----------------------------
The story so far:-
Chapter One - The Fly-Through Sector
Chapter Two - Danger is Coming...
Chapter 3 - Scramble
“Oh, for a tongue to curse the slave
Whose treason, like a deadly blight,
Comes o'er the councils of the brave,
And blasts them in their hour of might!”
Thomas Moore
Part One: Treachery runs deep...
“What about this Xenon?” One of the M4 pilots was asking. “He still refuses to land.”
“I guess. It's safest if I look after him,” Jo told the pilot. “Send him over here.”
Jo was arranging the M4s in a defensive cluster near Silicon Mine beta. This was the northernmost station, the station nearest to the asteroid field and so, he figured, this was the most likely first target in an attack. The M4s were clustered close, the M5s circled in a wider orbit.
“Can we evacuate this mine?” Jo was asking. “Just in case.”
“Impossible. There's nearly forty crew. You don't get couriers way out here.”
“I know, but what about transports? Are there any around with cargo-bay life-support? It wouldn't be comfortable but it beats being dead.”
“Doubt it, only pirates carry that kind of hardware.”
“Well stop doubting and look! If not, maybe we'll still have time for the M5s to ferry them to the next system. What do you ah... Gotta go. Over.”
Davi's ship had just appeared back on Jo's scanner. Davi's shields were at 23%. Jo's comms screen lit up with a beep.
“Jo!” Davi looked panicked. Jo had never seen Davi look panicked, hadn't know Davi could look panicked.
“Bad?” Jo asked.
“Worse! There's a wing of Xenon hot on my tail, thirteen Ls, thirteen Ms and nineteen Ns. Maybe twenty miz behind them there's one destroyer and a carrier headed our way. At least. Each one had about as many fighters.”
“'At least' two cap ships?”
“Well... they were just the moving ones. There was another destroyer in there, again with its own wing of fighters, but I think they were staying put. I'm not... They weren't moving.”
Jo swallowed. “Okay.” He had to think. “Where's this first wing? How far away?”
“They'll be through in two miz, if that.”
“Okay. How fast are they?”
“They were sticking together, about 150mps.”
“Good. Hang back and stay with 'em. Stay well out of firing range but keep them on scanners. Good work.”
“So... I should keep you posted of where they're going?”
“Huh? Oh yes, of course!” Again he'd forgotten, the link-up was secret. Davi didn't know Jo could already see everything through his scanners. “Yes, yes. Send the data.”
Jo signed off and headed full-speed toward the edge of the field. The 'friendly' Xenon M seemed to be following faithfully. Jo had a target lock and a silkworm trained on it... just in case. He was now approaching the edge of the asteroid field, he was on the hunt.
'That'll do,' he thought, scanning a large silicon asteroid. He smiled. 'It's perfect.'
It was a large asteroid on the south rim of the field that had one narrow tunnel running right through it. An old Argon Navy tactic Jo had learned of jazurae ago: short of a station or battleship, an asteroid can be the best base from which to direct a battle. Very few pilots know of this tactic, but the Navy use it all the time on the field. Inside an asteroid you can see all without being seen. Jo moved for the rock.
“Xenon,” Jo said. “We're both going into this rock. If you give away our position, turn on me, look at me funny, any treachery, any... whatever. Anything. You will be the first to die.”
Would a threat mean anything to a Xenon? He doubted it, but it couldn't hurt to make things clear.
“Understood,” the Xenon replied. “You must understand: if, battle here is lost, then, Terraformer Epsilon will be destroyed, all. Made extinct. I cannot endanger victory. You must win.”
Jo frowned. 'Whatever,' he thought. He ordered the M4s and M5s to assemble south of the field.
“Home-base,” he said into his comms system. “Let everyone know: this is for real. The Xenon are here. It's on.”
It was on. The Xenon were in the system now. They had already assembled their fleet and, by the time Jo had reached his asteroid-base, they were floating south-west through the field.
Jo glided his ship through the tunnel and into the heart of asteroid, where he came to a stop. He watched the Xenon pull up beside him and power down. As long as they kept their systems down, they should be invisible – unless the enemy happened to scan this asteroid. A good, quiet place from which to direct the battle.
The system's M4s and M5s had assembled a dozen kilometres south of his asteroid, the main field ended a few kilometres north. The Xenon fleet was closing; just another nine mizurae before they reached the south edge of the field. 'Time to put the wheels in motion.'
“All M5s,” Jo called. “Intercept the Xenon in the field.”
...
“Fleck here,” the leading Discover pilot called in. “We're closing. We can now see the Xenon fleet. My god... There's over forty ships here, sir! A lot of M3s, way more than we can handle. We should fall back to the assembly point for...”
“Negative,” Jo replied. “ We don't stand a chance out of the field. Attack now, focus...”
“Confirm that. Did you say attack?”
“Correct, but keep your speed at max, target their M5s and try to...”
“But, Jo. We can't win.”
“Stop! I need you to listen now. Attack their...”.
“Withdraw to the assembly point, now,” a new voice cut in. It was the Defence Commander. “We'll make our stand at Silicon Mine beta. We may not have much but...”
