On the bridge of the Enlightener Harvey Kiel was watching the viewscreen very closely. In one corner of the screen, a series of numbers was slowly counting down the distance across Hyperspace to the Proxima beacon. It was close now, very close, and soon his warship would come leaping out of Hyperspace, ploughing through the few weak defenders sent by Earthforce. Then it would level the two major settlements of Proxima III and disappear back into Hyperspace like a thief in the night. It was going be a glorious day, and one that Kiel had looked forward to for some time now.
If fact, all through the large crew of the warship, from the bridge officers all the way down to the large contingent of soldiers, an air of excitement was beginning to build. Most of the men and woman serving on the bridge were those who had been assigned to the most loyal ships in Clark's fleet, or had been members of Nightwatch. The Nightwatch had been one of Kiel's personal projects, one to which he had devoted all of his energies. Therefore, when this opportunity had come along, he had called up those still loyal to serve their world again.
Of course, he had his telepaths conduct loyalty checks to ensure that none harboured and allegiance to anyone other than him. However, considering the way most of those now in his employ had been quietly removed from their positions by the new President when she had come to office, almost all had remained loyal to him. Of course, there would always be a few who were disloyal and too caught up with feelings of remorse over what they had done under Clark. Those weaklings had been eliminated quickly, and now the crew ran like a well-oiled machine.
To Kiel, it was a vindication of his entire plan. A few would have to die, but fear would force the rest to soon fall into line. Of course, the telepaths he had stationed at every major duty post helped to ensure the loyalty of his crew. No one could even think about acting against him if their thoughts were being listened to by a telepath. Soon the theories he had put into practice here would spread across the Alliance and he could begin to reshape the destiny of man once more.
The former Psi-Cop smiled as he imagined what was to come. A telepath stationed on every street corner to keep the normals under control, while he worked to build a better society for everyone. Of course, like on his own ship, a few would have to be made an example of before everyone would accept his rule. In this first example, Proxima III was going to have to die. As he watched the distance to the beacon slowly decreasing, he felt his own excitement growing. Soon the last stage of his plan would begin, and he would be ready to move on to Earth.
"Sir," came Anderson voice as it cut into his thoughts.
Kiel looked over at his assistant, who had just arrived, two data pads in his hands. "Why is it that the only time I even seem to see you lately, Darren, is when you have some sort of report to bring me," he asked aloud.
"Perhaps it is because I am busy finding out all I can about what we are to face," his assistant replied, handing him the two data pads. "These are the latest reports from our agents on Proxima III."
Kiel glanced at them for a second and them tossed them onto the console in front of him. 'I am not interested in reading right now,' he told Anderson, switching to telepathic speech. 'Why don't you tell me what they say and that way I can better decide if they are worth my time or not.'
'Yes Sir,' Anderson replied with a sigh. He wished Kiel would take the threat of Earthforce more seriously. Anderson was not as convinced as Kiel that they could so easily be brushed aside, especially considering the unknown abilities of the Rasputin. He hadn't been able to access the ship's database when he had been on board, and although he had managed to tap into the sensors and communication system, the central computer had remained out of his reach. Given what little he had discovered though, he knew the vessel would not be so easy to destroy as the older destroyers, especially as its capabilities were so unknown.
'Well Darren,' Kiel said looking at Anderson suspiciously. 'I am waiting.'
'Sorry Sir,' Anderson was quick to reply. 'I was just trying to recall which parts of the report were important enough to repeat to you. In the interest of saving time of course.'
'Ah of course,' Kiel said with an understanding nod. 'Get on with it then. We will be at Proxima soon and if there is anything there that can threaten us I want to know now so we can destroy it first.'
Anderson nodded and then began his report. 'As you may be aware Sir, most of our agents have just left Proxima and the few remaining are on the next liner out, with the exception of Mr. Hill of course. I have taken the liberty of having him eliminated as punishment for letting that Psi-Cop find him.'
Kiel nodded, pleased at that little piece of news. 'A very good Idea Darren, just what I would have done. I do not want disloyal telepaths working for me when I am in charge. Had I thought of it, then that is what I would have ordered you to do."
Anderson had actually been a little bit more concerned about his own skin when he had ordered Hill killed. After all, if everything went wrong and they were captured, he intended to plead his innocence and Hill was one of the few people who could link him to anything he had actually done wrong. For the moment though, he went along with Kiel's line of thought and nodded in agreement.
'The few agents who were left on Proxima have reported on the numbers of Earthforce vessels as they boarded their liners," Anderson continued. 'They report that there are currently only three destroyers around Proxima and one of them is an old Hyperion class vessel, which is no threat at all. The government is expecting more destroyers, including the Rasputin to arrive shortly, but if we hurry we may be able to beat them there and take out the defenders with little trouble.'
'I think I might have found your other vessels Darren,' Kiel said suddenly, only half listening to his assistant's report. The rest of his attention was focused on the view screen, which was now showing six tiny dots off in the distance. "Zoom in on those ships," he called to one of the bridge crew.
The crewman quickly complied zooming the image on the view screen until it was possible to see the easily identifiable shapes of six Omega class destroyers, slowly making their way through hyperspace. They were heading in the same direction as the Enlightener, straight towards the Proxima beacon. None seemed to have noticed the huge warship trailing them yet, a fact that Kiel wanted to ensure would remain true for as long as possible.
Kiel turned around to face Anderson. "If we take them now with our fighters then we will have six less destroyers to deal with later. Order three waves of fighters to be launched, that should be enough to take care of six destroyers."
