Chapter Nine: No Surrender, No Retreat
Wind howled as its natural flow was disturbed. Metal shrieked in protest under the strain as the vessel cut through the storm, the steel prow of the vessel cutting through the winds, its hull permeated with numerous holes and burn marks. The ship's gray color blended in with the stormy clouds of the area known as the "Grand Stream", and soon it would be totally hidden from the eyes of ordinary people. The only part of the armor plating that was not painted a dull gray was the its name emblazoned on the side of the ship: CU CHULAINN.
Only, this time, it wasn't alone.
And this time, it wouldn't be heading towards safety.
"Get me an attack vector on that battleship! If we can do more than dent its armor, i want to know where and how to hit!" Sophia bellowed on the bridge of the SILVANNA. The battleship was floating through the Grand Stream, and she could barely make out the shape of the CHULAINN off to starboard and slightly forward. They had tracked the battleship down...now all that was left was to take it down.
"Battlestations! Pilots, to your vessels! Gunners, prepare a spread salvo, ninty degree angle straight ahead, elevation zero, HEAP shells!" The CHULAINN made no noise as she glided through the stormy winds. Tom watched in silence as the crew carried out his orders. He missed his sister's presence next to him, but knew she would be of more help helming the BATTLEMASTER.
Caroline glanced across the viewports. The Guild couldn't see or hear them approach – the Grand Stream's storms blanketed out every visual contact and made filtering out an engine noise virtually impossible. Still, that meant that they couldn't see their enemy, either. She felt like she was flying her ship into the maw of an unknown beast, and she hoped her brother's predictions about Maestro Delphine's tactics were right. "Helm, prepare for a sideways turn, gunners, ready a broadside! Armor piercing rounds!"
"Be prepared to fly evasive. We do not know what a Guild battleship is capable of in a confrontation," Vincent cautioned. The URBANUS was a small ship, and he doubted it had the firepower either of the gunships flanking him had. Still, he was a soldier. And a soldier knew his duty.
"Visual contact! One, repeat, confirm one Guild battleship!" The observation post shouted. Tom tightened his grip on the banister, his knuckles whitening. "Not yet..." He watched as the slight silhouette began to solidify itself between the gray clouds. "Now! Fire spread salvo! Launch Vanships!"
The CHULAINN's guns roared to life, spitting out dozens of rounds. None of them hit the battleship, however. The shells exploded in mid-air between the CHULAINN and its opponent, the thunder of the explosions blasting from the listening post's headphones loud enough for the entire bridge to hear.
"Full speed ahead! Lock on target's previous location and fire!" The gunship blasted out of the cloud of flame and debris weapons blazing. The shells struck the Guild battleship full along its center axis. Trailing behind in the CHULAINN's wake raced dozens of Vanships, their pilots using the suppression fire the CHULAINN had laid down to close in with the battleship, vanishing into exhaust shafts and docking gates.
"CHULAINN confirms contact with Maestro Delphine's battleship!" Sophia, glanced sideways. "Instruct the BATTLEMASTER to break to port and flank the CHULAINN. Helm, bank us to starboard. Bring us up and on a downwards course towards the battleship, negative sixty degrees elevation. Tell the URBANUS to come from below, at fifteen degrees on the x-y, seventy-five degrees elevation. Fire at will."
The SILVANNA's angular shape broke through the clouds and Sophia could see the firefight below them through the front viewports as the CHULAINN and the Guild battleship exchanged fire. Then, the SILVANNA's guns opened up, sending streaks of destructive shells towards their target.
"Give me a channel to the BATTLEMASTER!" Tom yelled over the explosions that bloomed all around the CHULAINN. "Tell them we're going to board that ship!"
"He's going to do what?" Caroline held on the the receiver and hoped she had heard wrong. He can't be thinking...
"Alex is still on that ship, and I'm not leaving him there!" Tom watched as little explosions bloomed on the surface of the battleship. He knew they were only the tip of the iceberg, the real exposions that had caused them had originated deep in the bowels of the battleship, doing more damage than it looked like.
"Damn it, Tom! There's no way in Hell you can find Alex on there!" She watched as the CHULAINN closed in with the Guild battleship. "Tom, listen to me. You can't save Alex by dying! He can take care of himself, now get a move on and help us kill that battleship!"
Tom stared at the reciever as if it were a poisonous insect. He knew his sister was right, but that didn't make it any less difficult. He knew the odds that he found his friend aboard the gigantic battleship were almost non existent, and the chances that he was intercepted by Guild warriors and killed were exploding through the roof.
"URBANUS is down!" The observation post yelled suddenly. Tom spun around "What?" His gaze was glued to the viewport as the CHULAINN banked and came about.
The sleek battlecruiser was in flames, riddled by shells from the Guild battleship. Vincent glanced around the bridge as his ship sank. It was burning, and it was doomed. He smiled grimly. A soldier's duty...For the country. For the Empress. For Sophia...
"What happened?"
"The URBANUS intercepted a barrage aimed at the SILVANNA, sir."
