What is this? Richard complained. Does everybody’s shield except mine stop both physical and energy weapons?
Alternate firing sequences, said Nickelo. You may be able to trick your way through.
Richard began alternating fire between his Warcat’s plasma rifles and chain gun as he ran towards the remaining soldiers and the magic user. He fired his two anti-armor rockets as an added bonus. The magic user’s shield held, but Richard could sense it weakening.
The soldiers began returning small arm’s fire. They were supported by a flurry of anti-personnel weapon’s fire from the two remaining cats. But the conglomerate’s Warcat was fast. It was much faster than the Warcats Richard had used in practice. What few rounds he didn’t dodge glanced harmlessly off the Warcat’s reinforced armor.
Good armor, Richard thought.
That’s what you can get when price is no object, observed Nickelo.
Richard sensed the magic user forming another spell. He also saw one of the soldiers setting up a crew-served weapon. But the soldiers were too late. Richard rammed into the magic user’s shield at sixty knots. The force of the blow banged Richard’s head against the Warcat’s inside wall, but his battle helmet absorbed the blow. The magic user’s shield gave way. Richard pulled the Warcat’s legs up into a ball as he spun a hundred and eighty degrees around. The Warcat’s back hit the magic user and several of the soldiers. They were all crushed under two thousand kilos of metal armor.
Richard rolled once on the ground before extending the Warcat’s legs and kicking off the ground. As he rose in the air, he fired the Warcat’s chain gun spraying it back and forth across the remaining infantry. The effect was decimating. What few soldiers weren’t killed took off running for cover.
Watch out! warned Nickelo just as the Warcat’s alarm signaled a target lock by one of the heavy cat’s 40mm auto cannons. Richard dodged left at the same time as he activated the Warcat’s countermeasures. Most of the 40 mm rounds passed to his right. However, one round exploded on the barrel of the Warcat’s chain gun.
Your chain gun is out of action, observed Nickelo.
Richard sent out the emotion he associated with Tika along with an image of the Crosioian cat. He sensed more then saw the dolgar shift into the void as she dove underground. A moment later, Tika rose out of the asphalt and disappeared into the underbelly of the lumbering cat. Richard sensed two of the cat’s six crewmembers disappear. Several of its 40mm phase cannons stopped firing.
The last Crosioian heavy cat continued moving at top speed towards the power plant. Its main plasma cannon opened fire. Richard sensed several of the wizard scouts at the power plant throwing up defensive shields.
The wizard scout’s defensive shields withstood the initial blasts, but Richard could sense the shields starting to buckle as Power was drained from the scouts’ reserves. Every weapon on the Crosioian cat opened up in support of its main gun. The cadets returned fire, but their light weapons were ineffective against the thick armor of the heavy cat.
I calculate twelve seconds before the Crosioian cat breaks through the scouts’ shields, said Nickelo. The power plants will be destroyed five seconds later.
Richard swung his Warcat up behind the lead Crosioian cat’s rear legs and began climbing. His weapons were too light to do anything more than irritate the big cat. He had to get to a weak spot.
Nick, Richard said. Have Jonathan inform the other battle helmets that I’m climbing on the cat’s back. I’d prefer not to get hit by friendly fire.
One of the rear weapon’s pods on the cat tried to bring its anti-personnel plasma rifles to bear on Richard. By hugging tight to the heavy cat’s body, Richard kept the Warcat just out of sight of the gunner.
What’s your plan, Rick? said Nickelo. Your Warcat’s weapons won’t be any more effective on top of the cat than below.
I’m going to blow its head off, Nick, said Richard
Richard sensed his Power reserve. It had regenerated slightly to just below two percent.
Nick, Richard said. Can I summon a twenty-kilo funnel mine with the Power in my reserve?