"It is too late Sir," Anderson said, pointing towards the screen where it was now possible to see the brilliant flare of a jump point forming just in front of the Earthforce destroyers. "It looks like they are making the jump to the Proxima system.
"Cancel that order then," Kiel said, not appearing at all concerned that his prey was escaping. "We can take them later, we will just have to use more fighters."
"Yes Sir," Anderson replied, realising that Kiel was correct. The sheer number of fighters the Enlightener could carry was what would win the day against the Earthforce vessels. Even if the Rasputin arrived in time, that would still total only ten destroyers, and, at the most, three or four hundred fighters. The Enlightener carried nearly ten thousand drone fighters layered along the outer hull and, with their advanced software, they would work together a lot better than the Earthforce fighters could.
Certainly, Earthforce would put up a good fight, but it would only be a short and brief battle. Anderson turned around to leave when he noticed something else suddenly appear on the screen. "What is that," he asked Kiel, pointing out the five tiny shapes winging their way towards the Enlightener. "They look like fighters of some kind. It is a bit difficult to tell from this distance though."
Kiel stared at them for a second before a smile spread across his face. "Ah, it seem our allies have decided to join us. That will make this even easier."
Anderson could not help but agree, as he too recognised the vessels. He had seen the way the alien fighters had destroyed the Earthforce scout ship back at Arisia 3. They had been swift and powerful, and with them on Kiel's side, he realised that the chances of victory, already impossibly good, had just become a lot better. His earlier concerns about the Rasputin were swept away as he watched the graceful alien fighters pull alongside the warship.
For the second time in less than an hour the Proxima III jumpgate flared as a ship arrived. This time though, it wasn't a single destroyer, but an entire fleet, something that immediately raised the hopes of those defending the planet no end. The lead ship, the EAS Typhoeus, sent a signal to the other vessels in orbit around Proxima. Vice-Admiral Emmerton, one of the best commanders in Earthforce had arrived.
On the Rasputin, Susan felt a faint twinge of relief as the six Omega class destroyers arrived. She had been worried that she wouldn't see them in time. No one knew how far away Anderson's warship was, and if it had arrived before Emmerton, she knew she would likely have had a bigger fight on her hands than she could have handled. Now that problem was gone and the six destroyers, along with their fighter squadrons, would be added to the fleet. It was still not a big fleet, but a lot bigger now than it had been just moments ago.
"Captain I have Vice-Admiral Emmerton on the link for you," Lieutenant Heneker called. "She is asking to speak with you as soon as possible."
"Put her through then Lieutenant," Susan said, while at the same time signalling to Commander Petrov to come to the command station. Her executive officer was busy examining the latest reports from the various section commanders with one of the bridge crew, but seeing her signal quickly hurried up the stairs and over to her side.
"Captain Ivanova?" the raspy voice of Vice-Admiral Emmerton asked as soon as the link was established.
"Yes Admiral," Susan said, quickly saluting the senior officer.
"Good," Emmerton replied. "I wanted to speak to you about tactics for the defence of this planet. Admiral Mellor informed me you were to be my second. I must admit it came a something of a surprise to me."
Susan nodded, agreeing with the small dark-haired woman on the screen. It had been something of a shock to her as well, that Mellor would put so much faith in her so soon. In fact, the way she had been treated by Earthforce ever since her return from Babylon 5 had been nothing short of amazing. For some reason they seemed to want to forget all about what had happened during the civil war, and although a lot of that could be explained by the series of specials ISN had been running, Susan still thought she had been treated a lot better than she probably deserved.
Emmerton didn't pause long for a reply though, continuing straight on. "However, I will make do with what I have, so I would like to take command of your vessel for the duration of this battle. It is, after all, designed as a fleet command vessel and is better equipped for what I have in mind."
"Yes, Admiral," Susan replied calmly, although inside she was seething with uncertainly. She didn't want to give up command of her destroyer now, especially after she had spent so long getting used to it. However, Vice-Admiral Emmerton was her superior so there was little she could do about it. As far as she was concerned, the Admiral was making a mistake; this was not the time to be changing to an unfamiliar and untested vessel. However, Emmerton was well known for being stubborn and obstinate when it came to her decisions so there was little chance that anything Susan said would change her mind.
"I will have a shuttle prepared to bring me over at once, Captain," Emmerton continued. "I want all your senior officers ready to meet with at soon as I arrive."
Susan nodded and looked over at Commander Petrov who indicated, with a quick hand signal, that he would take care of that. She was just about to tell the Admiral everything would be ready when one of the bridge crew suddenly called out. "Jump point forming Captain."
She looked up at once and immediately noticed the huge blue rift in space that had appeared just behind the jumpgate. The fact that the incoming vessel wasn't using the gate was immediately suspicious and Susan turned back to inform Emmerton. The Admiral had already been informed of the incoming vessel by her own crew. In fact, the other destroyer's bridge suddenly appeared to be quite active indeed, and Emmerton herself looked very concerned with what she was hearing.
Susan back to where she had seen the Hyperspace vortex forming and was just in time to see a flash at the back of the rift and then the massive dark shape of the enemy warship slide into real space. She watched in shock, realising that it was considerably bigger than even Kozlowski's most pessimistic predictions had indicated. She couldn't tell for sure from here, but it looked like it could be nearly ten kilometres long. She suddenly felt the optimism that had risen with Emmerton's timely arrival beginning to slip away.
