p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 22.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Twenty-five/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBattlestar Defiant/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanOrellian Star System/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span26 September 2017/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanCommander Mundu stared intently at the holographic table displaying the deployment of ground forces around the old Horde base. Twelve heavy lift transport delivered their cargo to the rally points unopposed. Air cover controlled the skies all around the area. The operation was going smoother than expected. The enemy had not so much as fired an active sensor scan. The underground interference field continued to conceal whatever might be in the underground cavity./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanMundu did not like it. There could be nothing in the base, or it could be packed full of Shadowdemons and other nasty surprises. She brought up the graphic for the star system in a smaller window. Nothing there, either./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanLooking back at the main display, Mundu watched one of the earth dropships circle the base at extreme range. Once. Twice. No activity. She began to wonder if this was not what the Earthers called chasing a wild goose. On completion of the third orbit, several things happened at once. Powerful pistons slowing pushed huge sections of the valley floor up into the air. Mundu suddenly remembered this particular base was designed to deploy ground troops. The other two had once housed air wings and starships up to the size of battlecruisers./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThree access hatches locked into the fully open position. Within a minute, columns of Shadowdemons matched out, left weapon arms pointed skyward. The deployment appeared to have been triggered by the appearance of Gatling Arm and Falcon, though the MASC system was effective, the operators turned it off to elicit a response. Did it ever./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe other thing that happened was an alarm went off announcing the sensors picking up a hyperspace disturbance. Colonel Shabala, Mundu's first officer, confirmed the alert with a nod. Another officer stepped over to the table and tapped out commands on the touch pad in the right corner. She pulled the graphics for the ground action to her side to liaise with commanders on the ground while Mundu fought the space battle about to erupt./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHalf a dozen contacts dropped out of hyperspace on a course that originated closer to the galactic core. While it was a clue, it was hardly an arrow pointing back to their base of origin. Likely, it was just a point in space selected for a convenient rendezvous./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Confirmed. Six battlecruisers make a power signature matching the specs Commander Fontaine recorded," Colonel Shabala reported. "Wait one." She pressed the comm unit to her right ear listening to an update from the sensor operator. "Five are heading in our direction, but one has broken off to head for the planet."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Battlestations!" Mundu barked. "All pilots to their fighters, but do not launch." She confirmed the order not to launch a moment later./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanRed lights turned on. Hatches sealed all over the ship. Crewmembers dashed for their assigned station. Pilots sprinted into the landing bay from the tram system linking the pilot's barracks to the bays. Each warrior boarded their fighter, strapped in and waited anxiously for the order to launch./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanMundu frowned. The only assets in the atmosphere were Bladewings assigned to maintain air superiority. They were not outfitted to take on a battlecruiser. She returned her attention to the tactical plot. Touching a control, the 2D image turned into a 3D one from an overhead projector. Battlestar emTriton/em's orbit took it away from the approaching assault force. The orbit, however, would take it over the ground battle if Commander Ketsu were willing to commit to a variation of the orbital bombardment./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe features of a blonde-haired, severe-looking woman formed in a popup window. "Standing by," Ketsu said, brusquely. She was not part of the gang group of the Queen Mothers' friends who went through the academy together. Ketsu was a by-the-book commander who was about to find herself in a battle where the book was made up as you go along. She was a capable commander, but thinking on the fly was not her strong suit./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"You see the six targets that just dropped in for a visit?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Yes. We are out of position. Do you want us to alter our orbit?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Alter? Yes, but closer to the planet. One battlecruiser is making a run for the atmosphere. Since our fighters can't mount exterior weapons in an atmosphere, that leaves you to strike from orbit," Mundu said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanKetsu frowned. "Hitting targets from orbit is easy if they are stationary. A Bladewing won't survive long enough against that battlecruiser's defenses to paint it for us."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"emEternia/em is down there. Captain Majourny can paint the hull for you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"That will require some fancy flying to avoid the worse of the enemy's defensive fire."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanMundu smiled. "Well, I have it on good authority that she has a helmsman who is just crazy enough to make it work." She could see Ketsu would rather be taking on the five warships remaining in space, but like any good commander, she would do whatever was asked of her. "Don't worry. This battle is just getting started. We'll keep the remaining ships interested. If I'm right, something bigger is on the way."