A year ago, the answer would have been, no, said Nickelo. Today? Maybe. You’ve improved your efficiency significantly since then. I guess the answer is–
Richard ignored the rest of his battle computer’s history lesson. He’d reached the top of the heavy cat. Richard blew the hatch on the Warcat and jumped out. The Warcat tumbled off the side of the heavy cat’s back. Richard ran the remaining distance to the joint where the heavy cat’s cockpit connected to its back. He unslung his dimensional pack off his back and imagined a twenty kilo funnel mine. He didn’t feel any Power leave his reserve.
Nick! Richard shouted into his shared space.
Sorry, Rick, said Nickelo. You must not have sufficient Power in your reserve. Standby. I’m contacting Jonathan.
A moment later, Richard felt a shimmer in the link Stella had attached to him back at the commandant’s office. A second later, a rush of Power came down the link and entered his reserve.
Power reserve is at one hundred percent, said Nickelo. You can summon a twenty-kilo funnel mine now.
The hell with that, Richard said as he imagined a hundred-kilo funnel mine instead.
Richard drew the funnel mine out of his pack and shoved it in a niche between the cat’s cockpit and body.
Rick, said Nickelo. That mine’s intended for breaching starship armor.
Then it should work even better on this cat, Richard said with a wild laugh. For some reason the adrenaline rushing through his body was making him giddy.
Richard sensed the wizard scouts’ shields at the power plant starting to fail. It was now or never.
Set the timer for two seconds, Nick, Richard shouted. Activate.
Richard dove off the cat’s back. The ground was ten meters below. He didn’t quite make it to the ground before the funnel mine erupted in a massive explosion. Unlike its smaller cousin, the hundred-kilo version did a poor job of keeping all its energy funneled downward. The force of the explosion caught Richard and threw him downward and outward. Just before he hit the ground, Richard wrapped himself in Power and attempted to slow himself. He only partially succeeded. Richard hit the ground hard. He heard bones in both his legs and some of his ribs crack.
Richard blacked out momentarily, but Power from his third reserve wrapped around his body as it sought to return his body to baseline. He sensed something overhead approaching.
Richard felt the legs of the battle suit kick out as Nickelo took over his battle suit’s controls. Richard screamed as pieces of the broken bones in his legs pierced his flesh. He heard a loud crash behind him. A rush of air rolled him over along the ground. He screamed again as his broken body took another beating.
Richard pulled himself forward on the ground a few more meters with his arms. He turned around and saw the ruins of the heavy cat smoldering on the ground behind him.
Trying to stand, Richard said, Nick, we have to stop the other cat.
Richard fell back to the ground. Even with the aid of his battle suit, Richard’s legs were unable support his weight yet. He felt his Power working furiously to heal his broken body, but he sensed it would be a couple of minutes before he could function effectively.
Relax, said Nickelo. Tika took it out. Check for yourself.
As his battle computer finished speaking, Tika emerged from the ground nearby. She sat on her haunches a hand’s breath off the ground and gave Richard a wolfish grin. Fresh blood dripped off the sides of her mouth.
Pack safe, growled Tika.
Richard looked in the direction of the remaining Crosioian heavy cat. It was undamaged, but it wasn’t moving. Richard swept it with his passive scan. He didn’t detect any lifeforms on board. A look at the bloody fur around Tika’s jaws gave mute testimony to the fate of the cat’s crew.
“Vulture!” shouted a reptilian voice from behind Richard.
Richard turned. Stella was running towards him follow
ed by several of the other wizard scouts in his cohort. The young Warcat pilot was with them as well. Richard noticed the pilot was bleeding from his left arm. However, his M12 hung underneath his right arm from the shoulder strap ready to fire if necessary.
Who is that kid? Richard wondered.
Does it matter? said Nickelo.
Stella and the others reached Richard. Two of the wizard scouts lifted Richard between them to a standing position.
“The power plant?” Richard asked.
“Is okay,” said Stella. “Second wave stopped at hangars. Jerad on way here now.”
Before Richard could respond, a loud, mechanical voice came from the direction of the stationary cat.
“You have not won,” said the mechanical voice. “All of you shall die.”
