Star Crusades by Michael Thomas (whitelam books txt) 📗

made such a spectacle of the news. The ships were known as TheSix, and were to be the backbone of a new, resurgent Alliancefleet. These two must have been rushed into battle, and he wonderedif they were even combat capable. Looking at the tactical scans forthe system, he spotted their names.

Harbinger II, and Triumph, trulyincredible!

“Good news,” said Firefly Leader,“The heavies are here. Now it’s time togo back to work. Stay in a dispersed pattern. We’re going after theattack ships.”

Jack hit his burners, and one byone, the survivors of the squadron surgedahead. Fighters from three other squadrons were also heading intothe fray, plus two more already engaged around the alien flagship.Streaks of lights reached out to the Ski’lig ship, and Jack almostchoked as the pair of ships fired broadsides into the enemy ship.These were no particle weapons, but the deadly 450mm dual massdriver bombardment cannons. These weapons were the primary guns ofthe dreadnoughts, and though slow to aim were designed for onepurpose only, to rip apart capital ships with overwhelmingforce.

“Yes!” Jack watched the entire side of the ship disappear in a cloud oflight as ANS Triumph fired half of her turrets in one mighty blast.Seven turrets and fourteen barrels hurled solid slug shells fittedwith detonation charges buried deep inside their cores. An entirefin array ripped away from the Ski’lig ship, followed by severalsmall secondary explosions.

“In pairs, breakand attack!”

Jack nodded, and thenpulled up with Lieutenant Levstrom at hisleft. They moved away from the others, rolling around to attack oneof the attack ships from the flank. There were several of them, andthey made directly for the line of cruisers. A beam of lightextended out to one Alliance ship, but the attack ship then tookmultiple hits as the more numerous Alliance ships concentratedtheir fire.

“Levstrom, stay on my mark. Let’s ripup her engines.”

“I’m with you.”

The pair of fighters swept infrom the flank and opened fire at a rangeof five thousand metres. The integrated Gatling guns went to work,showering the attack ship. Small holes covered the ship, along withscores of tiny sparks, but the attack ship didn’t completely ignorethem. At least two separate weapons systems tracked them and openedfire.

“Evade!” Levstrom yelled as he pulled up.

Jack rolled to the left and hithis burners as the fire struck aroundthem. Razor-sharp shards punched through the portside wings, butluckily managed to avoid hitting anything critical. He then spunthe fighter about on its axis, and while moving away opened fireagain. His gunfire had little effect on the ship, and then to hisastonishment the vessel split in half. He looked to his left andfound two battlecruisers, including the fleet’s current flagship asthey moved in at speed. Both were firing their forward particlebeam arrays and inflicting significant damage on theiropponent.

“Finish her off,” said Fireflyleader, “It’s payback time.”

A smile spread along Jack’s lipsas he brought his fighter back around.Three gunships came in from the other side, each firing away withtheir railguns. The powerful slugs punched through the damagedship, sending plumes of debris out from the other side.

“Yeah,” Jack said to himself, “You’re going down.”

He focused his attention on a heavily damaged section towards thestern and opened fire at close-range. His guns buzzed away, to bejoined by four Starfire missiles, each which connected and explodedwith a satisfying blast. He pulled up just in time and looked backat the blazing ruin of the enemy ship. Right behind it were thedreadnoughts, and their guns continued to thunder away.

Nice. We’ve got this.

He looked back as a second attackship came right for him. This one wasalso damaged, yet its guns fired right at him. The voice of FireflyLeader filled his ears as he struggled to move away.

“All fighters withdrawimmediately.”

Thefighter felt more sluggish than normal, and only by using acombination of the main drive and the burners was he able to pullthe craft around and boost away from the fight. He looked at thearray of warnings throughout his fighter. Somehow, he had been shotto pieces and yet managed to escape alive. He shook his head andlaughed.

“You lucky son of…”

Then he stopped as hespotted the piece of broken metal embedded inhis leg. It wasn’t part of his fighter, but one of the metal spikesfired by the ship. It protruded from his leg and then out to thefront of the cockpit and beyond. The thing must have been at leasta metre long and as thick as his hand. He looked up as the enemyship fired one last volley, even as battleship fire tore it apart.Two of the closest fighters exploded before his eyes, and then itwas his time. The cockpit ripped open, and more shots tore apartthe fuselage.

Jack lifted his hands to cover his faceas the spikes tore the fighter in pieces of broken metal. The lastthing he heard was the screaming of his own voice.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Morato Class Frigate‘Nautilus’, Epsilon Eridani

27th May2475

Captain Piera Regina looked out from the bulbous transparentsection at the front of the bridge. It gave her a view of thebattle unlike any she had seen on other ship designs. The enemycapital ship was already leaving, while two attack ships lay brokenand adrift. Three others continued to fight as they covered thelarger ship’s withdrawal.

“That was not the start weexpected,” she said as an Alliance cruiser began to fall back. Itsarmour was badly marked, and fires and smoke followed it as itwithdrew to the Rift, and back to Mars.

First Lieutenant Meredith noddedin agreement. She towered over most of the deck officers, a factmade more obvious by her vivid darkly tinted hair that always drew attention wherever she mightbe. Like all of the officers onboard, she had fought to get whereshe was, and as a battle-scarred officer with the wounds to proveit. Only a fool mistook the extravagant hair for a weakness,something she had exploited on several occasionsalready.

“That ship. Is it a battleship?”

“Uncertain,” said the Captain,“But it’s big enough to tackle Yorkdale single-handed, and thatleaves me a little nervous.”

First Lieutenant Meredith nodded inagreement.

“A little? I can’t believe theyare able to send in something so vast so far from theirhome.”

“Home? What do we know abouttheir home?”

“True.I wonder what else