"Captain Ivanova," Emmerton's voice called, drawing Susan's attention back to her console. "I am afraid it looks like I will have to remain here after all. I want you to bring the Rasputin around behind the Typhoeus and onto my flank. I will give you more orders as soon as I've spoken to the other captains, Emmerton out."
As the screen went black, Susan nodded in agreement, recognising the wisdom in the Admiral's orders. She looked up again, noticing that the enemy warship was already moving slowly towards Proxima. It was unlike anything she had even seen before, with a long cylindrical front section and a huge command section at the rear. The dark opening in the front of the ship reminded her of its terrible power and she turned around to face Petrov. There were orders to give.
Anderson stepped back from the view screen, which was currently showing the ten Earthforce destroyers manoeuvring to intercept the Enlightener. The silvery hull of the Rasputin made it stand out plainly in the middle of the fleet, the light from Proxima's sun reflecting off its hull. To Anderson and the rest of the Enlightener's bridge crew the Earthforce ships looked a little like cumbersome whales, slowly turning to face their foes.
"How long until we are within range of the planet," Kiel asked, a gleam beginning to appear in his eye at the thought of the battle that was about to begin.
"At least another fifteen minutes, Sir," came the reply from the helmsman.
"Good," Kiel replied. "That will give us time to take care of the Earthforce destroyers first." He turned to face the crewman in charge of the mass driver. "Ready the weapon for firing," he said. "Make your first target Reagan Dome."
"Yes Sir," was the reply. "Reagan Dome targeted. Time to firing range at current speed and heading is sixteen point three minutes, Sir."
Kiel nodded in pleasure, leaning back in his chair to enjoy the view. In just over sixteen minutes the capital of Proxima would be little more than dust, and then, a few minutes after that, the second city would also fall. The initial impacts would probably kill around eight hundred thousand people, and then, as the blast radius from the asteroid impacts spread outwards, it would wipe away the mines and smaller settlements, possible killing another half a million. Certainly some would survive in the remote settlements, but the number of dead around the major cities would be enough to show Earthforce just how serious he was.
"Enemy destroyer fleet forming up for an attack, Sir," another of the crewmen called out, bringing his attention back to the Earthforce vessels that had been assembled to stop him.
Kiel eyed the destroyers for a second, as if trying to judge their strategy. He quickly recognised the work of Vice-Admiral Emmerton. She may be a very experienced commander, but she had a habit of repeating strategies that had been successful in the past. Kiel turned to the crewman who had just spoken. "Activate defence systems and prepare fighters for launch."
"Yes Sir," the gunnery officer replied, activating the energy weapons that had been mounted along the entire length of the Enlightener's ten kilometre long hull. "Defence grid activated, Sir," he said, when all the weapons showed up as active. All along the hull, plasma cannons and interceptors were coming on line, all ready to fire on anything that came with range.
"Good," Kiel replied. "Launch fighters then."
The crewman nodded and activated the fighter defence system. In their slots along the hull ten thousand drone fighters suddenly came to life, their engines and weapons powering up. They were all linked into the central computer on the bridge. So, when the order was given they launched in waves, quickly forming up around the Enlightener, waiting for further commands.
Kiel looked on in pleasure as a cloud of fighters erupted from the surface of the hull. It was a very impressive sight, and one he knew he would never tire of looking at. All of those fighters were linked to a single computer and they could all be controlled as one unit, instead of relying on each individual pilot to perform the required task. They might not be as good as the Starfuries one on one, but as they outnumbered the Earthforce fighters by as much as a thirty to one, that was not going to be a problem.
"Have half of the fighters form up as a defensive shield," Kiel ordered. "The rest are to attack the Earthforce vessels." He paused and looked at the destroyers again, noticing which vessel had taken the lead. "Target the lead ship first. That is probably the fleet commander's ship. Take that out and we will throw the rest into confusion. Then we will be free to pick them off one by one like grapes." He paused and wondered if that was quite the right analogy, then shrugged. He didn't have to worry about things like that now, not when he would be an emperor in less that a week.
The gunnery officer quick hurried to carry out his commands, while Kiel returned to watching the enemy vessels. The Earthforce destroyers were launching their own fighters now, probably in response to his actions. Their numbers look pitifully small though, compared to the huge force gathered around his warship. The fight might take a little longer than he might have originally intended, but it wouldn't be long. In less than fifteen minutes, he would be within range of Proxima and once the two major cities were destroyed, then Earth would know just how serious he was.
He noticed movement above his fighters. That movement quickly turned into the sleek shapes of the five alien fighters as they tore down towards the lead Earthforce vessel. The battle was about to begin, and as he watched, Kiel knew there could only be one possible outcome. The Earthforce fleet would try hard, but in the end, they would die and he would be free to destroy the planet they protected at his leisure. Perhaps he would even make them beg a little, although not for too long. He did have a schedule to keep, after all.
The flight deck of the Rasputin was a scene of pure chaos, or at least that was the way it appeared to the untrained eye. To Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt's eye everything was running smoothly as he attempted to get all of his fighters launched as quickly as possible. The sudden appearance of the enemy warship had almost caught them off guard, but fortunately, he had been prepared for just such an occurrence and had been in the process of briefing his fighter pilots when the scramble order had come.
Already three squadrons had launched, including the Starfury squadron his daughter was flying in and all that was left to launch was the new Lightning fighters, which he had decided to lead personally. Alister fingered the clasps of his flight suit to make sure everything was completely airtight. Like all pilots, the thing he feared most of all was a tear in his flight suit. Any tear or puncture would lead to almost certain death if there were a sudden depressurisation of the cockpit. The suit was clean though, and it was as secure as it was going to be.
