Chapter Five
Garden Of Kadesh
-{Mark}-
We left to the fighter hangar just in case. I was excited to use the Ferin Sha once more. It stood out from everyone else's ship as it was custom painted.
"The nebula is incredibly rich in energy and resources. Energy levels are so high that our sensors are having trouble compensating."
"Sometimes he's just pointing out the obvious I think. Like really, we're in a dense nebula. Of course we're going to have sensor trouble." I said sitting in the seat.
"It's his job." Isel said.
"Yeah but he doesn't need to tell us every single detail." Karu agreed with me at least. He and Jay then headed down to the corvette docks. I had two other pilots assigned to my squad; I was beginning to wonder if they would all just keep dying on me. Eric was in my squad also. We took off and took our positions outside.
"There is a contact closing with the Mothership. Sensor instability makes it difficult to identify." I looked at the little red blip that looked stable through all the randomly flashing lights and lines on the screen. "Preparing the Ambassador." The ship launched and moved to the dot. We were given a live feed on one of the screens. It showed the ship from the Ambassador's camera. It showed a huge ship, larger than the Rancor approaching fast. A tiny fighter-sized ship launched from the alien mothership. The tiny ship was half the size of one of our fighters and moved incredibly fast.
"This is the Garden of Kadesh. For thirteen generations we have protected it from the unclean." The other pilot's voice was very deep. "The Turanic Raiders who came before you refused to join and were punished for this trespass. Like theirs, your ship has already defiled this holy place." That didn't sound too good. I noticed Eric moving in to join the squadron formation. "If you have come to join we welcome you and will spare your ship until all have disembarked. If you have come to consume the Garden, you will be removed at once." Oh great. Removed sounds friendly. But in what way? I asked myself. "What are your intentions?" it asked.
"We were unaware of the significance of this location. We mean you no conflict. Please allow us time to prepare our engines so we may withdraw as requested." The Ambassador's captain said.
"If you will not join, then die." I swallowed at that last phrase. It was a terrifying thought.
-{Arazis}-
She was waiting patiently for the signal. This was the type of conflict that she didn't like. These poor people were merely trying to pass by, but now they will be destroyed. "There is no withdraw from the Garden." The Negotiator docked, and the warmers all launched simultaneously out of the hangar surrounding the whole ship followed by the fuel pods in the second hangar. They broke off into their individual squadrons, and preformed magnificent patterns to show off their power.
-{Mark}-
"Shit guys! Here they come!" there were maybe a hundred small fast-moving ships coming towards us at high speeds. Faster than any ship but mine using its boosters.
"Hyperspace module charging. Ready in eight minutes." Karan said. I was happy for that.
"Okay team, just eight minutes and we're out of here!" we accelerated towards the enemies along with the other fighter squadrons. Our tactics were set to evasive the whole time, and we were firing on their fighters. They were rather strong for a ship its size. And it moved and manoeuvred very fast. I thought for a second that they were drones.
"Mark! We're being followed by some!" Eric yelled out. I signalled to them to pull up and behind them, but that didn't work. They followed us.
"Um . . . okay, cut the engines for one second."
"What?" Isel yelled.
"Trust me on this! One, two, three!" we all cut the engines and allowed the warmers to speed past us. We activated our weapons and engines at the same time firing at the seven ships. Five blew up in smoke, the other two got away.
"Don't worry about those two. Keep in Delta formation." I ordered. So much for being a normal kid.
-{John}-
The captain was screaming orders to the crew and telling them where to move, and who to repair. This battle was even more intense at the first minute than the whole battle at the Great Wastelands. The chin gun was firing as many times it could, but the targets were just too fast. But he noticed a weakness. Apparently so did the captain of the Skaal Tel.
"All available frigates follow me or the Revelation. I found a weakness. The fighters use up their fuel faster than ours. That's what those larger ships are for. If we can take out as many of those as possible, their fighters won't be a problem."