Tom gaped as he watched the URBANUS go down and sink beneath the clouds. Realization struck him. Vincent...he wanted Sophia to have a shot at Delphine. He's trying to protect her. He smiled grimly. He's a soldier. He knows his duty.
"Come about! Bring us on a head-on course with the Guild battleship! Designate BATTLEMASTER and SILVANNA to flank us! Focus fire, go for deep armor penetration in sector thirteen. Fire at will!"
The CHULAINN turned and angled down on the Guild vessel like a predator closing in with its prey. The BATTLEMASTER's curved form and the angular fuselage of the SILVANNA lined up with the gunships as they raked fire across their target.
The battleship's armor plating started to buckle under the intense fire. Then, it began to return the incoming fire. The barrage raked across the ships as they broke formation and veered off.
Alert klaxons began to blare aboard the CHULAINN as the shells exploded against the vessel's hull, leaving large pockmarks and craters where they impacted. The ship shook with each hit, and the metal screeched in protest under the strain. The CHULAINN swerved and juked around to avoid the worst of the gunfire, continuing on a straight course towards the battleship.
The SILVANNA shook under the impacts as the cruiser pulled away. Sophia clutched the armrests of the command chair to keep from being thrown around the bridge when three rounds hit the SILVANNA square in the flank, piercing the weakened armor plates and hulling the ship. The SILVANNA, the invincible battleship, stopped dead in its tracks.
"What's going on?" Sophia demanded.
"That last hit took out some of our Claudia pipes! We're loosing Claudia pressure!" The engineer reported. "We're re-routing the Claudia now, but we lost about sixty per cent of out Claudia pipe system." The man shot Sophia a resigned look. "We're not going anywhere, commander."
Sophia just stared out the viewport at the Guild battleship. That's it. That's the end. Without maneuverability, they're going to finish us off. She closed her eyes, waiting for the battleship to open fire, waiting for the shells to detonate against the SILVANNA's hull, waiting for the invincible, undefeated battleship to explode in a blaze of glory.
The end didn't come.
"Hull breach on deck three! Port armor plates have sustained heavy damage!" Tom gritted his teeth as the CHULAINN shook. "Keep going! Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!" The helmsman glanced over her shoulder. "We're going to fly apart if we take more hits."
Tom watched as the Guild battleship grew larger in the viewport, filling the window completely. He could make out the individual guns on its surface, and he could begin to see smaller caliber gunfire trying to track the Vanships. The CHULAINN shook as another round exploded against the hull and the concussion shattered the viewports.
"Pull off, all ventral guns, open fire! Helm, bring us about on a course past it," he finally ordered. The gunship blasted past the Guild vessel, skimming along its hull, gun turrets raking fire across their opponent's armor point-blank. Flames exploded on the trail the CHULAINN blasted behind it. The gunship veered off and shot back into the gray skies of the Grand Stream.
Sophia glanced out the viewport and watched as the CHULAINN vanished into the clouds. The Guild battleship slowly started to move again, following the general direction the gunship had taken. A rumble went throught the SILVANNA, and the black shadow of the BATTLEMASTER floated into view in the bridge viewport.
"Message from the BATTLEMASTER, they're taking us in tow and are covering us," the communications officer announced. Sophia nodded. "Convey our thanks. What about the CHULAINN?"
"BATTLEMASTER says this is a personal matter between Tom and Maestro Delphine."
Sophia sighed and prayed.
The clouds before them broke open again, and the CHULAINN blasted out of them, trailed by the Guild battleship. Tom let go of the railing and ducked under it, dropping to the deck below the elevated command platform an instant before a support strut came crashing down on the command platform. The CHULAINN shook as the Guild ship kept on firing.
"Damage report!" Tom shouted before he realized it was probably useless to ask, seeing there was a good chance the CHULAINN wouldn't make it out of this encounter alive. "Rear armor plates are as good as gone, Cap. Claudia pressure is dropping, and we're starting to loose parts of our pipe system – we're going to loose maneuverability sooner or later," an engineer told him.
The way it looks, it'll probably be sooner rather than later, Tom though grimly. Now what? Another hit shook the ship, and he could feel the loss in speed as the CHULAINN slowed down considerably. "Hard to port!"
He glanced up at the large viewports that lurked like a maw for them, the air still rushing out of them, whistling past the shattered glass. No other choice...Delphine, you're going to get it this time, he swore. "Relay this on intercomm," he instructed. "All hands, abandon ship. I repeat, abandon ship. Take all Vanships and Vanship transports to the SILVANNA and BATTLEMASTER. All hands, abandon ship."
He watched as his officers, his crew gave him doubtful looks and hesitated, but rushed out of the bridge for the hangars after a second. He waited till he was reasonably sure the last Vanship had launched, then gripped the helm of his ship and spun the wheel around.
Maestro Delphine wanted him, she'd get him.
"Incoming Vanships and transports from the CHULAINN, commander." The observation post turned around and looked at Sophia. "They're evacuating." The Empress arched an eyebrow. "Let them land. What about the CHULAINN?"
"She's still moving. She's turning!"
