-----chapter 15-----
0745 hrs EST
The Raider battlewagons= sensors immediately picked up Excalibur=s jump point formation. Before the Excalibur emerged, and the jump point vanished into the stars, the pilots were manning their fighters.
The battlewagons were built to jump in, deploy their fighters, and jump out if the situation got to hot. Battlewagons were generally not equipped to go into ship-to-ship combat. The Battlewagons were the source of the Raider=s ability to attack systems before anyone could respond. The battlewagons were the most important aspect to their organization. And if the battlewagons were taken out, than the Raiders would be no more.
The Raiders were not a very honorable group of thieves. Many times they would run from a fight if the odds were against them. But that would depend on how important their objective was.
Quantium 40, the alloy used in building weapons, and jump gates were the hottest objectives in the Raiders= agenda. They generally steered away from narcotics. But it would all depend on how much it would be on the black market.
Unlike other battlewagons, Excalibur=s current targets were armed for ship to ship encounters. But the skippers of the battlewagons knew they were no match against the destroyer bearing down on them.
AIn optimal target range,@ John announced as the report came over his comm-set.
AOpen frequency,@ Lochley commanded as she stood from her chair and stood behind the navigation stations.
AFrequency opened,@ Mathis announced.
ATo Raider party, stand down and prepare to surrender your vessels. You have ten seconds to comply.@
With her hands behind her back, she looked over her left shoulder at the screen that displayed the eyes view of the Excalibur=s forward scanner array. On the screen were three dimensional views of the two battlewagons as their fighters were launched.
AI think they have given their answer,@ Mathis announced as he saw Lochley return to her chair.
ALaunch fighters,@ Lochley ordered as she sat in the seat.
Four wings of fighters, ranging from the space fighter Aurora Starfurys, to the aero space Thunderbolts launched from the launch bays, and launch ports.
Ahead of the fighters were the Raider=s inbound.
The Raiders used old out of date, heavily modified Belt Alliance fighters. Fighters well armored and equipped with high-powered weapons Their only advantage over Earth Force fighters were their ability to skim through the atmosphere of a planet. When a Starfury attempted such a maneuver, it would become caught in the gravity well, and slowly free fall in the atmosphere.
When the first Thunderbolts rolled off the assembly line, it leveled off the playing field against the Raiders. The Thunderbolts were heavily armed, armored, and could fly in an atmosphere.
It was the Thunderbolt piloted by the CAG that let off the first shot from his phasic plasma cannon. The intense volley soon to be one of two dozen in either direction: the Excalibur=s side, and the Raider=s side of the field.
What came next was an intense dog fight.
The advantage the Starfury=s had over their sisters the Thunderbolts, were that while in space, they were quicker in maneuverability. They could stop on a dime, turn a 360 in two seconds, and speed off in the opposite direction.
A Starfury leveled in a kill angle and released a volley from its twin phasic plasma cannons. The twin bursts hit their target and obtained a kill.
A Raider fighter moved in behind a Thunderbolt, while a fellow Thunderbolt came in behind the Raider. Before the trailing Thunderbolt could acquire a safe lock, which would prevent his fellow Thunderbolt hit, the Raider opened up on the trailing contact with a volley from his aft battery.
The aft battery barrage screamed towards the Thunderbolt and did not give the pilot time to evade. The Thunderbolt exploded in the night sky.
On Excalibur, Lochley sat in the command chair, looking at the periscope which showed the current situation outside for her to observe and strategize.
On her scope, the first wing of Raider fighters were beginning to make their run on Excalibur.
On the dorsal fin, the twin plasma gattling guns were on-line, with their targeting sensors acquiring the Raiders. Once in range, tracer fire of blue plasma would stretch to their targets.
On the dorsal end of the bow, the intercept guns were locked on to their target. Once in range, red bursts of energy would be fired at any incoming weapons launched from the Raiders.
The forward and aft guns were on-line, but more ideal against another starship than the smaller, swifter fighters.
AInbound,@ John reported.
AFire,@ Lochley commanded.
In a milli-second, the force of Excalibur was displayed. Defense fire from the interceptor guns, the offense from the gattling guns and forward guns all revealed why the Excalibur was the most powerful ship in the systems.
There was no need to recall a wing of her fighters to help protect the ship. Her weapons systems could take care of the fighters. So the fighters remained in the space in between the battle wagons, and the Excalibur as it was swarmed by Raider fighters launching attacks, and rolling out of the way from weapons fire.
The Excalibur was hit by Raider fire, but managed well. The skin of the destroyer was constructed of a crystalline fiber to refract weapon hits. Cutting the damage ratio immensely, compared to the thick bulky armor of an Earth Force destroyer.
If it was an Omega gunning into battle, the continuous pounding that the Excalibur was receiving, would had left the thick armor burning red hot with melted armor. The Excalibur=s crystalline hull allowed the impact to refract, and the blemish from the impact to eventually dissolve away.
This battle could be over in no time. But it was important to show the false pretense that they were doing their best. It was important to tag Target Bravo and track it back to their home base when they re-supplied and re-armed with fighters.
At that time, the full intensity of the Excalibur would be known. And once again a mighty blow would be made against the Raiders. It would take them years to heal from Excalibur=s attack.
The Raiders were like a pest problem. They would keep coming back, returning for more. There seemed to be no way to completely wipe the Raider pestilence off the face of the universe.
So the Raiders would return, and they would be driven away. They would return, and be driven away once again. And this would keep going, until the pestilence was exterminated once and for all.
Attempts were made by Earth Force to infiltrate spies into the Raider organization. All the agents sent in, never reported back. So the key in destroying the Raiders was far from being discovered. And the Raiders were far from being destroyed. That is unless they could understand the organization from the inside.