Authors: Max Feinstein
He
actually completed the turn as his shield generator overheated, shutting down before reaching catastrophic failure and leaving his fighter exposed until it could cooled down and regenerated itself. The enemy fighter failed to break off in time and flew by Styker. Not wasting the opportunity he accelerated after the pirate once more. All he needed was for the DragonRay to slow down just enough for him to get a visual missile lock. He knew that a pair of warheads would most likely break the stale mate between them. The enemy also knew this and therefore kept strafing and rolling to avoid ever staying in the same spot for any amount of time.
To his surprise the enemy fighter actually leveled out and held steady. Without a second thought Styker triggered two missiles and saw them accelerate from his fighter just as a lock was confirmed. As they passed his cockpit
, the same feeling of warning that he had felt before called out to him from somewhere in his mind until he noticed something tumbling form beneath the enemy craft. What he realized only too late was that the object was a large missile. The two fighters were so close together that Styker never had a chance to react before the missile ignited its thrusters behind him and slammed into his unshielded rear. It pieced through the Dragonfire’s rear armor plating before sending its explosive force into the fighter’s fuel cell. His ship’s automated pilot assist detected the critical impact and triggered his cockpit ejection protocol within milliseconds. Styker barely had time to realize what was happening before the entire craft shattered from a big explosion just below his discharged capsule as it hurled away from the debris field.
The Kiba missiles proceeded to take revenge for the destruction of their launch craft. The distances were so small that each warhead’s infrared detector had no trouble picking up the
DragonRay’s thrust emissions. Once locked on there was nowhere for the enemy to run and no evasive maneuver to throw them off its tail. It only took a few seconds for the high speed projectiles to catch up to the fighter. High above, Styker watched one of them hammered the shields, while the second pierced through its defenses to explode right below the fighter’s cockpit as the craft tried to roll away. It happened so quickly that he pilot never even had a chance for his or her ejection systems to trigger.
As his cockpit slowly spun in the silence of space Commander Telwin saw the distinct shapes of the Valkyrie bombers commence their attack run. Their squadron spilt into two separate groups and attacked one pirate frigate each. Each bomber unleashed almost its entire complement of large anti-ship missiles in three distinct waves.
The enemy ships tried to put up a defense by filling the space around them with intense bursts of plasma and laser fire, but Styker watched each one splinter into multiple pieces as tremendous explosive blasts erupted along the outward facing sides of both frigates. Finally he relaxed and let out a deep smile, the first of the engagement and leaned back into his seat. At that very moment everything around him went black and he heard the cockpit seals unlock. A soft white light instantly poured into the small dark capsule through the newly formed slits around the edges of his canopy as the entire thing opened up.
Along with the light came sound. The commander could hear multiple voices from just outside his cockpit. Some were talking calmly, while others were almost shouting excitingly as they went over what had just happened. Each one of them was quickly recognizable by him.
“Did you see that?!”
“What the hell was…”
“How did you avoid…”
“I so had you there!”
“Did you happen to catch that move the commander made?”
He pushed
himself up from the seat as the Simpod’s canopy locked open and stepped out from the pod. That particular Simpod was an exact replica of the Dragonfire’s cockpit section. All around him were other similar pods, over four squadrons worth. At the moment the majority of them were Dragonfires, but ten were Valkyrie shaped. Styker put his hands on his hips and stretched out his back a little after the long time spent in the seated position. Tilting his head back he looked up at the ceiling high above him. Stretching up along the somewhat curved walls were rows and rows of other simulator pods suspended for future use during large scale, fleet-wide, simulated training.
“Nice one Flyboy, almost had you there,” a soft familiar voice called out to him from the other side of his simulator.
Styker turned with a smile to find Tiari Okawa sitting on the step there looking over at him with a smirk. “I thought that was you doing all those crazy moves. You did have me Taurus, if it hadn’t been for my PAS I would have joined you in the after place.”
He let out a laugh and jumped down from the slightly rais
ed simpod and looked around to watch the other pilots converse amongst themselves. They stood in pair or in larger groups talking about the simulation they had just participated in. Some were reliving victories, while others were laughing about their deaths. Either way every moment of the sim had been another learning experience for all of them.
“That was some nifty flying boss! Thanks for getting my back on that last one,” said Baxon ‘
Sparky’ Sparkalli as the lieutenant wrapped one of his big arms around the commander’s shoulders.
