Battleship Furiosa (2 page)

Complicated
,
so complicated!
Nat thought.

"Activate your targeting radar
and
ready your missiles. Do not launch
without my order."

Active scanners were something
that could only be used sparingly in space combat. Though the best
way to locate and identify potential threats, they also left
the fighter exposed to counterattack. Switching
on the scanners was like activating a beacon to any nearby threats.
Nate switched on the unit and swallowed, desperate to clear the
dryness in his throat. The image of two Star Fire missiles appeared
on his helmet overlay. Unlike the usual blue outline, this one
showed a more bulbous warhead that took up twenty percent more
space on the wing pylons. The internal scanners in the missiles
remained off-line, and would stay that way until they were already
in space and in their final termination phase.

Star
Fires...
Very nice!

The new-generation missiles were
already in use through
much of the fleet,
but this was the first mission he'd been on where his own fighter
carried them. They were effectively a larger version of the
venerable Dragon V missiles, but fitted with a substantially larger
payload for use against capital ships. Tests in simulation had
already shown them to be remarkably effective, especially against
modern defensive systems.

"Here they come."

Nate lick
ed his lips and turned his full attention to the bright
lights ahead of them. The Rift flickered and flashed, an instant
reminder that something was about to run the gauntlet of the
Alliance defences. Small frigates had been busily laying mines for
hours now to protect the system from attack.

What will it be this time?

He
had
no wish to be thrown into the middle of another violent space
battle, but he was also well aware that his friends, and thousands
more were stationed on the ships thousands of kilometres away.
Every three hours a new patrol was sent here to guard the
approaches, and so far it had been little more than wreckage coming
through as the expansionist Star Empire tried to breach the
permanent Spacebridge into the Deadlands. This was the most direct
route to the border region now garrisoned by the Alliance Fleet,
and the last point before the periphery of Alliance controlled
space. The bizarre celestial phenomenon pulsed three times and then
spat out a single large shape. It flashed and instantly exploded in
the middle of the minefield.

"Wait..." said the Lieutenant
Commander.

The four fighters altered their
course to move off to the right, creating a clear line of sight
from the single Alliance Warbarge. If whatever was coming through
really was hostile, the ancient ship would hit it hard. Another
flash appeared and something else came through. As before it was
torn apart by the minefield.

There!

Nate spotted another three
flashes that marked the destruction of yet another ship as it
struck a group of mines. The weapons were more than capable of
detecting the hostile vessel, but to make matters worse they could
also make subtle course corrections to move in and surround
incoming threats. The ship had no chance and quickly joined the
wreckage of more than a dozen similar ships that now drifted in
open space.

"Okay, looks like we..." started the
Lieutenant Commander.

Her voice stopped as a much
larger series of flashes marked the arrival of an entire flotilla
of broken ships. This time Nate counted five, and all were
surrounded by the yellow and red flashes of the mines. Then to his
astonishment came a sixth amidst the middle of the shattered ships.
It came through the debris that managed to shield it from all but a
dozen or so mines, and then it was through.

"All ships, this is
Corsair Leader. We have a hostile vessel,
Battlecruiser classification, and she's preparing her
weapons."

Her audio transmission cut and was
replaced by the mechanical sound of a synthesised voice.

"This is the Battleship Thondar.
I bring a message from the Great Triumvir, Legate
Catecahassa."

Nate's brow tightened as he listened to
the words.

"Who the hell is Catecahassa?"

He hadn't meant to say it aloud,
but luckily for
him, his transceiver was
currently silent. The name clearly had the quality common among
Anicinàbe tribal leaders, and he could only assume it was one of
the senior command in the Star Empire.

And a Triumvir?

Nate was no expert on history,
but every teenager knew the story of the
old days of ancient Rome. The rivalry between Caesar,
Pompey, and Crassus was still legendary and formed the basis for so
much literature, film, and simulation.

So this Catecahassa, he is one of three
senior leaders? The three legates maybe?

Before he could give the
problem
any more thought, the alien spoke
again. The mechanical voice created by the computers gave him an
even more ominous tone.

"
I have
authority to take the war criminal Kratha into custody. Surrender
now. Your ships will be forfeit, but your lives will be saved.
Legate Catecahassa grants you sixty seconds to comply."

Nate's eyes widened as he watched
the computer scanners identify the many gun ports now opening
throughout the massive ship. The vessel was not shown on the ship
database, but its size, basic design, and armament placed it in a
category close to the Alliance Conqueror Class. The bright
iconography emblazoned on its flanks marked it out as a ship of the
new Empire. It looked similar in part, but not quite identical to
the ships of the Byotai, yet lacking the many wings and fins
commonly seen on them. Instead, it was more like a smaller version
of the massive supercarrier that ANS Warlord had fought to a
standstill.

They must be
modifying ships in the captured Imperial shipyards to their new
specification. That
is the
only way they can be launching ships so fast.

"This is Admiral Churchill, of
the Alliance. We've been here before
, and
the answer is the same. This is the sovereign territory of our
ally, the Byotai Empire. Remove yourself from this sector, or
suffer the consequences. We want peace...but we are ready for war.
Prince Kratha is under Alliance protection. Violence against our
ships will be a declaration of war between our people."

Nate almost cho
ked as he heard the Admiral speak. After the mauling both
sides had suffered, he assumed neither would want to engage in
battle again. And here they were, waiting for a race that simply
would not back down. The threat of a war was something he expected,
but surely it wouldn't spread outside of the old Byotai lands? He
glanced back and checked on the position of the Vanguard led by ANS
Retaliation.