"I'm with ya!" John said ordering the pilots to follow the destroyer.
"So am I." Herald said. "Nomad Cannon at the ready." There were several Daggers following also. They broke up into two groups setting course for the fuel ships.
-{Triikor}-
She was in the storage room staring at the horrifying battle outside. The Rancor at least was not participating in battle. There were a few of the enemy fighters swarming the ship, but no major damage was done. She stared as the enemy mothership slammed into a Dagger frigate and it smashed to pieces.
"Hey you there!" a tall guy with a scar on his face was running towards her. She could have easily taken him down, but she was scared at the battle outside hoping that she would live to escape the nebula. Pinned her down and put her in hand cuffs. She was then brought to the prison level crying. Some crew members felt sad for her. They knew she was Taiidan by her yellow and red jumpsuit, but they felt bad that she wanted to live. And that she thought she was going to die in the Garden of Kadesh as they called it.
-{Eric}-
He was trying his best to not be killed, and trying to shoot at as many enemies as possible at the sometime. Always under the leadership of Mark Soban.
"The enemy is relying heavily on fighter class ships." Intelligence said.
"Really? Honestly I think we noticed genius! Tell us something useful!" Mark yelled over the intercom.
"Our research division reports it can design a new type of corvette specially suited to combat multiple fighters."
"Finally! We're getting our asses wiped out here!" another pilot from the squadron said. Eric noticed the grouping of fighters around one large frigate-sized ship.
"Mark, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Eric asked.
"Yeah. I think I am. Okay all fighters aim for those ships surrounding the fuel ship!" he ordered.
-{Arazis}-
Arazis was docked with a fuel pod along with Saiin. They stuck together most of the time. And then what seemed like out of nowhere, a single squadron of five fighters came in and shot unmercifully at the out of fuel Swarmers hovering, waiting to dock. They were all destroyed. There were maybe ten of them grouping helplessly together waiting to be fuelled. The light turned on saying she could leave. She took off about the same time as Saiin and some other Swarmers and headed to the squadron of ships that just did what she saw. They caught up fast, and they fired on the ships. One blew up, and then they all aimed for the leader, whose ship was painted a black and red pattern.
"This one must be important. Let's finish him!" she yelled. They all sped up and opened fire. Soon after, another enemy squadron came in from above and destroyed the group. All but her and Saiin, and then left to battle their own chasers. Arazis sped up almost directly behind the ship, but she was rammed from the side.
She looked, and the figure was visible from the inside. It looked exactly like a kadeshi, but with dark hair and brown eyes. It had an angry look on its face, and rammed again. She deactivated the view blocker and showed her face to the enemy.
-{Mark}-
"Mark, I see it! The enemy! It has hair like blood! Get away!" Isel rammed the enemy again and it gave up and left along with the other fighter.
"Good work, but don't kill yourself! I already lost one wingman I don't want the next to be someone I know!"
"Alright then." She replied.
The battle was hard and I was getting sweaty under my pilot suit. I don't think I took my fingers off the trigger the whole time.
There were fewer fighters than before; I noticed two groups of capital ships destroying the enemy fuel ships. Red Squad just moved in and took out the groups of enemies as Green Squad attempted to watch our back. And Yellow Squad would do the same. I just lost the only Defender pilot in mu squad. Now it was all Interceptors. Like the last few times. The Porters were also proving to be useful by capturing some of the fuel ships along with the immobile fighters. I didn't use my boosters yet. I didn't need them. I fired on another group, avoiding some to let the Porters feel useful.
The Mercy corvettes were not very efficient in this battle. They were a very common target. They worked to repair the frigates inside a swarm that I was headed to right now, and each other. The enemy mothership was approaching no them, and the frigates fired on it. In return, it tried ramming them. The destroyer was almost hit. I saw that Karu and John were both in this group. Karu was being fired at, but then repaired by his wingman. The large mothership then smashed into a Dagger frigate and blew it to pieces. The other capital ships backed away after that.