“It’s my job Sparky. I remember you having some fancy maneuvers as well. Keep up the good work,” Styker replied and patted the large man’s back
, still wondering how Baxon ever fit into a Dragonfire cockpit. The man’s size made him ideal for the Army or Marines. No one would ever guess that he had chosen the Naval Flight Academy.
He told the man to go grab some food in the mess hall be
fore turning his attention back on Tiari. “Next time you get to be the pirates,” she told him while standing up to face him as Styker came closer.
“Oh yeah? We’ll see about that,” he grinned and teased, “you have to show me that last move you did with the missile release. I might have to steal that.”
“You like that huh? Just something I’ve been working on.” Tiari replied as she moved a little closer, looking up into Styker’s eyes suggestively, “I guess I can show you. You want to meet up for a private tutoring lesson, Hotshot?”
“Well if you’re offering, curves,” he grinned and called her by his nickname for her
, making sure no one was close enough to hear. “I’ll open up my schedule…”
A loud attention alarm
rang out throughout the ship and stopped him from finishing his sentence. “Attention, Attention, this is the Admiral! All hands prepare for Battle Stations! Repeat, prepare for Battle Stations. Drop commencing in five minutes.”
“Knight
and Viper Squadrons are the Ready,” Captain Chulovski’s growl like voice called out a second later and caused everyone to drop what they were doing.
“Rain-check I guess
,” Styker said as they all filled out of the room to get to their stations. He leaned over and kissed Tiari straight on the lips before letting out a grin and taking off in a run towards the hanger.
His entire body lurched back into the reclined and padded pilot’s seat seconds after the lighting outside his cockpit turned green and the Dragonfire accelerated to tremendous speeds in fractions of a second. Without the fighter’s inertial dampeners he would have lost consciousness long before the craft even exited the launch tunnel. In less than a second he was thrown out of the large Majestic carrier and into the red light given off by Chu-Tsao, the massive red giant star that centered the small solar system of the same name. As soon as he cleared the ship his AF-103 automatically ignited its thrusters to a preset level and continued to push itself through space at the same velocity that had just launched it. At the same time his body relaxed in the seat as the forces against it finally dissipated by the adjusting dampeners.
“Knight Lead reports successful launch,” Styker informed F
OPS, Flight Operations, and quickly heard the rest of his squadron relay the same.
Along the Dragonfire’s right side the entire length of the six hundred and ninety meter long carrier rushed by. Commander Telwin glanced over the dark gray hull plating and admired the clean lines that composed the ship’s distinct shape, an evolution of her predecessor. He beamed with pride at
the ship, while racing past the ship’s name,
Regal
, engraved in massive block letters along one of the angled hull armor plates. The vessel had been his home for the past seven years and he had become attached to it over that time. She might not be the largest or most powerful ship in the Federation anymore, but to him the
Regal
and her entire group was crewed by the finest men and women he had ever know. Everyone that served her had become part of his family.
Some of the closest members of that tightly knit family were forming up all around him. Knight Squadron had launched in staggered formations from the Rapid Launchers that lined the
top of the port side hanger’s outer structure and formed up above and below him and his two current wingmen. This hanger was situated between two sets of wedge shaped wings that projected out from the top and bottom of the carrier’s central superstructure and joined together at the outer points. Each of the wing’s forward sections contained launch tunnels that could launch four completely squadrons all together, when all four wing sections were combined. At the moment the
Regal
had chosen to deploy only two of its eight squadrons. One was the Dragonfire equipped Knight Squadron and the other being Viper Squadron, one of the two Cyclone interceptor squadrons assigned to the carrier group.
Clearing the
Regal’s
large bulk Styker quickly refocused himself to the mission at hand and looked out into the space ahead of them. There he saw the bright flares coming off the various thruster exhaust nozzles at the rear all of the different escort vessels that made up the CBG. Some of these were rather large like those of the destroyers, while others were smaller and propelled the frigates and corvettes of the group. Made up of two destroyers, three frigates, and two corvettes the forward deployed escort formation stretched out to over three kilometers at its most distant point from the carrier flagship. These ships were aligned in such a way as to respond to any arising situation since the entire
Regal
Battle Group had dropped out into the unknown.
