The moment the fleet cleared the asteroid belt it accelerated and moved quickly out into open space between the orbits of the Gas giants Supra and Extremis, Selby took a step toward the holostage.
“Show me the Skarak,” Selby said.
The image on the holostage changed to show the enemy. A massive armada, hundreds of ships, was heading his way. It filled the holostage even at a low magnification. Surveillance posts across the system were running in sync, all scanning the same area of space, relaying the data back to the Eminence.
The holoimage flickered at the edge of the Skarak armada and a dozen warships vanished from the display.
“What happened there? Did we engage that flank?” the Admiral said pointing at the holostage where the warships had vanished.
Senior military strategists and ranking fleet officers overlooked the work consoles all manned by the best operators in the Union.
“We lost another surveillance cluster,” a surveillance command officer replied. “Thirty drones all operating from a fleet corvette, Sentinel Thirteen. She just went offline. Last transmission is for you, Admiral.”
Selby let out a sigh. “Put it on the main holostage.” He knew it would be bad news. Maybe the news would embolden the command center crew.
The image of a young lieutenant commander appeared on the holostage. She was being buffeted around in her command chair, hanging on to the armrests. Sparks were flying about the view behind her.
“Fleet command. This is Sentinel Thirteen. Skarak fighters are swarming on our position. We took four of the bastards down, but we can’t stand. Abandoning our position. I’ll leave our drones here and hope they can relay—”
Silence.
“End of transmission, Admiral,” the surveillance commander said. “We detected a surge of data in the final fraction of a second, but it is too corrupted to make sense out of it. The surge is consistent with a core overload, though.”
“Can a Skarak fighter really take down a corvette that quickly?”
“Negative, Admiral,” the engineering commander called out. “Thirteen’s deflection shield and stability fields were intact. We would expect a well-run corvette to make it back to the fleet. The damage…” the commander paused.
“Spit it out, man,” Selby said in anger and frustration.
“It was self-inflicted. Sentinel Thirteen blew herself up.”
“She blew her core to avoid capture,” the Admiral said nodding in approval.
“If she did, it was extremely premature.” Fleet Intelligence Agent Crippin stepped from behind the surveillance console and joined Selby at the holostage. “That ship could have run for hours. It was sabotage. We’re seeing it all over the fleet.”
“Skarak sleepers?” Selby asked.
“We have been following up evidence of infiltration across the Scorpio system. Skarak sleeper agents on board ships and facilities in the Union fleet. We are finding evidence of them in the Faction too. It would seems the Skarak don’t care for the Faction either. We are all just indigenous enemies to them.”
“Are we in danger from these sleeper agents?”
“Negative, sir. The Blue Stars have concluded their sweep of the carriers and are moving to the cruisers. All critical systems on the main fleet are locked down. Tactical Intelligence has been vetting Union personnel at critical stations. The Eminence’s core is locked down. All carriers have fresh engineering crews. They are fresh out of training but we can be sure they haven’t been turned into Skarak agents.”
The lights across the command center flickered.
“Report,” Selby called out.
“Secondary power transfer node in the lower hemisphere of the carrier reporting it’s under attack. It’s our own people. Rioting, sir. They smashed a node down there.”
Selby shot Crippin a withering glance.
“It can’t be,” she said.
“Show me,” Selby said.
The holostage showed a corridor in the carrier’s lower hemisphere filled with Union personnel. They were charging along the corridor, attacking anyone in their way. At the rear a single individual walked with a small device emitting random pulses of blue crackle fire that swarmed over the small crowd, flickering over their bodies and gathering on their heads.
“It’s a kravin’ Skarak crackle beam emitter. On my own kravin’ carrier!” The Admiral was wild with rage. “How did that get on my ship?!”
“I…I don’t know,” Crippin said in a fluster.
Major Brace called out from his chair overlooking the security console. “I am deploying my marines now. Three squads to the location. We’ll have it under control in a moment.”
A warning signal sounded from across the command center. A weapons commander called out.
“We’ve got riots in the main mass beam control. Transferring internal surveillance feed to the holostage now.”
In the corner of the holostage a new feed appeared, a holoimage from the mass beam control room at the forward weapon’s ring. A riot, and again a single individual with a crackle beam emitter.
“Major Brace,” the Admiral called out. “Do you have a status update on your marines?”
“Yes, Admiral, section officers are reporting in now sir. Marines are being deployed. We also have reports coming in from two other locations of violence and rioting.
“Admiral,” Agent Crippin sidled over to the admiral and spoke quietly. “Tactical Intelligence has alerted me to a counter move. We can end this now.”
The Admiral looked at her suspiciously. “Tell me.”
She walked to the holostage and tapped the controls.
“Tactical A.I has located five individuals with Skarak emitters. We know what frequencies to scan, but we can only find them when active. They resonate with all nearby crackle beam emitters, so we know there is one other on board, but it has not yet been activated.”
“Sir,” the major called out. “New riot report on fighter Blade hanger six.”
