uh, what? Since when have we been technophilics? And why the hell are they shooting at a civilian ship?"
Nate altered their position so that their nose was now pointing out to the flanks of the ship. Once ready to launch, he spotted the confused expression on Billy's face.
"Technophilics?"
Nate smiled at his friend’s confusion.
"For some reason this Star Empire Militia officer thinks we are some kind of monsters. I seem to recall we were at war with the Biomechs, not their allies."
"Right," said Billy, though he still didn't sound convinced.
"So, technophilics are lovers of technology, right?"
The Byotai Militiaman spoke with a much sterner tone that instantly regained their attention.
"Open your cargo doors and prepare to be boarded. All illegal technologies will be destroyed by the order of the Militia. Your crew will be taken. Any that show signs of the machine taint will be cleansed."
The image vanished and was replaced by the calm voice of Ensign Hawkins.
"Orders are through, we launch in twenty seconds."
The audio clicked as the squadron channel altered to fighter-to-fighter only.
"Lewis, are you ready for this?"
Nate gripped the controls firmly and answered in his gruffest voice.
"We're ready."
"Good. Start the clock as soon as we leave. Remember, we divert, and then you move in. Ten minutes is the window we've been given. Get the marines inside and fast. If we fail, we'll have their entire fleet on our rear. Good luck."
Nate reached forward and placed his hand just above the timer sequence. At the same time the outer doors creaked open. As they slid apart, the odd clouds of coloured gas and dust gave a bizarre tint to the interior. The doors kept moving, and now all the spacecraft in this section had detached from their mounting positions and were waiting to launch.
Just a few more seconds...now!
Nate hit the burners, and the Bullnose Gunship burst from out the ore hauler's flank. Right behind him were the two Hammerheads, and as they moved away, they left a dispersed wake. They travelled away from the ship at high speed, and Nate was stunned to see the damage the ship had already sustained. He counted scores of holes, each the size of a fighter. One section was even missing an entire bulkhead unit so that it hung open like a half-built warehouse.
"Just as well there's nobody on board anymore."
Nate nodded as he made a subtle course shift.
"Yeah, Tarandot doesn't stand a chance."
His eyes were drawn to the line of four ships busy unleashing broadsides into the civilian ore hauler. Each volley ripped through the thin container sections, yet there were no discernible explosions. One by one entire sections of the ship were ripped off until it looked more like something found at a scrap yard.
"Corsair Squadron is moving in, now," said Lieutenant Commander Holder.
Her voice was so calm she might just as easily have been ordering food in a restaurant. Her twelve Lightning fighters split apart into four groups of three, each heading for their designated targets. Missiles were the first weapons to be unleashed, and then they opened up with their secondary weapons. Another three fighters from Thunder Squadron joined them and began a strike run at the stern of the nearest ship.
"Just look at them, fifteen fighters against four ships. Those are not good odds."
Nate smiled.
"Don't worry, they don't have to win. They just need to buy us a little time."
He checked the navigation orb to find them, and then altered the focus of the artificial cockpit screen. At first only the four ships were obvious, but as the computer overlaid IFF tags on each of the craft, he found the entire Corsair Squadron. They were moving fast and weaving in and out of the ships, while continuing to fire.
"The Lieutenant Commander wasn't kidding. She is definitely keeping them busy."
They continued on their course while the two actions began around them. To their right was Corsair Squadron, as they wheeled about and drew as much fire from the four ships as possible. To their left were the three Gunships under the command of Ensign Hawkins, as well as the three Lighting fighters from Thunder Squadron.
"Nate," said Billy.
He looked straight-ahead while resetting the forward display. They were now approaching the station at high-speed, and the counter already showed they were thirty seconds into their allotted ten minutes.
"They are going in."
Right on time the three remaining Lightning fighters moved into position alongside the gunships. They were only a short distance from Ensign Hawkins and his three Bullnose Gunships. With a gentle boost of power, they formed up so that a fighter flanked each gunship.
"Nice," said Nate.
They were travelling a good distance back from the unit, but with the enhanced magnification provided by the onboard systems, they had a good view of the action.
"Watch yourselves out there," said Nate.
He looked to his own flanks and checked that the two Hammerheads were still there. At first glance there was little difference between the two types of spacecraft, and for any approaching fighter that was the impression they would want to give. In reality, there was a marked difference, in terms of both firepower and survivability.
"We're coming in right behind you."
Nate and his two Hammerheads activated their burners and increased speed towards their target. That was the exact moment when the station’s defences activated, and all hell broke loose.
"Incoming fire!" yelled one of Thunder Squadron's pilots just before his fighter was cut in half. An ejector pod blasted away as the fighter exploded. That was when the remaining five split apart to make targeting them more difficult. Multiple gun batteries opened fire, tracking in all directions to chase the fighters.
"Open fire!" said Ensign Hawkins.
