Chapter Five
Gold One
At eighty-six miles, Colonel Sullivan got a lock on five of the Gliders. Everyone had five bandits locked according to his IFDL. He wasn't just getting lock readings from the 308s in his squadron, his datalink was giving him lock readings from the ones in the other squadrons too.
But there were no missile launches just yet. They could've shot right now but the plan was to let the Lucian Alliance Gliders come within sixty miles before letting them have it so the missiles wouldn't have to burn up all of their fuel traveling the full length of their launch distance. Sullivan went over the plan with his pilots in the briefing then shared it with the other squadron leaders over the intra-flight datalink and they in turned shared it with their teams.
And there was one more thing that was needed and the notification of said thing appeared in the form of a message from the Hammond on his helmet-mounted display and those of the other squadron leaders.
ELECTRONIC ATTACK ON THE ENEMY STATION'S SENSORS AND COMMS SUCCESSFUL.
"Perfect," Sullivan said then sent the notice to his wingmen. The Lucian Alliance space station was using its long-range sensors to vector the Gliders towards them and its communication arrays to keep them aware of their movements.
With the station's sensors scrambled and its communication arrays fried, the Gliders were death, dumb, and blind until they got within visual range.
Still, they kept on coming in their tight formation.
Seconds later, the Gliders reached the sixty-mile mark and the words OPTIMAL RANGE ACHIEVED appeared on his HMD.
Without a single word, the pilots fired their opening salvos of five AMRAAMs each and watched as they went across the void at Mach four.
Unlike the AIM-120Ds used by the regular USAF squadrons, the ones used by the squadrons of Homeworld Command were retrofitted with two-stage rocket boosters. Shortly after the missiles were launched, the second stage boosters fired up and propelled the missiles from Mach four to Mach six.
Seconds later kills started registering like numbers on a lottery machine.
"Oh yeah, five for me," Sullivan said after the Gliders he targeted vanished from his screen.
"Gold Leader, this is Reaper One. I just splashed six."
"How?"
"One of the bandits I sent to AMRAAM City had a buddy who was flying a little too close and got caught in the explosion for his troubles."
"Awesome."
The opening round was a short and brutal affair. By the time the wall of explosions dissipated, there were only nineteen gliders left because they were not targeted by the salvo. Enraged by the loss of their comrades, they continued their charge and activated their jammers in the hope they would buy them enough time to get close enough to take some of the Tau'ri fighters with them. The pilots knew their chances of surviving this fight were zero but given the opposition they were facing and having nowhere else to run, what could they do?
"Ha, they think their Jamming is going save them," Nancy said. This wasn't her first time facing Gliders with Jammers. She once flew in a battle against Alliance Gliders over an off-world base and by that time, they had already switched over to AIM-120Ds which in addition to all of their other features like active radar homing, multi-target engagement, longer range, two-way data link, high off-boresight targeting and improved ECM resistance, also had home on jam capability. The jamming signals from the Gliders were nothing more than dinner bells to them. That battle was also the last time the Tau'ri used 302s before switching over to the 308s.
Nancy along with ten 308s from Gold Squadron and five more from Lion Squadron followed up with another salvo of AMRAAMs and disposed of the remaining bandits at forty-two miles. Nancy was responsible for four of the kills which made her the leading ace of the battle so far. A double ace to be exact.
"Like clubbing baby seals," Nancy commented.
"Or like swatting flies," Baker added.
"We can decide on a fitting analogy later, ladies. The task force is almost within range to open up on the Lucian defense line and it's time for phase two. Golds Two through Six with me, we're going to knock out their station's defenses."
"Roger that, boss," Gold Two replied.
"Reaper Squadron will join you, Gold One."
"Copy that. The rest of you standby with Lion and Silencer Squadrons in case any Lucian reinforcements try to crash the party."
"Gold Seven, roger."
As the fighters fanned out, the Hammond, Pendergast, Phoenix, and Paul Emerson opened up on the Lucian Ha'taks with a salvo of cruise missiles and railgun fire and the Ha'taks were quick to answer back with a fusillade of plasma bolts. Some of the rounds were scoring hits while the others missed wide.