He swung his leg over into the pilot's section of the lightning's cockpit while behind him his gunner, Mack Sagali, took up position in his own cockpit. The Lightings, like some of the Thunderbolts, were two seater craft and with the extra weaponry, a gunner was now an essential part of the fighter crew. He pulled the thick straps down over his shoulders and clicked them into place, now securely locked into the fighter. He actually hadn't originally intended on flying in this battle, but after one of the regular pilots had come down sick last night, he had jumped at the chance. Alister knew that every fighter was important, and as he had said to a commander of his a long time ago, commanding from the battle itself was the best way to see what was going on.
Below on the flight deck, one of the flight crew gave him the thumbs up signal, indicating that all the Lightning's weapons had been loaded onto their pylons. He glanced back quickly to check for himself, and saw that all eight missiles were in their correct places on his fighter's stubby wings. The screen in front of him was also showing the guided bombs loaded. They would be little use against enemy fighters, but his flight crew had obviously thought they might still be useful. The rest of the fighter's systems also checked out and all the indicators were green, so now all he had to do was wait.
Below him the fighter rested on a mobile, self-powered trolley that carried the fighter from the launch bay to the flight deck and vice versa. Right now, it was moving him quickly into the main airlock so he brushed back his dark hair and slipped on his helmet on over his head. A quick twist and it was in place, and he was ready to go. He pressed a control and the canopy above him slowly lowered itself into place, while ahead, the huge airlock doors opened to admit his fighter, along with another five from the same squadron. One the other side of the ship the second airlock was being loaded with another six fighters, making up the full twelve fighters of Delta Squadron.
The inner doors closed behind the six fighters and, after a brief wait for the air to be cycled out of the airlock, the outer doors opened, allowing the fighters to make the short flight down the launch bay and out into space. Alister didn't even wait for the airlock doors to open fully before pushing the fighter's thrust to maximum and thundering out of the launch bay and into the airless void of space. Close behind, the other five fighters formed up on his wing, quickly followed by the rest of Delta Squadron and they flew off to assume their positions in the gathering fleet, ready to give their lives to protect the people of Proxima.
The helmsman on the Rasputin was the first to notice the incoming Drakh fighters, as they showed up on his flight screens at virtually the same time as they appeared on the battle sensors. "Incoming fighters," he called out, attracting the attention of his Captain and the rest of the bridge crew.
Susan looked around at the helmsman's call. She had been busy speaking to Vice-Admiral Emmerton, who was explaining her plans for the coming battle. Seeing the incoming fighters heading straight towards the Typhoeus, she knew it was too late now for more talk. "Fighters coming your way, Admiral," she said urgently, after noticing that Emmerton's ship was their target.
The fleet commander quickly signed off, the discussion of battle tactics a lot less important than the actually fight itself. As Susan and the rest of the Rasputin's bridge crew watched as the Typhoeus manoeuvred around to fire on the incoming fighters. Several brilliant beams of red energy lanced out from the destroyer's guns, but the Drakh fighters easily avoided them, appearing to move out of the way before the destroyer's could even lock on and fire. To Susan and the rest of the Rasputin's bridge crew, it appeared that the Typhoeus was firing at empty space.
Then the fighters began to return fire, their own powerful beam weapons slicing straight through the thick hull of the Earthforce vessel with almost no effort at all. Large shards of metal fell away from the Typhoeus, followed quickly by a series of explosions deep within the vessel as fuel lines ruptured and oxygen ignited. Susan knew already that Emmerton's destroyer was lost, after only a few, brief seconds of combat. "Move us out of the way," she ordered the helmsman, as the burning destroyer began to tumble in space, its propulsion system no longer functioning.
Shocked as he was by the damage caused to the Typhoeus, the Rasputin's helmsman quickly followed her orders and moved the Rasputin out of the way of the disabled destroyer, avoiding any collision. On the console in front of Susan the screen flickered back to life as Emmerton sent a message to Susan. "Looks like you are in command now Captain," Emmerton said, a thin trail of blood dripping down her forehead, the souvenir of a collision with a computer console. "I am ordering an evacuation of the Typhoeus, hopefully most of us will survive. Give them hell, Captain."
Then the screen went blank and another explosion rocked the Typhoeus, this time in the rotating command module. The rotation stopped and flames began to leap from the centre of the ship, right were the bridge had been. Susan said a silent prayer for those on board, and hoped they would make to the life pods in time. She didn't have time to worry about them now though, as the enemy had now turned their attention towards her vessel.
When the Typhoeus had been hit and the Rasputin had been forced to move out of its way, her vessel had separated from the rest of the fleet. Now the Drakh fighters were swinging around again, and this time her ship was the target. She could see the pulses of energy streaking away from several Starfuries as they tried to hit the fighters, but the Drakh vessels were just too quick. She tapped the button on her console that would connect her with the gunnery commander.
"Lt. Commander Dreyer," she said. "Concentrate all fire on those Drakh fighters. If we don't take them out soon there isn't going to be much of a fleet left to take on the rest of the enemy vessels."
"On to it, Captain," the voice of the gunnery commander said, and Susan could almost feel the excitement Dreyer felt, so strongly was it evident in his voice. At least one person on board was enjoying himself, although Susan wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.