The mothership started venting smoke and debris. This was a good sign. It would be almost over.
-{Arazis}-
Arazis was in a swarm very near the Amun. It was badly damaged. She saw the black ship approaching and tried to avoid it. She told Saiin to do the same. The Needleship launched a lot more backup Swarmers and fuel pods to help the fight. The damaged Swarmers in the swarm left and docked with the Needleship in fear of being destroyed while being repaired.
She saw that the enemies were moving vertically while attacking to avoid the ramming procedures of the Needleship. Her weapons were beginning to jam and decided to dock with Saiin for the rest of the battle.
"Saiin, come on. We should let the experienced pilots do the work. And my weapons are jamming." She agreed and followed her in to dock.
"That was an amazing fight! Incredible really," Saiin was very happy and excited by the events.
"Well, it was the best fight of my life. And they are a match! This fight could last so long! Let's go watch." She said.
They ran to the observation decks and saw the battle going on. There was a red beam of ions that smashed right next to them on the invisible armour, but didn't even come close to penetrating in. A next wave of Swarmers launched and then the Amun started venting atmosphere in critical amounts. Fire was seen in the space to the starboard side. There was then a red door of the waveform overhead and then they passed into hyperspace. The best thing of all, the hull naturally moulds back into form in hyperspace in a matter of milliseconds. And the next second, the waveform opened and they dropped into normal space. That was an illusory auto repair procedure that left them thinking the fleet was gone. But then, the
Amun launched several waves of Swarmers onto the resource collectors nearby.
"That was close." She said.
-{John}-
"Are they gone?" Fiira asked.
"Well, sensors can't tell. There's too much stuff here to see clearly."
"This is the captain of the Ifriit 2 calling anyone who knows the answer to this, is the enemy mothership gone?" he asked.
"No captain, this is the Redemption resource controller, I have the ship in my sight. And it has no damage at all. It must have repaired while in hyperspace. I'm also requesting defence over here for the resourcing operation. They just launched a hell of a lot more fighters!"
"Roger that, the battle is pretty much over on this end I'll come help if I can. I'll bring a few squads with me too." John replied.
"The captain of the Revelation and its guards are reporting to assist as well as some new drone frigates."
"We have detected an inhibitor field. We cannot launch the hyperdrive until the field is destroyed."
"Oh great. What next?" John asked rhetorically.
-{Mark}-
The battle was finished when the last fuel pod in the area was captured by the salvagers. The fleet slowly moved over to where the Redemption said the enemy mothership was. My squad was one of the first to arrive at the scene. It was as if we were never going to get a break. The fleet had completely rebuilt itself. But luckily for us, a wave of twenty multi-gun corvettes launched from the Mothership in squads of five. They fired on all the enemy fighters and took them down easily. The Blades were now officially obsolete with this new ship. I would still use the Ferin Sha, but now people might call them old and outdated. I'm still gonna use the ship though.
"We're winning fleet!" someone yelled. In fact, the battle never seemed easier the fighters were taken care of easily with the Tempest corvettes assistance. And the destroyers, now three as another Revelation-class was constructed, were focusing fire on the mothership, while the frigates fired on the fuel pods.
The needle-shaped mothership approached our Mothership and opened fire from a hidden frontal ion cannon. The beam was heavier than four destroyer cannons put together. The second shot made a hole through the top of the ship to the other side. I didn't even want to know what important systems were up there. All the ships in the fleet turned to fire on the enemy's mothership. It lit up in fire, but before being destroyed, entered hyperspace once more.
-{Arazis}-
The Needleship's main cannon was repaired, and it fired twice before the enemy fleet attacked full force causing the ship to need to abandon the outside fleet that didn't manage to dock before entering hyperspace. It was sad that the Amun needed to abandon almost half of the crew in order to survive. Hundreds of souls, left to wonder endlessly in space. Unless destroyed by the enemies. At least Saiin was with her. They both lowered their heads in despair.