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanKetsu nodded curtly and broke the connection. Mundu placed a brief call to the emEternia/em to apprise Captain Majourny of the approaching enemy warship and plan to take it out. To Mundu's consternation, the woman was actually looking forward to the challenge./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"She needs to get out more," Mundu muttered, returning her attention to battlecruisers. "Cerberus, maintain power levels at a few points above that used by the emLogoss/em. Do not, under any circumstances, raise primary weapon power levels unless directed by me. The enemy knows we can take out their battlecruisers but does not know our full capabilities. Let's keep it that way."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Confirmed," Commander Disir responded./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanFive battlecruisers arrowed straight for the two battlestars maneuvering to greet them. The sixth made its speed run for the planet to assist Unit Six Sixty-six in fighting the enemy or evacuate it if the base was lost./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanemDefiant/em took three enemy craft head-on two million miles out from the planet. Mundu targeted the center battlecruiser while rolling the ship on its long axis twenty-five degrees counterclockwise in preparation for the attack./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanFour warships roared through the vacuum toward the merge, the point at which they would physically meet if no evasive action were taken. The Val-kyrie battlestar got there first. With greater power and range, emDefiant/em's gunnery officer unleashed the deadly arsenal of ten primary plasma cannons./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanPaired canons protruding from the noses of the flight pods unleashed a barrage of antiproton globes. Green spheres blasted across the intervening distance, slamming against enemy shields. The brief burst blew down the battlecruiser's shields in seconds. This was followed up by switching the flight pod guns over to beam discharge and ten red beams stabbed into space seeking unprotected metal hull. Battlecruisers were lightly armed by nature because they were designed for speed coupled with heavy firepower to clear away enemy fighter screens and bomber squadrons. They were never meant to go toe-to-toe with battleships./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe enemy's thin armor stopped the converging beams for all of three seconds before the plasma boiled and bored through the nose of the warship straight down the long axis into its heart; the power core. Erupting in a specular explosion of flammable materials and a ruptured fusion reactor, pieces of the warship blew in all directions./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThat's when the second part of Mundu's tactic came into play. The remaining enemy ships did not have time to twist to aim their primary weapons at the speeding target. emDefiant/em sped between the survivors and raked them with savage broadsides from the secondary weapons arrays./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanA battlestar's defensive armament of railguns, plasma blasters and flak batteries here never intended to do more than sweep enemy fighters from the vacuum. Under the right conditions, however, those same arrays could be quite devastating as Captain Dragnar found our several months ago in an engagement with the emLogoss/em at extremely close range./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanMundu, like many of her peers, liked to close to knife range and pummel the enemy after the initial assault. Because of the tilt, the dorsal surface weapons were trained on the enemy to port while the ventral weapons targeted the warship to starboard. None of the mounts could elevate higher than fifty degrees. Rolling on the long axis alleviated this limitation and allowed for putting the most firepower on target for the longest time./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThis was the capital ship equivalent of a knife fight. Railguns, flak bursts and plasma bolts hammered the enemy battlecruisers relentlessly. The combined firepower would not be enough to blast down a battlecruiser's shields, but the weapons traversed as the battlestar roared past pouring the maximum amount of ordinance into the enemy as possible in the scant seconds of contact./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanemDefiant/em plowed through the boiling cloud that used to be a warship, pummeling the remaining ships all the way. Smoke trails filled the wakes of the enemy ships from the assault. Suddenly, the battlecruiser now in emDefiant/em's starboard aft quadrant was struck from below by six red plasma beams courtesy of the emCerberus/em. Mundu's knife attack weakened the battlecruiser's shields to the point that Disir only had to use six of her ten cannons to vaporize the enemy ship./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanMeanwhile, Target 1 managed to maneuver for a shot at the speeding emDefiant/em. It fired a bright white beam of energy at the battlestar's aft quarter. The plasma beam was stopped short of the armored hull by the force wall. Damage was minimal, only a nine percent reduction in shield strength, but the attack was still a surprise./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Warn Captain Majourny. That battlecruisers secondary weapons will be bad enough. Plasma beams could cripple her ship if she isn't careful," Mundu ordered. emPlasma beam weaponry. Those were in the experimental stage toward the end of the war. Like the zero-point energy modules and generators we no use. Who could possibly have such knowledge in order to modify ancient warships with experimental systems?