Before Dreyer had even finished speaking, the heavy plasma cannons mounted along the spine of the Rasputin opened fire on the incoming fighters, forcing them away from the warship's engines. The fighters flew higher instead, directing their attacks at the central section of the warship, just aft of the habitation section, obviously aiming for engineering. It was not as crippling an attack as striking at the engines, but their attack was still a significant danger to the vessel and her crew. However, once again their attack was thwarted, as several of the Rasputin's fighters intercepted the incoming Drakh vessels and forced them away from the rear of the warship.
The Drakh were not finished with the Rasputin yet however. Carefully avoiding the fire being directed at them by the various weapons systems and the Starfuries, they spun around and proceeded to blast the front of the warship, just aft of the flight deck. The beams of energy tore into the Rasputin's hull and chunks of hull plating were sent flying off into space, forcing several Starfuries that were about to engage the Drakh vessels to make sudden turns or be destroyed. Beneath, where the outer hull had once been the glistening black shadow bio-armour had been exposed, a stark reminder of the origin of much of the Rasputin's technology.
"Damage report," Susan called out, although it was obvious to her that there must have been major damage. In fact, Susan could already imagine the deaths of the flight crews where the hull had been breached. She did wonder though why she hadn't felt the blasts up on the bridge. She had only felt the faintest vibration as the outer hull was breached, nothing like what she had experienced on previous vessels she had served on.
"Systems report negligible damage Captain," came the reply from behind her, down in the second sunken pit, where systems relating to tactical and damage control were situated. "Outer hull has taken some damage, but inner hull successfully absorbed all weapons damage."
"What!" Susan exclaimed, spinning around on her chair to face the crewman who had spoken.
He looked a little nervous at the sudden scrutiny of his work, but repeated his findings. "The system reports no major damage Captain," he said. "Although, there has been a slight rise in ship's energy reserves for some reason."
Susan stared at him for a few seconds before understanding suddenly washed over her and she almost began to laugh. "Of course," she murmured, turning back to face the front of the ship, while at the same time trying to contain her amusement. The Shadows had obviously not been very secure about the loyalty of their allies and had built their ships to be invulnerable to any Drakh attacks. That meant, because the Rasputin was made of similar organic hull material as the Shadow vessels, the Rasputin could not be harmed by their attacks either, at least not its inner hull.
A brilliant flash lit up space in front of her as one of the attacking fighters was finally caught by the horde of pursuing Starfuries and destroyed. The four remaining Drakh vessels dropped close to the Rasputin's hull and tried to avoid the incoming fire of the Earthforce fighters, recognising that they would not be fired on so close to another Earthforce ship. They flew down the side of the Rasputin, heading back towards the engines, their pilots obviously realising that if they took out warship's engines it would be left helpless. However, that bought them straight into the sights of Alister Schmitt and the rest of Delta squadron who were flying along underneath the Rasputin at the time the Drakh made their manoeuvre.
Two more Drakh fighters exploded before the last two turned and fled, heading back towards the still distant shape of the Enlightener. Realising that they obviously had no more stomach for a fight, Susan let them go, not wanting to risk her fighters on pursuing a retreating foe when so many more enemies still remained. The first battle over, she looked around to see what damage had been done.
The Typhoeus was hanging dormant in space, the fires now extinguished by the lack of oxygen. It seemed that some, but by no means all of the life pods had been launched and were now heading back towards Proxima III, a temporary sanctuary at best. Susan could only hope that Emmerton had managed to escape alive, but given the damage she had seen dealt to the Typhoeus', Susan didn't hold out much hope for anyone who had been on the command deck of the ship.
The rest of the fleet was still milling around as if wondering what to do now that their fleet commander was gone. Susan realised that if someone didn't take command now, then the fleet was going to be in a lot of trouble. The huge enemy vessel was already closing on their position, and the sight of the cloud of fighters speeding towards them only pushed home the point.
Susan looked over at Lieutenant Heneker. "Open a channel to the fleet, Lieutenant," she said. "And make it quick."
The communications officer followed out her orders as fast as she could, nodding to Susan when it was complete. Susan pressed the button on her console that would complete the link. "Ivanova to fleet," she said, a firm, commanding edge coming into her voice. "All fighters are to target incoming enemy fighters. Destroyers are to form up behind the Rasputin for an attack on their capital ship."
She paused, aware that she should probably say something to try to incite a little bravery in the Earthforce personal. "Remember we have a planet to save here, and worrying about what happened to the Typhoeus won't help anyone. Nearly two million people on the planet below are looking up at us right now, willing you on. So, let's not let them down."
With that final comment, she cut the link and ordered the Rasputin to take the lead, leaving the wreck of the Typhoeus tumbling in space behind the fleet. The other destroyers, along with the hundreds of Starfuries, quickly formed up behind her, heading towards the enemy vessels. She knew it was probably an impossible battle, especially given the results of the fight so far, but she needed to try to do something. Susan didn't want to die, but if she didn't risk her life here today, then many others would meet their maker when Anderson's vessel came into firing range of Proxima.
A ripple of explosions tore down the side of the old Hyperion class destroyer, the EAS Grenadier, as it finally lost its battle with the horde of enemy fighters that had pounced on it. The hundreds of tiny fighters that had been peppering the old warship with plasma fire turned away as it began its death throes, and began to concentrate their attention on the next destroyer. For the moment they ignored the Starfuries that were trying to attack them, leaving them to engaged by yet more of the Enlightener's fighters that swept in across the burning hull of the Grenadier.
Two wide beams of purple energy suddenly cut through the ranks of approaching fighters like a scythe, as the Rasputin's main gun opened up on the enemy vessels. The Rasputin had been cutting its way through the enemy ranks in a futile attempt to reach the side of the older destroyer, but in the end, it had all been too late. Another blinding explosion lit up space as the fusion reactors aboard the destroyed Earthforce ship went critical, showering every vessel within range with burning chunks of metal and plastic.