The gunships pulled away at the last minute while raking the station with guns. The targets were all carefully selected and consisted only of the components of the station likely to damage the fighters. They avoided the larger calibre weapons. They were too slow to ever be able to track something as fast and as nimble as a Lightning.
"I've got targets coming from the station," said Billy.
Two fighters from Thunder Squadron separated just as they released a pair of missiles each. The weapons accelerated at high-speed to the station before being ripped apart by the fully automated turrets. Nate gulped as he watched the ease with which they were destroyed.
"We need those guns taken off-line. I can't get our marines inside with those turrets still active."
The intercom crackled with a reply from Ensign Hawkins, Knighthawk Leader.
"Understood Knighthawk Two. Stay on your approach vector. We'll clear the highway for you."
Nate checked the objects on the display, and then called out to his comrades as he observed them coming out. The fighters emerged from their hiding place and accelerated towards the dispersed group of Alliance fighters and gunships.
"Knighthawks, we've got incoming," confirmed Ensign Hawkins.
The enemy had timed their launch well, and by doing this avoided any chance of the Alliance fighters and gunships being able to launch long-range missiles at them. Either that, or it was just another bizarre coincidence that worked against the Alliance. Nate counted them until no more came from inside the launch bay. Ensign Hawkins t
agged each of them and then designated the lead targets to the gunships around him.
"Break and attack the fighters, give the boarding party some room."
Though only a matter of seconds behind the first wave, Nate felt helpless as the five Alliance spacecraft entered a messy dogfight with the loose formation of eight enemy fighters. Two of the Byotai vanished almost immediately, but then to his horror, so did one of the Lightnings. The fighter lost an engine and twisted out of control, smashing into one of the extended boom arms from the station.
"Stay in formation. Watch your flanks!" said Ensign Hawkins.
As they moved closer, Nate could make out the odd shape of some of the fighters. The designs were unfamiliar to him, but they were clearly faster and more agile that either the Bullnose or Lighting spacecraft. A pair of them turned away and gave him the perfect few of their undersides. Without even thinking, Billy had already targeted them and launched a pair of hypersonic missiles.
"Keep moving," said Nate, "The station is our objective. Hit the fighters, but do not stray from our course. We're already a minute in."
A series of explosions marked the impact of armour piercing slugs and shells as the swarm of spacecraft circled around the station. They were still too far away to land the troops, and Nate found it almost impossible not to go to the aid of his friends. Every few seconds a flash or explosion would mark a target being hit, and each time he felt a shudder in his body. He might not be the greatest of friends with Hawkins and the others, but he had no desire to see any of them hurt, let alone killed.
"I've lost my main guns. Engines failing." said Ensign Travis "Torabisu" Foss, the shorter of the Foss brothers.
Nate could tell from his voice that something approaching panic was setting in. He was much closer now, and some of the defensive turrets had moved to shoot at the three of them. One burst came perilously close, and he only avoided it by shifting his height by three metres at the last moment. A single projectile struck the side of the hull and glanced off into the void.
"That was close."
He glanced at Billy, but his friend was too busy controlling the onboard defensive systems. There was a lot to do to protect the Hammerheads, and he was making great use of the bulbous turrets to keep away any of the stray fighters.
"Ejecting!" Ensign Foss shouted.
Nate spotted the flash as the brothers escaped the wreckage of their crippled gunship. With a single burst of power, the three moved through the dogfight and closer again to the station. A Lightning fighter and a single damaged Bullnose gunship formed up alongside them, and they accelerated below the station. A single battery of guns opened fire at them. The large calibre guns missed every time, but a pair of smaller turrets managed to hit two of them, punching holes though armour, fuel lines, and ammunition feeds.
"Starting our final attack run," said Hawkins.
As Nate and the others pulled up, a mixed formation led by Ensign Hawkins streamed past from the left. They fired continually and raked the station’s guns in a devastating attack. As soon as they moved out of view, two pairs of the enemy fighters immediately followed them. This was the closest Nate had been to these alien spacecraft, and he could now see quite how unusual they were. Unlike Alliance craft, they were asymmetrical and looked rather crude in construction. Armour plates were fitted in odd places, and antenna pushed out from the front. Though fragile in appearance, they were actually almost the same size as the Alliance gunships, and very heavily armed. Mixed in with them were smaller spacecraft of a similar design.
"Anicinàbe fighters," said Billy, "Computer identifies them as Anicinàbe produced Mahingan medium fighters with Mokku scout fighters escorting them."
He tagged several of their key components and then glanced to Nate.
"The small ones carry four automatic cannons and missiles on their wings."
"And the larger ones, the...Mahingan fighters?"
Billy checked the data for a second.
"Eight of those automatic cannons. They look between 10mm and 15mm in calibre. Then there's that massive, off-centre weapon pod that contains a magazine roller-fed missile system and something close to 75mm mass driver cannon."
Billy shook his head.
"That is a powerful beast. Couple of hits from the main gun and we're gone."
