Chapter 16

The Huskies formed up on the Battleship Decklon as it prepared to break away from the enemy encirclement. The four Katinian Battleships left behind the wreckage of their two enemy counterparts, and the cruisers and destroyers falling into formation behind them seemed to have done their job, though some bore heavy combat damage due to the surprises contained within the enemy fleet at Macbeth.

"We are moving to orbit the planet at high velocity. Stand…"

The transmission from the Decklon was cut short by a sharp burst of static. Bill tapped his headset. "This is Husky Leader. All starfighters report!"

No reply.

Damn, Jamming's on. And we're miles from their fleet. They must have a ton of Jammer ships out there.

Now the starfighters were flying on their own, and the fleet couldn't coordinate an escape.

Enemy fighters suddenly started firing on him My scanners are gone too, of course. Bill pulled up and straight into the engine wash of an enemy fighter traveling in the opposite direction. A quick inversal brought him onto the fighter's tail and he triggered a number of shots at his opponent. Most of them hit, turning the angular enemy fighter into a fireball. That one was a rookie. Another enemy fighter spat fire at his ship, but Bill successfully evaded and managed to turn inside his opponent then brake quickly, widening his turning circle as he did so. His enemy, who had rolled to keep pace, lost track of Bill as Bill's fighter dropped below his opponent's line of sight. Bill used the opportunity to quickly pull up and around, unseen by his opponent who had reversed his turn in an attempt to find him. Bill fired from above, disintegrating that fighter.

That's when a transmission came through. "Husky Leader, this is Husky 12."

Bill jolted. "Husky 12, how did you communicate?" But the static-ridden voice at the other end of the line continued, obviously having not heard Bill in return. "We might be able to restore communications to a certain extent by cross-wiring parts of our communications systems with our detector systems. Our scanners can do a broad scan identifying all bogeys in an area, or perform a focused, penetrating scan that can see into a ship. We can use that second aspect to break through the jamming and communicate. If you can hear me, it's proof that this works. Order your onboard repair systems to override standard protocol and reconnect the transmission amplifier to the scanner focusing lens. I repeat, reconnect the transmission amplifier to the scanner focusing lens. It might render our scanners useless and disconnect our transmitter web, but we'll still have our receiver web and should be able to receive messages. Just aim the transmission beam at the intended recipient and you should be able to get a message through."

As another enemy fighter vaporized under Bill's guns, he ordered his onboard repair droids to do exactly what Husky 12 had said. Husky 12 spoke again. "Husky leader, since it's a focused beam it'll only allow for transmission to one person at a time, so let the others know in a systematic way."

An OK signal appeared on Bill's monitor signifying that the modifications were complete.

"Husky 12, you're a genius!"

"Just doing my job, sir."

"Here's the deal. Inform the rest of the squadron of the plan, and I'll let the fleet know. Go to it."

Bill spared a glance out over Macbeth's horizon, and he didn't need scanners to know a swarm of fighters from one of the enemy fleets was inbound. Here they come!

The region of space around Bill became ablaze with laser and missile fire as the first enemy fighters got within range. Bill pulsed EM countermeasures rapidly, spinning and weaving through wave after wave of assaults. Just like in the obstacle course. Nothing to it. Soon the enemy had gotten to within laser range and both the Huskies and the enemy fighters were swirling around each other in a classic, conventional dogfight. After defeating yet another opponent Bill aimed his scanner lens at the Archangel and tapped his comm. "Admiral Hendrix, this is Husky Leader. I won't be able to receive anything from you until you follow these instructions…"

Once Engineering had completed the changes, Hendrix ordered communications and sensors to work in tandem to transmit the changes to the rest of the fleet.

The Archangel, the four battleships and the two escort carriers of the Katinian fleet were rapidly pulling away from the bigger, slower enemy battleships, but the enemy destroyers and cruisers were coming on fast. The enemy cruisers would catch up to his ships within fifteen minutes, which meant a twelve-minute engagement before the fleet cleared the anti-warp field. The enemy starfighters were already around them, mixing it up with his own starfighters.

"Admiral!" Hendrix turned, and saw Reeber hastily walking into the bridge. "Admiral, I couldn't find Pontac anywhere. The crew I spoke with haven't seen him either since the start of the battle."

Hendrix managed to keep his anger to himself. Running and hiding now, are we Pontac? We'll deal with you after the battle, then.

"Admiral, shields down to 94%. Enemy starfighters seem to be concentrating on wiping ours out, but they're leaving our capital ships alone for the most part."

"All right, keep up defensive fire. Maintain shields around this bridge, the shield generators and the engines."

Movement on the viewport caught Hendrix's attention. Something bright was coming up from the planet…

"CONCENTRATE SHIELDS TO THE KEEL!!!" Hendrix yelled.

A massive red laser bolt passed to the right of the Archangel, then another struck a glancing blow on the keel. The shields managed to dissipate most of the beam, but some of it got through and struck the hull of the carrier.

The entire ship rocked and the right-hand side of the ship was wracked with secondary explosions. Alarms started ringing throughout the vessel.

"Climb away from the planet and boost power to engines! Give me a damage report!"