The heavy cat started moving forward in the direction of the power plant. As it moved forward, the main gun of the cat swiveled until it aligned on Richard and the others around him.
“Die!” said the voice.
Richard’s passive scan detected no life forms in the cat. It was moving of its own volition.
The Master computer has taken charge, said Nickelo. Tika can’t help.
Before the cat’s main gun could fire, dozens of missiles, phase rounds, and plasma beams slammed into the heavy cat’s entire length. The cat stumbled and fell to its knees. The withering onslaught continued. The cat blew up with an ear-shattering explosion.
Richard turned to face the direction the weapon’s fire had come from. A Leviathan, two Long Cats, and a half dozen other cats were running up at full speed. Some of the cats bore the insignia of the Deloris Conglomerate while others bore a golden dragon insignia.
The Leviathan cat stopped ten meters from Richard’s group. The cockpit hatches opened to reveal Jerad along with a smiling Tam. The rear tail gunner’s hatch opened. Out popped Sergeant Ron’s head.
“Whew-ee!” shouted Sergeant Ron. “That was fun. Let’s do it again!”
Before anyone on the ground could respond, the area above the airfield lit up as various colored beams hit its protective shield. A tactical nuke exploded against the shield, but the shield held.
“This isn’t over,” said Nickelo over the external speakers of Richards’s battle helmet. “The Crosioian fleet is attacking. They’re trying to break through the shield.”
Chapter 58 – Battle of the Fleets
_____________________________________
The Empire’s fleet broke out of hyperspace within firing range of the Crosioian fleet. It had been a gamble, but it was one Liz had been forced to take in order to even the odds.
Just prior to making the second jump into hyperspace, Liz had been contacted by Richard’s battle computer, Nickelo, via one of the other wizard scout battle computers. Nickelo had supplied her with coordinates calculated to give her fleet the greatest advantage. She’d gambled Richard’s battle computer was right. He was.
Thank you, Nick, Liz thought when she saw the Crosioians’ largest dreadnaught not twenty thousand kilometers to her front.
“It’s their flagship, sir,” said the intern who was acting as her gunnery-control officer.
“All ships,” Liz said. “Target the area just behind her main engine. Fire!”
“Firing, sir,” said her gunnery officer. “Torpedoes away.”
Liz felt the Blaze buck as twenty-two torpedoes were propelled out of her torpedo tubes. The torpedoes ran straight and true. Hundreds of other missiles from her fleet’s dreadnaughts, Destiny and Falcon, joined the Blaze’s volley. As the missiles and torpedoes exploded against the Crosioian flagship’s defensive shields, streaks of phase and plasma rounds targeted the Crosioian flagship as well.
“Two missiles made it through her shields, sir,” said the gunnery officer. “Her hull has been breached. She’s leaking air.”
“Missiles inbound,” said the ensign operating the Blaze’s defensive shields.
Liz punched the intercom switch on her control panel. “Shuttle bay. Launch! Good luck, Trinity!”
The Blaze vibrated slightly as the shuttle left its launch tube at max velocity. The blip on the overhead display denoted the shuttle passing a dozen incoming missiles.
“Brace for impact,” Liz said over the ship’s intercom.
Boom!
The ship shook violently. If Liz hadn’t had the foresight to strap herself into her seat, she would’ve been thrown free. Even so, she was jostled around enough to bruise her ribs and her left arm.
“Damage report,” Liz said.
Several of the command deck’s crew were still picking themselves up off the floor. But, the ensign operating the defensive shields had wisely buckled in.
“Shields are at thirty-eight percent and holding, sir,” said the ensign. “No damage to our hull.”
“All ships,” Liz said. “Shift to your secondary targets.”
The Crosioian flagship’s hull had been breached. That was the best Liz could do. It was up to Trinity now to disable the big dreadnaught.
Liz’s orders to the fleet had been simple. Once the primary target’s hull was breached, they were to shift fire to as many secondary targets as possible. They had to take the pressure off Velos. Even as she watched, Liz saw the bright red streaks of the Crosioians’ plasma and phase cannons sending their lethal energy towards the planet below.