As she turned away from the sight, Susan took some small satisfaction in the fact that the destruction of the old destroyer had at least managed to take out a small group of about thirty enemy fighters that were closing on her vessel from that side. The holographic display that covered the entire ceiling gave her a perfect view of the entire battle. Unfortunately, it was not a view that she particularly wanted to see.
The vastly superior numbers of enemy fighters were cutting a swath though the Earthforce defenders. Even as Susan watched, several more Starfuries vanished into tiny particles of dust, while another enemy fighter scored a hit on one of the destroyers. The fleet was dying and they hadn't even come close to scratching the main enemy warship, which continued its relentless progress towards Proxima. Even the Rasputin hadn't come through the fighting unscathed, as one of the enemy fighters had smashed into the hull somewhere just below the bridge. Susan couldn't tell how much damage had been done, and didn't have time for a full damage report, but she could see a gas of some kind leaking into space, an indication that the hull had been breached.
"Report," Susan demanded as Petrov approached from his latest discussion with one of the tactical officers. Her executive officer was nursing his arm, which he had injured when the Rasputin had been struck, but Susan didn't have time to be civil right now.
"The Hesperia has taken critical damage and is withdrawing from battle," he pointed out the burning destroyer off in the distance. "Its captain isn't sure if they will survive or not, but is trying to make it back to Proxima. Their weapons and defence systems are all down, so they are not much use to us now. Two other destroyers have also taken severe damage, but for the moment they are still fighting."
Susan ducked as a flight of Starfuries flew directly overhead. The holographic screen made it seem as though they were almost on top of her, although of course they had passed some distance above the hull of her ship. One of the fighters exploded as another wave of enemy fighters appeared and then a faint vibration ran through the deck as the Rasputin's interceptors opened up, stopping several incoming bolts of plasma from reaching the hull. Another beam of energy cut out from somewhere at the front of the warship and two more enemy fighters exploded into balls of flame.
"We're losing aren't we, Captain," Petrov said, a little despondently. He wasn't one to normally give up hope so easily, but even to him it was obvious that the Earthforce ships were going to be destroyed, probably without even scratching the enemy warship.
"Not yet, Commander," she replied fiercely. "I am not willing to give up so easily. The modifications Earthforce ordered made to all the targeting systems appear to be working at least. Those fighters no longer have any stealth ability and that means our interceptors are working and our fighters can use their targeting systems again. We aren't dead yet."
However, despite her attitude she was beginning to come to the same conclusion as the Commander. The battle was not going well and although they had probably managed to destroy maybe two hundred or more enemy fighters the Earthforce loses had been considerably higher. Two destroyers were gone, and a third was now in full retreat as it tired to escape the fighters that were blasting through its defences. In fact, out of entire fleet, only the Rasputin was still operating at full capacity, its weapons continually firing on any fighter came within range, and its organic hull absorbing the worst of their attacks.
To make matters worse, the main enemy vessel was sailing neatly down the centre of the battle, and any ship that came anywhere within range was destroyed by its weapons or its fighter screen. Susan didn't know how close it had to be before it could fire on the planet, but she knew that time was rapidly slipping away. Fleetingly, she thought about throwing the Rasputin in front of it, but knew that would only stop one shot from the mass driver, assuming the asteroid fired by the mass driver didn't just smash straight through her vessel without slowing down.
Then a sudden, horribly devious plan leapt into her mind. It was incredibly risky and would probably end in complete failure, but if it succeed she would have disabled the enemy vessel and possibly even won the battle. However, knowing her luck, she would probably end up just a bloody smear in space, along with her ship and the rest of her crew. At times like this though, she needed something work with and this was the only possibility she could think of.
Susan spun around again and tapped the control that would allow her to speak to the fleet. "Ivanova to fleet," she said, although she wasn't sure exactly how many vessels out there were still listening. "Concentrate all fire on the forward weapons on the enemy capital ship. I need them taken out as quickly as possible. Do anything you can, but those guns have to be taken out."
Delta squadron had lost two of its members by the time Susan's call reached the ears of Alister Schmitt. He had given up trying to control this battle, instead just concentrating on staying alive, as were the rest of his pilots. His daughter and the rest of Alpha squadron had vanished off his display soon after the battle was joined and he hadn't heard anything from them since. In his heart, he hoped she was still alive, but his mind was not so sure.
He could see that the battle wasn't going well at all. The three burning destroyers stood out plainly, even among the bright flashes of energy weapons, and all around wreckage was beginning to make flying even more dangerous than it already was. Twisting his way around the last remnants of the destroyed Hyperion-class destroyer, he looked out towards the huge enemy vessel that was slowly making its way through the carnage.
Few Earthforce vessels had even come close to the enemy's main vessel so far and those that had, he hadn't seen again. Still, Captain Ivanova must have a good reason for ordering the enemy ship's forward weapons destroyed. He couldn't imagine exactly what that reason might be, but he knew that out here it wasn't his job to understand the whole strategy of battle. Of course, that was assuming there was a strategy behind her orders. With a quick message to the rest of his fighters, the flight commander turned his Lightning towards the enemy vessel and flew straight into hell.