Sophia stood up and walked to a window at the side of the bridge. The CHULAINN was a tiny speck of gray slightly darker among the gray clouds. And the gunship was indeed turning, heading back towards the Guild battleship.
What is he thinking?
NO! Please...it can't be! TOM! Caroline mentally screamed as she watched the CHULAINN bank and swing about to meet the Guild battleship head-on. She had suspected what her brother was planning the second she heard about the evacuation of the CHULAINN's crew, but had refused to believe it.
"Open fire on the Guild battleship! All cannons, fire at will! Take it down! Now!" She yelled, desperately hoping for a miracle.
"BATTLEMASTER has opened fire on the Guild vessel." Sophia stood at the window and froze. Her jaw started to drop. Oh my god...Kami-sama...he's not going to...Kuso! I knew he was crazy, but I never thought he would be that insane, she thought.
"All guns, target the Guild battleship and fire! I don't care if it damages us, I want that ship sunk immediately!" Sophia's voice faltered as she continued to stare at the CHULAINN. The gunship was accelerating towards the Guild battleship. Not again...Please, don't let Tom be aboard...Please let him come back...
Tom kept staring out of the bridge viewport as the Guild battleship grew larger and the CHULAINN accelerated. The CHULAINN's engines' low rumble had turned into a high-pitched whine, the result of him setting the Claudia drive to pressure overload. "It's going to be one hell of a fireworks," he chuckled humorlessly. All this death, all this destruction. Now it ends, Delphine. Come and get me!
The Guild battleship filled the windows, and explosions started to rock the ship as the turrets on the battleship locked on to the oncoming gunship. No surrender, no retreat.
Support beams began falling all around the bridge, and he could hear the telltale crash and shriek of hull breaches opening all over his ship's fuselage. Images of his sister and his life flashed before his inner eye. He smiled at them.
He hesitated when it came to Sophia, though. He cared for her, had loved her so long ago...and he still did, he admitted to himself. He was prepared to go to the very extreme to destroy Delphine, but was he ready to do this to his friends, his family? A soldier's duty...Alex had known what it meant, and so had Vincent when they had fought. A life for a life...A soldier's duty is to the living, not the dead. Revenge has no value to the living...
Images of his sister and Sophia started flashing through his mind. There's always something worth living for, he thought. The CHULAINN shuddered again, and Tom realized the ship was in its death throes. He started to run for the docking bay, even though he knew he wouldn't make it in time. There never was enough time.
The CHULAINN continued to race towards the Guild battleship.
Sophia stared out of the window as the CHULAINN streaked towards the battleship, holes torn into its flanks and its fuselage on fire. She watched as the gunship made contact with the Guild vessel forcefully, its engines overloading and its complement of high-explosive shells detonating.
Both vessels were engulfed in a blinding flash of light as the CHULAINN's momentum buried it deep inside the Guild ship before it exploded. Hull plates flew off the Guild vessel, entire wall sections were blown out by the force of the concussion.
And Sophia stared at the battleship as it hung in the air, waiting for one last Vanship to emerge. It didn't.
"Keep firing..." she whispered. Tom...Alex...
Caroline closed her eyes as the CHULAINN hit the Guild battleship The BATTLEMASTER's bridge was bathed in white light as the CHULAINN exploded. Tom...you reckless, stupid, heroic fool...A single tear escaped her and rolled down her cheek.
"Open fire. Destroy the Guild ship. Let's finish the job." She dropped back into the seat on the command platform, knowing full well her friend and her brother might still be alive aboard Delphine's vessel. We'll finish this. I'm sorry Alex...we'll win this round. For you. For both of you.
A hailstorm of shells poured from the two ships, raining down on Maestro Delphine's personal vehicle. The rounds buried themselves in the battleship's weakened armor plating, blasting into the now-unprotected flank of the cruiser.
The gigantic ship shook with the explosions and vented debris in all directions. The barrage from the SILVANNA and BATTLEMASTER never ceased. The Guild ship started to drop as its Claudia drive began to fail. Metal beams shrieked and deformed under the continued onslaught even as the ship fell from the skies.
Then, with a flash of light and a titanic concussion wave, the Guild battleships detonated in mid-air. The shockwave tossed both the SILVANNA and BATTLEMASTER through the clouds like ragdolls. The remains of the once-proud battleship fell from the sky as a ghastly rain of debris and flame.
Sophia held on to the back of the command chair as the SILVANNA was buffeted by the shockwave. When the rollercoaster ride was over, the SILVANNA was leaning to port, her Claudia units in overdrive to even hold the ship in the air. She let her gaze wander across the bridge until it settled on the chair she had been using as support. Alex's chair.
"Take us home," she said.
Caroline picked herself up from the ground and leaned back against the railing of the command platform. "Confirmed, the Guild battleship has been destroyed," the observation post notified them. "Any trace of the CHULAINN?"
"Negative." The bridge was deathly quiet as the survivor count came in. Caroline heard the names whizzing past her ears, wishing for one name to appear, but knowing it wouldn't. When the listing ended, she sunk back into her chair. "Dispatch transports to the survivors of the URBANUS. Then take us back to Anatoure airspace. Let's go home."