Liz could only pray she hadn’t arrived too late.
* * *
The commandant sensed the last of the Crosioians’ troops depart the DNA Center. He kicked out the vent covering the air duct and crawled out. Reaching back, he assisted the chief instructor and the technician, John, as they squirmed out the hole.
“Quickly” said the commandant. “We have to disable those explosives.”
Chief Instructor Winslow led the way into the DNA vent chamber at a run. The commandant followed at a slightly slower pace. The technician, John, brought up the rear gripping tightly to his Deloris blaster.
“It’s got to be inside the vent,” said the chief instructor. “Can you get it out, Thomas? It’s too dangerous to get near the hole without robotics.”
The commandant looked through the thick plate-glass windows of the room. The DNA vent was a brightly-glowing, red hole in the ground. Reddish gas seeped out the two-meter wide crack in time and space. Reaching out with his mind, the commandant felt inside the crack. He sensed an energy source. Wrapping the object with Power, he pulled it out with telekinesis. It was a meter-long length of metal with a glowing timer on its side. The timer was counting downward. The commandant observed the timer passing ten minutes.
“I’ll suit up,” said Chief Instructor Winslow. “If I can deactivate the timer, we can save the DNA gas vent.”
The commandant raised his hand to halt the chief instructor before she could move.
“They’re bound to have a remote detonator as well,” said the commandant. “We need to get the bomb as far away from here as possible.”
“I’m afraid I can’t allow that,” said a voice from behind them.
The commandant spun around. A group of six humans dressed in the gray of Crosioian mercenaries stood in the corridor with plasma rifles leveled. A dark elf waved his hand. The stealth shield which had been hiding the group dissipated.
In addition to the enemy to his front, the commandant sensed two lifeforms underground. They were new to him. The two lifeforms emerged out of the floor between the commandant and the dark elf’s group. The two lifeforms appeared to be a large type of feline with gray lizard-skin instead of fur. The technician, John, pointed his blaster at the two cats.
“Don’t!” warned the commandant.
John lowered his weapon slightly.
“Wise decision,” said the dark elf. “You just bought yourself a few minutes of life.”
The commandant fingered his phase rod, but he didn’t draw it. Not yet. If it had been just him, he would already have attacked. But he knew he couldn’t protect his companions. He needed time to think of a pl
an. Or, time to hope luck would be kind once more.
Since the dark elf and his troops didn’t attack at once, the commandant knew they must be unsure of their victory.
Or, said his battle computer, Margery, the elf wants something, and he doesn’t want to risk losing it.
Stalling for time, the commandant said, “And you are?”
“You may call me, Lord Crendemor,” said the elf. “As you can see,” he said pointing to the tactical nuke’s timer, “we’re pressed for time, old man.”
An anger the commandant hadn’t felt for years flared up inside him. But he forced it back down out of respect for his wife, Janice. It had taken her decades, but she’d finally taught him to think before he acted.
“Old perhaps,” the commandant said as he moved to keep himself between the two lizard-skinned felines and his companions, “but maybe not quite old enough to give up without a fight.”
The dark elf smiled as if savoring the moment.
“What is it you want?” the commandant said cutting straight to the meat of the problem.
“I want her,” said Lord Crendemor as he pointed a long, black finger at Chief Instructor Winslow. “And I get what I want.”
* * *
Three more bombs hit the airfield’s protective shield in quick succession. They were not nukes, but the concussion and resulting fireballs combined to eradicate all vegetation outside the protective shield as far as the eye could see.
“It’ll take decades for this land to recover,” said Telsa. “Even with the best anti-radiation equipment, the area outside the shield won’t be habitable for at least five years.”
Telsa had joined the team at the power plant at Jerad’s request. He’d put her to work evaluating damage to the isotopic generators. If the generators failed, the airfield would quickly become just as uninhabitable as the area around it.
Wizard Scout (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 3) Page 55