"Atmosphere leaks reported all over our starboard side! We're getting big structural damage reports from there too. Laser batteries 2 and 4 are offline. Shields down to 32%"

"Try to seal it off!" Hendrix ordered. "Close compartment doors and get atmosphere containment fields down there now!" He looked out the viewport again and two more of the giant laser bolts struck the battleship Starstalker. One struck a glancing blow to the rear of the ship and the other cored right into the middle. The ship's lights winked out seconds before it was torn apart by a massive explosion. Hendrix caught sight of a single escape pod jetting away from the fireball. If that was the only one, no more than 40 people could have made it off. Actually, less than that, since the destruction was so rapid. Hendrix heaved a sigh. "Order the Katina to pick up the escape pod from the Starstalker." Two lucky shots and one of our battleships is gone. "Have Husky Squadron and Lightning Squadron deal with those surface batteries ASAP."

Bill nodded. "Acknowledged Archangel, we're heading for the surface."

Bill pointed his scanners at Perry, then transmitted. "Perry, pass these orders along the line. We're going for the surface batteries with the Lightnings. Everyone follow me." Bill then sent a message to the Decklon. "Decklon, this is Husky Leader, we're going for the surface batteries, give us cover." It may be tedious transmitting to one person at a time, but it beats nothing at all. Bill waited a few seconds for the message to get passed back, then dove for the surface. The blackness of space gradually changed to a bright blue as Bill's fighter entered the atmosphere. The source of the fire seemed to be coming from someplace over the Fenris mountain ranges, which meant that they could approach through the mountain range virtually undetected. He decided not to waste time with a transmission, since the Huskies and Lightnings were following his lead anyway.

He led the formation through a winding valley, flying low enough to avoid sensor detection. They must have lost track of us by now. He thought.

He rounded a mountain that had been half-cut away for its resources, then burst into a wide valley. The land here was flatter than the surrounding mountains, and Bill spotted his target; a trio of large hyper-batteries surrounded by anti-aircraft guns.

Bill wasted no time. He raked his lasers across the heaviest concentration of enemy guns, destroying three outright. Perry, following in Bill's wake, did the same and Don accounted for another three. The enemy gunners didn't even have time to aim, as the rest of the Huskies flew past, lasers blazing.

With the anti-aircraft defences effectively wiped out, Lightning squadron came rumbling into the valley. Each bomber launched two nova bombs at the batteries which reduced the deadly weapons into smoldering piles of shattered metal.

"Archangel, this is Husky Leader. Ground threat neutralized. "

Bill pointed his fighter to the sky and his jaw dropped. Five squadrons of enemy fighters were incoming.

Normally Bill would have ordered Husky Squadron down into the mountains again and then fought the enemy fighters in canyons and crevasses, but with the bombers to protect, and with fuel rapidly running out, Bill had little choice but to shoot for the sky.

The lightnings started launching Nova Bombs into the enemy formation, bagging some, but the rest came down and started firing missiles.

Three bombers fell instantaneously. That left six to protect. Several more enemy fighters fell prey to the guns of Husky squadron, but those that made it through- and there were a lot- came in and started pounding Lightning Squadron. Another bomber exploded in mid-air.

"Husky Leader! I'm painted!"

Bill quickly glanced over at Husky Three. Eight fighters were chasing him. Bill tried a high corkscrew to get on their tails, but more enemy fire forced Bill to abort that and plunge groundward. Bill put the boost on and ignored the alarms in his headset, approaching the enemy from beneath. Eight accurate shots in quick succession brought down each enemy fighter, but the last two fired missiles before he could get them. One of them streaked past Husky Three thanks to a last second dive, but the second slammed full into him, disintegrating his fighter. Bill snarled, then juked up, braked and allowed his fighter to drop, putting him on the tail of the enemy fighter chasing him. He fired another two shots, destroying its engine and sending his opponent sailing towards the ground.

My shields are out… Damn! Keeler!

Husky Six's fighter was spewing flame from its right engine. The young pilot was shooting down fighter after fighter, protecting one of the bombers, but with only one engine left it was only a matter of time. A trio of red laser bolts struck his fighter's underside in quick succession, putting the other engine out of commission. The fighter hung in the air for a moment then spiraled into the ground, slamming into a wooded section of the valley. Soon the bomber he had been protecting absorbed the full firepower of four enemy fighters.

"Shit." Four bombers left to protect, seven Huskies left to do it, and still roughly three squadrons still attacking. Bill swept his laser fire past another enemy fighter, doing minor damage, but still enough to cause it to lose control and crash into one of its comrades. Bill looped up and around, still with three fighters on his tail, and planted laser bolts directly into another opponent. This was when he caught sight of Husky Seven, with several fighters on his tail, trying to evade a missile. He didn't quite make it; the missile detonated just behind his engines, and he drifted, powerless, to the ground. Seven's fighter cut a furrow through the trees and came to a rest with the cockpit more or less intact. But before Seven could jump out, flames engulfed the ship and filled the cockpit.

We're getting ripped apart! Bill fired on the fighter that had shot the missile, but his shots went high as that ship evaded down.

Then, it was caught between a pair of blue laser bolts and exploded.

Nova bombs suddenly exploded around him, but not anywhere near his own fighters. A homing bolt struck a small group of enemy fighters, destroying three instantly and sending the last careening into the ground.

Few fighters have that armament configuration. Bill looked up. Four Arwings dove into the fray, laying into the enemy fighters like they were little more than flies to be swatted away.

Bill turned and blasted another enemy fighter. "Fox! What're you doing here?"

"Savin' your tail again, Bill." Fox's Arwing fired another homing bolt, destroying two enemy fighters that had found their way onto Bill's tail.

"Your fleet's coming over the horizon, Bill. Get up into space, we'll cover you."

Bill breathed deeply. We might just get out of this yet! "Perry, pass on word to the Huskies and any surviving Lightnings that we're pulling out now. All boost after me."