Hammond Bridge.
"Our shields are holding Colonel, but we are also taking fire from the Al'Kesh hiding behind their shields," Major Brice said. Carter considered it a smart move on the Lucian Alliance's part to hold their bombers back instead of throwing them away against their F-308s but that was the closest thing to a compliment she was going to give them. They needed to break this defense line and quickly.
"Target four enemy ships with MK-Xllls and standby for my order."
"Missiles are armed and targets are locked, ma'am." Carter pressed the speaker button on her right armrest.
"Hammond to Paul Emerson, we have a lock on four of the Ha'taks and are ready to engage them with our Mk-Xllls."
"Copy that, Hammond. We got four ships locked on our end and are ready as well," Colonel Clyde replied.
"Brice, fire."
As the volley of cruise missiles and railgun fire continued hammering the enemy fleet, four MK-Xllls erupted from the vertical launch tubes of the Hammond and the Paul Emerson and streaked towards their targets.
Developed in the aftermath of the Super-Hive Incident, the MK-Xlll was designed to destroy enemy ships by making tactical hyperspace jumps past their defenses and reappearing inside them before exploding. The Pendergast and the Phoenix were also carrying eight MK-Xllls like the Hammond and the Emerson, but the plan called for them to hold theirs in reserve.
Halfway to the line of Ha'taks, the MK-Xllls executed their jumps. The volley of cruise missiles masked them perfectly as planned.
As the exchange of fire between the Lucian fleet and Taskforce Hammond continued, eight of the Ha'taks suddenly erupted into massive fireballs. Each MK-Xlll packed a Naquadria enhanced two-thousand gigaton nuclear warhead and the resulting blast waves inflicted severe damage on the four remaining Ha'taks. One of them lost its shields shortly after the explosions and was shot into oblivion by the railguns of the Pendergast.
Despite the severe damage, the three remaining Ha'taks continued on with their last stand until the Hammond, Pendergast, Phoenix and, Paul Emerson fired their nexus beams which burned right through their shields and hulls and struck their power cores.
"All enemy ships destroyed, ma'am," Brice reported.
"Excellent. Now tell the others to move into their orbital positions and open their bomb bay doors.
As the 304s fanned out to take up their designated positions, the V-309s carrying the assault force were launched from the Hammond's starboard side hangar bay.
Gold One.
With a solid lock on the station's shield generator, Colonel Sullivan fired two of his MK-V anti-ship cruise missiles and watched as they bolted off into the distance then jumped into hyperspace. A few seconds, later, the bottom of the station erupted into a fireball and the shield collapsed.
"Salvo all bruisers, Reapers," Nancy shouted then her squadron fired all four of their MK-Vs, and Sullivan's group did the same.
"Gold Leader, this is Greyhound Two-Six. We've launched from the Hammond with Greyhound Two-Eight and we'll be within transport range of the station in three minutes.
"Copy, Greyhound Two-Six. Your door is about to be opened in three, two, one."
Dozens of explosions erupted all over the station as the missiles made short work of the station's defensive cannons and some of them even struck the docking bays so the Lucian Central Council wouldn't be able to escape by Tel'Tak.
"Bandits detected, bandits detected," Sullivans AWASS reported.
"Head's up, people. Four Gliders just launched from a concealed bay near the top of the station and judging by the video feed from my EOTS, they appear to from the Lucian Crimson Guard."
"According to our intelligence that's the force dedicated solely to protecting the Lucian Central Council," Nancy said.
"Well, these guys won't be protecting anyone for much longer. Gold flight, offset left. It's clever girl time."
"Oh yeah," Gold Two said as he and the rest of the flight broke off to the left. He and Sullivan had executed this tactic many times in engagements against Gliders and Wraith Darts.
