Here we stood, we would do no less and no more. Any that challenged us would taste our mettle.
I looked to the other ships in the fleet, they too had made the trip down to Chaleel. We made broken circles around the cities, facing out towards the Kalu.
Few if any made it past our lines. Any that did were met by the Commandos in their HAPA’s.
***
Delahil looked at the destruction being brought down on the heads of the Kalu.
Even with her sound cancelling helmet she could hear and feel the blasts of cannons as they smashed into the beasts.
The light from the lasers cannons seemed to be seared into the back of her mind, her visor had been fully polarized, but even it wasn’t enough to stop the brutal light.
Kalu lasers rose up to try and kill the massive ships. But that was their issue, these were ships that were meant to protect against nuclear blasts and the firepower of many lasers that were magnitudes more powerful than the ones that they carried in their personal armor.
They barely left a mark in the reinforced armor of the Free Fleet ships. It was a pitiful fight, the outcome already predicted.
The Kalu had no where to go but try to get to the cities. The Free Fleet ships were like brutal angels, they let nothing come close to even threatening the Chaleel cities.
Delahil watched as the day turned to night. It didn’t matter to ships that operated in the dark of space, the Kalu still died in droves. On the second day the Free Fleet ships started to move away from the cities.
She was woken by her comms unit demanding her attention, she was awake in moments.
“Go,” she said, her adrenaline making her aware of everything going on around her in a matter of seconds. She checked who the caller was, seeing that the ID showed it as being Hic Stamus.
“Commander, we will be advancing away from the cities and hopefully pushing the Kalu back into packets to be totally obliterated,” Salchar said. “I was wondering if your tank and HAPA’s would be able to support my ships in their march forward, we will be covering more area in most circumstances and I would like to not have any Kalu bleeding through our fire.”
“Understandable, let me know how they can assist,” she said.
“Commander in Sook has a better idea of these things than me, I’ll pass you over. Also, good morning Commander,” Salchar said, sounding all too chipper for Delahil’s peace of mind.
“Hello Commander Delahil, this is Commander In Sook, these are the planned routes of the Free Fleet ships. These are the areas where we will have weak coverage,” In Sook said, maps appearing on Delahil’s main screen in the command center, updating with the information.
“I see what you’re saying,” Delahil said a few minutes later. She had made sure that her tank commanders were awake and ready to go. The HAPA pilots were getting into their machines while they discussed plans.
“I should have my people ready to move in,” she glanced to a screen on her command chair. “About five minutes, getting them into position might take a few hours.”
“Very well, I will inform the commander. I will have a line open for you no matter what,” In Sook said.
“Thank you Commander.”
“No worries commander, I’m rather looking forward to getting these bastards off of Chaleel,” In Sook said.
“I think you’ll find yourself in good company with that opinion,” Delahil agreed.
Chapter Laser-canoes!
“We’re getting an energy buildup in the large looking cities facing us,” one of the aide’s said. They had been chased across the star system by the converted Destroyers. They had tried to escape their withering fire as much as possible. Falhu had thought of the right words to use in order to slave his people’s pride, but he was running out of phrases and patience.
“Soon it will not matter as we will have the surface beneath our…”
“They’re firing!” The aide interrupted Falhu.
Falhu’s stomach hit the ground as he looked to his main screen, ships simply disappeared.
Maybe the third teaching war will come to retrieve our honor. Hopefully they will be more prepared than us, Falhu thought.
***
“Holy fucking laser-canoes!” Domal said from his position at tactical.
Seems pretty damn accurate, Bregend thought as Daestramus’ cities opened fire on the Kalu fleet.
The tops of the cities illuminated the planet below as a straight funnel of laser three hundred meters wide was projected through the thin upper atmosphere of the planet and right into the Kalu formations.
Five cities were in range of the Kalu fleet, they all fired as one.
Thankfully the Kalu hadn’t revised their tactics of hiding behind one another as they went into battle. Where a laser cannon usually used all of it’s charge in a single shot and killed just a ship or two, these ‘laser-canoes’’ were many times more powerful with a larger beam. They cut through twenty to thirty ships before their energy was spent.
Waves of atmosphere pooled around the laser-canoes, ripples of air spread across the planet. Then they fired again. Thankfully Daestramus was nice and cold, quite nice for bleeding off all the heat they’d just created.
They had a nearly constant rate of fire and used it to their advantage, boring through the Kalu fleet.
Sixty-three thousand Kalu had reached the laser-canoes’ range.
The Kalu spread out to try and get out of the range of the cities turned weapons. They found out that all the cities had been converted to fire their lasers into atmosphere.
If there were less Kalu in the sights of a city, then they didn’t go with the eruption of fire from the first barrage. They husbanded their power, turning their single shots into cutting beams. Reducing power output meant they needed less time to recharge, which meant they could fire continuously, or set the cities to fire rapid pulses.
Daestramus had bought a number of Personal Defense Systems from the Free Fleet. They’d hacked the telemetry program from these systems to the cities and now they let them rip.
