Chapter 10: Storm Cell.
"Skulls Launch!" Roy commanded. He smacked the release and felt the familiar full body compression as he was thrown clear of the Nemesis. Hammerfall was on!
The Nemesis had come out from the protection of the gas giant and launched itself at the mass of UFO's orbiting the space station beyond. It was only as she moved into tactical range that the full scope of the battle was realised.
Nearly a thousand vessels were gathered around three stations in stationary orbit between the fourth and fifth planets. They ranged from robotic drones to the a station that dwarfed even the facilities on Demios. In between these extremes existed everything from garbage scows to full fledged battleships. It was far far more than anyone had expected.
"Zulus!" Someone swore "Thousands of 'em"
"Zip it!" Roy ordered, "Lock attack vectors and peel in!" With perfect timing the Skulls peeled off to attack the primaries allocated from the battle bridge, turbos flaring.
o
"Damn" Nabiki swore, "Are you seeing this Commander?"
"Yep" replied Misato, "And either someone got me pissed without telling me or we are looking at double the projected resistance."
"You aren't drunk" assured Nabiki. "Options?"
"None Captain" Misato replied, "Even if we could recall the fighters we have nowhere to run."
"Then we go with pattern Alpha Zero-One!" Nabiki ordered, steeling herself.
"Aye Aye," Misato replied, waving her hand at the bunnies. The Nemesis was here to fight. "Annie, crobar for Zulu one niner" she ordered and began the fight of her life.
o
o
"Splash Two!" Shouted Roy triumphantly. The shock of their first attack had carried the Skulls well into the enemy formation and targets of opportunity were literally lining up for destruction.
He pulled a sharp high starboard wheel to come about on his wingman's bogey and had the chance to see the Nemesis.
She hung their in space like a steel sword pointed at the heart of the Alien Armada. All around her swarmed the craft that were firing from every tube. Some were gathering for attack runs others taking up defensive stations. Suddenly the front end of the Earth ship blossomed into fire, like a small sun being born. From the formerly dark hole of the Meson Driver came a Heavy Mass high energy projectile. It was travelling fast enough to leave a streak across Roy's vision, and obliterating all the 'minors' that were between it and its target, the foremost battleship.
The projectile hit, and disappeared through both shield and carapace, and for a moment it seemed that was all. Then the Battleship lit up with the same light the HMHEP had projected. Within a heart-beat the entire vessel was no more, scattering itself across the starield, incidentally neatly identifying those ships that were as yet unshielded.
"WHOO HA!" Yelled Roy as he came in for his run on the suddenly disorientated enemy. "Splash Three!"
o
o
Yuri was having a great time. Somehow she had found herself manning the 'crowbar' firing mechanism. Even though she had seen the simulations, even listened to some of the mechanics of the weapon she had never expected the full experience of the gun.
All of a sudden everything went out, all through Nemesis every last spark of energy produced was crammed into the waiting missile. At the same time the Meson Cyclotron dumped its load into the firing breach.
The missile threw the entire vessel against its own momentum, suddenly lurching the Nemesis from beak to burner. It travelled at close to the same speed the ship managed in full lift. The difference being that this projectile had no intention of slowing.
At it impacted into the battleship providing close defence the missile dumped its energy straight into the molecular bonds of the vessel. The result was annihilation.
"YEE HA!" Yuri cried, "Again Again!" she pleaded.
"Er the MMA takes a while to whiz up the thingamies," the nearest bunny explained, almost helpfully. Yuir pouted.
"We have incoming!" warned another bunny from across the room.
"Type and Number?" Misato requested.
"Roughly a hundred light fighters" the bunny replied, "Plus some larger unidentified"
"Alert all Firestorms, activate defence cannon." Misato ordered, "Continue closing!"
o
o
"Shit!" swore Flight Lieutenant Rogers. He was working high defence in his Firestorm II. Currently it was powered down and waiting for opposition, reduced to manoeuvring thrusters for conservation of momentum. From the mothership orders had suddenly arrived to engage the incoming enemy and it was only now really hitting home how badly outnumbered he and his comrades were.
But Rogers was a professional and with the others of his squadron he followed orders. They dove in to attack at maximum range.
"X-Com, Death from Above!" he cried, lasers stabbing out ahead of him.
o
o
"What's going on out there Pervis?"
"Not good" he replied, staring at the monitors in front of him.
"What do you mean," someone, a pretty brunette, objected, "We're creaming their asses!"
"Kicking their asses! Dumkoff!" corrected the blond Russian next to her. "But you is right what you mean Perv?"