“Negative,” Jo shouted. “Do not withdraw.”
“... if we keep together,” the Commander went on. “And hit 'em hard, we can do our best to make it count.”
“I repeat, Do Not Withdraw. Commander, what are..?”
“Uh...” Fleck seemed uncertain. “Jo Slammer, will you confirm? Are we to withdraw?”
“Negative. Do NOT Withdraw! Attack the M5s and...”
“Jo Slammer? Are you there? We need confirmation.”
“I said Do Not...”
“Can anyone get through to Jo?” Fleck was asking, now on the open channel.
“What?” Jo was confused. 'Is this a joke?'
“Is Jo communicating with anyone? We need orders. Jo, what do we do? JO!”
“I...”
Aksandros appeared on Jo's comms screen. “You've been cut off. No one can hear you.”
“Cut off..?” His comm light was green.
The Defence Commander's voice came in again: “It looks like Mr Slammer's signal has failed. I imagine the asteroid he's hiding in is blocking his signal. Until he sorts out his communication problem, I'll be directing you.”
“Jo?” Fleck called.
“He's gone,” said another pilot. “Let's get out of here.”
“We have to retreat.”
“Okay,” Fleck finally said. “Pull around and full speed back to Mine beta.”
“No.” Jo said emptily. He watched the scanners as the M5 started to speed back to the South.
“It's coming from here! Your home-base,” Aksandros explained. “It looks like they've scrambled your comms keys. It looks... deliberate. Must be. Your signal is going out, but it's not going to anyone.”
“Can you do anything?”
“Already am. One mizura.”
“I don't have one miz...”
“It looks like Mr Slammer's out of it,” the Defence Commander was announcing. “I guess it was too much responsibility for him – he's never been in serious combat before – he's refusing to communicate, even with us. Effective immediately, I'm taking command.”
“My God,” Fleck was saying. “Okay, everyone come on! Max, keep up!”
“What the hell?” Jo shouted. “He's lying...”
“Almost there...” Aksandros was saying. “I'm about to transfer... Almost there.”
“Uh...” A new pilot's voice broke in, a Boron. “Some of the Xenon Ns seem to be following us.”
Jo's eyes widened. 'Maybe we can salvage something from this.'
“Is everyone fast enough to stay ahead?” Fleck paused. “Good.”
“THERE!” Aksandros shouted. “Your comms is back!”
“Xenon,” Jo shouted. “Whatever happens, stay right there.”
Jo fired his thruster and twisted his ship out the asteroid to head North, toward the action. The Commander's Comm's stunt had destroyed his chance for a co-ordinated attack. Now they would need raw force. The Nova was perfect for that!
Coursing toward the asteroid field, he switched his comms audio to transmit on the open channel.
“M5s head towards my location, and then form behind me to attack any pursuing ships.”
“Jo?” It was Fleck. “Is that Jo?”
“Head for me!”
“You're crazy! You're not in command, Jo.”
“I am still in command; you were tricked. Head for me.”
“No way!” another pilot said. “The guy's lost it! Do what the Commander said.”
“They're Ns! We should fight them in the 'roids. We can win in the 'roids!”
“Jo, you...” Fleck seemed uncertain.
“Continue your retreat,” the Defence Commander said. “Mr Slammer, if you are capable, join and support the other ships at the rally point. If you are not capable, return to base and hand your ship over to another pilot who can! You are no longer in command.”
“Shall we see what Elena has to say?”
“This is my system Mr Slammer, not Ms Kho's.”
“Whatever – my comms was sabotaged. I'm still leading this thing. Whoever's with me is with me. I'm going in.”
Jo altered his course so as to intercept the retreating M5s about 3km into the field. It would be close, he figured, but he should catch the Xenon sufficiently into the field. He was barely into the field when fifteen allied M5s streaked past in the direction of Silicon Mine beta.
'Will anyone stick with me?' Jo watched the gravidar. 'Nope... all headed for the mine.'
Jo turned to face the pursuing Xenon, now less than a half-mizura away. His eye twitched and his teeth were bared. Adrenaline. He knew the symptoms. His heart beat faster. Every object in view became sharper, more defined. That old familiar feeling, the beast; it felt good.
The first N entered firing range. Jo calmly sent some plasma its way. He watched as the plasma balls tore through the void, through the shield bubble, the ship, and then on into deep space, seemingly oblivious to the flaming wreck ripped apart in their wake. A few fragments of metal flew nearly a kilometre though space to flash-burn on the front of Jo's shield. It felt good. How long had it been?
Three more Ns were closing. The first went the same way as the last, dying at weapons range, but the second Jo had to manoeuvre for. It shot under him fast, he twisted down after it and suddenly - There! It was stopped right in front of him – instinctively, he spun out to avoid a collision, narrowly missing. As he pulled back up, the third N came into view just 200m ahead. Jo fired, and while his shots narrowly missed the Xenon, they must have startled it, because the N sharply twisted and curved face-first into an asteroid. Its shield bubble collapsed immediately as it smacked comically onto the rock-face. Somehow the ship survived the impact and it tried to pull back, in the process scraping its guns off onto the 'roid. A small gush of yellow vapour shot out from the wing, spraying the asteroid. Jo's next plasma round found no shield to stop it. It passed easily through the Xenon ship and finally found its home on a more distant asteroid. As the ship blew, Jo noticed the yellow gas brightly flaring, igniting.