PDS normally fired around four hundred thousand rounds per minute all more accurate than any human sniper, at ranges that people needed the complex targeting computers held in a gunnery section just to see them.
Have the range at a few hundred thousand kilometers and reduce the rate of fire to around a thousand pulses per minute. If those PDS were even close to sentient it would be like using a power-washer to clean the outside of a house instead of a sponge. Sure the sponge does the job, but damn if a power washer isn’t more fun.
The light coming from the cities looked to be constant but that was because Bregend’s eyes couldn’t pick up the pauses in all of that mess.
What he could see was the Kalu getting thrashed.
“Bring units into range and begin firing,” Bregend said. They had stayed a million or so kilometers out of the Kalu’s range. They had tried to hit them with the odd pot-shot but they had at least three seconds to react, fusion acceleration allowed them to get out of the way in a quick fashion.
Laser cannons opened fire across the fleet. They hadn’t wasted their shots before as the Kalu had a good chance of getting out of the way as well.
Now they had their claws filled with other things.
The Free Fleet surged ahead, six pyramids of Free Fleet ships, coming in to close the door on the Kalu.
Some of the Kalu to their credit turned to fight the Free Fleet, they didn’t have missiles, shields or really anything but their laser weapons and they didn’t have any damned coordination at all.
They fought to the end but it was in vain. The Free Fleet did have shields, they knew how to work together, concentrate their fire, or move out of the way if they were heavily damaged.
Free Fleet ships took hit after hit, poking a bear would have probably hurt less by the Free Fleet’s reaction.
“Domal, rolling barrages through all formations. Wilma turn the ship to bring more weapons to bear, plan for decelerati
on to keep the Kalu in our sights. Zoka, flush our small craft, let’s show these bastards what the Free Fleet price is,” Bregend’s eyes slid around the room. They had all lost Friends and family in this campaign, they had all stood by him throughout it all. Now they were getting their own back. The Kalu had it all on their side at the beginning of this fight. Their numbers had chilled them to the bone. Now the Free Fleet had leveled the playing field, figured out their tactics and they were ready to take payment for those that they had lost.
Free Fleet ships rotated in and out of battle, their weapons firing as ships fled their carriers in order to make their own mark.
The Free Fleet spread out, slowing their progress to pile their fire into the Kalu, boxing them in like a hand trying to grab Daestramus with them in the middle.
“This one is for you my brothers and sisters,” Bregend muttered to himself, seeing the faces of those that hadn’t made it this far.
His eyes itched as he worked his jaw. He would not cry today, he had work to do and Kalu to kill.
***
Narvu looked at the Kalu with cold calculation, they had been ripped apart, and there was seventeen thousand of them left now. That number was doing nothing but rolling down.
Still they will make it to Daestramus. He thought, knowing that it was true.
“Prepare the cities to fire along the horizon,” Narvu said to Vela, looking to his helper.
“Yes sir,” she said, her Slevarans colors showing her receding shock at the firepower they had unleashed on the Kalu formation.
Most people were probably feeling that now.
Narvu had been going over the plans since they knew the Kalu were coming. He’d expected the cannons to be damned powerful, but knowing that and seeing it was a world of difference.
Kalu started breaking atmosphere and heading for the cities. The cities opened side hatches that focused a percentage of the main aperture's strength. They caught a good many Kalu, but it was like trying to catch rain with a spoon now.
He winced as the first Kalu ship made its ‘landing’.
The star-warrior fired into Felso city, cutting great holes in the reinforced but unarmored structure. It didn’t turn and only barely slowed, smashing its front end into the city. It went in a few decks before coming to a halt. Narvu looked to the fuzzy sensor feeds from inside the city. The Star-warrior opened and Kalu surged out into the cities.
The other Kalu seemed to take their lead from that Star-warrior.
Cities lasers stuttered and then failed as safety after safety was tripped and shut down the whole operation. Star-destroyers moved at a sedate pace, releasing their fighters in billowing clouds. The fighter’s grouped up as they headed towards the cities, their lasers cutting into the structures.
Fires started, explosions rocked the cities and Daestramus started burning.
“Move the Commandos outside the cities,” Narvu said, looking at the maps. “Let’s see how much they like the cold,” he said, his smile mirroring the temperatures above his command center.
“We have an incoming message from Bregend,” Lofa said from her position as communications commander.
“Patch him on through, if it’s the commander do that every time, he has priority,” Narvu said, not chastising but rather amending her actions.
“Yes sir,” she said with a small smile.
“Commander,” Narvu said, seeing the bridge of the Dal come into view.
“Commander,” Bregend said, something like humor meddling in the back of his tone.
“What can I do you for?” Narvu asked, looking up from his table but not straightening from his position.
“I have a number of Commando units that are eager to help out Daestramus if you would be interested in their assistance,” Bregend said, there was something in Bregend’s voice that tickled Narvu’s memory.
Ahh crap, he told me about the Commandos before. I must have forgot; I’d been planning this defense with only my forces in mind. How many times did I think what it would be like to have a few thousand more Commandos?
“Certainly Commander, we would be delighted by their presence,” Narvu said, breaking free of his lolly-gagging. He hadn’t been sleeping much in recent days.