/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanMundu did not like where this was heading. Plasma weapons, what been deemed unnecessary after the war's end, so further research had been abandoned. Yet, that strike, while minimal, hinted at a larger application. If the enemy did have old battlestars equipped with plasma beam weapons and upgraded power cores to support them, they would be formidable craft. They might even be a match for a Mark XX battlestar!/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanEven as she thought this, emDefiant/em and emCerberus/em dispatched the third battlecruiser. While it had the power necessary to fire off plasma beams, its defenses could not withstand the twenty energy beams both battlestars speared it with from two directions. Both warships spun around to face their direction of travel, leaving the brief cloud flaming debris behind./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanemDefiant/em and emCerberus/em banked away in pursuit of the two enemy warships still in space./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWar Wing/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanGatling Arm and Falcon continued to harass the enemy with slashing attacks. Falcons spinning disks cut through Shadowdemons like a scythe through wheat. Jack closed the range until he could use his forearm blades with deadly efficiency. Weaving in among the demons made it more difficult for the machines to focus converging fire of the two Guardians. The downside to that was the machines had the opportunity to pile onto their attacks bodily and pin the battlesuits down. Accomplishing that feat, however, proved problematic as AI and operator continued to dance away before a Shadowdemon could lay a claw on them./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"This is getting tedious," Jake commented. He had one eye on the enemy units closest to him and the other on the capacitor power level. He and the Sorceress had been forced to leap away added by backpack thrusters. Landing several hundred yards away, Sorceress flung her disks while Jake blasted away with the twin Gatling pods. "This must have been what battles against these monsters must have been like."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"It was," the AI confirmed. "We could win virtually every engagement. Origin Point, the factory base no one ever found, just pumped out more replacements."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Jake, activate the shield system Falcon provided," Sorceress advised./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanJake twitched his right eye to the proper icon on his heads-up display long enough to activate the system. "Care to explain why you wanted me to load it?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanFalcon answered him. "It's a variation of what Sorceress and I did to give Castle Grayskull a power boost when we faced the Horde army a few months back."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"When you recharged the castle's core?" Jake asked, burning down another few demons while moving away before they could get a shot at him with their energy cannons./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"The crystal chamber is not a power core, but the analogy will suffice," Sorceress commented./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"What's so special about this shield?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanFalcon resumed her explanation. "When a demon fired on us outside Grayskull, I got a good sensor reading on it before detonating the plasma bolt. The power armor combat form can't withstand a direct hit, but the battle mode can. Well, we can take a few hits before suffering structural damage. Our operators, however, will take damage from the very first strike. Using the readings, I adjusted the shield to absorb the energy and redirect it into the capacitor to provide a convenient energy boost."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanGatling Arm caught on a split second before his operator. "Leaving only the physical impact to reduce shield efficiency."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Correct."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I'm not wild about being shot after seeing the damage those cannons can do," Jake said, snapping Gatling Arm out of the way of enemy plasma bolts./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Weren't you the one who once said it builds character?" Sorceress teased./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I take it back!" Jake growled, narrowly missing more bolts fired in his direction./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Too late," Gatling's AI said. "Incoming!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanGatling Arm took two direct hits. One slammed into the left arm while the other struck the right knee. The only damage recorded was minor impacts to the personal shield. Jake noted a nine percent rise in capacitor energy reserves. "Sweet."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Don't let it go to your head," Gatling Arm cautioned. "If they mass fire on us, we could be in a world of trouble."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Then let's make sure they don't get the chance!" Jake declared./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAdrian only partially listened to the pair making trouble for the enemy. His attention was focused on finding that big black machine. He knew it was here. He wasn't sure how he knew it, intuition maybe, but that thing was here watching. Adrian hoped the Val-kyrie attacking from three sides in addition to two Guardians absolutely decimating any Shadowdemon force attacking them would be enough to force an appearance. So far, nothing./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanA combination of cannon fire and spectacular explosions off to the northeast marked where the warrior women took their first casualties. A Shrike burned furiously, oily smoke boiling into the sky. Nearby, a Firehawk lay in ruins after an internal explosion blew it apart. Another mobile missile launcher took a hit in the aft quarter, disabling it when the left rear wheel got blow clean off. Another targeted strike to the missile launcher mounted on the back detonated the weapons loaded in the box. Secondary detonations in the magazine turned the vehicle into a storm of shrapnel./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAt the same time War Wing zeroed in and enlarged that section, Feril said, "I think the one you're looking for has finally put in an appearance."