As the embers died down, Jo heard a shield buzz. Two more quickly followed, and the last Xenon N was history. The Nova's automated rear turret could be so useful!
Eight more Ns were closing in formation, and close behind them came another two.
'Excellent,' Jo thought. “Easy meat!”
Jo destroyed the two leading Xenon before they could even close range, but the other six had slipped by and were now weaving quickly around Jo. As he rolled around after these ships, that last two closed, that made eight in all. They were faster than the Ns Jo remembered. Their tactics were better. He fired, but they would turn just before the plasma hit. They were circling fast, swarming around, firing, stinging him. The Killer Bees. Jo glanced at his shield and was shocked to see it had fallen to 79%. He might actually be in trouble here.
'What the hell am I doing?' Jo made a beeline for the nearest large asteroid. Unfortunately, this move gave the Xenon a chance to get on his tail; focussed impulse rays rained onto his rear shield soaking it away. 54%? Just two more kilometres. One of the Xenon must have sat on his tail for too long; Jo's turret got just the chance it needed. Boom! Jo watched bemused as a broken red cockpit flew past him – moving just that tiny bit faster than he – and crunched into the asteroid mere sezurae before he reached it. Jo guided his Nova in close to the asteroid, dropping speed to 80mps, and circling just metres from its surface.
“Circle me now, bitches!” Jo muttered, forgetting that his comms audio was still transmitting.
The Xenon were clearly disrupted. Just in front of Jo, one Xenon that had been circling him suddenly found itself face to face with rock. It pulled a sharp turn to avoid hitting the rock-face, but in so doing it swerved right into the path of a more distant N that had been shooting at Jo. The nearer Xenon absorbed two shots of 'friendly' fire before their two ships collided. The two were lined up in front of each other, so Jo couldn't quite see, but by the angry sound emitted he guessed their shields had touched.
His Nova sent some hot, green plasma their way. The first burst tore through the floor of the weakened nearer Xenon on either side of the cockpit, leaving huge holes which expanded across the ship as the plasma heat shattered the hull. That plasma burst now went on to the Xenon immediately behind, collapsing its shields. Jo's next plasma shot, hot on the heels of the first, ripped into the front of the second N, again hitting either side of the cockpit. This shot must have gone through the propulsion chambers, as a huge explosion erupted from the rear of the ship. The explosion was powerful, it engulfed both ships - both that N and the shattered nearer one – and hurled a mass of twisted wreckage toward Jo.
With 75MW of shielding, the Nova had no problem weathering this cloud of hot metal, but some of the Xenon tailing him took damage, causing one stunned Xenon to graze into the asteroid directly to Jo's left, or port-side. At first it just scraped off paint, but then an outcrop of rock caught the Ns port-side engine and knocked it clean off the ship. The starboard engine was still firing strong, banking the N hard into the asteroid and shearing the ship, spreading it like butter along twenty metres of rock-face.
“Ha! HA! This is WHY I Love fightin' IN 'ROIDS!!”
At the same time, another N must have lost some engine systems, as it simply ceased manoeuvring leaving it easy prey to Jo's rear turret. Boom. Three left, one without shields. Jo turned on the shield-less N just in time to see eighteen parallel streams of Impulse Ray flowing into it. In this river of fire, the Xenon ship washed away like a sandcastle in a tide. Six Boron Octopuses curved gracefully into view.
“This is Wing Captain Ji Lola. Boron ships at your command, sir.”
“Ha! ” Jo said as he bore down on one of the last two Xenon. “I thought everyone was obeying the Defence Commander now?”
“We Boron,” the Boron, moving as one, closed on the other Xenon. Their guns started blazing within milliseconds of one another. “Promised to assist you, Mr Slammer. When we couldn't persuade the others to join us, we Boron came back alone.”
The last two Ns exploded simultaneously.
Jo grinned. “Well thanks for that!” Maybe this would work out after all.
“Fourteen down,” he announced to the system.
Part Two: Space Groovin'
“Jo!” Davi called through. “Wow!”
“Davi! Still with me?!”
“Sure am... need to tell you. About three miz ago – while you were fighting – this here Xenon cloud changed direction. They were heading for the centre of the sector. Now they're heading straight for Silicon Mine beta. I can only guess they've figured out where our defenders are, that they're coming to take us head on.”
“Right.” Jo stared into space for a moment.
“Don't mean to put a damper on things, but there's still thirty ships here. Nearly half M3s.”
“Okay. Thanks for the update.”
Jo closed the channel, activated his comms computer and made another call.
“Aksandros,” Jo smiled. “Thanks for watching my back with the Comms thing. I'll say it again, you're good.”
“I copied the computer records too. Evidence. I don't think you'll have any more obstructions from our Defence Commander.”
“Excellent! Maybe we can still claw back victory here. Can you get him out of Command though, the pilots know him as boss, he'll divide us. We need unity to win this.”