“That’ll be the one,” Crippin said. “Tactical has a suggestion.” She put a schematic of the Eminence on the holostage, a green holographic skeleton of the massive moon sized carrier craft. A network of red lines wound through the green schematic.
“These corridors link all five Skarak sleeper agents that are creating the riots. We seal these areas and evacuate the effected corridors.”
“Evacuate them where?” Selby asked.
“Space, Admiral, through the main cargo dock.”
“But that will throw everyone in those areas out into the void.”
“Yes, Admiral,” Crippin said calmly. “My report shows we will lose fifteen percent of the Eminence’s crew.”
“Fifteen percent,” the Admiral exclaimed. “That’s over two thousand personnel!”
“Yes Admiral,” Crippin said. “I’ve already authorized the lockdown on the corridors. I can order the evacuation if you don’t want to do it, Admiral.”
Admiral Selby took a sharp intake of breath. “Execute the evacuation immediately.”
“Half my marines are in those locations, Admiral,” Major Brace said.
“Then I hope they have their tactical suits on.”
“For ship side operations? Unlikely, sir.” Brace could not hide his frustration and annoyance.
“We knew we would lose people today, major.”
“But we haven’t even met their fleet yet.” Brace brought his fist down on the security console in front of him.
“This fight started a long time ago, major. We just didn’t know it yet.” The Admiral looked at the images from the main cargo dock as hundreds of Eminence personnel were blown out into space, out in to the dark and the cold. The image was visual only, the horror unfolding in total silence. The silence spread over the command center.
“It’s the right choice, Admiral," Agent Crippin said.
The Admiral stepped forward, hands behind his back. “Inform the other carriers of our status. Inform all ships of the approved strategy for dealing
with Skarak sleepers. Now cancel that feed and put the Skarak armada on the holostage.”
The image changed and showed the armada was closing in. More flank scanning ships were falling back or being destroyed by Skarak fire. The image of the advancing ships became hazy as the surveillance drones were knocked out and data became patchy.
Then the image became sharp as the armada front moved into range of the Union fleet’s own on-board surveillance scanners.
“Skarak armada approaching. They will be in weapon’s range in moments. They are sending their masterships against our center.”
The Admiral watched as the faster Skarak warships moved out to the sides. They had the ships to surround the whole Union center and move on to one of the flanks.
But the Admiral had a weapon up his sleeve. The Blue Star marines.
“Let them come at our center,” the Admiral said. He climbed a few steps to the observation platform overlooking the entire command center. The primary commanders were busy scuttling about, but the Admiral was in command of the fleet.
“They have no finesse, the Skarak. Mindlessly attacking our center.”
“If they take out one of our carriers they will have significantly tipped the balance in their favor,” Major Brace said.
“But they will have to move their masterships against our carriers to do that. Deploy the principal fighter wing from all carriers. Support the port flank. The Skarak are trying to weaken us there. Clear the center of cruisers. Let the Skarak think we are preparing our mass cannon.”
The cruisers in front of the carriers began to redeploy as the orders were passed down from the Admiral to the carrier communication commander, away to the cruiser captain and down to individual pilots. The maneuver was slick as a dozen cruisers moved aside.
The three carriers formed a formidable front, each with a mass cannon capable of crushing a Skarak warship in a single discharge. The Skarak masterships were powerful, but not impervious to the Union carrier’s mass beams. But there were enough of the Skarak masterships for them to take fire, lose ships, and still move in as the mass cannon recharged for another blast. At best, Tactical Intelligence reckoned the Union carriers could destroy up to ninety percent of the mastership force before the carriers were destroyed. But that remaining ten percent would be enough to overwhelm the rest of the Scorpio system.
The Admiral watched the masterships close in. Mass beams had a significant range advantage over the Skarak blue fire, but he needed them in close. He wasn’t going to let them get that close before he fired his first shot, and not with the mass cannon.
“Major Brace. Initiate operation Demon Drop. Send in the Blue Star marines.”
Major Brace was waiting at the communications console for the order. He passed it down to the Blue Star company commanders in the fleet.
The Blue Stars were already hanging in space ahead of the fleet. Individual marines almost invisible to a mastership scan resolution. Tiny dots in an infinite void. They moved in squads toward the masterships, each company carried a Demon Detonator.
“Blue Stars are away, sir,” Brace said. “If this works, we’ll knock out their forward masterships without firing a shot.”
“Show me.” The Admiral leaned forward.
The holostage zoomed in on a dark point of space ahead of the fleet. A Blue Star company was advancing on the Skarak masterships, maneuvering across space powered only by their suits. The Demon Detonators were large, the size of a ship’s reactor core. The detonation of a Demon created a mass field that caused any matter in the blast zone to collapse under its own weight, crushing it down to near singular densities. The Blue Stars moved each device forward with blasts from their suits’ thrusters. They swooped in and nudged the Demons carefully, silently forward.
“Admiral, the masterships have halted their approach. We have Skarak fighters and warships moving against our flank.”
“Hold the flank,” Agent Crippin said. “The Demons must get through.”