Too far away.

Unfortunately, this attack had
occurred right in the middle of the fleet relocation. For the next
few minutes
, the only warship on station
would be the Warbarge, and of course, their group of four fighters.
It was enough to cause one ship trouble, but if they came through
in force, it could be a problem. Nate didn't like being this far
from the fleet, but he could see the thinking behind it. Nothing
was more important than protecting their route home. That was why
the Admiral had most of the ships positioned directly in front of
the Rift back to Helios Prime, and the safety of the
Alliance.

"Very well,
" said the alien commander, "Whoever shields the traitor,
will suffer the same fate."

Nate swallowed, his dry mouth
seeming to close up. Videogame simulations never carried the stress
of knowing the conflict might continue afterwards.

"Soon the entire might of the
Princeps’ fleets will be here, and he will not stop until you
yield. Not even your entire Alliance can stand against him. In two
days we will bring the united forces of the Star Empire to purge
your worlds of the stain of the impure."

Nate looked stunned. All of them
had already
heard the wild ravings and
ranting of the Techno militias and their desperate need to
eradicate the taint of the Biomechs. This was the first time he'd
heard the same ravings from a figure in authority, and part of the
Star Empire command structure. It gave him a strange tingle in his
spine as he listened, and as he looked ahead, he suddenly missed
his friends. He looked across to his comrades and sighed at seeing
them there. For a moment he'd felt lost and alone. Just knowing
they were on his flanks and armed for battle gave him the boost of
confidence that he needed.

You can do this, Nate. Just be cool.
Concentrate on the mission.

He recalled the maps he'd been
made to study for what seemed like hours. The Fiorr Veej System was
perhaps the most critical area of space in the entire sector, and
that was why two thirds of Orion Command was now there.
It was the backdoor into Alliance space, and the
critical Helios System. Even now, Admiral Anderson, the military
commander of Orion Command was mobilising everything he had around
the central planets of the Helios System. Right now they were too
spread out to be able to deal with a major incursion by this new
threat.

They've timed this
well
.
With a lot of our resources assisting the rebels at the
Tenth Quadrant, we are weak.

He gulped uncomfortably as he
realised what could happen if they were attacked in force.
If they withdrew from the Fiorr Veej System,
they would give up the last of the old Byotai territories and any
likelihood of rebuilding the old Empire. There was a lot more to it
than that, though, and Nate knew it.

The priority is always ourselves. What
do we have to lose out here?

It was a cynical question to ask,
but the
Admiral had already explained
that with the Spacebridge from Karnak blockaded, there was no
direct route for General Makos and his loyalists to take to join
them in the Alliance, or even for the Alliance to help him. By
retaining control of the Fiorr Veej System, the Alliance controlled
the four gateways in a system that was now effectively the
crossroads to shipping lanes used by all three factions. Whoever
controlled it, controlled the movement of fleets for weeks, perhaps
months in all directions. Most significantly, by controlling Fiorr
Veej, the fleets of Admiral Churchill and General Makos could
assist each other in a matter of hours by travelling through the
multiple Rifts that littered the Deadlands.

What is that?

A dozen yellow lights flickered
ahead, and then more
across the entire
flank of the alien ship. Nate should have known what was happening,
but it was so quick that he thought it was little more than light
glinting off the hull. The explosions around the Warbarge
immediately snapped him to attention. A light flashed on his comms
system announcing a line of sight message from the Lieutenant
Commander. All fighters in the Alliance could communicate with the
laser communication system, one that was impossible to jam without
physically blocking the space between the fighters.

"We have to hold until relieved.
Prepare yourselves; the Vanguard needs a few more minutes. Target
the ship's gunnery systems...and fire!"

The targeting data transferred
from fighter to fighter, ensuring that each of them hit the right
target and with the correct number and type of munitions.
Even as Nate's finger moved to the trigger, he
was too late. The myriad of gun ports on the alien ship flickered
as they unleashed its arsenal against the Warbarge. A small number
of the ship’s smaller turrets opened fire on the four fighters, but
they easily jinked from the gunfire and then lined up along the
flank of the ship. One by one the four fighters launched their
missiles.

"Fox Three!"

The term was an old one, a
brevity code used by pilots to indicate the launch of air-to-air
munitions. The Fox was the first part, the designation for the
firing. The number referred to the type of tracking system being
used. Then came an alert Nate wasn't expecting.

Fighters?

Red icons appeared on his visor
overlay along the flank of the
ship just
as the volley of missiles crashed through the defensive cordon of
gunfire. All but one penetrated the defences and struck the upper
gundecks. The explosions were much larger than those form the older
missiles and triggered multiple smaller explosions that rippled
down one side of the ship.

"I have contact, four fighters, bearing
three-one."

"Got them,
" said Lieutenant Commander Holder, "Break and
attack."

The fighters split apart into two
pairs and circled in a wide, confusing pattern towards the rear of
the ship. Their burners wasted fuel, but got them in and out of
danger far more quickly. As they changed course, the two monstrous
ships exchanged fire like wooden ships of old. They were only
fifteen kilometres apart, and with no gravity or atmosphere to
interfere with their targeting, it was easy to hit each other.
Streaks of dust and metal marked the path of hundreds of shells as
they did their best to annihilate each other. Nate's wingman wagged
his wings as he tagged the two nearest fighters.