“Good! I have nine hundred thousand Commandos as well as bomber’s MEF’s and my fleet at your disposal. I hope the Kalu don’t mind a short stay,” Bregend said.
“Oh I hope so,” Narvu said.
They brought their people onto the line and started laying out what they were going to do. Fighters and bombers started to make their appearance as the Free Fleet looked to reducing the Star-Destroyers across the planet. Rail cannon rounds ripped through the slow moving crafts, ripping flaming holes in their carcasses, sending them down to Daestramus’ embrace.
Fighters and bombers attacked the Kalu fighter swarms.
The Free Fleet opened their shuttle bays and Commando-laden shuttles headed in towards the planet.
The battle in space had ended, the battle on Daestramus’ surface had just begun.
“Cut orders for the Henry-Classed Destroyers to split into two groups, half for Sol, half for Quarst. Make sure all the resupply points along their path will get them sorted out before they get to their destinations,” Bregend said, looking to Mills.
“Gotcha,” Mills said, turning to his new work.
***
Falhu looked at the city around him. It must have supported a good many sentients, yet none of them remained in the city.
We were tricked, he thought, sharpening his claws as he wound his way down from the cities peak.
“Destroy it, destroy it all, we will fight them on the plains of this planet!” He growled, his voice being projected into ever Kalu’s headset. They set into the destruction of the cities with gusto. They had been cooped up on their ships for too long, now they were able to vent their anger.
Falhu barely watched, cutting down whatever he saw in his path and heading down towards the surface of the planet. He saw the Free Fleet small craft fly into the planet’s atmosphere, they jumped on the Kalu fighters. The Kalu fighters were waging a glorious battle outside the cities.
He pulled his eyes from the sight, if the Kalu and the Free Fleet were evenly matched in any way, he gave the advantage to the Free Fleet. He needed to use the time in order to bring the planet’s natural inhabitants under contact. If he started wandering across the planet without them under fire or claw, then the Free Fleet would start coming for him. Not a nice proposition in his mind.
We were supposed to show them the might of the Kalu, instead we were shown the foolishness of our ways, of our preparations. We need to win on this planet. Without victory then the Kalu will fall. He tried to banish these thoughts from his mind but they lurked in recesses of his mind.
Chapter Well isn’t this a mess
Empress looked over the reports coming from the rest of the Union. Her Empire had thankfully been left alone. Salchar had already sent orders for all of the Commandos within the Empire to mobilize and take any transports they could to assist the other systems that were under attack. Empress had made sure that none of her politicians had put their manipulators in.
Kafam had fallen, Quarst was once again in the Kalu sights.
Jakram was still fighting, but they had the defenses and the people to defeat the Kalu. In fact, it looked like unless the Kalu started to change their tactics Jakram wouldn’t be too bad. Ershue was also under attack and they’d been fighting heavily for a number of weeks, they needed fresh bodies and reinforcements.
Oolta’s defense had been short and sweet. Empress wished that the rest of the fighting had been as easy.
The Orvunut’s customized powered armor and HAPA’s working together in an environment that put the Kalu at a severe disadvantage was a winning combination. Already merchant ships were moving to the planet’s atmosphere and dropping supplies to the residents. The Free Fleet group overlooking the planet had destroyed anything that looked capable of flying.
/> Drvntrni was a war of attrition. Empress was watching it closely. The Kalu had landed and were fighting the wildlife instead of the native sentient Shafio.
Maybe they think the wildlife are sentient, they’re deadly enough, she thought, also mentally reminding herself to never take a vacation on the planet.
The Merchertevak birds were getting fat off of the Kalu they’d drugged, stalked and killed. Their diamond sharp beaks opening the Kalu’s armor with deadly precision.
If the Kalu stayed on the planet, then they would remain the prey of the planet. If they left, then it rose a whole bunch of issues for the Union and primarily Empress. She wished that they could simply bomb the Kalu ships like they had on other planets, the problem was the water. If they blew up the Kalu ships, then it would send massive shortwaves through the planet’s seas. It could destroy the Shafio’s habitat and make their planet useless to them for generations. It could also kill a lot of them with the pressure.
Not something that Empress was going to condone.
Urshval’s forces were also being uprooted from their post and moved to help Daestramus. The Kalu had just landed, their numbers were a fraction of what they had been, but they were hunters, not starship pilots. On the ground the game could change completely. Bregend wanted to bring as much fire down onto them as possible.
Empresses’ eyes shifted over the map, looking to Sol.
The Kalu were now two distinct groups heading for Mars with Hachiro and Nancy in orbit, and Earth. The HCD’s were hammering them and more were coming from Bregend, but it looked like they would make it to their destinations. She didn’t want to think about what would happen to Earth if the Kalu made it to the unprotected planet.
She didn’t like what Earth had done to the Free Fleet and she was in no rush to try and repair their trading relationships. They had destroyed five Kuruvian traders who didn’t recognize them as the security force of the system during their whole attack on the Free Fleet.
From Furies Forged (Free Fleet Book 5) Page 35