Sullivan flew right at the Crimson-colored Gliders and smoked their leader with his tactical plasma beams at two miles and blew past the others who quickly spun around to go after him but thanks to the three AIM-9Xs from Gold two, their pursuit ended just as quickly as it started. Best of all, Gold Two didn't even have to leave his current position to engage them. He had them locked on his EOTS before Sullivan even merged with them. As for the concealed Glider bay, Sullivan destroyed it with an AMRAAM after blowing past the Gliders.
"Gets them every time boss," Gold Two said.
Sullivan just laughed then proceeded to deliver his own version of public safety announcement. "Remember Glider and Dart pilots, a 308 in the merge isn't the sign of a fight, it's the sign of a trap."
"And the only flightpaths leading out of it lead to AMRAAM City or Sidewinder Avenue," Nancy added. "This concludes your United States Air Force Public Safety Announcement."
"Wow, Reaper One. I didn't know you had a sense of humor beneath that stone-faced persona you had in the briefing on the Hammond."
"I have my moments, Gold One," Nancy replied.
"Lion One to Gold and Reaper leaders, our ships just launched their Horizons. I repeat, our ships just launched their Horizons."
"May Lucia and everyone on it burn in hell," Nancy shouted. The venom in her voice was so thick, she could taste it. The fact that one of the ships dropping the nukes was named after her late brother filled her with a tremendous amount of pride and joy. More than taking part in this counterstrike and even more than being the double ace of this battle.
Thirty seconds after entering Lucia's atmosphere, the nosecones of the Horizons peeled away and the warheads were released. They would usually carry four decoys along with their six warheads but those swapped out for additional nukes so each Horizon was releasing a total of ten.
Lucia's capital city.
Alarms sounded filled the streets as people gathered around the stargate, pushing and shoving to be the first in line when the gate was activated. A couple of gunshots rang out amongst the commotion as multiple Tel'Taks hastily ferrying people from other locations touched down in the distance. Many people even brought their families with them and were struggling to keep their children calm amongst the chaos while at the same time trying to get closer to the stargate in the hope they could amongst the first to make it through.
One of the Lucian soldiers was hastily dialing an address to a random planet. It didn't matter where, as long as it wasn't here. He blocked out the sounds of the crowd shouting at him to hurry up and some the sounds of rocks from said crowd landing around him.
He finally completed the address and activated the gate which resulted in the crowd stampeding up the stairs. Dozens were pushed to the ground or worse, trampled by those behind them.
But only twelve people made it through the gate before a MK-IX warhead from one of the Paul Emerson's Horizons slammed into it. The explosion incinerated the stargate, thanks to the additional power provided by the destruction of the stargate, everything and everyone in a Colorado-sized radius.
From orbit, Lucia looked like it had turned into an off-world version of Dante's Inferno. As Nancy looked down on the carnage through the floor of her fighter, three words went through her mind in a song-like fashion.
Burn Lucia, burn. If the F-308 had a music streaming app, she would've gladly played the classic song Burn Baby Burn for this very occasion.
Lucian Alliance Space Station.
The two guards jumped at the sudden activation of the rings and drew their pistols for there were no visitors expected today. They were quickly joined by five more crimson-dressed Lucian soldiers who rushed in with their rifles at the ready.
The rings dropped away revealing an empty spot and everybody looked at each other in confusion. And that was the last thing they did before being dropped by seven point six two millimeter rounds to their heads.
Captain Gerald and his five-man team deactivated their optical cloaks and checked the bodies for any signs of additional movement. There were none and he activated his radio as his team kept their FN-SCAR-H assault rifles pointed down the hall.
"Greyhound Two-Six, this is Vandal Six-Four. The ring room is secured."
"Copy Six-Four, we're sending in the rest of your platoon."
The rings activated once again signaling the arrival of five more SCAR-H packing Marines who quickly cleared the platform and pushed down the hall where they made a right. Another group of Marines was ringed in and they went down the hall and made a left. Gunfire broke out briefly and the second team reported the elimination of two hostiles.
Seconds later, all thirty men of Second Platoon were on the station and the ring room and the hallways around it were secured. Second Platoon's mission was to hold the ring room and draw as many Lucian soldiers to them as possible while First Platoon led by Captain Fitzpatrick went for the HVTs.