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanNow that he knew what to look for, Adrian spotted the larger machine. It looked even more like a Guardian battlesuit than it did in the grainy footage the Val-kyrie had shown them. What drew his attention was the artillery piece as long as the enemy machine was tall. A box on top at the back end appeared to be an ammo magazine. The weapon was designed to be fired single-handed by bracing the butt against the shoulder for stabilization. Then it was just a matter of point and shoot./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Uh, oh," Jacobs said suddenly. "Looks like the colonel has attracted unwelcome company." He shifted the live feed from his screen to the center console in front of Adrian while calling the colonel's APC to warn him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAdrian watched as the target machine fired at the colonel's APC. He had no idea how it had figured out that particular vehicle had important people inside, but it the attack was effective. The first cannon blast sailed just past the nose to carrier, exploding harmlessly a hundred yards away. The driver executed a series of evasive maneuvers, but the carrier wasn't built for such actions at high speed. Two more shells missed by ever decreasing margins until a shell exploded into the ground under the right rear quarter. The blast caused the fifty-ton vehicle to hop just enough for the tire to clear the ground by a foot. The effect, however, was devastating./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWhile the suspension has flexibility designed into it, such a violent torquing on one corner went beyond design specs. The rear differential and transaxle tore themselves apart. The APC ground to a halt after traveling another forty yards. All the while, the gunner kept up a blistering series of bursts from the twin Gatling gun mount on top. Each burst ripped an average of seven Shadowdemons to pieces. Once the carrier stopped, it became a sitting duck./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Time to go," Adrian declared, exiting the cockpit. Jacobs followed to operate the ramp controls./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanA minute later, Feril saw War Wing jet out of the dropship's bay, converting to battle mode a half mile clear of the ship. Heading: straight for the big machine baring down on Colonel Markson's disabled APC./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanColonel Markson ordered everyone out of the APC. Each soldier picked up a pulse rifle stored close to their position and headed for the exit. Jon was the last to leave, ordering his people to head for the nearest Val-kyrie APC breaking off from attack runs to pick them up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanJon took cover behind the APC and watched the enemy command unit steadily approach. It halted a hundred yards away and took aim at the stricken carrier. Jon extended the butt stock of his rifle and raised it to his shoulder. 10mm explosive rounds were useless against the thing's armor, but if this was his time to check out, the colonel was determined to go down defiantly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAn alert warning screamed in Unit Six Sixty-six's positronic brain. It snapped its head around and quickly spotted the reason for the alert. A winged battlesuit zoomed over the sprawling battlefield headed straight for the unit./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanTARGET IDENTITY: UNNAMED BATTLESUIT/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAn instant later the ID amended itself based on the code being transmitted from the approaching suit./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanTARGET IDENTITY: GUARDIAN WAR WING/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanGraphics overlayed the rapidly approaching Guardian displaying vectors, speed, attack angles and time to impact if the speeding suit did not alter its approach. Coming to a decision in nanoseconds, Six Sixty-six waiting for the right moment to shift to its primary target./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAdrian followed the Sorceress' advice she had given him way back before the battle with Horde forces outside Castle Grayskull. Don't think about what action to take. Observe what happens in the moment and act. Human and AI – two acting as one – surrendered to the moment and anticipated the time when the enemy would snap its cannon around to target the battlesuit, evasive action already planned./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanSeveral things happened at once in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanColonel Markson saw the approaching War Wing out the corner of his eye and allowed the muzzle of his rifle to dip, realizing that he was not the primary target./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanUnit Six Sixty-six snapped its cannon away from the disabled APC into target acquisition of the primary enemy./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAdrian and Wing pulled up short slamming on the Gees to come to a dead stop hovering for and instant before blasting straight up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe cannon shell fired by Unit Six Sixty-six sailed harmlessly through the space War Wing briefly occupied. It slammed into a Shadowdemon, blowing it apart./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanGuardian and enhanced Shadowdemon fired on their enemy while dodging return fire. Plasma beams blasted craters in the ground barely missing the demon by a few feet each time. The enhanced demon's cannon rounds missed War Wing's left side by an equally small margin. Its last shell, however, did glance off the War Wing's shield, deflecting away before exploding./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWar Wing grounded facing the demon, rifle locked on the thing's cannon. Six Sixty-six's cannon pointed straight at the Guardian's chest armor, ammo magazine empty. If the machine made a move for the replacement mags stored in clips around its waist, the Guardian would burn it down with his plasma rifle./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"He's out," Wing observed. "Looks like ammo packs in a belt around the waist."