Nate lifted his hand and pointed as the last of the enemy fighters raced away. From underneath they could both see the brash two-headed reptile insignia, now commonly fitted to all of their vessels. Symbols used by the other empires and factions were always quite modest, or in the case of the Alliance, never even shown. Yet the symbols on the Star Empire were always oversized and glowing brightly like neon signing outside a store.
"That's not the Anicinàbe. Look at the icons. They're carrying the Star Empire insignia. I don't know when they had the time to do this, but they seem to have a lot of hardware carrying that icon."
He shook his head, simultaneously rolling the spacecraft to avoid two of the approaching Mokku fighters. One opened up with its bank of autocannons, and many of the rounds punched the nose and flanks of their gunship. Multiple rounds penetrated the outer layer of plating, but nothing made it to the soft inside of the spacecraft.
"Watch out! Double targets from behind," Rex yelled.
As always, Nate knew exactly where his comrades were at this moment. Billy busily tried to jam their tracking systems and returned fire with the flank turrets.
"We can't outmanoeuvre them, Nate."
"Not a problem. Reverse thrust and scissor!"
Without thinking, Nate diverted half the energy from the port engine bank to the starboard engines. He pulled the craft up and into a tight scissors roll while simultaneously dumping power to the reverse thrusters. The two Hammerheads stayed close to his flanks and followed him through the manoeuvre with perfect precision. Anybody watching might have thought it a beautiful example of precision formation flying. In seconds their forward velocity had halved, and two of the powerful Mahingan medium fighters inched past, even though both tried desperately to slow down. Turrets from the Hammerheads and the single Bullnose gunship opened up on them as they passed. Chunk of metal tore off, and one fighter began to burn; yet still they continued onwards.
"Keep firing!" said Nate.
With the manoeuvre now over, the Alliance spacecraft sat directly behind the pair of Star Empire fighters. The enemy pilots must have realised the error of their ways because the damaged fighter tried to roll out of the way, the second simply activated his burners to increase his forward speed.
"Drop'em!"
Both Hammerheads unleashed their forward guns against the damaged fighter. A combination of chin-mounted cannons and their turret systems made short work of the Mahingan, and it exploded into a cloud of debris. Nate was still trying to line up his guns on the remaining fighter. Its burners left a trail in the colour dust cloud.
Now you're mine, pal.
With the engines blazing so hot, it was the perfect time to release his missiles. With little more than a gentle jolt, the gunship shuddered, and two missiles rushed away. These were standard issue close-range missiles, and designed to accelerate in the shortest possible time. The enemy pilot either didn't notice them, or was so busy trying to increase his forward speed that he couldn't react. In any case, both missiles struck the inner components of the fighter and triggered a mighty blue flash that fully enveloped the craft.
"Yes!" Nate shouted triumphantly.
The formation of three heavy spacecraft burst through the wreckage and on to the last kilometre of their journey. They both stopped talking as they weaved through the remaining Star Empire fighters and towards the station, with the Hammerheads on their wingtips. Their turrets continued to shoot at any nearby fighters, but nothing could stop their final approach.
"Knight Hawk Two. We're in position and moving in for the combat drop."
Nate hit the button that connected him to the closed circuit used by the Marine Corps squads.
"
Marines, we're twenty seconds out."
The intercom crackled immediately with a reply from the Lieutenant Commander.
"Good work, Knighthawks. You..."
The leader of Corsair Squadron grunted, and Nate could only imagine what difficult manoeuvre she must have been pulling as she spoke. A quick glance showed her squadron had taken minimal losses but was now heavily invested in the battle around the ships. Though they were a reasonable distance away, the battle was not going their way.
"You need to get in there fast. Send back what you can. We need help back here."
Nate's attention was immediately brought back to the station, as a single burst from one of its defensive turrets struck the centre of the cockpit. If this had been a traditional fighter with a glass or other transparent canopy, he’d already be dead. The new Bullnose and Hammerhead spacecraft were specifically designed to feature virtual front windows and armoured housings, a design idea taken from the successful Mauler assault landing craft.
That was close.
To Nate's surprise, the armour of the Bullnose was able to beat off the projectiles. He and Billy shared a look of amazement, and then returned to their previous positions.
"This is it, stay close."
Only a pair of flanking weapon systems appeared to be still firing, and Nate could only assign that to the heavy bombardment from the mixed unit of fighters and gunships. Both sets of guns fired, and streaks of metal slugs narrowly missed the gunship. As they made it to within two hundred metres from the station, Nate was stunned to see they were still alive. He now had a perfect view of the structure as they reached the lowest point at the base of the broken ring shape. Billy pointed to the turrets.
"The guns!"
Nate nodded.
"Yeah, I know. They've stopped firing."
From a distance it looked perfectly normal and in good shape, but now he could see the structure was actually cracked and battered in a hundred places. There were holes that were far too big to have been caused by fighters. Billy tagged several of the breaches, as well as multiple repair drones that moved over the outer plates to repair damage.
"Let's hope they stay off-line, huh?"
Star Crusader: Knighthawk Squadron Page 17