The group had been called to action by Aquarious Sector Command after a request from Cetus Sector authorities. Cetus Naval Command had first received a strange transmission
from the system by a fuel freighter departing Chu-Tsao. That ship had apparently noted something that looked like a ship hovering close to the primary star, which never responded to hails. Directly after that transmission the entire system had gone dark with a total communications black out. Fearing a pirate raid in progress, a not entirely uncommon event within the strategic system, they had dispatched a number of naval vessels from some of the surrounding systems to investigate.
Contact was lost with these vessels as well
and it was then decided to classify the system as ‘hostile incursion in progress’ until proven otherwise. As such Cetus Command believed that a larger force would be necessary to investigate the issue further and contain it should the need arise. The Cetus Sector was home to the 7
th
Fleet, a decently sized military force in of itself, but most of its deployed units were hours away from Chu-Tsao. Meanwhile the
Regal
Carrier Battle Group had been conducting training exercises along the Aquarius-Cetus Sector border, less than fifteen minutes subspace transit away, and was therefore the most logical choice for assistance in the matter. Do to the uncertainty of situation the entire group had dropped out of subspace under full general quarters and in battle formation. It was ready to face the majority of threats it that it would likely encounter.
Upon his launch from the carrier just after transit into realspace Styker had been monitoring his sensor systems for instant updates of the activities within the system.
These updates were being collected by the various sensors onboard the Federation ships as well as those attached to the trio of EagleEye surveillance drones launched from the formation’s leading ships. These drones were tasked with spreading out around the small system and collecting early warning information on any other ships within Chu-Tsao. One of these EagleEye’s was also programmed to make a flyby of the Darma Refining Facility.
Projecting within his HUD were the wireframe representations of the warships directly in front of his fighter, two of which receded on both sides of him as his Dragonfire raced past
. A few thousand kilometers ahead of the forward most deployed escorts a large planet began to appear on his display. Commander Telwin in no way needed the sensor data to tell him the planet was there, though. The gas giant planet of Hong Tempest was impossible to miss as such a close distance. Its entire surface was covered in dense swirling clouds of a red and beige color, all the more prominent thanks to the nearby red giant star, making the planet glow like a huge beacon in space. Looking on Styker could already make out the planet’s single rocky moon revolving into view from behind its other side. It was on that moon that the Darma Fuel Corporation refining facility was located.
“Raven, Caster, all clear here, no ships detected of any kind,” Commander Julia ‘Caster’ O’Neil
of Viper Squadron informed to Styker from the other side of the battle group.
“Roger that Caster,” Styker replied
as his whole squadron cleared the carrier formation’s perimeter, “Knight Squadron proceeding to objective.”
Knight Squadron moved as one unit and turned towards the distant moon for a closer inspection. There were no ships or any kind detected in orbit, letting everyone know instantly that something was indeed wrong. The system was not only a processing and refining facility, but also a sprawling fuel depot for most of the surrounding systems. Darma Horizon, as it was named, was the only dark matter processing plant in the entire Cetus Sector. It supplied the fuel needs for
parts of three neighboring sectors and was therefore a highly important United Plants Federation interest. This fact meant that on any given day there were dozens of ships coming and leaving the system. Some would be there for transportation purposes, while others would just make refueling stops to top off their fuel cells before transiting to other sectors.
At the moment the system was devoid of any living being except for those serving on the
Regal
and her escorts. Styker’s instrumentations, however, began to pick up fields of objects floating in dead space above Tempest and others around the large planet itself, stuck in orbit. As the scans progressed these objects began to take on more distinct shapes. Some much larger than others, but each one radiating distinct signatures, allowing his sensors to differentiate between where they had come from. In addition to these signatures other particles within the surround space were detected by a lone EagleEye drone that had recently traversed through the area.
“
Regal
, Knight One, are you seeing this? We have multiple fields of debris above the planet in what appears to be battle formations,” Styker began to send as a few of these fields began to resolve within his sensors and enhanced optical systems. “I’m picking up the remains of the
Charles Delass
and
Rodin Allison
as well as the
Wenzhou.
Along with these three 7
th
Fleet ships there are three or four other wrecks in orbit, mostly lively belonging to the Darma private defense force stationed within the system.”