“I can do that. Consider him dealt with.”
“Excellent,” Jo said, a lop-sided smile. “But come on now, more importantly: the search? Any luck?”
Aksandros was docked at the Terracorp power plant, plugged directly into the vast Terracrop satellite network. Shortly after Elena's last call and the promised 2.5 million, Jo had set Aksandros to the task of finding extra defences. Would his merchant blood shine through?
“I think you'll be pleased!” Aksandros winked. “I've managed to get two Novas at a half million each.”
“Okay,” Jo expected better. “And?”
“And,” the Teladi smiled. “I got us a Centaur with the other one and half million!”
“What?”
“A Centaur.”
“No? Aksandros... that's perfect! An M6?! Man, that's perfect! When do they get here?”
“All within fifteen mizurae.”
“Forget 'good' - you're a genius, Aksandros! A certified genius!”
Things were starting to look up – at last! But they were far from saved. This wing of Xenon would clear the asteroid field in just over four mizura. Once clear they would be a lot more dangerous. He had to take them down further. Time to act.
...
Six Octopus scouts in x-formation swept elegantly through the field. When they reached 3km from the Xenon fleet, they spread. At 1km they let fly with lasers and mosquito missiles, everything. The asteroid field instantly lit up with return fire, but already the Octopuses were out of range, racing back into the field. At first every M and N had followed, bringing a big smile to Jo's face. 'That's it!' The plan: draw away the light fighters. It was working. Then they broke off pursuit, the majority of the Xenon, and fell back into formation. In the end, only four Ms and two Ns persisted.
“Damn it,” Jo muttered. “Not nearly enough.”
“Captain Ji Lola here, we're closing on your position now.”
“Form behind me,” Jo ordered. “Engage the enemy as they arrive. Fly evasive. I can take care of the enemy, long as you keep 'em distracted. Keep them guessing. I don't want to lose any of you here, so fly evasive.”
Jo watched the Octopuses cruise back to him. They kept perfect formation even at top speed while dodging through a dense asteroid field. It was amazing to see! They moved like water, they seemed to flow around obstacles. Jo supposed it had something to do with their aquatic origins – unlike Humans, Boron understand 3D movement – they do it naturally. Evolved.
At 200m from Jo, the Octopuses pulled in to a tight cylindrical formation. At full speed they passed around Jo, each exactly ten metres from him. Now they curved out from the centre and slid around into formation behind him.
“Here come the Xenon,” Jo said.
When the first Xenon N reached firing range Jo never had a chance to fire, the Boron washed it away with their Impulse Rays. Now the six Boron ships surged forward and took the other, this N scarcely managed to fire back before being pounded into oblivion. The way the ship broke up it looked like it was dissolving.
“Guys,” Jo called. “Evasive?”
“Easy wins!” a Boron answered cheerily.
The four Xenon Ms had stuck together and were now two kilometres and closing. In the simulator, these were Jo's favourite kills. Too weak to be a threat, too slow to get away. Excellent! Just before they entered weapons range, four silkworms appeared.
“Warning: missile closing.”
Two were flying for Jo.
“Bakatz!” Jo cursed.
First he tried to shoot down the missiles, but it was not easy as in the simulator. 'I can't hit it!' He held his nerve, firing until the last possible moment when he finally hammered the thrusters and shot his ship upward just before the missiles could smash into his cockpit. His rear turret was taking pot-shots at the missiles now, but no luck. An idea! He swung towards a small asteroid and circled it tight. Glanced at the gravidar, the missiles weren't falling for it – they stuck right on him. It was starting to look grim, by now some of the Ms were shooting at him too. The missiles were dangerously close. 'Explode!' Jo pulled back hard on the stick, pulling a tight barrel roll to buy some time, but the missiles tailed almost as tightly, at the end of it he'd bought maybe a sezura. Now he thrust the stick forward into another barrel roll, the missiles were sticking. Suddenly, in front of him, a Boron Octopus firing... at him? Jo kept the stick pushed right forward and the Impulse bolts flew just metres over his head, barely missing his shields, and smashed into the nose of the nearer silkworm missile causing it to detonate. While the explosion caused only minor damage to Jo's rear shield, it inflicted heavy damage on the neighbouring missile, causing its state-of-the-art targeting system to reset. The confused silkworm immediately zipped at an unsuspecting M that had been trying to tail Jo, and with slap-stick precision the missile embedded itself in the M's propulsion cylinder and detonated. The explosion completely obliterated the propulsion cylinder and sent the M's somehow still-intact cockpit and gun-mount spinning wildly through space. The Xenon, it seemed, was still alive as the gun was taking pot-shots at passing ships.
A canny Octopus pilot called Nana So was trying to lose a silkworm of her own when she observed this spectacle from over two kilometres away. She Boron-grinned. There was this one thing she'd always wanted to try...
Manoeuvring through the asteroids, she cautiously dropped speed allowing the silkworm to close in on her. Weaving in, finally, with the missile mere metres away, she hit the thrusters and flew straight, passing narrowly in front of the still-firing semi-wrecked M. This time the M took the missile straight though the red glass of it's cockpit, the explosion reducing the ship to little more than dust, with just one seemingly pristine particle accelerator left spinning in its place. With just three Ms left, it was now that the two Boron Makos finally turned up.