“The Blue Stars will do it. They have never let us down,” Major Brace said
“Move reserve frigate squadrons to support the flank.” Admiral Selby stood up and walked toward the main holostage.
A mass of Skarak fighters were sweeping across the front as if to tempt the carriers to launch their blades to counter them. The blades held their position between the huge carriers and the surrounding cruisers.
Then the Skarak fighters turned and swept in, diving directly toward the Union fleet, a thousand Skarak fighters or more. The black of space filled with the light from the flickering blue drive flares.
“Ready defensive batteries. All spitz guns and laser assemblies make ready. Hold the mass cannon.” Selby watched as the Skarak swept in.
“They are using the Skarak fighters to get us to open up with our primary weapon,” Agent Crippin said.
“I hope so, unless they are sweeping for our marines,” the Admiral said. “Major, status of the Demon Drop?”
“The Skarak fighters have not discovered the Blue Stars. The Demons will be on the masterships in moments.”
The fight on the flank was lighting up the holoimage. A Union cruiser was covered in blue crackle fire, flickering over it from its forward section to the drive assembly. Then the drive erupted and instantly consumed the cruiser in a brilliant flash of superhot plasma.
Then a second cruiser was struck with the crackle fire as Skarak warships probed the flank. High powered laser beams flickered out and struck the attacking Skarak, burning holes through their hulls, combat drone strikes finishing the job. The flank was lit with weapons fire and the smoldering wreckage of Union and Skarak ships.
The Skarak fighters dove into range of the carriers’ spitz guns. The three carriers lit up as hundreds of spitz gun batteries erupted, pouring brilliant white beads of energy in a stream toward the fighters.
The fighters charged on and at the last moment a Skarak warship moved in, pressing forward as the carriers’ fire was absorbed by the hundreds of fighters racing mindlessly to oblivion. The few spitz gun rounds that hit the warship were absorbed by its deep dark hull. With the last of the Skarak fighter shield destroyed, the single warship came under fire from the three cruisers. As the spitz fire lit up the warship’s forward section, the crackle beam struck forward and hit the Goliath before the warship was overwhelmed with spitz gun fire and exploded in an eruption of tortured blue energy lines.
The resistance on the port flank was failing and the Skarak were pushing into the Union formation.
Then a Demon detonated.
A surge of new data streamed into the surveillance console. A huge mass field appeared as the device exploded. Then a second detonation was detected, and a third, each explosion like a perfect, super dense sphere.
“Report,” the Admiral said.
“Demon Detonators are activating prematurely. I have a report from a corporal. His sergeant was attempting to activate the Demon early.”
“Sleepers?” Selby said.
“Not in the Blue Stars,” Major Brace said. “Surely not.”
“They are everywhere,” Agent Crippin said.
“Our position is failing. Operation Demon Drop has failed. The Skarak have detected the devices.”
Admiral Selby leaned heavily on the holostage. The battle at the port flank was stabilizing and the Union was rushing reserves to fight off the Skarak attack, but it only weakened the reserves.
“Skarak warships pushing up to the center,” the surveillance commander called out
“Detonate all Demons,” Selby said. “At least the space time disturbance will prevent them from pursuing us directly. Fall back to Supra. Send a tactical withdrawal signal. The carrier Titan will cover our retreat. All ships move now.”
The Admiral watched as the Union fleet began to withdraw. More cruisers went up in eruptions of plasma fire as the formation fell back.
The Skarak formation held at the Demon line, where a dozen of the devices were detonated, creating a region impass
ible to the masterships.
Selby stepped away from the holostage and dropped into a seat at the side of the command center, his eyes on the deck and his fingers tugging at the Admiral pip on his chest. He had come away from the first encounter with his secret weapon, operation Demon Drop, rendered ineffective, and his fleet had been given a bloody nose.
The Skarak were not going to leave it at that. The Skarak had the Union fleet on the run and Selby felt for the first time that he truly was in a fight for his life.
7
A wall of Skarak fighters, hundreds of the tiny mobile craft, advanced ahead of the armada. The warships came next, the long dark ships with their forward rapier clusters glowing with blue crackle fire. Behind the warships came the masterships. As black as space itself, the masterships were only made visible by the glow of the blue crackle fire that flickered lazily over the dark hull and streamed away off the rapiers that stuck out all across its surface.
As the Union fleet retreated, the carrier Titan stood alone and made ready to open fire with its mass beam. A wide-angle mass beam spread the power of the beam across a wide front. It would cause damage to dozens of Skarak ships, but the beam was designed to slow the advance of the Skarak armada and so give the fleet time to retreat and form up under the protection of the Supra planetary defense platforms.
A wave of Skarak fighters moved into the blast zone where the Demon devices had been detonated. The Demon line caused the Skarak fighters’ drive systems to tear and shatter. The Skarak fighters erupted in a violent explosion of blue crackle energy that arced around the density anomalies of the Demon line, tracing the outlines of the individual detonations.
Blue Star Marine Boxed Set Page 65