It seemed like a hundred enemy fighters leapt at him at once and only by throwing himself into a sudden change of direction, followed by a long rolling and twisting manoeuvre was he able to avoid their fire. The rest of delta squadron were not so lucky and two of his men were vaporised almost immediately, another one shortly after. The remaining seven pilots opened up with their own weapons, forcing the enemy fighters to scatter. Behind the flight commander, in the fighter's second seat, his gunner began to fire, peppering any vessel that came within range with cannon fire.
The next minute was unlike anything he had even been through before. There seemed to be an unlimited number of the enemy's drone fighters, while his squadron appeared to have vanished and Alister was not even sure if they were alive or dead. For a few seconds he was joined by two unfamiliar Thunderbolt Starfuries before both of them were destroyed. He didn't even have time to discover which destroyer they called home. He wasn't sure if he hit any of the enemy fighters or not, he just fired every time one came close to his sights and prayer that he hit something.
Finally, he was free of attackers and a vast wall of metal filled his sights. Pulling up quickly, he flew along the hull of the enemy warship, his gunner taking shots at any weapons emplacement that came into view. Fortunately, the enemy fighters were no longer firing at him, although if that was because they had lost sight of him, or because they were programmed not to fire on their own ship, he didn't know.
An explosion rocked the fighter, and one of the consoles in front of him went dead with a shower of sparks. It was his scanner, which meant that he was now flying blind. Alister reached down and switched off power to the console, stopping the sparks that were beginning to fall onto his flight suit. He quickly wiped the glowing hot pieces of metal off his leg with this thick glove. Fortunately, none of the sparks seemed to have cut through the suit material, and he didn't have to worry about decompression just yet.
He opened the channel to the gunner. "Do you know where we are, Macki," he asked. There was no reply and glancing behind him, Alister saw his gunner slumped over his console. Alister swore loudly, and quickly switched the weapons systems over to his cockpit, realising that now he had to fly and fight at the same time. Still, as long as someone didn't get on his tail, he might survive. The readings on the screen that rested up against his right leg told him that Mack was still alive at least, and with any luck he would remain that way. Too many people had already died today, and he didn't want to lose another.
An enemy fighter swam into his view and with a savage jab at the fire controls Alister blew it apart, then forced his fighter closer to the warship's hull to avoid the shower of wreckage from the enemy he had just destroyed. A surge of exhilaration rushed through him as he realised that he was alone against thousands of enemies. This was the kind of battle Alister had always dreamed about fighting ever since he had first strapped himself into the seat of a Starfury, although, in his dreams, he usually won, and even if he lost, it was only a dream, he could always wake up again.
Suddenly the hull of the warship dropped away and Alister realised he had reached the front of the enemy vessel, and the six heavy plasma cannons Captain Ivanova had ordered destroyed. He quickly spun his fighter around one hundred and eighty degrees, looking for the target. He spotted the first enemy gun turret the moment it fired on him. Tugging on the fighter's controls, he somehow managed to avoid the blast of energy that had been hurled his direction and wasted no time targeting the gun and pressing the firing control for his missiles.
Two bright flares erupted from the fighter's wings, followed by streaks of flame as two missiles launched themselves at the enemy vessel. One struck an enemy fighter that suddenly threw itself in front of his missile, causing a massive explosion that rocked Alister's fighter. The second missile flew truly though, and struck the plasma cannon just where the weapon emplacement joined the hull of the warship. Another explosion shook the fighter, but the missile had done the job.
The cannon parted company with the enemy vessel, and went spinning off into space. As Alister flew past, another explosion tore through the enemy vessel as the fuel lines that had led to the weapon, burst into flame. A sudden white cloud erupted as extinguishers came on, quashing the flames almost instantly. They prevented the flames from spreading, but a dark smear on the hull showed where the missile had struck.
The next minute was complete chaos for Alister as he manoeuvred his fighter around to fire on another three turrets within range. He was joined by two more Earthforce fighters who appeared out of nowhere, launched their missiles, and then shooting away from the enemy warship, several of the enemy's octagonal shaped drone fighters in pursuit. For the moment, Alister's fighter was left unmolested, so he intended to make the most of it. Turning towards the last plasma cannon he could see, he aimed his fighter straight towards it, almost on a collision course.
At the last moment, he pulled up and pressed the release control for the guided bombs mounted on the bottom of the fighter. Then he pushed the thrusters as much as possible and tore away from the enemy warship at top speed, while behind him an explosion destroyed the last cannon, and ate its way down into the hull below. As they had every other time, the extinguishers came on and the flames that had erupted quickly died out. However, they were not quick enough to prevent a large, jagged hole from being torn into the hull, a tiny victory against a vessel that had seemed almost invulnerable to their attacks.
Kiel frowned as a bright flash lit up the front of the Enlightener and on the view screen a message flashed up informing the bridge crew that another gun emplacement had been taken out. He wondered for a minute what exactly the Earthforce strategy was, they had lost nearly thirty Starfuries in that attack alone and all they had done was take out six plasma cannons, which would quickly be repaired once the Enlightener was safely back in hyperspace.
That aside, he was a little surprised at how well the enemy was doing. It appeared that Earthforce must have broken his fighter's stealth technology and altered their scanner frequencies. That wasn't a major problem, as he would just order that the new scanner frequencies to be jammed as well next time. Still, more fighters than he would have like had been destroyed so far.
"That makes just under two hundred and fifty we have lost so far," Anderson informed Kiel from his post near the tactical computer. "Make that two sixty," he said as several more fighter were destroyed by Earthforce vessels."
"They can not win," Kiel said confidently. "Most of their ships have been disabled or destroyed already and our fighter losses can easily be replaced."