As Jo and his group fought the last few of these Xenon, the East Gate flashed and the red exit lights announced an arrival. The huge form of a Teladi Albatross loomed through the gate circled by a legion of Teladi Falcons and Buzzards.
...
“Captain Lussidrillos?” Aksandros was asking. “What are you doing here?”
“Hillios Aksandros II?” the Captain of the Albatross queried. “Is that you? You are well?”
“Indeed, Captain. I am quite well. Why are..? You were sent here for me?”
“Yes, young one. Your mother, Hillios Llizandros, she was concerned. She thought you in danger; she sent us to ensure your safety.”
“I am safe for now, friend. But this sector is under attack by many Xenon. It may not survive. Can you help in the defence?”
“How do you mean? In what capacity?”
“Lend us your fighters to help in the defence?”
“No. That will not be possible, young friend. That would exceed our orders. Risk profits. All I can offer is to protect you and escort you from the system. If any Xenon attack you in that time, we will destroy them of course, but we cannot go looking for fights.”
“The danger is great,” Aksandros insisted. “Lives are under threat. I believe the profits of all may be at stake. Your help is needed.”
“Your mother gave us orders, young one. If there is a problem you should talk with her!”
“Of course... Hold please.”
...
A final shot from Jo's plasma cannon tore through the last M. Within seconds every Boron had formed around Jo's ship. He checked his scanner.
“Damn it!”
The bulk of the Xenon fleet was now well clear of the asteroid field. 'There goes our advantage.' Twenty-five ships remained: 13 Ls, 9 Ms, 3 Ns. They still massively overpowered the defence forces, and now they were clear of the asteroids, it would be no easy matter to defeat them. Unless...
“Jo!” It was Aksandros on comms. “I did it! We have more help!”
“The Corvette?”
“Better!”
...
Aksandros directed his communications to the fighters near the Mine.
“System forces, this is Hillios Aksandros II communicating on behalf of Commander Jo Slammer. The company 'Teladi Weapons Armament Trading' has offered us support. A company fleet is moving from the East Gate towards your position. Jo orders you to retreat back to them and join forces. Together we can repel the Xenon.”
“Greetings,” a new Pilot, someone Aksandros had not yet seen, answered. “We cannot comply.”
“What? Who is this?”
“This is Captain Al Lee of the Hector. Before he finished, the Terracorp Defence Commander put me charge of our ships. In case you missed it, Slammer is only in charge of himself now... and the Boron. Retreat here is not an option.”
“Not retreat, a tactical fall back. We will attack straight away. We have nearly twenty Falcons en route,” Aksandros assured him. “More Buzzards. You have only five Busters and ten Discos. You are heavily outnumbered, my friend. Together we can win, will win, but fall back or you will be destroyed.”
“I'm sorry,” Lee smiled sadly. “The Xenon are almost here. Retreat now is not an option.”
“But... Why? It is your duty in defence of the system. If you stay, you are throwing away your lives. You're actions profit the Xenon! You're helping them! Fall back and join our fleet where you can do more good. Why would you waste your lives? Your team? Your ships? Fall back!”
“Fall back and abandon the mine? Leave it to be destroyed?” Captain Lee asked quietly, almost politely. “Let over forty innocent people die? Miners? Families? Children? I know these people. I couldn't live with it... I can't. I can't give that order. We won't abandon them.”
“The Xenon don't want the station. Where is the profit in that? They want the system. They want to destroy you: the defenders. Fall back and they'll follow you, I promise! They won't touch the mine.”
“Maybe that's true. Maybe not. And if you're wrong?”
“I...”
“I can't take that risk. We stay.”
What else could Aksandros say?
“But... you'll die out there.”
“Perhaps...” Captain Lee spoke as if he were in a distant galaxy looking in on himself. “But we have to try. Maybe we'll win. Maybe not. But if... If not, then if we few pilots can buy your ships just a few more miz to get here, we'll save a lot of innocent lives.” He laughed hollowly. “'The good of the many', that's what they say. Seems rational to me: we signed on for this; we have a choice; we have a chance.”
Aksandros looked back silently – Lee had a strange magnetism – eventually Aksandros nodded.
“Oh,” Lee added. “And if you could ask Jo and the Boron to get over here... from what I've seen we could use them...”
Aksandros called Jo.
“They won't retreat.”
“Dammit! They're crazy! Why not?”
“You and the Boron should go to their support.”
“I know.”
...
The Xenon reached Silicon Mine beta. They kept formation until the last possible moment when they split wide, safe behind a blazing wall of plasma, particles and missiles. The Argon defenders scattered. They had only instants to get up to speed to avoid “sucking 'cuum” – as the veterans morbidly called it when a comrade finds himself trying to breathe vacuum, also known as the “space-groove.”
Amazingly all Argon ships escaped the first volley unscathed, but the missiles still came. The Discoverer M5 scouts had no trouble outrunning the missiles, but for the heavier M4s it was trickier. In one such M4, 'the Hector scrawled on each side, Captain Lee was trying to outrun a dragonfly.