"Pervis" he retorted automatically. "What I mean is that the aliens are starting to rally. We can expect stronger resistance from now on."
"Oh"
"Oh" replied the two other bridge crew.
o
o
Rogers came in for another run, fully aware that his shields had taken vows and become holier than an island dwelling nun.
"Eat Laser death Alien Filth!" he cried, clenching the fire controls He never even saw the Elerium fuelled missile that hit the side of his fighter. In an instant he and his craft became a ball of burning slag. His parents would be told that he didn't suffer, it was close to true.
O
o
Roy had pulled around onto a new attack vector, only to find his target missing, another 'crowbar' from the Nemesis had unintentionally wiped it from the face of the universe on its way to the main station.
He took the heartbeat's respite to check out the state of the fight s a whole.
Nemesis, surrounded by the stunning lightshow of its point defence and turreted cannon was now entering the edge of the alien formation. All around her swarmed masses of fighter, made insect-like by the vessels bulk but clearly stinging the depleting shields of the carrier. His squadron was semi-dispersed, using the enemies' own numbers to thwart weapon locks and dodging in and out of the tight packed formations of inactive vessels.
"Don't you throw those bloody spears at me!" demanded that same skull, weaving around the spiralling wreckage of another battleship, glowing torpedo hot on his tail.
"I'm on it!" cried Roy, wrenching around for a fire solution on the missile itself.
o
o
"What the hell is she doing?" mused Misato, watching the power spike grow aboard the enemy station. "There's far too much in between her and us for a main weapon."
"Red Squadron at three quarter strength!" called Lisa.
"Deploy ERV's" Misato ordered, without looking up, "but only the heavies, somehow I don't think the Aliens respect red-crosses." Misato was still puzzled. "Warn all flights to stay clear of the main base, she's up to something!" she ordered, silently adding "If only I knew what!"
Suddenly, like a flowering bulb the aliens at the centre of their formation flowed outwards. In an instant the Nemesis was looking straight at their opposite number, and the power spike had just levelled.
"Emergency Evasion!" Misato ordered, "All hands brace for impact!"
Indeed from the side of the monstrous construction came a blast of deep purple coherent plasma light. Nemesis veered off suddenly, all thrusters firing. Several unfortunate vessels were 'bounced' by her deflectors. It wasn't enough; the comet struck Nemesis aft of engineering, her shields barely slowing the balst.
Everything flickered. Lights dimmed, sirens wailed, alarms rang. All over the ship the impact was felt. Unfortunately the battle bridge was deliberately set aft. The fact that it was directly connected to so mush of the rest of the ship also meant that feedback hit there worst of all. Heat and voltage warred, blowing through shunts and surge protectors by sheer force of will. There may have been a hole right through the ship but suddenly that was the least of their worries.
Lightning arced across the Battle bridge, flash frying all the hair off one bunny's head and leaving another permanently twitchy. The tactical commander was flung from her position onto the floor, head smacking off a panel on the way down. Everything went dark.
O
o
"Misato?" Nabiki called over the intra ship. It was only then the commander realised that she wasn't dead.
"Huh?" she replied, wondering why she hadn't made it to her bed last night.
"I need a sit rep on the Battle bridge!" Nabiki demanded.
"Uh" Misato replied, forcing her eyes open. "We're screwed," she offered.
o
Back on the main bridge Nabiki knew the time had come. She had trained for this but somehow had never really expected it. "Okay, do what you can," Nabiki ordered."Control assumed!" she finished, turning back to the main viewer.
"Throw crowbar power to shields!" she ordered, "Get us closer to the behemoth!"
"Closer?" Pervis asked, incredulous.
"Closer?" echoed Richard from her left.
"Trust me," Nabiki replied with a grin. "Uhurra get me the MSM of Marines asap!"
"What are you planning?" Richard asked.
"Payback, old school style!" Nabiki replied, switching the channel. "Gos?" she asked.
"Hai" he replied, as if from deep below.
"How's it going?"
"Hard work!" he replied, "There is something new out there and she's STRONG!"
"Can you cope?" she asked.
"We are on full defensive" he replied, "Anything you can do will help!"
"Damn!" Nabiki swore, cutting the channel. "Uhuura?"
"Just getting her now."
"Moshi Moshi" came Laura's voice in very badly accented imitation Japanese. "what can I do for you?"
"I need you to assemble a strike team" Nabiki explained, "All Alphas, no makeweights."
"What's the score?"
"Bug City," Nabiki offered. Laura whistled in response.
"Can do," she replied, changing to the marine net. "Alright you lilly livered lowlanders I need some volunteers, that means you, you, you and you, but definitely not you Kenny"