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAdrian's gaze flicked to his rifle's power level. Fifteen percent left. Enough for one or two shots at most. "And We'll try to burn him down if he makes a move for one."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe stalemate lasted for more than a minute during which time Colonel Markson made his departure. Ears still ringing from the cacophony generated by War Wing and the black demon firing on each other, he waved his people away from the back of the disabled APC. Another pulled up a hundred yards away, the doors opened, and a Val-kyrie leaned out waving them over. Taking a last look at the standoff, the colonel turned and dashed for relative safety. He paused outside the carrier long enough to pull a small transmitter from a pocket./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanFlicking open the safety cover in top, Jon mashed the red button. Seconds later, smoke billowed out the open doors of his abandoned vehicle. Explosive charges detonated inside the vehicle designed and placed to destroy all technology that could be salvaged by an enemy. Or a salvager./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanJon jumped in and was whisked away from the battle zone before the combatants resumed their fight./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe big demon made the next move, and it was an unexpected one at that. Straightening up, the machine cast aside the useless cannon, unbuckled the ammo belt and let it fall. Reached across with its right hand, it grabbed a long cylinder resting in a socket at the left hip and yanked it out. An orange energy blade ignited from the tip. A shield composed of armor plate with a refractive coating on the front face swung out from the machine's back to a position where it could grab the carry handle with its left hand./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Why the hell not," Adrian grinned. Sometimes energy weapons were so uncivilized. Eying the required icons, the plasma rifle flared and disappeared. A panel opened in the underside of Wing's right forearm and an armature deposited the handle for a beam saber into the waiting hand. At the touch of the activation stud, a ruby blade snapped into existence./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAn image of the Sorceress opened in his heads-up display. "Have you engaged the target?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"He's about to be suitably occupied," Adrian replied. "Proceed with the next phase."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThere was no more time to talk. The black demon flinched and both Guardian and Shadowdemon launched at each other, slamming together with crossed blades sparking violently at the point of impact./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanStarship emEternia/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThere wasn't much for Captain Majourny's crew to do in support of the ground ops. Bladewings flew strafing runs against the waves of Shadowdemons emerging from the underground base. Ace got the chance here and there to make his own runs that allowed the gunner in the ventral quad turret to unleash a torrent of plasma bolts on the legions of machines./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanemEternia/em's primary mission was to support the Guardians in their operations. The dropships stayed out of the way, as well, since they were deployed in support of the Guardians. Pursing her lips, Jo-jo searched for a way to get into the fight without getting in the way of the coordinated Val-kyrie operations./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Captain," Lieutenant Denton said. "I'm receiving a priority message from the battlestar emDefiant/em. They report six battlecruisers of the same design encountered by Commander Fontaine. Apparently, one has broken formation and is heading for the planet. Toward the site of battle, to be exact." He paused as another report arrived. "I have updated information. Looks like a battlecruiser deployed a plasma beam weapon."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanJo-jo pulled the specs up on the panel at her right hand. She frowned at the power of the beam weapon. Even with Etherium hull armor, her ship could only take a few hits before the shields collapsed and suffered internal damage. Etherium alloy was fine for armoring a starship or a battlesuit, but the systems and people contained within could still be beaten up by the impacts./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"So, what does Mundu want us to do? Engage a battlecruiser we have no hope of damaging much less stopping? emEternia/em is powerful, but not emthat/em powerful."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanDenton read a third message twice before responding. "No. Looks like Commander Mundu wants us to use targeting lasers to paint the target for Commander Ketsu's emTrition/em to take it out with a strike from orbit."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanJo-jo shook her head. "That doesn't sound much better."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I can configure the dorsal and ventral laser cannons just aft of the bow section to paint the target," Denton said. "We just need to know how long Ketsu needs to get a lock."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"How close will we need to get?" Ace asked, already knowing the answer./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Close. Within five miles of the battlecruiser to achieve a solid lock."