The Captain pulled up and waited until the missile followed after him, at which point he slid away to the side. The missile lost him for a few sezurae before it got back on track and started to close again. Lee pushed to the right and found himself scraping a wave of accelerated particles. His shields dropped worryingly.
“Uh... Can anyone help here?”
“Right on your tail,” answered a Discoverer ship. “Try to go straight for... <ph!t>”
“What the hell?”
“Kutz! One down. We lost Balsa,” Fleck was saying. “I'll be right with you, Al. 10 sez.”
Fleck was already missile hunting. A mosquito had locked onto a fellow Discoverer. Mosquitoes, being the smallest missile, were hardest to hit. To get around this, he tried to minimise the distance to his target, creeping ever closer, then he let fly with the Impulse Rays. One shots blew off half of the missile's main thruster tube, causing it to start circling uselessly. He left it circling. He now turned to find Captain Lee. “Where are you?”
Lee was swinging in toward a Xenon L, trying to shake his missile into the enemy ship, but this spectacularly failed and only lost him more shielding when the L fired some plasma. All things considered, Lee was in trouble when he heard the missile explode.
“There you go,” said Fleck. “Sorry it took so long.”
“Buster down,” came another voice. “They got Abbot.”
Captain Lee locked onto a Xenon M and let fly with some accelerated particles, its shields dropped to 49%.
“Fleck, get six Discos assigned just to knock out those bakazi Ns,” Lee ordered. His missile killed the M's shield, he shot again destroying it. He flew through the explosion, emerging just in time to see another Disco fall. 'Damn it.'
“One more Disco down,” he reported. “Didn't see who.”
“Wilco,” Fleck responded.
“Assistance!” Called a Buster pilot. He was being attacked by two Ls. Lee targeted one.
“All M4s and unassigned M5s attack my target.”
A moment of manoeuvres, then all ships converged on the marked Xenon. The combined fire-power took its shields quickly down to 38%. At the same time many of the Argon ships were under fire, losing shields and taking damage. Too many Xenon. Lee was still closing on the L, firing hard, its shield were down at 19%. In the corner of his eye, Lee could see a fellow Busters also closing on their target, also firing. As he watched, an L rose ominously behind it.
“Kayla! Watch out!”
The Xenon let fly with some plasma. The plasma battered Kayla's ship, swiftly dropping her shields and now smashing her engines. Still she kept firing. Lee was firing too: the Ls shields were almost gone. 4%. One was on Lee's tail too now, he saw accelerated particles stream past to his left. One to his right. His shields buzzed and his ship jarred slightly. He strafed to try to keep it off him. Plasma was pummelling through Kayla's cockpit now – she must be dead by now, he figured – her ship was no longer firing, just cruising on straight. Momentum. For some reason her ship stubbornly refused to explode.
0% the Xenon was taking hull damage now, but Lee was too close. He couldn't close any further. The Xenon behind was right on him too. His own shields were almost failing. He had to turn off now or he was dead, simple as that. An L at 0%, such a wasted chance! Then he noticed Kayla's ship – it was still hurtling straight for the Xenon – collision course... Will it? Won't it? 'No!' The Xenon had dodged, it was going to miss... but then the Buster turned after it. 'Kayla... she must be..?' The Buster ploughed into the back of the Xenon L, burying its nose just behind the L's gun turrets. Both ships, unshielded, were obliterated in the collision. 'Thanks Kayla.'
“Target the next L.”
“Al, dragonfly troubles. Help.”
A Buster flew right at Lee, curving up at the last moment to present the missile. Lee fired, just missing the missile. He pulled up after it firing, but only hit the other Buster's rear shield. 'Damn it.' There was no time, the missile hit, the Buster was crippled badly. Too fast. A Xenon L rode through the explosion of yet another Disco and fired two shots at the crippled Buster, ending it with a flash before Lee's wide-open eyes.
“We're dropping like flies out here!” Someone shouted.
“All Ns destroyed,” Fleck reported in. “Changing target.”
The six Discos pulled in to attack the newly marked L. Along with them came all the Xenon Ms and Ls that had been marking the Discos. For a time it seemed as if the whole sky was lit up with energy weapons, as if you could get out and swim in it. Another Disco was wiped out in a small blaze.
“That almost hit me?!”
“Can we go home yet?”
“This is insane!”
“No retreat!” Captain Lee shouted.
“With all respect...”
“Attack my target!”
As yet another Discoverer blew, the pursuing two Xenon Ls and an M switched their target to Captain Lee. They approached from his blind-side, invisible to Lee, as he made a beeline to the marked L. The first balls of plasma crashed powerfully into the side of his ship, wrecking many of his ship's sub-systems. It was over, Lee knew it, so he rapid-fired all his remaining missiles at the L. A fresh plasma blast ripped through his private space, his cockpit. Somehow it missed him, but it smashed away most of the Hector's cockpit. Suddenly Lee found himself falling unprotected into open space.