He paused for a moment as more data was processed on his squadron’s flyby, “also reading shattered amounts of neutrino particles and focused radiation, cause unknown. Nothing matches the known database. There was definitely a hostile engagement with
in the system, there are no signatures or remains of other vessels in the vicinity. It would seem that whoever attacked Chu-Tsao either cleaned up all of their damage before withdrawing or defeated the defense forces without sustaining any damage.”
It was then, with no signs of any other foreign ships, that Styker discerned that something out of the ordinary happened. This was no simple pirate incursion as previously thought. The
Delass
and
Allison
were heavily armed frigates and along with the Griffen class corvette
Wenzhou,
should have had enough firepower to handle most assault situations. Even if they had been overpowered; however, they should have been able to retreat with survivors or in the least send out a distress call, none of which happened in this case.
Whatever it was that happened in the system, was so quick that no one was even able to run to safety. All of this information caused Styker’s mind to run a hundred kilometers an hour in order to try and come up with different scenarios that could have transpired.
One
of these large wrecks, this one from the FNV
Allison,
enlarged directly outside Styker’s canopy as the squadron began to close with it for a visual inspection. He pulled back on the throttle and slowly decelerated the Dragonfire for a more thorough flyby. Besides his wingman and himself, the rest of the Knights proceeded ahead towards the Darma facility on the moon. He watched all of them fly past before receding into the distance beyond visual inspection range. The sensor data projecting within his HUD and canopy updated with newer fighter squadron designations as the cruiser
Karabela
and both of the CBG’s destroyers launched their own fighters to reinforce the Knights and Vipers in case any hostiles returned.
The scene unfolding in front of him sent a shiver down Styker’s spine as he refocused on it.
He realized quickly that the wreckage was a completely graveyard. His eyes immediately detected the tiny yellow glowing objects floating all around the dead remains of the large frigate. Without looking at his display Styker knew that those objects were in actuality bodies of dead crewmembers. Every naval personnel had uniforms that glowed a deep yellow in order to help search and rescue crews locate them. He switched his fighter’s scanners into search mode and they instantly detected the personal locators within each of the floating bodies. Each of their positions was quickly plotted on his sensor screen and update to the rest of the group. It pained him deeply to be so helpless in this situation, but the least he would do was help them be extracted for a proper burial. In his eyes they would all be heroes that gave their lives in defense of the Federation.
Looking past these poor souls he saw something he had never seen before in all his eyes of service. The three hundred and twenty meter long frigate seemed to have been sliced cleanly into three large pieces. His eyes swept over the debris and were amazed at how clean each of the cuts was. They had severed
cleanly through the entire hull and superstructure of the ship. As he closed in he could clearly see the melted edges along the outsides of each large severed section. There was a full diagonal cut through the forward portion of the vessel that stretched all the way towards the midsection, while the second cut had separated the entire rear of the frigate from the rest of the ship.
Passing just above each portion of the ship allowed Styker to detect damage he had not seen before
. There were dozens of singe looking scars scattered throughout the vessel’s armor plating with no actual signs of penetration into the interior itself. In addition there were other, larger, marks of battle that he understood well. Multiple areas of heavy ordinance detonations were witnessed on each of the floating broken sections, but mostly concentrated on the large central structure of the former frigate. Each of these ruptures looked to have occurred from an explosion inside the ship itself with the ripped hull plating splayed outward. Styker knew that such damage was usually caused by armor piercing warheads, but these looked somewhat different to him.
It was then, while skirting between the middle section and the slowly rotating rear, that he caught movement along the outside of the cut through section in what used to be the frigate’s interior crew quarters.
Moving the control stick around quickly Styker rotated the Dragonfire around so that its nose faced the area where he had seen the movement. He turned on the craft’s floodlights and watched the darkness in front of him recede. Styker’s optical systems were then able to instantly locate the movement and zoomed in for a better view. With that he could now clearly see the large six legged engineering robot crawling along one of the interior bulkheads. As Styker watched the robot paused to kneel down on the alloy surface beneath before firing out a plasma welding beam. Curious as to why the bot would actually be conducting welding on a dead vessel, he zoomed in further and on a whim focused his fighter’s spectroscopic array at the general direction of the robot. The scope instantly lit up with the detection of leaking nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon-dioxide. The realization of what that was hit him like a hammer, causing him to increase the gain on his detection gear.