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAce and Comorov exchanged grim looks./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBattlecruisers, by their design, were the perfect platform to repel fighter attacks. Its hull was packed with laser cannons, point defense flak batteries and a few primary energy cannons for capital ship engagements. A taskforce of such warships could give even the deadly Bladewing fighter headaches, along with a high loss rate./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWhat choice was there? The only weapons a Bladewing could carry capable of killing a battlecruiser could not be carried externally in an atmosphere due to the catastrophic stresses induced by maneuvers in a planetary environment./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Get set up," Jo-jo ordered./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanLieutenant Denton spotted the enemy battlecruiser approaching from the northeast just as preparations completed. It was still several hundred miles from the site of battle, so Ace chose the direct approach to start. It was doubtful an attacker as small as the emEternia/em, in relative size, would cause the enemy warship to veer away, but strange things happened in battles. Maybe they would get lucky. Jo-jo had her doubts./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAs the distance to target shrank with alarming speed, Jo-jo opened the internship comm. "Attention, all hands. Prepare for sudden maneuvers that inertia dampening may not fully compensate for. Any loose items need to be secured. We will be engaging an enemy battlecruiser in three minutes. Out."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe captain sounded more confident than she felt. The enemy should have taken note of their approach by now but continued on course. Either they were not worried about the smaller starship speeding toward them on an intercept course, or they did not care. That last part was the more frightening of the two. The enemy was already taking heavy losses at the old Horde base. No doubt the battlestars were making short work of the other battlecruisers still out in space. An enemy who disregarded the casualty rate was one truly to be feared./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanCommander Ketsu appeared in a small window on Jo-jo's right-hand panel. "Status?" Her question sounded more like a demand./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanJo-jo glanced over her right shoulder to the tactical station. Denton met her gaze long enough to nod before returning to his displays. "Link is established. We're starting our attack run now. We may not get it on the first pass, though. The battlecruiser is close enough to the ground to use it to their advantage."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanKetsu nodded. "We see they are flying through a mountainous region. You may be able to take advantage of that yourselves."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"We'll see. Maintaining an open channel for updates," Jo-jo said, switching her gaze to the status boards on her left./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanemEternia/em roared down a wide valley straight at the onrushing battlecruiser. There were very few options for maneuvering. Going under the enemy was suicide because directed blasts could shove the starship into a nosedive straight into the ground. A close pass to either side was out because the section of mountains the cruiser was currently passing through left little space to get through. In order to accomplish that, Ace would have to roll the starship on its long axis. The wide area would make it pathetically easy for the enemy gunners to slam the emEternia/em into a canyon wall with a barrage of cannon fire./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAt fifteen miles, black clouds suddenly started peppering the sky in between the warships. Ace gamely dove into the growing field of flak bursts. emEternia/em bucked like a bronco, rattled and shook from the overlapping blast waves, and took on the characteristics of an echo chamber from the debris bouncing off the Etherium hull plates./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"That field of flak bursts in clouding up the air making it impossible for the dorsal and ventral lasers to paint the target, captain," Denton reported./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAce had seconds to react one way or the other. When Denton reported the battlecruiser's main batteries locking on, Jo-jo snapped, "emBreakaway!/em"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAce snapped the control stick to the right, knuckles white from the death grip hold he had on it. He followed the updated evasion course the ensign studiously maintained in real time. No one on the bridge looked through the tinted transparent canopy. Sky, valley floor and valley walls traded places in fractions of a second from Ace literally rolling the starship up and out of the line of fire. Fractions of a second after Ace broke off the run, six intense plasma beams speared the area the emEternia/em vacated./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanExecuting a series of rolls, emEternia/em looped up and over the ridgeline off to the right. The starship leveled off at an altitude barely above the treetops and still heading in a northeasterly direction. A stunned silence settled on the bridge, finally broken a minute later by section supervisors making status reports./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanGrimly, Ketsu reported, "We recorded those discharges. Had they struck, you would have taken a beating. Nice flying. Your helmswoman has quick reflexes."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"emHe/em acknowledges the compliment," Jo-jo said. She saw her helmsman and navigator exchange knowing smiles./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanCommander Ketsu's only reaction to the correction was a pursing of lips. "Transmitting a detailed scan of your area. There may be a way for you to get in behind the battlecruiser and paint it from the rear. Our targeting sensors work well against stationary targets, but if you can get it from behind, the computer can compensate for atmospheric distortion and movement."