'This is it,' he thought. 'Sucking 'cuum.' He felt oddly calm. The Mine he'd died for loomed big before his eyes. In a moment of clarity, just before the capillaries in his eyeballs burst, he clearly saw his wife and baby daughter in the window of the station over the dock. They were looking out. Or was imagining it? He couldn't check now that his eyeballs had blown – blind. Did it matter? He knew his wife and daughter were on-board the station, they were some of the 'innocent civilians' he had mentioned. They lived there with him.
'See? No regrets,' he thought. 'I never left you.' He felt an overpowering need to breathe out. It was like a huge pressure, but he knew if he did... when he did... he would never breathe in again. Vacuum. No air. His heart pounded as it too realised what was happening, 'This is for real. There's no magical rescue. No waking up. This is real. I'm dead.' Around him the battle still raged. He felt some impact, a wave of searing heat.
Finally his mouth opened and the air burst from his lungs, it felt wrong. His body tried to breathe in. The muscles moved, nothing there. No air to live in. His muscles retched desperately trying fill his lungs, nothing. Void. He realised dully that his body was writhing, movin'... space groovin'...
'So this... how it feels.' As the last dregs of air fled his body he felt his lungs collapse, invert, it felt like they were about to spew out of his mouth. Fortunately that never happened. The chill was setting in. He was fading.
Now with his eyes jammed shut he could see clearer than ever. He was at the window, they were both there, on the other side, waving, tears in their eyes.
'Don't be silly! Just sad I won't see you grown. Alice, gonna be a looker... like your daddy? You got to make it now. Can't help now. No more. You'll do fine. Perfect. Find happiness. Both. You gave me so much.' A warm tremble washed through his cold body. Images. The moment he met his wife, that bar in Herron's Nebula, the fat Paranid dancers – so graceless! All that had followed... A smile crossed his icy lips. 'In the end, I'm glad... we had. Every minute. A gift. You. Always. With you...'
And the little human stopped writhing, and floated stiffly through space.
“Dammit! We lost Lee.”
“What the hell do we do now?”
“Man, my shields are fried!”
“The Teladi are too far away we can't hold it!”
“There's too many!”
“Crap crap crap crap crap crap...”
“This is insaaaane!”
“Retreat North,” Jo's voice came through. “Towards the 'roid field. 7km.”
“Jo,” said Fleck. “The station?”
“Just DO it!”
There was a scream over the audio, as another Discoverer went up in flames.
“Go!”
At that, the last remaining M4 Buster pulled out of the melee and headed North as fast as its battered engines could carry it. The four remaining Discos tried to give it cover-fire as it got away but with eleven Ls it was a losing battle, the plasma coursed through and the last Buster went down. The Discos routed at full speed.
“Where are ya Jo?”
The Xenon fleet were following.
...
Part 3: Payback...
“Jo,” Fleck called as they came into visual range. “What's going on? Is it just you?”
Jo's Nova sat alone in the midst of the asteroid field, with the Boron ships and the Teiresias two kilometres behind him. The Buster and Discoverers were almost upon them.
“It's time to end this thing,” Jo said.
“Just you?” Fleck asked again.
“What's the plan?” Another voice.
“Fly past and form with the others," Jo ordered. "Attack on my mark.”
The battered ships formed behind him. The pilots were confused, watching with anticipation, all eyes on Jo. What was this one little ship about to do?
The Xenon approached, Ms leading the way. There were no missiles this time – all spent? With his heavy plasma throwers, Jo managed to destroy three of them before any Ls arrived.
As the last of the Ms and the eleven Ls pulled into firing range, a river of plasma flowed for Jo. Jo strafed most of it, the allied ships watched his futile reply. How was this going to work? Then, the space behind the Xenon shifted slightly; one pilot thought she saw a faint shadow shifting against the blackness of space. Suddenly waves of heavy plasma flew from nowhere, and started tearing into the Xenon from behind. They were taking damage. They started to turn.
“Now!” Jo shouted as he hit thrusters. “Attack! Evasive as ever. Distraction only.”
The Discoverers and Octopuses swept in. The combined force of the M5s and Jo's Nova hit the now-chaotic ranks of the Xenon side on.
“We're killing em!”
“What are those black things?”
“They're only targeting Xenon.”
“They're not Khaak,” Fleck answered. “I think...”
“They're on our side,” Jo said. “That's all that matters.”
“Huh!” an Argon pilot exclaimed. “My scanner don't lock onto them. Like they ain't there?”
“I think the Xenon are having the same problem,” said a Boron female. “The Xenon aren't returning fire at them. It must be confusing them!”
Jo smiled; this would be a massacre!
Before the Xenon had even started to co-ordinate, they had lost five Ls and all of their Ms. For the first time the defenders had a numerical advantage. And it seemed the Xenon still couldn't target the black ships.
“Whoa! One of those black things flew right by me! I swear it was a Nova!”
“A Nova?”
“Then why can't scanners lock on?”
“They must be made of something weird!”
“Have you tried..?”
“Target the enemy,” ordered Jo. “Focus on the enemy!”
“Heads up – incoming missiles.”
“Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!”
“Whoo! The black thing just killed an L!” Someone cheered. “That engine almost ended up in my lap!”