"Three capital ships destroyed, and two disabled," Anderson filled in the details from the information that flowed across his screen.
"Good," Kiel replied, turning away from the view screen and wandering over to look at the mass driver console. "Hmm we are nearly within range," he muttered to himself before turning back to continue his conversation with Anderson. "As soon as we are within range, I want the mass driver to fire on Proxima. If there are any Earthforce vessels in the way, then they won't be for long."
Anderson looked up from his console and frowned. "What about the Q-40 core," he asked. "Won't an impact like that set it off? If we were still within range of any explosion like that, it could damage us."
Kiel shook his head. "We selected the asteroids with a high content of heavy metals to ensure they won't be destroyed or deflected by minor impacts, and they should be going fast enough to fly straight through even a destroyer, with little impact on either their speed or trajectory. Anyway, the area in front of the Enlightener is empty of enemy capital ships at the moment."
Anderson nodded, agreeing with Kiel's logic. He looked back at the view screen. The enemy fighters were now fleeing away from the Enlightener as fast as they could, their strange, almost suicidal, assault on the forward plasma weapons apparently now over. They had achieved little, as any attempt to attack that section again would just bring them into range of the fighters assigned to protect the warship.
The crewman in change of the mass driver called out, "Sirs we are within optimum firing range."
Kiel smiled the smile of someone who knew his victory was close at hand. "Good," he said. "Fire at will."
An almost imperceptible shudder ran through the command section of the warship as behind them one of the specially prepared asteroids was lowered gently into the mass driver. A slight vibration began to build beneath the deck plating as the gravity accelerator began to charge with energy. In only a few moments time the generator would reach its maximum charge and the asteroid would be accelerated down the barrel of the mass driver before being spat out the other end at incredible speed. Then it would plunge through the atmosphere and Reagan Dome, a city with a population of more than three hundred thousand, would cease to exist.
"Sir," Anderson suddenly cried out in warning, pointing toward the screen.
Kiel spun around and saw what his assistant was pointing out. One of the Earthforce destroyers had broken away from the enemy fleet and seemed to be on a collision course with the bow of the Enlightener. Suddenly the plan of the Earthforce commander made sense, as there were no weapons left on the bow to fire on the approaching destroyer, nothing could stop their attack, although he still couldn't see what damage they hoped to cause. Below the vibration began to build to a crescendo as the mass driver prepared to fire its deadly cargo, straight into the incoming vessel.
"Ivanova," Kiel almost shouted, at last recognising the silvery hull of the enemy vessel as it drew ever closer to the Enlightener's bow. The Rasputin's outer hull cracked and broken from attacks by his fighters, but it still looked like a deadly shark to Kiel as it swooped upwards towards the end of the mass driver. Releasing Ivanova must be planning to ram his beautiful warship, he spun around and shouted across the bridge, "Stop, don't fire." However, it was too late, the process was too far advanced and, even as Kiel leapt across the gap to jab at the cancel button, the gravity generator reached maximum charge and fired the asteroid, straight towards the Rasputin.
It had taken Susan some time, and a threat of pulling rank, before she had managed to convince Petrov to agree to her plan. In the end it had been the realisation that the battle was lost anyway that had led him to agree, rather than any persuasive argument on the Captain's part. Both commanding officers realised that even if Susan's plan failed they would still destroy much of the enemy ship as they smashed the Rasputin into the barrel of the mass driver, perhaps enough to put it out of action.
The deaths of those who had taken out the enemy's bow weapons weighed heavily on her mind, but Susan knew she hadn't had a choice. Behind her the Earth destroyers were dying, one by one. Three were now little more than burning wreckage and most of the rest were close to falling. There were just too many fighters for them to handle, and no matter how many they eliminated, another wave always seemed ready to take their place.
The Rasputin had pulled away from the battle and turned around in a wide arc so it could be aimed straight at the enemy vessel and then power had been shifted from unimportant tasks and put into the engines and the main gun. Then she had said a prayer and given the order that sent the Rasputin and her crew on their way. In less than a minute, either they would be dead, or the enemy vessel's deadly mass driver would be disabled for good.
She steeled her nerves and looked down the barrel of the weapon, right into the eye of death. Then it fired, a burst of light at the end of the tunnel, followed by a sudden dark mass heading straight towards her. In the fraction of a second she had to react, Susan wondered if she had been wrong and all her plans were just going to lead to the death of her crew. That asteroid would be travelling at thousands of kilometres an hour by the time it reached them. It would probably just go straight through the Rasputin and on to the planet beyond and all the Rasputin's sacrifice would be for naught.
To her surprise, not to mention the shock of everyone else on board, the plan worked. Just as the mass driver fired the Rasputin's particle cannons also fired, at full power. The twin cannons, adapted from the terrifying weapons of the Shadow warships and capable of cutting through almost any form of hull armour, sliced straight through the outer shell of the asteroid just as it reach the halfway point of its journey. The unstable Quantium-40 core of the asteroid, so devastating when used against a planet, ignited as soon as the stream of particles sliced into it. An explosion, brighter than anything anyone on the Rasputin's bridge could have imagined, lit up the darkness of space, a glorious eruption of flame and energy that immediately raised the hopes of all who saw it.
The entire front section of the Enlightener broke apart, huge chunks of metal breaking off and spiralling away into space. On the Rasputin's bridge, everyone was blinded by the explosion, so no one was able to see the huge metal beam that was heading straight towards them, a piece of wreckage bigger than the destroyer itself and on a direct collision course with the Rasputin.