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanJo-jo didn't object to the subject change. Queen Mother Silvara had once told her that there were many Val-kyrie who still looked down on males regardless of the profession. Apparently, this Ketsu numbered among them. "We have it. Standby while we come up with an attack plan. You'll have your shot shortly." Shoving herself out of the captain's chair, Jo-jo stepped forward and leaned down between helm and navigation to look over the map glowing on the center screen./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanEnsign Comorov traced a valley southwest that dead ended in the main valley the enemy traversed. Jo-jo could see why. Her ship could fly down it with relative ease, but the big battlecruiser has too wide to safely run the same channel./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Yes," Ace said, growing excited. "That would work. See this depression here? Looks like a dried-up lake. We could settle in there, hover below the old shoreline and wait for the battlecruiser to pass by."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanJo-jo grunted, eying the other chains of mountains. It was the only option available where they wouldn't get shot at, or shot up, trying to get solid paint in it. "We should reduce our power signature as much as possible, too. Shut down all unnecessary systems. They know we're in the area. Broadcasting our location while lying in wait could get us killed before Commander Ketsu gets the chance to kill them. Straightening, she ordered, "Do it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIn order to get to the proper valley, Ace had to pop up and over the next mountain chain, an agonizing maneuver lasting a tense thirty seconds, but they made it without incident. Apparently, the enemy did not care about anything behind them. It may be the ship captain thought emEternia/em had been scared away./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanJo-jo was determined to prove him, or it, wrong. As Ace raced for the dry lake bowl as fast as possible without giving away what they were about, she reflected on the enemy. So far, all anyone had seen were machines. It was possible that the crew of the enemy battlecruiser was made up entirely of machines. It couldn't be a crew like what the ground forces were presently fighting. Those were too big to fit through the corridors. Maybe those smaller machines the Val-kyrie referred to as Servators? They were the old support arm of the Shadowdemon armies. They performed all the functions maintenance and support personnel performed in other cultures. Maybe it was the same thing here. Jo-jo shook her head in frustration. So much information on this enemy had been lost – or destroyed? – since the Great War ended./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAce setting the starship into place broke Captain Majourny out of her musings. He brought the ship down as close to the ground as possible without scrapping the ship's belly on the ground. Crewmen worked frantically to complete all nonessential system shutdown. Jo-jo made the announcement shortly after Ace began the race to get into position, so the crew got a jump on preparations./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThey just made it./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanemTrition/em's core command spoke to Ace over the secure comm channel. No one replied to the transmissions for fear the enemy might pick up the chatter. While the battlestar could not lock moving targets from orbit with its own sensors, they could still see the indistinct object moving through the valley. Jo-jo found it interesting that they could shoot at stationary targets just fine but could not focus tight enough to target a warship on the move. As advanced as the current battlestar was, it still had its limitations./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanTo overcome this deficiency, a forward observer was often employed to paint the target from a much closer range. Uncomfortably close range at times. It was practice used on Earth to guide laser-guided bombs to the desired target before the invention of smart munitions./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanA low rumble gradually built as the warship approached. The vibrations reverberated off the valley walls like waves crashing relentlessly upon a shore. Not only could the crew hear it coming, they could feel the rumbling in the deck plates. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Almost there," the controller advised. She watched the range close on the relative location of the emEternia/em. The locations did not overlap as the starship was due south of the battlecruiser. The icons lined up vertically for a brief moment, then they split apart with the enemy ship opening the range. System set to approximate the Earth equivalent measurement of a mile she advised Captain Majourny on when it would be time to move out. "Distance widening. Prepare to move in nine-zero seconds."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanJo-jo looked to Lieutenant Denton, whispering, "When she says 'go,' throw all power into the forward shield."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanDenton's eyes met hers for a moment, nodded, and set the system up to activate with the touch of a single control./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Ace," Jo-jo continued. "When they have a lock and announce opening fire, get us way from there. Comorov, set a course back up this valley. The mountains will channel the explosion and five miles will be too close."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAce glanced at the ensign, who nodded slightly indicating he had the course ready to execute. He looked back at his captain, nodded, and returned to his console. He laid his hands lightly on the control stick and throttle levers used for manual flying. He vowed to have the starship moving before the core controller finished issuing the 'go' command./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Standby," the controller high above announced, calm and controlled bordering on sounding bored. "On my mark. 5…4…3…2…1… GO!