“What's left?”
“Five Ls,” Jo told them. “Keep it up!”
“Khaz Jo! Watch out! That almost hit me.”
“Boron report enemy ship destroyed.”
“Crap! Crap! Crap!”
“Will someone please shoot that missile off Kris' ass.”
“Bakazu! That black ship stole my kill!”
“Three left.”
“Missile down.”
“Right on, brother!”
“Ha haaa! PAYBACK!”
“Hey Mr Xenon! I got a present for ya!”
“Hey Max, try shooting the enemy!”
“Sorry, I...”
“Watch out!”
“It's alright, s'alright! I got it, I think I... <pht!>”
“Khaz! Xenon got Max! He's gone.”
“Evasive, pilots.” Jo said, far too calmly. “Remember evasive.”
“Evade this biatch!”
“COME ON!”
“Whoo! Thanks for that, Jo!”
“Two enemy left.”
“One now! Those shadow ships are awesome! Must be ASF!”
“ASF?”
“Argon Special Forces. I heard they...”
“Everyone shut up and concentrate!” Jo ordered. This radio chatter was beyond anything he'd ever heard – it was so obvious these were civilian defence pilots.
“Yeah, special ops.”
“I heard rumours about ASF over in... ah! Okay, help! Someone get this guy!”
“I'm on it.”
“Hurry!”
“Okay, we're on it!”
Three or more streams of plasma poured into the last Xenon until it broke up.
“I love the smell of baked silicon in the morning!”
“Okay,” Jo called over the comms. “All ships check in.”
The system ships called in. They had won the battle – much more than they could rightly have hoped – but they had lost heavily. They were down to four Discoverers – including the Teiresias – six Octopuses and two Makos. They'd lost every Buster.
“Hey! What happened to the black ships?”
“Yeah, where..?”
“They've gone?”
“Who were they?”
“I dunno.”
“Jo?”
“They've gone,” Jo said again, with a tone of finality.
“They were ASF though, weren't they?”
“Jo, I thought they said you'd never fought before!?”
“Yeah, man! You were awesome, where did you...”
“All ships, head back to the Terracorp station,” Jo ordered.
“Hey don't forget the friendly Xenon,” Davi called through.
“Friendly what?” someone asked.
...
“Call me Lil,” she said over the Comm.
“Very pleased to meet you, Lil” the Teladi oozed. “We are grateful for your kind assistance in this matter.”
“First wire me the credits,” she said. “I don't do a thing till I get paid.”
“Of course. How wise! One point five million,” he said. “It is being transferred now.”
She nodded. Lil had an instinctive respect for Teladi. Unlike most Argon, she actually liked them. They were survivors. After losing their home-world, the Teladi didn't roll over and die. They clawed themselves back from the brink, built a powerful empire from nothing, had become major players. They were good traders, canny, resourceful. She respected that.
Sure, she respected the Teladi, but of course she would never trust one. No! One of their most enviable qualities – in her view – was their healthy amorality. 'Never let morals stop you from doing what's right.' Teladi saying. They would sell their grandparents for the 'right' price. And rightly so! 'A credit is worth... whatever you get for it!' So true! She loved Teladi sayings.
The credits appeared in her account and a big grin spread across her face; she looked up to Aksandros' image.
“Excellent,” she said. “Lilli Sarra, Ace 2nd Grade, and my Centaur, Cheiron, at your service.”
...
Deep among the asteroids, the massive Xenon K sat beside the North Gate, its fighters swarmed like midges around it. Moments later the gate vortex shimmered slightly, then it rippled, flashed and a J jumped through. The J, the largest Xenon ship, their carrier, it cruised over and lined itself up next to the K. A sequence of coded radio transmission bounced between the two massive craft and out to their eighty plus fighters. A moment's silence. All at once the ships started to crawl South into the system.
Deep among the asteroids, something was watching them. Small black specks on an inky black sky, they observed the Xenon with interest. After some time, four of these shades began to drift after the Xenon fleet. The fifth, the last of these mysterious shadows, sat where it was for a moment before vanishing completely.
...
Chapter Four - The Nexus
Terraformer Dreams - Chapter 3 (complete)
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The Zig
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Terraformer Dreams - Chapter 3 (complete)
Last edited by The Zig on Tue, 20. Jan 09, 00:28, edited 4 times in total.
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X-Periment
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The Zig
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Part 2's up. Part 3 soon - more fighting... so much violence, when will the killing end!?!
The DC... he's misunderstood (and misinformed). Although, that he meant well doesn't bring back all those ships we lost.
Make images? Uh... I paint with words!!!
(Or at least, I crayon with words!)
Many thanks for the replies!
Z
“It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.”
The DC... he's misunderstood (and misinformed). Although, that he meant well doesn't bring back all those ships we lost.
Make images? Uh... I paint with words!!!
(Or at least, I crayon with words!)Many thanks for the replies!
Z
“It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.”
-
KiwiNZ
- Posts: 3512
- Joined: Wed, 6. Nov 02, 20:31
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bladeuk
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- Joined: Sat, 8. May 04, 18:26
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The Zig
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KiwiNZ
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Luckeey
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