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanDuring the countdown, all systems powered up using previously configured settings using only the push of a button or flip of a toggle switch. Engines wound up to full power, Ace slammed the throttles against the forward stops while smoothly pulled back – not yanking – on the stick. emEternia/em needed time and distance to get up to speed in order to get into position in the smallest amount of time./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe roar from the engines actually drowned out the echo of the passing battlecruiser. emEternia/em popped up over the northern lip of the dry lake, soared through the intersection of the two valleys and turned in trail of their quarry./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThree main and four axillary engines glowed red on the horizon between the lines of rocky crags to the left and right. The distance had opened to almost ten miles, but Ace steadily reduced that. The controller had waited until the target entered the narrowest part of this stretch of valley where it would be impossible for the battlecruiser to maneuver without abandoning the low-level approach to the field of battle./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Forward shields at maximum. Lasers tracking," Denton announced./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanUsing emEternia/em's sensors to aid in refining their targeting solution, emTriton/em's ten primary cannons powered up to the required levels necessary to overcome attenuation in atmosphere. There would not be continuous beams that would connect the two warships. Instead, a powerful burst of ten beams would converge on a spot that would intersect at the battlecruiser./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Solution resolving. Signal is strong," emTriton/em's gunner announced./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Lasers locked on target," Denton advised./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAce slowed the approach using a combination of forward momentum and reaction thrusters to keep just inside the required distance without falling out of the sky. He was ready to heel the ship about and bolt for safety in an instant./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanTension mounted as the crew awaited the announcement from above that emTriton/em was engaging. Nervous anticipation set in as the final seconds ticked off./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanSuddenly, the gunner declared, "I have a targeting solution. Target locked! emFiring!/em"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAt the same instant that ten ruby beams stabbed down from orbit, Ace wheeled emEternia/em around and blasted away from the death zone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe battlestar's targeting computer led the target, based on the accurate data relayed from the lasers painting the battlecruiser and transmitting that data up the comm link. As a result, the beams converged at the enemy's dorsal shields just forward of amidships. They remained in contact sliding along the barrier as the battlecruiser continued moving forward. The shield buckled and collapsed in seconds. Armor plate softened and melted under the relentless assaults. It breached with barely a quarter of the energy beams left to impact the target. That energy burrowed through and stabbed into the engineering space, the heart of the ship, and ripped about the reactor core./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBlinding white light lit up the sky. As anticipated, the valley walls contained and focused the explosion along the length of the valley and up into the sky. The shockwave blasted away from the explosion ahead of the deafening sound that would have ruptured eardrums. Debris ricocheted off rock, imbedded in the softer ground scoured clean of all organic material by the boiling energies unleashed by the ruptured fusion core, and travelled an impressive height into the sky before the planet's gravity drew it back down to earth./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAce throttled back the engines and eased up out of the valley a safe distance away to the north and east. He angled the line of flight so everyone on the bridge could look at the image projected on the interior surface of the tinted screen./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanComorov let go a low whistle in awe at site./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Impressive," Ace commented./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanContained energies of fusion reactors was impressive in applying controlled power for the required need. Unrestrained, it made for a truly impressive display of explosive power making atomic bombs seem like firecrackers in comparison./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I'm sure you already know this," Jo-jo said to the image of Commander Ketsu on the right panel. There was no way the battlestar's sensors could miss an explosion like that. "But we have a kill."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanKetsu nodded. "Confirmed. Thanks for the assist." She actually sounded like she meant it. "Nice flying."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanCracking a slight smile. "Nice shooting."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanKetsu looked away to address another bridge officer. When she turned back, she said, "Looks like the situation up here is getting interesting. No more warships are heading your direct, so you should be clear to re-engage down there."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanJo-jo nodded. "Good hunting." Ketsu nodded and vanished when the channel closed. "Okay, Ace. Let's go find something else to kill."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Yes, ma'am!" an enthusiastic Conner 'Ace' McCloud replied./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanSeveral bridge crew surreptitiously rolled their eyes./span/p